Livin La Vida LA, CA

discovering Los Angeles, sundancing, reading books, directing plays, watching movies, chronicling and listing, eating out, cooking in, obsessing over television, accepting every invitation, photo touring

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HOMEMADE NOVEMBER

Arzak Eggs

Watching The Mind of a Chef with David Chang gave me this idea. They were amazing. Next time I'll use oil spray on the clingfilm so they keep their shape better.

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OMG amazing

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if this is what the future looks like, please take me to there now. thank you armani prive. 

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The goal of motion pictures is not to recreate reality, it's not even to show reality. I want to create a little psychic link between you and my pictures. I want to suck you into the world of the story, suspend your disbelief and make you forget about yourself and your life and just be in the moment of the film.

By not showing enough visual information, we force the brain into filling in the gaps... it draws you in even more. It's part of how you let go to the point where you can laugh or cry or feel tense or afraid or elated.

Naim Sutherland

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Have you watched your English Telenovela this week??? Here's a delicious Mexican Soap Opera - IN ENGLISH - for your perverse pleasures. Stallions de Amor - A new episode every week!

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Happy Valentines Day from Stallions de Amor

Love hurts, take a lesson

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It's time for you to enjoy my web series STALLIONS DE AMOR

starting Tuesday, we will be releasing a new episode every week for the next 11 weeks until our spine-tingling Season 1 cliffhanger!

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Best Narrative Film 28 Hotel Rooms Young & Wild Keep the Lights On 

Best Documentary West of Memphis Indie Game  Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry 

Best Director Marialy Rivas, Young & Wild Ian Sachs, Keep the Lights On  So Yong Kim, For Ellen

Best Lead Actor Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On Kim Kold, Teddy Bear John Hawkes, The Surrogate Mark Duplass, Safety Not Guaranteed 

Best Lead Actress Marin Ireland, 28 Hotel Rooms  Alicia Rodriguez, Young and Wild Felicity Price, Wish You Were Here 

Best Supporting Actor Mark Webber, Save the Date Felipe Pinto, Young & Wild Marek Sacha, Four Suns 

Best Supporting Actress Shaylena Manigo, For Ellen Lizzie Kaplan, Bachelorette  Amy Schumer, Price Check 

Best Cinematography David Raedeker, My Brother the Devil  Doug Emmet, 28 Hotel Rooms  Keiichi Kobayashi, About the Pink Sky 

Best Score Jonathan Snipes, Room 237 Johann Johannson, For Ellen

Best Editing - Dramatic Andrea Chignoli & Sebastian Sepulveda, Young & Wild Joseph Krings, 28 Hotel Rooms 

Best Editing - Documentary Lisanne Pajot & James Swirskey, Indie Game Hannele Halm, China Heavyweight 

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Best Grossout of the Festival The Demonbitch in V/H/S The Octopussy from Grabbers 

Most Endings in One Film Red Lights

Most See Through Sentimental Garbage Robot & Frank

Freakiest Film that Knows Its Freaky Room 237

Queen of Sundance Parker Posey

Best Tweeter of Sundance Mike Birbiglia, @birbigs

Most Slamming Body - Male Felipe Pinto, Young & Wild Thure Lindhardt - Keep the Lights On Mark Webber - Save the Date

Most Slamming Body - Female Helen Hunt, The Surrogate

Best Dream Sequences Sleepwalk With Me

Honorable Mention Michael Rainey Jr - Holding his own opposite Common Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Great performance but you should have had more material  Paul Dano - Greatest lip sync of a whitesnake song *EVER* 

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My Sundance List (so far) In Order

28 Hotel Rooms Keep the Lights On Young and Wild West of Memphis About a Pink Sky China Heavyweight For Ellen Gypsy Davy Teddy Bear Sleepwalk With Me Bachelorette Wish You Were Here Hello I Must Be Going Indie Movie Four Suns Price Check The Queen of Versailles Father's Chair Safety Not Guaranteed Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry Smashed The Surrogate Save the Date Shorts IV LUV Room 237 Love Free or Die Shorts I Shorts II  V/H/S  My Brother the Devil  The House I Live In  The First Time Abacus Robot and Frank  Grabbers Red Lights

