Jonas D’s Notes

Hi Jonas, sorry it took me awhile to get back to you. You say life is busy? May I ask why? Thank you for listing some of the short films you watched. I'm still trying to find the French film you recommended: Les Bronzes. I'll let you know when I finally find a copy; hopefully that will be soon.

This past weekend I went to my first Movie Club screening. The movie was called "New Year's Parade". I enjoyed it. What I enjoyed most of all was being able to ask questions to the writer/director. The movie is pretty raw and felt like a documentary. What's most interesting is that the director spent 5 years making the film with only an $8,000 budget. He spent another $6-7,000 on festivals. Below is the review and a link.

On Sunday, July 20, 2008 the Camera Cinema Club screened THE NEW YEAR PARADE
(http://www.thenewyearparade.com/), the 2008 Slamdance Grand Jury Prize
winner for Best Narrative Feature that dramatizes the emotional states of
two siblings over the course of a year, as their parents separate, struggle
with their decisions, and eventually divorce. The family breakdown is set
against the backdrop of Philadelphia's Mummery, one of the oldest American
folk traditions. In attendance was the film's
writer/director/producer/editor/cinematographer Tom Quinn (recently named
one of "Ten Young Writer-Director's To Watch" by MovieMaker Magazine).

"In film", says Quinn, "divorce is often a quick back story; a shorthand for
character development. 'That kid, the one with the ratty clothes, the
quiet misfit - he has a single parent'...fill in the blanks. For THE NEW
YEAR PARADE I was interested in those blanks, the moments that we consider
"understood" or too common to showcase."

THE NEW YEAR PARADE is scheduled for a theatrical release in January of
2009.

Reviews of THE NEW YEAR PARADE

VARIETY
By PETER DEBRUGE

Philadelphia's colorful Mummers' Parade bookends an unsentimentalized
portrait of 21st-century divorce in "The New Year Parade." Winner of the
Slamdance grand jury prize, Tom Quinn's first feature combines
non-professional actors with hundreds of actual marching band participants
to yield an almost documentary-like look at a family left reeling after the
parents separate. Quinn, who hails from the emerging "Phillywood"
independent scene, possesses a strong artistic sensibility and the
confidence to build his story around intimate, sometimes mundane life
moments as opposed to melodrama. Interest will be strongest locally, but
fest play looks promising for this high-integrity project.

Set over the course of a year (and painstakingly assembled over four), pic
opens with the South Philadelphia String Band learning they've placed an
unimpressive 13th at the annual parade. In the 12 months it takes the
marching club to pull itself together for the next show, team captain Mike
McMonogul (Andrew Conway) slowly watches his own family drift apart. Eldest
son Jack (Greg Lyons) is best equipped to handle the split, watching out for
16-year-old Kat (Jennifer-Lynn Welsh) as best he can.

When fellow mummers gossip about his mother's infidelities (the reason for
the divorce) within earshot of his sister, Jack doesn't hesitate to pick a
fight. But he's also distracted with a budding relationship of his own, and
Kat doesn't trust his new girlfriend (Irene Longshore) enough to confide her
own dating issues. The boy for Kat is clearly her A.V. Club partner Curtis
(Tobias Segal), but she's stuck in an unhealthy relationship with a school
hockey star (Paul Blackway), who pressures her to take the pill so they can
have sex.

Because Quinn encouraged his actors to improvise, sometimes recording hours
of footage to be condensed into a short scene, the narrative style takes
some getting used to at first. Grocery shopping or band practice are
weighted as equally as heated arguments and sex scenes, providing an
unusually well-rounded sense of character even as it makes for a rather
inelegant flow. Scenes don't have obvious in and out points, but instead
seem sampled from lives that continue when the cameras stop rolling.

