Patrick Meaney

• 2012-09-15

  The Master

  Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the best filmmakers working today, and one of the best ever. Magnolia is my favorite movie of all time, and is such a raw open wound of a movie, putting heart and emotion out there in a way almost no other film has. In both Boogie Nights and Magnolia, he fuses raw emotion with astounding film technique. 

  In his two most recent films, he’s switched things up a bit, and rather than using film technique to immerse you in the psyche of the characters, he’s staying at a distance, observing what’s happening and leaving you to judge the complex lives of troubled men. I had a lot of issues with There Will Be Blood, largely stemming from Daniel Day Lewis’s performance, which was so big, it took me out of the movie. So, I was happier with The Master. That said, a lot of it may have been recalibrating my expectations. TWBB was a massive departure for Anderson, and I wasn’t expecting it. The Master is more in line with what he did in TWBB, an extension of technique in the same way that Magnolia refined and further examined many of the themes and stylistic elements of Boogie Nights.

  The thing that I both respect and kind of don’t like is PTA’s pull back from the more invasive technique of his early films. There’s some gorgeous compositions in The Master, but in general, the technique is near invisible, leaving the viewer at a remove. I think Magnolia represented the apex of a certain mode of filmmaking, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more. I’m guessing a lot of the critiques of The Master will come from people who felt distanced from the film, since the filmmaking seems deliberately designed to do that.

  What I did love about The Master, from a technical standpoint, is the construction of the narrative. It’s a very loose story, one that seems to drift from event to event without clear connections or drive. We never have a sense of the larger status of Dodd’s movement. Is it growing? In danger? That’s not the priority of the film. I think a great film could have been made following a more traditional story of the development of this movement, but that’s not this film. 

  Rather than taking you on a roller coaster ride, the film puts you in a trance. You drift along, experiencing these events, watching time and space pass you by in the same way that one of Dodd’s ‘processed’ would feel under his questioning. This is particularly effective during the extended one on one processing scene with Dodd and Quill, where we drift from the present day on the boat to Quill and Doris some years earlier. In a sense, it feels like a Malick film, where the editing is governed by a dreamlike associative logic rather than the need to tell a story. Though, the narrative is never as reverent or immersive towards its characters as Malick typically is. 

  The film remains generally clear of any scenes that would be considered typical or normal. Particularly successful was the montage sequence showing Quill’s involvement with “the Cause” where Amy Adams’ characters asks him to change the color of her eyes. The shot choice there is remarkable, and it’s the moment in the film where you get the best sense of the strange allure of this organization.

  The subject matter fascinates me, and I do dream of a different film tackling the same subject. The thing that makes this film unique, and at times frustrating, is the aggressively repulsive nature of its protagonist. Phoenix’s Quill is unknowable, inexplicable and hard to relate to. He does things that push your sympathies away from him at all times, and only rarely displays the charisma to justify his actions. Dodd sees something in him, perhaps the ultimate animal to be tamed, or the part of himself that his wife wants hidden from view. Dodd clings to Quill as he clings to the part of himself that is the man, not the Master. And ultimately he must part with Quill so that his organization might ascend. 

  Films can be so many things, and it always excites me to view works that play with form and the nature of cinema. This film did that, and even though I don’t think every choice it made was successful, the overall takeaway is very powerful. It’s an enigmatic film, one to ponder and explore over time, and I’m curious to see it again and find out what else I can take away. 

• 2012-09-10

  Film Projects

  Documentary Films

  The Image Revolution (2013)

  Produced by Respect Films/Sequart

  Directed/Produced/Edited by Patrick Meaney

  Shot/Produced by Jordan Rennert

  Executive Produced by Mike Phillips and Julian Darius

  Twenty years ago, the seven biggest in artists left Marvel and started their own comic book company. This film chronicles the tumultuous twenty years history of Image Comics in the words of the company’s founders, present day creators and industry professionals. 

  It’s currently in production, with an expected completion date in early 2013.

  Pre-Order the film now.

  Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts (2011, 78 mins)

  Produced by Respect Films/Sequart

  Directed/Produced/Edited by Patrick Meaney

  Shot/Produced by Jordan Rennert

  Executive Produced by Mike Phillips and Julian Darius

  “See this film. Buy this film. When you’re done, make a friend watch it, by gunpoint if you have to.” - Graphic Eye

  “A wild ride.” - Seattle Times

  Warren Ellis sees the future. He is a comic book writer and cyberpunk philosopher living on the edge of tomorrow. This film explores his life and work through interviews, dramatic recreations and experimental mixed media. The film includes interviews with Joss Whedon, Helen Mirren, Patton Oswalt, Wil Wheaton and of course, Ellis himself.

  The film premiered at the 2011 Napa Valley Film Festival. It went on to play at the Leeds International Film Festival, the Belfast Film Festival and the Florida Experimental Film Festival. 

