'Baby Driver': A Total Joy Ride Fueled by a Killer Soundtrack
If you're looking for some excitement at the movies this summer, look no further than Baby Driver.
Written and directed by fanboys everywhere's favorite Edgar Wright, Baby Driver is a stylish explosion of a genre-blending action thriller, romantic heist movie and crime film all in one.
Driver centers around a kid named Baby (Ansel Elgort), a Wayfarers-wearing youth who keeps a mostly wordless demeanor (think Steve McQueen or Ryan Gosling's strong and silent type high school selves). After getting mixed up in a world of crime, Baby uses his talents behind the wheel as a getaway driver to pay off a debt to crime boss, Doc (Kevin Spacey).
Winding and wheeling his way around Atlanta's city streets, Baby evades the cops with devilish gear shifts and burnouts that will leave audiences totally floored (the movie uses no CGI for the car stunt work). Every hairpin turn of every getaway drive is accompanied by some carefully curated song queued up on his iPod. Baby Driver fuses getaway driving and rock radio so expertly, that if the movie was considered the engine, the music would be the fuel that keeps it roaring. After a traumatic car-collision leaves a childhood Baby parent-less and with an always-present ringing in his in ears, he drowns out his Tinnitus by listening to music, and at all hours of the day. Compulsively cranking classic rock cuts during his high-speed sprints or just serving up some old Soul tunes, music is as much Baby's secret weapon as it is his distraction.
Starting with the film's opening getaway chase, grooving along to the soundtrack is like rocking out at a concert. This neo-musical act continues through to the very end, where, after meeting the sweet, kind-eyed diner waitress Debra (Lily James), Baby decides to go straight and get out of the crime game – that is, if he can escape the ruthless Doc (Spacey) and the job's skizo thugs, Buddy (Jon Hamm) and Bats (Jamie Foxx).
...notice Ryan Heffington, the choreographer of Sia's "Chandelier" music video, is credited as the film's choreographer in the opening title credits.
Wright continues to prove he is truly one of today's most "visionary" directors. Fans of Wright's previous films (Sean of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) will know that he has perfected a visual identity and humor all his own, but with Baby Driver, Wright brings those elements together to an even bigger stage.
Baby Driver is slick and effortlessly cool, where lane changes and car spins, camera zooms and cuts are all oiled up in perfect unison (notice Ryan Heffington, the choreographer of Sia's "Chandelier" music video, is credited as the film's choreographer in the opening title credits). The film's opening scene, one long uninterrupted take set to "Harlem Shuffle,” is an amazingly choreographed number (look for the song lyrics graffiti hidden on the sides of walls).
In the driver's seat is the baby-faced Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars) in a role that requires the young actor to play both the strong and silent type while keeping his youthful aloofness intact. Wright’s remaining ensemble is just as well cast – it's always a treat to see Kevin Spacey play bad, as well as Jamie Foxx as a menacing character. Lily James delights as a Southern Belle, but the stand out performances must go to Jon Hamm, who sheds his Don Draper image for a villain with depth and CJ Jones– a real-life deaf stand-up entertainer who plays Baby's caretaker, who lends another great performance.
If you're looking for an adrenaline rush this summer, do yourself a favor. See Baby Driver in theaters. It's not only one of the best films of the summer, but of the year to date.
‘Baby Driver' is rated R for language throughout and violence. 113 minutes. Opening tomorrow in theaters everywhere.
'Dean' Review: A Familiar Tale of Millennial Rumination
Fans of stand-up comic Demetri Martin admire the comedian for his deadpan stylings and his detached persona, commenting on the rest of modern society through witty and dry observation.
His puns, plays-on-words, and general irony on all matters make his shtick and style one that's enjoyable to commiserate and laugh with. However, in the indie comedy Dean, which Martin wrote and directed as well as stars in as the titular character, Martin delivers a mild and familiar tale of New York and Los Angeles hipster moroseness. Unfortunately, last year's Tribeca Jury Award Winner for Best Narrative Feature sees Martin conform as a familiar hapless hipster trying to overcome writer's block, arrested development, shortcomings in love, and general self-pity, making Martin's last outing a disappointing dud.
