(light, upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to "Prairie Pulse."

Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll hear music from Abraham Tabares, Jr.

But first, our guest now is Dr. Greg Carlson from Concordia College, a film professor and film reviewer for the "High Plains Reader."

Greg, thanks for joining us today.

- Oh, thank you for having me.

- As we get started, tell the folks a little bit about yourself and maybe your background.

- Sure, well, I'm a native of Fargo-Moorhead.

I was born in Fargo, raised on the Moorhead side of the river, graduated from Moorhead High School and did my undergrad with the great film professor Ted Larson at then MSU, now Minnesota State University Moorhead.

So I've always had an interest and a passion for movies.

I saw "Star Wars" at age five and at age eight, "The Phantom of the Opera," and took my program from Silent Movie Night into show and tell.

- So, you've been interested for a long time.

And you're here today to talk about just that, the film industry and what things look like, I guess.

So how concerned are you with the theaters up and running in sort of a semi post-COVID way, and we hope it's going and continues in that direction?

But, you know, what's the box office like with anything that's not a Marvel movie?

- Yeah, it's a difficult time.

As you alluded, audiences are happy and content to watch movies in their own homes.

And until we find a way out, I think that that trend will continue.

You know, the major studios certainly have experimented with simultaneous day-and-date releases.

So you might be able to see something on Disney+ that's also in the theater.

You know, you have to have exclusivity, like Marvel did with "Spiderman," to get people to go out.

"Spiderman" proved one thing, people still are willing to go to the theater for marquee titles.

- Yeah, and you mentioned that, you know, studios of course have given people streaming options during COVID.

But has that really been a double-edged sword and created a situation now where people are gonna prefer to stay home versus going to the movies, do you think?

- It's been a double-edged sword even before COVID.

Before the pandemic, there were conversations that would happen at ShoWest, the big convention of theater owners and studio, the people who provide the content from the studios, worried about what happens if we don't have a big enough window between the time a movie plays theatrically and when it's available on physical media or streaming, that, you know, this was before streaming services really arose, but I remember Steven Soderbergh released a movie called "Bubble," and it came out in theaters and on DVD on the very same day.

And there were other filmmakers like M. Night Shyamalan who were incensed at this idea and thought this is a pathway to our own destruction as an industry if we don't have any incentive for ticket buyers to go into the theater.

- You know, I was gonna ask you, do you think this is gonna be a new normal and I've been sitting here thinking, COVID created an older generation to be more sophisticated at streaming where maybe they wouldn't have been had it not been for COVID.

So is this now a new normal?

- I think so.

I think that many, because we're looking at the bottom line revenue and these studios are businesses that happen to also make, sometimes, things we might like to consider art.

But they want to survive just like any business in a tough time.

And so Sundance, for example, this was the second year of virtual options and it's got to be a much larger revenue source for all the potential ticket buyers who can watch these movies at $20 a pop minimum from wherever they might be, as opposed to the limited number of human beings that can sit in seats in Park City, Utah.

- Yeah.

Well, you mentioned Sundance.

I understand you just attended virtually.

Of course, they made a late reversal to go virtual.

- [Greg] They did.

- You know, how disappointing was that for you and others that you know?

- I wasn't planning to attend in person this year.

I've been the last seven years, counting these virtual ones.

And I love to take students to Park City because there's nothing like the experience of attending Sundance and seeing a premiere with the filmmakers and stars present, to interact with the audience.

There's an electricity and excitement about that.

So I have students who have never been to Sundance, so they only have the virtual experience.

And they will watch way more movies than they could see if we were there together in person.

So there are definitely pros and cons.

There are ups and downs about how you might plan or map out your Sundance experience.

- Well, what about the COVID impact on film festivals, including the Fargo Film Festival, which I know you're involved with heavily?

- Yeah, well, it's been difficult.

Certainly there were a rash of cancellations when the shutdown was imminent.