The most important dramatic moments are all here, as when Kat's boyfriend
tries to get fresh or Jack, feeling distanced from his father and determined
to win the next parade, approaches a rival team about playing for them. But
the truly unforgettable scenes are either entirely silent (signing the
divorce papers) or totally improvised (in one, a real band member tells a
story about how a bystander randomly gave him a photo of his father as a
child, a beautiful allegory for the film's family-first themes). Life isn't
tidy, the movie reminds us, with the ripples of the McMonogul divorce
echoing as betrayal and distrust in all the relationships it touches.

Handheld camerawork and naturalistic lighting enhance the pic's kitchen-sink
realism. If the final score is anywhere near as effective as the temp tracks
featured in the Slamdance cut, the soundtrack could be a must-own (a la
"Once").

Camera (color, DV), Quinn; sound, Mark Doyle; associate producers, Doyle,
Irene Longshore, Elizabeth Shane, Jennifer-Lynn Welsh; casting, Steve Beal,
Quinn, Elizabeth Shane, Tim Walker, Jen Welsh. Reviewed on DVD, Park City,
Utah, Jan. 26, 2008. (In Slamdance Film Festival -- competing.) Running
time: 90 MIN.

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
By Steven Rea

There's a scene in Tom Quinn's very fine "The New Year Parade" in which the
bandleader of the South Philadelphia String Band, beginning a rehearsal,
reminds the guys with their saxes and banjos that the silence between the
notes is as key as the notes themselves. "The space with no sound is as
important as the space with notes in it," he says. Those are wise words,
and Quinn, a Philadelphia-area writer and director, has taken them to heart.
A keenly observed drama about the breakup of a South Philly family, "The New
Year Parade" is full of quiet and noise - numb sorrow and popping fireworks.

Stretching over the course of a year, with the Mummers Parade and its
preparations ever present, Quinn's movie trolls the rowhouses, taverns and
diners of South Philadelphia, describing the dissolution of the McMonoguls:
A wife (MaryAnn McDonald) who's had an affair, a husband (Andrew Conway) who
can't deal with it, and their kids, a high school girl, Kat (Jennifer
Welsh), and a twentysomething son, Jack (Greg Lyons), coming to grips.

Quinn captures the gritty textures of the city - the crosshatching phone
wires, the metal awnings, the stalls of the Italian Market. And he finds
beauty there, like the hulk of a given-up-for-dead ocean liner moored on the
Delaware, looming large over an affectionate encounter between Kat and her
dockworker dad.

The strengths of "The New Year Parade" - its documentary-like measure of the
every day, its easy barroom banter - sometimes become a weakness, too. A few
of the performances feel forced, or self-conscious, underwritten or
overexposed. But the main players are strong, and Irene Longshore as Jack's
new girlfriend, and Tobias Segal as Kat's school friend, are both memorable.

"The New Year Parade" won the grand jury prize at the recent Slamdance Film
Festival. It deserves more recognition down the line - and not just from
local audiences who see themselves, literally and figuratively, in Quinn's
beautifully composed frames.

The New Year Parade *** (Out of four stars)

INDIEWIRE (From Slamdance Coverage)
By Eric Kohn

.The prize for the finest of the unhappy youth movies, however, goes to "The
New Year Parade." Talented director Tom Quinn (no relation to the Magnolia
Pictures exec) makes a stunning debut with this sterling observation of a
brother and sister pair straining under the pressures of their parents'
divorce. Quinn has a calculated, Altman-esque approach to staging conflict.
Because it functions as a wise examination of universal human despair, "The
New Year Parade" proves that keen observation of human behavior yields the
strongest results--although budgetary requirements probably hold a close
second place spot.

FILMMAKER MAGAZINE (From Slamdance Coverage)
By Brandon Harris

.Although the narratives have been a shallower pool, with disappointments
ranging from Frost, a brisk Cameron Crowe rip-off that can't hit all of its
telegraphed genre beats with anything resembling nuance or style, to The
Project, the Brooklyn indie film within a Brooklyn indie film that follows a
trio of white filmmakers attempting to document the lives of dope dealing
inner city black kids with increasingly exploitative and personally
dangerous results, Tom Quinn's magnificent THE NEW YEAR PARADE has easily
assumed the mantle of film to beat in the narrative competition.

