This post first appeared in my e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.
Heading to Dayton Saturday to put the final touches on SMART HOUSE, which needs to be done because we already have a screening, and it's back at the great venue Film Scene in Iowa City, Iowa. We will be at "Late Shift at the Grindhouse" Wednesday June 21 at 10 p.m., and me and hopefully producer Henrique Couto will be on hand to answer questions after. This is always a great, literate film crowd and the people who run the screenings are top-notch.
We have another screening in the offing, and it is a genuine surprise I think, so as soon as it is locked in I will have the info right here first.
A new Belgian website must not understand the U.S. film world too well, because they actually asked me to contribute to a series called "The Five Hidden Movie Gems of..." It was flattering to be asked, and I thought you might want to read what I sent before the Belgians. These are The Five Hidden Movie Gems of John Oak Dalton.
DEAD MOUNTAINEER'S HOTEL. I am curiously partial to Soviet-era science fiction but find many haven't seen Estonian director Grigori Kromanov's genre-bender, based on the book by the Strugatsky Brothers.A new Belgian website must not understand the U.S. film world too well, because they actually asked me to contribute to a series called "The Five Hidden Movie Gems of..." It was flattering to be asked, and I thought you might want to read what I sent before the Belgians. These are The Five Hidden Movie Gems of John Oak Dalton.
TATTOOED LIFE. I'm a huge fan of Japanese auteur Seijun Suzuki and although this isn't my favorite, it's one I've felt like I would like to remake, and is a good entry point for viewers new to his style.
THE RED CIRCLE. Again a huge fan of French director Jean-Pierre Melville and also sorely wish I could remake this one day. Fantastic noir.
ALPHAVILLE. The perfect film for my sensibilities, an insouciant genre movie through a New Wave filter with unapologetic DIY sensibilities, directed by Jean-Luc Godard to boot.
RED COCKROACHES. Cuban filmmaker Miguel Coyula's entirely original philosophical science-fiction film is a masterpiece of DIY filmmaking, looking like a 20 million dollar film but made for $2K, with ideas enough for a hundred movies.
My biggest regret in leaving the television and video world behind for marketing is that I have lost track of my editing sensibilities. I feel like I was a pretty good editor back in the day, and in fact that was my entry point into the industry--assistant editing on Ivan Roger's priest-turned-hitman movie FORGIVE ME FATHER, editing all the action scenes such that I didn't see any scenes with anyone alive until I went to the premiere.
So I knuckled down and bought a Mac Mini installed with Final Cut X a few weeks ago. I'm hoping it's like riding a bike, but I have to get it out of the box first and set it up. I have a little low-level anxiety about it because my last true job in the video business was 2005, but I guess I can get on YouTube like everybody else and figure out how to do it again. And I hope I still have a little magic left. Tips from Final Cut X editors welcome.
Thanks for reading and I will have updates on SMART HOUSE again soon.
