OTR Movie Recommendation: Detachment

If you pay attention to my site, you know a lot (read: too much) about me. You know that I go to shows almost every night of the week. I love live music and occasionally deviate to go to a play, the opera, or on occasion, sometimes I actually stay in. Film is something different entirely, and though I have expanded cable and HBO, I see fewer movies than most of my peers. In fact, after two years without going to the movies, it was only recently that I started going again. I don't have Netflix and I only recently started renting from Redbox. It isn't that I don't enjoy good movies, it just seems the good ones are so few and far between that I have a hard time devoting two hours with a medium where I am not interactive at all. I can't sit still without wanting to look at my Twitter feed or surf the web or explore Facebook  

I've made a greater effort to keep up with movies of late, and recently I dug The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Young Adult,  and Like Crazy. Still, none of these left me feeling  quite as affected as I did when I watched a screener of Detachment.

Director Tony Kaye’s (AMERICAN HISTORY X) long-awaited film DETACHMENT stars Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody as Henry Barthes, a substitute teacher who conveniently avoids any emotional connections by never staying anywhere long enough to form a bond with either his students or colleagues. A lost soul grappling with a troubled past, Henry finds himself at a public school where an apathetic student body has created a frustrated, burned-out administration. Inadvertently becoming a role model to his students, while also bonding with a runaway teen who is just as lost as he is, Henry finds that he’s not alone in a life and death struggle to find beauty in a seemingly vicious and loveless world.

This is not a film about the underdog school turning things around, nor does it offer a fix for failing educational policies or how to save these really fucked up teens. As Mr. Barthes, Brody (as sexy as ever, even when he's not supposed to be) gives an intense performance of a man with demons of his own while constantly being confronted by the demons of everyone in the world around him. Still there's some feeling of connectedness in realizing that everyone around us is as damaged as we are. Misery loves company.  He finds connection in the least likely of people and though there's certainly not a triumphant feel good moment in the film, the grit of it makes the analytical documentary style interview moments interspersed in the film feel all the more real and authentic. I'll also note that while the film sticks to crisp dialogue, the one song used in the film is "Empty" by Ray LaMontagne which feels like it was made for this film. (see it in the alternate trailer after the jump)

The film is available in limited release in theaters in select cities. In San Diego, the film opened on March 30 at the Reading Cinemas Gaslamp 15 and is also available through video on demand.

The Visual Underground Returns to CASBAH - Oct 29th.

The dirty pirate hookers of film+rock+art are back. I cannot tell you how surprised I am to be doing another show as a member of The Visual Underground. I can even go as far as to say that at one in my life I swore I would never do one again. Well, like the oath I made about never drinking again, I broke my promise.

It was 2003 (or 2002), when Gavin Allen and myself (John-Ryan Shea aka AVicious), then film students at San Diego State, went to Sundance to work the NoDance Film Festival. Gavin was a pompous ass I knew that like Billy Wilder movies and looked like a reject from a Chico State catalog. Trying to save some scratch to get there we shared the gas bill and set off on the road to independent film land. When we arrived at Sundance and got to the condo we found they had us bunking up with the preverbal "guy on the couch" and a bunch of other guys discussing the relevance of old George Lucas vs. new George Lucas - yeah, fucking lame. We tried to join in the conversation but soon said screw it and went back to our shared room to crash for the night. Well, he couldn't sleep because of the time change and I couldn't sleep because he kept farting. I would like to think that no homoerotic thoughts were part of the night but after an uncomfortable hour and half of lying there and wishing for fresh air Gavin broke the silence...

"Let's get out of here and go get a drink," he said.

From that moment on we hit to the lily white bars of Park City and binged on the delicious 2.5% alcohol beers and doubles where we needed to pour the second shot in ourselves. Needless to say it took quite some time to garner an adequate buzz. The time allowed us to get to know each other. To dig deep and discover that going to movies about the Ramones & sitting through shitty short films is just much easier with alcohol. It was beautiful to find out that a pompous ass who likes Billy Wilder movies and a wildly attractive and yet rouged guy who likes Francious Truffaut movies could co-exist if they could drink together. Hell, they might even form a bond that would forge the beginning of what would become The Visual Underground.

Returning to San Diego with the west coast premiere of "The Ramones: End of the Century" documentary we hit the Ken Club, sold out and knew we had an awesome idea. People like to drink shit and do shit. We started at the Ken Club, moved to the Whistle Stop & were graduated to The Casbah.

7-8 or so years later with over 50+ shows, 3 Venues, 400+ films, 80+ bands and 60+ artists having worked with - THE VISUAL UNDERGROUND RETURNS!!!

This Friday October 29th, Gavin Allen, John-RyanShea & David Mishoulam will reunite for TVU Presents:SPOOKY VUE 6 "The Zombie Prom" at the Casbah.

We will be joined by artists:
JJ Hynes
Kelly Hutchinson (Dark Vomit)
The Infusion Project
Wendy Teague
Lindy Ivey.

Performing will be:
The Creepy Creeps &
The Lords of the New Removed Church (featuring Gary Shuffler)

The film fest continues and we surely will not disappoint - Let's just say a vampire and a menstrual cycle are part of it.

We would love to see you down there and to be part of one of San Diego's all time best Film+Rock+Art Shows (even though the beautiful and wildly talented Rosey panned one of our last shows - love you girl!).

FRIDAY - OCTOBER 29th @ The Casbah - Doors 8:30pm 21+
2501 Kettner Blvd. San Diego, CA 92101

BUY TICKETS

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SAVE $2 at Door with phrase "Everybody Gets Brains"

"Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation" outdoor movie @ MCASD La Jolla Thursday 7/10/08

For years I've heard rumors of this film. The film was a shot for shot remake of the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie done by three kids in the 80's with a non existing budget using only home video camcorders and their ingenuity with makeup / sets / neighborhood friends / etc. Now, after all these years, it's going to be screened at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla for free tomorrow night. Some of the film makers will be there for a Q&A.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation" outdoor movie

Thursday, July 10 2008, 8:00pm

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
700 Prospect St
La Jolla, CA
(858) 454-3541

Free (plus they have free ice cream and popcorn...)

"MCASD invites you to bring a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy the Museum's free third annual Parking Lot Pictures. As moviegoers flock to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at multiplexes, MCASD hosts the San Diego premiere of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation against the oceanfront backdrop of MCASD La Jolla's parking lot.
Back in 1982, the then-12-year-old filmmakers Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb made this shot-by-shot remake of Steven Spielberg's 1981 classic adventure film, filming in their Mississippi neighborhood.

Shot for $7,000 over a period of seven years and rarely screened for the public, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation might just be one of the most heartfelt, no-budget homages to movie love ever made. Coincidentally, Paramount Pictures is currently developing a feature
film with screenwriter Dan Clowes (of Ghost World fame) to tell their story on the big screen. MCASD invites you to enjoy these movie fans' labor of love that dares to ask what it might feel like to be Indiana Jones. Strompolos and Zala will introduce the film and participate in
a post-screening Q&A session."

Here's a review of the movie: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/15348

Here is also the first 10 minutes of the film to give you a taste:

(Thanks to Rosey for this amazing blog. She has been kind enough to let me post this as a contributor. My apologies if this is not formatted right. I'm a blogger newbie. -tyler)