Adorable Rascals

Nick

Travis

Zazie (Franny, for the Rascals!)

Some years ago, I went to the première of The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson at the Cinéma des Cinéastes, in Paris. 
When I arrived there, though, I found out that the event was sold out.
I was winging outside the cinema, when I saw Wes Anderson walking towards the place… he was stopped by two guys who were talking to him in a very passionate way. Then, Wes walked towards where I was and we started chatting because we have met before at some friend’s house, in New York: "Thanks for coming", he said. "Well, actually, it is sold out, so I can’t get in", I replied. "Oh, wait, maybe I can do something...", and off he went into the cinema, vaguely waving at me and at the two boys. After few minutes a woman came out of the cinema, screaming, in French: "Who are Wes Anderson's friends?" I was with a friend of mine, and the other two young men were timidly approaching, so I looked to this woman and I said: "Here we are!", indicating the four of us.
This is how I met Travis and Nick, two guys from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, cinema students being in Paris for their last year of college, and this is how we became friends. Thanks, Wes!

Together with other two guys from their school, Marc and Aaron, we started going to the movies quite regularly: it was with them that I saw for the first time Rushmore in a little cinema of the Quartier Latin. We could talk endlessly about cinema, that was the amazing thing, with them. They really look like Max Fischer, the Rushmore hero: they had his same age, the same sense of humor and the same romantic vision of life (this is what happens when you’re twenty something). It was weird, because I never felt our age difference, since we used cinema as our common language. I remember once, though, when we were talking about Stranger than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch and I told them it was one of the first interesting films I saw in a cinema (back in 1984-1985). Their simple answer was:
"We weren't born yet!"... Ouch! 

Being cinema students, Travis, Nick and Marc not only were huge cinema fans but they also wanted to make movies. They showed me the shorts they made as their diploma essay and I found them very good. I was moved by their enthusiasm and their genuine willing to be part of the cinema world. 
These last years many things happened: Marc moved to San Francisco, Travis and Nick moved to New York. It was more difficult to keep in touch, but we never lost track of each other and every time I am in New York I try to see them (it was the case last June).
The other day, I received a message from Nick… he told me about a new project is working on with Travis and he was wondering if I could help, somehow. As it is always the case for cinema emergencies, Zazie is ready to give a hand, and I thought that maybe some of my adorable readers may help too… so, I asked Nick to write something to let you understand what they have done until today and what they are going to do. And here they are:

The Rascals

First off, Travis and I started a directing duo called Rascal last year. Our website is: www.yourascal.com. Last year we had the opportunity to be apart of a few film festivals with our short film, The Other Dave. The movie had its premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival as part of a feature anthology called, Other Than. We had a bit of a falling out with the producer of that film (he hated our subject Dave, but from what we heard, at the screening, The Other Dave got the biggest response from the audience) and he agreed to let us (Travis, myself and the director, Pasquale Greco) take it out of the feature and submit our own cut to various film festivals. We were not only accepted to the SXSW film festival but also the AFIdocs festival among serval others. We became more successful than the feature we were apart of. 
Recently, we had a variety show at a place in brooklyn called Videology (the venue is featured here in the New York Times). We hosted a sold out show, screened many of our short films and had many of our stand up comic friends perform. We are planning another show sometime this summer.
Which leads us to Tongue In Cheek. Tongue In Cheek is a brutally surreal, dangerously blue-collar comedy that follows a day in the life of a skilled worker. It deals with the frustrations we all have in our lives, trying to take control of our destiny with cards we have been dealt. And poses the question, when we have nothing, are our lives defined by the people we touch or are doomed to be puppets for a man sitting on a high mountain? Until this point we have mostly created and shot things on the fly with very little money and wanted to take our next production to another level. The costs mainly fall in the area of equipment. We'd like to rent a few lenses, a 4K camera and also some portable lights. Also some costumes and other production nick-nacks. We just cant afford them on our own. We've already recruited a few of the best actors I know to play the lead characters. They've appeared in a variety of plays, movies, and TV, including Late Night with David Letterman. 
Thanks for any help you can give,
Nick

So, dear readers, as you could see, two young and extremely talented film-makers need your help for their new project. Would you like to participate - as Zazie already did - to this adventure? I hope you want! 
The link to the kickstarter for Tongue in Cheek is: 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1018483892/tongue-in-cheek-a-short-film 
C'mon, guys, there are only 24 days left!!!
Thanks for any help you could give to Travis and Nick.

Zazie

The Other Dave from The Other Dave on Vimeo.

Zazie's (Criterion) Top #10

Being the cinema freak I actually am, means that not only I adore going to the movies, but I also adore collecting them.
I have a small but interesting DVD collection at home and I really enjoy buying films. Many years ago, I discovered a DVD “brand” that immediately became my favourite one in the whole world: The Criterion Collection. Luckily enough, Criterion is American. I say luckily because the DVDs have a different region and I can’t buy them. If I could, I would spend ALL my money on them: The Criterion Collection has the most wonderful movies ever made and the design of their covers is simply to die for! If you go on their site, there is a section called TOP 10s, in which filmmakers and actors indicate their favourite 10 Criterion DVDs. 
I always dreamt of being asked about it, but I’m afraid Criterion will never do. How wonderful to have a cinema blog where I can tell you which are Zazie’s Criterion TOP #10:  

#1 - The Adventures of Antoine Doinel by François Truffaut

Antoine Doinel, from 12 until 40 years old: a brother, a friend, a lover, a husband. My family. My life.

