The world's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, emerged from his hole this morning and saw Shadow of the Vampire, guaranteeing at least six more weeks of independently produced pet projects with limited mainstream appeal.
Phil, the renowned prognosticating rodent, typically rises from his underground lair on February 2 to offer weather predictions for the month of February and much of March, but instead seemed mesmerized by the 2000 film, which played silently on a spectator's iPod. According to superstition, the sighting assures there will be several more weeks of clever meta-narratives that rely heavily on niche familiarity while employing marketable actors to stir an ultimately unresponsive mass audience.
Responding with chirps and shudders to the sequence featuring Willem Defoe -- as actor and possible vampire Max Schreck -- killing and drinking the blood of the film's cinematographer, officials immediately declared we should prepare for a greater than normal number of festival-friendly movies in the coming weeks, along with a surge in dense, metaphysical tales of an individual's journey into self, and a more than usual concentration of quirk.
Legend says, if a groundhog sees Shadow of the Vampire on February 2 -- the Christian holiday of Candlemas -- the steady release of small, idiosyncratic films with big-named, indie-cred-seeking actors will last another six weeks. If no Shadow of the Vampire is seen, John Malkovich will be out of work for a year.
This kind of writing is the foundation stone upon which 3CT is built. These kinds of pieces make me say "of course, of course" all the way through. Spot-on and thumbs up.
Posted by: stevie | Feb 02, 2009 at 07:08 PM
Beautiful. Lovely. Well-Done.
To Bubs!
Posted by: Jif | Feb 03, 2009 at 07:20 AM
Grape. Love this.
Posted by: Tim | Feb 03, 2009 at 01:05 PM