As writer and director, Martin gives his personal life the semi-autobiographical treatment, as modern indie auteur fictionalizations treatment akin to 'Girls' and 'Master of None' have so recently done. Playing Dean, an illustrator who makes wry cartoons similar to New Yorker cartoons with a Woody Allen death-obsession bend, in where a looming Grim Reaper looms in his cartoons is large. These moments certainly shine more than Dean going through the motions of sulking as a depressed illustrator as merely a sketch of a person itself, who, after being confronted with his father's (Kevin Kline) decision to sell their family house after the recent passing of his mother, takes an impromptu trip to LA to figure out his life. Kevin Kline, self-help lover, and couch lover, is visited by Carol (Mary Steenburgen) and a middle-age romance is hinted at, which is almost half the movie, and also shows how also inadequately in love and confused we all are next to Dean.
..."Dean" trades all of Martin's interesting personality for a more conventional and formulaic hipster comedy that is largely as insufferable as he is.
An impromptu trip to LA has Martin get to show how much of a cog he is in the system as well as outside the system of hipster nonsense. LA brings about cliches about Vampire teen shows and “improv” comedy until he meets Nicky (Gillian Jacobs) as the quintessential LA girl you see her pixie self in Netflix’s 'Love,' falling for another hapless fella here. They have tepid romance and conversation, but after a quick return back to LA, it points out that nothing is happening, about as safe and boring as it could be.
While Martin has made a name for himself as an ironically detached and deadpan comic, Dean trades all of Martin's interesting personality for a more conventional and formulaic hipster comedy that is largely as insufferable as he is. While there are interesting storylines related to his father's unluck in love, as well as Martin's drawings and cartoons (personally, I would have loved to have seen an entire movie about just his cartoonist exploits), other movies about depressed illustrators trying to get out of their life ruts worth checking out are the Jemaine Clement starrer People Places Things as well as Mike Nichols' Beginners.
87 min. 'Dean' is rated PG-13 for language and some suggestive material. In theaters this Friday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a-TDnXEV7M
'Band Aid' Review: Love Is on the Rocks in This Indie Rock Comedy
Embarking on adulthood is hard, but doesn’t have to be joyless, as the new indie mumblecore comedy Band Aid shows.
Making its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and in theaters this Friday, Band Aid is a light-hearted romantic comedy about the hardships of modern relationships and how sometimes those things are best dealt with by some good old fashioned rock and roll. Making her feature film debut, writer, director, and star Zoe Lister-Jones shows in her millennial-set Silverlake comedy how young adults of today’s age deal with major relationship issues by self-therapizing and writing indie rock songs about one’s troubles, leading to a refreshing take on romance and growing up.
Band Aid centers around a longtime Los Angeles couple, Anna (Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally), who, while seeing their friends’ relationships take the next steps with engagements and children, busy themselves by dealing with remedial frustrations. Their constant complaining about dirty dishes serves as a deeper frustration for their stagnant lives and inability to commit more to each other. When petty shouting matches continue to erode at their relationship, the two decide to deal with their anger by dusting off their garage-kept instruments and writing rock songs as an outlet for expressing their annoyance with each other – a temporary “band-aid” on a much larger issue both are unwilling to admit to. Band Aid moves along charmingly, but the longer the two stay together, the more they fight, in turn, leading to more originally written songs. This puts them in the awkward spot of advancing their rock band life but at the cost of worsening their relationship. Emotions swirl, leading to a dizzying place that forces Anna and Ben to confront the hardships of their complicated relationship.
The most redeeming moments of 'Band Aid' are the original songs that Lister-Jones and Pally perform, which are catchy and show a fun chemistry between them.
While Band Aid is light-hearted fare and moves along with a breezy and casual style (it most resembles the mumblecore stylings of indie director Joe Swanberg’s 'Joshy' and Netflix’s original series 'Easy'), it, unfortunately, plays its minor notes far too heavily and for far too long. The continuous fights throughout the movie end up playing much too uncomfortably, without any sense of release or relief."Band Aid" should have been more of a joyous and uplifting comedy, but this story is one that feels more willing to ruminate in the low points of their relationships rather than the fun and promising times of creating music together. For this reason, the film will probably be best received by younger crowds who relate to the light-hearted fare and snarky attitudes of the unrelenting protagonists.
The most redeeming moments of Band Aid are the original songs that Lister-Jones and Pally perform, which are catchy and show a fun chemistry between them. Also in on the fun is veteran funnyman Fred Armisen lending consistently funny moments to the flick as the weird next-door neighbor who plays drums for the band. Although Band Aid treads far too much into tonally-uncomfortable areas, it’s still a strong showing from Lister-Jones and may really capture a hard note to hit.
