By Ray Pride

There’s a concept lurking whenever I talk to people who write about film, or filmmakers, or film people at festivals. Let’s call it “the conversation.”

The conversation is the cultural conversation: how does storytelling stand out and seep into the larger consciousness in the twenty-first century? I’m writing this as the early figures have come in from Sunday: yes, “Avatar” has been beaten at the box office for the first weekend since it opened by “Dear John,” a movie directed toward a female audience, from a Nicholas Sparks novel. “Dear John” made $32.4 million, $10 million more than the most optimistic estimates. Multiple movies directed toward multiple constituencies or demographics, all making money: that’s how an industry survives and thrives.

But the Monday morning number that’s more striking is the ratings estimate of the Super Bowl, its 106 million viewers set to topple the “Most Watched Television of All Time” title held by the last episode of “M*A*S*H.” There’s the conversation: what gets more than a roomful of people talking for more than five minutes. It’s more than the nominal idea of the “water cooler conversation”: it’s about a notion or an idea taking root and being handed along. With new distribution strategies, it’s a difficult concern for, say, a social-issue documentary like Steve James and Peter Gilbert’s superb contemplation of the death penalty, “At the Death House Door,” which was financed by IFC and made available on cable and on demand. In the mid-1990s, when “Hoop Dreams” was made, a theatrical release window before video was the first of a series of platforms, and along the way, not only the film but its concerns were discussed in the media. But nowadays, there’s the danger that a finely tuned documentary with sports at its center can have a sterling first-shot audience if it debuts on ESPN, but it doesn’t strike a chord in the culture. “On-demand,” on the vast scrolling menus, can mean “no demand.” Each film becomes part of the cultural clutter; it’s a plateau instead of a platform. Subtextual issues of race, class and economy don’t become part of the conversation.

Steering clear of how “the conversation” is steered in contemporary politics, and staying with movies, in the case of “Avatar” the most prevalent conversational topic has been “is it worth the extra money?” and “Oh yes, it’s worth the extra money.” Nothing wrong with a smooth ride. Then other factors, and media memes erupt: is it an anti-American tract? Is that abrupt ending transcendent or nihilist? Is its story a match to “Strange Days,” a movie by Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron about transplanted consciousness that had its genesis at the same time as “Avatar”? Is this ride a rebirth of the moviegoing experience or the death of literate cinema? Its sleek success as the highest-grossing movie in history becomes a topic in itself: are 3-D and IMAX tariffs going to necessitate putting an asterisk beside its entries like a steroid-injecting baseball player? (Probably not questions to pose directly to Cameron: filmmakers and writers are supposed to be a little off the mark in life, and surfacing after years in the “Avatar” bathysphere, he’s living up to his own bold reputation.)

Nothing succeeds like success, it’s said, but nothing gets talked about like success. One of my treasured experiences this decade was seeing the entirety of Jacques Rivette’s twelve-hour-and-fifty-three-minute-long “Out One” over a Memorial Day weekend at Siskel; sold out, buzzing, a conversation onscreen and off, but quickly, you realize that single 16mm print has only been exhibited less than fifty times and that auditorium holds 197 people. 197! That conversation will eddy outward.

After Sunday night’s Super Bowl, not being in the company of full-on sports fans, the conversation afterwards was about the eight spots for upcoming movies and for a single commercial that were satisfying as narrative in the way that good movies are. Notably, it was the first broadcast ad for Google search. By yesterday afternoon, before it was identified as the ad Google would run, more than a million people had watched the sixty-second clip, “Parisian Love,” since its YouTube upload in November. A slosh in the bucket, still, compared to the Super Bowl audience.

There are a lot of striking things about it (including cleverly avoiding the clever ending of clicking on “I’m Feeling Lucky” as the final image of the commercial), but in terms of moviegoing today, and how people talk about movies (such as “The Hangover” or “The Blind Side”), as well the evolution of the distribution of smaller films, of foreign language films, “art-house films,” to use a phrase used as little as possible by distributors today, is the embedding of the phrase “Who is François Truffaut?”

