No blogging of late as we welcome our son into the family... He arrived safe and sound and mother and child are both in great shape. You live your whole life listening to parents describe this moment, but it is something one must experience for themselves to truly understand. I have been overwhelmed with so many feelings since he arrived, but I won't bore you by describing them. Just know that I will return to blogging after the family gets home from the hospital on Thursday. I promise not to turn this into a baby blog, but a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who passed along their warm wishes (tongue in and out of cheek, both very much appreciated). Your thoughts mean a lot to all of us.

Nicolas Eamon Hall
July 28, 2008
9:08 AM
5 pounds, 11 ounces
19.25 inches

As Baghead opens in NYC today, just a quick post to wish Mark and Jay Duplass, Greta Gerwig, Ross Patridge and the whole team behind the film the best of luck with their big city opening weekend. The film has been open in Austin for a while now, but now that it has landed here, I am really excited to take the Mrs. to see it as it will probably be our last movie before the baby arrives on Monday (that's right, folks!).

Writing a movie is hard work!: The Baghead gang...

Listening to Ross, Mark and Greta today on WNYC's Leonard Lopate show, I didn't realize that Mark and Ross had met at the 2005 Nantucket Film Festival, where I programmed The Puffy Chair and where Ross attended with Triggerstreet for a staged readering of the script 9/11 Kevin. That was the year Mark and his then-soon-to-be-Mrs. Kathryn taught me and my later-to-be-Mrs. how to play Big Buck Hunter, which was a game that revolutionized my relationship (ok, not really, but it was fun!) So, Mystelle Brabbée and I get points for using some Reese's Peanut Butter Cup magic, accidentally uniting two great tastes that taste great together! I didn't even know this was the case until Ross gave a shout out to Nantucket during the interview, so I learned something about MYSELF today... and isn't that the most important thing?

Here is my reaction after seeing the film at Sundance in January... Grab a ticket and support this terrific film this weekend!

Baghead

Jay and Mark Duplass' genre-hopping romantic horror comedy Baghead is the story of four people, heart-sick Chad (Steve Zissis), studly Matt (Ross Partiridge), jilted Katherine (Elise Muller) and flirty Michelle (Greta Gerwig) who decide, after seeing a shitty independent film at a film festival screening, that they should make their own movie. On the spur of the moment, the team decides to head to a rustic cabin for the weekend in order to collaborate on their own script, and suddenly, something like Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy ensues; Attractions are declared and rejected, romantic intrigue abounds and plenty of alcohol is consumed. But when Michelle has a dream about a stalker with a paper bag covering his face, the plot quite literally thickens; The group decides that a horror film about a man with a bag head would make the perfect script and, before too long, all hell breaks loose.

Baghead is a complete blast, a meta-exploration of the creative process, genre and relationships that gets just about everything right. Most excitingly, the film's tonal shifts between comedy, romance, horror and drama all feel completely natural and earned, which is no small feat. The film's visual style, with Jay Duplass' signature zooms and pans between closeups, works wonders with these actors, all of whom turn in winning performances; Greta Gerwig's work here, shifting between flirtation, fear, anger and compassion, cements her status as a rising star, and Steve Zissis' winning performance as Chad is a riff on the lovable, put-upon mensch he played in the Duplass' terrific short The Intervention. The film's shifting tone really works in concert with the performances, and because the story and the acting are so light and nimble, the film never bogs down in any one style. I was excited to see that the film sold and will be receiving distribution; I think, with the proper marketing and a good run of festival dates, the film could be a real hit with younger audiences who are looking for new stories that take chances and deliver the fun. The film is a true independent and while it won't be for everyone, it is comforting to know that there are filmmakers like the Duplass Brothers out there making us laugh, giving us the willies, breaking our hearts and telling stories that can't be categorized in a single sound bite. Or can they?

Congrats to the team at indieWIRE on their recent sale to SnagFilms. I am going to be honest here; One never knows how an acquisition will fit or how the day to day will work out. Change is never a guarantee. But I trust everyone involved that they have done the right thing and have been justly rewarded and financed for 12 years of exceptional, hard work. I hope that the next dozen years are as meaningful and exciting for everyone involved.

I do know that, for me personally, indieWIRE is homebase for the independent film community. I got my first job in NYC in 1997, working as a Manager for New Media at IFC; I literally don't know what the independent film world would be like without an indieWIRE in it. I also know that the team who has produced the site are great people who have been tireless in their advocacy and reporting on the independent and foreign film community. Without indieWIRE, I don't know how I'd stay in touch with my community. It is essential.

May indieWIRE continue to thrive content in the knowledge that there is now economic stability and more support on the way to realize some of your greater ambitions. My only advice? Don't go on some nonsensical dot com spending spree! You don't need pinball in the office! Stay true to your mission and you cannot fail. Congrats, guys!