'Band Aid' is not rated. 91 minutes. Opening at ArcLight Hollywood and The Landmark this Friday. Available on VOD June 9th.
'David Lynch: The Art Life' Review: Lynch Muses on the Philosophy of His Craft
A perfect model of Lynch's artful manner and of his not-so-traditional biography.
David Lynch may be known as a singularly unique type of filmmaker, whose films explore the oddities and anxieties of the modern American tapestry by literally physicalizing the strange and grotesque into form (or, he’s known as just a guy who makes inaccessible, incomprehensibly absurd art films). But the elusive yet celebrated film director, known for such feature films as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, as well as the beloved cult TV series "Twin Peaks" (which is getting rebooted at HBO), is also a dedicated artist in other mediums, which a new documentary, David Lynch: The Art Life, sets out to explore.
David Lynch: The Art Life turns the spotlight on the eccentric director and lets Lynch speak candidly and freely about himself and of his younger, more formative years that led him down the artist’s path. Unprompted by another body or traditional interviewer in the film, Lynch is still left to guide the narrative and remain slightly mysterious. Photographed entirely in his secluded yet sunny Hollywood Hills home studio, it’s a treat as a viewing audience to receive this much access to Lynch in action who, while reminiscing about former years, paints and puffs on his cigarettes (Lynch smokes throughout the entirety of the doc).
Co-directors Jon Nguyen and Rick Barnes put Lynch in full focus in their tribute documentary (funded by Kickstarter), making him the singular face and voice to recount things like growing up in the Midwest with his loving family in a world "no bigger than a couple blocks," to a young adolescent move to Virginia which, coupled with intestinal problems and a newly formed smoking habit, put the director into a mild depression. Lynch reminisces about the good, the bad, the traumatic, and the haunting incidents that would ultimately shape his off-tilt perspective of a peculiar and dreamlike world, in some scenes remembering in such stunningly vivid detail the traumatizing languish of a father’s shaming outburst and the haunting dream of a woman, pale and nude and confronting and confusing. All of these anecdotes and stories are fun for the viewer to try and unpack and derive meaning from, already acutely practiced at attempting to decipher the puzzle that is Lynch’s mind through his films. All of these things led Lynch to pursue what he calls “the art life,” which, as artist friend Bushnell Keeler explained to him, consists of drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and painting (perhaps philosophizing as well, but Lynch is seen as content to leave even that out of the mix here).
'David Lynch: The Art Life' turns the spotlight on the eccentric director and lets Lynch speak candidly and freely about himself and of his younger, more formative years that led him down the artist’s path.
Now, how seminal is this documentary to further understand Lynch and his expressionist and confounding body of work? Those that might be looking for the director to shed a more revealing insight into his personal creative process or of any inspirations that led him to imagine such wildly evocative art will be left a little hung out to dry, as Lynch’s stories are more anecdotal than confessional or more personal than surface-level. However, for those who are fans of this mysterious figure, this documentary provides even further context in which to view and learn about this eccentric’s accomplished career.
The best part about David Lynch: The Art Life, aside from the access to see Lynch working away in his studio, is his original works of art that are featured throughout the film. We see his paintings and other original mixed media projects flurry on the screen throughout his voiceover and dialogue, which provides a further intrigue to the viewing experience. The documentary ends around the time when he got his film grant from the American Film Institute to create his career-making feature film, Eraserhead, which would lead him down a path of even further artistic and critical achievement. Even though there could have been even more gained in drawing this artist out of his own little world a bit more, David Lynch: The Art Life is a perfect model of Lynch's artful manner and of his not-so-traditional biography.
