Stephen Prokow
10May11
It is an honor to have my name mentioned near the top of your profile. :)
Mike Spence: Filmography
He is no arguer...he is judgment. He judges not as the judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing. As he sees the farthest he has the most faith. His thoughts are the hymns of the praise of things. In the talk on the soul and eternity and God off of his equal plane he is silent. He sees eternity less like a play with a prologue and denouement...he sees eternity in men and women... -Whitman
If only I could find a pic from his best film, Lena's Dreams.
So, here's how good this film is: I'm seriously considering paying CinemaGuild's ridiculous price of 60 bucks for a 20 minute short that I can watch on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekfPN4Ia54A
Re: Amelie's link posted below: Good to see that Porterfield may have a new project and that the Putty Hill dvd, which I've wanted to see for a while will be released in November. Sad to see that independent filmmakers have to tattoo themselves to get funding.
It's great that someone submitted a picture for this.
Stephen Prokow is a fan of Trey Parker.
Товарищ Петя. and 2 others like this
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Mike Spence
10May11
That's nice, but instead of being "honored" why not just re-watch some of Bujalski's work without the bias against the imaginary genre you think he belongs to? Be thankful he's not making dark or scatological satires about orgasmic superheros and instead is at least trying to depict small human emotions, you know the kind that we never see anywhere because we're constantly being flooded with more South Park clones.
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Stephen Prokow
10May11
Maybe I would appreciate him just a bit more if he was making dark and scatological satire about the depiction of human emotions within orgasmic superheros.
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Stephen Prokow
10May11
Although Mr. Spence, I am tempted to become a fan of his based on his pertinent appearance.
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Mike Spence
26May11
Ah, so you what I'm getting is that you think you can judge a person by what kinds of films he likes? I, on the other hand, only think you can judge a person's film taste by what films he likes, which, in the case of all Trey Parker fans, is bad.
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Mark Ayala
26May11
The fact you're so antagonistic against someone for a particular interest or film is in itself a judge against them. And you allude to their love of a particular director or film as wrong; that his opinion is wrong because he likes a director you don't care for. So you attack them instead of starting a simple disagreement in taste. See what I'm getting at? In the end, you promote yourself a bit as being higher and by having a more correct opinion (impossible) than Stephen (and I say this as someone who doesn't care for either Parker or Bujalski).
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Mark Ayala
26May11
And I'm not saying your opinion is wrong either. I'm just saying the way you approach it isn't fare for Stephen, I'll admit that Stephen's comment isn't insightful and that he attacks the audience who watches Bujalski films (which is silly), but it's his opinion in the end.
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Mike Spence
27May11
I see what you're getting at but let me ask you a question specifically about your implication that my approach is personal: If someone posted a quote from Ebert saying how terrible he thought Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry is, and I responded by saying "Ebert likes Dark City," would you say I was attacking Ebert personally? Stephen may not be a professional critic, but his post was a critical assertion about this filmmaker's work. My response was intended to qualify where Stephen is coming from based on his posted tastes and in no way meant as a judgement about Stephen's humanity. I stand by it.
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I'm speechless
Yuki Aditya likes this
Chris Brown directed Fanny, Annie and Danny. He has nothing to do with this other stuff.
Hunt this film down. It may be coming to your town soon (I write this on March 24). Brown gets lumped with Cassavetes a lot but he reminds me more, to a certain extent, of Harold Pinter. His first two films aren't on DVD, naturally. You can get this film by writing to him on the films website.
Yes, it's spare,unsentimental. The romance and mystery is the highest sort, coming in fits and starts and glimmers, not in ostentatious tracking shots or obviously contradictory pop music. If the movie brats, Scorcese, Copppola, Lucas, Altman, DePalma, Ashby, Rafelson, Penn, etc, had ever produced anything as interesting and complex as this film, they might have come close to deserving their overblown reputations.
Nate, the mystery, like all suspense type mystery tropes, is just a dumb distraction from what really matters. Katz uses it better than many, but he actually had some interesting characters here. Forget the idiotic "mumblecore" label. Would you prefer Chekhov add some mystery to his plays to make them less "mumblecore?" Suspense is a crutch for bad films and filmmakers.
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Nate
17Mar11
I guess I feel that that is a huge generalization. Kurosawa uses suspense in a number of films, as does Hitchcock (obviously), but i would not call them "bad filmmakers." They both have reasons (although quite different) for employing this technique. I feel that the mystery ultimately puts the characters in interesting situations and allows them to develop and the audience to see how they act under pressure, which further reveals character. The film is ultimately about the characters and the sibling relationship, just look at the final moments in the car. The "mystery" isn't entirely resolved, because thats not what it's about. And although Checkhov didn't use mystery (and he obviously shouldn't) I would contend that he did use other methods and plot devices to raise the stakes in his plays.
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Mainly for Never Met Picasso, his only fiction feature.
This is being shown on the Sundance chanel so a DVD can't be too far off:)
On DVD May 3, 2011
It's all about the moment when a guy yawns during an emotionally devastating scene.
monsieur bornstein likes this
At least with non-U.S. films you can count on a region 2 or some other region release. With U.S. independents you just gotta wait and wait and wait...
Some of the most powerful "performances" ever. Wiseman is a national treasure.
Coheed 2.0 likes this
February 18 release date!!! (NY) Man this looks good!
Remarkable as this is in many way, i can't shake the feeling that Mr. Katz is taking one step forward and two steps back. These characters and performers are top-notch, the mystery just gets in the way.
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Nate
16Mar11
I disagree, the mystery is a driving force and adds a unique feeling and atmosphere to the film. It separates "Cold Weather" from just being another mumblecore(esque) film, and makes it something special. It also draws the audience into the world of the story, making them care more about the characters and place more interest in them.
I remember being a young dumbass and seeing that godawful 4 Rooms and thinking that Anders segment was the worst of the bunch so why would I ever want to sit through her feature? Well, it may still be the worst of that awful film but her feature is better than the entire careers of those two jokers she made 4 Rooms with, and deserving of a wide audience.
I will be eating dumplings tonight. This movie is...exceptional . It's a very different film in every way from the first one. My first reaction would be to say it's better but I love both and look forward to revisiting them many times like old friends.
H. K. ‡ likes this
Brilliant
Jimmy B. and Yuki Aditya like this
What I like most is the awkwardness of some of the transitions between scenes. Araki doesn't make things smooth and doesn't allow his audience to settle into a simple understanding of the characters. He also twists what could be caricatures into human shapes.
It'd plot isn't what makes it beautiful. It's the divergences from the plot, the brilliant editing and the simplicity of the performers that make this slice of truth so compelling. And don't get caught up in ethnicity. Duke is everyone and so are you.
Yuki Aditya likes this
This had me from the snowball fight on. As good as film gets.
Patti Rocks is amazing. Purple Haze is astounding. Naturally he's forgotten when he should be revered for these two films. I'd add Purple Haze to the database but I can't find a large enough picture.
Yuki Aditya and Subterranean Cinema like this
I can now say I'm a fan for real:)
"The next morning, Henry woke up early, felt restless, wanted to do something, but didn't know what." A brilliant film about US. Sorry about the horrible synopsis, which I believe I submitted. The synopsis should really just read "See it i you can. Now!"
Yuki Aditya likes this
I was worried this wouldn't feel like his work. It does and it's brilliant.
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Mike Spence
1Jun12
I need to re-watch this and allow his work soon. I'm very excited about his new film even with very little to go on except his name.
Remember watching Killer of Sheep or Local Color and thinking you'd experienced a singularly profound and original new artist? Try having some Cake.
Yuki Aditya likes this