By any other name...

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Shakespeare once said, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" - well actually he didn't say it, he wrote it. But what about a GODLIS by any other name, would that smell as sweet? As I was gobbling down my oatmeal this morning, I came across a new variation on my name while reading a  review of the Who Shot Rock exhibition which opens tonight at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina, where I am mentioned more than once as Michael Godlis.

Now maybe there is another guy called Michael Godlis with a Patti Smith photograph, but I doubt it. And actually they say some really nice things about me (and my photos) in the article.  But it's been one of those months for a photographer named GODLIS. 

When you have a photograph in the Sunday NY Times, you really want to see "credit where credit is due", so to speak. In there, my photo of film director Kelly Reichardt - whose fabulous new film Meek's Cutoff will be opening in April - was credited to David Goodlis.  Now, David is indeed my first name. And it would be cool to be mixed up with the great noir writer David Goodis, who wrote the book that Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player is based upon. But Goodlis just doesn't carry the weight of a name like Godlis. I mean Godlis sounds like an atheist - that's the point really. But Goodlis just sounds like a nice guy with a funny name.


Look, it's a real name. I didn't make it up to sound punk, like Johnny Rotten or Richard Hell. I was already Godlis. I just dropped my first name, when I published my first picture from CBGB's. But people seem to have a problem spelling a word that has God in it. Hey I've got some Jewish friends  -why not, I'm a Godless Jew myself - who won't even spell my name out for crazy religious reasons. Oy vey! But at least they're not photo editors.

And then, for the trifecta this month, I have photos in a cool new book about the The Bowery by Eric Ferrara. Now Eric Ferrara is a really nice guy, and though I haven't seen the book yet, it looks pretty great in the preview on Amazon here.  But damn if my damn name isn't spelled wrong.  Here I'm Goldis.  That's a pretty common one. Invert the D and the L and get rid of God. But again, it doesn't carry the weight of GODLIS.  Hey at least in this case, I have just one name - well one wrong name.

So who knows, maybe Shakespeare was right. But it's not as I like it. This godless rose don't smell so sweet. You know, like the sweet smell of success.

Who What Where When?

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unlikely pairing: Joan Jett & Jessica Alba 

Me myself and eye have been a long time gone from these pages, so there's a lot of catching up to do. Where do I start? Well it's got to be this shot of Joan Jett and Jessica Alba, taken after BAM Cinematek's tribute to Susan Sarandon, at Susan Sarandon's ping pong club Spin New York. This shot kind of reminds me of the pictures that used to make the back page of Creem Magazine in the 70's - unlikely pairings backstage at rock shows. Joan looks fantastic (not that different from when  I photographed her with the Runaways onstage at CBGB's in 1977).
A few minutes later, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Alba were playing ping pong. No Joan Jett didn't partake. 
And Susan Sarandon looked just as fabulous as her former Rocky Horror Picture Show self, glaring from behind her during the publicity shots for the event out at BAM. 
John Turturro showed up for a screening of the film he directed "Romance and Cigarettes".
And Todd Oldham made sure to get his picture taken with Joan Jett. I squeezed an image of Susan Sarandon into the backdrop. Kool Kats. 
Joan Jett with the Runaways in 1977 CBGB's 




Marcia Resnick's been looking at Bad Boys

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Marcia Resnick and Danny Fields

Let me start by saying that Marcia Resnick - who has a really sweet heart and a great eye - is one of my favorite New York City photographers.  She's been looking at and shooting Bad Boys in New York City for decades. And as Johnny Thunders said - "All the smart boys know why". That was in "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory". But actually, if you buy one of Marcia's prints on view at Deborah Bell Gallery, you can.

The first thing I thought about after leaving the exhibition, "Bad Boys" last Thursday night was -"Damn, I should have taken more pictures tonight." I was having such a good time looking at the photographs and talking to everybody - and what a startling group of everybody's it was - that I forgot to remember that I wanted to try out this new app on my phone, uh camera - the one that makes all the photos look like they were taken inside a 1950's photo booth.  

Marcia Resnick

Well, that's how we photographers are. First we stare in wonder at that great picture on the wall, then we get jealous, then we get inspired, then we shoot. And there was a lot at Marcia's exhibition to get inspired by. A lot!  People slipped in and out like they do at these events - some to see if they made the final cut onto the wall.  And others stayed all night to take it all in - like me. Flashes were going off all around, so why didn't it occur to me sooner to pull out my phone and shoot? I've got to admit, it's still a little difficult for someone who calls himself a photographer to get those words out of his mouth. Unless I'm using a weird app - like Hipstamatic, and in this case Pocketbooth - something that alters the phone picture taking experience significantly.   Well I got started shooting too late - born to lose - but here's a few of my shots from Marcia's fabulous opening. You should have been there!

Oh wait - one more thing. Did you know that Marcia Resnick and Senator Chuck Schumer went to the same High School? Not only that - they were  #1 and #2 in their class! Think about that one. 

