петак, 31. јул 2009.

GROSSMANN 2008: THE SEQUEL

Evo i nastavka izveštaja sa prošlogodišnjeg Grosmana u kome se otkrivaju hajlajtovi - susret sa Yuznom i Cormanom!

IV dan

(sreda)

OD MURE DO MARBLHEDA

Sreda je već redovni dan za čamčarenje Murom (jerbo za splavarenje treba – splav, a ovo se radi naduvenim gumenim čamcima za 10ak osoba svaki) – do Ostrva ljubavi i njegove širom Slovenije čuvene Rakije Afrodizijače.

Malo strepnje je izazvala vest da ima mesta samo za 30 osoba pa već paranoično počeh da očekujem Tomaža kako mi šapuće: "E, za tebe nema mesta; a uostalom, bio si već na ovoj turi prošle godine..." To se, ipak, nije desilo: čak ispade da je manje od 30 ljudi krenulo na polazišnu tačku. Izostali su skoro svi Hrvati (kako čujem, mnogo se zapili prethodne noći) ali je Jor ovog puta (za razliku od prošle godine) stigao na vreme. Eto šta znači kad čovek ima ženu da ga podseća na sve i muva laktovima kad zatreba. Aca i ja se smestismo u čamac u kome su bili Juzna i ženica, Šijan (čija Narcisa tog dana još nije bila među nama) i nekoliko Slovenaca, Marko included. Većina VIP gostiju je veslala, dok smo se mi, sitnije ribe, zajebavali.

Prošle godine su u čamcu služili vino + špricer. Ovog puta u ponudi je bilo samo hebeno PIVO (usred festivala VINA, znam!) i u znak protesta zbog ove nečuvenosti ja uzeh jednu limenku od pola kila i- iako pivo ne mogu da smislim- tijekom plutanja po vodi je iskapih do kraja! To uradih iz čiste zlobe, da bude jedno manje za njih, a ne zato što sam pod stare dane u sebi osjetio naprasnu ljubav ka pivi. (Malo kasnije, na Ostrvu Ljubavi, uradih i drugi presedan: iako ni rakiju ne mogu da smislim a kamo li podnesem, uzeh da probam jedno čokanjče tog 'afrodizijaka'. Za razliku od piva, koje bez problema -ali i bez naročitog užitka- popih pola kile, ove rakijštine jedva podnesoh 3-4 mini-gutljaja pre nego što dadoh čokanj iskusnijim rakijašima.)

Marko je bio ili pijan od ranog jutra ili neotrežnjen od sinoć-jutros, u svakom slučaju – baš kako treba! Zezao se sa Šijanom koji ga, izgleda, iskreno planira za neki naredni film kao naturščika. S Juznom se tek tu i tada formalno upoznah, i odmah počesmo priče o tome šta radi, šta se dešava u svetu low-budget horror filma itd. Reče da je nedavno počeo da radi (i živi!) u Indoneziji, odakle pokušava da launchuje svoju novu kuću Komodofilms.com (coming soon). Najavio je da će mu naredni film biti AMPHIBIOUS, o džinovskom škorpionu koji spopada neku vrstu naseobine za radnike na platformama usred mora, što me nije ispunilo entuzijazmom.

Sve je na Ostrvu ovog puta bilo bolje: imali smo organizovanu turu sa vodičicom (koja nije bila baš tolerantna prema mojim zapitkivanjima, ne znam zašto). Prvo nas je vodila u kolibicu-'muzej' sa starostavnim alatkama koje koriste domoroci u ovim krajevima, a čak nam je pustila i DVD sa snimcima toga kako se ovde prave nekakvi ljudski ekvivalenti dabrovih brana kad naiđu poplave. Poseban akcenat je stavljen na sexualnu ikonografiju svih tih klinova i balvana koji se zabijaju u majku zemlju i raznih nekih klipova koji in-out-in-outuju u procesu pravljena svega toga. Juzna je sve to slušao i pratio sa iskrenim interesovanjem (valjda mu proradio slovenački gen – jer, kako ispade, kasnije mi je priznao da ta fora o njegovim navodnim slovenačkim precima sa Grosman sajta uopšte nije patka no istina). Mi ostali smo nestrpljivo cupkali čekajući ručak. Pre njega umalo da ostanem bez palca desne ruke tijekom nezaboravnog iskustva vožnje splavom preko Mure i nazad, kada je splavar nenajavljeno povukao nekakvu metalnu ogradu koja se sklopila tik uz moj prst! A onda, dođe vreme i za ručak!

Organizatori su mudro odbacili prošlogodišnje experimente sa podvarkom i pireom, i umesto toga spremili PRAVU hranu: izvanredan lovački gulaš iz kotlića koji smesta obrisasmo ko da ga nije ni bilo + nekoliko vrsta mesa (svinjske šnicle, nešto nalik ćevapima ali bez ovčetine, pečena piletina...). Sve to uz mnogo vina. Preko puta mene sedeo je Tom Mes, koga sam i dalje pokušavao da ispitam oko nekih ekskluziviteta, ali on ostade jerk kakav je bio sve vreme: bez vidljive varnice strasti i bez preterane elaboracije pričao je o jednom od novijih Miikeovih filmova koji je video pre svih nas (GOD'S PUZZLE). Kako tradicija nalaže, na Ostrvu sam se opet opio do granica izdržljivosti, a onda se u takvom teturavom stanju zaputio u šipražje očekujući avanturu. Naravno, ništa bitno se ne desi, sem malo mog pijanog tripovanja.

Ubrzo dođe vreme i za povratak u Ljutomer jer pravi program je tek predstojao: te večeri je bilo predviđeno moje predavanje o Lovecraftu, a potom i Šok Koridor. Kako se ne bih suviše obrukao, odmah po povratku se bacih u kraću dremku e ne bih li iz sebe isterao malo alkoholnih para i bio iole oran za govoranjciju...

Tik pred predavanje otkrih da Tomaž nije obezbedio video bim za projekciju slika iz Providensa pa, uz malo povuci-potegni i last minute organizacije uzesmo Bekijev, budući da je njihov ŠOK KORIDOR ionako bio predviđen za isto veče malo kasnije. Pošto sam proverio da je platno čvrsto vezano za zid pozadi i da ne može da mi padne na glavu, sedoh ispred. Ovo puta su, za razliku od prošlogodišnje koka-kolice, na sto metnuli flašu belog vina tako da je, ipak, napredak počeo da se ogleda i u takvim detaljima. Budući da je u 21h bila predviđena projekcija REANIMATORA (uz Juznin uvod) na trgu, 50m dalje, a već smo kasnili s pričom, nisam mnogo dužio sa svojom žvakom, tim pre što je bilo predviđeno da mi se malo kasnije pridruži Juzna u razgovoru.

Pričao sam na engleskom sve vreme. Rekoh nešto malo o Lavkraftovom značaju (kosmička strava; body horror, itd.) a onda se bacih na exkluzivnije stvari: slajd šou iz Providensa, sa HPL groba, iz Braun Univerziteta, iz Marblheda i Salema, uz moje komentare. Potom pozvah Juznu da popričamo o Lavkraftu na filmu, uopšte, a i konkretno u njegovom opusu. Juzna je i tu kao i svuda ispao car i bio vrlo inteligentan i sadržajan sagovornik: taj deo priče transkribovan je i sada je onlajn u vidu intervjua.

Onda odosmo na trg, gde je Juzna vrlo kratko najavio film, a ja sedoh da ga, na otvorenom, uz još 100ak okupljenih na drvenim, ne baš udobnim stolicama, pogledam po 8. ili 9. put u životu, a prvi put na velikom platnu. (Btw: nosio sam DVD s spec. izdanjem tog filma Juzni na potpis, i sticajem okolnosti i moje senilnosti skroz zaboravio da mu ga na kraju dam da potpiše!) Film je, naravno, dražestan, ali mi je na ovo gledanje delovao škripavije nego što ga pamtim: traljavije režiran (vidi se da je Gordon tu tek učio zanat) i sa nekim zaista trapavim efektima maske.

Potom svratih do Press centra – koji ove godine nije bio pored sudopere u pozadini kafića Mitra, već u sasvim pristojnoj prostoriji sa čak 4 kompa (od kojih 1, istina, nije radio) da bacim pogled na net. U povratku opet krenuh preko trga, u nameri da odem iza Hotela i ispratim ŠOK KORIDOR: međutim, baš tada je na trgu kretao SOCIETY. Uvodne scene mi privukoše pogled, i ja na licu mesta promenih plan: dođavola, ŠOK ću da pogledam na snimku koji neko sigurno pravi, a SOCIETY bih baš i mogao da ispratim sa bio-trake. Tim pre što je poprilično godinica prošlo otkad sam ga prethodni put pogledao. Dakle, neplanirano, ali vrlo rado odgledah i tu reprizu, sa sličnim zaključcima: kolikogod moje divljenje bilo prema Scr. Mad George-u, efekti su ipak značajno prevaziđeni, i baš je tužno što danas čak i tako jadni neduhoviti isprtci poput SLITHERA imaju značajno bolje efekte, a znatno bolje napisan i odglumljen, pa čak i solidno režiran film poput Sosajetija prilično klimavo stoji baš u svom glavnom selling pointu! :( Ipak, dobar scenario učinio je svoje, i ja sa velikim interesom i blagim udivljenjem obnovih i taj film.


