The Cinema of Escape

www.thebigpicturemagazine.com Summer 2013
The Cinema of Escape
contents
Issue Twenty. Summer 2013
Features
14
Published as a bi-monthly, Film
International covers all aspects of
film culture in a visually dynamic
way. This new breed of film
magazine brings together
established film scholars with
renowned journalists to provide an
informed and animated commentary
on the spectacle of world cinema.
06 | Spotlight
Silent Runnings:
Great Movie Escapes
14 | Art & Film
Out of This World:
The Extraordinary Artwork
of Laurent Durieux
18 | Architecture & Film
When Tomorrow Comes:
The Future Onscreen
20 | Fan Phenomena
The Dark Arts:
Scott Allie, Senior Editor
Dark Horse Comics
WWW.FILMINT.NU
24 | Widescreen
Reya of Hope:
'Based on A True Story'
30 | 1000 Words
Where There's Smoke:
The Lasting Legacy of Fire!
Regulars
cover image into the wild (2007) ©Paramount Vantage, Art Linson Productions
DIALOGUE
AROUND
THE MOVING
IMAGE
'It should not be denied
that being footloose has
always exhilarated us. It
is associated in our minds
with escape from history
and oppression and law
and irksome obligations.
Absolute freedom. And the
road has always led west.'
Christopher McCandless
– Into the Wild
24
04 | Reel World
Shawshank Convention
28 | Four Frames
The Poseidon Adventure
34 | On Location
Marseilles, France
38 | Screengem
Charlie's Golden Ticket
42 | Parting Shot
All Fall Down
44 | Competition
Picture This
46 | Listings
A roundup of this issue's
featured films
The Big Picture ISSN 1759-0922 © 2013 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com
Editorial office Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: [email protected] Publisher Masoud Yazdani Chief Editor & Design Gabriel Solomons Editor Neil Mitchell
Contributors Nicola Balkind, Dean Brandum, Rob Beames, Jez Conolly, Scott Jordan Harris, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Neil Mitchell, Cleaver Patterson, Chris Rogers, Jennifer K. Stuller
Please send all email enquiries to: [email protected] / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com l The Big Picture magazine is published four times a year
Published by
intellect
| www.intellectbooks.com
Summer 2013
3
reel world
f i l m b e yo n d t h e b o r d e r s o f t h e s c r e e n
Shawshank
Convention
r o b be a mes follows a real life trail that leads
all the way back to the site of one of cinema's
most memorable escapes.
Image © 2005 saradelta9 (Flickr)
the shawshank redemption
is a visceral, sometimes
disturbing Stephen King
adaptation about man's
inhumanity to man and the
perseverance of the human
spirit. Frank Darabont's movie
has emerged so far from under
the shadow of its initially
lukewarm reception in 1994
that it now basks in almost
unanimous critical and popular
sunshine, regularly topping
"best film of all-time" polls. It's,
at times, a harrowing watch and
one wouldn't imagine it'd be a
boon to tourism in Mansfield,
Ohio, where much of it was
filmed. But the very opposite
is true.
"The Shawshank Trail" is listed
between "Sports & Recreation"
and "Shopping" on the "What
to Do" section of the county's
official tourism website, which
in August and September of this
year is gearing up to celebrate
the 20th anniversary of the
shoot. In fact, amongst the
location maps, photos and a
series of dedicated podcasts,
there's even an impassioned
video plea from actor Bob
Gunton - who memorably
portrayed the corrupt prison
warden - inviting visitors to this
year's big event.
But what can Shawshank's legion
of dedicated super-fans expect
to see after schlepping their way
to this remote part of Ohio?
Well, there are no less than 14
sites of significance along the
suggested driving route. These
include the park bench where
Brooks (James Whitmore)
feeds pigeons, the Renaissance
Theatre - "a historic 1928
movie palace" - where the
film's premiere was held -"Sit
in the very same seats" - and,
of course, the Ohio State
Reformatory which served as
the dreaded prison. [tbp]
left Historic Ohio State Reformatory
above Renaissance Theatre (home to the premiere of the film in 1994)
gofurther
4 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
The Shawshank Trail: tinyurl.com/bnsjkk6
Summer 2013
5
cover
feature
Y
spotlight
c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s
opposite and below
Teresa Izewska and Tadeusz Janczar
Silent
Runnings
N ei l M i tc h ell and Dea n B r a nd um turn a searchlight
on a varied selection of movies that all feature escapes
– physical, emotional and spiritual - as their driving
narrative force.
Kanal (1957)
Dir: Andrej Wajda
Kanal is an
enduring, emotionally
exhausting reminder
of the shattering,
inhumane experiences
suffered during
wartime.
The middle film in Polish
director Andrej Wajda's
War Trilogy, which began
with A Generation (1955) and
was completed by Ashes and
Diamonds (1958), is a symbolic
representation of Hell on Earth.
Set during the final days of the
Warsaw Uprising, Kanal sees its
central protagonists, a ravaged
company of Home Army
resistance fighters, attempt
to escape from the Nazis via
the city's sewer system. Their
doomed venture, signaled as
such by a narrator at the film's
outset, descends into a Dantean
vision of self-sacrifice, madness
and death. Far from aiding their
escape, the labyrinthine sewer
system leads the fighters to dead
ends, mental disorientation,
booby trapped exits and
execution. The first film to
be made about the Warsaw
Uprising, Kanal is an enduring,
emotionally exhausting
reminder of the shattering,
inhumane experiences suffered
during wartime. That Kanal was
based on real events makes it all
the more powerful. NM
Images © 1957 Zespól Filmowy
6 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Summer 2013
7
➜
Images © 1963 Vic Films Productions, Waterfall Prouctions / 1982 United Artists Corporation
spotlight silent runnings
billy's comedic
flights of fancy
are tinged with
the realization
that attempting to
escape may result
in the dismay of
seeing one’s dreams
crushed.
➜
➜
left
a salute to freedom
top right
canine getaway
spotlight
c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s
8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Billy Liar (1963)
The Plague Dogs (1982)
Dir: John Schlesinger
Dir: Martin Rosen
Keith Watherhouse’s 1959 novel
told of a young Yorkshireman
working as an undertaker’s
clerk. The titular character's
ambitions of an exciting life
in London as a writer for a
famous television comedian
enmesh with his fantasies of
the mythical land of Ambrosia.
As postwar austerity measures
faded, Britain in the 1950s was
enjoying an unprecedented
economic boom, and under
Macmillan’s Conservatives it
was true that many had “never
had it so good”. Yet for many
outside of London and other
major centres the affluence
and excitement teased from
a distance of both region and
class. When John Schlesinger’s
film version was released
in 1963, it was imbued with
the realism of the British
‘New Wave’ movement that
accentuated Billy’s dreary
surrounds and bleak prospects.
Yet his comedic flights of fancy
are tinged with the realization
that attempting to escape may
result in the dismay of seeing
one’s dreams crushed. Is it
safer, perhaps, to exist in the
realm of imagination? DB
After his much loved animated
take on Richard Adams'
Watership Down, Martin Rosen
adapted the novelist's tale
of two dogs who break out
of an isolated animal testing
laboratory in the Lake District.
