This is Nollywood

The film industry in Nigeria...

How to be American - part 1: the trailer

Throughout the following weeks I'll teach you to how be "Americans." Because after all, it is what we all want to become. Americans. Right?

Whatever the country, English-speaking or not, European, Asian or South American, American films have hade a huge success, often greater than the one enjoyed by domestic films in their respective countries.

Most international movie stars owe their global celebrity to their participation in a Hollywood product or a nomination / win at the Oscars.
The explanation cannot simply be the fact that all American films are better than others. Why then?

There are many answers, and trailers are one of them. Yes, trailers. There's just something about them that makes the difference.
Of course, there's the cavernous voiceover that makes even the greatest banalities exciting. (IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYONE IS LYING ... HOW DOES HE KNOW WHO’S TELLING THE TRUTH?).

There is also the recent top 50 hit which is used so that if you don’t like what you see, the film is at least associated with something you love to hear-or that TVs and radio stations have been hammering in your brain incessantly for weeks.
There is the fast-paced editing that makes you believe that there has to be something exciting since everything is moving so quickly.

Above all, the U.S. majors always make sure that at the end of said trailer you really know what the film is about. Entire film concepts are modified and some movies don’t even get produced because executives felt it couldn’t be summarized in a simple 150 seconds clip that can successfully attract audiences. Because that’s the name of the game: attracting people. Butts in the seat. By all means.

So you do what I already talked about above, but you also show all the best scenes of the film. So much for mystery or surprise. If there aren’t enough good scenes, you can also show a major plot twist (hello, Terminator IV and Sam Worthington who is in fact not human). What if the client feels robbed after seeing a mediocre movie whose trailer showed the only elements of interest? It does not matter.

You don’t believe me? Let me tell you a story, despite my really inaccurate memory. A few months ago, a marketing executive from one of the majors came to talk in one of my classes. A girl –pretty hot, come to think of her again- asked this question: "Don’t you think it is a bad thing that many trailers nowadays show much more than they should and don’t leave any room for surprises? I went to see XYZ recently and I realized that the trailer was more a summary of the film than anything else."

The - pretty funny - answer of our marketing friend? "Excuse me, but this is everything I've heard: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I went to see XYZ, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You paid to go see the movie, my mission is accomplished and the job ends there. What happens afterwards is not my problem."

He’s right after all. You can’t get a refund. What will you do? Never watch a movie again in your life? I’d love to see that.

DVD of the Week: The Girlfriend Experience

Chelsea (Sasha Grey) is high-class escort girl who offers more than just a sex to her clients, she offers a "girlfriend experience"; she dines with them, goes to the movies, spends a whole evening talking with them and makes $ 2,000 per hour while doing so.

Nothing too surprising so far, except that Chelsea also has a serious "boyfriend", Chris, who is a fitness coach. Troubles begins when Chelsea start to fall for one of her customers.

The other important subject of the film is the economic crisis that began in 2008, and has affected our little couple. After all, when difficult times hit, $ 2,000 per hour starts to be a bit much, even for the richest of us. And the same goes for Chris' fitness sessions, who are not discounted either.

Some will be disappointed by the lack of sex in this movie (Sasha Grey is in it, what the hell!!!), the plot may not please everyone, but the photography by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's 11, 12, .. ., 25) is gorgeous to look at.

PS: For those of you still pretending not to know who Sasha Grey, Google her ... "Aaahh, it's a pornstar, I didn't know that !"... Yes, of course you didn't know ...

Claustrophobes beware

Here is the trailer for Buried, a cool script I had the opportunity to read a few months ago. I was quite impressed by screenwriter Chris Sparling's ability to keep the entire story only inside a coffin.

Apparently, director Rodrigo Cortes managed the feat of transposing the original script to the screen without getting outside that wooden box for a single breath of fresh air. Ryan Reynolds plays a US truck driver who wakes up wounded in a coffin and has no idea how he got in there.

The film was bought by LionsGate at Sundance and will be distributed late 2010 probably.

Kick Ass - Hit girl

We would all like to know an 11 year-old like just like her...

DVD of the Week: Manhattan

Time will probably tell you that, but I can say it already: I love Woody Allen. Not all his movies are good, but when they are, they are excellent.

That's the case with Manhattan , a film he shot in 1979.

Isaac Davis (Woody Allen) is a writer and has a very hectic life. And when I say hectic, I mean it. His second wife (Meryll Streep) has left him for another woman, his best friend introduces him to his mistress (Diane Keaton) whom he ends up falling in love with, and he also has a relationship with a 17 year-old (Mariel Hemingway ).

In addition the funny dialogue,the black and white photography is admirable and makes you want to immediately teleport yourself to New York.

The Bonnie situation

From Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

Take it to the next level

The life of a football player condensed in 3 minutes by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes). 2008.

Even the non-football fans can appreciate it...

