*Note: Apologies for the poor audio quality. This is officially the last podcast using sub-par equipment. Thanks to your generous donations we’ve done a little upgrading and hope to bring you TMA FilmCast in hi-fi from now on!

To get a better idea of the ambitions of “Che,” it helps to view the film as the first section in a trilogy, paired up with the other two movies the director released in 2009.  “Che,” “The Girlfriend Experience” and “The Informant!” intersect at many points, with a particularly keen focus on commerce and protagonists who remain, to the end, essentially unknowable.

All three of these characters are involved in an ongoing process characterized by the willful misrepresentation of self.  Mark Whitacre lies, so often and so insistently that we cannot distinguish what about him is real. Christine/Chelsea hides, attempting to separate her home life from her prostitution via a successively thin façade. Che exhibits, shaping himself into a model revolutionary through behavior that remains resolutely self-conscious, always with an eye on how that behavior is perceived.  These concealing processes leave us with characters whose inner lives remain fundamentally restricted to the viewer.

In the case of “Che,” this approach to biography certainly feels like the best one for a figure whose actual self lies buried under stratified layers of dueling propaganda.  He’s not only a polarizing entity, but the tug-of-war between these poles (was he a hero or a villain? a martyr or a fool?) have ossified him into an image that in the collective consciousness more resembles a collection of ideas, behaviors and slogans than a real person.

Soderbergh is less interested in remedying this condition than exploring it.  Rather than liberate the ‘real’ Che by plumbing his inner depths, as the too cute, too facile “Motorcycle Diaries” (directed by Walter Salles) attempted, Soderbergh fixates on the external.  The result is less “who was Che” than “how did we end up with Che: the t-shirt,” analyzing the nascent kernel of sly self-promotion that would eventually turn his legacy into a hollow cultural touchstone, as well as battleground between hagiography and hatred.

In this sense, Guevara, a nickname replacing his given moniker, lays the groundwork for his own legacy.   A reluctant soldier at first, “The Argentine” (the first section, followed by “Guerrilla”) follows his increasing comfort in a commanding role.  The repeated careful close-ups that define this process suggest less a fawning, style-focused camera than mise-en-scène in service of subtext, demonstrating one of the inherent oxymorons of the act of revolution, where total selflessness is matched by the desire for the egotistical display of martyrdom.

(Continued Below Photo)

The film’s inter-cutting to Che’s 1964 appearance before the New York press serves as a reminder of this subtext, referencing one central milestone on the road to immortality.  Here he is presented not in the color of the other sequences but in tellingly stark black-and-white, a technique mirrored in the early scenes of “The Guerrilla,” where he hides from his created self by assuming a middle-aged bourgeois disguise.  In New York, Che has a rapt audience. Cameras flash.  Microphones are shoved in his face.  Making his first appearance on television he denies make-up at first, then quickly changes his mind.

This procedure of self-aware self-lionization which defines Che is of course not limited to him.  As devoted to freedom as his fellow revolutionaries must have been, there are undoubtedly other, less noble impulses behind their actions.  Like Che, Castro visited New York in the ’60s as head of state, and his behavior then – hobnobbing with blue-collar locals and promising to camp his entourage in Central Park – reeks of agitprop theater.  But unlike Che, Castro and most of the others were Cubans.  His role in the revolution was one he sought out, and this act, the dual suggestions of adventurism and heroism wrought by it, are typified by the differentiating focus of the section’s title.

The setting for the first half of “Che” and its protagonist’s major crucible, Cuba itself remains a distinctly unknowable place.  Shut off from the world, half-asleep in the past, the country seems, like Che, impossible to approach on even terms.  It’s telling that the best film associated with it is “I Am Cuba,” by Russian director Mikhail Kalatozov, which is both a visually effervescent masterpiece and a bastion of haughty propaganda.  The Cuba it offers is a storybook representation, first ruled by pitiless capitalist overlords, then liberated by glorious heroes.  In “Che,” the nation’s association with the protagonist remains a distinct part of the black-and-white nature of his legacy.

Another clear reference point is Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” one of 2008’s best films, which took a similar approach to biography.  The climax here hinges not on if Jesse James will be killed, but how.  Aware of, even obsessed with, the lasting power of his legacy, the outlaw orchestrates his own murder – shot in the back by an opportunistic coward – to make sure it stays spotless.

