In the early 90’s a small group of kids gravitated to Aaron Rose’s Alleged Gallery in New York City. It wasn’t so much a gallery as hang out spot that used to be a storefront, but to pass time this group–loosely knit through skateboarding and punk music–experimented creatively. They were the dispossessed losers of suburban America and as Mike Mills, whose one of them, says, “If you’re not dispossessed, why make art? Why try to save your life by making something?”
Having fun creating only to look back and realize that creating was your survival, then having to negotiate getting back to that fun spot so you can survive is the path of Beautiful Losers. Aaron Rose’s documentary is a painfully funny coming-of-age story about some of today’s most influential artists and it follows one rule: Don’t take us seriously. …Read more
What I didn’t expect from Beautiful Loserswas how much fun it would be to watch a documentary of the most unpretentious, unmoody and successful artists of my generation. All the artists (Harmony Korine, Mike Mills, Stephen Powers, Thomas Campbell, Margaret Kilgallen, Shepard Fairey, Jo Jackson, Ed Templeton, Geoff McFetridge, Chris Johanson, Barry McGee, Aaron Rose) seem like they’re unconsciously competing to steal the show and win biggest laugh (Harmony wins, in my book). But the best part of Aaron Rose’s movie is how it transcends its genre and becomes a coming of age movie like I’ve not seen in a doc before.
Aaron Rose is the director, but his legendary Alleged Gallery was the incubator for these artists in the early 90’s. I talk to him about being at the center of this scene back then and what it meant for him and his buddies to “grow up.”
If you have a recent picture of yourself in a costume and can make the appropriate value judgements about John Carpenter flicks, you could attend Harry Knowles’ 24-hour film festival.
Film theorist Rudolf Arnheim died, but commenter Marco didn’t have anything to do with it.
You can download a free issue of Film Quarterly that includes out takes from the script of Mark Rappaport’s From The Journals of Jean Seberg. I read them on the subway and they were awesome.
Think Tyler Perry’s a hack and Judd Apatow’s a genius? Armond White says that’s because you’re white.
On FilmCouch: Paul and Kevin mull over Mike Mills’ depression in Japan doc Does Your Soul Have A Cold? and finally got around to seeing The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford — no thanks to Warner Brothers. And Karina tries to explain why a four hour Tom Petty documentary directed by Peter Bogdanovich makes perfect sense.
Paul interviews Mike Mills (Thumbsucker) about his new documentary, Does Your Soul Have a Cold?Mills follows five Japanese people prescribed anti-depressants since a massive ad campaign launched in 1999 by American pharmaceutical companies led to a cultural shift in thinking about depression in Japan.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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What I didn’t expect from Beautiful Losers was how much fun it would be to watch a documentary of the most unpretentious, unmoody and successful artists of my generation. All the artists (Harmony Korine, Mike Mills, Stephen Powers, Thomas Campbell, Margaret Kilgallen, Shepard Fairey, Jo Jackson, Ed Templeton, Geoff McFetridge, Chris Johanson, Barry McGee, Aaron Rose) seem like they’re unconsciously competing to steal the show and win biggest laugh (Harmony wins, in my book). But the best part of Aaron Rose’s movie is how it transcends its genre and becomes a coming of age movie like I’ve not seen in a doc before.
