ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

VJ Anthony, purveyor of all things ’80s and Retro and one of Atlanta’s only Video DJs, will be throwing a righteous party of ’80s proportions, ICON: 80s Music Video Dance Night, the Guilty Pleasures: Dance Songs You Hate to Love Edition at ‘Club Famous’, the back room of Famous Pub, this Friday, April 11 and every Friday in the foreseeable future! He will spin you right ‘round with all the MTV videos you’ve been missing! So, ditch whatever lame thing you were doing and rock on down to Famous Pub for a taste of nostalgia doused in new wave, a little dark underground as well as videos from Madonna to The Cure, with a little Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode and Siouxe thrown into the mix!

VJ Anthony hails from Florida and has been jockeying those discs for over 25 years. After settling in Atlanta, he slinked right into the Atlanta underground Goth and Industrial scene, helping launch Heels & Whips, an underground fetish club and was also the resident DJ at the Masquerade’s Club Fetish, which eventually led to the opening of Atlanta’s den of dirty deeds, The Chamber, which closed its doors in 2005.  In 2007, VJ Anthony added video projectors to his set-up and has been digging deep into the huge collection of videos he’s accumulated since the “dawn of MTV’,” delivering the perfect combination of visual and audio experiences at his dance party events. He was resident DJ at 688 Club; Future, which was located at Underground Atlanta and has since closed; the Mark Ultra Lounge (now the Sidebar); and The Shelter, where he hosted regular ’80s/’90s music video nights.  He could also be found dishing out danceable visual experiences at the Bootie ATL dance parties, which were held monthly at The Shelter.

If you have a craving for the ’80s and are feeling a little nostalgic for the good ole days when MTV actually played music videos, rock on down to the Famous Pub every Friday from 10 pm to 3 am and let VJ Anthony do a number on your senses!

ATLRetro caught up with VJ Anthony for a quick interview about the life of a DJ/VJ, his exciting venture into the land of ICON: 80s, his HUGE music video collection and his absolute devotion to clean bathrooms!

Since ICON: 80s Music Video Dance night is one of your new ventures, following your stint as resident VJ for The Shelter’s 80s/90s Music Video Dance Nights, can you let our readers know what sort of exciting things to expect when they come out to the Famous Pub (Club Famous) for your event?

First off, the space is incredible—a best-kept-secret kind of thing.  They can expect to hear old favorites they might not have heard in years and some they might have missed back in the day.  The best part, to me, is the video aspect.   Ninety-nine percent of the time, I have the video for the song, so you quite literally see what you’re hearing.  This is a dance night, but people who prefer to sit at the bar won’t feel uncomfortable.  There are a number of flat screens, as well as a couple of projector screens around the club.

How do you choose what you will play/show at your music video nights? Is it random picks? Audience requests? Or do you plan each night specifically?

I can feel out the crowd pretty well after 25-plus years, but I do play requests!  They have to be a good fit, but requests are welcome.  I want people to have fun—and come back!

You’ve done special nights recently, with the “John Hughes” and “The Lost Boys” editions. What other special editions would you like to see come to fruition and why?

I think the plan is this:  The first and third Fridays will be Icon: 80s, strictly 80s, with loose themes. I always loved the fantasy movies from the 80s – think DARK CRYSTAL and LABYRINTH – so I think that one will be heading to Icon: 80s very soon. There will also be tribute nights to individual bands such as Duran Duran, The Cure or Depeche Mode, that will showcase their prolific video catalogs throughout the night.  The second and fourth Fridays will be “Guilty Pleasures”—mostly 80s, with some 70s and 90s thrown in. Songs you love to hate, or songs you hate to love.  It will be kind of like a test to see if people are brave enough to dance to some embarrassing but fun songs.

What is your favorite 80s genre or performer and why? What or who can’t you get enough of?

I can narrow the genre part a bit by saying I really love new wave, Goth, ethereal and industrial. Electronic bands with synths, like Blancmange, Depeche Mode and Yello; Goth and industrial bands with a dance element, like Sisters of Mercy, Xymox, Front 242 and Skinny Puppy; ethereal bands that are calming and beautiful, like Cocteau Twins, Raison d’Etre and Dead Can Dance. The record labels 4AD and Wax Trax! are to blame.

So, you’ve “collected music videos since the dawn of MTV.”  When did you begin your collection and why did you collect them?

My grandmother bought me a Betamax in the early 80s and I was fortunate enough to have MTV from the very first airing on August 1, 1981.  I quickly discovered many new bands and was really attracted to the new wave sound coming from the UK. In 1986, MTV‘s 120 Minutes program gave alternative bands a huge push and exposed many to the Goth and industrial world.

How many 80’s music videos would you say you have? Which are your favorites?

Currently, I have around 10,000 videos.  For many of these, I have transferred the video from Betamax, Laserdisc or VHS.  Often, I’ve had to replace the audio track with a clean CD source for the best club sound.  My favorites are concept videos; they have a story to tell, like a mini movie.  They usually have bad acting from band members who are suddenly forced to make a music video.  This sort of campy video can never be reproduced in today’s music video world.

You also hold a “BLACK OUT” version of your 80s Music Video Dance Night. Can you tell our readers a little about how it differs from the regular event and about what to expect?

Black Out is the fourth Saturday each month, also held in the back of Famous Pub.  It’s actually not a version of my 80s dance night, though I can see why it might seem to be.  It’s still a music video night held at the same venue, but it’s specifically Goth and industrial.  To be fair, though, there is some crossover.  At Black Out, you’ll hear things like Bauhaus and Peter Murphy, Joy Division, Wolfsheim, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie, Wumpscut, Cocteau Twins, Nitzer Ebb, VNV Nation and Covenant.

You’ve been a part of Atlanta’s underground Goth and Industrial scene for quite some time, with your involvement with the underground fetish club Heels & Whips, Club Fetish held at the Masquerade, and the Chamber.  What drew you to the dark side?

Although I love “up” music too – Oingo Boingo, Erasure, Howard Jones – I just like the feel of some of the darker music more.  Maybe it’s in the sad chord changes or keys they’re played in… not sure.  It definitely wasn’t the stilettos. Ouch.

Did you have a particular calling to become a DJ and then a VJ? What does the road to a DJ/VJ look like?

I never heard enough of the music I really loved when I went out to clubs, so I started learning how to DJ for myself, then parties, then clubs. I was always in love with the video aspect, so it just felt like a natural progression to me.

Just as I went from tapes to vinyl to CDs to digital, I went from Beta and VHS to DVDs to digital. I don’t play MP3s, though, unless it’s absolutely the only way to get the song. The road has been long, but lots of fun. It’s definitely a lot lighter now than it was back then!

Who are some of your favorite DJs/music purveyors and influences?

DJ OMAC [Roy Miller] in New York and DJ Rob in Tampa.  I’ve heard a few sets I’ve really liked from various “famous” DJs, but I can’t remember any off-hand.  I don’t think I was influenced by any DJ in particular, but even DJs run up to the booth to ask what that last song was!

Having worked at many clubs in many different cities, which gig would you say was your favorite?

I don’t really have a favorite club or city.  It’s about the energy of the crowd.  I love it when the music itself is what brings them [the audience] out and moves them, figuratively or literally.  The most important tangible things I want to see in a club are a really good sound system and clean bathrooms – which Famous Pub has!  Everything else—like crazy lights and cool art—is really incidental.

If you could have a dream gig, where would it be and how would it run?

I would love a weekly dark eighties night in a club not unlike some of the seedy ones in 80s movies. But I want clean bathrooms!

How does it feel to be established as one of Atlanta’s only video DJs?

I haven’t really ever thought about it. I don’t know of any other VJ in Atlanta who works in the same genres I do, but I have to give a shout-out to Bill Berdeaux, resident VJ at Blake’s. I learned a lot from him (and he’s a super nice guy!).

Do you think the nostalgia of the 80s will keep people coming back for more?

You know, I think it will.  People already had that nostalgia in the early 90s, when the 80s were barely over.  It was huge in the mid- and late-90s. It’s big again today. Hell, I hear people who are currently in high school and college going on about some obscure 80s band.  It’s weird, but it makes me happy. There was just that *something* about it…

Any special plans for your upcoming April 11th ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night event?

There’s an Absolut Vodka promotion that night, so the name was easy: Absolut Guilt!  (That’s the second Friday, so it’s a Guilty Pleasures edition.)

What’s next for VJ Anthony?

A 70s disco and funk night and few other surprises while I get my own business “on the road,” but that’s another story!

What question do you wish somebody would ask you and what’s the answer?

How do I feel before, during and after a gig after 25+ years of DJ/VJing?  I am still nervous as hell, every time!

