9/12/05 Quentin Tarantino Festival - Day 4 - Documentary Night
Just got in from Day 4 of QT6 where I was treated to back to back documentaries. More specifically, nature documentaries. Even more specifically, nature documentaries from the early 70's about dangerous creatures. The films were actually quite different from each other, and I enjoyed them both. I had primed myself for the night by watching the groundbreaking 1999 documentary Pimps Up, Ho's Down (d. Brent Owens) so I was ready to go. But first...
Nicky Katt Update: As I reported yesterday, Katt is one scary mother fucker. And, as I found out today, the guy's so badass that he doesn't even need to change clothes, arriving in the same torn jeans and Rebel Without a Cause t-shirt. I also noticed that he had 2 boss tattoos on either side of his neck. And while I can't say 100% what they were of (no way I'm getting within 8 feet of that guy if I can help it) I'm pretty sure one was a pot of gold, and the other was him punching his grandmother in the face.
With that out of the way, let's get on to the Dumb Distraction coverage of Documentary night!
Cry of the Wild (1973)
Directed by: Bill Mason
Starring: Bill Mason, Wolves
Tarantino Introduction:
Tarantino describes this film as one of those movies that he had never seen, but always remembered watching commercials for. It came out during, and was advertised as, one of the 70's Family Nature/Wilderness documentaries... you know, the ones where a mountain man hangs out with a bear or something like that. He vividly described his memory of the commercial, featuring a baby wolf 'announcing himself to the world' by howling at the moon at the mouth of his cave. So, for those of you who are keeping score, QT has now done his Baby Wolf, Australian Producer, Psychotic Grandfather, and Tarzoon. Great stuff.
Quentin bought a print of this movie several years ago based on his recollection of the commercial. However, as so often happens, he didn't end up watching it until this past year. What he saw got him so excited that he ended up describing the entire documentary to two friends who came over right after he watched it. "I was acting out a documentary, ok? I was like... and then the wolves did this and you know what happened? And if the caribou don't come, then they have to do this. And you know what happens then?..."
The thing that really impressed Tarantino about this movie is that it was made by a one man filmmaker working with two cameras. He operated one camera by hand to film the wolves, and the other camera by remote control to film himself filming the wolves. It sounds like a pretty cool setup, so I was ready to watch this movie.
Trailers:
Walt Disney Presents Nikki, Wild Dog of the North - The Story of A Man, A Dog, and A Bear. This was exactly the kind of family wilderness movie QT was describing earlier.
Wolfen - The cool thing about these trailer sequences is that they are programmed by Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse Owner) and a lot of the time Tarantino has no idea what is going to play. Wolfen is a werewolf-type film, and when it started to roll you could hear howls of laughter from the row where Tarantino was sitting.
The Prophesy - Teaser Trailer
Phase IV
The Movie:
This is very much a feel good movie about a man obsessed with wolves and the freedom they represent. The first half of the film is simply Bill Mason spending months at a time in the frozen Canadian tundra, completely alone, hoping to get glimpses of wolves in action. His biggest desire is to see a wolf pack bring down a caribou. However, as we soon find out, it's not very easy to find wolves, let alone find them as they're making the kill.
Mason ends up resorting to leaving bait to draw the wolves into range of this camera. His most successful bait is sardines because, as he helpfully explains, "wolves get their biggest kicks in life through their noses."
As the first half of the movie unwinds, you begin to get a sense of Mason himself. It takes a certain kind of person to remain isolated for months at a time, but Mason appears to be very much a self-sufficient person. One particuarly cool moment in the film comes where Mason desides to build himself an igloo. "Eskimos can build an entire igloo in an hour. It takes me most of the night" he says, almost apologetically. The audience got a kick out of watching Mason, suddenly deciding he needed a window in the igloo for his camera, roughly hack away at one wall and punch out a fist-sized block of snow.
The second half of the film ventures more towards the Disney Wilderness Family genre as Mason returns home to his wife and kids. Mason's family has been taking care of two wolves that Mason tamed. The interesting thing is that those two tame wolves are actually part of a wild pack of wolves that live on Mason's preserve. In fact, one of the tame wolves is the dominant male leader of the pack.
Of course, the dominant male sires a litter, and the film revels in footage of the baby pups. The movie almost crosses into schlock territory when Mason swipes a couple of pups and gives them to his own two children to raise, resulting in endless shots of Mason's son being a wuss and his daughter taking charge of the young animals. Mason tries at length to dispel the notion that wolves are mankillers, going so far as to intercut between a children's illustrated book of Little Red Riding Hood with shots of his daughter playing with one of the pups. I for one am not convinced.
Ultimately the film gets back on track when Mason decides that he will take all the wolves from his preserve and release them into the wild. He heads back into the tundra to make sure they can handle life in the wild. There's quite a bit of tension as the wolves fail to successfully bring down a caribou and continually return to Mason's camp to beg for food. Mason ultimately decides that "Wolves aren't born with the killer instinct, they must be taught it" and since these hadn't, they would never survive in the wild. You can definately hear the sorrow in his voice as he realizes these wolves (due to his interference) will never truly know what it is to be free.
