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< Back Dani Abraham A Conversation with Murder, Anyone? Producer Dani Abraham Cup of Tea Critiques has a chat with Murder, Anyone? producer Dani Abraham Chris Chaisson 2023-06-13 Reading time: 14 minutes Producers frequently have to wear multiple hats and perform numerous tasks. The versatility required makes the role hard to define from project to project. Additionally, many producers are strictly asked what it is like to work with star actors and directors rather than the actual responsibilities of their jobs. To get a better idea of what a producer actually does, Cup of Tea Critiques had a conversation with the producer of indie comedy Murder, Anyone? Dani Abraham. She shared with us her specific tasks in the fast-paced production, how working in film differs from working in branded short-form content, and what skills and personality traits have enhanced her producing abilities. Dani began our conversation by contextualizing the director's motivation for Murder, Anyone? and why she considers it to be her first "true" experience producing a feature-length film. [ Murder, Anyone? ] was my first feature where I was involved in the whole movie. I did a feature in 2021 called Tales from the Other Side , and it was a feature anthology. There were a bunch of different segments that made up one feature film, and I did one of those segments. In a sense, that was my first feature. But this one was my first real cohesive story feature. The director of [ Murder, Anyone? ] made it and dedicated it to his dad. His dad passed away a few years ago, and his dad wrote this movie as a play originally. It ran in L.A. for a little bit, and [director James Cullen Bressack] wanted to bring his dad's work to life, kind of immortalize it and put his own little footprint on it as well. So this was really a passion project for James. That in and of itself was already a different experience than something I was expecting. Because ultimately, it was just making this movie so that the director was happy. We weren't making anything for a studio or a distributor. It wasn't for anyone else. I think that's what made it so special. It was really scrappy, as a low budget movie. A lot of people pulling strings in a million ways to make things work. I think that made it different than anything I've ever worked on. I come from a world of branded content, like commercials; that's the stuff I do. There's 3,000 people who are putting all of their expectations on your shoulders; but also, they all have different expectations. This one wasn't that. Everyone knew what they were doing. I think that's what made it so fun, and so magical. The final product was something that everyone was so happy with, because we all knew that's what we were trying to achieve. I hope I get that kind of experience again. Dani gave her insight into the pressures of working on a shoot with a small team (roughly 30 people) with tight timeframes for shooting, as well as how producer responsibilities were divided up. According to Timehop [a smartphone application that collects old photos and distributes the past], we started shooting the same week exactly a year before it came out. We shot for 6 days, which is really short for an 80-minute feature film. Everyone did what they needed to do to make an 80-minute movie in six days with special effects, visual effects, improv and everything else, which made it a very fun 6 days. We're actually doing another one of those this summer and I'm scared, but I feel like if this taught me anything, it's that if enough people who are stoked about something come together, we can make it happen. You just have to work really hard and also be ready for compromise. There were a couple of producers on the project. I was a co-producer. Jarrett Furst was our main producer. He's the guy who was striking all the deals with all of the actors. He's the reason why we got Academy Award nominated actress Sally Kirkland in the movie. She is a riot, she's so fun. She's got so many stories. Jarrett took care of all of that stuff: finding all of the crew, finding people who were willing to work on such a tight budget. Jared is a wizard. What I was doing was managing the logistics of the day. That was everything from figuring out call times for our actors, making sure that they had enough time between makeup and their scene so that no one felt rushed. Basically, my job was to make sure that there were no wasted minutes, which was hard because again, it was a 6-day shoot. You don't know how things are going to shake out. So that was part of my day-to-day, the little things. Making sure everyone is fed and happy. I went to Costco on a Saturday for this thing; I hate Costco. But I made sure we had enough craft services [catered food], so it was a great experience. Dani shared an anecdote exemplifying the producer’s experience. I always joked even back in school that a producer's job is just everything that you didn't have the budget to pay someone else to do. That never felt more real than in this moment, because sometimes you just need this thing done. If there's no one to ask, then it falls on you. For instance, we needed color contact lenses for a scene. And for whatever reason, we just didn't have them. The only place on this day that we could find them was in downtown L.A., and we were shooting [about 40 miles away] in Simi Valley. We don't have runners because we're that small of a crew, so one of my producers gets in a car to drive from Simi Valley to downtown LA to get a pair of contact lenses from one of those little stores in the fashion district, and then drive all the way back. Being a producer is a thankless job in that when things are going well, no one notices, which is a great thing. You don't want people to be noticing when things are happening like that. That was such a learning experience for me too. I come from a digital world. I come from branded entertainment, where I was making stuff for clients like Nike or Sony Entertainment, which was huge, because that was in the movie industry. But it wasn't making a movie, and this was a complete pivot in so many ways. I love branded content, I think it's really cool and unique and special when it's done right and done well. But there's nothing like making a passion project and working with people who care so deeply about a story. Being involved at all was really cool. Being well-rounded in hobbies and character traits allows creatives to take skills from one discipline and apply it to another. Dani dished on what aids her most in producing. Producing is problem solving. And there are problems that come up in your day-to-day life. Every single day. How you deal with those problems are very much derivative of who you are as a person, what your personality is, and how you can handle bigger problems with bigger stakes, like when money is attached to it. I think what's funny is becoming a producer has made me a more patient person in life. Things that would have made me upset or irritated or given me a more emotional reaction have actually made me take a step back and say, “Look at the larger picture. Does this matter in the grand scheme of things?” If the answer is yes, then we deal with it. If it's not a big deal, you can figure it out later, and that's kind of what producing is. It’s problem solving in the moment and being okay when things have to be compromised or when something is ultimately not the biggest deal. We make Tik Toks and social media all the time, right? And you always have to have that foresight of, “What kind of response are you going to get on the internet?” You always have to think two steps ahead of everything. So maybe that's made me a better producer; just learning to think ahead and be two steps ahead. Managing personalities can be tough in any leadership role, especially for amicable people who have to deliver disappointing news. Dani shared her experience with making a difficult decision. I am a nice person. I don't like to make people cry. I will never probably make anybody cry. I’m a people pleaser; I try to make it all make sense for everyone. Sometimes that's not right for the project. Something I'm battling with right now is letting someone know that we went in a different direction. I never want to be that person who ghosts someone on a job. Ultimately, we picked someone else for that job, and the other person is also a friend. Sometimes you have to put friendships aside, and it is what it is. It's nothing to do with their work at all. It has everything to do with the person that we're going to go with; [they’ve] worked with our director before. They're both really talented; just one of them has a rapport already. While writers and directors can dream big, producers frequently have to be the voice of reason. Their job occasionally consists of vetoing certain requests that do not fit within the budget or time constraints, but Dani says that a good producer should first aim to compromise. I typically don't say no; I just say, “Okay, well, how can we make it work?” And then we figure it out. Then you find people who are passionate and excited. I owe a lot of favors, but also a lot of people owe me favors. So sometimes this is a very interesting industry. It's a very favor-based industry. As long as you're a good person to work with and want people to work with you again, you usually can make stuff happen. The project I'm doing this summer is a micro-budget feature. It's a $7,000 budget. It's very small to make a feature film. And I still said yes, and we're still going to make it happen somehow. In spite of her inclination, Dani did have to pass on a particular project. I got offered my first feature script during COVID. And it was an even smaller budget than what I have right now. And they said, “You can do it for $2,500.” And I said, “Let me read the script. And if the script is good, I'll do it. 2500 bucks; it was COVID, we weren't working, and it would have been me and two other people. So it would have been totally COVID safe. No one would have invested anything but our time and during COVID, we had all the time. So I said, “Sure, let me read the script.” And I was so insulted by the script. It was offensive. There were [derogatory terms] in it. On top of that, it kind of insulted my intelligence because there were just typos everywhere. I said, “You know, I think the next one will be it, but not this one.” The guy who gave me the script said, “Well, I will find someone to do it.” That was his response, his little Hail Mary to see if I would still do it. And I said, “Godspeed.” And he did; he found someone to do it… So someone else did it and good for them. And I hope that the movie turned out well.” On occasion, personalities and egos can clash on a film set. Dani revealed her approach to conflict resolution. One of the things that happens a lot on low budget stuff is that there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Everyone has equal footing in the game. We're not making money, but this is great for all of us. There’s a lot of fighting in that situation. I've never had to say, “Stop yelling” or “You're