When I read the item in Variety a few months back, it struck me like an affirmation of a long-ago vision. The item said that New York production company
Good Machine was working with filmmaker
Chris Smith to make a film based on
Harvey Pekar's comic book series
American Splendor. Pekar should be familiar to readers of the Chronicle as a regular contributor to our music and book sections, often writing about jazz. In addition to his critical writing, this issue of the Chronicle also features some of Pekar's comics handiwork. Smith is the director of
American Movie, the insightful and hilarious documentary grand prize winner at
Sundance this year. (Smith and American Movie are scheduled to appear in Austin this fall as part of the
Texas Documentary Tour prior to its national release by
Sony Pictures Classics in mid-November.) A few years back, Smith made a feature called
American Job (detect a theme yet?) that played at the
SXSW Film Festival. I interviewed him at the time and remember asking if he was familiar with Pekar's comics, because the two men struck me as sharing such similar sensibilities -- both are unpretentious, bare-bones bards of the urban Midwest. But, alas, Smith replied no to my query. Fade-out as years pass until one day I read that Good Machine co-president
Ted Hope is trying to put these two storytellers together. Good Machine is a daring New York production company, some of whose titles include The Ice Storm, Happiness, and The Myth of Fingerprints. I was gladdened to see that Hope saw the same naturalness of this pairing as I did and, moreover, was in a position to do something about it. As things stand now, Pekar is at work on a script and Smith is currently focusing his energies on putting the finishing touches on American Movie. Nothing is for certain yet, but Smith admits that the more familiar he becomes with Pekar's work the more he wants to do the project. "If it can work it out I would love to do it," he says. As for me, I know I'd love to see that happen...
The next happy hour of the Austin Film Alliance is on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 5:30-7:30pm at Pacifica (3801 Capitol of Texas Hwy N). The entire evening is devoted to networking and socializing; hors d'oeuvres are provided, and a cash bar is available...
Landmark Theatres, with co-presenters Borders Books & Music/borders.com and TV network Bravo, have launched a popular foreign film poll in which voters will have a chance to nominate five of their favorite foreign-language films for a Top 100 Foreign Films list. In addition, one lucky entrant will win an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Hong Kong. Entries are accepted from now until Oct. 31; the list will be announced in January 2000. Ballots are available at all Landmark Theatres (in Austin, that's the Dobie Theatre), all Borders Book & Music Stores, and online at http://www.borders.com or http://www.LandmarkTheatres.com...
A while back the Alamo Drafthouse also ran a poll to discover the Alamo Film Institute (AFI) Top 100 Movies. It's an idiosyncratic list, to say the least, a list in which Evil Dead 2 and Brazil both rank in the top 10. The whole list can be found at http://www.drafthouse.com and makes for most interesting reading. It provides great insight into the fractured minds hosting this weekend's most unique Wizard of Oz event: midnighters accompanied by Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and matinees attended by two original Munchkins, Jerry Maren and Clarence Swenson, along with costume contests and a kid-friendly menu.
