HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL YUMI FALLS IN LOVE?

Not too many...

YUMI

Things are looking pretty good for Yumi. Still have no money, but limitations are the fuel cells...the lifeblood...of imaginative filmmaking. Lars style. Embrace the limitations and hug the obstructions. This is what it's all about.

I have the camera.
I almost have the cast.
The crew is coming.

The next step...testing the camera and some sound setups...but how?

I've got it. I'll shoot a TRAILER.

It's time to pick out the scenes. It's Yumi time.

FILMS ON (OR SOON TO BE ON) THE HARD DRIVE OR IN THE PLAYER

Ready (or almost ready) to watch:

I'M SO SO about K. Kieslowski
WAITING cheezy I'm sure, but good 40 yr old virgin type cheeze, perhaps?
MIRROR by Andrei Tarkovsky, of course
KENJI MIZOGUCHI - The life of a film director 1975
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED - no expectations. I think it might be bad, but I don't know why.
LOVE LUDLOW - starts off very weak, but we'll see
HOUSE - Season 1 - good stuff
CRASH - I know I'm not going to like it, but it continues to taunt me from the hard drive
THE PIANO TEACHER - I know I am going to like it, and it continues to taunt
NOTRE MUSIQUE and WEEKEND - a double shot of Godard

Did I already mention that SARABAND was fantastic. A genuine revelation? Ingmar Bergman is the greatest living filmmaker. This cannot be disputed. Altman is incredible, along with Godard and Antonioni, but Bergman is the master.

THANKS AGAIN

Just wanted to say thank you one more time to all the amazing actors who took time out of their schedules to email headshots/resumes and to come down and read for us.

If you were never asked to come down and read, we're sorry, but the response was overwhelming, and although it was our intention to see everyone, we had to stick with folks we could imagine in the roles. We've placed everyone's information on file for our upcoming T.V. pilot, and any additional film projects.

We haven't finished casting completely, but it's definitely in the last stages. Everybody is SO GOOD. It's tough. Really tough.

Love Yumi

THROUGH A SCANNER DARKLY

The new trailer looks pretty damn good.

WHY DO THEY GIVE THESE PEOPLE MONEY?

Another cheezeball moment of "truth." The type of fiction that would never be given a shot had it not been tagged "Documentary" or "Creative Non-Fiction." Again, for those who missed it, there is no such thing as creative non-fiction. It's fiction, and it's most often terrible fiction. Idiots.

"Cast a wary eye on the authenticity of "Unknown White Male." Cinema can frame the world around us as if we were viewing it for the first time, but "Unknown White Male"'s hackneyed montage sequences--a fumbled juxtaposition of Doug recording his "first" experiences of snow and a fireworks display, a Final Cut Pro-induced disaster in which Doug's reencounter with world history is presented as a short blast of archival footage--unforgivably fail to impart the wonder of seeing anew. Disappointing, because once the issues concerning identity and the difficulties Doug's friends and family have coming to terms with his rebooted self wash away due to Murray's less than penetrating documentary skills, we're left with lazy shots of hands pouring through sand, silhouettes wandering across sunsets, all the standbys of picture postcard, "living life to its fullest" tableaux. But maybe such images appropriately compliment this strangely unaffecting tale: considering Bruce's satisfied insulation, his metamorphosis from cocky bore to reflective soul comes off less like a genuine reawakening than the yuppie fantasy of "Regarding Henry."
-From IndieWire 02-22-06

KIESLOWSKI

"Four young French actresses, in a chance place, in inappropriate clothes, pretending that they've got props and partners, act so beautifully that everything becomes real. They speak some fragments of dialogue, they smile, they worry, and at that moment I can understand what it's all for."

-Krzysztof Kieslowski during rehearsal.

Looking forward to some Yumi readings.

YUMI

The script changes daily. So if I promised you the script and haven't sent it, don't feel slighted. It changes for the better each and every day. This is the seventh feature film script I've penned, but the changes that I've been inspired to make as we move closer to (the inevitable) moment of principal photography, have convinced me that writer/directors, and only writer/directors have the potential to "imagine it perfectly." If you do only one or the other, it is a completely different process, and not nearly as pure. I would imagine that a director, given the ability to "change" the script any way he saw fit (Kieslowski) also has this potential.

