Chris Gethard’s podcast “Beautiful/Anonymous” is getting the streaming treatment.
Topic, the streaming service from First Look Media, has ordered a four-part series based on the podcast with Gethard set to host. The announcement came during Gethard’s appearance on Topic’s panel “Comedy, Coping & Change: Finding Hope in Humor,” which is part of TheWrap’s Emmy Season Screening Series.
Each episode of the series will see Chris Gethard take the call of one random stranger. The caller may hang up at any time, but Gethard is obligated to speak to them for up to half an hour. Topic describes the series as a “raw, unplanned exchange between a civilian and a master of conversation.”
Past podcast episodes have included a survivor of the Las Vegas mass shooting who turned tragedy into positive action, a mother calling from a children’s hospital awaiting the results of her 10-year-old daughter’s cancer scan,...
Topic, the streaming service from First Look Media, has ordered a four-part series based on the podcast with Gethard set to host. The announcement came during Gethard’s appearance on Topic’s panel “Comedy, Coping & Change: Finding Hope in Humor,” which is part of TheWrap’s Emmy Season Screening Series.
Each episode of the series will see Chris Gethard take the call of one random stranger. The caller may hang up at any time, but Gethard is obligated to speak to them for up to half an hour. Topic describes the series as a “raw, unplanned exchange between a civilian and a master of conversation.”
Past podcast episodes have included a survivor of the Las Vegas mass shooting who turned tragedy into positive action, a mother calling from a children’s hospital awaiting the results of her 10-year-old daughter’s cancer scan,...
- 6/30/2020
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
Comedy and theatre troupe The Second City, which kicked off the careers of the likes of Bill Murray, Steve Carell and Tina Fey, has teamed with streaming service Topic on a weekly variety series.
The first episode of half-hour series The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth will be hosted by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer and feature guests including Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Tiger King’s Kelci “Saff” Saffery.
More from Deadline'Lambs Of God': Streamer Topic Takes North American Rights To Australian Drama Starring Jessica Barden, Essie Davis & Ann DowdTopic Adds Maria Bamford-Fronted Mental Health Talk Show, Horror Anthology Series To Originals SlateFirst Look Media's Streaming Service Topic Strikes Deals With BBC Studios & Keshet Ahead Of Launch
The show will initially launch as a 24-hour global stream on The Second City’s and Topic’s social channels on April 16 and then air on Topic’s...
The first episode of half-hour series The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth will be hosted by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer and feature guests including Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Tiger King’s Kelci “Saff” Saffery.
More from Deadline'Lambs Of God': Streamer Topic Takes North American Rights To Australian Drama Starring Jessica Barden, Essie Davis & Ann DowdTopic Adds Maria Bamford-Fronted Mental Health Talk Show, Horror Anthology Series To Originals SlateFirst Look Media's Streaming Service Topic Strikes Deals With BBC Studios & Keshet Ahead Of Launch
The show will initially launch as a 24-hour global stream on The Second City’s and Topic’s social channels on April 16 and then air on Topic’s...
- 4/10/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Former IFC head of original programming Debbie DeMontreux has joined Michael Davies’ Sony TV-owned production company Embassy Row as Svp of Development & Programming. DeMontreux, who is starting this month, will oversee development of new projects as well as all programming currently in production. DeMonreux spent 25 years at AMC Networks, most recently as Svp of Original Programming at IFC for the last 7 years, until resigning at the end of last year. Under her watch, IFC launched its flagship comedy series, Portlandia, as well as Comedy Bang! Bang!, Maron, sketch comedy The Birthday Boys, executive produced by Bob Odenkirk and Ben Stiller; and Will Ferrell’s miniseries The Spoils of Babylon. DeMontreux was also instrumental in bringing R. Kelly’s hip hop opera, Trapped in the Closet, to IFC. Embassy Row, run by founder/president Davies, is behind Sony TV’s successful Talking after-show franchise, which includes AMC’s Talking Dead and Talking Bad,...
