Friday, December 31, 2010

Jane's own little film review.



Q: Dear Jane, how would you describe the film, "FANNY AND ALEXANDER" ?

A: That film (F & Alexander) is very dense. It has a lot (and even a lot of humor). The film is really about "breaking free". Even the Bishop breaks free in his terrible burning anguish & death. He was also asking to die, in so many ways.
He wanted to be terminated, I feel. He knew that by severely punishing the childen, and also shaming the Jewish man, would bring definitive black karma his way.

The characters are all plagued by this quiet conservative ambience that dominates their lives, yet behind closed doors/red curtains (although the maids are always privvy), they have their fun and flings with one another, and indulge themselves in taboos beyond the imaginable. When doors are closed, they permit themselves to be human.

The mother screaming like a banshee, and pacing back and forth in the background while the children endured was so horrifying. I am glad you made me pay extra attention to that part, with all of its cultural meanings. She was completely lost in a trance of primal screaming.

The marriage of the bishop and his young bride captured the heart of the film. At first, this choice for marriage seemed perfect. Lovey. Responsible. Possible. Then, as their relationship becomes comfortable (I mean as HE becomes comfortable) the devastation of his need to dominate and restrict take course. He drained her without even meaning to. His behaviour toward her children was despicable, but it was not that behaviour that compelled her to take action and leave him. It was her realization that if she stayed there, she would end up just as inanimate as all of those puppets in the film. If she stayed inside of that world, she would be wooden.

* * * I especially liked some of Bergman's casting choices. Like the casting of Ismael (a woman Bergman cast as a male), that weird strange evil person, who basically ignites the horrors that everyone is keeping steadily within by a simple and isolated conversation with Alexander in a room.

In conclusion- The film summarized Bergman's lifelong crisis that he had with his priest father.
For others (us, the public audience), I feel the film explained just how dangerous keeping unexpressed intense family emotions can be. Especially if there is some kerosene hiding somewhere around the house.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

KODACHROME R.I.P. : 1935-2010


My last 2 films (Nice People + Homewrecka) could not have been as visually beautiful without my use of Kodachrome.
The only lab left in the world (Kansas) that was developing the film stock for artists like myself has now declared its discontinuance. Its unfortunate demise. A very sad day for artists. The Kodachrome stock was known to have a "color" archival rate of over 100 years when stored inside a freezer :(
Link:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/30/132485438/photos-steve-mccurrys-last-roll-of-kodachrome

Link to another important article, citing the famous "Afghan Girl" photo captured on Kodachrome.
http://mashable.com/2010/12/30/say-goodbye-to-kodachrome/

Another sad passing today.

link has details...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101230/ap_on_en_ot/eu_france_obit_caro

The future of the avant-garde theatre ?

The future of experimental avant-garde cinema...click on link...
http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-12-22/film/year-in-film-culture-high/

Monday, December 27, 2010

OPERATING LAMP "PROP" (given to me as a gift) and Location discovered (a stone basement)


i cannot wait to use this lamp for the host/shoot of GIRLSTORIES which will imitate the Warhol stage design and minimalism of his infamous bolex camera Screenshots.

i will use an old stone basement as the location. a giant film projection screen as a backdrop and a giant movie lamp as prop (and shaft lighting tool)

Excellent BLOG site for DSLR filmmakers



This person/guy sold me my Canon D60 HD camera, gave me his professional info (he's a photographer), and i have now been turned on to his incredible BLOG as a further learning tool for this kind of still-photography cinema i am now pursuing ...

http://hddslreader.com/

Sunday, December 26, 2010

(i am) so proud of him


Bale went through a rough time (period) when he was recorded going ballistic on a film crew member during that horrific TERMINATOR film. Despite the mass criticism and temporary public humiliation of that day, Bale kept at his craft. He stayed low key, he kept a low profile, and sustained himself. He basically kept his cool. His latest film performance, as a crack addicted Irish neighborhood loser pushing his brother hard towards a successful boxing career will be an eye opener (no pun intended to DICKIE, his character in the movie). I "fought" my way through a blizzard to see this character performance, and left feeling so happy for Bale. Listen, bottom line is that Christian Bale knows for sure deep inside that he is a bonafide rage-filled manic depressive NUTJOB. But Bale has class, and persistence in his craft. He never gave up. And now, with the DICKIE performance that has critics raving, Bale has a second chance to scream even louder at those who temporarily F&*#))^ up his career. With or without crack, Christian Bale rules.

