Mark rabinowitz independent film producer, journalist and film festival staffer, co-founder of indieWIRE, this is the definitive source for indie documentary film insight
The magic of the teeming boardwalk, the flash of light and burn of the sun, tacky signs beckoning you to the screaming thrill of the rides or the fascinating charade of the freak show, and the sour smell of sweat and Nathan's hot dogs.
Coney Island
July 2003
Mashomack Estate,
Upsate New York,
Summer 2003
The slow decay and decline of an agricultural industry - iron twisting and turning, paint peeling wood turning grey, green weeds thrusting through brick stone and concrete, nature taking back control where mans eyes have been averted.
Irving Plaza NYC Sept 10th 2004
Sold out weeks before hand, this was the triumphant return to their roots after taking the rest of the world by the scfruff of its neck and giving it a good shaking.
Michael Clayton: A modern corporate conspiracy/thriller tale that's wordy and relatively slow paced but intelligent, gripping and marked by oscar worthy performances by Clooney and Tilda Swinton.
Clooney is the in house corporate fixer for a major New York law firm who is assigned to look after a high profile litigator who has a moral crisis with his work and begins to undermine his class action case for a chemical company. There are no real twists or CGI theatrics just a realistic portrayal of life in the gritty urban jungle that is modern America and the moral ambiguities and complexities we are forced to confront. New York has never looked more dangerously grimy. Clooney has never looked more weary or angry. Its worth a look.
I now believe that Thursday is the new Saturday. You can get around the city with ease. The taxi rides are quicker, the streets aren't as clogged. The pavements aren't as jammed with fanny packed tourists gawking at the neon. And you can just cope with the bar crowds. Sure those kakhi panted I-bankers ordering espresso martini's for their legal intern betties aren;t much fun, but at least you're not being frustrated by the generally loud and obnoxiously perfumed Jersey / Brooklyn crowds. I've claimed Thursday as my night.
Leaving the DVR on for Survivor - China, it was off to Soho with JR to the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery opening of the new show by Steve Huston.
The artist is a former boxer and his knowledge of musculature shows in his fine work here of male workmen captured mostly bare chested in various manual work situations - pulling large largely unseen objects or heaving heavy loads. Her has moved on from his boxer series and has developed an understanding of architectural elements that now form the background to his principal male subjects.
So I am somewhat of a political geek, sometimes it becomes an obsession. I even watch Congressional Hearings on CSPAN 3. Now thats an admission.
One portion of my library is stashed with thick tomes on various esoteric political subjects. One that I recently devoured was Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine - Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.
Toobin actually has taken what could have been a dull story and crafted a well written gripping tale of the Republic's Third Branch. It's not laws or constitutional theory that rule the Court, Toobin argues in this absorbing group profile. It's the quirky men and women appointed for life with little accountability, driven by rivalry and guided by political intuition and sometimes raw politics.
In Toobin's world each of the Justices are weird. Chief Justice Rehnquist has little interest in the reasoning even of his own opinions; Scalia pugnacious and angry alienates potential allies; Breyer an eternal optimist with a sometimes unrealistic belief in his own powers of persuasion; and a pompous Anthony Kennedy revels in his power to shape the law. At the center of the ensemble was O'Connor, the former politician and Goldwater Republican who comes across as a finger-in-the-wind justice driven by (her view) of public opinion).
Its a good read full of fun vignettes and shows how partisan politics drives the court more than principles. However Toobin's obvious desire for compromise and centrism tends to distort his analysis, doesn't lead to great insight into how the court really works or how it should work. It doesn't suggest any way to reform the Court or even if it needs reform. It is worth a read though.
Ventured well downtown to the Knitting Factory to find some new music.
A young New Jersey / West Phili power pop band Liam and Me. They are a tight fivesome with some catchy tunes. Their style is alot of post punk with synth overtones with a riff on vintage 80's influences, Good lyrics and danceable tunes.
They played the basement room - not great acoustics, but are touring extensively.
Wes Anderson's latest film The Darjeeling Limited opens the New York Film festival tonight.
At the Apple store Soho last Wednesday he and Jason Schwartzman launched the short film prequel - Hotel Chevalier. Schwartzman is so short. It was also screened at the Apple stores in LA and San Fran. It is now also available on Itunes.