Taking all this into account, “Che,” which has puzzled critics by being generally realistic while still doggedly faithful to the usual talking points, makes a lot more sense.  Soderbergh’s Che is a dense screen through which some genuine light shines through, a would-be Jesus who rides a donkey, carries a staff and heals the sick, biblical affectations that feel purposely foisted to heighten the air of artificiality around him.  His persistent asthma, which hounds him through both sections of the film, functions as a reminder that there is a man inside.  In the same way the last scene, where the soldier who shoots Che informs him that he murdered his brother, reminds us of the blood on his hands.

Like Martin Scorcese’s “No Direction Home,” an otherwise traditional biography that presented Bob Dylan as an amorphous, self-created phantom, “Che” cloaks itself in the conventions of the biopic to achieve an opposite aim, striving for unknowability rather than coherence.  The man’s relentless drive for worldwide revolution is, on one hand, indicative of his inability to rest while people suffer.  But it also implies his inability to rest at all.  Forged into a totemic representation of the spirit of revolution, the film portrays the life of a man now doomed to haunt the earth as something less than one, consigned to t-shirts and teenagers’ bedroom walls.

Screendaily reports that Glen Basner and his FilmNation Entertainment will introduce potential buyers to the project at EFM.

Nicolas Gonda, Sarah Green and Bill Pohlad are set to produce.

Malick is currently busy editing his completed film, “The Tree Of Life,” which Pohlad is also producing and is scheduled for a North America release later this year through the Apparition banner.

“We are delighted to be part of this extraordinary team,” the producers said. “Everyone involved brings a unique perspective to this powerful and moving love story. We are especially gratified to be working with Glen Basner and all the talented folks at FilmNation.”

“Terry is easily among the greatest and most influential film-makers of our time,” Basner said. “It’s an honour to work with such a visionary. FilmNation is thrilled to he help bring his next work to a global audience.”

Malick is best know for his seminal and highly acclaimed films, “Badlands,” “Days Of Heaven,” “The Thin Red Line” and “The New World.”

What if the South had won the war? What if politicians promised a black for every home? What if Martin Luther King, Jr. had been born a slave? Through the lens of a Ken Burns-style mockumentary, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004) provides a revisionist history of the United States in which the South won the Civil War and where Lincoln is forced to flee to Canada in blackface. By using fabricated movie segments, old government information films, television commercials, news breaks, along with actual stock footage from our own history, a provocative and humorous story is told of a country which, in many ways, frighteningly follows a parallel with our own. New Times writes, C.S.A. is “easily the nerviest film about race, religion, and U.S. imperialism ever made.” The film premiered in 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival and won a Special Jury Prize at the Bend Film Festival in 2005. C.S.A. is presented by filmmaker Spike Lee and was distributed in 2004 by IFC Films. Fro more information visit: http://www.csathemovie.com/

PANEL – DISCUSSION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING FILM
Moderated by Carla Eckels, news producer and local host at KMUW 89.1 FM, with panelists:
Reuben Eckels, founder/pastor of Wichita’s New Day Christian Church
Jean Griffith, WSU assistant professor of English
Randal Jelks, KU associate professor of American Studies
Rupert Pate, actor (Confederate States of America) and historian
Kevin Willmott, film director and associate professor of Film and Media Studies,
University of Kansas

The film series: Black Films that Challenge/Black Films that Matter is curated by Professor Kevin Wilmott in celebration of Crossroads: The Art of Gordon Parks and includes three films shown on Thursdays in February on the Wichita State University campus:

Thursday, Feb 11, 6 p.m.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
210 McKnight Art Center West, WSU School of Art and Design
Introduction and post-screening Q&A with Kevin Willmott, veteran filmmaker and associate professor of film and media studies at the University of Kansas

Set in 1970s Chicago, black nationalist Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) joins the C.I.A. There he learns guerrilla warfare techniques. With that training, he leaves the C.I.A. to found the Freedom Fighters — a group of violent and nonviolent activists working to ensure the freedom of blacks in the United States.

Filmed and released during a time of continuing racial violence, the movie’s title refers to the early days of affirmative action and the policy of making a token black employee very conspicuous for all to see. This politically charged and culturally relevant film was quickly removed from theaters after its 1973 release and was only recently released on DVD.

