"Vultures"

Vultures (short film)

Written and directed by Joe McStravick

This weekend I was the stills photographer on Vultures, a photography-based short film made in Belfast.

More images will appear soon, but I wanted to get one up to whet the appetites.

-PM

Film 2012

[Denis Lavant as Monsieur Merde in Leos Carax's Holy Motors]

With 2012 coming to an end shortly I can promise you much more photography in 2013.  However, throughout my years on this blog I have always made space for discussing cinema - I've decided to try my hand at writing more on fully film (keeping it aside from my photo-blogging, which will NOT be neglected either).  So, here is my roundup of 2012... let me know what you think!  I've included a best of, and a slightly fully top five for the year.

Visit my new blog here.

See you in 2013.

-PM

Twitter, BFI and Cassavetes

To continue with my jump over to film blogging this month I would like to mention an incident that happened via Twitter this week.


The BFI (British Film Institute) were running a Twitter-based competition on the original American indie-director John Cassavetes.  Cassavetes was someone who I studied in great detail when studying so it was all but necessary for me to reply to the BFI's tweet, which asked anyone to mention their favourite Cassavetes film.

I responded with Shadows and a short snippet about why I loved it.  In fact, Shadows was the first film that I had ever written a published essay on.  I was in the second year of my BA, studying Modernist Cinema, and had written an essay on the use of music in the films of Cassavetes and Visconti.  The printed essay was shorter and only focused on the use of music and Cassavetes' Shadows.

The essay can be read here.

Cassavetes on Cassavetes was the prize. Excellent.

Also, the BFI are releasing all of Cassavetes' films on Blu-Ray.

What is really fantastic about this little story is that I am still quite new to Twitter, so I must be doing something right!  Find me here.

-PM

Films, and personal consumption.

I could not accurately tally up how much cinema and television I watch in an average week. I attend the cinema at least once, and will watch another few films throughout the week on DVD or on demand. On top of that I will watch a healthy chunk of some series (recently Community and 30 Rock have been taking over). And to complete my visual diet I add in a binge or two of anime, serial or OVA based.

In the pervious week I have been watching:

Mark Cousins'

THE STORY OF FILM: An Odyssey

QFT - Tuesday 17th

A fantastic preview of Cousins' 15-hour documentary on cinema's innovators, with a fully global view on filmmaking as an evolving art and a constantly changing craft. At this particular screening only excerpts from The Story of Film were shown, but it was followed by a highly insightful question and answer session with the filmmaker himself. This helped reveal how the 15-hour film was funded, supported, screened and received.

More info: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-story-of-film-an-odyssey

Follow Mark on Twitter!

The Story of Film: An Odyssey - Trailer from Timo Langer on Vimeo.

La Havre

Aki Kaurismäki

2011

QFT - Thursday 19th

A beautiful tale of individuals operating against (whilst within) the rules of society. With a double happy ending the film cannot help but please the audience, and although the subject matter tackles age, cancer and immigration the prevalent mood is hopeful. Kaurismäki, who believes in the alchemical nature of cinema, remains true to his nature: the celluloid is alive with punchy colours and balanced shadows, the film manages to look and feel like a 1970s French film. Digital is the devil in his filmmaking playbook, and not surprisingly the only time that 'modern technology' is featured it is as the harbinger of evil (a mobile phone is used to alert the police of the fugitive boy's location).

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Werner Herzog

2009

DVD

A strong return to fiction cinema from Herzog. I cannot watch the camera move (whether tracking, craning or following) without imagining Herzog's voiceover explaining the shot... This does not ruin the film, but makes it better in many ways. Great performance from Mr Cage.

A Removals Job

Nicholas Keogh

2012 - 13mins

TheMac, Belfast

A brilliantly constructed video installation that focuses on the beauty in destruction, the chaos and order that can be found in the job of unmaking.

"The film follows the household clearance of a traditional two-up, two-down red brick terrace in Belfast. At first, the movements of the workers are erratic and violent; only after an understanding of each character has been established is order restored. Their movements are subtly choreographed, producing a seamless flow of objects that slot perfectly into a skip — reminiscent of the classic 1990s computer game Tetris."