embarrassing yourself and everyone around you.” But I've definitely said, “Let's take a step back for a second and think about what's important. if you are that passionate about whatever you're yelling about, are you willing to compromise?” Mediating is hard, because people get feral in those moments. They don't think about anything else. They are just looking at this thing and won't let go, and sometimes you just have to let it play out. But I've worked with good people. Producers often take the versatility gained from their role and apply it to other positions. Dani shared what other jobs she would like to fulfill on a film set. I always wanted to go into development, do more film development, story and creative [roles]. I dabbled in directing for a while. I'm co-directing this [movie] that's coming up this summer. Because I just want to get a taste of it again, see if that is something I want to keep doing. You know, again, this is a story that I'm really into. And it's a little personal for me too. But those are kind of my goals; directing and producing is where I want to stay, writing is something I dabble in. I really wish I had the patience for editing because I do think that's such a cool position because ultimately, you are the one deciding what everyone sees. But I love producing. I like putting things together. I've always liked puzzles. That’s all this is, big puzzle-making. Problem solving as a hobby equals problem solving skills in real life. And then problem solving skills in real life make you a better producer. That’s all it is. It's problem solving, making deals and figuring [things] out on the fly. And then being able to think multiple thoughts at once. Are there more projects like Murder, Anyone? in Dani’s future or will she pivot to another genre? I keep on doing a lot of horror stuff, because a lot of that stuff gets made. It's easy to make, it's cheap to make, and it's being made all the time. My whole goal has always been to make kids and family content. I still do that stuff. That's what I was doing with my branded content before; I was working with a company making science videos for kids, and I loved doing that. I do want to keep doing that. To keep up with Dani’s future projects, you can follow her at https://www.daniabe.com/ Murder, Anyone? is available to rent or buy on Amazon . Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Wicca Book provides a new installment of witchcraft-themed horror < Back Wicca Book provides a new installment of witchcraft-themed horror Darkstream Entertainment, 2020 22 minutes Director/Writer: Vahagn Karapetyan Reading Time: 4 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Vahagn Karapetyan Wicca Book Feast (ZR35JQQ8BEPSKBE7) 00:00 / 04:08 Ginseng Suspenseful and intense thrillers Coca Movies and TV shows about drugs or with disorienting presentations Chris Chaisson 2023-11-29 Horror movies can choose any number of ways to scare their audience. Generally, though, their main characters have some sense of companionship, even as their lives are on the line. If there is a mystery to figure out or a killer to take down, they can still rely on one another for information, protection, or even a diversion. Some movies, however, go the route of isolating their protagonist, forcing them to not only piece together information themselves but also to stand and fight alone. For example, Hush is a home invasion movie that takes place in the woods, following a deaf and mute woman trying to survive a masked killer on her own. But what if the source of evil is more paranormal? Such is the case in the witchcraft-themed short film, Wicca Book . Adapted from the concept of a series of books on black magic, Vahagn Karapetyan’s short Wicca Book revolves around a book of drawings that unleashes a demonic presence and turns its possessor into a witch. Mia (Kika Zachariadou), a young cave diver, comes across the buried book while exploring a cave. After a brush with death in her own home, she unloads the book onto a stranger, only to discover from messages in the book that sacrificing others will make her evil as well. She must retrieve the book and dispose of it for good, but can she do so without coming face-to-face with the evil spirit again? Though it is a little unclear exactly why the book forewarns Mia of what is to happen, the cautionary writings give Mia what every protagonist needs: choices that reveal their character. She initially feels fear of the unknown and seeks to unload the book, but with the knowledge of what will result, she retrieves it and takes it upon herself to take down the demonic presence. Just the same, the book tells her when to unload or retrieve it. She is repeatedly under pressure in terms of when to make a decision, which raises the stakes even higher. The climax puts her directly in a fight-or-flight situation with no one to rely on but herself. Wicca Book creates its unsettling, paranormal atmosphere through clever cinematography from its director of photography, Nikos Kaltsas. It is mostly composed of very tight shots, following whoever possesses the book very closely as they investigate the noises surrounding them, using pans and tilts to follow the characters’ gazes. Most scenes are dark except for the red and white lights silhouetting the demonic presence. The characters, for the entirety of the short, are centered in the shot, which gives the feeling of them being alone with nowhere to escape to. The shot composition is aided by the sound mixing, which puts the viewer on edge from beginning to end. Every subtle movement, such as throwing back bed sheets, opening a door or sliding the curtain to the side, has its sound amplified. In other projects, these sounds may be minute if accounted for at all, but since there is no dialogue and very minimal human interaction, the decision to magnify these sounds heightens the scare factor. Occasionally, there are the muffled sounds of a crying baby or similar noises that simply make the viewer feel as though something is wrong. Last but not least, the music complements these amplified sounds well, as there are several ominous strings, drums, and deep horns that are perfectly timed with the reveals. Wicca Book bares slight similarities to the 2009 film The House of the Devil . In the film, a babysitter shows up to a remote location and becomes the target of a witch and cult surrounding her. While the late 2000s film does not necessarily center an object like a book of black magic in its plot as Wicca Book does, both projects effectively isolate their characters and force them to save themselves. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Mad Lib Pixie Dream Girl offers biting satire of sexism in male writing. < Back Mad Lib Pixie Dream Girl offers biting satire of sexism in male writing. Garden Road Pictures, 2018 11 minutes Director/Writer: Kylie Murphy Reading Time: 2 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Kylie Murphy Mad Lib Pixie Dream Girl Imaginative Play (ITJ3BJSP4CWIKENA) 00:00 / 02:28 Oolong Movies/shows that make you laugh or involve physical activity like exercise/dance Chris Chaisson 2022-09-25 An old saying goes, “There is a grain of truth in every joke.” Such is the case in Mad Lib Pixie Dream Girl , a clever comedy short poking fun at an all too common media trope. For those unfamiliar, many creators of sci-fi and romantic comedies tend to write heavily infantilized female characters, often referred to as manic pixie dream girls. The character may be a mermaid, alien, ghost, or simply a recluse unfamiliar with civilized society. When she comes across the protagonist, typically male, he introduces her to a life she’s never known. Coincidentally, the manic pixie dream girl is often inexperienced in dating, sex and relationships (in other words, easy to manipulate). This trope character, and the works that contain it, are often viewed as the male writers living out their fantasies through their scripts. Writer/director Kylie Murphy’s short satirizes this trope by jumping between the real world setting of two male writers finishing their script and the fictional world that they are creating. Their main character experiences a breakup and meets the dream girl in question. The writers finish their script by using a book of mad libs to create the setting, dialogue and many other clichéd details that appear in many such comedies. The dream girl widens her eyes, sucks on a lollipop and plays her folk band CD for the protagonist, humorously highlighting the unrealistic nature of their interactions. These moments are clearly meant to poke fun at films such as Garden State , Splash , and Along Came Polly . While the short mocks this formulaic approach, it also brings into focus the influence media can have on the thinking of young impressionable minds. Writers are certainly responsible for their own work, but they draw inspiration from what appears to have been successful in the past. Mad Lib Pixie Dream Girl is well worth the watch and the discussion. Available on Film Shortage Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

The Waltz shows the importance of time spent with loved ones < Back The Waltz shows the importance of time spent with loved ones Coffee Ring Films, 2015 11 minutes Director/Writer: Trevor Zhou Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Trevor Zhou The Waltz Storyteller (X7JIUSHW6XB99CDH) 00:00 / 03:45 Jasmine Movies/shows with heart, positive vibes, warm message Chamomile Family dramas Chris Chaisson 2022-10-29 “ Remember to stay light .” Many people have become fond of the phrase “invest in experiences, not things.” The platitude suggests that fulfilling experiences will bring more long-term happiness than prized possessions, which quickly bore us. Such emotional journeys as learning a new skill or traveling to another country also make for better stories to share. Less often stated is the importance of sharing these experiences with people you love the most. The Waltz , Trevor Zhou’s touching short film, encapsulates both of these sentiments through the eyes of one affectionate couple. The Waltz follows Ling, an immigrant mother and wife who takes up dance lessons in order to shake up her routine. She becomes invested in her new hobby to the point of shutting out her husband Jian, who wants to support her despite his busy work schedule. Several weeks into the class, Ling’s teacher confesses that he must end lessons in order to return to his home country and take care of his sick mother. He mentions that his family must take priority over anything else, prompting Ling to reflect on her relationship with Jian. As her class is coming to an end, she greets Jian coming home from work and, much to his delight, teaches him the waltz. Ling’s desire to take dance classes stems from the loneliness she feels, largely due to the absence of her son. Combined with Jian’s work schedule, the fact that her son never visits makes her feel neglected. Her interactions, even with complete strangers, amplify these feelings. For instance, at the grocery store, she gets a nasty attitude from the cashier and the man behind her in line while trying to redeem multiple coupons. These experiences are consistent with those of many immigrants, who are subject to the impatience or irritability of others not comfortable interacting with them. When she spots the flier for waltz lessons, she sees an opportunity to not only take up a new pastime but join a community. The Waltz brings to mind a recent Academy Award Best Picture winner, CODA . CODA ’s protagonist, Ruby, struggles to balance her newfound passion for singing with her efforts to be supportive of her family. Ling in The Waltz experiences a similar struggle. While Ruby’s family is dependent on her communication skills and labor, Jian simply needs Ling’s companionship. The film’s theme can be summed up in just a couple of moments. The first moment comes when Ling admonishes Jian about moving her things out of the garage to make space for a dance floor. The other occurs when she tosses some of her own things to recreate the same open space. Her dance teacher’s words ring in her ear during the latter of these two moments: “Remember to stay light.” While he is referring to footwork in the midst of the waltz, Ling applies this advice to her familial situation. She makes the conscious decision to choose experiences over things and, furthermore, shared experiences over isolated ones. The waltz itself is a dance for companions, yet in her haste to learn, she shuts out her most loyal one. As they reconcile at the end, we see that Ling has learned to balance her newfound interest with her love for Jian. Available on YouTube Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

