Clapboard Jungle (Fantasia Fest)
**Seen for the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival.
There was recently a debate of Twitter, sparked by the words of an actor/filmmaker, about how critics are nothing more but failed filmmakers. You know, the old “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach,” canard. Admittedly, I have tried- and reasonably failed- to make films over the year, but while I feel like I learned a lot about what I didn’t know about the filmmaking process doing so, I have learned more listening to filmmakers themselves. Not just in making-of features on DVDs and Blu-Rays, but in interviewing them. I seriously don’t know if I could do what they’re doing; the hustle of being a filmmaker now is arduous, and requires commitment. Justin McConnell has that commitment, as is on display by his wonderful documentary, “Clapboard Jungle.”
McConnell is a filmmaker who grew up in the midst of the indie boom of the ’90s, where Sundance darlings like Tarantino and Kevin Smith had stories that made a lot of wannabe filmmakers feel like they could do what those guys did, and every indie success like “Clerks,” “Reservoir Dogs” and “The Blair Witch Project” made you feel like, “How hard can that be?” That’s certainly where I was mentally in my 20s, and well, you can see where I am. The truth is, though, that I love writing about and discussing films, and the older I’ve gotten, the easier it’s been for me to see that what I’m doing now is what I was meant to do in terms of the movie industry. Films like McConnell’s are why it’s so rewarding for me.
We meet Justin in 2014, and he is trying to get off the ground as an indie filmmaker. We’ve started with quotes by Thoreau and an interview with Guillermo Del Toro, but when Justin really starts to chronicle his journey as a filmmaker, we get to the heart of the matter. He’s trying to get a feature off the ground- he’s already had one upended by not being able to secure financing- and he’s got promising possibilities with another one as actors seem to be interested. I’m not sure whether he began chronicling this journey for an eventual “making-of” documentary, but as he struggles through even getting things to pre-production, including a lot of trips to various film marketplaces like Cannes and Frontier settings like Fantasia Fest, we get as much of a first-person perspective on the film development process as anyone has ever taken us. You can only learn so much from canned interviews; this is the experience on a personal level, and it’s enough to make many of us realize we’re not, in any way, cut out for filmmaking. Of course, the process wasn’t always this challenging; the explosion of the internet, and the ridiculous glut of films, and film festivals, makes it a challenge for filmmakers to get their work not only made, but shown. You have to figure out a way to make yourself standout. For Justin, that’s a process of discovery in how far he can push himself, and learn about himself as a filmmaker.
There are great words of advice, and truth, from a tremendous number of filmmakers and film programmers, many you’ve heard of (like Del Toro, George Romero, Dick Miller, Tom Savini, Michael Biehn and more), several you haven’t. Few words are as honest, and refreshing, as those by Mick Garris, the director of “The Stand” miniseries and “Critters 2.” One thing that really spoke to me, and is sound advice for any filmmaker, is that so long as the story and characters are there, technique doesn’t matter. You can make the most technically-sound film possible, but if the script is empty, it doesn’t matter. He also says, about the editing process, that he’d rather see an 80-minute film that gets right to the point than a 120-minute one that doesn’t. Sound advice. Justin’s journey in this film is what matters, though, and seeing as he builds a slate of films he wants to make, makes short films as calling cards so that he can finally get back behind the camera, and, finally, seems to breakthrough with a project he came up with as others stalled out, is enlightening, entertaining, and something we can all relate to, because chances are, we’ve had our own similar journey in our lives. I know that I have.
