IIFF Film Yap: Interview with Movers and Stakers director Nancy Carlson

Movers and Stakers: Stories along the Indiana National Road was one of the delightful documentaries from this year’s Indianapolis International Film Festival. In just one short hour, director Nancy Carlson was able to paint a portrait of U.S. 40 that is rich with history and stories. We’re thrilled Nancy was able to talk to us about the making this film.

The Film Yap: What made you interested in the Indiana National Road?

Nancy Carlson: I’ve lived in Indiana over 30 years and didn’t know the history of the National Road. When I saw the grant offering from the National Scenic Byway Program, I decided to apply for it and make a film about the Road.

Q: What surprised you the most while making this movie?

Nancy: History is, in part, what people remember, and sometimes they are wrong. I found three communities that claim to have upset former President Martin Van Buren in his buggy (to protest his stance against funding the National Road). I doubt if the buggy accident happened in three towns.

Q: The film does a good job about creating this lively tone about Indiana and its history. How important do you think it is to have this sense of history about where you live?

Nancy: Knowing the history of your area makes your life richer. When I hear a Louis Armstrong song, I can appreciate that he first recorded his jazz in Richmond. Or I can argue with folks that “Back Home Again in Indiana” is NOT the state song.

Q: How long did it take to prepare, film and edit this movie?

Nancy: I first applied for the NSBP grant in 2004 and didn’t get it. I nursed my wounds for a couple years, added the word “digital” to my application in 2006 and was funded. The money arrived in 2007 when I started pre-production. I shot it in 2008 and edited it in the Spring of 2009. That’s five years to make the film – wow.

Q: What was the research process like?

Nancy: Research is fun. We have to keep good records and a logical labeling system, or we’d get lost. I talked to so many Hoosiers about the bridges, pavement and layout of the road that my head was spinning. I had to keep track of all who helped me because later they were listed in the REALLY LONG CREDITS.

Q: What was the hardest thing for you to cut out of this movie?

Nancy: I had to cut some really good stories because of time…the roses of Richmond…the leader of the KKK….the Van Buren Elm…bridge architecture…century old farms. Sigh.

Q: What was it like working with Ball State students?

Nancy: I couldn’t have made this film for my grant amount if I didn’t have student help. They are eager to get credits on a film and happy to work in the field. While I can get grants, research and write, I have limited production skills, so the students did that kind of work. Thank heaven.

Q: What was different in making Movers and Stakers as opposed to your other previous documentaries?

Nancy: My other two docs were biopics. The first was on author Gene Stratton-Porter who died in 1924. She grew up poor and there were hardly any pictures of her, which makes it tough for the filmmaker. My second was on the industrialist and leading citizen of Muncie, Edmund F. Ball (of Ball jar fame). He grew up rich, so there were 1000’s of pictures of him to choose from. I had to capture the essence of the subjects in those films. In this film, I wanted to find stories along the road and not just talk about a highway (yawn).

Q: Do you know what you are going to work on next?

Nancy: I’m researching a great (and shocking) story on the Osage Indian murders of the 1920’s in Oklahoma. I won’t make it if I don’t get funding. On the other hand, I don’t do films I’m not interested in, even if there’s funding. I’m picky that way. It has to be my passion, not someone else’s project.

Movers and Stakers: Stories along the Indiana National Road will be playing on Saturday July 24^th at 2:45PM. Ticket can be purchased online here.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/23/director-nancy-carlson-movers-and-stakers/

IIFF Film Yap: Movers and Stakers: Stories along the Indiana National Road

The Film Yap has been covering the Indianapolis International Film Festival for almost two week snow. I supplied a bunch of reviews for the Yap that I shall reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for more information about the festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every single feature and short in this year's festival.

A good documentary shines a light on a subject you didn’t even know you were lacking information on. Mover and Stakers shows the history behind US-40, Indiana’s National Road. The documentary just focuses on the Indiana portion of the road that stretches from Maryland to Illinois. There is plenty on information filled in the hour, but the tone it supplies.

