Azazel Jacobs preview

Double feature weekend at OFFscreen! This Sunday, we are bringing two films by director Azazel Jacobs:The GoodTimesKid (2005) and Momma's Man (2008). This writer and director may not be familiar to readers, but Azazel Jacobs has an interesting pedigree. He is the son of legendary avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs and even had a small acting role in one of OFFscreen's best-attended films of the last couple of years, Wristcutters: A Love Story.

Short on dialogue, but long on basically everything else The GoodTimesKid is OFFscreen's first romantic comedy of the season. It follows a pair of guys named Rodolfo and a girlfriend named Diaz through various existential situations. The legend around this film was that it was shot on some studio grade 35 millimeter stolen from a big Hollywood set. It was named a New York Times critics pick, and many reviewers have compared it to Godard's more romantic films and to the work of classic silent film actors Chaplin and Keaton.

The second film for this week is Jacob's latest feature, Momma's Man. It has been picked for both the Rotterdam and Sundance film festivals, and has some pretty huge one liners from the major critics. Manohla Dargis proclaims, "This is independent film defined!" Not to be outdone, Peter Travers pipes in with "An extraordinary movie in every way!" (Exclamation points mine) I actually thought the best part of the Dargis review was this little dig at the Apatow comedy factory: "But growing up Apatow style just means learning to divide your attention between your joystick and the little lady who loves you just the way you are, flab and all. Real life is harder, as is real art." Momma's Man features Jacobs' real-life artist parents in a touching portrait of a son who is forced to confront adulthood. Jacobs' character portrait is a complex case of regression

This will be an excellent weekend of films. Azazel Jacobs is an up-and-coming director whose work has been building a strong momentum. This double feature is a great opportunity to get to know a young director who we will definitely be hearing from in the future. If you can find an old copy of last week's Declaration, make sure to check out Taylor's interview with the director. Copies should be available at the screening, but for the moment their online archives are down. In the future you should be able to find this content here. He also has a great interview (not sure how long this link will work ) with Sam Lisceno, the art director of Red Bucket Films, whose work will be shown next weekend at OFFscreen.

The GoodTimesKid and Momma's Man will show at the Newcomb Theater for one night only Sunday, February 15 at 7 and 9:30 PM

As usual, previews after the jump.


The GoodTimesKid


Momma's Man


Azazel Jacobs Interview


And just for fun, I saw this on PBS over winter break and just re-discovered it. My favorite concert film ever.