ISSUE #77
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN & SPENCER EVERHART]
Hello and welcome back to an all-new, very special installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH brought to you by GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
THIS WEDNESDAY (11/13) at 7pm, our signature free social event FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE returns once again. If you’re looking for thoughtful conversation with your fellow GR film fans and filmmakers, this is the place to be! Join us.
Then, NEXT MONDAY (11/18) at 8:00pm, we’re thrilled to present the MICHIGAN PREMIERE of THE TIME MASTERS (1982) in a new 4K restoration!
For all the convincing you may need to buy your ticket, please find David’s foreword to the film below!
A SUMMONS TO MEET THE TIME MASTERS
[BY: DAVID BLAKESLEE]
Hey everyone! I'm here to pique your interest for our next GRFS film event, which will take place on Monday, November 18th. The occasion marks our first-ever foray into screening a feature-length animated film: 1982's The Time Masters from French director René Laloux (who also gave us 1973's Fantastic Planet).
While we've included animated shorts at several of our Open Projector Nights, we're very excited to finally offer an example of the medium as a standalone showing. Selecting just the right entry has been the subject of many conversations in our meetings over the past year, and after having a chance to view a screener copy of The Time Masters, I must say I like the one we landed on!
The Time Masters was a minor success in France and across Europe upon first release in the early 1980s but began picking up a cult following in the 90s after it began appearing in frequent rotation on British TV. The film is primarily known as a showcase for visual designs by Moebius, the pen name for Jean Giraud, widely considered to be among the top-tier comic and graphic artists of his era — celebrated for his eye for meticulously rendered detail and ability to visualize and create fully-conceived, vibrantly-inhabited alien environments and technology. Primarily working in 2D print magazines, comics, and graphic novels, Moebius occasionally branched out into the world of film. His work was heavily featured in the 1981 animated anthology film Heavy Metal (based on stories from a magazine that Moebius himself helped launch). He served as production designer for The Time Masters, his most extensive effort in the field of animation, and also made significant storyboard and design contributions for films such as Alien, Tron, The Abyss, and The Fifth Element.
The story of The Time Masters is based on a popular 1950s sci-fi novel from Stefan Wul, the same author who provided the source material for Laloux’s previous film Fantastic Planet. Here, a young boy gets orphaned and stranded on a desolate alien planet, facing hazards of strange plant life and hostile creatures including (most seriously) swarms of hornets with an appetite for puncturing the skulls of humans so that they can suck out their brains.
With the child in danger, a group led by a friend of the deceased father travels by spaceship to attempt a rescue as they race against time. The boy faces a number of challenging encounters. Subplots develop among the adults trying to contact the boy, opening up opportunities for them to come into perilous contact with bizarre lifeforms and beings with higher intelligences, all wonderful fodder for unleashing the far-out imaginative delights brought forth by Moebius and his crew of animators, and a smart screenplay from writers who seem to be having fun occasionally tossing out mind-bending ideas about the nature of time, cultural assimilation, psychic conformity, and other lofty concepts in an accessible, kid-friendly presentation.
Featuring a sometimes thumping, sometimes sparkly Euro-synth-pop soundtrack, The Time Masters offers a feast for the eyes and stimulus of the intellect, particularly for those who enjoy nerding out on classic speculative science fiction and fantasy. If I have a criticism, it would be that I wish there was more! The film flies by in under 80 minutes, probably due to concessions brought about by budget realities (it must be said that this was an indie animation project with limited financing and no strong studio backing). Another mark of distinction for our upcoming screening is that it will mark the film’s Michigan premiere — its first time ever showing in our state! It's a great start for the GRFS’ exploration into the realm of animated cinema. We hope to see you at Wealthy Theatre next Monday!
THE INSIDER: IS THE MICHAEL MANN ARCHIVE REALLY WORTH $65?
[BY: MATT EVERITT]
When I found out that Michael Mann had developed an entire archive on the production of Ferrari, I lost my mind.
I also lost $65. That was the cost to access the materials. That’s pretty steep for gambling on what looked like some extra behind-the-scenes features that would have been included as a bonus disc on home release years ago. But I’m also a filmmaker and a fiend for BTS features like Sonny Crocket is a friend for mojitos...so we all know where this is going.
Before I proceed, I think it’s important for you to understand my obsession so we can establish a baseline level of bias: I own The Keep on DVD, imported Ferrari on 4k from Italy because they haven’t done a domestic release yet, and have a shelf of my library dedicated to books on Mann’s work. I genuinely think he’s one of the most underrated American directors of his generation. I love Michael Mann.