This may not start off as the most interesting of topics, but the way it is delivered is worth the viewing. The talking heads and the stories are not like a forced school lecture, but by a charming friend who is very knowledgeable. The film is delightful and a lot of that comes from knowing how to tell these tales. It balances how to tell a story through talking heads, voice-overs, and recreations. None of them overpower the other or compromise a good story.

None of the segments are ones that will shatter your perspection of the modern world, but they are all interesting. The strongest one was focusing on the author James Whitcomb Riley. A lot of the information comes from an actor who has portrayed him for many years. Riley was best known for Little Orphan Annie, even though he intended the creation to be called Little Orphant Allie.

Since the throughline of the movie is the road, they had to cover the invention of the automobile. They talk to the descendent of Henry Ford about the impact of the Model-T. It turns out it wasn’t the invention that made the automobile boom, but it boomed once it was accessible to families. The road became more useful when families were actually able to travel for the first time.

Some segments work more than others, but none of them last too long. What you really come away from is a sense of history about Indiana. This film may not work as a universal picture, but it plays upon the heartstrings of Hoosiers. It’s a well-made documentary and is a worthy inclusion in this year’s festival. As great it is to see some amazing movies from across the United States and other parts of the world, the Indianapolis International Film Festival should also be there to highlight some of the unseen portions of its home state.

4 Yaps

Movers and Stakers: Stories along the Indiana National Road will be playing on Saturday July 24^th at 2:45PM. Ticket can be purchased online here.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/12/movers-and-stakers/

IIFF Film Yap: Interview with Peepers director Seth W. Owen

Seth W. Owen really made a mark with his first feature film. Peepers is a comedy about a group of peeping toms that has to deal with a college professor who becomes fascinated by the peeper lifestyle. It’s an original tale and a tricky one to pull off.

Owen spoke to The Film Yap talking about the balance of this type of comedy and what it takes to make a film like this in Canada.

The Film Yap: The first obvious question has to be asking about the origin of the story. Telling the endearing story of peeping toms is definitely an unusual concept. How did it come to be?

Seth Owen: Montreal rooftop is a pretty pleasant place to be, in the summertime, and way back when, when I had a place with roof access, a friend named Eric Hart and got to joking about a community of Peeping Toms... And it was one of those ideas that just never went away. When Dan, Mark and I were thinking about making another film, it was the one that seemed to really captivate the three of us. Especially since it seemed like a novel way to illustrate some things that were happening with voyeurism and society without being too literal. I don’t like to see people in online chat rooms in movies. I would prefer to see them on rooftops, with a little derring-do.

TFY: One of the most impressive things about the movie is that it never feels creepy, even when they are successful with their voyeurism. How did you create this atmosphere?

Seth: I’m glad you didn’t find it creepy! I’m sure some still might. I like things a little creepy, but you’re right, it’s an unsavory topic to many, and tone was definitely a big concern from the beginning. We just really tried to focus in on these guys as very vulnerable, very lonely human beings. But of course, at the same time, everyone making the film felt pretty strongly that if you make a film called Peepers, about Peeping Toms, you have to have a little flesh on the screen. Or else people would rip up the seats in the cinema! I know I would! So that was a dilemma, how to reference all these exploitation films without making an out and out exploitation film ourselves. Ultimately, I think we may have just pulled it off, and I think that’s due in large part to the performances, and Max Henry’s score, both of which put one in a more sympathetic frame of mind.

TFY: Although Peepers primarily follows Steve Sherman, the film does a good job about have developed subplots with some of the other peepers. How important was this balance of focus?

