The Screengrab : indiewire

Outrage Over "Outrage": NPR Redacts Review of Kirby Dick Doc

Phil Nugent — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Kirby Dick's new documentary Outrage is about "the politics of the closet"--specifically, the plight, and the damage done to gay rights legislation, by closeted politicians who align themselves with the religious right and the "family values" set to deflect suspicions about their own sexual orientation. In its hard line against hypocrisy, the movie is on the side of those, such as blogger Michael Rogers, who are working to "out" closeted politicians. It's a position that's designed to antagonize those who regard outing itself strictly as an unjustifiable intrusion into others' personal lives--including those in the media, which Dick specifically takes to task for what he sees as its eagerness to avoid dealing with gay issues. (In our own interview with the director, Dick describes a run-in with a reporter who told him that he couldn't write about the movie because it would violate his paper's policy against outing. ""Do you mean to say," Dick replied, "that your company's policy on outing trumps your company's policy on reporting!?" That kind of compartmentalized thinking has begun to affect the kind of coverage the movie is getting. Last Friday, the NPR website ran a review of the movie by Nathan Lee that, because of NPR's policy on outing, was subsequently "edited" to remove the names of former Senator Larry Craig, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, and Florida governor Charlie Crist. The movie itself makes an elaborate case that Crist is living a strategically dishonest life that includes a recent marriage and support for his an anti-gay marriage amendment that voters have added to the state constitution. Lee subsequently asked that his name be removed from the review and added a comment to the site, lest anyone think that it was his idea to reject using Crist's name in favor of the pithy phrase "one major swing-state governor ... with aspirations to be the 2012 Republican presidential candidate."

In his comment, which has been deleted from NPR's site but can still be read at indieWire's story on the debacle, Lee wrote that "I personally disagree with NPR's policy--there is no other area of 'privacy' that elicits such extreme tact. And also feel that it is a professional affront to my responsibility as a critic to discuss the content of a work of art, and an impingement of my first amendment right to free speech and the press." Whatever you think about outing, it seems hard to argue that NPR seemed to be at cross-purposes with itself by attempting to cover a movie whose subject matter it didn't feel it could allow its reviewer to freely describe. At the same time, NPR wound up providing Dick with an example he can point to in the future to bolster his claim that the mainstream media is so queasy about gay sexuality that they jump at any excuse to avoid talking about it. After all, if a high-profile documentary film implied that Charlie Crist was a graft-happy crook or had been on the grassy knoll in Dallas, it's hard to imagine a major media outlet trying to address these charges while gingerly dancing around using the guy's name, on the grounds that he hasn't called a press conference to concede their accuracy. The New York Times articles by Jeff Gerth that suggested that the Clintons were involved in some vast pile-up of illegal acts gathered under the label "Whitewater"--the articles that led to the appointment of a special prosecutor and a four-year, multimillion-dollar federal investigation--were less firmly grounded than some of the things people talk about in Dick's movie as if they were common knowledge, which in some quarters, they are. For what it may feel are the best of reasons, NPR is signaling that it believes it's one thing to report that some people are saying that the President and First Lady conspired to have a White House counsel killed and made it look like suicide, but that reporting that some people are whispering that someone with an anti-gay voting record is himself gay is just too monstrous to contemplate.

In most respects, though, NPR's handling of the matter has just made it look silly. It's kind of insane that they felt that consistency in their policy meant that they had to delete not just Crist's and Koch's names but that of Larry Craig, whose restroom-stall arrest not only ended his political career but turned him into a punch line overnight. Worse, the site's right and left brain seemed to be warring with themselves over that very issue: even though Craig's name was removed from the review, as of this writing, the review is still illustrated with a copy of Craig's glowering mug shot. In the meantime, Movieline has pointed out that there seems to be a double standard at NPR regarding speculation about the sexual orientation of celebrities: what's a gross violation of privacy for Charlie Crist is just good fun when the subject is an American Idol contestant and Queen Latifah. This doesn't necessarily mean that fear of the truly powerful has more to do with NPR's policy than concern for people's privacy rights, but the only other plausible explanation is that NPR's attitude towards gays is actually condescending as hell.

