The Filmcake

Sarah joins The Filmcake this deadCENTER weekend to offer her thoughts throughout the festival:

Well, the 10th annual deadCENTER film festival is off and running – and I’m wondering how (how?!) it’s possible for me to be so pitifully sleep-deprived after only one night. But since deadCENTER, like Christmas, comes but once a year – it’s time to buck up. Time to ignore those ever-darkening circles under my eyes, and that pounding within my cranium. Time to dig deep. Time to find the passion, the inner strength, the sheer force of will, to push forward.

Time to find my inner Mat Hoffman – subject of last night’s film, The Birth of Big Air.

With a screening of the Spike Jonze co-produced documentary, deadCENTER 2010 kicked off in a pretty spectacular fashion. Automobile Alley, shut down for the occasion. Beastie Boys tracks blaring from loudspeakers. BMX riders catching (somewhat smaller) air on a half-pipe set up in the middle of the street. The Tornado Alley Rollergirls. A strange, karaoking cowboy, complete with a bodyguard sidekick. And Spike Jonze – Spike F’ing Jonze! He and Mat Hoffman introduced the film, and were kind enough to stick around for a Q & A session afterwards.

I have to admit that The Birth of Big Air (aside from its association with Jonze – one of my favorite directors working today) held little inherent appeal for me. Granted, I had that Tony Hawk-worshipping, Powell Peralta-wrecking skater phase back in junior high – but these days, I’m not really the X Games type. By the time Big Air was over, though, not only was I assured that Mat Hoffman is One Serious Badass, I was exhilarated, inspired, and wildly entertained. Hoffman’s motto, “if I die without having first completely wrecked my body, I’ll feel like I’ve wasted my life,” really resonated with me. His commitment to wringing every last drop out of life is inspiring, and I intend to push aside my fatigue and plow my way through the rest of deadCENTER with similar zeal. (Hopefully keeping my spleen in the process, though.)

The deadCENTER party rolls on tonight, starting with the opening night reception on the OKCMOA rooftop (note to self: don’t forget the sunblock). After that, I plan on checking out the documentary, 8: The Mormon Proposition, which is sure to incite all kinds of righteous anger within my soul. Fortunately, there’s the opening night after party at Nonna’s, where I can soothe my anger with a drink or two or three.

The man has directed three great feature films–Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Where The Wild Things Are. That work alone makes him a directorial powerhouse. But there is perhaps no other director with such a long list of amazing music videos under his belt. Spike Jonze, who got started making skateboarding videos, is the Dean of the Music Video.

Sabotage, Praise You, and now Drunk Girls. It’s not even fair.

And the list goes on. Cannonball. If I Only Had a Brain. Buddy Holly. California. Da Funk. Sky’s The Limit. Weapon of Choice. It’s ridiculous, really. And on top of that, one of his very first music videos was for Norman’s own Chainsaw Kittens for their High in High School video.

Jonze’s music videos demonstrate a visual wizardry that’s unparalleled and often copied.  These wonderful visuals that show up in his videos also manage to maintain a rough sheen to them. They’re just like big skateboarding videos. You sit there in awe of the amazing tricks being laid down and it doesn’t matter that they’re being captured with a lowly video camera. You are seeing magic. And someone has captured it for you. That is Spike Jonze. It’s what he does with music videos and what he has brought to his feature films. 

Oh, and it just so happens that Spike Jonze is going to be in Oklahoma City. TONIGHT. At the deadCENTER Kick-Off. He’ll be here with the documentary he co-produced about Mat Hoffman, who will also be in attendance. The Birth of Big Air is an outdoor, free-for-everyone public screening on Broadway between 4th & 5th at around 9:30 p.m.  Where else would you want to be?