Seth: It was very important. And in the editing room, it was something that went through many, many variations. We knew we were locked onto Steve, but weaving in the other threads and knowing just how much we needed was an ongoing dialogue. With the Paul Spence character, Peter, he’s a more reserved family man who finds himself drawn into the world of the Peepers, and that was particularly tough, as it’s a less overtly comic thread than the others, but one I think is crucial to the film’s underlying meaning and intent. I still am hemming and hawing over whether we have enough of that in there. I hope so. But yeah, trial and error, that’s how we finessed it.

TFY: I’m almost afraid to ask, but did you do any research for this movie? (Primary or otherwise)

Seth: Well, funny you ask… We didn’t initially do any research – it was a world that we just kind of cooked up... though of course, if you’re a filmmaker, you don’t have to dig too deep to find some latently voyeuristic tendencies. Then, funnily (or disturbingly) enough, after we had finished a draft, we came upon a local college newspaper article that had a profile of a Peeping Tom, and it was pretty much to the letter of what we had come up with. So that was encouraging. The other “research” we did came out of a very fortuitous circumstance when we were writing the script. Our studio at the time was in a loft building that had these big, wraparound windows. And directly across from us was this apartment building, with all of the bathroom windows facing us. So we’d be writing, and then all of a sudden, there’d be, like, a cinemax movie playing itself out right before our eyes. We saw some pretty spectacular things. A lot of lathering. You couldn’t not look. But it may have slowed our writing down a touch.

TFY: You’ve worked with Daniel Perlmutter and Mark Slutsky before on The Recommendations and again on the script for Peepers. How does your creative collaboration work? Do you all write in the same room? Do you email drafts back and forth? How do you settle disagreements?

Seth: We tend to talk things out, endlessly, in the same room, cook up a bunch of gags, and then we divvy stuff up and pass it around, rinse and repeat. Disagreements tend to be settled by a winning combination of endurance and passive aggression. And when it became clear that I would be directing this one, I played the director card as much as humanly possible.

TFY: What was the most difficult part either writing or directing this movie?

Seth: It was a hard shoot. A wonderful, wonderful experience, but hard. We had 14 days to get it in the bag, and not a lot of dough, and a lot of that was shooting at night, outside, on Montreal rooftops in November. With the wind and the rain, and sometimes even the snow howling around us. And our budget – well, it was huge compared to what we were used to working with, which was literally peanuts! – but for a “real movie” it was limiting, especially for something this ambitious in scope. Editing had its own set of challenges, and frustrations, but none that are as interesting, or as cinematic as rain smacking you around on a roof.

TFY: What were some of the films that influenced you for Peepers?

Seth: It’s a real rogue’s gallery for this one. Porky’s was an obvious touchstone. All those 80s sex comedies. We really wanted to make a sad, grown up version of one of those. Ghostbusters. That’s always an influence. Rear Window is kind of unavoidable when you’re making a film about voyeurism. You kind of have to tip your hat to that. Visually, Bobby Shore (the DP) and I talked a lot about Klute, of all films. And there’s a great Israeli film about peeping called Metzitzim that we discovered late in the day, that has a really similar combination of melancholy and um, horniness.

TFY: What has the film festival circuit experience been like for you?

Seth: Well, it would figure that we’ve been doing the festival circuit just in time for a huge economic downturn. So not enough free flights and hotels! It’s been great, though, getting to see it with an audience, and making connections with other filmmakers. That’s always nice. But honestly, we seem to just be hitting our stride now, so I hope we can hit a few more. Drink tickets and free hors d’oeuvres – I’m a still-struggling filmmaker, so these things mean a lot!

TFY: Can you speak a little bit about making an independent feature in Canada? What are some of the up-sides and down-sides?

Seth: The up-side of making an independent feature in Canada is that if you’re lucky, the government will give you money to make one! The downside is that once it is made it may disappear into a pit of Northern oblivion and never be heard from again. Nobody in Canada really wants to see Canadian movies, for whatever reason – at least not English Canadian movies. The French have it figured out a little better. But all things considered, we’re pretty lucky here. Though ask me that again if I’m still trying to get the second one made a couple decades from now.

