Review: 'Boyhood'
Although movies and films have chronicled life and its oft-times messy process of growing up and maturing, never before has one been done like this. Richard Linklater, already an accomplished director with culture-defining films such as Dazed and Confused, offers a new film that sees a young Texas boy, along with his fragmented yet loving family, quite simply, live their lives, all chronicled in a sweeping twelve year shoot that sees its core cast grow up right before your eyes.
Though the name Ellar Coltrane probably doesn't ring any bells, even with ardent cinematic fans, he will definitely be remembered hereafter for this starring lead effort, here playing Mason, who's point of view we follow from his early adolescent, all the way through his young adult life. We see a young Mason experience all that youth living offers: from playing outdoors, having to survive embarrassing school moments as new haircut, along with the heavier, more emotionally driving key life moments, such as all that goes with living between houses with divorced parents, with Patricia Arquette as his Mom, and Linklater favorite Ethan Hawke as his Dad (Linklater's real-life daughter, Lorelei Linklater, also stars in the film as Mason's sister Samantha), who also are seen aging along with Coltrane. The magic in the film is seeing life, in all of its simple, fun, heartbreaking, and tragic moments, depicted in a lovingly crafted and expansive story.
The experience of watching a scene with young Mason, ending, and cutting to the next scene featuring the actor, having aged in more than a full year's time, is incredible to behold.
Boyhood stands as a remarkable film, and not because of any specialized story. In fact, there are no over-arching themes or messages that would more likely be written into a fiction film. And this is because of what makes the film so magical, so transporting. It simply captures fragments, scenes, and instances, of simple family life. The experience of watching a scene with young Mason, ending, and cutting to the next scene featuring the actor, having aged in more than a full year's time, is incredible to behold. It is purely captivating, all because it is so real, and universal.
The movie, from a filmmaking and technical point of view, should be acknowledged for how the story was so effortlessly told. Again, the movie isn't about any one thing, save for this boy and his family itself, but rather, shows all of life unfolding. Surprisingly, or perhaps understandably, the movie doesn't intend to feature glamorous or self-serving scenes, and the experience is all the better for it. The mundane-ness of it all grows to fascinating levels, all because of its universality and we can relate exactly to it.
For an independent film, Boyhood's ambition is astounding. Though for independent veteran Linklater, the show is pulled together in a truly brilliant effort. Never before has honest, authentic filmmaking been more present, more alive, or spoken to growing up and the human condition than in Boyhood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0oX0xiwOv8
Review: 'Venus In Fur'
Roman Polanski adapts his second consecutive stage play, after 2011's Carnage, with Venus In Fur. With roots in theater, Polanski takes to staging another play, unfolding in real time. At a ninety-six minute run time, Polanski directs only two actors here, the accomplished and talented Emmanuelle Seigner as Vanda and Mathieu Amalric as Thomas, and the experience is nothing short of rewarding, funny, and socially poignant.
The takeaway here, and if you're familiar with the original text, stage play, or Greek goddess Venus herself, then you already know, is one that comments on the female role in today's society. Amalric plays Thomas, a theater director whos first appearance conveys an artistic angst and frustration that all of the auditioning female actors could not properly play the character Wanda, a nineteenth-century aristocrat who becomes a dominator to a high-society gentlemen with certain, emotional and physical satisfactions to fulfill. Thomas, at first entirely put back by Vanda's late arrival, and boozy yet charming first impression, agrees to let her audition, taking to finally read scenes with her.
The chemistry is effortless, and fulfilling, and for a movie like this, that is exactly what is required.
To deliver a good film, and not even that- but even a watchable one, with the limitation (or opportunity) of shooting only two actors for the entire duration, would seem a difficult task to accomplish. Yet it is Polanski's directorial skill in capturing captivating, alive performances, and from equally skilled performers. Mathieu as Thomas is wonderful to watch, breathing tortured, specific energy into his angstful artist, showing the character's relation to the sexually perverse socialite character yet ultimately making him relatable, and human. And Seigner delivers one of her finest performances, turning from the comically disheveled, rain-soaked actor, and to the sophisticated and aware performer Wanda, with measured composure in each part. The chemistry is effortless, and fulfilling, and for a movie like this, that is exactly what is required.
