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SPECTRUM
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Lifestyle f there was one film that reflected the ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival, it was the story of a young man who pursues his peculiar, nearly insane vision until his determination wins over everyone. “The Trotsky” stars Jay Baruchel (“Undeclared,” “Tropic Thunder”) as a Canadian high schooler, Leon, who believes he’s the reincarnation of Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky. It may not be a great film (its conceit is stretched as far it will go), but it’s original and charming. Leon’s union-forming quest is quixotic, not unlike the journeys of so many of the 85 filmmakers who brought movies to Tribeca, which wrapped up Sunday. Finding an audience for independent films and documentaries has rarely been more difficult, yet wonderful movies are still being made around the world. Tribeca’s offerings can be a mixed bag, but this year’s edition seemed more likely than previous festivals to entertain a moviegoer wandering into a randomly picked screening. There was the poetic (the Iranian fable “White Meadows”), the crowd-pleasing (the rock band documentary “Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage,” which won the audience award), the difficult to categorize (“The Arbor,” a fusion of fiction and documentary) and the brutal (“Dog Pound,” the violent and highly memorable story of a youth correctional facility). There were many more, and surely some that slipped by. But here are a handful of the highlights from the festival: Gibney’s Spitzer: Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker of “Taxi to the Dark Side” and “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” was ubiquitous at Tribeca, where he had three films. None was more anticipated nor captivating as his yet untitled documentary about Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York. Spitzer participated in the film, that was picked up for distribution by HBO Documentary Films, and hearing him speak, clad in a tailored suit and talking straight to the camera, is riveting. Gibney’s “My Trip to Al-Qaeda,” a cinematic adaptation of Lawrence Wright’s stage play, was also fascinating _ and in a very different way from the Spitzer film, haunting. Micmacs: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (“Amelie,” “Delicatessen”) may be the only filmmaker who rivals Wes Anderson in colorfulness of palate. The French filmmaker, also like Anderson, delights in the nostalgia of old objects. “Micmacs” is a surreal comedy about a group of homeless
I Barbadian singer Rihanna performs on stage during a concert of her ‘Last Girl on Earth’ show on May 2, 2010 in Berlin.—AFP
‘Thriller’ voted most influential pop video in poll
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ichael Jackson’s video for his hit single “Thriller” has been voted the most influential in pop music history, according to the results of a poll released yesterday. The survey, commissioned by MySpace, interviewed more than 1,000 music fans. They made their choice from a long list of 20 videos selected by music and entertainment critics. Thriller, credited with breaking down the boundaries between music and filmmaking, garnered 15.2 percent of the votes, ahead of “Here It Goes Again,” the 2006 Internet hit featuring OK Go dancing on treadmills. Britney Spears’ song “Baby One More Time” came in third, followed by A-Ha’s part-animated “Take On Me.”
Top 10 most influential pop music videos: 1. “Thriller,” Michael Jackson, 1983 (15.2 percent) 2. “Here It Goes Again,” OK Go, 2006 (11.7 percent) 3. “Baby One More Time,” Britney Spears/1998 (11.2 percent) 4. “Take On Me,” A-Ha, 1985 (8.6 percent) 5. “Hurt,” Johnny Cash, 2003 (7.6 percent) 6. “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen, 1975 (5.6 percent) 7. “Around the World,” Daft Punk, 1997 (5.4 percent) 8. “Weapon of Choice,” Fatboy Slim, 1999 (4 percent)
oman Polanski insisted the US child sex case against him was based on a lie as he broke cover in his campaign to stop his extradition with an open letter published yesterday. In a 900-word statement run by newspapers in France and Switzerland, the Oscar-winning director said that he asked “only to be treated fairly like anyone else” but that US authorities wanted his head on “a platter”. Polanksi had previously told his lawyers to confine their comments to a bare minimum, he said, but now felt compelled to speak out. “I can remain silent no longer because the request for my extradition addressed to the Swiss authorities is founded on a lie,” said the maker of hit films such as “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown”. “I can no longer remain silent because the United States continues to demand my extradition more to serve me on a platter to the media of the world than to pronounce a judgment concerning which an agreement was reached 33 years ago.” The director is under house arrest in Switzerland after being arrested in Zurich in September on a US arrest warrant for having had unlawful sex with a 13year-old girl in 1977. A California appeals court quashed a bid last month for him to be tried in absentia, apparently exhausting his appeals opportunities in the United States. Polanski is alleged to have plied the girl with champagne and drugs during a 1977 photo shoot at the Hollywood home of actor friend Jack Nicholson before having sex with her. The director was initially charged with six felony counts, including rape and sodomy. The charge was later reduced to unlawful sexual intercourse after a plea deal, agreed in part to spare his victim the ordeal of a trial. Polanski later served 42 days at a secure unit undergoing psychiatric evaluation but fled the United States on the eve of his sentencing in 1978 amid fears that the trial judge planned to go back on a previously agreed plea deal. The director insisted he had served the time agreed and that