V dan

četvrtak

BUT, MR CORMAN...

Relativno rano ustajanje isplatilo se: oko 11h krenusmo mega-kombijima (ili mini-busovima?) ka obližnjem pitomom i ljupkom mestašcu na još jednu turu konzumacije vina, ovog puta na samom izvoru: u vinskim podrumima. Aca se zapio prethodne noći i nije mogo da ustane toliko rano, a i većina ostalih 'naših' ostala je što po sobama što ko zna gde; od Srba društvo su mi pravili jedino Šijan i Marko. Od stranaca, tu behu Švedi (tvorci FROSTBITE-a). Prvo nas odvedoše u obilazak postrojenja za pravljenje ove božanske tekućine, 7 spratova (uz jedno kratko ali slatko zaglavljivanje u liftu), a onda i malo dalje – u vinske podrume koji su nam ovog dana bili domaćini.

U svežini vinskog podzemlja, u blago-gotskom ambijentu, ispod bareljefa dionizijskih božanstava, kraj gotski ukrašenih rešetki prema ko zna kakvim lagumima i tamnicama, umakli sa spoljašnje vrućine u hlad, stajali smo i kušali 5-6 sorti vina, a svaku sortu pregrađivali zalogajima komadića hleba i kačkavalja (potonji navodno 'briše' sa nepca sećanje na prethodno vino, pa se lakše mogu razlučiti njihovi ukusi). Beše zabavno kad u jednom trenu nestade struje u tom podrumu: nastupio je MRKLI mrak, potpuna neprozirna tmina tokom jednog minuta, dok nisu doneli sveće i ambijent učinili još sugestivnijim i prijatnijim...

Potom odosmo do dvorca Jeruzalem, gde je upravo pristigla Narcisa Šijan, a pridružila nam se ljupka i divna Juznina žena koju su veoma zabavljala moja i Markova nadmetanja u "ko će koga" (više da ismeje). Tu se nastavilo opijanje (Marko je častio) tako da se u hotel vratih potpuno urnisan i sa jakom potrebom za okrepljujućim snom e ne bih li trezven dočekao deda-Kormana čiji se dolazak i veče sa zvezdama očekivao kasnije. Zbog prokletog vina morao sam da prespavam češki film koji je išao u 17h (!!!) za koji mi posle neki rekoše da je odličan. Eh, super je spoj filma i vina, ali vino ipak ima prednost. Filmove imam i kod kuće, a ovo i ovakvo vino baš i ne!

Kad odreman i otrežnjen siđoh u baštu hotela koja gleda na trg, Corman i Yuzna su već sedeli i ćakulali, kao i njihove ženice, dok su ih organizatori uglavnom zadivljeno i nemo posmatrali. Sedoh za sto iza njih, gde je bio još Jor sa ženicom, i još neki. Zapazih da je Corman jedini u celom mom Grozman-iskustvu za ove 2 godine imao superstar tritment koji uključuje čak i nekakvog bodigarda koji je muklo stajao, uspravan, sa agent-Smithovskim slušalicama u uvetu i pretećim pogledom iza tamnih naočara streljao trg u potrazi za eventualnim slovenačkim (ili inim) teroristima opasanim dinamitom, spremnim da se bace na Cormana u znak osvete za sramotni rimejk MASKE CRVENE SMRTI koji je producirao 1990te! Naravno, slučajni prolaznici nisu imali pojma ni ko je ni šta je Corman, a oni koji su znali – na kraj pameti im nije bilo da mu naude.

Potom dođe vreme za Veče R. Cormana, tj. javni razgovor sa Marcelom Štefančičem, poznatim filmskim kritičarem i autorom knjižice od 60ak strana (tako mi je bar izgledala, nisam je imao u rukama, al deluje baš sitno za pisanije o čoveku koji je režirao tolika tuceta značajnih filmova + producirao ih bar još toliko, te čija bi puka odštampana filmografija zauzela toliko stranica!). To se dešavalo na trgu, ispod velikog platna, pred auditorijem od 100-ak posetilaca, gde je MŠ radio Q&A sa RC-om. Marcel je, očito, veliki znalac RC-ovog opusa, i u par navrata je iznenadio dekicu Cormana pitanjima o filmovima koje je ovaj i zaboravio da je radio, ili o izjavama koje je smetnuo s uma da ih je dao. Marcel ga je neumoljivo podsećao i još neumoljivije mu mahao rukama na par cm ispred lica, unoseći mu se u lice i započinjući svaku rečenicu sa BUT toliko da sam ubrzo poželeo to kick his butt!

Samo sam čekao kad će da uskoči onaj rmpalija telohranitelj, i da uspostavi restraining order ovom Marcelu, očito obeznanjenom radošću što ima svog idola pred sobom da je penio i pljuckao i mahao ručicama toliko da sam očekivao da će uskoro bar jedno Cormanovo oko naći na vrhu Marcelovog prsta. Ipak, beše to zabavno i fino, snimak svega imate na Žutom titlu, a i publika je bila OK sa pitanjima. Ja sam ga pito nešto, zaboravih šta, valjda – zašto je prestao da režira nakon FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND, a jedan drugi iz publike mu je samo preneo pozdrav od drugara zato što je RC direktni 'krivac' što je director's cut WICKER MANA sačuvan (budući da su tupavi Englezi greškom bacili u đubre orig. negative Hardijevog remek-dela, a RC imao uncut verziju spremanu za distribuciju u USA). Taj Q&A je potrajao 50-60 minuta i bio je sasvim sadržajan i živahan (možda i previše živahan!) tako da svi dobismo svoj money's worth.

Ja se vratih odocneloj večeri u bašti, odakle sam bacao poglede prema platnu, ali shvativši da prikazuju neku sramotno lošu kopiju moje omiljene MASKE CRVENE SMRTI (iz ŠPANSKE kinoteke!) nisam to ni hteo da gledam, nego se bacih na čerečenje pečenog pileta itsl. Na svu sreću, kopija X-THE MAN WITH X RAY EYES koja je išla od 23h bila je sasvim pristojna, pa taj film vrlo rado reprizirah. Na ovo gledanje –kad sam već znao šta da očekujem- njegova sirnost (cheeziness) mi je manje smetala, iako je iz svakog minuta vrištao fakat da film prosto VAPI za osavremenjenim rimejkom! Iz kasnijeg razgovora s Cormanom ispade da se Mr RC slaže sa mnom.

Posle filma mi je prišao lik zanimljive biografije (od roditelja Slovenaca, emigriralih u Nemačku, sad došao na raspust u dedovinu) i još zanimljivijeg imena – Sano Cestnik (naravno, smesta sam ga prozvao – Samo Četnik). Ispade da je filmofil i vlasnik nekih blogova i sajtova u nastajanju, da je pratio moje predavanje o Lovecraftu itd. pa započesmo neke filmske priče koje nastavismo u obližnjem klubu. Potonjem mestu sam se energično opirao prethodnih večeri, ali sad baš odoh da vidim na šta to liči (i ličilo je baš na ono zakrčeno i zagušljivo i prevruće i preglasno što sam i očekivao): tamo su bili Aca i ovi njegovi, ali sam u toj gunguli i buci pretežno sa Mr Četnikom razgovarao, intenzivno ga razuveravajući da je Kjubrikov ŠAJNING nekakva sociološka priča (kako je on naivno insistirao), i ubeđivao ga da je to u suštini metafizički film. Naravno da je poklekao pod snagom mojih argumenata. Na kraju dogovorismo da mu dam i intervju za taj njegov blog, šta li je, pa tako i učinismo dan-dva kasnije. Sve u svemu, veče-noć u klubu prođe sasvim bezbolno, možda i zato što sam pio isključivo đus.

Ovde se izveštaj misteriozno i bez ikakvog nastavka prekida...

Nema dalje!

