Did the father of 9-year-old Slumdog Millionaire actress Rubina Ali try to sell her for nearly $300,000? He denies it, while the British tabloids reporting on the story aren’t ever to be trusted. Because it’s so hard to determine who’s telling the truth in this latest Slumdog kids controversy, I’m just going to go ahead and blame Harvey Weinstein, since he’s likely responsible for starting all the inquiries into the child actors’ lives in the first place while Oscar-campaigning for his own Best Picture hopeful (remember, he didn’t deny it). I’m not alleging that he’s spitefully continuing the backlash because his film lost the top award (he’s surely happy enough with the two actress wins), as I’m better off accusing him of actually starting poverty in India. But he’s an oft-dependable scapegoat, so I’ll just keep the finger pointed in his direction. I am going to extend another finger out, though, to Born Into Brothels directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman for also being instrumental in encouraging the saving of specific poor Indian children who were lucky enough to become movie stars.
Anyway, the story may be a non-story, and it may be a waste of time trying to sort it out, but it sure made for some good jokes. The best from the blogs can be found after the jump:
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Getting ready for the Sundance Film Festival can be very exciting. As we await the event’s Thursday opening, we can’t stop wondering what will be the next big thing. Will this year’s hit be the highly-anticipated Michael Cera project Paper Hearts, or will it be something that we as of yet know nothing about?
It’s easy to forget, however, that oftentimes the next big thing is also the next lamest thing. Sundance sensations, those films that are much-buzzed-about, that sell for a lot of money, that go on to be marketed like crazy and ultimately receive Oscar recognition, tend to lend themselves most easily to backlashes. Usually such derision is deserved, as in the case of the following ten films, each of which made a big splash at Sundance despite being bad.
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If you were a nature documentarian and you were filming a lion’s hunt, would you intervene and save a gazelle from being eaten? Probably not, but if you were making a documentary about poor children in the Red Light district of Calcutta, you’d probably want to help the kids out, maybe even film yourself doing good deeds in order to show just how much of a saint you are. Obviously there’s a big difference in the ethical obligation to human beings versus animals, but there has also always been a debate with documentary regarding just how much interaction and intervention is okay. Should a filmmaker remain completely detached from his or her subject? Should the line be drawn at life or death situations, or is it fine to become involved with the filmed people? If direct-cinema kings Albert and David Maysles can interact so much with the Beales of Grey Gardens, even potentially becoming romantically involved, then nobody should question a documentarian’s desire to be an angel with a handicam. Right?
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