Hue's Blog

Conversation with Brendon Connelly of /Film

"The film is pricked with references to Dante’s Inferno, though certainly has it’s own narrative which requires no knowledge of the Divine Comedy to understand - think how the Coen Bros. and Homer blended into O Brother Where Art Thou. And whereas the Coens’ film stood on the shoulders of Preston Sturgess, the equivalent influence on St. John would appear likely to be Ozu or Milos Forman."

I had a series of conversations with Brendon Connelly, about Saint John of Las Vegas.  We discussed career paths, film grammar, movie financing and the Bellagio Hotel.  Read the full interview on /Film here.

The Inferno

"Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost."

- The Inferno, Canto I

The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri, was my writing inspiration for Saint John of Las Vegas.  My friend and Dante scholar Robert Hollander urged me to capture the poem's spirit, rather than to try a literal adaptation.

The Inferno is about a man who gets a brief guided tour through hell.  At each level he stops and talks to the damned.  He gives them his sincere attention, and in exchange he gets information.  At the start of the poem he is confused about how he should live.  By the end he is clear.

In the beginning of Saint John of Las Vegas, our hero John is in denial.  He meets characters who would rather live in a hell of their own making than conform to society's "heaven."  Instead of judging them, he empathizes with them, and in exchange he gets information.  At the end of the movie he is content with who he has been, all along.

The poem's influence extends deeper into the film.  The individual characters, Virgil's race, and the abruptness of John's "love" interest come from Dante.  But mapping that out seems academic.  If there is any value in highlighting The Inferno's influence on Saint John of Las Vegas, it is to draw attention to the beautiful, lyric and surreal nature of the poem itself.

Romany Malco profile in the LA Times

"It's weird; you do this indie and it's like, the hardest job of your life," he says, fondly. "That whole job felt like turning a new leaf. And I don't mean in just business; I mean a whole new perspective."

Romany talks about family, loss, and Saint John of Las Vegas.  He made incredible sacrifices for this movie.  I'm not sure what I would have done in his shoes.  Read the full interview here.

Harold Pinter

In his essay "Writing for the Theatre" Harold Pinter writes about talking and silence.

There are two silences. One when no word is spoken. The other when perhaps a torrent of language is being employed...The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, anguished or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its place...One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.

I thought about this while writing Saint John of Las Vegas. At one point John surrenders to his gambling demons, in a minimart.  Embarrassed, he launches into a tirade.  Instead of saying "I can't believe how weak I am" he says (to the counter girl):

You gotta be lucky...luc-ky...are you lucky?  That’s a dumb question.  I know you are.  I can feel you...no, not like that, I mean you feel lucky, it feels lucky...in here...whew!  But it is hot...does that bother you?  That they keep it hot in here?  Maybe it’s good for the food...keeps it fresh...although you’d think it’d be better cold...for freshness. (beat) Fresh-ness.

NY Post profile of Steve Buscemi

About Saint John of Las Vegas:

“The lead character was charming and funny and smart, and I understood his need to gamble and being in denial about it,” Buscemi says. “To me, that’s the fun of acting: to play characters that have problems and are complicated.”

Read the full article here.

Hue Rhodes Eats, Cooks and Talks to The Retrospective

"...For social media, I think most of the discussion and its effect on indie film, etcetera, is kind of putting the cart before the horse. Social media for me reflects a new kind of need: it's not a channel to reach people - it's a reflection of the desire to express and contribute."

via theretrospective.com

The Retrospective is a great music|art|fashion|culture|technology site. Read the full interview here.

The Coming Revolution in Indie Distribution

"Last November inside a conference room at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, a film consultant named Peter Broderick was doing his best to foment a revolution. Mr. Broderick, who helps filmmakers find their way into the marketplace, was spreading the word on an Internet-era approach to releasing movies that he believes empowers filmmakers without impoverishing them economically or emotionally. Mr. Broderick divides distribution into the Old World and New, infusing his PowerPoint presentation with insurgent rhetoric."

via www.nytimes.com

There is a saying, meant to temper the enthusiasm of film students, which goes "it's not show art, it's show business." But these filmmakers, defying the odds and the numbers to get their films out, highlight the root of all art, which is the irrational compulsion to express.

Steve Buscemi interview

Steve Buscemi gave a great interview about Saint John of Las Vegas.  Here's an excerpt.

Choosing a script: “I always look for scripts that are character driven,” says Buscemi of the film. “I mean, there’s certainly plot, but it seemed like the characters were driving the story rather than the other way around.”

First time directors: “It’s exciting to work with somebody who’s sort of discovering things and the enthusiasm and excitement that they have in making their first film,” Buscemi explains. “It’s really nice to be a part of that and to contribute. I like working with writer/directors, because then you have everybody right there. Hue is the best person to ask any questions that I had."

You can read the full Campus Circle interview here.

William Eggleston

At war with the mundane.

The photographer William Eggleston was our cinematic inspiration for Saint John of Las Vegas.  He famously said "I am at war with the mundane."

This isn't photo-journalism, or cosmopolitan pity.  It is a kind of exaltation.  To war with something is to elevate its importance.  The humor here comes from severity.  In Saint John of Las Vegas, auto insurance is the mundane subject, but the characters involved are at war.  That is what makes it funny.

These images are dye-transfer prints from Kodak reversal stock.  We shot 35mm negative film and then adjusted the image via a digital intermediary (which, for non-filmmakers, is like photoshop for movies.)  Unfortunately, reversal film and negative film look very different.  Even if we had used reversal film, Eggleston shot these pictures in the 1970s and Kodak no longer makes the development chemicals he used.  Dye transfer printing also creates a different look than normal printing, even when using the same negative.  So we couldn't use Eggleston's film stock, his chemicals or his printing process.

We asked dye transfer printer Guy Stricherz and fashion photographer Raymond Meier for advice on how to replicate Eggleston's look.  They both said the same thing: resist the temptation to electronically sharpen or increase contrast.  To quote Raymond Meier "it’s extremely hard to fake the beauty of a real imperfection."  Instead, our DP Giles Nuttgens concentrated on emulating Eggleston's framing and lighting decisions.  We made contrast by juxtaposing colors in the frame, so we wouldn't need to enhance contrast digitally.  And we relied on modern lens technology to create all the sharpness we needed.

Our colorist Julius Friede used a wonderfully light touch in the digital intermediary process.  In the end, I think we succeeded in creating a look which pays homage to Eggleston's spirit, even if the film stock, processing and printing weren't the same.

 

 

 

 

             

Your Brand Here

Seth Godin raises an issue that affects all of us trying to establish ourselves as creative professionals.  On the one hand, we need to work.  On the other hand, we are defined by the body of work we do.  Does the project in front of you advance your career, or set it back?  At what point is any job better than no job?  He says:

"Surviving is succeeding, no doubt about it. Doing the work is better than not doing the work. Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress. But, and it's a huge but, you define yourself by the work you do, and perhaps you need to redefine what you're willing to take and where you're looking for it."

You can read his entire blog post here.