It’s a bright, breathless ad but in the middle of its rush, that was the pause for me: that question has to be asked? But immediately the eyes-wide realization: that rhetorical question breezed past 106 million sets of eyes, not 197. Audiences are fragmented, attention is diverted, but subversive little details drop into the conversation. Plus, it’s the best short I’ve seen so far in 2010, with a late, great filmmaker name-checked in an elegant piece of commercial whimsy. And yes, “Avatar” is anti-human.

Chicago not-for-profit film production company Split Pillow has produced “Life as Lincoln,” a seventy-minute documentary darling, directed by local filmmaker Caitlin Grogan, about men who make their living—or at least part of their living—as Abraham Lincoln impersonators. “Presenters” is the term they prefer, and as the film focuses on three of these men it shows duties much more rewarding than ribbon-cutting at mall openings. Lincoln presenters are often called upon to appear and speak at schools; they are educators as much as they are entertainers. Grogan’s film, which bounces between Decatur, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington D.C., shines a light on three men who take their jobs as Lincoln very seriously—in many ways, we learn, their calling toward the great president saved their lives. Read the rest of this entry »

The Numero Group, primarily known as a record label, is venturing into new media with “Celestial Navigations,” a compilation of the work of Long Island filmmaker Al Jarnow, who’s created everything from children’s animation on shows like “Sesame Street” in the 1970s to trippy, experimental short films. “He has a really fascinating body of work,” says Numero Group’s Ken Shipley. “When we looked at it, we were like, ‘How can we piece this together the same way we piece a record together?’” Shipley says that the difficulty of putting together a film like this is comparable to the difficulties they face when putting together one of their comp records. “The life of a project tends to be about somebody being passionate about that discovery and driving it to the next place,” he says. “We have so many projects on our white board, there’s probably not enough time to complete them all in the lifetime of the label. A project is driven forward because someone becomes passionate about it.” Asked why exactly Numero Group decided to venture into film, Shipley shrugs, “For us it’s just, ‘Let’s make some cool shit.’” “Celestial Navigations” plays at the Siskel Film Center February 19-20. More info and footage from the film can be found here. (Tom Lynch)

The rumpled red carpet at the State Street entrance of the Siskel Film Center has a bright yellow sign right beside it early Friday evening: FALLING ICE.

In the lobby upstairs, James Allen Smith is nervous. The lobby stirs and buzzes. Smith’s feature documentary, “Floored,” is about to have its first Chicago showing. Three shows on two screens that follow an open-bar reception are sold out. Most filmmakers are nervous before a debut, but this is also a crowd comprised largely of its subjects, floor traders from the CME. They’re potentially its most fervent, eager audience as well. Smith, smiling, realizes he’s clutching an extra copy of the film in its gray plastic box. Greetings are cheery, masculine and plentiful.

“Whoo! Woo! How ya’ doin’, buddy!”

There are women in mostly separate scrums—here’s a fur, a Chanel clutch, “Yes, I remember, we met on the street in Glencoe”—but it’s the men who swan and peacock. There’s some Brooks Brothers with intermittent bowties. A young trader who’s featured loiters in a designer plaid porkpie atop a thick, distressed leather coat. A man juggles two iPhones and a silver card case like a cigarette case. Trader Joseph Gibbons, a producer of the film, wears a bold purple tie below large horn rims and shaved head, twirling a black cigar almost a foot long, the most expensive Tootsie Roll in the Loop. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago has the good fortune of regular archival programming at Siskel, Facets and the Music Box, but another venue’s slipping a sleek program into the mix starting this weekend. As part of Italics, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s survey of Italian art of the past forty years (running until February 14), eight films will be shown in glorious 35mm, including Visconti’s “The Damned,” Pasolini’s “Decameron,” Antonioni’s “The Passenger,” and little-known Bertolucci and Rosi. Gwen Infusino, Curatorial Administrative Assistant at the MCA, worked on the series. “In curatorial discussions, I had a tendency to compare everything to films, so it was exciting when this project came up.” She began with a list of 100 or so films; except for wild-card “Inglorious Bastards” (pictured) the 1978 inspiration for Tarantino’s latest, they came from that list. Read the rest of this entry »

Rod Blagojevich knows a lot about Elvis.  “If only I knew that much about government, huh?”  The former Illinois governor, indicted last January for conspiring to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat and other transgressions, showcases his zeal for all things Elvis while defending the 1964 musical, “Viva Las Vegas.”