Period.

bye.
xo

"EVERYTHING INSIDE THE MALL IS CLOSED TODAY" selfie


so went vinyl record shopping for hardtofind movie soundtracks instead. 
and I hit the jackpot !  NIGHTHAWKS!!!!  YAY!!!!  bye(bought it)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

MoMA 2010 New Photography show !




NEW Still Photography that uses a 16mm loop device. This completely Blew Me Away !
This made a lot of sense to me. so nice to see something that does not have a USB connection on its belly.

bye.
mexo

link to a surprise performance ...click here...
http://moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/12/28/a-walk-in-performance-at-moma-by-patti-smith-and-michael-stipe

Friday, December 17, 2010

Quote of the "Jane" day ...

"For the greatest enemy of the truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived and dishonest- but the myth- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." -

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Yale University
June 11, 1962

Thursday, December 16, 2010

HOSTESS for GIRLSTORIES is now completed & cast. Veronica Charnley gets the part !






Actress/Musician/Poet Veronica Charnley gets the part after a cafe/cupcake meeting in SOHO, Village. She speaks broken French, and will educate the public to the issues/matters of my film trilogy . I am shooting on HIDEF and her part will blow people away (it will include a murderous feral cougar)

Stay Tuned.

CANNES, here we come !

p.s. and wait till you see what actually happens with the feral cougar ! ummm, this excitement is WHY I love making films !!! This final shoot will be utter Perfection, and the Ultimate climax for the Girlstories Trilogy .

P.S.S. Veronica is browsing though a book of 16mm portrait "screen shots" (60's Warhol). That is how we discussed the part, and it's shooting possibilities.



Wednesday, December 15, 2010


MILLENNIUM FILM WORKSHOP solo screening. Q and A session after films screened..

BYE.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Winona COMEBACK with a BLACK SWAN !

I went to see this film because it was shot at SUNY PURCHASE (my BFA art school and also where i shot Nice People).

Honestly, there is a lot of hype about this movie. The trailer is great, but the film is so so. What DOES stand out in this movie, and is worth every single penny and popcorn kernel is WINONA RYDER. She IS amazing in this film. Small bit part, but she IS remarkable. I don't know how i feel about her throwing herself in front of the car and getting her body completely destroyed, but visually seeing her reaction to the failed attempt to scream FU$^& YOU at the dance culture that she had submerged her life into, and the full contempt for the "ballet" as an art of Politics, and then her bolted-back-up-hospital-EMERGENCY-ROOM body, i left praying that someone will cast her again! After Jolie destroyed her career with Girl Interrupted, the time has come for her to come back from the dead (and her reported kleptomania problems). Now, after throwing herself in front of a vehicle, WINONA LIVES AGAIN !!!!!

always,me

xo

Sunday, December 12, 2010

MILLENNIUM solo show 2010




pic with my GIRLSTORIES official movie poster, and with Howard Guttenplan (Director of Millennium Experimental film Workshop) @ my solo film exhibition 2010

hi joey,
Hope you and cassie are well. I'm spending christmas at my brothers in Killaloe, clare- it's lovely. December has been a weird month here -
'extreme weather' electricity going off in my studio/office so no
heating -10 temperatures- or broadband then I fell on black ice and
bruised my ribs...kind of unfortunate, very behind in work now. Going to have a nice day tomorrow with my family.
Was great to hear you speak about your work at the Q and A session, very
earnest.

Much love,
Anne Maree xx

--

Still Films
The Factory
35a Barrow Street
Dublin 4

IE

are these stories REAL=(my audience ask again)







- Lili White (filmmaker) Saw the most amazing films by JOEY HUERTAS!