Related Stories: Nathan Lee Loses His Voice

Screengrab Review: "Outrage"

New Yorker Films Shuts Its Doors; Back Catalog of Foreign-Indie Classics to Be Auctioned Off

Phil Nugent — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Founded in 1965 by Dan Talbot, New Yorker Films has been recognized for some forty years as one of America's premier distributors of foreign films. Talbot originally set the company up when he had his own theater, also called the New Yorker; it was a brainstorm born of frustration over the difficulty he was having programming his own theater, given the haphazard and slovenly way in which even important international movies were then brought into the American market. Beginning in 1965 with its acquisition of Bernardo Bertolucci's Before the Revolution, New Yorker Films took on a life of its own, becoming the support system through which movie lovers in the United States were able to gain access to work by Godard, Fellini, Bresson, Chabrol, Fassbinder, Eric Rohmer, Werner Herzog, Ousmane Sembene, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodovar, and the more recent auteurs of the Iranian New Wave, as well as such homegrown independent directors as Errol Morris, Jim Jarmusch, John Sayles, and Wayne Wang. Now comes word that New Yorker Films "has ceased operations". Reacting to this bland announcement posted on the company's website, Eugene Hernandez posted a fuller report on indieWIRE. After first reporting that neither Talbot nor New Yorker Films' Jose Talbot "have been available for comment", indieWIRE later added the text of an email the site received from Lopez: “I have sad news. The parent company of New Yorker Films has defaulted on a loan. The assets of New Yorker were used as security on the loan. The lender has informed us that it intends to foreclose on these assets. New Yorker stopped doing business yesterday... We are in total shock that after forty three years this has happened.” Rumors that New Yorker Films was in trouble were apparently strong enough to put a damper on the Spirit Awards ceremony this past weekend.

New Yorker Films was a revered institution, and it sometimes behaved in a manner befitting a regal force that expected its full due of obeisance, in keeping with J. Hoberman's description of the company as having long been "the only game in town." They were notorious about charging excessive rental fees for their prints and not offering bulk discounts to the most faithful customers in their chains of poor starving classrooms and rep theaters. And the quality of both their prints and DVD releases could be erratic. (As the wolf at their door began to growl, they also made the dubious cost-saving move of dropping me from their DVD screeners list, apparently oblivious to the terrible fate that awaits any company that fails to kiss my shoe.) But even though there are more distribution options available today for international and independent films, there will never be enough, and the number of valuable and interesting foreign movies that are never made available to the eyeballs of American movie fans is always a favorite topic of conversation among those critics and film writers with a global reach. As Richard Brody notes, this unhappy development also leaves open the question of what will happen to "perhaps the richest back catalogue in the business". Brody notes that "it’s worth remembering that, unlike book publishers, whose wares are widely distributed to libraries (it’s bitterly sad when a publisher goes out of business, but the back catalogue is already out there), film distributors hold the prints of the movies they own rights to; those which are out on home video have a second life, but the 35mm prints are, as of now, locked up, and revival houses wanting to screen them are simply out of luck." According to the New York Times, Talbot says that "The library could be auctioned off as early as next week." Whether it will somehow manage to remain intact is still to be seen.

Gibney v. ThinkFilm: Lawsuit to the Dark Side

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:45:00 GMT

With his new film, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson opening soon and filming already started on his adaptation of the best-selling Freakonomics, Alex Gibney -- whose previous work has included Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room -- is developing a reputation as one of the canniest documentary filmmakers in the business. He should have his eyes pointed straight at the future, but instead, he's bogged down with a movie that was released last year: Taxi to the Dark Side.

According to IndieWire, Gibney has filed a lawsuit against ThinkFilm, the distributors of Taxi to the Dark Side, through the Independent Film & Television Alliance. The amount? A cool million. The issue? Gibney insists that ThinkFilm misled him about their preparedness to release the film, misled him about their financial clout, and failed to give Taxi to the Dark Side the theatrical release it needed to turn a profit. Gibney's also asking for legal costs and a return of distribution rights to the film.

For their part, ThinkFilm -- who are currently cash-poor and facing a major crisis as creditors breathe down their necks -- claim bad faith on the part of Gibney. While not denying the charges outright, they do say that Gibney was paid in full, if not on time, and attempt to turn his reputation as a champion of the little guy against him: "How ironic that a man who professes to care so much about the people who worked hard on his film would then inflict such insult and injury upon the blameless and tireless THINKFilm staff," says the company's Mark Urman. Whatever happens with the lawsuit, ThinkFilm is burning a lot of bridges that won't be easy to rebuild.