Rowf and Snitter, voiced by
Christopher Benjamin and
John Hurt respectively, seize an
opportunity to escape from the
facility where they have been
subjected to tortuous scientific
experiments. Determined
to never go back, the dogs
are aided in their attempts
to evade their relentless
pursuers by The Tod (James
Bolam), a fox experienced in
countryside survival. Though
Rosen described the film as an
'adventure', the deeper issues
it touches on are impossible
to ignore. Vivisection, political
machinations and the media's
handling of public interest
stories are all addressed as
Rowf and Snitter are (wrongly)
branded as Bubonic plague
carrying, killer dogs. By literally
giving the dogs a voice, Rosen,
like Adams in the novel,
employs anthropomorphism to
engender empathy, and it's done
to heart-breaking effect. NM
Summer 2013
9
➜
spotlight
c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s
Images © 1997 The Feature Film Project; Harold Greenberg Fund / 2002 Rumbalara Films; The Australian Film Commission
Rabbit-Proof Fence
(2002)
Dir: Phillip Noyce
the question
becomes not a
matter of ‘who’ of
the protagonists
will survive, but
rather, ‘why’?
➜
10 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Cube (1997)
Dir: Vicenzo Natali
Six people wake to find themselves
in a room. Where they are they do
not know, nor why, nor how they
arrived there. Each of the cube’s
six walls has a small door leading
to a near-identical room but they
must choose carefully for, as it is
soon gruesomely apparent, most
of those adjoining are boobytrapped with inventive killing
devices. Evidently it appears that
each of the group were chosen for
particular skills and personality
traits that may facilitate or hinder
their escape from the cube and
in the process, preconceptions
(theirs and ours) of leadership,
expertise, strength and weakness
are exposed and explored. Indeed,
the question becomes not a
matter of ‘who’ of the protagonists
will survive, but rather, ‘why’?
Conflated within the mystery is
that of the final destination. For
the filmmakers the puzzle is just as
crucial: after designing such a tasty
premise, can they escape diluting
the mystery with the exposition
and explanation that such genre
narrative convention demands? DB
In adapting Doris Pilkington
Garimara's Follow the RabbitProof Fence director Philip
Noyce revisited a shameful
chapter in Australia's relatively
short history. The practice of
removing mixed race Aboriginal
children from their families,
under various misguided
Government initiatives, led to
those forcibly separated from
their parents being known as
the Stolen Generation. After
being placed in the Moore River
Native Settlement during the
early 30s, Garimara's mother,
Molly, Molly's sister Daisy and
their cousin Gracie escaped,
determined to rejoin their
families. Following the rabbitproof fence that stretches
North to South across Western
Australia, the girls walked
over 1500 miles in nine weeks
to reach their remote home
community in Jigalong. This
incredible, inspirational feat
of perseverance and courage
was not without cost however.
Gracie was captured by those
sent to track the girls down and
would later die never having
returned to Jigalong. Noyce's
film is a fittingly emotional
representation of the girls'
experiences. NM
opposite
the great divide
Summer 2013
11
spotlight
c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s
Images © 2007 Paramount Vantage, Art Linson Productions
Into The Wild (2007)
Dir: Sean Penn
the film enforces the
belief that the purest
spiritual quests
are those with the
inherent desire to
benefit all.
➜
The Earth’s topography has been charted and
its terrain explored. For Chris McCandless,
escape from the bitter and morally devoid
family and social milieu of Atlanta means
that he may only follow in the footsteps of
Thoreau and London, discovering himself
through becoming one with the natural
environment. Weaving his way cross-country
on several adventures, Chris eventually begins
what will be his final trek, into the harsh
Yukon wilderness. Yet even then he finds
relics and memories of earlier adventurers.
In writer-director Sean Penn’s, essentially
romantic, vision of exploring frontiers both
spatial and psychological, Chris’s journey
may be one doomed through naivety (the
locals he encounters admire his devotion but
worry for his fate), yet his idealism cannot
be challenged. That his final realization is
one of the need to share his experiences only
enforces the belief that the purest spiritual
quests are those with the inherent desire to
benefit all. DB
left running wild
below emile hirsch is on the road
also see...
12 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
The Great Escape (well, duh!)
Summer 2013
13
art&film
film in a wider context
The Mondo Gallery in Austin
Texas, showcases film inspired
fantasies by some of the most
cutting edge graphic artists
working today. A recent recruit
to their ranks is the award
winning Belgian illustrator
Laurent Durieux whose
interpretations of modern and
classic films are, quite simply,
out of this world. As Laurent
explained to us, though his
work is frequently ahead of its
time, his inspiration is firmly
rooted in the past.
Much of your work is
inspired by film. What
attracts you to this
medium?
The beauty of cinema is that
it relays all sorts of emotions
notwithstanding your culture,
age and background. It's a
universal language, like art,
which it is but probably in a
more popular and broader way.
I absolutely love working on
film posters and always try to
tell a story in a single image,
not a thousand.
How would you describe
your style?
Retro-futuristic perhaps
would be about the best
description of my work.
Is your retro approach an
unconscious decision?
It's a very conscious decision.
I love everything about the
'30s or the '40s and '50s, the
movies, the arts, the fashion
design, the typography,
the design, the cars, the
architecture, the music ...
What can I say? I'm old
fashioned and loving it. That's,
for all these reasons, why
I will always prefer Vertigo,
Rear Window and Rope to Torn
Curtain, Topaz or Family Plot.
How did your involvement
with The Mondo Gallery in
Texas come about?
Well my first client who
introduced me to the US
market was in fact Dark Hall
Mansion in Los Angeles. I
did the Snoopy's Valentine's
Day prints for them and it
probably caught the attention
of the folks at Mondo,
because some time after the
DHM release they contacted
me to see if I was interested
to work with them and they
asked if I was willing to
do a poster for Brad Bird's
animation movie Iron Giant.
I had recently been made
aware of Mondo at the time
and had the time to check out
their archive section and I was
literally floored by the quality
of what they were releasing. I
remember thinking to myself
at the time, "wow if I had
to work with a publisher, it
would have to be these guys"
as I thought they were the
best in town. And I still do
think no one is matching their
quality, period.
OUT
OF
THIS
WORLD
c l eaver pat t er so n chats to Belgian
illustrator Laurent Durieux about his work
for Mondo and his love of cinema.
opposite
POSTER FOR King kong
Summer 2013
15
art&film Laurent Durieux
Your work has a lot of subtle,
dark undercurrents (eg. the
poster you did for Boris
Karloff’s The Mummy). Is this
deliberate?
Yes, especially when I was asked
by Mondo to work on five of the
eight Universal Monsters movies
(The Mummy is one of them),
four of which are darker in
colours than anything else I did
before or after (The Creature from
the Black Lagoon set aside). The
theme (creature / horror movies
in black and white) probably
influenced me to use a darker
palette, which is pretty straight
forward actually.
The recent poster you did
of Jaws for Mondo attracted
quite a bit of interest, not
least from a certain Mr
Spielberg?
One day Justin Ishmael, the
C.E.O of Mondo, sent us a little
e-mail telling us about Steven
Spielberg buying a bunch of
posters. Well to be more precise,
Steven Spielberg had Universal
contact Mondo in his name
to purchase 25 copies for him
and his friends. I don't have
any more details than that, but
that's enough for me. Steven
Spielberg is such a big hero of
mine and to find out that he was
somehow appreciative of what
I had done for his movie, that
meant the world to me.
What is your favourite film
and what one would you most
like to create a poster for?
