The best trailer I have ever seen

[steve hyde]

I think you are spot-on Nathan. I call it cultural poverty and this is certainly a theme I am pursuing.

Have you seen Rosetta? The Dardenne Brothers claim that 80% of the cost of the film was film stock, there is no obvious use of lighting, a few actors and barely any dialogue. Imagine a von Trier film with no formal trickery - it is truly a staggering achievement. I heard it was shot on a Bolex.

Apparently their latest film 'the Child' was the lowest grossing winner of the Palm'd'or ever.

The jurys at Cannes and film market's, like the one in the USA, are two completely different worlds (to state the obvious). It does not surprise me that a film might win the golden palm and then bomb at box offices. It makes perfect sense in many ways.

Rosetta is more or less a Dogme film. Not an entertainment piece - it's a slice-of-life social realist picture composed of long monotonous shaky camera work. (e.g. someone with a Bolex running down the street behind the actor etc..) This enhances the uncomfortable and unpleasant atmosphere of the story which is a story about the dead-end road of poverty when the weight of the world works to crush the life-possibilities of a seventeen year old girl.....and does.

It's a great low-budget film, but one that could have been improved by a script with higher density of character interactions.

Steve

[npcoombs]

I think the first half of Rosetta could have done with more interaction, the final half was fine for me. Part of what makes the film so uncomfortable is the loneliness and sparseness of her existence. There are no guardian angeles, no random strangers approaching in the bar, nothing - just reality.

Films I have seen in the last week:

Gerry (3rd viewing), Gus Van Sant 4/5

Time of the Wolf, Michael Haneke 3/5

Robinson in Space, Patrick Keiller 4/5

I have Manderlay (Von Trier), Last Days (van Sant) and Ordet (Dreyer) on order...its fantastic to return to actually watching films again!!

[Evan Kubota]

I just watched 'Short Film about Killing' by Kieslowski. I had seen the Dekalog version about a year ago.

The film is a fantastic achievement because of the way it remains political while never lapsing into polemicizing (although this can be entertaining). The script is precise, logical, and horrifying in its implications. The main thesis of the film is impossible to argue against.

This returns to the question - what is politically engaged filmmaking in the US?

I feel like doing a project with "meaning" but I have no idea what that is. We live in a confused country.

[steve hyde]

Evan,

Kieslowski's killing film is one of the most interesting, for me, in his dekalog series. It is a film that asks tough questions and makes no attempts to answer them. What should society do with people that kill out of bordom? Kieslowsi responds to the question with a tale of how a killing unfolds and shows why society must bare some of the blame for producing killers...

no easy answers -a great poetic-narrative..

What is politically engaged filmmaking?... I see it as the making of films that are meaningful to the filmmaker. (not fishing for a market) A way of saying: this is something I love or this is something I hate; this is something important to think about; this is what is meaningful to me.... look at this film, inhabit this story, think about these things because this is what I care about! This is what makes me angry! or this is something tragic - let me show you why - or - best of all, this is something tragic and here are some reasons you should laugh about it with a heavy heart.

I know it is not helpful to lump all films into one category, but all films are political in the sense that all films have political outcomes - even, of course, Fruit Loops cereal comercial spots. (perhaps the most political of all) However, some films are called "political" or "politically engaged" or "political thriller", "political propaganda" and so on. These films are most often geopolitical. George Cloony's "Syriana" comes to mind. (good film by the way) - a "political thriller" and also Woody Allen's "Match Point", which is a very political film, but a very different kind of political thriller. (no one calls it political, but of course it is) For me, it is a film about collatoral damage in an epoch of human life write-offs.. A relevant theme for an American filmmaker to be sure... The genius in Allen's approach is in the writing: The script ties together the threads of how and why a man turns passion into collatoral damage. It is a classic case study - a fictional work of journalism founded on thousands of true stories.

Not sure what to recommend. I struggle with writing.

For finding themes I think the first chapter of "Crafting short films that connect" is worth reading. I like the 'menu" concept. I can't recommend buying the book however since most of it is composed of student screenplays that aren't that interesting. (go to the library for it)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/024080 ... F8&s=books

For research, I think case study methodologies are relevant. The world of case study methodologies is more varied and nuanced than you might think. A good starting point is Robert Yin's handbook:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076192 ... e&n=283155

This book is making waves in social science research right now. I'm not sure why screenwriters aren't catching on....

Steve