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claims to the contrary in the extradition warrant were false. “They said request asserts that I fled in order to escape sentencing by the US judicial authorities, but under the plea-bargaining process I had acknowledged the facts and returned to the United States in order to serve my sentence,” he said. Recent sworn testimony by Roger Gunson, the deputy district attorney who handled the 1977 case, supported his version of events, Polanski added. Polanski claimed that the efforts to bring him back to the United States would cause further upset to the victim who has publicly forgiven him after an out-of-court settlement. French newspaper Liberation had Polanski’s letter as its main front-page. In an editorial, the daily said Polanski’s “only crime today is the glory he has acquired with a cinematic body of work that is respected across the world and which makes him the prey of a judge conducting an electoral campaign.” Switzerland’s main French language Le Temps and the German-language Neue Zurcher Zeitung also reproduced the letter. The director, whose wife Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson’s “family” in 1969, won an Oscar for his 2002 film “The Pianist” but was unable to collect the award because of his fugitive status. The Paris-based Polish filmmaker said he had been forced to mortgage the apartment which has been his home for more than 30 years to meet his legal costs and was unable to work. He completed his latest movie “The Ghost Writer” in his chalet in the Swiss ski resort of Gstaad where he has been confined since being released from custody December 4. Swiss officials said in February that a decision on Polanski’s extradition could not be made until the director had exhausted his US appeals. Authorities have however emphasised that any extradition process could take about a year once likely appeals by Polanski against his return had been heard by Switzerland’s highest courts.— AFP
9. “Sledgehammer,” Peter Gabriel, 1986 (3.7 percent) 10.“Sabotage,” Beastie Boys, 1994 (3.5 percent) — Reuters
Book Talk: Sex, drugs and classic record covers A new book of record covers shows how musicians forged an identity and communicated with fans, using an art form that has sometimes endured longer than the music between the covers. “The Art of the LP: Classic Album Covers 1955-1995,” by Ben Wardle and Johnny Morgan, which will be published in the United States and Britain today, groups rock, pop and jazz images by theme: sex, drugs, death, and escape. The escape theme has cropped up in lyrics and imagery of popular music since the beginnings of rock ‘n roll half a century ago. The imagery on album covers became an important part of the music experience. In the book fans will find Eric Clapton, ABBA, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Tony Bennett and others. Morgan spoke with Reuters about the images, baby boomers’ deep pockets, and why some album covers were more useful than others. Q: Album art got shrunk for CDs, and now in the iPod age it’s reduced to about one inch square. Are we seeing the death of an art form? A: “I genuinely think we are. You haven’t anything to replace it with. For a while I had high hopes for the front pages of websites, but every site now has to have everything on the front page. There was a time when teenagers would carry albums around with them. The covers served to identify these tribes. The whole Baby Boomer generation’s world changed after World War Two. “Music has become incredibly homogeneous. There are no style tribes anymore. You can become a national star much quicker. Look at Lady Gaga. What’s interesting is how old-fashioned her references are, whether it’s David Bowie or Grace Jones or Madonna. The names she drops are ‘70s and ‘80s stars.” Q: Is the loss of this art form something deeply regret-
Compact home
Photo taken on May 22, 2007 shows French director Roman Polanski waving to the crowd as he leaves the Festival Palace in Cannes, southern France, after the screening of US director Julian Schnabel’s film ‘Le Scaphandre et le Papillon’ at the Cannes Film Festival.—AFP
