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Something Different

The other part of my username has something to do with coffee.  For four years I lived the film student/barista power combo stereotype.  As a result i am a legitimate caffeine addict which is okay because I really fucking love coffee.

The thing people always ask me/expect of me is to be a snob about coffee and yeah I totally can be.  But this is where that word addiction comes into play, I will drink any caffeine I can because if I don’t it feels like my skull is split open because all the joy in my brain is escaping.  It’s super fun.

I have a pretty good palate when it comes to coffee and I love a nice cup of expensive single origin, small farm, organic, free trade, java.  Most of the time however I drink drip coffee from my ancient Mr. Coffee because I need my fix. Don’t get me wrong, drip coffee is fine but its not the full experience of the beans I’m sipping chugging. Drip coffee is sex with the lights off - it’s all well and good and gets you where you’re trying to go but there is so much more that you’re missing.

There are SO MANY ways to make coffee that I couldn’t possibly pick the best one but my favorite is the French Press.  I’d drink it more but I’m too lazy to grind my beans to the right setting for it.  French presses have a coarse metal filter that allows the coffee to retain all of it’s oils and therefore the maximum amount of flavor.  This doesn’t exactly make a smooth cup of coffee but goddamn do I love a cuppa that slaps you in the face.  It’s all about that bitterness.  There’s also a very gratifying mechanical physicality to making a french press that makes you a part of the process.

I guess the point of this post is to qualify myself for any cawfeetalk I engage in later.  I’m not a snob, I’m an addict with a lot of opinions and hopefully I can drop a few knowledge bombs on you and help you develop your very own addiction!  Happy sipping!

[filmcells-and-coffeebeans]

Spy

Last week I had the pleasure of seeing an advance screening of the Melissa Macarthy driven, Paul Fieg directed spy thriller aptly named Spy.  Spy is a well crafted thriller as well as a hilarious genre parody. 

Genre parodies are almost always terrible with the exception of Edgar Wright films and a few other pieces set adrift amongst of a sea of awful punchlines and bad effects.  Spy is a special film.  Like Shaun of the Dead it has a respect for the genre its riffing and an understanding of what makes a good film in its genre.  

Spy works because it is well written and because Macarthy carries the lead role with graceful clumsiness and badass bravado. She starts the film as an under-appreciated desk jockey and is sent into the field when the active secret agents are compromised.  At first she is forced to lay low but through her own tenacity and skill winds up in the line of fire where she shines.  Macarthy’s character gets to be the badass, shit-talking she deserves to be. 

When Spy comes out in June I suggest you go see it.  I know I’m gonna watch it again. Spy is a nonstop joy ride and excellent thriller that deserves to succeed.  If Spy becomes a box office hit it may help to prove that female driven narratives can be fun, awesome, and financially viable.  Seriously go check it out!

[filmcells-and-coffeebeans]

Film Noir

Man From Reno and a shit-load of coffee have my head spinning, rotating around planet Noir.  A world of shadows, Gum Shoes, Femmes Fatale, Chiaroscuro, trench coats, German Expressionism, fast talking, and faster women. 

Film Noir was a place in time, a collective style yearning for order, reluctant heroes, and a twisting adventure that takes down a clear villain.  This is not a world of ethics, but that of sacrifice and pain.  Film Noir worked because of the time it was in, the style was a convergence of multiple influences and people dressed and spoke differently then.

German expressionism came with the german directors who fled Germany as the fascists rose to power and a shadow loomed over europe once again.  Despair is palpable in a Film Noir.  It is communicated with deep shadows, true blacks as thick as walls.

Film Noir now can’t quite be achieved because the times they have a’changed - enter the Neo-Noir.  A successful Neo-Noir doesn’t try to emulate or deconstruct the films of the golden era of film, it’s right there in the name.  A Neo-Noir is new.  No retreading, no pure homage just an understanding of what made Film-Noir work.  No one needs to talk like a 20′s gangster, no one needs to wear a trench coat and fedora, and no one needs to sit in an unlit cigar-hazed office waiting for a dame with legs that just won’t quit. 

A successful Neo-Noir is about tone - the feeling of utter insignificance.  Most Noir heroes don’t topple regimes with complex plans, they pick away at a knot until is unravels revealing not the strength of the hero but the weakness of the villain. 

See Seven, Man From Reno, M, Collateral they don’t emulate the Noirs of yore, they take tone, pacing, and composition and create something new, stronger, gripping, and fascinating while pulling us in with an unconscious allure of the familiar.  This isn’t to say Noir can’t be emulated it’s just very difficult.  Sin City is a garbage movie because it tries to create tone with recycled motifs and lines while using the gimmick of green screen to call itself original.  By far the greatest deconstruction of Noir came from an early 2000′s show that I think Tumblr is fairly familiar of.

Sure.  A modern film can bath people in high contrast light and shadow but that doesn’t make it a Noir.  A Noir is a Noir because there is no one truly in the light, we’ve all got skeletons and we’re all bathing in pools of shadows.  We live there only chancing to enter the light if the right person asks for the right price.

[filmcells-and-coffeebeans]

The Man From Reno

Holy shit.

The Man From Reno is a paragon of low budget, indie filmmaking.  A gripping neo-noir set in modern day California, The man From Reno follows Japanese crime writer Aki Akahora as she gets drawn into a real-life murder mystery.  

The twisting, mindfucking plot will keep any passive observer completely invested in a mystery involving medicinal turtles and dead Japanese smugglers. The lead, Aki, engages with the viewer as a spectator - someone who, like us, loves to play detective.  She follows the clues, interrogates leads, and takes joy in assembling the mystery but is soon overwhelmed when fiction become reality.  

Director of Photography Richard Wong breathes life into the film despite budgetary restraints.  His adept use of composition and perfect lighting makes up for a lack flashy gags and expensive, complicated jib or steadycam work.  By using color and symmetry he is able to create tension in sequences without breaking the bank.  Furthermore, he proves that noir is more of a feeling, pace, and tone than a flat out genre. 

Seriously, I would love to elaborate but I really don’t want to ruin the movie.  Just go see it - like yesterday.  It is doing a limited run in several cities including at the Roxy in Philadelphia.  Go support a film written by a local Philadelphian at a local theater.  Win Win. 

[filmcells-and-coffeebeans]

Focus Part Three - Wrap Up

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Focus Part Two

[filmcells-and-coffeebeans]

Focus Part One