August 23, 2005
A month or two ago, Nick and Kara were telling me about a new Theater Fire song that Curtis had written. Their description of it was really vague - I mostly recall them saying that it was 'really good' (no surprise there, given its author) and 'different.' I was hanging out with Curtis, then, about two weeks ago and told him that if I ended up making this film I was thinking about making, I'd like to use this song of his in a key scene, even though I had no idea what it was like, what it was about or what the title was.
So now that the film is going to get made, I got a copy of the song from Curtis and sure enough: I still don't know what it's called, but it's pretty much the perfect song for the film. Too perfect, perhaps, given the precision with which it might elucidate the scene I have in mind for it, but also just perfect enough that, regardless of whether it ends up in the film (or whether that scene even ends up on screen the way it's written), its sounds are sort of intrinsically linked with the pictures in my head now.
The process by which I selected this piece of music is sort of representative of how I'm going about the film in general.
Nick is going to be the cinematographer, which makes me really happy. When I asked him if he'd be willing to do it, he said he'd love to as long as I was willing to be adventurous. No question there.
Nick and Curtis and the rest of The Theater Fire played a show with Smog a few weeks ago. I'm mentioning this as a segue into linking to this nicely done video for Smog's new single, starring Chloe Sevigny with an eye patch.
Still not as good as the video I linked to yesterday, though.
After seeing Bad Guy with Yen last night, I decided that my brief love affair with the films of Kim Ki-Duk had come to an end.
Watching the pristine print of Wong Kar Wai's Days Of Being Wild, on the other hand, changed my perspective on the film entirely, and for the better; there's so much that I didn't pick up on when I saw it at home, and it's quickly gone from being one of my least favorite of Wong's work to...well, I have trouble ranking them (it's basically 2046, In The Mood For Love, and then everything else). The last shot (which was fused in my brain after Chris Doyle provided live commentary for it in Berlin) is one of the things I'll be showing Nick to give him an idea of the aesthetic I have in mind for The Outlaw Son.
Posted by David Lowery at August 23, 2005 12:15 AM
Comments
The first time I saw "Days Of Being Wild", I was a bit underwhelmed too. (The Tony Leung scene especially had a high "huh" factor).
But after Kino released it on DVD, I've seen it twice more--it's such a beaut, and gets better every time. In a way, all the Wong preoccupations seem to be forecasted in it.
Posted by: girish at August 23, 2005 6:08 AM
Congrats on all the exciting projects, David....
I'm still pumped about getting to see DEADROOM...
hopefully when it is released on DVD...I'm a friend of Sai Selvarajan's and CHris Simpson's in case you don't remember me...i
was in their short, SEPARATED BY LIGHT...don't know if you saw that...but wanted to tell you that i love your site and have seen your other shorts...if you ever need any actors/holding any auditions, please let me know....I'd love to work with you...it's hard finding intriguing and original projects out there to act in, so please keep me in mind for any notices...you and kat candler are two particularly impressive filmmakers that i've taken note of....best of luck to you...hope things are well...
frank mosley
Posted by: Frank Mosley at August 23, 2005 4:28 PM
nothing like that perfect piece of music in a scene. it's magic when that happens.
Posted by: brad at August 23, 2005 7:26 PM
Girish - one of the things I love most about Wong's work the most is the constant cycling of those preoccupations; they seemed to come to a head in 2046, and I'm curious how they'll resurface in his next film(s).
Frank - I did indeed see Separated By Light, back when it was first broadcast and then again on DVD. Did you play Richard (something, I forget the rest of his name)? I'd love to stay in touch. Do you have a website? The link on your name is somewhat abortive...
Brad - absolutely. It seems so easy, too, and yet I've found that it's incredibly rare, and generally happens by accident.
Posted by: Ghostboy at August 24, 2005 1:36 AM
my thoughts exactly :)
Posted by: brad at August 24, 2005 10:23 AM