You Know Where to Find Me shows how far we’ve come in how we view difference < Back You Know Where to Find Me shows how far we’ve come in how we view difference Junk Drawer, 2023 20 minutes Director/Writer: Sam A. Davis Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Sam A. Davis You Know Where to Find Me Playtime (R0KD8JFHXVVCYSM2) 00:00 / 03:51 Chamomile Family dramas Jasmine Movies/shows with heart, positive vibes, warm message Reba Chaisson 2024-01-16 “A mattress. There’s nothing like moving a mattress.” When I was in high school, children with learning or mild intellectual disabilities either attended classes on the school’s third floor or they went to specialized schools that were designed to meet their specific challenges. Early in the 1980s though, mainstreaming, the initiative to move students with such disabilities out of segregated learning areas into regular settings, came along. In addition to reducing the stigma often associated with students with disabilities, the goal of mainstreaming was to socialize them into the everyday culture of kids their age, enjoy school events, and just hang out like high school kids do. What we’ve come to recognize over the last 40 years is that people with learning and mild intellectual disabilities are capable of understanding and doing significantly more than they were given credit for prior to mainstreaming. Back then, for example, the establishment operated under the assumption that many of these individuals did not have the temperament to live with their families or the capacity to even hold down a job. I love this 20-minute short about a kid with a job and moving out of his mother’s home because it pointedly contradicts these assumptions. Frankie is a 23-year-old with a mild intellectual disability, and he is moving into his own place for the first time in his life. Excited about his new place, even if it is just across the way from his mom’s house, Frankie, played by acting neophyte Grayson Deeney, makes an adjustment to a piece of furniture and says with satisfaction, “I been planning this my whole life.” When his housewarming party does not quite turn out as planned, we learn something about his perseverance as he later tells his mom, “Don’t keep looking out the window at me. Love you.” Seemingly alone, Frankie’s mother, played by Noa Graham ( Elegy for a Glacier , The Secret Diet of an Exchange Student ), is soft-spoken and patient as she coaches her son on the appropriate greeting to leave on his answering machine. It takes several (okay, more than several) tries, but ultimately, she leaves him the space to craft a message that is right for him. It is one of the most touching scenes I’ve ever seen. One of the things I find interesting about films centering children with disabilities is that they often show mothers as the sole caretakers of children with disabilities. Unfortunately, You Know Where to Find Me is no different. Perhaps the percentages bear this out, but it would be nice to see fathers depicted as caregivers of their children as well. I wonder how Frankie’s adjustment to his new apartment and experience living alone would differ if someone he identified much more closely with (a father or another male figure) was depicted as being a part of his life. A girl, for example, attends his party. While we get the sense that he likes her, he is clearly inexperienced on how to engage her. Could the influence of a father or father figure have boosted his comfort level in this regard? Can Frankie’s quality of life be even better with the appropriate support? Watching Sam A. Davis’s beautiful short makes me wonder how, for so many years, we could have disregarded people because they present themselves to the world a little differently than most. I like this film because it shows that presenting oneself differently doesn’t mean we’re wrong for the world. It just means we’re different. Available on Film Shortage Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

I Got This calls into question what it means to be a family < Back I Got This calls into question what it means to be a family Funclub Unlimited, 2018 22 minutes Director/Writer: Erik Bork Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Licensed from Shutterstock I Got This Long Weekend (IB9NFREA1TRJSFJ8) 00:00 / 03:52 Jasmine Movies and TV shows with heart, positive vibes, and warm messages White Movies and TV shows that make you laugh, or involve urgency, like chase scenes or other physical activity Reba Chaisson 2022-12-22 We don’t typically review comedies on the platform. But in thinking about Chris’s wonderful Crumpets article on the purpose of short films, I got to thinking about the breadth of stories told through independent cinema. Compared to mainstream, the range of genres seems narrow (predominantly drama, documentary, and horror). This reality means we need to dig deeper to find nuggets and granules of other works in this segment of the industry. Given the random approach to seeking out more thematic variety, I stumble upon one. I Got This is a comedy short starring Rome Shadanloo ( The Last Shift , Beyond Paradise ) as Jennifer, a reticent mother who comes clean to her partner about the fact that he is not her 3-year-old daughter’s father and she doesn’t know who is. Jack De Sena ( Lego Monkie Kid: Embrace Your Destiny , This Could Be a Podcast ) plays Chris, Jennifer’s self-effacing and dedicated partner who insists that the biological father, nonetheless, has the right to know he has a child. The late 20-something year-old couple sets out to covertly collect biological samples from each of her past encounters for DNA testing. (Despite the humor, one scene in this part of the film should be accompanied by a trigger warning since it is quite graphic.) Except for the courage of such young people, this is not an unusual story. Several past and present daytime television talk shows commodify personal stories like this — about women who are less than forthcoming about their child’s biological father. Billed as entertainment, the shows typically devolve into silliness, rancor, and even physical fights among family members. It was refreshing to see that this film was a quiet story centered only on the two people involved. Instead of family conflict and high-level acrimony, this story is tame and honest as it depicts another, more humorous, way of handling an awkward and emotionally painful situation. The film got me thinking about the notion of family, which is similar to themes in the film, Mr. Church . In our critique, we noted that a family isn’t just limited to shared genes. Along these lines, I couldn’t help but wonder if the answer Jennifer and Chris are looking for really matters. Yes, I know, but hear me out. Often the relationships between children and stepparents are indistinguishable from those between children and their biological parents. Having already stood in the role of dad for three years — which included changing diapers, playing with her in the snow, reading to her before bed, and all the things that parents often do for their children — Chris’s love and affection for his child is highly unlikely to change after learning who the biological father is. Case in point: After breaking the news to Chris and announcing her plans to move, Jennifer adds, “Maybe you can live nearby or come visit regularly. That would be ideal.” Such a statement likely sounds ridiculous to someone who is emotionally attached to the child he has raised since birth. Simultaneously, it conveys the emotionally wrenching prospect of pulling a family apart – blood-related or not. So, what constitutes family, and what does it mean to be a father? One thing for sure, a shared biology is not a necessary condition for either, right? Available on Film Shortage Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back An intense story of betrayal covering a turbulent time period in the U.S. in the late 1960s. BRON Studios, 2021 125 minutes Director/Writer: Shaka King / Will Berson, Shaka King, and Kenneth Lucas Reading Time: 3 minutes Judas and the Black Messiah Enough Said (8COAKXLXPP0JCOC9) 00:00 / 03:50 📷 : Used with permission, Snollygoster Productions https://www.instagram.com/snollygoster.productions/ https://posterspy.com/profile/snollygoster-productions/ Dandelion: Movies and TV shows with heavy subjects Chris Chaisson 2021-07-25 Julius Caesar . 