The inter-twining story lines, from when Thomas and Wanda talk about their modern situation, to the performing of the characters in the stage play, is invigorating to watch. The entire story, while light and in motion, feels like a constantly fluid experience, and is enjoying and fun to watch. Each new scene, divulging of information, that eerily parallels the play itself, builds upon the last in well-earned heightening and tension. It is provocative, intelligent, and culturally commentating (to the source material's credit).
Venus in Fur gives the ready viewer a sexy and funny experience, in intelligently written and performed vision. The staging lends itself to a more quick-moving and swiftly maneuvered play, giving the film a certain lightness. But the film achieves a solid adaptation and makes the viewer experience a fresh message of the strength in female's role in society and culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1LZ6JoUkJc&feature=kp
Review: 'Under the Electric Sky'
Although it might be pretty obvious to say at this point, EDM (Electronic Dance Music) has infiltrated into and taken a commanding place in the pop culture landscape. And how could it not? What with its bouncy beats and larger-than-life theatricality of its live music experience, wrapped up in YOLO-minded philosophy, the music scene has become the place to reach the masses of the young (or the young at heart). And nowhere is that experience more perfectly captured than in the music scene's most celebrated music festival, Electronic Daisy Carnival, or EDC for short. The festival, now held in Las Vegas, stands as the largest musical festival in the world with 345,000 people making the yearly pilgrimage to their music's mecca. In a movie that attempts to substantiate the festival's most positive of emotional experiences chronicling life, love, and community, we get the sometimes-in-3-D documentary, from Focus Features, Under the Electric Sky.
Under the Electric Sky is a construction of all of the positives about rave culture, largely, of how it appeals to and invites all peoples: the social outcasts, rejects, and weirdos, and allows them a place to "be themselves" (all decked out in and sharing beaded bracelets and necklaces referred to as "candy"). With these sentiments, this movie functions as half music-concert, half human interest piece, revealing the somewhat normal types of people who attend the festival.
Electric Sky follows five stories of fans, each attending the festival to fulfill their own personal wishes. Sadie, a small-town Texas student who suffers from bullying and chronic anxiety (who also brings her Grandfather's ashes to scatter during a song of one of her favorite DJ's), a frat-pack of Massachusetts guy friends who RV in memory of their fallen friend, long distance lovers and young professionals who's six month separation will be broken at the festival, six friends in an open relationship (rave family), a pair of veteran ravers who fell in love at EDC 15 years ago, and a wheelchair-bound youth who feels free when hearing the unbound energetic music, are our movie's central focus, and are see celebrating as one, under the same "electric" sky.
If you don't have a political problem with realizing that at the end of the day you're just watching our entire consumer culture sweating it out to bass blaring pop music in the desert, and in fact, if you find the subject curious, or just want to see what exactly the music and festival means to these people, then this movie will provide you with that experience.
Our movie's subjects certainly provide an eclectic mix of people for us to watch and to understand what the experience means to them. The fascinating thing about all subjects' motivations are that they believe, in their heart of hearts, that the scene allows for true freedom, the kind that breaks free from typical society convention. What we then get are a mixture of all types of people- the socially awkward types, along with the MD's in training. EDM provides the truest and most cathartic release for these people to leave not only the bureaucratic "real world," but the physical limitation of their mind's perceiving reality. If you don't have a political problem with realizing that at the end of the day you're just watching our entire consumer culture sweating it out to bass blaring pop music in the desert, and in fact, if you find the subject curious, or just want to see what exactly the music and festival means to these people, then this movie will provide you with that experience.
And it's not hard to see the appeal of it all- EDC, the brainchild and creation of Insomniac's Pasquale Rotella, is seen as a modern day P.T. Barnum, directing performance artists, massive art installations, epic firework displays, and a reverberating sound system, across the sprawling festival grounds in the final days before the weekend fest. This wonderland is captured in stunning and incredible measure, with cameras capturing the most unbelievable of sights from the grounds level, as well as in somewhat impressive 3-D when craning and sweeping over the massive crowds during the movie's standalone live musical numbers (credit to filmmakers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz (Katy Perry: Part of Me). These musical moments, as well as the montage-heavy sequences, feel quite cinematic, yet balanced with the human interest stories, the whole thing feels a little too undefined an experience. The film splits very neatly down the middle, alternating between following and cutting between these people's trips and focusing on the live music as well, featuring the fest's biggest names, including Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto, and Above & Beyond.