TFY: Now the big question. What are you going to work on next?

Seth: I’m working on a film called Motorway Lodge. Writing that now. It’s about a timid man at an international mineral processing conference. This one will be even more creepy – that’s my hope, anyway! So another easy sell! Not obscure enough? I’m also finishing up an experimental music documentary on a composer named Osama Shalabi, who is kind of a genius, as far as I’m concerned, even if he hasn’t yet hit Justin Bieber levels of stardom. But I haven’t completely forsaken the mainstream – I’m ready to make Marmaduke 2, or whatever… maybe get a piece of this Smurfs action. I am ready to whore it out for the highest bidder at the earliest possible convenience. So if you know any one, please don’t hesitate to pass along my digits…!

Peepers will play on Tuesday July 20^th and once more on Friday July 23^rd. You can find more about the film and by tickets by clicking here.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/19/directorco-writer-seth-w-owen-peepers/

IIFF Film Yap: Paulista

The Film Yap has been covering the Indianapolis International Film Festival for over a week now. I supplied a bunch of reviews for the Yap which I will reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for more information about the festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every single feature and short in this year's festival.

Paulista suffers because there are too many other independent films like it. This is the kind of story where seemingly random people are seen through a short period of time. This time is three people who all live in an apartment building in São Paulo. There is Marina who wants to move to the big city and become an actress. Suzana is a lawyer who is having a love affair. Jay is an author who befriends a prostitute.

With an anthology of stories each story needs to be able to be compelling on its own. It should be the ebb and flow of wanting to stay with one person while also wanting to continue the story across town. In Paulista, there was never this urgency to continue a storyline or even much curiosity of what is going to happen next. Each story ends exactly how they have played out before in other stories.

The most disappointing was Jay’s story because stories about writers usually have a nuanced charm to them when done well. Writers tend to have an articulation about their world, which can lead to new insights for the audience, but Jay wasn’t a very interesting author and thus not a very interesting story.

Sílvia Lourenço gives the strongest performance as Marina because she has a very natural on-screen charisma. She’s very watchable even as her story leads into weaker material. Marina ends up going to a nightclub and becomes entranced by one of the female singers. They end up having an intimate relationship.

None of the supporting characters seem to be entirely developed and that is too bad considering the entire movie is these three characters interacting with a few other people in their lives.

The film has a very cool and appealing look that makes scenes feel more enjoyable. Even though the script is lacking, the tone of the film is light enough where the film never feels like a burden. Just a series of missed opportunities.

2 Yaps

Paulista will play on Sunday July 18^th at 6:45Pm and on Tuesday July 20^th at 3:15PM. Tickets can be purchased here.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/12/paulista/

IIFF Film Yap: A NY Thing

The Film Yap has been covering the Indianapolis International Film Festival for over a week now. I supplied a bunch of reviews for the Yap that I shall reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for most information about the festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every single feature and short in this year's festival

It’s unfortunate to say that my favorite part of this movie was its title: A NY Thing. It had such promise too! The premise is that Antoine (Jonathan Zaccaï) is madly in love with Alice (Fanny Valette). He spontaneously jumps on a plane from France to New York to try to keep them together. When he arrives, she is back together with her boyfriend Arthur (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). She lies to all of her friends and says that Antoine is really “John” a stranger she met on the plane. Arthur takes in “John” and hopes that “John” is able to find that love he crossed an ocean for.

A NY Thing has a lot of improvised dialog that rarely leads to anything interesting or memorable. It’s usually just rambles about John Lennon and love. There was one fun scene when “John” met a crazy person at Arthur’s job who started listing off every famous director and actor with the name John.

The biggest problem is that Antoine/John is not a very interesting observer. His quest is not validated because the movie never lets us care about Alice. I was ready for him to move on from the very beginning because she was so indecisive and manipulative. I still don’t know what he sees in her.