Anton Perich

Maria Del Greco

Walter Stedding

Sid Kaplan

Eric Mitchell

Joey Zero

Tim "Stupefaction" Broun

Barry Brothers

All photos by GODLIS




Femme Fatale: Lou Reed's "Red Shirley"

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Lou Reed with cousin Shirley at screening of his film Red Shirley

"Here she comes, you better watch your step"  

Red Shirley, the 100 year old Chelsea girl activist,  cousin,  and subject of director Lou Reed's new film of the same name, was onstage with him for a unique post-screening Q&A at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center this past Friday Night. The former kingpin of the Velvet Underground turned filmmaker, came uptown as part of this year's Jewish Film Festival. 



"See the way she walks, here the way she talks"

Literally a "factory girl", Reed's cousin who worked for 47 years as a seamstress in New York City's garment district was called "Red Shirley" by her fellow workers for standing up to the bosses and the unions alike. This 40 minute documentary, a short and concise interview, was filmed by Lou Reed and the phenomenal photographer Ralph Gibson at cousin Shirley's Chelsea apartment. Shot on a Canon 5D Camera in both black & white and color, the film is really a joy to watch. 

 Shirley, Lou Reed, and Ralph Gibson at the post screening Q&A

As we listen to Reed coax Shirley to tell the story of how she left her small town and family in Eastern Europe behind - Reed lovingly forces her to pronounce the town's difficult name at least 3 times -  Gibson's camera glides around the apartment lyrically landing on artwork, photographs,  and artifacts collected over an extraordinary lifetime (we found out at the Q&A that the photographs were unearthed by Reed and Gibson from the bottom of a closet - "what's under those clothes? photographs!").  During the course of the film, Reed finds out for the first time that cousin Shirley played mandolin, and carried it with her two suitcases on the final trip from Montreal to America ("I didn't like it there. It wasn't cosmopolitan enough."). These are the kind of stories a scriptwriter couldn't make up. 


Ralph Gibson

These two seasoned artists seemed to have been left stunned while making this film, by this feisty activists' raw power. Asked during the Q&A whether she was a feminist, Shirley answered "no." A unionist? - "No." An activist - "Yes!" At Lincoln Center Friday, watching Lou Reed let Red Shirley take over the stage and the room with chutzpah, a wheelchair, and a microphone was a beautiful thing. 

Red Shirley

Where will you see this beautiful little film? Well you can marvel at a clip from it here, on Lou Reed's website.   

I'll be your mirror indeed. Bravo!


ALL PHOTOS © GODLIS

Jerry Schatzberg at Film Forum

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I bought an advance ticket last week to see the rarely shown film Puzzle of a Downfall Child, which screened this Monday at Film Forum.  I knew it was going to be sold out - this was a one-off screening with director Jerry Schatzberg in attendance. As I walked in, a slide show was playing of Schatzberg's fashion photographs from the 60's, to a soundtrack that included a rare outtake of Bob Dylan's Visions of Johanna, followed by Jimi Hendrix's Castles Made of Sand. Well, it set the scene quite perfectly - Schatzberg photographed Dylan for the cover of Blonde on Blonde, as well as Hendrix, and quite notably the Rolling Stones in 1966 dressed in drag for the cover sleeve of Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing in the Shadow, a photo he spoke about later that evening.
Puzzle of a Downfall Child was Schatzberg's first film (1970).  It featured Faye Dunaway in an extraordinary performance as a supermodel from the 60's, flash-backing her way through a nervous breakdown. Schatzberg showed photographs of his favorite model - Anne St.Marie (see below) - whom he based Faye Dunaway's character on (through a series of tape recorded reminiscences he did with St.Marie - a recurring motif in Puzzle). The cast includes the wonderful Viveca Lindfors and Roy Scheider. Shown rarely on TV and hardly ever in theaters - Schatzberg revealed that there is only one known print in existence, the one we saw Monday. It is still not available on DVD. My friend, photographer Roberta Bayley swears by this film. And this was the first chance I had to see it. Indeed, you will never see a film like this one. 
model Anne St.Marie photographed by Schatzberg
As if seeing this film wasn't enough, we were treated to a talk with slides by Jerry Schatzberg after the film. He spoke amongst other things, about his second film, Panic In Needle Park - which was Al Pacino's first.  We learned that it was a clip from Needle Park that secured Pacino the job on The Godfather.  There was also talk of his films Scarecrow (with Pacino and Gene Hackman), Seduction of Joe Tynan, (with Alan Alda) and Reunion (written by Harold Pinter). Underrated as a director in America, beloved for the same in France, Jerry Schatzberg is just one suave cool modest New Yorker.

Jerry Schatzberg at Film Forum


As far as my connection to Jerry Schatzberg goes, it's mostly photographic. I have to admit that it took me years to realize what a big influence his inner sleeve photos from Blonde on Blonde had on my mid 70's CBGB photographs. High contrast, black & white natural low-light grainy photographs, that I stared at endlessly back in 1966, at first to understand Dylan, but by osmosis over time it was Jerry Schatzberg that I learned from. 

All photos © Jerry Schatzberg


Belatedly Breathless

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Omigod I've fallen so far behind. As the Film Forum so kindly reminded me via e-mail,  last Friday was Jean Luc Godard's 80th birthday. You could, if you're lucky enough to be in New York this week, go down there and see a sparkling new print of Breathless. Or you can just lazily go online to netflix and live stream a JLG triple feature - Breathless (1960 with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg), A Woman Is A Woman (1961 with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina), and Pierrot Le Fou (1965 Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina again).