An evening of "Joey Huertas" movies...but wait... what about Jane? where is she/OR HE?
are these stories "real" ??? was the first question they (audience/crowd) asked him during the Q and a session after the films screened. but they never asked him(ME) why is it that Joey and not Jane tonight. He (meaning ME, meaning Janey. DO YOU GOT IT YET?) decided to spill them beans. You shoulda been there.

bye.
xo

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A better understanding (of myself)

Please click on this scanned document above to view my first desperate attempt to develop a better understand of my work, and this path i sew...

WHAT THOUGHT PROCESS THIS DOCUMENT DABBLES WITH:

- what i am doing as an artist
- familiar voices and the ultimate direction
-mission for "making my things"
- mission for why i am "telling these stories that i tell to the public"

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

New toy. New land movie. New feature-film.


i (meaning me, joey, jane, all three of us you IDIOT) am/are learning how to successfully communicate via Evolutionary Theory= Darwinism. i am, uhhhhhh, how do i say, "adapting" for you (screw it let me be selfish = I AM ADAPTING FOR MYSELF. DUH). i have gotten myself (via a surprise international gift) an SLR camera (CANON 60D)! and i will begin to shoot my film works in Hi Definition using memory cards and telephoto optic lenses. Janey's NEW toy! My first film will be a SITE/LAND study film of the New England cliffwalks. My second film will be a feature-length film about a party of witches & frogs from children's stories enduring the aftermath of a slumber party gone mad (i.e. BAD). The first film will be "pretty" and the second film "heavy". The second will be the joke that will make me finally filthy f &%^# rich.

Stay Tuned. I am now in a position of having to learn how to shoot with this digital thing. Lessons begin tonight. 8pm. Let's pray i don't throw up. Why... gosh i miss shooting on something that you can "touch". Oh well, FILM IS DEAD. But ideas run rampant, despite the ice cold snowy weather.

goodbye.

me
xo

Thursday, December 2, 2010

I will mix some Rossellini with some Jane.


A "Jane Brain" my-brain-at-the-moment- SYNOPSIS:

Roberto Rossellini is one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.
Jane Public (this writer) is the same exact thing (yet still undiscovered by Hollywood standards). Rossellini made a trilogy of films during and after World War II— Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero—that left his first transformative mark on cinema. With their stripped-down aesthetic, largely nonprofessional casts, and unorthodox approaches to storytelling, these intensely emotional works were international sensations and came to define the neo-realist movement (MY BIGGEST INFLUENCE AS AN ARTIST). Shot in battle-ravaged Italy and Germany (hey, why didn't he just shoot in the Bronx, SAME THING??!), these three films are some of our most lasting, humane documents of devastated postwar Europe, containing universal images of both tragedy and hope.

So what does that have to do with YOU Janey (YOU meaning ME)?

It means that as I begin to sew my GIRLSTORIES trilogy of films, MISSING GREEN, NICE PEOPLE and HOMEWRECKA all together for the Cannes Film Festival 2011, and shoot the French Narrator's "missing link" footage, I want to (meaning "wanna") keep the "neo-realistic" frame of my current mind spinning away inside of me head. I want to think Anna Magnani. I want to think no direct scripting. I want to think shoot with an actual non-professional French person. I want to think that I should think about not telling YOU anymore of my brilliant ideas. You may be a thief. Assume everyone is corrupt, and start from there. Right? Right.

Does that make sense to you?
Yes?
Great!

Goodbye.

me
xo

BREED RABBIT MEAT NOW? (as WWII propaganda @ MoMA tells us)


http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/12/01/rabbit-rabbit

p.s. and they ain't talking Bugs Bunny here.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

AMAZON.COM Book Review, from California (regarding release of my book, HOMEWRECKA)


5.0 out of 5 staPoignant and disturbing view of a very difficult subject., November 30, 2010
By
Jim (California, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Homewrecka (Kindle Edition)
Joey Huertas has created a multi-faceted look at the issue of physically abusive relationships and their codependent origins. It is a disturbingly clear vision. By telling a story instead of preaching, Mr. Huertas (who is a social worker as well as an award-winning film maker) is able to convey so much more about the dynamics of these types of interactions. And just like in life, Homewrecka offers no "answers" or trite conclusions, just a portrait of two people obviously caught in a dangerously dysfunctional relationship but apparently pathologically unable to break away from each other.

