Mighty Movie Podcast: Oliver Schmitz on Life, Above All

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Saturday, 16 July 2011 00:24

Written by Daniel Persons

Maybe you're gonna weep at the tale of a child paying a steep price for a community's silence. Maybe you're gonna take heart at the thought that one voice, breaking through that silence, can rescue not just the child, but all those around her, even the ones insisting on that fearful hush. Either way, Life, Above All -- the new film by director Oliver Schmitz, based on the young adult novel Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton -- is a beautifully powerful exploration of a still-troubling problem of the third world. Shooting on location in the South African township of Elandsdoorn using mostly hand-held cameras, Schmitz tells the tale of a young girl, Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka), coping with the death of her newly-born sister and the incapacitation of her mother, a task made all the more daunting in a town where the word AIDS dare not be uttered. With spare elegance and impressive performances from a largely first-time, juvenile cast, Schmitz explores how fear and superstition can destroy the lives of those whose lives have barely begun. The message is important, and the impact indelible.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Schmitz.

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Cinema Master John Carpenter Returns To Form With "The Ward"

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Wednesday, 13 July 2011 14:12

Written by Brad Balfour

When word had it that veteran director John Carpenter, one of the greats of horror and sci-fi filmmaking, was returning to feature films with the release of his latest, The Ward, I jumped at the chance to talk with him.

Made in 2009, the sneaky shocker premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 but hadn't really settled into my fear monitor until now, as it finally gets a theatrical release.

For more than three decades, Carpenter made a career out of redefining what is scary through such signature films as Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), and Prince of Darkness (1987). He added to his rich catalog later on by revising classic sub-genres of horror with the Lovecraftian In The Mouth of Madness (1994) and Vampires (1998).

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Mighty Movie Podcast: Michael Tully on Septien

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Friday, 08 July 2011 19:03

Written by Daniel Persons

It's hard to put a precise finger on the nature of Michael Tully's Septien. I'm starting to think of it as kind of a Southern gothic chamber piece with epic ambitions, a family comedy-drama that at points incorporates inquests into the natures of love, creativity, competition, sex, and ultimate good and evil. Or maybe it's just a lark that three colleagues -- Tully and his co-writers Onur Tukel and Robert Longstreet -- put together to mess with our minds.

(It's also not the first time in very recent cinema that the South has risen again in curious ways -- check out General Orders No. 9 as well.)

Nevertheless, the tale of three brothers -- also played by Tully, Tukel, and Longstreet -- trying to rebuild their familial bond after one had fled years ago travels a strange, twisted, and ultimately fascinating route that frequently defies expectations. It essentially delights in its own impertinence -- fortunately, it's charming enough to get away with it.

I got a chance to talk to Tulley about the film. Click on the player to hear the interview.

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