It takes pluck, self-confidence, and a decade of your life to learn everything you need to know about all the angles of production. Filmmaker Sander Maran and his brother, actor and producer Peeter, have much to say about Chainsaws Were Singing, their adventure in musical comedy filmmaking.
Includes bonus film introductory remarks and following Q&A.
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Quick links/Discussed in this episode:
Jakob Skrzypa’s site for information on Vampire Zombies… From Space! and other projects
Nosferatu (1922)/Terror of Dracula (1922?): Read the Canonically Weird entry for Nosferatu! This is the Essex Films version of Nosferatu, which uses the character names from the novel (i.e., it’s Count Dracula, not Count Orlok). Although the ad copy is ambiguous, we gather that Terror of Dracula is a 30 minute cut of Nosferatu that was sold on 8mm film to home collectors via mail order; it’s included as a bonus. John Mucci composes new scores for the films. These are curiosities for completists, released by reelclassicdvd (but on Blu-ray). Buy Nosferatu/Terror of Dracula.
Only the River Flows (2023): A Chinese policeman questions whether they have the right suspect in a murder, as he struggles with nightmares that suggest madness. Played in Cannes in Un Certain Regard, and although most critics are coy about the actual plot (favoring words like “enigmatic”) it suggests the potential to be marginally weird. Only the River Flows official site.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
On next week’s Pod 366, we’ll do our last live check-in at the 2024 Fantasia Festival, with a special guest scheduled: Nina Martin, Associate Professor of Film Studies at Connecticut College and occasional film reviewer at her personal blog I Wear Black on the Outside. In written reviews, Giles Edwards will have another week of festival reviews, reports and interviews: we’ll soon have a review for Chainsaws Were Singing (mentioned prominently in this Week’s Pod 366) along with interviews with that film’s director and an actor, Frankie Freako‘s Steven Kostanski, and a date with Miguel Llansó (Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway) to discuss his latest offering, Infinite Summer. Meanwhile, Shane Wilson chips in a written review of another reader-suggestion: Leos Carax‘s incestuous but literary Pola X (1999). Onward and weirdward!
…Or does it? Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Much like a lot in life. This lesson, and more, comes to you courtesy of Joel Potrykus‘ latest romp, the small-gauge tragi-comedy featuring two of the auteur’s classic character creations: Buzzard‘s Marty and Derek. Ambling back to the big screen after a ten year hiatus, they grace Vulcanizadora with pathos and comedy. Joel himself provides cheerful insight in this recorded conversation from Fantasia’s VIP room (and he proves himself indeed to be a very important Potrykus).
Includes bonus film introductory remarks and following Q&A.
Director John Paizs, best known for his Canadian cult comedy Crime Wave (in which a silent screenwriter played by the director struggles to pen the ultimate “colour crime” movie in his quest to reach “the Top!”), graciously agreed to answer some questions for 366 Weird Movies about his homegrown Winnipeg masterpiece and other topics.
Questions from Gregory J. Smalley:
You, Guy Maddin, and now Matthew Rankin are all Winnipeg natives, and all of you make movies that reinvent the styles of older films, with nostalgic irony but also genuine appreciation. Can we say there’s an actual “Winnipeg school” of filmmaking? If so, what brought this style about—is there something in the water in Winnipeg?
That’s a good question. Yes, it does appear to have become something of a thing regarding Winnipeg, this particular style of filmmaking. As for what brought it about, if not something in the water (which is an entirely reasonable supposition!), my next best guess would be possibly something to do with our winters. Have you ever spent a winter in Winnipeg? Though now thanks to climate change, this may never be provable, unfortunately!
What are “colour crime movies” in Crime Wave’s world? Any real-life examples of the genre you were thinking of?
The colour crime movie was simply the kind of movie that Crime Wave’s movie-maker protagonist, Steven Penny, aspired to make. Inspired by classic-era “noirs” movies, his idea was to reinvent them—supercharge them if you will—and all importantly, add colour! They were to be in colour, unlike almost all the real-life examples of the genre of course. As for any I may have been thinking of myself, none specifically. Though just last year I happened to catch one that if I had seen it back when I was first cooking up Crime Wave may very well have become key to my own inspiration. And its poster actually, coincidentally, hangs in Steven Penny’s apartment over the garage in Crime Wave! It’s a punchy little noir from 1955 called Hell’s Island. It’s packed with all the clichés of the genre, which of course we all love, and, very rare for a classic-era noir (and probably a lot closer to nonexistent at this one’s obviously a lot closer to nonexistent budget level), it’s in colour!
The protagonist of Crime Wave, Steven Penny, has no trouble writing the beginnings and endings of screenplays, but struggles with middles. So of course the obvious question is, is this an autobiographical comment?
In terms of screenplays in their totality—not just struggling with middles!—yes, very much an autobiographical comment. In fact completely. Just prior to writing Crime Wave I’d written a handful of feature-length screenplays, all of which did not work out for one reason or another. And on the night that I was sitting at my kitchen Continue reading WINNIPEG LEGEND JOHN PAIZS CHATS WITH 366
Despite the ominously grey threat of rain, the week started off well with a conversation both edifying and gratifying. The target of today’s piercing queries was none other than all-around-artiste, Quarxx, who provided a pleasantly black-toned sartorial counterpoint to this interviewer’s candy-colored clothing. He’s an affable fellow, however, and happily discusses his creative background, elucidates his new film Pandemonium, and does us the pleasure of recommending two Parisian must-taste restaurants.