Continuing from the last blog here's a few more notable things that occurred during 2012 which characterised my year.
Seeing bands live
I saw the following artists live in 2012;
(Big Day Out) Soundgarden, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Kimbra, Cavalera Conspiracy, Mariachi El Bronx, Girl Talk, Kasabian, (Laneway) M83, SBTRKT, Opossum, Gotye, (Gigs)
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Em' All, The Dresdan Dolls, Roger Waters
(Twice), Roots Manuva, Die Antwoord, Skrillex, Porter Robinson, Enter
Shikari, Robyn, Flight Of The Conchords, Earth, John Baizley, Scott
Kelly, Morrissey
I moved from Dunedin to Auckland this
year and being in New Zealand's only 'supercity' gave me the opportunity
to see much more bands than I have previously had the opportunity to
see. Of the bands Morrissey was a definite highlight, as his performance
coincided with the peak of my interest in The Smiths and Morrisey's
solo catalogue. Roger Waters was also particularly epic, and I wrote a
blog earlier on my experiences regarding The Wall as seeing it live,
check it out here: http://hamish-and-film.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/reminiscing-about-wall.html.
Morrissey (though from the Wellington show)
Last
years Big Day Out was the smallest of the five I attended yet still
managed to have a couple of pretty memorable sets, Noel Gallagher,
Cavalera Conspiracy and Kimbra in particular. M83 stole Laneway 2012 for
me, although SBTRKT had a surprisingly energetic live act as well.
Seeing Odd Future live at the height of their Internet fuelled hype was
definitely a lucky occasion and although I didn't really know their
music bar a few tracks, it was particularly entertaining just for being
smack bang in the sweatiest rap moshpit I've ever witnessed. Enter
Shikari also had an incredibly sweaty and energetic audience, being an
all ages gig it was filled with teens and young Uni students, and
although I felt my age the band I had a good time never the less. The
sweat from the audience caused the band's gear to malfunction and at one
stage the barrier separating the audience and the band collapsed, yet
the band played through these technical difficulties and proved
themselves worthy of their loyal fanbase.
2013 proves
to be equally promising gig-wise, with a great Laneway lineup (Tame
Impala, Bat For Lashes, Japandroids), plus Black Sabbath and rumours
Blur will tour down here. Already promising and the year hasn't even
began!
Listened to some Films, Watched some Albums
Typically,
I spent a lot of the year watching films and listening to albums. These
films stood out to me as the most enjoyable cinematic experiences of
2012:
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Looper
Moonrise Kingdom
Safety Not Gauranteed
The Dark Knight Rises The Most Fun You Can Have Dying
Honourable
mention must go to West of Memphis, the documentary on the West Memphis
Three, which was aided by a Q & A featuring Peter Jackson and
Damien Echols (my blog on this here: west-of-memphis). A good moment from Pete considering what a travesty of blockbuster filmmaking The Hobbit turned out to be.
I didn't seem to spend much time listening to new music in 2012 but here's a few albums that I particularly enjoyed in 2012:
Baroness - Yellow & Green Tame Impala - Lonerism Kanye West present G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Summer Japandroids - Celebration Rock
Kanye
West's G.O.O.D. Music compilation copped a bit of flack but the beats
were great, and there was enough variation and experimentation for it to
hold up to repeat listens. Plus it had some of the best anthems of
year, in the form of Clique and Mercy in particular. I spent most of the
year however listening to albums that weren't released in 2012 so if I
was to list favourite albums by what I actually listened to, I'd have to
include albums such as The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs which got a lot
of plays and also Blur - Parklife. Probably older favourites such as
Sandinsta! as well which I fell further in love with earlier in the
year. It's the album that keeps on giving!
2012 is now officially over and 2013 has begun. To bring in the new
year I will think back on several notable things that categorised the
year for me.
Yauch and company during the recording of Paul's Boutique
One
of the three Beastie Boys - punk, rapper, activist, filmmaker, all
around good-guy, MCA or Adam Yauch passed away in May 4th of last year.
The group that he lead with Adam Horivitz and Mike Diamond had a huge
effect on me during my early teen years and my passion for the group
endures up until this day. Adam Yauch was diagnosed with cancer
mid-2009, just as the band was about to release their eighth studio
album and his death at the way too young age of 47 has robbed culture of
a true hero.
Yauch
formed the Beastie Boys at age 17 with John Berry, Kate Schellenbach
and Michael Diamond. They found their start playing hardcore punk in the
clubs of NYC but would soon adopt the emerging sounds of hiphop. Adam
Horovitz joined and Kate Schellenbach would leave, and the core three of
MCA, Ad-Rock and MCA gradually built a back catalogue of classic albums
(Licensed to Ill, Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, Hello Nasty),
proving that three white boys from NYC can rap just as well as their
fellow black artists. In the 90s they re-incorporated live
instrumentation back into their sound with MCA's phat basslines
providing some of the most memorable hooks (Gratitude, Sabotage etc).
Yauch
became passionate about the plight of the Tibetan in the 90s and
organised several charity concerts (Tibetan Freedom Concert 1996 - 1999,
2001, 2003) raising money and generating much awareness for the
problems facing the Tibetan people. After directing the bands' music
videos through-out their career he moved into feature film making in the
00s with the live concert film Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (2006) and the basketball documentary Gunnin' for That No. 1 Spot (2008).
