Trailer for French Documentary Tarantino: The Disciple of Hong Kong

These days, there aren't a lot of docs that catch my, even fewer that are worth writing about. Being of the first generation of Americans bombarded with cable television from a very early age, I can honestly say at this point in my life I've seen most of what I need to see in the world of educational programming. When I was younger my inquisitive mind couldn't get enough of Discovery and TLC, especially when the topic discussed had anything to do with the paranormal. After 30 years of documentaries, I can honestly say I'm not learning anything new from 80% of the programs these days. Unless it has to do with crime or ancient civilization, I rarely have an interest. Unless, of course, the doc has to do with genre cinema, and then I'm all over it like a fly on shit.

Grindhouse and Exploitation docs are always worth a watch because, not only do I learn something about the object of my obsession, but I also get a whole new list of movies that I didn't know about and need to see. When I watch Not Quite Hollywood a couple months ago(review here)I practically got a boner over the tons of hours I would spend watching ozploitation films I knew nothing about. It's the same feeling I get when I've watched the handful of docs on Netflix the deal with Grindhouse and exploitation films. When Machete Maidens! becomes available to me, I'm probably not leaving the house for a couple days.

So you can see why I got excited over watching this trailer for a French documentary about Tarantino and the Kung-Fu movies that inspired him. Two of my favorite subjects rolled into one learning experience. I've seen a lot of kung-fu action cinema in my day, but I guarantee there is so much more missing. Not only does this doc give me the ability to know of what films influenced QT (even though I know many of them), but I also get to see interviews with the business itself. Kung-fu cinema being a genre that has been my favorite's for close to 30 years. Awesomesauce!

Unfortunately, the doc is made for French TV so the possibilities of seeing it on Netflix or on the festival circuit are few and far between. Hopefully there are those in the private BT community who can record and translate for those of us who are incapable of getting a hold of an understandable copy.

Thank to Twitch for the video.

I Finally Got Around to Seeing Not Quite Hollywood(2008)...

....and it only took me two years to do it. When Not Quite Hollywood:The Wild,Untold Story of Ozploitation!(2008) first started hitting the festival circuit back in 2009, it seemed as if every genre blogger and podcaster had seen it and something to say, most of it being praise. Now that I think about it, I don't recall anyone writing anything negative about the doc at all, and I understand why. Thanks to the power of Netflix Instawatch, and too much free time on my hands during a rainy day, I finally put forth the effort to watch the highly regarded documentary. I must say it was time well spent.

Just in case you were unaware this film existed (I speak mainly of the friends of mine who click my Facebook Link), Not Quite Hollywood documents the rise of fall of Australian genre cinema, known affectionately in the cult movie community as Ozploitation. From it's beginnings in testing the censors with skin exposures, to it's apparent demise, not unlike the American Drive-thu and Grindhouse culture, with the rise of VHS, the doc outlines the history of the genre. As you would expect from any documentary about film, there are shitloads of interviews with filmmakers, actors, and stuntmen...too many to actually name with the exception of Quentin Tarantino. There are also film clips up the anus, again sounding like pretty standard doc garbage.

What sets this film apart from other docs, aside from subject matter, is the rock video editing that keeps one such as myself, who has the attention span of a cat, interested for close to two hours. Two hours with no bathroom or snack breaks is something that happens very rarely, especially with an informative film. Blurbs from interviewees never last more than 30 seconds before a movie clip, typically speaking over the clip. The director obviously knew that when making a doc about movies, people want to see clips of the actual movies rather than a bunch of old fuddy-duddies talking about filming. The only problem with this concept is these old fuddy-duddies are Ozzies,who happen to be pervy and quite crazy, so the stories that are actually being told are far from boring. Throw in a soundtrack of classic glam rock from Down Under, and you have the makings of a perfect documentary.

I was a bit disappointed in myself knowing very little about the genre, being a total dork when it comes to this shit. Out of the dozens of films covered, which I assume were a small part of the actual industry, I could only name 2 or 3 of the movies as flicks I have actually watched. On the flipside though, I took down the titles of most of the films covered for future viewing purposes. I may not know much about ozploitation right now, but by the end of the month I guarantee I'm going to have close to a dozen under my belt.

All together I can say the movie did what it was supposed to, expose the world to a lesser known film industry and make people want to seek these Australian rarities out. If you screen Not Quite Hollywood and don't immediately seek out a copy of The Man From Hong Kong or Patrick, there has got to be something wrong with you. Keep in mind that the director, Mark Hartley, currently has a new documentary on the festival circuit called Machete Maidens Unleashed! which explores the hotbed of exploitation filmmaking known as the Philipines. I've seen the trailers and read the reviews, hopefully it doesn't take me 2 years to take the time to watch it.

True King Will See The Light Of Day

About a month ago, I brought to light the story of two men, who happened to be really good friends of mine, with a dream to make a movie. Bife Productions set out to make a documentary about the more-human-than-human Steve Hawkes, but it order to finish said doc, they were going to need some help. Well ,thanks to the help of the outside world, True King is going to see the light of day!!

Tim and Peter were able to raise more than enough to complete the post-production, a great deal within the couple hours of the Kickstarter due date. I just want to give my sincere congratulations to the team over at Bife Productions. They worked long and hard, traveling thousands of miles and spending most of the production costs out of there own pocket. I would also like to thank all of there supporters who understand that this movie needs to be made. I'm dying to see it hit the festival circuit, and it will hopefully makes it way to NYC within the coming year.

Awesome job, guys! I hope this gives you faith to make more movies.

Eurocrime! cinema documentary trailer

Big ups to Cinebeats and Impossible Funky for providing me,and the rest of the twitterverse, with some hope for the future in documentary releases. This is the feature length doc I've been waiting for since the first time I watched Henry Silva fire a gun in Rome. With interviews from some of the heaviest hitters in Eurocrime(Nero,Silva,Williamson, and Castellari just to name a few) I can already tell that this is going to be a project hitting the Festival circuit with the force of a Fiat explosion. I don't want to forget to mention an original score provided by Calibro 35.

But....in order for your sweatiest, Mediterranean wishes to be fulfilled, the filmmakers are going to need your help. Unfortunately, righteously awesome film clips cost money. For a donation of as little as 5 bucks, you can get some pretty sweet gifts just for participating in the finishing up of this amazing project. So if your interested, and I know you are, check out the Eurocrime!! Kickstarter site to help make this project.

If your interested in promoting the Eurocrime! project on your own blog or site of that nature, you can pick up a fancy, little Kickstarter widget here like I did. Even if you don't have the money to donate(my current predicament).the least you could do is promote it. Every little bit helps, so do what you can.