For my part, I've dug up these photos that I took of Godard when he came to New York City in 1990, for the NY Film Festival screening of his film "Nouvelle Vague". The proof sheet shots below were taken at his press conference. For the other shots, I followed him as he left the theater and took to the streets. As Godard rarely comes over to the US anymore (he didn't come to Hollywood this year to pick up his honorary Oscar, or to any NY Film Festival screening of his films since 1990 - including this year's screening of Film Socialisme), I feel lucky that I was there to get these shots.

Jean-Luc Godard at the NY FIlm Festival 1990

From the sublime to the ridiculous, Canon Films at Lincoln Center

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Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke in Barfly

What you're looking at is a screen grab taken with my iPhone, of the first scene between Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke, in the movie Barfly, the great film from 1987 directed by Barbet Schroeder, and written by Charles Bukowski, which screened Friday night at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.  A film that is, remarkably, still not available on DVD.  

The Canon Brigade - Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus

What is even more remarkable is the series of Canon Films being shown this week up at Lincoln Center, of which Barfly is just one of the standouts. Canon Films in the 1980's was run by the producers Menachem Golan (self-named after the Golan heights) and Yoram Globus, who made their big money on a variety of exploitation films with Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, and even Sylvester Stallone, as well as Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. They did a lot of sequels to movies of which they did not make the originals. They were the first producers to presell a film internationallly before it was made. And they were very successful.  But oddly enough, these Israeli cousins, funded a whole series art films by top directors. And those are some of the great films that the Walter Reade Theater is showing this week - films by Jean-Luc Godard, John Cassevetes, John Frankenheimer, Nicolas Roeg, Barbet Schroeder, Jerry Schatzberg, Norman Mailer, and Raul Ruiz (see the schedule here).

Rourke in Barfly

Faye Dunaway,  NY Film Festival press conference for Barfly, 1987

But let's get back to Barfly for a minute. I took this picture of Faye Dunaway at the New York Film Festival press conference for Barfly in 1987, one of the first years I photographed the festival, so it was a bit strange to be seeing it here at Lincoln Center for the first time since then. I was talking with director Josh Safdie at the popcorn stand before the film started, and was surprised he'd never seen it (he was born 1984, according to IMDB) - that's when I first realized it wasn't out on DVD. I'm guessing a lot of people have never seen this film.   Barfly came out after a run of phenomenal film appearances for Mickey Rourke - Diner  (1982), Rumblefish (1983), Pope of Grenwich Village (1984), Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986), and Angel Heart (1987).  For Faye Dunaway this was her best part since Mommie Dearest. 

Menachem Golan telling "the finger" story

So it was a treat to be at Lincoln Center on Friday night, and hear the producer Menachem Golan get onstage to tell some tremendous stories about the making of Barfly. While director Barbet Schroeder smiled onstage beside him, he described how Schroeder  had threatened to cut off his finger if Menachem Golan didn't fund this picture. Sounding like some Borscht Belt comedian, Golan said "They told me at the Essex Hotel front desk here in New York, there is a man downstairs with a knife and a finger. I said what are you meshuginah - all right we'll fund your picture." A story about Mickey Rourke and Cannes was told in the same manner. "He told me he won't come to the Cannes premiere of Barfly unless we buy him a Rolls Royce. And what - do you think we didn't buy him a car? We bought him a car - Mickey is a talented meshuginah." 

Yoram Globus, Barbet Schroeder, Menachem Golan in the Walter Reade lobby

Talking about his other films, Golan was just as outrageously humorous and brazenly honest. About Charles Bronson - "He was a cold fish". About Jean Claude Van Damme - "I discovered the bastard."  About Sly Stallone - "He wanted $7 million, so I offered him $10 mlllion.  Why? Because we made plenty of money." The associate producer Tom Luddy was on hand, and reminded everyone about how Jean-Luc Godard, (whose film Every Man for Himself which is playing downtown at the Film Forum this week) had so liberally borrowed/stolen dialogue from Bukowski for Every Man without permission,  that he had to call Barbet Schroeder, and offer to pay him and Bukowski for subtitle credit.


What a night. We got to see a reunion of the Canon Film production team, Golan and Globus, who had not spoken in many years up until this event. The film itself was as good as I remembered it. I had totally forgotten that the cinematography was done by the great Robby Muller (please excuse the missing umlaut).  The performances by both Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway were  a phenomenal one-two punch. The directing by Barbet Schroeder spot on. 

Mickey Rourke and Sylvia Myles at the NY Film Festival 2008

As far as this Canon Films survey and the producing Israeli cousins go - there were more fireworks on hand Saturday night at a rare screening of the 1980 Rocky Horror-ish film The Apple - well the Rocky Horror Picture Show if it was directed by your Rabbi and Cantor on acid.  More tomorrow...

"keep your finger Barbet. we'll fund you're movie!"

current events - where you been Godlis?