It
was through Yauch and his subsequent creative projects that I found a
great deal of inspiration during my formative years. From the very first
time I was introduced to the Beastie Boys video the Intergalactic video
directed by Yauch, which debuted on Top Of The Pops mid-1998, I was
hooked. Their humour, heart, fat fucking beats and mean rhymes (from
middle age white dudes!) won me over, a large amount of all these
elements contributed by Yauch, and they subsequently became my favourite
band through my young adult years to today.
As I delved
further into their back catalogue, from the age of 11 onwards, I
discovered true musical and artistic heroes, through the uncompromising
way in which they tore genre conventions apart, the no bullshit approach
they had to getting their vision out there and the way they weren't
afraid to change, to move from frat boy party rap antics to politically
aware concious rap. And of course, they created albums which remain my
favourites to this day, Paul's Boutique, Hello Nasty, Licensed to Ill, Check Your Head, To The Five Buroughs, Hot Sauce Committe Part 2. For
a band that was around thirty years, to have so little dud albums in
their back catalogue and so many classics is something rare indeed.
I
learnt to rap because of Yauch and his crew, found a musical role model
and was constantly inspired by his humour and creativity. Loosing one
of my main heroes is certainly a mixed thing and I have no doubt in my
mind that MCA had many years ahead of him. What creative projects he
would have embarked on we'll never know. Never the less, this is the
journey that life had in store for him and it certainly wasn't a life
wasted.
Rockumentaries can be either gripping, vital cinematic portrayals of bands, concerts and music topics we love or they can blatantly exist to suck a little more money out of a loyal fan base. Lately it seems like Rockumentaries are predominantly for record companies to sell more merchandise, keep the product alive, make more $$$, such as Shihad's Beautiful Machine, Katy Perry's Part of Me or The Rolling Stones Crossfire Hurricane. Maybe I'm being a little unfair to Kiwi heroes Shihad, and I have not yet seen The Rolling Stones Crossfire Hurricane but anyone familiar with the history of the Rock Documentary form will know that these, at the very least stylistically, hold nothing on classic Rockumentaries such as Gimme Shelter (also The R'Stones), The Last Waltz (The Band) or Woodstock. Here I will discuss some recent Rock documentaries that do it well, some that don't and some older classics that perhaps set the bar and for me still feel very fresh.
Two documentaries released in the last decade on the subject of bands I love, Westway to the World and Joy Division - A Documentary capture successfully the bands essence and put it on celluloid, while telling their story in a way that avoids being purely a cash in. Joy Division - A Documentary, through candid interviews presented an honest view of the bands brief career as well as events surrounding the tragedy leading to the death of singer Ian Curtis. It did not glamorise his suicide as perhaps the fictional cinematic version of the story, Anton Corbijn's Control did so. Although I shouldn't rubbish Corbijn's film, it was also a gripped, well acted and beautifully shot telling of the Joy Division story, if a little biased towards his wife's point of view, being that was the source material. Joy Division - A Documentary focused equally on the bands sound, not just on the tale of Ian Curtis. The effect of the industrial, desolate and grim surroundings of Manchester on the sound of the band is a theme running throughout the film, one that helps provide an understanding of the music of the band beyond Curtis' obsessions and tragic lyrics.
Westway to the World does justice to the story of The Clash, a band with such energy and such a lucky combination of talents. It also shows how those talents can equally be taken for granted within a group and how success can disintegrate a band from the inside. Such quotes as this from Joe Strummer are truly touching and have stuck with me:
"Whatever a group is it was the chemical mixture of those four people that makes a group work. That's a lesson everyone should learn, "Don't mess with it!" If it works just let it... Do whatever you have to do to bring it forward but don't mess with it. And like, we learnt that... bitterly." (Joe Strummer)
Hindsight is indeed a great thing. Westway to the World to me is a well researched and executed modern rockumentary; it doesn't do anything groundbreaking in terms of style but it is fair and does justice to the legacy of the band. Part of this is perhaps due to the direction of Don Letts, who followed The Clash through their career, first as an influential British DJ, then as their video maker and producer and later collaborator and bassist with Mick Jones in Big Audio Dynamite. Yet since the release of Westway to the World we've had another bunch of Clash related documentaries and DVD releases, all of these going further down the path towards cash-ins, such as the compilation of mostly already released live performances - Revolution Rock. Again directed by Don Letts, its another notch to the bands legacy and will no doubt be picked up by every old fan and some new ones in the process. It will probably even gift the surviving members with a bit more towards the retirement fund.
I haven't viewed modern pop Rockumentaies such as Katy Perry's Part of Me or Justin Bieber's Never Say Never, so I can't comment on whether or not this fits into my deduction that Rock documentaries of the 21st century lean more towards cash-grab efforts then artistic statements. Rotten Tomatoes tells me Never Say Never is "As a tour documentary...rather uninspired -- but as a 3D glimpse of a building pop culture phenomenon, Never Say Never is undeniably entertaining". It's of its time at least. But from what I've seen of these documentaries, trailers, glimpses of them here and there-they are far from a honest portrayal of the artist. They instead present a view of the artist as that of one in which they can do no wrong, where the shit on the sole of their shoe is turned to gold by being in the very present of this God on earth.
