Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Intellectual Properties II

[Follow up to this post.]

I saw the indie Intellectual Property at the Newport Beach Film Festival this last weekend, a psychological thriller/horror set during the early years of the Cold War. Now clearly I am biased in my opinion since I know people who worked on it, and I've gotten "dirt" along the way. I find it difficult to remove myself sometimes from things that seem a little close, i.e., I worked on Think Tank and I have a clear bias on that one. (I think it's great!)

So I am of two opinions. First, in some respects I look at it as a good first attempt for this director (Nicholas Peterson) and Writer (Hansen Smith). I wanted desperately to cheer them on. I wanted to believe the film was going to be terrific, and parts of it were. For example, I thought the concept was terrific, and there were plenty of moments throughout the film I thought were more than intriguing. I also loved the art direction. I thought this was one of the stronger components of the film: props and set design, lighting and composition.


However, that said, I thought there were significant enough problems with the film as to sour the whole experience. The main problem was the amount of gore present. Something rather horrific happens about 1/3 into the film, and in the Q&A after the film, Peterson let us know that was intentionally meant to be "cool." I could hardly agree with his assessment. It's too bad, too, because I want to be supportive. I actually think if the gore was removed (it was pretty nasty at points), and just implied, this would have been a fine first film. Not extraordinary, but not bad at all.

In any case, there was one highly redeeming quality. The music was terrific! I talked with the composer, Jasper Randall, afterward and tried to pick his brain as to his influences. (He said he didn't have any and I said I didn't believe him.) He was very friendly, talked about how he used almost all the budget and didn't pocket nearly any of it so he could get a bonafied Hollywood union orchestra, including the likes of a reputable cellist who has done academy-nominated material. (Most everyone loved the soundtrack I noticed, and some asked where and when it would be available.)

posted by Rhapsidiomite @ 11:16 PM
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