Can you tell us something you’d like folks to know about you that they don’t know already?

Ironically, I am not comfortable in a large crowd of people. The DJ booth helps keep me in a small personal zone, which makes it easier to interact with just a few people at a time. I guess I have social anxiety, but only when the number of people creeps above eight or so.

All photographs are courtesy of VJ Anthony and used with permission.

Splatter Cinema presents THEY LIVE (1988); Dir. John Carpenter; Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David and Meg Foster; Tuesday, April 8 @ 9:30 p.m. (photos and merch table open @ 9:00 p.m.); Plaza Theatre; Trailer here.

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

Ah, THEY LIVE. It’s long been a slippery little beast. Much like 1982’s THE THING, it performed less-than-admirably at the box office when it opened. And, again like THE THING, while critical reception at the time was favorable, it has only recently come to be considered one of John Carpenter’s best films.

Me, I’ve been on board since I first saw it back in the waning days of the Reagan administration.

I mention the time frame because, by Carpenter’s own design, it’s practically impossible to look at the film outside of the realm of the political. Let’s not mince words here: for all the machismo, violence and existential horror John Carpenter’s films may tread in from time to time, the director is a hippie at heart. He took a minute to look around in the 1980s, saw the emphasis on crass commercialization and the worship of wealth encouraged by the Reagan Revolution and was pissed off. But by merging his anger and aggression with his borne-of-the-‘60s anti-right-wing politics, he created a movie that’s more of a piece with the radical political stances of hardcore punk acts like MDC, D.O.A. or the Dead Kennedys. For in this movie, it’s not just that the rich and powerful elite are evil; they are actually not even human.

The premise of the film is a simple one: a drifter named Nada (Roddy Piper) discovers that the oligarchs who rule planet Earth are in fact aliens in disguise, exploiting the planet’s resources for their own benefit before leaving it once they destroy the environment via global warming. They keep humanity in the dark, and their appearances obscured, through television signals that brainwash the public and transmit subliminal propaganda commanding the populace to “OBEY,” “SLEEP” and “CONSUME.” Faced with this knowledge (and able to see through the haze of brainwashing thanks to some specially-designed sunglasses), Nada has only one option: rip the system.

And like listening to, say, D.O.A.’s WAR ON 45 or the Dead Kennedys’ FRESH FRUIT FOR ROTTING VEGETABLES, once the movie gets going, it’s a shot of pure adrenaline. It’s fast, it’s funny, it’s violent (there’s an epic 5 ½ minute fist fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David that is both thrilling and hilarious), and its sardonic ridicule of the rich and powerful—and those who kowtow to them—as anti-human scumbags makes you wish that the Revolution would be something as easy as tearing down a TV broadcast antenna.

[Note: the utilization of a television station to promote things like a particular political ideology, rampant consumerism, stratification of the classes and glorification of material wealth should not be confused with any reality—past, present or future. OBEY.]

At the time, the casting of Roddy Piper as Nada was seen as an enormous misstep by Carpenter. This was just after the WWF (now WWE) became a pop culture phenomenon, and “Rowdy” Roddy was one of the federation’s most famous athletes. However, crossovers into mainstream media outside the ring (Hulk Hogan’s appearance in ROCKY III and his starring role in NO HOLDS BARRED, for instance) were seen as curiosities at best. So Piper’s role—which many saw as ideally meant for Carpenter’s most frequent leading man, Kurt Russell—was viewed with a jaundiced eye right from the start. But his performance is an able one. He brings a raw, brutal physicality to the part that wouldn’t suit Russell quite as well, and he comes across as a stoic “man out of place” in a way that would surprise anyone familiar only with his hyper-confident, loud-mouthed wrestling persona. He pulls this off in such a successful way that when he comes closest to the “Rowdy” attitude he was famous for—such as when he first puts on the sunglasses and sees people as they really are—it truly sells the shock his character is supposed to be feeling. His performance has simply aged well and holds up in a time where the wrestling-to-movie transition is more accepted (thanks, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson!).

Keith David, as Piper’s friend Frank Armitage (also the name Carpenter used for his writing credit; an allusion to Henry Armitage from H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror”) is, as always, excellent. He brings a necessary gravitas to the film, keeping the satire and fantasy grounded in the real world. Meg Foster as Holly Thompson, Nada’s love interest, is mysterious and alluring; her motives constantly under question, her understated performance never telegraphs where her allegiances truly lie.

And, as to be expected, Carpenter’s classically-informed composition techniques further show him to be a master of the Cinemascope frame. For a meager $3,000,000 budget, Carpenter makes the most of his downtown Los Angeles locations and creates a series of visually striking setpieces and shots. Tightly edited and winningly scripted (it’s one of the best films Carpenter has ever written on his own), it never lets up.

So get your sunglasses on, stock up on bubble gum and get ready for some alien-elite-ass-kicking!

[Note: Just don’t get any fancy ideas, humans. OBEY.]

Aleck Bennett is a writer, blogger, pug warden, pop culture enthusiast, raconteur and bon vivant from the greater Atlanta area. Visit his blog at doctorsardonicus.wordpress.com

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE) (1946); Dir. Jean Cocteau; Starring Jean Marais and Josette Day; Tuesday, April 7 @ 7:00 p.m.; Landmark Midtown Art Cinema; Trailer here.

By Aleck Bennett
Contributing Writer

As part of their Midtown Cinema Classics series, the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema is bringing one of the greatest works of filmed fantasy to the big screen in a stunning new digital restoration: Jean Cocteau’s immortal BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

“Children believe what we tell them. They have complete faith in us. They believe that a rose plucked from a garden can plunge a family into conflict. They believe that the hands of a human beast will smoke when he slays a victim, and that this will cause him shame when a young maiden takes up residence in his home. They believe a thousand other simple things.

“I ask of you a little of this childlike sympathy and, to bring us luck, let me speak four truly magic words, childhood’s ‘Open Sesame’:

“Once upon a time…”

—Jean Cocteau

Painter, poet, novelist, designer, filmmaker: all these and more were the simultaneous identities of Jean Cocteau, an artist so brilliant that one medium could not contain the full range of his talent. And much like the man himself, the handful of films he created transcend any categorization or pigeonholing. They are poems written in light and shadow; full of visionary imagery and drawing from painterly influences to create moving works of art that continue to resonate through the years. His films are bountiful feasts that fill your plate every time you return to the table. And while this is particularly true of his Orphic trilogy (THE BLOOD OF A POET, ORPHEUS and TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS), those films—as great as they are—stand in the shadow of his singular masterpiece, LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE, or BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

I’ll spare you a detailed plot summary. It’s a tale that has been told and retold so often that it has become part of our collective genetic memory at this point. The lovely Belle is forced to live in the kingdom of the cursed Beast to repay the actions of her father (he steals a rose from Beast’s garden). Beast falls in love with Belle, and proposes to her on a nightly basis; each night, she refuses, though she becomes more and more drawn to him over time. Their growing feelings are tested when he allows her to return to her home for a week and informs her that if she doesn’t return after those seven days, he will die of grief. However, she is unaware of the plans her scheming siblings and her previously intended beau Avenant have drawn up to ensnare Beast’s fortune while Belle is away.

Cocteau implores us in the film’s opening to view his adaption of the classic fairy tale with the eyes of a child. To let ourselves be carried away by the irrational and the dreamlike, rather than impose the hard-and-fast logic of the adult workaday world onto our experience. And with those eyes open, we are treated to a darkly magical manifestation of the fantastic. An atmosphere of love and loss hangs over the film like an embrace both heartfelt and sorrowful. Living faces peer from mantelpieces, human arms bear the torches that light a hallway, food serves itself for dinner. Meanwhile, as in a dream, details are introduced and suddenly abandoned: Beast’s five items of power (a rose, a horse, the key to his pavilion, a glove and a mirror) are vital objects in the story, yet when they are lost or stolen after their purpose has been established, we do not revisit them.

And, much as in any fairy tale told to a child, the implications of sexual tension are sublimated and find abstract release in symbols. Belle indicates her growing acceptance of Beast by allowing him to sup water from her cupped hands. Beast’s source of power is tied inexorably to the feminine: his pavilion dedicated to the Greek goddess Diana. A strike from Diana’s arrow transforms the loutish Avenant into another Beast, revealing the savage nature that lies beneath the veneer of the handsome gentleman. And it’s another feminine power that redeems our Beast and turns him back into Prince Ardent: the transformative effects of Belle’s acceptance and love.