Yumi is heating up...

PEACHLAND

Spent the last few days in Peachland taking a little vacation. Yumi is back on track after the three or four days off. I'm going to set up a few readings, and start looking at getting some key crew together.

THE DYING GAUL

If I saw this on stage it would probably knock me out (because theatre in Vancouver is a bit wanting right now). As a film, however, it's just okay. There are some truly great (better than pretty good) moments, but the "chat room" stuff feels very forced and dated. The best stuff is Campbell Scott and Patricia Clarkson. They play these characters to cool perfection, truly amazing performances from each. The plot feels a tad contrived and, of course, it is, but the real problem is that dated feeling. Like a bad song from the eighties that might have been great in its time, The Dying Gaul would have knocked the world on its ass in 1989, but it's only "okay" in 2005. I'm not sure when Lucas wrote the play (on which the film is based), but I would guess early to mid nineties. It has that feel. Only worth seeing for the acting. The chat room stuff and the forced plotting make it a bit tough to love.

CASTING

Will be sending an update email to any and all actors who sent in headshots for the Yumi in Love film project around the beginning of March to detail any and all casting decisions. We know you understand that these things take time, especially when the filmmakers are concerned about doing them right. We haven't cast all the roles by any means, so callbacks and readings are definitely coming.

Love Yumi

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE

Yes. A perfect ending for Chan-wook Park's revenge trilogy. Each film in this trilogy is brilliant seen in series or on its own. It isn't unusual for one film to shine brighter than the others in a series like this, but here, the balance is perfect. Old Boy and Mr. V. Everything is equally outstanding.

When it comes to revealing humanity on the love/death scale, Chan-wook Park isn't Kieslowski or Bergman, but that isn't his main concern. There is a subtle beauty and elegance to the violence in these films. Samuel Taylor Coleridge argued that the elegiac is the form "most natural to the reflective mind," and it may be upon any subject, so long as it reflects on the poet himself.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance plays like an Elegy where the natural and reflective mind of the viewer is bounced back in the form of revenge we want and need to see taken. This isn't (so much) the case in the first two films.

A great ending. Lee Geum-Ja (Yeong-ae Lee) will kick your ass.

NP: Children of the Revolution by T-Rex (Rextasy baby)

THIS IS GOOD

The Shining - Romantic Comedy Trailer

Very good stuff.

PODCASTING

Wanted to be sure I posted a link to THIS.

Stephen Gaghan's fantastic take on screenwriting. Brilliant.

NP: Belle & Sebastian's The Life Pursuit

AUDITIONS/CALLBACKS

In the Yumiverse, we've cast a few roles, but we've still got a ways to go.

If we've asked you to come back and read, or if you auditioned and have not been called back. It isn't "exactly" indicative of where you're at. There are some folks who we are seriously considering for roles who we haven't called back, or have called back once. It is a complex and fluid process.

Our focus is on casting these roles one at a time.

Talk soon!

Terry

NP: Lilys "The Three Way"

WORKSHOP ADVICE

UNEXPECTED WISDOM

Ed Burns has made some films. His writing is a little more "on the nose" than my type of thing, but I have a huge amount of respect for the man himself. The commentary track on Brothers McMullen was great. Here is a little bit of truth:

"When you try and make a low budget film everyone's gonna tell you that you need this and you need that, and they're all full of crap. You don't need a fuckin' thing."

-Ed Burns

BUBBLE

I have been looking forward to Steven Soderbergh's latest film for a long time. His method, on this film, of working with non-actors and shooting digital, setting it around a doll factory...sounded perfect. I loved Full Frontal, and Coleman was the screenwriter on that one as well.

Bubble isn't great. It's moody and Soderbergh's camera work and direction are perfect. The acting (by non-actors) is interesting and the sadness of their lives is very well presented. The problem is the obnoxious acoustic guitar (and I'm a HUGE Guided by Voices fan), the cheezy religious images, especially the "blue light" effects, and the fact that the story/characters are never fully realized. It's a traditional crime plot based film that wants you to care about characters.

I wanted to love it.