1984 . Antony and Cleopatra . Stories of betrayal can be heavily appealing to many of us. Though the aforementioned examples straddle reality and fiction, you can find plenty of real-world instances of a character using someone’s trust to double cross them. Take for instance mob movies like Donnie Brasco , based on one of many real-life cases of undercover law enforcement entering a mob family. Such characters often prove to be anticipatory and quick on their feet, causing the audience to root for them to escape with their concealed identity intact. The story trope of a mole infiltrating an organized group, be it criminals, activists or law enforcement, conjures up angst and anticipation in viewers who are game. The popular TV series 24 managed to recycle this trope for the better part of eight seasons, earning high ratings the entire way. As fans watch these stories play out, they tend to be drawn in by the dramatic irony. Will the imposter be caught and what will be the consequences? If you’ve indulged in this storytelling enough, you know the stakes are often life and death; and not a peaceful death at that. Judas and the Black Messiah deals with one such story surrounding a revolutionary figure in Black history along with Black Panther Party leader, Fred Hampton. Rather than take the conventional angle of centering the story around Hampton, Judas instead chooses the perspective of William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield, Get Out ). A street hustler turned FBI informant, O’Neal strikes a deal with FBI Agent Mitchell (Jesse Plemons, The Irishman ) to infiltrate the Black Panther Party in exchange for a reduced sentence. In doing so, he finds himself in perilous situations with his cover nearly blown while also questioning where his allegiances ultimately lie. Judas and the Black Messiah maintains a level of intensity throughout with strong performances from its leads in Plemons, Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton. Despite its formidable cast, the film occasionally misses opportunities to submerge its audience in the time period, as 1968 was a turbulent year filled with assassinations, hate crimes, and news of the ongoing Vietnam War. Sometimes, rather than portraying real-world events or even story events on-screen, the script opts to simply tell the audience through dialogue. Additionally, while Kaluuya gives a riveting performance, Fred Hampton remains the “1b” character to O’Neal, which may frustrate viewers who are drawn to the lore of this larger-than-life figure. Nonetheless, the film will certainly entice those that enjoy stories of betrayal. Watching Judas and the Black Messiah may take you back to sitting in the movie theater (remember those?) and taking in American Gangster or White Boy Rick , to mention just two such films of the same sub-genre. Though none of these movies is perfect, moviegoers could enjoy all three for their elements of dramatic irony and suspense. Your familiarity with the story of Fred Hampton may tip off the ending to you, but the journey to this finale would make it worth the ride. That is, if you’re into that sort of thing. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Derek Magyar A Conversation with River of Grass Director Derek Magyar River of Grass Writer/Director Derek Magyar sits down with Cup of Tea Critiques Chris Chaisson 2024-09-18 Reading time: 13 minutes River of Grass provides a look into a young Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD who returns home to the Florida Everglades and joins the family’s crime business. The film was accepted into the Oscar qualifying festival Hollyshorts this summer and screened for the festival audience. Cup of Tea Critiques caught up with director and co-star Derek Magyar, who plans to shoot the full-length feature in 2025. Derek gives us background information on the origins of River of Grass’ setting in the Vietnam era. It's based on real events, and for one of my co-writers, it is sort of based on his family lore. And so in Everglades City, all the kind of things that happened there, which, if you Google it, is crazy. That's when this happened. So it made sense to have him come back from Vietnam, because that's when the real story takes place. Derek gave his perspective on who makes up the target demographic for River of Grass. I think it has a really broad demographic. The short is exciting to 18 to 39 [year olds] because PTSD is something that a lot of people can connect to in lots of different ways. As we know, PTSD is not just one thing, and so I think that has a lot of resonance for people as well as there's some fun action stuff which happens in the second half, which I think is also really gripping. I think the older audience is really engaged by the family drama. A lot of people can connect to that time period, whether they served or not, and really relate and reminisce to what their lives were like during that period. Derek expanded on the process of turning the story from a TV series to an on-spec feature. The project was brought to me as a pilot of sorts, from the guy who it's based on. Instead of a pilot, it was more like lots of episodes in one episode. He was trying to get it all out there, and we started developing it as a TV series. And then a production company got involved and asked us to write the feature on spec . I was like, “Sure, why not?” It just made sense. And then from there, it just evolved, and the writing began, and now it's going to be a feature film that we're shooting at the beginning of next year. River of Grass was shot with a team of about 40 to 50 people over a four-day stretch. Derek shared the most challenging aspects of the shoot. There were a few. I would say one, certainly for me was, I've directed and acted before, but this was different. We had a very limited budget. We chose to shoot with natural light, which I always think has a better quality to it, a more honest quality. But that also comes with limited time, because the sun is only there for so long. It was very complicated for me to drop in as an actor present in the scene, and then also be able to remove myself and check monitors and make sure that I was happy with the composition of the frame, or, the performances. When you start running behind on time, that got even more complex. It was more like, “Get that, get that, cover that, cover this, let's shoot that.” And I stopped looking at the monitor because time was tight. I needed to focus on my work as an actor, and I just sort of picked off things that I knew we'd need or use. Luckily, we had two cameras, and it worked out that way, but that was really challenging. We had the car scene; it was a bigger scene originally, but we chose to do sort of a hood mount. That's very complicated, because you're limited on what you can do, and the setup time is a lot more than you'd expect it to be. You don't get enough sort of variety of shots. I couldn't make the scene the way I wanted to. It's worth spending a little bit more money potentially, and having a poor man's process trailer to be able to focus on the work, as opposed to, “Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.” Everything is a learning lesson, and everything is sort of complicated, especially when you're on a limited budget. It's just about making your day and making sure that your actors are happy, which is the first thing for me. My cinematographer, and everybody, luckily, who's in the nucleus of the team are all people I know and people I know well. So we have a real shorthand, and that helped make things a lot easier, thankfully. I'm very fortunate in that sense. Given Derek’s dual perspective of acting and directing, he can speak to both experiences. He weighed in on whether or not actors should try directing in order to step into someone else’s shoes. It's a choice. There's a lot to learn and to take away from it. I think that depending on how focused you are in just one specific medium, which I think in today's world and in this business, it's impossible to be in one lane, unless you're extremely successful. You really have to be a “multi-hyphenate,” in which case I encourage people to direct, act, produce, write, first AD [assistant direct]; do it all, because you never know where the next paycheck is going to come from. You never know where you can fit in. I think the more that you can do on a set, the more valuable you are. So yes, I would say absolutely everyone should try it. In that sense, it's not for everyone, but I would encourage everyone to try everything. Directors not only dictate the look of the film but influence the acting performances. Derek shared which he enjoys more, coaching actors or composing shots. Working with actors. I think probably because I've been an actor my whole career, pretty much before in the last sort of five or six years I was directing, but I was also acting still. I started acting when I was 10, and I've been acting all the way until a few years ago. So being connected to my actors is really something that is very important to me. I went back to school and studied at AFI [American Film Institute] and really honed my skills as a director, which I think in my first feature film was a challenge. I understood how to direct actors, how to work with actors, and I understood basic composition, but I needed to learn a lot more. It was really important for me, and it's not for everybody to go back to school and really learn the foundation, the principles of which directing are built upon. Not allowing that to totally dictate how I am or how I create on set, but to give me information and help me through the process. As stated above, Derek had a fellowship in the American Film Institute Directors’ Program for two years beginning in 2015. He revealed his favorite part of his experience as a fellow. The people; meeting really amazing people, people that I work with. My cinematographer on this is someone from AFI, my production designer, producers, writers. It's about finding a family of creative people that are really cool, talented, creative people. That was by far the coolest thing about AFI. Surrounding yourself with talented people is only going to make you better and make you work harder. It's about the education, the first year especially. And I think the first year is really important. I think that you don’t necessarily need to go to get a Masters, to get that learning, but what AFI does so well is you just make movies. That's awesome, because you learn by doing, and there's no better way to learn. That was really valuable. So the people you meet, and just getting to create and make movies, there's no better way to learn than that. Artists of all types tend to find inspiration in their everyday lives and sometimes even their hobbies. Derek revealed what aspects of his life outside of film he believes influence his filmmaking. I don't know about just hobby wise, but, from the birth of my daughter, to my wife, to family and friends and just ups and downs and working through challenges. I think all of those things have made me a stronger director, because they've tested my courage and they've tested my ability as a man and as a human being, and that makes you that much stronger. I think that life experiences, good and bad, as well as reading and learning and being voracious about what you do. I watch a ton of film and TV, and it's [that] work for me that I enjoy. To me, it's really all of those things that have made me a stronger filmmaker. I really love cinematography, so I've studied certain parts of cinematography that I also think have made me a better director. I've also learned how to direct as an actor, as opposed to just being an actor, [such as] directing actors to have more of a director’s lens on how I approach a given scene or blocking or things like that. So, I really think the biggest thing is life and just continuing to live. Ups and downs make you a stronger artist, as well as studying and learning and watching and reading. All of those things will make you an evolved artist. And you're constantly learning; you're constantly growing. You're always learning from the moment you start ‘til the end. River of Grass was accepted into the Hollyshorts Film Festival over the summer, one of 150 Oscar-qualifying festivals for winning short films. Derek shares on the gratifying experience of