- 4/7/2014
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Former Regency TV president Peter Aronson is returning to the executive ranks, joining IFC as Evp Original Programming. He succeeds Debbie DeMontreux who resigned in December. Aronson will oversee original programming, working out of the network’s Los Angeles office. New York-based IFC has only had a presence in Los Angeles with a development executive (director Erin Keating) since opening an office last year, so this marks a major West Coast shift for the cable network. Along with fellow TV executive-turned digital entrepreneur Jordan Levin, with whom he co-founded Generate, Aronson had been in play since October when Alloy Digital and Break Media merged to form Defy Media, run largely by the Break Media team. Following Alloy’s 2012 acquisition of Generate, Aronson served as Evp of Alloy Digital in addition to his role at president of Generate. Aronson’s IFC appointment comes a couple of weeks after Levin landed the No.
- 3/13/2014
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Exclusive: IFC‘s Svp Original Programming Debbie DeMontreux has resigned. Her last day is today, and a search is underway for a replacement. “After 25 years with the company, Debbie DeMontreux has decided to leave to pursue new opportunities,” IFC said in a statement to Deadline. “She has made a significant contribution to the success of IFC and we wish her all the best.” DeMontreux oversaw the development and production of IFC’s original series, including Portlandia; Comedy Bang! Bang!; Out There; Maron; R. Kelly’s hip-hop opera Trapped In The Closet, which is returning for a new installment; as well as the upcoming limited series The Spoils Of Babylon, from Funny or Die and Will Ferrell, and sketch comedy series The Birthday Boys, produced by Ben Stiller and Bob Odenkirk. While several IFC shows have achieved cult status and Portlandia has been raking in awards nominations, the network is yet...
- 12/20/2013
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
IFC has picked up a second season of original series Comedy Bang! Bang!, hosted by comedian-writer and podcast host Scott Aukerman (Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis). The network has ordered 20 episodes, double the first season’s order, to air in 10-episode arcs on IFC. The first 10 episodes will debut in third-quarter 2013, with the remaining 10 slated to air in fourth quarter. Production is currently underway in Los Angeles. Comedy Bang! Bang! riffs on the late-night talk show format with improv elements and Reggie Watts (Conan) as music cohort. Season 1 featured a rotating lineup of known comedians and actors including Amy Poehler and Galifianakis. “Comedy Bang! Bang! perfectly embodies the type of sharp, smart comedy space IFC inhabits,” said Debbie DeMontreux, IFC’s Svp Original Programming. Comedy Bang! Bang! is produced by Abso Lutely Prods; Aukerman and Dave Kneebone serve as executive producers.
- 2/8/2013
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
IFC has picked up two new scripted comedy series, Comedy Bang! Bang! and Bunk (working title). Both have received orders for 10 episodes to premiere back-to-back in June as a one-hour original comedy block. “With popular shows like Portlandia and Todd Margaret currently on our air and now the addition of Comedy Bang! Bang! and Bunk, IFC is quickly becoming known as a destination for top comedic talent,” said IFC’s Svp oroginal programming Debbie DeMontreux. Comedy Bang! Bang! is a sketch variety show featuring celebrity guests, comedy sketches, and animation. The series is hosted by Scott Aukerman (Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis) and based upon his podcast of the same name. Music will be provided by the show’s resident one-man bandleader Reggie Watts. Comedy Bang! Bang! is produced for IFC by Abso Lutely Prods; Aukerman, Dave Kneebone and Leo Allen serve as executive producers. Bunk, which came out...
- 1/9/2012
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Jon Hamm is nominated for an Emmy once again for his dramatic turn as Don Draper on "Mad Men," but he's shown that he can be a flat out comedy star, too. With his various guest appearances on "Saturday Night Live" and supporting role as Kristen Wiig's jerky non-boyfriend in "Bridesmaids," he's established a reputation as a promising funnyman, and now, he's got a brand new TV role to flex that humor muscle.
