I have a number of interesting transportation-related films to share: two new documentaries, one experimental nonfiction film, a badass film from the 60s, and an old-timey film from way back when. First up is La Camioneta:
Every day dozens of decommissioned school
buses leave the United States on a southward migration that carries them to
Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the
brightly-colored camionetas that bring the vast majority of Guatemalans to work
each day. Since 2006, nearly 1,000 camioneta drivers and fare-collectors have
been murdered for either refusing or being unable to pay the extortion money
demanded by local Guatemalan gangs. LA CAMIONETA follows one such bus on its
transformative journey: a journey between North and South, between life and
death, and through an unfolding collection of moments, people, and places that
serve to quietly remind us of the interconnected worlds in which we live.
Next is Go Grandriders, a film from Taiwan about the trials and tribulations of a group of elderly men on a motorcycle trip:
In Go Grandriders, a group of senior citizens embark on what
may be the most daring adventure of their lives: a thirteen-day tour—entirely
on motorcycle—around the island of Taiwan. A number in the group have heart
problems, two have had cancer, and their average age is 81. The trip brings
harrowing escapes (one rider falls asleep at the wheel, while another is
knocked off his bike by a truck), pure exhilaration (including a gleeful romp
in the waves when riders reach Taiwan’s east coast), and somber reflection, as
riders recall their youths fighting in the Sino-Japanese War.
Then we move to a beautiful film called Trains of Winnipeg: 14 Film Poems available through MUBI.* There's a 17-minute version of the film available, and the full length version on MUBI which is 89 minutes:
Trains of Winnipeg: 14 Film Poems is a feature-length film cycle that straddles the borders between the balkanized worlds of cinema, visual art, music and literature. The 14 films in this major cycle employ a wide variety of non-linear digital and filmic formal experiments in depicting suburban and urban dystopias, in essays exploring the politics of form and the form of personal politics, as well as in audiovisual tone poems celebrating the raw joy of moving pictures, sound, colour and light.
The films are pulled together with the overarching metaphor of a train journey, culminating in the title film, an unabashed love ballad for the rusty grace and brute power of the Trains of Winnipeg. The film also acts as a portal from the analog century to the digital beyond, where everything looks the same, but we know it’s not.
More about Clive Holden's project is on his website, including information about a related book and CD. Another film on MUBI, the 1968 filmThe Girl on a Motorcycle, is described as a "counterculture classic" about a woman "on a doomed psychedelic and erotic journey":
It looks like you can watch the entire film here. And finally, Arrival of a Train, a fascinating short silent film by the Lumière brothers:
For many, cinema began on December 28, 1895, with the first
public projection of short films like Arrival of a Train and The Card Party by Louis and Auguste Lumière. But these iconic films also exist
in alternative versions, sometimes with each frame of the print colored by
hand! Lobster Films purchased the original Lumiere-perforation negatives of Arrival of a Train and fifty other titles at an auction in Lyon for about fifty
U.S. dollars. They were wrapped up in old paper, which turned out to be an
original poster of Watering the Gardener, perhaps the very first poster in
the history of moving pictures!
*MUBI (formerly The Auteurs) is a really fantastic independent and alternative site that streams films. It's described as an "online cinematheque." I don't love the new film format - where they upload a new film each day and have an ongoing collection of 30 films available to view (so one rotates out each day) - because I like taking forever to watch a film if I feel like it. But, still it's only $4.99 a month and there's always a well-curated and diverse group of films. This month Nick Broomfield's films are being featured. There are also lots of free things to watch in MUBI's general library of films.
In the coming weeks, I want to delve into some topics that reflect the darker side of transportation (e.g., safety and danger, discrimination, inequality). I decided to keep this week as filled with light and happy as possible. I watched The Muppets recently. The show and the movies were a fixture of my childhood so it was great to see the gang reunited. Jason Segel also redeemed himself (I just don't get the appeal of most of his films). In any case, I remembered that Kermit was often pedaling around on a bike. In The Great Muppet Caper, Kermit and Miss Piggy ride rented bikes through a park in London.
Kermit rides a bike in from his swamp home in The Muppet Movie. He crashes his bike in the opening of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. In fact, there are so many bike-related Muppet moments that they're compiled on a Muppet wiki page. Puppeteer David Goelz explains the fascinating behind-the-scenes of shooting a frog using an alternative mode of transportation:
With The Muppet Movie, we had a very sophisticated
bicycle rig that was a little radio-controlled car that was mounted in the bike
between the front and rear wheels, and it had a mirror on it so it reflected
the ground in front of the bicycle (as you saw from the camera's point of
view), but it broke just before we had to shoot the bit, and so we ended up
doing that with three strings from a camera crane, and there were many many
takes and we ran out of time finally and never got it to work right. He was
always kind of tilted on the bike -- if you look at the final take in the
movie, he's not really riding a bike that's straight up and down, it's kind of
tilted over to the side.
Rubber is the story of Robert, an inanimate tire that has been
abandoned in the desert and then suddenly and inexplicably comes to
life. As Robert roams the bleak landscape, he discovers that he
possesses terrifying telepathic powers that give him the ability to
destroy anything he wishes. At first content to prey on discarded
objects and small desert creatures, his attention soon turns to humans,
especially a beautiful and mysterious woman who crosses his path.
Leaving a swath of destruction behind, Robert becomes a chaotic force
and truly a movie villain for the ages.
Here's Robert on a lonely highway pondering his next psychopathic move.
Andrew O'Heir reviewed the film for Salon. Much grittier than Cars. Sort of like Natural Born Killers meets Christine (minus the chassis) with some Carrie thrown in. If Javier Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men came back as a car part.. . . Okay, I'm out of film/tire analogies. Nothing much more needs to be said about this other than it's awesome and it's bringing up all my tire trust issues. Oh, and that mobility is the key to his reign of terror. A violent side view mirror or fender just wouldn't pack the same punch.
While I study transportation planning and policy, I'm really an ethnographer and sociologist at heartwho's interested more generally incultural insights about the world. I love the overlooked nooks and crannies of everyday life, and any attempt to delve into these fascinating realms warms my heart, especially if it's about social relationships, order, and conflict.
The Parking Lot Movie looks at the intricacies of social life in an ignored slice of the world, a parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia:
Located nearby the University of Virginia and tucked in behind a number
of bars, the assortment of overeducated attendants who work at The
Corner Parking Lot have to deal with throngs of drunken frat boys,
vandals, and SUV-driving jerks who either take off without paying or
fight them over sums as low as $0.40. Fortunately in this establishment
the normally agreed upon rules of customer service don’t exist.
Disrespect the staff and face the consequences.
The interviewees are hilarious, but also overflowing with resentment, contempt, and sometimes subdued rage. At one point, a parking lot attendant tells the camera: "Maybe you shouldn't a bought your kid that Range Rover. Maybe you shoulda, you know, just thought about it a little while. . . cuz we see why your kid's a bastard."
There are lots of good clips and details on the film's site as well as on PBS's Independent Lens site. NPR also did a nice piece about the film and the parking lot's cast of characters. The Parking Lot Movie is available through iTunes or on DVD.
