While my last entry for The Crazies was a fairly mainstream film that should be easy for people to see, this next choice is one I’ve been keeping an eye on for a few months now. As an added bonus, this film was made here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, making it extra easy for me to keep tabs on it.
The film I am speaking of is Phasma Ex Machina, which essentially means Ghost from the Machine. Based on the trailer I’ve heard people compare it to Primer, but with that title the film seems to have more of an existential bent in mind and honestly the first film that comes to me is Ghost, which may or may not be a bad thing. Phasma Ex Machina doesn’t seem to be planning to layer on the sappy love story, but rather delve potentially into more of an eerie ghost tale, which would be a welcome sight.
The good news is that it looks like post-production is almost wrapped up, and the film should start being screened around town and festivals. Be sure to check out their website where you can follow the film on Twitter and Facebook, read their production blog and sign up for the newsletter to keep up to date on any potential screenings in your area.
Growing up in the Midwest I never had much exposure to Chinese food, authentic or otherwise. Their may have been a Chinese restaurant in Cedar Rapids but I don’t remember us ever going. In contrast I do remember at least a half dozens different trips to Godfather’s Pizza which involved me gagging on cheese. While my mother would attempt the occasional Chinese dish, she simply didn’t have access to very many quality ingredients, making those meals some of my least anticipated so even once we moved to Wisconsin I rarely, if ever, attempted to seek out any Asian cousine. But once I headed up to the University of Minnesota my world would drastically change.
Take Out is a surprisingly simple film, yet powerfully compelling. It opens with two thugs barging into an overcrowded apartment, searching for Ming Ding (Charles Jang), an illegal immigrant who borrowed money from a loan shark to finance his journey to the United States. But Ming has fallen behind on his payments and the loan shark has sent a very clear message, “I need $800 tonight or your debt doubles!” And just in case that isn’t clear enough the thugs leave a calling card courtesy of a hammer to his back.
Ming quickly sets out to call in the few financial favors he has, and even after that he is still $200 short, with only a single days works as a delivery boy for a local Chinese restaurant as his only chance at scratching out enough in tips. Luckily for Ming it has started to rain, leaving him with a few extra delivery chances while his colleague has promised to bow out for the day, giving Ming a legitimate chance to break even, provided that he works his ass off.
As part of The Edina Theatre’s upcoming 75th anniversary, the Minnesota filmed Into Temptation starring Jeremy Sisto and Kristin Chenoweth will have it Minnesota premiere on Thursday, August 27th. Best news of all, it will be a free screening. Details are not quite released, but within the next several days I should know just how people can get tickets for this premiere.
Following the Thursday premiere, Into Temptation will then have a week long run at the Lagoon Theatre, with director/writer Patrick Coyle being present for a Q&A after the Monday, August 31st screening.
And in yet another one of those odd twists of fate that somehow only happen on this blog, I met Jeremy Sisto when he was in town filming this. He stopped in my theatre to watch Then She Found Me, as he was friends with Helen Hunt and was offered the role of Ben Green in the film, which he turned down due to a previous commitment. The role then went to Matthew Broderick. We talked for a little bit before the film and some more once the film ended. He was incredibly nice and seemed like a very decent guy.
Interesting side note, Jeremy Sisto is the only Hollywood celebrity that I have met that I have seen naked, which is thanks to his fantastic role as Billy Chenowith in the outstanding series Six Feet Under. I did not tell him this, because that would have been awkward. Much like this entire paragraph.
As part of the annual browncoat fundraising efforts to raise money for Joss Whedon’s favorite charity, Equality Now, The Riverview Theatre will be hosting a double feature of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog and Serenity on August 13th. Tickets are $10 for both films, which includes an auction and prize drawings.
From the Riverview’s website: Can’t Stop The Serenity is the annual global browncoat event featuring Serenity on the big screen with all proceeds to benefit Equality Now, Joss Whedon’s favorite charity. Equality Now is an international non profit organization working to end violence and descrimination against women and girls around the world. The now-annual event began in 2006 when over 40 locations around the globe raised over $60,000 for Equality Now! The 2007 global events topped that with gusto by raising over $100,000 for Equality Now! Minnesota’s participation provided over $2,000 in 2006, and tripled that amount in 2007 by raising $6,160! We raised over $7,200 in 2008!
So the Internet is a flutter with the release of the latest trailer for A Serious Man, the Coen Brother’s new film. Shot around Minneapolis, and being centered on their hometown of St Louis Park, A Serious Man is a dark comedy set in 1967 about nice guy who always finishes last. Populated with local actors, the film looks to be a loving tribute to the town that the Coen’s grew up in, you know, like Fargo. But what most people don’t know, including the Internet, is that A Serious Man exists because of me (and my boss).