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Two legends in one night:  Mike Nichols and Stanley Donen

So a couple of weeks ago, I was way uptown shooting at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. It was opening night of a full week tribute to the films of Stanley Donen. Yes the director of Singin' in the Rain,  Funny Face, Charade,  On the Town and Damn Yankees. Still alive and sharp, in person doing an interview onstage with Mike Nichols after a screening of his film Funny Face. Talking about how he tried to make the film look like his friend Richard Avedon's photographs (Fred Astaire's 'Dick Avery' character in the film is based on Avedon - going to Paris from Grenwich Village for the fashion shows with Audrey Hepburn). Donen said the film which was made in VistaVision didn't lend itself to Avedon's minimal depth of field techniques, and the producers were annoyed at him for not showing off VistaVision to its fullest. Funny how things never change between business and art. Mike Nichols and Donen bonded over hating people who are full of themselves, amongst other things. Then after all that I got to take a picture of these two legends. Well almost as big a deal as shooting Joey and Dee Dee Ramone on the Bowery in the day. Ha!

Stanley Donen

Mike Nichols

Then this week I got to see a new/old Jim Carrey film - I Love You Phillip Morris - in an advance screening up at the Walter Reade again. The directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa were on hand (they also wrote Bad Santa). On my way uptown, I wasn't sure if I was going to see a new or old film. I'd heard of the title last year, and noticed it was dated 2009. Well, turns out it was shown at Sundance in 2009 and has never had a real distributor - or the distributor dropped out after a year, and now the film is finally coming out. Or rather Jim Carrey is finally coming out . This is the gay Jim Carrey comedy. Or more precisely the gay Jim Carrey - gay Ewan McGregor comedy! It's a wild story of a con man who swindles people to pay for his "expensive gay lifestyle". And the kicker is, that it is a true story. REALLY!

Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

I told you the directors wrote Bad Santa right? This is the Jim Carrey movie you almost never saw. I'm not sure who their target audience is, but it's a miracle that this film was made and is about to be released.
You've really got to see this to believe it. Your girlfriend's gonna love it. You might too.



Grace Dunham, Lena Dunham (Director of Tiny Furniture), and Laurie Simmons

Which brings me to the other new film you have to see - Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture.  It first came onto my radar last spring when it won an award at the SXSWest Film Festival. Dunham (twenty-four) who is the daughter of photographer Laurie Simmons, has made a small self-deprecating masterpiece about returning home (to Tribeca) after completing college (Oberlin) only to feel like a loser living amongst her successful mother and beautiful younger sister (played by her real mother and sister and her slightly rounded self). I won't give away any more of the plot. You can read all about it in the NY Times review, or the great New Yorker piece last week. 

Lena Dunham (center) with Laurie Simmons and Grace Dunham (left) and friend/actress Jemima Kirke

I saw Tiny Furniture last summer when it was featured at the BAM Cinemafest at the BAM Cinematek in Brooklyn (plug plug - actually I was the official BAM Cinemeafest photographer). As it turns out I had this weird connection to Dunham that she didn't know about, and so I had a personal interest in seeing the film. After shooting the picture above, I hinted at it to her, but wasn't going to reveal until after I saw the film myself. I wanted to see how much of a sense of humor she had. Dunham asked me after the film, what the connection was. And as the film passed my humor test, I told her - "Your grandfather put my braces in backwards when I was a kid" (her grandfather was my dentist - for one week). And without skipping a beat, Dunham said - "That's so funny! We've got to go tell my Mom right now. Mom - Poppy put his braces in backwards!" I thought that was very cool of her. 

right yeah - Lena Dunham

So go down to the IFC theater and catch this film. Check out her hilarious blog here. Watch the preview below. Tell your friends, tell your relatives, tell your dentist. 

Grace Dunham with BAM program showcasing Tiny Furniture

the sisters - Lena & Grace Dunham

Watch the preview now!!


Lee Friedlander: Keeping His Eyes on the Road

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I went up to the Whitney Museum last Friday night to see the new Lee Friedlander show. Whoa - it's knockout time! All these photos, shot from the inside of his car looking out, were taken by Friedlander on the slightly strange Hasselblad Superwide camera. Superwide indeed! In these photographs you'll find yourself looking at the dashboard, the rear view mirror, and across the street all at the same time. Well actually Friedlander is showing you how to look at all these things at the same time. No actually Friedlander is showing you how to take pictures from inside the car, and still look at all these things at the same time.  This article in the New York Times amusingly explains the technique better than I ever could.


The "subjects" of these photos, aside from the highly detailed dashboards, "plush interiors", and random car parts (vents, sound systems, door handles. locks), include buildings, stop signs, civil war memorials, national parks, Walker Evans-like churches, Lee Friedlander-like shrubbery, Christmas decorations, cemeteries, roadside signs, ice cream stands, gas stations, other photographers, friends, and park rangers, Lee Friedlander-like western desert scenes - well actually everything here is Friedlander-like. You will find yourself knee deep in his world. Humorous, detailed, in your face photographs that are a stunning combination of Atget, Pop Art, and Picasso.


Lee Friedlander delights in seeing how many eyeballs he can juggle at the same time. And the exhibition at the Whitney includes 192 photographs (edited down from how many??) hung in such a way that it dares you to try to look at them all on the same day. Packed in tightly on each of two facing walls of one room are 50 photographs in 2 horizontal rows of 25 photographs each. I got dizzy just counting them. And there is a third wall with 14 more photos in that same room. And still yet another room with 64 more photographs similarly hung.  According to the intro notes on the Museum's wall,  "the photographer specified that the photographs be densely hung in order to maximize the impact of multiple angles and points of view evoking the sensory overload commonly experienced by American drivers ."