IFC today announced that Hamm has joined their series, "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," a goofball comedy starring David Cross as a mailroom loser who fakes his way into running an energy drink company in England -- thanks to the equal incompetence of his bizarre CEO, played by "Arrested Development" co-star Will Arnett.
No role has been announced, but it will air starting in January, just as the fifth season of "Mad Men" kicks off.
IFC today announced that Hamm has joined their series, "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," a goofball comedy starring David Cross as a mailroom loser who fakes his way into running an energy drink company in England -- thanks to the equal incompetence of his bizarre CEO, played by "Arrested Development" co-star Will Arnett.
No role has been announced, but it will air starting in January, just as the fifth season of "Mad Men" kicks off.
- 7/25/2011
- by Jordan Zakarin
- Huffington Post
IFC has greenlit a second season of its original comedy series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. Production on the six-episode order begins in April for an October premiere. The series is created, written by and stars David Cross (Arrested Development) as Todd Margaret, a corporate nobody and pathological liar who bluffs his way into a senior sales position heading up the London office for the new energy drink Thunder Muscle. “Todd Margaret personifies the type of offbeat comedy IFC brings to viewers,” said IFC's Svp original programming Debbie DeMontreux. Season One, which aired in the fall, featured a roster of stars including Will Arnett and guest stars Janeane Garofalo, Amber Tamblyn and Russ Tamblyn. Todd Margaret is a co-production between IFC and Rdf Television, part of Zodiak Media Group in the UK. The series is co-written by Shaun Pye (Extras) and Mark Chappell.
- 2/24/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
IFC Renews Original Comedy Series “Portlandia” For A Second Season
10 New Episodes Set to Debut in January 2012
From the Press Release:
New York, NY – February 14, 2011 – IFC has greenlit a second season of viewer favorite Portlandia, the IFC original, short-based, comedy series created, written by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Portland-native Carrie Brownstein (vocalist/guitarist, Sleater-Kinney). The network has ordered 10 new half-hour episodes to premiere in January 2012.
“We’re thrilled with the success of Portlandia and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from our viewers,” said Debbie DeMontreux, senior vice president, original programming, IFC. “Fred and Carrie’s humor is perfectly in line with the sensibility and comedic tone of IFC which makes this show such a great fit for us. This early renewal signifies that IFC’s alt comedy programming is indeed resonating with our audience.”
According to Live+3 data from Nielsen Media, the initial three episodes of Portlandia have been...
10 New Episodes Set to Debut in January 2012
From the Press Release:
New York, NY – February 14, 2011 – IFC has greenlit a second season of viewer favorite Portlandia, the IFC original, short-based, comedy series created, written by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Portland-native Carrie Brownstein (vocalist/guitarist, Sleater-Kinney). The network has ordered 10 new half-hour episodes to premiere in January 2012.
“We’re thrilled with the success of Portlandia and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from our viewers,” said Debbie DeMontreux, senior vice president, original programming, IFC. “Fred and Carrie’s humor is perfectly in line with the sensibility and comedic tone of IFC which makes this show such a great fit for us. This early renewal signifies that IFC’s alt comedy programming is indeed resonating with our audience.”
According to Live+3 data from Nielsen Media, the initial three episodes of Portlandia have been...
- 2/14/2011
- by brians
- GeekTyrant
IFC has given a speedy renewal to the sketch comedy series "Portlandia." Created by Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel, "Portlandia" premiered in January and has averaged 1.1 million viewers, heavily concentrated in the 18-49 demo, through its first three airings. "We’re thrilled with the success of 'Portlandia' and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from our viewers," states Debbie DeMontreux, senior vice president, original programming, IFC. "Fred and Carrie’s humor is perfectly in line with the sensibility and comedic tone of IFC which makes this show such a great fit for us. This early renewal signifies that IFC’s alt...
