Speaking in Code - Megapolis - NEXT WEEK

The newSpeaking in Code premiers at the Somerville Theater April 23, 2009. It is a documentary about new electronic music full of beauty and madness. I highly recommend it. Tickets are available now


Upcomingnext Friday the MegapolisAudio Art Festival is happening in Cambridge, Somerville, Jamaica Plain and other places in the Boston Area. I'll be there the first couple of nights providing DJ activity in some capacity. It should be interesting. Note the Schmedule! Ticket information is here.

Absolute Wilson opening in Boston - December 1

From Landmark Theatre's website:

The legendary Robert Wilson (Einstein on the Beach, CIVIL warS, The Black Rider) is one of the most visionary theater artists of our time. Filmmaker Katharina Otto-Bernstein's richly provocative and moving portrait delivers a surprisingly candid look at Wilson's troubled and lonely childhood, his early learning disabilities and his fascination with the downtown New York avant-garde scene of the late '60s. What emerges is a life full of impressions, colors and rhythms, revealing how Wilson's early hardships ultimately shaped his groundbreaking aesthetic vision. Features a lively mix of interviews, including musician David Byrne, writer Susan Sontag, singer/songwriter Tom Waits, composer and collaborator Philip Glass and opera star Jessye Norman.

Director: Katharina Otto-Bernstein

Cast: Robert Wilson, Arnold Aronson, David Byrne, Robyn Brentano, William Burroughs, Andy De Groat, Maita Di Niscemi, Christophe de Menil, Charles Fabius, Felipe Fernandez, Philip Glass, Arthur Holmberg, George Klauber, Trudy Kramer, Stefan Lang, Harvey Lichtenstein, Cindy Lubar, Earl Mack, Carol Mullins, Jim Neu, Jessye Norman, Benedicte Pesle, John Rockwell, John Simon, Ines Somerella, Susan Sontag, Joseph Volpe, Tom Waits, Jorn Weisbrodt, Geoffrey Wexler, Suzanne Wilson

MPAA Rating: NR
Run Time: 1hr 45min
Release Year: 2006
Country Of Origin: USA

More details in my earlier post. I strongly recommend the Teddy Awards site as it has the full Q&A with Robert Wilson and Katharina Otto-Bernstein at the Berlin Film Festival.

This is what Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader had to say:
"Katharina Otto-Bernstein's documentary provides an excellent introduction to the singular vision of avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson. Its sketchy account of his career permits little insight into his ascent to mainstream venues over the past few decades, which hasn't always been felicitous (also true of his collaborator Philip Glass). But Otto-Bernstein gives a sharp sense of Wilson's comfortable Southern Baptist upbringing in Waco, Texas, and how his stuttering and learning disabilities shaped more radical aspects of his productions once he took on handicapped collaborators in works like Deafman's Glance and A Letter From Queen Victoria. Wilson, Glass, Susan Sontag, and David Byrne are among the more perceptive interviewees, and the film includes many fascinating samples of his work. 105 min. -- Jonathan Rosenbaum"

Check metacritic for more reviews.

Emile de Antonio - finally on DVD!

Home Vision Entertainment is finally distributing excellent prints of Emile de Antonio's films on DVD. Most of his films are only available to watch in various university film archives across the country. A few of the prints available are in mediocre condtion-- so it is with great pleasure that I look forward to the release of a number of his works on DVD. Due in November is "Point of Order", his look at the McCarthy hearings, a welcome accompaniment to George Clooney's latest effort "Goodnight and Goodluck", which cronicles the mind-numbing, middle-american, tactics that Joseph McCarthy used during his witch hunts. Emile de Antonio's work "In the Year of the Pig", describes Chi Minh Ho as a hero in the Marxist mold, and deftly chronicles the madness of war and government corruption. His films will leave you thirsting for some kind of contemporary equalivalent to his expert use of the documentary form.
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The copy reads:

In the Year of the Pig

Home Vision Entertainment
Directed By: Emile de Antonio
Starring: Harry S. Ashmore, Kenneth P. Landon, Gerald Ford, Robert McNamara, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, George S. Patton IV, Joseph Buttinger, Chi Minh Ho, Joseph McCarthy, Madame Nhu

“One of the most powerful antiwar films ever made.”

