A Life in Dirty Movies

2014 BAM Award Considerations – November

Posted on by bernardovillela

I decided that with the plethora of BAM Awards-related post towards the end of 2013 and the start of this year it was best to wait to the end of this month before officially recommencing the process.

I will post these lists towards the end of the month to allow for minimal updates. By creating a new post monthly, and creating massive combo files offline, it should make the process easier for me and more user-friendly for you, the esteemed reader. Enjoy.

Eligible Titles

I Am Yours
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Apaches
Rhymes for Young Ghouls
Halbschatten
Pants on Fire
To Kill a Man
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Interstellar
Big Hero 6
A Life in Dirty Movies
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
Santa Hunters
Horrible Bosses 2
The Theory of Everything
The Babadook
Spud 2: The Madness Continues
A Christmoose Story

Best Picture

Big Hero 6

Best Foreign Film

I Am Yours
Apaches
Halbschatten
To Kill a Man
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
A Christmoose Story

Best Documentary

A Life in Dirty Movies

Most Overlooked Film

As intimated in my Most Underrated announcement this year, I’ve decided to make a change here. Rather than get caught up in me vs. the world nonsense and what a film’s rating is on an aggregate site, the IMDb or anywhere else, I want to champion smaller, lesser-known films. In 2011 with the selection of Toast this move was really in the offing. The nominees from this past year echo that fact. So here, regardless of how well-received something is by those who’ve seen it, I’ll be championing indies and foreign films, and the occasional financial flop from a bigger entity.

Apaches
Rhymes for Young Ghouls
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
A Life in Dirty Movies
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
A Christmoose Story

Best Director

Apaches
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Big Hero 6
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
A Christmoose Story

Best Actress

Amrita Acharia I Am Yours
Devery Jacobs Rhymes for Young Ghouls
Anne Ratte-Polle Halbschatten
Jennifer Lawrence The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Felicity Jones The Theory of Everything
Essie Davis The Babadook

Best Actor

Matthew McConaghuey Interstellar
Eddie Redmayne The Theory of Everything

Best Supporting Actress

Rabia Noreen I Am Yours

Best Supporting Actor

Ola Rapace I Am Yours
Arjan Ederveen A Christmoose Story

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Leading Role

Claudia Vega Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
Dana Goldberg A Christmoose Story


Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Steven Perry Pants on Fire
Raul Rivas Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
Daniel CerezoZip and Zap and the Marble Gang
Noah Wiseman The Babadook
Dennis Reinsma A Christmoose Story

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Supporting Role

Mackenzie Foy Interstellar

Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Supporting Role

Prince Singh I Am Yours
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Lenard Proxauf Halbschatten
Joshua J. Ballard Pants on Fire
Timothée Chalamet Interstellar
Marcos RuizZip and Zap and the Marble Gang
Oliver Payne The Theory of Everything

Best Cast

I Am Yours
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Interstellar
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gan
Horrible Bosses 2
The Theory of Everything
Spud 2: The Madness Continues
A Christmoose Story

Best Youth Ensemble

Apaches
Pants on Fire
Interstellar
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
Santa Hunters
The Theory of Everything

Best Original Screenplay

The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Big Hero 6

Best Adapted Screenplay

Big Hero 6
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
A Christmoose Story

Best Score

<emThe Strange Color of Your Body's Tears
Big Hero 6
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
The Theory of Everything
A Christmoose Story

Best Editing

The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Interstellar

Best Sound Editing/Mixing

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Big Hero 6
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang

Best Cinematography

The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Interstellar
Big Hero 6
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
The Theory of Everything
A Christmoose Story

Best Art Direction

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Interstellar
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
The Babadook

Best Costume Design

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
The Theory of Everything

Best Makeup

Rhymes for Young Ghouls
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
The Theory of Everything

Best Visual Effects

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Interstellar
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang
The Babadook
A Christmoose Story

Best (Original) Song

“The Hanging Tree The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
“Immortals” Big Hero 6
Choir Spud 2: The Madness Continues

Review: A Life in Dirty Movies

Posted on by bernardovillela

A Life in Dirty Movies is a documentary about the life and films of Joe Sarno who was professed as “The Ingmar Bergman of 42nd Street,” a titan of sexploitation cinema from the 1960s through the mid-1970s.

Early on in watching A Life in Dirty Movies you may find a weird number of allusions coming to mind as the narrative unfolds such as the character of Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) in Boogie Nights. Yet as the story moves on you’ll see the individual, the milieu, the genre and where some of the legends about these films came, as well as information on the transformative shift from what was once sexploitation to hardcore; and thus Joe Sarno as an artist goes from the avant guard to a man of a bygone era almost immediately.

As a man he is almost unchanged. In one of the wonders of the Internet age his films, like those of other mavericks and originals in specific niches; have found new life and appreciation due to discussions and video availability. As the story unfolds and you see footage, even if you never saw one of his films, that illustrates what the likes of his widow Peggy Sarno, John Waters, and film historians are saying: in this softcore world Sarno found a voice.

It’s one of the film writing axioms that within your genre you find the room to speak and ply your craft. This was the case here. The fact that years later be it in the United States or Sweden there were retrospectives and reconsideration and seemingly sudden interest in his film is a testament to what Sarno did do, and what after a while he was no longer allowed to do as frequently.

Part of the film talks of his work in a filmographic sense with talking-heads and footage, part of it is current as he is trying to write and get a new script produced well into the 21st century as well as making ends, juxtapose that with the sudden recognition he’s getting and the travails he faced personally aside from the career that couldn’t and didn’t want to conform to where business took his form and there’s a lot to work with and fit into this compact film.

It does meld together well and the conclusion has impact. I can’t help but think the final third did feel a bit herky-jerky not because of narrative decisions, but rather pacing decisions in the edit that built emotional backstory and current context that shifts a bit too abruptly. The shift in the end does need some abruptness based on the parameters but it lends itself to a compartmentalized fragmented view of the film that had come to tie together many disparate elements to that point.

Ultimately this is a case wherein film is the best chronicler of film history in a manner such that the information would reach an audience that may not have been receptive to Sarno’s story another way. As is illustrated in the film Joe struggled to win any sort of favor with his wife’s family and it seemed even his industry had forsaken him, but when he died the New York Times dedicated the topmost, largest obit on that day to his memory. A mark had been made, but to the completely uninitiated that or text on his work may not be the most effective introduction, but rather this film is. For I think without it, without cutting in clips starting with one that is a jarring amount of cinéma vérité in sexploitation film; I may not have come away from the film with an appreciation for what he did and a curiosity to perhaps see it. A writer can do wonderful things in describing a film, but a lot of film writing can communicate more easily when the audience has already experienced the film it’s harder still to paint that picture and compel someone to seek out further and in that way this film may allow Sarno’s legacy to live on further.

7/10