Tag: Kevin Brooks

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Coming Into Focus: Kevin Brooks

Kevin Brooks (Photo: Ziggy Mack)

Memphis filmmaker Kevin Brooks has 15 tattoos.

“I have a rose on my thumb because I just love love,” he says. “I love the idea of love. I just struggle with it a lot.”

He has a sailboat tattoo on his wrist. That’s a reminder to “remember to just go with the flow. Life will take you this way and that way.”

Since Brooks, 30, began making movies as a child, life has taken him to the Sundance Film Festival as winner of the Sundance Ignite award. He won the $10,000 Memphis Film Prize twice for his movies in 2018 and 2019. And he’s earned several awards for his short films and music videos at the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

His recent movie, “What Were You Meant For?,” which deals with Black male identity, is included in the current Crosstown Arts film exhibition.

Filmmaker Craig Brewer is a Brooks fan. “I remember seeing this short he had made and thinking, ‘I’ve never seen Memphis kids skateboarding look so epic and beautiful,’” Brewer says. “It was cinema. It wasn’t just skateboarding. Ever since then Kevin has been growing as a storyteller, as a director.”

It all began with Power Rangers when Brooks was 5 years old. “I used to have toy Power Rangers as a little kid,” Brooks says. “And I used to mimic their voices and make them do certain things.” He reenacted scenes from the Power Rangers shows. “I guess that was my way of storytelling and making movies.”

When he was 6, Brooks began using a VHS camcorder his dad bought. “I remember him taking it around the house saying, ‘Press this button,’ which was the red button. ‘And you go and record things. Then if you hit the rewind button, you can watch it back.’ I thought that was the most amazing thing ever. He taught me stop-motion animation.”

Brooks began filming his Power Rangers with his dad’s camera. “I’d just pan back and forth, left and right. After I did that first recording, I would go around recording the dog and just anything.”

That same year, his parents took him to see The Matrix. “That movie was more visually appealing than any movie I had ever seen. It just blew me away. For one, I visually remember the infamous Keanu Reeves-dodging-the-bullet scene. And I remember trying to recreate that. Just myself. Just in my room. Trying to bend backwards. Keep falling over and over again.”

After viewing the movie 20 times on a VHS tape, Brooks discovered the movie included a special feature at the end of the credits that showed how the moviemakers created that bullet effect. “I knew movies weren’t real, but seeing what went into it and seeing the directors telling people it would be this and that, I think that is what got me. Just, ‘This is a world I have got to be in.’”

Skating to Sundance

By the time he was 7, Brooks was making short 30-second films. He didn’t think he wanted to make a living as a filmmaker, but, he says, “I knew I wanted to be in the realm of making movies. At the same time, I was playing basketball really heavy.”

Basketball overshadowed moviemaking for a while. But Brooks continued to get blown away by cinema. He loved films by Quentin Tarantino, Terrence Malick, and Steven Spielberg.

Basketball, eventually, took a backseat to filmmaking. “That’s when things started to change. Before that, I was really wanting to go down the path of being a basketball player. Trying hard. My love just wasn’t there for it anymore. Before the games, I dreaded playing. It was a weird feeling.”

Plan B was moviemaking. “It was always around.”

To make a little cash on the side, Brooks made music videos for local artists. Making videos as well as short films in high school helped him as a filmmaker. “It taught me how to record on the fly. How to grab what I need for the edit and think of the edit while I’m recording — that taught me a lot. At the same time, I knew I wanted to tell my own stories and gear more toward narrative and documentary filmmaking.”

Brooks, who majored in film and production at University of Memphis, made a short film, “Keep Pushing,” during his senior year. “That was my first thing I was super proud of.”

His idea was to cast real skateboarders to showcase their expertise. He then met skateboarder Husain Razvi, who told him, “Man, what if you just follow me around?”

“I was like, ‘Follow you around?’ Husain can skate, but he’s not doing tricks. What he’s doing is just kicking the board, going down the ramps, but nothing exciting like I was going to have these guys doing.”

Then, Brooks says, “A light bulb clicked. And I was like, ‘I was trying to tell the story of all these people who are great skaters.’”

Instead, he shot Razvi. “I filmed him every single part of his day.”

The 10-minute film turned into a documentary. “It was great footage. Him interacting with kids. Him talking about life.”

Brooks was looking at his phone one day in geology class when something caught his attention. “I see that Sundance has this program for 18- to 24-year-olds for short films. It has to be 10 minutes long. You have to turn it in within the next two weeks.”

Brooks went to work on his film about Razvi. “For the next two weeks, all I did was edit. I stayed up every night editing it. I put my own music to it.”

Four weeks later, Brooks received an email that read, “You have been selected as one of the top five filmmakers to be part of the Sundance Ignite program. We will fly you out. We will take care of everything.”

Brooks was stunned. “I literally almost started crying.”

He attended the festival in Park City, Utah. People praised the film. “They were saying that it just felt like you were really there in that world. And the camera movement really made you analyze things differently. They were saying they fell in love with Husain as a character because he felt so real.

“They were saying after the film they had this different outlook on what it means to be successful, what it means to go through life, and how it’s not right to always be in competition with one another.

