But from here, in front of my computer screen, outer space paired with the right soundtrack feels so fucking free and hopeful. There’s so much of it and an infinite possibility of what still is to come. Wow. I love this colossal world and all it might still become.
Author: Ted Hope
It’s not enough to just run and fetch.
Come back next week and I will have my pet rapping and break dancing. Forget about a dog on skateboard or a cat on a piano. What is spectacular is our pet is bearded dragon.
This will be our 3rd Indie Night at Film Society Of Lincoln Center, and although I have been programming movies for you for close to three years now, I have not yet been able to bring you any sci-fi films. That changes with this offering, and, man, it's been worth the wait.
When first features work, as this one does, they can be remarkable displays, often representing what the director has long dreamed of expressing, free of the general self-censorship that market considerations bring. On their first feature, creators often feel a far greater pressure to demonstrate what their authorial voice represents; perhaps it is because of this pressure that it is hard to find true confidence and discipline on display in many early works. But, holy cow, that is that not the case with Jean-Baptiste Leonetti's CARRÉ BLANC (White Square) — yet a further proof of the colossal wave of international greatness that is defining cinema today.
Whereas America's corporately engineered cinema implicitly lusts for a dystopian future while it delivers pat excuses of psychological backstory (instead of character complexity), empty images full of flash (but devoid of real-world emotion, politics, ethics, or meaning), surface level editing (that removes any understanding of place), a willingness to introduce new narrative elements solely to advance the plot, & shock (for sensation not understanding), cinema worthy of the term art — like CARRÉ BLANC — does quite the opposite. If you are looking for an antidote to THE HUNGER GAMES or even want to see a true alternative, join us. Some people may call CARRÉ BLANC too tense or brooding, dark or bleak — but for me it is nothing short of exhilarating, heartfelt, electrifying. thoughtful, and fully capable of maintaining a sense of humor and fun in these dark times.
Leonetti's nameless and brutal totalitarian regime is far more scary than what we've been delivered as of late precisely because it seems like a future we not only could have had, but still might. CARRÉ BLANC is delivered in haunting precise images, sounds, and actions. Full of legitimate suspense, references and riffs, from Stanley Milgram's social science experiments to classic sic-fi cinema like SOYLENT GREEN & SILENT RUNNING, we are given a world that extends far beyond the narrative's confines, where constant threat of violence indicates the begging need for revolution — be it of the society and it's practices or that of the individual's heart and mind. At the heart of CARRÉ BLANC remains a love story, capturing both the trauma and shared mission that modern society needs to breed honest love and it does this with us, not in spite of us.
This is a world of cinema that I want more of: sci-fi for adults, expressing ideas while maintaining a discipline, love, and even sense of humor for composition, and an appreciative commitment to both restraint and excess — the ying/yang that makes each element truly sing. CARRÉ BLANC is a film that benefits from its financial limitations, enhancing its art with imagination, while remaining committed to cinema's core attributes of image, sound, & time (composition, juxtaposition, pace). It raises the bar for what we should demand from all cinema.
CARRÉ BLANC is the type of film that summons your memories of great works by the great directors, and it doesn't suffer for it. BRAZIL, 2001, SOLARIS, THX 1138. It made me giddy in the same way that Aronofsky's PI & Jone's MOON did, in that I knew a major new director arrived, and one that would take me to places I myself would never imagine, yet once arrived, would forever dream (not always pleasantly!) about.
Order tickets: www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/carre-blanc
If the following review doesn't make you order a ticket right now then you clearly are not the audience for the film: www.dailyfilmdose.com/2011/09/tiff-2011-carre-blabc.html
"George Orwell as filtered through Andrei Tarkovsky" — Todd Brown / Twitch.com
And more: smellslikescreenspirit.com/2011/09/carre-blanc-review/
Watch the trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3X4YW50Ptk
And please come see the film Wednesday May 2nd at 8:00 PM at the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Wed, May 2
8:00 PM
Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center
144 W. 65TH St
New York, NY 10023
Take a break and come join me, director Jean-Baptiste Leonetti, and some of his team at Film Society of Lincoln Center’s “Indie Night”.