Speaking of that transformation, what is perhaps the most interesting move Cocteau took in adapting this story is in creating the disappointment many feel when Beast is ultimately metamorphosed into Prince Ardent (who happens to unfortunately look exactly like the rejected Avenant). We, along with Belle, spend the entire film falling more and more in love with Beast, so it’s natural that when he is revealed as the prince after the death of his feral countenance, we are left wanting. It’s said that screen legend Greta Garbo shouted “give me back my beautiful Beast!” at the screen when she first saw the film. Indeed, Belle herself is left with mixed feelings about the whole arrangement, as she informs him that “I shall have to get accustomed to you” after his transformation. Cocteau later revealed that this was his intent all along, writing:

“My story would concern itself mainly with the unconscious obstinacy with which women pursue the same type of man, and expose the naïveté of the old fairy tales that would have us believe that this type reaches its ideal in conventional good looks. My aim would be to make the Beast so human, so sympathetic, so superior to men, that his transformation into Prince Charming would come as a terrible blow to Beauty, condemning her to a humdrum marriage and a future that I summed up in that last sentence of all fairy tales: ‘And they had many children.’”

We can well imagine that Beauty may long miss—and may spend many days attempting to uncover remnants of—that beautiful Beast with whom she first fell in love.

Ultimately, what can I say about this movie? I could go on, lathering up further praise without ever coming close to expressing just how wonderful and magical LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE truly is. Suffice it to say that its wonders continue to reveal themselves nearly 70 years after it was released, and any chance to see this film should be leapt upon by any lover of cinema. What pushes its screening at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema into the realm of absolute necessity is the fact that they will be presenting the widely-hailed digital restoration which debuted last year to mark the 50th anniversary of Cocteau’s death. Years of print damage have been immaculately swept away to fully reveal the sumptuous detail of the film that Guillermo del Toro called “the most perfect cinematic fable ever told.”

Come. Accept the Beast’s invitation. Cast off the grind of the harsh realm of adult reality, look upon this film with the eyes of a child, and be swept away by the pure, dark, sublimely gothic bliss of the fantastique. There are few things in the world that compare.

Aleck Bennett is a writer, blogger, pug warden, pop culture enthusiast, raconteur and bon vivant from the greater Atlanta area. Visit his blog at doctorsardonicus.wordpress.com

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

Rock out while living la vida Retro and come check out what we have for you ‘This Week’! From vintage-inspired tunes to old-timey flicks, Retro Atlanta has it all! So, come on out and be the Kat’s Meow with Retro Atlanta this week!

Monday, April 7

Chill on down to the Actor’s Express tonight at 7 pm for their Cult Classic Cabaret featuring music from Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and more, with a pre-party at 6 pm, so come on out and Time-Warp it up! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month.   Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blues on down to Blind Willie’s for an evening with Bill Sheffield! And blues on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a side of Dry White Toast with some finger lickin’ BBQ!
 
Tuesday, April 8

Get subliminal and join the conspiracy at The Plaza Theater as Splatter Cinema presents John Carpenter’s science-fiction flick of yuppie aliens vs. the rest of us, THEY LIVE (1988) at 9:30 with a special screening of The Biters’ ‘They Live’ tribute music video. And don’t forget to come early for some alien-tastic lobby shenanigans and classic horror trailers!  Or let Kool Kat Katherine Lashe and Syrens of the South seduce their way into your naughty little hearts at the Red Light Café at their Tease Tuesday: Spring Chickens &April Showers Edition where $10 gets you 10 sultry acts! Boogie on down to The Star Bar and get groovy at The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale featuring DJ Quasi Mandisco every other Tuesday! Wipe those tears and dance the night away to the rowdy foot stompin’ Americana of the Boohoo Ramblers at Blind Willie’s!  Stomp on down to Big Tex for a night with Moira Nelligan & The Dixie Jigs and their old-fashioned Americana! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern.  Get the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with the J.T. Speed Band! Stomp on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for a night with 8^th of January! The Bob Page Trio gets bluesy at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint!  Help Charlotte save Wilbur at the Center for Puppetry Arts as they present ‘Charlotte’s Web’ through May 25^th!  Enter (if you dare) Hollywood’s world of illusion with William Holden and Gloria Swanson at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And the Midtown Art Cinema screens Jean Cocteau’s retelling of the classic fairy tale, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946) at 7 pm!

Wednesday, April 9

It’s a gritty rock n roll revival at The Star Bar with Swank Sinatra, Naptaker, R_Garcia and Cinema Novo! The Earl gets rowdy and lawless with the old-time bluegrass-infused punk of I Want Whisky, Lily & The Tigers and Avi Jacob! Funk on down to the Variety Playhouse for a night of funky blues and soul with the Robert Cray Band and AJ Ghent! It’s Widespread Wednesday at Big Tex with Escape Vehicle! For some Dylan-style folk and Americana, make your way to the Red Clay Theater for Chuck Brodsky and Andy Offutt Irwin! Lola delivers some rockin’ blues at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint! Tad Robinson gets bluesy at Blind Willie’s! Get some soul at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with The Hollidays! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  And take a trip with William Holden and Gloria Swanson to the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) during their L.A. After Dark series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, April 10

Get a taste of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blonde on Blonde’ album at the Red Light Café as ATL Collective pays tribute by performing the album in its entirety! Get down and dirty at the Clermont Lounge with Kool Kat Spike Fullerton and the Ghost Riders Car Club! For a night of psychedelic and 70’s-inspired rock, make your way to Purgatory at the Masquerade for a night with Kadavar and Mothership! Punk on down to Wonderroot for Wicked Pretty, The Hotels, Tight Genes and Sunday Whiskey! For a little Rosanne Cash-style bluegrass and rock, stomp on down to the Red Clay Theater for Missy Raines & the New Hip and Poor Old Shine! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Make your way to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a few cocktails with Kool Kat “Big Mike” Geier and his Polynesian pop lounge band, Tonga Hiti! The Unusual Suspects get the blues at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! Get really retro with King Arthur, Guenevere and Sir Lancelot in the Broadway musical, ‘Camelot’ at the Georgia Ensemble Theatre through April 27^th! It’s your last chance to catch Billy Wilder’s classic, SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And become a star at The Plaza Theater as their Cineprov group riff’s Albert Magnoli’s, PURPLE RAIN (1984) at 7:30!

Friday, April 11

Georgia State University’s School of Music presents Robert Ward’s operatic adaptation of Arthur Miller’s classic tale set during the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, ‘The Crucible’ running through Sunday, April 13^th! Or get old-fashioned country style and make your way to the Out of Box Theatre as they present ‘Always…Patsy Cline,’ delving into the friendship that spawned between Patsy and her most devoted fan, Louise Seger, running through April 27^th!  Get really retro at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center as the Atlanta Ballet presents Stephen Mills’ ‘Hamlet’ with music by Philip Glass, through Sunday, April 13^th!  Tonight begins the 78^th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park, spanning 3 days, chock full of live music, tasty food, art vendors, cultural performances and so much more! Tonight, you won’t want to miss The Georgia Flood, Partial Cinema, Norman Frank & The Ghost Dance and so much more!

Get your fill of retro-inspired down and dirty punk at The Earl with Turf War, Concord America, Ranch Ghost and Majestico! It’s a night of Delta blues and hillbilly fervor at The Star Bar with The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and the Dex Romweber Duo! Rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for a night with Jesse & the Great Perhaps, Beauregard & His Down Rights, Bahnof and Threadbare Skivvies! For a little Bob Dylan and Beatles-inspired tunes, make your way to the Basement for Interstellar and Sacred City! It’s a Halfway to Halloween Party at Legend Café, produced by Markster Con featuring costume contests and a musical lineup of industrial, Goth, 80s and electronica!  The Dirty Guv’nahs rock out with vintage zest along with Cereus Bright at Terminal West! The 5^th Annual Reagan Rock Prom invades Park Tavern in Piedmont Park with the Yacht Rock Review’s ‘yachty’ 80s jams and rockin’ 80’s fashion! ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night gets rockin’ with their Guilty Pleasures Edition at Famous Pub, and don’t miss out every Friday night with a different theme (And check out our Kool Kat interview with VJ Anthony coming this week!) Fat Matt’s Rib Shack gets bluesy with Lady D while Blind Willie’s has Sandra Hall & The Shadows! The Shuffle Junkies dish out the blues and classic rock at Hottie Hawgs BBQ!  Swami Gone Bananas delivers a night of psychedelic 70’s rock at the Northside Tavern while Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers decades’ worth of pop folk with Randall Bramblett and Hank Barbee! It’s a night of New Orleans’ funk, blues and jazz under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with The Mar-Tans! Donna Hopkins gets rootsy, rock-style down at the Moonshadow Tavern in Tucker! Emory Cinematheque screens Louis Malle’s ATLANTIC CITY (1980) during their Burt Lancaster: Centennial Film Fest series! And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, April 12

