Thursday, 10 February 2000

WHY I HATE THE TRADES: The trades have become, at times, as willing to extrapolate a small shred of information into a "real story" as the rest of the gossip-quality press out there. To wit, the banner Variety headline: "Next Star Wars Aims to Avoid Racial Stereotypes." This "story" was taken from this grain of information - LucasFilm's casting director is looking for a Native America, an Indian or Hispanic and an Asian to appear in the next film. Therefore, we are not told that LucasFilm is worried about being considered racist because someone at the New York Times (amongst many) thought Jar Jar Binks was a racist character. But that's not really what Variety knows, is it? They know that amongst many other hires, three or four more ethnic groups are being included this time. As though the Star Wars universe has been a closed one all this time. And of course, all this speaks to the irony of last year when LucasFilm banned the web from covering The Phantom Menace junket and then got overexposed by traditional media sticking cameras where they weren't supposed to be for months. But now, I suspect that people all across America will remember reading about how LucasFilm virtually admitted to Jar Jar Binks being a mistake by adding more ethnic groups to the next film. And though it may be true, they will never realize that, as reported, it was completely based on conjecture and speculation. Boo hiss.

WHY I LOVE THE TRADES: Great story by Variety's Dade Hayes on the upcoming summer and the low-key approach being taken by studios that got burnt last year, when the hype became a bugger story than the movies and movies like The Phantom Menace were somehow marked as failures despite huge (in that case, the second highest ever) box office numbers. Huzzah.

SUNDANCE CONTINUES: Sony Pictures Classics picked up The Tao of Steve this week after what were surely some tough negotiations…my guess is the price got lower, not higher. The film marks another step in the evolution of Donal Logue, an actor who seems to be on the Sandra Bullock path, where the entire industry is rooting for him and he just has to find the right magic role to become a "real" movie star. He has my vote.

SLAMDANCE CONTINUES: Just when you thought it was safe to stop thinking about the festivals…I have to give great credit to my friend, director Rod Hewitt, who came up to Sundance on a bit of lark and ended up covering all the "Other Dances" for roughcut quite brilliantly. Coming out of that effort were two demands from Mr. Hewitt. First, he made me go see Dolphins, a film from a 26-year-old Iranian/German named Farhad Yawari who is not only incredibly talented, but obsessed with maintaining his vision and not making crap, even as he lives with three other guy in a too-small apartment back in Germany. If you read my Sundance stuff, you know how much I think of that movie. And Rod's second request was that I go see a documentary called Amargosa when it screened here in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. And again, he was absolutely on the money.

Amargosa is a movie about Marta Becket, a woman who created a world of magic and art in the middle of nowhere and has sustained her spirit in the desert for over 30 years. The location is Death Valley Junction, population: 10. The woman is now 76 years old. But after growing up in New York City, working as a professional dancer on- Broadway and off-, after taking care of her mother for 35 years, after finally meeting a man to marry and to take her away from her mother's strong grasp, Marta Becket found her true home in the middle of the desert. She and her husband, travelling through, had some car trouble. While having it fixed, she saw a small, empty, desolate theater, which was attached to an abandoned desert inn. And she just knew. They leased the building and Becket painted an audience on the walls. She painted the ceiling. She rebuilt the stage. And she danced. And eventually, in small numbers, people started to come. But that's just the beginning of the story of this woman.

Marta Becket is a symbol of the purity of the artistic soul. She is free of the weight of the bustling, hustling world. She doesn't have much, but she has her freedom to create. And it is a truly beautiful thing to behold. And the documentary is made with all generosity and warmth of the woman herself. They haven't sold the movie yet, but it will sell. Probably, I imagine, to a cable outlet. But when it comes along, to your theater or your TV or your video store, do take some time to spend with this woman and the world she has created. I know I will. I'll be heading out into the desert to see her live as soon as I possibly can. Because she is what all of this is really about.

OSCAR RULES: One thing did occur to me as I watched and was moved by Amargosa. I have been very critical of the Oscar Documentary Committee over the years for being biased against the most successful documentaries of each year. And indeed, they changed the rules a bit this year (hardly because of me). But as I was watching the film, I thought, "I can understand wanting to promote a movie like this, which is unlikely to get enough attention, while a big movie like Buena Vista Social Club is already out there in the limelight." Amargosa is, in fact, one of the 12 documentary finalists for Oscar this year. And rightfully so. But the number will become five. And Buena Vista Social Club, when voted up by the entire Academy, seems a lock based on popularity alone. But is that right? The Independent Spirit Awards, for instance, separate "Best First Feature" by cost, over and under $500,000. Seems to me - and I could be wrong - that there should be a way to keep Amargosa's director, Todd Robinson, from having to compete with Errol Morris or Wim Wenders for an award that could really give the public an experience they might otherwise miss. Which is not to diminish the hard work or sacrifice of established documentarians like Morris, who I think did deliver the best documentary based on objective standards this year. (American Movie has my heart.) Any ideas out there?

"Moses, Godzilla & Kelly Lynch"