8:53:43 PM: Started a new live post to try to keep the live action fresh. I’m waiting dr Weather Girl screening to start up.

8:54:27 PM: I completely forgot to eat. No time to shove a sandwich down my throat before screening. I really need to learn from this tomorrow.

9:04:24 PM: Weather Girl is about to start. Nice sized crowd, they’re pretty jazzed. I’ve managed to stay in the exact same venue all day.

9:04:51 PM: Gotta love this Wimgo.com commercial AGAIN. I dot even know what this does

9:05:32 PM: Good to see I’m not the only only iphone addict while these commercials are up.

10:43:12 PM: Weather Girl lights up. Blayne talking onstage.

11:17:14 PM: Alright. Finally time for food. Signing off. Check back tomorrow for reviews of today’s viewings. Goodnight candlerers.

From here on out, when I hear the term “local film”, I will think of King Hollis’s Pearl, a sweeping biopic that follows the aviation career of Pearl Scott Carter, the youngest licensed pilot in U.S. History. The film was financed in large part by the Chickasaw Nation and featured a crew that was around 60% Oklahoman, which is fitting for a local hero. Last night, when the film showed here in Oklahoma City at the deadCENTER Film Festival, the house was packed with at least fifty people stranded outside, unable to secure tickets for the show. Those who did make it inside were roused to standing ovation as the credits began to roll. So what is this movie that has such an allure here?

The story is very basic. Pearl is a daredevil who drives her blind father around at the age of 11. When an unexpected visitor, pilot Wiley Post, lands his new plane in Pearl’s backyard, she is given the chance of a lifetime to go up in the air with him. Enchanted by this little girl’s tenacity, Wiley suggests she learn to fly. In due time, Pearl’s father buys her a plane and builds her a landing strip. The young prodigy begins flying in airshows and carting businessmen across the state. However, the excitement of flying comes at a price, and she is forced to choose between her love for aviation and need to have a family, a life.

The truth is that there are many weak parts in the story. In general, the film runs too long, bustling about from plot point to plot point without always drawing a direct relationship between everything that is happening. Shot on video, the movie is quite gorgeous. As a period piece, it can be difficult to get an audience behind the harshness of the video image, but in time this falls away, mostly due to the wonderful performances in the film. Elijah DeJesus is great as Pearl. It is difficult to buy her aging over the years, which is accomplished by giving her longer hair, but her stage presence more than makes up for it. Also of note is Andrew Sensenig who plays Pearl’s father, George Sr. Playing a blind man can be difficult, there is often an emotional disconnect when someone is focused on not looking at anyone, but Mr. Sensenig steps up to the plate and delivers. He almost reminds me of Tom Hanks, but only almost. There are a number of great performances to see, but we must move the review along.

Mr. Hollis and his dedicated team recreated rural Oklahoma in the 1920s and 1930s to bring this tale to life. The costumes are spot on, the old town streets are delightful to look at, and the period specific aircraft are breathtaking. The film was shot on a modest, unreleased budget in 23 days. During a Q & A session, Mr. Hollis mentioned that all of the airborne material was shot in a matter of 6 hours. This is impressive given the scope of the film. It is colorful, endearing, and exciting. Most importantly in this film is the sense of wonderment it creates, something that is often lost among indie filmmakers. During many of the flying scene, I was sitting there wide- eyed, gawking at the screen like a little kid.

As I mentioned before, this is decidedly a local film. Producer David Rennke, who is Chickasaw and plans to make many films about the Chickasaw Nation, mentioned that they think the film has the potential to be a worldwide success. While that may be possible, the best aspect of this film is its ability to be a success here. Like I said before, the audience here loved it and they need more films like this, they are aching for them. How delightful it is to see your hometown portrayed so lovingly on screen; how fitting that a local hero get the “hollywood” treatment, but without all the noise and fuss of actual Hollywood coming to you. This is a key local film for Oklahomans, and they should be proud. Pearl is worth checking out, that is if you find yourself in an auditorium full of eager Okies.

What can I say about Triangle of Death by Folleh Tamba that won’t just come out mean and disaffected? It is a misguided documentary with no clear vision behind where it takes the viewer, which is unfortunate because there is an incredible amount of interesting material to work with here. Namely, the film features on-the-ground footage in Iraq, which is fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, it is all thrown into a mish mosh of interviews from a predetermined list of lame questions.

Mr. Tamba is a marine who shot the film alongside the other members of the Echo Company 3rd platoon of the 2nd battalion 24th Marines. His efforts are admirable , and as I said, the footage he got over there is amazing. Unfortunately, the film follows no clear narrative; no character relationships are built between the audience and the men being interviewed. Triangle of Death has one very specific goal, which is to glorify the work of the USMC.

