Trailer Park Tuesday

Check out the trailer for this rad looking independent socio-romantic comedy. The movie is set in San Francisco and was directed by Barry Jenkins:


Shot on digital video. Stars a Daily Show correspondent. Holds SF's racial stratification in contempt. Wow, this movie's got all the right ingredients. Looks like Before Sunrise except less earnest and divorced from reality.

And as this NY Times feature on the film alludes to, Medicine for Melancholy fits nicely within a recent trickle of neorealist-ish and super localized American independent movies. See Ballast, Wendy and Lucy (& Old Joy), and Goodbye Solo (& Chop Shop).

Happy Birthday: Ben Gazzara

The amazing actor Ben Gazzara turns 78 today. One of the best voices and laughs in the business.

You may know him as the porn producer Jackie Treehorn in The Big Lebowski, where the Dude accuses that he "treats objects like women, man!"

Though, his real genius is exposed in the films he made with John Cassavetes. Husbands, Opening Night, and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Here's the trailer for the latter:


It's creepier, and even more amazing than it looks.

Also, check Gazzara out on the Dick Cavett show with Cassavetes and Peter Falk. Talk shows were really a lot better when you could smoke and be drunk on TV.