Enjoyable movie (apart from the cutesy children footage) that perfectly set us up for what was to come.
Blue Water, White Death (1971)
Directed by: Peter Gimbel & James Lipscomb
Tarantino Introduction:
"Now that we know that not only are wolves not dangerous to men, they have to be taught to be meateaters... now we're going to see some fucking meateaters!" Blue Water, White Death, a film about a crew on a mission to film a Great White Shark, is the first documentary Tarantino remembers seeing on the big screen. Before that he didn't even know what a documentary really was, apart from the boring nature stuff on TV.
Tarantino hypes up the poster for this movie as perhaps the greatest image of a great white poised to attack that he'd ever seen. At one point he's getting really excited about the movie and bungles the tile as Great White Death, which causes him to pause and muse (almost to himself) "Hmmmm, Great White Death? That would be a pretty kickass title!"
Tarantino also discusses how this was the go-to movie when Spielberg was deciding how he wanted to film the shark attack sequences for Jaws, so much so that he ended up hiring these filmmakers as consultants and even 2nd Unit directors. In fact, in the wake of Jaws, they re-released Blue Water, White Death, and it was as successful on re-release as it was initially.
Trailers:
The Savage Eye, Sharks' Treasure (The Deadliest Treasure Hunt Ever Made), and (of course) Jaws.
The Movie:
This movie covers a nine-month expedition to film a great white shark. Aboard the Terrier VIII for the trip are directors Peter Gimbel & James Lipscomb, and handful of skindivers/photographers, the crew of the ship, and a man who survived a great white shark attack.
And then there's Tom, who as the movie helpfully explains, is a folksinger. That's right, these guys are on a mission to film the most savage creature alive today, and they bring along a guy who brings nothing to the party except a guitar and some folksongs. The film even stops at several points to let old Tom sing about life and love. The 60's were quite a time, weren't they?
The crew began their hunt for the great white just off the coast of Africa. They follow alongside a whaling ship, assuming that the whale carcasses would attrack plenty of sharks. In a funny moment, before they get in their underwater cages to film, the seasoned skindivers joke about the myth that you can stop a shark from attacking by punching it in the nose. "That's right," one of them chuckles with a faux-british accent. "Those brutes can't handle such rough treatment." They carry out their first underwater shoot, and while there are plenty of sharks, the great white never appears.
This goes on for a couple of weeks and you can sense the frustration and boredom of the crew, so much so that they decide to leave the safety of the cages they had been filming from and swim among the sharks as they feed. I have seen this sort of footage before, but apparently at this time it had never been done before. And the great thing was, they decided to do it almost on a whim. "I want to get some better shots. Do you think we can leave the cages while they feed?" the head diver asks one of his experts. "Sure... I think we can do it" comes the almost unthinking reply.
Luckily for them, things work out beautifully. The four cameramen swim right alongside dozens of sharks as they devour a whale carcass. Surprisingly, they sharks seem to be very skittish of the cameramen. Anytime a shark approaches one of them, they jab at it with a stick or a camera, and the shark darts off. After they get back on the boat we hear someone mention that they were down there 'for hours' which absolutely amazes me.
At this point the weeks begin to wear on and they still haven't spotted their target. They visit a variety of locations, and have several exciting moments (including almost losing one of the divers at sea, and having another experience a painful attack of the bends) but still, no great white. Finally, almost reluctantly, the lead diver agrees that they should go to the place they're almost guaranteed to see a great white shark: Dangerous Reef, Australia. Wait, you're telling me there's a place called DANGEROUS REEF, and you didn't go there first?
The movie's final scene begins when the crew finally spot a couple of great white sharks. They quickly prepare for the dive and head underwater, this time safely in their cages. It is almost impossible to describe the power and fury of these sharks, but its like a normal shark turned to 11. Nothing skittish about these guys at all.
It was great to listen to the normally-jaded crowd gasp as the great white drew near to the cameras. I found myself nervously holding my breath as one great white, in an attempt to grab some seal meat tied to one of the cages, began to violently shake the cage and bite through the bars. "It looks like King Kong tried to break out of jail" one of the divers exclaims when they emerge.
It's easy to see why this movie captivated Spielberg. It is a viscious reminder that, as a species, we are woefully outmatched in the ocean. The sheer killing frenzy that these sharks get in is amazing to see up close. This is a movie that ultimately needs to be seen on the big screen, but I'm sure would pack a whallop no matter what.
Tonight was a look at how truly diverse Taranino's taste in films run. Sadly, after 3 days of triple features or better, Day 4 seemed to end abrubtly. Not quite ready to call it a night, a few of us headed out afterwards into the streets and bars of Austin to check out the nightlife and discuss all things geek.
This is truly a great festival so far, and I'd encourage any of you within driving distance to come check out at least one night of the festival. Most nights have had seats available, so you have no excuse not to show up (although I fully expect Sexploitation Night & Groundhouse Night to sell out). Tomorrow night is Italian WWII Epic Night, and it promises to be a good one. See you then.
- Micah
