Weekend
Today was a fantastic saturday and did something which I haven't done in a while -went to the local library and spent some time there. I think the last time I went to the library and spent time there was mid-2004 before 'Memories' went into production. I got out 2 books which i have been hearing about 'Stardust' and 'Neverwhere'written by Neil Gaiman.. Will let you know how they turn out.Finished reading 'V for Vendetta' and it was again mindblowing...extremely complex and dense -it was a really interesting read and you can look at some of the pics from the movie here . I hope that they don't bastardize the movie too much beyond recognition.
None of the magazines which said they would review 'Memories'carried the review - which is a bit of a put off but oh well - they have their own stories to carry. One of the reviews is positive and the other is negative as well as harsh - can't publish them on the site as i don't have permission but the negative one gave us a 1.5 stars out of 5 and i am not putting the whole review up but part of it will give you an idea :
".....Alas, when we should be asking ourselves who's expendable we find ourselves asking: who cares?The young writer/director/producer may have crafted a Kiwi Vertigo screenplay best suited for a Hitchcock with Hollywood resources rather than himself with only twenty days of filming and fifteen grand. As a directorial debut for Tripuraneni, a South Seas Film School tutor, this film should be remembered. As a cinematic experience however, Memories of Tomorrow was... forgettable."
The positive one I can not even put in any excerpt because I swore to confidentiality on that one but it is the other extreme of the above review and takes hats off to us that we achieved what we did with our limited resources. But the first reviewer seems to interpret that if you try and make a movie without any resources, you are a fool...what do we do??? go on our knees and beg for hollywood resources???? You decide if I am being too defensive or is it fair to say that the reviewer thinks that there is no place for independent films in the overall scheme of things... It is good that we have a good review at the same time otherwise I would probably have been depressed for a week or so...
I just got back from visiting a good friend and classmate, Alex Samuel and had dinner at his place. It was a feast and yummy home-made food after ages. It was great catching up with him after a long time and I have a meeting planned for next wednesday with another person to discuss possibility of collaborating on the next project...what it is gonna be is unclear at this stage..but i can sense a possibility that everything will click together at the right point and right time. While there -also watched 'Kungfu Hustle' the only hiccup being that the movie was in its original language without english subtitles {they had mandarin subtitles} but we watched it nonetheless...i don't know why american media thinks it is a fantastic and mind blowing film because at best it is a specialFX laden kung-fu movie...and they overused the SFX too. It is definitely entertaining because of the comedy but not priceless cinema history as the american marketing drive is making it out to be.
My little finger seems to be healing good as I can now bend it without screaming in pain..hopefully it will better for the next weekend's netball game otherwise there is no option but to bandage it up and go into the game.
The one thing I am extremely excited about is the new Panasonic camera - the HVX200 : which can shoot variable frame rate {droooool} and also HD on P2 cards....i can't wait to see how it grades up on actual shooting... you can read what it has in store HERE
Anyway - will update you more when something more significant happens.
Cheers
Amit
posted by Amit @ 11:12 PM
3 Comments:
I think you're over-reading the review - clearly (to me) what he's saying is that some film ideas are better suited to low budgets than others, and to have maximum impact on your low budget film it's better to have an idea that's fully realizable on that budget than an idea that would be better served by a larger budget.
Whether that's true for MEMORIES or not is open to debate, of course, but its most obvious comparisons from a plot line and genre - spy thrillers along the BOURNE IDENTITY/SPY GAME/James Bond lines - are typically highly budgeted affairs whose pleasures are often based around the assloads of money they have to spend. Compare that to something like CLERKS or PRIMER, where a massive budget would have been beside the point - the limitations of the films are also the strengths.
It is part of the review- and whats up is the least offensive and I do disagree with the basic idea that you can not achieve something without a budget.
I might be over-reading but I don't agree with the philosophy on which the review is based. Every thriller doesn't have to be a 'blow them up..wohoo we have got money to do that' type of movie...
okay, well, without reading the rest of the review I can't agree or disagree with you about what it says. But I don't get what you get from the excerpt.
I think low-budget thrillers can be successful on their own terms but if an audience member is expecting a high-budget thriller then they will be disappointed ... unless they get something they weren't expecting that's even better. :) The first time anyone watches a movie they're rating it against the movie they expected to see, not rating it for the movie it is.
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