The Believer: March/April 08

The reasons to shop at your local independent bookstore are endless, but I'm not going to stand on my self-righteous soapbox and preach about this today. But it fills me with joy that I can walk into Micawbers and Hans can say, "Hey, I think I have something you might be interested in." In this case, he offered up the current issue of The Believer - "The 2008 Film Issue." I merely took a brief look at the contents before adding it to my stack of purchases.

The Believer is a bi-monthly magazine put out by the hip brainiacs at McSweeny who put out the Quarterly Concern periodical and Wolphin DVD. I had bought The Believer a couple times when they first started up, and I felt pretty lukewarm about the content. I hadn't really revisited the magazine, so maybe I have been missing out. Judging from this film issue, that is the case. The contents is really just amazing, ranging from the obscure to the mind-blowing with a lot of hipness in the mix. Although I write this before diving beyond the headlines, I get excited just thinking about it. Here's the highlight on my first browse:

Werner Herzog in conversation with Errol Morris
I know I'm a geek by describing this as mind-blowing, but there is a death match in the Herzog-Morris combination that I never imagined. Two of the most thoughtful filmmakers alive who seem completely different, yet...not really. I'm reading this first. (Now I'm regretting not seeing Encounters at the End of the World.)

Interview with Todd Haynes
I'm still a little baffled by I'm Not There. Don't get me wrong, I love love love the film, but I just can't wrap my mind around Haynes process or how to even start to dissect this movie. There is something really brilliant about I'm Not There that I have yet to be able to put into words. (I'm Not There Comes out on DVD this week, by the way.)

Interview with Vladimir
Some in the Twin Cities may remember Vladimir from when she brought her brand of cinema via View-master to the Walker's Women With Vision a couple years ago.

Creative Accounting: Independent Feature Film
Okay, I know this sounds stupid, but your gonna have to trust me when I say that this is interesting. The Believer has publish a condensed budget (full budget runs 80+ pages) for an anonymous, but very real, independent film. It is a crazy document.

"Anna Karina and the American Night" by Michael Atkinson
Atkinson talks movie love.

"On the Road" by Chuck Klosterman
Cool guy Klosterman takes on the road movie.

R. Emmet Sweeney on Opera Jawa
Screening May 11 and 17 at the Walker.

There's more, but I would rather read than write. Talk a look at the contents here with some of the full articles available online.