having his short screened at a prestigious event. We had a great run. We were honored to be selected. Then we headlined the action category, which was sort of surprising to be in that category, but there is some action in it, so, still cool. We were nominated for Best Drama at the end, which was really exciting to us. We lost to a really wonderful film called Motherland . It was a great run. For our domestic US premiere, I don't think it could have gotten any better, other than I would have loved the win for Live Action, so we would have had the potential [Oscar] nomination. But we're just starting the journey, and so we're really focused on not this year's Oscars, but next year's Oscars and listen, that's shooting for the moon, right? But, just enjoying the ride while we're going through it all the way until we get there, whether it's Oscars or not. I think Hollyshorts was indicative of what we hope is to come. Watching other people watch your work can be an unnatural feeling. Derek dishes on what it was like for him to sit with people watching a work he produced. Nerve wracking. Always for me, as an actor or director; I'm always anxious, nervous, and I'm always very critical. It's hard for me to not watch something and say, “Why did you do that?” As an actor, a writer, a producer, director, in all of the hats that I wear, I am picking apart everything. “Why did I have him walk over here?” Or, “Why did I deliver that line that way?” It’s challenging. I've gotten better, but it’s still tough. Fans of electronic dance music may recognize Derek from acting in… a Zedd video? I did. It was before Zed blew up. That song was sort of his first, second major hit, and I had a blast doing the video, and it was actually with my ex-girlfriend from a long time ago, and we just had a lot of fun making it. It was a blast. Zedd’s a really cool guy. We had a lot of fun making it. Great director, great team. Zedd's awesome. [Singer] Matthew Koma’s really cool. And what lies around the corner? I'm definitely quite tunnel-visioned, but I do have some other things I'm working on. I have another short film that I'm really excited about that's exploring the theme of death. I think something that I hope will also be cathartic for me, and that's a project that I'm going to be working on a bit with my wife. I have mixed feelings about it, to be honest. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm also terrified to go there. But I think it's important, and I think there's a really interesting story to be told. It's something that I think everybody is afraid of in different ways, for different reasons. The idea of this story is a glimpse into the beauty of life and the suddenness of loss. I think it's something that a lot of people will be able to connect to. That's more on the back burner, but this short is something that we'll be working on as I'm prepping for the [ River of Grass ] feature, which is pretty much all I'm doing, because that's taking up all of my time. I do other work gigs, to keep me busy. I need to work and provide. I do a lot of real estate photography, videography, and I direct music videos. I direct brand videos, I direct all sorts of stuff. In terms of directing, I know I have a very diverse portfolio of stuff, so I'm always doing things like that. In terms of really creative stuff, right now, it’s that short and the feature. Updates on Derek’s ongoing and upcoming projects can be found on Instagram (@derekmagyar) or at Derek’s official website . Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

INCOMPLETENESS encourages introspection and self-humor < Back INCOMPLETENESS encourages introspection and self-humor 355 Productions, 2023 45 minutes Creator: David Ash Reading Time: 7 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, David Ash INCOMPLETENESS Warmth and Wonder (KYIMEPVPAOSPKG1R) 00:00 / 07:59 Ginger Thought-provoking movies and TV shows Honeybush Nonfamily dramas with strong adult and/or socioeconomic themes Reba Chaisson 2024-02-29 Note: This series contains strong content and sensitive subject matter. INCOMPLETENESS is a hilarious, though not comedic series, that centers Alex, a talented 30-something video editor recently diagnosed with a serious illness. Typically, shows focusing on a main character who is sick spend a lot of time in medical settings, with the person confined to a hospital bed, undergoing procedures, and interacting with staff who, sadly, understand the patient’s fate. But in INCOMPLETENESS , Alex’s illness is a backstory that gives us context for interpreting the conversations and behaviors of the characters in the show. Alex’s diagnosis envelops the show in a seemingly quiet backdrop, emanating a sense that the characters exist rather than exuberantly live their lives. It is as if they have all been gut-punched and are trying to figure out how to breathe again. Their process leads to numerous but subtle moments of fall-on-the-floor hilarity that both forces us to sit in the silence of their lives and question the meaning of our own. Exemplary of these funny but introspective moments is the way Alex, played by Matt Bailey ( Set It Up , The Path ), handles news of a promotion at work. Many of us typically respond to such announcements like Taylor Swift winning her fourth Grammy for Album of the Year - with wide-eyed excitement, a mouth drop, and tears of joy. Alex’s response is slow, tame, and subdued. After a time, he shows a controlled smile and simultaneously thanks his boss, expressing his appreciation. He then promptly returns to his office and continues his work as if it’s just another day, leaving us laughing and wondering, “What? Really?” This scene, though, makes us pause and consider how we have been socialized to manage our emotions. It makes us realize there are situations where we don’t want to display exuberance, such as when being applauded after a piano recital. It makes us realize there are occasions where we don’t want to cry, such as when a friend hurts our feelings, or a boss humiliates us. In Alex’s case, his response to his promotion makes us question whether it is something he values at this point in his life. Alex’s best friend is Paul, played by Clarence Wethern ( Twin Cities , Theater People ). The two friends collaborate on a movie, with Alex as the director/editor and Paul as the writer. Alex is never satisfied with the drafts of Paul’s script because he feels they lack conflict. His level of frustration on this issue is high, as evidenced by the script edits he sends to Paul in all caps and the frequent arguing between the two on set. For Alex, it is as if his life depends on this essential story element. His frustration with this issue is palpable and beckons us to ponder the function of conflict in our lives. To what degree, for example, does being in conflict with ourselves and/or others make us feel alive? INCOMPLETENESS is a slow burn that stirs my memory of the late 1980s series, Thirtysomething , with Ken Olin, Timothy Busfield, and Patricia Wettig. The Emmy-winning show is about a group of 30-something year-old friends experiencing life in different ways. Some are married with children, two are business partners, one is a professor, and another a local politician. The dialog on the show is witty and occasionally intense, mirroring what happens in close relationships, thus making the characters relatable for the audience within their age demographic during their era. Like Thirtysomething , the characters in INCOMPLETENESS are similar in age, socioeconomic status, and wit. There is little overlap in their relationships, however. Alex and Paul, for example, are close friends, but there is no on-screen connection between Alex’s wife Jodi, played by Bethany Ford, and Paul. Similarly, Paul’s girlfriend, Kayla, has not met anyone in his life. And outside of shooting their film, Alex and Paul are not shown together socially. Also central to INCOMPLETENESS are Chelsea (Christine Weber) and Michael (Juan Rivera Lebron), the two lead actors in Alex and Paul’s movie. Other than their limited interactions with Alex and Paul on set, Chelsea and Michael have no relationship with any of the other characters in the series. Thus, unlike Thirtysomething , INCOMPLETENESS presents the three couples as having detached existences, making their lives, to this point in the series, feel siloed. The characters in INCOMPLETENESS seamlessly infuse advanced jargon and abstract thought into their everyday conversations. I love that director David Ash does not shy away from this, given the characters’ backgrounds. Both Alex and Paul are college-educated, and in addition to being a writer, Paul is a gifted STEM professional. We observe one of their abstract exchanges when Alex approaches Paul in a rustic, quiet, and sparsely populated coffee shop with ideas (or demands) about revising his script — again . Paul veers into a philosophical diatribe about how we lack true free will and that all of life’s outcomes are predetermined. With a deadpan look, Alex patiently listens but nonchalantly disagrees, reiterates the changes he wants to the script, and leaves. The hilarious moment is one of many throughout the series, which makes us curious to know what situation will arise next. The scenes in the show are not interconnected but layered in like a puzzle for the audience to see through to a complete story. In the meantime, what we experience from INCOMPLETENESS , is something moving, challenging, and desperate that stems from each of the characters, who all seem to want something other than what they have. Ash makes use of indoor silence and natural outdoor sounds in the series. Wind and rustling leaves serve as background music for outdoor scenes, and sunshine, trees, and bodies of water provide a landscape that combined seem to breathe fresh air into the show’s space. The series adopts filming techniques similar to Netflix’s 2023 movie, Missing , with Tim Griffin, Nia Long, and Storm Reid. It is about an 18-year-old, played by Storm Reid, who uses technology to track down the whereabouts of her missing mother. Much of the movie presents a frontal view of Reid’s character, panicked and frantically typing away on her computer, with occasional shots of her manipulations on the computer screen. NCOMPLETENESS does the same with Alex, as he occasionally uses his computer to film himself talking and then subsequently edits his recordings. It presents the same focal points with Paul writing and revising the script for their movie, all while developing a program for what he believes to be a cure for human disease, “so not one of us ever has to die.” I like the originality of this series. It slowly peels back the layers of the characters to reveal their imperfections and eccentricities, making them realistic representations of ourselves complete with our doubts, fears, and even regrets. It forces us to rest in the characters’ exchanges, facial expressions, and body language – spending time with them to learn about ourselves through them. What we learn is that we carry some level of unhappiness and dissatisfaction within us, making us incomplete. This leaves us with the lingering question: What are we going to do about it, particularly since our time is not guaranteed? INCOMPLETENESS is currently being shopped to streaming services. To receive updates on its availability, please inquire on the show’s website at www.incompletenesstheseries.com . Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Alain Fleury A Conversation with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Assistant Editor Alain Fleury Alain Fleury joined COTC to discuss the ins and outs of assistant editing for big-budget Marvel movies Chris Chaisson 2023-10-04 Reading time: 16 minutes It’s no secret that editing can be intense, time-consuming, and pivotal to the reception of the finished product in filmmaking. What may be less common knowledge is how much teamwork and communication editors must exhibit to make a large-scale project run smoothly (or at all). Cup of Tea Critiques caught up with Alain Fleury, a VFX editor on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and assistant editor on Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever . Alain shared his insights on the importance of knowing the structure of every department, having editors on set, and learning as much as possible from an intensive college program. Alain shared with us what his first Marvel project taught him about working on editing staffs for big-budget, effects-driven films. Dr. Strange was my first Marvel studio gig. And that was probably the biggest budget film that I was working on at the time. It really shed a light on different workflows, and how that works. When you're on something as big as a Marvel film or at a studio, you can't just do your workflow, and then you move on. There's a lot of different departments, a lot of different people, that need to also be involved. When I do something, it affects everybody else down the line, whether it’s the send out to the vendor or send out to music, or whatever I do, everybody needs to be in the know. When you're in the VFX Department, your job is [to go] between the editor and the VFX vendors. We're not VFX artists, we are VFX editors. Basically, what that means is that we take what the VFX artists do, and bring that into the edit. And we keep track of every shot throughout the whole film; where they're at, and the different phases. ‘Oh, we're at the animatic phase here. Oh, now we're getting a color pass.’ We're just keeping track of everything, the different versions that come in, we show that to the editor and the director. If they like it or if they have notes, then we do a temp mockup of that note in the Avid system, and we send that out to the VFX vendors. They kind of go ‘Oh, okay, this is what they're trying to do; this is what they're trying to accomplish.’ So that everybody can get a clearer picture. That's your main job as a VFX editor. You bring the shots you edited into the timeline. And sometimes you have to do some temp comp work, a lot of the blue screen or green screen. Just put something in the background so that they can really visualize and see, but this is not going to be the final CGI or anything like that. I've learned a lot as far as working with a team of that magnitude, and how to communicate throughout that. Which you take on to the Black Panthers , which you take on to the Transformers . When you get to those kinds of levels of film, it is different, communicating with people and making sure you get the right things. You’ve got to know how to do office politics and who to talk to. You're talking to so many different personalities, so many different people that have different jobs. Knowing the hierarchy of every department is very important. And that definitely taught me that to take on to do other films. The perception of editing is that it can be an isolating, solitary job, with professionals confined to a room for hours staring at cuts. Alain enlightened us on the collaboration necessary for editors. On an independent project, or when you're at home, and you're editing your own short or your own independent feature, there's not a lot of resources and you tend to do a lot of things yourself. There is the editor and there's a VFX editor. If I was on that [independent] project, I’d probably be doing both jobs. But [on a larger project] I'll be like editing and then later on, I have to turn over all these different VFX shots to my VFX vendor. Occasionally, directors and even actors wield influence over the final edits of a film. Alain informed us as to when this is the case. As far as the actors, it's not a typical thing where you see the actor in the editing room, not at all. The times that you see actors have actual input in what is going on in the editing room is when they're also a producer on the film. That's why, sometimes you watch movies and you see the name of the actor, as an executive producer, or as a producer, that means that's what they negotiated. That's what they have in their deal. ‘Hey, I'll do this film, but I need input.’ Depending on how big you are, like if you're a Tom Cruise producing Mission Impossible , he has a lot of say in how things run. I don't really get to interact a lot with actors on a daily basis. Except for if I am on set, then I will see them and talk to them, have a casual conversation. For Wakanda Forever, I was on set. I was in Atlanta, so I got to be on set and see the actors, have lunch with them, and talk to them. It's not really part of my job to do that, but that happens if we're all there. What happens on these [big-budget] movies is that they are edited as they go along. The editing starts on these big projects even before the actors are on set, because they edit the animatics. They try to get the big picture, because there's a lot of planning that goes into these films. You got to make sure that you're getting the right shots. Everything is pretty much edited without actors before we even hit the set so that they know exactly, ‘Okay, this is what we have to do on set.’ Since we're editing as we go along, I had an office there on set close by. Whenever the footage was done, I would be bringing it in and prepping it and getting it ready for the editors because I was an assistant editor there. [My job was] making sure the footage was right and everything was good. I was in Atlanta, and the editors were here in California. When I got in over there at 9 a.m., it is 6 a.m. their time [in California]. We already got a head start on them. I've seen the footage first, and I already know what's good, what's not, and where to still have marked everything up for them. ‘Oh, this is the good stuff. Here's a string of all the takes that they did today.’ You could choose how you want to cut it. Then, if I have to do other things to the footage, I do all of that before they even get in there. By the time they reached the studio [in California] at 9 a.m., it’s 12 p.m. my time [in Atlanta], and they already have stuff to start cutting and watching. Alain offered some advice to indie filmmakers about how editors can help your entire production run more smoothly. I try to take that knowledge into my independent work that I do. When I work with independent artists, or independent directors, I tell them it's beneficial for you. I know a lot of people don't have the budget to have an editor from the beginning to the end, but do it if you can manage it. If you can make a deal with your editor, it's best to have them involved. Even when you're writing the script. If you already know your editor, you could be asking them, ‘How do you think this would cut? Or could we do something cool with this?’ That's how you get the best out of your time. I feel for independent projects, you'll go and shoot things. Afterwards, when you're in the editing room, you figure out, ‘Oh well, we didn't think about that. We didn't get this shot.’ And you don't have the budget to go back and film things. Now you're stuck with what you have, and you just gotta make it work. If you were planning already, and if you had your editor on set with you, they can already call out things. ‘Hey, you didn't get a reaction shot from this other actor; that's not going to cut well.’ When you get into the editing, you're already there. Alain dished on what skill can make any aspiring editor better at his craft. As much as people think that editors are supposed to be a little recluse and stay in their little Batcave, it's okay to have people skills. It is something that really helps you in the editing room. Being able to communicate with people, out and about, that's a skill that you learn by just doing in real life. Going out to events, being able to interact with people and hold the conversation. I would say that skillset really translates well in the editing room, where you're dealing with different personalities, different types of directors, different types of producers. The producer might want one thing, ‘No, you have to cut this in,’ and yet the director is telling you [another thing]. So now you’ve got to manage this situation. I have to give the producer what they want, but also give the director what they want. That's definitely a skill that [aspiring editors] should practice more. Filmmaking can be a long process where unforeseen problems arise. With a big enough team where everyone has input, someone will come up with the solution. Alain shared a story about how his Haitian roots allowed him to be that someone on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever . Every day is a challenge, to be honest. You always think you're going into work, and going to have such a great day. And then next thing you know, the world is on fire. Especially in these [Marvel] films, there's a lot of moving parts. Anything can go wrong at any time. That's why it's great to have problem solving skills, on the spot. There's always going to be something that comes up and you just got to be able to adapt to whatever the situation is. For example, for Wakanda Forever, when we're looking for the Haiti shots. We're like, ‘Oh, we need to get aerials of Haiti.’ Everybody was brainstorming how to get the shots and all of that, and my background is Haitian. I'm like, ‘Well, I know people that can get your shots in Haiti.’ Even though I'm assistant editing on this project, I was able to have my input in there and say, ‘Listen, I can fix this problem for you.’ One big thing that definitely saved the day. Eventually, I recommended the shots there and they're in the film. I read and write in French and Creole, so it was great for me to get that different perspective on life and how people live. Also, [I got] to reconnect with my culture, my heritage and where I come from, where my family comes from. I've had some great summers in Haiti. Alain pinpointed exactly when he knew he wanted to go into filmmaking as a career. As a kid, I watched Ninja Turtles so many times, the original. I was the biggest Ninja Turtles fan; I still am the biggest Ninja Turtles fan. Seeing that in the theaters just opened up everything for me in my mind. Batman, Darkman, Ghostbusters . All those movies had a little bit of influence. I knew that I loved this type of storytelling. I also loved a lot of martial arts films; all the Jackie Chan stuff, all the Van Damme and Steven Seagal. I always knew I wanted to do this. I used to watch the movies when they would premiere on HBO on Saturday. Right after, it would have the “making of,” so I would stay to watch the whole “making of.” I was always intrigued by that. I can really say like the main film that got me to go ‘I have to be a part of this magic too’ is Jurassic Park . In theaters, seeing the dinosaurs on the big screen, my mind was just blown away. That film holds up so well, because it’s so well done. That movie made me go, ‘Okay, I definitely want to do this.’ When I was in high school, I discovered Robert Rodriguez. I already knew, ‘I want to do film’ from watching these big blockbusters, but how many people from my neighborhood or from my walk of life actually do these big blockbusters? I didn't know anybody. And then I saw Robert Rodriguez as El Mariachi . I read his book and found out, ‘Oh, here's this guy in college that had done some experiments, sold a part of his body to science to get $7,000 and made a whole film with his friends.’ That made it more tangible for me. And I thought, ‘Okay, even if I can't do the Spielberg stuff, this guy actually went out and shot a movie.’ So just grab the camera and let's just go do it. Alain shared details on his educational background and how it prepared him for the industry. I was [at Full Sail University] for a year and I got my bachelor's degree in that time. It was an accelerated program. Every month was a semester. You start the month, and you're in English and camera. They always have an academic class and a film class at the same time. So you're in English and also camera class. So that starts in the month. You only have those two classes for the whole month, and you have to go Monday through Friday. Four hours of lecture, and then four hours of lab right after it. It's a full-time job. And they were open. They had classes at all kinds of times. We’d have classes at 2am. It's all around the clock. There's classes on Saturdays and Sundays; it all depends on where you land on the schedule. I think what they were really preparing you for is how the real world works, as far as how films are made and how schedules are. You could be working on a Sunday, or a Saturday, and it could be all these weird hours and all these long hours. It's preparing you for that. I started with a lot of people in my initial class, but not everybody made it through the end, because it is grueling. If you miss a couple classes, then you're already way behind, and it’s hard to catch up again. Some artists choose to stick to the genre they specialize in while others seek to branch out and experiment. Alain shared which approach he takes. For me, I'm a filmmaker. I'm a storyteller. I like to tell stories; it doesn't matter if it's a romantic comedy, or if it’s a drama, or this crazy epic movie. They're all stories to me. They all have characters. They all have characters that need to change throughout the course of the story. It doesn't matter if it's a small indie project, or even if it's a Disney Channel film. As silly as they may be, they still have a structured story that they need to follow. I'll do whichever story that I find interesting. I love horror. I'm a big horror film fan, too. That’s why when I got on to Dr. Strange , I was like, ‘Oh this is great,’ because I'm combining my two loves of superhero and horror. Lastly, Alain gave us a heads-up on the personal projects he has in the pipeline. Right now, I'm currently editing a short film with one of my really good friends from college. We decided we wanted to do a really different type of short film for superheroes. We’re doing a dark superhero drama called Vigilante . Basically, it's in a world where superheroes exist, kind of like My Hero Academia or The Boys or something like that, where a lot of them fly over the underprivileged cities. They don't really patrol those neighborhoods, they don't really stop the crime. They focus on the big global threats. There's still crime, there’s still gangs and all kinds of things happening within those communities. So these four guys in this neighborhood have superpowers; each of them have a different set of powers. They decide for themselves, ‘You know what, nobody's coming here to save us. So we got to save our community.’ It's a dark, gritty superhero drama, and it stars Cleo Thomas from Holes and Maestro Harrell from The Wire ; he played Randy. That's a really good one that I'm looking forward to. We pretty much have a full cut of that already. We're in the process of doing the visual effects right now, and the scoring is happening also. We have a really great team on this project. I'm excited to show to people what we can do. Alain is currently editing a short film titled Rear and a feature film titled Restaveks. You can follow Alain’s projects, articles and other updates on Instagram at @alain_inthecut Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar brings wit and style to a children’s tale < Back The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar brings wit and style to a children’s tale Netflix Studios, 2023 37 minutes Director/Writer: Wes Anderson / Roald Dahl and Wes Anderson Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Storyteller (AIBRWGF5BI7RHQF0) 00:00 / 03:37 Oolong Movies/shows that make you laugh or involve physical activity like exercise/dance Ginkgo Biloba Youthful, lighthearted, and fun movies and TV shows Chris Chaisson 2023-11-20 Wes Anderson’s distinct style is well-known amongst the film student crowd. His humor, childlike characters, and pastel color palette to tell his stories allow his fans a sense of certainty. The majority of moviegoers buying a ticket to his newest release know what they are getting and know that they like it. Those who do not care for his style will simply not attend. Thus, he is free to experiment within his own style and work with many different A-list actors. The types of characters and stories Anderson writes jive well with children’s stories, as was illustrated in Fantastic Mr. Fox . This may explain his recent short film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s works, including the charming and on-brand work The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar . Anderson’s new Netflix short centers around Henry, a wealthy man who learns of a curious patient featured in a doctor’s report. The patient, treated in a hospital in India, possesses the ability to see through objects despite his obstructed vision. He is not so subtly referred to as “The Man Who Sees Without Using His Eyes,” and he uses his gift for selfish reasons. The doctors seek to use him for a more philanthropic purpose as a teacher of students who are blind, but their plans go awry. Most notable about The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is how Anderson maintains the feel of reading a book. The characters narrate on screen, breaking the fourth wall briefly and then returning to the scene. Their many asides serve to maintain the verbiage that would be read in a children’s book and allow the audience to chuckle at the short’s self-awareness. Just the same, the characters speak at a frenetic pace and in hushed tones, almost as if they are worried about waking someone up. As many readers simply scan the words or read late at night when others are asleep, this detail of the short makes it feel like a bedtime story. The set design of Henry Sugar provides the audience with the feel of watching a theatrical work, many of which are based on novels themselves. Oftentimes, rather than cuts and dissolves, the transitions from scene to scene are simply props and backgrounds being rearranged. Anderson uses the depth of the location, foregrounding his narrator to make breaking the fourth wall easy while putting the other characters farther from the camera. When the actual storyteller appears on-screen, removed from any of the settings, he is in the center of the frame and speaks directly into the camera. In theater, audiences tend to experience these moments from the narrator at the end of an act as the lights around them dim and they address the entire auditorium. All of these elements approximate the story's original form, the beloved children’s book from which it is derived. While the story itself slightly resembles the 1996 film Phenomenon starring John Travolta, Wes Anderson’s storytelling style in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar feels similar to Roald Dahl’s most popular work, Matilda (1996). The popular feature film centers around another gifted character and, while not on-screen, still has voice-over narration that helps it maintain a childlike mood, despite some dark, abusive behavior coming from adults. Anderson proves with his short how helpful stylistic choices can be in paying homage to other great artists. Available on Netflix Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Getting Up Close and Personal with Crawdads and Vengeance A look at how film informs our perspective Reba Chaisson 11/4/22 Reading Time: 11 minutes 📸: Licensed from Shutterstock I don’t think we consider enough what film teaches us about ourselves and the circumstances of people with whom we have little sustained contact. Vengeance and Where the Crawdads Sing ( Crawdads ) are two films that accomplish this, taking us out of our comfort zones and bringing the unfamiliar up-close and personal. Crawdads follows Kya, a girl who is abandoned by her family in the 1950s and grows up alone on their land in a North Carolina marsh. When the restless 8-year-old ventures into nearby Barkley Cove for school, the town’s privileged adults hurl names at her like “Marsh Girl” while the children tease her for lacking shoes and suitable outfits for school. Traumatized by the treatment, Kya withdraws to shield herself from the sting, minimizing even casual encounters with anyone but her shadow. Destitute, she makes a life for herself in the marsh without the help of formal schooling, family, or even neighbors. She trusts less than a handful of people, two of them being Jumpin’ and Mabel. Played by Sterling Macer Jr. ( Double Take , BAB ) and Michael Hyatt ( The Little Things , Snowfall ), respectively, the congenial Black couple own the General Store in town and support the young girl with clothing and food. Kya also comes to trust Tom Milton, a kindly older lawyer, played by David Strathairn ( The Bourne Ultimatum , Godzilla ). In her seemingly endless days, weeks, months, and years of solitude, Kya, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones ( Normal People , Under the Banner of Heaven ), evolves into a naturalist, making beautifully detailed drawings of shells, and documenting the different species of birds and insects along with their habits. As she grows into a young adult and yearns for intimate relationships, she opens her heart to Tate, played by Taylor John Smith ( Cruel Intentions , You Get Me ) and slowly begins to discover what it feels like to be connected to people beyond her tiny circle, to learn what it feels like to love, be loved, and all that it means. But when