Producers in Focus: Kyle Kallgren

            Kyle Kallgren began his online career carrying the moniker Oancitizen, and started his career at TGWTG/Channel Awesome in March of 2011.  Since then, his primary show (aside from the occasional crossover work or casual vlog) has been the Brows Held High series, and while the format and quality of the videos and sound have changed a bit over the years, like Todd in the Shadows, another from the Chez Apocalypse crowd he continues to work closely with, there is a remarkable consistency to his work over the decade. 

            He officially left the Channel Awesome site in 2015, citing “creative differences.”  At the time he insisted in a Tumblr post that there were no hard feelings directly involved in his decision to leave, but when #ChangeTheChannel started to bring out more and more stories of the channel’s mismanagement before and during the time he decided to leave, I think it’s clear that that either played a direct role in his decision, or merely made him far happier in retrospect that he got out when he did. 

            His brand, of sorts, is to take a “highbrow” approach to film criticism, picking rather unique topics about a film or series of films and diving in deep.  His style is simple, straightforward.  He looks at the camera and talks, interspersed with clips and stills from the film (or films) in question.  He does not deliberately go for humor, but when he does, it’s usually a dry or sarcastic form of wit (so, perfect for me).  The closest thing to a long-running series of his is his series of Shakespeare Month videos, but for the most part his videos have always been stand-alone works, which for me means that there is a particularly wide variety of stuff to pick out for viewing.  Since the 2016 election, he’s also had a long-running thread on his Twitter feed where he continuously finds new ways of wishing death on Fascism and all its associated elements.  It is a joy to track and I highly recommend it to everyone. 

            Here, then, is an unranked list of my personal favorites out of his videos. 

Anonymous

            An early entry in his Shakespeare series, this video trains Kyle’s ire on Roland Emmerich’s terrible, terrible film attempting to build up the Anti-Stratfordian conspiracy theory that Shakespeare…..didn’t actually write Shakespeare.  It’s precisely this sort of faux-intellectual nonsense that is right up Kyle’s aesthetic wheelhouse, and watching him pick through the massive holes in this strange literary thought-fart is wonderful catharsis.  One of my favorite jokes of his of all time remains the part where, in utter exasperation, he cries out, “BUT HOW CAN FALCON IF NOT POSH????” 

Cloud Atlas

            Now, I find some of Kyle’s critiques of Cloud Atlas to be a bit harsh- the film is an absolute masterpiece and I will brook no argument on this front- but still, not enough people talk about this movie in any fashion.  This special two-parter where Kyle sifts through the differences between the book and the movie, and on the wider influences within literature, philosophy, and cinema that informed the story and characters is the sort of take I dearly miss from most of my personal favorite films.  More people need to see this movie.  More people need to read the book, itself a masterpiece.  More people need to watch these videos.  Also, remember how I said Kyle usually doesn’t go for broad comedy?  Well, when he does, he goes big.  The sketches-within-sketches finale of Part 2 is one of the funniest things ever produced on the internet. 

Washington, D.C. Always Plays Itself

            Here is a prime example of how Kyle is always able to find an idea or angle on cinema or culture that I never thought of before, forcing me to reconsider much of how I consume media.  Here, he specifically looks at how the capital of the United States itself functions as a character all on its own whenever it is part of a film’s setting.  This is applicable to all sorts of films; from straight-up propaganda to subversive critiques of American politics and society, if D.C. is in your movie, there is latent symbolism and meaning in every single shot you use of the iconic buildings of the city, whether the filmmaker truly realizes it or not.  Films are not made in a bubble.  They shape and are shaped by every facet of the culture that surrounds us, and it can only help to be more actively aware of how we can shape this environment we live in for the better. 

Who Gets To Be A Civilization?

            The Civilization games have remained a staple of my life for over a decade now, and I was so pleased when this video was released to find out that Kyle was a kindred spirit.  That said, while we are both devotees of the game in its myriad versions, his pointed examinations of how each iteration of the game clearly shows the limits, biases, and flaws in how we in the 21^st-century West tend to think of “civilization,” specifically how we inevitably define it in opposition to something barbaric, something “other.”  In the Civ games, this is taken to its ultimate, most ruthlessly logical conclusion; only a select set of pre-ordained nations, peoples, or cultures can “win.”  The barbarians- however they are defined in a given version- can never win. 

            That said, the games have improved remarkably in terms of variety, geographic and historical spread, and inclusiveness, with each version sporting more and more non-European and native civs with their own unique colors and special benefits.  This, too, reflects how we can actively change the culture of assumptions we live within.  If we are able to better ourselves, we are in a position to demand better from our Civ games, indeed all our games, as well. 