Hey Daddy-O! Rev on down to the Dixie Tavern for Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt and the Psycho-DeVilles!  Punk on down to The Star Bar for the Zoners and Onchi’s 7” Release Party with the Get High Boys! It’s Day 2 of the 78^th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival at Piedmont Park and you won’t want to miss the retro sounds of 38^th Parallel, Reaspec, Jubee & The Morning After and Secondhand Swagger! Take a magic carpet ride through the historic Arabian-themed Fox Theater as they kick off their ‘Spring Fling withWild Things’ tours running every Saturday through May 17^th, featuring animals from ZooAtlanta, where will have a chance to mingle with Kool Kat Scott Hardin, the Fox Theater’s projectionist since 1978!  Stomp on down to Eddie’s Attic for a night of bluegrass with the Packway Handle Band! Francine Reed delivers a night of sultry blues at Blind Willie’s while Ike Stubblefield gets down and dirty at Northside Tavern! It’s a night of Americana and cosmic rockin’ boogie at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Steve Baskin and Scott Shiflett’s Client 9 from Outer Space with Playing on the Planet, followed by the ‘psychedelic junkyard roots’ of RollingNowhere! Get swampy at Big Tex as Zydeco Ya Ya delivers a night of Cajun blues and swing! For a night of classic old-school rock, make your way to Wonderroot for Scarlett, Livingstone and Forecaster! The Michelle Malone Banned rocks out at the Crimson Moon Café! The Family Dog delivers a night of rockin’ blues with TheBrotherland! Stomp on down to Terminal West for the Steep Canyon Rangers and CicadaRhythm! Lady T gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets old-school and bluesy with Mac Arnold & Plate Full of Blues with Little G Weevil! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, April 13

Dita Von Teese delivers a night of temptations and sultry tease at her “Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray!” Variety Show at the Tabernacle! It’s day 3 and your last chance to catch the 78^th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival, featuring a musical lineup of Jack Preston & Dojo Collective, Neil Cribbs, All the Locals and Sailing to Denver! It’s a bluegrass brunch at Big Tex with The Cohen Brother’s Band at 11:30 am! Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs delivers their Gypsy Jazz Brunch offering up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday! It’s a hootenanny ‘Dunch’ at The Earl with Georgia Slim & The Stovetop Ramblers! Francine Reed and The Jez Graham Trio get bluesy at The Family Dog! For some Americana and foot-stompin’ bluegrass, make your way to Eddie’s Attic for The Brothers Comatose with special guests, BattlefieldCollective! And make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and get rockin’ with Fatback Deluxe!

Ongoing

It’s a hard knock life at the Atlanta Lyric Theater as they present ‘Annie’ through April 20^th!

Georgia Ensemble Theatre gets really retro with ‘Camelot’ Broadway-style through April 27^th!

Out of Box Theatre presents ‘Always…Patsy Cline,’ running through April 27^th!

Take a magic carpet ride through the historic Arabian-themed Fox Theater as they kick off their ‘Spring Fling withWild Things’ tours running through May 17^th!

Center for Puppetry Arts spins ‘Charlotte’s Web’ through May 25^th!

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different 80’s theme!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ QuasiMandisco every other Tuesday!

Steve’s Live Music’s Gypsy Jazz Brunch offers up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

A IS FOR ALEX (2014); Dir. Alex Orr; Starring Katie Orr, Alex Orr and Daniel Kelly. Atlanta Film Festival.

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

Isn’t it about time somebody gave Fake Wood Wallpaper a blank check?

There’s some conflict of interest in that question, since the FWW team is based in Atlanta, and of course I, like most people, enjoy seeing a local team succeed. My support and praise, however, has more to do with access than homerism. To date, it’s simply been easier to see FWW’s films if you’re here in town, which is why I keep seeing them do more with less than just about anybody else in the indie scene. I’m ready to see them do more with more.

Last year, FWW and director Mike Brune hit the Atlanta Film Festival with CONGRATULATIONS!, a standout film due in large part to its aggressive strangeness. Fake Wood Wallpaper makes films as if allergic to cliché, and that remains true even as their newest film, A IS FOR ALEX, hikes into the most heavily-tread of indie premises, the disaffected man-child who needs to grow up. Director Alex Orr plays the man-child, a version of himself who doubles as an inventor when not bantering with his real-life wife (Katie Orr). Katie’s pregnant with the couple’s first child; he mopes in a corner, worried that he’ll suck as a father. For there the film unspools the usual scenes—the weeks progress and the baby grows, Alex doubts his ability to be a father, Katie tells him to stop crying in the bathtub. He can’t pull himself together. Is it true about those “brain chemicals” that make parents love their kids? Alex isn’t so sure.

And why would he be? Alex’s fears about impending procreation are justified by the world around him. The mechanical bees he’s invented to aid pollination wreak havoc across the city. A video of Alex’s early sex act lands his mother in jail. Every act of creation goes sour for Alex, like some mixed-up Midas with cursed genitalia. Meanwhile, Katie grows closer to the due date, carrying what could be Alex’s next big disaster.

This is deeply personal, even indulgent, material but A IS FOR ALEX is too self-aware to get lost in its own ennui. Orr is hyperaware of the traps this kind of movie can stumble into and bakes in some meta release valves to keep the shit from getting too real. Some scenes jump the fourth wall, pulling back to reveal the set and the actors on it, who usually discuss topics like the film’s sentimental tone or its planned artificial finale. Other scenes spiral into fantasy and elaborate computer effects. Other scenes appear to exist for no other reason than because they’re funny. A IS FOR ALEX takes great pains to engage its audience or at the very least apologize for dragging the viewers through Alex’s head. The film is indulgent—because of course it is—but the movie knows what it is and, most importantly, reminds the viewer that it knows this. I’m not sure the film could be even a moment longer than its 74 minutes, but its meta techniques carry it far while it’s here.

As the lead in his own film, Orr has a tough responsibility. It’s never easy to make a film so blatantly about yourself because if it sucks, audiences may get stuck in a negative feedback cycle: they hate the movie, so they blame the filmmaker, who sits there on the screen inviting that hatred, and so on and so on until somebody loses an eye. But Orr is pleasantly low-key, marked by such persistent self-deprecation that he’s easy to like. The tougher role belongs to Katie. While obviously very (for real) pregnant, she has to duck and weave through her performance, chafing at Alex’s aimlessness while never slipping all the way into the rote ‘disapproving wife.’ Katie’s breezy rapport with Alex (never a slam dunk with real-life film couples) grounds the film and elevates what could have been a thankless role into a highlight.

A IS FOR ALEX is an egotistical film by definition and yet it does almost nothing except take potshots at itself. As an act of creation, it’s as idiosyncratic as its creators. It invites you to laugh and enjoy the moment, and then prods you in the ribs for falling for it. Amidst all of the robot bees, jailhouse drama, and ads on the moon is a gently fretful movie about the anxiety of making anything—a person most of all, but anything, really, including movies. If the creator is flawed, as are we all, then what hope is there for the creation? A IS FOR ALEX suggests that these things, however stressful, tend to work themselves out along the road. I suspect the target audience for this one is small. Very small, in fact. As little as one tiny human being named Truman who will want one day to know how his parents prepared to meet him.

by Melanie Crew
Contributing Writer

It may be April Fools, but it’s no joke that Retro Atlanta is hot, hot, hot ‘This Week’! Come on out and see what’s on the menu this week! We’ve got all the ‘billy your little ‘ole hearts could desire! We’ve got cosmic rock! We’ve got 80s dance night! We’ve got swing and blues and jazz, Oh My! And we’ve got all the retro flicks you’ve been craving! So, leave the cold behind, get off that couch and get Retro!!

Monday, March 31

Get your little black hearts crammed full of horror rock and psychobilly at 529 with Calabrese, Kool Kats Ryan Howard, Derek Obscura and Jamie Robertson of the Casket Creatures, Crypt 24 and Radio Cult!  Or get vintage at Eddie’s Attic with Pokey LeFarge delivering some swingin’ old-time jazz, ragtime, country blues and Western swing! Owner of the Sun and The Working Effective rock out Americana and bluegrass-style at Smith’s Olde Bar! Or relive the glory days at the Morris & Rae Frank Theater as they present ‘Glory Days: The Music You Grew Up With’ celebrating the 50s and 60s with Motown, Broadway, doo-wop performances and more! Swing on by Big Band Night featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-member orchestra at Café 290 every first and third Monday of the month.   Boogie on down to the Northside Tavern and spend an evening with Lola at her famous Monday Night Northside Jam! Blues on down to Blind Willie’s for Marshall Ruffin! Blues it up at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack  for an extra helping of the blues with The Pork Bellies and some finger lickin’ BBQ! And get jazzy, mobster and bootlegger-style at the Woodruff Arts Center as the Alliance Theater presents Francis Ford Coppola’s star-studded ‘30s gangster flick, THE COTTON CLUB (1984) at 7:30 pm!

