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2010 Independent Spirit Awards recap

March 5th, 2010 by Scott Marks

There are two guaranteed ways to win an Independent Spirit Award:

1. You must be interviewed by Emulsion Compulsion. Congrats to Woody Harrelson and Scott Cooper.
2. EC names your movie the worst of the year.

Three crybabies: Scott Cooper, Geoffrey Fletcher and Lee Daniels.

Is it a requirement that award show hosts, no matter how talented they may be, make complete idiots of themselves? I hereby decree that no more Brits be allowed to host American awards shows. Ricky Gervais sucked and Eddie Izzard made him look good. How hard is it to get a roomful of drunken celebrities to laugh? Izzard’s rambling, at times incoherent and never funny monologue was painful to watch. Judging by the lack of laughter the audience agreed.

It was great to see Woody win. He should thank his lucky stars that “Inglourious Basterds” was not deemed an indie for Christophe Waltz would have goosestepped all over his ass. And why wasn’t Ben Foster nominated? I like the way Woody held his trophy as though it was an extension of his manhood.

Brought to you without commercial interruption, eh? The whores at Film Independent took a giant turn in the direction of the Oscars not only with their choice of winners, but the unconscionable and incessant product placement throughout the program. It’s bad enough that I have to endure a Stella Artois commercial every time I go to a Landmark Theatre. I don’t need to see their advertising logo superimposed over the winners as they walked up to accept their awards.

Emile Hirsch needs a director. Nice line readings off the teleprompter! Also good to see the poor man’s Shia Labeouf making funny faces behind Robert Duvall as the cast from “Crazy Heart” accepted their award. Class act! May you live a life of eternal “Speed Racer” remakes.

Did the same person who designed the cuffs on Ken Jeong’s shirt work on Minnie Pearl’s hats?

Did Mo’Nique finally take a weed-whacker to her legs?

How do you think Mr. Mo’Nique feels toting around his wife’s purse all night?

No letterboxed clips? I expect this type of inane behavior from the Academy, but not an organization that prides itself on keeping the integrity of independent films alive. To make matters worse, the clips were full frame with CG borders inserted across the tops and bottoms.

With its sloppy hand held camerawork, quick stuttering zooms and artless compositions, the pre-recorded segment featuring Film Independent’s Dawn Hudson looked no better or worse than anything I saw in “Cop Out.”

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Review: PLAGUES AND PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA / Chris Meltzer & Jeff Springer (2004)

November 21st, 2008 by Scott Marks

Leonard Knight, Mountain Artist or Madman?

Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2004)
Written, Photographed and Directed by Chris Meltzer and Jeff Springer
Narrated by John Waters
Running Time: 73 min.

Rating: ★★★½☆

The Salton Sea, once billed as California’s version of the French Riviera, is a patch of land 35 miles long and 15 feet wide located fifty miles south of Palm Springs. In the 1950s, developers’ dreams of turning the Salton Sea into “Palm Springs with water” became a reality and California’s biggest lake became a booming resort town. Desi Arnaz put up a hotel and soon the rich and famous would make this sports fisherman’s paradise their choice destination. Frank Sinatra, The Marx Brothers, Linda Darnell and The Beach Boys all spent time quality time on the California Riviera.

After its brief vogue, the desert playground, “accidentally” created by an engineering error in 1905, quickly became deserted after a series of hurricanes, floods, and fish die-offs. The streets now sport less businesses than the locals do teeth and the Salton Sea lives on as one of the greatest sewers the world has ever seen.

A sea flood twenty years ago put half the State Park underwater leaving 7.6 million dead fish. Nature wanted no part of the Salton Sea which has clearly become one of America’s worst ecological disasters. For miles, all one sees is trash, stagnant salty water, decay and thousands of dead fish that sound a dinner call for hundreds of fetid birds. The film couldn’t be more pungent were it shot in Odorama.

In addition to toxic Talapia, the Salton Sea’s main exports are drunks and seniors living out their remaining days in sunshine and stench. Much of the populous consists of former Hungarian freedom fighters and blacks, or “welfare types,” as one of the townsfolk affectionately calls them. She goes on to admit, “Some of the black kids are delightful, but there’s a group that are in trouble.”

The official sport of nearby Bombay Beach appears to be alcoholism. Hunky Daddy, Bombay Beach’s unofficial Mayor, is a lecherous (he “moons” kids), unintelligible (he needs subtitles) rummy. Leonard Knight, Mountain Artist/Sacerdotal Nutjob, hopes that his Salvation Mountain will attract other Religious types eager to find the word of God in a man-made mound of garishly painted garbage.

The Salton Sea found its champion in the late Mayor of Palm Springs and Cher’s former husband, Sonny Bono. Sonny remembered the great impact the sea had on his youth and wanted to return it to recreational glory. As one of the residents points out, “I think he was good for the sea. Unfortunately he went skiing.”

With its parade of trailer parks and anomalies and curiosities of humanity, it’s no wonder John Waters agreed to narrate the film. His wry recital of the “string of catastrophes” that befell the Imperial Valley also provides an expertly researched history lesson. Never has environmental tragedy been this funny.

The DVD offers several bonus films including Miracle in the Desert. Film-chained from a faded 16mm print, this hilarious 13-minute travelogue from the early-60s is a precursor to real estate infomercials.

San Diego’s Museum of Photographic Arts will show Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea at 7 pm tonight and co-creator Chris Meltzer will be there to conduct a Q&A after the movie.

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Filed Under Reviews, Theatrical

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