I was originally intended to screen before all showings of Darjeeling Limited. The entire short takes place in Jack Whitman's (Schwartzman) parisian hotel room. It stars Natalie Portman as his grilfriend and tells the story of their breakup that apparently leads Jack to meet his brothers Francis (Owen Wilson) and Peter (Adrien Brody) in India for the "Darjeeling' spiritual journey and adventure.
Jack, the baby of the family and a writer who bases his "fictional" characters on everything that happens to him, comes to India still so obsessed with the ex-girlfriend he left behind in Paris, he can't stop eavesdropping on her answering machine, for which he still has the code.
Its a very cute and mysterious introduction to the main film. Apparently Anderson filmed it 12 months prior to Darjeeling. It makes me want to go back to Paris - it looks so gorgeous. It was filmed at the 4 star Hotel Raphael on Ave Kleber next to Place de 'Etoile and the Champs Elysees.
I also want the luggage it is Marc Jacobs for Vuitton.
The 11 pieces of distinctive Louis Vuitton luggage made specifically for the movie was designed by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton and includes monogrammed steamer trunks, duffels, and suitcases covered in a jungle pattern created by Anderson's brother, Eric. The luggage will be auctioned off with proceeds going to benefit UNICEF and the Rawal Mallinathji Foundation, a medical treatment charity in India. The luggage is on display at the Louis Vuitton store in New York and you can enter a silent bid for the pieces there.
Last night, a warm humid evening, in Washington Square Park New York City around 25,000 of us packed in to Touch the Sky with Barack...an amazing crowd was enamoured with an inspiring, humorous and serious speech from a true warm and honest human that represents the best in this country.
The crowd gathered hours before hand, and roared as the Senator arrived to Kanye Wests Touch the Sky. They continued to raor their support throughout his speech that truly gave me hope.
This is a man that does stand as a realistic alternative to all those establishment politicians who are mired in the system and beholden to special interests. Obama offers change and a new way forward.
His speech was peppered with nice human touches - his jokes about baseball and knowing the bars around the village. He seems to care and have integrity and decency.
The most inspiring part of the speech comes from about 3.30 mins on in part 3 of the movie.
Enjoy these snippets from an inspiring night in NYC.
Visiting one of America's, if not the world's, largest and most impressive collection at the Art Institute of Chicago stumbled upon a major exhibition by Canadian photographer Jeff Wall.
Wall is the pre-eminent photoconceptualist - a group centered around Vancouver in the 1960's and 70's whose work is characterized by large format prints often depicting a highly stylized mise-en-scene in painstakingly elaborate detail. Very much like my hero Phillipe-Lorca Dicorcia.
2007 is the year of this Jeff Wall
traveling retrospective of huge colour transparencies mounted on light boxes. They are a true feast of details for the eyes and the mind that processes the images. His work is epic, luminous, staged, theatrical and huge in scale - on average 6 foot by 8 foot..
The many details of Wall's photos are all part of carefully executed compositions that
are harmonious arrangements of the artist’s vision, sometimes
referencing previous works by other artists, including renowned Japanese woodblock print maker Hiroshoge.
I could stand for ages in frtont of one of his pieces, exploring every little detail. He is amazing.
"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it"
Margaret Fuller
(Sarah) Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1810 - 1850) - a journalist, critic and womens rights activist. She was probably the most important gender theorist of her time. Born in Cambridge Massachusetts. She gained a vigorous classical education from her father, a lawyer and prominent politician. She said this shaped her mind but also sensitized her to the personal expense of her societies masculinized values.
My friend in Caracas, Arturo Serrano, is a brave, intelligent and intellectually honest academic. I met him in London and have always been impressed by his strength of his convictions and character.
He is a vocal critic of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. On his recent visit to New York we had many long discussions about the politics of his land and the actions that Chavez has been implementing. At that time I worried about his safety in Caracas if indeed Artie was as voluble in his views there as he was in the safe environment of the USA.
Arturo was quoted in the latest edition of the UK Guardian expressing his opinion on Chavez's use of his Sunday television program the chat show - Aló Presidente. I am proud of him and pleased that he is getting prominence and respect. I also worry even more now for his safety.
Starting the day right at the Hotel Deseo Playa Del Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsular Mexico...sunshine, coffee a sweet sea breeze and some huevos....paradise
Another Booker Prize Shortlist and one by 1998 winner Ian McEwan (for Amsterdam).
