So, after putting a moratorium on Hollywood films earlier this year (in protest to all the soulless, unoriginal garbage I kept subjecting myself to), I finally ventured back to the Arclight to give her another chance.  I’m so glad I did!  THE ARTIST is a wonderfully successful black and white, silent film in this day and age.  That unto itself is a remarkable feat.  How grand to hear a packed theater laugh and cheer throughout this lovely anachronism.  And the tap dancing!  Not to mention the period clothes and my dream hat.  The female protagonist is marvelous and I’ll forgive the lack of character arc for the male protagonist because, otherwise, it’s nearly flawless.

HUGO, though a bit longish and inconsistent in tone, is a delightful love letter to early cinema and my beloved Georges Melies.  Like all love letters, it’s a bit sappy, but it’s also stunning (amazing production design and some great use of  3-D) and ever so moving.  Watching clips from old silent favorites on the big screen alongside lovingly recreated works from Melies’, literally, magical oeuvre was a real treat.  And for those not in the know, it’s a great history lesson.

For the crowning glory – in this academic nerd girl’s humble opinion: Cronenberg’s latest, A DANGEROUS METHOD.  Not a Kiera Knightly fan at all (for goodness sakes, Dear, eat a cookie!  And please stop treating every scene like high-stakes Shakespeare.  It’s overkill), I was a bit distracted by her performance in the first act.  I simply didn’t buy it.  But even she grows into her role beautifully (what a remarkable woman that  Sabine Spielrein!) and aside from this minor hiccup, I think this is one of the best films I’ve seen all year (alongside Miranda July’s THE FUTURE, Mork Sjeler’s DARK SOULS, Mona Achache’s THE HEDGEHOG, and Fred Cavaye’s POINT BLANK.  Oh, and Tom Tykwer’s 3 and Joann Sfar’s GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE.  And Mike Mills’ BEGINNERS.  It HAS been a good year for movies if you just know where to look.)

I am so thrilled that one of my favorite directors has not gone the route of so many that seem to become caricatures of their former glory, but instead continues to grow and become all the more clever in time.  I daresay, he’s one of the most intelligent seeming directors out there (read his book CRONENBERG ON CRONENBERG and see if you don’t agree.) It gives me great hope for Polanski’s new film, the trailer for which looks almost Altman-esque and back on track after the rather disappointing GHOSTWRITER. I haven’t lost faith, Roman.  Please come back to me!

Oh and, lest I forget, for lovers of guilty pleasures, by all means check out HAROLD & KUMAR’s 3D CHRISTMAS.  To date, it’s my favorite 3-D experience.  You just haven’t fully lived until you’re sitting in a theater, a storm of cocaine snowing all around you as Bing Crosby croons WHITE CHRISTMAS.  And though babies usually scare the crap out of me, the one in this movie finally reveals to me their allure.  Allow me to demonstrate…

THIS IS YOUR BABY…

THIS IS YOUR BABY ON POT, COKE & ECSTASY…

ANY QUESTIONS?

Yes, it’s sick, depraved and utterly irresponsible.  It’s also the most fun I’ve had in the 21-room at the Arclight in a long time.   There’s something to be said for filmmakers who know what kind of movie they’re making and unabashedly go for it, no-holds barred, full speed ahead (so to speak).  Thanks, Hollywood – now that’s  movie magic!  In fact, I think I may just give the new MUPPETS a chance…

Fans of RUN LOLA RUN should be pleased to learn that director Tom Tykwer’s fearless new film 3 is a beautiful exploration of “debunking notions of biological determinism” (i.e. not living by other’s pre-packaged rules).   Tykwer calls it “… a tragicomical movie about love, morals and the sexes in a late-modernist German society at the mercy of its mixed feelings.”  I see it as a movie created “outside of the box” about journeying outside the box in art and life alike.  Regardless, it’s both stunning and inspiring.  I urge you to run out and support its theatrical run.

Miranda July blew my mind last night.  I strongly recommend that everybody who enjoys a brilliant existential mindbend to go see her amazing, endlessly thought-provoking new film THE FUTURE.  However, be sure to see it with intelligent people and plan for discussion time afterwards or your head may explode.  I can’t stop thinking about it. It seems to improve with time as the details unfold in one’s mind many hours and, I suspect, months after having watched it.  I haven’t reacted to a film like this in a long time.  If you hated I HEART HUCKABEES, WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY, WHAT HAPPENED WAS and/or  LOST IN TRANSLATION, you might not care for it (though I could be wrong.)  If you like absurdism, surrealism, and philosophizing about life, love, art and passion, you’d be silly to miss it.  Thanks, Ms. July!  I am beyond inspired.