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORN GANG (2009)

Directed by Mladen Djordjevic

Serbia 2009

Genre: Horror drama / road-movie / black comedy

Here is a film from Serbia which succeeds to be shocking and original: Zivot i smrt porno bande (The Life and Death of a Porn Gang, 2009), a debut feature by Mladen Djordjevic. He became known among horror fans with his short films Zivi mrtvaci (The Living Dead, 2000) and Glad (Hunger, 2002) and he earned a wider acclaim with his feature-length documentary about Serbian porn industry, Made in Serbia (2005). These concerns logically overflow into his Porn Gang. It deals with an aspiring filmmaker, Marko, who is unable to pursue a career in horror films. He ventures into the porn industry, but his unorthodox style fails to impress producers. Frustrated, he assembles a crew of junkies, homosexuals and transvestites and starts a traveling live porn show. It draws attention of the suspicious Serbian police, but also of the locals, unhappy with the provocative material. Soon a shady producer approaches them and offers real money in exchange for snuff films they are to make for his clientele…

Instead of copying uncritically the foreign generic models, as Serbian horrors like T. T. Syndrome and Zone of the Dead have done, Porn Gang hits so close to home that it hurts twice as much. Its real inspiration lies in the years of (post)Milosevic Serbia in which civil wars and violence of all kinds brough about failure of all ideals. Grown up among images of slaughtered, decapitated people shown in prime time Serbian news, Mladen Djordjevic takes a documentary form as a way of capturing a stylized, but still very authentic portrait of the complex ways that Eros and Thanatos are merged in today's Serbia. The motif of snuff metaphorically reveals a strong death-wish present among the disenchanted, disillusioned people for whom death is the only salvation. Thus, Djordjevic presents a line-up of voluntary victims of snuff films which shows a touching, melancholy cast of the ruined and forgotten ones. Unlike the victims in American torture-porns with snuff motif, so full of life and courage to fight until their last gasp, the Serbian ones come to their executioners voluntarily, searching a means of sustaining their impoverished families or a quick escape from unbearable life.

Although the film had a very low budget, this only augments its documentary look; thanks to the expert digital camera of Nemanja Jovanov, it reaches an authentic feel rarely seen since the days of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Largely unknown young actors and nonprofessionals invest their characters with honesty and frankness. Unlike their "movie stars" colleagues, they are unafraid to bare all, both physically and emotionally, thus making this shocking and harrowing film at the same time very engaging and emotional. In its sympathy for the outsiders, but also in its road-movie structure, Porn Gang continues the tradition of the Serbian "Black Wave" of the 1960s, especially films by Zelimir Zilnik like Rani radovi (1969), but infuses it with modern influences, especially the films of Takashi Miike.

The Life and Death of a Porn Gang exposes the underbelly of contemporary Serbia and pulls no punches in the process. The film throws away almost all taboos, such as group sex, murder, full frontal nudity, violence to animals, homosexuality, bestiality, snuff… only here they come with a socio-political context. What Naked Lunch by William Burroughs was for America in the 1950s and 1960s, Porn Gang is for post-Milosevic Serbia. Its significance is well summed up in the catalogue of the Puchon film festival where it shocked and enhralled the audience: "As you see the enthusiastic youngsters dreaming of art and revolution being murdered, raped, and kidnapped one by one, you get to wonder if you're witnessing one of the biggest turning points, or cinematic landmarks, of the Serbian film history."

четвртак, 30. јул 2009.

BRIAN YUZNA INTERVIEW


While I'm preparing for Grossmann 2009. here is an interesting bit I want to share with from the last year's festival, where I had the opportunity to talk to Brian Yuzna.
Originally published at www.beyondhollywood.com .

Brian Yuzna was a special guest at Grossmann Festival of Film and Wine (2008) in Ljutomer, Slovenia, where he was given the newly established ReanimaCat award for special achievements in Horror/Fantasy cinema. He turned out to be a warm, kind, friendly person, always ready to talk to fans and obviously pleased to be in this region and at this particular festival devoted to low budget and genre cinema. He participated in the lecture devoted to H. P. Lovecraft given by Dejan Ognjanovic. Since his grandparents originated from Slovenia, he was kind enough to donate two prints of the films he produced and directed to Slovenian Cinematheque: RE-ANIMATOR and SOCIETY. 

The following is the interview he gave to Serbian film critic and author, Dejan Ognjanovic.

Dejan Ognjanovic: My first question is the most obvious one: why horror? You seem to have specialized in this particular genre. Although there are elements of fantasy, action, black comedy etc. in some of your films, the bulk of them are basically – horror. Does it have anything to do with the fact that the first film that you produced, RE-ANIMATOR, happened to be horror, and a huge success – or is there something deeper and more personal between you and horror?

Brian Yuzna: I think the answer is a little of both. Once you begin making movies, you tend to fall into a kind of genre. But there are many people who start with horror and then go to other things. I began in horror, where I felt comfortable, I thought: “This is where I feel I understand what’s going on the best.” And it goes way back to having nightmares as a child. I sometimes think that horror fans, of which I am one, and I meet many of them – most of them are teenagers, but there are some to whom horror stays even in later stages of life. My feeling is that sometimes being a fan of horror is a kind of disease, an infection you get when you’re young, I remember clearly when I saw my first horror film I was so scared and repulsed I couldn’t sleep for nights on end…

DO: What was the film?

BY: The film was not actually very good; it’s called THE CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN… (both laugh)… But I also remember seeing THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD and the skeleton fight in it: I was up for nights! I can still remember the nightmares about this skeleton, many of these early movies made me feel like this. There was this kind of nausea, and sometimes it feels like a drug: at first it makes you sick, and then you keep wanting that rush again. You keep wanting that drug. And it’s difficult as you get older, because by then it gets very predictable and nothing gives it to you any more. But when you feel it again, it’s delightful, at that point.

So, some of that is why I go to horror, and another reason that could be something is that I was brought up as a Roman Catholic in Panama. Here Catholic church is all about the transformative properties of the flesh. About pain and suffering and flesh changing, there’s a lot of blood and Devil and cannibalism – and there’s this transcendental feeling to the flesh. For this reason I think that the best horror films come from the Christian tradition, much as I love horrors that come from the East, I sometimes get the feeling that Asian horror is so multifaceted and it’s often fetishistic, but doesn’t root me the way Judeo-Christian horror does. I think we do better vampires, we do better werewolves. There’s something more gripping about it. It could be a misguided religiosity, that’s another answer to your question.

And then, there could be an aesthetic one: I’ve always been somebody interested in expressionism and surrealism when it comes to art, and I think that horror genre, like all fantastic genres, comes from the tradition of Melies as opposed to Lumiere: the tradition of artifice of stage, of magic tricks, of expressionism. And when you look at the really great films of German studio UFA, Fritz Lang, Murnau, then all the great Russian films before the ‘30ies, they were all influenced by expressionism. And then surrealism came into play. I think that people who tend towards this kind of aesthetic in art tend to go for horror films, too. Going into horror films, I think it has a lot to do with the love for fantastic in general.

DO: Yes, your movies have always tended towards fantasy, perhaps with the exception of THE DENTIST movies, but even they are so over the top that no one can mistake them for realistic thrillers. It seems to me that you’re bored with reality, there is always something fantastic in your plots. And even the violence in your films, which tends to be pretty gruesome, is actually not the painful violence of pain and rape and torture, it is always over the top, fantastic and with a humorous tone to it. It’s not supposed to disgust you, to make you feel terrible.

BY: I like movies that are entertaining, and I think that entertainment can do whatever you want it to do. I see a horror movie as a kind of theme-park ride, like a rollercoaster ride. You get all: the nausea, the fear, the adrenalin – but you’re safe. I also think that when you get into the fantastic genre, it’s a superior genre of movie-making, much more superior to drama or films that try for realism. I think that films of the fantastic genre, with horror belonging to them, are much closer to dreams, and I think that this is what I look for in cinema, this dream-like experience. This also means that we are in a kind of fiction that has a deeper kind of reality then the so-called realistic representation has.

DO: How much of your plots is actually derived from your dreams? Do you have as weird dreams as some of your movies are?

BY: I have very, very weird dreams and I dream every night, even many times. Sometimes they’re scary, and I’ve learnt to hold on to the scary ones, but their plots are difficult to hold on to. I think plot, or story structure, is one of the most difficult parts of movie-making. I try to grab onto the inspiration and the images and ideas from other people, not just myself, I’m always looking for collaborators, people who have crazy ideas, and then I hold onto the idea and try to find the plot, the logic behind it. Trying to find the story structure and make it into a dramatic narrative for a feature film, for 90 minutes, that’s the tricky part. So many films either make it or break it.

I think Hollywood’s done a good job of creating a story structure that’s communicable to every culture. But it also runs the risk of becoming so predictable that we find it banal and boring. Whereas so many European movies are so strong in the art house and more ambiguous parts of cinema, but they have a hard time taking that and fitting it into a narrative structure. And I’m not saying that it has to be a Hollywood one, but it has to be similar, and that’s difficult. Some people believe that the narrative and story structure are hardwired into all of us, it’s not as cultural as we want to think.