And in what might be the film's most limiting factor, or most carefully side-stepped aside, it takes thirty minutes to finally touch on the scene's most popular fixture- the drugs. We quickly side bar into seeing some behind the scenes footage of medical assistants patrolling the grounds as well as aiding ailing festival-goers, showing their "no-tolerance" allowance for ingested substances such as the crowd favorites, ecstasy and "Molly." The film, and its spokespeople, very emphatically stress how they oppose the drug-taking that occurs here, and how the drugs are not responsible for people feeling "overwhelming love," towards each other. And with only a PG-13 rating and the fact that this isn't a news journalistically-exposing documentary, audiences will be deprived of the more graphic moments that actually are witnessed at EDC.
Under the Electric Sky ultimately proves to accomplish what it sets out to. Even if it acts as more of a PR piece that inflates the emotional reasons for attending the communal event rather than showing its much darker underbelly, electronic music and the spectacle that is EDC, are still this culture's most widely celebrated music and past-time. This dual experience, of celebrating the pure, artistic and creative expression of this new music, alongside its destructively superficial, money-capitalizing and destructive qualities, makes the music scene a divided one at best. Yet for EDM's truest and most devout disciples, this movie should validate their vices. For the rest of us, however, the film might not have as deep or heartfelt a connection as its high-on-life, or just plain high, festival-goers.
http://youtu.be/icDEYGe7o4U
Review: 'They Came Together'
It would seem that Hollywood has packaged up and sold romantic comedies, what with the ridiculous casting of the two hunky romantic interests, impossibly unreal circumstances, and general overly-cutesy-ness, to within an inch of their life. So much so that the genre itself, edging ever closer to the young adult Nicolas Sparks-aimed audiences, has begun to feel like it's all one moment away from collapsing in on itself from the sheer weight of convention and cliche that is stuffed into each movie. So leave it to comedian absurdists David Wain and his comedy/producing partner Michael Showalter to send up the entire conflated genre in the duo's new merciless rom-com parody, They Came Together.
If you're already raising an eyebrow over this movie's title, wondering if you're perhaps reading it the right way, don't worry; you are. After involving himself with such straight-ahead and mildly amusing fare as 2008's Role Models and 2012's Wanderlust, director David Wain returns to his earliest, most personal, and strongest comedic roots, in drumming up this slapstick, self-referential spoof.
As in Wain's breakout film, the wonderfully off-the-wall Wet Hot American Summer, which gave many of Hollywood's most coveted leading comedians their first big break (including one closeted camp counselor played by Bradley Cooper), They Came Together is as much a hilariously dialed-in parody as it is a fantastically crafted absurdist comedy. The non-stop jokes that are churned out from start to finish here, from some of the funniest and most familiar faces working today, make this as rewarding a film as it easy easy to watch, making it one to watch at any time with laughs that deliver.
The non-stop jokes that are churned out from start to finish here, from some of the funniest and most familiar faces working today, make this as rewarding a film as it easy easy to watch, making it one to watch at any time with laughs that deliver.
Starring as our romantic leads, of which their characters flat out refer to themselves as in describing "the corny romantic comedy love story" that is 'the story of how they met' are Paul Rudd as Joel and Amy Poehler as Molly, two of America's most beloved funny people in roles here that, as actors who typically only play 'characters with quirk,' are able to run wild with the anything-goes format (as they did in the aforementioned Wet Hot American Summer). Rudd as Joel capitalizes on his aw-shucks everyman character, serving as the successful in business (he works at a corporate candy store) yet not-so-much with love (he gets his heart broken early on by ex Tiffany (Cobie Smulders) do-gooder, while Poehler punches up her lovably goofy and clumsy self to the fullest degree as looking-for-love independent candy store owner (go ahead and start connecting the dots of what the movie's main conflict will be) Molly, both of whom hit their marks and land the jokes as effortlessly as possible, as if the whole thing was shot in under a month with basically all of their friends. Oh, wait...