So, Agustin surprised me with tickets to the Nutcracker Suite as performed by the L.A. Ballet Company this past weekend.  Wow (but not in the good way, alas).  It was nearly as disappointing as Aronofsky’s BLACK SWAN (except for 3 saving graces in the 2^nd act.)  Ballet sure has changed since I had to hang up my toe shoes due to an ailing knee back when.  But, perhaps I dodged a bullet.

Where do I begin?  The outing started off so well.  We grabbed some hot toddy at a nearby bar, then entered UCLA’s Royce Hall to find it filled with nicely dressed patrons and lots of little girls in fancy dresses, patent leather shoes and the occasional tutu and tiara.  Man, how I wish I could shop in the little girls’ department – they get the best clothes!  But I digress.

I feared early on we might be in trouble.  I knew a live orchestra was unlikely in this economy, but less forgivable I noticed, for the second consecutive time in a Nutcracker program, there was no mention of the Sugar Plum Fairy.  WTF?!!!  You might think the most coveted female role is Clara (sometimes called Maria), but any real ballerina will tell you, the role to die for in the Nutcracker is the Sugarplum Fairy – less stage time, but by far the  best choreography and music (and that amazing tutu!)   For me she IS the Nutcracker Suite and one of my few regrets in life – I never got to dance that role.  But the L.A. Ballet Company, just like the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company several years back, have butchered her out of existence.   Is nothing sacred?

Still, I reminded myself, I was at the ballet – what could be more wonderful?  Sadly, the first act compelled me to write a mental list of many things more wonderful.

Much of the first act reminded me of a bad silent film, the kind with the overly  long static shots where people over-act with waving arms and talk endlessly only to cut to a title to indicate one mere line of dialogue.  Rather than actual dancing it seemed like there was a lot of Vanna White-esque posing.

The biggest affront was their warped interpretation of Godfather Drosselmeyer, who is usually an older, slightly scary-at-first, eccentric gent who’s always struck me as a mix between Willy Wonka, Dr. Caligari and Abraham Lincoln.  But to the L.A. Ballet’s casting director, he’s apparently a young, blond, gay pimp in a giant fur coat and bling.  He was just short a purple fedora.  Really?

The choreography was minimal and unremarkable at best.  Some dancers really didn’t seem to know how to move to the music at all, merely stringing together a series of movements rather than flowing seamlessly from one to the next, using every note to expand a little more.   I was quite sure Tchaikovsky was turning in his grave through much of it: such an amazing soundtrack filled with drama, romance,  humor and suspense, wasted on choppy cheerleading moves. There were times the Clara character was just standing on stage looking bored as others paraded around her.  I actually felt embarrassed for her.

Several of the dancers, when they were offered chances at some glimpses of proper choreography, baffled me.  I wondered at first if the stage was too small and they were holding back, but I’d learn in ACT II that was simply not the case.  It was bad technique.  I never thought it could be possible, but I found myself bored.  These were some of the most un-dynamic dancers I’d ever seen.  And some did not seem to know how to dance en pointe just yet.  I thought one girl’s shins were gonna snap the way she miscarried herself.

Perhaps most disappointing was the absence of good storytelling (the first act in a proper production sets up a wonderful story, characters and world).  Aside from Pimp Drosselmeyer, there was no attempt to distinguish any of the characters nor build tension.  The final scene of ACT I where Clara awakens to find the Christmas tree growing, giant mice scurrying and a fierce battle offered no suspense whatsoever.  And how this scene used to terrify me as a child!  But both Clara and the Nutcracker were played by kids who seriously lacked stage presence and the timing of the sequence of events all wrong.  The tree growing felt like an inconsequential afterthought in the BG and barely got a reaction.  The mice costumes were cool, but the dancers spent far too much time on stage merely gesticulating with their paws rather than moving in any interesting way.  What a waste!

As the lights rose during intermission I panicked.  Agustin was so wonderful to have gotten me such a thoughtful gift, I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, I racked my brain for something positive to say. Fortunately,  I needn’t have worried. He turned to me and said, “I’m sorry.  Would you like to go?”  I assured him it was bound to be better in the second act.  Even in a proper production the 2nd act’s mostly dancing without much in the way of story.  Just one good dance would make me happy and I felt confident there had to be at least that.  Fortunately, I was made happy three times over.