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Indie Box Office Roundup: Weekend of May 16-18, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Nearly a year ago, Screengrab’s Bryan Whitefield sang the praises of a little Norwegian stunner called Reprise (Miramax), calling it “modern filmmaking at its most inventive.” As it turns out, somebody was actually listening. Nearly $50,000 worth of somebodies, to be precise. Reprise, directed by Joachim Trier, effortlessly placed first in this weekend’s Indie Box Office, grossing a per-screen average of $16,353 in three venues, and nearly doubling the next-best contender. Expect good word of mouth to help the film’s box office as it expands its release to Chicago, DC, Boston and Minneapolis in the coming weeks.

Following at the heels of Reprise was a trio of documentaries jockeying for the second-place spot. Of the three, the highest-grossing was Christopher Zalla’s immigration-themed Sangre de Mi Sangre (IFC Films). It was followed closely by the Doug Pray’s eccentric surfer profile Surfwise (Magnolia), and America the Beautiful (Arenas Entertainment), a muckraker about the effects that the modeling and fashion industries have on the health of young women. Rounding out the top five was Tarsem’s dark fantasy The Fall (Roadside Attractions).

Also of note this week was the unstoppable Richard Jenkins juggernaut, which carried The Visitor into the top 10 overall for the first time since its release and took its overall grosses upwards of $3 million. Not bad for a sleeper about a bald (although admittedly awesome) character actor learning to play the drum. Could the deafening word of mouth for the film turn Jenkins into an awards-season contender? Stay tuned.

Top 10: Weekend of May 16-18, 2008:
1. Reprise [Miramax] ($16,353 per screen)
2. Sangre de Mi Sangre [IFC Films] ($8,385)
3. Surfwise [Magnolia Pictures] ($6,342)
4. America The Beautiful [Arenas Entertainment] ($6,169)
5. The Fall [Roadside Attractions] ($5,921)
6. Roman De Gare [IDP/Samuel Goldwyn Films] ($4,492)
7. Bloodline [Cinema Libre] ($4,292)
8. My Father My Lord [Kino International] ($4,016)
9. Yella [Cinema Guild] ($3,884)
10. Up the Yangtze [Zeitgeist] ($3,659)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of May 2-4, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Sometimes, the headlines just write themselves. A stronger-willed writer than I might be able to resist, but alas, I can’t. So I might as well give in. Here goes: “It’s Lonely at the top.” That’s right, this week’s top indie per-screen average is Harmony Korine’s latest effort, Mister Lonely (IFC Films), which brought in a mighty $16,769 in its single-screen showing at the IFC Center in New York City. Some of the credit should go to the infamous auteur/enfant terrible, but don’t discount the eclectic cast (Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Werner Herzog), or the unique hook (a commune full of celebrity impersonators). All of these factors practically confer cult status on the film right off the bat, which never hurts a movie’s chances at the Indie Box Office. What remains to be seen is what kind of legs the movie will have outside of NYC.

But while many prognosticators pegged this as a slow weekend at the indie box office due to the release of Iron Man, several other films played to strong business, with a total of four taking upwards of $10,000 per screen. Debuts of note were the festival hit Son of Rambow (Paramount Vantage) and David Mamet’s mixed martial arts film (still feels weird to type that) Redbelt (Sony Pictures Classics), which ran almost neck and neck for third and fourth place, respectively, behind the weekend’s top holdover, Claude Lelouch's Roman de Gare (IDP/Samuel Goldwyn). Rounding out the top 5 was another debut, the French sexploitation-inflected drama Viva (Vagrant Films).

Also worth mentioning is the continued presence on the chart of Tom McCarthy’s The Visitor (Overture Films), which expanded its release again, this time to 130 screens, while residing comfortably here at #8. The film has brought in more than $1.5 million to date, and with its strong word of mouth it doesn’t show signs of letting up.

Finally, I feel compelled to mention the box-office take for the Kentucky Derby documentary First Saturday in May (Truly Indie), which expanded its release to seven screens just in time for this weekend’s Run for the Roses. However, the timeliness of the expansion failed to goose business, as it brought in a meager $572 per screen average.

