Capture of Culture- Do I Sound Gay?

"We're taught that our voice is who we really are."




Recently single David has recently discovered that listening to his own voice makes him uncomfortable. He doesn't feel at all connected with the tone and quality he has in his voice because it sounds "gay". David, who is a gay man, is determined to sound more "straight". By talking to the best vocal coaches in the business, he beings to make progress on his quest, but he also begins to find where the idea of sounding "gay" comes from. Many gay men talk about growing up listening to their mothers and sisters because it was more fun to them, and that is where they think their voices came from. Others blame a speech impediment lisp. Each one has a different theory, but each interviewed person also says you have to come to terms with the way you sound; you are not your voice, but it is an extension of who you are. David, making progress with his training, is not satisfied. No matter how hard he tries, something in his inflection keeps him from sounding "straight". By interviewing several famous faces of the gay community, David begins to realize that sounding "gay" doesn't matter because if you are gay you should wear it loud and proud.




As a first time film maker, David Thorpe does a rather good job of collecting various interviews for his doc as well as some great archival footage. He doesn't focus much on his personal journey unless in a quickly edited passing section, and he never follows up with a clear piece of proof that he's made any progress in his personal mission to sound "straight". It isn't the kind of film that gives any answers, but it does bring up something to talk about which I think can be just as important. Someone has to ask the questions, even if we have to figure out the rest alone.

Stream of the Week- Nightcrawler

If it bleeds, it leads.




Finding the life of a thief and trick turner to be unfulfilling and unstable, Louis Bloom decides he needs a profession. As he's driving home one night, he comes across a traffic accident. Originally, he's drawn in by the flames of the scene, but as he continues to watch the fire and first response to the crash unfold, he sees a man with a camera show up to the site to record the event. The camera man is a "stringer", an independent that news services use to get extra footage of crimes, collisions, fires, and other disasters for their shows. Immediately, Bloom knows it's something he can sink his teeth into. Starting with a low budget camera and no idea of how to gain his shots, Louis films a victim of a shooting. He drives this footage, after received, to the nearest news station where he meets Nina, the director of news. Nina is impressed with Louis's eye and tells him if he ever has anything he should bring it to her first. Louis begins to brand himself as a company. He immediately hires an employee, Rick, who he uses to navigate the streets of L.A. as he races from site to site getting better and more graphic shots for Nina's station. As he continues to bring in footage, he forms an attachment to Nina who is honestly more interested in her job than him. He begins to threaten her that if she doesn't go out with him, he will stop bringing her footage. She needs that footage to bolster her rating which are dropping now that she's on the graveyard shift. With better tapes, Louis is able to buy a better car and better equipment, but his need for "the shot" has begun to mess with his already morally skewed perspective. At several sights, Louis movies bodies or pieces of evidence before the police get there in order to make the shot more interesting to viewers and to Nina. His finest moment as a news collector comes when he is able to film a break in and robbery just as the suspects are leaving. The story is exactly what Nina is looking for, urban crime creeping into the once safe suburbs with minority perpetrators, middle to high class citizen victims, in mostly white neighborhoods. That's the stuff she can sell as a package on the increasingly dangerous environment created in the city which draws viewers in. Louis withholds valuable evidence in this last case which erases the line between crime capturer to criminal.




Nominated for an Oscar for it's screenplay and a Golden Globe for it's lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler is a fantastic piece of drama that digs deeply into the mind of a psychopathic main character. Louis Bloom would've been a great salesman if he had had proper training and someone with patience to teach him. He's a fast learner and quick on his feet which helps him with negotiations, which he happens to be fantastic at. His obsessive nature mixed with his somewhat morbid tastes and need for routine all suggest that he's got some sort of mental instability that drive him to be so focused on his work. Played by the brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal, Louis is almost terrifying when he loses his temper or what we perceive as his humanity. When he talks to Nina about his feelings for her, he delivers his proposition to her as if it is a contract, he clinically dissects human emotion and uses logic to explain emotion in a way that comes across as slimey and insincere. Nina opposite also does a fantastic job of just being off the normally written human character as she is driven solely by her job and pushing the envelop of what is appropriate to show on her news station. Nina is brilliantly played by Rene Russo who gives her a mixture of an understanding mentor mentality and equally hungry reporter. Nightcrawler comes from Dan Gilroy writer of Real Steel and the Bourne Legacy. Combined with his talented cast, Gilroy is able to write and direct a film that is both incredibly interesting to observe and terrifying at the same time.

Capture of Culture- Everybody Street

"It's a way to read your culture."