'David Lynch: The Art Life' is not rated. 90 minutes. Now playing through the end of April at the Cinefamily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVgQ8yAdLbI
'The Last Picture Show' and 'Black Narcissus' Wow at The 2017 TCM Classic Film Fest
Amidst all of the new and contemporary movies that we, here at Cinemacy, watch and share with our readers, there are always old classics that have been skipped, or just need to be to re-watched and enjoyed all over again. One event that celebrates the films of the past is the Turner Classic Movie Film Festival, held annually at the Hollywood Chinese and Egyptian Theaters, and running from Thursday, April 6th through Sunday, April 9th . This festival, in which this genre of movie lovers take in and discuss all things classic movies (sometimes walking about in full vintage dress to get into the fun), celebrated the theme, ‘Make ‘Em Laugh: Comedy in the Movies.’ Films shown included such classic comedies as Steve Martin’s feature film debut, "The Jerk," the 50th Anniversary screening and restoration print of Dustin Hoffman’s "The Graduate," and "Singin’ in the Rain," which honored the late Debbie Reynolds. This year there was a somber note in remembering Robert Osbourne, TCM’s famous host who passed away last year and who served as the channel’s most recognizable face. Osbourne’s presence was synonymous with the channel itself. Nonetheless, it was a wonderfully produced film festival where I even caught a few gems that I had not seen before.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Alfred Hitchcock’s feature film that got him recognized as a filmmaking talent by then-legendary Studio Head David O., was one of four films presented as part of TCM’s special nitrate film screenings. This new screening series in which four film prints that were shot on nitrate film stock – whose high silver content in the film stock made color contrast alluring, but also highly flammable and prone to theater fires – were played at the Egyptian Theater, whose projection booth was painfully retrofitted in order to play the film stock. As Martin Scorsese noted in the introduction of the movie’s amazing print quality, nitrate film was popularly used before the 40s until it was eventually phased out. The mystery of a family whose daughter is kidnapped and held ransom, played to enthused audiences. Peter Lorre’s English-speaking film debut was a stylish mystery that had me excited to watch the remake (the 1956 remake of the same name, starring James Stewart and Doris Day).
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Peter Bogdanovich introduced his most critically awarded film in "The Last Picture Show" before the Saturday afternoon screening. He was impressed that the packed house had shown up “that early” for the screening. Bogdanovich spoke candidly, speaking about the visual inspiration modeled after "Citizen Kane," in which friend Orson Welles advised that the only wayBogdanovich could capture the sharp depth of field that Citizen Kane had achieved years before, was to shoot it in a black and white format, which also places the film in its context of the period. The 50s-set movie about a small Texas town that centers around the local high school was a visual masterpiece, and became further cemented in film legacy when it took home Academy Award wins for Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman for their Supporting Actor and Actress roles (this also marks Jeff Bridges’ first film debut).
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
John Travolta had a multi-picture deal with Paramount Pictures after starring in "Grease" when he was cast as Tony Manero, a young Brooklyn teenager who’s weekday work only serves to pay for weekend dancing and shenanigans with friends. The film, with Travolta’s disco-dancing and the Bee Gee’s iconic soundtrack, immediately entered pop culture and ended up making a quarter of a billion dollars. Directed by John Badhamm, who was on-hand to introduce the film, Badhamm recounted that Travolta was nervous about the dance scenes and that the iconic white suit (which there were only two versions) had to be dried off with a hair dryer between takes.
Black Narcissus (1937)
Closing the festival coverage was another nitrate film screening of the beautiful "Black Narcissus" (this film was buzzed about since Thursday’s screening of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" as the most anticipated of the nitrate films) – and it did not disappoint. Introduced by the Academy’s Film Archivist, this film was included for its beautifully preserved print, making it obvious why "Black Narcissus" won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The Technicolor picture, about a group of sisters who open a nunnery in the Himalayan mountains, was truly one of the most gorgeous films I had seen in a theater. It was a fantastic way to end the festival, so if you ever have the chance to see it on the big screen, jump at the opportunity to do so!
In fact, make a plan to rediscover great classic films as well as explore unknown gems, by attending the TCM Film Festival next Spring.
For more information, visit TCM Classic Film Festival 2017.
'Kong: Skull Island' Review: This Jungle Expedition Looks to Find Fun With New Beasts of Kong-sized Proportions
In "Kong: Skull Island," Skull Island is a remote, uncharted island in the Pacific, hidden away from the outside world by a stormy surface that has kept the island unexplored for years – which also keeps the mystery of who, or what, lives there as well. That is, until satellite photos – a new technology in the year 1973, of which this latest King Kong movie takes place – reveals the island (named for its foreboding topographical resemblance of a skull) and proves its existence to a team of scientists who set out to discover what unknown mysteries such a place could offer.
However, the mysteries that "Kong: Skull Island" tease as to what could happen hardly end up showing audiences anything they haven't seen before, as this popcorn romp ends up being a more familiar take of a crash-landing on a dangerous and exotic location. Although, in this take, all must survive not only the wrath of the enormous king primate but that of similarly colossal creatures of equally enormous stature which prove to be their biggest threat, until they are lifted to safety.