What I wish is that we were still making Rock documentaries like they were making them in the 60s and 70s. Influenced and part of the Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite movements, documentaries such as Albert Maysles’ Gimme Shelter managed to be self-aware statements on the nature of stardom, the documentary medium itself and cultural changes at the time. Another Rolling Stones documentary, Sympathy for the Devil under the helm of French New Wave innovator Jean-Luc Godard managed to mix his idiosyncratic style with that of a fly-on-the-wall observationale style of documentary filmmaking. Or even The Beatles rarely seen (lately) final film Let It Be, which provides a warts and all glimpse at a brink of destruction. These documentaries, perhaps due to their style or the time they were made were not afraid to show the artists for what they really are. Gimme Shelter particularly grabbed my attention, due to scenes where Mick Jaggar and the other stones are filmed as they watch their own interview and live footage. This kind of documentary style is mind boggling given the vapid, contrived tripe we're supposed to accept as a 'documentary' in this day and age. It's amazing the Stones even allowed the film to be released given the way the filmmakers really pry into the emotions of Jaggar and company, laughing at their own jokes, appearing self-conscious upon hearing interview question answers and finally viewing the death of a concert goers at the hands of one of their hired Hell's Angels security persons at the disaster of a free concert that was the 1969 San Francisco Altamont raceway event.
I should probably write more about Gimme Shelter rather than discussing these other documentaries, but it seems so much has already been written on it. The direct cinema style: the unobtrusive camera work, rough soundtrack, refusal of voice over narrator, are chosen by the filmmakers in their pursuit of truth on celluloid through the documentary medium. Gimme Shelter aims it's camera's eye directly at the band, Jaggar in particular, and shows him coming to terms, or perhaps not coming to terms with the consequences of what they created at the Altamont raceway. It is all fascinating filmmaking, not least for the scene in presents of the flip side to Woodstock, peace and love turned to chaos and death, a decade of dreams coming to a frightful end within this concert setting, as the reality of hate hits down hard on naive hippy concert goers. The people that are hired to keep the peace, the Hell's Angels, prove that violence and anger boiling under the surface is stronger than the intended love of the event.
The Rolling Stones are shown to be responsible for this particular event, even if the complexities of that particular time of cultural change were equally responsible. It is from this train of thought that I come to think about the career of The 'Stones, which perhaps started off this whole recent interest in Rockumentaries when the hype from their current 50th anniversary tour led me to get back into their music and subsequently led me to watch Gimme Shelter. The 'Stones are a very visually documented band and have a lot of different documentary styles under their belt. There are the straight up concert films, such as 1982's Let's Spend the Night Together and the recent mix of concert, staged footage and archival material 2007's Shine-A-Light as well as the earlier more artistic efforts I previously described. It doesn't end here though, this year sees the release of Crossfire Hurricane, a tale of the groups rise to fame, and no doubt it's history and legacy. As well as this, the final concert from their 50th anniversary tour will be broadcast live, pay-per-view over the Internet, direct from the arena in New Jersey. The fans are there, and there's no stopping money and media Juggernaut that is The Rolling Stones from rolling on into it's 6th decade. Will the new documentary or concert be relevant? I don't know, there is a part of me that wants to celebrate watching late 60s and 70 year old's still perform and I will most likely watch both for completions sake, but whether they're necessary or not is another question entirely.
Perhaps I digressed from my original topic of Rockumentaries but it seemed fair to get caught up in The Rolling Stones for a little bit, seeing as how important they have been to the Rock documentary format, at the very least. What I would like to highlight, if I have not done so already, is just how awesome, thought-provoking and multi-layered documentaries such as Gimme Shelter are compared to those being released recently. Perhaps there are rock documentaries out there like this being made and released today, but I assume that if they are, they are being released in the digital space. Innovators perhaps are left to create interesting material for free on YouTube because mainstream releases are dominated by the cash-grab, seen-one-you've-seen-them-all, famous-artist-can-do-no-wrong style of the Bieber or Perry documentaries.
Maybe I'm missed something though, maybe there's more to the Bieber, Perry or even the latest 'Stones' documentary then I know. If you've seen them feel free to comment and let me know.
Other questions that interest me on this same topic;
What are some of the best Rock documentaries released recently?
Are there any similiar in nature, tone or style to classics such as Gimme Shelter?
Is there more to the Bieber and Perry cash-in style documentaries then I give credit for; are these just as, or perhaps even more worth discussing as any classic Rock documentary?
Is anyone going to pay-per-view The Rolling Stones show in New Jersey?
The last few months I've been binging hard on Woody Allen films, so I thought it about time to share my affection for this talented little Jewish man to the world. Here are some of my favourite Woody Allen moments, in no particular order, from a variety of his films and appearances.
Sleeper (1973):
In the science-fiction, semi-silent comedy Sleeper, Woody Allen plays Miles Monroe, a man from 1970s Brooklyn who after a minor operation finds himself cryogenically frozen and subsequently awakened 200 years in the future. In this scene he has just been rescued by members of an underground rebel movement, after being captured and having his personality re-configured by a dystopian government. He is here being coerced back to his original personality through role playing, yet his personality seems to have gotten trapped somewhere else and in particularly genius fashion that somewhere else happens to be in the character of Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire. Anyone interested in theatre or film will no doubt be familiar with that iconic role and seeing Woody act out Blanche with Diane Keaton acting as Stanley in return is just as hilarious and inspired as it sounds.
