chris cunningham

Started by cowboykurtis, April 06, 2003, 11:34:51 AM

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Stefen

Yeah, and that sucks cause everything he has done has been gold.


What do you xixaxers think the chances are of him ever doing a feature? I think it's pretty fucking slim. (cowboykurtis, I am looking at you...long and HARD)
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.

Pubrick

Quote from: StefenP, where is your review? We are interested. Worked/Didn't work? Ya know?
i didn't wanna say anything too soon like my revenge of the sith review.

ok so it wasn't what i expected, that's my fault. once it stoppped being creepy, (after the menu, trailer, and site), or at least when i stopped thinking of it as creepy, it was still a brilliant music video. NOT worth the money, or hype, but it definitely worked. btw that ebaumsworld link is the worst way to watch it, half the frames are missing from the morph shots and u can't see shit in the darker shots.

in a dark room with the volume UP is the optimum viewing environment as crono said, but now having seen it so much it's starting to be FUNNY. which according to chris cunningham were his intentions anyway. in the same way that Windowlicker is quite funny and the dude screaming at the old lady in Come to Daddy is absurd genius.

if this really was a 10 part tv "series", rubber johnny would emerge as a sympathetic hero for the e-tarded generation.  his head is so huge and his eyes so bright and his mouth so expressive (LOVE those clicks), he is too harmless.. almost cute. this is what some of u called "cheezy". to think the music came before the film is mind boggling. he's got sumthing here, which over time will become more apparent as he works with new material (and yes i think he will, nay, must make a feature one day).

cunningham's flaw, if he has one, is that he isn't copying anyone. this kind of originality is sumtimes hard to take. like, wtf is going on? i dont' think he even bothers with that question himself. and if there is an answer it will be revealed as his work progresses. i think this quote is very insightful about his ideas:
Quote from: the cunningmanThe primary objective with this video and the collaboration with Squarepusher, was to try and push the synchronisation aspects of my work to the limit, before I did a feature. When I look at older videos, like Come on My Selector or Come to Daddy they look slow to me, even though they seemed fast at the time.
...
The bass line in [Afx. 237 v.7] sounded like an elastic band to me and so I got the idea of someone shapeshifting like a piece of chewing gum, whilst raving.
i hav yet to watch it one frame at a time, if only to appreciate how effortless he makes it look. yes, it is flawless on a technical level, and flawed as a narrative, yet so goddamn original, lucid, and "fast".. it's good before we even know why.
under the paving stones.

modage

when i saw david cross a few weeks ago he told a story about how one of the funniest things he has EVER seen was being outside of a hotel pool with Bjork and Chris Cunningham and a bunch of people.  then, this lady from the hotel comes out to say that nobody can be in the pool all nicely and cunningham charged her and pushed her into the pool from behind and there was a second of silence and then the entire place erupted with laughter.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Stefen

Damn, P, you just wrote all that and could have just said, "i liked it, I don't care u guys didn't"
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.

Pubrick

i'll keep that in mind next time u beg me for a review.
under the paving stones.

modage

Rubber Johnny has been removed from your Queue. We no longer have enough copies of the DVD to satisfy customer demand. Unfortunately, we are unable to purchase more of this movie and will no longer offer it for rental.

We realize this is disappointing and want to reassure you that we remove movies from our web site only in unusual circumstances.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you find many other movies to enjoy at Netflix.


DAMNIT!
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

killafilm

It's not even $12 through Amazon.  I couldn't find it at my local tower though.  

I'll agree that it might not live up to his other works, I'll still say that it's rather genius.  I've had just as much fun getting friends to check this out as I did with Widowlicker, and to a sicker extent tubgirl.

I'm not sure how well editing to a song to that extent would work in a feature, but I sure hope he tries.   :-D

Pubrick

Quote from: killafilmI'm not sure how well editing to a song to that extent would work in a feature, but I sure hope he tries.   :-D
i don't think he ever intended to try it on a feature, that would be stupid. in fact, from what he's said, he wanted to get over the synchronization experiments so he wouldn't hav to try them in a feature.
under the paving stones.