Alice was more realized, though, than her best friend Tamera played by mumblecore starlette Greta Gerwig (Baghead, Greenberg). She was way too broad with her comedic choices as she desperately was interested in “John.”

The final act of this film seemed really unbelievable. The movie becomes contrived in the most boring way possible. Instead of going all out with New York madness (a la After Hours), its contrivances are more about having characters react in irrational ways in order to complete the plot.

My major problem with some of these films lately is that they remind me too often of other films and by doing that I have no choice but compare them. So I wish this film was as witty as Linklater’s Before Sunrise or Slacker and as scenic as Manhattan or Who’s That Knocking At M Door. Instead it’s just a forgettable film experiment. Alas.

1.5 Yaps

A NY Thing will be playing on Sunday July 18^th at 5:15PM and on Wednesday July 21^st at 4:45PM. Tickets can be purchased online here.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/12/a-ny-thing/

IIFF Film Yap: Dirty Mind

The Film Yap has been covering the Indianapolis International Film Festival for almost a week now. I supplied a bunch of reviews for the Yap which I will reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for more information about the festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every single feature and short in this year's festival.

I love a film that makes you anxious because it could easily begin to slip up. Dirty Mind has that because its premise only suggest a number of likely outcomes, but writer/director Pieter Van Hees always plays with those expectations and keeps the characters as the real drives of the story.

Diego (Wim Helsen) and his brother are a stunt team that are hired for a new “gritty” TV show. For the first time Diego has to be the one to actually perform the stunt. It goes wrong and he hits his head, which leads him to the hospital. He ended up hitting his head so hard that he developed Frontal Syndrome. This is a condition that affects the frontal lobe of the brain that deals with personality. Diego used to be timid and shy, but after the accident he is without societal restraints. He has become “Tony T.”

Tony T. is a smooth and funny guy. He is always cracking jokes and trying out one-liners on women. He has no hesitation to try out even more dangerous stunts. His charisma and confidence makes the people around him enjoy his company more. The only one who has doubts is a neurologist named Jaana (Kristine Van Pellicom) who is begging to try this new surgery to cure him. As she continues to talk to him, there is a conflict on whether or not this condition isn’t an improvement on his life.

Once Tony T. emerged, I feared for the inevitable parallels to Flowers for Algernon but this story does a much better job of debating the condition. Unlike that story there is a smoother flow as the movie delves into the negative aspects of this condition. So many times it could have made things more black and white in order for the film to have an easier solution, but everything remained incredibly satisfying.

Through this process, there is a lot of humor and romance that makes this a very complete and impressive feature. It’s not easy to make an existential movie while constantly keeping it entertaining. A lot of that comes from Helsen’s magnificent performance that moves the story into new depths. This is especially true during his interactions with Jaana. She has dealt with Frontal Syndrome patients for most of her medical career, but Tony T. has to be articulate in a different way in order to convince her otherwise. It’s a difficult task that is accomplished through patience and smart writing. This is definitely one of the ones to catch at this year’s festival.

4.5 Yaps

Dirty Mind will be playing on Saturday July 17^th at 2PM and on Monday July 19^th at 3:15PM. Tickets can be purchased online here.

IIFF Film Yap: Twisted Roots

The Film Yap has been covering the Indianapolis International Film Festival for almost a week now. I supplied a bunch of reviews for the Yap which I will reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for more information about the festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every single feature and short in this year's festival.

With family comes drama. It’s a subgenre that seems like it can easily become tired but movies like Twisted Roots shows there can always be something new. In this Finnish drama, a family is brought together with news of the father’s disease. Mikko (Pertti Sveholm) has a hereditary disease that causes dementia and hullicinations. He is worried about who will take care of his antique store but also whether he has inadvertently passed on this illness to his children. His struggle is shown creatively through inconsistency with the props. It was such an effective way to show his deterioration and defeated nature.

