Like Anna Karina's Sweater

Just what is a Benten anyway?

Did you hear the one about the film blogger who started his own DVD distribution company? In the three-plus years of this blog's existence, I've made efforts to write about smaller, neglected, lesser known, or otherwise undistributed films. One random day the idea struck – why not try to make these films available to a wider audience? In a way, I guess was inspired by Victor Kiam, the Remington CEO who in the late-70s would appear in adverts for the razor proclaiming, "I liked it so much, I bought the company." While I can't vouch for the late mogul's integrity, I can say that "we love this film" is, at the moment, the single criterion for distribution consideration. Will it work? Well, we'll soon find out. . . Benten (a colloquial variant of Benzaiten), is the Buddhist goddess of all that flows, and she is often associated with music and the arts. Benten Films, a tiny ripple in the vast ocean of DVD distribution has but one simple mission – to bring the best in international and independent cinema to the North American DVD market. Whether old or new, genre film or auteurist masterpiece, all Benten titles will be films that we'd want to have in our collection. We're hoping to appeal to both the cinephile and the casual film fan. Though originally formed in 2005, there was one critical component missing – a solid partner. I needed someone who was equally passionate about cinema, but also savvy enough to know the business, and independent enough to offer opinion, suggestion, and direction. Writer/critic/filmmaker (and friend) Aaron Hillis was the perfect match. Aaron has worn several hats in this industry, including a stint at a well-known DVD distribution company, and his experience has already proven invaluable. However, his greatest asset is his candor, and though we clashed several times during the production of this first release, his willingness to challenge, disagree, and question helped prevent a few near-disasters. As I'm sure many of you know by now, our debut release is Joe Swanberg's LOL. Though only 25 years old, Joe already has three features under his belt, and his latest film, Hannah Takes the Stairs, has been picked up by IFC First Take and will open theatrically in New York City on August 22. A key figure in the new American independent cinema scene (some call it mumblecore), Joe's films are filled with the kind of creative energy and collaborative sprit that has been missing from American independent cinema for quite some time. Though his films are about the specific world inhabited by him and his cast, the themes are universal. LOL is a look at technology's impact on human interaction, and Joe does so with a keen eye that is more observational than judgmental. The DVD is packed with bonus features, including two commentary tracks (Cast/Director), the short film Hissy Fits, video podcasts by composer/co-creator Kevin Bewersdorf, the complete "Noisehead" videos, a slide show of the artwork of LOL, extended performance footage, a casting interview with Tipper Newton, and a new essay written for this release by GreenCine's own David Hudson. We're positively over the moon with the way the entire package turned out, though the path we traveled to get there wasn't always smooth. More on that another time. . . We've already begun preparation on our next release, which will be two films by Aaron Katz (Dance Party USA and Quiet City), followed by Todd Rohal's The Guatemalan Handshake. If all goes well we'll have a couple of announcements in the near future about some foreign acquisitions, but I don't want to jump the gun. LOL is available for pre-order at Amazon (and other outlets) and will be on store shelves August 28. Benten is part of the Ryko Distribution family, which means the DVD should be available everywhere. (Hey, even Best Buy is carrying it!) To read/hear more about Benten Films, check out the Summer 2007 issue of Filmmaker magazine, where you'll find an interview with Aaron and myself (not online, sadly), or head over to Cinematical and listen to the podcast we did with James Rocchi. It is the summer jam of 07. Visit our website for more details and updates, and for the cool kids we have a MySpace page (thanks Aaron!) though I honestly still haven't figured out how it works, or what it's for.

