ARTHOUSE FILM NEWS - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene at Facets, Chicago 11/29/23

For my earlier post on Limits of Control, go here . Here's another quick thought about the movie: The entire movie takes place inside either the Lone Man character or some other character's head. The mission is to kill the violent, closed, maybe money & power obsessed aspect of the self. The mission is to be accomplished by the use of art, science, philosophy, discipline, sex or appreciation of the beauty of the body, etc. Ultimately the Closed Side of the self is heavily guarded, inside a bunker. The Open Side of the self gets in & accomplishes its mission by using the imagination (when the Lone Man is questioned by his target as to how he penetrated the bunker, Lone Man says he used his imagination). Or, by using our imagination - making art, exploring science, etc., we may be able to get the more destructive & selfish aspects of ourselves under control. Of course, check out the film for yourself (if you haven't yet) & see if this take on it makes se

I had coffee with Ry earlier today & she told me that she has a website for all her projects (You Won't Miss Me [trailer above], Orphans, Marion & more), with upcoming screenings (YWMM at MD Film Fest on 5/9 & 5/10, also at BAMcinemaFest 6/19 & 23) & other info. Check out the site here & get all the info. on the cinematic adventures of Russo-Young.

Warning: Don't Read If You Do Not Want Spoilers. In The Limits of Control Jim Jarmusch has created a movie that contains elements of a hit man thriller film that, for those audience members who want to take the time & connect the dots, contains enough material that can be interpreted to create a normal hit man story. Simultaneously, LoC is also a parable - a symbolic story that attempts to impart wisdom or knowledge of some use to the community. LoC's greater value is beyond the escapism that can be provided by reflecting on the mission of the Lone Man & how he accomplishes it - the greater value of the film (and it is definitely possible that there are many valuable messages in the film, this is just one that I picked up on) is providing a fresh way to remind people that there are two kinds of power in this world - the kind that uses guns & kidnapping of people & murder, and the kind that uses science, art, meditation, focus, discipline. In a struggle both si

Start Over - Date Number One Story 1 from Sujewa Ekanayake on Vimeo . * Start Over is story 1 of 4 in the feature length comedy Date Number One (2006, 2008). Start Over was directed, produced, written, videotaped & edited by Sujewa Ekanayake. Boom mic work by Fritz Flad. Film features Steve Lee & Kelly Ryan. Music by Seznec Brothers. See all of Date Number One on DVD starting in late May 2009. More information coming to datenumberone08.blogspot.com . Start Over was filmed in Kensington Row Bookshop in Kensington, Maryland.::Start Over & Date Number One Copyright 2006 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films. diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com , wilddiner.com :: :: ADVERTISEMENT :: Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 2 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco2.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 3 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco3.blogspot.com Farzad Ro

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From a real review of Jim Jarmusch's new movie The Limits of Control, at Cinematical : "One night he returns to his room to find a voluptuous naked woman ( Paz de la Huerta ) lying on his bed, a gun in her right hand. "Do you like my ass?" she asks. Is she a figment of his imagination? Did he dream her up off the museum wall? She tempts him to have sex with her, but he remains chaste -- "Not while I'm working" -- even while she slumbers naked, pressed against his body, throughout the night. Is he testing his self-control? Has she been sent to distract him? What is he doing in Spain?" And now, from McSweeney's Internet Tendency , fake notes for a Jarmusch movie, a Ghostbusters sequel: "Sigourney Weaver cameo. She's possessed again. What can Bill Murray do about it? He chooses to do nothing. They part. Is that a hint of regret on his face? Could be. Or maybe he is thinking of something else. Is that the devil himself turning her e

Well written review of Whale , with descriptions of the major segments of the movie, at New Turtleneck Films . From the review , the intro paragraph: "I'm not sure how Amir Motlagh is going to feel about me opening an analysis of his first feature whale with a Joe Swanberg quote, as he's expressed some ambivalence, both in public and private, about certain independent filmmakers, Swanberg included, whose films have been grouped together as part of a "movement". I felt opening with that quote was apt, however, because Motlagh's film is full of experimentalism, feels nothing like typical Hollywood (or even independent) movies, and shows a full awareness of the freedom that independence gives low-budget filmmakers: the freedom to eschew traditional plot structure, the freedom to sidestep confrontation and deny pay-offs, the freedom to use both sound and picture expressionistically to arrive at first-person-cinema, camera-stylo." Read the opening quote &