The street photographers of New York have captured decades of intensely true to life scenes that depict what it's like to live in the world we do. By following gangs, photographers got insight into the underground life in the city. Faced with guns, violence, and drugs, they did their best to capture it. Others focused on the above ground- taking pictures of every "interesting" person they came across on the street. With the new wave of digital photography, they discuss the evolution of the game. Some prefer the new style. It keeps them from being limited by development costs and allows them to store their photos more effectively. Others see the digital revolution as a cop out keeping real photographers from doing their jobs and getting their gigs. Each of the several photographers interviewed has a different story and different experiences that come together to explain the type of person it takes to tough it out as a street photographer. You have to be unafraid and well prepared because each turn could be a new shot.




I've always been interested in photography documentaries and New York City films. The pairing of the two topics lends itself to a wide variety of possibilities. Though the documentary only contains interviews, it does chronicle some of the most important times in the city through photographs. Street photography is an important art and captures what it's like to have daily routines rather than well thought out shots perfectly planned and executed.

Stream of the Week- Batman Begins

Because the secret lies in the blue flowers. Shhhh don't tell anyone.




As a child, Bruce Wayne was traumatized first when he fell down a well and was attacked by bats and then again when his parents were killed in front of him. For the rest of his life, Bruce blamed himself for their deaths. As a young man, he was lost and fell into a criminal lifestyle becoming a part of a ring of thieves. From within a prison, Bruce Wayne is inducted into the "League of Shadows", a collection of criminals trained to take down civilizations in their prime to maintain the "balance" between crime and fear in the public. Once Bruce is told of the plan put in place by the League to take down Wayne's hometown Gotham, a center for both crime and industry with the company Wayne Enterprises- a family business with Bruce as it's remaining lineage. Wayne decimates the league's headquarters and returns to Gotham in hopes of restoring order by removing the most prominent drug lords and criminals. However, when Bruce comes back after 7 years of lying low, Gotham is in too deep in their own problems for him to bail it out alone. Bruce decides the best way to restore order is to become a symbol of justice. He draws on his childhood memories and becomes what he fears most- Batman. Batman Bruce takes down a head figure in the drug industry, but quickly learns of a political scandal/ take down plan that stems from a doctor housing psychiatric patients on an island within the city. He uses fear tactics and a hallucinogenic drug to make his patients fear him. This doctor begins dumping the drug into the water supply putting all of Gotham at risk. Batman is the only one who can save them now.




Christopher Nolan reinvented the comic book movie genre with this introduction to the Batman story. The film is dark and gritty to capture the feeling of a broken city riddled with crime. In contrast, moments of humor and one liners a sporadically placed to give the film a break from it's completely serious and heavy feel. All the characters are well set up giving them a chance to be introduced and then expanded in the next film. Is the idea of all this crime and mayhem concentrated in one city a bit far fetched? Yes, but all superhero films have to start somewhere and that somewhere might as well be based in a place with a cool name like Gotham.

An Examination of Killer Animal Films- Congo, Jaws, and The Ghost and the Darkness

Steaming from legend, films with killer animal villains have similarities in how they present both their main characters and beasts.




Congo
Based on a Michael Crichton novel, Congo is the story of three different missions combined on one expedition that leads it's characters deep into the heart of the Congo where they find a forbidden city guarded by well trained killer gorillas. The city they protect is part of a myth that tells of great riches inside the walls. This is the reason for expedition for Herkermer Homolka, a treasure hunter in search of the huge diamonds rumored to be hidden inside the city. Also in search of the diamonds, but for a scientific reason, Dr. Karen Ross is also part of this expedition. Her hope is that the diamonds can be used for her company to produce laser technology as well as lead her to her missing fiancé who went into the jungle also searching for the diamonds. Finally, there is the story of Dr. Peter Elliot who plans on returning his trained gorilla, Amy, back to her homeland. Brought together by political unrest in the country and monetary needs, the rag tag group all find what they are looking for in the hidden city in the deep Congo. Their journey there, however, leads them to stumble on a hidden group of domesticated, trained killer gorillas who have guarded the city and it's good for centuries.




The Ghost and the Darkness
Faced with the task of building a bridge as part of a railroad expedition across Africa, passionate engineer John Patterson becomes a leader of many workers. His trip begins successfully as he and his team begin to build a great bridge as part of the railroad. However, part way through the build, lions begin to attack workers in their beds. No one feels safe due to the savage attacks caused by these animals. They kill for sport not for food. Patterson determines there are two lions causing these issues, and the locals call them The Ghost and The Darkness. He begins to hunt the beasts. They allude him at every turn and rack up at least 50 of his crew members. His employers bring in expert hunter Charles Remington to help take care of the problem, but Remington is unsuccessful like Patterson because the lions do not act like normal lions. They see his every move ten steps before he makes it. The two stalk the lions deep into the night, and while under attack manage to kill one. This leaves the remaining lion vengeful for the death of his companion and his terror reigns over the men.




