David Gordon Green
Here's a shot from his latest film "Snow Angels" in competition at the Sundance Film Festival this week. Perhaps when the Little Rock media obsession with "Come Early Morning" (a fine film, don't get me wrong) calms down, Arkies will give another one of their own some attention (Mr. Green is from Little Rock). For what it's worth, "Snow Angels" is Mr. Green's 6th film. His two most recent films "All the Real Girls," and "Undertow" weren't given the marching band accolades of Ms. Adams film. Let's have some perspective, people. And some fairness.
Comments
About fairness --
I don't think DGG has been slighted; he just hasn't made a film in a few years -- Confederacy of Dunces and Secret Life of Bees never made it past pre-production. (And Undertow, I'm afraid, simply wasn't that great.) And George Washington -- which I raved about before I knew Green had a LR connection -- never played here. I'm hopeful about Snow Angels but I haven't seen it; I'm told it is a difficult but rewarding film.
Come Early Morning stands or falls on its own merits. It is the nature of Arkansas -- especially Arkansas media culture -- to compensate for our perceived insignificance in the wider world by either excessively celebrating the achievements of those from here (hey look! an Arkie is on Survivor!) or by denigrating those achievements (if you're so good, how come you're in Arkansas?). It is a tired and, to my mind, extermely unproductive game and it is practiced by a lot of the venerable media types in this market (as well as by a lot of citizens at large). My advice is to avoid these traps.
I admit I was relieved when Come Early Morning turned out to be a film I could wholeheartedly endorse -- I told JLA as much when I spoke to her about the film. And she understood the quandry facing anyone put in a position of criticizing a film made by a local. I'm sure this isn't a condition peculiar to Arkansas -- I'm sure it's true of any place that doesn't see itself as a center of cultural production -- but that doesn't make it any less pathetic.
Green's work isn't under discussion because it isn't -- there's no work to discuss right now. The fact that JLA's movie got some good attention doesn't have anything to do with Snow Angels or anything else. I happen to think Come Early Morning was one of the best films of last year -- that's a minority opinion perhaps, but a very supportable one. I completely understand that one can't prove one's intellectual honesty, and more than one can prove one is not a racist. All you can do is point to your body of work and your reputation and let people draw their own conclusions.
Regards,
PM
Posted by: Philip Martin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/moviegoer/nav-commenters.gif)
|
January 25, 2007 03:06 PM