  Buy Now on DVD or Digital

  Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods (2010, 80 mins)

  Produced by Respect Films/Sequart

  Directed/Produced/Edited by Patrick Meaney

  Shot/Produced by Jordan Rennert

  Executive Produced by Mike Phillips and Julian Darius

  Grant Morrison is one of the most popular writers in comics and one of the most controversial. He is the rock star of comics, a philosopher and chaos magician, who has used his comics to change both himself and his audience. He is a man living on the border between FICTION and REALITY and this is his STORY. 

  This film premiered at New York Comic Con in 2010 and went on to play at the Leeds International Film Festival, Helsinki International Film Festival, Brisbane Underground Film Festival and the Revelation Perth International Film Festival. 

  Buy it Now on DVD or Digital

• Writing Projects

  Analytical Writing

  

  Our Sentence is Up: Seeing Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles (2010) 

  By Patrick Meaney

  Published by Sequart

  “Indispensable! Belongs on your Morrison shelf right after The Invisible Kingdom and before JLA.” - Matt Fraction (writer, Invincible Iron Man, Casanova)

  Our Sentence is Up is a book length analysis of Grant Morrison’s seminal comic series. The Invisibles is one of my favorite works of fiction in any medium, and also one of the most complex. In the book, I explore the meaning of the series itself, as well as place it in the context of a world that’s changed radically in the ten years since the series concluded. The book is designed as the perfect supplement to a re-read, and includes a seventy page interview with Grant Morrison.

  Buy in Print or Digital

  

  Keeping the World Strange: A Planetary Guide (2011)

  Edited by Cody Walker

  Published by Sequart

  “Outstanding…I hope that this book is successful enough to justify a second volume.” - Aint It Cool News

  I contributed the essay “Planetary and Decompression” to this anthology book exploring the comic by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday.

  By it in Print or Digital

  

  Minutes to Midnight: Twelve Essays on Watchmen (2010)

  Edited by Richard Bensam

  Published by Sequart

  “Will surprise even longtime students of the book… admirably ambitious.”
  — World Literature Today

  I contributing the volume closing essay “Some Different Sort of Time: Watchmen as Cinema” for this anthology. 

  Buy in Print or Digital

  Comics Writing

  

  I contributed a four page short story “The Green” (drawn by Erik Zawadzki) to the second issue of Occupy Comics, an anthology exploring the Occupy movement. The series has been covered in Entertainment Weekly, Deadline, the Huffington Post and more. 

  It will be released in Fall 2012.

• 2012-09-05

  

  Before going to San Diego Comic Con, I had a 90 minute rough cut of my new documentary, The Image Revolution. We shot so much material at SDCC and shortly after that it’s taken a month and a half to log it all, sort if all and incorporate it into the edit. I wound up with a three hour cut, which I’ve since taken down to 2 hours, 33 minutes. I’m now starting another pass through the film to refine everything further, before running it by my fellow producers for some feedback. 

  Basically, I keep running through the footage myself, refining everything, then can use that existing cut as a basis to guide future interview questions. And, every new interview offers a chance to reshape and add to the film, and replace the weakest material with new stuff.

  So, it boils down to a survival of the fittest situation. As I edit, weaker material goes out, better material stays, which means that hopefully by the final film, it’s only the best stuff in there. 

• 2012-09-04

  Here’s a clip from our epic four hour interview with Rob Liefeld for the upcoming Image Revolution documentary. There’s plenty more stuff where this came from! Pre-order the doc now right here.

• 2012-08-31

  The Third Age

  Episode 10 - “In Exile”

  The Third Age is a psychedelic webseries created by Jordan Rennert and I. It was originally released weekly in 2009/10. I’ve gone back and re-edited it a bit and am now in the process of releasing episodes weekly on Martian Lit. In two weeks, we’ll finish the first volume, then move on to brand new Volume II episodes. So, be on the lookout for those, and enjoy this episode. 

  If you haven’t seen the series, go here to watch all the episodes in order. If you like the works of Grant Morrison, Alan Moore or Jack Kirby, you’ll probably enjoy it!

• 2012-08-30

  Flex Mentallo, Issue 2: "My Beautiful Head"

  I’ve been doing a series of posts on the Sequart website exploring Grant Morrison’s comics work in the 90s, the “Day-Glo Years.” It’s designed to be made into a companion book to my book on The Invisibiles, Our Sentence is Up. This week, I tackled the second issue of Flex Mentallo, “My Beautiful Head.” Flex is one of my all time favorite comics, and I had a lot to say about it.

• My documentary feature about comic book writer Grant Morrison.

  Directed/Produced/Edit by Patrick Meaney

  Shot by Jordan Rennert

• 2012-08-28

  Woody Allen: A Documentary

  I’ve been watching this three hour documentary on Woody Allen over the past few days, and am not quite done, but getting there. Watching it is weird because the film has essentially the same mission as my own Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis docs, to explore the life and work of a prominent artist.

  Even if I had the chance, I don’t think I would do a documentary about a filmmaker because I don’t know how much you can add to their work from a filmmaking standpoint. In the case of the Warren or Grant docs, the goal was to get into their heads and represent that mindspace on the screen. But, Woody’s already representing his mindspace, so you wind up with something that’s basically just a bunch of people talking about Woody with him chiming in as well with self deprecating comments.