“The film is about Husain. He’s not great at skateboarding, but he loves doing it every single day. No matter what, you’re not going to stop him. I don’t care if you’re the best skateboarder. He’s not going to compare himself to you. That’s just his nature. He’s like, ‘I’m in my own world and I’m going to take my place and I’m going to do what I do and I’m in love with what I’m doing.’ I think that’s remarkable. That story worked out because of Husain being the most honest human being.”

“Keep Pushing” follows amateur skateboarder Husain Rasvi. (Photo: Courtesy Kevin Brooks)

Keep Pushing

Brooks continued to make movies after Sundance. “Marcus,” which made it in the top 10 for the Memphis Film Prize, is “a short film that examines the retaliatory state of gang violence.”

“Myron,” which stars Lawrence Matthews, is about “a young Black man who embarks on a day full of skateboarding with his friends who are predominantly white.” He returns home “with a different outlook on life, and how he’s truly seen in society.”

“Grace,” which stars Rosalind Ross, is about a prostitute who always dreamed about singing on the big stage. “She gets her chance when she comes across a flier for a karaoke contest,” Brooks says.

His next film, “Bonfire,” is a “meditative piece on the nature of love and heartbreak. I was inspired by a big breakup that took place. I wanted to get my emotions out, and the best way for me to do that was through film.”

“So, I got my friends together and gave them cameras. And we would go out on the weekend and film scenes with different people and ask them, ‘What is love to you?’ It was very cathartic, and the making of it was experimental. It was highly influenced by Terrence Malick films.”

The movie premiered at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, where it won the Hometowner Documentary Short award in 2018.

His narrative film, “Last Day,” is “about a guy’s last day with his family before he’s sent off to prison.” He won his first $10,000 Memphis Film Prize with that film.

Brooks won his second Memphis Film Prize for his movie, “A Night Out.” “After a bad breakup a woman goes out with her friends for a girls’ night out. But the night doesn’t end the way she expects.”

Indie Memphis awarded Brooks and his co-director Abby Meyers $10,000 for their film “A Night Out.” (Photo: Courtesy Kevin Brooks)

He collaborated on “Night Out” with his friend Abby Meyers, who co-directed the film. “That came from hearing so many stories of women being sexually assaulted,” he says.

Brooks continued to make music videos, including one for Talibah Safiya’s “Healing Creek,” which won the Best Hometowner Music Video award in the Video Memphis competition.

In 2020 Brooks was included among the Memphis Flyer’s 20<30 honorees. He then went to work for Kellogg’s, shooting five episodes around the United States for a mini series, Black Girls Run. The series, which was about “promoting health in the Black community,” featured young women training for their first 5K.

Brooks also did a project for McDonald’s, where he traveled to Los Angeles and “highlighted kids in different sectors who were doing amazing things in the Black community,” he says.

One young man was into finance and a young woman was into fashion. But they were all “game changers.”

“I love connecting with people through stories, and opportunities just come about,” Brooks says. “If it’s a story or an opportunity for me to use my voice in that capacity, I’m 100 percent in.”

In 2022, Brooks went to work in his present job as a videographer for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He interviews and films patients telling their stories.

Brooks won the Hometowner Documentary Short for “Bonfire.” (Photo: Courtesy Kevin Brooks)

Enjoy the Journey

In 2023, Brooks got serious about working on his own feature film. “I wanted to do a feature for so long and put so much pressure on it. When I felt every door was closing, I felt jaded. I just wasn’t sure what my next move would be in terms of independent filmmaking.”

But, he says, “Through that period, I also found that inner kid who was in me again, who just wanted to go out and make movies for fun.”

Brooks returned to moviemaking when he made “Embers of Self,” which played opening night at Indie Memphis Film Festival’s Hometowner Shorts Showcase. “That really got me going, just because it was me being free and making things without a result,” Brooks says. “That’s how art should be. I had gotten away from that.”

Brooks felt he had been “focusing on the end result and not the process.”

That’s when he came up with his Crosstown Arts film. The movie is “just about masculinity and the ways that I have maneuvered in this world because of that label.”

He deals with the idea that Black men “always have to be super masculine,” and that it’s okay to be vulnerable.

Brooks currently is knee-deep into preproduction for a feature film. “I’m really 100 percent going headfirst into it. And I’m doing it my way.

“If it touches one person, that means a lot,” he adds.

Says Brewer: “The thing I’m most impressed with him is, he is hungry for knowledge and always looking for a way to improve himself and keep in the game of filmmaking. Some people burn out. Some people get discouraged. And there’s a lot in this craft that can turn you off to it. But he manages to push through and stay positive and stay creative.”

“He’s a rare one,” says filmmaker Tom Shadyac. “Full of passion, commitment, and talent. He doesn’t just make movies to tell stories. It’s not just a means to an end for him. It’s more holistic for Kevin. He cares about his subjects and subject matter. For him, the means are the end.”

Among the tattoos Brooks sports are ones that read, “Keep Pushing” and “Enjoy the Journey.”

“You’ve got to do those two things,” he says. “You just have to keep pushing. You have to enjoy the journey that you’re on and know that things are not going to happen fast. But if you just follow Husain’s route and just wake up every day and do what you love, then things will work out.”

“What Were You Meant For?” is on view at Crosstown Arts through April 26th.