Deconstructing Harry (1997):
Seemingly one of his most autobiographical, even though he himself
denies this, the film follows Harry, a man that can only be understood
by the stories he writes. The plot follows Harry as he attempts to
travel to his old University to recieve an honourary award, taking a
prostitute, a corpse and his kidnapped son along with him. This scenario
is just as rediculous and hilarious as it sounds but what makes the
film one of my favourites is how creative Allen gets with the whole
thing. The short stories that Harry writes are shown within the film in
seperate segments, such as one featuring Robin Williams as an actor who
one day becomes literally 'out of focus'. This is one of the most
memorable scenes from this hilarious film and deserves a watch. I
recommend the film and feel it is an almost under-rated entry in Allen's
catalogue.
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
One of Allen's best films, released during his creative peak where he didn't miss a beat. It's an ensemble film featuring great performances particularly from Michael Cain, Mia Farrow, Dianne West and notably featuring Ingmar Bergman favourite Max von Sydow. This particular scene finds Woody Allen's intensely neurotic character Mickey reaching breaking point after a failed search for God, about to attempt a suicide. He fails in his attempt and rushes out onto Manhattan streets, where he eventually takes solice in a movie theatre. Allen's character relaxes and even begins to enjoy himself upon watching a Marx brothers film, which allows him to discover a new reason for living. These kinds of cynical yet uplifting existentialist themes is part of what attracts me so much to Allen's filmography. I believe in this scene he found a particularly touching and resonant way to demonstrate how a love of something such as film can inspire one to find meaning in the ever perplexing thing called life.
One of his more under-appreciated films, but in my opinion one of the strongest of the 90s. Allen plays a (wait for it) neurotic married man, Lenny, who is convinced by his wife to adopt a child. He becomes enamoured with their adopted son, who is particularly intelligent. Due to some impulse he decides to track down the mother of the child, who turns out to be a prostitute and a porn star called Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino) - her stage name: Judy Cum. Lenny tries his best to improve Linda's life, for the sake of his child if he ever wishes to track down his birth mother and chaos ensures. What makes the film is Mira Sorvino's brilliant performance as Linda Ash, playing the prostitute with just the right mix of naivety and innocence, making her quite the charming character. One scene finds Linda describing to Lenny how she found her start in the adult industry. Watch above - it's classic (it's a link rather than a youtube clip because I'm linking you directly to a time within a clip).
Pink Floyd's The Wall is an album, stage show and movie. You all probably know it. It's an album that keeps running into me, or I keep running into it even if it isn't one of my favourite albums. It follows me and re-appears through several key moments of life. It's not a perfect album. Don't get me wrong, it's a good album, just not flawless enough to get right up there in my personal canon. In my opinion Wish You Were Here is the best Floyd album, as its the last time the band was truly working together in the studio to craft a piece of aural art in a collaborative fashion. The cracks were showing but the machine was still working. After that it was all ego, money and the business and occasionally inspired art that comes with that. Roger Water's The Wall does manage to one of the more rewarding megalomaniac ego trips turned consumable entertainment. Its the larger media experience of The Wall, the imagery and the themes is what catapults it beyond the music (which is undoubtedly very good) found within. This experience is inseparable from the drawings, stage show and movie. Here's my little journey with Pink Floyd's The Wall.
I first became familiar with Roger Waters' narcissistic concept album as a child, listening to it via my Dad's music collection. I don't remember much from this listen, but I know I was already familiar with Another Brick In The Wall Part Two from the concert film Pulse which I'd rented out from time to time. I was probably between six and eight.
It wasn't until I got a tape copy of it around age ten that I fully delved further than Another Brick In The Wall Part II. To my ten year old mind however it was all a bit too much to handle. I love tracks like Mother now, they're great satirical folk/pop rock songs with a dark edge, but not something that did much for my adolescent mind. What I was really attracted to at this stage was the drawings and animations associated with The Wall. Growing up I often saw the animated clip from the Another Brick In The Wall segment of the school teacher crushing children through a meat grinder. The school teacher looked so nasty, the idea of crushing children into pulp left a huge impression on my young mind. I didn't get the symbolism behind the image, I was attracted to the sickening violence of the image. I would regularly walk past the VHS case at my local video store and stare at the image on the back, of the school teacher and also at the screaming face on the front. These were repulsive but at the same time attractive images.
Symbolism
Flash to me at 11 or 12 and it was now time for me to watch the film. Rented it on DVD yet this happened to coincide with me getting the flu. I was sick, already had a temperature and was having all the awful feverish dreams one associates with this kind of flu. Decided to watch The Wall in this state was not a good idea. My mum was definitely around to attempt to censor me, but I was stubborn. I didn't get past the trailer. Those dark three minutes of hammers, animated monsters, children's faces becoming those of identical ghosts, blood, religious symbolism and rock was enough for my young mind. I turned it off and went to bed, and would sat through no more of the film before returning the DVD. Following this, every time I went to the video store I would have to turn the case of The Wall around as I walked past it. I was truly bloody afraid of the screaming face on the front of it.