  Say what you will about Woody as a filmmaker or person, I don’t think he’s a great documentary subject. He doesn’t tell you that much about his work you can’t deduce from just watching it, and seems almost willfully oblivious about potentially controversial topics, and the documentary pretty much lets him off the hook on those. 

  For example, talking about Stardust Memories, a film about a director who’s trying to make serious works but gets complaints from fans who want his early funny work, Woody claims it wasn’t meant to be autobiographical and doesn’t know why people think that. Hard to imagine why anyone would think that, huh? Obviously it’s drawing on feelings he had, even if it’s not straight autobiography, but no one seems to address this, or address the idea that the audience might not have reacted as well to his darker films. 

  Another moment that’s skimmed over is the whole Soon Yi scandal of the early 90s, which is treated primarily in the context of the media coverage of the event. I understand you can only do so much without alienating your subject, but we get no sense of Woody’s actual feelings when this happened or a responsibility he feels. Even if he’s happy with Soon Yi now, surely it would weigh on you to betray someone you’d been with for many, many years? The film doesn’t give us any insight into that.

  Now, when I made Talking With Gods, I thought about adding in a bunch of contrary viewpoints or ‘haters’ to balance out Grant’s thoughts, but I decided against it since I think the audience could bring their own skepticism to Grant’s magical adventures. I understand you don’t want to just bring someone in to condemn Woody, but surely you could find a byte or two from someone who is creeped out by this? 

  And, I can also sympathize with the struggle to cover everything you need to cover without just summarizing stuff. But, I feel like the doc doesn’t give you any great insight into Woody’s life or career beyond what you can pick up just watching the movies. I wanted more, and maybe it just isn’t there, but if it’s not there, don’t make a three hour documentary about it.

  All that said, it’s a pretty engrossing movie because the subject matter is interesting, and has me wanting to check out a few Woody movies I’ve missed. It’s not easy to condense the story of a life into a film, and I’m sure people out there watching Talking With Gods or Captured Ghosts would have some of the same critiques as I do of this film. 

  I didn’t really give a huge amount of insight into Warren’s personal life, because the material just wasn’t there, and I’d imagine Woody only gave so much. And, for me personally, there’s always that competitive thing. Since it’s so close to what I was doing, I’m more aware of areas where the film might stumble a bit, and probably a bit defensive, not wanting to be topped by another film. 

  Talking about Woody’s work itself, it’s ironic to me how his 70s and even 80s work feels much more current (not even just to their era, but to 2012) than the films he’s making today. Midnight in Paris feels quaint and nostalgic, while Annie Hall and Manhattan feel so much more relevant for today. Maybe it’s just him being an old man, but it feels like the jazz soundtracks and the way people speak have become more old school. He keeps going backwards. And, how did Woody not get into post 50s music ever? He was a counterculture guy, what happened?

  One other question the doc raised for me is, are people trying to be intellectuals in the way that all of Woody’s characters post 80s seem to be? Is anyone under the age of 40 talking about philosophers, or old literature? Maybe I’m just hanging out with low culture heathens, but it seems like the best you can hope is for someone to even read a book, let alone read a classic. 

  Since Woody started making films, the lower arts, like film, tv and comics have taken over prominence in culture, such that it makes no sense for Owen Wilson’s character in Midnight in Paris to feel bad about being a screenwriter. And, I just don’t see people having the kind of discussions his characters have all across his work. Maybe it’s the same deal as looking at Whit Stillman’s work, I’m not part of that wealthy Manhattan urban haute bourgeois crowd. They’re out there somewhere, but I don’t see them.

  But, I went to a pretty expensive college and talk with fairly smart people, I don’t see that kind of pursuit happening anymore. I think it’s a thing of the past. 

• The Neverending Uphill Battle of Freelance Work

  I used to blog quite a bit, dissecting film, TV and comics in exacting detail. Then, I was lucky enough to be able to actually make film and video content for a living, and operate my own small business, Respect Films. I absolutely love working for myself, and controlling my own schedule and financial destiny. 

  But, the downside of it is you feel like there’s always something you should be working on. If I’m working on purely creative projects, I worry about not making enough money. If I’m working on financially motivated projects, I worry about not getting my creative voice out there. And, even if everything’s rolling along, I could always be working on a screenplay or developing a new idea. There is no finish line, and that means you need to always keep moving forward.

  In some respects, that’s great. I love being motivated and always having something to work on. But, I think it’s made me a bit less introspective or analytical than I used to be. I’ll always say, “Don’t look back,” process things and move on and keep going forward. But, it can be useful to examine yourself and your work process as well. That’s why I’m going to be trying to post something here every day, either something new I created or a thought about what I’m working on, something I watched or something I experienced. 

  Spending time out in LA, I’m often confused about what people do on a daily basis. Where does their money come from? What are they working on? How do they spend their days? I’m going to try to create a record of mine and hopefully in the process, examine and improve my own creative productivity. 

  And along the way, I’ll be compiling my various projects to hopefully create a definitive archive of Respect Films and my own personal work. So, keep an eye out and read on.