His youngest daughter, Pihla (Emma Louhivuori), is a teenager who is figuring out her place in the social circles. She is not the typical brat seen in other films, but she properly has the focus of the scene and knows when to engage and when to stay put. It’s one of the more believable teenagers I’ve seen in awhile. Her brother, Sakari (Niko Saarela) is much older and has moved out. He’s frustrated with his father and becomes even more so when he just now finds out that he may be sick as well.

There is one more child in the family: Lumi (Silva Robbins) is a young adopted Chinese girl. She has the weakest storyline in the movie as she is constantly digging a hole in the wall as well as other flights of fancy. It makes for some memorable images in the film, but its quirkiness seems more fitting in another film. Also its resolution is too on-the-nose to seem believable.

The mother (Meri Nenonen) is also filled with secrets. She took on the debt of her deadbeat brother and now owes over 100 Euros in a very short amount of time to the bank. She finds it difficult to consult her husband because his illness makes him an irrational and irritable man.

The movie moves with a well developed pace that allows just the right amount of time with each character. By the end of the film, I really felt I understood each of them. The film really popped when the family members were able to interact awkwardly with each other. With this type of film, I was worried about how it was all going to tie together but the ending is very fulfilling and adds a lot of its themes of legacy and what ties a family.

4 Yaps

Twisted Roots will play on Saturday July 17^th at 9:30 PM and once more on Friday July 23^rd at 6:45PM. You can buy tickets online here.

IIFF Film Yap: Fish Out of Water

The Film Yap has been covering the Indianapolis International Film Festival for almost a week now. I supplied a bunch of reviews for the Yap which I will reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for more information about the festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every single feature and short in this year's festival.

I like to think we are in a world of progression and acceptance. In the recent years, there has been progress towards legalizing gay marriage. To many people it’s too slow of a process but at least there are more platforms for public discussion over the issues. Making documentaries about the topic is a great tool and Fish Out of Water is a very effective entry.

Fish has a very smart directive by not just preaching to the choir. It has a very specific audience in mind and is hoping to make an intelligent dialog through its film. Writer-director Ky Dickens started this project after being chastised after she came out to her sorority sisters. They used religion as an attacking force saying that she is an abomination and she will be going to hell.

So Dickens travels around the country speaking to different experts to examine the passages of the Bible that are used against the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Queer (GLBTQ) community. There are seven main passages that people ignorantly quote and through religious figures Dickens is able to point out the absurdity of them.

It is never an attack against religion and that is a very important part. Majority of the GLBTQ who are interviewed in this film are very spiritual and still want to be considered Christians. The film is used as a guide to look for acceptance into the community. All of the points are well made. They also look towards the philosophies of Jesus and make educated assumptions on His position.

Once the structure is used up, the film falls back on familiar material, but Dickens still makes everything interesting as she juxtaposes facts, pictures, and animated recreations to add a new emotional level. The most jarring footage is the material she captured of the hateful homophobic individuals. There are reverends that are saying the cruelest things directly towards Dickens and the rest of the GLBTQ community.

The film works because it isn’t a political film or even a religious one, but the focus is strongly on people as people. The community is seen as hurt group of people who just want to be able to be loved and seen as equal. It may still take a long time, but I think movies like this will hopefully lessen the length.

4 Yaps

Fish Out of Water plays again on Monday at 3:15. You can purchase tickets here: http://www.indyfilmfest.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=129&Itemid=105

IIFF Film Yap: My Year WIthout Sex

This week begins The Film Yap's coverage of the Indianapolis International Film Festival. I supplied a handful of reviews for the Yap which I will reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for more information about this great festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every feature and short film at this year's festival.

In cinema, the teasing allure of sexuality is usually being agonized by horny teenagers in coming-of-age raunchy comedies. My Year Without Sex plays with that concept but placing this struggle into a family drama. Sacha Horler (The Austrailian Patricia Heaton) plays Natalie a mother of two that abruptly has an aneurism.