On a night just before Christmas, Blagojevich speaks at Columbia College’s Cinema Slapdown. Begun in 2006, the Slapdown consists of a free screening followed by intense debate between a faculty member and guest. The atmosphere at Columbia’s Film Row Cinema is often electrifying; audience members boo and cheer the debaters, who ricochet barbs off one another as they argue the merits of films like “Barbarella” and “Showgirls.”

“Viva Las Vegas,” Blagojevich’s pick, is no exception.

Blagojevich goes toe to toe with Film & Video Professor Dan Rybicky, a man who softens no blows. “It’s hard for me to watch young, beautiful Elvis on screen without conjuring up later images of old, fat, drugged-out Elvis, popping pills and eating fried-peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches before dying an early, fat death… ‘Viva Las Vegas’ isn’t meant to be truthful or resonant, but that might be the difference between you and me, Rod. You might be looking for an escape when you watch a movie… and who can blame you for that, right?” Read the rest of this entry »

Top 5 U.S. Films
“The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow
“The Limits of Control,” Jim Jarmusch
“A Serious Man,” Joel and Ethan Coen
“Two Lovers,” James Gray
“The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Wes Anderson
—Ray Pride

Top 5 Foreign Films
“Summer Hours,” Olivier Assayas
“The Headless Woman,” Lucrecia Martel
“35 Shots of Rum,” Claire Denis
“You, the Living,” Roy Andersson
“Night and Day,” Hong Sang-soo
—Ray Pride Read the rest of this entry »

On December 6, Empty Bottle will screen “Wesley Willis’ Joy Rides,” a documentary about the late local musician and artist. “It was a lot of following him around during his everyday routine,” says Kim Shively, co-director of the documentary. The film is compiled of footage shot over the five years before Willis’ death in 2003. “The first time we filmed was in 1999 I think, and we went up until his death,” Shively says. “We actually weren’t even sure if we were going to finish when he died. We didn’t know if it would be appropriate, but it turned out to be a good tribute.” Willis himself wrote a song about the Empty Bottle, and he often referred to the venue in his lyrics. Shively describes her first impressions of Willis: “It was intimidating at first, being around him, but after you got past the initial uneasiness, you saw he was a great person. He had a bizarre sense of humor, and a unique perspective on the world, and pop culture in particular.”

Esteemed film critic and historian Jonathan Rosenbaum will give a talk at the Newberry Library on December 2 at 5:30pm about his upcoming collection of reviews and articles, “Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition,” set to be published in fall of 2010. A book signing will follow. Rosenbaum will be discussing the changing nature of film in regards to the Internet and digital media. “When I do these talks there’s an element of improvisation,” says Rosenbaum. “There’s a kind of division between the older generation of people who believe it’s the end of film, and the young generation of people who think this change is for the better, and it makes movies more accessible.” Rosenbaum finds himself on the side of this new generation of film enthusiasts. “I tend to think that the future of cinema will happen in places other than theaters. It’s no longer operated by the industry; it happens in storefronts and homes.”

Women In Film, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in the film industry, holds its annual fundraiser, The Focus Awards, October 20 at the Chicago Mart Plaza. This year’s evening gala will be decked out with a cocktail reception, a silent auction, dinner and a raffle, and nominees include Donna LaPietra, Emmy Award-winning producer, Janice Arthur, pioneering Steadicam operator and cinematographer, and Nora Dunn, comedienne, actress and director. “The whole event is about celebrating women who express themselves and make daring choices in the film industry,” says Melissa Thornley, president of the organization. “These are women who have followed their heart and done it in a successful way. That’s inspiring for a lot of women.”