Comments on: Goodbye Solo, This American Life, and Ramin Bahrani

By: Good Bye Solo » Pierced to the Heart

Good Bye Solo » Pierced to the Heart — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:18:23 +0000

[...] Comments about the director’s work on Filmwell [...]

By: Alissa

Alissa — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:37:08 +0000

Ford: Yes, you’re right about King of Kong, to a degree – I’d read that about Billy. But it IS a story about a culture many often look at disdainfully. I went to an engineering school for my undergraduate degree, a place rife with extreme gamers and gaming culture, and found it refreshing that Steve is a pretty normal guy. You’re right that it’s true that they did force them into something to create a narrative.

By: Ford Seeuws

Ford Seeuws — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:20:12 +0000

It took me a while to warm up to Chop Shop, but upon reflection I found it to be a film loaded with reality making it a suitable counterpoint to a film like Slumdog (which I liked, but for very different reasons). While lesser films would have had Ale’s dream fulfilled, this film was a good reminder that dreams can be unrealistic distracting and should be dashed (or prolonged).

I, too, am looking forward to catching up with Goodbye Solo.

I would like to mention, however, that while I loved The King of Kong after a first viewing, upon reading up on the circumstances surrounding the film (including a phenomenal article in Harper’s that focused on another of Billy Mitchell’s competitors*), I found that KOK succumbed to the type of box-making you mentioned earlier. It has to have a villain, so through very creative editing and manipulation of the details, the filmmakers force Billy and Steve into their respective boxes of protagonist and antagonist.
I grow tired of the glut of films that are documentaries in name only.

* http://laweekly.blogs.com/joshuah_bearman/files/harpers_billy_mitchell.pdf

By: M. Leary

M. Leary — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:34 +0000

Man Push Cart really did help me appreciate Chop Shop a bit more. I thought the latter feigned a neo-neo-realism that was undercut by his sentimentalism for these two young actors. Man Push Cart is even more effectively unprocessed.

But honestly, thinking back through all the great neo-realist or new wave films about children (400 Blows, Les Mistons, Small Change… okay, new wave), I can’t help but think these auteurs have a hard time de-sentimentalizing stories about children. I guess anything else would be unnatural.

By: Jeffrey Overstreet

Jeffrey Overstreet — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:54:24 +0000

I'm really looking forward to Goodbye Solo. Thanks for the recommendation. Tony Scott's mention of Happy-Go-Lucky's Poppy as an interesting kindred spirit for this film's taxi driver, and his note that Bahrani calls The Flowers of St. Francis an influence for this film, have me extremely curious. I admired Chop Shop, but couldn't get past a sense of detachment from what was happening onscreen. It may be that I've seen too many "Dardennes-esque" films recently; perhaps I'm burning out on the style. Or it could be that the style felt too much like Bahrani was a film student trying to make a Dardennes film, without finding something that was his own in the process. I never felt drawn in the way I have been with the stories told by other neorealists. Watching Lance Hammer's Ballast," I was mesmerized, but its neorealism also allowed for some surprisingly impressionistic imagery and a compelling rhythm that was achieved in the editing. Having said that, I was persuaded - entirely - by the world Bahrani observes here. The actor were convincing, and I doubt that much work was done to prepare any "sets." It felt like an environment discovered, not fabricated. And I share your enthusiasm for storytelling that allows characters like these their dignity. (Are these some of the people Falk was referring to in Wings of Desire when he mentioned "extra people"?) I suppose it's time to go back and check out Man Push Cart. Maybe that will help me appreciate Chop Shop better.