SERIOUSLY, YOUR MARKETING IS ?*@#ING COMPROMISED

Please consider this image for a moment.




This image was attached to the front cover of the free weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian (and, I assume, similar weekly papers in other urban markets in the US). It's part of a folding advertisement for the forthcoming film Cyrus, a mainstream film from mumblecore mainstays the Duplass Brothers. In the film a hapless, aging bachelor finds his shot at happiness with The Perfect Woman challenged by her contentious, maladjusted, probably lethal son (Jonah Hill, pictured above).

The image captures well the awkwardness and danger our hero finds himself in, but your blogger can't help but regret the censorship on the sign. Granted, even on the cover of a progressive weekly like the Guardian in a city like San Francisco it's unlikely you're going to see the word "FUCK" so prevalently featured. Would that we lived in a more fearless, less-litigious society. One would think from the trailers that Cyrus himself would actually inscribe the word on any sign displayed to a rival for his mother's heart (given the film's R-rating, perhaps he does). So the choice of this image to promote this film is an unfortunate one - it's edgy enough to suggest the rough, homespun indie cred of its makers but the absence of bad words comes across as a reassurance that the movie won't be too edgy, and thus safe for the mainstream viewer. I don't fault the Duplass brothers for the realities of marketing in America, but I can't imagine they're pleased that such an ultimately safe image has been chosen to announce their film.

The DIY misanthropy I've perceived in the press of the mumblecore features hasn't drawn me to them, but the sanitizing that this promo suggests has taken place in CYRUS (confirmed in at least one review I've read of the film) isn't terribly appetizing, either. We will see how the film does, and what doors it opens for its filmmakers.

Summer drive-by

Insulated as we are here in San Francisco we're occasionally slow to latch onto the fact that it's summer. But enough consecutive warm(ish) days and a specific trigger (in your blogger's case, the scent rising from the concrete of water from a hose) do put one in a summery frame of mind...

We'd be interested to know what you all are watching (either on Jaman or elsewhere). Sometimes our fancy turns to comfort movies - at least one person in this office enjoys kicking back on July 4th to John Wayne movies, preferably Stagecoach-era, but any of them will do.

Some might want to hideout from the multiplex and try something new - to placate this urge (and to offer a nice parallel to the shifting seasons), how about Shifted, the indie tale of a downsized corporate stooge who finds his old life haunting him even as he embraces new values?

Shifted


On the other hand, just 'cause we don't have the Twilight movies on the site doesn't mean you can't give us your thoughts on Eclipse over in our Forums.

SCOTT PILGRIM (and Jaman) VS. THE WORLD

Indie comics artist Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series quickly became a cult hit upon its publication, and it's easy to see why. The gloriously insane story of a young rocker's battle against seven evil ex-boyfriends for the hand of the cool girl he loves was beautifully executed with an energetic graphic style.

It could only be a matter of time before the series was adapted for the screen, and if the trailer's anything to go by, director Edgar Wright and a game-for-anything cast had a field day with it. And when a movie's website lets you build avatars, we at Jaman are usually ready to throw ourselves in.








We're content to imagine that Bryan O'Malley created the office until the release of the final volume of the comic next month - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World will hit screens on August 13. Can't wait for either one.

Pride: busting out all over the world

June heralds a celebration of gay pride all over the world - indeed, the month was thusly resanctified in the US by President Obama. Here in San Francisco, the two weeks before our Pride Parade means Frameline, the world's longest-running festival of GLBT films. It's in full swing, and we've happily sampled some of the offerings.

Frameline's gone back in the vaults to reevaluate the cinema of Andy Warhol, and there was no way we were going to miss the final screening in the well-curated retrospective. Vinyl (1965) is a challenging, deliberately/proudly amateurish and sleazy (but never boring) film, shot in three continuous takes, with its principals crammed into a corner of the Factory for a free-wheeling and sexed-up parable of the abuses of power. A friend was startled afterward to find that it had been based on A Clockwork Orange - though it lacks Kubrick's narrative drive and meticulousness, Vinyl's powerful opening pullout from a closeup of star Gerald Maranga had to have been an influence on Kubrick's better-known adaptation.



The Castro Theatre screening of David Weissman's We Were Here: Voices from the AIDS Years In San Francisco was going to be a potent experience, and it was a pleasure to experience this wonderful film with an audience full of folks who had witnessed and survived that tumultuous period (as well as a younger audience who came to share and learn). Through interviews with five men and women Weissman conjures a far-reaching powerful portrait of the larger community's struggles with the lethal epidemic, and gives voice to the strong individual and collective indentities that were forged in those tumultuous years. Everyone cried. Weissman is trying to have the film broadcast next year to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the epidemic, but I wish it would release wide tomorrow - there's an urgency and vividness to the film that makes you want to share it with everyone.

But other films await sharing at Frameline, which continues thru Sunday. And if you can't make it to Frameline, there remain, of course, an abundance of appropriate films on Jaman that await your discovery.

Happy Pride, everyone!

KINATAY!

That means SLAUGHTERED in Tagalog, and it's the title of a brutal and difficult new film from Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza. The story of a police trainee who goes from his wedding into a long and hellish night has drawn comparisons to Fuqua's Training Day and no small amount of controversy: Roger Ebert called it the worst film ever to play at Cannes, the same festival at which Mendoza snagged the Best Director award for the film.

Fan that I remain of the few Mendoza films that have been screened in the US, I was nonetheless disappointed by KINATAY - as fearless as Mendoza and company are in depicting the hellish depths that ensnare our hero, and as unflinching as it is in capturing the horror of graphic violence, it's more limited in scope that Mendoza's previous efforts. Fearlessness, alas, isn't quite enough, and there's no context or point ultimately reached to bring home anything but shock for its own sake. The insistent Catholic imagery and other symbolic metaphors become repetitive and strained. And where Mendoza's previous efforts were as quick and sharp as a punch to the face, KINATAY fills its longer running time with loooooooooooong journeys that ultimately quash the narrative's suspense. Mendoza, perhaps, has assimilated some of the meandering tedium of countryman Lav Diaz (whose many-hours-long opuses have both spellbound and irritated viewers around the world).

I am grateful, however, for the chance to see this film, which despite Mendoza's bonafides and Best Director award, has almost-nil chances at US distribution. Thanks to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts film curator Joel Shepard, one of the nation's best, for snagging a print of this film between overseas festival apperances.

Suddenly Sinatra: Ol' Blue Eyes hits Jaman

Our friends in the United States will find, freshly added to the site, the six part documentary series Frank Sinatra: They Were Very Good Years. The series is surprisingly comprehensive, covering his very early years as the hit of the bobby soxers through his various Hollywood phases, up to his final recordings. The final chapter covers his 1998 memorial, and is packed with testimony and anecdotes from friends and collaborators.

Jaman users around the world, however, can enjoy at no charge Suddenly, a politically-dated but still thrilling drama made in the mid-50s. Sinatra offers an offbeat and performance as a would-be political assassin, and the film is a powerful reminder of his solid gift for dramatic acting. I'm still waiting for a quality re-release of The First Deadly Sin, but until that time comes I'm happy to enjoy Suddenly with you.