a popular guy in town is found dead in a well-known hangout in the marsh, Kya is conveniently accused of his murder and the people in town unhesitatingly accept that “the Marsh Girl did it.” While Crawdads focuses on the life and travails of a young woman, Vengeance centers on Ben, a 30-something budding journalist from New York City. The inciting incident occurs when Ben receives news of the sudden death of Abilene Shaw, a woman from rural Texas with whom he had a one-night stand during her visit to the Big Apple. When her distraught brother, Ty, calls with the news, Ben initially struggles to remember her, and even when he does, he expresses only obligatory condolences rather than the genuine sense of sadness expected by her brother. Confused as to why he received a call at all, Ben, played by B.J. Novak ( The Office , Inglourious ), quickly learns that Abilene led her family to believe he was her fiancée. When Ty, played by Boyd Holbrook ( In the Shadow of the Moon , The Predator ), coerces him into coming to Texas for the funeral, Ben stays and writes a story about southern rural life, under the guise of helping the family find the person responsible for Abilene’s death and getting “retribution.” In his half-hearted effort to get answers from authorities, Ben becomes flabbergasted and exhausted as none appear committed to investigating Abilene’s death, let alone finding out who is responsible for dumping her body in an oil field where, conveniently, jurisdiction is unclear. Resigning himself to the reality that the case will never be solved, Ben returns to what was always his priority—writing his story. Crawdads and Vengeance are released at an interesting time in the U.S., when the states are segmented into red or blue and the language used to assess and even describe the phenomenon is largely negative (i.e. separate, divided). Like labeling, the consequences for this are prejudgments and deepening antagonisms about the people in each segment, affecting our ability to view them as residents of the same country or even as situated in a culture that is unique to each state. Perhaps the stories in these films will blur the lines a bit, encourage us to see what we have in common and still appreciate the uniqueness of our lived experiences. It is also interesting that these two independent films landed in mainstream theaters. If released at all, films centering Whites in rural areas of the South typically feature characters who are passively ridiculed in a short-lived cut or portrayed one-dimensionally as villainous because something went quite awry in their lives. Ironically, Ben is presented as the oddity in Vengeance, as he missteps the culture of a rodeo event and later has a meltdown because he cannot get the answers to what he views as simple questions for his story. In stark contrast, for the Shaw family, it ain’t that serious; it just is. Sociology teaches that you cannot understand a person without engaging him or her. In the case of a community, you cannot understand it without becoming a part of it. Some of the best research is conducted by engaging people and becoming a part of communities (Read Nickel and Dimed by the late Barbara Ehrenreich.). The engagement—questions, conversations, immersion in the culture—is meant to learn about people given their everyday circumstances, not as tools for manipulating and shaping their world views. This learning takes more than a minute, an hour, or even a day. Rather, it takes weeks, months, and sometimes even years. Ben’s effort to exploit the Shaws for a story and shape them into viewing the world through his eyes (i.e. expressing themselves in ways he understands them, and believing they are missing out by not being connected to urban life as he is) speaks volumes about how our biases shape who we are. They also speak to how, at times, we consciously or unconsciously view ourselves as more accepted, normal, or in some way better than others. From this vantage point, we (intentionally or not) impose constraints on others, stripping away their humanity and treating them as outsiders. We also see this in Crawdads , when Kya is indicted for murder and the other citizens are convinced, without evidence, that “the Marsh girl” did it. This label and Kya’s lack of connection to the influential people in town who had effectively relegated her to the marsh, allows for objectifying and dehumanizing her. This influences the attitudes and actions of authorities and other townspeople toward Kya, making it seem perfectly logical to believe she committed the crime. At the risk of being redundant, it fascinates me that these two films that do a wonderful job humanizing Whites in rural areas of the South landed in mainstream theaters. Classified as a comedy/mystery, Vengeance falls on some obvious stereotypes of Whites in rural areas. But the development of the characters over the 107 minutes allows us to see the Shaws as people rather than the typical cinematic caricatures of Whites in the Deep South. Crawdads , a drama/mystery film, provides a singular laser-focused glimpse into the life of a girl abandoned by her family at a very young age and forced to grow up alone, living off the land. In presenting these circumstances and her ostracism by the people in town, the film humanizes her and even tugs at the audience’s heart strings. I wonder, though, if these are still viewed as one-off portrayals. Much has been written on the power of film representations in shaping our perspective. In a 2017 interview with the Huffington Post , Dr. Ana-Christina Ramón who now heads the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative at UCLA states, “What you see [on film] often becomes a part of your memory and thus a part of your life experience.” Will audience members come away from these stories with an informed perspective about people in rural areas of the South, or will they soon dismiss the depictions as atypical and not representative of Whites in the Deep South? In films where White characters from rural areas are ridiculed or portrayed as criminally defective (i.e. Deliverance , Winter’s Bone , Mud ), we don’t typically walk away viewing Whites as a group in these ways. This is largely due to the preponderance of “normal” middle-class Whites in the film and television images we see. Thus, White representations that deviate from these depictions are dismissed as one-offs—oddities, expendables, a glimpse of people who just “don’t fit,” “don’t matter,” and “aren’t relevant.” I still wonder, hope maybe, that the representations in Crawdads and Vengeance will take up space in our memories, even if just a little, to influence the way we think about people in these regions. I also wonder if viewers’ ideas about racial identity will begin to turn over in their heads. If Vengeance and Crawdads did not center Whites, one might think the subjects in the films were people of color in the U.S. Had they been, I wonder if we would have exited the theaters with our biases confirmed or challenged about these groups. Author Florentine Bakkenes writes in her 2022 Diggit Magazine article , that “The media people consume, the movies they watch, and the television series they follow, are not just entertainment, it also has an impact on the way people think and view other people.” In her 2018 New York Times article on what film teaches her about being a woman, film critic Manohla Dargis writes, “There isn’t a causal relationship between viewer behavior and the screen. There doesn’t have to be. Because movies get into our bodies, making us howl and weep, while their narrative and visual patterns, their ideas and ideologies leave their imprint.” In Crawdads and Vengeance , the characters are normal and/or heroic ones that display the depths of their humanity. They are loving, caring, funny, rude, smart, not-so-smart, good, bad, and all the gray areas in between. If the Shaws were Black and Kya was Latina, would this tickle viewers' sensibilities about the depth and breadth of the humanity of Blacks and Hispanics as a whole? I love these films and my eyes watered as I left the theaters (particularly for Vengeance ), because these were stories that needed to be told. Whites in rural areas are rarely centered and humanized in film, but Crawdads and Vengeance do a wonderful job of changing this trend. Having said this, I look forward to seeing similar cinematic presentations centering underrepresented people of color. Vengeance brings to mind the film, Wind River , which is about the death of a Native American woman on a reservation in Wyoming and the reluctance of federal authorities in working the case. As in Vengeance , law enforcement was not interested in investigating the death of a woman of poor background in a rural area. Where the Crawdads Sing is reminiscent of the 1972 film, Sounder , starring Kevin Hooks as David Lee and the late and great Cicely Tyson as Rebecca. Set in the Deep South in the 1930s, the film is about Nathan Lee (played by Paul Winfield), a Black sharecropper who is wrongfully jailed for a crime he did not commit. I still remember the poignant scene where a sheriff’s deputy used a knife to cut holes into the beautifully frosted chocolate cake meant for Nathan, as his 10-year-old son David helplessly watched a symbol of his mother’s love for her husband be destroyed. My recollection of the details of these films reinforces the point that film “imprints” itself, teaching us something about who we are and the circumstances of people with whom we have little if any sustained contact. While what we glean from the lessons vary depending upon our vantage point, experiences, and knowledge of the past, the depictions of people and circumstances have the power to inform, thus shaping our perspective. Sometimes film confirms our views and other times, its stories and depictions challenge them. In either case, good or bad, welcome or not, we are learning something. References Bakkenes, F. (2022). Diversity and Representation in TV and Movies and Why it Matters. Diggit Magazine . https://www.diggitmagazine.com/papers/diversity-and-representation-tv-and-movies-and-why-it-matters Boboltz, S and Yam, K. Why On-Screen Representation Actually Matters. The Huffington Post . https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-on-screen-representation-matters_n_58aeae96e4b01406012fe49d Boorman, J. (Director). (1972). Deliverance [Film]. Elmer Enterprises. Dargis, M. (2018). What the Movies Taught Me About Being a Woman. The New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/30/movies/women-in-movies.html Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and Dimed . Metropolitan Books. Granik, D. (Director). (2010). Winter’s Bone [Film]. Anonymous Content. Newman, O. (Director). (2022). Where the Crawdads Sing [Film]. Columbia Pictures. Nichols, J. (Director). (2012). Mud [Film]. Everest Entertainment. Novak, B. J. (Director). (2022). Vengeance [Film]. Blumhouse Productions. Ritt, M. (Director). (1972). Sounder [Film]. Radnitz/Mattel Productions. Sheridan, T. (Director). (2017). Wind River [Film]. Acacia Filmed Entertainment. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!