In between all this theorizing, sound recording, and filmmaking, I have some new design works done for Showtime and Double Wide Media.
This is the song list from my drive home after that trip to Connecticut. Somewhere not far out of New London the night air fully filled my car, the darkness removed unnecessary highway images, and the smell of smoke settled in nicely beside the music that Etienne chose for me. When I stopped for gas, crickets took over on sound duty.
Again, slightly reshuffled towards the middle, and some tracks didn’t make the cut. The beginning and ends are exactly how they happened. Bowie came on just as I arrived on Roosevelt Island. When it was over, somewhere on the BQE, I was 20 minutes from my house in Brooklyn. I turned the stereo off. Night complete.
Play in browser above, or download it here
Here’s the tracklist, (title – artist):
Futureworld East: World of Motion, ‘(It’s) Fun to be Free’ Da Vinci (Load Version) – EPCOT
Metti, Una Sera A Cena – Ennio Morricone
La Boheme – Charles Aznavour
Let There Be Love – Oasis
Ma Thama Zinek Ii – Raoul Journo
So Long, Savannah – Eric Bachman
Untitled (6) – Tim Hecker
Ijesha – Ebenezer Obey & his International Brothers
Paw Paw Tree – The Fiery Furnaces
Trance Manual Remix – John Vanderslice
He Went To Paris – Jimmy Buffett
Beware Your Only Friend – Bonnie “Prince” Billy
(Intermission) – Eluvium
It’s All A Lie – Keren Ann
Friend Of Mine – The National
Evening On The Ground (Liliths Song) – Iron & Wine
Prende La Vela – Folcklor
Wer Du Bist – Françoise Hardy
Wind Through A Broken Glass – Mark Fosson
Les filles n’ont aucon Degout – Serge Gainsbourg & Sylvie Vartan
Cliquot – Beirut
Heroes – David Bowie
One hour, twenty-one minutes.
Typical me, speaking up too late.
But two nights ago I saw Liverpool, by Lisandro Alonso.
And now, even if you live in NY, it’s too late to see the film.
What I loved is the sparseness. Generally I gravitate towards films with more blatant structural / formalistic assemblages (probably because I started out in film by realizing the power of editing and montage). But this film is so stripped down, and yet so full, that I wish I could retreat into a black space and watch it any time something overwhelmingly negative or confusing confronts me.
This is a film which gives us so much room to contemplate and yet is so dense and ––
I wish to remain speechless. Isn’t there a bumper sticker that says “the best things in life aren’t things?” That’s very true. And descriptions are things. I just hope to entice you to give yourself over to the possibility of this film in your life, somehow.
I simply can’t ask for anything more than space, time, imagery and sound. Nothing else gets me further along towards whatever ecstasy I seek in the cinema. Plot, character, messages, not as moving as contemplation pieces. No matter what we see, when the film leaves our experience it reclaims whatever part of our cognitive mind it grappled with, and we toss it aside. What if cognition isn’t the goal? What if self reflection is? A film cannot reclaim that. Films can take us new places, even if it’s only in our minds, and within our experience. They can provide a framework for personal peace.
You could read this if you like: http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts/976
I’m really excited for MOMA’s program in the next month as well, especially Roy Andersson’s films (which I hope to revisit there) and Michael Almereyda’a new film Paradise, which has come with a glowing recommendation. I’ll see you there, I’d love for you to join me.
Everything is sentimental these days, what can I say?! Enjoy yourselves.
Typical me, will this post still be online this time tomorrow?
Saturday I drove to Connecticut. These are the songs that came on randomly during the drive there. I listened to this again today as I did some color tests and corrections. I reordered the songs just a bit, and got rid of some that I skipped over in the car.
I like the idea of this: mostly random, somewhat curated playlists. More to come.
Download it here
TRACKLIST:
Mico Nonet – Gloaming
Little Joy – Play The Part
Harry Nilsson – Everybody’s Talkin’
Eluvium – Requiem on Frankfort Ave
Nina Simone – July Tree
Palace – West Palm Beach
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Dusty Wreath
Del Rey & The Sun Kings – A Happy Day in the City
Werner Herzog – Father Umbrillo’s Broken Nation
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – King Of Kings
Phosphorescent – The Waves At Night
Little Joy – Unattainable
Shigeru Umebayashi – Yumeji’s Theme
Smog – Palimpsest
Spokane – Singing
Jean-Philippe Rameau - Les Boreades Ritournelle
Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari – So Long
Tom Waits – All The World Is Green
Vincent Gallo – Her Smell Theme
Solomon Lindas Original Evening Birds – Mbube
Luke Jordan – Traveling Coon
Canon Blue – Baptesme
Deaf Center – Eloy
Françoise Hardy – Ein Fenster Wird Hell
Guyok Himself – Sidi Ma Sidi Batai
Headdress – Babylon
Palace Brothers – Wither Thou Goes
Jim James & Calexico – Goin’ To Acapulco
Brian Eno – Three Variations On The Canon In D Major: (i) Fullness Of The Wind
This will run you a good hour and thirty-six minutes. Take your time.
I have long enjoyed David Bordwell’s writing, and especially loved this recent article:
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=5264
It got me thinking; is this transmedia movement really still trying to posit itself as the sole way for true independents to make quality work? I haven’t really felt a need to defend my favorite works from its clutches any more. Here’s what I just put on the twitter:
“There’s a reason that pictures have frames.”
Although at this point, any further arguments against crowd-sourcing and transmedia from me seem a bit pointless…
like opening a thread that had been closed and deemed a case of “to each his own.” A walk in an opposite direction.
I don’t think transmedia is or ever will be a “threat” to my work. Don’t need to revisit this in words. Why look back? But read Bordwell!
At a certain point, as a filmmaker rather than a writer, having theories about a process is pointless to me if I don’t embark on that process by practicing those theories. Right now I’m more interested in making films that show the medium’s potential. I’m sure at some point I’ll more passionately revisit this. I also think that just as I was shouting about how I’m not interested in crowd sourcing and transmedia style filmmaking, I’m not even interested in thinking about it these days. It’s an option, but not one that interests me, hardly stirs up any emotions after a while. It’s the past.
I think I was trying to make this point. To people who don’t believe a film should take certain recommended paths, they’re simply going to lose interest in those paths if they’re made to feel they don’t have a choice any more. You can’t force someone to be interested in something, let alone excel at it. You’ll end up with a lot of stale attempts at story bibles that reveal themselves to be stale attempts at a shortcut to fame.
Another old Bordwell standby is here:
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=339
These articles are good for you.
Chris is arriving tomorrow morning and we’ll be working on assembling a fine cut of Brethren, having been at various stages of a rough cut for about a month now. Also looking forward to St. Nick at Rooftop, Headless Woman at Film Forum, United / Arsenal at Floyd, and Blue Moon at everywhere.