Four Eyed Monsters

I wanted to write about a special film I have not seen yet, but am interested in seeing. "Four Eyed Monsters" isn't a film about some monster terrorizing the streets of downtown Manhattan, but a love story instead. Arin Crumley & Susan Buice made a film about their relationship, and how they met. I know you're saying not another film of young twenty-something angst. Sure enough there are enough of these films already, but what Arin & Susan are doing is unique. After playing in Slamdance and a couple other festival they have decided to tour with their film to different cities. They themselves are promoting the film through the use of video podcasts. These podcasts are about the making of the movie and in essence a movie unto itself. These podcasts reveals what a independent artist must do to promote his or her own film in today's media frenzy environment. In their latest podcasts entitled simple "7: give a mouse a cookie" we see the problem one can have with collaboration projects. It is maybe this problem that is keeping distributors at bay for not acquiring the rights to distribute the film. Though I have not seen the film I believe both Susan & Arin have created an honest portrayal of young love in the 21st century. The problem being that maybe it's too honest. Go watch the latest podcast, and see what I mean. When does a movie stop becoming a movie and start becoming a documentary or a slice-of-life ala MTV. I'm hoping that the filmmakers get a chance to come around to my area, but till then this movie remains a fascination in the independent community. "Four Eyed Monsters" shows what a filmmaker needs to do to be heard. Even if your film is good it is still hard to get the message out in this media frenzy world of ours. If one does not have the time to promote his or her film there is little chance that it will be seen or heard from ever. For 95% of us we need to pay the bills, and for most of us that means work. I am finding that I am not willing to sacrifice "family time" for promotion of a film I've lived with for far too long, but that's what filmmaking is. You live with your films for a very long time, so you better like your film, but after seeing the film countless times you see more the mistakes then its successes. I guess it's the nature of the beast. The one thing I have learned is that having a life outside of film is a lot better and healthy then being all consumed by making a film. I have not thrown in the towel just yet, but look to make more personal and smaller films. Something that has deeper meaning. That means better writing, and smarter filmming. I'm afraid I won't have a very extensive filmography when I kick off this mortal coil, but maybe it won't be about the number of films produced but of the quality of the films produced. Go check out Four Eyed Monsters web site. Their podcasts are quite good, and honest, and it's refreshing seeing a good film trying to buck the odds.