October 10, 2003
new favorite
i think i have a new favorite film, and favorite director. last night i watched all the real girls, the latest offering from nascent director david gordon green. it's hard to explain what was so incredible about this film. part of it is green's masterful grasp of subtlety (probably the most important element to me in art criticism). the actors seem completely unaware of the presence of the camera, much less the fact that they're even making a film. conversations seem accidental, improvisational in such a disarming way that you almost feel embarrassed for the charaters on-screen. the story of young love isn't original in its aim, but its particulars are heart-renching in an almost uncomfortable way. shot in rich fujifilm color, the lighting stands out to me more than most anything else. it appears to be shot entirely with natural lighting, on location in the houses and bars and backyards of asheville, north carolina.
his first film, george washington, is good too, for many of the same reasons, and i'm eager to see how he'll handle on of my favorite books, a confederacy of dunces.
Posted by andy at October 10, 2003 11:36 AMif i could have made one film in the history of film making it would be this film. its the most honest film ive ever seen. his next film to come out is "undertow" CANT WAIT
Posted by: cannon at October 13, 2003 10:53 AMI bought the DVD of "All The Real Girls" without having seen the film (something I never do) and dang, am I glad. I watched it for the first time on Saturday, and I still can't get it out of my head. So many subtle themes, all seeming completely natural. I felt like Green captured parts of my life on film.
Posted by: mesh at October 14, 2003 02:08 PMand he is only 27.
Posted by: nathaniel at October 16, 2003 12:05 AMAndy, I to loved loved loved the movie. So nice to hear you loved it as well. He's really doing Convederacy of Dunces?! That blows my mind! That should be incredible. I wonder who will play Ignatius.
Posted by: mihow at October 16, 2003 02:33 PMRichard Kind might make a good fit, though he's kind of out of the way. I'm not suggesting he has the necessary range, but he has the bulky mass and could probably pull off the genuine ignorance, two clear necessities for Ignatius.
Of course, the same actor came immediately to mind for Quoyle when I was reading The Shipping News, so maybe I'm type-casting him for all those 'husky-and-not-too-swift' roles out there... Then Kevin Spacey somehow gets tapped for Quoyle!?! Shows what I know...
Posted by: jess at November 5, 2003 11:20 AMdid you get to read confederacy? hope you enjoyed it...
Posted by: andy at November 5, 2003 05:23 PM>did you get to read confederacy? hope you enjoyed it...
yep, i read it early in the year. i liked it, but wouldn't say i loved it. it was hard to put my finger on what was lacking, though. i think some of it may have been first-novel unsteadiness, which is no great fault. maybe it's that while i found it funny, i didn't find it as gut-bustingly hilarious as some of the dustjacket endorsements led me to anticipate.
i'm not sure how a screen version will fare - and i'm even less sure, now that i checked the IMDb page. tomlin as mom, and barrymore as darlene are both good castings, and mos def as jones is spot-on. but will ferrell as ignatius? cripes. he's on my shortlist of actors to avoid at all costs. seems like a harbinger of slap-stick. i mean, ignatius was gassy, but not will-ferrell, snl-fart-joke gassy. still...with guys like green and soderbergh having a hand in it, maybe it won't end up as i fear...
Posted by: jess at November 6, 2003 02:02 PM>but will ferrell as ignatius? cripes. he's on my shortlist of actors to avoid at all costs.
oy. me too. i had not noticed him on the list of actors over at IMDB. perhaps we can take comfort in the websites pre-production disclaimer: "Since this project is categorized as being in production, the data is subject to change or could be removed completely."
3 words: philip seymour hoffman
Posted by: andy at November 6, 2003 02:37 PMyeah, p s hoffman might work, but he's a bit old for the part. might be tough to find someone who's 30-ish, though. some of the discussion over at imdb suggests spacey, which i can't really see. i think he could probably assume ignatius' worldview, but ignatius' size is such a massive part of who and what he is that i just can't see spacey doing it (sans fat suit, which is a Bad Idea anyway). another appealing idea is bill murray, but he's also probably too old. seems there's no one who is both young enough, massive enough (even ferrell, who is a big guy, is not ignatius big), and competent enough to depict all that ignatius is.
Posted by: jess at November 7, 2003 10:45 AMOmg thats right! Please come see me and my friends! ;)
Posted by: watch moi at March 17, 2005 04:05 PM