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 13, Week 3

Nope, this isn't going to be an all George Segal round. (Though that's not a bad idea.) That he happens to be the star of both Blume in Love and last week's quiz, No Way To Treat a Lady is pure coincidence. Well, maybe not so pure. Jack Smight's 1968 darkly comic policier isn't a great film by any means, but it has a lot going for it -- wonderful New York City location shots, Rod Steiger hamming it up to the nth degree as a psychopathic Broadway producer-cum-serial killer, a breathtakingly lovely Lee Remick, and, of course, George Segal as a Jewish detective with mother issues. (One of Remick's first lines to Segal is, "What a fascinating nose!" Ah...the 60s!) This week, a film that was missing from my collection for years (one of the dangers of lending discs to friends), but was replaced with a new copy just hours ago. This is a film everybody needs to see at least once. Name it. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Looking for Mr. Play-Date

The fetishization of Japanese schoolgirls is neither new nor news, and contemporary Japanese cinema has no shortage of films (or anime series) on the subject. From straight out exploitation (Terrifying Girls' High School), to girls-gone-wild exposés (Shudan Satsujin Club, Bounce Ko-Gals), horror flicks (Ju-Rei), and even lighthearted entertainment (Swing Girls, Linda Linda Linda), there probably isn't a cinematic genre that doesn't have at least one title centered around the uniformed short-skirt and loose sock set. In the 90s, the scandal of enjo kosai (compensated dating) rocked the Japanese media. High school girls were supplementing their pocket money by arranging "play-dates" with older Japanese men, aided by the then-new telekura (telephone clubs) -- a lo-tech predecessor to Facebook or the casual encounters board on Craigslist.  In many/some (depending on who you talk to) cases these dates weren't sexual, and the men were happy to simply have a meal or visit a karaoke bar with a younger girl. Two films from 1998 built around the enjo kosai sensation are Masato Harada's Bounce Ko-Gals, and Love & Pop, the live-action debut by anime superstar Hideaki Anno. The former is a gritty but overly sensationalized tale of teen prostitution that tosses abortion, drugs, yakuza, and a corrupt government official into the mix, all in the course of one night. At the other end of the spectrum is Love & Pop, which, while not entirely without narrative structure, favors a somewhat experimental approach in its depiction of a group of friends over the course of a single summer's day. From its opening moments, the thing you can't fail to notice about Love & Pop is director Anno's (best known as creator of the Neon Genesis Evangelion animated series) use of miniature digital cameras and a hyperkinetic editing style. Every scene appears to have been shot with no fewer than five cameras, with many attached to objects such as sweaters, chopsticks, beer bottles, fans, etc. The editing within each scene, which continually jumps from one camera to the next, feels almost random -- as if Anno left the choice to a computer, as Lars von Trier actually did in The Boss of it All -- and at times the shot length is barely long enough to process the image. There's a remarkably voyeuristic feel to it all -- appropriate given the film's subject. Unlike the films of Shunji Iwai (particularly All About Lily Chou-Chou) which are genuinely sympathetic to the problems that plague Japan's youth culture, Anno doesn't appear to be interested in fashioning detailed character portraits, and the girls of Love & Pop are generic by design. (One of them sports a UPC code tattoo on her hip -- the schoolgirl as commodfied object.) With parents more interested in pursuing their own hobbies than paying attention to the lives of their children, the girls wander the streets of Shibuya, where a different salacious offer awaits them on every street corner. They realize the temporality of their youth, and are determined to make the most of it, even though they describe much of their day-to-day existence as boring. They approach their play-dates with apathetic disinterest -- at times it seems they do it simply because they can. It's only when they are asked to half-chew Muscat grapes (which are the packaged and sold to men with a predilection for....god knows what) that the girls take a moment to consider exactly what it is they are doing. (It's also the only sequence in the film shot in something that approaches a long take.) About halfway in, the film shifts its focus to Hiromi (Asumi Miwa) and her quest to raise 120,000 Yen before 9:00 PM so she can buy a ring. With time a critical factor (Anno intercuts title cards that show us the number of hours remaining, and how much more money she needs to earn), Hiromi agrees to meet up with questionable, unsavory characters who clearly aren't content with simply having a meal or drink. By the time she meets up with Captain EO (Tadanobu Asano), a sociopath obsessed with Coppola's Michael Jackson film, you know things aren't going to turn out too well. It's hard to determine exactly what Anno's intentions are, and the film's voyeuristic gaze (under tables and up skirts) certainly emphasizes the fetishization, but fails to generate any meaningful commentary. Yet there is something effective in his stripped down approach -- the Tokyo of Love & Pop is devoid of teenage boys, leaving the girls alone in sea of older male predators. It succeeds as a quasi-experimental work, but only just. However, if you're interested in learning a thing or two about the problems of contemporary Japanese youth, there are far better alternatives.