Tommy Wiseau: The Last Auteur

            There are, perhaps, few other things as over-used in the realm of film criticism than the idea of the “auteur” as the highest, greatest form of film as art.  It is a concept with deep veins of sexism and racism running through it, as Kyle brilliantly demonstrates in the subtlest of ways, and I found it hilarious- and fitting- that it be given what might be its purest expression yet in the form of the strange, possibly-criminal creator of one of the “Worst Movies Ever Made.” 

Sherman’s March in 2017

            Made in the wake of the white supremacist marches of 2017, this is one of Kyle’s most viscerally powerful videos.  He combines his own experiences and frustrations as a white man searching for answers with those of a filmmaker who, decades before, had intended to make a film about Sherman’s March, but instead made a film about….well, that, and a bit of everything else.  This video, like the film, is a stunning reflection on how we interpret and shape our historical narratives to suit our needs, how we like to draw clear lines between life and art, reality, and fantasy, while in actuality it all blends together inside of us, all the time.  We all should be so reflective in our daily lives. 

Why Buckaroo Bonzai is Today’s Most Important Superhero

            I adore the fact that this video exists.  I was but a boy when I decided to pop in my Dad’s VHS copy of the one and only Buckaroo Bonzai film to ever be made, the film’s teaser of a sequel notwithstanding.  Since then, I was always tickled by how I knew about this oddball cult classic that very few people, outside of really devoted, “nerd” circles, had ever even heard of.  So to see it brought out into the sun for a little 21^st-century treatment, looking at how surprisingly well so much of its holds up today, was the sort of treat I never knew I’d been yearning before until it was offered up to me on my Youtube Recommendations. 

Bisexual Lighting: the Rise of Pink, Purple, and Blue

            The way color and light is used in visual art is something most people don’t think about, but once you start to dig down even a little bit, you realize there is an immense wealth of things to ponder over and appreciate in how the best artists are able to utilize these tools to shape how we interpret and experience art.  This is especially fascinating in how sexuality, particularly non-hetero identities, can be suggested or enhanced by the use of color schemes, specifically the uses of pink, purple, and blue to suggest bi-sexuality.  Kyle concludes it all with what is possibly the most personal reveal he’s ever made in a video.  And it is worth waiting right up until the end for.  Thank you, Kyle, for all you share with use. 

-Noah Franc

Previously on Producers in Focus:

Lindsay Ellis

Todd Nathanson

Jacob Chapman

Suede

Daren Jackson

Review: How To Train Your Dragon 3- The Hidden World

How To Train Your Dragon 3 (2019): Written and directed by Dean DeBlois.  Starring: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, and F. Murray Abraham.  Running Time: 104 minutes.  Based on the book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell. 

Rating: 4/4

            So ends the story of a boy and his dragon; after nearly a decade of being one of the most perpetually underappreciated film series in all of cinema, the HTTYD trilogy concludes with a final installment that quite effectively throws down the gauntlet for the rest of the year.  Screenwriters, take note; this is how you properly send off a franchise. 

            In retrospect, very much like with Kung Fu Panda, Dreamworks’ other perpetually underrated animated film trilogy, HTTYD should not work nearly as well as it does.  I mean, these are movies centered a toothless dragon and a perpetually hoarse kid named Hiccup, for Christ’s sake.  Yet, here we are. 

            It’s been a year since Drago’s defeat and Toothless’ ascension as the alpha of Berk’s growing dragon hordes.  The gang has taken to leading regular raids on fleets of dragon trappers to free their reptilian prisoners, bringing each wave of dragons with them back to Berk, despite the fact that this creates an increasingly large logistical headache for the village.  Meanwhile, the trappers they’ve been raiding turn out to be connected to a gaggle of warlords seeking to pick up where Drago left off.  Frustrated by Berk’s constant disruption of their plans, they enlist the aid of the legendary dragon killer Grimmel to capture Toothless, who, as the alpha, would effectively bring every other dragon in Berk with him.  Their bait?  The only other known living Night Fury, a female. 

            If this franchise has had one, persistent weakness, it’s been the villains, who have never offered much in the way of depth; they show up, they are threatening, they are beaten, rinse, wash, repeat.  In this regard, the strongest of the three films is easily the first, where the true antagonist eventually turns out to be human ignorance.  The others are, at least, memorable, and this is very much thanks to the people brought in to voice them.  Drago in Part 2 was voiced by the incomparable Djimon Hounsou, with Kit Harington getting an assist as the initial red-herring bad guy, Eret Son of Eret.  The Hidden World gets extra points for having Grimmel voiced by the Grand Master of Despair himself, F. Murray Abraham.  And he doesn’t just show up to phone it in, oh no; Salieri is here to play. 

