deadCENTER Film

A Look Back With Dwight Edwards of The Film Cake: 2002

In the Guest Spot today, we have Dwight Edwards, the man behind the very cool Okie-film website The Filmcake. Dwight has attended deadCENTER every year since 2002, and even contributed to our live blog of the festival in 2009. Every Wednesday until the festival, we’ll feature his look back at the deadCENTER film festivals of old, starting with 2002.

This year I’ll attend my seventh deadCENTER Film Festival. Once again, I await that week in June with boundless anticipation. Familiar faces, great and not-so-great movies, flowing beer. What more does one need? The 10th Anniversary edition of the festival arrives in just eight weeks. In anticipation of that, I’m going to go back and rewatch some of the festival movies that I remember fondly, remember quite UN-fondly, or just flat out missed the first time around. I’ll start with the 2002 festival and work my way up weekly to this year’s festival. Here we go!

The second year of the festival–2002–was my first year. Roaming around the UCO campus. Wondering what a Broncho was. Attending my very first film festival and falling in love. Two days of films. And an after party at the UCO Jazz Lab. It was a more innocent time–when sleep and the dCFF weren’t mutually exclusive concepts. I remember co-founder Justan Floyd’s The Matador. I remember promotional plastic footballs from IFC (for Go Tigers!). I remember walking out on one movie less than halfway through and being really impressed with another that I’d known absolutely nothing about. And I remember having a TON of fun. It is with those memories that I recently went back and rewatched three movies from that 2002 festival–Sam & Janet, One Thousand Years, and Side Effects.

***

Sam & Janet – That this movie is based on an obscure knock-knock joke does not portend well.

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Sam and Janet.
Sam and Janet who?
Sam and Janet evening you may meet a stranger.

This movie had occupied one of my most notorious of deadCENTER memories. Normally I don’t walk out on movies. I’m a stickler–I’ve got to see a movie from beginning to end. And at deadCENTER, this is no exception. I’ve walked out during short film programs, but never during a film. But when we saw this one back in 2002, my wife and I walked out after about 30 minutes. So it is with that memory that I was genuinely curious about revisiting it. The one thing I remembered from the first aborted viewing was the establishing shots. It seemed like half of the movie was establishing shots. That might have been the main reason we walked out. Still, the movie won Best Feature at the 2002 deadCENTER Film Festival.

Upon seeing it nearly 8 years later, I can only say that I got it right the first time. Was there an establishing shot problem? Oh my! Downtown OKC. Leadership Square. The KATT water tower in Bricktown. The OKC Municipal Court building. Bricktown Brewery. The Adams Course. Bricktown Brewery. Bricktown Canal. Gratuitous OU Football footage. Bricktown Brewery. Bricktown Brewery. In fact, there was one sequence that went like this:

Shot 1 – Scene at Bricktown Brewery with Sam
Shot 2 – Establishing shot of Bricktown Brewery
Shot 3 – A different establishing shot of Bricktown Brewery
Shot 4 – Scene at Bricktown Brewery with Janet

Okay, we get it. The bar that they go to is Bricktown Brewery. How could I have forgotten? The only places these people go are the gym and Bricktown Brewery. So if there are no calisthenics or stationary bikes in the scene, then it’s probably at Bricktown Brewery.

I did not like this movie; I didn’t like the characters. The acting is fine. They’re just written in a way that makes me want to punch my Roku player in the face. Of course, they’re the type of couple that meets at the gym. Of course, they’re the type of couple that both have psycho ex’s. Of course, Sam is the type of guy that looks for dogs at the OKC Animal Shelter and then ends up buying one from an ad in the paper. Of course, Sam is the type of guidance counselor who says things like: “I’m the counselor, but I’m probably the one who needs counseling.” Head. Desk. Head. Desk.

Oh, and let’s not even talk about “The Creature.” Eck. Or what counts as foreplay for this couple. Ketchup, mustard, or mayo? Or the insulting “Waitin’ For A Superman” kid-in-a-cape rip-off. My main problem is that I rarely (if ever) connect with a movie whose ambitions don’t reach beyond the Lifetime network. I’m fine with romance in movies, so it’s not necessarily a genre thing. But in addition to decent acting and a competent crew, I need a script with characters I care about. This looks more like a lazy exercise than real passion. Middle of the road is not a genre.