DO: A lot of your films deal with the ‘body horror’, either bodies metamorphosing and turning into something new, or rotting and dismembered bodies like in your RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 3. Hoes does that aspect of your films relate to your dreams, your interests, your Catholicism…? It seems to connect a big bulk of your films.

BY: I do think that it goes back to Catholic imagery. This is pretty apparent. I don’t know where this whole idea of body transformations in my movies comes from, but it certainly can have some roots in my Catholicism, since the crazy thing about it is that the flesh itself rises, and it’s full of cannibalism, and saints pulling off their flesh…

DO: And it has this whole cult of worshipping body parts of the saints as relics…

BY: There’s all of that but I know that body transformation to me represents magic, and when I first saw the old Universal’s werewolf movies I always waited for the transformation scene from man into a werewolf, which was done in stop-motion. For me that was the highlight of those films. I think part of the fascination with body alteration is the question: if the body is changed, if the flesh is changed, is it still human? I remember in the 50ies when I was watching those movies, it would be 80 minutes of waiting to see the monster’s face, and something about seeing the monster’s face also has to do with body transformation.

When we see a film like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD or a gore movie, there is a kind of transformation from a body into something that’s ripped open and bleeding. In DAWN OF THE DEAD there was this idea of stretching skin, when the monster would bite a man and stretch the skin. I’ve always liked ALTERED STATES and the bumps going from beneath the skin, that’s what I always like to see in a movie. When I was a kid I had dreams of flesh sticking together. Something like in Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME, where you also have the idea of the flesh being transformative.

Honestly, I don’t know what it’s really about, but I know that seeing pictures of people whose bodies are in some way distorted or are partially animals or devils or angels are part of my interest in the fantastic film. It could be a kind of a symbol of our own psychology. We all want to transform into something else. All I can think is relationships. For a movie like SOCIETY, where you have people “shunting”…

DO: Excuse me, did you invent that word?

BY: We invented that particular use in the film. It means switching from one course to another, for example if one of your veins is clogged and you have an operation in which they shunt the flow to another vein. I think the word “shunting” came from Woody Keith’s screenplay. But the idea of bodies melding together was actually mine. In the original script it was all about a blood sacrifice: they kill the kids and drink their blood. I loved the story because it had a sense of paranoia, but I wasn’t happy with the ending, it wasn’t interesting enough. I just thought: What would I like to see on the screen? And the image that came to me was – two bodies melding together. Then I thought: how can we make that happen, what’s the argument? What would be the logic behind this? So, little by little, we developed this idea of this big kind of orgiastic bodies melding together. Like I said, a lot of these horror films are based on surrealism and expressionism, and when I met Screaming Mad George, the first thing we did was look at Dali’s paintings. And you can see that the main image of the shunting comes from a Dali painting, I think it’s called ‘The Great Masturbator’.

I tried that also with the movie FROM BEYOND, which I produced: on the original poster, before the movie was made, we had a Dali painting of a man’s face that has no eyes, but in his eyes are replicas of his face, and so on. And the whole idea of FROM BEYOND is of these bodies twisting and becoming something else…

DO: And discovering new possibilities of their own bodies…

BY: Yes. And just by making random associations regarding your question, I think horror movies normally are identified with a teenage, adolescent audience. This is when sex and the notion of death appear to us.

DO: …And the bodies are changing.

BY: Yes, the body is literally changing. It’s a cliché to say that a teenage boy really understands the werewolf. Because he’s growing hair, his body is changing in odd ways, and he has these new drives that he can’t control. I think horror films are basically about sex and death, and this is the time of life when we deal with sex and death, when we’re 11, or 12, 13, 14… And only a few of us carry on this adolescent obsession into our later life and even make a living out of it.

I think if you try to take away sex and death from a horror movie, you don’t have a horror movie. People often ask me what is my definition of horror, how do I know if something is a horror movie, or a thriller, or whatever, and my quick stupid answer is: if it’s scary, then it’s a psychological thriller. But if you add fluids, like blood or goo or slime, now it’s a horror movie. And if you add metal, then it’s a Sci Fi. A horror movie has to have goo, has to have fluids, bodily fluids of some sort, and then by definition we are in the subject of body transformation. I can really question whether you can have a horror film without transformation. One could say that a ghost movie doesn’t have a transformation. Well, maybe, maybe not.

DO: You’re right. Even in what some would label a ‘psychological thriller’, like PSYCHO, you have Norman literally transforming himself into his mother, cross-dressing and assuming her identity…

BY: Yes, and that also has blood, and it’s the first slasher movie. But yes, you’re right, this transformation part of it could be what all of this body distortion is about. It could be that psychologically we yearn for a transformation, for a change, hopefully upwards. This is what we try to express upon the physical flesh. And if you’re a Westerner, then you believe in the flesh. You’re not a Hindu who believes that flesh is Maya, unreal. Here we believe that the flesh is real. So, if we want to be free, we have to transform the flesh. And in this way you can see horror as an adolescent’s misguided spirituality.

DO: Many of your films were directly or indirectly inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. What was it about his writing that made you go back to it several times, from RE-ANIMATOR through its two sequels, plus FROM BEYOND and the NECRONOMICON omnibus…?

BY: The one responsible for making RE-ANIMATOR was, actually, Stuart Gordon, who had an idea for the TV series based on Lovecraft’s “Hebert West- Reanimator”. It is one of Lovecraft’s minor works, a little more accessible, a kind of a mad-doctor story. Since then we’ve worked on other Lovecraft’s stories, and I took the time to read just everything of his I could find and try to understand it. The funny thing about Lovecraft is that when you finish reading the story, if somebody asked you what the plot was, you couldn’t tell, all you know is how you felt while reading it. It’s very difficult to extract the structure from his stories.
I think that Lovecraft is a real giant in what we call weird fiction, or scary stories, and after E. A. Poe I think that he’s THE guy! Lovecraft’s influenced tons of movies you wouldn’t expect, like John Carpenter’s THE THING, it’s really based on AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. If you look at the HELLBOY movies by Guillermo del Toro, you can see Cthulhu there. So, he’s influenced so many directors, writers and comic artists in the same way that generations previously Poe did.

DO: So, what were the difficulties in adapting his stories, which are more atmosphere-bound than plot-bound? What attracted you to those in particular, and what were the possible dangers or traps in making them work as films?

BY: IN RE-ANIMATOR, which is the most successful one, the original adaptation had already been done as the TV script by the time I read it. I think William Norris is credited with coming up with this ironic character that Jeffrey Combs is playing in the movie, which really has nothing to do with Lovecraft’s story. One of the things that are difficult with Lovecraft is that he never put any female characters in his stories, unless when they’re giving birth to monsters. He himself had a difficult time with relationships and you can see it in his stories, there’s no love interest in them, and in the movies you have to have a love interest. So, that was done in the RE-ANIMATOR by adding the female character Meg, by making Dan the narrator and protagonist. Then, bringing the story up to date, since Lovecraft not only wrote in the 1930ies, but also made everything take place even much before that.

The first script actually ended very early in what is now the final movie: it ended when Halsey got killed. My inspiration, and what I tried to insist with Stuart and his writers team, was the episode with the guy carrying his head around, because I remembered Vincent Price carrying his own head in HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. And I was a huge fan of the Roger Corman Poe series. For me, this was what really got me going. On the second picture, I was more interested in the weird doodling with the body parts that Lovecraft referred to in the story.

DO: I’m glad you mentioned that, since together with the notion of the cosmic horror in Lovecraft’s writing, there was also the ‘body horror’: the large-scale horror and the most private horror, together. Bodies in his stories are not merely cut up and butchered, but are very often undergoing changes, transformations, becoming weird and strangely, monstrously beautiful. You were lucky to have the budget and creative special effects people to make all of that work. Otherwise you end up being goofy instead of scary. The whole point of his kind of horror is not only to scare you, but to create a sense of something awesome, and this awe is where horror and fascination merge. Can you tell me a little bit about special effects in those films, especially in FROM BEYOND, where – according to some critics – they went overboard? And how much of a creative input did you have on Stuart Gordon’s films based on Lovecraft? How similar were your ideas to Gordon’s?

BY: I think that Stuart Gordon is an incredibly talented director, started as a theater director, and RE-ANIMATOR was the first movie for both of us. The budget was very small, under one million dollars. He always does what he wants, but we’ve always had a lot of fun working together. Our ideas are very similar in the sense that we both like excess. With RE-ANIMATOR we went with a number of versions of the script, based on how extreme it was, did it go far enough. I thought that if the movie was not good, then at least it would be shocking. But since Stuart is so talented the movie turned out very good as well.

When we moved to FROM BEYOND, that’s still a pre-digital age, and it was very difficult to do monsters. In fact, when we decided on that story, we thought that it had this machine in it that would sell it. We basically used the Lovecraft story by the main titles. The whole Lovecraft’s story takes place in the prologue to that movie, and then it becomes a kind of action movie with explorers into this other dimension. For example, the great monster at the end was our attempt to present a shoggoth from Lovecraft’s stories, based on the drawings of Bernie Wrightson. Today you can really realize his visions. Back then everything had to be plastic, and was very clumsy, but we had a lot of fun doing it.