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We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: “Black American Portraits” Opens With a Bash

"Black American :Portraits' opened with a party at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Memphis filmmaker Kevin Brooks was impressed with “Black American Portraits,” the new exhibit at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. The exhibit, which features 129 works of art and 90 artists, was curated by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

“As I walked through the gallery — as a black artist myself — I was profoundly moved by the intention of the curation,” Brooks says. “It was a poignant reminder that the Black experience is multifaceted and complex, encompassing a wide spectrum of emotions and experiences. I left there with a renewed sense of pride and purpose. It reminded me of the transformative power of art to shape perspectives, challenge narratives, and celebrate the beauty of the black experience.”

Brooks, who attended with Kathryn McCullough, were among the more than 750 people who attended the opening party, which was held August 17th.

Kevin Brooks and Katheryn McCullough at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Babbie Lovett at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Toni Crutchfield and Dianne Fletcher at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Logan Scheidt and Brooks executive director Zoe Kahr at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Brooks board president Carl Person at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Christine Moore, Carl E. Moore, Roy Tamboli, Eric O. Harris, Carol Bachman at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Valerie Person, Angela Wright, Leslie Johnson, Tamika Richmond at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

It was great to be holding a big party at Brooks again, says Patricia Daigle, Brooks curator of modern and contemporary art. “We have a few good years left in our Overton Park location,” she says. So, it’s nice to see people “really excited about the Brooks and what we’re doing here.”

As far as the reaction to the show, Daigle says, “Many people have just been happy and excited to see such incredible works here. A special part of the show is how many of those works by significant artists, both historical and contemporary, are on view.”

“Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
MIckell and Chonisa Lowery at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Aniseya Butler, Michael Butler Jr., and Marley Smith at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Emma Primous, June Griffin James, Elaine Parks at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
“Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Jason and Molly Wexler at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Matt Roumain, Alexis Miche, Linda McNeil, Major McNeil at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Daigle says she’d love to have all these artists included in the permanent Brooks collection, but, in the meantime, visitors are fortunate to get to see work by artists, including Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas, and Kerry James Marshall, on display at the Brooks.  

And, she says, visitors appreciate the fact they can see these works in Memphis.“The general feeling I’ve experienced is just the excitement and the joy the exhibit is really trying to lean into.”

No single piece of art is the most popular, Daigle says. Some people are drawn to “the largest work and the most sort of physically-demanding work. But other people really gravitate to a small drawing. Something quiet.”

Part of the appeal is the range of visions in the show, she says. “There’s something for everybody.”

Deejay Jared “J B.” Boyd played music during the evening. Boyd also curated, according to the Brooks website, “a soundtrack of Memphis music that exemplifies Black Love, Power, and Joy. The 901 Black American Portraits Soundtrack celebrates the vibrant legacy and future of Black musicians in the city of Memphis.”

Jared “Jay B.” Boyd at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

“Black American Portraits” will run through January 7th. “We’ll have it for a good long time. I think it gives people a chance to make it out and see it.”

The museum will be featuring a number of programs during the show. Among those will be “Super Saturday: Black American Portraits,” which will be held from 10 a.m. to noon September 2nd. Free admission and art making. The event will celebrate and discuss the “Black American Portraits” exhibit.

Efe Igor Coleman, Blackmon Perry Assistant Curator of African American Art & Art of the African Diaspora at the Brooks Museum, will give a special gallery talk on the exhibit from 6 to 7 p.m. September 13th.

“Bia Butler in Conversation,” a talk with the contemporary textile artist, will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. and the talk at 6 p.m. on September 22nd. Daigle will moderate the conversation.

Shamessia Lee, Lydia Milton, Yvonne Jones at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Logan Scheidt, Cameron Mann, Lauren Kennedy, Justin Taylor at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Willie Taylor, Raven Martin, Ariel Cobbert, Aljammi Davis, Charlene Graves at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Anita Williams and Jerome Smith at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Caitlin Bertsch and Brad Vest at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Ashley and Jeff Borgsmiller at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Billie Gholson, Sandra Burke, Karen English at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Paul Thomas, Margaret Craddock, Amy Greer, Charlie Nelson at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
We Saw Me and Atlanta Ellington at “Black American Portraits” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
We Saw You
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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Don Lifted

Today’s Music Video Monday is going long.

Don Lifted’s Contour album from 2018 is a saga of teenage love and loss. It’s been the source of some of the best Memphis music videos of the last two years. All along, Don Lifted’s alter ego Lawrence Matthews (or is it the other way around?) has intended it as a multimedia experience, and has released the visual album on a DVD for sale at his shows. Now, he’s releasing the entire album online, and we’re bringing it to you here!

Contour is a mesmerizing 23 minutes. The low-key masterpiece video for “Muirfield,” shot by Kevin Brooks, takes on new meaning in the larger context. Matthews’ collaborated with Nubia Yasin for cinematography and editing, and Martin Matthews on camera.

Here’s the long-form video your quarantine needs:

Music Video Monday: Don Lifted

If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com

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Film Features Film/TV

1917

The year 2019 was a banner one for Memphis short films. One of the best — and certainly the most technically challenging to produce — was “A Night Out” by Kevin Brooks and Abby Myers. Winner of the Memphis Film Prize, “A Night Out” is done in one continuous, 10-minute shot by cinematographer Andrew Trent Fleming, who follows actress Rosalyn Ross up and down the stairs at Molly Fontaine’s. The hard part was to make it seamless while passing through different lighting conditions and requiring a dozen actors to hit their marks exactly right at the same time.