The plot here more or less takes the back seat in this whole charade, except for the times when the movie comments on how it's following its own cliche storyline (either the self-references here will urge you to keep watching, or you're going to get fed up very quickly). We see the story of single Joel and Molly being set up by their respective friends at a Halloween party (their coincidental arrival results in the belief that "they came together"), as well as their initial disgust with the other, which turns into their slowly falling in love, which leads to their finding out each others' threatening professions and their breaking up, followed by their getting back together, and there you have the basic framework of the movie. But this isn't where the filmmakers and actors are concerned in exploring- oh, no. Moments like Molly and Joel earnestly connecting for the first time over their shared love of "fiction books," a "Who's On Third?" styled bar-conversation that is milked to glory, and the continuous reference of how the city of New York "is like a character itself" in the whole movie (added treat if you stay throughout the closing credits, where the city is thanked and once again referenced 'like a character itself') are where the movie becomes the sum of its parts.
The jokes come fast and loose, as every scene, and nearly every line of dialogue is flipped for another knee-slapping and snare-shot moment- some more effective than others. While the film doubles down on its relentless joke-making, and while it certainly all feels at least consistent, this may not be everyone's style of humor. And it's not a stretch or hard to imagine that the cast might have phoned in some or more parts of the movie, what with everyone's demanding schedules with such important projects that the movie felt more like hanging out with friends rather than "The Next Paul-Rudd/Amy-Poehler Movie.) The distinction here in its "dumbness" is so fine a line that is being walked that it would take an experienced comedic veteran to really make the humor happen in shaping the project. Fortunately, Wain and Showalter, as co-writers and co-producers, display a finely trained eye and comedic sense to give this a legitimacy all its own, and the time spent with all of these talented individuals makes for truly worthwhile comedy.
With an impressive ensemble appearing here (not unlike Wet Hot American Summer), including Ed Helms, Jason Mantzoukas, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, and a hilarious Christopher Meloni as Joel's demanding boss Roland, the whole event feels like a fun, shared get-together with friends, which is exactly what it is. Everyone here rises to the occasion (or rather, appropriately settles into the slacker effort) and delivers with their "cliche" parts, including 'the scheming rival' Trevor (Michael Ian Black, who completes the comedy trio Stella, along with Wain and Showalter).
This may be a first in my review-writing career, but I will now end this review and simply tell you to go out and see this movie (or was I already at the review's most logical end? I'll never tell). If you're looking for a movie with non-stop laughs, however "dumb" and "low-brow" they may be, They Came Together is certainly the movie to see. Even despite its fast and loose, if not too fast and loose production, it still offers bounds upon bounds of laughs and an all around heir of fun that will satisfy Wain and co. fans to no end as well as audiences who might also have a shared love of "fiction books."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPzHRXUcUWU
'Snowpiercer' Combines Sci-Fi Expanse and Art House Intimacy
Even though it's summer, there are still places where the sun doesn't shine, and that sentiment extends to this graphic novel film adaptation, a wildly imaginative sci-fi romp with enough action and ambition to prove its place alongside summer's other theatrical offerings. Snowpiercer is a tour-de-force, uniquely-crafted powerhouse of a movie that, like the fast-paced train it's named after, charges ever-forward with such uncompromising force and vision that it leaves behind any semblance of what you might expect from a typical summer action flick.
Let me repeat: this is a very certain kind of film. It's strangely familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, as all of its cinematic stylings extend to showcase its own understanding of past cinema and the slowly-crystalizing ideas of new. It's imaginative in its world-building, inventive in its genre-mixing, and, certainly, ambitious in its movie-making. Even though the entirety of the film takes place inside the confines of a series of train cars, it's among one of the most dazzling and head-spinning experiences to be injected into the action genre, adding a politically conscious tone in its wider tragedy of moral questioning and class warfare. Yet the ever-odd filmic styles that are combined here only attempt to serve the groundbreaking vision of the source material which the movie is based on: the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige.
Snowpiercer's comic-styled origins reveal more of the specific style and artistic bend that's really fueling the movie's engine. Snowpiercer tells story of a failed global warming experiment (performed in the year 2014) that turns the planet into a frozen ice box. We are introduced to the last of the human race, the poorest of which eat gelatin-like "protein blocks" and live under guard by the utilitarian government-state in the back of the tank-like train, that has been making the same cyclical trip for the past seventeen years. Of course, this being the day that the lower class finally has had enough, they set in motion their plan: to charge through each car to make their way to the front of the train and free themselves from their enslavement.
Even though the entirety of the film takes place inside the confines of a series of train cars, it's among one of the most dazzling and head-spinning experiences injected into the action genre.