Stefen

So, I bought Rubber Johnny and the film on the DVD is different than the one floating around the net (and the one posted here) the DVD is longer and alot better, the one on the net is all the cheesy stuff like the handicap breakdancing. It still doesn't have any narrative but it's alot better than I originally thought. That little dog is adorable, reminds me of Fulty.

It came packaged like a childrens book. But I guess if you look at it from a certain way it really is a childrens film for adults. I really wish it had more on it though, maybe the light aircraft on fire video cause that wasn't on the directors label dvd. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

I can never see him doing a feature film. As a matter of fact I think his work with film will be rare from here on out. And that's a bummer.
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.

hedwig

nice review. i liked the online video but what you described sounds great. im gonna get it.

RegularKarate

Quote from: Stefena childrens film for adults

you mean "a film" ?

Stefen

Yes. A childrens a film for adults. No.
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.

72teeth

Quote from: StefenI can never see him doing a feature film. As a matter of fact I think his work with film will be rare from here on out. And that's a bummer.

This may not turn out to so true,

http://pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/c/cunningham_chris-05/
very good read

Hopefully this isn't just talk, if he can actually follow through with it all, this may be the begining of something good.
Doctor, Always Do the Right Thing.

Yowza Yowza Yowza

modage

Quote from: PitchforkPitchfork: I was always surprised you never did a Radiohead video, it seems like your style would work with their music really well.

Cunningham: I'm just not a fan. I recently bought OK Computer-- I'd never heard it-- and I thought it was amazing. There was one song on there that I thought, "Fuck, I would have loved to have made a video for that song."

Pitchfork: Which one?

Cunningham: "Subterranean Homesick Alien". At that time I was so into Aphex and Squarepusher and Boards of Canada-- my head was in a completely different place.

Pitchfork: That's ironic because after OK Computer they tried to incorporate some Aphex-type elements into their music. Have you heard Kid A?

Cunningham: No, I've heard odd tracks. I've heard enough to know it's not my cup of tea at all. I think they're fucking incredible, just not my taste. .
P, respond.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pubrick

Quote from: themodernage02P, respond.
it took me a couple days to get over it.  :shock:

seriously tho, that's gotta be one of the best interviews he's given. it's great how open he is about his process and honest he is about what he can and can't do. along with the radiohead revelation, he said he was not a "kubrick obsessive" but explains it well enough:
Quote from: CCI've been offered some pretty big stuff but if I'd been offered that I would have had a conflict because, on one hand I'm struggling to establish my own identity and I'm a new filmmaker and I've just made a few videos-- I was just finding out what I was about starting to understand my subconscious. I feel like each time I do something I want it to be more and more recognizable that it's me so, by the time I do a film, my films will be as recognizable as someone like David Lynch or someone who's got their own thing going on.

he's got his head in the right place, these observations and comments were also a highlight:

QuotePitchfork: Yeah, with Michel, his ideas seem so simple, they always have this great childlike quality...

Cunningham: I totally agree. When I saw his video out of a window of a train [for the Chemical Brothers' "Star Guitar"], I thought, "Why the fuck didn't I think of that" because most of my ideas come while looking out the window of a train. It's brilliant.

QuotePitchfork: Are you just having a lot of trouble adjusting from short videos to a feature-length film?

Cunningham: I think I'm smart enough to know that when I was doing videos I understood instinctively that you have work with bolder strokes and make an impression in five minutes and be more extreme. It's almost like being a comic book artist: You're not using reality as your medium, it's more like a fanstasy. Whereas with features you have to sit down and adapt your skills. Editing pictures to sound is one skill but that's of no use in film because I'm working with story and performances. I have to now apply my technical abilities to a completely different set of parameters. That's one of the reasons why I haven't made a film: I haven't yet found a story that checks all the boxes in all the things I'm interested in and is a strong enough to hold and hour and a half. It would be really easy to make a bullshit abstract film or something that's really visual. I do really love stories.
he's more like kubrick than he cares to admit.

QuotePitchfork: So it's basically going to be a album with a video to every song?

Cunningham: Maybe, or maybe an EP with videos. I'm not sure yet because I'm still working on it. It's a total left turn, it's something that's more exciting to me than making a feature film because that's so predictable. It's just about wanting to try things you haven't done before-- you don't know if it's going to work.
this dude is on "some Other shit".
under the paving stones.