And yet, while the cash-out mystery is barely paid out to the audience, the film is hardly a disastrous time. This blockbuster, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts ("The Kings of Summer"), made by Legendary Pictures and released by Warner Brothers, brings a large ensemble cast of cartoony characters who evoke the camp of B-movie seriousness along with a visually fun, 70s-drenched period piece reminiscent of the post-Vietnam era that the movie mines its story from. The light politicking that "Skull Island" enters into channels the original "King Kong" story (of the developed nation's Anglo man capturing and conquering the primal “other") as an allegory of the controversial U.S. involvement and entering into foreign lands for stakeholding.
"Kong: Skull Island" hardly tries to explore new territory, but has its fun as an ensemble movie that slides by with camp and charm.
Living in the silly-serious world of Skull Island are a lot of famous faces that, at just under two hours, make this outing a fun enough time. Leading the expedition is Bill Randa (John Goodman), an assumed crackpot enthusiast who gets last minute approval (and funds) to explore the mysterious Skull Island. Enlisted to lead the team are local guy at the bar James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), a tracker whose T-shirt physique is more defined than his actual character, and Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), a sexy bombshell war photographer. Leading the team from a defense perspective is the now out-of-work Lt. Col. Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), an American soldier whose post-war memories of losses on the battlefield fuel aggressions that extend to the island's native inhabitants, including the mighty Kong, being eventually made into this movie's real villainous and threatening character.
"Kong: Skull Island" is a large movie (about as large as this CGI'd Kong, the biggest of any King Kong in the movie's franchise), where, upon the group's arrival to the island and immediate encounter with the giant primate, three separate factions of characters get their own storylines, getting quite episodic early. While Randa, Conrad, Weaver, and more stumble upon the face-painted loin-cloth-laden natives and a few other wacky characters (Hey, John C. Reilly!), Packard grows further hell-bent. Consumed by his PTSD, he grows determined to conquer the King who, we learn from Reilly's kooked out WW2 pilot that lives on the island, is actually the protector of the island from an even greater (read: bigger) danger – "skull walkers" that look like two-legged slithery dinosaurs with the face of a bare skull. The consciences of all parties are tested when Kong is threatened by Packard and the "skull walkers," forcing the group to realize how saving Kong’s life will affect their own safety and chances of returning home (stay tuned for the sequel).
"Kong: Skull Island" hardly tries to explore new territory, but has its fun as an ensemble movie that slides by with camp and charm. The movie diverts from telling the traditional tale of men capturing the mountain-sized monkey (of which we've already seen in Peter Jackson's 2005 faithful re-telling of the 1933 classic film, "King Kong"), and instead puts a new spin on the Monster Universe, which also coincides with "Godzilla" (be sure to stay tuned after the credits for a post-movie teaser). It may drain you a little more than you'd like, but an alluring visual draw and list of enjoyable onscreen talent makes"Kong: Skull Island" a light-faired, playful time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44LdLqgOpjo
118 min. 'King Kong: Skull Island" is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for brief strong language.
'Get Out' Review: A Horror Satire and One of This Generation's Most Important Films
It starts out as a movie send-up of the classic meet-the-parents awkwardness before dovetailing into the dread of discovering her family’s possible secret (or secret society) that feels like "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" meets "The Stepford Wives."
By now you've probably heard that the suburbia-horror satire "Get Out" is worth seeing in theaters, standing as one of the first big movie events of the year. In its fifth week in release, the genre-pic, with a budget of only $4.5 million dollars and a total gross of– as of this writing– just north of $133 million, has found its legs by being a horror movie for the twenty-first century."Get Out" is not only an edge-of-your-seat nutso head-spinning story, but a socially conscious movie that adds to the national conversation of race and safety championed by the Black Lives Matter protesting of post-Obama America.
"Get Out" is written and directed by comedian Jordan Peele, better known as one-half of the comedic duo of Comedy Central's former hit show "Key and Peele" (along with partner Keegan-Michael Key). The Universal Pictures release, produced by veteran horror producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions ("Split", "Insidious") has more than connected with audiences, this time being "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes at 99% and opening at a record-setting 100%.