One that holds a special place
in my pantheon is definitely
Blade Runner. This movie is
perfection. As far as creating
a poster, I would love to do
Casablanca, It's a wonderful Life,
Sunset Blvd, Raiders of the Lost
Ark, and so many more, I don't
really have one favourite.
If you had to choose a
favourite piece of your own
work, which would it be?
That's hard, they are all my
babies you know ... I love Iron
Giant, The Mummy, Jaws, The
Master, Buck Rogers, Things to
Come, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
… you see what I mean I can't
make up my mind on this …
Sophie's Choice here! [tbp]
seemore...
Steven Spielberg
is such a big hero
of mine and to
find out that he
was somehow
appreciative of what
I had done for his
movie, that meant
the world to me.
all images
© laurent durieux
SEE PAGE 44
FOR YOUR
CHANCE TO
WIN A LIMITED
EDITION LAURENT
DURIEUX
POSTER
Visit the artist's website to see more of Laurent Durieux's work » www.laurentdurieux.com
16 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Summer 2013
17
architecture & film
Top to Bottom
Dredd / I, Robot / Logan's Run
© 2012 DNA Films / © 2004 20th CEntury Fox / © 1976 MGM
a dv e n t u r e s t h r o u g h t h e b u i lt a n d f i l m e d e n v i r o n m e n t s
Whe�
Tomorrow
C omes
In our continuing series ch r is r oge r s explores the world
of the future as depicted in films that looked to create
immersive and believable architectural landscapes.
18 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
d ep ic tion of the a r c hitec t u re of
the future is the ultimate expression of
the relationship between cinema and the
built environment. Credible realisation
on film required budgetary and technical
restrictions to be overcome, but also
an awareness of actual architectural
achievement and an understanding that
the distance between the present and
any projected future is rather greater
than commonly imagined. As such,
designers began by borrowing structures
from the real world.
The exterior and reception area of
the euthanasia complex in Norman
Jewison’s Soylent Green were filmed
at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports
Arena, an elliptical, covered hall whose
Jetsons styling dated from the 1950s but
still fitted ideas of ‘futuristic’ well over a
decade later. The Arena’s architect was
Welton Becket, who also designed the
radical, A-framed Contemporary Tower
hotel for Disney World Florida in 1971.
With its sloping sides and the resort’s
monorail train actually passing through
the lobby, the hotel is an obvious
influence on the buildings of the domed
city in Logan’s Run, released five years
later. Interiors for the film were shot at
Dallas Market Center’s now-demolished
Apparel Mart, whose textured, almost
rustic wall surfaces leant a slightly
eccentric look and avoided the slick
smoothness normally encountered in
such portrayals. More of that
city’s architecture informed the
future a dozen years later in
RoboCop. Detroit’s City Hall was
in reality that of Dallas, designed
by Chinese-American architect
I.M. Pei less than ten years before
the film was made, persuasively
extended into a tower via a matte
painting.
One of the most fully
convincing pieces of future
architecture in cinema is entirely
fictional, but still borrows
recognisably from the real world.
The knife blade-like, 108-storey
headquarters of US Robotics in
the Chicago of 2035 in I, Robot was
created by production designer
Patrick Tatopoulos. It has a lofty
principal atrium, a secondary
atrium running the full height of
the building and a glazed executive
office at the summit, all common
in today’s commercial buildings.
Even the mechanical garage in
the basement draws on presentday automatic parking systems.
Accurate simulation of familiar
materials, including fair-faced
concrete, frosted and clear glass
and aluminium mullions for the
cladding, aids the effect.
Equally credible cities rather
than individual buildings began
to appear from the 1980s. The
settings of films such as Akira,
Cypher, Ghost in the Shell, Vexille and
Minority Report were rendered far
more realistic through referencing
the real-life building boom that
was beginning in the Middle and
Far East. But they remain generic;
only a handful of science-fiction
films have succeeded in creating
a specific and original mood with
their architecture.
Stallone’s Judge Dredd anchors
itself in classic-period 2000AD
strips more fully than is
commonly believed, with a skyline
of distinctively-profiled, sculpted
City Blocks. Twenty five years
later, Dredd made a virtue of its
much lower budget by emulating
the townships and suburbs of
South Africa where it was filmed
and the banlieue of France for
gofurther
its Mega-City One, a Corbusian
grid of near-identical rectilinear
towers.
The richly textured, multilayered Los Angeles of Blade Runner
is rightly regarded as the most
thoroughly convincing futurescape
ever seen in film. This is achieved
less through technical facility –
though that is exceptional – than
through extremely close attention
to real architectural history.
Extrapolating from this gave a
simulated future that appeared to
have sprung from a lived past and a
believable present. As a result even
the overtly futuristic Tyrell pyramid
remains credible today. The
fascinating process by which this
was accomplished is explored in
depth by the present author in one
of a series of online pieces marking
the film’s 30th anniversary.
Similarly absorbing is the
portrayal of Paris in 2054 in
Christian Volckman’s animated
Renaissance. Less a projection and
more an imagining of the existing
city as it might have been, this also
borrows heavily but carefully from
the city’s buildings as well as the
work of Belgian graphic novelist
François Schuiten, who does much
the same in his own art. It assumes
Haussmanian apartment blocks
crowned by winter gardens of iron
and glass clustering the slopes of
Montmartre, the Seine deeply
canalised with its quays glazed
over, and cavernous Metro stations
with sweeping iron staircases onto
the platforms. In contrast the
headquarters of pharmaceutical
corporation Avalon describes a
graceful, vertiginous arc over the
La Defense business district, its
executive office a glazed box slung
beneath, like a tautly-strung bow.
Ironically, developments over
the last ten years in computeraided design, structural analysis
and materials technology have
allowed construction of the kind
of buildings once found only in the
more fanciful science fiction films.
It is now architecture that has
stepped beyond the frame. [tbp]
Dredd (2011) made a virtue
of its much lower budget
by emulating the townships
and suburbs of South Africa
where it was filmed and the
banlieue of France for its
Mega-City One, a Corbusian
grid of near-identical
rectilinear towers.
[web ] Read more 'Beyond the Frame' pieces on www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Summer 2013
19
The
FAN PHENOMENA
Dark
Arts
How did you first come to be
involved in the Buffyverse,
and in particular, the
production of Buffy comics?
Were you a fan of the show?
I was not. I hadn’t seen the show.
We’d acquired the licence, near
the end of Season 2, if I recall,
and I heard the word ‘Vampire’
in the title, and, being a fan of
the horror genre, jumped at it.
I didn’t watch much TV at the
time, or I probably would have
already checked the show out for
the same reason.
How did Dark Horse
come to take on the Buffy
comics, and what was
the process that led to
the groundbreaking, and
trendsetting, Buffy the
Vampire Slayer Season 8?
It was a long time ago that we
initially took it on, but I think
it was another editor expressing
a passion for the show. That was
what I thought at the time, but
lately I heard that it happened
another way. That editor left the
company, which led to me taking
the comics on. We did a monthly
comic for a number of years,
and over that time I wound up
working closely with Joss. When
he told me the show was ending,
I said I thought we should end
the comics and restart them
with a new directive from him.