Top 10: Weekend of May 2-4, 2008:
1. Mister Lonely [IFC Films] ($16,769 per screen)
2. Roman De Gare [IDP/Samuel Goldwyn Films] ($11,267)
3. Son Of Rambow [Paramount Vantage] ($10,758)
4. Redbelt [Sony Pictures Classics] ($10,560)
5. Viva [Vagrant Films] ($8,688)
6. Up the Yangtze [Zeitgeist] ($6,838)
7. The Dhamma Brothers [Balcony Releasing] ($4,718)
8. The Visitor [Overture Films] ($4,666)
9. The Singing Revolution [Abramorama Entertainment] ($4,411)
10. Fugitive Pieces [IDP/Samuel Goldwyn Films] ($3,407)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of April 25-27, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Even at the indie box office, it seems that Iraq War movies can't catch a break. The weekend's highest-profile documentary, Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure (Sony Pictures Classics), couldn't keep up with the relatively unheralded Up the Yangtze (Zeitgeist). Up the Yangtze, the debut feature from Yung Chang and the latest in a recent wave of films dealing with the impact of the massive China's Three Gorges Dam project, brought in $15,851 on its one screen, the highest per-screen take by a documentary so far this year.

Finishing in second place was the child-prostitution drama Holly (Priority Films), which took advantage of strong advance group sales to take in $15,687 on its single screen of release, less than $200 behind this week's winner. Coming in a strong third was the debut of Claude Lelouch's latest, Roman de Gare (IDP/Samuel Goldwyn), starring Fanny Ardant and Dominique Pinon.

Rounding out the top five were Then She Found Me (ThinkFilm), the directorial debut of Oscar-winner Helen Hunt, and Standard Operating Procedure. Which just goes to show you that even at the indie box-office, an acting Oscar trumps a best documentary Oscar every time.

Finally, we feel compelled to mention that two-week champion The Visitor fell to sixth place after expanding its release to 76 screens. Don't worry, Richard Jenkins- we still love you, and we'll let you keep your crown.

Top 10: Weekend of April 25-27:
1. Up the Yangtze [Zeitgeist] ($15,851 per screen)
2. Holly [Priority Films] ($15,687)
3. Roman De Gare [IDP/Samuel Goldwyn Films] ($12,742)
4. Then She Found Me [ThinkFilm] ($8,066)
5. Standard Operating Procedure [Sony Pictures Classics] ($7,054)
6. The Visitor [Overture Films] ($6,285)
7. Tuya's Marriage [Music Box Pictures] ($4,675)
8. Glass: A Portrait Of Philip In 12 Parts [Koch Lorber Films] ($4,356)
9. The Singing Revolution [Abramorama Entertainment] ($4,281)
10. Without The King [First Run] ($4,237)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of April 18-20, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Richard Jenkins- still the indie box office king! For the second consecutive week, The Visitor (Overture Films), directed by Tom McCarthy and starring Jenkins, reigns supreme for per-screen grosses, bringing in an average of $9,249 on eighteen screens. Along with the ever-dependable Mr. Jenkins, credit overwhelmingly positive press and some really good word of mouth among arthouse-goers in the major markets, as well as the relatively meager selection of new indie releases this past weekend. Overture currently plans to expand the film over the next few weeks in an attempt to continue its successful run before the summer blockbusters sweep aside all competition. Will it succeed? Watch this space.

The weekend's other big indie success story was the strong showing of second-ranking film The Singing Revolution (Abramorama Entertainment), which returned to the top 10 for only the second time in the twenty weeks since its initial release. The documentary deals with popular song festivals in Estonia during Soviet rule, and the distributor has wisely tailored its release to Estonian populations in the cities where it's playing. This would indicate that interest for the film might be limited outside these areas, but as any independent filmmaker would tell you, any audience is better than no audience.

Coming in at #3 and #4 are the weekend's top debuts, both documentaries: Scott Hicks' Glass: A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts (Koch Lorber), and Constantine's Sword (First Run). Filling out the top five was the crowd-pleaser Young@Heart (Fox Searchlight), followed closely by the winner from two weeks ago, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon.

Finally, falling just outside the top 10 was the top-averaging indie that played on more than 1,000 screens, the "intelligent design" documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Rocky Mountain Pictures). The documentary, featuring Nixon-speechwriter-turned-cranky-TV-personality Ben Stein, brought in a $2,824 average on 1,052 screens, and frankly beat the tar out of the weekend's other high-profile piece of info-tainment, Morgan Spurlock's Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (Weinstein Co.). Audiences must have seen the documentary hoping Stein might inquire about the whereabouts of a certain Mr. Bueller, or perhaps give them some of his money. Because honestly, I can't believe that intelligent design is really still an issue.