You know, that the timing of that, in March of 2020 was, you know, was tough for us.

And we canceled the entire event initially, just before it was about to happen.

And that was difficult, painful for all the volunteers and Fargo Theater staff who'd been working and planning this for a year.

You know, we work on it year-round.

And so looking forward to 2022 here in just a few weeks, I'm pretty confident that we'll be in-person and we'll have audiences eager to come back and into the Fargo Theater.

- Yeah, Matt Olien, our producer here at "Prairie Public," said had COVID been a week later, or the festival been a week earlier in 2020, you probably would've attended it.

How has COVID impacted the film productions around the world?

'Cause, obviously, you know, we think about here locally and regionally, but you know, they they're filming movies around the world and how's that been impacted?

- Well for the studios, there are protocols in place that were put in place immediately to, I mean it created another set of jobs in the film industry for people who provide the safety measures of testing, and, you know, ensuring that the production can happen.

Particularly if, you know, we expect to see, even if the film is in an era, and taking place in an era when COVID is a thing and we see masked characters, we don't expect to see everyone masked all the time.

And many films, you know, shoot as if there was, you know, is no pandemic.

And I think because they imagine audiences want to see that world, you know, maybe we'll return to it someday in real life.

But the impact is great on films large and small, there's no question that some films have had to shut temporarily.

That happened on a film that's just coming out here in a couple weeks, "The Batman" with Robert Pattinson, a big, you know, DC Warner Brothers release that had to go on hiatus for a while because of COVID.

- Yeah, you know, I mentioned Matt Olien.

He told me, he's noticed lots of younger people, twenties and thirties, that are not going to movies, at least not, haven't returned or not going.

Are you seeing this as well?

- I think so.

If, you know, I keep in touch with my friends at the local cinemas, of course, you know, Emily at the Fargo Theater, and you know, Tristan at the Century, and Rick at West Acres, and they're all key keeping a close eye on this and hoping that there will be a steady return to in-person.

I mean the in-person movie experience is special because you have a big screen, because you have your concessions and the social dimension of, you know, going out with friends and family.

So my family's certainly has missed it.

We've had reduced the number of times we went out to see a movie in the theater and are trying to, we did see "Spiderman" in the theater, and hope to get back to more.

- Well, I know my dad always wanted to see movies on the big screen, but of course TVs have changed over time too.

But has television, in a way, eclipsed movies, in terms of giving, especially younger viewers, a reason to watch, and especially binge-watching, with their devices?

- Yeah, this is the second golden age of television, there's no doubt.

Episodic content is absolutely fantastic.

I mean the, the production value, the quality, the ability of a streaming platform to let something be as long as it needs to be.

I was a huge fan of Peter Jackson's Beatles documentary on Disney+, it was nearly eight hours long over three episodes.

It could have been 16 hours long and I still would've watched the whole thing.

So even though I'm primarily a features person who likes to go to see a movie in a theater, that's a feature-length experience, episodic content and TV is, it's a great time to be a fan of that.

- But speaking of TV, you know, has TV eclipsed movies in terms of artistic quality?

And that's something, a question you wouldn't even thought of years ago.

- Well yeah, TV certainly had for decades a bad reputation, you know, we all, anyone who works in TV remembers Newt Minow calling it a vast wasteland, right?

The thing that just got repeated over and over.

So, and I don't think that is necessarily fair anymore.

You know, Neil Postman might turn in his grave, who said we were amusing ourselves to death.

But there's so much, there's so many outlets now that the ability to find content you're interested in or connect with is better than it's ever been.

- I always think of "Gilligan's Island" and the USS Minnow for that.

(Greg laughs) But you know- - [Greg] I saw every episode.

- How about theater change?

You mentioned, how are they doing?

- Well, you know, they've been struggling, certainly trying to find innovative ways to encourage audiences to come back.

