@film
The art and craft of filmmaking
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:32
Taking with Neal Damiano - Film Critic on Swell
So I thought I'd bring him on over to the Film Channel, which is really dedicated to the art and craft of filmmaking. And his voice is one of many voices out there that have thoughts and opinions. But I wanted to talk to Neil, by the way. Thank you, Neil, for doing this. Hello
Neal Damiano
@NealD · 3:20
I know I'm going to get a lot of flashy dialogue, a lot of MTV editing, so to speak, edgy editing, postmodern style. So that's what I'm going to get. And someone else who is another favorite director of mine is Martin Scorsese
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:55
And you're right when you know it's their film. And there is sort of a style. Of course, when you think about nuance to surprise you inside those genres, specifically, inside those directors, does a nuance and a newness to that nuance sort of become the next measure of whether or not they've grown as a director
Neal Damiano
@NealD · 1:34
But I find that they're constantly learning with each new film, and they're progressing with each new film, whether you like their new film or not, people like Tarantino or Scorsese and other countless other directors and screenwriters, they're learning something new about themselves constantly. It's a constant progression and learning. Absolutely. Yup
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:57
And this is a two part question. That's the first question, how do you treat the fact that you notice an actor who's jumping? And the second is what's what happens as a reviewer when you see something terribly mismatched and you just have great wishes that this person was not in this role. How far do you take that
Neal Damiano
@NealD · 2:34
That was her in Pulp Fiction, obviously. And Tarantino tends to cast actors over and over again in his films. That's just something he likes to do reading biographies on Tarantino. It's just something he likes to do. He mentions. And a lot of directors do that score says he does that too, obviously with De Niro and everything else. But I can't think of anybody off the bat that has been miscat, but it happens when you watch it as a reviewer
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:56
How much do you stick close to what's trending and how much do you go deep to find catalog stuff that you really think is going to surprise you because you only have a certain amount of time in your day and you're working for organizations that have words like best in them. Ten best films, like, how do you choose or is it chosen for you?
Neal Damiano
@NealD · 5:00
Some of them are great, some of them are bad, but the money is out there and the resources are out there to do film to bring your idea to life. And you also have the investors and all that kind of stuff. The business aspect of it comes into play as always
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:49
It would be really cool to expand this conversation and open it up to somebody who you think is cool that you want to speak with. Or we could start a new Swell with that person. It's always great to have an idea about a film and then speak with someone who was involved with it. And it's great anatomy lesson. So looking forward to your answer to this
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Neal Damiano
@NealD · 4:26
Well, right off the bat, anyone who knows me knows that I worship at the altar of John Carpenter since I was a kid. He's far favorite director. Top five directors of all time. Not only horror, just in general, I think he's a brilliant director, brilliant filmmaker. Every film, basically he's done. I've enjoyed particularly Halloween. And The Thing. The thing is probably overall, I want to say my favorite horror film of all time
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:05
Speaking of directors, I have to ask you something that I'm not sure you've ever experienced her work before. Her name is Miranda July. I've seen her live, and I've seen a few of her pieces. And I was blown away earlier last week to rent Kajillionaire on Amazon. It was one of my favorite films ever. And Deborah Winger was in it and Rachel Wood was in it. I forgot her middle name. Evans Wood
Neal Damiano
@NealD · 1:32
Hi, Deb. Nice to hear from you again. And I am familiar with Miranda July. She did an independent film called Umi, and Everyone We Know, which was a character centered film about a lonely shoe salesman who falls in love with one of his customers. Really well written, intense, good film. I really enjoyed that one. She directed it, and I believe she wrote it too, but I could be mistaken, but I will check out Kajillionaire