Sunday, August 14, 2016

Auteur Watch - Nelsan Ellis

What do you get when you've got a successful HBO show?  Future auteurs in the making, that's what!  Take the oft-recommended series "True Blood," for example... boy!  That Alan Ball's a busy guy!  First "Six Feet Under," now this.  One summer off between shows, I guess!
Oh, but enough about him.  What about that one black dude on the "True Blood"?  His name's Nelsan Ellis, and working with all those talented people on "True Blood" makes him think, aw hell!  I can direct just as good as any of the a-holes... I mean, delightful people who sit in that folding chair with the piece of cloth for a back and tell everybody what to do.  I guess the lousy chair means that tyrannical directors have some humility after all... or maybe it's just better to have a chair like that if it gets thrown around a lot when tantrums break out on the set.
And so, with that in mind, Ellis ventured forth into the wide world of directing.  He based his first short film, Page 36, on his experiences on "True Blood."  Ouch.  His next was a full length feature documentary called Damn Wonderful... which is what it sounds like, based on the rather generic plot description.  You have to go to the official website of the film for more information... that's right, people still make their own damn websites, because a Facebook page is just so hacky.  But I guess it's a good way to test who's your real Facebook friends and who's not.  Just try not to flood the marketplace, or try and call yourself a public figure when I've never heard of you.  I'm talking to you, Bruce Mason!!!  Then there's guys and gals who create way too many Facebook pages, and of course you have to like every damn one of them... I'm talking to you, Brian Harrod!
Anyway, Damn Wonderful profiles the right demographic: LGBTQ 20-somethings.  They're the hot group right now.  But really... young poets trying to make their way in the world?  Trying to be the voice of a generation?  It's a saturated marketplace, dudes and dudettes!  Lady Gaga's not stepping away from the trough just yet... for one.

Official website for Damn Wonderful

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