Jaws
If you haven't seen Jaws, we can't be friends. A small vacation island becomes riddled with rumors of sharks as several people get gobbled up while in the water. The local law enforcement attempts to handle the situation the best they can with Chief Brody at the helm. He plans to shut down the beaches and call in experts to take care of their growing problem. But, being that Amity is a vacation town and it's only now the beginning of the season, the city council votes that the beaches stay open. With a crowded beach and filled shallow ocean, the shark is tempted back and a small boy is devoured while on the water. Now the islanders and the council are starting to get worried. A reward is put upon the shark's head and Brody goes to the only man he thinks can catch the killer- Quint, a local shark hunter. With a hired shark expert, Hooper, the three men take to the sea to track down the "smartest fish" that ever lived.






Killer animal movies seem to follow a similar structure. They introduce characters by presenting them with a task that will take them into the heart of the animal's territory. For Jaws, it was the open sea, for Congo the deep jungle, and for The Ghost and the Darkness that wilderness was Africa. Though the location is the animal's habitat, the human presence in the location makes them feel as if every time they are attacked by the animal they are being invaded in their own space. They are not. For example, The Ghost and the Darkness takes place on the site of a new railroad bridge being built in the heart of Africa. This is prime lion country being invaded by human activity. It is expected for animals to lash out and protect their environment, but because it is human occupied, it is the humans who feel violated.




These movies also follow a pattern of not revealing their villains for quite some time. In Congo, the killer gorillas are not shown until the last twenty minutes of the film. The Ghost and the Darkness lions are not revealed in full form until a half hour in, and Jaws saves it's money shot for almost half way through the movie. Originally used as a method of suspense, the tension created by not knowing adds to the terror as the creature grows more violent and racks up the body count. This is now patented for horror/monster films.




Opening scenes also are very important to the killer animal movies. Jaws opens with the infamous scene of the attack on a young girl swimming. This scene is gruesome and was incredibly useful in getting audiences hooked for what was to come with the rest of the film. Likewise Congo opens with the destruction of a campsite and the killing of many men in order to catch the viewer's attention and give them a glimpse of the creature responsible. Only partial images are ever shown so that the real reveal can be more enticing and anticipated.

Stream of the Week- Moonrise Kingdom

"Our daughter has been abducted by one of these beige lunatics."




In a tale of true puppy love, Kaki scout Sam decides to run away with his pen pal Suzy. At the age of 12, he is perfectly skilled to live in the woods on the small island on which he lives with the other scouts. Through a series of letters, he and Suzy decide to run away together to get away from both of their distressing home lives. Suzy and Sam both suffer from preteen angst and have trouble fitting in with their surroundings. Armed with a suitcase full of books, a kitten, a record player, and all of Sam's wilderness gear, the two head off into the woods following an old Indian trail. Once discovered as missing, the scouts form a troop to find missing Sam along with the only island policeman Captain Sharp. While canvasing local houses for Sam, Sharp discovers Suzy is missing as well which makes the search gain more momentum. Sam and Suzy continue to have adventures and manage to escape the clutches of the scouts one time before settling on a small beach on the far side of the island where they set up camp. Their love is innocent enough as their understanding for each other grows.
Unfortunately, the two are discovered by Suzy's parents, the troop, and Captain Sharp on their beach one morning. Suzy is returned home, and Sam is sentenced to social services due to his foster parents deciding they don't want him back from camp. Moved by their devotion to one another, the scouts decide to break Sam and Suzy out so that they can be together. They cross the local water ways to another camp where one of the boys has a cousin whom he is sure can help Suzy and Sam find a better life together. Before they can escape the island, a storm erupts trapping all of the characters in a small church where Sam and Suzy must decide on what to do next because they can't keep running.




Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, Moonrise Kingdom is a lovely off-beat adventure that takes awkward up to the next level with it's somewhat nostalgic and adorable style. Famed director, Wes Anderson, has a knack for timing with his fast paced writing and interesting editing that gives the entire film an other worldly feeling to it. The kids are perfectly suited as preteens with anger issues who just want to be understood, and the film tackles issues in a non superficial, but not super deep way. It examines the issues without any sort of judgment- issues like affairs, children with "social anxiety", and love. All of these topics get treated with the same banter that is delivered as though it has meaning, but is not being torn apart by any sort of critique. It's just being presented as a set of accepted facts. That, to me, makes for a very interesting story. It also helps that this film was wonderfully crafted in a whimsical manner that makes even the most stoic of figures feel a little something for these two kids in love.