Mr. Tamba, if you are out there listening, you have access to the most interesting story in America right now, so please give us something more interesting to watch. Make us really think, don’t just tell us what you think. The film is littered with facts when all we needed was a single emotional investment in any one of the Marines featured in the film. Also, you pull the film in so many directions (anti-journalism, anti-anti-war, soldier stories, gory non-sequiturs, etc.) that we are never given the time to focus on one interesting facet of the abstraction that is war. It’s a shame, again, because there is so much to work with.

I landed at Will Rogers Aiport here in Oklahoma City at around 10:00pm last night, which was just late enough for me to miss the outdoor screening of Bradley Beesley’s Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo. We pulled up to a closed off street in downtown Oklahoma City. People in lawn chairs listened attentively as Mr. Beesley, a local filmmaker, answered questions alongside his the stars of the documentary. It was a crowd hit, and the party that followed was abuzz with praise. I won’t be able to see it until tomorrow evening, but I am very excited to check it out.

Most of today has been spent driving around in search or Route 66 which seems to have eluded myself and my gracious host. I’m told that the infamous interstate is known to do this, showing itself only when needed. That photograph of a Colorado ad taped over with the word Oklahoma, was taken on the set of The Killer Inside Me, a new Michael Winterbottom film being shot here. The sticker, which is on the back of a lighting truck, somewhat sums up the kind of film community that thrives out here. Oklahoma has a long history of not being other places. While sipping a Maker’s and soda at a cigar bar, a local told me that Oklahomans are much like salmon: they always come back home eventually.

Last night, I had a nice little chat with Paul Osborne, director of the film Official Rejection. He told me that deadCENTER really is the fest to be at, and this would be the guy to ask. He assured me that while this may not be a farm for “the next big thing” in Hollywood, it is the place to see some really great filmmakers getting exposure. Since I haven’t seen any films, I can’t tell you if I agree or not, but the vibe is electric so far. There is a lot of excitement over the local films that are playing here, which really is the next big American film movement. Local films are really the “way of the future”, to quote a DiCaprio’d Howard Hughes.

I’ve got a great deal of work to do. I will probably see 3 films this evening, and of course let you know all about them. I’m not positive which one’s I’ll hit, but I will definitely have to miss a few films I really want to see; there are just so many on the schedule. Keep checking back for more deadCENTER coverage than you can shake a roll of gaff tape at. Official Rejection trailer below.

6:07:58 PM: Triangle of Death Screening. Shhhhhh. Thoughts after.

7:40:38 PM: Finished Tringle of Death, war doc for the XBOX set. Lots of interviews, fascinating soldier footage. Too many topics covered.

7:52:23 PM: While you’re here, read my #deadcenter dispatch about getting here last night. http://bit.ly/11BNLj

8:39:49 PM: Next up is the film Pearl. I just heard that the film is sold out. Local narrative feature, people here are pretty jazzed about it.

8:42:27 PM: Pearl is the story of Pearl Scott Carter, youngest US Aviator in history. My friend just nabbed one of the last tix.

8:55:44 PM: Packed house, sitting right up in the second row. Not too close….just right. Nice screening space. Roll film please!

8:57:03 PM: I should give a shout out to Ecstasy of Gold, which I’m missing to see Pearl. Hope to check that one at a later date.

9:09:50 PM: Okay, Pearl is starting, radio silence for a bit.

11:12:00 PM: Standing ovation for Pearl.

11:43:58 PM: Great period piece on video. Built a great set of wonderment. Huge success in front of this crowd.

12:05:38 AM: Movie over, party time now. Signing off until tomorrow. Check @poritsky on Twitter if you need me.

That picture of my old bathroom bears no relevance to this poll. I guess I could tie in live blogging on a toilet into this poll, but really I never have a reason to use this picture, so here it is. Now answer my question and I’ll abide by the rules of the poll.

[poll id=“2”]

Tomorrow, my day will begin around 5am in Manhattan (NY, not Kansas) but it will end, most likely, in an Oklahoma City back alley somewhere around 2am. After landing, I’m going to rush to try to see the third act of this opening film at the 9th Annual Deadcenter Film Festival, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo. (Don’t worry, I’ll squeeze in a full screening somewhere in there). This documentary feature by Bradley Beesley tells the story of female inmates participating in the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo, which was only first allowed in 2006. The trailer tells the story better than I do, so just watch. Remember to check back here early and often as I’ll be constantly updating with Deadcenter goings on all week.