The origin of the seamless, one-shot trick is Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope. Hitch took advantage of a then-new camera that held 10 minutes worth of film and staged his parlor murder mystery as a play on a soundstage. The cuts in the 74-minute film are concealed with camera moves and lighting tricks.

Ten years later, Orson Welles would take Hitch’s innovation and run with it. The unbroken, three-minute-and-twenty-second opening shot of Touch of Evil sets up the entire plot and introduces the main characters with spectacular swoops and daring close-ups.

The modern vogue for long takes began with Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 Children of Men, which features a climactic battle sequence that takes six minutes to unfold as Clive Owen runs through an urban hellscape. Since then, bravado long takes have popped up in everything from Gaspar Noé’s trashy psychedelic dance picture Climax to Cuarón’s sentimental prestige picture Roma. But these films use long takes as a seasoning. The last film to attempt the full Rope trick was Alexander Sokurov’s 2002 film Russian Ark. 

Enter director Sam Mendes (who most recently directed two James Bond movies) and his war film 1917. The story is based on the experience of his grandfather Alfred Mendes on the Western Front during World War I. It opens with a pair of English soldiers napping on a beautiful April morning near the Belgian-French border. Lance Corporals Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) have no idea what kind of day they’re about to have when their commanding officer picks them for a mission.

After fighting over the same few acres of ground for more than a year, the Germans have unexpectedly withdrawn to a new position. An English battalion, which happens to include Blake’s brother, is set to launch an all-out attack to capitalize on this unexpected development. But Allied high command has discovered that they’re charging into a trap. Since the Germans cut the telephone lines on their way out, Blake and Schofield must carry word to Colonel MacKenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch), telling him to call off the attack. The pair of buddies sets out to cross nine miles of battlefield to deliver the message that could save 1,000 lives.

Mendes’ best move in 1917 was tapping Roger Deakins, our greatest living cinematographer, to shoot this intimate story of individual heroism set against the backdrop of an epic conflict. With digital imaging technology, lightweight cameras, cranes and dollies with fully programmable computer controls, and CGI to paint over the gaps, Deakins’ task is superficially easier than Hitchcock’s. But there’s really no comparison. Rope was a bottle show, while 1917 takes place outdoors, ranging up and down trenches stuffed with soldiers, through bunkers rocked by shelling and craters filled with corpses.

Not so quiet on the Western Front — George MacKay (above) risks life and limb in 1917.

The best sequence in a film made of nothing but impossible images comes after night falls on the worst day of our protagonists’ lives. Schofield sneaks through a bombed-out French town, his progress lit by flashing explosions, shimmering flares, and a raging bonfire. Deakins uses the flickering shadows like a German Expressionist, creating ephemeral representations of our hero’s haunted mental state.

The other great film from the 1950s that pioneered the long take is Paths of Glory. If 1917 has a direct inspiration, it’s Stanley Kubrick’s searing 1957 World War I film. Both Kirk Douglas’ one-shot tour of the trenches and his march across No Man’s Land are directly referenced by Mendes to great effect. But the visual callbacks to a legendary anti-war film raise issues that 1917 skirts. Not that Mendes shrinks from putting the horrors of war in your face — far from it. But Kubrick is explicit that war is empty vanity. Mendes is focused on the technical trickery, pacing his film like a first-person shooter to keep you engaged in the action. It wouldn’t do to lose your attention while Blake and Schofield trudge through a field with no one to shoot at them. Maybe Truffaut was right when he said “Every film about war ends up being pro-war” — especially one like 1917 that looks so damn good.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019

Music Video Monday is counting down the hits!

The Memphis Flyer is proud to feature music videos from Memphis artists on Music Video Monday. Judging from the mind-bending difficulty of putting together this top ten list, 2019 was a good year. I scored the year’s videos on concept, song, look, and performance. Then, I shook my head at all the ties and did it all over again. It was so close, it was an honor just to be in the top ten, and I had to include three honorable mentions. Congratulations to all our winners!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

A. Frog Squad’s live space jazz epic “Solar System in Peabody”, directed by Brett Hanover, earns an honorable mention as one of the most incredible pieces of music that came across our threshold this year.

B. Stephen Chopek’s cover of the Pogues “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah” came with one of the DIY video auteur’s cleverest videos yet.

C. Louise Page’s “Future Runaway Bride,” directed by Joshua Cannon and Barrett Kutas, will get you to the church on time, but what happens then is on you.

TOP TEN:

10. PreauXX – “Steak and Shake ft. AWFM”

The Unapologetic crew gets behind the counter of a sandwich joint in this video from director 35 Miles. This is one of those videos where you can just tell that everybody had a great time making it, and the fun is infectious. 