- 2/14/2011
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
Local area online faux news program to make television debut in January. The Onion News Network - the online video arm of satirical newspaper of past, present, and future, The Onion - announced in March it would make the transition to TV. The Independent Film Channel said it would develop an Onn series as part of a new, late-night line-up of comedy programming. Said series will make its debut on January 21 at 10Pm Est. Onn on IFC will showcase "the network’s top-rated prime time show, a hyperactive graphics and sound effect-laden news explosion called FactZone with Brooke Alvarez, hosted by the world’s most respected news-reader (played by real-life, former Fox News anchor Suzanne Sena). Co-host Tucker Hope (played by Todd Alan Crain, who recently hosted a special edition of Jeopardy where humans played against Hal 9000) will join Alvarez at her news desk as the duo throws to a...
- 11/22/2010
- by Joshua Cohen
- Tubefilter.com
IFC just announced a development slate featuring eight original series - scripted and non-fiction from such auspices as Thom Beers (Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch); Reveille Prods. (The Biggest Loser); Alan Spencer (Sledge Hammer!) and David Wain (Role Models), among others. “This development slate represents our long-term commitment to comedy programming that is sharp, cool and twisted,” said Debbie DeMontreux, IFC’s Svp of original programming. “Originals like these live alongside current series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, the upcoming Onion News Network and Portlandia in 2011, and acquired series Arrested Development and Freaks and Geek.” Here are descriptions of IFC's series in development: “Cartoon Show” An animated comedy which follows a large cast of iconic cartoon characters as they struggle to produce a daily variety television show. Produced by Augenblick Studios (Wonder Showzen). Executive produced, developed, and written by David Wain (Role Models), Ken Marino (Role Models...
- 11/9/2010
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Filed under: TV News
Continuing its quest to populate its programming with more original shows, IFC has added two new series to its fall lineup. The first, a 15-minute commercial-free pop culture roundup called 'The Grid,' premieres on Sept. 9 at 7:45Pm, and the second, a musical documentary show featuring artists such as Snoop Dogg and La Roux called '360 Sessions,' premieres on Sept. 7 at 9Pm, according to The Wrap.
'The Grid' will be a fast-paced "mashup" of movie, music and video game recommendations, The Wrap reports. The channel chose a 15-minute format to make it easier for viewers to process. "You're getting lots of info, but you don't want to overload the audience with so much info that they're turned off," Debbie DeMontreux, senior vice president of original programming at IFC, said.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments...
Continuing its quest to populate its programming with more original shows, IFC has added two new series to its fall lineup. The first, a 15-minute commercial-free pop culture roundup called 'The Grid,' premieres on Sept. 9 at 7:45Pm, and the second, a musical documentary show featuring artists such as Snoop Dogg and La Roux called '360 Sessions,' premieres on Sept. 7 at 9Pm, according to The Wrap.
'The Grid' will be a fast-paced "mashup" of movie, music and video game recommendations, The Wrap reports. The channel chose a 15-minute format to make it easier for viewers to process. "You're getting lots of info, but you don't want to overload the audience with so much info that they're turned off," Debbie DeMontreux, senior vice president of original programming at IFC, said.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments...
- 9/3/2010
- by Jean Bentley
- Aol TV.
New York - IFC has given the green light for "Portlandia," a comedy series from "Saturday Night Live" star Fred Armisen, musician Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel of "SNL."
Allison Silverman ("The Colbert Report") joins them as a writer on the series.
"SNL" creator Lorne Michaels will serve as executive producer with his Broadway Video producing the show.
IFC eyes the series, which "lovingly illustrates the people and values of Portland, Ore.," for a 2011 debut.
Armisen and Brownstein will star, with Aubrey Plaza ("Parks and Recreation") and Kyle MacLachlan ("Twin Peaks," "Sex & The City") being guest stars.
"Portlandia" begins production in Portland later this month.
"This series truly personifies the sharp-cool-twisted filter of IFC's programming," said Debbie DeMontreux, senior vp of original programming for IFC.
Allison Silverman ("The Colbert Report") joins them as a writer on the series.
"SNL" creator Lorne Michaels will serve as executive producer with his Broadway Video producing the show.
