http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/ Anthony Kaufman's blog en Copyright 2009 2009-11-05T15:29:31+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/michael_ruppert_on_oil_energy_and_collapse/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/michael_ruppert_on_oil_energy_and_collapse/ Crusading investigative journalist or paranoid conspiracy theorist? Michael Ruppert, the subject of Chris Smith’s engrossing new documentary “Collapse” (which opens tomorrow) may be a little bit of both, which makes the movie so much more interesting. Environmentalists and sustainability folks will have a lot to talk about after the film, but for me, the most fascinating thing about the film is Ruppert, the character: He’s bubbling over with contradictions: brilliant but maybe a little nuts; and like a big dog with a ferocious bite who just wants to be pet. For the Wall Street Journal Online, I talked to Ruppert… 2009-11-05T15:29:31+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/why_are_the_60s_making_a_comeback/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/why_are_the_60s_making_a_comeback/ “Do you take advantage of the new freedoms?” purrs sexy next-door neighbor Mrs. Samsky in the Coen brothers’ 1967-set “A Serious Man.” The question looms large over a number of this year’s award-season films, many of them set either on the cusp of that moment of revolutionary change in the ‘60s (“An Education,” “A Single Man”), during its heyday (“A Serious Man,” “Nine,” “Pirate Radio”) or as its gleam began to wear off and turn darker (“The Damned United,” “The Lovely Bones”). Read more in this Variety story... Focus Features exec James Schamus once again proves he may be the… 2009-11-04T14:53:19+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/miramax_r.i.p/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/miramax_r.i.p/ The closing of Miramax—because that’s what has effectively happened by shutting its New York office and letting Daniel Battsek go—is appalling, sad, practically devastating from a historical view of American independent cinema, and not entirely surprising. As corporate powers see more profit in the culture of tentpoles, they’ve been fleeing from smaller-budget films across the board. But what about the brand? Speaking from a purely base commercial perspective, Miramax was one of the most recognizable film companies in the land. And if any entity should have been able to survive the current dip—because that’s what it is, a temporary shift,… 2009-10-30T22:11:48+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/could_this_be_the_year_oscar_and_indiewood_break_up/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/could_this_be_the_year_oscar_and_indiewood_break_up/ For Variety’s Oscar preview edition, I’ve penned a look at how industry changes may effect this year’s race, “Will downturn dim indies’ award hopes?”. The collapse of Indiewood has made room in the Oscar derby for players such as Summit and Apparition. But can they afford to compete with the majors? And do they have enough box-office and broad appeal to get the Academy’s attention? As publicist Tony Angelotti me, this year’s smaller contenders may ultimately encounter the same sort of resistance they’ve always faced. “In order to get their due with Oscar voters, these kinds of films need to… 2009-10-29T16:01:25+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/can_sexual_provocation_still_sell_art_cinema/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/can_sexual_provocation_still_sell_art_cinema/ Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” is the year’s most provocative movie—with its sadomasochistic sex, penis smashing and spontaneous clitorectomy, it rivals Nagisa Oshima’s 1976 cinema scandal “In the Realm of the Senses” in its efforts to shock and offend. But do such depictions of outré sex still sell challenging foreign cinema today? Check out my IFC.com article “Can Sexual Provocation Still Sell” for more on the box-office prospects of “Antichrist” and the current landscape for risque material.  As recently as the ‘80s and ‘90s, “you could sell a lot of tickets if you were selling sex,” as distribution veteran Mark Urman… 2009-10-28T19:51:35+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/the_latest_vod_numbers_are_in_but_can_broadband_save_indie_film/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/the_latest_vod_numbers_are_in_but_can_broadband_save_indie_film/ If you’re a filmmaker looking for an edge in today’s new digital distribution universe, it can’t hurt to come up with a title for your movie that begins with the letter “A” or “B.” It may sound facile or crass, but with Video-On-Demand an increasingly important segment of the business, recent indie movies like “The Answer Man,” “A Quiet Little Marriage” or “Bart Got a Room” will advantageously sit atop the catalogue of cable operator’s On-Demand listings, while movies like “World’s Greatest Dad” and “What Goes Up” will sit at the bottom… So goes my latest Industry Beat column for… 2009-10-20T19:36:38+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/welcome_to_the_wild_card_oscars_do_films_like_anvil_have_a_best_picture_sho/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/welcome_to_the_wild_card_oscars_do_films_like_anvil_have_a_best_picture_sho/ This year, perhaps for the first time, a number of uber-indies have the chance to enter the vaunted ranks of Hollywood’s biggest promotional platform: Best Picture. Here’s my latest story for IFC.com, “Welcome to the Wild Card Oscars”: “If the new rule change presumably happened to help mainstream studio films make the Best Picture cut—the oft-cited example being last year’s slight of “The Dark Knight,” while early talk this year is circling “District 9” and “Avatar” as big-budget possibilities—the shift may inevitably favor indies, because studios are making fewer and fewer of the sorts of prestige movies that are typically… 2009-10-12T20:19:16+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/von_trier_mania_director_sets_next_project_will_antichrist_become_box-offic/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/von_trier_mania_director_sets_next_project_will_antichrist_become_box-offic/ When even Hollywood blogger David Poland becomes enraptured