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019

9. Uriah Mitchell – “Might Be”

Everything is wound up tight in Waheed AlQawasami’s video of a surreal night at the club with Uriah and his friends.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (2)

8. Heels – “King Drunk”

Director Nathan Parten transforms Midtown into a D&D fantasia in this incredible animated video for Memphis’ hardest rocking duo.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (3)

7. Talibah Safiya – “Healing Creek”

Director Kevin Brooks brought out Talibah Safiya’s beauty and charisma in this spiritual video, which won the Hometowner Music Video award at Indie Memphis 2019.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (4)

6. Sweet Knives – “I Don’t Wanna Die”

Shannon Walton is outstanding as a stranded aviator in this video by director Laura Jean Hocking for the reunited veterans of the Lost Sounds, led by Alijca Trout.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (5)

5. The Poet Havi – “Shea Butter (Heart of Darkness)”

Director Joshua Cannon and cinematographer Nate Packard took inspiration from Raging Bull for this banger from The Poet Havi, who clearly has more and better dancers than Martin Scorsese ever did.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (6)

4. Impala – “Double Indemnity”

Director Edward Valibus and actress Rosalyn Ross created a heist movie in miniature for the kings of Memphis surf’s comeback record.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (7)

3. John Kilzer – Hello Heart

Memphis lost an elder statesman of music this year when John Kilzer tragically passed away in January. Director Laura Jean Hocking created this tone poem in blue for his final single.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (8)

2. Al Kapone – “Al Kapeezy Oh Boy”

Director Sean Winfrey knows how large Al Kapone looms in Memphis music, and he finally blew the rapper up to Godzilla size in this video for one of Kapone’s best jams since “Whoop That Trick”.

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (9)

1. Louise Page – “Harpy”

When this one dropped in October, MVM called it “an instant classic.” Animator Nathan Parten transformed Louise Page into a mythological monster and sending her off to wreak havoc on Greek heroes. Don’t feel sorry for Odysseus. He got what he deserved. Memphis, look upon your best music video of 2019: 

Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (10)

If you would like to see you music video on Music Video Monday, and maybe in the top ten of 2020, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com. Happy New Year! 

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

2019: The Year in Film

The year 2019 will go down in history as a watershed. Avengers: Endgame made $357 million on its opening weekend, which was not only the biggest take for any film in history, but also the most profitable three days in the history of the American theater industry. It was the year that the industry consolidation entered its endgame, with Disney buying 20th Century Fox and cornering more than 40 percent of the market. Beyond the extruded superhero film-type product, it turned out to be a fantastic year for smaller films with something to say. Here’s my list of the best of a year for the history books.

Worst Picture: Echo in the Canyon Confession: I decided life is too short to watch The Angry Birds Movie 2, so Echo in the Canyon is probably not the worst film released in 2019 — just the worst one I saw. Laurel Canyon was brimming over with creativity in the 1960s and 1970s, with everyone from Frank Zappa to the Eagles living in close, creative quarters. How did this happen? What does it say about the creative process? Jakob Dylan’s excruciatingly dull vanity documentary answers none of those questions. The best/worst moment is when Dylan The Lesser argues with Brian Wilson about the key of a song Wilson wrote.

‘Soul Man’

Best Memphis Film(s): Hometowner Shorts I’ve been competing in and covering the Indie Memphis Hometowner Shorts competition for the better part of two decades, and this year was the strongest field ever. Kyle Taubken’s “Soul Man” won the jury prize in a stacked field that included career-best work by directors Morgan Jon Fox, Kevin Brooks, Abby Myers, Christian Walker, Alexandra Ashley, Joshua Cannon, Daniel Farrell, Nathan Ross Murphy, and Jamey Hatley. The future of Memphis filmmaking is bright.

Apollo 11

Best Documentary: Apollo 11 There was no better use of an IMAX screen this year than Todd Douglas Miller’s direct cinema take on the first moon landing. Pieced together from NASA’s peerless archival collection and contemporary news broadcasts, Apollo 11 is a unique, visceral adventure.

Amazing Grace LLC

Amazing Grace

Best Music: Amazing Grace The year’s other direct cinema triumph is this long-awaited reconstruction of Aretha Franklin’s finest hour. The recording of her 1972 gospel album was filmed (badly) by director Sydney Pollack, but the reconstruction by producer Alan Elliott made a virtue of the technical flaws to highlight one of the greatest performances in the history of American music.

King Ghidorah, Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Best Performance by a Nonhuman: King Ghidorah, Godzilla: King of the Monsters Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a tasty treat for megafauna fetishists. Godzilla, the Cary Grant of kaiju, looked dashing, but he was upstaged by his three-headed arch enemy. King Ghidorah, aka Monster Zero, whose pronoun preference is presumably “they,” is magnificently menacing, but versatile enough do a little comedy schtick while pulverizing Boston.

Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore

Slickest Picture: Dolemite Is My Name Eddie Murphy’s comeback picture is also Memphis director Craig Brewer’s best film since The Poor & Hungry. Murphy pours himself into the role of Rudy Ray Moore, the comedian who transformed himself into a blaxploitation hero. The excellent script by Ed Wood scribes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski hums along to music by Memphian Scott Bomar. Don’t miss the cameo by Bobby Rush!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

MVP: Brad Pitt Every performance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is great, but Brad Pitt pulls the movie together as aging stuntman Cliff Booth. It was a performance made even more remarkable by the fact that he single-handedly saved Ad Astra from being a drudge. In 2019, Pitt proved he’s a character actor stuck in a movie star’s body.

Beanie Felstien as Molly and Kaitlyn Dever as Amy in Booksmart

Miss Congeniality: Booksmart I unabashedly loved every minute of Olivia Wilde’s teenage comedy tour de force. Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein are a comedy team of your dreams, and Billie Lourd’s Spicoli impression deserves a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Booksmart is a cult classic in the making.

Chris Evans in Knives Out.