It would be easier if he had his superpowers to lead the uprising's mad dash, but here, Chris Evans, as man (and muscle) of the people, Curtis, swaps his Captain America boy scout bravado for a bearded rough and tumble civilian who leads his people in the fight to overcome their oppressors. Yet Evans' stone-faced, cool-headed pragmatism and butt-kicking seems to only remind us that the biggest advantage of being a graphic novel character is that sometimes the most powerful asset is to a story is deft and nuanced, which the comic book artists can nail down with the precision each moment needs. Here, though, the internal strife and emotional wear that Curtis and his fellow emaciated team suffer through only hangs on to the movie like the rest of the combusting engine parts do, and so the audience is deprived of any deeper emotional connection.
With a surrounding cast including Jamie Bell as fiery youngster Edgar, Octavia Spencer as single mother Tanya, and John Hurtas the wise Gilliam, excitable talent is present here and add real personality and warmth inside the cold prison of a set. Yet as we move ever forward through the train do we meet our most cracked-out characters, including the devilishly bizarre Tilda Swinton as police leader Mason. Also enlisted in Curtis' crusade are Kang-ho Song as the lock-picking loon Namgoong Misoo and Ah-sung Ko as his meek daughter, Yona, who mostly speak in Korean during their time onscreen. Throughout the perilous journey, and amidst military warfare, it is Curtis and the father-daughter of Namgoog and Yona who serve as the film's primary characters.
As our heroes advance through each stage, and the movie does have that laterally-moving narrative style, new worlds are unlocked, making for some of the movie's most worthwhile entertainment. Just as the world of auto-mechanic decor was finished being set up and accepted, we are immediately thrust into a new world of higher-class living, complete with cars featuring aquariums and terrariums that feed the socialites, as well as (in one of the movie's funniest scene-stealing moments) a hilariously fascist elementary school classroom, a restaurant, and night club. The worlds that continue to open up also add more and more information about how things came to be, which keeps us further captivated and invested in the story. However, clocking in at just over two hours, it's going to take a bit of patience in keeping up with the whole charade, but with such fun world-building in art and production design, the experience remains rich and wholly engrossing.
South Korean director Bong Joon Ho, making his first English-speaking feature film (after making 2009's Mother), brings with him a blazing imagination and commitment to bringing this story to the big screen, in all its glories and spoils. Snowpiercer's untraditional, stylized storytelling combines sci-fi expanse and art house intimacy, but without its more tender handling of the human spirit of Curtis and company, this train's most mettle will only entertain by making your head spin as it rockets past you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFpfJNiUDpY
Review: 'Hanna Ranch'
It is beyond proving that there are an infinite number of real stories that need to be told onscreen, and modern documentaries are embracing this at a rapid rate. One of these small stories is Hanna Ranch, a Colorado-produced documentary that will be most relevant to in-state audiences, but provides plenty of emotion and significance for others to enjoy.
The film bridges a gap between two forms of documentary: environmental cautionary tale and authentic family drama. In this setting, both conflicts are in the forefront of discussion. Ranching and raising cattle is one of the foundations for the state of Colorado and brought many of the earliest settlers into the land. It’s practice requires a good chunk land to properly graze cattle, but an even larger amount of land if the rancher strives for long-term success and environmental conservation.
The Hanna Ranch was founded under environmental practices that were sustainable long before saving the earth was a trendy hashtag. In fact, few cattle ranchers adopted these principles because they required more time and more deliberation. As a result, the Hanna Ranch has outlasted all of its neighbors through massive urban development, thanks to a handful of family members who have devoted their lives toward the property. Colorado Springs is no longer a quaint farm town but Colorado’s second largest city, and Hanna Ranch has taken desperate measures just to hang on.
Colorado Springs is no longer a quaint farm town but Colorado’s second largest city, and Hanna Ranch has taken desperate measures just to hang on.
Kirk Hanna, who group with six siblings on his father’s ranch in Colorado Springs, CO, attempted to save this ranch late into his life when everyone else seemed to be giving up on this old lifestyle. Featured in the book Fast Food Nation, his care for the environment dubbed him as “the eco-cowboy.” After his death, his wife and daughters continue to have to fight hard against pressure from external family members and the rapidly developing world around them to care for a piece of property with so much historical and agricultural significance. While everyone else in the family wanted to cash in and make a profit by covering the land with asphalt, the few who cared to hold onto it have managed to do so, but continue an uphill battle as ranching feels more like a figment of the past.
