All these wonderful things

Fifteen Years Ago Today

Manohla, Manohla, Manohla

There's been much rubber necking over the recent LA Times piece by Patrick Goldstein wherein he bemoans the cruelty of NY Times (and former LA Times) film critic Manohla Dargis.  Why the drama?  Apparently Dargis' pan of the Weinstein Co.'s new narrative film THE READER reminded Goldstein of past days when Harvey Weinstein wanted Dargis to stay away from reviewing Miramax titles.

The money quote that's been bouncing around the blogosphere is:

"It's an open secret in indie Hollywood that no one wants Manohla Dargis to review their movie, fearing that the outspoken critic will tear their film limb from limb. It's the ultimate backhanded compliment, since what they really fear is Manohla's persuasiveness -- that she'll write a review whose combination of vitriolic snarkiness and intellectual heft will actually persuade high-brow moviegoers to drop the film from their must-see list."

As Karina Longworth observed in her usual inimitable style, Goldstein appeared to be advocating a two-tiered system, wherein "classy" projects were given a handicap:

"Goldstein says it’s not a problem that the review was negative, but unlike her peers, who “clean the knife before they stick it in,” Dargis’ review betrays a “lack of empathy for the challenge of tackling difficult material.” In other words: people like Harvey Weinstein, who take the noble risk of milking Oscar bait out of an Oprah-approved novel about a sexy Nazi cougar, should be given extra points just for doing something a little bit more ambitious than “dumb summer comedy.” It’s almost as if Goldstein is advocating for a kind of affirmative action for art (or, at least, artsy) films: all pictures may be on a level playing field in Manohla’s eyes, but a certain type of picture should be given special consideration for at least trying to be art, even if it fails."

(Yes, really.  She wrote "milking Oscar bait out of an Oprah-approved novel about a sexy Nazi cougar" and didn't even break a sweat.)

As Karina also noted, Goldstein has previously attacked Dargis (and other critics) with the old "she's an elitist!" bullshit, which is about as useful for discussing the worth of art as is the tired "which candidate would you rather have a beer with" in determining who should be making decisions about war and peace:

"Since today's critics are famously out of touch with the common taste, I decided to recruit (producer Avi Lerner) as my own personal multiplex movie critic. He doesn't use as many five-dollar words as Manohla Dargis and he doesn't have quite as firm a grasp on the auteur theory as Kenny Turan, but he knows what he likes--and why he likes it--which is always a good starting point for any critic."

Faux-populism aside, I'm on record in finding flaws with LA Times coverage of documentaries, so let me take a moment to raise an objection to Goldstein's opening thesis - that no one wants mean Manohla Dargis to review their movie.  NO ONE!

Now maybe this is the case at the dependent indies (your Searchlights, SPCs and Miramax), but for the rest of us?  Not so much.

That doesn't mean that I haven't heard doc filmmakers who were nervous about a forthcoming Dargis review - but ask your average nonfiction filmmaker if they'd rather take their chances on a review from Manohla or one from an unknown stringer consigned to page 26, and I'd wager nearly every single one would take the risk.

Why?  Because Dargis is a great writer and 9 times out of 10, she writes about a film in a way that seems unique.  And because everyone reads what she has to say.

My own personal experience is that I wanted Dargis to review ABOUT A SON.  And she did.

It was not a good review.  Some even remember it as being particularly harsh.  The line that everyone seemed to latch onto was:

"It’s hard to know who the audience might be for the documentary oddity KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON, but I bet its subject, the guy who’s still being called on to entertain us even after his death, would have hated it."

As IFC's Allison Willmore wrote last week:

"It's only once in a while, as when Dargis came down full-force on AJ Schnack's ABOUT A SON when it received a small release, that it's felt unbalanced."

I remember that as we were opening in NYC, we were waiting for a bunch of theaters to decide whether or not to book the film.  And when the Times review broke, there were those who thought that we were done for (despite quite strong reviews in the Voice and other outlets).  After all, who would the audience be for such a film?