who refashion junk into whimsical creations, and use their creativity to bring down a pair of weapons dealers. It’s a little like Calder’s “Circus” made into a movie, with a revenge plot added in. It’s also the most surprising film to include a Robert De Niro impression _ a fitting designation considering the actor co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival. Freakonomics: Just as inventiveness trumps might in “Micmacs,” “Freakonomics” celebrates smarts. The closing night film of the festival, “Freakonomics” (to be released by Magnolia Pictures this fall), is the quirky adaptation of the best-selling book by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner. Just as Dubner constructed Levitt’s analysis into storytelling for the book, “Freakonomics” further enlivens the same subjects, turning to a handful of directors: Gibney, Morgan Spurlock, Seth Gordon, Eugene Jarecki, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. It creates a domino-like effect, where one person’s creativity inspires another’s and another’s. Zonad: Shocking in its absurd comedy, “Zonad” likely led Tribeca in jaws dropped. It was co-written and codirected by the Irish brothers John and Keiran Carney. John last directed the indie hit musical romance “Once,” and “Zonad” couldn’t be further from it. “Zonad” follows an overweight drunk who, after fleeing a rehabilitation clinic, takes refuge in a small Irish town where, thanks to his vinyl red suit, is taken for a spaceman. Oh, and it’s set in the ‘50s. It would be difficult to do justice to the movie’s fun offbeat style; the Carneys have described it as John Ford’s “The Quiet Man” by way of Mel Brooks. It’s the stuff of cult and doesn’t yet have distribution, but expect to see it playing to raucous crowds at midnight somewhere in a year or five. Two Escobars: ESPN has commissioned 30 documentaries for its “30 for 30” series. Some have been good and some have been bad, but “Two Escobars” is its triumph. The movie tells the story of the early ‘90s Colombian national soccer team, which came into the 1994 World Cup with high expectations and quickly exited partially thanks to an infamous own goal. “Two Escobars” explores that tale by charting the paths of two people: Andres Escobar, the player who committed that own goal and who was later killed; and Pablo Escobar, then the country’s most power drug lord. Few movies have better documented both the good and bad of sports. — AP
table, or more akin to small losses like people no longer able to handwrite neatly? A: “It depends on what age you are. I have a 13-year-old daughter and she really doesn’t care. She wants the songs and she’ll watch the video on YouTube, but actually having the CD is a pain. It gets ripped and put onto the iPod. I’ve got a great collection of vinyl and tell her, ‘This is your inheritance.’ She says, ‘Great, Dad, why not sell it now?’” Q: Did musicians decide on album covers, or their label? A: “There were some, like Pink Floyd, that had absolute control. Others, like Scorpions, claim they had no idea. The covers were landed on them. That’s mainly because the covers were so awful and they’re covering their backs.” Q: Anyone nostalgic for the ‘70s and ‘80s can see Pat Benatar with REO Speedwagon this year, James
Taylor with Carole King, or AC/DC, Scorpions and Jeff Beck with Eric Clapton. Are baby boomers increasingly the target audience? A: “People in their 40s, 50s and 60s now have the money and they have the interest. I’m hoping there are covers here that people don’t remember and might get people to search them out. There’s a lot of stuff that’s a bit more underground. Baby boomers missed a lot the first time around. There’s a band called Gang of Four. Tickets for the reunion gigs were impossible to get.” Q: The images in the book have smudges and creases. These sleeves are clearly not just art objects to be held at arm’s length. You intentionally avoided pristine images? A: “Absolutely. And also, of course, they were used to roll joints. You’d put the tobacco and the dope in the crease. You look at prog rock albums, they’re all
he ‘flying’ Iraqi-Canadian artist Mahmud Obaidi’s new exhibition offers viable alternatives to a postglobalized art world where local singularities often contribute to a still legitimized Western centre. The show reunites the “Compact Home” (2003) and “Disposable Home” projects (2004) and more recent work: “How Not to Look Like a Terrorist” (which will be shown at LTMH Gallery in New York this month), and the “Fair Skies(r)” project that has had critical and public acclaim in Art Dubai 2010. On this rare opportunity in Kuwait, the viewer will get the chance to judge how one artist can coincide contemporary conceptual work with aesthetic and formal art making. Obaidi’s work addresses themes of ‘flight’ linking through his art the different meanings of the term; from that of the perpetual flight of a hyphenated MiddleEastern artist with no place to call his own, to that of ‘flying while Arab’ and the racial profiling of a man boarding a KLM flight (aka the “Flying Dutchman”). Now that’s irony for you, not to mention word play, a bit of art on the side.
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gatefolds-and that served a function.” Q: The book ends in 1995, when CDs took over. Have there been great covers since then? A: “There are interesting unknown artists working on CD covers but when you see them blown up they don’t look quite right. CD cover artists are working at that size but they don’t stand up. But we have a recent trend toward vinyl again.” Q: What’s behind that? Is it just a fad? A: “I think it’s probably a fad, because there’s a whole retro thing. If look at emerging bands, there’s a lot of guitar bands. Look at the equipment they’re using. All of it was made before 1980. Part of it is a return to what rock and roll is supposed to sound like, going back to the whole Ramones and Clash thing. That’s driving the vinyl (resurgence).”— Reuters