http://www.seanax.com/2009/11/21/humpday-brilliance-exiles-its-all-about-seattle/ Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:22:52 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 http://www.seanax.com/2009/11/21/humpday-brilliance-exiles-its-all-about-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-4785 Ten DVD Releases That Made 2009 Great | Parallax View Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:31:54 +0000 http://www.seanax.com/?p=3560#comment-4785 [...] There’s no uplifting message here and the internal monologues that accompany their wanderings speak of desires and anxieties and disappointments that appear doomed to repeat themselves. But there is also something singular and specific about these people and the culture they have created within the city: Mackenzie’s portrait may be fiction but this world is very real. Mackenzie developed the story and wrote the dialogue with his cast and they communicate an honesty and pain and devastating disconnection even while putting on a happy-go-lucky face. The two-disc set also features four short films by Mackenzie, clips from Thom Andersen’s documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself (which brought new attention to the forgotten film), documentary shorts about the Bunker Hill neighborhood and a radio interview with Sherman and Charles Burnett among the supplements. (I write a little about the experience of preparing and recording the commentary here.) [...] [...] There’s no uplifting message here and the internal monologues that accompany their wanderings speak of desires and anxieties and disappointments that appear doomed to repeat themselves. But there is also something singular and specific about these people and the culture they have created within the city: Mackenzie’s portrait may be fiction but this world is very real. Mackenzie developed the story and wrote the dialogue with his cast and they communicate an honesty and pain and devastating disconnection even while putting on a happy-go-lucky face. The two-disc set also features four short films by Mackenzie, clips from Thom Andersen’s documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself (which brought new attention to the forgotten film), documentary shorts about the Bunker Hill neighborhood and a radio interview with Sherman and Charles Burnett among the supplements. (I write a little about the experience of preparing and recording the commentary here.) [...]

]]> http://www.seanax.com/2009/11/21/humpday-brilliance-exiles-its-all-about-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-4699 Lynn Shelton, Exiles on DVD « Hot Splice Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:32:41 +0000 http://www.seanax.com/?p=3560#comment-4699 [...] Read his whole review/preview here> [...] [...] Read his whole review/preview here> [...]

]]> http://www.seanax.com/2009/11/21/humpday-brilliance-exiles-its-all-about-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-4695 DVDs for 11-17-09 – Downhill Racer, rebooting Star Trek and watching an even longer Watchmen | seanax.com Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:36:36 +0000 http://www.seanax.com/?p=3560#comment-4695 [...] I’ll be writing about another essential release this week, Milestone’s excellent two-disc edition of Kent McKenzie’s The Exiles, as well as two features from Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton, My Effortless Brilliance and Humpday, in another post. As I’m personally involved in the former (I participate in the commentary with author and filmmaker Sherman Alexie and interview Alexie for a bonus audio supplement) and am friends with Shelton, director of the latter, I can hardly be objective. But I can and will be supportive of both releases in a separate piece. (Update: it’s now up and posted here.) [...] [...] I’ll be writing about another essential release this week, Milestone’s excellent two-disc edition of Kent McKenzie’s The Exiles, as well as two features from Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton, My Effortless Brilliance and Humpday, in another post. As I’m personally involved in the former (I participate in the commentary with author and filmmaker Sherman Alexie and interview Alexie for a bonus audio supplement) and am friends with Shelton, director of the latter, I can hardly be objective. But I can and will be supportive of both releases in a separate piece. (Update: it’s now up and posted here.) [...]

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