This sad short novel - more of a novella ( a theme amongst this years nominees) - is about relationships, abuse, missed opportunities, and the gloomy world before the onset of the sexual revolution. It is also about how history isnt really made by great men or grand sweeping themes but in the end is a series of small mistakes and misunderstandings
It is June 1962. In a hotel on the Dorset coast, overlooking Chesil
Beach, Edward and Florence, who got married that morning, are sitting
down to dinner in their room. Neither is entirely able to suppress
their anxieties about the wedding night to come. Misunderstandings and mis-communications that night shape their world and impacts the rest of their lives.
McEwan's lyrical prose agonisingly describes the anxieties and anticipations of the wedding night as well as the dowdy faded elegance of England of the early 1960's. His characters and their experiences broke my heart and the end left me a little emptier.
This is a worthy contender for the Booker, but he's won before; its a short novel; and it really doesn't tackle the broader themes and concerns of the current world.
So Cal - fish tacos on Mission beach in San Diego; ice cold beers on terraces overlooking the Pacific and bare chested Cali boys playing horseshoes; enjoying life with good friends watching the world wander by the Boardwalk on bikes, blades and skateboards.
Luxing it up at the swishy Tower 23...a touch of South Beach on the west coast. The minimalist hotel is more like an urban beach resort. It takes its name from the Lifeguard Tower 23 just out front next to the Pier on Pacific Beach.
After dinner in the exclusive enclave of La Jolla we headed back to those feather light beds listening to the waves crashing on the broad sandy beach.
So I saw the face of hatred and intolerance today. It wasn't President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, but he was close, I did see him go by on Broadway in his motorcade. He was the cause of the fracas though.
I ventured by subway up top 116th St to Columbia University to see what sort of protest would New Yorkers put on for his visit and the speech/Q&A.
It was a relatively small crowd of about a couple of hundred mostly peaceful people, with a brave or foolhardy handful of anti-War stalwarts.
Firstly my cards on the table. I believe in the right of anyone to speak freely even if I vehemently disagree with what they have to say. I think this man is a nasty dictator and probably not very smart. I think Columbia was right to put his feet to the fire in a debate environment.
And apparently President Bollinger had greater balls than President Bush who wont even meet with him. Bollinger actually met with him and face to face told Ahmadinejad some cold harsh realities. That's what this country is all about - or should be all about - spirited free discussion of views and opinions. Not childish ignorance, arrogance and Fox News shout downs.
I also realize that demonstrations are not about informed and respectable discourse. But I was surprised at the bile, bitterness and vileness of the anti Iran - pro Israel crowd. There was no respect for opposing views or even the right of others to have opposing views. There was nasty shouting, irrelevant taunting, personal insults rather than sensible comments, childish chanting and most frightening of all bus loads of young Jewish high school boys who immediately parroted rehearsed lines sprouted by elders and sang Jewish songs. It was far too like the 30's Seig Heil chants and Horst Wessel Song.
I also admit there was a particularly nasty sign held by a quiet Iranian supporter - he was ready for debate (he probably wouldnt have changed his mind) but he didn't deserve the physical attacks and shoving around.
There were other anti-war protestors. That takes some courage.
Then there were these strange folks - mostly blond hair, blue eyed, red regalia.. anti Iran and very weird.
In all the crowd there were some - the silent minority - that did seek an intelliugent discourse. They were drowned out by the the chants of "USA USA" and "where's your burquaa".
The one humorous quip I did here was a retort to the muslim holding the horrid sign about "mushroom clouds over Israel. Someone asked why he was wearing a Polo Shirt, did he know Ralph Lauren was born Ralph Lifshitz and was Jewish?
The faces of hate were not interested in discussion and debate. This is what this country has become - a land of hate, racial bigotry and religious intolerance. Yes its not as bad as Iran or Saudi Arabia or Turkey but by my god it is still frightening to see where its going. I saw the face of the crowd today and I was scared for the future.
We need to engage in controversial dialogue within the USa as well as internationally. We cant afford these days to stand back refuse to talk and shout epithets at each other. We need to question Ahmadinejad even more, harder questions more follow-up. Lets not retreat into our corners of hate.
So one of my real peeves... a New York restaurant that doesn't take reservations and then has the temerity to employ an inefficient and rude "maitre d'". This is especially infuriating when the space is tiny.
