Skip to main content

OUCH! - Swanberg/Mumblecore hate continues at Glenn Kenny's blog in comments, starts to widen to Dentler, Pierson, iW, et al.

For sheer spectacle, I've been following the comments at Glenn Kenny's post/article re: Joe Swanberg's movies (let me get my take on the films & the maker out of the way quickly: Swanberg is very productive, Mumblecore is a good way to generate publicity for low-budget/no-star movies, I am not a fan of KOTM or LOL, however, did somewhat enjoy HTTS - some characters had funny moments - I think that's about it - oh, also, it is cool that the M-core crowd has embraced Barry Jenkins - I am sure MfM benefited from it), anyway, this latest comment from AlexJones (at the end of PAGE 4!!!??? of comments) is kinda explosive/feels explosive ('cause it attacks many indie scene makers?), here's a part of it:

"First, Matt Dentler rode the Mumblecore hype to a job at Cinetic Rights Management and needed to continue to generate this hype in order to legitimize his hiring and raise his profile with companies like Amazon. This year his replacement, Janet Pierson, has programmed a film IN WHICH SHE IS AN ACTRESS. Bujalski's Beeswax, which has already been torn-apart in Berlin. Now, can you imagine Geoff Gilmore programming a film in which he acts? No, you cannot. Why? Because he is a professional and above that sort of thing.

If that weren't enough, Sarasota Film Programmer Holly Herrick, recently appeared literally naked and in bed with Swanberg for Young American Bodies (http://blog.spout.com/2007/11/14/young-american-bodies-preview/). Now, can you imagine Geoff Gilmore filming himself getting in bed with a filmmaker? No, you cannot. Why? Because he is a professional and above that sort of thing.

If you continue to look at the circle of indiewire, hammer to nail, Spout Blog, SXSW, etc. you begin to see the same names appearing again and again and again, as performers as reviewers as bloggers and as programmers. They sit in a circle, facing inward, and tell each other how great they are. They do it in a variety of ways and over and over again. Any dissenting opinion - like Amy Taubin - is drowned out with attacks that the criticism is (somehow) personal. Meanwhile, good films go unnoticed and the larger public struggles to understand what all that chatter is about. The further from the world-at-large the group drifts the worse the films get and the further detached they become... but they never know it, because their only mirrors are each other, and their friend's blog said it was great, so keep going... and all the while we wonder where the great filmmakers are."

Read the rest of the comment at Kenny's blog.

And since my blog appears on iW & I have promoted some M-core movies (stuff by Katz, Duplass bros, Mutual App) I'll say - for myself - yes, attention from blogs definitely fuels indie filmmaker activity (i wanted to say careers - but a lot of indie filmmakers are not making all their money from making movies - so, pursuit is perhaps a better term) - I guess I am guilty a tiny bit for keeping M-core alive. Blogs are tiny gatekeepers to one tiny area of the indie film world (but i guess it all depends on how you look at it, one person's tiny scene can be another person's whole world). BUT...

But is M-core & blogging about it positively or negatively ultimately a good thing for indie film? Possibly. It's drama (very light drama, but drama for indie film geeks) - people like spectacle - draws people in, entertains people. Also, any filmmakers who are enraged that Swanberg's not so spectacular movies get a ton of attention due to his networking abilities & peer support can motivate themselves to create such a situation for themselves AND to use it to make better films - or at least films that they think are better & more deserving of praise & support than Swanberg's.

OK, back to real work... :)

Here's Kenny's post w/ all the hot -!caliente! - comments. Enjoy the drama.

- Sujewa

Full Movie - SNEAK PREVIEW - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene And The Mystery Of Immortal Time Travelers

NEW - COSMIC DISCO DETECTIVE RENE (2023) - TRAILER!

The Secret Society For Slow Romance (2022) - available to rent as a new release starting January 1

Werewolf Ninja Philosopher at Vimeo VOD

Popular Posts

Godard's GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE - watch and commentary live - off of Metrograph At Home copy of film

Let's take a closer look at Mike Tully's negative review of IFBRT & see if we can clarify some things

Mike Tully (presently inactive filmmaker who is not a fan of shooting on DV, who is now running things - as far as I know - at the review site Hammer to Nail, who also blogs at indieWIRE, & who wrote a brief & positive review of Date Number One in '06, & a fellow Marylander who generally seems like a cool dude) attended the World Premiere of Indie Film Blogger Road Trip and wrote a review of the doc . There are several items in that review that I'd like to comment on. So here we go: "At its best, Sujewa Ekanayake’s Indie Film Blogger Road Trip is certain to go down as one of the more bizarre time capsules of life on early-21st Century Earth." Cool - life on Earth in early 21st century - right now - is pretty bizarre, so a film dealing with a new, early-21st Century thing like film blogging/a film blogging community, should reflect that reality. The doc, however, is very simple & conventional in its form & content (shots of people talking). It is i

This is no way to write a movie review

Cynthia Rockwell's "review" of Hannah Takes The Stairs is depressing not because she didn't like the movie but because after reading the entire thing, 6 small to medium sized paragraphs, I can't figure out the following: the plot of the movie or the situation or roughly what happens for 70 - 90 minutes, the main characters & any significant minor characters, who plays the characters, ideas that may have been expressed in the movie, similar ideas and situations that may have been explored in other movies or other art/entertainment and how those compare with the film being reviewed, the reviewer's opinion of the technical craftsmanship of the movie, how real life compares to the world being depicted in the movie. At the very least I would like to learn a few of those things about a movie from a review. (and yes, Rockwell does consider her post re: Hannah a review, as noted here , not just a blog entry reflecting on the lack of female participation in indie

Reading Material

Indie Film Blogger Road Trip