But what happened instead was that a bunch of theaters booked the film the day Dargis' review ran.  The feeling was that if Manohla Dargis had reviewed the film then it must be worthy of discussion.  (We also made more money and had a longer run in New York at the IFC Center - more than a month - than in any other city.)

And Dargis' review - pan though it was - inspired responses from other critics, including a lengthy piece from Sean Nelson in Seattle's The Stranger weekly, that was recently included in the Best Music Writing 2008 collection, who answered directly:

"Why should the subject like the documentary? Did those greedy Bible hucksters like SALESMAN? Did Robert Crumb like CRUMB? Could anything matter less? More importantly: The whole point (I hesitate to use the word "tragedy," though it certainly felt like one) about Cobain, consecrated by his mirthless image on posters down the ages and reinforced dramatically in the film, is that he didn't like anything about himself for very long."

So then, even for our small film, overshadowed as it was by the releases of numerous other films at the same time, a review by one of the nation's better critics started a conversation, which is, I'd hope, what we want our films to do. 

Now, I've got plenty of issues (as do others) with the state of film criticism related to documentaries, and Dargis is no exception.  She's more than once given head scratching praise to films that I consider to be exceptionally by the numbers or even off-the-rails mistaken - and she seems far more supportive of experimentation and form-busting in narrative than she is for nonfiction, which strikes those of us 'round here as mighty old fashioned. 

But when you create art - and if you haven't figured it out by now I do think that nonfiction films are (or at least can be) art - are you really supposed to be seeking the 100% fresh tomato rating?  You want to create discussion, debate, passion.  And sure, occasionally it's great if most (if not quite all) look upon what you've done and pat you on the back and give you laurels and awards and a bevy of praise. 

As Karina rightly noted in a post today about the success of CHE's roadshow this weekend:

"Any film worth a damn is going to inspire conflicting opinions."

In an age when film critics are underpaid, being bought out, termed out and forced out, I say let's raise a glass for the good writers who love movies, whether we agree or disagree with their judgments.  The democratization of film writing has reduced the power that critics once held - which is likely one of the key reasons (along with newspaper cutbacks) for the perilous state of film criticism.  But the ability of so many voices - whether in the NY Times or on our humble blog - to join the conversation encourages us to engage, to expand, confront and continue the conversation for any film that's worth a damn.

Wyatt Troll Has a Moonman

Congratulations are in order to our dear friend Wyatt Troll, who picked up the MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography Sunday night for his work on the White Stripes' "Conquest/Conquista" video.  The video was directed by Diane Martel.

Funnily enough, the category was a bit of a battle of KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON principals as Troll (who DP'd) took the award over Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Possess Your Heart", featuring KCAAS co-composer Ben Gibbard (though the latter did pick up the editing award).

Sean Nelson's "Dead Man Talking" Featured in Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2008

A nice little piece of news.  Sean Nelson (who writes about film and music for Seattle's The Stranger when he's not touring with Harvey Danger or starring in indie films like Lynn Shelton's MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE) has a contribution in the always excellent compilation Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2008, and it happens to be his review of our KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON.

It's a lovely, lengthy piece of writing, which we'd think even if it had nothing to do with us.  Some excerpts:

"The fact that this footage is shot in the present day instead of archival adds a layer of meaning that might not register so much outside the Northwest—which is fine; if it's about place, let it be about place. Seeing the familiar sights—there's Neumo's, there's the library, there's a lot of new condos—under Cobain's soliloquies is a powerful reminder that he's both a building block of the contemporary psychic (and physical) architecture of the region, particularly Seattle, and also in danger of being forgotten—not as a face or a voice, obviously, but as an exponent of a certain regional character. When Cobain was alive, the desire to escape your small town, make a name for yourself, make some music, and make some money presented a genuine dilemma for people schooled in what Cobain (sounding a bit like Courtney Love) disdainfully calls "the bohemian theory of musical revolution."

