Indie film discovers sci-fi spectacle

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:01:00 +0000

In Charles Drazin's excellent new survey "French Cinema," the British academic argues that the tension between realism and spectacle in motion pictures goes all the way back to the beginnings of cinema in the 1890s. Thomas Edison's first Kinetoscope films were pretty much recordings of novelty acts -- sword-swallowers, magicians, Indian dancers from Buffalo Bill's touring variety show. In France, the Lumière brothers documented episodes from ordinary life: workers leaving their factory, a train pulling into a station. I'm not arguing that one approach is inherently superior to the other (although Drazin clearly is), but I would suggest that almost all narrative cinema made since then has involved a fusion of those two tendencies. Hollywood movies skew toward the sword-swallowers while indie and/or foreign flicks favor the factory workers.

Sitting down with “Bellflower’s” creator

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:03:00 +0000

The DIY filmmaking movement has heralded a lot of great work, to be sure, but giant fireballs, death cars and motorcycle crashes really haven't been a part of the genre. Well, not until now.

"Bellflower" is an explosive indie film about two best friends Woodrow and Aiden (writer/director Evan Glodell and Tyler Dawson) obsessed with preparing for a "Mad Max"-style apocalypse. No, they're not stocking up on food and water; they're building flamethrowers with diesel fuel and re-creating the Mother Medusa car from "Road Warriors." Things take an unexpected turn when Woodrow falls in love, and the film alternates between a sweet indie comedy and something much darker and surreal. "Bellflower" does have its apocalyptic elements, but they are deeply personal, not the end-of-the-world scenarios these boys envision.

The unraveling narrative of "Bellflower" mimics the lives of its creators: It's taken Glodell five years to complete the film, for which he nearly bankrupted himself and all the actors involved. "I had a bit of a breakdown during shooting," Evan tells me after the film. "I kept thinking, 'What if I've ruined everyone's lives and this never even gets finished?'"

Salon.com > Bellflower

Indie film discovers sci-fi spectacle

Sitting down with “Bellflower’s” creator