Soon the terror I initially felt upon watching The Wall became the very thing I appreciated about it. It took me a fair few months to again pluck up the courage to watch the film again, but when I finally did, I loved it. The film still disturbed me, in particular those ghostly masks on the school children, and the animated sequence to Goodbye Blue Sky, but it was the films disturbing yet elements that I now appreciated. The cluster-fuck of music, psychotic imagery, and the sometimes clashing contributions of Scarfe, Waters and Parker made for an awe-inspiring film experience. Like the album, the film contains its share of flaws, but these can be mostly overlooked and contribute partly to why the film is an interesting experience, such as the clashing live action/animation and musical elements. But the film certainly invaded my thoughts enough for me to come back to it frequent times over the next ten years. Most recently I watched it in preparation for seeing the Roger Water's The Wall stage show live in Auckland. This recent viewing once again reignited my appreciation of the film, as the music and images thrusted themselves upon my life a shotgun blast to the head. The riot of teenagers entering the fascist-like experience of the opening concert set to the tune of In The Flesh, the Jesus Christ pose of Bob Geldof during The Thin Ice, the dark anti-war animation accompanying Goodbye Blue Sky, the flower vagina fight and of course the marching hammers; the film experience felt as fresh and effective as it ever had. Apparently the making of the film wasn't an incredibly enjoyable time for any of the party's involved (Alan Parker particularly expressed his unhappiness during the films production). I guess sometimes a tense atmosphere creates the most interesting art.
Largely male perspective horrors litter the
film and stage show. Which is interesting
because a large proportion of the
audience were female.
Then finally, seeing The Wall live, In The Flesh in front of me; puppets, pyro, planes, projections, flying pigs and all, was the culmination of a saga lasting more than a decade, reaching back into early childhood memories of listening to Floyd for the first time and being exposed to graphic and inspiring images crafted for The Wall. Its not a show I ever expected to see live, it seemed so ambitious in its first live form that it seemed farthest thing from possible that Waters would decide to resurrect it. But he did, he brought the whole damn thing right to my home country. And I was there with my father, the man who introduced me to Pink Floyd as just a wee young lad. The music and the images were still as haunting and curious as ever, except seeing the school-teacher in fucking gigantic puppet size or watching the Gerald Scarfe animations projected on a wall covering an entire arena was a fully immersive experience, so much more so than listening to the album on vinyl or watch the film. Not that either of those experiences are to be scoffed at, as it is for those that I was introduced to this great, flaws and all, piece of modern contemporary art. Finally, my father and I got up and ran to the front for one of the final songs of the show, Run Like Hell. I'd like to say it somewhat echoed the riot of fans at the beginning of the film (though probably not as intense). Waters was right in front of us, and we were pretty sure he look and laughed as we crossed our arms in the marching hammer salute and thrusted them towards him. We partyed, to a work of art that had disturbed my little mind ten years earlier, in front of the very mind that created it in the first place.
Quite a good little journey really. Here's a video of that moment if anyone's interested.
What a fantastic film, made even more fantastic by the appearance of Peter Jackson, Damion Echols and his wife at the screening who gave up nearly an hour of their time to answer questions after the film was screened. I managed to shake hands with all three, so forgive my giddy fanaticism, but I'll try and give a little review of the film.
Having not seen any of the Paradise Lost films at this stage and being a relative newby to the West Memphis Three case up until this screening, I can only judge the documentaries merits on what it achieved alone. I think it probably benefited my enjoyment of the documentary having such a limited knowledge of the case up until now. The film did a good job of summarising the back history to the case, speeding through the original botched murder enquiry and joke of a trial with enough detail to keep us following the events while not getting bogged down by the sheer amount of content that could be considered for this section. We are introduced to all the people important to the case, through interviews, archival footage and occasionally footage from the Paradise Lost documentaries. Not much though, so anyone that has already seen these films won't feel like its treading water.
In case anyone is completely new to the subject of the documentary, I'll give a brief description. In 1993 in West Memphis, Arkansas the bodies of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas were found hog tied, naked, beaten and mutilated, dumped in a local river. Three teenagers were convicted for the crime - Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr and Jason Baldwin, and sentenced to life imprisonment, with Damien Echols given the death penalty. The prosecution during the trial asserted that the children were murdered as part of a satanic ritual. It became pretty clear that they were innocent however and that the police botched the investigation and a whole lot of people failed to do their jobs properly, including the prosecution. Having too much at stake, in terms of their careers, and the careers of their friends, their money and their comfortable lives, they'd rather let an innocent man be killed by the state and let others live the rest of their lives in prison rather than admit any fault.
This inspired the original documentary, Paradise Lost, which did much to help inform the world of the plight of the Echols and company. This film has a large role to play in keeping Echols from being killed, as well as the work of his wife Lorri Davis Echols. It was after viewing the original Paradise Lost in 2005 that Peter Jackson and his wife got involved, providing a donation to help re-open the investigation and free the West Memphis Three. A DNA comparison between the West Memphis Three and the samples originally taken at the crime scene proved none of the convicted to be at the site of the crime. Evidence was also gathered that linked one of the boys step fathers, Terry Hobbs, to the murders. In spite of this, in September of 2008 Circuit Court Judge David Burnett denied the request for a retrial, citing the DNA as inconclusive. The decision was then made to begin this documentary, as something more was obviously needed to get through the corruption and incompetency of the Arkansas justice system, to get the three men free, and to put the real murderer of the three boys behind bars.