What traction this movie did have was based on two big personalities–Rick Walker and Gary Busey. No doubt Walker’s status as one-half of the Rick & Brad radio duo led to some interest in the film. Unfortunately, morning radio DJs are known more for obnoxious stunts than for careful cinematic consideration of the human condition. And, well, Gary Busey was once nominated for an Oscar–way back in 1978 for The Buddy Holly Story–and does have his own Oklahoma connections. Unfortunately, Busey was not allowed or just unable to deliver anything special here. It would have been a relief if he had.

This 90-minute feature is currently available on Netflix.

***

One Thousand Years — Perhaps more than any other deadCENTER movie, I was looking forward to revisiting this one the most. Although I had only seen it the once, I remember really liking it. It seemed like such the opposite of Sam & Janet. It seemed to be what independent film and festivals are all about. Passion and talent triumphing over grossly-budgeted gloss. Director Gabriel Fleming donned just about every hat in the production of this movie–not only director, but writer, editor, camera operator, and so on. His digital feature was made for under $3000 and features twenty-something non-actors exploring interpersonal relationships through improvised dialogue. If one were inclined, they could describe the film as an early entry into the Mumblecore genre.

The film takes off into a couple different directions. One direction leads us toward Maria and her crush on Keith. Throughout a couple of parties and trip to the park, Maria begins to fall for Keith. Unfortunately for her, the adoration may not be mutual. Meanwhile, Maria’s friend Emma, who may have her own crush on Maria, turns into a third-wheel. Another direction leads us to a past and future couple–a man from 1,000 years in the past and a woman from 1,000 years in the future–who are searching for a book they hope may prevent the apocalypse. These different story lines weave their way throughout beautiful San Francisco locations. Sometimes mundane, sometimes funny and enlightening, and in the case of the past/future couple even fantastical, these are the stories of our existence. We write our own books, filled with moments of intimacy, authentic experiences and fake, and mixed and contradictory meanings. I don’t know what the filmmaker intended for his movie to mean. But I do know that this movie contains the right amount of subtlety and honesty (something which is lacking from many films, independent or otherwise) to allow this viewer to really connect.

Director Gabriel Fleming has since gone on to edit for television and premiered his second feature, The Lost Coast, at SXSW 2008. He has also worked with Kelly Reichardt on her films Old Joy and Wendy & Lucy. Many thanks to Gabriel for providing a copy of his 98-minute feature, which is unfortunately otherwise not available at this time.

***

Side Effects — Scott Allen Perry writes, directs, and stars in this short film about a man who enters an experimental drug trial, finds potential love, only to be thwarted by the drug’s side effects. To reveal too much about this nicely paced and photographed short film is to enter into spoiler territory. That being said I do certainly recommend it…as did those who attended deadCENTER 2002 where it won the Grand Jury award and Best Short Film. For the film geeks out there, it might be worth noting an appearance here by Doug Jones who would later portray The Silver Surfer, Abe Sapien, and Pan/Pale Man amongst a whole bunch of other non-human characters.

In addition to this short film, Scott Allen Perry would later bring his documentary The Outdoorsmen: Blood, Sweat & Beers to the 2005 deadCENTER festival. Rednecks out-machoing each other in various feats of beer guzzling. Perry, along with his brother Josh (aka Ponceman), also appear to have carved out a bit of a comedic Internet presence including the web series Retarded Policeman. That Ponceman actually has Down Syndrome won’t prevent some from finding the series, or many of their projects, offensive. But from what I’ve seen, this duo is comprised of two brothers having fun making movies and making people laugh. And there’s nothing offensive about that.

This 18-minute short film can be found on YouTube along with a bunch of other stuff by The Perry Brothers.

–Dwight (www.thefilmcake.com)

Next Wednesday: The 2003 festival…