            Ultimately, though, the villains themselves are immaterial, because the franchise has always focused first and foremost on the main characters’ relationships to each other and themselves, especially where loss is concerned.  This is where the emotional core and power of the series resides.  Each film revolves around Hiccup, and often other characters as well, losing something and facing huge change and uncertainty as a result.  In Part 1, it’s Hiccup’s leg and half of Toothless’ tail fin, and in Part 2 it’s Stoick’s death and Hiccup’s rise to the chiefdom.  In each case the film that follows builds on these changes and shows us how the characters learn and work to cope with them, and Part 3 follows this to a majestic conclusion that is pretty close to perfect.  I can’t imagine any other way this story could have ended, which is exactly the feeling you want when finishing your trilogy. 

            It’s also of interest to note that these losses and changes, including those that happen in The Hidden World, are either direct or indirect results of actions and decisions taken by Hiccup, who is consistently forced to confront his own weaknesses and either be ruined by them, or learn and grow beyond them.  How wonderful to see a series of films, especially ones aimed at children, which emphasize the importance of persisting in spite of one’s errors.  All too often a movie sets out with such a noble intention, only to undermine itself in the execution.  HTTYD has never had that problem.   

            The relationship between Hiccup and Astrid, which at first looks like it could fall into the Princess-as-Prize trope, is another aspect of the films that I’ve only recently started to fully appreciate.  There is a clear sense of equality and respect between both of them, genuine admiration as well as affectionate love.  Their love is sparked right at the very beginning, and though they clearly fight and argue and disagree, there is never any attempt in the subsequent films to create any fake “OMG will they break up???” nonsense for the sake of creating drama.  They remain rocks for each other through it all.  Again, what an amazing, positive example to put front and center in an animated kids movie. 

            It is a testament to how neat and tightly packed the screenplay is that it manages to fit a whole story, with enough final moments for all the major characters, and still keep to a 100-minute runtime that feels much, much longer than that (but in a good way).  I found this all the more impressive given how many important sequences there are between Toothless and his new love interest, the Light Fury, that have absolutely no dialogue, just visuals and music.  There is a tactile sense to every shot of the movie, a vibrancy to the color and contrast that is absolutely stunning to behold.  The fact that this trilogy has played out over a decade allows it to function as a time capsule of sorts, testifying to the advances made in CGI technology over time; the quality and beauty of each film has improved noticeably and dramatically with each new film.   

            John Powell’s score remains one of the greatest musical creations of the 21^st century to date.   Over the course of three films and roughly 3.5 hours’ worth of composition, his carefully developed and layered soundtrack deserves to be considered alongside other legacy-defining masterpieces like Howard Shore’s LOTR work, or the collective Star Wars scores of John Williams.  It’s seen growth and development on par with any of the characters, and elevates every moment of the film, especially the achingly beautiful final sequence. 

            In the end, though, it all comes back to Hiccup and Toothless, one of the most enduring cinematic partnerships of the past decade.  Theirs is a relationship where both have grown intertwined over years of learning to support each other, each respecting the other as an equal.  They are inseparable in both our minds and their own, and inseparable they shall remain, even if there are no more flights left for us to experience with them on the big screen.  Parting is such sweet sorrow. 

-Noah Franc

Review: Fahrenheit 11/9

Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018): Written, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore, produced by Michael Moore, Jeff Gibbs, Carl Deal, and Meghan O’Hara.  Running Time: 120 minutes. 

Rating: 3/4

            It’s a remarkable bit of symmetry, so perfect it almost feels deliberately planned; one of Michael Moore's most well-known and influential films, Fahrenheit 9/11 (the title is a play on the Bradbury classic Fahrenheit 451), was his big take-down of the Bush administration, released all the way back in 2004 in the buildup to that year's Presidential race.  12 years later, the disaster of the 2016 election happened to be on a date that, when Moore got around to making the film we knew was coming, all he had to do was flip the numbers around. 