Instead of the Sugar Plum Fairy, they had a character called Marie, which was supposed to be Clara’s favorite doll come to life according to the program.  Sadly, while her technique was fine, she danced like she had a stick up her tutu.  I knew girls like her back in dance class – they frequently started dancing later on, so technique had not yet become second nature to them. As such, things came much harder for them and dancing required more concentration.  This can be a serious setback.   I saw this in Marie,who seemed so busy concentrating on the steps, she was no fun to watch – just stiff and precise with no passion (Agustin was amused when my very words would be repeated by a character in BLACK SWAN a few days later, but it’s quite common, so I wasn’t surprised.)  However, her partner – a dancer visiting from Japan, was fabulous.  He did a great solo early on and I experienced a feeling I imagine is not unlike a smoker who takes her first drag after a long flight:  relief, fulfillment, bliss.  I leaned over to Agustin and whispered sincerely, “It was worth it for that.”

I’m pleased to say I was even further rewarded.  Two more dancers were positively breathtaking.  The first was a woman who danced the Arabian Dance – she was one of the most beautiful dancers I’ve ever seen.  Her costume was stunning, her body even moreso and her movement was positively thrilling – utterly controlled, yet fluid and seductive, she and the music fused as one, as did she and her partner who was nearly invisible the way only a truly good partner is when a dance highlights one over the other.  I wondered if they had a guest choreographer on this one.  Finally, somebody demonstrated an understanding of how to move to Tchaikovsky!  My body was covered in goosebumps and I got that old familiar feeling – how I longed to float onto the stage and join her.  I was pleased the audience gave her the biggest applause.  See?  They know.  We really do underestimate audiences.  Time to raise the bar, Guys.

I was sated.  The rest of the show could have been a complete wash and I’d’ve still  left happy as a clam, but after several more clumsy acts, I was rewarded once again.  The Waltz of the Flowers (which I have danced myself) came on and the lead flower was magnificent (the others were mostly quite good, too, and the choreography much improved, though waltzes do tend to be easier for most, I find.  I think it’s because the music is more accessible even if one doesn’t have an ear for classical).

The Rose, the lead flower, was a joy to watch – she looked the way I used to feel whenever I danced – euphoria personified.  How she used the entire space, every movement dynamic, in perpetual motion, so alive.  She made everything appear effortless and fun, and like she defied gravity.  The stage was indeed big enough, though she was bigger still.  Clearly the others had merely been posturing.  But she was truly dancing.  I was horrified by the end of the dance when the music crescendos and so logically, one would think,  the movement should climax, too, but instead the choreography petered out – resorting to little more than “glorified vogue-ing” – d’oh!  But bless the Rose.  Even given crappy choreography she was still alive, trying to break out of this mundane posturing.  She looked like a butterfly pinned to a board – fluttering her wings despite being held captive.  Shame on the choreographer, but you go, Girl!

After, Agustin and I shared a long dinner, wine flowing, as he humored me while I babbled ballet for the next few hours.  After all these years, it still gets me every time.  In the end, well worth the ticket price, despite the disappointments.  Still, be warned if you plan to attend a contemporary performance of the Nutcracker.  It might not be what you remember.  I plan to rent the 1970s DVD version with Baryshnikov as soon as it’s attainable from Netflix again (I was pleased to see there’s a “very long wait” to rent it now.  I guess the tradition still lives on) and recommend doing the same.

I hadn’t meant to write a dissertation, but this is what happens when I get going on one of my topics.  So, I’ll hold off on my BLACK SWAN rant for another day.  In the meantime, if anybody sees the SugarPlum Fairy – please send her all my love and tell her I miss her terribly.

I think it’s probably my life’s quest to find some way to “balance the absurd with the smart,” so imagine my joy when Brutal as Hell’s Keri O’Shea wrote a fabulous review of the Bram Stoker fest films in which she concludes that trippin’ does just that.  Now if I can just apply this new found skill to my personal life, I’ll be jammin’!  Check out the full review HERE.  And I SWEAR I’ll document my own full account of the wondrous event soon.  Halloween (and AFM season) is a rather busy time of year for this horror gal and I simply haven’t had a moment to breathe much less blog is all.  I shall reanimate soon, really I will…

Google alerts failed me.  Our producer Agustin found a new trippin’ review that nearly made me act like the girl I pretend not to be.  I was truly moved.  Thanks, APOCALYPSE LATER for such a wonderful review! I’m almost speechless (which is unheard of as those in the know will undoubtedly confirm.)  In other news, trippin’ will screen at this year’s B-Movie Festival in Syracuse with two acting award nominations!  Congrats, to Zed Wilson (as himself) and Nicole Buehrer (Jizz) for your best supporting actor / best actress nods!  Well deserved, my friends.   I am currently in Indiana for a few days before jetting off to Whitby, England for the fabulously fantastic Bram Stoker Fest and a shot at a Lovecraft-inspired guerilla filmmaking project if all lines up.