Friday night we ventured down to 23rd street at 9-30pm to try Momoya - a small Japanese Sushi place. Now a good question is why we would go some 60 blocks packed with sushi joint after sushi joint - infact just around our apartment there are about half a dozen sushi restaurants - they are as ubiquitous as roaches on the UWS.
So we chose Momoya as it had good reviews from one of our most respected reviewers - Frank Bruni - admittedly back in 2005.
We arrive to be confronted by the host forcefully stating that there was no room - no apologies, no waiting list, no suggestions, no offers to come back at another time. Simply unprofessional and damned rude. Flabbergasted for a little, we eventually asked to her fleeing back, when the kiutchen was closing. Her smart comment thrown over her shoulder, that it closed at 11-45 - some hour and half still to go - shocked us more. Miss, if you had a bad day you shouldnt take it out on your possible guests. Get some professional help and also learn how to be a good maitre d - you would never cut it in France or at any five star place - perhaps you were just thinking of your next audition.
Momoya - a message - Sushi joints in NYC are a dime a dozen and a lot are of very high quality. To reamin popular you need to treat everyone well. You can be assured that we will not be travelling down to Chelsea to try your food and endure that rude host again. And we will be telling everyone that we know not to go either. It might not mean much to you, but it makes me happier.
I am now half way through the Booker List and I remain impressed by the pure quality of writing of the shortlisted novels.
Mister Pip is the story of Matilda Laimo a 13 year old coming-of-age in a small village on Bouganville during the 1990's blockade. Again here the intensily personal has mingled with harsh political reality. This story is set at the time the world looked away as the PNG government and the Bouganvillian rebels ferouciously battled about the fate and future of the island's fabuously rich copper mine and the innocent civilian islanders in their Paradise suffered horribly. This is an intense story of fabulous characters, graphic terror, resiliant humanity and above all the powerful magic of storytelling.
Jones' sparse writing surprisingly captures the lyricism and lushness of the Pacific island and the enchanting characters that inhabit this would be paradise. It is told from a first person narrative from matilda's perspective - a device i dont usually like - adult writers dont always truly capture an adolsecnet's style.
The title refers to Pip of Dicken's Great Expectations - a story that fascinates, sustains and guides Matilda. This novel beautifully demonstrates power of fiction - that wonderful combination of imagination and narrative - to transform,inspire and also sometimes mislead humans.
But in the end it is our minds and our individual voices that are our special weapons in an ammoral world - weapons that can never be taken from us.
As summer draws to a close and the trees in Central Park slowly turn a golden brown, I look back fondly to those days lying back with beers and burgers at water Taxi Beach in Brooklyn - overlooking the tall towers of Manhattan but a millions miles away from all our cares.
Not so much a story about New York, but it does say a lot about the sorry state of affairs that exist in some parts in the USA.
Years after Bloody Sunday in Selma, Rosa Parks and MLK's "I have a dream" speech, we still have the unforgivable treatment of New Orleans after Katrina, Don Imus, the Marbury New York Knicks fiasco and now the Jena Six. Sadly it is clear that there is a deeply rooted racism still in the States.
Jena is a small town in Central Louisiana. It is a mixed community of about 4,000 residents - 85% white, 12% black.
This is a long post but important.
Last summer at the integrated and public Jena High School, a
black student, Kenneth Purvis, asked the school's principal whether he
was permitted to sit under the shade of the school courtyard tree. This was a
place traditionally reserved for white students only. He was told he
could sit where he liked.
The following morning, when the students arrived at school, they found three nooses dangling from the tree.
Most whites in Jena dismissed it as a tasteless prank,
but not surprisingly the minority black community identified the gesture as something
far more vicious.
"It meant the KKK, it meant 'niggers we're going to kill
you, we're gonna hang you 'til you die'," said Caseptla Bailey, one of
the black community leaders.
Old racial fault lines in Jena began to
fracture the town. It was made worse when - despite the school head
recommending the noose-hangers be expelled - the LaSalle Parish School board overruled him
and the three white student perpetrators merely received a slap on the
wrist.
Apparently angered by the reduced punishment, a group of black
students organized a sit-in under the tree in September that was
dispersed by police, who had already responded to several calls of
fights between black and white students after the noose incident. A
school assembly that month, at which white and black students pointedly
sat on opposite sides, didn't help matters, as a local district
attorney — upset at his inability to calm the room down — reportedly
glared at the side of the room where the black students were sitting,
held up a pen and said, "with one stroke of my pen, I can make your
life disappear."