After setting up all the key events necessary to understand the convoluted nature of the injustice, the film concentrates on building a case for Terry Hobbs as the primary suspect for the murders. In that way the director of the film, as Sir Peter Jackson so rightly put it at the Q & A, becomes just as much of an investigative journalist as much as a documentarian. Family members of Hobbs are interviewed, including his ex-wife who discusses his history of domestic violence. The profile of Hobbs emerges as a violent, disturbed man, one who regularly bet his children and wifes children, and one that is also a pathological liar. The neighbour of Hobbs who lived next to him in Arkansas is interviewed, who tells of one case when Hobbs broke into her house, into her shower and grabbed her breast. She swore to this in an interview, he completely denies it in a later police interview. This is only one of many accusations against him that the film shows him to repeatedly shrug off. His DNA was also found at the site of the crime, in the form of a strand of hair found between the shoe laces used to hog-tie his step-son Steve Hobbs. Further, statements from those who know Hobbs and his family begin to emerge, that refer to the 'Hobbs family secret'. Hobbs' son is confirmed by many of his friends to have confided to them that this secret is that his Dad killed the three boys in Arkansas.
I apologise if I've gotten any of that information wrong, but that is much of basic evidence that the film builds to make a case for Terry Hobbs as the murderer. It indeed seems very likely, although less likely as to whether there will ever be a retrail to convict the real murderer. It seems that the police, law enforcement and justice system of Arkansas are more than happy to keep sweeping the case under the rug in order to protect their own lives. The films ending, explained by Peter Jackson at the start of the film to be not the ending that had hoped for, saw the West Memphis Three released from prison, but only after agreeing to an odd statement of guilt that sees them able to maintain their innocence while still being stuck with the guilty verdict. The film ends with them free, but with the guilty verdict yet to be overturned.
A successful documentary as it managed to get me thinking, in particular about the justice system. This is only one case out of many where innocent men are sent to prison for crimes they did not commit. Damien Echols at the Q and A discussed that he was fairly certain at least three other men that he was on death row with were innocent. One of these is dead, one is not likely to escape execution and one is in the process of clearing his name. Regardless it shows that there is certainly something wrong with justice systems of the world, and especially the death penalty. If this film covers several of the same points as Paradise Lost, and having not seen this I am not totally knowledgeable, I think it is not a big deal as both those films and this one serve the same purpose; to see innocent men free and point a large finger at the corruption of the justice system. It was also a very moving experience, heightened by poetic imagery and a great score provided by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
I believe we need more documentaries on this topic, perhaps some looking at the New Zealand justice system could be warranted. If anyone has any questions regarding what was talked about at the Q and A feel free to ask. It was a good hour of questions and many aspects of the film, the case and Damien's time in prison were discussed.
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*A good follow up documentary to this would be Werner Herzog's recently release Into The Abyss, a look at the lives of men on death row. I have only just began to watch
it, but it seems a dark and moving film, features a more serious Herzog
(but no less riveting) than some of his recent documentaries.
EDIT: I was originally going to not discuss much of the content within The Dark Knight Rises but I've since had the urge to so you'd better beware of some SPOILERS when reading this.
While I want to, I'm going to refrain from discussing much of The Dark Knight Rises because I'm sure not everyone has seen it yet. I need to collect my thoughts, as there was a lot to take in during the course of that films two hour and forty five minute running time. It did live up to expectations however, if not succeed them.
It was certainly the darkest of the trilogy, contained all the puzzles and plot twists one comes to expect from a Nolan film and was a fitting conclusion to the trilogy. The 70mm photography was incredible, some of the most spectacular I've seen, and I'll return more to that topic soon. Also the dual female leads of Anne Hathaway and Marion Cottilard were particularly well casted.. As was Tom Hardy as Bane, and theres justifiably already a lot of talk about the power of his performance. I felt truely terrified at many moments during the film and I can't think of many other comic book films that have had that effect on me. Fans will probably feel that there wasn't much of Batman being Batman within the film. There was much of Bruce Wayne and his internal struggle, but Wayne actually donning the Batsuit and kicking full superhero-ass was kept to a minimum. I didn't mind this. I believe that the less you see of the Bat, the more effective a screen persona he is. So when we finally see him in full Bat get-up, it is a fantastic release of the tension built up by holding him back. I won't say much more as I don't want to spoil anything... ..so I'll have to control my urge to discuss the ending...
I had a more general thought during the screening that I feel like sharing as well; that is that we shouldn't let America's terrible weapons laws and the sick mind of one individual stop us from enjoying the collective experience of the cinema. I'm echoing the thoughts of another blog post here: badass digest, but it is entirely true.
Lets not let a sad act of terrorism ruin an artform that is still relevant. I believe going to the cinema is still relevant, immersive and (dare I say it) magical experience. I shared the experience of seeing The Dark Knight Rises with my friend Ultraman, and a sold out theatre of captivated fellow cinephiles, and remained the fantastic experience that seeings films in the cinema has always been for me. Ultraman was inspired to draw this image today after our experience at The Dark Knight Rises last night:
Ultraman and Hambat (Drawing by Ultraman)
Films on the scale of The Dark Knight Rises are not easy to make. The hard work of the scriptwriters, directors, actors, technicians, artists and all other crew should be celebrated. Their hardwork should be experienced, with one another, within the cinema.