Phew!  It’s been a seriously crazy summer/fall with nary a moment to keep up – writing deadlines, film projects and I just turned in final grades for my horror film class which was quite the adventure.  Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not at Notre Dame anymore, but it was a great experience teaching at a performing arts college and  I look forward to more adventures soon.   Hopefully, things will calm down enough to catch up on our  recent adventures we’ve been unable to share due to this non-stop schedule.  But there are simply no idle hands at Deviant these days (and we do miss our Devil spawns.  Fortunately, one should be making his appearance rather soon.  Details forthcoming….)

Our baby’s barely born, but she’s already crawling around out there.   Slammed & Damned’s Theron Neel is the first to share his thoughts on the latest entry of our Deviant oeuvre.  Check it out… HERE.  Then, while you’re there, find out how Hollywood’s blaspheming the Munsters HERE.  Jeesh!  Is nothing sacred?  Thank goodness for the independent press!  Updates on details of the protest sit-in forthcoming…

We’ve just been bestowed with a Deviant trip through time as Anything Horror revisits our early shorts.  Take a journey with reviewer Scott Shoyer as he explores the films that have brought us to where we are today HERE.  And then for Deviant purists, or just for kicks, check out the very first Deviant picture ever, my 1996 film school project: THE GAP inspired by a walk home through the Haight in San Francisco when I wondered what was wrong with “these kids today” and heard myself sounding like my parents for the very first (but certainly not last) time.

I decided to explore what the world would be like when Gen-X-ers had teenagers of their own and the inevitable generation gap that would ensue.  And, yes, I got permission from Rik Ocasek himself for that Cars‘ tune.  Ah, the 90’s – such an innocent time (ahem).  We hope you enjoy our humble beginnings.  I sure did.  Now, onward and upward!

One of the most rewarding moments for a writer/directrix is when she realizes somebody truly saw the movie she set out to make.  Jonathan Weichsel of Film Radar has done just that in his fabulous review of trippin’ found HERE.

We here at Deviant try to take what I describe as a ‘Warner Brothers cartoon” approach to our storytelling…   See, I noticed as an adult revisiting Bugs Bunny cartoons that there is no way I could have possibly understood half of the references and sophisticated humor therein as a child, and yet I adored Bugs Bunny when I was clearly too young to fully appreciate it.  I realized that this is the kind of storytelling I want to strive for – one can engage in it on a surface level and find it entertaining.  But for those who crave more, there are other levels of things happening – social commentary, pastiche, new approaches to old conventions and tropes.

I’ve been amused by the wide range of responses we’ve gotten from trippin’.  Some think it’s a comedy, others a horror film, others a drama in the vein of The Big Chill. Some prefer the more deliberately-paced beginning, others find they’re more engaged once the real mayhem commences; some love the surprise that comes with the transition from one to the other.  Some are more about the characters, while others prefer the kooky, twisting plot developments.  Most love the drug trip regardless.  Some like the satire and playful teasing of standard genre conventions, while others don’t see it as a parody so much as a new way to approach an old idea.

One really can’t get too precious about her own work.  Once you share it with the world there will be as many interpretations as their are spectators who consume it.  I’ve enjoyed this journey and getting to know this world we created through a variety of different eyes. Nonetheless, it was a true treat to read today’s review and see our movie reflected back as the one I envisioned as we first headed into this crazy adventure.  The horror academic in me was particularly excited that somebody recognized the significance of 2 choices I intentionally made in regards to who would die and in what order.   Thanks, Jonathan, for the wonderful review!

Okay, I just love the alliteration in a Killingboxx review as sampled above.  Kudos, Guys, and thanks for their fabulous new review found HERE.  They also kindly highlighted Death in Charge in their feature on the Oklahoma Horror Film Festival to which we’re headed this weekend.  Reports on our Tulsa adventures to come.  Meanwhile, in other news…

Last Seen on Dolores Street is in very fine sound designing hands (hands that won an Oscar for their amazing work on Hurt Locker, no less – more news on that soon.)  Death also just got into fest #95 – will we make it to the big 100, Team?  That would be be sweet, though admittedly I’m not submitting it to more fests these days – we rely on the kindness of invites at this stage.  Similarly, Confederate Zombie Massacre! and I Spit on Eli Roth will screen as part of the Viscera screenings at the International Sci-Fi & horror Film Festival in Phoenix. Plus, stay tuned for an account of my entrance through the Lion’s Gate, but now it’s time to make the zombies.  Happy Sunday!