Top 10: Weekend of April 18-20:
1. The Visitor [Overture Films] ($9,249 per screen)
2. The Singing Revolution [Abramorama Entertainment] ($7,079)
3. Glass: A Portrait Of Philip In 12 Parts [Koch Lorber Films] ($5,546)
4. Constantine's Sword [First Run] ($5,066)
5. Young@Heart [Fox Searchlight] ($4,606)
6. The Flight of the Red Balloon [IFC Films] ($3,818)
7. Water Lilies [Koch Lorber Films] ($3,350)
8. La Traviata [Emerging Pictures] ($3,238)
9. Anamorph [IFC Films] ($3,120)
10. Bab'Aziz [Typecast Releasing] ($2,842)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of April 4-6, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Think of the kinds of movies that are typically called "arthouse hits." I'm guessing that visions of cred-hungry stars working for peanuts, inspiring sports documentaries, and open-faced moppets of all ethnicities are popping into your mind. The last thing you'd imagine would be new films from the festival-feted auteurs of world cinema. Yet that's who topped the box-office charts this past weekend.

Competing for the top spot were the latest films from master filmmakers Hou Hsiao-hsien and Wong Kar-wai. Admittedly, both Hou's Flight of the Red Balloon (IFC Films) and Wong's My Blueberry Nights (Weinstein Company) had their opening weekend grosses bolstered by the presence of name stars- Juliette Binoche in the Hou, Norah Jones, Natalie Portman and Jude Law in the Wong. Still, a $17,611 per-screen average is mighty impressive for any film, especially one from a celebrated but not-exactly-popular auteur like Hou.

In second place, My Blueberry Nights came in with a strong $12,358 average. But even more surprising was the performance of #3 film Alexandra (Cinema Guild), the latest from Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov. Like Hou, Sokurov has long been a festival darling, but to see the film performing so well at the box office ($9,086 on one screen), in its second weekend no less, is quite the pleasant surprise.

Holdovers from last week's list include The Singing Revolution (Abramorama Entertainment), Embrem Entertainment's A Four Letter Word, and the documentary The Unforeseen (Cinema Guild). Jumping into the top ten in its second weekend of release is the Audrey Tautou vehicle Priceless (IDP/Samuel Goldwyn), which even if it's not looking like a hit of Amélie proportions, demonstrates that arthouse-goers still enjoy their frothy foreign comedies as much as they ever did.

Top 10, Weekend of April 4-6:
1. The Flight Of The Red Balloon [IFC Films] ($17,611 per screen)
2. My Blueberry Nights [The Weinstein Company] ($12,358)
3. Alexandra [Cinema Guild] ($9,086)
4. Jellyfish [Zeitgeist] ($6,338)
5. The Singing Revolution [Abramorama Entertainment] ($6,183)
6. A Four Letter Word [Embrem Entertainment] ($6,017)
7. Body of War [The Film Sales Company] ($4,942)
8. The Unforeseen [Cinema Guild] ($4,317)
9. Shelter [Regent Releasing] ($4,073)
10. Priceless [IDP/Samuel Goldwyn Films] ($4,018)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of March 28-30, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:00:00 GMT

One of the realities of box office is that, the more screens your movie is playing on, the harder it gets to maintain a high per-screen average. Exhibit A is this week's Indie Box-Office Roundup, in which the top 9 per-screen averages for the past weekend were for films playing on one or two screens. So if you're rooting for the film that's playing around the corner, I'm afraid you're out of luck.

That is, unless you live around the corner from New York's Angelika Film Center. In which case, good news- the Angelika exclusive Chapter 27 (Peace Arch Entertainment) ruled the indie box office. J.P. Schaefer's drama about Mark David Chapman (better known as the scumbag who murdered John Lennon) weathered a barrage of middling-to-poor reviews to bring in an impressive haul of $13,910 on a single screen. Credit both the historical interest and the hype surrounding the performance (or at least the DeNiro-like weight gain) of star Jared Leto. If nothing else, the upstarts at Peach Arch deserve props for doing what many major studios could not- they actually made money off a movie starring Lindsay Lohan.

The weekend's top holdover was Laura Dunn's documentary The Unforeseen (Cinema Guild), which was filmed in Texas and opened solely in Austin, attracting $12,877 worth of local fans over the weekend.

Other notable new releases included the gay-themed A Four Letter Word (Embrem Entertainment), ThinkFilm's Italian-language My Brother Is An Only Child, and Aleksandr Sokurov's latest film, Alexandra. It's a little strange to see a film by a director like Sokurov embraced by audiences, even if they're big-city arthouse audiences. But hey, I'll take it.

Finally, coming in at #10 was the only film playing on more than two screens to make the list, The Weinstein Company's Under the Same Moon. The film continues to be an arthouse crowdpleaser, with its weekend take of $2,250,081 putting it just below the overall top 10 for the weekend.

