Author: greg

You’ve gotta see Errol Morris’s commercials for MoveOn PAC, the unaccountable special interest division of MoveOn.org. Morris took the “Switch” concept he used for Apple, and shot ads of Republicans who discuss switching their vote to Kerry. Morris’s straight-on interviewing style and deft editing manage to convey real peoples’ nuanced, complex, and sincere perspectives. The word that sticks with me most: Betrayed.
Of course, MoveOn’s populist, anti-war-energized donors voted to run the ad about WMD lies, which strikes me as the ad they most want to show Republicans rather than the ad that’s most likely to sway Republicans to switch.
Each ad may elicit its own rebuttal–or, at least there are automatic administration retorts of varying degrees of accuracy/effectiveness; I see the William Harrop ad as vulnerable to criticism of “sour grapes,” and the economic thesis of the Brady Van Matre ad doesn’t make sense. But the cumulative effect of so many Republican voices of discontent is quite powerful.
As a registered Republican (Yow, where’d that come from??) my top picks are Rhonda Nix, Kenneth Berg, and Sid Hasan.
Related:
Philip Gourevitch reports from the set: context, insightful comments from Morris, spin from MoveOn’s Wes Boyd, and a bit of “we’re politicians above all” from the Kerry campaign.
“Confessions of A Republican,” Johnson’s powerful 1964 ad, which was entirely scripted. [from AMMI’s The Living Room Candidate]
My interview with Errol Morris

Despite the unmitigated embarassment of his last three directorial forays, the actor Kevin Costner still felt qualified, nay, compelled to let fly with the advice on the set of his current film, Untitled Ted Griffin Project. After wrapping for the day rather than engage in a duel-to-the-death on jet skis, writer/first-time director, Ted Griffin, got the axe. A Fly on The Wall has a gory report from the set [via Defamer]
Now tell me first-time directors, what hurts more:
1) Getting fired from your first film, which you wrote the script for, and which is still named after you?
2) Getting fired by the Patron Saint of First Filmmakers, the man you wrote Ocean’s Eleven for, Steven Soderbergh?
3) Getting replaced by Rob Reiner? I mean, come on, what’s he ever done?? [Okay, you’re not helping here…]

With the sole exception of South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, no movie has provided as dead-on accurate a depiction of war as David O. Russell’s Three Kings. Now, in an example of cautious “I told you so” prophecy-checking, Russell is co-directing a documentary that revisits aspects of his 1999 film about the first Gulf War.
Sharon Waxman reports that the $180,000 film is being rushed out for both a new DVD and an unusual theatrical re-release of the original film.
In collaboration with with Juan Carlos Zaldivar and Tricia Regan, Russell interviews Iraqi refugee extras from Three Kings (which was shot in California and Mexico, not the mideast, btw) and veterans of both GWI and II. In at least one life-imitates-art moment, a soldier who got the nickname “Clooney” for his involvement last year in attempted looting from Saddam’s hoards of cash.
I probably shouldn’t even link to the old DVD at this point, but in case they replace the good commentary tracks…
Related: Bloghdad.com/Three_Kings
Partying with David O. Russell

While looking at film directors who are more than dabbling in television, the Village Voice’s Joy Press puts the current trend into context. Turns out indie-types like Miguel Arteta (Six Feet Under) and Neil Labute (The L Word)(What’s that? Sorry, don’t have Showtime.) aren’t the first, just the latest.
It seems film auteurs have been happily trading “total creative control” for “a job that actually pays” at least since Robert Altman’s days on Bonanza. No news there. And with the networks turning to blockbuster hacks, the only creativity seems to be on HBO. And Showtime. Again, no surprise.
What IS interesting, though, could be called Six Degrees of Barry Levinson. Turns out a whole crop of indie vets, including Arteta, Lisa Cholodenko, Mary Harron, and Whit Stillman (speaking of whom, where is that guy?) all got to work on Levinson’s series Homicide in the early 90’s.
So how’s about letting a crop of indie punks loose on the set of Law & Order, then?

OK, do I shoot down that comparison in the first sentence, or later on? Starting with his sculpture and environmental pieces, and later with his video and photography, I’ve been a fan of Jonah Freeman’s work for more than six years. But with The Franklin Abraham, his current exhibition at Andrew Kreps Gallery, I think he has reached a synthesis, a new mode that has implications beyond just his own work.
I put Gabriel Orozco and Matthew Barney on a rather arbitrary spectrum (Orozco because I just wrote about his documentary and videos a few posts ago, Barney because he’s the apotheosis of something, at least). Actually, the comparison’s not that far-fetched; all three artists, including Freeman, move easily between mediums, although at least Barney and Orozco consider themselves sculptors first. The two old mens’ videos have something else in common; they can be controversially tedious to watch, especially if you’re not in the mood.

Continue reading “Plotting Jonah Freeman on the Matthew Barney — Gabriel Orozco Axis”