On another note, this doodle gives some indication of how I felt witnessing an IMAX film for the first time:
Ultraman is a much better artist
So thats pretty much a terrible drawing, but regardless, I couldn't get over just how much crisper, detailed and powerful the IMAX images were compared to the 35mm images. Not just in terms of the size of the screen they covered (which was huge) but also the clarity due to the extra resolution. The action scenes shot within this format (many of which contained CGI which still looked brilliant) were astounding as were the quieter moments, with Nolan using the format for many dialogue heavy scenes, filling the giant canvas with the actors faces.
The 35mm scenes looked so much more grainy, the colours so much less vivid compared to the IMAX footage, at least to my eyes. It makes me wish theatre chains spent all the money it required to update theatres with 3D projection technology on introducing IMAX into more theatres instead. Likewise, directors should film their blockbusters in IMAX rather then 3D. Fuck 3D. IMAX was far more engrossing and spectacular. Fuck your blurry, distorted and dark images that are after a while no more impressive than a pop-put book when I can have the glorious, huge, magnificent true film images that are that of 75mm IMAX. Oh yeah, fuck your high def digital cameras while your at it, your Red epics or whatever, IMAX takes what I love about film and ups it to the next level.
Ok, maybe I'm getting a little carried away over a piece of technology that to most people is probably old news. But it was pretty damn exciting for me. As for the HD digital film comment, I should probably wait to see The Hobbit in its 48fps before I can make a final judgement. But I'm sticking with film, be it 35mm or 70mm for the time being.
I'll be back for more film blogs soon, cause the excitements not over yet. Its FILM FESTIVAL TIME! That could mean some Moonrise Kingdom and quite possibly some Q & A to go with West of Memphis. We shall see..
Its been a while since my last blog post, and in the time I attempted to write a few blogs but for one reason or another I abandoned all of them. I'll try keep up this blog writing a bit more frequently, if only to document for my own sake the music, films or books that I'm into at whatever time, so I can keep track of whatever little obsessions and interests come my way. Its hard to remember what happens week to week sometimes so I think a blog such as this could be useful.
This is the week of Christopher Nolan's latest addition to his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises and right now I'm in the middle of getting really amped up for the film screening, which I'll be seeing this Sunday. It will be my first feature film viewing in IMAX and that alone is enough to get me pretty damn excited, seeing as Nolan apparently shot a good hour of the film in the 70mm format. There's other reasons I'm unreasonably excited for the film, for one, Christopher Nolan is a modern cinematic genius, who favours storytelling and character development over action and CGI/technological gimmicks. He still shoots in film and 70mm IMAX is his preferred format so shoots in this where possible. For action scenes he shoots using non-CGI techniques where possible, only resorting to computer imagery when an effect absolutely can't be achieved in camera. He's bringing back huge crowd scenes with thousands of extras, rather then relying on image manipulation to create large crowd scenes. I'm looking forward in particular to seeing these large crowd scenes, such as the destruction of the stadium already seen in trailers of Dark Knight Rises on the big screen, which I believe contains something like 11,000 extras. He has knack for keeping audiences on their feet with clever twists and turns, and frequently delivers satisfying surprise endings. Finally, he has a really strong track record. None of his films made in the last fifteen years suck, and more than a few are already classics, Memento and The Dark Knight probably being the most acclaimed, yet Inception, The Prestige, Batman Begins and Insomnia being great in their own right. I have no doubt that the final of his trilogy will be a great cinematic yarn, and while it'll be a tough task to live up to the hype and expectation leading up to the film's release, we can at least count on it being a better conclusion to this Batman series then what Batman & Robin was to the last loosely connected quadrilogy of films.
Not the right logo but ehh.. its still the best
Oh yeah, and Batman rules. Way more then any other superhero. So if I'm gonna get excited for any franchise film, it'll be this one.
I'll deliver my thoughts or give some form of a ramble on the first early next week. Right now I'm gonna get prepared by re-watching Nolan films. Last night was my first watch of Insomnia, which was a dark psychological thriller with more in common with Memento than his later work. Al Pacino gave a great performance as a well-meaning yet troubled detective whose control over a murder case in a small Alaska town where the sun never sets slips away from him, due in part to sleep deprivation and also in part to his increasingly crooked ways. That's a plot summary without giving much away if you haven't seen it, but its an original and entertaining crime/mystery/thriller, if a little on the melancholy side (not that films such as this should be cheery). The film's strong performances and satisfying ending make the dark journey worthwhile.
