Minimalist Meek

Sparse.

Barren.

Quiet.

Hushed sounds.

Strained listening.

Did they say what I think they said?

Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff is not for everyone, judging by comments on the web. This western is based on the true story of a wagon train to Oregon that is led by a guide, Stephen Meek, who attempts to bypass the route through the Blue Mountains where an attack by Indians is rumored to await, leading the train into a harsh desert.

Things become desperate. Meek's leadership is question.

An Indian is captured who now becomes an enigmatic guide through the harsh terrain.

Michelle Williams plays a strong-willed woman, Bill Patton as her husband, and Bruce Greenwood as Meek in a small cast that reduces the true story's large group of hundreds of wagons to just three.

This reduction serves the story well and the cast does a great job with a sparse script.

As alluded to above, the sound design is purposefully designed so that dialog is difficult to understand in some cases. Meaning is what is made of words misheard. Or missaid.

The framing is 4:3, designed to mimic the women's bonnets and the wagons themselves, where a narrow field of vision is only available to the viewer.

This does not prevent some amazing cinematography being put on display of the barren Oregon landscape.

Much has been said of this allegorical tale on politics, untrustworthy leadership, and current events.

Everyone should see this movie.

Alternate Takes
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Found this Atist in an Issue Of Super 8 Today

I have no idea why I'm reading (on paper) a magazine about a dying technology, but this article on Martha Colburn had some striking images exemplifying her artistic style.

She has a video channel, and some excerpts are below:





Very political.

Some of her work has been shown at The Museum of the Moving Image among others.

Fair Game

Caught "Fair Game", about the Valerie Plame affair where her role as an undercover CIA operative is leaked to the press by the White House after her husband, ambassador Joe Wilson, exposed the lies surrounding the supposed purchase of uranium yellow cake from Niger by Iraq.

Considering this is a pretty big David vs. Goliath story, I felt the movie was a little pedestrian. There are some decent performances by Naomi Watts (Plame) and Sean Penn (Joe Wilson) but no real risk taking and some very cliche moments. Still, this is an important movie (watch it back to back with "The Most Dangerous Man in America" about Daniel Ellsberg and The Pentagon Papers during the Nixon administration).










The cool part is both Plame and Wilson were in the audience and gave a heated Q&A afterwards, including attempts by some audience members to do a character assassination (which clearly failed miserably).

Funny how the two most heated discussions I've seen this year after movies were about politics.

Fair Game (imdb).

Post Traumatic Stress Machinima

Welcome To The Desert Of The Real is an interesting video. It combines images from America's Army, a checklist of stress disorders, and some atmospheric music. I do not think it entirely works as a whole, but it is nonetheless a fascinating experiment.

Welcome to the desert of the real from paolo pedercini on Vimeo.

Noted also on Machinima That Matters.

Designed To Provoke An Emotional Response

This video (via BoingBoing - WARNING NSFW) is utterly provocative and in your face (I suggest you watch the entire clip before casting judgement). Flesh is a 10 minute short that reinterprets 9/11 in a visually stimulating and hopefully thought-provoking way. Created by Edouard Salier (MySpace Page) (effects by Strikeback pictures) it looks like it was released on the festival circuit two years ago and won a few awards. Fascinating. I suspect this will definitely piss off a lot of people.

Forget This Presidential Debate Garbage

Shiny baubles for the masses. Forget the two minute (or 90 second, or 45 second) carefully crafted, 'stay on message', televangelist used car salesman speeches.

No, I did not watch the debates. No I will not. No I don't care what they had to say (through focus groups, and political advisers, and polled results, blah, blah, blah). Does any of it really matter? We damn well know that what they say now to get elected is likely not what they will do once they get elected (and the bloody world will be different in 18 months anyways).

I would be far more interested in seeing how these candidates perform. Under stressful situations. A test so to speak.

I want to see the presidential candidates play video games. A lot of games. All of it televised so we can analyze them. Think of it as an actually useful reality TV show.

I want to see the candidates play GTA, just to see how they react. I want to see them manage a raid into The Black Temple in WoW (or whatever the toughest dungeon is). I want to know if they choose the light or the dark side in Knights of the Old Republic. Can they survive a nuclear war in Defcon? Can they handle a taunting idiot in Counterstrike? Will their Sims2 character manage to bathe themselves all the while managing a burgeoning career while pimping out their new pad? Can they solve the mysteries in Myst? Can they stick the damn Babel fish into their ear?

I don't want to know what they have to say. I want to know how they react. In real time. With a million pixels all screaming for their attention.

Can they handle it?

Dubya And The Monkey

Dubya and the Monkey by grouchobeer will either make you laugh, cry, or become very angry (maybe all three), depending on where you fall along the political spectrum. Two episodes so far, In The Line Of Fire, and Fantastic Innerspace Voyage.

Just political satire, or crossing the line?