Profile: Erik McClanahan
History
- Member for
- 51 weeks 3 days
Recently written
Waltz With Bashir: Interview with Ari Folman
One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Folman is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself.
Take-Up Productions: Ready for its Close Up
I enter Barry Kryshka's shop AV Solutions on the corner of 33rd and Minnehaha Ave, and less than 20 minutes in to the interview the phone interrupts us. While Kryshka talks on the phone I try to keep the conversation going with Angela Hasnedl, a partner of his with Take-Up Productions.
Oliver Stone's W.
One of my favorite skits from the Comedy Central series Chappelle Show imagined President Bush as a black man. The idea was simple but effective; a great example from Chappelle's much-missed deft handling of racial and political humor, and his gift for satire. It was smart, spot-on and laugh-out-loud funny (the highlight coming when Bush elaborates on the coalition of the willing: "We got Stankonia gonna drop bombs over Baghdad").
Mike Leigh: Moments
"A film can only be interesting if it's rooted in reality in some way, things can only be funny if they're rooted in reality, and they can only be tragic if they're rooted in reality." -Mike Leigh
Blindness
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Blindness director Fernando Meirelles mentions that an early screening of the movie was so upsetting some 12% of the audience walked out because of the graphic sexual violence onscreen. His response was to "soften the film a bit" because he didn't want to make a film that could possibly provoke the audience to leave. Can this be the same man that made the brilliant and unrelentingly brutal Brazilian gangster tale City of God?