The night before that I rewatched The Dark Knight for the first time since when I originally saw it in theatres. It seems certain to me that this is a great film, now that I can watch it distant from the films initial hype and the circumstances surrounding Heath Ledger's tragic death. Ledger's performance as the Joker is great for completely different reasons than Nicholson's in the '89 Batman. I enjoy both takes on the villain for their own individual reasons. The script is damn awesome, with its only faults being the sheer amount plot crammed into it, especially the first half, which can get a little clustered with separate conversations and events. But this all leads towards several great action scenes and a gripping climax. I love how Nolan manages to incorporate such iconic Batman elements, such as Batman defeating the Joker by dangling him over some sort of ledge, something I remember from the cartoons and possibly also the Burton Batman (need to rewatch that) into his modern day, 'realistic' Batman world. I found Harvey Dent's eventual progress into Two Face far more successful than what I remember upon initially viewing. [SPOILERS] My memories had me believe that Dent died soon after getting his face burnt and way not allowed to truly develop into Two Face. But I was wrong, he is Two Face for nearly the films whole last act, and it is between him and Batman that the films final climax is played out. We then end on a cliffhanger that seems to suggest a third Nolan Batman film was always in the works, although I read some where that he had to to be convinced to make a third. Who knows. I'll continue to watch the rest of Nolan's films, with Batman Begins tonight and maybe Memento or his debut Following after that. Might talk a bit about them in a future blog (but Dark Knight Rises first).
Its been a good week for music and literature for me, as well as film. Apart from getting obsessed with Batman and Christopher Nolan films, I've also been listening to the new Baroness album, Yellow and Green which is streaming online at the moment. Check it out here: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/08/156292608/first-listen-baroness-yellow-and-green. It's totally awesome, and while a lot less metal and a lot more rock and indie than their last few albums, that doesn't put me off. I appreciate them experimenting and going in different directions, and although I'm yet to decide if I like it as much or more than Blue Record, its managed to keep me riveted through two whole listens so that's got to say something. Track Four on the first disc, Little Things is a highlight, as is Track Six on the second, Psalms Alive, both of which have a shitload more indie in them than hard rock. There's dance beats, attractive melodies, tight drums. I'm loving all of it.
I'm also reading a fiction book for the first time in years, that being Michael Moorcock's Behold The Man. Shout out to my mate Ben for lending this to me. I don't often find much fictional literature that I can get into, but this science fiction tale about a man who travels back in time to the time of Christ to witness the crucifixion has got me gripped. Its short, which might be part of the reason. Its also really interesting, kind of disturbing, depressing, but pretty dang original. I'm half-way through, and might write some more on it when its finished.
Also just recently I took a trip back down to my homeland of Dunedin (I'm currently living in the A-U-K) where I caught up with family, friends and the cold climate of that beautiful town. I also went on a bit of an adventure up to Queenstown with my mum, her partner, his son, my brother and his misses. We went Skiing, and although I was the most novice, completely bailing into a mound of snow and backflipping upon my first attempt on the learners slope, I soon got the hang of things and completed several of the Cadrona green runs. Was fucking fun times. Also heres me bungy-jumping:
So I've done some editing to the visuals of this blog and we now have the curious face of a Llama hanging out a car in NYC to greet us. Thank you Inge Morath, reknown Austrian photographer (who I only discovered thanks to the watermark on the photo) for capturing this endlessly amusing photograph. I'll have a new rambling film blog in the next few days as I'm planning to head out to the old theatre to catch some flicks, so look out for that. In the mean time I'll deliver this relatively brief blog on an artist I've discovered this week.
That artist is Jay Electronica. I discovered him late one night on a wander through the city while listening to BFM. The dude raps over the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack. And its amazing. Check it:
No drum beat. No bass. No added samples. Just a fucking soundtrack and an amazing fucking rapper. This guy sounds like hes lived. Hes got shit to say and is not afraid to do it in a unique way that other rappers won't touch. Although I am most attracted to the interesting approach to Hiphop that the Eternal Sunshine raps provide, his more traditional tracks kick just as much ass as well. In the last few years he has released some mixtapes, singles and one compilation album over more straight foward Hiphop beats, produced by the likes of J Dilla (his 2007 demo) and Just Blaze. A highlight of his releases to date is this track, titled Exhibit C (there's also an Exhibit A which is awesome as well). The beat is amazing, with Electronica's style perhaps bringing the most out of producer Just Blaze*.
That was the first track I heard by this guy, walking home late at night after the Most Fun You Can Have Dying screening. It pretty much blew my mind. He talks about poverty a lot, living on the streets. He's not about bragging, perhaps about his skill but it is warranted; he's head and shoulders above many other mainstream rappers. He has an appreciation for the old school of rap, often quoting classic rhymes, such as that of Busta Rhymes and even those three jewish boys who I hold so dearly to my heart.
The other interesting thing about this guy is that he's 36 yet only just entered the recorded rap world about four or five years ago. He's not exactly prolific as well, his releases are few and far between and majority of them are mixtape releases or EP's. Theres one official CD release, What The Fuck Is Jay Electronica? from 2010, which compiles his mixtape, EP and single releases. He's yet to deliver a debut album. When that happens I'm gonna be eyes and ears on this dude, I'm sure its gonna be awesome. For now I'll bash his somewhat scattered back catalogue and wait in anticipation. He's also apparently gonna appear on Kanye West's upcoming G.O.O.D. Music compilation album. Exciting stuff for 2012!
A lot of you guys maybe already know about this guy, but if you don't and you're into Hiphop or just great modern music thats slightly left of centre, check Jay Electronica out. I hope I'm not sounding like a total rap n00b ranting about this guy, but it is totally sick shit. Its not that often I find an underground rapper I really love.
Blog two complete! To quote Shania Twain, can only go up from here!
