Film Fete: The Best of Short Ends & Leader

About a year ago, PopMatters’ daily blog, Short Ends & Leader, stepped into the light of the computer moniter. Unlike other blog models of reliable reportage and news feed items, Short Ends and Leader (“SE&L”, named for the snippets of celluloid used by independent and exploitation filmmakers when full magazines of stock were unobtainable, or unaffordable) wanted to concentrate on the lost art of cinematic scrutiny. Unlike other sites that simply provide information in cold, clinical couplets, our writers have strived to uncloak the mystery behind movies, to analyze the art that lies within. We’re not obsessed with box office results or prerelease hype. Instead, our entries attempt to contextualize and explain, to place the subject or work discussed within a perspective that illustrates both its importance and its ability to entertain (or the lack thereof).

Sure, it sounds a little snooty — more Pauline Kael than Peter Travers — but there are far too many examples of populist thinking out there to warrant replication. Besides, there’s so much more to the artform than an upturned or downturned thumb. Scores and ratings are one thing — implication and meaning are much more important. Looking back on the past 365 days, it’s obvious that SE&L has attempted to do this very thing, as well as aim for the two goals that all good writing should achieve: the ability to inform and inspire. If you’ve read something in our daily updates and found it sparking a desire to look deeper, or go out and rent/buy/see a specific title, then we’ve accomplished our aims. If our words have caused you to reconsider a personal opinion, or opened your eyes to a previously unknown entity or approach, then we’ve achieved our sometimes lofty ambitions.

SE&L’s contributors include Farisa Khalid, who delivers indepth coverage of Bollywood, India’s amazingly dense and culturally important motion picture industry. Initially, SE&L ran several sections focusing on the must see films from this fascinating market. We looked at seminal works by Satyajit Ray (Pather Pancheli), Ramesh Sippy (Sholay), and up and coming artists like Karan Johar (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai). Khalid also explored Deepa Mehta’s take on Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Trois Couleurs Trilogy (Fire/Earth/Water) and perhaps the most successful commercial art film Bollywood ever made, Muzaffir Ali’s Umrao Jaan. In addition to addressing specific films, Khalid has also focused on specific character types that are present in all Indian film. Important overview pieces have focused on Sex Goddesses, Tough Guys, Artists, Beauties, Leading Men, and the most meaningful category to the West Asian audience, The Everyman. Each article examines the actors and roles that made these personal paradigms important, and allows the reader to more fully comprehend the richness and depth of this important international forum.

SE&L isn’t afraid to scan film fringes to dig up important issues that inform the context and creative categories of the medium. We used the month of October to focus on that most unloved of motion picture product, the horror film, while our Beyond the Fringe section looks at up and coming outsider filmmakers like Justin Channel (Die and Let Live) and Isaak James (Special Needs). We’ve given scholarly props to misunderstood genres like the all important exploitation film (including looks at important titles like Bad Girls Go to Hell, Joe Sarno’s Sin in the Suburbs, and the outrageous Olga films) and strived to cover movies that either failed to generate much initial ‘classic’ consideration (Forgotten Gems) or entertain even through their obvious limits (Guilty Pleasures). It’s worth noting that many of these entries have come from consistent scribe and outright connoisseur Matt Mazur. His approach to cinema is always insightful and fully formed. He’s even looked beyond the single movie to focus on the careers of Bergman favorites Harriet Andersson and Liv Ullman, as well as the limited aesthetic returns provided by director Michel Gondry.

We’ve also had amazing essays from outside the immediate SE&L family. The blog has been lucky enough to have author Danielle Jackson discuss the impact of emerging Bosnian filmmaker Danijela Majstorovic (in a gripping interview), while Jeffrey Taylor told us of emerging comedy filmmaker Lee Abbot’s latest project, National Lampoon’s Totally Baked: A POTumentary. We’ve had detailed reports from Little Big Shots, Melbourne Australia’s International Film Festival for Kids (thanks to Deanne Sole) and a peek at one of the most talked about amateur films in recent memory, a shot for shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark created by a group of enterprising teens back in the mid-80s. As witnessed by Adam Besenyodi, it remains a seminal film geek moment and a must-see live experience for any true movie buff. In the future, we hope to offer more coverage of these massive media events while still seeking out the individual stories that offer insight into the way in which the movie industry works.