Most sincerely, and forever hopeful about film,
Ted
Caine is a nine year old boy who built his own cardboard arcade. He only had one customer but he did not let that stop him. One day, everything changed…
Visit the site for Caine’s Arcade: http://cainesarcade.com/
And give a little something to Caine’s scholarship fund.
I can’t help but think that this only a moment of minutes before Chase or some other thief masquerading as an institution steals this lovely short and makes it into a commercial without paying the originators (like they did with the Brooklyn Space Program).
Before skateparks, before Supreme, before skating culture went mainstream, NYC was a wild and wooly beast. How can one not yearn for the bad old days, when punks on boards terrorized the hoards…
Thanks to Gothamist for this tip!
Why wait for bed to gaze at the stars? Feast your eyes on some of the glorious starscapes on display here! It seems it might be a tad better place to starwatch from outer space than having your feet firmly planted on our ground.
The Stars as Viewed from the International Space Station. from AJRCLIPS on Vimeo.
Thanks to iO9 for the tip!
Hey Film Friends,
Our debut screening at Lincoln Center last month was a great success and completely sold out. Everyone had a great time. I encourage you to order tickets to our next show right now, and use the "affiliate" code to save money when you order. The café in the theater has terrific food and drink so you can make a night of it as we did last month. And of course we have another great, truly indie, film for you this coming Thursday night.
What with the bombast of Hollywood's regular fare, I find sanctuary in the true indie work that is committed to unlocking our present day reality. My next screening at The Film Society of Lincoln Center's INDIE NIGHT delivers all of this to you:
emotional truth and honesty,
clarity and discipline,
simplicity yet reach and ambition —
and most perhaps,
enjoyment and pleasure in the odd, little moments that can define a life.
Director Matthew Petock's A LITTLE CLOSER, won best feature at the Lone Star Film Festival. A remarkably assured first feature for a director barely out of film school, Petock's debut rips a page out of Raymond Carver's stories. Far more seasoned artists have struggled to capture emotional truth while not falling into the trap of sentimentality. Petock manages to walk that line.
Martin Scorcese had this to say about A LITTLE CLOSER:
"Matthew Petock's first feature shows him to be a director of depth sensitivity and assurance. He captures the quiet emotions and heartbreak of his characters with profound respect for the dignity of the everyday struggles in life and what it means to be a family. A LITTLE CLOSER is a hauntingly beautiful film and a remarkable debut."
As with last month's WITHOUT and its director Mark Jackson, Petock’s A LITTLE CLOSER is part of a trend (dare I say: a movement) of naturalist micro-budget filmmaking emerging from Brooklyn, but blossoming in far off locales. They share a gaze towards the class divide that defines our time, a respect for working people and the challenges we all now face.
Matthew Petock does not wallow in the filmmaking constraints financial hardship imposes, but instead delivers a full vision, never wanting, with all the creative aspects in full service to his vision. A LITTLE CLOSER introduces us to a working mother who may be a single parent with two young sons who try her patience and test their boundaries, but we also get to share in her joy when she too gets the brief respite she's been yearning for.
Great movies! Great discussion! Discount tix! Discount food & booze! Pretty awesome if you ask me.
Check out the trailer: http://alittlecloserfilm.com/trailer
Check out A Little Closer's website: http://alittlecloserfilm.com/
Order tickets now at: http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/a-little-closer
And please come see the film Thursday April 5th at 8:00 PM at the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
"A LITTLE CLOSER"
Thursday, April 5th
8:00 PM
ELINOR BUNIN MUNROE FILM CENTER
144 W. 65TH St
New York, NY 10023
Take a break and come join me, director Matthew Petock, and some of his team at Film Society of Lincoln Center’s “Indie Night”.
Most sincerely, and forever hopeful about film,
Ted