The film documents the history of the ranch from its inception in the 1940’s until the present day through a good amount of historical footage mixed with interviews of friends and family of the ranch. The best praise is that it covers both territory of environmental education and also shows all the sides of the family through their turmoil. But it may be a swan song for family ranching: what could have been amplified is ways that audience members can help the cause. Even if they are few they must exist beyond the documentary. Also, there are a few holes in the story, and missing elements that could have led to more intrigue but leave the audience just a little short of necessary information, the tell-tale sign that this is a micro-budget project. Even for a runtime of 75 minutes, the film moves rather slowly at times, retracing its steps just a few too many times. Overall, like any good documentary it exposes a world that would otherwise be missing from news coverage, and on a personal level I am happy to see movies being made and produced in my home state of Colorado.
Hanna Ranch has been screening in various cities and festivals across the US, and is now also available for purchase on iTunes.
http://youtu.be/qCNLdSyS-G0
Giveaway: 'The Sacrament' Bundle Pack
In support of director Ti West's recently released horror film, The Sacrament, presented by Eli Roth, Magnet Releasing will provide two lucky CINEMACY readers with a bundle pack giveaway that you don't want to miss out on! Included in this giveaway is (1) alternative poster designed by R.M. Guera signed by the cast, (1) official “Eden Parish” t-shirt, and (1) copy of both The ABC’s of Death and V/H/S on Blu-ray, for two lucky fans! 
Here's how to win: Follow us on twitter (@cinemacyspeaks) and retweet the following:
Follow @cinemacyspeaks and RT to Enter to win #TheSacrament Giveaway Bundle! Alt Poster, Blu-Ray DVDs, and more! http://wp.me/p43JbQ-Dc
Giveaway ends Friday, June 13th, at 5:00pm PST. Good luck! The Sacrament is Now in Theatres, on Demand and iTunes. Synopsis: From acclaimed writer/director Ti West (THE INNKEEPERS, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL) and master of horror Eli Roth(THE LAST EXORCISM, HOSTEL, CABIN FEVER) comes the story of two Vice Media correspondents on an adventure to document their friend's journey to reunite with his estranged sister (Amy Seimetz, UPSTREAM COLOR). They track her to an undisclosed location where they are welcomed into the remote world of "Eden Parish," a self-sustained rural utopia composed of nearly two hundred members and overseen by a mysterious leader known only as "Father". While they are initially inspired by the community, it soon becomes evident that something is rotten in paradise. As their one night in the parish turns to day, the visitors realize that Eden Parish harbors a twisted secret. What started as just another documentary shoot soon becomes a fight for escape and survival.
“There are plenty of fantastical villains in this year's summer movies. But in terms of horribly believable evil, IT WILL BE HARD TO TOP THE PERFORMANCE OF GENE JONES in 'TheSacrament'.” - CLARK COLLIS, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“'MASTERFULLY SUSTAINED SUSPENSE. A truly haunting piece of horror. Ti West's darkest, smartest and most gut-punch memorable film to date.” - SCOTT WEINBERG, FEARNET
“BONE CHILLING” - DAVID ROONEY, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“A gripping thriller, filled with tension, dread and genuine terror.” - PHIL NOBLE JR, BADASS DIGEST
“(Ti West's) best film to date.” - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS
“FRIGHTENING AND TERRIFIC” - GUY LODGE, VARIETY
OFFICIAL RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN: THE SACRAMENT Giveaway Bundle. Contest is open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and Canada, age 18 or older at time of entry. Void outside the US and Canada where prohibited by law. Sweepstakes begins at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (“PST”) on 6/10/2014 and ends at 5:00 p.m. (“PST”) on 6/13/2014. All entries must be made via the comments section on this page. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 72 hours of being notified or an alternate winner will be selected. All federal, state and local regulations apply.
Director Ti West & Cast on 'The Sacrament'
With his latest film, The Sacrament (presented by Eli Roth) director Ti West has once again offered audiences a rich slice of horror-on-a-budget cinema. Only this time, the terror comes in the form of real-life scares. Sidestepping any hint of supernatural-infused story, West crafts a docu-style film that takes its inspiration from the events of the Jonestown Massacre (including the infamous "drinking-of-the-Kool-Aid," by taking viewers into the heart of one of the scariest places seen on camera: Eden Parish, a remotely located compound who's society is led by the scarily manipulative "Father," (Gene Jones), leaving the audience to wonder, and witness, if there is anything scarier than atrocities performed in real life, by real people.
