Ramin Bahrani

Started by Stefen, November 28, 2009, 02:30:19 AM

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Stefen

I figured it's about time this dude gets his own thread and I didn't see one.

He's made three really great movies; Man Push Cart, Chop Shop and his most recent (and possibly best), Goodbye Solo.

Definitely someone to keep an eye on.

All three of his flicks are available to instantly stream on Netflix if you have an Xbox 360 or PS3. Check them out if you can. They're all worth it.  :yabbse-thumbup:
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Gold Trumpet

Good thread. I've been thinking about Chop Shop more and what's wonderful isn't just that it's about characters whose stories we seem to cast off in favor of others, but Bahrani has a fascinating perspective of how to show it. For most of Chop Shop, the camera solely fixates on the impoverished surrounding of these teens as if they live in another world. There is no greater identity to the squalor in which they live other than the sweeping poverty throughout it's block by block radius. That makes the largeness of the character's poverty seems endless because we (the audience) have little clue of what is outside their little world. Then an image like Yankee stadium suddenly appears in the background. It is very powerful. There is no other marker of civilization like it in the rest of the film. There are few other landmarks in the film to identify the greater Brooklyn that the rest of the world knows, but Yankee Stadium appears as a temple in the frame. The characters stand there talking while it looms in the background. While it technically looks close to them, it also feels very far away. The geographical claustrophobia in the film achieves that feeling.

Other films like Knife in the Water and general thrillers go for this effect, but this technical feat has such relevance to the themes in the film because these characters seem hopeless to improving their situation to do anything that isn't already around them. They just want to make the salt of the earth they inhabit a little better.



On other Bahrani films, I was happy when I went to Family Video (the only chain video store in town) and saw Goodbye Solo. As as soon as I am done with school this semester, my first order of business will be to rent and watch it.


Gold Trumpet

(Taken from my new blog: http://filmsplatter.wordpress.com/)

Plastic Bag:


A sincere review of an absurd short

Ramin Bahrani is one of the most exciting new American filmmakers. If you're analyzing along the lines of story, his films are simple and relatively straight forward. The separation point for Bahrani from other filmmakers is that his simplicity is entrenched in a style reminiscent of Werner Herzog's 1970s naturalism. Herzog made some standout films (Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Nosferatu) and he made some duds, but the places he went to achieve a personable look and keep a lens so close to the nature of the character's action is what stands out. Herzog's films are still striking today, but they retain an acceptable viewpoint because many of the films are historical works and about different worlds and realities. Bahrani's films so far (especially Chop Shop) are incredibly striking because they are about visions in our world that are drenched in poverty and disdain but are ordinary realities for some people. The vigor of Bahrani's dedication in not splitting hairs with what is there is what keeps the images in his film lasting memories.

In this short film, Plastic Bag, the vigor is carried over to a story that has a plastic bag as the subjective viewpoint. Again straight forward and simple (with Werner Herzog on narration), the way Bahrani refuses to separate himself from the absurd idea of a plastic bag as character and subject is striking because it allows him to create a fascinating tonality, but Herzog's dry narration is what sends the story into beautiful hilarity. Even when making semblance of a ridiculous subject, Bahrani continues on with the idea that dedication for the truth of a situation (however small) is what matters.

Stefen

I like your blog. I'll keep an eye on it.

Something I've noticed while cleaning out going out of business video stores is how many copies the big chains seem to have of Goodbye Solo. Each Hollywood Video seems to have 20 to 30 copies. I wonder why they stocked so many of them for rental? There's a lot of copies of Silent Light, as well. Makes no sense.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

wilder

'99 Homes' Director Ramin Bahrani To Helm 'Fahrenheit 451' For HBO
via The Playlist

HBO has tapped Ramin Bahrani ("99 Homes," "At Any Price") to write and direct a new adaptation of the novel. Francois Truffaut previously brought his vision of Bradbury's work to cinemas in 1966, telling the story of Guy Montag, a fireman tasked with burning contraband material, who suddenly has a crisis of conscience.