By the time the film's interviews took place, Nirvana was a global phenomenon and its frontman had had to reconcile himself to being thought of as a hypocrite by the devotees of this theory, whose spiritual center, not for nothing, was Olympia, the very town whose "taste of culture" made him get real about his music. Though he sounds convinced that the bohemian theory was full of holes, there can be no question that the man with a K Records tattoo on his arm was tortured by it while he lived. Surely, Nirvana was the first band for whom the appropriate way to demonstrate true appreciation was to not wear the T-shirt.The then-prevailing idea that being punk meant being real, and being real meant rejecting fame, money, and attention—that barely exists anymore, except as a marginal objection or a quiet personal choice. Even the notion that there's such a thing as selling out is largely obsolete today, partly because of Nirvana's success. In 1992, that notion was central to music culture in the Northwest (and plenty of other places), even as bands vied to swim in Nirvana's wake. If Cobain is a martyr to anything, it's not rock 'n' roll, it's that brutal ideology, which, like all ideologies, was utopian, and therefore built to fail. The film never says any of this, but the thwarted anger in Cobain's voice, and the scenes of a changed Seattle (including Sub Pop's well-appointed new offices) make it impossible not to consider.

(...)

And while it's probably true that he wouldn't have liked the film—too indulgent, too whiny, too many shots of Aberdeen—one can at least imagine that Cobain would've appreciated the opportunity to speak for himself, without the constant interpretation that he so despairingly resisted when he was alive. This is probably the ultimate reason that About a Son is the only way to do a film about Kurt Cobain, who was, for all important reasons, the last rock star: There's no thesis, no exegesis, no attempts to put him in a frame he didn't choose. It's just: Here he is, his words, his version—unfiltered, unmitigated, unmagnified even by his own blinding beauty. And for those of us who really did hang on his every word when he was alive, getting frustrated along with him at the way no one seemed to like him for the right reasons, the film's mandate to humanize a musician who has been handed down to history as a glowering 2-D icon is a welcome innovation.

But that still doesn't make it easy to watch, even all these years later."

About A Son Premieres Tonight on Sundance Channel

Further proof that the life of a film is long, my own KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON has its television premiere tonight on the Sundance Channel (it's playing all month on Sundance on Demand).

As much as I promote the theatrical experience for nonfiction films, there is little doubt that the largest audience for my film (as with most) will come from folks who catch it on TV.  Pleasantly, Ken Fox at TV Guide gave us a lovely review - 3 1/2 stars out of 4:

"Aside from a few black-and-white photographs, Kurt Cobain never appears in this documentary, nor is a single note of his music ever heard. Instead, filmmaker AJ Schnack's hauntingly beautiful film is a bold and successful attempt to recover the human being who disappeared under the heavy mantle of "face and voice of a lost generation," and whose life has been increasingly overshadowed by his sensational early death in 1994."

Thanks once again to all who helped make the film possible and to Sundance Channel for continuing to support my work.

KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON Out Today on DVD

Nearly three years ago, I started this blog in large part to serve as a filmmaking diary as I was about to start work on my second feature.  It has, over time, morphed into something else entirely, which is all for the good.  But occasionally we return to the original intent and purpose and today is one of those days.

There are many, many stages of getting your film out there, to a strangely inverse corollary of your own level of excitement or nervousness vs. the number of people who actually see the film.  There's that first screening, where tens or hundreds or, in the right festival or venue, a thousand people see your film, and your emotion is running high.  But as time goes on and you're at your fourth, fifth, sixth festival, the level of anticipation is obviously diminished, even as another hundred people here, another hundred there, sit in the dark to watch your film.

Same goes with a theatrical release, if you're lucky enough to get one.  It's not quite the same sense of wonder - after all, now it actually starts to matter whether or not anyone shows up - but you're potentially reaching a larger audience and getting more press.

Today is my third signpost on the journey to endless runs on the Sundance Channel, the release of the DVD of KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON.  It's not been a smooth journey, I will say quite frankly, and there were days when I started to wonder if there'd ever be a DVD release, and if there was one, whether I'd write anything about it here.  But ultimately, I'm proud and happy that all the folks who have written me asking why the film didn't come to theatres in Florida or Texas or Iowa or wherever, can now get the film from Netflix or Amazon or whatever outlet they choose.  (PS - If a film doesn't come to your town or state, it's not because filmmakers or distributors are snobs, it's because your local art house won't book it - and that includes the vaunted Landmark chain.)