IFC eyes the series, which "lovingly illustrates the people and values of Portland, Ore.," for a 2011 debut.
Armisen and Brownstein will star, with Aubrey Plaza ("Parks and Recreation") and Kyle MacLachlan ("Twin Peaks," "Sex & The City") being guest stars.
"Portlandia" begins production in Portland later this month.
"This series truly personifies the sharp-cool-twisted filter of IFC's programming," said Debbie DeMontreux, senior vp of original programming for IFC.
- 8/6/2010
- by By Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New York -- Traditional sitcoms may be less prevalent these days, but there is room and audience appetite for TV comedy in the digital age, industry executives said here Tuesday.
Brent Haynes, senior vp series development, East Coast, at MTV, and Debbie DeMontreux, IFC TV senior vp original programming, discussed the state and outlook of the funny business during a panel titled "The Future of Comedy" at the annual New York Television Festival.
The IFC network is focused on alternative, "untraditional," single-camera comedies for an 18-34 male demo, DeMontreux said.
MTV, meanwhile, is focusing on "anything that's funny" -- whether sketch, scripted or reality driven, Haynes said.
"Comedy is certainly the driving force of the Internet" and has become more important for MTV, which now also has its own comedy development team, he said.
The MTV exec also said reality TV has changed comedy,...
Brent Haynes, senior vp series development, East Coast, at MTV, and Debbie DeMontreux, IFC TV senior vp original programming, discussed the state and outlook of the funny business during a panel titled "The Future of Comedy" at the annual New York Television Festival.
The IFC network is focused on alternative, "untraditional," single-camera comedies for an 18-34 male demo, DeMontreux said.
MTV, meanwhile, is focusing on "anything that's funny" -- whether sketch, scripted or reality driven, Haynes said.
"Comedy is certainly the driving force of the Internet" and has become more important for MTV, which now also has its own comedy development team, he said.
The MTV exec also said reality TV has changed comedy,...
- 9/22/2009
- by By Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IFC is expanding its original programming lineup with Z Rock, ordering 10 episodes of the semiscripted comedy loosely based on the lives of members of a real rock band.
In addition, the network has renewed the sketch comedy The Whitest Kids U Know for a third season.
Z Rock is a half-hour comedy that centers on Z02, a real band consisting of Paulie Z, David Z and Joey Cassata, who will play themselves. The show -- co-produced by Starz Media, MarkMark Prods. and IFC -- will revolve around the band's efforts to obtain a record deal while performing nightly at clubs. However, their hopes and dreams are stalled as they continue to become more successful as an upscale kids' party band, the Z Brothers, who are the toast of Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Each episode of the show is "heavily outlined," with the actors allowed to improvise on set, said Debbie Demontreux, senior vp original programming at IFC. The network also has lined up several guest stars, who will play themselves but in fictional situations.
In addition, the network has renewed the sketch comedy The Whitest Kids U Know for a third season.
Z Rock is a half-hour comedy that centers on Z02, a real band consisting of Paulie Z, David Z and Joey Cassata, who will play themselves. The show -- co-produced by Starz Media, MarkMark Prods. and IFC -- will revolve around the band's efforts to obtain a record deal while performing nightly at clubs. However, their hopes and dreams are stalled as they continue to become more successful as an upscale kids' party band, the Z Brothers, who are the toast of Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Each episode of the show is "heavily outlined," with the actors allowed to improvise on set, said Debbie Demontreux, senior vp original programming at IFC. The network also has lined up several guest stars, who will play themselves but in fictional situations.
South by Southwest
AUSTIN -- The documentary makers behind Hoop Dreams and Stevie turn their lens on capital punishment in At the Death House Door, an involving film with fresh perspectives that should ensure appeal on the activist and festival circuits.
Basically a conversion story, it centers on Carroll Pickett, a proud and righteous jailhouse chaplain in Huntsville, Texas, who sticks with a troubling job -- in almost 100 executions, he has sat with condemned men during their final hours -- despite a growing conviction that the death penalty should be abolished.