–One World Film Festival, Czech Republic

Summary

Produced at the height of the Vietnam War, Emile de Antonio’s Oscar®-nominated 1968 documentary chronicles the war’s historical roots. With palpable outrage, De Antonio (Point of Order, Underground) assembles period interviews with journalists, politicians, and key military personnel and international newsreel and archival footage to create a scathing chronicle of America’ escalating involvement in this divisive conflict. The savage and horrific images speak for themselves in perhaps the most controversial film of de Antonio’s career, and the film he cites as his personal favorite."

Post-Mondovino

The documentary is as they say a bit rambling but good in terms of bringing out the personalitites involved in the wine trade. It focuses on the business aspect and concepts of cultural identity. At 137 minutes it does seem a bit much, but I can sympathize with the director's objective of presenting a fuller picture of the industry. Apparently it was edited down from 500 minutes of footage and marginally shorter than the 3 hour cut that was shown at Cannes. It is all shot in DV so you needn't worry too much about seeing it on a smaller screen. I do think it will work better in televised form. A projected series for the BBC is in the works-- in smaller segments, the subject will be more digestible.

The post-film discussion with Jonathan Nossiter (the director), a professor of French, and Niall Ferguson, was exceptionally lively due to Mr. Ferguson's presence. Ostensibly he was on the panel due to his books on the history of the House of Rothschild. He primarily attempts to 'follow the money' and leave politics to the wayside-- but is it not impossible to seperate the two? Needless to say, Mr. Nossiter and Mr. Ferguson's agendas and viewpoints could not be further from each other. Mr. Nossiter was visibly irritated by Mr. Ferguson's presence as he failed to see the novelty of Mr. Nossiter's film. As far as Mr. Ferguson was concerned, this documentary presented 'business as usual' in the wine industry. He was not exactly denying the effect of globalization but rather explaining that there are historical parallels to it that should not be overlooked. Mr. Ferguson's contrarian tactics while on the one hand provided some balance to the evening's proceedings they also deeply infuriated the director, who claimed that after touring with this film in 15 countries, this has been the only place where he was verbally taken to task. I do think it is naieve for Mr. Nossiter to claim that his documentary doesn't present an argument, it shows how the wine industry has changed rapidly in the past 20 years primarily due to marketing-- and who is responsible for this. This film will encourage debate (as it already has in France) about the practices of this industry-- and how much people are willing to believe. How manufactured confidence manipulates the market. It is less an expose than a film that allows the general public to view and hear the personalities involved in the production and dissemination of wine. What really makes the film are the vibrant and dogmatic personalities involved.

(As a side note the French Professor mentioned Olivier Assays' film "Les Destinées Sentimentales", which is based on the book by Jacques Chardonne (who was a Fascist) which regards the forturnes of a family who is in the Congac trade during the First World War. Unfortunately I don't think his book has been translated into English.)

Mondovino is due to play at the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston from April 15th onwards.

Mondovino:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0411674/

http://www.mondovino-lefilm.com/

Niall Ferguson:

http://www.makeoutcity.com/Categories/People/NiallFerguson/

http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/12/phillipsfein2512.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,891477,00.html

Les Destinées Sentimentales:

http://www.wellspring.com/lesdestinees/assayas.htm

mondovino

http://www.mondovino-lefilm.com/synopsis.html

http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/

"This fascinating documentary about the impact of globalization on the French wine industry was a surprise hit at the recent Cannes film festival. See it before its US premiere and join us for a panel discussion afterwards featuring director, Jonathan Nossiter."

so the copy reads on the CES site. I'm going to try and check this out tonight. Full report later this evening. It sticks out in my mind because of the brace of articles in the Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk) around Cannes last May.

wish me luck.