New Bukowski Short Film (1 Viewer)

Status
Not open for further replies.
I wanted to share a short film I directed called Sitting on a Fire Escape Eating Eggs. It had its world premiere tonight at the 2015 San Pedro International Film Festival, in a Bukowski themed category as part of their "Laughing Heart 95th Birthday Celebration".

It's inspired by a segment from The Charles Bukowski Tapes, where Buk describes his worst hangover ever.

Hope it gives you a laugh.

[This video is unavailable.]

MV5BMTc1ODI0NjA5NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTY0MDU1NjE@._V1_SY317_CR5,0,214,317_AL_.jpg
 
Okay man, I watched it, I'll give this thread a little bump. Are you looking for feedback or just shilling for viewership?
 
Bad news: Lead actor was chewing way too much scenery. The film lacked the original story's humour.

Good news: Well shot, good location, nice pacing.

Not the worst adaption I've seen (and that is meant as a compliment). Thanks for sharing.
 
The man above said it better than I was going to.

My two cents to add on top is - if directors are going to tell people how to act certain characters .. and actors are going to act certain characters .. then botg directors and actors should take time to do character research and do their absolute best to get a fair deal of the nuance right. It would not have hurt to try and get some classical music or to even think about what Bukowski may have been listening to at the time, rather than revving him up witg rock riffs that he probably would never have put himself within earshot of. Also if actors are using the names of real people, getting actors who look like those people would be a plus. This would have been more 'believable' (and still valid as a bukowski-inspired piece) if names had been changed.

As for the upsides, agree with above, very good looking photography, good camera work, location, pacing. Overall fun to watch and I'm glad I did.
 
I get the sorta "Coen-essque" characters and the liberal use of "fuck" for comic effect, but I was bored after minute two.
Poor use of an interesting moment. But what do I know? I loved Notting Hill.
 
Way too intense. Buk looked at this kind of stuff as equal to one of his turds ending up looking like Nixon. Just another day in L.A. Another little miracle... Buk was much more casual describing it.

Having said that, it was nice eye candy.
 
well done but the original telling was more sad & funny & sad. i don't think there needed to be the anger/hostility.
 
The original was a tragicomedy; this came across as a lesson in overacting. I will say that it's better than I could do, for what that's worth.
 
i wish i could find the clip of him telling the story.

it was his laid back acceptance of what happened that was the charm.

and when he said he felt better because she saw he was right and started puking.

total opposite of the film.

but it was very well made, so kudos to whoever put it together.
 
Thanks for everyone's feedback. I agree with most above, it was the casualness that drew my to the story, and while I did want to go a little bigger with it, it's not authentic Buk. I think it should be viewed more as the world of Bukowski, but with a different character.
 
double kudos to you for taking the criticism in stride.

you're (obviously) not obligated to be faithful to the source - artistic license and all that - but the people around here can't help but compare it to the bukowski version.

great job though, very high quality production.

thanks for posting it.
 
If you look back through the threads, we're all pretty harsh on short films. I think this crowd wasn't so harsh because you picked a really good one to film. I know it seems like a mountain to climb, but I think you should give it another shot based on feedback. I think you're more than half way there.
 
Bukowski, redneck style!

It's sort of like a cover version of a song that's absolutely nothing like the original, but still sort of okay in it's own right. Like others have said it's very well shot and paced, but the acting is a bit OTT. It lacked the subtlety, absurdity, and humour of the original. The acting distracted from the weird tragedy of it, I pretty much forgot all about the poor guy who jumped.
The falling guy should have been facing the camera, so we could see his neck tie, and perhaps without the scream, that would have been more of a "what the fuck?!" moment, in my humble opinion. The Hank character should have maybe been more gently persuasive and less angry redneck. Oh well everyone's a critic, you can't please all of the people all of the time etc etc.

Barbet Schroeder should allow the Bukowski Tapes back on youtube, he could have an account and put it up himself if he doesn't want people making cash out of it, get with the times man! I used to dip in and out of them whilst drinking a few beers. If I was feeling a bit bad, they'd help me feel a bit better. "The Bukowski Tapes, not available to buy in any stores anywhere!". There's a couple of Region 1 copies floating around going for upwards of a hundred quid! Bring back those Golden moments Schroeder! I remember one clip of Bukowski laughing his arse off about something, I always like to see proper laughter. Anyway, I'm rambling.
 
Barbet Schroeder should allow the Bukowski Tapes back on youtube [...] get with the times man!
Barbet Schroeder is a film maker, maybe he doesn't want his films crushed and crunched ans sliced up into low-fi YouTube videos. If he's the one who submitted the takedown notices for them. Whether he took them down or not, it's his art, he should be able to decide where and how you see it.
 
True. It is his art so he gets to decide what to do with it. By the way my demand for him to get with the times and put it up on youtube was meant to be tongue in cheek and said in humour, maybe it read harsher and more serious than I intended it, and maybe I read your reply as more po-faced than you perhaps meant it, such is often the way with typed communications. I was basically trying to say that if it was available to buy in the UK I would buy it. We live in harsh economic times and I can't afford to splash out £100 on an import dvd and even more money on a region free player, so sadly those crushed and crunched and sliced up low-fi youtube vids were the only way I could see Shroeder's film.
 
Barbet Schroeder is a film maker, maybe he doesn't want his films crushed and crunched ans sliced up into low-fi YouTube videos. If he's the one who submitted the takedown notices for them. Whether he took them down or not, it's his art, he should be able to decide where and how you see it.

If you're going to take the time to edit my post, at least fix the typos in yours while you're at it.
 
Thanks for everyone's feedback. I agree with most above, it was the casualness that drew my to the story, and while I did want to go a little bigger with it, it's not authentic Buk. I think it should be viewed more as the world of Bukowski, but with a different character.
I saw that you're 19. You have a real future making these things. When I was your age I could barely wipe my ass.
Keep it up!
 
I didn't edit his post, I removed the unnecessary quote of the entire post right before it. I'll never understand why people do that, but there are a lot of things I don't understand.
 
i was referring to his scorching low blow arrow through the heart burn on you about making a typo...
 
  • Like
Reactions: mjp
I didn't edit his post, I removed the unnecessary quote of the entire post right before it. I'll never understand why people do that, but there are a lot of things I don't understand.

That "entire post" barely amounted to more than a line, even bothering to do it seemed a little petty to me. It was hardly taking up half the page was it? And what if somebody posted on the thread whilst I was typing out my post and it became unclear as to the post I was responding to? If you're going to play by those rules one could argue that it was unnecessary of you to quote what I said about shroeder in the post right before yours.
 
i was referring to his scorching low blow arrow through the heart burn on you about making a typo...
Yeah, I figured. I was trying to ignore it. I didn't think it had the legs to turn into a typo and quote editing rant.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top