So, here's to the release of a project that means the world to me.  And here's a bit from Sunday's LA Times article by Sheri Linden on the DVD release:

CAN a documentary filmmaker paint a portrait of a rock star without using his subject's image or songs? Avoiding every convention of the form -- including such basics as performance footage -- AJ Schnack has done just that in "Kurt Cobain: About a Son," coming to DVD on Tuesday, the day before the late Nirvana frontman would have turned 41. In the process, he's created a work of startling intimacy...

Schnack was drawn to (Charles) Peterson's photographs because they're often "more about movement and light than portraiture." Taking a similar tack, he constructs an indelible biographical document that's as personal as it is oblique...

The film's visceral charge and poignancy rest upon its pairing of presence and absence. Cobain is unseen but fully felt -- much like any important artist who dies young."

From Michael Corcoran at the Austin American-Statesman:

"He was a father, a husband and a son who never really got over his parents' divorce. And yet most people know Kurt Cobain only as a heroin-addicted rock star who took his own life in April 1994, just three years after his band Nirvana raked arena-rock hair bands right back into the strip-mall rock boxes where they belonged. "Kurt Cobain: About a Son," a haunting and haunted film just out on DVD, does the implausible, showing the self-martyred "voice of a generation" as a human being."

Thanks to lots of folks, starting with my closest collaborators - Shirley, Wyatt, Charles, Steve, Ben, Linda, Dave and Wade - and also to Jared, Connie and Greg for helping to make our theatrical release possible.  And thanks to the folks at Shout! Factory for their hard work and for getting the film out to lots of people.

Also, thanks to everyone at Barsuk, who have bent over backwards to support this film in ways that are just staggering to me.  They did an amazing job with the soundtrack and now, today, they are releasing, via iTunes and other digital services, Steve Fisk and Ben Gibbard's original score to the film.  I'm so proud of the work that Ben and Steve did, that I couldn't be happier that it's getting its own release.  There will be a vinyl version available soon as well.

Five Month Photo Spectacular

For much of the past 14 months I've been on the road with my film.  And with this past weekend's sojourn to my old Missouri stomping grounds, that traveling is now starting to draw to a close.  With that, I realized that there have been a whole flock of photos that I never got around to posting from the past five months on the road - including pictures from our Seattle premiere in May, our screening at the Atlantic Film Festival in Nova Scotia, our US theatrical premiere in New York as well as screenings in Philadelphia and the aforementioned Missouri.  So, with much (or little) fanfare, here's a recap of some of the past five months, starting with Seattle on June 2:

About A Son co-composer Steve Fisk and co-producer/author Michael Azerrad inside the W filmmaker lounge.

IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS director James Longley and legendary Seattle photographer Charles Peterson (and my About A Son co-conspirator) at the Barsuk Records-hosted after-party following our premiere.

Some of my crew at the after-party, including Eddie Adams (having a drink) and Ian Jennings (far right).  It was awesome to see everyone at the screening.

Moving on to St. Louis on July 22, when we did an advance screening at the Cinema St Louis Filmmakers Showcase:

Some of my pals from Edwardsville, Illinois join me for drinks after the screening at Blueberry Hill in the U-City Loop - Tree Ojeda, John Washburne, Nick Twesten and Julie Smith.

More Edwardsville friends - Mike and Stephanie Fedder.

Mark Bielik, Cliff Froehlich and Chris Clark, gurus of Cinema St Louis (and currently holding down the fort at the St Louis Film Festival) at Blueberry Hill.

Later that night, Nick Twesten man-handles my old pal Thad Summers as my newish pal Dave Johnson gets cell-photographic evidence.

Skip forward nearly two months to my short visit up to Nova Scotia for our screening at the Atlantic Film Festival on September 18:

Coming in by air...

...eating from the sea...

...dance party on the shore.

Center frame, the back of Norwood Cheek, my old friend and fine filmmaker who was in town to conduct a music video workshop with local filmmakers in Halifax.

