LA CityBeat. Holiday Film.

"Opening next week in extremely limited release (four theaters in four cities), [The Amateurs is] an intricately sweet comedy about a motley collection of small-town friends who band together to make an adult film. [Jeff] Bridges plays Andy, a middle-aged guy who's lost his job and family, but reclaims his self-worth as the plotter of the porn flick." So this gives Erik Himmelsbach an opportunity to talk with Bridges through his entire career; and of course, the conversation's one long build-up to the big one:

"God, I don't know how many times I've seen that movie," Bridges says. "Normally when a movie of mine comes on I'll turn the channel, but when Lebowski comes on, I'll say, 'I'll just wait until Turturro licks the [bowling] ball, then I'll change the channel.' Then he licks the ball, and I'll just wait until... it's just one thing after another coming at you. Great performances, wonderful writing. I often get people who say, that was all improvised, right? Oh no, that was all on the page, every ellipsis, every 'man.' I think it's great filmmaking. That's all there is to it."

Also in the LA CityBeat's "Holiday Film" issue:

"Back before Sex, Lies, and Videotape... before Reservoir Dogs... before there was much of anything that could be called an American independent film movement, John Sayles was the quintessential indie filmmaker. And, 27 years after his debut feature, Return of the Secaucus 7 (which, among other things, introduced David Strathairn to moviegoers), he remains resolutely outside the studio system with his latest, Honeydripper." Andy Klein:

Sayles has written films with mainly female characters and mainly Latino characters, but I'm curious as to whether he felt any discomfort writing dialogue for an essentially all-black cast.

He seems to think it's not the smartest question (and maybe he's right). "Look, you're always pretending to be a lot of different people and writing about a lot of people. I've written movies in Spanish, and my Spanish isn't even that good; I had to get help later making it better.... I mean, it's America. If you're a 25-year-old writer, you don't just write 25-year-olds. At least I hope not. You don't just write men if you're a man. I mean: Who's this straight Chinese guy who made a movie about gay cowboys? How does that make all the gay cowboy directors feel?"

Andy Klein also talks with Hadrian Belove about "Reviving the Revival House," the Silent Movie Theatre, now the Cinefamily, revisits Diva and reviews The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: "Much of the picture's power derives directly from the fact that the narrative is defined by relationships rather than events. It is through these scenes - notably those involving Bauby's estranged wife (Emmanuelle Seigner) and increasingly infirm father (Max von Sydow) - that a portrait of the real man takes shape.... It's an undeniably bold experiment by any measure, well worthy of the Best Director award [Julian] Schnabel picked up at this year's Cannes Film Festival. But it's also an imperfect experiment, too often undone by its own ambitions."

Rebecca Epstein talks with Schnabel.

Mick Farren welcomes the future: "All that Google lacks is full-length, original motion pictures, and if it takes their production out of the inept hands of Disney and its studio ilk, I won't experience the slightest pang of regret."

Posted by dwhudson at November 30, 2007 12:42 AM