I had the chance to sit down with West, Jones, as well as the rest of the principle cast (and frequent collaborators) including Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, and Kentucker Audley, at Hollywood's Magic Castle, an appropriately spooky destination to inquire about the film. Seated inside the Player's Club's mini-theatre, we settled in, to find out more about this wholly arresting movie. We begin:
HOW CLOSE TO THE EVENTS OF THE JONESTOWN MASSACRE IS THIS FILM BASED ON?
TI WEST: The framework for the story is based on the last forty-eight hours of what happened at Jonestown. I wanted to use the framework of a real event, and use a real brand to tell the story, because I think that, you know, trying to make a horror movie that doesn't have any supernatural elements, I wanted the sort of "horror" to be "horrific" and the violence to be confronting, and to be provocative, and to be socially relevant, to a certain degree. And I think a lot of the reasons that people joined People's Temple in the sixties and seventies are just as relevant today. History tends to repeat itself. And I think that this "new media" way that we're getting our news in this sort of embedded journalism is the way a story like this would come to us now. So all that stuff, to me was like, there's what happens in the movie and there's what the movie's about, and what the movie's about is far more interesting and terrifying to me. So, in trying to keep it steeped in realism, so that when you see this movie you have a visceral, scary experience watching the film, but then when you leave the theater, it stays with you because these themes are relevant, and these themes are scary, just generally. It's not like when you go see a vampire movie and it's scary for an hour and a half and then you go about your life. You know, hopefully the themes in this movie continue to make you think.
IN GENERAL, WHAT'S THE KEY TO CREATING SOMETHING REALLY SUSPENSEFUL WITHIN THAT DOCU-STYLE VISUAL AESTHETIC, AND HOW HARD WAS THAT FOR YOU TO EVOLVE CREATIVELY?
TW: The docu-style thing, it's a little thing to adjust to, but you adjust to that before you even start. So it's one of those things, a lot of times people ask me "What's the challenge of shooting movies that way?" And it's like, I don't remember because it was never not that, you know what I mean? But I think that, it's really just the same as any traditional thing. It's just about what you show and what you don't show, and that ratio, and that contrast of what's scary and what's not scary, and just sort of milking that. I kind of tell people it's like, you know, like you can tell a joke and all your friends laugh, and then your friend can tell the same joke and it just bombs and you're like, "What happened?" It's like, there's a sense of timing that you just intrinsically have in being able to read the situation, and I think that's just the same with this.
FOR THE ACTORS- WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING INSIDE THE HEADS OF THESE CHARACTERS, AS YOU'RE ALL PLAYING ESSENTIALLY FICTITIOUSLY REAL PEOPLE IN THE DOCU-STYLE WORLD OF THE FILM?
GENE JONES: It's less than one day in Father's life, and it's not a typical day. So I didn't do any Jim Jones research about what he read and how he interacted with people on a daily basis. What I tried to do was be a guy who was so nice you would follow him out of your, you would leave your family and leave your country and go with this guy.
KENTUCKER AUDLEY: We had, those of us that played VICE reporters, we had a very good, dedicated source of material, because VICE-guided travels, at least what I started figuring out, and I had already watched some of them, but we really got into it before we started shooting, there's an aesthetic identity to the VICE brand that sort of transcends editing and photography. There's a brand of journalism and there's a brand of, I don't want to say personality, but there's very clearly, certain vibes. And so for me, I started noticing that there were seeming to be certain characters at other times. So the trick was humanizing, and being able to show that there's a transition, that this person's playing a character right now, and that he's sort of taking that hat off, and as the movie escalates, as the story escalates, we sort of see that stuff getting stripped away, and you're being left with this person that kind of loses an identity going down to this place.
"It's not like when you go see a vampire movie and it's scary for an hour and a half and then you go about your life. You know, hopefully the themes in this movie continue to make you think" -Ti West (Director)
JOE SWANBERG: Yeah, on the flip side of that, I mean think that my character remains detached. He's willing to put himself in these dangerous positions, but when things seem intimidating he's also the first one, I mean I think my character wants to live through this so he can keep making more, keep being a journalist. He's not excited about the prospect of dying at this place [Laughter]. And he's not getting emotionally involved, the line is much more clear-cut for my character than for AJ's character and I feel think that's an interesting dynamic that we were able to play off of where he's, probably because of what he's got going on at home where he's sort of at a point in his life where he's settling down, he's a lot quicker to get emotionally invested in this young woman who we meet there, and the kind of "journalistic blinders" are still up for me where I'm like, "Look, we're here to do a job," and also, part of that job is to keep ourselves safe. If we die, nobody gets to hear the story, so we have to get home in order to tell it.
