A&E Page A4 | Monday, February 13, 2017 | valleyvanguardonline.com | The Valley Vanguard
Music majors perform for evaluation
What makes a film ‘so bad it’s good’? By Dylan Powell Vanguard A&E Editor
Vanguard Photos | Kyle Will
Music majors from various different areas of performance arts gave their senior performances to be evaluated for graduation. The performances took place on Wednesday, Feb. 8, in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall to a large crowd. Friends and families of the performing students came out to show their support and encourage the best performances possible. The stakes of these performances were relatively high, as they were a gauge for whether or not the students involved were ready to walk at graduation and potentially begin their careers in music.
Local film festival highlights Michigan filmmakers By Dylan Powell Vanguard A&E Editor
The annual Made-in-Michigan Film Festival (MiMFF) returned this year for the eighth time, offering new films to be watched and discussed. The MiMFF is a non-profit organization that seeks to display the talents of local filmmakers in an attempt to celebrate the talent and passion of those who decided to choose Michigan as their home for making movies. This year, the festival took place in the Bronners Performing Arts Center in Frankenmuth and showcased various different films, both short and feature length. The first night of the festival was a special one, as its horror theme was one that many were looking forward to. This night also highlighted two of the festival’s award-winning feature films, “The Alchemist’s Cookbook” by Joel Potrykus and “Accidental Exorcist” by Daniel Falicki. Potrykus took home the award for best narrative feature,
The Valley Vanguard 125 Curtiss Hall
while Falicki left with both an award for best film overall and best lead actor. The next two days of the festival were packed with various different shorts ranging from lighthearted and comical to deeply dramatic and thought-provoking. Both narrative films and documentary films were displayed periodically throughout the weekend. Some of the highlights of the shorts section included Robert Butler’s “A Girl on the Mat,” which won awards for both best lead actress, Julie Kline, and best supporting actress, Aphrodite Nikolovksi. Butler’s somber story of how tragedy can affect families in profound ways was a hit with the audience as well as fellow filmmakers and showed much promise from the up-and-coming director. One of the most informative sections of the festival was a panel that was held during the second day that included seasoned Michigan filmmakers including Butler, Falicki, Lisa
Courtesy Graphic | Made-in-Michigan Film Festival
Enos, and Joshua Courtade and was moderated by Potrykus. The panel covered various topics that included some of the challenges faced by being filmmakers in Michigan as well as some inside information as to what it is like to be a filmmaker in general. One of the main topics discussed and most useful to those interested in making films was one that most up-and-coming filmmakers have to deal with when getting into the business, which is how it is possible to fund a project like a film. Butler suggested to “start low” and make the budget more realistic, as first-time filmmakers must prove themselves before investors will be willing to shell out enough money for a million-dollar budget. “Something that I see a lot of first-time filmmakers do is that they’re like, ‘This is my baby. I’ve been working on this script for years and years and I need to make it for $200,000, I’m going to go for broke, I’m going to give it everything I got,’” Potrykus said on the topic. “So you ask every rich uncle, every neighbor, every doctor you know … and after you get done, that rich uncle is never going to give you money ever again, so I always recommend to filmmakers, start really low and just slowly walk up that budget ladder. Otherwise, you start high, and it’s not going to be your vision, that first film.” The panel was a perfect example of what the MiMFF sets out to do every year with the festival. Not only does it display the works of filmmakers here in Michigan, but it also encourages those with an interest in film that it is an attainable goal, and when it comes to making art, one should not let his or her apprehensions get the best of them.
There are many different standards when it comes to the quality of a film. Some films blow audiences away with their profound ideas and artistic presentation, while others are so lazily slapped together that it makes you wonder why the people involved even bothered to make them in the first place. However, there is this generally ignored area somewhere in between, in which a movie is so baffling in its delivery that it actually becomes a unique and enjoyable viewing experience. This area is the “so bad it’s good” pantheon of filmmaking. From “Plan 9 From Outer Space” to “The Room,” these films are a peculiar brand of their own. But why is it that these films stand out and thrive in their awfulness rather than fall to the wayside like thousands of other mediocre films? The best way to pinpoint exactly why these films gain their cult followings begins with the people behind making them. The two most recognizable examples of films such as these are “The Room,” by Tommy Wiseau, and “Troll 2,” by Claudio Fragasso. What is most interesting about these two films is that they are revered and beloved by many for very similar reasons, while at the same time being universally recognized as poor attempts at filmmaking. The directors/writers of these films were men who should not be in the business of making movies. They had no prior experience and no understanding of how a film is made, and both are from foreign countries and clearly have little understanding of what makes a movie a success in America. However, these two men both share something that is invaluable to making such catastrophic masterpieces: unrelenting, unrivaled passion. Everyone who has ever seen “The Room” or “Troll 2” understands that they are basically comedies of error. Not one performance, line of dialogue, or edited scene works or makes sense by any stretch of the imagination. The directors of these two films, however, believe with utmost certainty that they not only did a good job, but also did an incredible job. This in and of itself is laughable, but, in a way, it is charming and begs to be respected. It takes a special brand of dedication, honesty, and passion to create a movie that ends up “so bad it’s good.” These films are the unfiltered brainchildren of some of the kookiest minds ever to step foot on a film set, and it is fascinating to witness what they came up with. It is useless to try and make sense of anything because there is very little rhyme or reason as to what happens. All we know is that these men wanted to make movies and were willing to do anything to achieve their dreams. Wiseau did not care that his scene in which his main character (played by him, of course) walks into a flower shop was so needlessly rushed that it appears as if every line of dialogue is out of order. He just cares that he was able to film the scene at all, and the fact that it exists is a point of pride to him. Fragasso could care less if his teen actor’s delivery of the common term of “Oh my god” was so awkwardly delivered that it became meme-worthy. He is just happy to be in the director’s chair, watching his vision become a reality and his dream come true right before his eyes. Unwatchably bad films certainly exist, but the reason they are deemed unwatchable is mostly due to how little effort was put in to the final product. It would be ignorant to assume that all of these movies were a failure due to the lack of caring from those involved. However, when the final cut of the film comes out, and the mistakes bringing it down come off as a lack of attention and passion, it is difficult to fully get behind those films. For example, M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is not an enjoyable film to watch. It has some of the same mistakes seen throughout “The Room” and “Troll 2” (poor acting, lackluster visuals, questionable casting, etc.) but it is not as enjoyable to sit through due to Shyamalan’s clear lack of respect for the source material. All of the changes he made to adapt the show to the big screen were ones that were proof of the fact that he never truly cared for the beloved Nickelodeon property, most evident in the baffling race-swap of all of the characters. Affection for the craft comes through in full force throughout both “The Room” and “Troll 2,” and it is a part of what makes watching these films so enjoyable. When someone is creating something with fire in their belly and a smile on their face, it is contagious. Intentionally bad movies exist, but even the sharpest minds could never come up with something so endearingly terrible as Wiseau and Fragasso’s films.
A&E Editor Dylan Powell | E-mail dipowell@svsu.edu | Office (989) 964-4482 | Twitter @VVanguardA_E
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