I co-wrote the story adaptation with Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli, but only Dennis Paoli wrote the screenplay. They came with this Dr Pretorius, who is taken from THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and who inaugurates the new world of gods and monsters. This character was not in the short story, but he exemplified the theme of a man for whom the senses are not enough, who must go further - this became the theme of that movie. And we took from the short story the idea of the pineal gland as something which enables one to see another dimension. And the gimmick is, if you can see them, they can see you, and they’re hungry.

I think it was a great writing done by the screenwriters. Today when you watch it, the effects seem clumsy. We had to make giant lamprey worms. Today you could do it digitally and it’d look really great. We had to actually build it, and it doesn’t move very much. These types of effects tend to be tricky.
The idea of pineal gland coming out of Jeffrey Combs’s forehead – he always complained that we’re giving him a “dog dick” in his forehead, and we assured him that it wasn’t that. This kind of thing would also be much easier today; we had to put him a kind of helmet on his head with a mechanism to move the “gland”. I think those movies work more because of the good writing and directing than because of the effects. In BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR we had to make the small fingers-creature with stop-motion, today you could easily do it digitally. But I think there is a kind of charm in puppetry.

DO: You were also involved in the omnibus NECRONOMICON, both as a producer and a director of the third and, if I may say, the wildest and weirdest story + the wraparound segments in which Jeffrey Combs plays Lovecraft himself. You told me previous to this interview that you wanted to experiment with that film, that your primary concern was not the blockbuster success but more along the lines of pushing the envelope. So, can you please tell a bit more about your intentions with that particular film? How did you come up with the other two directors (Christophe Gans and Shusuke Kaneko) and how did you coordinate them to make a unity out of the three stories?

BY: Well, I don’t know if it actually turns into a whole. The idea was to make a movie using an Asian director, a European director and an American director. The original scheme of financing was: I was trying to get half the money from Asia, half the money from Europe and then, theoretically, I could maintain the other third, but… the fun of it was to let each of the directors do what they wanted. There was no inclination to do anything other than translate the scripts they had into English, and then shoot it in LA.

Christophe Gans was very much interested to make a Roger Corman E. A. Poe type of movie and I think his movie is the most sophisticated. Shusuke Kaneko came together with the producer Taka Ichise, who later created all of these J-horror films like THE RING, THE GRUDGE, DARK WATER etc. But this was before those films, when he could barely speak English. He actually directed some second unit footage on that episode. Shusuke Kaneko is now very popular in Japan for his GAMERA movies about the giant turtle, and for the DEATH NOTE movies. Each of them selected their story, and then Brent Friedman, the American writer, rewrote them so that they work as a more traditional Hollywood storytelling.

The story I did was, actually, THE WHISPERER IN THE DARKNESS, believe it or not, and I tried very hard to stick with the themes of it, I didn’t care for the actual elements of the story. Sometimes I think that’s the best way to do Lovecraft. In most of his stories it’s pretty hard to actually take the plot and reproduce it (in a film). Because the plot is often impossible to identify, it’s all in a character’s mind.

There is a Lovecraft film festival in Oregon, where amateur filmmakers present their short films and you can buy them on the internet, I think they’re called ‘Lurker Productions’ or something like that. What’s interesting is that real hardcore fans are complaining about DAGON or RE-ANIMATOR saying they’re not pure enough or that they veer too far off Lovecraft, but the trouble is they’re not real filmmakers, and that’s tricky: when they try to make it the way it is in the book, it’s amazing how boring it is! You see a bunch of people walking around, thinking.

DO: Are there some Lovecraft’s stories that you’d like to do but haven’t so far? Some future Lovecraft adaptation that we might expect from you?

BY: I don’t have any Lovecraft scripts that I’m trying to make at the present, but the great one to do would be THE CALL OF CTHULHU. As the matter of fact, people often send me scripts of Lovecraft’s stories. Normally they’re not professional screenwriters and the scripts are not very good, but I did receive at least 3 or 4 complete CALL OF CTHULHU scripts, and I’ve thought about that story and how one could actually adapt it. One that’s much easier to do would be THE DUNWICH HORROR.

DO: Your career covers more than two decades. How have the times changed for you, both as a producer and director? It appears that nowadays it’s much easier to make movies, but on the other hand, there seem to be some difficulties that were not there in 1985 when you produced RE-ANIMATOR.

BY: The industry has changed tremendously. It has changed. When I started it was the era of independent video, and financing was relatively easier, almost all the video money was going to independent producers. Majors hadn’t discovered it yet. But then they discovered it and started consolidating, and it became harder to make something independently, to be in with the big guys.

Later DVD came along, which gave a whole new boost to the video market. What’s happening now is that video and DVD are flat, dead due to the piracy on internet, and right now there are so many other ways to be entertained than to go to the movies or to put on a video. I think the industry is having very difficult times right now, especially for the low end where I’m at.

Big studios are finding that they’re gonna have to build big cinemas with 3-D, Imax, to make a big spectacle out of it, and we’ve seen these huge blockbusters, like the new BATMAN movie, so there’s a certain segment of the industry that’s doing well, perhaps, but I think in general it’s very, very tough.

DO: Is there any bright light in the tunnel?

BY: Well, now anybody can make a movie. You can take a high end HD camera and get the Final Cut Pro, the same things that professional filmmakers use, you can get that program for sound effects, Pro Tools, you can have the means to make the movie. But again, as I often tell people who tell me they’re using the same camera that George Lucas used to make the new STAR WARS movies, I say: “Yeah, I’ve got the same paints and canvas that Da Vinci had – the same ones! Wow! Wanna buy my painting?” (laughter)

So eventually it all comes down to the storytelling talent of the individuals. And one of the dangers of the moviemaking today is that it’s too easy to make a movie today, very cheap, very democratic, but what this means is that, unlike when I began, you don’t have to have any professionals involved. When I began, I was the only one non-professional. You had to have professionals involved because there were things that only a professional could do. You couldn’t mix a movie without going to a sound mixing studio. A professional one.


Today you can mix the movie in your bedroom. In your car, if you want. You can cut the movie in your bedroom. You can shoot the movie in your bedroom. (laughter) You don’t need to know anything about lighting the set. With the new cameras what you see is what you get. So, it is a two-sided coin. On one hand it means anybody can make a movie, any fool with his fool friends, but on the other, the movie industry is undergoing a big transformation, and I think the very idea of what a movie is gonna change. Whether we should lament the past – it’s questionable. I think maybe we shouldn’t.

DO: Where do you see yourself in this present moment?

BY: I see myself as somebody who’s growing older, and having a hard time competing with the young energy and I also must say, unfortunately, we don’t have that many ideas, any of us, we have very few ideas. And then we try to depend on craft. We’re developing craft rather than ideas. And this is where I have to go. One of the things that I try is take advantage of my experience.

DO: Can you briefly tell me a bit about your new production company in Indonesia?

BY: Yeah, I’m trying to develop a line of films in Indonesia. Mainly because one of my partners has a business there, and we’re gonna try to make movies there. One of the things that also attract me to that is one of the ways I try to get past my own limited imagination is to collaborate with different people in different cultures. When I collaborate with them I feel sometimes the mix gives us something new. So, there is a whole new culture, a whole new mythology, new scary things, so that I feel that just by being there, working with different people, I will be able to do new interesting things.

DO: Can you tell us some titles or ideas you’re working on at this time?

BY: Well, we’ve just finished one that’s called TAKUT, or in English, FACES OF FEAR, and it’s an omnibus of 6 short films by 6 different Indonesian directors, all in Indonesian language, scary films, very low budget. It’s a kind of an experiment to see what we can do with the local talent. Now we’re beginning a film called AMPHIBIOUS, about a giant sea scorpion, that I’m going to direct, and we’re also developing a film for Richard Stanley to direct, about giant komodo dragons. So, we have a few films in development and we want to make 3 or 4 films a year.

DO: Since Richard Stanley is one of my favorite living directors, I must ask some more about that komodo film.

BY: Well, this is something that’s very new, we’re developing the script now, and he’s just agreed to work with us on it, so I’m looking forward to making something interesting with him.

DO: It’s not his script, right?

BY: No, he’s developing it with another writer.

DO: Will it be made this year, or…?

BY: At the beginning of next year.

DO: Finally, there’s been a rumor that there’s a FROM BEYOND remake in the works by Shoreline Entertainment. Any comment on that?

BY: Regarding the FROM BEYOND movie - looks like it is not a remake of the movie I produced, although the poster has something in common. Anyway, I have no ownership of the original FROM BEYOND, so - whatever.