"Get Out" follows a typical horror film template, but Peele makes it fresh by slotting the perspective of the current African-American experience of living in a predominantly white middle-class America into the framework and then corkscrewing that premise into a full-tilt satirical terror. The story of a young man of color (Daniel Kaluuya) meeting his white girlfriend's (Allison Williams) family for the first time starts out as a movie send-up of the classic meet-the-parents awkwardness before dovetailing into the dread of discovering her family’s possible secret (or secret society) that feels like "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" meets "The Stepford Wives".
What can and should be said about the movie is that, while"Get Out" may technically be Jordan Peele's first credited feature film (and only his second writing effort next to 2016's Key and Peele-starrer "Keanu"), one shouldn't be surprised that Peele has executed a vision that so successfully blends all genres...
When young photographer Chris (Kaluuya) is brought by Rose (Williams) to meet her parents at their country estate for the weekend, he asks her if they know that her boyfriend is black – it's an early temperature reading that sheds light on those things that are still on the forefront of nonwhite's daily living. Rose's loving reassures Chris and the two are off to her parent's house in the backwoods, putting in motion the familiar story of horror movie isolated helplessness. At Rose's warning, her neurosurgeon father Dean (Bradley Whitford) and psychotherapist mother Missy (Catherine Keener) only evoke slight cringe-worthy conversations that mildly substantiate Chris' worries of meeting her all-white family, and it doesn’t help when he notices that the grounds worker and house-staff are all African-American (and act a little more than odd). However, the little tensions go fully bonkers when it's remembered that their weekend stay is also during the annual Armitage family gathering, where an entire drove of upper-class whites drive in for the afternoon and even odder occurrences reveal themselves to a freaked out Chris, who begins to wise up to the fact that things are definitely not what they seem, and that his safety may or may not depend on his "getting out."
It should be said now that"Get Out", as was this reviewer's experience, is best watched with little to zero pre-knowledge of the movie and no knowledge of what you're in store for (which makes writing a review of the film in which to sell the movie a trick in its own right), as it's effect is fully felt in the surprises that come around every corner. What can and should be said about the movie is that, while"Get Out" may technically be Jordan Peele's first credited feature film (and only his second writing effort next to 2016's Key and Peele-starrer "Keanu"), one shouldn't be surprised that Peele has executed a vision that so successfully blends all genres – horror, comedy, and wickedly welcome surrealism – as he's cut his teeth arguably making hundreds of original short films with wacky jokes and even wackier characters that made up his Emmy-Award winning television series.
Past the early year's stuffy Oscars season and now with the start of early summer blockbusters,"Get Out" has proven that it connects with audiences and has tapped into a very real message, both recent racial injustices as well as this country's history with slavery. It's an original scary movie that flips a script on the traditional scary set-up and will take you out of your comfort zone in more ways than one.
'Get Out' is now playing everywhere. Rated R for violence, bloody images, and language including sexual references.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRfnevzM9kQ
'Dying Laughing' Directors Lloyd Stanton & Paul Toogood on Truth in Comedy
"I know we sound identical," says Llyod Stanton in a thick British accent at the start of our phone interview. "Maybe I'll talk down here." "Ah yes, a Michael Caine, if you will," I reply. They laugh, and we're off to a great start.
Lloyd Stanton and Paul Toogood are the directing duo behind the film Dying Laughing, a documentary that gives an introspective look into the struggles behind the laughs in stand-up comedy. Both lifelong fans of the art form, I had the opportunity to chat with the directors, who shed light on their favorite comedians, the importance of sharing your truth, and how social media can affect a stand-up's future.
What makes the perfect joke?
PT: The jokes that work for me are the ones that work on several different levels. Louis C.K. is a perfect example. He tells an everyday story, [my favorite] is the one where he's playing monopoly with his kids. It's a really delicate take on the meaning of life, and it's very funny.
LS: All the jokes that I find funny are so sick I would never mention them in an interview.
You gave the film a very interesting title– "Dying Laughing." Usually, it's the audience that is dying laughing but here it's the stars themselves who experience a form of "dying" onstage that the audience is unaware of. What was your approach to the film?
LS: Yes, it's an investigation into what we think is an undervalued and underloved art form. Now obviously lots of people are crazy about standup comedy, but we wanted to take a step back and really think about what these incredible people do. It's actually really difficult, and we had heard from so many people about how difficult it was when they started out. Of course, when people do something really well, they often times make it look very easy. We learned it can take 10 years before you get any good at standup! Part of that process is developing as a human being and speaking your truth– this goes for all of us, not just comics– and that's how you develop your voice as a human. They confront the painful parts of life and find a way to laugh at them.
