minding the gap

Hey guys,

Some new things:

1. After coming across interviews a couple years back, I finally saw Oscar-nominated doc Minding the Gap -- a years-long chronicle of a few young skaters that becomes unexpectedly charming, depressing, and poignant. Much more than skating. The young director Bing Liu did a fellowship with Kartemquin Films (where Steve James made Hoop Dreams, which is a classic, and amazing, much better than its trailer lets on).
   
   Liu's inspirations include Waking Life, Slacker, and Kids, putting him on an admirable path...searching philosophically...curious about his youth culture. It sucks that toward the end of "Gap," the canvas narrows too much. He settles on an admirable theme -- which obviously helped the film get its recognition -- but it's in those moments that it becomes forced and almost sappy, making everything that came before feel like the filmmaker's personal preoccupation, rather than an examination of an actual trend placed in a larger context.
   
   But up to then, it's a beauty.  What especially stands out to me are those moments of escape and freedom and nostalgia when the camera is gliding and swooping around with them through the streets and the poetic music is cued.  Skater-vid-turned-art.
   

2. Ballhaus, the art of basketball
   

3. Interesting to know what 75 artists have been up to
   

4. Lessons from Norman Juster and The Phantom Tollbooth.
   

5. Here's your reminder that Alberto will be playing at Cinequest starting Saturday March 20th through end of the month. (Please let your contacts know, as tix are just $4, and if we hit a certain threshold, the festival will give me a small portion of proceeds.)
   

6. Since most still see it as a sign of merit, here's the Oscar talk:
   
   8 Best Picture contenders, and they seem to go one of two ways.  5 of them are preaching to the choir, celebrating the system. Promising Young Woman -- trash. Mank -- snooze. Nomadland -- snooze. The Trial of the Chicago 7 -- so-so. Or maybe I'm losing my attention span.
   
   Judas and the Black Messiah may be the best of these, the most narratively satisfying, even though the main characters lack some blemish and lean instead into what's movie-like, glamorous, and "dramatic." Unfortunately it can't be separated from the context it's in. It wants you to consider that. Many may find it relevant now. But it would've been better off arriving 15 years ago. Instead, it's now messing with an already tense country and reaching for simplistic comparisons to the past.
   
   3 movies left. And these happen to be very good. Minari -- beautiful. Sound of Metal -- visceral. The Father -- poignant (though the narrative could've worked better). But they're also small movies, insular in scope, unable to truly fill you with the rapture of filmmaking. They'll likely fade by next year. To be fair, most things will. But shouldn't we aim for otherwise? Or have we reached the point it's not worth it?
   
   For comparison, look at the Best Picture noms from 10 years ago. Not the best year in recent memory, but you still get a sense of creativity: a ballet psychological thriller about the dangerous quest for perfection, a cartoon that moved kids and adults, a Coen Brothers Western, a King trying to overcome a stutter, a dysfunctional family boxing pic, an indie dark drama, an indie light drama, a Nolan action mindbender, and a look behind Facebook. Is the difference simply because 2020 was a down year?  Or is there more to it?

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Chris