Top 10, Weekend of March 28-30:
1. Chapter 27 [Peace Arch Entertainment] ($13,910 per screen)
2. The Unforeseen [Cinema Guild] ($12,877)
3. A Four Letter Word [Embrem Entertainment] ($12,101)
4. Alexandra [Cinema Guild] ($9,401)
5. My Brother Is An Only Child [ThinkFilm] ($9,357)
6. The Singing Revolution [Abramorama Entertainment] ($8,244)
7. Love Songs [IFC Films] ($6,651)
8. Hats Off [Canobie Films] ($6,570)
9. Backseat [Truly Indie] ($5,816)
10. Under The Same Moon [The Weinstein Company] ($5,769)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of March 21-23, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Someone call up Shabba-Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp, because breakdancing is BACK! In a weekend full of new specialty fare, Benson Lee's documentary Planet B-Boy (Elephant Eye Films) snuck into the top spot on this week's chart, with an average of $13,889 on two screens. The film's distributor plans to take the film wider over the next month, beginning with San Francisco, San Diego and Washington D.C. next week.

All of this week's top spots were occupied by new openers, with Olivier Assayas' new thriller Boarding Gate (Magnolia) coming in second despite middling reviews. Also finishing strongly was #3 film Under the Same Moon (Weinstein Co.), which not only broke U.S. record to become the top-grossing opening weekend for a Spanish-language release, but broke into the top 10 grossers overall. Rounding out the top 5 were Christophe Honoré's Love Songs (IFC) and Race (UTV Communications).

Holding steady in this week's top 10 are the Oscar-winning The Counterfeiters and Ira Sachs' Married Life (both Sony Pictures Classics). Not so lucky was last week's champ, David Gordon Green's Snow Angels, which fell to #13.

Top 10, Weekend of March 21-23:
1. Planet B-Boy [Elephant Eye Films] ($13,889 per screen)
2. Boarding Gate [Magnolia Pictures] ($11,440)
3. Under The Same Moon [The Weinstein Company] ($10,414)
4. Love Songs [IFC Films] ($10,244)
5. Race [UTV Communications] ($8,357)
6. The Grand [Anchor Bay] ($8,227)
7. Praying With Lior [First Run] ($6,443)
8. The Counterfeiters [Sony Pictures Classics] ($5,398)
9. The Hammer [International Film Circuit] ($4,857)
10. Married Life [Sony Pictures Classics] ($4,459)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of March 7-9, 2008

Paul Clark — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Note: Due to a delay on the part of IndieWire's Box Office Charts, I was unable to post this until today. So for all of you who were hoping to read this week's Roundup over a mid-morning snack (hi Mom!), I'm truly sorry. I'll do my best to post on time in the future.

In a busy weekend for specialty releases, Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park came out on top, with an impressive per-screen average of $14,914 on two screens. The IFC Films release, which debuted at Cannes last year, led a weekend that saw eleven new arthouse releases plus a number of strong holdovers from previous weeks. According to Mark Boxer, IFC's VP of Sales and Distribution, "The audience for the film consisted of Gus Van Sant fans and a strong turnout from the youthful/skateboarding community. The reviews for the film have been very strong from New York and the film will roll out to the top fifteen markets within the next two weeks."

Holding steady at #2 was last weekend's champion, Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop (Koch Lorber), which in its single-screen engagement dropped only 5% from last weekend's take. Debuting strongly at #3 was David Gordon Green's Snow Angels (Warner Independent), with another debut, Ira Sachs' Married Life (Sony Pictures Classics), coming in at #5. Rounding out the top five was the Oscar-winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, The Counterfeiters (Sony Pictures Classics).

Also of note was #7 finisher Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day (Focus Features), which was the weekend's highest-averaging release playing on more than 500 screens. Mostly middling reviews couldn't scare away crowds who were no doubt jonesing for more Amy Adams cuteness in a slightly more adult context. Meanwhile, The Duchess of Langeais fell to #9 (sigh) and longtime list mainstays The Band's Visit (Sony) and In Bruges (Focus) dropped off entirely.

Finally, I feel like I ought to mention this week's #10 film by a nose, the documentary Fighting For Life. I mention it not because I've seen it or even because I've heard anything about it, but because its distributor (Truly Indie) would no doubt like me to believe it's the only movie that truly belongs on this list, much like this week's #8 film would like to remind me that girls do indeed rock.

These are the jokes, people.