He agreed, and we started a long
conversation about how we would
do that, which went through a
number of iterations. Ultimately,
20 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Scott Allie is Senior Managing Editor at
Dark Horse Comics. Allie is intimately
involved in the production of Buffy
the Vampire Slayer Season 8 and
Season 9 comics – a groundbreaking
project that has changed the game for
transmedia storytelling. He shares
how Season 8 got started, reactions
from fans, and what’s gratifying
about the Buffyverse. Interview by
J enni f er K . S t u l l e r, editor of Fan
Phenomena: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
he took me by surprise. He sent
me a script one night, no warning,
said, ‘We’re doing 25 issues (or
maybe it was 22), I’ll write some
of it, other guys from the show
will write some of it, we’ll do a
crossover with Fray, and oh yeah,
we need Angel back.’ So it began
…
From letter columns in the
back of comic book issues,
to interviews with media
outlets both professional
and amateur, you are
very much engaged in
maintaining a dialogue
with Buffy fans. What
inspires your dedication
to this engagement, and
what do you get out of
it both personally and
professionally? What do the
fans teach you about the
spirit of Buffy?
The readers have a certain sense
of ownership over this stuff, and
talking with them is informative,
among other things. I meet a lot
of people I really like through it,
who teach me a lot about what
the characters mean to people.
The folks at Buffyfest are good
friends, Michelle over there is
(opposite) BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9 #16
© 2012 dark horse comics
Summer 2013
21
fan phenomena buffy
someone I call just to check in
with sometimes, not even about
Buffy. I really like a couple people
on Slayalive, Wenxian and Emmie.
Emmie’s someone I don’t always
agree with, she certainly doesn’t
agree with me all the time, but I
get a lot out of our exchanges. A
woman named Maggie gives me
great insight – again, we don’t
always agree, but there’s a mutual
level of respect that allows for a
useful exchange of opinions that
ultimately does more for me than
it does for her.
A lot of the Browncoats are
among the best audience you
could ever ask for, and there’s
a great population of them in
Portland, so I actually run into
them at the grocery store. Then
you get a lot of weird stuff.
One reader will e-mail me to
tell me that some other reader
I’m corresponding with from a
particular site constantly posts
negative things about me there.
I don’t know if it’s true or not,
can’t take the time to check
out the message board, but
Jesus, guys, even these fictional
characters have left high school
behind. There’s someone who
never fails to tell me I’m doing
a terrible job, have ruined her
favourite characters, have hurt
her personally, says really insulting
things about how careless and
thoughtless I am at my job […]
and then she comes up to me at
a show, says it’s her birthday, and
meeting me is the best birthday
present she’s ever had. And she’s a
grown woman, not a teenager.
Do you find that most
fans of the Buffy comics,
canonical or otherwise,
came from television
fandom?
Yeah, certainly they largely
come from TV. Think about
how enormous even a ‘cult’ TV
audience is. Millions, right? At
the peak of it so far the comic has
sold 150,000 copies, and the bestselling comic today might peak
around 300,000. So the untapped
former TV viewer audience is a
far bigger number than the entire
gofurther
FAN
PHENOMENA
★
A new book series that ‘decodes’ icons of popular culture
written by and for those of a passionate disposition
untapped comics market audience.
I would say a majority of the Buffy
comics audience, or at least the
audience I hear from, are not
regular comics readers, or were
not. Lots of anecdotal evidence
suggests that, including the
feedback I get from retailers about
the buying habits of Buffy readers.
Also anecdotally, from letters and
the like, I might surmise that Buffy
readers tend to be women, but I
suspect that it’s fairly even and
that the women are just writing
in more. Certainly there are more
female readers, proportionally,
than on other comics.
What are some of the more
meaningful responses you’ve
received from Buffy fans?
Most discouraging?
It runs pretty deep. Letters from
gay kids or adults that thank us
for what we do. The gratitude we
got for addressing the abortion
storyline. The most gratifying sort
of response you can get is when
someone writes in and explains
exactly what they got out of a
comic, and how it touched them,
and what they got is exactly what
you were trying to do. There are
a lot of people who have gotten
a lot of comfort from either the
comics or the shows, who’ve felt
the kind of pain maybe me or Joss
or whomever felt at some point in
our lives, and whatever catharsis
the writers or artists got out of
doing the comics, or the show, is
reflected in the comfort that some
part of the audience got. I don’t
get nearly as much of that out of
other books. I don’t get the sense
of contributing on a social level
from many of the other books I
do. And it’s gratifying. [tbp]
'The most gratifying sort
of response you can get
is when someone writes
in and explains exactly
what they got out of a
comic, and how it touched
them, and what they got
is exactly what you were
trying to do.'
Fan Phenomena
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Edited by Jennifer K. Stuller
ISBN: 978-1-78320-019-1
£14.95 / $20
Fan Phenomena
Doctor Who
Edited by Paul Booth
ISBN: 978-1-78320-020-7
£14.95 / $20
Fan Phenomena Twin Peaks
Edited by Marisa C. Hayes
and Franck Boulegue
ISBN: 978-1-78320-024-5
£14.95 / $20
Fan Phenomena
Star Trek
Edited by Bruce Drushel
ISBN: 978-1-78320-023-8
£14.95 / $20
Fan Phenomena
Batman
Edited by Liam Burke
ISBN: 978-1-78320-017-7
£14.95 / $20
(above) BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9
© dark horse comics
Read more of this interview in Fan Phenomena: Buffy
22 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Fan Phenomena
Star Wars
Edited by Mika Elovaara
ISBN: 978-1-78320-022-1
£14.95 / $20
due out August 2013
For further information about the series and news of forthcoming titles visit www.intellectbooks.com
Follow progress of all titles by liking the Fan Phenomena Book Series page on Facebook
widescreen
below
brozzi lunetta making his appeal in 2012
R E YA
film in a wider context
F
O
HOPE
Nicola Balkind investigates a film for which
the phrase 'based on a true story' carries
added emotional weight for its director.
Images by Brozzi Lunetta
24 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
it is a t r u t h universally
acknowledged that a film “based on”
or “inspired by” true events bears
little relation to the truth.
Mark Kermode often makes
reference to this. Last year, Matilda
Battersby of The Independent
examined their use, referring to the
phrase “Based on a True Story” as an
overused tagline and a promotional
ploy. Earlier this year, Jillian Rayfield
wrote an article in The Week entitled
‘The 'based on a true story' fake-out:
How 3 Oscar contenders misled
audiences’, asking, “What did
Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, and Argo
embellish for the sake of a more
dramatic story?” and lead a factcheck on the big films of the 2013
award season. But there is one film
that defies this classification.
Reya – a film written and directed
by Brozzi Lunetta, is a film inspired
solely by true, and truly personal,
events. Named after, and dedicated
to, the director’s daughter, it is
described as “a fictional story with
moments of undeniable truth.”
More straightforward than a semiautobiographical novel, this feature
film in production revolves around
the true story of the abduction of
Reya Lunetta in more ways than one.
top camilla ellefsen, reya's mother
above reya
Reya was abducted by her mother,
Camilla Ellefsen, from California
after Lunetta was awarded sole
custody of the child in 2002. June
2012 marked the 10 year anniversary ➜
Reya, named after, and
dedicated to, the director’s
daughter, is described as “a
fictional story with moments
of undeniable truth.”
