Possible good news for Indie films in Upstate

I just got email from a friend that says that Spartanburg’s Regal Cinema Westgate 8 (the one at the mall) will be dedicating at least one screen to playing what the email says distributors refer to as “cinema art product.”  Essentially, limited release Independent films, foreign films and possibly even Art House films.  I’m excited for the Upstate.  I’ve long complained about this.  Greenville’s Cherrydale has made decent attempts at this with the occasional Indie film month; 4 indie films, 1 showing a week.  But, this seems to be a much more committed effort.

Apparently there’s a lot of support within the Regal group to make this work, including sending the local manager to California for occasional meeting with filmmakers, producers and distributors.  There’s talk of possibly having filmmaker Q&A’s at this location.

In conjunction with this, Spartanburg Film Society is working to help compile lists of desired and possible upcoming films to be screened.  Currently the film “Mongol” is set for screening June 27.  Other titles they are seeking to screen are The Fall, Choke, Encounters at the End of the World and Towelhead.

It shouldn’t require me saying, but I’ll say it anyway.  For something like this to work it will require support and viewers.  This means, if you’d like to see Independent cinema welcomed into the Upstate, with the possiblity of spreading into Greenville and Anderson, you need to make the trip to Spartanburg.  Without ticket sales, this will be a failed endeavor.

The ball’s in your court, Upstate Cinephiles.

More French horror?

I must say, this film seems intriguiging.  Thanks, Justin, for the blogs.

I’m apparently going to have to type more than I expected.

Why?

Because if I don’t this $&%* WordPress theme botches up the front page.

Lame.

Yes, I know.

Also, the image links to the web site for the film.

But, it’s all in French.

However, there’s two teaser trailers.

And trust me, all you get is teased.

So, that should be sufficient wasted space for now.

Au revoir!

My thoughts on “Semi Pro”

To say this film was a box office flop would be an understatement when compared to Will Ferrell’s previous box office hits.  Its opening weekend, “Semi Pro” grossed around $15 million, whereas on their respective weekends, “Talledega Nights” grossed over $47million and “Blades of Glory” brought in around $33 million.

Why did this film fail?

First off, let me state that I have yet to meet anyone that liked this film.  I don’t really understand why.  I do not believe that the antics of Will Ferrell are getting old.  My friends and I continually return to his “Best of” Saturday Night Live DVD as well as “Anchorman” and “Elf”.  So, if Will is still adored by many, what happened here?

I’ve watched the film almost twice now.  I say almost because I got an hour in and then had to leave it and then watched it from the beginning with my roommate.  The jokes are funny.  Will is Will.  Others are hilarious.  The situations are often just as over the top as his other films, and work.  So why aren’t people enjoying the film?

Unlike much of the previous hit films Will has starred in, “Semi Pro” also follows a dramatic story.  Not only a dramatic story, but an “under dog” type story.  We all know how much an American audience enjoys a story about someone (or a team) facing insurmountable odds and winning.  Right?  Balancing ridiculous humor and human drama and emotion can be a difficult task.  It works, folks.  “Semi Pro” almost scientific in its approach.  Haphazard basketball team is in danger of being financially dismantled, but has a snowball’s chance of being merged into the NBA.  Can the motley crew of selfish, undisciplined players ban together and beat the odds?  This is the stuff that has families joining families to watch.  America eats this crap up!  To boot, it’s full of raunchy humor.  This, is where I think the financial failures begin to show.

Under dog tales are what families love.  But, you can’t take the family to a film fraught with excessive foul language, raunchy sex talk and an uneccesarily long and voyeuresque sex scene.  I believe the filmmakers here failed to chose their target audience.  Frankly, if they wanted a raunchy sex comedy, they should have lessened the dramatic under dog aspect.  If they wanted an uplifting and fun under dog film, they should have cleaned up the language and been more creative with the sexual elements, or ditched it all together.  Instead, the filmmakers not only rode the fence of dramatic-comedy, they rode the fence of their target audience.  I believe the proof’s in the pudding when I say they failed.

Here’s my second theory to explain my thoughts on the lack of this film’s success.  Lighting and visual style.  Yep.  Now, the average Joe Viewer isn’t going to know lighting and visual style from long division.  But not knowing what to call something does not mean that something goes unnoticed.  Comedies are typically very bright and the lighting is balanced and consistent.  Comedies are almost supernatural in the lighting and visual style; finding a shadow or natural light reaction is difficult.  “Semi Pro” is lit more like what you’d expect to see a Coen Brothers film look like.  It’s dark and moody.  The lighting seems more natural.  There’s lots of shadow and a very muted palatte.  While the average viewer would not say, “the lighting is unsettling and moody,” their eyes see this.  Our brains symplify and associate things visually – just ask three people to draw a tree and see what I mean.  As people watch “Semi Pro” I believe they may be subconsciously unsettled by the images not matching what their mind expects when they hear a joke – the association of joke and bright image is broken.  I found myself noticing this as I watched the film.

These are far-fetched and unfounded theories.  The fact remains that “Semi Pro” has yet to find an audience that it clicks with.  I for one enjoyed the film, but I can already tell it will not garner repeat viewings like “Anchorman” and “Elf”.  I’d like to hear your thoughts and criticisms of “Semi Pro” if you’ve seen it.