The camera takes a long, slow pan up the body of an unconscious man lying in a hospital bed. At last, he awakens. The doctors don’t know who he is and he can’t say. Mute. Amnesiac. And with the help of a caring nurse, John Doe will begin a difficult — and violent — journey to uncover his painful past.
That’s the brief lowdown on Nathan Wrann‘s surprising indie thriller Burning Inside, embedded above. The film is a completely different take on the traditional revenge movie genre, kind of like Death Wish crossed with Eraserhead.
Although the film has a thoroughly modern approach to technique and storytelling, the black and white cinematography give it a classic noirish nudge as does the movie’s non-traditional pacing. While the revenge movie genre over the years has traditionally ramped up in gore, stunts and fast editing, Wrann has gone in the opposite direction with exceptionally long,...
That’s the brief lowdown on Nathan Wrann‘s surprising indie thriller Burning Inside, embedded above. The film is a completely different take on the traditional revenge movie genre, kind of like Death Wish crossed with Eraserhead.
Although the film has a thoroughly modern approach to technique and storytelling, the black and white cinematography give it a classic noirish nudge as does the movie’s non-traditional pacing. While the revenge movie genre over the years has traditionally ramped up in gore, stunts and fast editing, Wrann has gone in the opposite direction with exceptionally long,...
- 3/28/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Both filmmaker Jenny Abel and the subject of her uproarious documentary, her father Alan Abel, will be criss-crossing the south all through February with their film Abel Raises Cain. Their journey is being sponsored by the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. Tour dates are below.
Alan Abel is currently the reigning champion of media hoaxsers, having pulled numerous fast ones on the unsuspecting public since the early ’60s. Abel’s prankster behavior began when a national magazine inadvertently fell for a spoof article he had written calling for the world’s naked animals to start wearing pants. Soon, Abel had formed a fake advocacy group and hired a young Buck Henry to pretend to be its leader.
With that, Abel’s “career” was off, pulling off one hoax after another, from running phony presidential candidates to pretending to run a school for beggars to campaigning against breast feeding. Abel...
Alan Abel is currently the reigning champion of media hoaxsers, having pulled numerous fast ones on the unsuspecting public since the early ’60s. Abel’s prankster behavior began when a national magazine inadvertently fell for a spoof article he had written calling for the world’s naked animals to start wearing pants. Soon, Abel had formed a fake advocacy group and hired a young Buck Henry to pretend to be its leader.
With that, Abel’s “career” was off, pulling off one hoax after another, from running phony presidential candidates to pretending to run a school for beggars to campaigning against breast feeding. Abel...
- 2/4/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Meet the most dangerous man in America. Way before the Yes Men, Alan Abel was duping the media with all kinds of outrageous hoaxes. From trying to clothe animals to running a school for beggars to protesting against breast feeding, nobody, but nobody, could pull the wool over the public’s eyes like Abel. And, entering into his sunset years — he’s still at it! Calling radio stations, writing fake editorials, handing out outrageous flyers, Alan Abel couldn’t stop pulling hoaxes if he tried. His life and wacko career is intimately profiled in the documentary Abel Raises Cain by someone who knows his tricks and scams all too well: His daughter Jenny Abel.
This is a very loving documentary. Jenny is obviously very close to her father and her mother, so the documentary doesn’t really explore any negative aspects to Abel’s stunts, if there are any. Although...
This is a very loving documentary. Jenny is obviously very close to her father and her mother, so the documentary doesn’t really explore any negative aspects to Abel’s stunts, if there are any. Although...
- 1/30/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I always love new websites that celebrate the art of short films. Short of the Week is a nice new site that features some great stuff, including, yes, short films, but also news and updates. Go bookmark this one. Congrats to Bad Lit fave Jef Taylor for a successful Sundance romp! (You usually hear so little about short films at these kinds of events.) His After You Left got some nice reviews, first at Reel Guys and then at College Movie Review. It was sad to hear that Random Lunacy star Poppa Neutrino passed away last week. The New Yorker‘s Alec Wilkinson, who wrote a book on Poppa, has a wonderful remembrance. Rupert of SnuffBox Films keys us into a great new web video tool, Vid.ly, which converts video into every playable online video format possible. The sample played really great. Mike White posted up an amazing list...
- 1/30/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
On the Outs, a drama directed by Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik received the Grand Jury Sparky Award for best narrative feature as well as the dramatic audience award as the 11th annual Slamdance Film Festival in Park City concluded Friday. Phil the Alien, directed by Rob Stefaniuk, received an honorable mention from the jury, while Chip Godwin also received an honorable mention for best performance for his work in John Erick Dowdle's The Dry Spell. The jury award for best documentary feature went to Abel Raises Cain, directed by Jenny Abel and Jeff Hockett, with Scott Dalton and Margarita Martinez's La Sierra receiving an honorable mention. The prize for best animated short went to Egg, with an honorable mention to Shoel.
- 1/30/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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