Summer 2013
25
MAGIC MAKERS
widescreen reya
For this father, doing
everything he can is a
mission which has become
an endeavour in film-making
and viral marketing.
above
stills from the feature film
go further
Read more about Brozzi Lunetta here » http://about.me/brozzilunetta
26 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
p r o f i l e s o f t h e w o r l d ' s g r e at d i r e c t o r s
right David Lean directing Peter O’Toole in lawrence of arabia
of her abduction and disappearance.
In the story of the film, the stakes
are raised: a young woman has been
murdered, and the detective on the
case believes it to be his daughter who
disappeared 20 years earlier.
If truth is stranger than fiction, why
does art continue to imitate life?
For Brozzi Lunetta, film is another
medium that can be utilized to raise
awareness about the abduction
and continued missing status of his
daughter. Despite coverage in the
media across the US, Australia, New
Zealand, India, and Sweden, numerous
reported sightings, and a decade of
personal searching, his daughter has
not been found.
Lunetta told news sources, “It's
my way to use a fictional tale to get
the story out there again, to remind
people that my daughter is still missing
and perhaps if we could get Camilla's
face out there it would lead to new
information.”
Ultimately, he hopes that word
of the film will reach his daughter
directly. The film’s trailer closes with
the caption, “This film is dedicated to
[Reya] and is a way for her to know
that her father is alive and that he is
looking for her.” (Lunetta has reason
to believe that his ex-wife has told his
daughter that her father died in a car
crash in Los Angeles.)
In his YouTube video call for
funding to finish the film, he implies
that the aforementioned “moments
of undeniable truth” in the film are, in
fact, quite literal. Nightmare sequences
within the film feature his ex-wife
Camilla, taken from home videos shot
shortly before the abduction.
More literal statements within the
film include lines directed towards
the protagonist like, “You have fallen
in love with a dead woman who is
not dead,” and, “When your daughter
disappeared, you did everything you
could to find her.”
For this father, doing everything
he can is a mission which has become
an endeavour in film-making and viral
marketing. Without having seen the
film, it is clear that it is an intense,
deeply personal, and emotionally
charged drama. The trailer suggests
echoes of crime dramas and a classic
Hollywood narrative. It is a creative
pursuit with real-world intent,
promising to break the fourth wall in
subtle and interesting ways.
The wealth of Reya's plot is inspired
by, if not based on, true events.
Whether or not Reya herself is found,
the adage holds true: truth really is
stranger than fiction. [tbp]
britain
david
lean
In an extract from Directory of World
Cinema: Britain, davi d F or r es t
looks at arguably Britain's greatest of
all visual storytellers.
before becoming one of British
cinema’s most important directors,
David Lean served a prestigious
apprenticeship in the industry, cutting
his teeth as a clapper boy followed
by a period as an editor - a profession
in which he quickly distinguished
himself. By the age of 30, Lean was
working under Anthony Asquith, before
assuming duties for Michael Powell.
Arguably, Lean’s glittering fourteen film
career, spanning almost 40 years, saw
him usurp his masters to become one of
Britain’s most celebrated and successful
film-makers. That Lean’s experience of
working under such substantial figures
can be regarded as an interesting aside
rather than a formative arc of any
summary of his work, is testament to
the way in which he marked out his own
cinematic identity with his first feature,
the wartime naval drama In Which We
Serve (1942). That film’s writer and
star, Nöel Coward, looking for an
accomplished technician, offered
Lean the co-directorship and their
subsequent collaborations - This
Happy Breed (1944), Brief Encounter
(1945) and Blithe Spirit (1945) - saw
Lean assume sole directorial duty.
While a far cry from the epic, exotic
fare of The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962),
those early films established many of
the tropes sustained throughout the
director’s oeuvre. [tbp]
Read the rest of this article along with
other director profiles and essential British
film reviews in Directory of World
Cinema: Britain edited by Emma Bell
and Neil Mitchell. Available now from
www.intellectbooks.com
Summer 2013
27
four frames
t h e a r t o f a b b r e v i at e d s t o r y t e l l i n g
The Poseidon Adventure
Dir. Ronald Neame, 1972
j ez c on olly dives below the
surface of Ronald Neame's classic
disaster movie, and remembers an
individual act of sacrifice driven by
a collective will to surivive.
i t a i n ' t o v e r ‘til the fat lady swims:
having been pushed and pulled through the
inverted chambers of the upturned cruise
liner Poseidon by her fellow survivors,
corpulent Jewish grandmother Belle Rosen
(Shelley Winters) finally gets to pull her
weight. Brandishing her Women’s Swimming
Association medal (gained when she was just
seventeen) to prove her aquatic credentials,
Mrs. Rosen reassures her devoted husband
Manny (Jack Albertson) then dives into the
icy waters of a submerged corridor to save
the stricken Rev. Scott (Gene Hackman) and
help lead the others through to the other
side. It’s an act of bravery that costs Belle her
life – she succumbs to a heart attack – but
one that delivers the possibility of life to
the remaining few. A corny, cliché-riddled,
claustrophobic thrill ride it may be, but coming
in the same decade as Dawson’s Field, Munich
and Entebbe, the film’s theme of salvation at a
terrible price, summed up by Belle’s sacrifice,
resonates with the besieged Jewish milieu of
the 1970s.
Read More f o u r f r a m e s online at
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Images © 1972 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
28 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Summer 2013
29
Images © 1901 Williamson Kinematograph Company
1000 words
opposite
james williamson
m o m e n t s t h at c h a n g e d c i n e m a f o r e v e r
right
preparing the 'vehicles'
below right
A RESCUE ATTEMPT
Ale xandra He lle r- Nichol as
explores the beginnings of continuity
editing in an early silent short that
influenced both the language of film
and popular themes in them.
where
theres
smoke
30 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
d ir e c t e d b y Scottish-born
Londoner James Williamson for
the Williamson Kinematograph
Company in 1901, Fire! is a
short black and white silent film
shot on 35mm. With movies
such as Stop Thief! and The Big
Swallow (made in the same year
as Fire!), Williamson earned
a well-deserved reputation as
not only one of the of the most
innovative and creative early
film-makers, but as one of the
forefathers of a film language
still largely relied upon today.
Fire! follows the rescue of
the occupants of a domestic
residency in Hove by the local
fire brigade, but the simplicity of
this narrative belies the technical
significance of Williamson’s
approach to editing in particular.
Fire! marks a crucial moment
in film history as it was one of
the first movies where different
shots were edited together to
suggest narrative chronology.
Filmed at the abandoned Ivy
Lodge in Hove, this movie marks
a growing trend in Williamson’s
work that utilised editing in this
manner as he sought to create
engaging action narratives, as
seen in his earlier work Attack on
a China Mission (1900).
It was much more than
technical innovation that earned
Williamson his contemporary
reputation, however, and
Fire! today is as significant for
its deployment of disasteras-spectacle and the crucial
function of dramatic suspense
in its popular success. Rescue
narratives about fire were
experiencing a period of extreme
popularity at the time of the
film’s release, not only in movies
but also on stage and in magic
lantern shows. The flames and
smoke captured the imagination
of a mass audience who by 1901
had already developed a taste
for this kind of visual spectacle
in other media. Film historian
Charles Musser has suggested
that in the United States,
William Selig’s similarly themed
multi-shot film Life of a Fireman
preceded Williamson’s movie by
some months, but it is Fire! that
is most confidently presented
as a complete narrative whole
through basic elements of what
would soon become known as
continuity editing.