Capture of Culture- The Real Beauty and the Beast

The real story didn't come complete with talking candlesticks and musical numbers.




Petrus Gonsalvus was found and given as a gift to a newly crowned king. Covered from head to toe with thick fur, it was assumed that Petrus was the creature of legend- a wild man. Stories had been passed down for ages that wild men hid in the shadows and snatched up children to devour in the night. Petrus, however, was found as a child and had not been raised yet with any violent tendencies. So his "owner", the king, decided to raise him as a gentleman with a noble education. Petrus spent his time being raised in the court as a noble man who had the duty of marrying and reproducing. After the king's death, the queen made it her mission to find a wife for the "beast". She selected a woman named Catherine who she arranged to be his bride. It was the queen's wish that the two would breed more "wild men" for her to experiment on, but the first two children of Petrus and Catherine were normal. Of their seven children, four had the mutation causing hair to cover their entire bodies. The family of "beasts" became famous and were forced to tour the county as icons of curiosity. Their children were traded out as gifts from rulers making a mockery out of the family.




This documentary is a special done by the Smithsonian Channel. The film attempts to uncover some of the secrets around hypertrichosis which is the genetic mutation that causes hair to grow all over the body in rapid amounts. By comparing the case of Petrus and Catherine to a modern day "wolf man", the film shows the progression of knowledge about the disease. However, not much is still known today about the mutation which is why the story of Petrus and Catherine is still useful in a lot of ways to the research of the disease. It helps give a little background to the famous story and even more famous children's film produced by Disney. Was it really a happy ending after all for the beast and his beauty?

Stream of the Week- Serendipity

What is fate and destiny if not entirely timing.




Jonathon and Sarah met when they touched hands while trying to buy the same pair of gloves. It was destiny that they should meet in this way. There were all sorts of signs, at least that's what Sarah said. Jonathon was just so enraptured by her that he suggested they go out for ice cream. Their sweet stop turned into an entire night of very winter in New York activities including ice skating and a stop at the Waldorf. When the night was over, Sarah was determined not to trade numbers. If it was meant to be it would be. But unwilling to give up, Jonathon was insistent on at least knowing her last name. Sarah decided that Jonathon would write his name and number on a 5 dollar bill and she would in a book. She then spent the bill and traded in the book. If they were ever to cross paths with those items again in their lives they would know that they were meant to be together. Time passed and neither got their objects so they made separate lives. Both of them were engaged and close to a wedding, but they still had the thoughts of each other in the back of their minds. Jonathon decided he wouldn't give up, so he started searching for any clues that would lead him to Sarah. Eventually he found her bank account number and where she used to live. This lead him to her new address in another city. Sarah on the other hand was still missing him so she bought a ticket to New York on a whim in search of Jonathon. Fate wasn't done with these two yet.




From the director of Hector and the Search for Happiness and the writer of Mirror Mirror, this light hearted film is incredibly frustrating for anyone who can tell when people are supposed to be together. The characters of Jonathon and Sarah, though unrealistic, are well matched only because there is an air of mystery to them. Their entire lives fall apart in search of love, and even if they find each other, how do they know that's it. With an interesting concept and a solid cast, Serendipity is a good New York love watch, as are they all.

Capture of Culture- Through the Woods

When two quirky pals get ahold of guitars and hike up the trail who knows what's gonna happen.




As advocates of music education and family music, the Okee Dokee Brothers decided to take their love of the outdoors and head up the Appalachian trail to study folk music and it's effects on the people living around this mountain range. Armed with supplies, a banjo, and a guitar the boys started their adventure. Together they wrote songs about their experiences and discussed how it can be difficult to articulate what when experiencing such an awe for nature within the context of their folk genre. Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing, being best friends since childhood, are Grammy Award Winners and take their beliefs in music to the next level as they produce these types of films and adventure for others to get inspired by. They focused on the influence of folk music on the young people on the trail, meeting up with some very talented young musicians who prove that music can transcend the generations. By playing and writing their own music, as well as attempting to play with other Appalachian musicians, the Okee Dokee Brothers manage to create a fun and entertaining exploration of a music form that not many people tend to hear.




The entire film was set up in a more "vlog" style than a documentary. With a Ken Burns parody feel to one portion and other somewhat staged scenarios, the film is definitely targeted at a younger audience. Some clever intersperced editing is used for portions as well as quite a few musical performances set up like music videos. This adds to the overall lighthearted feel of the film. It seems to be more targeted at a younger audience, but still holds enough viable information and somewhat awkward humor that can make it a family watch documentary as opposed to a highly informative dry film on folk music on the Appalachian trail.