PT: It's a noble art. These people are the writer, director, and producer all at once and they don't seem to have any [work] to support them when they're not onstage, so it's a frightening thing. They create an extraordinary bond with their audience, which takes on an almost religious significance. Garry Shandling and Chris Rock are terrific examples of this.
Is the comedian's struggle something you discovered while making the doc or something you've been familiar with?
PT: I think we definitely had an understanding of it. We have friends who are comedians and have experienced it over the years. We both learned [during filming] lots about who these people were and how much personal investment goes into it– not only on a professional or technical level but on a private level as well– because of the nature of the job. It's probably the most anti-social job you could ever have. You're not in a band, you don't have anyone around you, it's often just you, on your own.
LS: Particularly in the U.S., you're driving several thousands of miles between very bad gigs, terrible hotels, and awful food. So over the time we made the film and the stories from the 120 comedians we interviewed, we got a full sense of what these people go through so that you can have a laugh on a Friday night.
So over the time we made the film and the stories from the 120 comedians we interviewed, we got a full sense of what these people go through so that you can have a laugh on a Friday night.
Let's go back to that number- 120 interviews! How did reach out to all of those people and, on the flipside, how did you it narrow down to the comedians we see on screen?
LS: When we sent a request to a comedian, they'll see the work we've done before and hopefully that will be an attractive proposal. We also asked friends of ours to come on board and serve as producers, and they had friends who were big talents. Then you get to a point where, after we interviewed Jerry Seinfeld or Garry Shandling, we found that people ran very quickly towards us to be a part of our film. Those people very often had ignored us the first time we reached out, haha.
PT: We had 120+ hour-long interviews, which gave us more footage than we could ever use in a 90-minute cut, and the challenge was to find the narrative in the stories they told us. That was a very difficult thing. It was a very hard-fought choice we made together. Certain people, how they spoke and what they said, fit that narrative better, and so that's how they ended up in the film. That's not to say the other people who didn't make the feature cut weren't fantastic in their interviews. So we're now in production on a 10-part spin-off television series where we get more time to investigate some of these stories, and we'll feature many of the people that we interviewed for the film. We're very grateful to all of them.
Some of the stories of bombing and heckling are pretty emotionally traumatic.
PT: There's something really extraordinary about a grown man who doesn't mind sharing his truth with potentially millions of people, and that is really at the root of this process– people who are prepared to tell the truth.
It seems like nowadays, a lot of comedians are getting famous online, through social media and the internet. Do you have any thoughts on this new medium?
LS: I think there's definitely a good and bad sad to social media. In the end, good stand-up comedy will continue to do what it's always done, whatever the delivery format, which is to make you laugh and at the same time maybe give you some information on how to live. The best stand-ups I know and love are the ones who are able to talk about issues that are taboo or culturally difficult, you can see how comedians are playing to politics at the moment. I think they all appreciate social media and recognize what it can do for them, as well as bemoan the fact that they can't do a warm up gig in a small town and try out new material... because it will be on social media that evening. Although I don't think [social media] will change comedy in the end.
I think they all appreciate social media and recognize what it can do for them, as well as bemoan the fact that they can't do a warm up gig in a small town and try out new material... because it will be on social media that evening.
(Cont.)
LS: I think there's never been a more important time for people to make jokes. Political jokes seem to take hold in Europe and America at the moment. I think it's really important that funny people speak out and speak the truth. I was talking to my daughter the other night, she's 25, and she wanted to talk about politics. I've never had a conversation with her about politics, so I asked her where this was coming from. She told me about an amazing stand-up comedian she'd been listening to on a podcast who was talking about the Brexit in the U.K. That's what got her attention! Not the newspapers, not the news, but a stand-up comedian.
How did you two come together to direct this film?
PT: We're best friends. We've been making things together for many years– 25 years ago it was pop videos, we've written lots of scripts together, and we'll be making many more things together until we kill each other.
Is there any seminal thing that opened your eyes to the world of comedy?
PT: Absolutely! As a teenage, white middle-class kid in England, having the Richard Pryor records– the live in concert ones– was genuinely extraordinary. I actually just watched it again the other night on Netflix, and it still is relevant and powerful. It feels so completely contemporary and yet it was made in the mid-70's and the world is a very different place.
LS: Me too, can I have that one as well?
(Laughter)
PT: Oh and anything at all by Eddie Murphy. Murphy, please come back!