While I gear up to give you up to the minute coverage from Oklahoma City, I figured I would let you in on a little known feature of the candler blog. When you are out and about, you may find yourself in need of a little pop culture deconstruction with nary a laptop in sight. No fear, just pull out the ol’ cell phone and point to http://m.candlerblog.com and our full canon will come up. There is also a “secret” link at the bottom left hand corner of the site.

The demo still here is from an iPhone, but this should work on pretty much anything with a browser. Let us know in the comments if there are any problems. What’s that? You’d rather just check us in a feed reader? We’ve got you covered yet again. We’ve got RSS 2.0 and Atom feeds at your disposal. If that’s not enough, just ask and we’ll find a way to get you what you need.

On a rainy Friday afternoon, I managed to spend some time with Israeli filmmaker Nati Baratz. We met at Manhattan’s Film Forum, where his film, Unmistaken Child, began it’s U.S. theatrical tour last Wednesday and will be playing there through Tuesday, June 16th. Clutching an umbrella that flopped in and out which he offered me as a canopy repeatedly, he and I chatted about his career, his film, and the current state of documentary cinema.

The film is his first theatrical venture. A graduate of Tel Aviv University’s film program, Mr. Baratz made two documentaries for television, but as he tells it, he was a hired gun on those projects, taking them on in an effort to keep his chops up. Unmistaken Child follows the buddhist monk Tenzin Zopa on his search for the reincarnation of his late master, Geshe Lama Konchong. For more specifics, you can read the candler blog’s review, but you would do better to just go see the film.

We began to discuss the positive critical reception of his film, though Mr. Baratz was quick to point out that not all viewers are pleased with his work. " Some people want me to give answers, to give explanations, like more conventional documetaries. This is fair enough, but it’s not the film I made.“He’s right. Unmistaken Child features only sparse interviews with the main subject, Mr. Zopa, and a handful of overlayed text, giving the viewer the bare minimum of literal context. “People want me to criticize things, to go deeper. Most don’t even realize how much information there actually is in the piece, because I made this for Westerners, not Buddhists.”

In 1993, Nati Baratz took his first trip to Tibet and was immediately enchanted. “I liked the people. Then, after that, I liked the Buddhism. I am not a Buddhist, but I like their philosophy, their psychology.” He was initially drawn to Tibet because of the civil rights deadlock that that nation has been in with China, though this is not evidenced in his film. I asked him why, if this is so important to him, is there no political edge to his film. “My way of making activist cinema is something I learned from Buddhism. If you shout and if you blame, then you only get in return blames and shouting. So I don’t think this kind of activist movie does good work. My film is activist in a Buddhist way. I just show the beauty, I show the quality of the Tibetans. There is a drama. There are also very hard scenes, not everything is nice and happy, not at all. There are also things that people can criticize the Tibetans about doing, but overall, when you follow Tenzin Zopa, an extraordinary human being, then I think the general effect is affection toward the Tibetan people. This is my way of making activist cinema.”

For five years, Unmistaken Child was the centerpiece of Mr. Baratz’s life. He moved his family to India halfway through shooting in an effort to save money on airfare. Due to an agreement he had made early on with Tenzin Zopa, he was unable to show the footage to anyone for the first two years of shooting, so the project was completely self-financed. At the beginning, naturally, he was scared. Mr. Zopa would only allow Nati access if he would agree to see the process through to completion, no matter how long it would take to find the reincarnation. However, he found relief once Mr. Zopa encountered a young boy also named Tenzin, who would become the focal point of the film’s search for the reincarnated master. “When I returned with these rushes, I knew that everything would be fine. I knew I had a film that would be great, that I could only screw it up. From that moment, I invested everything I had.”

I told Mr. Baratz that his film is the first Israeli film I can think of to cross the Atlantic that is neither in Hebrew nor Starring Israelis. He laughed. “I had no idea, I am not an expert on this.” Anytime I would bring up his nationality, the conversation would quickly veer in another direction. Mr. Baratz views himself as a citizen of the world. When I drew the parallel between the situation in the Middle East and the situation in Tibet, he was taken aback, as though the parallel had never occurred to him. “The endless cycle of blood in Israel really frustrates you; you feel really hopeless, so you are looking for a breakthrough. For me, that breakthrough was g0ing to Tibet. To see the Tibetans’ non-violent struggle for independence, it’s amazingly inspiring for someone coming from the Middle East.”