Tuesday, April 1

529 delivers a night of horror-billy and rockin’ bluegrass Americana with Cute Boots, The Pine Box Boys, Battlefield Collective and Blood on the Harp! Tonight indie-rock alumn Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta) rocks out with the Boogarins at The Earl! Stomp on down to Big Tex for a night with Moira Nelligan & The Dixie Jigs and their old-fashioned Americana! Or boogie on down to Darwin’s Burgers & Blues in Marietta for a taste of Bill Sheffield’s acoustic roots and blues! Jam it up with Joe Gransden and his jazz jam session at Twain’s in Decatur every Tuesday at 9 pm. The Entertainment Crackers gets bluesy with their folksy Americana sounds at the Northside Tavern.  Get the blues at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with the J.T. Speed Band! City Mouse gets folksy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! It’s a night of corruption and law enforcement at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Curtis Hanson’s 50s crime drama, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm! And the Midtown Art Cinema screens Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ (1963) at 7 pm!

Wednesday, April 2

It’s a night of art punk and new-wave at the Variety Playhouse as Television deliver a little rowdy NYC rock! Maryline Blackburn gets old school and jazzy at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs with Ryan Whitehead! Get mischievous and skank on down to the Masquerade for a night of devilish Ska and punk with Mephiskapheles, The Taj Motel Trio, and Hermits of Suburbia! Swing on by East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern for their Graveyard Swing Night, held the first Wednesday of every month, promising an evening of swingin’ jazz and jive with the Savoy Kings! Get funky at Terminal West with Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band and the Georgia Soul Council! Get some soul at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack with The Hollidays! Or make your way to the Northside Tavern as Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck fires it up with his rockin’ blues! It’s Ladies Night at Johnny’s Hideaway which plays hits from Sinatra to Madonna for a generally mature crowd.  And get criminal at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern as they screen Curtis Hanson’s 50s crime drama, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) during their L.A. After Dark series’ matinee screening at 11:30 am!

Thursday, April 3

It’s a night of soul and dance pop at Vinyl with The Mowgli’s, Misterwives and Baby Bee! Rock on down to The Earl for a screening of BREADCRUMB TRAIL (2014), Lance Bang’s documentary of post-rock pioneers, Slint and the Louisville music underground where they emerged! Stagger on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli for their Bitter Heroes event featuring DJ Brian Parris as he gets charmingly morose with a little New-Wave, The Smiths and The Cure! Make your way to the Crimson Moon Café for The Tom & Julie Show featuring tributes to tunes from the 60s to the 90s every Thursday! The Northside Tavern gets rockin’ with a little Chicago/Delta blues of The Breeze Kings! Get your boogie on at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, as Chickenshack featuring Eddie Tigner, delivers some honky-tonk blues! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues gets down and dirty at their Blues Jam hosted by The Cazanovas! Hula on down to Trader Vic’s for a couple Mai Tais and some music by Alex Gordon Hi-Fi featuring Marshall Ruffin! And it’s your last chance to get a taste of some dirty cops at the Northlake Festival Movie Tavern at their screening of Curtis Hanson’s 50s crime drama, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) during their L.A. After Dark series’ screening at 7:30 pm!

Friday, April 4

Get cosmic and rock on down to The Star Bar and help celebrate the music of Gram Parsons, featuring Slim Chance & The Convicts, Kool Kat Caroline & The Ramblers, I Want Whiskey, Blake Rainey & His Demons and Rolling Nowhere! Kool Kat Hot Rod Walt gets acoustic and wildly solo at the Buck Creek Tavern in High Falls! 529 delivers a night of delta psych and garage rock with Bipolaroid, Tiger! Tiger! and Kool Kat Joshua Longino with Andrew & the Disapyramids! The Strand Theater delivers a night of Bond, James Bond, as they screen Guy Hamilton’s classic spy flick, GOLDFINGER (1964) starring the one and only, Sean Connery at 8 pm, with a pre-show variety pops show at 7:30! DJ Anthony’s ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night gets rockin’ with the Lost Boys Edition at Famous Pub, and don’t miss out every Friday night with a different theme (Keep your eyes peeled for DJ Anthony’s Kool Kat interview soon!)! It’s a night of soul with The Hollidays at Big Tex! Stomp on down to the Crimson Moon Café for David Peterson of 1946 delivering some high-energy bluegrass! Swagger on down to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for a night of Kansas City Blues with Atlanta Boogie! The Sweet & Salty Blues Band gets down and dirty at Hottie Hawgs BBQ! Stomp on down to the Variety Playhouse for Railroad Earth and the Dead Winter Carpenters!  Webb Wilder and Gibson Wilbanks get rootsy Americana-style at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs! It’s a night of Chicago and West Coast blues under the dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Martinis and IMAX event with the Electromatics! Darwin’s Burgers & Blues delivers a night of down and dirty blues with the Cody Matlock Band!  It’s a hard knock life at the Atlanta Lyric Theater as they present ‘Annie’ at 8 pm through April 20^th!  And as always, Time-Warp it up and get naughty with some uber musically-inclined transsexual aliens at The Plaza Theater as they continue their tradition of screening THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Saturday, April 5

Shimmy on down to Elliott Street Pub as Kool Kat Kitty Love presents Cheeky Belles Burlesque ‘Flashbacks’ featuring music from the past eight decades and performances by Angelica Vice, Salvador Charli, Monique LaMystique, Sunshine Divine, JudyAnne Foxe, Kitty Love and so much more!  Or, get geeky and throw on your cape and get villainous at Markster Con’s Super Hero Pub Crawl beginning at the Diesel Filling Station in Virginia Highlands from 4 to 10 pm! So, come on out and save the world one drink at a time followed by costume contests and two after-parties!

The madness and absurdity that is, Kool Kat Colonel Bruce Hampton slings over 50 years worth of his funky, jazz-infused rhythm with special guest Eric Norman (Sightless Fish) at the Red Light Café!  It’s night two of Railroad Earth’s rockin’ Americana and bluegrass at the Variety Playhouse with Have Gun Will Travel! Rev on down to Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs for the Charlie Sheets Band and Boomfox! For a little gutter-billy and punk, rock on down to Smith’s Olde Bar for The Goddamn Gallows, The Vaginas and Holy Quit! Rock on down to the Masquerade for a night of 70s/80s Canadian metal with Anvil with Leaving Babylon in Hell! Or get a taste of the 60s, greasers and drive-ins at The Strand Theater as they present Francis Ford Coppola’s classic, AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) at 8 pm with a variety pops pre-show at 7:30 pm! The Family Dog rocks out and gets some soul with The Hollidays! For a little punk-spiked bluegrass and country, rock on down to Terminal West for The Whiskey Gentry, Radiolucent and The Defibulators! Ron Cooley gets bluesy at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack! The Cazanovas get bluesy at Darwin’s Burgers & Blues! And as always, DJ Romeo Cologne transforms the sensationally seedy Clermont Lounge into a ’70s disco/funk inferno late into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday, April 6

It’s a bluegrass brunch at Big Tex with Cedar Hill! Or maybe get jazzy at Steve’s Live Music with Deb Bowman during their jazz brunch at 12:30 pm!  Get retro, VHS-style at The Earl during their Found Footage Festival showcasing videos found at garage sales, thrift stores and the like, with a ‘guided tour’ by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher as they present their latest and greatest finds! And make your way to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack and get rockin’ with Fatback Deluxe!

Ongoing

It’s a hard knock life at the Atlanta Lyric Theater as they present ‘Annie’ through April 20^th!

ICON 80s: Music Video Dance Night rocks out at the Famous Pub every Friday night with a different theme!

The Star Bar gets groovy with The Funk Godfather, DJ Romeo Cologne and DJ QuasiMandisco every other Tuesday!

Steve’s Live Music’s Gypsy Jazz Brunch offers up a plate of Hot Club jamming and Parisian Swing with Kool Kool Kat Amy Pike and the Bonaventure Quartet from 12:30 to 3:30 pm every 2^nd & 4^th Sunday!

Boogie on down into Disco Hell at The Family Dog as DJ Quasi Mandisco delivers a night of classic funk, soul and disco the last Friday of every month

The Plaza Theater Time-Warps it up as they screen, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) every Friday night, featuring the live cast of Lips Down on Dixie at midnight!