Consisting of five separate
scenes, the film begins as a
policeman discovers a building
on fire. Excitedly he blows
his whistle in an effort to call
for attention, and rushes off
screen on the right of the shot,
appearing from the left of
the next shot in front of the
Hove Fire Brigade building.
So familiar are we today with
this matching action from
So familiar are we today with
matching action from one scene
to another that it is perhaps
difficult to appreciate the
significance of Williamson’s
radical approach to editing.
Summer 2013
31
GET INVOLVED
below life of an american fireman
© 1903 Edison Manufacturing Company
1000 words fire!
Getting involved with...
thebigpicture
one scene to another that it is
perhaps difficult to appreciate
the significance of Williamson’s
radical approach to editing, but
this precise type of matching
cut would go on to become
one of the staple features of
continuity editing so crucial to
the dominant language of the
cinema as it developed over
the following decades. In Fire!,
the visual logic of this type of
editing is complimented by the
narrative cohesion of what we
see unfolding before us: the
policeman sees a building on
fire and then rushes to the fire
station to seek their assistance.
There was of course a narrative
justification for this technical
innovation, as the move away
to another location after this
initial disaster-based spectacle
creates suspense as we wonder:
what is happening at the scene
of the fire?
Horses and firemen prepare
their equipment and rush away,
the speed and efficiency of the
procedure emphasising their
professionalism and dedication
to their task. Once again, a
matching cut creates a sense of
continuing, fluid action as a long
shot shows the firemen travelling
along a road, which we assume
rightly to be on their journey
towards the fire. The next shot
jumps dramatically to a man
awaking in his bed to a smokefilled room and he rushes about
hysterically, throwing water on
the flames while he watches
his curtains catch on fire. A
fireman dramatically appears
in the window and smashes his
way in with a hatchet to both
go further
would you like to contribute
to The Big Picture magazine?
subdue the flames and to rescue
the panicked man. This fireman
climbs out the window with the
man over his shoulder, again
implying a sense of continuing
action as in the next scene we
see the fireman appear at the top
of a ladder outside the building,
again with the man over his
shoulder. The fireman carries
the man to safety as other fire
fighters continue to battle the
flames. Other rescued residents
emerge from the building: one
fire-fighter appears from the
building’s ground floor with a
child (delivered to the waiting
The roots of films including
The Towering Inferno, City
on Fire and later fire-based
spectacles such as Backdraft
all have their origins in
Williamson’s early film.
top the towering inferno
above backdraft
Read more about film pioneer James Williamson here » www.victorian-cinema.net/williamson
32 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
arms of the man we have just
seen rescued), while another
resident drops spectacularly to a
large sheet held by the firemen
from a first floor window,
providing the short film with
its narrative climax and sense of
conclusion.
Aside from the technical
legacy of Williamson’s thenradical approach to editing
and action, Fire! can be seen
as an important early ancestor
to what seventy years later
would become known as the
disaster genre. The roots of
films including The Towering
Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974),
City on Fire (Alvin Rakoff,
1979) and later fire-based
spectacles such as Backdraft
(Ron Howard, 1991) all have
their origins in Williamson’s
early film. Its impact could be
felt more immediately in movies
including Edwin S. Porter's Life
of an American Fireman (1903)
that appeared only a few years
later. Taking valuable lessons
from theatre and literature,
Williamson recognised even in
the earliest days of the cinema
that audiences were capable
of emotionally investing in
characters facing the physical
threat of fire, and that they were
capable of identifying with those
faced with sudden dramatic
catastrophes such as seen here.
Fire! built its suspense around
a central narrative question what will happen to the people
in the burning building? - a
fascination that both justified
his investigation into the
professional activities of Hove’s
hard-working fire-fighters,
and—even more significantly—
justified the film’s central
focus on the spectacular and
destructive display of fire itself.
Over time, fire-based disaster
narratives may have become
more complex and the effects
more technically advanced, but
Fire! laid the foundations for a
cinematic spectacle that would
continue to awe audiences to
this day. [tbp]
We’re always on the lookout for
enthusiastic film-lovers with a
passion and flair for the written
word. So, if this sounds like
you, then simply send us a few
examples of your writing along
with a short personal bio to:
Neil MItchell, Editor
[email protected]
join
the big
picture
family
Fire! features on 'The European Pioneers'
volume of 'The Movies Begin DVD Box
Set' released by Kino Lorber:
http://www.kinolorber.com
on location
t h e p l a c e s t h at m a k e t h e m o v i e s
MARSEILLES
m a r c elli n e b loc k , editor of World
Film Locations: Marseilles, takes us
on a tour of a city whose history,
physical spaces and diverse populace
has proved fertile territory for
generations of film-makers.
the french
connection (1971)
Dir. William Friedkin
US, 104 minutes
Starring: Gene Hackman,
Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider
opposite
GENE HACKMAN ON THE MOVE
ABOVE
A CITY OF SIN
The French Connection, based on real
Marseilles-New York City drug trafficking,
received Oscars including Best Actor (Gene
Hackman as Det. ‘Popeye’ Doyle), Picture
(the first R rated winner) and Director.
Central to its narrative is Popeye’s pursuit
of dapper Marseilles drug lord Charnier
(Fernando Rey). The Phocaean City is a locus
of violence; its coastline and landmarks – the
corniche, the Vallon des Auffes – forming
sun-drenched backdrops for crime: the
ancient ‘Panier’ district is introduced in
the opening sequence when Nicoli (Marcel
Bozzuffi) executes a rival, point blank, in
broad daylight – then casually breaks off a
piece of the baguette clutched in the dead
man’s hands, munching on it as he leaves.
Heroin smuggling plans are finalized on the
iconic 16th century Château d’If, the fortress/
prison in Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo
and Jean Renoir’s film La Marseillaise; within
sight, across the Bay of Marseille, is NotreDame de la Garde, the basilica known as
‘The Good Mother’.
Images © 1971 D'Antoni Productions
34 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Summer 2013
35
➜
on location
t h e p l a c e s t h at m a k e t h e m o v i e s
MARSEILLES
Three Places for the 26th/
Trois places pour le 26 (1988)
Dir. Jacques Demy
FRA, 106 minutes
Starring: Yves Montand,
Mathilda May, Patrick Fierry
Three Places for the 26th unites two legends of
French cinema, Yves Montand and Jacques
Demy. Demy’s last feature film is a musical
comedy paying tribute to Marseilles and its
(not quite) native son, Italian-born/Marseillesbred Montand, who – playing himself in this
otherwise fictionalized narrative – returns
to his childhood city to star in his musical
autobiography, ‘Montand Remembers’. This
musical-within-a-musical, staged at the
Marseilles Opéra, depicts Montand’s trajectory
to stardom from early days in Marseilles’
venerated music-hall scene. Marseilles is the
backdrop for splashy, choreographed routines
when the city is recreated onstage as well as in
the film’s opening sequence, a song-and-dance
extravaganza held on the ornate stairway of
Saint-Charles station, transforming it into
an outdoor theatrical space. By revisiting his
stomping grounds, Montand – haunted by
memories of a lost love – attempts to recuperate
what he left behind in Marseilles: the buddy who
remained a dockworker; the girl who got away.