My host in Halifax, Leigh Meldrum, and I at an afternoon reception.  I had a lot to live up to as Leigh previously had been squiring Mr. Al Maysles around the festival.  Methinks I paled in comparison.

Just a couple weeks later I was back on the east coast and in New York City for the premiere of my film at the IFC Center (where it's still playing, FYI, on the weekends).

My old New York pals David Levine and Sherise Lee before the premiere.

Balcony Releasing's Greg Kendall, legendary filmmaker Murray Lerner, Balcony's Connie White and Michael Azerrad at the NYC post-premiere party.

Filmmaker Sarie Horowitz (THREE OF HEARTS), the Flaherty Seminar's Mary Kerr and filmmaker Rachel Libert (BEYOND CONVICTION).

Writer/filmmaker Jonny Leahan, Holly Herrick of the Sarasota Film Festival and filmmaker Jennifer Venditti (BILLY THE KID).

Woodstock Film Fest programmer (and frequent indieWIRE contributor) Michael Lerman, filmmaker/blogger Michael Tully (SILVER JEW), filmmaker Paul Lovelace (BORN TO LOSE) and producer Jessica Wolfson (CRAZY SEXY CANCER and more) react to some post-party karaoke action.

This is our last dance.  This is ourselves...

Two nights later in Los Angeles:

Filmmaker Dave Mendel, About A Son producer Shirley Moyers, About A Son cinematographer Wyatt Troll, About A Son sound editor Kyle Schember, yours truly and filmmaker Gabe Fleming at the LA post-premiere party.

Three of my oldest and dearest friends, Diane Munoz, Kimm Birkicht and Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser at the LA reception.

Two weeks later, I was in Philadelphia...

...where I got to hang out with my pals Joey Sweeney and Ruth Carpenter.

Then back to Manhattan the next night for a performance by Who Shot Hollywood - four 11 to 13 year old boys from Massachusetts who sound a bit like Supergrass - at CMJ.

Lead singer & bass player Lucas Kendall.

Drummer & backing voicalist Dana Kendall.

Finally, earlier this week at the Moxie Cinema in Springfield, Missouri...

...where I got to spend some time with Moxie guru Dan Chilton and filmmaker/blogger David Lowery...

...Moxie co-guru Nicole Chilton and True/False Film Fest's David Wilson.

And with that I got back to Los Angeles (after a detour to Branson, MO, about which I hope to have more to say at a later date) for a week of catching up before I head this Wednesday to Denver for the fest there.  Whew.  I've exhausted myself.

But thanks, as always, to all the friends who hung out with me along this journey - from September of 2006 to the present.  You are swell.

Now at About A Blog: New Cities & Reviews

Now playing over at our self-promoting first cousin blog once removed:  the latest on our current theatrical dates (including opening in Boston, Denver, Nashville, St. Louis, Salt Lake City and Springfield, MO), plus recent reviews from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Boston Globe.

I'm on the road this weekend in my old Missouri stomping grounds.  Come on out to screenings in St. Louis tonight and tomorrow and Sunday in Springfield and say hello.  Apologies for the lighter blogging while I'm on the road.

Chat Live With Me at WashingtonPost.com Friday AM

On the occasion of the opening of my film in Washington DC today, I will be doing a live chat/discussion over at WashingtonPost.com on Friday, October 26 at 11:30 AM ET/8:30 AM PT.

Update: Chat's over.  But you can read the questions and answers here.

To join in or submit questions for AJ, click here.    While the purpose of the discussion is the film, I'd love to talk more broadly about nonfiction, so feel free to query accordingly.

Also, if interested, you can check out this lovely review from WaPo's Ann Hornaday.

Currently at About A Blog: Seattle Reviews & Screening Info

Right now over at the very Pacific Northwestern blog for the film - information on current theatrical engagements in Seattle, New York, Los Angeles and Pasadena, highlights from a well considered and lengthy review by The Stranger's Sean Nelson, links to a review and article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  More theatrical announcements due shortly.  Thanks to all who came out during the first week of the film's run.