Editor’s column/daily commentary welcoming feedback and opinions.
In the interview, I take the opportunity to show off some random LPs I pulled out of my personal collection, then Kevin and Christopher discuss how they split their directorial responsibilities on this projects. We also talk about a favorite question of mine: “When was their eureka moment making the film?”
The films couldn’t be farther apart on the storytelling spectrum from one another, but they both share the accomplishment of either gutting you with the emotional crisis of potentially denying your identity and betraying someone to “save” yourself (HONOR), or landing you smack dab into the emotional psychology of your teen youth and overcoming the immense crises in our heads that all of us likely faced during that time in our lives (SEANCE-ING). And they effectively achieve that within short run times.
In the interview, Xuan Liu talks about his efforts to create a specific gentle tone in the film including the influence of Ingmar Bergman’s work, specifically WILD STRAWBERRIES on him. He also discusses the personal nature of the story and how closely it hews to his life, how the pandemic influenced the journey of the film to audiences, and how he handled directing a child on camera.
In the interview, we talk about the challenges faced in making a documentary when you have a relationship with the subject (Jen is married to Franco), delving into the topic of representation, and the evolution of the acceptance of the word “lesbian” within the story of Curve and Franco. We also discuss the desire by Jen and Rivkah to make sure the film was forward thinking as opposed to just approaching the film a s a history lesson.
As discussed the first time I did this column highlighting some choice Kino Lorber nuggets, I LOVE their combo of classics versus “You gotta see this shit!” to gems they have rightfully given a home to and made available for people like us to discover. I will routinely call a friend after watching a title (including a couple on this list) to excitedly talk about it. That’s what movie watching should inspire, right? That kind of excitement and thrill – so much so that you just need to talk about it with someone?!
In the interview, Timoner and I talk about what she felt was a need and a gap regarding insight and information on the topic inspiring her to make this her next film, as well as balancing the filmmaker’s agenda for their film versus a subject’s agenda for a personal cause or self-interest. She discusses her technique in and methods in getting interview subjects to open up and give information that is below the surface level.
In the interview, I talk to the film’s producer and writer Mark Stafford about the gift, as I see it, to be able to see and hear the man, and Stafford’s efforts as the writer for the documentary to help craft a coherent path to tell the man’s story. Stafford also talks about the beauty of documentary filmmaking knowing as you are going in, the different and unexpected directions it can go, and then how a filmmaker’s perspective changes after viewing the first cuts with an audience.
In the interview, I talk to Hansen about why he chose to structure the film the way he did to properly portray the “raw, real life junk” that marriages are chock full of. He also discusses how much the actors’ had to shoulder when it comes to delivering a nuanced look at a relationship and how shooting out of order and shooting primarily at night could have complicated that effort – yet didn’t.
In the interview, I talk to Stone about Estes’ exceptionally rare ability to capture not just architecture to a remarkable exactness but to subtly give an artistic life to the images he paints. She discusses the unique pressure and challenges to introducing the public to this artist who was not “asking” for attention in that way, including getting him to discuss, if not open up freely about his life as a gay man, as well as his approach to his art.
In the interview, Wysocki and I talk about being the architect of a film that can be made without depending on extensive financing or support from others, and what the tipping point is to finally kick that into gear. He also gets into the realization of how much a filmmaker will be “living with their film” and how much that determines the film you choose to make.