Pickett's self-administered therapy through the years has been an audio diary: cases full of audiocassettes that he makes after each execution. As he picks through the tapes, Pickett recalls details that stirringly drive home his unique perspective.
The filmmakers alternate Pickett's tale with that of a man executed on his watch: Carlos De Luna, who seems now almost certainly innocent of the crime for which he was condemned.
The investigation into his wrongful conviction (conducted by Chicago Tribune reporters) has blood-boiling dramatic potential, but the filmmakers play this angle down, using it mainly to bolster Pickett's recent anti-death-penalty activism.
The result is a picture whose appeal might not be as broad as some of the team's earlier work (or of Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line) but is strong enough in its content that it could sway fence-sitters on the issue.
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR
Independent Film Channel
Kartemquin Films
Credits:
Director-producers: Steve James, Peter Gilbert
Executive producers: Gordon Quinn, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro, Alison Bourke
Director of photography: Peter Gilbert
Music: Leo Sidran
Co-producer: Zak Piper
Editors: Steve James, Aaron Wickenden
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
AUSTIN -- The documentary makers behind Hoop Dreams and Stevie turn their lens on capital punishment in At the Death House Door, an involving film with fresh perspectives that should ensure appeal on the activist and festival circuits.
Basically a conversion story, it centers on Carroll Pickett, a proud and righteous jailhouse chaplain in Huntsville, Texas, who sticks with a troubling job -- in almost 100 executions, he has sat with condemned men during their final hours -- despite a growing conviction that the death penalty should be abolished.
Pickett's self-administered therapy through the years has been an audio diary: cases full of audiocassettes that he makes after each execution. As he picks through the tapes, Pickett recalls details that stirringly drive home his unique perspective.
The filmmakers alternate Pickett's tale with that of a man executed on his watch: Carlos De Luna, who seems now almost certainly innocent of the crime for which he was condemned.
The investigation into his wrongful conviction (conducted by Chicago Tribune reporters) has blood-boiling dramatic potential, but the filmmakers play this angle down, using it mainly to bolster Pickett's recent anti-death-penalty activism.
The result is a picture whose appeal might not be as broad as some of the team's earlier work (or of Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line) but is strong enough in its content that it could sway fence-sitters on the issue.
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR
Independent Film Channel
Kartemquin Films
Credits:
Director-producers: Steve James, Peter Gilbert
Executive producers: Gordon Quinn, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro, Alison Bourke
Director of photography: Peter Gilbert
Music: Leo Sidran
Co-producer: Zak Piper
Editors: Steve James, Aaron Wickenden
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/10/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IFC said Monday that it will premiere three new original documentaries next year. In May comes the debut of Steve James’ feature docu “At the Death House Door, ” which examines the death penalty in Texas. Also debuting next year are “Heavy Load, ” which follows a punk band made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities, and “Goth Cruise, ” which takes a look at the Goth lifestyle and culture. “IFC continues its commitment to creating original documentaries, allowing us to explore varied subjects and characters that resonate with us and our audience, ” said Debbie Demontreux, senior vp original programming at IFC.
- 11/6/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
South By Southwest
AUSTIN -- Although it isn't the kind of critical investigation viewers may walk in expecting, Mike Mills' "Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" presents refreshingly sensitive, sympathetic portraits of Japanese youths suffering from clinical depression. It may not have the muckraking appeal that helps many docus at the boxoffice, but its lyrical depiction of a novel subject will be welcomed on the festival circuit and could find a niche in theatrical and small-screen exhibition.
After dramatizing a skeptical attitude toward mood-regulating pharmaceuticals in his feature debut "Thumbsucker", director Mills at first seems to have found a natural follow-up: In Japan, where the concept of depression as an illness didn't even exist a decade ago, cultural attitudes have been reinvented by the heavy-duty PR campaigns of American drug companies. Introductory titles, depicting corporations bent on popularizing a disease so they can sell its cure, indicate a critique of the ethics of drug advertising (the film's title was a widely used ad slogan); at the very least, the topic offers a unique sociological appeal.
