Usually the summer movie season brings action-packed CGI fests, animated blockbusters and little else.
This year that is not the case. Asheville continues to book the usual big budget box office fare as well as a host of smaller titles. Since 2008 the good Professor Kaufmann and I have tried to cover as much as we can, as best we can despite the challenges of being a monthly publication. Often we’ll write about a film which we may have seen just before deadline, but which may be gone by the time the issue hits the streets. When we’ve known a smaller film will be long gone by the time the issue is out, we’ve often opted to include something more timely and mainstream.
With the plethora of little films that play for a week with little notice, Chip and I have decided that we want you to know about these films, even if they are gone by the time you read our reviews. You don’t need a review of the next Transformers movie to know whether you are going to see it or not. But you may not even have been aware of a little film called Locke that played in Asheville last month. Locke is a film we feel was important and worthwhile, so we’ve included a review of it this month in hopes that, when it makes its way to DVD in August, you’ll be sure to rent it.
To that end, the good Professor Kaufmann contemplated our quandary and penned an observation about writing for a monthly publication in an age of cinematic ADD. He makes some interesting points about the film industry and offers some food for thought from our perspective.
Happily, not all of the smaller films have left in a hurry. Chef is not an important film, but it’s a dandy little crowd pleaser, tailor made for the Asheville foodie scene. It’s also is proof of Chip’s point that if you give a film some time to find its audience, it will find its audience. At press time Chef was still playing to applauding crowds at both The Fine Arts Theatre and The Carolina, thanks to the power of word-of-mouth.
One film that will take more than a week to find its audience, but will likely play for just that is The Rover. It’s a desolate story set in the Australian outback 10 years after an economic apocollapse. It’s a grim film from Paul Michod (Animal Kingdom) and it certainly isn’t for everyone, but performances by Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson made it worthwhile for me.
Another niche film (which should be playing at The Fine arts Theatre when this issue comes out) is Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child. Its audience is an urbanite, twenty-something, well-read female with a penchant for vagina jokes.
This month we’ve included reviews of 22 Jump Street (after watching The Rover a good laugh was in order), Chef, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Immigrant, Locke, Maleficent and Words and Pictures. Chip made Criterion’s new release of 1963’s Judex his DVD pick of the month and I selected the delightful art-house sleeper hit The Lunchbox. You’ll also find schedules for The Asheville Film Society and the Hendersonville Film Society.
Until August dear readers, enjoy!