AJ BOWEN: Yeah, I think there's an interesting thing with Joe and I's characters, specifically about our detachment and our, you know, what happens with the shift of like, it's a life and death situation, so like the "cool, above-it-all, we're just doing this and it's our job," very quickly shifts to like, "we're going on instinct, we're going on survival, we're going on this terror." So at that point it becomes very universal, it becomes very similar to how anybody would react in a life and death terrorized situation.
AMY SEIMETZ: Ti said this and I agree with this one hundred percent, no-one joins a cult, it happens over slow increments over time. And so what you're seeing, like Gene said, you're seeing a day in the life of, or a couple of nights in the life of a very acute period of time, where it's led to this point. And I guess, preparing for it, I was obsessed with cults for years, and sort of how people find themselves in this place. And they desperately want to believe in something bigger than them, and there's a very fine line between actually believing and desperately wanting to believe. And so with Caroline, in the beginning, there's a lot of like, putting up a front of, "I do really believe in this," but also genuinely believing in it because it has helped her build a life outside of the rougher life that she was living before of drug addiction, etcetera. So I don't think when she got involved with Father, that she was thinking, "I'm going to massacre people," or you know, create a horrible situation.
YOU'RE ALL SUCH GREAT ACTORS, AND MANY OF YOU- MOST OF YOU, ARE ALSO EXCELLENT FILMMAKERS IN YOUR OWN RIGHT. IS IT EVER HARD TO TURN THAT PART OF YOUR HEAD OFF, OR IS THERE ANY COLLABORATION FROM A FILMMAKING POINT OF VIEW?
AS: Me first? Well, being the best filmmaker here, I'll take this. [Laughter]
No I mean, we've all worked together in various capacities for, years now? And so I think, knowing what it's like to direct a movie, none of us step onto the other one's set and say, "I'm going to direct your movie-"
"CUT!"
AS: Yeah! I think there's an ease to how we work together, and how working together repetitively helps get deeper, and have a shorthand together as opposed to create a power dynamic, in a way.
KA: Having worked with all of these directors, it's just, you defer. You just trust the process of knowing the aesthetic that the individual director is going for and just trusting...you know, you look for ways to find your identity within it, you look for ways to insert your persona, or your being in some ways. But mostly it's just like, trying to give them what they want, and trusting that they're going to use it for the benefit of everybody involved.
JS: Yeah, I also think like, as an actor in somebody else's movie, you don't have the kind of whole picture that you usually have when you're directing your own thing, so you're not in every meeting about the visual look of the movie, you're not in the costume meetings, you're not having the conversations that a director's having with a producer about the logistical aspects of figuring out, you know? You're sort of only privy to the story and your character, so you're kind of already coming at it from a different kind of place. You're not trying to make the whole thing good, you're just trying to be in the service of it as best you can.
But I do think that, you know, when you get on set, you do have to turn the "director brain" off, because everybody has their own aesthetic and their own ideas about how things should go, and also everybody runs their sets differently. And so if you get on somebody else's set and you're getting annoyed that it's not moving at the speed your set moves, or there's too many people around, or some other thing like that, it's going to really get in the way of your ability to act, I think.
AB: Questions like that really are questions about ego, and one of the best benefits about collaborating with people over and over again is that you're getting to start of a very different place. Most movies that I'm on, where I haven't worked with people before, it starts off with everyone, in a well intentioned way, asserting their ego, their sense of identity, about, "Well this is what I'm bringing to the table." And usually by the time the shoot's done, you're ready to go and actually make the thing, because you can now communicate with the people. But the great thing about working with these people, and doing it again and again, is that you're starting at a place of trust and commitment, and there's a much more open dialogue, and a much more thorough sense of communication about what's going on.
So, as someone who has only acted in that capacity, it's great because I don't have to worry about so many things, like, "Is this movie going to, are we going to realize this script?" I don't have to think about that with any of these people, so it's really freeing.