CS Weekly Archive > Happenings > 6/24/05

The Beat Goes On:
The 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival Mixes It Up
With A Variety of Good Storytelling

By jeff goldsmith

This year's Los Angeles Film Festival offered up everything from a beat soundtrack to a silent classic to why it took Marc Norman three years to write Shakespeare in Love (he didn't want to disappoint his son). Taking a rare night off from his senior editor duties at Creative Screenwriting Magazine, CS Weekly's Jeff Goldsmith was there to drink it all in (sometimes literally) this year..

2005's Los Angeles Film Festival proved to be another great feather in the cap for hosting organization FIND (Film Independent). The fest boasted a strong slate of independent films, parties, and Q&As, all well worth the price of admission. Beyond the excellent programming FIND managed to do what it's always done best: set the stage for the independent film community to flourish.

THE FILMS:

This year's fest offered a movie to suit just about anyone's taste. The fest offered a slew of great retro screenings. "Guest director" Sydney Pollack selected three of his favorites, all worthy of renting for any screenwriter looking improve their craft: Notorious (1946), On the Waterfront (1954), and The Conformist (1970). Possibly the most retro screening of the fest blazed onto the screen when new life was breathed into F.W. Murnau's 1924 silent film classic, The Last Laugh. FIND senior programmer Doug Jones went well beyond merely presenting the simplistically heartbreaking silent and livened it up by accompanying the film with a live DJ mix from turntable stylist J.Rocc of the LA-based Beat Junkies. Last Laugh was one of a slew of outdoor screenings at the Ford Amphitheatre, where J.Rocc surpassed all expectations as he combined lounge, hip-hop, and classic film scores to tonally articulate some of this silent film's funniest and most dramatic moments. The screening was so well done that one can only hope a DVD including this new score will one day be released.

Other great retro films came from artist in residence, The RZA, a founding member of the hip-hop band The Wu-Tang Clan, who fulfilled all pop-action cravings for the fest as he presented three of his favorite films that are also always worth renting; The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1977), Ghost Dog (1999), and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966). The RZA then concocted a live performance at the Ford, set to cult/obscure cartoons entitled "Toontime with the RZA." This solidly trippy performance underscores why filmmakers ranging from Jim Jarmusch to Quentin Tarantino have counted on The RZA for acoustical innovation, in an event that was bound to let any writer's mind take a mind-bending creative break.

The fest's opening night gala featured the world premiere of the Edward Norton and Evan Rachel Wood-starrer Down in the Valley, a chemically-imbalanced LA Western written and directed by David Jacobson. This quirky character piece presents a modern cowboy character (Norton) who's adrift in LA's San Gabriel Valley until he finds love in high-school girl (Wood), who seems nearly as lost as he is. Their star-crossed tryst ends badly when their brief relationship rips apart both physically and psychologically. The film seemed to be a near-finished work-in-progress that might gain a cult following and the respect it deserves if the filmmakers have the guts to chop away at least another 15 minutes, including the bad Taxi Driver rip-off featuring Norton and a motel room mirror. The ensuing party featured a tasty country dinner and plenty of free booze; two ingredients that definitely led Film Threat journalist Mark Bell to jump up on a podium after its swanky model went on break. Bell proceeded to strut his wares for those both lucky or drunk enough to applaud it.

The Centerpiece Film Gala featured an amazing screenwriting experiment in Rodrigo Garcia's excellently made Nine Lives, coming to a theater near you this September. Nine Lives consists of nine short films about nine different women, all shot in one take, each on a steady cam. This well-written, emotionally charged film is an anthology-driven experiment gone right. While the execution is masterful, the simplicity of the film's focused, character-driven tales works profoundly and never overstays it welcome. The film was so well received that the audience applauded after at least four of the shorts (which always cut to black at their conclusion). Stay tuned to Creative Screenwriting Magazine for an interview on this talented filmmaker.

[Ed. note: I saw this film on Jeff's recommendation and was blown away by it. We immediately found space for it in the September/October issue. Writing this smart is rare and needs to be celebrated loudly and often.]

Also of interest, actor James Franco (Spider-Man) co-wrote and directed a film entitled The Ape, about a writer whose personality splinters into, yes, a Hawaiian shirt-wearing, foul-mouthed ape. A great idea, amusing to any writer, that ultimately failed its own setup as it played both redundant and long to the extent that it might have worked better as a short film.

Also of interest and worth reading more about: Little Fugitive (1953), R-Point, 2046, Trona, Broken Flowers, The Forrest for the Trees, and The Beat My Heart Skipped.

The LAFF's closing night film is Don Roos' Happy Endings, unspooling Sunday. You can read more about how Roos wove together these three tales of comedy in Nancy Hendrickson's interview with the writer/director, in the upcoming July/August edition of Creative Screenwriting Magazine, on sale the first week in July.

Events for Writers

If the films weren't enough to inspire you to hit the keys, the Los Angeles Film Festival featured a slew of industry Q&A panels with top actors, producers, directors, and, you guessed it -- writers. The coffee talk chat with Michael Tolkin (The Player) and Marc Norman (Shakespeare in Love) worked well as an informative chat about the inspirations and techniques implored by both writers. Norman discussed how his son suggested the concept for Shakespeare in Love. Norman, originally intimidated by the realm of Shakespeare, forced himself to write it over a three-year period so as not to let his son down. Tolkin spoke well about his work, and also expressed a great admiration for what's currently happening in TV and how he believes it represents a medium more suited to creativity in writing than feature films. When asked for advice by the audience as to how to procure an agent, Norman smartly explained, "That's your entrance examination to the movie business. There's no goddamn answer. It tests the full extent of your ingenuity to get past those obstacles. If you pass you're in."

Other writer-centric events included: Black's Noir, hosted by screenwriter Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) discussing his new film, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, coming out this fall. And Robert Towne's LA, hosted by legendary screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) as he discusses his relationship with LA as both a character and a location for his work.

If you snoozed this year and didn't attend the fest, you really lost out on some great film fest experiences. If you can't wait until FIND's 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival, join Creative Screenwriting Magazine this November, along with over 4,000 screenwriters from around the world as we host three days of continuous programming that's all writer-centric! Read more about it here!

Jeff Goldsmith is senior editor for Creative Screenwriting magazine and serves as the Los Angeles Events Coordinator in charge of the Creative Screenwriting screening series.

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