That being said, the book that is the catalog of the exhibition (available here) is it's own pleasurable experience to view. All 192 photos are included, but they are much more digestible in book form,where there are only two photographs intelligently juxtaposed per page spread. And included only in the book are some choice quotes - one by Mose Allison, as well as  "one two three, look at Mr.Lee" ("written and sung by the Bobbettes") justaposed with a self-portrait photograph of "Mr. Lee" wearing a 'Lee' jeans t-shirt.


Meanwhile, the Whitney exhibition is up only until November 28, so you'll have to plan quickly. There is also an astonishing Edward Hopper show at the Whitney as well - want to see what the real colors of his familiar paintings look like? And don't miss the cool short film Shadow by the great cinematographer Ed Lachman, based on an unfinished film by River Phoenix. Lots of great stuff. Friday's are free after 6pm, so you can save on the high end admission at the Whitney. Then buy the book with the money you saved, and take your eyes for a drive.



all photographs © Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Tales From the NY Film Festival / part 4

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Here Come the Romanians!

Tuesday, After Christmas

Aurora

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu

Have you seen any Romanian films lately? While Romanian films may have flown under the general public's radar here in America, Romanian filmmakers have been making some of the most creative and engaging films released worldwide for the last decade.  The Death of Mr. Lazarescu  directed by Cristi Puiu was the first one to catch my attention in 2005.  In it, a handheld camera quietly follows a 69 year old man's journey through the bureaucracy of the Romanian healthcare system, for 24 black humor filled fatal hours (you can quite often catch it now on IFC or Sundance Channel). Ever since then, it seems that every Romanian film I've seen is a winner - like there's something in the water over there.  Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 2007.  At last year's NY FIlm Fest we were introduced to Corneliu Porumboiu's Police Adjective.  Last spring I saw the hilarious, Happiest Girl in the World, directed by Radu Jude. 

Now at this year's NY FIlm Festival, we were treated to three more great films - Tuesday, After Christmas by Radu Muntean, Aurora by Cristi Puiu (after a 5 year absence), and The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu by Andrei Ujica.  

Cristi Puiu

Aurora, the much anticipated follow-up to Mr.Lazarescu, finds director/writer Cristi Puiu in the lead role as a sullen lone individual on a methodically creepy mission, of which we know very little for the 3 hour duration of the movie. The camerawork, (with a series of typically Romanian long takes), is is at times exquisite, or jarringly exquisite. The humor is black. The effect is mind numbing. 

Mirela Oprisor and Mimi Branescu from Tuesday, After Christmas
director Radu Muntean


Tuesday, After Christmas directed by Radu Muntean is a Romanian twist on the typically French concerns of a man, his mistress, and his wife. Again a series of long takes and superb acting move the narrative swiftly along. In town for the screening were the actors playing the cheating husband and spurned wife, who are indeed real life husband and wife (Mimi Branescu and Mirela Oprisor). 

director Andrei Ujica

Last but certainly not least, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, directed by Andrei Ujica is a documentary, so to speak.  It is compiled entirely of self serving documentary footage shot at the behest of the Romanian politician/ madman / dictator Nicolae Ceausescu during his reign from 1965 to 1989, that has been cleverly edited together by Andrei Ujica, and bookended by video footage of the trial of Ceausescu and his wife which ended in their executions (wikipedia Ceausescu here). There are state trips to Russia, China, North Korea, England and Disneyland. There are official visits to meat factories, games of volleyball, and speeches to the Romanian state assembly. There are no explanations of what we are seeing, only the footage - only the "facts". And yet you can't take your eyes off the everyday workings of this madman. And then, you are left to ponder that the aftermath of this oppressive state created by Nicolae Ceausescu, is what has led to the incredibly strong series of films we are now receiving  from these Romanian directors. 

Corneliu Porumboiu, director of Police Adjective in 2009
Cristian Mungiu, director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days in 2007
Cristi Puiu, director of Aurora and Mr Lazarescu

Tales From the NY Film Festival / part 3



David Fincher brings the Facebook movie to town for Opening Night

David Fincher's "The Social Network" was one of the best NY Film Fest Opening Night films in years. The dialogue by Aaron Sorkin was so sharp and the direction so fast paced, that there was barely time to catch it all in one sitting (reveal - I saw it twice).  Everyone was buzzing at the premiere screening about it being a perfect way to start off the two week festival. Expectations were high for Fincher, director of "Zodiac" and "Fight Club", especially given all the press and no comments from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Not only did this movie make a perfect landing in the Zeitgeist of 2010, it also made a perfect landing in the Zeitgeist of this year's Festival. I rarely say that my favorite film of the Festival is also the top movie at the box office two weeks running. 