Every first and third Mondays are Big Band Nights at Café 290, featuring Joe Gransden and his amazing 16-piece orchestra playing jazz and swing standards in the tradition of The Glen Miller Orchestra and other legendary groups.  Second and fourth Mondays are Bumpin the Mango, ‘The groove that makes you want to move!’

Every first Wednesday is the Graveyard Tavern’s Graveyard Swing Night, featuring the swingin’ jazz and boogie-woogie sounds of the Savoy Kings!

If you have a suggestion for a future event that should be included in This Week in Retro Atlanta or see something we missed, please email us at atlretro@gmail.com.

JOE (2014); Dir. David Gordon Green; Starring Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan; Atlanta Film Festival.

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

Gary (Tye Sheridan) has two father figures to choose from in David Gordon Green’s new movie JOE, which opened the 2014 Atlanta Film Festival on Friday night. On one side is Gary’s father Wade (Gary Poulter), a man whose natural charisma has been shriveled to jerky by alcoholism. On the other is Gary’s new employer, Joe (Nicolas Cage), an ex-con whose own raging addiction to violence has closed off his past and stunted his future. Joe struggles every day to stay on his wagon. It’s not clear if Wade ever made it on in the first place.  Gary’s choices aren’t ideal, but that’s just his lot. He’s a hard luck kid; having a choice in anything at all represents a significant improvement in his quality of life.

It shouldn’t be a surprise which side Gary ultimately takes, but then that’s a matter of plot, and JOE isn’t all that concerned with those kinds of details. Oh, there’s a clear narrative, but JOE is so detached that it buries its own exposition in the dirt, leaving its title character a mostly unsolvable riddle. This isn’t to the film’s detriment—Joe’s single glance at a woman in traffic says more than a page of monologue ever would—but it makes Green’s intentions clear. Green and screenwriter Gary Hawkins, adapting from Larry Brown’s 1991 novel, devote their energies away from the mechanics of the story and toward building Joe’s dusty world, molding gritty authenticity from the clay of the movie’s East Texas locations and the people in them. The story chugs along a familiar path of gunfire and redemption, but it’s the scenery along the way that makes the trip worthwhile.

Green (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, PRINCE AVALANCHE) is a longtime Austin native and has demonstrated a nagging irritation with falseness (YOUR HIGHNESS aside). He would be the first to notice a false note in his film’s environment, and so he eschews traditional casting and populates his movie with unknowns and non-actors. Poulter himself was a homeless street performer and breakdancer in Austin when Green cast him as Wade, effectively the film’s third lead. Rather than be overwhelmed by the sudden attention, Poulter instead steals the show, oozing a chewy realism in his performance that professional actors sweat blood trying to replicate. He’s magnetic to watch, precisely because you don’t know what he’s going to say or do next. There’s nothing premeditated or restrained about Poulter’s performance. He never once seems like he’s acting. In the Q&A after the screening, Green spoke of how he met Poulter on the streets, and then brought the crowd low by revealing that Poulter died shortly after filming completed, still on those very same streets.

Green likewise identified a group of workers who feature prominently in the film and admitted that he simply picked them up one morning at a spot for day laborers, giving them a day’s pay for their work on the film, and inviting the standouts to become a part of the cast. Those workers—as well as gas station attendants, barflys, and bums—contribute to JOE’s naturalism that brings its barren, cruel, arbitrary world to terrifying life. One might assume that placing Nicolas Cage—the actoriest actor who ever did act—in the midst of all of this cinema verite would result in a violent clash in tone, but as per usual, Cage refuses to be outdone by reality. In fact, his rare moments of exaggerated Cage-ness (such as a cringeworthy limp he adopts late in the film) serve to make him seem larger than life, bigger than this no-horse town, and barely in control of his temper. Cage always works best as a lead actor in those moments when his controlled lunacy serves the character rather than becomes the character. In the case of Joe, it’s a surprisingly easy fit.

Sheridan likewise continues to demonstrate a talent beyond his years, just as he did in last year’s AFF opening night film, MUD. Without his sincere and seemingly effortless performance, there would be no hook on which to hang the proceedings. As Gary, he plays one of those saintly children who haven’t yet figured out just how heavily the world is stacked against them, and would be too stubborn to give up if they did. His relationship with Joe is easy and believable, and you can understand why he’s the type of kid it might be worth going into battle for.

JOE is filled with atrocity—children and animals, in particular, have a bad time—but it’s a well-crafted and sometimes surprisingly-warm film. It’s also specifically Southern in a way that’s tough to find and impossible to fake. That makes JOE a particularly nice fit for the AFF, and it sets the tone, and raises the bar, for the festival still to come.

Andrew Kemp is a screenwriter and game designer who started talking about movies in 1984 and got stuck that way. He can be seen around town wherever there are movies, cheap beer and little else.

Atlanta Film Festival presents LIMO RIDE (2013); Dir. Gideon C. Kennedy & Marcus Rosentrater; Sunday, March 30 @ 6:30 p.m.; 7 Stages Theatre; Trailer here.

By Andrew Kemp

People in the business hear it all the time. “You make movies? I have this great idea for a movie! It’s about this crazy thing that happened to me and my buddies one night…” What inevitably follows is exactly the kind of thing that should, in fact, never be a movie. It’s a sad truth, but bar stories aren’t actually rare. Everyone has their one wildest night, and because of that most of these stories are only interesting to the people who were actually there. It’s like making a movie out of the time you got stuck at the airport—worst night of your life, but nobody else cares.

So what kind of story gets a pair of filmmakers to say yes? It has to be one that’s bigger than life, completely unbelievable. The story needs heroes and villains; car chases and cops; friendship and betrayal. It has to be, in short, the biggest bar story ever told. Such a legend exists in Mobile, Alabama, a story already told and retold among the drunk and the rowdy. It’s the ultimate ‘bad night out’ and now, at last, its big screen destiny has arrived.

LIMO RIDE chronicles the true saga of a group of extreme young men and one wasted, mostly-terrified young woman as they rent a limo for New Year’s and ride it straight into a nightmare of drugs, booze, bad behavior and shitty luck. Shot as a quasi-documentary—crime-show-styled reenactments accompany voiceovers from people who were there—the film still plays like an outrageous piece of fiction. This isn’t a story of one bad decision. It’s an ensemble of idiocy, a mosaic of mishaps. It also happens to be pretty darn funny.

Audiences of LIMO RIDE are likely to fall into two camps: one group will compare the events on screen with their own rowdy adventures and thank their conscience for never letting them get this far off track. The others might just take this film as a challenge. Limo drivers of the world beware. Anyone attempting to top this night is likely to end up with the greatest story nobody knows because nobody who saw it lived to tell the tale. LIMO RIDE is an odyssey of rock bottom. Even its own participants seem to realize that lines have been crossed, and that their lifestyle has taken them too far.

Of course there’s more going on with LIMO RIDE than the humor or the wait for the next big event to drop, including a subtle examination of the ways in which we transform memory into mythology. There’s also an open question as to how much is happening to these guys and how much they’re bringing on themselves. (for example: one character unleashes a nasty racial slur on another, then fails to take responsibility when that goes poorly.) But perhaps it wouldn’t be wise to dwell too much on the academic implications of what these men are doing. I’m relatively sure it never crossed their minds.

LIMO RIDE screens at 7 Stages Theatre on Sunday, March 30, at 6:30. 

Andrew Kemp is a screenwriter and game designer who started talking about movies in 1984 and got stuck that way. He can be seen around town wherever there are movies, cheap beer and little else.

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

The Atlanta Film Festival is back in business. Starting Friday March 28, the Festival will host 10 days of screenings, premieres, special events, and filmmaking panels and, once again, ATLRetro is going to be there. We’ll be posting previews and reviews of retro-themed films throughout the festival, so be sure to check in with us often, or keep an eye on the ATLRetro Facebook page for all the updates.

For those looking to attend some screenings or simply intimidated by the depth of the schedule, allow us to offer a few highlights for the Retro-inclined.

20th CENTURY-THEMED FEATURES

Among the many feature films gracing festival screens this week is 45RPM, directed by Juli Jackson. The film follows a young artist’s quest for a rare 45RPM record released by her deceased musician father, and her search through Memphis with a vinyl enthusiast to find it. The film explores the connection between the present and the past, as the young woman hopes to find a link between her own art and her father’s music. 45RPM screens on Tuesday, April 1, at 7:15 at the Plaza Theatre.

Of course, the sad truth is that the past is not always as rosy as we remember it, which is certainly the case in 1982, directed by Tommy Oliver. Set in Philadelphia just as crack cocaine is engulfing the inner cities, the film concerns one man’s struggle to hold his family together despite his wife’s crippling addiction. The drama, which stars Hill Harper and comedian Wayne Brady, the film played to strong reviews at the Toronto Film Festival and screens Saturday, April 5, at 4:30 at the Plaza.