Total Khéops/Total Chaos (2002)
Dir. Olaf de Fleur Johannesson
FRA, 90 minutes
Starring: Richard Bohringer,
Marie Trintignant, Daniel Duval
The Moon in the
Gutter/La lune dans
le caniveau (1983)
Dir. Baltasar Kormákur
FRA, 137 minutes
Starring: Gérard Depardieu,
Nastassja Kinski,
Victoria Abril
36 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
The Moon in the Gutter is Jean-Jacques Beineix’s
adaptation of David Goodis’ noir novel,
transposing the book’s Philadelphia setting
to the gritty docks of Marseilles, described in
voice-over at the start of the film as “le port
du nullepart”/“the port of nowhere”. Stevedore
Gérard Delmas (Gérard Depardieu) makes a
nightly pilgrimage, once the moon has risen,
to the street near the docks where his sister
Catherine was raped, after which she slit her
own throat, her blood indelibly staining the
street along the gutter where she perished.
Interspersed with daytime scenes at the shipyard
where Gérard works, most of the narrative
unfolds during his nocturnal wanderings
as he encounters bizarre characters and
situations while searching for his sister’s rapist.
Representing Marseilles as a surreal nightmarescape where reality and fantasy intersect, The
Moon in the Gutter’s striking visuals – emblematic
of Beineix’s Cinema du Look aesthetic – won
the César for production design.
Total Chaos is adapted from Marseillais author
Jean-Claude Izzo’s Marseilles Trilogy novels
(1995–98), key Mediterranean noir texts.
The film is infused with the socio-cultural
atmosphere of The Phocaean City: the southern
accent (du ‘Midi’); bouillabaisse and pastis,
staples of Provençal cuisine, and crime (mafia
factions, corruption, violence). As Detective
Fabio Montale (Richard Bohringer) investigates
the assassination of his childhood friend Manu,
recently released from Marseilles’ Baumettes
prison, he traverses the city, from its ancient
heart to the sun-drenched Calanques on the
coast. Showcasing Provence’s capital, Total
Chaos is a quintessentially Marseillais film,
albeit far removed from Marcel Pagnol’s Marius,
Fanny, and César (1931-36) – the original, iconic
Marseilles trilogy (remade on Broadway as
Fanny, subsequently made into the eponymous
1961 film). Yet Total Chaos pays homage to
Pagnol: for example, the character of Honorine,
Montale’s elderly neighbour, is a reference to
Pagnol’s trilogy, in which Fanny’s mother is
named Honorine.
gofurther
Images Opposite © 1983 Gaumont, TF1 Films Production
Top © 1988 Renn Productions / Above © 2002 France 2 Cinéma
Buy World Film Locations: Marseilles from Amazon and www.intellectbooks.com
Summer 2013
37
screengem
e v o c at i v e o b j e c t s o n s c r e e n
CHARLIE'S
GOLDEN
TICKET
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
sc ot t j orda n har r is peels the wrapper off an
object that promised the world to a boy who's
heart was so much larger than his stomach.
illust r at i o n by j ayd e p e r k i n
it is n ot a coincide nce that
the glorious golden ticket needed
to board the Polar Express run
by Tom Hanks’s magical train
conductor is almost identical to the
glorious golden ticket needed to
enter the ‘non-pollutionary, antiinstitutionary, pro-confectionery
factory of fun’ run by Gene
Wilder’s Willy Wonka. In the 23
years between Mel Stuart’s Willy
Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and
Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express
(2004), the golden ticket became
Hollywood’s ultimate expression
of that chance we all want, but so
few of us ever get, to realize our
greatest ambitions. As Grandpa
Joe (Jack Albertson) sings: ‘I never
thought my life could be / Anything
but catastrophe / But suddenly I
begin to see / A bit of good luck for
me / ‘Cause I’ve got a golden ticket!’
Children’s stories frequently
suggest that, aside from
being unsavoury, greed and
self-promotion generally go
unrewarded. But the golden ticket
tells us otherwise: Augustus Gloop
(Michael Bollner) gets his because
he is a glutton and Veruca Salt (Julie
Dawn Cole) gets hers because she is
comingsoon
spoiled and her parents are wealthy.
Had we not read the book, or seen
the trailer, there are times during
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
when we would genuinely believe
that Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum)
will never open a Wonka Bar to find
that special prize. When he does,
in that thrilling moment when he
feels himself (and, by extension, we
imagine ourselves) catapulted from
ordinary to extraordinary, the film
delivers a lesson: life is often better
for the rich, and the privileged
frequently have a monopoly on
opportunity, but just occasionally
that big break can come to
someone like us.
The ticket’s colour is crucial.
Gold, of course, connotes wealth
and therefore happiness, and –
whether we dream of wedding
rings or Oscars or Olympic gold
medals – it is so often the colour
that accompanies achievement.
Roald Dahl understood this when
he wrote Charlie & the Chocolate
Factory and he understood it when
he wrote the screenplay for this
film adaptation. In Charlie’s golden
ticket, he created the perfect
passport to our dreams. [tbp]
Screengems: 50 of Film's Most Evocative Objects
38 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Avalaible: Auguest 2013
Summer 2013
39
WORLD
FILM
LOCATIONS
exploring
the city
onscreen
hong kong
Chungking
Express
(1980)
The critically acclaimed book series from Intellect. www.intellectbooks.com
recommended and read by
the world's leading film critics...
NEW FOR
2013
2013
São Paulo
liverpool
Edited by
Natália Pinazza
and Louis Bayman
Edited by
Jez Conolly and
Caroline Whelan
ISBN 9781783200290
PB £19.95 / $25
ISBN 9781783200269
PB £19.95 / $25
NEW FOR
2013
BEST
SELLER
NEW FOR
NEW FOR
2013
san
Prague
francisco Edited by
Edited by
Scott Jordan Harris
ISBN 9781783200283
PB £9.95 / $18
NEW FOR
2013
Marcelline Block
ISBN 9781783200276
PB £19.95 / $25
BEST
SELLER
2013
barcelona
Edited by
Lorenzo Torres and
Helio San Miguel
ISBN 9781783200252
PB £19.95 / $25
BEST
SELLER
BEST
SELLER
hong kong los angeles New york
london
paris
Edited by
Linda Chiu-Han Lai
and Kimburley
Wing-Yee Choi
ISBN 9781783200214
PB £9.95 / $18
Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
NEW FOR
Edited by
Gabriel Solomons
Edited by
Scott Jordan Harris
Edited by
Neil Mitchell
Edited by
Marcelline Block
ISBN 9781841504858
PB £9.95 / $18 / ¤11
ISBN 9781841504827
PB £9.95 / $18 / ¤11
ISBN 9781841504841
PB £9.95 / $18 / ¤11
ISBN 9781841505619
PB £9.95 / $18 / ¤11
latest titles now available for
amazon kindle and other e-readers
+ download the free ipad app >>
visit the kindle and itunes stores for more information
For further information and to order books visit: www.intellectbooks.com
parting shot
Foolhardy or heroic, the
escape-jump is a last
resort, a death-defying
throw of the dice where
the stacked-against odds
are always overturned to
favour the brave.
WHEN MOVIE CHARACTERS find
themselves in the tightest of elevated
spots often the only logical course of
action left is also the craziest. Trapped
and facing capture or certain death,
but with a body of water far below
them, all these unfortunates can do is
jump and hope for the best.
From a technical viewpoint, this
vertigo inducing act of desperation is
constructed by employing stuntmen,
dummies or CGI and combining
them with camera-trickery, editing
and dramatic accompanying music.