Once you fork over the money, you get access to this page:Â
All the information is organized by scene. Each scene includes newly released videos with Mann and the cast that cover a range of topics like the director’s first meeting with Adam Driver and what made Mann know Driver was the right choice to play Enzo Ferrari.
There’s also a plethora of documents ranging from notes on location scouts, to daily briefings, to the beat sheets Mann used to break down action sequences. Since it’s broken down by scene rather than content type, you’re able to dig around and get a genuine sense of the progression the film took from pre-production into production and the sacrifices that had to be made in order to make the movie.
After spending a few months in the archives, I’ve got some conclusions I’d like to share with other filmmakers and Mann fans to help decide if dropping what amounts to 23 cups of coffee in a diner late at night with your spiritual doppelgänger is worth it.
So, is it worth $65?
YES, if:
You’re willing to put in the work: part of the joy of this is you really do have to put in some work. This isn’t a textbook where, as you read, the conclusions are drawn for you. There’s an understanding of the production process I think you should have if you want to get the most out of this...but this also serves as a great way to dive in and learn too. You can compare how the pre-production notes on location scouts impacted what made it on screen and what he modified in the script to match the locations. You can see that some of the scenes he poured over didn’t even make the final cut. As a director, it’s a reminder that what you value in pre-production can grow and shift and be left behind if it doesn’t find a home in the edit.
You love details: there are documents in here that are sometimes under lock-and-key for any production. I haven’t come across anything that gives you this up-close of a view of how things are done on a larger production (outside of, you know, being on a larger production). A lot of documents included revolve around communicating small details to a large number of people. Personally, I’ve never been on a set larger than twenty people, and so it was fascinating to see how the information flows down from Mann to the department heads to the team and down to the individual work requests. Even as a smaller filmmaker, it’s priceless to see how an expert uses clear communication to get what’s in his head onto the screen.
You don’t know how to approach action from a character-based perspective: there are breakdowns to the story beats of the big crash and how to convey the emotional heaviness of the events while still keeping the audience informed of the practical pieces that add up to a catastrophe.
You want to see behind Mann’s sleek/stylized exterior: the stylized reputation of Mann doesn’t line up with how he sees his own movies. Nearly all the script notes he adds in the margins emphasize the emotional states of the characters. This isn’t surprising to anyone who’s listened to his commentary tracks like the one for Heat where he spends two full minutes discussing Robert DeNiro’s character’s time in Folsom Prison as the reason why he folds a napkin around his glass the way he does.
The action is the juice: this is for the people who bought the Lord of the Rings extended editions just for the bonus discs. This is for the people who will listen to every interview a director does in hopes of getting that little glimpse into their process. There’s a lot of video content here where the actors and Mann discuss the nitty gritty of finding their character, how Mann knows when he’s gotten the performance on camera that he needs for the film, and how they develop their communication styles to understand the director/actor dynamic that is mutually beneficial.
NO, if:
You don’t want to buy an NFT. My guess is this is an anti-piracy choice, but given Mann’s technical proclivities I wouldn’t be shocked if he liked the idea of an NFT. Whatever. This is the only NFT I’ve purchased, and I still don’t like it.Â
Nothing so far sounds remotely interesting. Take your $65 and go buy some mojitos.
UPCOMING EVENTS
WHAT: Join us for another FREE social event and chat about filmmaking, screenwriting, and all things cinema with other like-minded members of the GR film community.
WHEN: Wednesday, November 13th, 7:00pm (Doors at 6:30, arrive early to mingle!)
WHERE: The Front Studio Annex — right next to the Wealthy Theatre!
THE TIME MASTERS (Laloux, 1982)
WHAT: MICHIGAN PREMIERE! Directed by visionary science-fiction animator René Laloux (Fantastic Planet) and designed by the legendary Jean Giraud, The Time Masters is a visually fantastic foray into existentialist space adventure.
After his parents are killed on the dangerous planet Perdide, young Piel survives to encounter hazards like brain-devouring insects, watery graves, angels, and the Masters of Time — mysterious beings who can bend reality.
WHEN: Monday, November 18th, 8:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
WHAT: Our returning program of curated short films from all genres and mediums by independent filmmakers with a MI connection!
WHEN: Wednesday, November 20th, 7:00 pm.
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every week, and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS.
Plus, join us on social media! We’d love to chat with everyone and hear YOUR OWN thoughts on everything above (you can also hop in the comments section below).
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Look for ISSUE #78 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!
Until then, friends...
