Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I got an e-mail earlier this week from Chip Hourihan, a first-time feature director, to ask if I’d take a look at his film GLISSANDO, and I told him to drop one by the Labs. On his way over, he drove by the Egyptian, the venue for tonight’s showing, and he was impressed by what he saw. Now that I’ve had a chance to screen his film, I can say that I was impressed, too.
It’s a very small film, shot on DV for around $35,000, and it’s part of the American Cinematheque’s ongoing Alternative Screen Independent Film Showcase. The fact that they open up such an amazing theater for films that would otherwise be relegated to arthouses or video is one of the reasons I love the programming of that place.
The movie, written and directed by Hourihan, is based on a story by novelist Robert Boswell, and it’s a quiet, haunted little film about a kid who travels with his father in the early ‘70s, drifting from tiny desert town to tiny desert town. When a woman enters the picture, the dynamic between them changes, and things unravel. There’s no gimmicks, no big plot twists. It’s a simple film, and its strengths are largely performance-based.
Aspiring filmmakers especially would benefit from getting a look at this on the bigscreen. It’s a great example of making the most of one’s resources, and finding the right story to tell for a particular budget. Hourihan and his director of photography Luke Eder create a painterly look for the film, and they’ve made great use of the DV. I’ve gotta give Hourihan credit. He’s the model of an indie filmmaker, out there promoting his movie every day. I get handed a lot of tapes, and I feel bad because some of them are so weak that mentioning them and being honest about their flaws would be more damaging than anything. I also end up not being able to see everything that people give me. In a case like this, it’s a pleasure to be able to steer people towards something with such obvious merit.
Tickets are $9 general admission, $8 for students/seniors, and $6 for Cinematheque, IFP/West, LACMA, MUSE, WGA, DGA, and SAG members. They can be purchased at the box-office, and the film begins at 7:30.
"Moriarty" out.