Best Screenplay: Knives Out In a bizarre twist worthy of Rian Johnson’s sidewinder of a screenplay, Knives Out may end up being remembered for memes of Chris Evans looking snuggly in a cable knit sweater. The writer/director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi dives into Agatha Christie mysteries and takes an all-star cast with him. They don’t make ’em like Knives Out anymore, but they should.

Lupita Nyong’o in Us

Best Performance: Lupita Nyong’o, Us If Jordan Peele is our new Hitchcock, Get Out is his Rear Window, an intensely focused and controlled genre piece. Us is his Vertigo, a more complex work where the artist is discovering along with the audience. Lupita Nyong’o’s dueling performances as both the PTSD-plagued soccer mom Adelaide and her sinister doppleganger Red is one for the ages.

Parasite

Best Picture: Parasite Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or winner absolutely refuses to go the way you think it’s going to go. There was no better expression of the paranoid schizophrenic mood of 2019 than this black comedy from Korea about a family of grifters who infiltrate a wealthy family, only to find they’re not the only ones with secrets. It was a stiff competition, but Parasite emerges as the best of the year.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis Winners

Talibah Safiya

Have all you cinephiles recovered from Indie Memphis yet? I’m done fighting that post-fest funk, and now it’s time to take stock. Today on Music Video Monday, we’re presenting the winners of the two video awards. 

An incredible 44 videos screened to a party atmosphere at Black Lodge last Sunday night. The winner of the Sounds Music Video Award, which covers American and international entries, was DarriusTheGreatest & Ttropicana’s dancehall-inflected “Got It, Got It.” In true Indie Memphis tradition, the it’s a low-budget scrapper the prevailed over videos made with lots more resources.

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis Winners (2)

The Hometowner Music Video award went to Talibah Safiya’s “Healing Creek,” directed by Memphis wunderkind Kevin Brooks. Shot Super-8 style, this simple, beautiful visual concentrates on bringing out Safiya’s considerable natural charisma.

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis Winners

I’ll have more on this year’s Indie Memphis tomorrow. If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com. 

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer

Varda by Agnes

Indie Memphis 2019 kicks into high gear on Friday with its first full day of films and events. The first screening of the day comes at 10:40 AM with the music documentary The Unicorn, director Tim Geraghty’s portrait of gay psychedelic country musician Peter Grudzien.

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer

3:30 at Playhouse on the Square is the second annual Black Creators Forum Pitch Rally. Eight filmmakers will present their projects they want to film in Memphis on stage, and a jury will decide which one will receive the $10,000 prize, presented by Epicenter Memphis. The inaugural event was very exciting last year, and with this year’s line up of talent (which you can see over on the Indie Memphis website), it promises to be another great event.

Over at Studio on the Square at 3:40 p.m. is the final work by a giant of filmmaking. Varda by Agnes is a kind of cinematic memoir by the mother of French New Wave, Agnes Varda. It’s a look back at the director’s hugely influential career, made when she was 90 and completed shortly before her death last March. Here’s a clip:

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer (2)

Part 2 of the unprecedentedly strong Hometowner Narrative Shorts competition field screens at Ballet Memphis at 6:15 p.m. “Shadow in the Room” is an impressionistic short by director Christian Walker. Based on a Memphis Dawls song, and featuring exquisite cinematography by Jared B. Callen, it stars Liz Brasher, Cody Landers, and the increasingly ubiquitous Syderek Watson, who had a standout role on this week’s Bluff City Law.

Waheed AlQawasmi produced “Shadow In The Room” and directed the next short in the bloc, “Swings.” Based on the memoir by ballerina Camilia Del, who also stars in the film, it deftly combines music from Max Richter with Del’s words and movement.

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“A Night Out” is Kevin Brooks and Abby Myers’ short film which took this year’s Memphis Film Prize. It’s a technical tour de force—done entirely in a single, 13-minute tracking shot through Molly Fontaine’s by cinematographer Andrew Trent Fleming. But it also carries an emotional punch, thanks to a bravado performance by Rosalyn R. Ross.

In “Greed” by writer/director A.D. Smith, a severely autistic man, played by G. Reed, works as a human calculator for a drug lord. But while he is dismissed by the gun-toting gangsters around him, he might not be as harmless as he seems.

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer (4)

Andre Jackson’s tense and chilling “Stop” finds two men, one a cop and the other a mysterious stranger from his past, reunited by a chance encounter on the road.

STOP Teaser Trailer from Andre Jackson on Vimeo.

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Kyle Taubkin’s “Soul Man” earned big applause at the Memphis Film Prize, thanks to a heartfelt performance by Curtis C. Jackson as a washed-up Stax performer trying to come to grips with his past.

Soul Man – Teaser #1 (2019) from Kyle Taubken on Vimeo.

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer (6)

Director Morgan Jon Fox, whose documentary This Is What Love In Action Looks Like is one of the best-loved films ever to screen at Indie Memphis, returns to the festival with his latest short “The One You Never Forget.” A touching story with incredible performances by two teenage actors, this film has had a killer run on the festival circuit that climaxes with this screening.

