The Illusionist

[Paul Fierlinger]

Peter, how is it being received?

[Peter Wassink]

generally positive. Though all reviewers find its tempo is too slow and the story rather simple.

i haven't seen it myself yet. But an Animator friend who has, tempered my expectations quite a bit so i should now be a able to enjoy it safely.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Thanks; I hope you'll let us know what you thought of it.

[Sewie]

Stewie?
Do you know if it is going to be released in the Netherlands?
I would kill to see it!

Rik

Please people, it's Sewie. No 't'. When in doubt call me Michael. (..or Mike. But not Stewie, please.)
And I'm dying to see this film as well. Hopefully next week.

[Rik Jurriaans]

Ooh I'm sorry, I don't read so well sometimes, thanks Peter... now find people to go with...

Rik

[Sewie]

No problem.

[D.T. Nethery]

generally positive. Though all reviewers find its tempo is too slow and the story rather simple.

The slower pace would be in keeping with Chomet's approach of using long takes and the character-driven scenes in homage to Tati's style.

I have noticed in teaching that it is often difficult to get younger students to appreciate classic cinema because 1.) they don't want to watch anything in B & W ,
and 2.) they find the pacing too slow in older films. (attention spans are ever shrinking )

Tati is brilliant, but an acquired taste for those who have been raised on flashy, fast-paced editing and the modern style of acting.

[Paul Fierlinger]

This is exactly why I'm so curious about how this film is being received. I've been involved with the pitfalls of distribution for almost a year now; not personally, since it is not my job, nevertheless as a close observer, and I am not at all impressed by these commonly accepted pronouncements which buyers too readily quote with nothing but chance observations to justify it.

[grumbleboy]

I agree, and I think you can point to Wall-E as a slower-paced, yet popular and successful film.

As an aside, when I landed on Apple's main website today, "My Dog Tulip" was the featured trailer on the front page.

[Fabrice]

I agree, and I think you can point to Wall-E as a slower-paced, yet popular and successful film.

As an aside, when I landed on Apple's main website today, "My Dog Tulip" was the featured trailer on the front page.

Uh ? Please can you post the link ?

[Elodie]

Found it ^^

=> http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/inde ... ydogtulip/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's only the trailer (or am I wrong ?)

[Paul Fierlinger]

Hey Mike, thanks for the little news. The New Yorker distribution team seems to know what they are doing.

Another thing about making judgments of audiences is to take into account their setting. It takes college students a long time to learn to be adults to spend more hours in bed (alone) than at clubs. They never seem to spend enough time sleeping away from their classes and no matter what you present them in the screening room, half of them will fall asleep with the click of the light dimmer. To defend their misbehavior they will blame it on the film -- even better if it's YOUR film, because that just means that you are the culprit who is doing this too them. I have an extremely low opinion of students when watching movies. I tend to show them only my own works and talk throughout the presentation with stop and goes, explaining technical or directional points, including where I see my mistakes and what I should have done to correct those.

And festivals, particularly the big circus tent ones such as Annecy or Ottawa are meaningless venues to gather audience reaction observations... enough has been said around here about those. The most reliable time and place to discover the true audience' reactions is at the box office after opening day. Only there one can expect to see people putting themselves through some trouble to come there on their own, pay for it because they have certain expectations, and then to observe them as they leave to see if their expectations were met.

If the theater will fill up relatively well for a few days in a row, then you know that word of mouth is working. But to wrap this up, the last place I want to make an assessment of my work is during class with a bunch of zombies nodding off last night's beers.

[Paul Fierlinger]

New Yorker Film has a perfect (and low cost) strategy of where to push the film so that the news of it's existence reaches it intended audiences -- and it is working. We have been giving many interviews these last few days and I need to say here that while most of these interviews are conducted over the phone, the real important ones come to our house, and they all give the same reason: I can't wrap around my head what paperless animation is... you say it's hand drawn, yet you say it's made in a computer". I haven't seen anything written yet, but I know for sure that TVPaint is going to be covered. Reporters have spent hours watching us draw and paint and explain everything. The editor of the New York Times took his time to verify that Tulip lives up to our claim as being the first paperlessly hand drawn feature film in the theaters by calling up the director of Seta Sings the Blues and Bill Plymptom and others to see if they would agree. So far they all have, I've been told.

[grumbleboy]

I tend to show them only my own works and talk throughout the presentation with stop and goes, explaining technical or directional points, including where I see my mistakes and what I should have done to correct those.

Despite the (what I think is accurate) justification for doing it this way, I'd love to be able to sit in on a lecture like that.

Also--I almost forgot--my wife subscribes to Vanity Fair and in this month's issue there is a brief article on "Tulip" in the FanFair section (where they preview new books, movies, music, etc.). I can't find it online anywhere, but if I get a chance later, I can type it out. One quote: ". . .this singular tale of mutual devotion may prove the love story of the year."

[Paul Fierlinger]

We have the Vanity Fair story, thanks. If you ever come to Philadelphia, you are welcome to sit on a class -- this applies to anyone here. You can even stay overnight at our place if need be.

Here are the theaters Tulip is playing in so far this year, but much depends on what happenes in the next three weeks in New York... if the reviews will be good, this rostrum should quickly expand: (and if the contrary will happen, the contrary will happen )

In Theaters

9/1/10
New York, NY
Film Forum
http://filmforum.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10/1/10
Philadelphia, PA
Landmark Theatres Ritz at the Bourse
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/Phil ... Bourse.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10/15/10
San Francisco, CA
Landmark Theatres Embarcadero Center Cinema
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/SanF ... Cinema.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10/15/10
Berkeley, CA
Landmark Theatres Shattuck Cinemas
http://landmarktheatres.com/Market/SanF ... ameset.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10/15/10
Boston, MA
Landmark Theatres Kendall Square Cinemas
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/Bost ... Cinema.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10/22/10
Los Angeles, CA
Landmark Theatres Nuart
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/LosA ... heatre.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/5/10
San Diego, CA
Landmark Theatres Ken Cinema
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/SanD ... Cinema.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/5/10
Seattle, WA
Landmark Theatres Varsity
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/Seat ... heatre.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/5/10
Washington, DC
Landmark’s E-Street Cinema
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/Wash ... Cinema.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/12/10
Denver, CO
Landmark Theatres Chez Artiste
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/Denv ... rtiste.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/19/10
Detroit, MI
DIA Detroit Film Theatre
http://www.dia.org/detroitfilmtheatre/14/DFT.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/26/10
Minneapolis, MN
Landmark Theatres Lagoon Cinema
http://landmarktheatres.com/market/Minn ... Cinema.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;