Behind The Camera with Steve Kim

"Redemption? Sure. But in the end, he's just another dead rat in a garbage pail behind a Chinese restaurant." - Fantastic Mr. Fox in Fantastic Mr. Fox "I hope the roof flies off and I get sucked up into space." - Walt Bishop in Moonrise Kingdom "He's a ruthless adventurer and a con artist who preys on mentally feeble, sick, old ladies. And he probably fucks them too!" - Dmitri Desgoffe und Taxis in The Grand Budapest Hotel   Wes Anderson wrote and directed three of my favorite films of the twenty-first century:  Fantastic Mr. Fox , Moonrise Kingdom , and The Grand Budapest Hotel . His dialogue and mise-en-sc ène  are quick to get noticed. Rightfully so. However, his masterful blocking and cutting aren't extolled enough.  Of course, Anderson's films aren't for everyone. From the quirky one-liners to the ostensible camera work, Anderson makes no efforts to conceal his craft; the form is  substance. Artifice is merely a mea...

Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt I don't consider myself a film critic nor do I ever want to be one. But  I decided to start this blog because today's film criticism is far too often based solely on taste. The craft of filmmaking hardly gets mentioned. True masterpieces don't get fully appreciated. And respectable or enjoyable films get trashed unfairly.  For example, no one talks about Paul Thomas Anderson's choice in The Master  to violate the 180-degree rule at the end of a lengthy conversation between the two protagonists -- Freddie and Lancaster -- to foreshadow who the true master is and highlight their duality. And I am so saddened by how people bash the Star Wars prequels simply because it's trendy to do so.  Basically, I want to talk about the craft aspect of filmmaking on this blog. Why is Todd Haynes shooting the scene from a low angle? Why is Paul Thomas Anderson giving the character a strong back lighting? Why is Wes Anderson staging that charact...