David Fincher
Aaron Sorkin

And yet, talking about the film with friends in the city this week, I am surprised to find that people are avoiding seeing it because they don't like Facebook, or don't anticipate it being anything but a Hollywood knockoff. The price of success? This film starts off so quickly, with such a knockout opening sequence, that there's barely time for the film company's logo to appear on the screen before the dialogue rolls up on the soundtrack. Fincher talked about it at a special Festival dialogue - how he worked the actors - Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara - until they could play a 15 minute scene in 3 minutes naturally. In fact he said, the only way he would have "final cut" was if he brought the film in under 2 hours and 7 minutes. So it moves fast. And it is, in its own way, a film as classically constructed as any Hepburn and Tracy film of the 40's. It's subject matter is not really Facebook, but a classical playing out of human relationships under the pressures of ambition.   Jesse Eisenberg is pitch perfect as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, or at least the Mark Zuckerberg of Sorkin's script. Andrew Garfield, the next Spiderman, is also splendidly sad as Zuckerberg's spurned business partner Edwardo Severin. And alright, Justin Timberlake does a very good job as Napster founder and master manipulator Sean Parker. 

Jesse Eisenberg
Justin Timberlake

So Opening Night was an unqualified success, and the Festival was off to a great start. The party was at the Harvard Club in midtown - that was a little weird, until I remembered it was a film that took place at Harvard - duh. It was an elegant but cavernous space, and very crowded. I couldn't locate Justin Timberlake to get his photo. But I did find most of the other players while they were still "Social,  and digitized them before they headed out into the night. 

producer Scott Rudin with writer Aaron Sorkin
David Fincher with Gina Gershon
Andrew Garfield
Jesse Eisenberg
actress Brenda Song with fans outside the theater

Tales from the NY FIlm Festival / part 2

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Olivier Assayas attacks NYC with "Carlos"

Olivier Assayas is a gem of a director. And his latest film "Carlos" is a gem of a film - all 330 minutes of it. Actor Edgar Ramirez plays the part of the notorious 1970's terrorist "Carlos the Jackal" (wikipedia him here). What Olivier Assayas directs here is not really an all consuming bio of Carlos, but a fast paced tour through the 1970's terrorist cells of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, as they existed through the end of the cold war into the 1980's. 

Edgar Ramirez

Shown last week to audiences at the NY FIlm Festival the same way it was shown last spring at the Cannes Film Festival - in it's full 330 minute format - the film was a real event (it was also shown this week on Sundance Channel in three parts). To be able to see a 5 1/2 hour film  projected on a superior screen like the one at Alice Tully Hall is to understand why the NY Film Festival is so important. In France, when "Carlos" was shown last spring at Cannes, there was much debate about whether this five and a half hour film was even a film (that's so French). Its scheduled appearance on French television last spring had to be pushed back so it could be shown at Cannes, where it was ultimately deemed by the powers that be, not to be a 'film' and therefore had to be shown out of competition. And yet, in this era of digital filmmaking, Olivier Assayas actually shot "Carlos" on real film - and in 16 real countries. 


Many of the actors in the film were present for a Q&A with Assayas after the film. And the next day Assayas himself sat down for an event titled "The Cinema Inside Me", where the former Cahiers de Cinema critic showed film clips and discussed some of his cinematic influences. One from an unnamed Dario Argento film, was a long scene in a gothic castle, where a pretty girl searching for her keys spends an extended sequence reaching and later swimming under water as her elusive keys seem to fall deeper into an abyss. Assayas marvelled at the absurdity of spending 10 minutes film time on what would normally be a 1 minute scene - and the evidence of the filmmakers pure love of cinema in doing so. This from a man who just made a 330 minute film. He also showed another long clip - a glorious final sequence from Jean Renoir's 1954 film French Can Can with Jean Gabin.

Olivier Assayas

Assayas has been making films of all types and genres for over 15 years. The subject last month of a NY Times Magazine profile, BAM Cinematek is now running a series of his films titled "Post Punk Auteur". Check out the schedule - Assayas will be present on Monday October 18th, after a screening of Demonlover (from 2002). On October 23rd and 24th, BAM will be showing the full version of Carlos (BAM has already shown the great Summer Hours from 2008 - go immediately to netflix and rent it there).You can also catch the full version of Carlos in Manhattan at the IFC Cinemas.  from October 15th thru November 2nd. Olivier Assayas will be present for the screenings this weekend October 15-16-17. 

Edgar Ramirez plays Carlos

Personal note: About 3 1/2 hours into Carlos, be on watch for a sequence built around the great Dead Boys song "Sonic Reducer". And at the end of Summer Hours Assayas makes great use of the song "Little Cloud" by the Incredible String Band. Post Punk Auteur indeed.

Tales From the NY FIlm Festival

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1. Closing Night On the RC with Clint and Matt

Sunday was closing night of the 2010 New York Film Festival. That is where have I been for the last month - quietly (and obsessively) shooting photographs of directors and actors at press conferences and in green rooms.  That's what I do every fall. As the unofficial official photographer for the Festival, I  photograph the action behind the screens, and at the same time get to see about 25 amazingly beautiful and sometimes agonizingly artistic new films from all over the planet. Over the next few days on this blog, I'll try to give you the rundown on what I saw, what you should go out of your way to see, and what you shouldn't waste your time on (but need to know enough about to hold up your end of the  conversation). Oh right, and my photographs as well.

