NBFF 2011: BROTHER'S JUSTICE

Dax Shepard (Dax Shepard) in Brother's Justice.

Title game

By John Esther

Dax Shepard (Dax Shepard), the funniest guy in Idiocracy and Baby Mama, has decided to retire his comic chops and become a marital arts star in his next film, which will be written, produced and maybe directed (he has not decided yet) by Shepard. He does not have much of a storyline yet for the his makeover project, much less a script, but he has a title, Brother's Justice. 

After Shepard and his producing buddy, Nate Tuck, are rejected numerous times, and all the poorer for the delays, they decide to reach out to fellow Hollywood actors like Tom Arnold and Ashton Kutcher who are not immediately in on the joke...until Shepard starts pitching.  

Co-directed by Shepard and David Palmer, Brother's Justice comes off in many ways, such as its attack on Hollywood preciousness and America's homophobia, like a stripped down version of Sascha Baron Cohen's latest films. Shepard is not as gusty to go undercover to unmask society's shortcomings as Cohen, nor does he have the budget, but the mockumentary is still a pretty funny send up on moviemaking and, as such, will definitely appeal to Hollywood insiders a tad more than the general public.

Considering how well this would have played to Tinseltown audiences, and that the Newport Beach Film Festival snagged Brother's Justice up before the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival could screen it, shows somebody behind the Orange Curtain was on his or her toes.

SXSW 2011: SILVER BULLETS

Kate (Kate Lyn Sheil) in Silver Bullets.

Swanberg song

By Don Simpson

Blurring the line between fiction and reality, writer-director-producer-cinematographer-editor Joe Swanberg' film’s opts not to formally name any of the characters in Silver Bullets, most likely because all of the actors are playing fictionalized versions of themselves.

Joe (Swanberg) and Kate (Kate Lyn Sheil) are an onscreen couple who often work together on films -- the former as the director and lead actor, the latter as the lead actress. When Kate accepts the leading role as a werewolf in a new Ti West project, Joe finds himself casting a new leading lady, Kate’s friend, Amy (Amy Seimetz). Jealousy ensues. Joe rightly assumes that Ti has his eyes set on Kate while Kate becomes very upset that Joe would cast her friend in his next project because she knows that this also means that Joe and Amy will establish an extremely close (and naked) on-camera relationship. Oh, what an incestuous world of celluloid!

I do not think it is too much of a stretch to state that Silver Bullets is Swanberg’s most Godardian film to date -- and that is not just because it features a girl with a gun or an onscreen director with a penchant for cinema theory. This is a film in which Swanberg puts himself under the proverbial microscope, in true self-reflexive fashion, questioning his role as a filmmaker and as a sexual being.

Swanberg’s cinematic output has traditionally burst with unbridled sexuality -- a quality that I suspect may have caused some arguments with his off-screen lovers over the years. (Swanberg is currently married.) Silver Bullets appears to be Swanberg’s way of working through all of that, while directly addressing past criticisms of his work -- primarily that he is a predatory director who makes movies solely for the opportunity to make out with attractive actresses. It is important to note that Silver Bullets is much more sympathetic towards Kate; revealing Joe as a two-timing cheat.

Silver Bullets is also the most stylistically playful of Swanberg’s films, at least since Hannah Takes the Stairs. Swanberg tinkers not only with the visual aspects of cinema but with its narrative conventions as well. I have never really thought of Swanberg as an editor, but he does a beautiful job tying together Silver Bullets’ concurrent stories in an overtly artful fashion. Despite being completely unscripted, Silver Bullets is dramatically more complex than Swanberg’s previous efforts; it is also his most cohesive and coherent, especially in terms of purpose. Silver Bullets represents a clean break from Mumblecore (a genre not known for profound messages) for Swanberg. He has a lot to say, and the messages are relayed loud and clear.

Swanberg also premiered Uncle Kent at Sundance Film Festival 2011.