#2 - Hiroshima Mon Amour by Alain Resnais
A screenplay by Marguerite Duras: Hiroshima, summertime, the love affair between a French woman and a Japanese man. The beginning of a ever lasting love between me and an entire country.

#3 - In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-Wai

Hong Kong in the 60s: a lot of rain, a lot of rallenties, magnificent dresses, splendid music, an impossible love, a unique atmosphere. 
I swear: I can die for this movie!

#4 - Six Moral Tales by Eric Rohmer

Six stories, five jewels and a masterpiece: Ma Nuit chez Maude. 
I want Eric Rohmer back!

#5 - Red Desert by Michelangelo Antonioni
All this red colour, the factories of Northern Italy, the chilling side of life and the most incredible statement by Monica Vitti: Mi fa male tutto, anche i capelli! (everything hurts, even my hair!)

#6 - Blue White Red Three Colors by Krzysztof Kieslowski

Different colours, different stories, different countries, but just one genius behind the camera.  

#7 - Hunger by Steve McQueen

IRA man Bobby Sands is starving himself to death in an Irish jail, while Steve McQueen and his actor Michael Fassbender give life to the most amazing cinematic collaboration. Unforgettable.

#8 - Playtime by Jacques Tati
A man who doesn't need words to create a world. A pure gem. 
A must-see of the cinema history.

#9 - Il Posto by Ermanno Olmi

Olmi, the sweetest and loveliest man I ever had the chance to meet in my life. He talks about Milan, a poor boy looking for a job, the innocence of youth. Evviva! (as he always says...)

#10 - Rushmore by Wes Anderson

Max Fischer, do you want to marry me?

Fantastic Mr. Fox

 

 Having a soft spot for Wes Anderson, I was ready to love his new movie Fantastic Mr. Fox, but I wasn’t prepared to adore it.

Based upon a children novel by English writer Roald Dahl (the very first book that Anderson received as a gift when he was 7 years old), the movie has been made in a very sophisticated yet very sweet stop-motion animated technique. 

Mr. Fox, his wife Felicity and their son Ash live a decent life in a decent hole but Mr. Fox, who promised to his wife two years earlier to give up stealing poultry as a job, is dreaming big dreams and he decides (against his lawyer’s advise) to buy a new home inside a lovely tree.

Once settled down, Mr. Fox (now a journalist) is unable to resist to the temptation of stealing from his new neighbours, the awful farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Helped by his friend, the opossum Kylie, and by the sweet and smart Kristofferson (Mr. Fox’s nephew), they managed to steal many products from the three bad guys, but then they have to face their terrible revenge. To escape from it, Mr. Fox and his family dig a deep tunnel under the three farms, finding a bunch of other animals whose houses have been destroyed by the fury of Boggis, Bunce and Bean. After many adventures (more stealing, a flooding, a starvation problem, and various attacks), Mr. Fox and his friends will be able to outflank the enemies and be happy again (with great news coming along…).

I’ve always loved obsessive filmmakers.

Artists that, no matter how many movies their career is made of, will always talk about the same few things.

Let’s say no more than three themes per film, and Anderson is definitely one of them.

What he has created, film after film (6 in total), is a very personal world, parallel to the real one, where you can recognise the same characters, the same kind of situations, the same sense of humour, the same difficulties to face, the same happiness to look for. The fact that Anderson often uses the same actors to play in his movies just magnifies this sensation: Jason Schwartzman, the Wilson brothers, Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston, to name few of them, are part of the Anderson family. The filmmaker even writes his stories with the same people, especially with his friends Noah Baumbach and Owen Wilson.

In his cinema, the complexity of family's ties is central. As well as the difficulties of growing up. Very often, there is a character that feels at odd with the rest of humanity: usually a hyper-sensitive, hyper-intelligent, not very sporty, totally nerd, funny and romantic guy who is in trouble to find his place into his family and into the real world (my favourite one is still Max Fischer from Rushmore, but little Ash from Fantastic Mr. Fox is another good example of it).

In this last movie, it is incredible to see how much andersonian looks the world imagined by Dahl.

 

 And somehow, having animated puppets instead of human beings, gives to Anderson's world a deeper resonance, a lighter breath and a heightened sensibility. For sure, the "voices" chosen were pivotal in creating these great effects: George Clooney as Mr. Fox, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox, Jason Schwartzman as Ash, Willem Dafoe as Rat, Bill Murray as Badger... they're all more than perfect, but the little miracle here is the adorable Kristofferson's voice (courtesy of Wes Anderson's younger brother, Eric).

A last word about the music, that in Anderson's cinema always plays a very important role and it is amazingly used.

In Fantastic Mr. Fox, I was happily surprised by a song written and performed by Jarvis Cocker (now that I think about it, he is SO perfect for Anderson's universe!) but even more delighted to hear a couple of scores by Georges Delerue taken from two different Truffaut’s movies: Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent and La Nuit Américaine.

This last one is actually the same used by Zazie for her tribute to Truffaut in one of her first posts for this blog.

Well, Mr. Anderson, it looks like we have faith in the same God...