At Ballet Memphis at 9:00 p.m. is the Hometowner Documentary Short Competition bloc, featuring new work by a number of Memphis documentarians. Matthew Lee’s “9.28.18” is a wonderfully shot, verité portrait of a very eventful day in the Bluff City. Indie Memphis veteran Donald Myers returns with heartfelt memories of his grandfather, Daniel Sokolowski, and his deep connection with his hometown of Chicago in “Sundays With Gramps.” Shot in the burned-out ruins of Elvis Presley’s first house, “Return to Audubon” by director Emily Burkhead and students at the Curb Institute at Rhodes College presents an incredible performance by Susan Marshall of Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel. Shot in the churches of Memphis and rural Mississippi, “Soulfed” by Zaire Love will tempt your appetite with an examination of the intimate connection between religion and cuisine. “That First Breath,” a collaboration between Danielle Hurst, Madeline Quasebarth, and Kamaria Thomas, interviews Mid-South doulas and advocates for a more humane and natural childbirth experience. “How We Fall Short” by Brody Kuhar and Julie White is a six-minute dive into the Tennessee criminal justice system. “Floating Pilgrims” by David Goodman is a portrait of the vanishing culture of people who live on boats in the Wolf River Harbor. “St. Nick” is Lauren Ready’s story of a high school athlete fighting debilitating disease. “Fund Our Transit” by Synthia Hogan turns its focus on activist Justin Davis’ fight for better transportation options in Memphis. And finally, Zaire Love’s second entry, “Ponzel,” is one black woman’s search for meaning in an uncertain world.

The competition feature Jezebel (9:30 p.m., Hattiloo Theatre) by director Numa Perrier focuses on the story of a young black woman in Las Vegas who is forced to take a job as a cam girl when the death of her mother threatens to leave her homeless. The emotional heart of the film is the conflict that arises when the protagonist discovers that she kind of likes being naughty with strangers on the internet, and the dangers that arise when one of her clients gets too close.

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Outdoors in the big tent block party, the premiere musical event of the festival happens at 8:30 p.m. Unapologetic Records will celebrate the release of its new compilation album Stuntarious IV with a show featuring performances by A Weirdo From Memphis, IMAKEMADBEATS, C Major, Kid Maestro, She’Chinah, Aaron James, and Cameron Bethany. Expect surprises and, well, lots of mad beats!

Finally, at midnight, a pair of screenings of classic films—for various definitions of the word “classic”— at Studio on the Square. Queen of the Damned is Michael Rymer’s adaptation of the third novel in Anne Rice’s vampire trilogy. Pop star Aaliyah starred as vampire queen Akasha, and had just finished the film when she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. The film has become something of a camp classic, and is probably most notable today for inspiring a ton of great Halloween costumes.

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The other screening is Exorcist director William Friedkin’s masterpiece Sorcerer. Starring Roy Scheider as an anti-hero in charge of a ragtag group of desperados trying to move a truckload of nitroglycerin through the Amazon jungle, it’s a gripping ride through human greed.

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer (9)

Come back tomorrow for another daily update on Indie Memphis 2019.

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We Recommend We Saw You

Elvis 7s, Kevin Brooks, Cole O’Keeffe, Summer Cocktail Festival, Rooms & Relics

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

I’m getting a lot of mileage out of my ‘We Saw You’ business cards. This is the Nashville Rugby team at the Elvis 7s rugby tournament in Millington. This is not a new addition to the team’s uniform.

Instead of giving him the shirt – or the cape – off his back, Larry Magdovitz, dressed as The King, gave the patent leather belt that accessorized his white jumpsuit to John Elmore. That was after Elmore won first prize in the Mr. Sideburns contest at the Elvis 7s rugby tournament.

The rugby event, which has been called the unofficial start of Elvis Week, is when ruggers grow sideburns just for the tournament. They play rugby against a background of Elvis songs. This year’s tournament was held August 3rd at USA Stadium in Millington.

Players taking part in the Mr. Sideburns contest competed for the best sideburns and sang an Elvis song of their choice.

Elmore, a member of Memphis Blues Rugby Club, was the first place winner with his  burns and his rendition of “Stuck on You.”


Michael Donahue

John Elmore and Larry Magdovitz at Elvis 7s.

Michael Donahue

Justin Alden of the Memphis Blues Rugby Club came in second place in the Mr. Sideburns contest.

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Michael Donahue

My business card was a hit with Jay Etkin, but he didn’t hang it on the wall at his gallery, Jay Etkin Gallery. This was the night of the opening of Cole O’Keeffe’s art show.

Michael Donahue

Cole O’Keeffe

Jay Etkin Gallery at 942 South Cooper was packed for the August 7th opening of Cole O’Keeffe’s exhibition of works, which he titled “God is Real and Other Perceptions.”

About 120 people attended the event, where Cole also did a reading of some of his writings.

Jay says he told the audience, “What you have here in front of you is a youthful visionary.”

“What he’s doing,” Jay says, “is coming to the public – in this case – without any pretension, without any agenda. The work is raw – in a good way. It’s not fussy. It’s just what he’s in the moment of, whether written word or making a painting. There is no forethought of ‘I have to make this one way or the other.’ It’s just spontaneous and intuitive. But his value is the rawness of it.

“This is not commercial fine art. This is very raw fine art. And I’m saying this as a compliment because I’ve seen too many people who think about the market when they’re making art.”

Cole, Etkin says, puts his heart on his sleeve, which he also demonstrated in his readings. Cole “read very intimate things in front of all these people that night.”

Etklin describes Cole’s writing as “very open and very revealing and very honest.”

“God is Real and Other Perceptions” is on view through August 10th.