We had quite a week; An amazing, unforeseen 11th hour intervention allowed us to escape delivering our baby early and now we're day to day, waiting for news on when we're going to give birth. One thing we know for sure; He's coming in the next ten days or so. A little early, but as long as he's healthy, we don't mind at all; we're very excited. Anyway, it has been quite a learning experience for us, and I have had almost no time to even think about film, let alone write about all the movies I haven't had time to see. That said, I have had one film on my mind all week long; Abby Epstein's The Business Of Being Born. Having spent 24 hours in a Manhattan hospital with the specter of a premature birth by Caesarian section looming over my wife's head, the issues raised in the film have been haunting me, forcing me ask a LOT of questions. In our case, while we both really believe that the medical concern for the baby and my wife's health are legitimate, we don't believe that her condition has ever reached the moment when we needed medical intervention. In our opinion, and thankfully, that opinion was shared by our OB-GYN, we understand the variables, the symptoms and the signs of trouble, and we haven't reached the point where delivery is necessary.

But man, try telling that to the staff at the hospital.

From the moment we walked in the door, we were surrounded by people looking for the opportunity to intervene in my wife's pregnancy, looking for a reason to deliver the baby. We went to the hospital for a rountine sonogram, but that soon turned into a 24-hour ordeal; doctors and nurses who wanted the baby out because it was the easiest thing to do given the ciurcumstances. We knew that my wife has a pre-existing condition that puts her at risk for a certain pregnancy complication called Pre-eclampsia; we understand that this condition is not easy to diagnose, and that it can be dangerous. But the funny thing is that no one cared that we were negative for four of the five symptoms; they saw one symptom and made the long leap to emergency delivery. Time to get the baby out. Except it wasn't. We knew it wasn't time. When our OB-GYN finally let us go home the following morning, we felt very frustrated by the experience of being pushed to the finish line when we should have been enjoying the journey. I know their intentions were good and I also know the baby would have been fine either way, but when you are stripped of choices in moments like that, well, you want to stand up for yourself. Not that we did anything special; we simply asked questions and asked for more time. Thankfully, as of this writing, we're still enjoying that time.

We have been home for five days since that day and I have been thinking about the cultutre of maternity care in our hospital, and about the reality we face that, like so many women, my wife probably won't be giving birth under natural circumstances. Her condition (and the saftey of the baby) currently preclude a natural birth (at the moment, he's breach), and we are completely fine with that; the health of the two of them is by far the most important thing to everyone involved. But who knows what can happen in a week? Two weeks? The fact that no one wanted to listen, that only our OB-GYN would give us the chance to try and delay a premature birth (we're so lucky to be working with her), well, it makes you wonder how people less informed (and, in this case, vocal) than my wife and I would ever be able to deal with important medical choices. The problem? In our case, until the very last moment, nothing was presented as a choice at all. How do you trust people who don't know your name, who see you as a collection of data? Where were the conversations, the consultations? None of that happened. I had never experienced that powerlessness before, that sensation of being in an institutional environment where very little communication is going on and incredibly important life decisions are being made for you by strangers. It is absolutely frightening.

On the other hand, all of the doubt that was sowed in me came from reading the literature on Pre-eclampsia and watching The Business Of Being Born. I've never had the experience of watching a documentary and then pretty much living something exactly like it (Roger & Me being the obvious exception), but this was a case where, having seen the film, I felt completely aware of the mindset of those at the hospital and, while not adversarial to them (because we all want the baby and the Mrs. to be healthy), it was interesting to see how their interpretation of her condition differed so radically from ours. The fact that all is well shows me we did the right thing by pushing back; we got some new medicine and her condition has stayed stable here in the relative comfort of our home, but most importantly, we got time for the baby to grow. I have the movie to thank for that, because without having felt empowered by the film's message of unnecessary hospital intervention, we probably would have allowed the panic of the unexpected to silence our concerns. And while we may not be giving birth naturally anyway (but again, there may be time now), the baby is still safely inside the womb, growing fine with a heartbeat like a champ. The coming days will bring him into the world, and we're hoping to make our way to a full term of 37 weeks, at which point I think we'd be satisfied. If he has to come sooner, that's fine too; We want nothing more than health and happiness. But the days since our hospital stay have taught me a valuable lesson, one I consider my first as a parent; Always ask questions and say what you think. Sometimes, there is no other choice.

Off to make room for baby. Blogging resumes as soon as is possible; In the meantime, feel free to visit Hammer To Nail for my recent review of A Walk Into The Sea: Danny Williams And The Warhol Factory, an excellent film and a must see.

... oh, how I've waited to see them again...

(For the most lifelike results, turn the computer speakers all the way up and start both clips at the same time. Repeat for 20 minutes...)

9/23/08
Roseland Ballroom
NYC, NY

I never thought it would happen. Now, I can't wait...