Over the course of his interviews, though, Mills is so attuned to the micro that he largely abandons the macro. We meet individuals across the spectrum of depression, from those who are almost healthy to others on the verge of suicide. Mills is deeply curious about the daily rituals and lifestyle strategies each employs to cope with illness, and he questions subjects thoroughly about how their lives have changed since the widespread demystification of depression.
The characters aren't uniformly engaging. While Mills connects particularly well with a flamboyant S&M aficionado, whose sexual inclinations may both contribute to and help alleviate his difficulties relating to those around him, other subjects are so emotionally drained that they threaten to drag the film to a standstill.
Mills hints at a discomfort with the number of drugs these youths are being prescribed -- listing brand names and dosages, listening as they worry about life without them -- but never quite marshals these observations into a coherent point of view. Some viewers will be disappointed by the film's lack of clear polemics, seeing the occasional hard factoid as a tease and faulting Mills for an incoherent documentary perspective. Others, though, will intuit that the director's receptiveness to a subject's mood (and his knack, honed in his music-video career, for translating those moods into images) is valuable in itself, despite making him not particularly well suited to journalism.
DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD?
IFC /Netflix/Mabel Longhetti Group
Credits:
Director: Mike Mills
Producers: Callum Greene, Mike Mills, Takuo Yasuda
Executive producers: Alison Palmer Bourke, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro
Directors of photography: James Frohna, D.J. Harder
Editor: Andrew Dickler
Running time -- 81 minutes
No MPAA rating...
AUSTIN -- Although it isn't the kind of critical investigation viewers may walk in expecting, Mike Mills' "Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" presents refreshingly sensitive, sympathetic portraits of Japanese youths suffering from clinical depression. It may not have the muckraking appeal that helps many docus at the boxoffice, but its lyrical depiction of a novel subject will be welcomed on the festival circuit and could find a niche in theatrical and small-screen exhibition.
After dramatizing a skeptical attitude toward mood-regulating pharmaceuticals in his feature debut "Thumbsucker", director Mills at first seems to have found a natural follow-up: In Japan, where the concept of depression as an illness didn't even exist a decade ago, cultural attitudes have been reinvented by the heavy-duty PR campaigns of American drug companies. Introductory titles, depicting corporations bent on popularizing a disease so they can sell its cure, indicate a critique of the ethics of drug advertising (the film's title was a widely used ad slogan); at the very least, the topic offers a unique sociological appeal.
Over the course of his interviews, though, Mills is so attuned to the micro that he largely abandons the macro. We meet individuals across the spectrum of depression, from those who are almost healthy to others on the verge of suicide. Mills is deeply curious about the daily rituals and lifestyle strategies each employs to cope with illness, and he questions subjects thoroughly about how their lives have changed since the widespread demystification of depression.
The characters aren't uniformly engaging. While Mills connects particularly well with a flamboyant S&M aficionado, whose sexual inclinations may both contribute to and help alleviate his difficulties relating to those around him, other subjects are so emotionally drained that they threaten to drag the film to a standstill.
Mills hints at a discomfort with the number of drugs these youths are being prescribed -- listing brand names and dosages, listening as they worry about life without them -- but never quite marshals these observations into a coherent point of view. Some viewers will be disappointed by the film's lack of clear polemics, seeing the occasional hard factoid as a tease and faulting Mills for an incoherent documentary perspective. Others, though, will intuit that the director's receptiveness to a subject's mood (and his knack, honed in his music-video career, for translating those moods into images) is valuable in itself, despite making him not particularly well suited to journalism.
DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD?
IFC /Netflix/Mabel Longhetti Group
Credits:
Director: Mike Mills
Producers: Callum Greene, Mike Mills, Takuo Yasuda
Executive producers: Alison Palmer Bourke, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro
Directors of photography: James Frohna, D.J. Harder
Editor: Andrew Dickler
Running time -- 81 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/17/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.