Thursday, Feb 25, 6 p.m.
Nothing But a Man (1964)
210 McKnight Art Center West, WSU School of Art and Design.

Reputedly the favorite movie of Malcolm X, Nothing But a Man portrays a devil-may-care young man who falls for a grounded young woman and their on-again/off-again relationship. Tame by contemporary standards, the film is set in the South of the 1960s where an economic system continued to keep many enslaved both financially and emotionally. Although created more than four decades ago, Nothing But a Man speaks to issues of manhood today and captures the black male experience on film. A breakthrough film in 1964, it is still relevant today. One of the top 100 must-see black films, Nothing But a Man was winner of the San Giorgio prize at the 1964 Venice Film Festival.

The Ulrich Museum galleries are open from 5-6 p.m. before each film screening. Crossroads: The Art of Gordon Parks is on view through April 11. For more information, call 316-978-3664 or visit www.ulrich.wichita.edu/gordonparks.

Best Picture

“Avatar”

“The Hurt Locker”

“The Blind Side”

“District 9″

“An Education”

“Inglourious Basterds”

“Precious”

“Up”

“A Serious Man”

“Up in the Air”

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”

George Clooney, “Up in the Air”

Colin Firth, “A Single Man”

Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”

Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon, “Invictus”

Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”

Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”

Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”

Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”

Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”

Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”

Carey Mulligan, “An Education”

Mery Streep, “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penélope Cruz, “Nine”

Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”

Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”

Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”

Mo’Nique, “Precious”

Animated Feature

“Coraline”

“Fantastic Mr. Fox”

“Up”

“The Secret of Kells”

“The Princess and the Frog”

Directing

James Cameron, “Avatar”

Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”

Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”

Lee Daniels, “Precious”

Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

Foreign Language Film

“Ajami”

“El Secreto de Sus Ojos”

“The Milk of Sorrow”

“The White Ribbon”

“Un Prophète”

Original Screenplay

“A Serious Man”

“The Hurt Locker”

“Up”

“The Messenger”

“Inglourious Basterds”

Documentary Feature

“Burma VJ”

“Food, Inc.”

“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”

“Which Way is Home”

“The Cove”

Jason Baustin, Director/Editor/Producer/Writer of “Cowboy Killer,” has crafted a uniquely absurd horror/comedy with no time for traditional filmmaking details like plausibility, consistency or the basic tenets of sound storytelling.  But make no mistake, these are conscious choices.

Roy Thompson (Paul Bailey) is the titular villain, an old-timing mid-western cowboy whose mantra is: “Every man for himself, and treat the ladies with respect.”  If that motto served him well in a previous life, there sure aren’t any signs of it here.  Somewhere along the line Thompson developed a lust for blood that he satiates by decapitating high school students on their way to Homecoming, snapping the necks of women who refuse his affection and more-or-less brutally murdering innocent townsfolk without rhyme or reason.  The Cowboy Killer’s savage violence sends the quiet town into a crime-solving frenzy with everyone from the misfit cable guys to the village drunks determined to catch the murdering old-west relic.

You can call “Cowboy Killer” a lot of things, but typical isn’t one of them.  Super low budget, schlocky horror movies are a dime a dozen.  The Syfy channel has practically elevated revelry in all things scuzzy to an art form.  But Baustin’s film is unique.  Upon first glance it seems to be nothing more than an uneven, poorly written, poorly acted waste of time made by painfully amateur DIY filmmakers.  This impression lingered with me until something clicked in the first half hour while watching the moronic cable guys bumble about on their quest to both make cable thieves pay for their crime and get to a strip club.  It was at this point that the film’s self-awareness suddenly became hilariously obvious.  The rest of “Cowboy Killer” became an increasingly delectable study in audacious absurdity.  And the more absurd, the better.

“Cowboy Killer” represents filmmaking at its most joyous.  The meaningless art-house pretentiousness that enshrouds and consequently isolates so many indie films is nowhere to be found.  Unabashed zaniness and wild caricature are celebrated as equal residents of the human condition with heartache, love and loss.

If you happen find yourself in a position to see this little gem, in the immortal words of the Cowboy Killer himself, “You’re in for a damn treat!”

Official “Cowboy Killer” Website

Michael De Luca is set to produce.