A Removals Job (2012)

And, I have also been watching: The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001 - one of my all time favourite films that I was able to introduce to my girlfriend); Un Chein Andalou (Luis Buñeul, 1929); Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, 2010); Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch, 2005); the newest episode of the second season of Game of Thrones; the newest slice of the ever-enchanting Community; the second season of 30 Rock; and, the first season of Occult Academy (strange new anime but probably the best part of the anime no chikara project). That's probably it... I hope. I have never seen it as a list before and this disgusts me a little.

-PM

March/April... Life Update!

Again, I'm typing up these updates to keep myself right. The formality of the Street Photography Now weekly challenges, combined with the monotony of cinema work, has given my weeks a sense of structure (incidentally both of those commence on Fridays, strange eh?). Outside of those parameters life is very much sitting on hold until I find out if I will be sent to Japan or not, as part of the 2011 JET programme - but this will not be until early April. So, all I can do is stay busy and keep attending my Japanese classes!

Shelf Sample 6/3/11

What else has been going on? I live in the cinema if and when I can, or I continue my research work on the camera obscura (more on this later!). Sadly, my Flickr page has been taken over with SPN posts but I do still continue to photograph and live outside of the weekly briefs. Of course I do! Well, this is some of it:

Print Swapping - At long last it has started... Rakel (see her photography here!) sent me a print in the post, and it is beautiful! I intend to have a return print sent off as soon as possible - as soon as I choose one. This is something I would love to do more of! The fact that we can exchange photographs, thoughts, opinions and ideas via the Internet (and namely Flickr) is great, but receiving physical copies of images is beyond compare. No longer is the photograph a collection of high definition pixels on a screen but a tenderly hand-printed, and carefully sealed present.

Rakel Erna Skarphéðinsdóttir - Untitled

Darkest Era - At long last Darkest Era have launched their first album, entitled The Last Caress of Light. I have already posted about how it has been a such a great journey to photograph this band as we all developed and progressed as artists. I think that is why seeing my photos in the inlay (see below) and booklet struck such a chord, this was a collective culmination of our progress in some way. Also, the album is sublime (to echo all of the reviews) so please go buy a copy! ;]

Darkest Era - The Last Caress of Light

All Ears: Another project that I am lending a somewhat creative/helping hand to is a music documentary, All Ears (dir. Gus Sutherland, 2011). I am helping out by designing the credits and inter-titles, which is really fun as I have been looking for an excuse to relearn aspects of Final Cut Pro. Also, it provides time to hang out with Gus and learn about a bustling realm of music that I had only the faintest inkling about. All Ears: A Glimpse into the Los Angeles Beat Community will be screened (or premiered, if you prefer) at the Beat Generation Festival held in the QFT, on Sunday 20th March at 4pm. See here!

Ongoing: I think I will start a 100 Portraits in 100 Days challenge soon, I miss being involved and interacting with people. The portraiture of Albrecht Tübke and Alec Soth has played a major role in the formation of this novel notion. I am aiming for something more than passing snapshots and mugshots. Through the location, the clothes, or the other elements of the portrait I want to be able to tell something of that person to an audience or viewer, I suppose that is where the documentary aspect of 'documentary portraiture' comes in. 100 Days should be enough, I hope.

Enough for now,

-PM

Films of 2010

Ok, my top 5 films from 2010! At first I thought this was going to be a tough list to draw up as nothing really jumped out at when I thought, "what have I seen and loved this year?" Sadly, I missed a few films which may have made the list, such as David Fincher's The Social Network, Mike Leigh's Another Year, and Lee Changdong's Poetry will have to wait until a DVD release before I amend my top 5.

So, in no particular order:

[Oh, click on the film name to catch the trailer!]

Enter The Void

Gaspar Noé

Winter's Bone

Debra Granik

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky

Summer Wars

Hosoda Mamoru

Toy Story 3

Lee Unkrich

However, one film came very close to slipping into my Top 5 because of the perfectly nonchalant surrealism and unfettered mysticism that exists in nearly every scene:

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

The other films worth a mention include: Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro; Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop; Gareth Edward's Monsters; Chris Morris' Four Lions; Tomm Moore's The Secret of Kells; and, Anton Corbijn's The American.