Name dropped in a trailer for a film about a Werewolf Philosopher, a first for me

In what is now a first for me, I got name dropped in a trailer for a DIY film from NY based filmmaker/blogger Sujewa Ekanayake about a Werewolf philosopher solving the case of a string of dead art filmmakers turning up in NY.

Yes, in fact, that is the synopsis.

I received an early version of the film (was informed that some changes will be made) and sat down with it last night.

Again, I’m biased (see the trailer below), but knowing Sujewa’s work over the years, he reminds me of a living, breathing indie music fanzine from the 80’s-90’s. If you know anything about that time, you know that it was a labor of love, & it was the underpinning that drove that scene.

“Werewolf” never takes itself serious (its absurd comedy after-all), and Sujewa spends time through the Werewolf expressing his love for the things he’s interested in, centered around his influences, while imbuing the film with a workable philosophy that translates to the real world. It also has several legit laugh out loud moments sprinkled throughout.

This type of filmmaking is certainly not for everyone (long transitional cutaways/ long single take dialogue sequences/ a certain DIY wandering edit / no budget), but I can’t help but respect his drive and his passion for the scene he nurtures in it.

I think, in a different timeline, we would have had more variety of this type of work, but the indie film world never shaped up like the indie music scene; still, we have Sujewa keeping the fanzine alive with his particular vision.

“Werewolf Ninja Philosopher” is playing Oct 25-31st at 7pm at the Maysles Theater in Harlem. You can order it on VOD here as a pre-order.

9.20.14 - 10.2.14 - The List

Films spanning the days between 9.20.14 - 10.2.14 (almost finished with my Japanophile life stage:

1. Only Lovers Left Alive - Jim Jarmusch
2. Ninja Scroll - Yoshiaki Kawajiri
3. Vampire Hunter D: Blood Lust  - Yoshiaki Kawajiri
4. Perfect Blue - Satoshi Kon 
5. Pom Poko -  Isao Takahata

This list was a bit tricky for me. A good test of my anime threshold. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp now of the elements I enjoy, and those idiosyncrasies of that world which I can never relate too. 

Pom Poko was a second play.  I'd seen it years earlier. This round, I watched it twice in consecutive days. The tone is so well executed, and after learning from the BBC today, that we've lost roughly 50% of the planets wildlife in 40 years; it's lesson, a painful reminder of our impending doom, partly out of sheer boredom with the world we've managed to manifest. without animals in them.  In religious terms, our act of destruction of Gods creatures, a mortal sin punishable by nothingness.

I do appreciate the fact that despite all adversity and hopelessness, the Tanuki where still enjoying life. 

this is a promo shot and not in the actual movie, but it certainly can be..

Only Lovers Left Alive....

The most remarkable thing about Jim Jarmusch's modern vampire movie (the only non-Japanese movie I've seen all month) was the way in which street landscapes where represented. The nighttime photography from a moving vehicle, of Detroit, created an authentic awareness and respect of space. Similarly but with equal contrast, Tangiers was an opium infused hallucination, one that was a throwback to expressionist soundstage production design and mis-en-scene. 

Using what amounted to a spotlight as the car moved through the night was an interesting choice and certainly one born out of necessity. You could rather keep the scene very dark, or with a light on a moving vehicle, do what in essence, wedding videographers do with those small LED lights attached to a camera. Of course, this is not as simple, but that's probably what was going on.

On a Hollywood Production, the whole street would have to be lit to mimic the "feeling" of nighttime by making sure everything damn thing was completely visible and exposed "the right way".  Of course this is a generalization, but If you've ever scene a large production take up a block on Hollywood Blvd, or Downtown LA, you are keenly aware of the fact that enough amps are used to light up Kabul for a week.

The other peculiar thing I found about this movie is Jarmusch's subtle disdain of the internet and it's culture of accessibility. Most artist dealing with the enormous digitization of the world probably feel nostalgic about the old days, whereby we couldn't find every image ever created on Youtube or Tumblr. 

Memory is but a memory. But memory is often more beautiful then the real thing.

digital all the way baby!