DO: Mr. Yuzna, thank you very much and all the best with your new movie projects!

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAINSAWS by Carol J. Clover


MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAINSAWS by Carol J. Clover

Carol J. Clover.

1992.

Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.

Princeton:

Princeton University Press.

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAINSAWS je jedna od 5-6 najboljih knjiga o hororu na filmu koje sam ikada pročitao. Nedavno sam ponovo prošao kroz nju, ovog puta u celosti (ranije sam čitao neka izdvojena poglavlja), i iznova se oduševljavao.

Pre svega, ovo je jedna od najuticajnijih modernih knjiga o hororu, i teško je naći neki rad na temu filmske strave a da nju ne citira. Najuticajnija je zbog svoje redefinicije slasher pod-žanra horora, i najčešće se citiraju njene definicije lika 'Poslednje devojke' (The Final Girl') i opšte određenje ideologije i gender-politike slešera. Revolucija koju je Kloverova donela sastoji se u prilično ubedljivom opovrgavanju dotad dominantne, kratkovide vizure (koju je zastupao dežurni slepac kad je horor u pitanju, Roger Ebert) prema kojoj slešer filmovi zastupaju patološku poziciju u kojoj se, putem kamere 'iz prvog lica', gledalac navodno saživljava sa manijakom i poistovećuje sa njegovim sadističkim pirom nad razdrljenim i ogoljenim ženskinjem. Ukratko, Ebert & co. (armija nižih slepaca koja je kaskala za njegovim skutima) tvrdili su da je osnovno zadovoljstvo slešera – sadističko. Kloverova je onda došla i rekla: 'Jes, patka! E, baš je mazohističko!'

Njena argumentacija je vrlo zanimljiva, a temelji se na gledaočevom vezivanju za Poslednju Devojku i navijanju za nju (a ne za ubicu). Mada se o tome može diskutovati, njeno gledište u svakom slučaju značajno relativizuje (ako već ne sasvim izvrće) ebertovsko zadrto unitarno gledište o slešerima kao patološkim produktima sadističke provenijencije. Stvari nikad nisu takve kao što izgledaju – to je jedan od temeljnih principa horora, i Kloverova nam to ubedljivo pokazuje na primeru slešera.

I ne samo slešera.

Knjiga sadrži i vrlo nadahnuta poglavlja na temu filmova o demonskoj opsednutosti (sa razlikovanjem po pitanju toga da li je opsednut momak ili devojka) i o 'urbanoji' tj. o filmovima sa backwoods horrorom, zasnovanim na paranoji urbanih u odnosu na (demonizovane) ruralne. Naročito je zabavan način na koji ona objašnjava razloge za tu urbanoju (griža savesti imajućih prema nemajućima, i demonizovanje nemajućih kako bi se oni koji su u stvarnosti zapravo ŽRTVE na filmu prikazali kao ZLIKOVCI), a povezuje je i sa prikazom indijanaca prema kojima je, naravno, iz sasvim razumljivih genocidnih razloga, američka griža savesti još izraženija, pa ih se zato još više imalo demonizovati u westernu.

Ipak, osim poglavlja o slešeru, meni je potpuno okrepljenje i beskrajne 'yesss!' momente donela glava koja se bavi filmovima o ženskoj osveti (za silovanje). Kloverkino čitanje filma I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE i savršeno ubedljiva odbrana tog nepravedno potcenjenog i popljuvanog filma nešto je toliko genijalno da se to mora čitati da bi se poverovalo šta ta žena radi – naročito kad krene da radi poređenje između GRAVE-a i THE ACCUSED sa Džodi Foster, naravno, u korist horora, a na žešću štetu tog reakcionarnog i tupavog mejnstrim oskarovca. Posmatrati kako Kloverka ubedljivo i nemilosrdno na tron uzdiže mega-ocrnjeni I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE a u blato gazi mega-hvaljeni i nagrađivani THE ACCUSED prizor je koji mi je pružio skoro-orgazmičke momente radosti – otprilike, kao da gledate svrgnutog i kroz kal provlačenog, ponižavanog i izranjavljenog princa koga je neko, nakon 300 muka, napokon prepoznao, okupao i vratio na tron gde mu je i mesto! Iako Kloverova nije baš neki horor-fan, i u žanr se upustila tek kada je počela da radi na ovoj knjizi, njen britki um je smesta stavio stvari na svoje mesto – mesto koje horde fanova i horor fah-idiota do tada nisu mogli.

Za jednu ženu, Kloverova piše skoro neverovatno preciznim, jasnim i sočnim jezikom, bez smaranja i tupavljina i apstrakcija kojima žensko pismo tako često voli da se kiti. Za jednu feministkinju, Kloverova je vanredno pametna i otvorena, ne-zadrta i nadahnjujuća – svako malo, pa uspe da sažme i razotkrije neku suštinu koja se čine toliko očiglednom da je prosto misterija da niko pre nje nije našao za shodno da je ogoli. To umeju samo najveći.

Ako vas zanimaju horor, film, feminizam, odnosi polova, filmski jezik, vidljive i nevidljive poruke, transparentna i skrivena ideologija na filmu – nabavite sebi kako znate i umete ovu izvanrednu knjigu.

Meni je samo krivo što je nisam celu bio pročitao u vreme kada sam na Berkliju slušao kurs kod Kerol Klover o američkom noar filmu. Naravno, znao sam za nju po čuvenju, i čitao sam iz nje poglavlje o slešeru, ali nisam postigao da celcatu knjigu iščitam kako bih sa KK popričao o njoj. Ipak, uživao sam u njenim časovima, na kojima je ispoljavala iste osobine kao i u knjizi, gorenavedene, i žalio sam što mi je u par privatnih razgovora otkrila da je tih dana horor vrlo slabo zanima jer je sebi već bila našla novu opsesiju – filmove sa suđenjima i izučavanje načina na koji su sudije, optuženi, advokati, porota itd. prikazivani u različitim filmovima.

Ovu sam knjigu nedavno pomno izučio radi davno pripremanog eseja, koji upravo ovih dana završih, a koji pokušava da za HAUTE TENSION uradi ono što je KK uradila za I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, odnosno da jednom zauvek posrami legije slepaca i idiota koji, uprkos tako očiglednim znacima, i dalje sumnjaju da pred sobom imaju autentično remek-delo i nastavljaju da gamižu po gnjilosti sopstvene ograničenosti sa pitanjima tipa: 'A ko je onda vozio kamion?' i njima sličnim.

среда, 29. јул 2009.

GROSSMANN 2008.

U čast predstojećeg GROSSMANN festivala filma i vina, koji sam redovno posećivao prethodne 2 godine, a ako je Azatot tako hteo, idem i ovog avgusta - evo mog izveštaja od prošle godine (2008.), da se podsetimo i pripremimo za najnoviju verziju.
Ovaj osvrt je jedno kraće vreme boravio samo na forumu mog pokojnog sajta, a od tada ga nema nigde onlajn, pa greota da to čami u mojoj ladici, evo ga i kao repriza za stare i kao premijera za nove čitaoce.
Ići će u dva dela, jer ipak tu ima mnogo slova.


GROSSMANN 2008.

Organizatori su naučili par važnih lekcija u odnosu na prošlu godinu:
1) nisu nas terali da putujemo u SL sa problematičnom filmskom kopijom;
2) nisu me smestili bogu iza leđa da se u dubini noći jebavam s taxijima;
3) doveli su bolje i atraktivnije goste;
4) bilo je više vina;
5) ono što je valjalo prvi put (čamčenje Murom), ponovljeno je, ali s boljim jelovnikom na Ostrvu Ljubavi;
6) umesto pokušaja atentata, ove godine su čvrsto vezali platno iza mene (da budem potpuno siguran, uzeo sam Juznu kao taoca, pa ako ginem, da povedem i njega sa sobom u inat zlikovcima!).
Ukratko, ove godine je bilo manje štapa a više šargarepe, pa je zato moja ukupna impresija pozitivnija. Pošto sam znatno zadovoljniji, biće malkice manje mesta za moj trejd-mark cinizam, pa će i izveštaj (ne samo zbog toga) biti nešto kraći (i dosadniji?) od prošlogodišnjeg.

I dan
(subota)
LESS GAY THAN BEFORE!

