The director of "Interstellar" (pictured on the set with Matthew McConaughey) is a rare creature in Hollywood; Pink Floyd has a brand-new album, with songs that are nearly 20 years old; Tyler the Creator transitions from rapper to carnival barker; and the AFI Fest opens in Los Angeles and tries to float a couple of Oscar boats.
The 5 films to see at the AFI Festival
The AFI Festival is a free event that runs from November 6 to the 13 here in Los Angeles. From Oscar hopefuls to low-budget foreign films, there's a lot going on over the course of that week. Thankfully, Kyle Buchanan, Senior Editor at New York Magazine's Vulture.com, stopped by The Frame's studio to recommend the 5 films that he's most excited to see at the festival.
"A Most Violent Year"
Buchanan starts with the festival's opening night movie:
The kickoff movie is "A Most Violent Year." It stars Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, and they play a married couple who are trying to run a business on the straight-and-narrow in what turned out to be the most violent year in New York history, 1981. It's directed by J.C. Chandor, who made two phenomenal films, "Margin Call" and "All is Lost." So that's a great reason to see it. Great actors are a great reason to see it. Another great reason to see it: Jessica Chastain's blunt, blonde bangs hairdo. She's giving me Michelle Pfeiffer in "Scarface" realness, and I'm here for that.
"Inherent Vice"
There are two films that have been at other festivals hoping to get more love at AFI Fest.
"Inherent Vice" debuted at the New York Film Festival with a whole lot of expectations coming off a very fun, raucous trailer. And, obviously, Paul Thomas Anderson, who's directed "Boogie Nights" and "There Will Be Blood" — strong pedigree there. It got kind of a mixed reception though, and I think that what it's looking for at AFI Fest is some sort of critical redemption. Maybe people will say that the buzz was a little too harsh on it, or maybe it'll have lowered the hype level so much that people can kind of discover it on their own.
"Still Alice"
Another film making the festival rounds that's high on Buchanan's list is 'Still Alice' based on the Lisa Genova novel.
Julianne Moore's terrific in this. I saw it [at the Toronto Film Festival]; she plays a woman in her 50s who develops early-onset Alzheimer's, and it's really a devastating movie and a showcase for her acting. In fact, this might be her best shot in her entire career for actually winning the Oscar that she has so richly deserved for...boy, about a dozen of her films.
"Selma"
One film that's not ready to be screened in full but will get a special sneak peek at the AFI Fest is the Martin Luther King biopic, "Selma."
"Selma" is one of the last high-profile movies to be released in time for the Oscar race, and AFI guests are going to get a first glimpse at it. It's a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic that only finished shooting a few months ago and they're trying to rush it and get it ready for the Christmas holiday. A really phenomenal up-and-coming director is behind that one — Ava DuVernay — and I'm very curious about it.
"The Tribe"
The AFI Film Festival is also a place to discover worthy foreign language films. This Friday the movie "The Tribe" takes the idea of foreign language to a new level.
One under-the-radar pick I would recommend is a film called "The Tribe." It's Ukranian, although it almost doesn't matter that it's Ukranian because it's told entirely in sign language. And the real trick of it is — there are no subtitles. It takes place in this boarding school where our protagonist is thrust into a world of prostitution and crime, and you're essentially trying to figure out what he is signing to his classmates in an almost-total immersion way. You're thrown into this environment, you pick up little clues, and you can sort of intuit how these character behave and what they're saying, just based on the furious way in which they sign. That almost becomes an accent in itself, so it is a fascinating film, a foreign language that I think will be very foreign to a lot of people.
Tyler, The Creator brings out his playful side for Camp Flog Gnaw
Known for his aggressive lyrics and unpredictable stage antics, rapper Tyler Gregory Okonma (better known as Tyler, The Creator) has become somewhat of a pop culture renaissance man. He leads the rap group Odd Future, has a clothing brand, his own TV show on Adult Swim and he even has his own carnival.
Camp Flog Gnaw started in 2012 and has grown into a music festival with rides, a skate park and more. Tyler says he initially wanted to have a carnival for his "Goblin" album release in 2011:
I wanted to shut down Fairfax and throw a carnival. I was like, 'Can we get a carnival? Get, like, two rides and I don't know, I'll do a performance there.' The city wouldn't give us a permit to have a block party with all that stuff. So, like, maybe a year later, we just start brainstorming and it turned into what it is now. Which is sick, cause like, I wanna design skate parks. Like, a real one in L.A., so this also gives me the chance to practice with that.
Tyler's fascination with carnivals came at an early age when he was growing up in Hawthorne. He says he grew up around gang banging and, "always had to be hard, like, even in schools, but it was something about the carnival, where like, everyone there was just in a good mood."
One of his main attractions to carnivals are the rides. "They had this ride called The Zipper," he says, "That is one of my favorite rides ever. And I always wanted to have a camp or something sick like that. Like, I always wanted to throw my own festival with only artists that I like."
The only problem, he says, is there aren't a lot of artists he likes. "So trying to have a festival that sells tickets, when the only thing you like is Death Grips and Marvin Gaye's 'Cudi' album that no one knows about — it's hard to get people to buy tickets."
He isn't having too much trouble attracting an audience for Camp Flog Gnaw. The festival has grown in attendance since its first year and Tyler expects to attract more than 20,000 attendees for this year's event: The fact that we could throw a carnival ... and it's people from Denmark and Nebraska [attending], just coming together all for a good cause, to have fun, is really sick."
Camp Flog Gnaw takes place at Exposition Park on Saturday, Nov. 8.