Rough around the edges, with a temp score that uses Elliot Smith's soulful
downer ballads to better effect than "Good Will Hunting", the film delves
into a year in the lives a a disintegrating family in South Philadelphia's
Irish enclaves. Something of a naturalistic, blue collar "The Squid and The
Whale", the pic revolves around the effect of an infidelity and the power
struggle that ensues between parents, as they fight a proxy war through
their children. Quinn, who wrote, directed, shot, and edited himself with a
bare bones crew, has made a consistently touching movie in which all of his
characters, even the most flawed (which, like Baumbach's marital strife
narrative, is the mother) are seen with empathy. Quinn creates a
recognizable and multi-textured world for his characters to inhabit; South
Philadelphia is clearly a place he has thought much about, one tinged with
decay and regret, but also love, humor and beauty.

THE NEW YEAR PARADE brims with wonderful glimpses of spaces the cinema
rarely visits. Quinn, whose deftness with performers equals his eye for
authentic detail, uses real South Philly marching bands, has his characters
visit Geno's Steaks and he depicts the unraveling of the family against the
backdrop of the implosion of Veteran's Stadium, incorporating into the film
a series of places and cultural events that resonate in this working class
milieu. Unlike so many bourgeois filmmakers condescending to poor or working
class characters (see The Project, or the much hyped Ballast over at
Sundance, but more on that somewhere else), seeing their lives as mere
vacuums of pain and aesthetic playgrounds in which the filmmakers can work
out their own complexes of guilt and lack of understanding in narratives
weighed down by arty pretensions, THE NEW YEAR PARADE, with its flat
narrative, subtle sensitivity to class, gently crafted performances by non
or marginal actors and its rough hewn yet entirely appropriate hand held
camerawork, does many of the things American Independent films have
traditionally done well.

Maybe that was too much information for you. Sorry. I thought it was interesting to read the different reviews. Let me know how much information you want so next time I won't send you everything.

Take care and have a great weekend. Ann

posted 3 hours ago. ( send a note )

mitraa g says

Hello Jonas, how are you? I am spending a quality time with my husband at Toronto; reading and roaming a lot. But heavy and continual rain resist me from outing....so, the time could most preciously be utilized watching movie at home. Will you please recommend some latest good movies and books you found amazing?

posted yesterday. ( send a note )

sarah a says

Hey Jonas,
I've read em all, some more than once. My favorites are the Dark Tower series and the Stand. I really can't live without any of them though. :) How is it that you came to have a SK overdose exactly?
SAA

posted 8 days ago. ( send a note )

brandon a. says

Hey there, thanks for the tip! I just added Cloud Atlas to me to-read list. Also, I was reading your bio and took a look at your shelf. I see that you've read some Murakami. I'm currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and I just finished After Dark. He's definitely a unique writer.

I think you'd love The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. I have a review on my shelf. Also, be sure and check out House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Both very different, and yes, absurd. :)

posted 8 days ago. ( send a note )

raquel13 says

Thanks for your responses re. The Secret History and All Families Are Psychotic.

I haven't read any Coupland before... Since you said that AFAP is not one of his best, which other title(s) would you recommend? Thank you!

posted 13 days ago. ( send a note )

lotus says

You are judicious with your replies :-) Ya, Mangalore is a port. There are quite a few beaches here. I have been to only two of them. They were okay. I'm told there is a virgin island where the beach is really nice. We are able to see bottom of the sea which is good. Unfortunately, it is closed in the monsoon season due to very high tide.

posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )

ann m says

Thanks Jonas. I can't wait; I'm really excited to see the films and meet the people involved in making the film. I'll keep you posted. I saw that you are reading Watchmen; is it the graphic novel? I remember reading that way back; my brother and I used to collect/read comics. Take care. Ann

posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )

deltasky says

Hi Jonas..Ace of Base of course how could I forget..having had three teenagers it was great as they kept me up on the groups..middle boy James was in a band also the youngest who was very gifted in music..he played piano and guitar..I would have liked hin to persue this but Father was not going for this..plus when he got into college he loved Engineering. As soon as he graduated and married they took off to silcon valley..he first work for Sun and moved to Nvidea..these company's paid for him to get his masters part time from Stanford Wow! University costs a fortune here so this was great..I asked would he try for his Doctorate this way, said no he had had enough , seems happy with Nvidia and works from home going to the office once a month. They made a smart move and we will also retire there were ther climate is much better. My husband gets on very well with the Germans and often goes to Germany, oh we have one very good benefit with Siemens, they pay 90% of our health insurance when he retires...a huge benefit as health care is one thing we can not do without. Your work sounds very interesting and I hope you enjoy it....the german mentality um I am thinking about this..my husband complains a lot and is always saying everything is just a mess! he works very hard maybe often frustrated..so maybe he does not LOL..but has liked the German people when he goes over. Take care of yourself Jonas and thank you for enlightening me about the Swedish music..I love music maybe as much as books.Sheila

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

deltasky says

Jonas I am just on U tube playing music by the 'Roxettes' do you remember this group? I am 65 so remember lots and still love them...how many groups have come from Sweden, I remember Abba and the Roxettes but my husband says there is also another maybe you can also enlighten me.Thanks

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

deltasky says

Thanks Jonas, I loved this movie and the music is great. How is engineering in Basal, Sweden, my husband is also an engineer and works for Siemens..at the moment is working on a project with the Germans so often goes to work at crazy hours to speak with them before they leave, no fun being married to an engineer/mathmetician one of our sons also is an Electrical Engineer working for a samll company in silicon valley california..Nvidia, you may not have heard of Nvidia but am sure Siemens! yes. I have three sons and hoped one would go into medicine, my eldest is an architrect in England middle boy software lives in Australia and the youngest as I said electrical engineering. I hoped one would go into medicine to help me in my old age..am about to have knee replacement surgery and need both knees replaced. Take care and enjoy, Sheila

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

tomato_kute says

*.*

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

ann m says

(Re: the thread "Any movie members or attend movie festivals?") Hi Jonas. Wow, that's great. Any movies you watched that you would recommend (especially the short films)? If no one else posts to this thread, I will still let you know about the movies and the discussions afterwards. I'll probably post it here on your site.

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

lotus says

probably 'climate at Basel' would be more apt here... :)

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

lotus says

Well, presently I'm in Mangalore & i send weekly reports to Bangalore. So I'll keep it in mind to ask the weather report next time... :-) But weather here in Mangalore is worth mentioning. It rains 12 hrs a day, from my window I can see lush greenery. So it is very vibrant & pleasant here. Hey wait, except for the rain part, did i just describe the weather at Basel?

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

kht says

:D

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

lotus says

Big shelf dude!

posted 4 weeks ago. ( send a note )

kht says

This is in reference to your post on the 32 post...I was thinking the same thing...going down the list :)

posted 4 weeks ago. ( send a note )

bette l says

Thanks for your response to that idiot! What idiot? See note below.

posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )

tm-booksb4bread says

Jonas - I asked this question:
Should I read On Beauty? This is a recommendation from my neighborhood book club. I do NOT like books with crude language or vulgar/pornographic elements. I've read 22 pages and have rolled my eyes at a plethora of swear words with the f-bomb making it's deplorable appearance. Am I wasting my time here? Thank you!

Here is your reply - No, if you don't like books about real people, who use the entire range of the english vocabulary and have sex, you should not read this book. But for those who are not bothered by such things I heartily recommend it.

I thought it was harsh/rude! I already stated my preferences for books and did not need a personal attack along with your "opinion". Just a simple yes or no would suffice.

posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )

tm-booksb4bread says

That was harsh. Please be more helpful next time - a simple yes or no is sufficient.

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