Matt Damon arrives with his wife
Luciana Bozan Borroso

T.S.Eliot said "In the end is my begining".  So I'll start at the end. Closing night is a big event, and at 6:30pm Sunday night, I found myself in the middle of the Red Carpet madness, waiting for Clint Eastwood to show up and "walk the carpet" to promote his new film  "Hereafter", starring Matt Damon.  A little background info. This is not my usual beat -  hordes of photographers and entertainment television crews are lined up under a long horizontal party tent waiting to spend several minutes time with tonight's focus of attention. An event carefully organized and played out several times every evening around this city, these same players - photographers and video crews -  move about this town in search of the big money photo, and tomorrow night's entertainment sound bites and blog exclusives, following the carefully laid out rules of the stars and their publicists. They all know the game and are familiar with the pecking order at these events. 


Clint Eastwood talks to the press

The first group Clint Eastwood will walk by are the photographers. Separated into "pens" of about 20 photographers each, behind barriers with some in the front row and others standing behind them on their traveling step stools, they will have about 45 seconds to shoot off a barrage of flashes and call out "this way Clint...to your right, to your left", before he passes on to the next group.  Maybe Clint will do something more interesting for "pen 2", causing those in "pen 1" to grumble for a few more good minutes with him, before he eventually moves on to the hallowed video crews - the place where Mr. Eastwood will spend most of his time on the Red Carpet this evening. On the carpet, video is king. The photographers are the serfs.


Bryce Dallas Howard

But on this night I was given the equivalent of a photographer's "get out of jail free" card - a "Roaming Pass" that allows me to walk and shoot anywhere on the "carpet".  There are three of us "roamers"  tonight, and I  am given this pass because I shoot for the Film Festival.  The other two "roamers" are heavy duty pros who do this every night, so I will keep my eyes on them to guide me through this urban safari. Meanwhile we three  get to wait at the head of the Red Carpet for Clint Eastwood to arrive. He will walk right past us before he heads into the madness. 


Clint Eastwood arrives with wife Dina Ruiz

At 6:45 there is still no sign of Clint. The film is set to screen at 7pm, where the Lincoln Center audience is anxiously awaiting a first look at the new film "Hereafter". Matt Damon has already passed us with his very pregnant wife, and is talking to the television crews. He too is awaiting Clint. Every photographer is waiting to get the money shot, which tonight is a "2 shot' of Clint and Matt. This will be the focus of tonight's madness. When Clint shows up at 6:50 the fun starts, and the flashes in Pen 1 go wild. You can not imagine what it's like to try to stand in front of 25 photographers shooting 10 flashes per second on automatic pilot. This is the crazy modern world that is about as far away from the "decisive moment" as one can get. All these photographers will talk into a microphone on their camera, and read off the name of the subjects in the photo so their editor can ID everyone in the picture. These photos will be uploaded to their agencies wirelessly from their cameras in the next half hour. Time is of the essence. You will be looking at them in your local paper on your way to work tomorrow morning.

Bryce Dallas Howard and Cecile De France
The cast of "Hereafter" with director Clint Eastwood

And speaking of time, the audience inside the theater is still waiting for the start of the film. At 7:15 Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon are separately talking to video crews. Publicists are aware that there are still shots to be taken of Matt and Clint and the whole cast. But the whole cast is upstairs in the green room, having done the red carpet long ago. I am stuck against the photo backdrop of logos, trying to stay out of the background of the television shots. We three "roamers" are patiently waiting for the money shot. The photographers in the "pen" won't get it - they are done for the night. Word comes at 7:20 that the money shot will happen upstairs in the green room. We leave the red carpet and run ahead of Matt and Clint to be able to shoot them entering. And the green room is packed! None of the cast, producers, and friends have taken their seat. They are waiting for Clint and Matt. The audience in the theater is unaware of all this. At 7:25, the cast - Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard, Cecile de France, and director Clint Eastwood are all brought into the photo section of the green room for our big moment. It will last 5 minutes at the most. It is a very tight squeeze just to stand back and get them all in the shot. In the middle of that bubble it will be very difficult to get everyone to look in your direction. But I've got to admit it's an adrenaline rush. Not my favorite thing to do, but every photographer should experience it at least once. We finish this whole thing up at 7:30pm, Clint and Matt will go directly into the theater to introduce the film, and the show will go on. One half hour later, I will be sitting alone on a park bench  amazed that I survived the madness.



the "money shots"

Tomorrow, more Tales (and photos) from the NY Film Fest 2010.

*One more thing - tonight, the film "Carlos" (about the terrorist Carlos the Jackal from the 70's), by the great French director Olivier Assayas (if you have not seen "Summer Hours" from last year, go directly to Netflix), will be screening on Sundance Channel in three parts - part 2 tonight. I saw it at the Festival last week. Perhaps there will be repeat screenings. But in part 2, there is great use of the Dead Boys song "Sonic Reducer". I know this is late notice, but be sure you catch it somehow.

all photos © GODLIS

summer photography

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Acropolis photographer, Athens 1972

So it's summer. You could set yourself up on a hill in Athens taking souvenir postcard photos of tourists at the Acropolis. But that all sounds so ancient. Are these photogs out of business now? Is the Acropolis still there? Is there now an app for that?

While summer is still in full swing, here are a few summer memories from the Godlis archives. Get out the barbecue, get out the sunglasses, get out the camera...