Hera, the protagonist of Ragnar Bragason’s METALHEAD, is born in Iceland in 1970 at the near-literal birth of heavy metal, just as Black Sabbath releases their legendary debut. Years later, the metal-obsessed young woman pursues her rock star ambitions while dealing with the pleas of a courting lover and the watch of the new village priest. METALHEAD screens Friday, April 4, at 9:30 at the Plaza.

1970s style drapes over the cast of DOM HEMINGWAY, a new British crime comedy from director Richard Shepard. Jude Law plays Dom, a safecracker freshly out of a long prison stay and on the move to reclaim money owed to him. The stylish film, which also stars WITHNAIL & I’s Richard E. Grant, evokes the cool and quirk of the best Guy Ritchie caper movies and screens on Monday, March 31, at 7:15 at the Plaza.

MUSIC ON THE SCREEN

The AFF never forgets the large audience of music lovers and music industry professionals in this town, and has made sure to provide plenty of programming for those interested in the history and culture of the art form. BAYOU MAHARAJAH: THE TRAGIC GENIUS OF JAMES BOOKER is one such film, chronicling the life of the man Dr. John once called “the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced.” Alternately known as the “Black Liberace,” Booker played rhythm and blues in Louisiana during the 1960s and 70s and this new documentary by director Lily Keber tracks his distinct sound and incredible career during what the festival calls “a time of paradigmatic change.” BAYOU MAHARAJAH screens on Thursday, April 3, at 9:15 at the Plaza.

Phil Cohran was another groundbreaking musician in a chaotic time. Cohran played jazz in the Chicago of the late 1950s and developed an incredible legacy, in more ways than one. Besides his involvement in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and his invention of the instrument called the “space harp,” Cohran also gave the world eight talented sons who today have formed their own band, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. BROTHERS HYPNOTIC, the new documentary from Reuben Atlas, explores the brothers and their band as they play for audiences and record executives, but also as they sort out their own complex legacy. The film screens Saturday, April 5, at 2:15 at 7 Stages. 

From R&B and jazz, we move to the roots of country music and the Carter family, country royalty who helped establish the genre and became some of its earliest celebrities. THE WINDING STREAM, directed by Beth Harrington, explores the family’s history from their first emergence in American roots music through June Carter and her husband Johnny Cash. This comprehensive music documentary screens on Saturday, April 5, at 4:30 at 7 Stages.

Moving from country to showtunes, THE ROAD TO FAME offers a look at the familiar Broadway casting process, but with an entirely new twist. Directed by Hao Wu, THE ROAD TO FAME depicts a production of the play FAME by China’s Central Academy of Drama, the top drama school in the country. The film was shot by Wu, a documentarian once imprisoned by the Chinese government for making a film about Christian Chinese house churches, and ultimately completed with funds acquired through Kickstarter. The finished product is a must-see for theatre lovers and screens on Sunday, April 6, a 12:00 PM at the Plaza.

RETRO DOCUMENTARIES

LIMO RIDE, directed by Gideon C. Kennedy and Marcus Rosentrater, may not seem like an obvious retro fit, but as an act of reliving our past glories, it’s a fascinating exercise in nostalgia. Everyone has that one favorite bar story, the one you whip out to break the ice and that always ends with some newcomer to the tale saying “that should be in a movie.” That’s not usually true, but this is the exception that gives credibility to the entire idea. The film is a reenacted documentary about a group of friends, a New Year’s night, and a limo ride that left them “kidnapped, stripped, stranded, and left for dead…fighting to survive.” And it’s a comedy. To see the rest of the story, LIMO RIDE premieres Sunday, March 30, at 6:30 at 7 Stages.

Going way, way retro brings us to director Rafael Garcia and his new documentary MAYAN BLUE, which depicts the discovery of the ancient Mayan city of Samabaj. Part archaeological record and part cultural exploration, Garcia’s film delves into the spirituality and mythologies of the ancient people and how real-life events shaped their understandings. MAYAN BLUE screens on Saturday, March 29, at 4:00 at the Plaza.

As a film critic and enthusiast, I have a special fondness for documentaries about moments in the film industry, especially those films that explain how something that once seemed so promising turns to dust seemingly overnight. MISFIRE: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SHOOTING GALLERY is one such documentary. Directed by Whitney Ransick, the film chronicles the short life of The Shooting Gallery production company, a once-promising and white-hot group of indie filmmakers who scored a hit with Billy Bob Thornton’s SLING BLADE (1996) before going out of business entirely only a few years later. The festival calls the film “a story of passion, hubris, and missed opportunity” and it screens on Monday, March 31, at 9:45 at the Plaza.

CESAR’S LAST FAST is screening as a special, free event on Monday, March 31, at 7:00 at the Plaza. The film is a documentary on the legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez and his final protest, a hunger strike in support of farm workers needlessly exposed to hazardous pesticides. The film boasts never-before-seen footage of Chavez and offers a grounded portrait of the man who became a hero to millions by standing up for those who had been buried by the system. With the new Michael Pena-starring biopic currently in theatres, interest in Chavez is on the rise, and tickets will go fast. Again, this screening is a FREE special event, and so you must RSVP to secure tickets if you wish to attend.

SPECIALTIES AND CULT MOVIES

As Retro goes, the 18th century is pretty darn Retro. But those whose interests lie in the era of big wigs and bigger dresses should check out the costume drama BELLE, from director Amma Asante. The film is based on the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the real-life daughter of a British Admiral and an African slave. She was brought up as a free woman in the household of William Murray, an English barrister whose rulings on the slave trade had far-reaching effects. The film explores the contradiction between Belle’s freedom and her society’s prejudice against the color of her skin. BELLE screens on Thursday, April 1, at 9:15 at the Plaza.

Fans of 19th century Gothic literature—or vampire fiction—are probably familiar with “Carmilla,” the novella by Sheridan Le Fanu that depicts an attraction between a young girl and a female vampire years before the publication of Bram Stoker’s more famous Transylvanian Count. Atlanta director Bret Wood has adapted “Carmilla” for the modern day in THE UNWANTED, a bloody and twisted horror tale the gives the story a Southern Gothic setting and a new way to interpret ‘vampirism.’ THE UNWANTED screens on Monday, March 31, at 9:30 at the Plaza, and be sure to check out our Kool Kat interview with Bret Wood about his film and career!

THE CONGRESS, directed by Ari Folman (WALTZ WITH BASHIR), deals with the past and nostalgia in a completely novel, even radical way. Starring actress Robin Wright as herself, the film proposes a world in which actors at the end of their career may take a hefty payday in exchange for translating their entire selves into a digital form, to be used forever as a “character” by the studio who now owns the likeness. Dealing with complex issues of identity and self and using a mix of animation and live action, this sci-fi tale (recently acquired by Drafthouse Pictures) will screen on Sunday, March 30, at 9:00 at the Plaza.

And lastly, what Retro Guide would be complete without mentioning THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, that ultimate retro cult standard which has been a longtime regular of the Plaza programming. The regular crew from Lips Down on Dixie have put on their show as part of the AFF for the last two years, and they’ll open their doors on Friday, March 28, at midnight at the Plaza. Bring your usual props and witty one-liners. Check the weather before pulling on your fishnets, just as a precaution.

There’s plenty more programming of the non-Retro variety, such as David Gordon Green’s JOE and Ti West’s THE SACRAMENT. Take a glance at the full schedule and you’ll find all the screenings, parties, and panels you can manage. Enjoy the festival and remember to check in with ATLRetro throughout as we keep you up to date on what’s happening in the theatres!

Andrew Kemp is a screenwriter and game designer who started talking about movies in 1984 and got stuck that way. He can be seen around town wherever there are movies, cheap beer and little else.

By Andrew Kemp
Contributing Writer

The Atlanta Film Festival kicks off this Friday with 10 days of screenings and events and, as usual, plenty of local talent will have their work on display. Among the screenings is the new Southern Gothic horror film, THE UNWANTED, written and directed by local badass Bret Wood, and playing on Monday, March 31 at 9:30 pm at The Plaza Theatre. Wood has had a long career in and among the movies, finding time to direct darkly erotic features like PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS (2006) and THE LITTLE DEATH (2010) when he’s not knee deep in the business of film restoration and distribution as vice president of special projects at Kino Lorber. Wood also devotes time to researching and writing about cinema history. Among his credits as a writer and editor is an edition of the QUEEN KELLY (1929) screenplay by the legendary Erich von Stroheim; HELL’S HIGHWAY, a documentary about those infamous highway safety films; and a book on exploitation cinema appropriately titled FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

With THE UNWANTED, Wood returns to a world of repressed erotic desire. The story, inspired by a famous Sheridan Le Fanu vampire novella, concerns a young woman named Carmilla (Christen Orr) who drifts into a small Southern town on the hunt for a missing loved one. What she finds instead is a sheltered girl named Laura (V/H/S’s Hannah Fierman) held close by her disapproving father (William Katt, THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO). As Carmilla and Laura become drawn to one another, their passion uncovers a nest of dark family secrets that lead to a bloody, deadly confrontation.

