I’ve been raving about the film, BELLFLOWER since I saw a pre-release screening last June.
I took 3 friends to see it, meaning — I saw it, then I took a friend to see it 3 separate times. The reason for this being: I was utterly desperate to talk about the film with other people, but that only works if the other person has seen it, too. And since I’m not really one for online chat boards, I was happy to recruit others to fulfill my own needs & desires.
Anyway, nice feature in this month’s SPIN.
The A.V. Club review is a bit alarmist.
Glenn Kenny is stretching it in his insistence that when people are hurt by those whom they love & as a result are given to fantasies of revenge… that it can only be a metaphor that endorses imperialism.
The New Yorker review is a very accurate & sober assessment.
Other factoids:
90% of the tilt-shifting and other effects were done IN-CAMERA.
Only one person from Coatwolf Productions went to film school. (It was the Music Supervisor.)
Source: roxietheaterFrom the BELLFLOWER press kit:
Evan Glodell was in his workshop for over a month constructing what is known as
‘COATWOLF MODEL II’, a custom optical system tailor-made for the SI-2K cameras
used to photograph Bellflower.
Now, for your convenience, a round-up of some of the cantankerous press reaction to this movie:
- The AV Club calls it intolerable, as well as “punishingly distasteful and disjointed almost beyond coherence”.
- Glenn Kenny, over at SOME CAME RUNNING, says the AV Club review doesn’t go far enough in it’s dismissal.
- The New Yorker offers a thorough, well-reasoned rebuttal to those claims.
This Friday is your big chance to make up your mind! BELLFLOWER opens at the Little Roxie on Friday!
If you missed it at the Kabuki, catch it at the Little Roxie this week!
Source: roxietheaterI’m really glad we’re moving this movie over on Friday. It belongs in the Mission. You can read more about it and get tickets here.
I caught an advanced screening of this flick back in June and it melted my face.
It’s showing at the Landmark Theater in Berkeley and at the Sundance Kabuki in San Francisco tonight.
Don’t forget to buckle-up.
If you think these cameras that Coatwolf Productions put together are badass, you should see the film they were used to shoot.
See Bellflower.
By the way, while I was in L.A. I had the privilege of attending a screening for this film, “Bellflower.” It blew my mind and broke my heart. So impressive on so many levels, not least of which being that the only person involved in the project who actually attended film school was the musical director. They had built their own cameras to shoot it. 90 percent of the color treatment, tilt-shifting, etc. was done in-camera and the rest was done in post just to match it. The film was made for about $15,000. I was even able to hang with some of Team Coatwolf at the Short Stop in Echo Park, before migrating over to their house after the bar had closed. One of the more memorable evenings of the Summer so far. Definitely the best film I’ve had the pleasure to see in the last 3 years.
Official release is August 5th.
SEE. THIS. FILM.