Episode 3: Having an ear for music

A change scenery this week, since I am currently enjoying a little under a fortnight in Paris. Fortnight is such a cool word, I had to use it somehow.

I'm starting to reconsider my decision because of the low temperatures I have to deal with in comparison to the warm Los Angeles weather. And listening to my friends, the weather actually has improved since I got here. When I add that to the fact that I'm walking outside despite 3 or 4 degrees Celsius on the thermometer while I usually don't set foot outside when it's under 14 in LA, I realize that being cold is really a state of mind.

As far as positives go, I do have the opportunity to see French films that never make it across the Atlantic. I can also visit my friends, some of whom are musicians. This gives me the opportunity to think about the kind of music I want for the film, the amount of music I will use, and even the possibility of having a real soundtrack album, with over a dozen songs that would be available for sale when the film comes out.

So from now on, I'll keep an ear out for some cool stuff from unknown artists deserving some exposure.

DVD of the Week: Marock

Exceptionally, the DVD of the Week is on Thursday and not Friday this week. The reason is simple: it's complicated to have a decent internet connection at 10 000 feet above the ground.

I came across Marock accidentally, reading an article describing the strong criticism on the film, due to the onscreen presence of Muslims drinking alcohol, smoking cannabis, and only thinking about going to nightclubs. Inevitably, I was intrigued.

The story follows a young girl at the French high school of Casablanca. She falls in love with a boy who's a little older than her. One little problem: he is Jewish. I honestly expected a melodrama in the vein of "The Young and the Restless", but ultimately, the director has kept exaggeration from affecting her film.

In some instances, the film was a little immature and gave too much importance to things that did not deserve it. But at the same time, how do you make a film about a teenage girl, without having her being a bit immature and giving too much importance to useless things?

In short, this is clearly not one of my favorite movies, but I rather enjoyed the experience to finally see a decent Moroccan film .

Directed by Laila Marrakchi. With Mathieu Boujenah and Morjana Alaoui

Golden Eye Opening

The moment I look forward to before any Bond movie...

Song by Tina Turner.

Ari Gold and his enemies

Ari Gold, the super agent, explains to his wife that he just wants to do good business. And maybe destroy his enemies at the same time...

From Entourage season 6

Episode 2: Reconnecting with an ex-girlfriend

This week marked the real start of "Between Friends" (working title) as a project, since I finally went back to the script I wrote almost a year ago and hadn't read for a few months. (I've worked on 3 other screenplays since, so I wasn't just being lazy)

I must admit I was a little worried initially. You know how much you're disappointed when you meet a ex-girlfriend from high school that you thought was beautiful, intelligent, funny and you realize that she unfortunately doesn't measure up to your memories and the image of her you had in your head? That's exactly what I was afraid to feel. I was concerned the story that has danced around in my little head for the past months ends up being very different from the words on the paper (actually on Final Draft), with a lot of additional work needed in order to bridge the gap between my head and the actual script.

Fortunately, 2009 Henri did a much better job than 2010 Henri thought, and did not disappoint him at all.

There will only be minor changes to make, nothing serious. This makes the project move forward faster than expected, and 2010 Henri likes that.

On another topic, I was hoping that District 9 would bring a little something from the Oscars last night, but the competition turned out to be too strong. Too bad.

DVD of the Week: The Russian Dolls

I remember seeing The Russian Dolls for the first time in a Spanish class during my senior year. I obviously did not pay much attention to the film, between all the chatting, laughing, and micro-napping. It was only a few months later that I was finally able to fully appreciate it from beginning to end.

Xavier is a writer approaching 30. As he often says throughout the film, his life is a big mess. Like many people who write, his work helps him try to restore order in his life - or at least navigate through the mess. We follow Xavier during the months preceding the marriage of Wendy 's brother, the English girl he met when studying in Barcelona in L'Auberge Espagnole (The Russian Dolls is the sequel to that film)

Special mention to Cecile de France who does a great job here playing a lesbian financial analyst who "usually likes black girls".

Directed by Cedric Klapisch.With Romain Duris et Cécile de France.

Episode 1: Start from the beginning

For those of you who don't have the internal memory of a goldfish and do make a short stop on the blog every Monday, you probably remember that I promised you some info about my next movie a few weeks ago. Well, there it is.

What I can tell you for the moment is that the story follows two recently single friends who decide to keep each other company on Valentine's Day. Then... I suppose you will have see the film to know what happens next.

The working title is Between Friends and will most likely change. But you know how it often is with working titles, they start working and you eventually keep them.

The goal is to begin filming late in the summer of 2010 (Screw westerners, I should actually say late in the rainy season). Why so far? Because if there's one thing I have learned in life, it's that you can only make a good first impression once. So it is better to allow for some time to make every little detail perfect and not go to war unprepared. Especially for a first film.

Apart from that, the blog will continue its course (with DVDs on Fridays), only now with the addition of updates regarding the film's progress.

All this just for you... can you believe that?