Top 10, Weekend of March 7-9:
1. Paranoid Park [IFC Films] ($14,914 per screen)
2. Chop Shop [Koch Lorber Films] ($7,944)
3. Snow Angels [Warner Independent Pictures] ($7,124)
4. The Counterfeiters [Sony Pictures Classics] ($6,820)
5. Married Life [Sony Pictures Classics] ($6,206)
6. Blindsight [Spark Entertainment] ($5,279)
7. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day [Focus Features] ($4,656)
8. Girls Rock! [Shadow Distribution] ($4,246)
9. The Duchess Of Langeais [IFC Films] ($3,723)
10. Fighting For Life [Truly Indie] ($3,423)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of February 29-March 2

Paul Clark — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:00:00 GMT

As I predicted in last week's column, arthouse audiences turned out in droves to catch The Counterfeiters (Sony Pictures Classics), Stefan Ruzowitzky's recent Oscar-winner for Best Foreign-Language Film. Currently in its second week of release, The Counterfeiters tops this week's Indie Box-Office Roundup with in an average of $10,295 per screen in 18 venues, following a strong second-place finish in its opening weekend.

The weekend's top new release was Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop (Koch Lorber), bringing in $8,745 on a single screen, followed by last week's champ, Jacques Rivette's The Duchess of Langeais, which kept on rockin' at $7,059 per screen after expanding its release to three locations. Rounding out the top five were (stop me if you've heard this before) Sony Pictures Classics' The Band's Visit and Focus Features' In Bruges, the latter expanding to 232 screens nationwide.

Also of note was the release of Chicago 10 (Roadside Attractions), the highest-ranking documentary of the weekend at #6. And let's not overlook the Oscar bump for Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men, which found its way back into the top 10 after a nearly three-month absence following an expansion to more than 2,000 screens. Take that, Juno! ¿Quien es mas macho?

Top 10, Weekend of February 29-March 2:
1. The Counterfeiters [Sony Pictures Classics] ($10,295 per screen)
2. Chop Shop [Koch Lorber Films] ($8,745)
3. The Duchess Of Langeais [IFC Films] ($7,059)
4. The Band's Visit [Sony Pictures Classics] ($4,553)
5. In Bruges [Focus Features] ($3,342)
6. Chicago 10 [Roadside Attractions] ($3,052)
7. The Unforeseen [Cinema Guild] ($2,496)
8. Caramel [Roadside Attractions] ($2,300)
9. The Year My Parents Went On Vacation [City Lights Pictures Releasing] ($2,121)
10. No Country For Old Men [Miramax] ($2,020)

Source: IndieWire.

Indie Box-Office Roundup: Weekend of February 22-24, 2008

Paul Clark — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:00:00 GMT

One of the pleasures of doing the weekly Indie Box-Office Roundup is that there are more surprises to be had with this top ten than with the top-grossing films overall. For example, I never thought I'd live to type the following six words: "Jacques Rivette, domestic box-office champ." Naturally, we're talking per-screen average rather than overall gross, but still — wow. Rivette's latest film, The Duchess of Langeais (IFC Films), took in a per-screen average of $11,126 on two screens over the past weekend. What makes this weekend's haul even more of a surprise is that Rivette's last film, L'Histoire de Marie et Julien was snubbed altogether by American distributors as being "too uncommercial." As a long-standing Rivette fan, I'm happy to see that others are responding as positively to his new work as I did. I don't expect it to stay on top, but I'll enjoy its reign while it lasts.

Coming in a strong second was Sunday night's Best Foreign-Language Film winner, Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters (Sony Pictures Classics). In its first weekend in American theatres, the film brought in an average of $10,939 per screen on eight screens. Expect the film's totals to soar next weekend, as Oscar-watchers turn out to see what all the fuss is about.

Sitting at #3 and #4 were last week's top two, The Band's Visit (Sony Pictures Classics) and In Bruges (Focus Features), followed by the weekend's top documentary, A Man Named Pearl (Shadow Distribution). Also worth mentioning is 9th-place film La Traviata (Emerging Pictures), a limited-engagement performance of Verdi's opera. It's hard to gauge how the opera's attendance compares to the other titles in this week's top ten, since although many cities are showing the movie fewer times than their other titles, tickets generally sell for upwards of $20.