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Short reviews of the shorts

The Arm Quirky and quick, hinting to an underlying significance Henley The punch is a bit predictable but the kid is funny Ok Breathe Auralee Could have done without the heavy handed "lyrical" transitions that were way too literal 97 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card Walks the line between oh-my-side-hurt funny and cheesily sentimental but still just a really cool movie. Girl Its closest relative is pervy uncle In the Company of Men. Not for me but I'm sure Neil Labute is jacking off I. A theatre somewhere to this one. The Return Would have packed a heavier punch for me with a tighter more controlled edit The Black Balloon Beautiful and poetic with a great score. These guys really see things in a different way!

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About the Pink Sky dir by Keiichi Kobayashi

This film takes place entirely inside the memory of the lead character, Izumi. In the memory Izumi is in high school and finds a wallet with $300,000 yen belonging to a wealthy college boy...the drama and self discovery spring from her initial decision not to return the wallet and ultimately what happens when her friends discover she has it. 

There were several things I loved about this film--the sound design for one, the cinematography, and the easy humor and repartee between the three lead girls. The cast, especially Izumi (played by Ai Ikedea), really captured that disinterested quality so many teens have that is simply masking for a secret hunger for self discovery. There was one casting choice in particular that I questioned, and some subject matter that I felt was sloppily handled, but all in all a solid offering from an exciting and gentle new voice in  Japenese cinema!

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West of Memphis Dir by Amy Berg I think the most startling thing about Amy Bergs talent as a documentarian is her passionate and fearless search for the truth. This conviction takes her into some pretty murky terrain and that is no more the truth than with this film. West of Memphis hung heavy in the air long after the credits rolled, bringing up strong emotions in most audience members at this mornings screening. It's humbling to know there are people out there who will stop at nothing to expose the truth, and gives me hope that there will one day be justice for the three little boys who were so gruesomely discarded.

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The Arm Quirky and quick, hinting to an underlying significance Henley The punch is a bit predictable but the kid is funny Ok Breathe Auralee Could have done without the heavy handed "lyrical" transitions that were way too literal 97 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card Walks the line between oh-my-side-hurt funny and cheesily sentimental but still just a really cool movie. Girl Its closest relative is pervy uncle In the Company of Men. Not for me but I'm sure Neil Labute is jacking off In a theatre somewhere to this one. The Return Would have packed a heavier punch for me with a tighter more controlled edit The Black Balloon Beautiful and poetic with a great score. These guys really see things in a different way!

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Wish You Were Here Dir by Kieran Darcy A taut, suspenseful story that follows the aftermath and deceit among three people when the fourth in their group mysteriously disappears after a booze and drug filled vacation night in Cambodia. Felicity Price and Joel Edgarton play a couple expecting their third child. The strength of the film lies in the way the couples relationship unravels when secrets begin to expose themselves, and in that way this psychological thriller borrows heavily from the relationship drama genre. It's a testament to Kieran Darcy's directing (he was in Animal Kingdom!) that it never gets sappy or indulgent.

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Hello I Must Be Going Dir by Todd Louiso

The wonderful thing about this film and what makes it truly special is the way the comedy is so embedded in the neurosis of the lead character, played with such an honest nakedness by Melanie Lynskey. I"m not kidding when I say nearly every line is a laugh line but it never feels put on or false, and that's a credit owed entirely to her performance. It's a dangerous line to walk, but she's successful. Blythe Danner gives a knockout performance as the mother of a woman who has not lived up to her expectations. Todd Louiso directs the film so sensitively and you can totally see bits of his persona in the lead character. A plus!

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The Queen of Versailles Dir. by Lauren Greenfield A surprisingly warm tale that takes two anti heroes and shows you their deepest flaw: being human. David and Jackie Siegel are on top of the world, nearly finished building their dream home, the 90,000 square foot Versailles. That is until the market collapses and, like everyone must do, they are forced to distinguish their needs from their wants as everything begins to disappear. At the heart of this story is the collapsing American dream, different in scale for the Siegels, but still as painful and sobering an eye opener as it would be for any American family.