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 13, Week 2

There is something very Altman-esque about last week's screen capture, which would explain why the single most submitted answer was California Split. However, one year prior to Altman's masterpiece (and starring the same lead actor), Paul Mazursky gave us the fascinating but troubling Blume in Love. The actor pictured is über-character actor Ed Peck, best known for his tough-guy cameos on sitcoms such as The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Benson, etc. Blume in Love was one of those films that often played on HBO back in their early days. As a young teen it seemed so adult to me, and I always felt that it was wrong for me to be watching it. (Though I did, many times.) Viewing it now as an adult, I honestly don't know what to make of its "happy" ending, which basically begins with a rape. Sheesh. The sexual revolution was quite a schizophrenic period, was it not? This week: much easier, I think. In what peculiar film will you find this apparently cold actress? Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Influence.....or merely coincidence?

Ok, on the surface it's just a four-digit number. But are there shared thematic links between the two films? Scroll down for more.

Seconds, John Frankenheimer (1966)

2046, Wong Kar-wai (2004)

In Seconds, 2046 is the train Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) takes from Grand Central Station back to his safe home in the suburbs. An aging businessman who let life pass him by, he's given an opportunity to begin anew, thereby escaping both his present and his past, though for a price. In 2046, a mysterious train, the creation of writer Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung), leaves for 2046 "every once in a while." Chow longs to escape from the pain of a failed romance. He creates a future world set in 2046, where escape is an impossibility, and lost memories are captured. Seconds: "Is it easier to go forward when you know you can't go back? ... Fact is, you don't want to go back." 2046: "Everyone who goes to 2046 has the same intention, they want to recapture lost memories. Because in 2046 nothing ever changes. But, nobody knows if that is true or not because no-one has ever come back." Trains, temporal escape, and you can't go home again. Valid connections, or am I just straining for ideas at 2:30 in the morning?

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 13, Week 1

From the midst of a hot, sticky, swampy, obscenely humid summer night in NYC comes the start of lucky round 13 of Filmbrain's weekly screen capture quiz! For the benefit of the newcomers, a quick rundown of the way the game is played: Every Wednesday morning a new screen quiz will be posted. Answers can be submitted, via email, until the morning of the following quiz. Some quizzes will contain an additional bonus point question, which is a good opportunity to flex your cinephilic muscles and clobber the competition. At the end of twelve weeks, the top three scorers will be allowed to choose any DVD used in the round as a prize. I usually begin each round with an easy quiz, but this one might not be as obvious as I first thought. Name the film, and for a bonus point, tell me the name of the actor sandwiched in between those lovely ladies. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

. . .for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all

So sayeth Hypatia of Alexandria, and I often think of her words when hitting the POST button. In the 3+ years that this blog has been in existence, there have only been a small handful of posts that didn't result in my self-critical tendencies rearing their not-quite-ugly heads, which is why I'm honored and humbled at having been tagged by both the swellegant, brilliant Campaspe and the gifted Damian "I-thought-Filmbrain-was-a-woman" Corvallis as a Thinking Bloggertm. The rules of this particular meme dictate that I must first link to the original post that started it all, and then nominate five other blogs that are, well, thought inducing. This last bit is tricky, for all the film blogs I regularly read meet that criterion. (Well, most of them.) Though I haven't followed the thread in great detail, I thought I'd try to choose five that haven't been nominated elsewhere.