The story is set after the hospitalization of one of the parties, and is narrated in a coldly, almost contemptuous manner supposedly by the victim's sister, but possibly by the assailant herself.

It is a very effective manner of expressing the emotional impact - the feeling of futility and fatalism - of these self destructive interactions and the psychological problems that can be the underlying cause.

This is an important social issue, and Mr. Huertas has handled it in a way that addresses the clinical side as well as the side most of us never see - the emotional human side of the people actually involved.

link to purchase this book online:
http://www.amazon.com/Homewrecka-ebook/dp/B004E11212/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1290903392&sr=8-1


Sunday, November 28, 2010

Interview @ Anthology Film Archives: Saturday


Just notified that my new Installation film will be at the 2010 ART BASEL: Miami Beach Dec 2-5 2010 under New York Representation. Just completed my interview Saturday afternoon.
Excited? Very excited, but upset that it does not snow in Miami :( and I love my new winter gloves.

www.artbasel.com

In Order To Remind Myself Bout the Importance and My Responsibility to Provide In My Film art:

Real Time Journalism

p.s. they say i am a "Confessional Journalist". ..actually bullshit, I just said that.

p.S.S. why do people constantly describe my work as "transgressive" ? (it's wild card terminology). I truly Do Not Get It (meaning that they do not get what I do, I THINK). I feel that I make cynical comedies. Nothing more. Something less. then again, maybe what I THINK IS TRUE "against" what is actually A REALITY may be 2 distinct things battling against one another. hmmmmmmmmmmm. Now that sounds transgressive baby!




Nancy Holt exhibit @ COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY








Click PLAY button on video below to see early video experimentation of Nancy Holt :

Chicken Wings, turkey burgers and a terrorist realization


i learned this morning (today) that Magdalena Kopp's gun did not "jam" upon her arrest. Her partner's did. But that does not diminish the fact that i have a "European mind" (as i am constantly told). then what does it do Janey, what does this truly mean? ANSWER: that this fact about a female former terrorist makes for good pillow talk.

IT "IS" THE IDEA THAT COUNTS (further reference concerning that "gun jam" matter and Carlos the Jackyl's hot German squeeze)

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The enticing images above of the hot food plates, both filled and emptied, occurred during a dialogue between Jane (ME) and a guy named Mike. "Mike" is a NYC art curator and he wanted to explain to me why i needed to focus my work on European audiences. He wanted to convince me that i am a complete INSTALLATION film artist and should begin to solely promote myself as such. I sucked on my chicken bones and just kept thinking, "stop blabbing, pay for my meal and make an offer for my "installation" films that i cannot refuse. HE DID NONE OF THESE THINGS. AND TO TOP THINGS OFF HE ATTEMPTED TO GO DUTCH $$$ ON THE MEAL. Being that i just refreshed your (i.e. YOU the reader) about a few terrorists, i had to con my way into getting "Mike" to pay $$$. Via diversion and lip service: My mission was accomplished. The chicken wings were simply scrumptious. Ay Vay, terrorist me.

p.s. I will now be authenticating, with black ink, all of my film art, writings and photography with my skin prints (my thumbs) in order to further confirm the legitimacy of my identity (jane vs. smith vs. joey vs. etc vs. etc). Upon death, and the building of my Mausoleum, someone needs to be able to prove that Janey was really me. Especially if DNA tests are expensive and a much longer process. Also, exhuming could get pricey. I'm way too considerate of a human being and person....I'm doing thumbprints from now on. Even on my business cards. Goodbye.




Saturday, November 27, 2010

The smell of a recession still lingers

Cell-phone Photography 101
(i.e. minutes before catching my train)

p.s. i wanted to afford renting an old house for about 20 folks today. Maybe when my book, or film, sells a million copies on AMAZON.COM : http://www.amazon.com/Homewrecka-ebook/dp/B004E11212/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1290903392&sr=8-1).

* A home for NYC homeless youth/runaways will be my first social contribution.


Friday, November 26, 2010

Zoe is so amazing and passionate about her creating process

click on these links for her avant-garde cello work. She loops created melodies and thumpings, and then builds upon them to create her music=songs . She is a fellow DIY artist who integrates technology with her art (she integrates a laptop)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYrcXX4nWOA&feature=fvw