Some inspiring filmmaking

It's nice to see people finding more independent routes to getting their films made, despite Hollywood's ever-narrowing interests.

Jennifer Phang used Kickstarter to fund a full-length version of her short, Advantageous. A full-on scifi film about uploading minds with a feminist bent, starring and co-written by Jacqueline Kim!  Here's another substantive interview. 

Also, I had not realized how Selma was made by director Ava DuVernay until I started paying
attention to Hollywood and The Biz again recently.  Great interview on KCRW's The Business:Here. 

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On the Ice

From www.ontheicethemovie.com

Netflix occasionally has gems.  When dogsitting, I have been watching movies.  "On the Ice" turned out to be a well-made film using local non-actors who did a great job. 

The movie was shot in Barrow, Alaska.  There is a lot of snow and ice there, which was weird to see during our thaw and rain.  Snowmobiles are the main form of transportation, which remined me of the teens who drive in endless circles around this gas station off 35 by Northfield.

Like the promo materials say, two Inuit teens who are best friends cover up the accidental death of another friend, in the midst of the usual teen romantic turmoil, drinking, and drug experimentation. 

Things go south, and the young man playing the protagonist really shines as the good kid who is caught between the values he was raised with by his solid father and grandmother and his best friend, whose father drank himself to death.  The friend role involves drunken rages and impulsivity, the stuff of many stilted teen movies and afterschool specials, but the tension between the two keeps it real.

This reminded me that I did not discuss "The Lesser Blessed," the movie based on Richard Van Camp's novel about Tlicho/Dogrib teens in Canada.  That movie was similarly well made and acted, creating a bleak and tense atmosphere that did the novel justice.  The guy playing the protag, Larry Sole, carries the movie, which also has Benjamin Bratt and Kiowa Gordon.

Both worth checking out:

On the Ice trailer

The Lesser Blessed trailer/ imdb entry 

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MSPIFF

It is in fact time for the Minneapolis Film Festival to dominate my time for three weeks, and drain my wallet.  I have seen four films so far and missed about six that I really wanted to see but conflicted with work or swim class.  I just mapped out the rest of the schedule, but seriously, how does one decide when three to four must-sees are scheduled all at the same time, and many start at 9:30 or 9:45 p.m. mid-week.  It's tough to prioritize. 

Today I got to work ridiculously early so I could trot across the bridge and see "Harmony Lessons, " from Kazakhstan.  I have a soft spot for Kazakh movies- they're often very beautifully shot and the kind of lyrical, highly allegorical type of film I like, and it doesn't hurt that I am usually practice my limited Russian.  Harmony Lessons is more in Kazakh but well-acted, by non-actors including the lead who was discovered in an orphanage, and really provocative.  Reviews on the web do it justice and compare the filmmaker to lots of famous auteurs like Bresson. 

They do not lie.  The film is brutal and not for the squeamish but many-layered and very worth seeing. Here is the trailer, with Russian subtitles, all I could find...  More later on the other films I've seen.

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