I first became aware of the mysterious gentleman from Paris (who goes by the apropos moniker Harry Tuttle) in the comments section of both my blog and Girish's. Challenging, questioning, and confrontational without ever being rude, aggressive, or disrespectful, his thoughts on film and film criticism would spark some of the most fascinating dialog ever to appear in a comments thread. Even more impressive is the fact that English isn't his mother tongue, yet his eloquence and use of language would put many native speakers to shame. His blog, Screenville, is a treasure trove of meaty material. Must-reads are his five-part piece on The Wayward Cloud, and his six-part manifesto on Critical Fallacy. Daniel Kasman (aka D+Kaz) has of late become one of the most prolific film bloggers in New York City. There's hardly a series or retrospective that doesn't result in at least one review, and in between he chimes in on more commercial fare. Yet even with his impressive posting rate, his reviews are always well thought out, and remarkably insightful. His reasoned approach favors aesthetics over narrative, which allows him to find merits in trash such as The Transformers. Though he and I often differ in opinion (we've had some brilliant clashes at NYFF screenings), his reviews are always a pleasure to read. Flavorpill's (and Brooklyn's own) Lisa Rosman is the Dorothy Parker of the film blogosphere. The pieces on her blog, The Broad View, skillfully weave together the personal and the critical in a way I've not encountered before (or since.) There's not a single post on her site that is anything less than gripping, and her style makes me green with envy. Simply stated, this broad can write! Her analysis of Woody Allen was one of the best things I read in all of 2006. As with D+Kaz, Lisa and I have had our own knockdown brawls over certain films and filmmakers, and though she has no love for one of my sacred directorial cows, my admiration and appreciation never wanes. Greencine's David Hudson introduced me to Boyd van Hoeij at this year's Berlinale, and the few hours we spent chatting about film over multiple cups of coffee was a highlight of the festival. Here's a man who can claim he is the only film blogger in his entire country – but then again, he does live in Luxembourg. His site, european-films.net strives to offer the most complete coverage of the European film scene, from big-budget studio pics to tiny Indies you never heard of. Boyd's approach to film has a distinctly pan-European feel to it, and perhaps his living in a country that finds itself (both literally and culturally) at the crossroads of several nations is a factor in that. Regardless, the site is a not only an invaluable resource (particularly now that I'm in the distribution business), but his reviews offer a weighty alternative to the industry trades, which are often the only other English language source for many of these films. Strictly Film School is the one film blog I simply cannot read online. Site proprietor Acquarello's reviews are brimming with ideas and analysis that deserve to be read the old-fashioned way. A perusal of the site's archive, replete with many directors whose work I've yet to discover, often leaves me with a tremendous feeling of inadequacy. This is capital-C Cinephile stuff, yet the reviews are devoid of the pretentiousness and one-upmanship you occasionally find in these circles. This is criticism that at times approaches the poetic.

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 12 – The Winners!

Greetings all! I'm just at the tail end of a week's holiday at an undisclosed, idyllic location far from the stress of En-Why-Sea, where you have to travel about fifteen miles just to buy a carton of milk. It's been a peaceful, restful seven days that included not seeing or watching a single film or DVD – an absolute record for me. By the time the first firework is launched over Manhattan later tonight I'll no doubt be feeding my addiction one way or another. Last week's quiz was quite a stumper, and the bleak-set sex scene led many to assume it came from the European or Asian canon. Yet this is a homegrown product, direct from the mean streets of Manhattan – Martin Scorsese's phenomenal debut feature, Who's That Knocking at My Door (aka I Call First.) That's Harvey Keitel, in the first of what will become a career-load of nude scenes. Scorsese didn't wish to include this fantasy sex scene (which finds the young Keitel bedding down with a myriad of women) but was requested to do so by his producer. Is this the only full-frontal scene in his oeuvre? I've not given it too much thought, but I can't recall another glimpse of the mons pubis in any of his other films. (Feel free to correct me below.) The song playing during the scene was none other than the Doors' The End, years before Francis would use it in that Vietnam movie. I'm proud to announce that we have a first-time contestant coming in first place, and with a perfect score of 14 no less (12 quizzes + 2 bonus points.) A round of applause for David P-R – well done! There's a three-way tie for 2nd and 3rd place – Corbett B, Max G and Mike F all managed to rack up an impressive 12 points. Remember, any DVD used in this round is yours for the asking. Thanks to everyone who entered. Be sure to check back next week for the start of lucky round 13!