by the latest exploits of Lars Von Trier (all news, big and small, of the Danish provocateur, has been appearing on his MovieCityNews website), I’m beginning to wonder whether Von Trier is beginning to reach some level of critical mass recognition, and that his latest “Antichrist” might blow up at the box-office. Even industry trade Variety got into the act, publishing this account of the “Antichrist” T-shirt “Chaos Reigns” craze, and perpetuating the myth of the audience member who passed out during the New York Film Festival screening. (Did medical technicians actually… 2009-10-12T14:22:17+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/solondzs_life_during_wartime/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/solondzs_life_during_wartime/ Updated: Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime”—playing at the New York Film Festival this weekend—may be the most thorough, penetrating and profound accounting of post-9/11 America and the nation’s utter and dysfunctional lack of compassion. (Its inital title was simply “Forgiveness.”) After watching the film for the first time yesterday, its haunting images and lingering sadness continue to stay with me. Actors Charlotte Rampling, Allison Janey, Paul Reubens, Ciarin Hinds and young actor Dylan Snyder all deliver individual moments of intensity and pain that I won’t soon forget. But the reason I’m writing about the film here and now is not… 2009-10-09T14:40:10+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/afterschool/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/afterschool/ Updated: “Aftershool”—opening TODAY at the Cinema Village, where I’ll be hosting a Q&A with the director after the 7:20pm show—was the cool, mystifying and brilliantly executed surprise of Cannes 2008. Antonio Campos’ feature debut—combining teen angst and Hanekean dread—seemingly came out of nowhere, but by festival’s end, many critics, from Howard Feinstein to J. Hoberman, cited the movie as a veritable discovery, convinced they had witnessed the work of a budding auteur. (Producer Ted Hope has also signed on as an official supporter: He sent out an email to some hundred New York based directors to come out and give… 2009-10-02T16:16:12+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/no_one_knows_anything_industry_lessons_and_hot_projects_from_indie_film_wee/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/no_one_knows_anything_industry_lessons_and_hot_projects_from_indie_film_wee/ Last week, America’s indie film community took a long, hard look at its precarious state… In the midst of glimmers of boosterism and blind faith, it was yet another sobering reminder of the dour economy and the painful shifts currently hitting the entertainment business. My report on the week that was, “No One Knows Anything,” currently available at IFC.com, looks more closely at Indepedent Film Week, the Project Forum, and what up-and-coming filmmakers faced and can expect to face in the future. As IFP’s executive director Michelle Byrd acknowledged, filmmakers must have encountered “a lot of doom and gloom.” “It’s… 2009-10-01T14:38:50+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/more_bad_news_for_critics_they_really_dont_matter/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/more_bad_news_for_critics_they_really_dont_matter/ Just what film critics don’t need: A new survey suggests that film audiences across most demographics don’t rely on movie reviews to help them decide what to see. According to a report called Moviegoers 2010, organized by former New Line marketer Gordon Pattison, which was highlighted in Variety, “most films are now considered critic-proof, especially among the younger set, with 84% of moviegoers saying, ‘When they make up their mind to see a movie, it doesn’t matter what the critics say about it.’” Additionally, 75% of respondents said they trust a friend’s opinion more than a movie critic; 80% said… 2009-09-30T13:56:30+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/slack_economy_hits_cinevegas_skips_2010/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/slack_economy_hits_cinevegas_skips_2010/ I will let others investigate further, but allow me to be one of the first to break the sour news, as I often appear to take on the role of killjoy messenger, pessimist that I am: “Unfortunately, due to the recent economy, CineVegas is going on hiatus and canceling the 2010 event,” I was just informed via email. “We will keep the name going online and with some local Vegas events, hopefully starting the fest back up in the future.” As a regional film festival with plenty of fans and solid programming, the news does not bode well for the… 2009-09-25T18:45:24+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/toronto/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/toronto/ indieWIRE just published my only critic’s take on this year’s Toronto film festival, a survey of just a small handful of movies that moved me. (For the most part, I was busy reporting on the biz side of things for the WSJ.com.) Because of my limited time at the festival, and the fact that I totally burn out after 4-5 full days, there was a lot that I regretfully missed (Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime”) and others I will hopefully catch at the New York Film Festival (new films by Bruno Dumont and Claire Denis). For now, you can read… 2009-09-17T19:28:07+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/state_of_the_indie_gloomy_skies_and_silverlinings/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/archives/state_of_the_indie_gloomy_skies_and_silverlinings/ “Sea change. Existential crisis. Transitional moment. These are just some of the terms bandied about to describe the current upheaval in the specialty film sector. While the economic model for independent films is clearly in serious trouble, industry veterans say the death of the global indie marketplace has been greatly exaggerated. Like cockroaches in a media apocalypse, indies may be one of the few sectors of the industry to survive these financially punishing times.” Variety’s Global Independents issue hits web and print today, pegged to Toronto’s launch. Read my opening story—excerpted above— for some food for thought as the annual… 2009-09-10T14:21:21+00:00