As my friends were losing their goddamned minds for this movie at Sundance and SXSW, I deliberately skipped it at both events, since I knew it was part of the spring slate at my local movie house.
In a bid to maintain its status as my favorite New York City movie theater, the IFC Center invited Steven Soderbergh to moderate a Q&A with the writer, director, and star of Upstream Color, Shane Carruth.
Even though I was subjected to all manner of hype, I'm glad I waited, 'cause this was a pretty unique event - one of those things that makes me breathlessly grateful beyond words that I live in New York City.
Now, the movie? I was actually prepared to hate it. Usually any movie that elicits any "uh that made no sense" response from the masses is something I tend not to die for. I've been a little better with that lately - Holy Motors being one super notable example of a head-scratcher that I loved. Well, I'll go ahead and put this one in that same category.
It tells first of all a very strange story - and it tells it in a very unconventional and definitely artsy way. Combine those factors and I guess you'll alienate some. But, it was too gorgeous and moving to dismiss on account of its weirdness.
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What did I love about it? Well first, the inherent intimacy. There's nothing expected about the trajectory of the core couple in the film. You don't buy or not buy them because they're at "this stage" or "that stage" of their relationship. You do immediately sense the deep connection between them. That moved me.
I also enjoyed that I thought I was totally following the very splintered story, and was also certain it was all metaphor, start to finish. Then during the Q&A afterwards, turns out nope - totally literal. Well, that's fine! I will still think about my own hypothetical meanings. I guess you can do that with art.
It was not like anything else I had seen before. I am sort of dying to see it a second time.
The Q&A was fun. I was a little too deep in my own head trying to parse what I'd just seen to really pay close attention, but I enjoyed the rapport that Soderbergh and Carruth had. A few of the questions asked were purely for comedic value - such as "are you the outdoorsy type?" and "this movie has no cats in it. What's up with that?"
Good stuff. Thanks, IFC Center.
I saw this outstanding portrait of an artist at TIFF 2012 and was so moved that I wrote a passionate review saying these filmmakers were doing God's work. I loved being exposed to an artist I'd never heard of but whose work I knew by sight. But what was particularly remarkable in this film was that as nuanced, creative and unique as Tomi Ungerer is as a man, so was the approach the filmmakers took to telling his life story. That movie overflows with color and brilliance, in its subject and in the way it paints a picture, sometimes literally, of the fascinating life he leads. This was my favorite film of TIFF 2012, and the poster is one of three movie posters I hung on the walls of my new apartment. 
What was your dream? How close have you come to achieving it? How would you feel spending your whole life within spitting distance? Where does the line get drawn between failure and success but on a different plane? If you've ever wanted to be someone, or if you even just love music (okay so basically if you breathe air), you'll love this soaring, funny, and emotional documentary about back-up singers. The trailer, in attempt to sell tickets, shows the wide array of interview subjects - from Bette Midler to Bruce Springsteen - paying homage to the unsung (ha, get it) life of a back-up singer. But forget about those household names, because the real stars of this smashing documentary are the back-up singers themselves - the unstoppable Darlene Love, Merri Clayton, and Lisa Fischer, among others. 
Call Me Kuchu
In a bid to maintain its status as my favorite New York City movie theater, the IFC Center invited Steven Soderbergh to moderate a Q&A with the writer, director, and star of Upstream Color, Shane Carruth..JPG)
What did I love about it? Well first, the inherent intimacy. There's nothing expected about the trajectory of the core couple in the film. You don't buy or not buy them because they're at "this stage" or "that stage" of their relationship. You do immediately sense the deep connection between them. That moved me.