As for Mr. Baratz’s influences for making this film, he repeatedly invoked the names of Robert Flaherty and John Grierson when asked about it. “I like their documentary tradition, spending a long times in places, getting to know people. Flaherty and Grierson also dramatized their films without narration. What I am doing now is going back to the roots of documentary.” In general, however, he has been influenced more by fiction films than by non-fiction. “Let me tell you something surprising. One inspiration for this ?lm was Dogme 95, specifically Breaking the Waves by Von Trier. The feeling, the fact that it doesn?t matter if you use simple camera. The thing that matters is the way you think of the frames.”

During a question and answer session at one of the recent screenings, Nati mentioned Star Wars as another influence. He smiles. " I use a classic narrative myth. Hero with A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It?s classical Joseph Campbell structure. The hero is in his ordinary world. His master dies. He is called to a mission. He refuses to go to the mission. Then mentors come and teach him how to go. Then he goes. You can just see the structure. Of course you play with it because the culture is so different and I had so many gaps to ?ll.”

We had been chatting in the Film Forum lobby as the crowd lined up to see his film. An usher came and asked, loudly, for all people in line to see Unmistaken Child to please squeeze in against the wall to make room for more. “This is all for Unmistaken Child?” Mr. Baratz asked, wide-eyed and curious. “Good.” In hoping for a sold out crowd, he is not at all concerned with his box office appeal. The film is doing fine business and has received awards and praise the world over. Instead, he scans the crowd as a man on a mission. “The film has already been picked up by major television stations. Millions and millions will spend 104 minutes with Tenzin Zopa, so it’s great. After seeing this film, I believe they will keep a small place in their hearts for the Tibetan people.”

“I am naive,” he went on to say, “in a way, you have to be to make documentary films; to make films in general. I want to change the world. I hope, in my lifetime, Tibet will get independence in a peaceful way. I believe the world will benefit so much from it, really. I’m not just saying that.” It is not hard to believe a man that has devoted a great chunk of his life to this cause. “End the article like this:” he told me, a smile coming across his face. “Let us hope that Tibet will get independence in our lifetime, in this reincarnation.” There is an honesty and an irony in his wording. To fully understand it, you really must see this breathtaking film.

Unmistaken Child is playing through Tuesday, June 16th at Film Forum in New York. It will open wider in different cities in the cming weeks. For more information, visit the film’s official website.

The story of boys getting into raunchy trouble at a friend’s Las Vegas bachelor party is about as old as sin city itself, but never has it been portrayed so haphazardly as in Todd Phillips’s The Hangover. The film aims to offend, gross-out, and perpetuate the myth of alcohol-induced male camaraderie. With strippers, a tiger, Mike Tyson, stereotypical Chinese gangsters and tons of cash to throw around, it seems the only thing Mr. Phillips forgot in this movie was a steady stream of laughs.

After a bang up night that no one can remember, Phil, Stu and Alan wake up sprawled about their Caesar’s suite, a baby in the closet, a tiger in the bathroom and a chicken wandering aimlessly around the place. Doug, the milquetoast groom played by Justin Bartha in whose honor the trio got so royally smashed, has gone missing. The plot of last evening unfurls piecemeal, with the three friends wandering the strip and the desert back and forth in search of their lost buddy.

Each of the leads has his own predictable character tweak. Bradley Cooper, as Phil, is the leader of the pack. Suave and cocksure, he is a grade school teacher who wouldn’t know actual trouble if it smacked him in the face, but that doesn’t stop him from looking for certain danger in the name of good times. Ed Helms fills out Stu, the mild mannered dentist whose girlfriend has his genitals on a tight leash. Then there is Alan. Zach Galifianakis throws everything he’s got at this awkward brother-in-law role. He is a man-child, a sleaze-bag and a damn good reason to plunk down money and see this film. Many of the film’s best laughs come from his inanity, My favorite was a joke regarding a certain sensitivity on airplanes in recent years.

In all honesty, this film has a lot of potential to succeed, but it is mostly held back by it’s cast of sidekicks. Mr. Cooper really needs to step up to the plate and be the ringleader of this posse, but he is never much afforded the opportunity. Perhaps he is too compassionate, perhaps he is too mean, but maybe he is just too, I don’t know, bleh is the best word I can think of. Try as he might, he cannot fill the shoes of a Vince Vaughn or a Matthew McConaughey.

Todd Phillips is notable for exploring the dark corners of male adolescent goofiness. His 2003 Old School is a touchstone film for taking the dumbest parts of masculinity and soberly deconstructing them with hilarious bits along the way. The Hangover doesn’t quite reach that level, but it isn’t all bad. There are a handful of grand laughs along the way, however they are sandwiched between a whole lot of B-roll and musical interludes. The point? There simply wasn’t enough meat on this bone for a feature. Maybe some more time in the oven would have made this steak well done. For now, it’s just half baked. (Hilarious aren’t I?)