Tensions continued to mount and police were called in to patrol
the halls of the school, which was put on total lockdown the week of
September 8, 2006. Several days later, the school board rejected a
request by some black students to address the issues plaguing the
school, saying they felt the noose incident had been resolved
satisfactorily.
Billy Doughty, the local barber, has never cut a black man's hair. But he does not think there is a racism problem in Jena.
Caseptla Bailey who is 56 and a former Air Force
officer, has a degree in business management, but she cannot get a job
as a bank teller. She lives in an area called Ward 10, which is where
the majority of blacks live in trailers or wooden shacks. She says no
whites live there at all.
"We want to live better, we want better housing." she says. "The Church says we should all be brothers and sisters in Christ".
Things were relatively quiet for much of the rest of September and
October, mostly due to the soaring fortunes of the football team, whose
winning streak was helped by the efforts of some key black players. But
shortly after the season ended on November 30, a fire burned down the
main academic building of Jena High School in what was believed to be
arson, with blacks pointing the finger at whites and vice versa.
The fire preceded a series of ugly racial conflicts that
escalated tensions in the town. The night after the fire,
then-16-year-old Robert Bailey Jr. was attacked and beaten when he and
some black friends attempted to enter a party that was mostly attended
by whites. On December 2, Bailey got into a verbal altercation with a
white student who had also attended the party, with the white teen
running to his truck and pulling out a shotgun. Bailey and his friends
chased the teen and took the gun away, leading to charges of theft of a
firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace for Bailey,
while the student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all.
At Jena High School that Monday, December 4, a white student,
Justin Barker, 17, was allegedly overheard bragging to friends about
how Bailey had been whipped by a white man. When he stepped into the
school's courtyard, Barker was attacked by a group of black students
who knocked Barker out with one punch and then kicked him in the head
repeatedly.
Barker fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete, suffering bruising and concussion.He was treated at the local hospital and released, and that same evening felt able to put in an appearance at a school function.
The six alleged attackers — Robert Bailey Jr. (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18),
Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and a 14-year-old boy — were
arrested in connection with the assault on the white student, with all but the minor initially charged as adults on attempted
second-degree murder charges and all six expelled from school.If convicted they could be 50 before they leave
prison.
In June, on the morning of his trial, the charges against Bell were
reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. The black
community again protested, taking issue with the battery charge, which
requires the use of a "deadly weapon" — in this case the gym shoe that
Bell was wearing when he kicked Barker. District Attorney Reed Walters
argued the shoe was indeed a deadly weapon.
Bell was found guilty by an all-white jury — which included two
people who were allegedly friendly with the DA and one who was a friend
of the victim's father — after his court-appointed public defender did
not call any witnesses. He now faces up to 22 years in prison at his
sentencing hearing today — the conspiracy charge was dropped on
September 4 and the battery conviction overturned last Friday when a
court of appeals ruled that Bell should not have been tried as an
adult. He remains in jail while prosecutors deliberate whether to file
new charges against him in juvenile court.
The charges against Jones and Shaw were also reduced to
aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy on September 4, with
Bailey's charges also reduced on September 10. Bryant Purvis has yet to
be arraigned in the case and is the only remaining Jena Six member to
be charged as an adult with attempted second-degree murder. Many of the
young men remained in jail for months because their families could not
afford their bail, which ranged from $70,000 for Purvis to $138,000 for
Bailey.
So Azz was out and about not expected back for hours - what better time to settle in with a large diet coke and popcorn and catch a good movie at the rather ghetto cinema on our block? Firstly, what a surprise they were playing something fairly interesting - The Brave One. Usually its some Pixar classic or worse one of the latest "comedies" from Ben Stiller.
A long (2 hours) moral tale and love poem to New York City with a truly stunning actress - Jodie Foster. Then there was the cameo by Naveen Andrews (did they get their money's worth from his five minutes?) and an too long appearance by Terrance Howard - I don't understand why the buzz!
Unfortunately Jodie cant rescue this mess of a film. It tries but in the end its not moody, dark or believable. By the time the "shock" immoral ending comes about you just want outta that theater.
And this is the gayest I have ever seen Jodes - she channels every dike you can imagine.
Perhaps my mood was ruined by the baby in the audience, who in every quiet moment, cried out for its moma. This is an R rated movie people - get a babysitter! I told you that my local cinema was downmarket.
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