            Michael Moore thrives on adversity, in ways that is sometimes conducive to his filmmaking style, sometimes detrimental, and occasionally both at the same time.  His formulas for provocation worked to (mostly) great effect in Fahrenheit and Bowling for Columbine, which so far account for the high point of his filmmaking career in terms of stature and influence within the American Left.  Since then, though, his stature has faded a bit, part of progressive America’s post-Bush sink into political malaise.  Personally, I found his previous film, Where To Invade Next, to be quite good, but as far as I can tell I’m one of the few on the planet who actually saw it.  And let’s face it, as easy a target as Bush was, Trump’s even bigger.  One of the biggest laughs the film gets is from a moment of Trump admitting on-camera that he likes Moore's films and hopes he's never the subject of one,

            Because of this, what surprises most about Fahrenheit 11/9 is that its focus on Trump and his hobgoblin family is fairly minimal.  It would have been so easy to just pummel the Trumps for two hours- God knows, there's material enough there for a whole mini-series with Ken-Burns-level runtimes- but Moore decides to cast a much broader net, looking at the really big picture of how the fuck this all happened.  Like with most of his works, he succeeds brilliantly in some moments and falls flat in others, but thanks in no small part to the white-hot fury animated every frame of the film (as well as every molecule of my body while watching it), it ends up being easily his most affecting and effective work since those far-off days of 2004. 

            The opening itself- contrasting the overflowing of emotion people around the country in anticipation of the first women Presidency with the utter despair that set it when “it” happened- is more than enough to set the tone.  It’s been over two years, and I realized while watching this that I myself still have not yet been able to fully come to terms with that night.  I think many, if not most of us, still haven’t.  Like 9/11 itself, it was traumatic in different ways for different people, and those of us who were there will likely need a long time indeed to fully process it. 

            That said, Moore’s treatment of the 2016 election is where the film is at its weakest, mostly because he devotes a whole segment to further stoking the “Hillary and the DNC rigged it all and denied the ONE AND ONLY TRUE PEOPLE’S CHOICE of victory” conspiracy theory that far, far too many on the Left continue to cling to.  It is a narrative as simplistic, uncomplicated, and ego-salving as it is utterly false.  His manner of “proving” this is to focus on a cadre of disappointed Sanders supporters in West Virginia (the whitest, least-educated state in the entire country), where the state Democratic Party did indeed pull some shady shit, with the clear implication being that, “and of course, this happened EVERYWHERE.”  As far as tactics go, this is particularly ham-fisted.  Hillary Clinton won more states and votes outright than Bernie Sanders, with especially big margins from minority voters, who very clearly were not buying what Sanders was selling.  But sure, the white voters feel disenfranchised, and that’s what really counts, right?  It is a frustratingly stupid argument, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Moore decided to give it voice in his movie. 

            And yet, the greater problems posed by the GOP to America, and indeed the world, are far greater and more consequential than internal DNC strife, and to his credit Moore knows this.  Once he moves on from 2016, the movie really hits its stride, especially in the segments where he delves into the tenure of former Michigan Governor Rick “Fuckface” Snyder, whose game of footsy with industrial water companies was the direct cause of the ongoing water crisis in Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan. 

            If you thought you knew just how twisted and evil the entire development of the Flint water crisis was, you are mistaken- it was, and is, much worse than that.  Moore is always at his sharpest, wittiest, and angriest when it comes to things affecting his hometown; one of the highlights of the entire film is when he does a classic Moore and drives right up to Snyder’s home to spray his driveway with water straight from the polluted taps of Flint.  It’s almost as if Moore wanted to redo his visit to the home of Charlton Heston in Columbine, minus the awkward baiting of a man suffering from Alzheimer’s. 

            The film further takes itself up a notch when it looks to “today” (meaning, the activism building up prior to the 2018 midterms), and does a round-robin of the many different people and groups that have risen up to challenge the GOP kleptocracy since 2016.  There are a lot of names and faces that pop up, all worth your time, so I won’t try to parse out a full list here.  Suffice it to say that the people Moore got to speak with for the film, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Richard Ojeda, and Rashida Tlaib, are just the tip of the iceberg. 

            For my money, though, the absolute best part of the movie is when he takes us to meet the student activists from Parkland, a true example of the next generation rising up to do the work their parents failed to take on. These scenes tie in to what I feel is the movie’s greatest strength, and what ultimately sets it apart from its spiritual predecessor.  Looking back at Fahrenheit 9/11 over a decade later, it seems clear that Moore believed (as did most of us at that time) that all that was needed was to point out how obvious the cruelty and corruption of the Bush administration was to get people to wake up and respond.  We were wrong.  Just pulling out the facts into the light will not alter or counter those who simply don’t care about the truth, especially if it threatens their power or perceived status. 

            And so, returning to the well of the political diatribe, Moore seems to have learned what many of us have been forced to learn since 2016; calling out evil by its name is not enough, even though it should be.  As important as it is to look the terrible situation of the world in the eye, the negativity has to be countered with some form of hope, with equal consideration of the people and groups that are still out there, doing good work and fighting the good fights.  There is so much left to be done and it will be frightening, exhausting, and draining, but we still can’t stop.  If the Parkland students are willing to step up, what excuse could we ever cling to? 

-Noah Franc