Wood recently spoke to ATLRetro about his new film and his career exploring in the darker corners of cinema.

ATLRetro: THE UNWANTED transplants Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic Gothic novella CARMILLA into a Southern Gothic setting. What does moving the location to the South add to the story?

Bret Wood: The change of setting didn’t greatly alter the tone of the story. Rural 19th-century Ireland is not SO different from modern-day rural Georgia. The key thing is that, in both versions, events unfold in an isolated setting in which the people are somewhat disconnected from the world around them.  That sort of geographic space tends to mirror itself in the psychology of those who live there – isolated, insulated, and not in touch with the world beyond the community. It can be very comfortable to live in a place like that – surrounded by people who share your values – but a certain closed-mindedness is almost inevitable. A suspicion of outsiders, a distrust of those who are guided by a different moral compass, a setting in which a visitor would be immediately viewed with suspicion.

And the ingredients of the Gothic work just as well in the 21st Century as the 19th: themes of a family curse, a poisoned bloodline, dreams haunted by spirits, the sublime beauty of nature, the decaying family estate, the menacing lord of the manor. We just did it without corsets, carriages and candelabras.

Engraving from a 19th century edition of CARMILLA.

Your film takes a very naturalist approach to CARMILLA’s horror elements. Can you talk about the process of adapting the story away from the supernatural while retaining its core?

I love Le Fanu’s story, but I don’t believe in the supernatural – and I didn’t want to make a movie about something that I don’t believe in. So I had to find a plausible variation on conventional vampirism. There’s no such thing as vampires in the sense of a person becoming immortal or being capable of transforming into an animal, but there ARE people who engage in recreational bloodletting. My 2006 movie, PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS, dramatizes two real-life examples from the Victorian era in which the exchange of blood was a sort of sex substitute.

So the challenge was to create a form of emotionally-charged bloodletting that two people might engage in – and this bloodplay could, from an outsider’s perspective, appear to be vampirism. In my version of vampirism, the blood isn’t for drinking. I’ll leave it at that. People will just have to see the movie.

Your film grapples with gender and gay/lesbian themes in the midst of a horror tale. How does the horror genre help you to tackle these types of important contemporary issues?

Even though it does have lesbian/bisexual characters, I wouldn’t necessarily call THE UNWANTED an LGBT film. It deals with a more universal experience:  the choice between staying in one place and following the traditions and values of one’s family, versus cutting the emotional cord and following one’s own path. Conformity versus individuality.

You might say that THE UNWANTED is about the painful process of “coming out” – whether from an emotional cocoon or the closet. On second thought, maybe it’s more of an LGBT film than I thought.

As far as horror goes, I had to tread a narrow line. In CARMILLA, the horror lies in the lesbianism of the two central characters -Le Fanu only suggests that they are lovers. And in my retelling, the father still needed to perceive the lesbian relationship as monstrous, but it was crucial that the audience view the relationship as loving and harmonious, even when there’s blood flowing between them.

For a while, I thought about calling the film WATER AND BLOOD to contrast the difference between friendships vs. family relationships, but I figured that was stretching the blood symbolism too far.

THE UNWANTED stars William Katt in a fairly dark and menacing role. How did he come to be involved in the project and what did he bring to the character?

I met him through executive producer Eric Wilkinson, who had worked with him a couple of times (THE MAN FROM EARTH (2007), SPARKS (2013)), and who told me Bill enjoys working on indie projects. He was very enthusiastic about the script, and had a significant impact upon the role. Originally, the character of Troy (Laura’s father) was an unequivocal villain, whose purpose it was to thwart Carmilla. Bill cultivated Troy’s human side, asked me to write a scene in which Troy and Laura spend time together, so we see they have a healthy, loving relationship. That was the inspiration for the horseback riding scene.

To Bill, as an actor, it was always important that the audience understand that Troy loves his daughter, and loved his wife, and the acts of violence he commits arise from his genuine desire to protect them. This inner conflict really shines through in his performance. And it’s so effective that we decided to further downplay his villainy by removing at least one really creepy sequence – which will no doubt appear on the DVD. We decided that rather than showing the audience what horrors this guy is capable of, we should let them wonder.

You’ve had a role in restoring and championing classic movies through your work at the Blu-Ray and DVD distributor Kino Lorber. Is there an overlooked title you would recommend, perhaps one that would make a nice pairing with THE UNWANTED?

I love classic film – the older the better – and am lucky that I get to spend much of each day mastering, packaging and writing about great films, whether it’s silent American films or European horror cinema of the 1960s and ’70s. I was watching a lot of Jean Rollin while working on THE UNWANTED, and would say that traces of his 1975 film LIPS OF BLOOD definitely found their way into my movie. Bill Gunn‘s erotic vampire film GANJA AND HESS (1973) and Jess Franco‘s FEMALE VAMPIRE (1973) were big influences as well. All of them were made by indie filmmakers with limited resources, but who attempted to dig deep into complex emotions that don’t get touched by the typical horror film. And, lest you think I was only influenced by vampire films, you don’t have to look to hard to find shades of Michael Haneke‘s THE PIANO TEACHER (2001) or Rouben Mamoulian‘s APPLAUSE (1929). Did I mention I love my job?

Bret Wood on the set of THE UNWANTED.

Between THE UNWANTED and your earlier films, PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS and THE LITTLE DEATH, you’ve explored sex on the fringes. What draws you to the subject?

I’m sure the short answer to that question lies in my conservative, religious upbringing.  But let’s not get into that.

Regardless of how I became the way I am, I will say that, to me, the most fascinating thing about sex – in films – is not the nudity or the act of copulation, but the mystery surrounding the act – sex as a revelatory experience – maybe I’m still channeling the curiosity of my thirteen-year-old self. There’s nothing less erotic than gratuitous nudity. There’s nothing more boring than a sexually active character with no inhibitions, for whom sex is simply a physical act of pleasure.  Where’s the drama in that?

I’m fascinated by the psychology of sexuality, by the fringe-dwelling people for whom sex has mutated into something slightly abnormal. By the person who is emotionally tight-wound, who is struggling against their own repression, or struggling against moral oppression, looking for some means by which they can relieve this overwhelming urge that’s gnawing at them from the inside. THAT’S interesting to me. There’s mystery there. And conflict. And tension.

You co-authored a book on exploitation cinema titled FORBIDDEN FRUIT. Exploitation films were meant to be cheap and disposable, and yet they linger on in our film culture. What should we learn from that?

One never knows which films will stand the test of time. Look back at all the lousy Oscar-winners in the past 20 years and you’ll know what I mean. The films celebrated by one generation will be dismissed by the next and vice versa.

Exploitation films of the 1930s and ’40s – sensationalized treatments of hot-button topics like venereal disease, drug abuse, prostitution, polygamy -were crude and, on the surface, badly made. But they were tackling subjects the major studios wouldn’t touch, and they were made with a sort of reckless creativity that is a welcome change from the restraint and technical perfection of a studio film of the same era. In the same way, people who are into horror films are nowadays attracted to the schlock of the 1960s and ’70s, the grindhouse fodder once casually dismissed as garbage. And the same goes for 16mm classroom films of the 1950s – ’70s. Maybe it’s because today’s DIY filmmakers can relate to the struggles of no-budget production, maybe it’s a reaction against the over-produced, over-budgeted, over-hyped films that are suffocating the multiplex.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist. Part of me today still thinks that way, I love sifting through film history to see what treasures I can find buried in the mud.

What’s next for you?

I have several scripts I’d love to make – for example, a dark comedy about a womanizing stage magician (IN HER RIGHT MIND), a drama about a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s (THE CONTROL GROUP). And there are others. For me, writing is relatively easy. The difficult thing is raising the funds to actually make something. I usually keep a handful of scripts ready to film, and then choose which project to pursue based on the resources available to me. Right now the front-runner is a grim ghost story/revenge film, based on 19th-century literature, very much in the same vein as THE UNWANTED.

THE UNWANTED screens at the Atlanta Film Festival on Monday, March 31, at 9:30 pm at The Plaza Theatre. Tickets for the screening may be purchased here.

Andrew Kemp is a screenwriter and game designer who started talking about movies in 1984 and got stuck that way. He can be seen around town wherever there are movies, cheap beer and little else.