Iz Beograda nas je ispratila odvratna kišurina, a nešto dalje prođosmo i kroz apokaliptični oblak pljuska, grmljavine i kijameta, ali se sve razvedrilo još pre Hrvatske; u Sloveniji nas je dočekalo sunce koje nas je uljudno grejalo svih narednih dana festivala.
Ekipa koja je krenula iz Bg je umnogome bila ista, i činili su je sledeći parovi: Joca Ristić i njegovo ženče; Bekvalac i njegova goth-cenobyte Maja; Milica iz DOB-a i Samir iz 'Lakobrija Inc-a'; te, naravno, Aca Radivojević i ja. Ovako smo kasnije i bili raspoređeni u dodeljenom smeštaju (nije bilo 3-krevetnih soba ove godine!) što je, rekao bih, bilo znatno više po volji svim involviranim (jedino ne znam kako je bilo Samiru koji je sobu imao da deli sa ženom koja mu nije ni rod ni pomoz bog, a kamo li devojka). Put je protekao glatko i neosetno: ja sam čitao HOLLOW EARTH, poluzabavan roman Rudija Rukera sa Poom kao jednim od glavnih junaka, inspirisan RUKOPISOM NAĐENIM U BOCI i, naročito, PUSTOLOVINAMA A. G. PIMA + faktima iz Poovog života, itd. ali sve to na pitak, pametan, duhovit način (update: ipak, oko polovine me je smorio i ni godinu dana kasnije nisam ga završio! niti planiram). Joca Ristić je za to vreme čitao KAKO ODGAJATI SINOVE (I kid you not)!
Istina, po pristignuću ispade manji pičvajs sa smeštajem: 2 para golupčića trebalo je da se ugnezde u Dvorac Jeruzalem – velelepnu zgradu sa raskošnim apartmanima. Šta je tu problem? Što ide 1 kupatilo na 2 apartmana. Nakon smesta uložene žalbe, golupčiće poslaše još oko 4km dalje od ionako bar 15-ak km od Ljutomera udaljene lokacije. Tek tu nastade negodovanje i gunđanje. Mislim, mesto je predivno, ali je PREDALEKO od centra zbivanja, i ispalo bi preskupo svaki dan ići taxijem do LJ. i nazad, ili se smarati sa pozivanjem i moljenjem i čekanjem festivalskog (vrlo limitiranog) prevoza. Neki su čak gunđali da je ovo otvorena diskriminacija heterosexualnih parova, ali istine radi ipak treba reći da je Grossmann ove godine bio mnogo manje gay nego prošle (kada smo imali ona 2 Austrijanca + Engleza Sajmona, čija bi nova gay verzija HOUSE OF USHER, za koju je pisao scenario De Kotou savršeno legla kao kontrast Kormanu, da su samo organizatori bili agilni & promućurni!).
Naravno, nevolje i kisela lica golupčića posmatrao sam sa blažene distance, pošto su nama, nezaljubljenima, dodelili hotel u sred-srede Lj-a. Tom prilikom zapazih da su nedaće mnogo zabavnije kad ne potresaju tebe, već ih neokrznut posmatraš kod drugih. (Dan ili dva kasnije i 2 'bračna' para behu smeštena u hotel.)
Hotel je zaista osvežavajuće, prijatno iznenađenje nakon mog nedavnog boravka u Crnoj Gori. Udobno, lepo, novo, čisto, pristojno, sa OK poslugom i dobrom hranom. NARAVNO, neki su cvileli da je hrana užasna, da bi rađe jeli beogradski zidarski parizer nego slovenačku pršutu itsl. ali, da vam kaže čiča, bila je to sasvim korektna hotelska hrana, sa mnogo mesišta, velikim izborom salata, uvek sa po 2 supe kao opcijom, jestivim desertima itd. Svakako gigantski napredak prema podgrejanim pizzama iz Kino MITRE od prošle godine.
Prve večeri desilo se OTVARANJE I KONZUMACIJA VINA u Jeruzalem's lotu.
Rekao bih da je bila vanredno uspešna, budući da sam se napio kao nikad u životu – ali bukvalno. Slistio sam, po mojoj nepouzdanoj računici, 10ak čaša raznih belih vina + jednu giga-čašu koktela od vina (odličnog!) koja je po zapremini kao 3 prosečne. Istina, ja nikada ne padam na podljudske grane čak i kada se napijem (znači, ništa povraćanje, svađanje, agresija, debilizmi bilo koje vrste... niti pak padanje u stupor i komu), samo se dodatno uveselim i to je sve. Ovom prilikom jedini veći efekat pijanstva bio je djelomični gubitak ravnoteže (noge lagane, letim!) i blago teturanje, ali sam čak i tomu usprkos sve pokrete i prelaze od tačke A do B obavljao sâm samcit.
Bilo je dražesno videti poznatu slovenačku ekipu na okupu (samo je Marko the Sheret mnogo kasnije došao) i zezati se s njima uz obilje alkohola. Naravno, neke osobe koje su došle alternativnim prevozom i stoga zakasnile na konzumaciju vina cmizdrile su zbog toga kao da je organizator kriv što su loše proračunali svoje vreme. Aca je, inače, sa sobom još iz Bg poneo vernu flašu rakije za post-konzumacijske momente večeri, pa kad su podrumi bili zatvoreni, a sa video bima krenuli nadrealni dokumentarci o nekim lokalnim Rudolfima, on je imao čime da se okvasi a i oko sebe okupljene da počasti. Ja sam, pak, mudro zaseo među Slovence, gde uvek ima vina (katanac na podrumu ili ne, svejedno)...
Inače, prema programu, Juzna je trebalo da stigne u utorak, a Korman u četvrtak, i te prve večeri bilo je relativno malo važnijih gostiju, ako nas ne računamo.
U hotel stigosmo oko 01h iza ponoći; ja sam se, komiran, istog trena zabio u krevet, a Aca je otišao da vileni sa došavšim drugarima iz Bg: Vlada Mančić i njegova ljubovca, Tvrdišićka (nikad adekvatnijeg imena!) + Bojan junky-RODE zombi-ZONA i njegova satanistička djevojčica.

II dan
(nedelja)
INTERLUDI
Narednog jutra ustali smo, svi nikakvi, na doručak, a sa istog se smesta u polu-snu vratili u sobu; pošto smo se uništili alkoholom prethodne večeri, a ionako celog dana nije bilo vrednijih dešavanja (sem ako u njih ne računate igranje šaha sa Karpovim!), odlučismo da alkoholne reziduume iščistimo okrepljujućim snom do dubokih popodnevnih časova. Ovo važi za mene i Acu; neki od trezvenijih posetilaca dan su provodili dosađujući se u Ljutomeru, koji je u nedelju još mrtviji no obično.
Popodne na TV-1000 uhvatismo WAR OF THE ROSES, pa najzad pogledah taj film (solidna zabava & then some! trojka!), a posle večere veći deo srpske ekipe ode u jedinu trenutno-otvorenu radnju u celom Ljutomeru, na benz. pumpi, gde se snabdesmo alkoholom i sličnim aditivima te odosmo u obližnji (mračan i pust) park na orgije opijanja i/ili duvanja, već prema sklonostima. Iako se bacih na obe varijante, crno vino koje je Samir kupio na pumpi nije me radilo kao belo sinoć, te ne dostigoh one vrhunce omamljenosti, iako je veče bilo sasvim uspelo, all things considered.
II dan
(ponedeljak)
NEMA MESA DO ALIENA!