Next weekend should see a bump for the Oscar-winners still in release, not just The Counterfeiters but also Best Documentary Feature winner Taxi to the Dark Side, and to a certain extent No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

Top 10, Weekend of February 22-24:
1. The Duchess Of Langeais [IFC Films] ($11,126 per screen)
2. The Counterfeiters [Sony Pictures Classics] ($10,939)
3. The Band's Visit [Sony Pictures Classics] ($4,908)
4. In Bruges [Focus Features] ($4,530)
5. A Man Named Pearl [Shadow Distribution] ($3,308)
6. Still Life [New Yorker] ($2,933)
7. Undoing [Indican Pictures] ($2,897)
8. George A. Romero's Diary Of The Dead [Third Rail Releasing] ($2,540)
9. La Traviata [Emerging Pictures] ($2,503)
10. The Year My Parents Went On Vacation [City Lights Pictures Releasing] ($2,485)

Source: IndieWire.

"Fred Claus", on the Other Hand, Had No Problem Getting Released

Phil Nugent — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:30:00 GMT

Sure, we could spend this awards-and-ten-best-lists season arguing about the virtues of There Will Be Blood versus those of No Country for Old Men or pitting Persepolis against Ratatouillie, and we'd have fun. But ultimately, arguing about movies that people actually had the chance to see in theaters is for sissies. There is another world where critics and geeks have it out in their equivalent to one of Pynchon's secret wars, debating over which great unknown movie's failure to be snatched up for proper distribution constitutes the biggest disgrace, and no fewer than 106 of these worthies performed the public service of voting in indieWIRE's seventh annual on-line poll to select the best undistributed film of 2007. Thirty-four of them went for Secret Sunshine, the latest from Lee Chang-dong (the Korean director best known here for his 2002 Oasis), putting it at the top of the 250 films that earned a mention. Also included on the list are films by Bela Tarr, Abel Ferrara, Nick Broomfield, and Eric Rohmer; no doubt some of them will eventually find distribution or at least appear on DVD. (Last year's winner, Hong Sang-soo's Woman on the Beach, will open at the Film Forum in New York early in January and then be released on New Yorker Video.)

Those of you who can't wait should check out Michael Atkinson's list of "The Best Non-Theatrical Debuts of '07" at the IFC site. The selections range from such fairly recent obscurities as Andrew Leman's 47-minute, silent H. P. Lovecraft adaptation The Call of Cthulhu (2005), Catalin Mitulescu's 2006 The Way I Spent the End of the World ("The Romanian New Wave's generational anthem film"), and Ryuichi Hiroki's Vibrator to Ernst Lubitsch's 1919 The Doll, described by Atkinson as a "cardboard fairy tale answer to Lars and the Real Girl, [made] a year before The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." Netflix, here we come!

Critics Make Lists, Give Awards, Close Book on '07

Paul Clark — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:00:00 GMT

It's nearing the end of the moviegoing year, and you know what that means- a heaping portion of top ten lists and awards from critics around the country. We here at Screengrab plan to post our best-of-2007 lists over the next week or so, but until that happens there are plenty of other year-in-review pieces all over the Internet that should tide you over. We won't link to every one of them here, but you can find two of our favorites after the break.

First off, there's the Critics' Poll over at Indiewire. Indiewire polled 106 critics for this survey of the best cinematic achievements of 2007, with participants including quite a few very cool critics, such as former Screengrab editor Bilge Ebiri, Screengrab contributor Vadim Rizov, and Nerve.com critic Mike D'Angelo. The Critics' Poll also does away with a longstanding awards tradition by refusing to separate awards by gender- the acting categories are simply "Best Performance" and "Best Supporting Performance." Best of all, there's plenty of commentary from the participating critics, providing plenty of fun for all you inveterate list junkies out there. You know who you are.

But for the more visually-oriented among you, deliverance has arrived in the form of Jim Emerson. Not content with simply banging out a list, Jim has cut together a short video of shots from his top ten movies of 2007, and invites everyone to try to guess the movies in question. As most of the shots Jim includes feature architecture rather than actors, this is harder than it sounds. I was able to identify 9 out of 10- see how you fare over at Jim's blog, Scanners.

About a Film: AJ Schnack on Kurt Cobain

Peter Smith — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:00:00 GMT

Over at IndieWire, Brian Brooks brings us a short interview with A Tale of Two Johns director AJ Schnack about his upcoming documentary on the life of Kurt Cobain, About a Son. (Read Nerve's interview with Schnack here.) It touches on his relationship with rock journalist Michael Azzerad, his desire to strip away all the legends and conspiracy theories surrounding the subject, and his attempt to make the film reflect the indie qualities of Cobain’s music. — Leonard Pierce