Brian demonstrates jellyfish grabbing, Massachusetts summer 1975


Hassid, Coney Island - summer 1979

Fenway Park, Boston summer 1975


Sadie walking across the Brooklyn Bridge - summer 2001

Abandoned Roadside Cabins, Adirondacks  summer 2003

Central Park, Summer 1980

Coney Island, Summer 1978

Eileen, Coney Island - summer 1979

Watching Minor League Baseball -  Massachusetts, summer 2009

Coney Island, Summer 1990 - shot on plastic mail order camera


Quatorze Juillet...pardon my french

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Ooh La La! C'est la vie. There I am in Paris in the 1990's. Vive la difference! Quel heure est il?  Bien sur. OK, to honor Bastille Day, what better than a little Jean-Luc Godard . Here is  the trailer for "Vivre Sa Vie" starring the great Anna Karina, from 1962, en noir et blanc. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!




Da Doo Ron Ron / LaLa Brooks of The Crystals at Film Forum!!!

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LaLa Brooks with Phil Spector in the 1960's


LaLa Brooks last night at the Film Forum

         When the documentary, "The Agony And The Ecstasy of Phil Spector" now playing at the Film Forum, ended and the lights in the theater came up, in she walked - the other Great Voice fronting the Spector Wall of Sound - Delores LaLa Brooks. She was just 15 when she sang lead vocals with The Crystals on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me".  Answering questions at the Film Forum last night she looked positively radiant.  Born in Brooklyn and living in NY's East Village now, she talked openly about Phil and the Crystals sessions. About being on the road with The Crystals when they heard the Darlene Love vocal on "He's A Rebel".  How little room there was inside the Wall of Sound studio. About leaving The Crystals and singing "Aquarius" in the original Broadway production of Hair. About trying to get money from Phil. Like Darlene Love and Ronnie Spector, she saw little payment and no royalties, and had to eat from the studio vending machine while recording.  With any luck, Film Forum was taping and will upload as one of their podcasts. 

          The documentary itself is a must see - strange, in that it mixes in-depth interviews with the ultra-reclusive producer, beside Court TV footage of his murder trial.  J.Hoberman's review in the Village Voice is right on the mark: "Round-faced and wide-eyed, snugly fitted with a bowl-cut blond wig and ever eager to vent, Spector has the look of the imp off a Rice Krispies box." 

          Find out why he holds a grudge against Tony Bennet. Hear him imitate John Lennon. See the Teddy Bears performing "To Know Him Is to Love Him". Find out why he held Martin Scorsese's career in the palm of his hand. How he named the song Da Doo Ron Ron. And decide for yourself whether he shot Lana Clarkson. Teenage Tycoon Megalomania unleashed + Incredible music. Weird indeed. Go see it now!


          In the meantime, watch LaLa Brooks and The Crystals knock one out of the park. 






heat wave 4th

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July 4th 1975 - Boston

After two days of brutal 100 + temperatures here in New York City - with the prospect of a 90 degree day tomorrow sounding like a relief - I'm reminded of this photo I took on July 4th in 1975.  If there's anything worse than trying to get through a heat wave, it's trying to get through a heat wave with a baby. I remember seeing this mom and kid at a MacDonald's in the Allston Brighton section.  I knew this woman was not having an easy day. Still I had to take this photo. The only one who noticed me was the baby. Hey I was just as hot as her.  This is what it is to endure a heat wave.  Even indoors, the air looks thick with humidity.  Definitely hot town summer in the city time. Sound familiar?

the 4th revisited

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re: the July 4th photos I posted yesterday.  

July 4th is a street photographer's working holiday.  With Robert Frank's photograph "Fourth of July - Jay, New York" in mind, and camera in hand,  every year I walk through a world of flags, patriotism, parades, and hot dogs looking for one more shot to explain it all. 


July 4th,  1980 - Middleboro, Massachusetts

This photograph from the southeastern Massachusetts town of Middleboro is one of my favorites.  Middleboro, as it turns out, is the hometown of Lavinia Warren, who was married to  General Tom Thumb (yes P.T. Barnum's Tom Thumb) in 1863, at Grace Church in NYC.  So every year, they would commemorate Lavinia's wedding ceremony in Middleboro's 4th of July parade.  You really can't make these things up.  Taken 30 years ago, I can't help thinking that these kids, pretending to be dwarfs, are in their 40's now. 


From Harper's Weekly 1863


July 4th, 1975 - Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts

This photo, which I didn't post yesterday, is also one of my favorites.  I took it on a very hot summer night in the beach town of Nantasket, Massachusetts - site of Paragon Park.  This was the summer before I moved to NYC. This night photograph, with these gypsy types lit up by the amusement park lights, precedes and points to all the hand held 35mm night shooting I would be doing the next year on the Bowery.  

July 4th, 2010 - Onset, Massachusetts

And then there's this year's July 4th picture.  Actually shot on July 3rd, I believe it still qualifies for a July 4th pic if it's taken at the July 4th fireworks. This is the beach town of Onset, Massachusetts nearby to Cape Cod.  Standing atop the bluffs overlooking the beach, I shot this hand held night shot at 1/8th of a second to get the crowded beach lit up by fireworks. Totally a guessed exposure, I pass this info on for the benefit of all so inclined.  

Gotta go barbecue. A final July 4th roundup tomorrow...