I ovaj dan otpočesmo opušteno i bez jačih cimanja. Prva važna aktivnost bila je tek predveče: konzumacija vina u dvorištu hotela u 18h. U ugodnom ambijentu, pod vinovim lozama, u hladovini, najsexipilnija trudnica koju sam ikada video sipala nam je, jedno za drugim, 5 vrsta vina od glavnih sponzora, uz kraće lekcije o tome koja su i kakva su i čija su. Pošto nam je večera + konzumacija vina bila preča, propustismo svetsku premijeru Đurinog novog "filma" TRAKTOR, LJUBAV I ROKENROL. Kažu (a i slike potvrđuju) da je bila krcata sala, ali film nije gledo niko čijem sudu verujem da mi (eventualno) rasprši predrasudu koju prema njemu imam.
(On a side note: zabavno da su 2 najistaknutija slovenačka reditelja zapravo 1 Srbin –Žika Pavlović- i 1 Bosanac –Đura!)
Te večeri je otpočelo zvanično natjecanje između mene i Marka u uzajamnom vređanju i ponižavanju. Nismo udarali recke niti pisali poene jer je nagrada u tome ionako bio – smeh. Pošto obojica imamo zdrav odnos prema zajebanciji i svemu što uz nju ide, najsigurniji pokazatelj da je žaoka uspešna bio je smeh onoga koji je prima - i što glasniji, to je žaoka oštrija. Recimo, kaže on meni čim sam pristigao na konzumaciju: "Eno ti, sedi za sto. Stavi neke jastučiće na stolicu da bar izviriš iznad stola." Ili, malo kasnije, kada mu se obratim, a on će: "Šta je ovo? Čujem glas, a ne vidim ko govori! Ah, pa to je mali Srbin!" Kad bih došao sebi od smeha uzvraćao sam još žešće, po rasnoj, nacionalnoj, majčinskoj i svakoj drugoj osnovi, a mogao si se kladiti da će on svaku od iole uspelijih mojih provala kasnije da citira svima oko sebe.
Naravno, to nadmetanje se odvijalo sve vreme festivala, najčešće pred publikom, a zarad učešća što više ljudi, kad ustreba i na engleskom. Recimo, Juznina žena nije mogla da veruje koliku dozu političke nekorektnosti čuje, naročito moju liberalnu upotrebu reči "nigger" – ali je brzo shvatila šalu, i smejala se zajedno s nama.
Te večeri se pojavio Tom Mes, čovek od koga sam mnogo očekivao, a koji ispade teško razočmarenje. To je baja koji je pisao knjigu AGITATOR o T. Miikeu, te IRON MAN o S. Tsukamotou (potonju sam ja pozitivno recenzirao na www.kfccinema.com a sada taj rivju imate u mom HRAMU) + jedan je od tvoraca odličnog sajta o japanskom filmu, Midnight Eye. Očekivao sam da mi otvori dušu o tome kakvi su Miike i Tsukamoto naživo, da ispolji bilo kakvu emociju, srdačnost, priču, otkrovenje... ali Mes ispade jedno mrtvo puvalo, gnjavator i drkadžija kakav se retko viđa. Kažu mi ljudi, a sad im skroz verujem, da je taj AGITATOR jedna vrlo slaba i površna knjiga koja se previše bavi sociološkim momentima savremenog Japana i multikulturalnog melting-pota Tokija, a premalo (ili nimalo) esencijom koja baš Miikea čini osobenim autorom. Uostalom, to je čovek koji je jednu lokalnu zabavljačicu pokušavao da impresionira (polupijan, u 05 ujutro, u kafiću) rečima: "You know, I have a book..." To je, najzad, čovek koji je "isporučio" apsolutno najjadniji izgovor za "predavanje" koji sam ikada u životu čuo ili se drznuo da zamislim! (O tome kasnije)
U 21h odoh da pogledam DAVITELJ PROTIV DAVITELJA u bioskopu, nadajući se boljoj kopiji od one mrljavo-popišane-iskrzane koja je trenutno na zvaničnom srpskom DVD-u. Avaj, bila je to festivalska kopija (sa eng. titlom – iznenađujuće dobrim!), jedva 2-3 nijanse bolja od one koju znam a svakako vrlo daleko od onoga kako taj film treba da izgleda. Ipak, beše to zabavno overiti još jednom, ovog puta sa masom stranaca (među njima Mes, kao član žirija, i jedan uštogljeni Rumun, filmski kritičar).
Potom stigoh taman na početak Jorove priče o ALIENU 3. Btw, genijalni štampari koji opslužuju "Lazu" uspeli su da gromoglasno najavljivano latinično izdanje knjižice zaseru koricama sa nekom ogavnom nijansom zelene, tako da je Jor u nastupu rastrojstva oljuštio plastifikaciju s tom debilnom farbom, i antićiriličarima u SL prodavao verziju sa crno-belom koricom. Jor je, kao zadrti pravnik, bio uplašen da narodu pušta bilo kakve inserte ili slike iz filma bez pismenog odobrenja FOX korporacije, tako da je to bila prilično suva žvaka sa njim ispred belog platna, dodatno oslabljena tehničkim zajebancijama s mikrofonom. Iskren da budem, veći deo nisam ni čuo, delom zbog mikrofona, što zbog pijane grupice Slovenaca koja se cerekala i galamila i koju nikako nisam uspevao da ućutkam, a delom zbog Marka iz Žutog titla s kojim sam baš tada ćaskao. Sve ukupno bilo je 10ak ljudi u publici, računajući srpsku delegaciju. Normalno, organizatorima nije ni palo na um da igde u hotelu ili na trgu ispred okače plakate kojima se najavljuju predavanja (a kad kažem 'plakat' pod time bih bio zadovoljan i A4 c/b odštampanim papirom sa najavom dešavanja!) nego je previše toga bilo po principu "ko zna, znaće – ko ne zna, neznaće!"
PS: Tik pred Jorovo predavanje prišao mi je Tomaž i tražio da ja najavim Jora. Meni to bilo bezveze: em sam ja tu gost, pa mi glupo da JA najavljujem drugog gosta, pa još kolegu, a toliko domaćina okolo (prošle godine je moju promociju najavio sam Tomaž); pored toga, principijelno mi je bilo bzvz što me to pita 5 minuta pred početak dešavanja, jer ne volim improvizacije bilo koje vrste. Stoga rekoh da radije ne bih, a on reče da je OK, nije problem, pitaće Bekija (ne shvatam zašto on, Tomaž, nije mogao da kaže 3 prigodne rečenice o svom gostu?!). Tek poslednje večeri shvatih da to Tomažu ipak nije bilo OK i da mi zamera što sam ga izneverio... To je prouzročilo intenzivan bol u jednom delu moga tela koji ne bih sada imenovao...

III
(utorak)
KO ŽIV A KO MRTAV

Ovo je dan koji je Aca proveo u šopingu u Beču, do koga je skoknuo autom. Vozili ga Tvrdišićka i Mančić s kojima je proveo ceo dan. Ne zavidim mu. Vratio se s nekim trejdovima, od kojih jedan – Žeželjev EL DIABLO – s velikim užitkom pročitah narednih dana. Volem Žeželja pa to ti je!
Isparilo mi je iz sjećanja šta sam radio do popodneva, ali siguran sam da je bilo super i neponovljivo! Utorak je bio veliki dan jer su tek tada stigle prve Velike Zvezde, a pre svega Juzna. Oko 18h je bila konzumacija vina u zadnjem dvorištu hotela u kome sam bio smešten, pa siđoh na to zbitije. Smesta prepoznah Juznu, ali videvši da ga Lakobrija upravo smara pokušajima da objasni koliko mu THE DENTIST znači u životu i koliko ga je baš taj film opredelio da postane ovo što je danas (uz Juznin dubiozan izraz lica), odlučih da ne prekidam njihov razgovor. Umesto toga, pozdravih se sa Žutim Titlićima, koji mi pokazaše ko je u masi novopridoščih – Kristijan Milić (ŽIVI I MRTVI), pa sedoh do njega i upoznasmo se.
Xtijan nije čovek od mnogo reči, mora se kasti, ali kad ga bolje upoznah narednih dana, shvatih da se radi o vrlo cool liku, "jednom od nas" što bi se reklo. Dražesne curice počeše da nam sipaju bela vina od 5 vrsta (bio je i neki roze, ali to pijucnuh samo iz učtivosti, jer je to jedino vino koje inače ne volim). Već pominjana najsexipilnija trudnica koju sam ikada video bila je i ovde glavna sipačica i objašnjavačica (koje je koje vino, kakvo i odakle i čije je).
Potom svi poitasmo u kino na još jednu turu ŽIVIH I MRTVIH: Juznina žena sede do mene, pa sam je tokom filma indoktrinirao i objašnjavao joj background filma i pojašnjavao ko je ko u tom ratu (ali da su u suštini i jedni i drugi i treći – loši momci!). Divna žena, zaista.
Kasnije te večeri sa terase hotela posmatrali smo (ja, Aca, Boki i njegova, Vlada i njegova + Samir i njegov Lakobrija...) negledljivi lajn-ap pretežno slovenačkih amaterskih filmova među kojima je jedini kao ne-suviše-negledljiv bio jedan koji su snimali osnovnoškolci, a žanrovski je nešto kao borilačka (!) teen drama sa okrepljujućim naravoučenijem za koje su još jedino tako mlada dečica sposobna. Ako ništa drugo, bilo je dinamično i zabavno; čak je stejdžovanje tih scena borbe bilo sasvim korektno, all things considered! A možda je stvar samo u tome što je filmić bio okružen ne.gled.lji.vim tvorevinama bez ikakvog stila, ružnim i nenadahnutim.
U jednom trenutku se iznervirah pa počeh da gledam u zvezdano nebo kao daleko zanimljiviji prizor od platna na kome je Ono išlo. A onda, kao kruna večeri, dođe i razlog što smo se okupili u tolikom broju: svetska premijera kratkog (30ak min.) filma SEKTOR koji je piso Boki a u istom i igra, zajedno sa Žikom T. i Nadom Š. Već sam se drugde osvrnuo na ovo razočaravajuće iskustvo, pa ću ovde reći samo: IZGLEDA sjajno, ali je uprkos tome vrlo uninvolving, šuplje i neubedljivo. Prikazivanje je prošlo u muku, a s mukom se i završilo, tj. nije bilo nikakvih komentara potom. Sutra nas je čekao naporan dan, pa se ja ranije no obično (oko 01h?) bacih u krpe.

NASTAVIĆE SE...
U spektakularnom nastavku čitajte o tome kako je protekao moj susret sa gigantima kakvi su Brian Yuzna i Roger Corman!