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Michael Donahue

Kevin Brooks on the eve of his big ‘Memphis Film Prize’ win.

So, how does Kevin Brooks feel about his second consecutive Memphis Film Prize win? A Night Out, which he co-directed with Abby Meyers, was the 2019 Memphis Film Prize winner. The $10,000 award was announced August 4th.

“I did not know it was going to come,” Brooks says. “I was surprised. I was ecstatic. I was very grateful.”

He wanted the exposure for the film. “It’s such a powerful story. And collaborating with Abby Meyers was such a beautiful thing.”

A Night Out, which stars Rosalyn R. Ross, is about a woman who goes to a nightclub to cheer herself up after a bad breakup. All the action takes place in one continuous 10-minute shot in and around Mollie Fontaine Lounge.

What’s next? “I have a feature film I’m hoping to get funding for next year. That’s my goal.

I really want to do a big film. My goal since I was six years old. Now is the time to take advantage of the resources I have in my life and the people who supported me to make this happen.”

What’s he going to do with his share of the prize money?  “Put it towards the feature, hopefully.”

And, Brooks says with a laugh, “Try not to party too hard.”

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Michael Donahue

Summer Cocktail Festival

The inaugural Summer Cocktail Festival, which was held August 2nd in Overton Square, was a success.

The event, hosted by the Memphis Flyer and Captain Morgan, was an advance sellout with 750 guests.

More than 30 spirit brands were featured along with a wide variety of custom cocktails.

Eats were provided by Second Line, Laura’s Kitchen, and Trap Fusion.

The danceable music was provided by DJ Jordan Rogers.


Michael Donahue

Patrick Kelly and Chloe Serca at Summer Cocktail Festival

Michael Donahue

Raen Browder and Jenn Tinnell at Summer Cocktails

Michael Donahue

Summer Cocktail Festival

Michael Donahue

Hotel Indigo grand opening

…………….

“Rooms and Relics” was the theme of Hotel Indigo’s grand opening celebration, which was held August 1st. Visitors toured the hotel and its 3rd & Court diner. About 125 people, including Mayor Jim Strickland and other dignitaries, attended.

Guests dined on hors d’oeuvres from chef Ryan Trimm and listened to the music of the Stax Academy Ensemble.

Guests also took part in a “scavenger hunt;” they were asked to answer questions, including:

1. Jukebox: Name the musician on record /CD 07 on the jukebox.

2. Lobby: What year was the blue cement wall built, and what was it originally a wall for?

3. Which photographer is featured near the front desk, and what is significant about this photo gallery?

4. What is unique about rooms 834, 934, and 1034?

5. What style of restaurant is 3rd & Court?

6. What is the name of the meeting space at Hotel Indigo?

7. Which nonprofit will receive funds from this room’s reservation?

Here are the answers:

1. Otis Redding.

2. Original hotel lobby – 1963.

3. Jack Robinson. Photos from a benefit concert that took place after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.

4. Amazing view of AutoZone park.

5. American diner.

6. “Court Room” because it faces Court Avenue and the hotel is near law offices.

7. Stax. Room No. 813 is dedicated to Stax and is decorated in Stax decor and posters. If someone stays in this room, the hotel will give Stax 10 percent of the revenue. A check will be presented at the end of each year.

Michael Donahue

Kevin Kane and Peter Newton Hall at ‘Rooms and Relics’

Michael Donahue

Hotel Indigo grand opening.

Michael Donahue

‘Rooms and Relics’

Michael Donahue

Rooms & Relics

                                          WE SAW YOU AROUND TOWN

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Brian Taylor from Austin, Texas tries his first Rendezvous ribs on his first trip to Memphis.

Michael Donahue

Allyson Blair and Paulette Regan at Global Cafe.

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Memphis Film Prize Awards $10,000 to Brooks and Meyers’ “A Night Out”

CREDIT: Courtesy Memphis Film Prize

Courtesy Memphis Film Prize

(left to right) Memphis Film Prize Executive Director Gregory Kallenberg, cinematographer Andrew Fleming, directors Kevin Brooks and Abby Meyers, actress Rosalyn R. Ross, and Memphis Film Prize Filmmaker Liaison David Merrill.

The Memphis Film Prize screened the ten finalists’ films to packed houses Friday and Saturday. The winning film, announced at an awards brunch on Sunday, was A Night Out by co-directors Kevin Brooks and Abby Meyers. The film stars Rosalyn R. Ross as a woman trying to cheer herself up after a bad breakup by going to a nightclub. It represents a significant technical achievement, as all of the action takes place in one continuous, 10-minute shot in an around Molly Fontaine’s in Victorian Village. This is Brooks’ second Film Prize win in a row, after taking home last year’s prize for his short film Last Day.

This year’s prize also included, for the first time, Best Performance awards. Best Actor went to Percy Bradley’s comedic performance in Clint Till’s Hangry, where he plays a retired reverend in an assisted-care facility who is done with the bad food they serve and helps himself to some of the staff’s fried chicken.

Best Actress went to Latrice D. Bobo for her turn in Arnold Edwards’ Pages. Bobo plays a suicidal woman who connects with her similarly depressed upstairs neighbor.

This is the fourth year the Memphis Film Prize has solicited films made in Shelby County for its contest. You can read more about the filmmakers who competed this year in the current issue of the Memphis Flyer.