In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(George Roy Hill, 1969), the titular
Wild West outlaws find themselves
trapped on a cliff high above a river
with a posse of gunmen closing in.
Butch (Paul Newman) convinces the
Sundance Kid (Robert Redford),a
non-swimmer, to jump for their lives
with the line 'are you crazy? The fall
will probably kill you anyway'. An old
fashioned act of daredevil stunt-work
- the kind Hollywood has always
excelled at - sees Butch and Sundance
evade their pursuers for one more day.
All Fall
Dow�
n e il mi tchel l takes a leap into the unknown
to examine the most dramatic of escape
routes onscreen.
For Harrison Ford's Dr Richard
Kimble in Andrew Davis' The Fugitive
(1993), a similar situation to Butch and
Sundance's confronts him. Reaching
the end of a drainage tunnel, Kimble
is stuck with a dam below and deputy
U.S. Marshall Samuel Gerard (Tommy
Lee Jones) to his rear. To the deputy's
astonishment, Kimble, in the shape
of a less than convincing dummy,
plunges headlong into the cascading
waters, somehow cheating death in
the process. Of course, the narrative
Gods demand that such a leap of
faith has a positive outcome, and
the opening sequence of fantasy epic
Solomon Kane (Michael J. Bassett,
2009) ties an escape-jump into its tale
of redemption. By jumping through
the stained glass window of a cliff-top
fortress to escape the Devil's Reaper,
an act that sends him hurtling, with
the help of CGI, down into the raging
ocean below, merciless privateer Kane
(James Purefoy) simultaneously begins
a spiritual ascension towards saving his
soul. Foolhardy or heroic, the escapejump is a last resort, a death-defying
throw of the dice where the stackedagainst odds are always overturned to
favour the brave. [tbp]
JumpSuits
go further
42 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Watch Butch and Sundance's escape-jump » tinyurl.com/9eweqvr
Summer 2013
43
Images © 1969 Twentieth Century Fox / 1993 Paramount Vantage, Art Linson Productions
clockwise from opposite
butch cassidy and the sundance kid
the fugitive
solomon kane
i m i t at i o n i s t h e s i n c e r e s t f o r m o f f l at t e r y
competition
Picture
This
thebigpicture magazine
Exploring Film Beyond the Borders of the Screen...
The Big Picture is a magazine that
explores film in a wider context using
the power of imagery to show just
how moving moving-pictures can be.
From posters and evocative objects
to photo essays and real-life stories
beyond the borders of the screen,
The Big Picture offers a unique
perspective on the world of film.
Find out more by visiting
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Also download the App today to enjoy an
archive of all past and present issues
free app
Experience The Bigger Picture
Image © 1932 Universal Pictures
Showing that there’s more to film than just film...
what?
Y
What Historical event from 1922 inspired
Universal Pictures to make The Mummy
10 years later?
The winning entry chosen at random will win
a limited edition poster of 'The Mummy' by
master artist Laurent Durieux.
enter
and
win!
when?
Y
email answers to:
g a b r i e l @ i n t e l l e c t b o o k s. c o m
Screengems
Evocative Objects Onscreen
Reel World
Film Beyond the Borders of the Screen
Parting Shot
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
On Location
The Places That Make the Movies
1000 Words
Moments That Changed Cinema Forever
Widescreen
Film in A Wider Context
Architecture & Film
Adventures in Filmed Environments
Deadline for entries: 20 JULY, 2013
Print copies available from www.magcloud.com
44 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Spotlight
Cinema’s Thematic Strands
and to view from www.scribd.com
PDF Downloads of all past issues of The Big Picture are available from www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
The Big Picture Magazine is produced by Intellect. www.intellectbooks.com / [email protected]
Backpages
Film Index
intellect
A roundup of all the films featured...
Plublishers of this here magazine...
Dir. Frank Darabont
Fire! (1901)
Dir. James Williamson
g see page 4/5
g see page 30
Kanal (1957)
Dir. Andrej Wajda
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Dir. John Guillermin
g see page 6/7
g see page 32
Billy Liar (1963)
Dir. John Schlesinger
Backdraft (1991)
Dir. Ron Howard
g see pages 8
g see pages 32
The Plague Dogs (1982)
Dir. Martin Rosen
Life of An American Fireman
(1903)
Dir. Edwin Stanton Porter
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
g see page 9
Cube (1997)
Dir. Vicenzo Natali
g see page 10
Rabbit Proof Fence (1997)
Dir. Philip Noyce
g see page 11
g see page 33
The French Connection (1971)
Dir.William Friedkin
g see page 34/35
The Moon in the Gutter (1983)
Dir. Baltasar Kormákur
g see page 36
Renaissance (2006)
Theree Places for the 26th
Dir. Christian Volckman
(1988)
g see page 18
Dir. Jacques Demy
Dredd (2012)
g see page 37
Dir. Predrag Antonijevic
Total Khéops (2002)
g see page 19
Dir. Olaf de Fleur Johannesson
I, Robot (2004)
g see page 37
Dir. Tomas Alfredson
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate
g see pages 19
Factory (1971)
Dir. Mel Stuart
Logan's Run (1976)
Dir. David Lean
g see page 38/39
g see page 19
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (1969)
Reya (2012)
Dir. George Roy Hill
Dir. Brozi Lunetta
Each issue of The Big Picture is produced
by Bristol based publisher, intellect.
publish
original
thinking
Intellect is an independent academic publisher in
the fields of creative practice and popular culture,
publishing scholarly books and journals that exemplify
their mission as publishers of original thinking.
Theyaim to provide a vital space for widening critical
debate in new and emerging subjects, and in this way
they differ from other publishers by campaigning for
the author rather than producing a book or journal to
fill a gap in the market.
Intellect publish in four distinct subject areas: visual
arts, film studies, cultural and media studies, and
performing arts. These categories host Intellect’s
ever-expanding topics of enquiry, which include
photography, drawing, curation, community music,
gaming and scenography. Intellect titles are often
multidisciplinary, presenting scholarly work at the
cross section of arts, media and creative practice.
Sing-up to receive
thebigpicture newsletter
A twice monthly update with written
features, exclusive competitions,
news and film recommendations.
visit thebigpicture website
for further details.
g see page 24
g see page 42
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Dir. David Lean
The Fugitive (1993)
Dir. Andrew David
g see pages 27
g see page 43
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Dir. Ronald Neame
Solomon Kane (2009)
Dir. Michael J. Bassett
thebigpicture disclaimer
g see page 28/29
g see page 36
The views and opinions of all texts, including
editorial and regular columns, are those of the
authors and do not necessarily represent or
reflect those of the editors or publishers.
Remember to follow thebigpicture on
46 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
DIRECTORY OF
WORLD
CINEMA
EXPERIENCE GLOBAL CULTURE
THROUGH THE MAGIC OF FILM
The Directory of World Cinema aims to play a part in moving intelligent, scholarly criticism beyond the
academy. Each volume of the Directory provides a culturally representative insight into a national or regional
cinema through a collection of reviews, essays, resources, and film stills highlighting significant films and
players. Over time, new editions will be published for each volume, gradually building a comprehensive
guide to the cinema of each region. To contribute to the project or purchase copies please visit the website.
WWW . WORLDCINEMADIRECTORY. ORG
To view our catalogue or order our books and journals visit www.intellectbooks.com. Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG. | Tel: +44 (0) 117 9589910