It was lucky that she was already in a hospital when it happened. She was unconscious for several days while they performed brain surgery. She awakens looking bruised with a partly shaved head. She also gets the distressing news that this was just a “yellow card.” It could fatally happen again from any number of things including an orgasm.

So that means if she has sex again she could die. This causes the family life to become a little tenser, especially between Natalie and her husband Ross, played by Matt Day. Their evolution through the documented year is handled very well as they deal with the typical stress of a family. Throughout the year they have to deal with financial situations, random accidents, and all of the usual holidays. Writer-director Sarah Watt does a very good job of creating a typical year with all of its idiosyncrasies

The journey through the year is what makes this film work because it is such a realistic portrayal. It does lag near the end, but there are enough unique things Watt is doing that keep interest. She does a very good job of creating this world full of sexuality in billboards and advertisements. We’ve become trained to become accustomed to it. Even the yoga classes are suggestive in nature. Watt keeps it smart, but not holding your hand through the occasional imagery.

As Natalie searches for a new form of satisfaction she grows closer with her priest, Margaret played by Maud Davey the Australian Laura Dern. They use Christianity in a very modern way with a lot of doubt towards the institution. It is never a religious movie, but does use faith and luck as a worthy parallel to this story.

The subplots with the children are never bothersome, but too much time is devoted to them independently. They work better when it is relation to Natalie, but there wasn’t enough meat to the story of Louis (Jonathan Segat, the Australian “Robin William’s son from Hook). He is the only character who notices a lot of the sexuality scattered throughout society since he is on the cusp of puberty. Yet he is also struggling with the fact that he may not be interested in girls.

This was a movie made with a lot of intelligence directed towards character development and it definitely pays off.

4 Yaps

This movie will play on Friday July 16^th and you can purchase tickets for it here.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/14/my-year-without-sex/

IIFF Film Yap: Peepers

This week begins The Film Yap's coverage of the Indianapolis International Film Festival. I supplied a handful of reviews for the Yap which I will reprint here. Visit www.indyfilmfest.org for more information about this great festival and visit www.thefilmyap.com/topics/iiff10/ to see more reviews on every feature and short film at this year's festival.

Peepers is a delightful film that many will enjoy but it will be difficult to get many to see it. This is entirely because of its subject matter so when I give a brief summary, you just have to trust me. It is about a community of peeping toms who band together on a nightly basis to observe and record acts of nudity and sexual acts.

Are you still with me?

All it takes is one scene in order to believe there are groups—basically a union—of “peepers.” Seeing them on rooftops with their walkie-talkies isn’t creepy because writer/director Seth W. Owen brilliantly handles the tone as endearing not alarming. This is the ragtag team of misfits, but instead of Dungeons and Dragons they’re more of people watchers.

The team is threatened when a college professor (Janine Theriault) picks up on this peepers phenomenon and starts interacting with one of the groups to understand them further. The unofficial leader of the group, Steve (Joe Cobden) becomes threatened by this newcomer especially because he is on a cold streak.

What follows is the typical sort of plot of a group conflict, but Peepers continues to charm because its world is so fresh. All of their phrasing and actions make their world seem very thought-out. They even have a Code they abide by, but like every great Code various character test different parts of it.

Despite its odd premise, this still takes place in the real world. This team of underdogs are definitely misunderstood by others and it is the strength of the film that allows you to root for them. They are not the typical Hollywood nerds; they have more nuances and layers than that. Through this movie they are all tested with new relationships that challenge how they interact with others. This works as a new revelation to them considering they are typically the unseen party. (Except, of course, when they aren’t unseen and the cops are called.)

This is the ideal type of film festival entry because its subject matter will make it a bigger hit with niches rather than opening in 4,000 screens. Also it allows us to find exciting new filmmakers like Owen. I am very interested to see what he does next.

Peepers will play on Tuesday July 20^th at 6:30PM and once more on Friday July 23^rd at 3PM. You can buy tickets online here.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/12/peepers/