You see the Coens and their cinematographer Roger Deakins were in town shooting some footage on the film stock they wanted to use for the film. But they wanted to see how the film stock would look up on the big screen. A few nights earlier our theatre hosted an event for Tippi Hedren and he met several people involved with film here in Minnesota. When A Serious Man Executive Producer Robert Graf started inquiring on a theatre they could take a look at their test footage, our theatre was the first one to be recommended.
When Robert Graf called I was the Manager on Duty and I was happy to work out an agreement where Robert could come in and we would thread up the film for him to take a look at it. I knew Roger Deakins was in town, so I assumed that he would be the one making the decision.
The day I picked for Robert and Roger to come by to come by both me and my boss were working. I made sure to bring a copy of my DVD of The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford, because Roger Deakins was the cinematographer on it, and it is easily one of my favorite films. I figured since we were letting them use our theatre for free (they offered to pay and we declined), that getting Roger to sign my DVD was a pretty cool trade.
Robert was the first to arrive and my boss was who answered the door. They said hello to each other and my boss introduced me to Robert. My boss asked him if he had the film with him so he could thread up, and Robert simply replied that he didn’t have it, but that Roger, Joel and Ethan did and they would be right in once they parked the car.
It was less then five minutes before the Coen’s and Roger Deakins showed up at our door, but it felt like years. Its not often you get to meet your favorite cinematographer AND your favorite living film makers. Granted I’ve met a few actors and film makers over the years of working at the theatre, but this was leaps and bounds ahead of anything else.
My boss took the film and went up to the booth to thread everything up. He later told me that he had never been so frightened in threading up a film, knowing that it was showing for the Coen’s and Roger Deakins and that it was to see if they would use this film stock for A Serious Man.
But while he was upstairs threading up the film, I had to make small talk with people not exactly known for being gregarious and outgoing. With Joel talking with Roger I decided to ask a few questions to Ethan. Nothing was particularly deep or probing, they dealt more with how often they make it back to St Louis Park and if they still have any family in town, but Ethan seemed to have no problems simply “shooting the shit” if you will, with me. Sure it was obvious that neither of the Coen’s is particularly outgoing, as hey both appeared visibly uncomfortable at first, but I think the fact I was not drooling all over them helped set them at ease.
Once my boss had the film threaded the Coen’s headed up stairs to watch the footage. We had a one sheet for Burn After Reading up since it would be opening in the next week or so, and both the Coen’s and Roger were particularly interested in it. None of them had seen the one sheet yet, and all three remarked that they liked it a great deal. I was stunned to discover that they hadn’t been involved in the marketing of the film, as it was quite obvious they had never seen the one sheet at all. I had always assumed they were the type that have a hand in every aspect of their film, marketing or otherwise, yet here was definitive proof that they only focused on making the movie.
Once the impromptu screening was finished, the group came downstairs and my boss and I asked them to sign a few things for us and the theatre. Roger had wandered off a bit, probably assuming that we would only be interested in having the Coen’s sign things, but instead I said that I wanted him to sign my DVD, as it was my favorite film of the past year. Roger smiled, made a snide remark to the Coen’s, something like “Suck on that boys.” and happily obliged. Now that wasn’t exactly what he said, but it certainly cut through any remaining tension or apprehension that might have existed. From that moment on all three were laid back and, sure enough, gregarious.
We ended up having all three of them sign a poster of No Country for Old Men for the theatre, and then my boss had them sign a Blood Simple poster for him. Sure enough, they hadn’t ever seen that poster either. But while all that was happening, something rather unexpected occurred.
Joel and Roger were having a conversation. Well, no so much of a conversation as Joel was excitedly describing a movie to Roger. Over and over I kept hearing him proclaim “It was fucking amazing!” and as I kept listening, I soon realized which movie he was talking about, it was Man on Wire. Evidently Joel had seen it at The Uptown Theatre while they were in town, and was trying to convince Roger to go see it. It was quite the thrill to see him so passionate about a move he clearly loved. It was an extra added bonus to what was already an experience that had shot past surreal thirty minutes earlier.
I only have one regret about that morning. You see we have an ax hammer in our theatre’s toolbox, for what I don’t know. But since neither my boss or I had seen Burn After Reading, neither of us knew just how integral a role an axe hammer would play in the film. As great as it was to have the three of them sign a No Country for Old Men poster for the theatre, getting the Coen’s to sign an axe hammer would have been truly amazing and downright hilarious.
So there you have it, the tale of how the film stock for A Serious Man was picked. So when you watch the film, make sure to remember that if it wasn’t for me, you would be watching a completely different movie.
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