And yet, the main focus of SE&L remains the critical commentary focusing on all aspects — good/bad, pro/con, engaging/aggravating — of the multifaceted movie biz. We aren’t afraid to call out certain films (Borat) that only pretend to be groundbreaking and inventive, while championing causes both creative (300) and crucial (SiCKO) to the continuing relevancy of the motion picture. Not even controversy can dissuade us, as when we championed Eli Roth’s remarkable Hostel sequel, dismissing those who would undermine its approach with pundit buzzword breakdowns and shortcut analytical lies. Certain filmmakers — Terry Gilliam, George Lucas — have been dissected and deconstructed within the context of recent issues (the ex-Python’s Tideland, Mr. Skywalker’s continued Star Wars workouts), while the continued cannibalizing of animation and special effects by the computer (CGI Sucks) became a specific cause celeb.

Heck, we’ll even take on our own profession, exposing the arrogance that comes with being a supposed cinematic know it all, especially when it comes to complex, intellectually trying titles (The Fountain) or specifically snubbed genres (Horror). By focusing on the role home video, the VCR, and DVD format have had on the concept of film reviewing (Home Video’s True Legacy) and how the Internet has marginalized the role of true criticism (Critical Mess), SE&L has shown that as much as we believe we are the answer to Hollywood’s ills, we tend to exacerbate the problem, as well. Not that you, the audience, get off the hook that easy. In pieces arguing over your love of motion picture junk (Fast Food Nation) and overreliance on ratings to determine merchandising and merit (Parental Guidance Rejected), we’ve pointed out the viewers complicity in Hollywood’s tendency toward trash.

Indeed, it’s clear by the number of bad ideas bubbling around Tinsel Town (a Beatles musical entitled Across The Universe, a live action Underdog movie) that the box office driven demands of motion picture profiteering is what guides most of what we see on the big screen. It may explain some of the recent dopey decisions made by the studio suits, including the desire to see R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles in the role of Aida for Disney’s adaptation of their own Great White Way effort, the continued championing of directorial underachiever Bryan Singer, or why this Spring’s critically acclaimed Grindhouse failed to connect with its supposedly indestructible demographic. Granted, there’s been an overreliance on the Internet, as Snakes on a Plane proved. Yet someone as smart as JJ Abrams (of Lost and Alias fame) is still using the web to pimp his latest production, a Blair Witch style shocker about a monster that destroys Manhattan, code named “Cloverfield”.

And there’s always more to cover. This past week alone saw ComicCon decide that its previous ‘anything goes’ approach was not family friendly enough. As of now, the annual entertainment extravaganza has placed a ‘PG-13 only’ mandate over all participating projects (leading Fox to pull out of its participation almost completely). Critics and conservatives are still picking apart Michael Moore’s amazing health care documentary, SiCKO, arguing (unsuccessfully) that missing a few key details somehow overthrows the entire big picture projection. Similarly, the complaint hasn’t stopped the Bush Administration from supposedly subpoenaing the filmmaker over his trip to Cuba with some 9/11 rescue workers. House of Mouse animators, angry over the entire Disney/Pixar merger, have secretly been hoping that the brilliant summer masterpiece Ratatouille would bomb at the box office, while Lindsay Lohan’s inability to stay sober has threatened several in development and soon to be released efforts, including the disaster in the making, I Know Who Killed Me.

So as one year passes and another one begins, SE&L will keep examining and exploring all aspects of cinema. We will pick apart its language and remember its pristine examples from the past. We’ll continue to review the latest theatrical, DVD and movie soundtracks titles, and keep you updated with Tuesday release roundups and Weekend overviews of what’s on the premium pay cable channels. As the Summer blockbuster season ends, we’ll provide a final assessment of what worked, and what didn’t, and we’ll even confess to making a few predictions (potential flops, unsuccessful adaptations) that didn’t completely pan out. Of course, with time, all can and may be forgiven and/or forgotten. And who knows what the next 12 months will bring, both to the business and the blog? One thing’s for sure — it will be fun finding out. Join us in the journey, won’t you?