THR reports that the spec script written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, which centers on the origins of Dracula and includes many factual facets of the life of the famous Prince Vlad the Impaler, depicts Dracula as an anti-hero of sorts caught in a tragic love story.

Alissa Phillips will executive produce.

“Year Zero” marks Worthington’s first deal since playing paraplegic war veteran, Jake Sully, in “Avatar.”

In the meantime the Aussie-born star can be seen in the Helen Mirren thriller “The Debt,” as well as in the upcoming update of the classic sword and sandals tale, “Clash of the Titans.”

Marlett has been a board member of WAMPA since 2005, when he was the editor-in-chief of the Wichita-based alternative weekly newspaper F5 and later The Wichita City Paper. He is the first person to officially hold the WAMPA executive director title since Tallgrass Film Festival founder Timothy Gruver passed away unexpectedly in 2005. Four-time Tallgrass Film Festival director Lela Meadow-Conner will return as the festival director for the eighth annual event.

The goal, Marlett said, is to have a year-round leader for the already year-round schedule of events that WAMPA puts on. “Tallgrass has been successful, and our non-Tallgrass events, such as the Third Thursday Film Series and the Cinema Al Fresco Series, have been wildly successful,” Marlett said. “We now have the opportunity to build our membership and sponsorship and really reach out with our educational programs, but to do that WAMPA needs a full-time leader all year long.”

WAMPA board president Ann Keefer said, “The WAMPA Board of Directors is thrilled to have an Executive Director again. Mike’s knowledge of WAMPA and his history with the board ensures continued growth of our year-round programs. More importantly, having the position filled allows Lela to focus all her attention and talent on keeping Tallgrass the preeminent festival that Wichitans and visiting filmmakers have come to love.”

The 2009 Tallgrass Film Festival saw a 420% increase in net income over 2008 for WAMPA. Despite a recession and difficult charitable climate, Tallgrass also saw a nearly 20% increase in the number of sponsors. The 2009 Tallgrass Film Festival screened 24 feature length films and 48 short films over three days.

“The Tallgrass Film Festival has become a fixture in the Wichita community, and the sponsors and public are responding to that,” Marlett said. “WAMPA really wants to build on those strengths and bring more to the people of Wichita.”

Distributor 20th Century Fox confirmed that “Avatar” had surpassed “Titanic’s” previous worldwide gross theatrical revenue record of $1.843 billion early Monday with a current total of $1.859 billion, and counting.

Keys to “Avatar’s” success are its massive foreign numbers having raked in 70% of its gross from markets outside of the US and Canada.  Even more critical in its victory over Cameron’s own “Titanic” is its employment of new 3D technology as a source of revenue.  The latest tallies show that roughly 80% of “Avatar’s” worldwide revenues derive from 3D ticket prices, which are generally a few dollars higher than standard movie ticket prices.

Domestically, however, “Titanic” is still king.  “Avatar’s” $555 million domestic earnings are just short of “Titanic’s” 1997 record of $600 million.

Still, it’s up for debate where “Avatar” stands in the history of mega-successful films.  Many are calling “Avatar” The Biggest Movie of All-Time thanks to its box-office triumph, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most watched film ever.  Factor in inflation and ticket sales and surprisingly, “Avatar” doesn’t even crack the top 25.

Top 20 biggest movies of all-time in ticket sales:

1. “Gone With the Wind” (1939) 202,044,600
2. “Star Wars” (1977) 178,119,600
3. “The Sound of Music” (1965) 142,415,400
4. “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) 141,854,300
5. “The Ten Commandments” (1956) 131,000,000
6. “Titanic” (1997) 128,345,900
7. “Jaws” (1975) 128,078,800
8. “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) 124,135,500
9. “The Exorcist” (1973) 110,568,700
10. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937) 109,000,000
11. “101 Dalmatians” (1961) 99,917,300
12. “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) 98,180,600
13. “Ben-Hur” (1959) 98,000,000
14. “Return of the Jedi” (1983) 94,059,400
15. “The Sting” (1973) 89,142,900
16. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) 88,141,900
17. “Jurassic Park” (1993) 86,205,800
18. “The Graduate” (1967) 85,571,400
19. “Star Wars: Episode I” (1999) 84,825,800
20. “Fantasia” (1941) 83,043,500

“Avatar” clocks-in way down at No. 26 in all-time ticket sales with 76,421,000 tickets sold, and counting.