Photo from New York Times article. Photo by Pedro Ugarte, Getty Images * The war in Sri Lanka was mentioned briefly in Story 4 of my movie Date Number One (with those lines of dialogue having been written in early '08, much has changed). Here's the latest on the war, from The Economist : "WITH loudhailers hitched to the tallest palmyrah trees, Tamil-speaking soldiers of the Sri Lanka army had for weeks been urging civilians inside a dwindling strip of territory held by the rebel Tamil Tigers to break through their cordon and flee. But since April 20th, when the army burst an embankment at Putumattalan, the authorities have been overwhelmed by the thousands pouring out. The Tigers’ defences were less to keep the army out than to fence the civilians in." And: "The army, which after two years of pitched battles has cornered the rebels into a 5km (three-mile) stretch of land, says it has slowed down the offensive because of the difficulty of distinguishing rebels f

Check out Movieline's positive review of Limits of Control here . Here's a little bit of it: "Abrams’s emphatic sense of puzzlement, after all, has little on that of Jarmusch, whose new film The Limits of Control reaffirms his place among the mindbending vanguard." Rest at Movieline . I think I've read maybe a dozen reviews of LoC that've come out recently (thanks google alerts!), critical reactions are very mixed - but the negative reviews are fun to read - as film writers try to make some sense out of what sounds like a very unusual movie. Looking forward to checking out LoC for myself. - Sujewa :: ADVERTISEMENT :: Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 2 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco2.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 3 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco3.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 4 blo

10 years ago (1999) I did not know of - did not hear about in the media - about a single art film director who is 2nd generation Iranian-American or Iranian-European. Now I know of 4 - three well known in the art/indie/foreign film world & one who just made a very promising first feature. Here are the names & some links: Caveh Zahedi ( I Am A Sex Addict ) Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo) Marjane Satrapi ( Persepolis ) &, just entering the feature filmmaking arena: Amir Motlagh ( Whale ) So is this a new & significant development? I'd like to hear from people who know a lot about creativity in the Iranian diaspora & about art/indie/foreign films in Comments. - Sujewa :: ADVERTISEMENT :: Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 2 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco2.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 3 bl

I plan on watching The Limits of Control on Sunday, so, I am wondering if I'll encounter a sublime, mind-altering Jarmusch film like Mystery Train or something far more difficult to get into & enjoy like Coffee & Cigarettes or Year of the Horse. This interview with Jarmusch by Salon's Andrew O'Hehir makes the movie sound very interesting. From the intro to the interview: "But the suave hero, the sharp clothes, the noirish atmosphere and the spectacular settings are only one layer of the onion. Jarmusch's title is meant to be metaphysically suggestive, referring not just to the limits of political control (that's a clue, but not a spoiler) but also to the fact that the movie itself is a fiction, and to the possibility that the world is not what we perceive it to be. There are hints that De Bankolé is able to control the landscape around him, at least at times, almost like the author of a story or like Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."" A

whale_feature film trailer_director Amir Motlagh from Amir Motlagh on Vimeo . Amir Motlagh is a Los Angeles area based independent filmmaker & actor. After winning accolades from film festivals and web audiences for several short fiction & documentary pieces, Motlagh recently completed Whale - his first feature length film, a beautifully shot & edited work of fiction about an aspiring writer who returns to his parent's house to figure out the next phase of his life. I spoke with him recently about Whale, certain trends & other happenings in the indie film world - including the existence of several well regarded independent filmmakers with Iranian roots: Sujewa : What was the starting point for Whale? What experiences, other movies, career needs, other things led you to create Whale? Amir : Maybe I started Whale abstractly in 2001. It was the first film I had ever envisioned making, but I didn't have the know-how, resources and understanding of the film

So, took a couple of days, figured out how I want to use this blog now (as little as possible, only for projects that I am directly involved in, more here ). And, after speaking with a few people & getting some requests, the Feed is back on, so the blog posts will show up at various places once again, whenever they do happen. :: ADVERTISEMENT :: Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 2 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco2.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 3 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco3.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 4 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco4.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 5 blog http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco5.blogspot.com Farzad Rostami – Delaware Small Business Grants page http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com/2013/02/delaware-small-business-grants-page.htm

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