You know, the Marcus chain, which is what serves the Fargo-Moorhead community, has even before the pandemic done well with their $5 tickets on Tuesdays.

And even during, you know, now that once the theater's reopened here toward what we might call, it's still pandemic, but, you know, towards return to something like something resembling normalcy, you can drive by the parking lot of Century or West Acres and see them full on a Tuesday evening.

And that's encouraging that there are people still willing to go if the ticket price is right.

- You know, I think about, you know, there's always been changes.

I mean, when VHS and Beta came out, the movies industry was gonna shut down and actually they just got bigger.

So I mean, things evolve for different reasons.

- Yeah, what a great Supreme Court decision that was, to basically allow the idea of home taping to go forward.

And you're absolutely right, it turned out that the people who were collecting those movies by recording them from HBO or even a broadcast, they're gonna be the biggest consumers of that content and willing to go to the movies too.

- Yeah you know, we talked about Sundance and, did you talk to them about the issues facing the motion picture industry and what's the consensus on the movie business?

- Yeah well, you know, Sundance operates as a film festival.

It operates as a marketplace.

It operates as a convention almost for future technologies.

They've been early adopters of looking at virtual reality.

And so they they've been trying to pivot quickly to retain and incorporate all the same kinds of things they do in-person on their virtual platform.

So allowing people to interact using, you know, avatars in a virtual space, for instance.

And so, I think the, when I go to Sundance, I'm primarily watching movies.

I have friends who go to a lot of those Q-and-A sessions or conversation sessions about the industry.

And I think, you know, there's still grave concerns.

You know, friends of mine who are independent film producers worry about revenue streams, will their movie break even or do well enough so they can keep producing more content.

- Yeah, and think about Academy Awards.

And do you see those ratings continue to struggle, especially when it appears, you know, that contenders like "The Power of the Dog" and others which are doing okay, but again, not like "Spiderman."

- Well, that's true.

You know, and there's always been the idea that prestige films don't make as much box office on the whole, as, you know, popcorn movies, you know, summer blockbusters or things like that.

I think that the Academy is looking to thread the needle and find ways that the films that appeal to younger people can somehow enter into the awards conversation.

Maybe that'll be "Dune" in part this year, I don't know.

"Power of the Dog" is a fantastic movie.

It was, you know, it ran away with pretty much every Critics Circle award it could.

And so it's an odds on favorite to win.

And I think it deserves to win.

I mean, I thought it was a brilliant film.

I would've certainly preferred to see it on a big screen.

It deserves that.

But I didn't, you know, and I think most of its audience saw it the way I did.

- Well, let's talk about how you look at a film.

How do you write a film review and what are you looking for?

So what areas in terms of, how do you effectively judge a movie?

- Right, well I, one thing I always point to when I have students who ask this question, how do you get into writing about movies?

Is that you have to figure out, you know, you do audience analysis, who are you writing this for, to start.

And Matt Olien's friend Roger Moore from Orlando has been to the Fargo Film Festival.

And we shared a panel once when he said, one of, it was eye-opening and also made me feel good about what I was trying to do.

He said, I'm writing a review, which is to help people decide how to spend their money.

And what I was doing, he said, referring to me, was writing an essay, you know, something that isn't necessarily judging the film in terms of how good or bad it is, but trying to think about the way it presents ideas.

So in that sense, my hero is Pauline Kael.

You know, me and dozens and dozens of other film reviewers of my generation, you know, grew up reading Pauline Kael in the "New Yorker" and realizing that she was writing these philosophical, sociological, anthropological essays about, trying to talk about who we are as a people or a culture or a nation.

And she was funny and sharp.

And I didn't always agree with her, often didn't.

Although she did love "Purple Rain," so I give her points for that.

- What do you love about seeing shorter films that compete in film festivals?

You know, movies that the general public maybe doesn't ever see?

- This, I love this question because the Fargo Film Festival is a place that honors and supports the short form.

I think that it is a format very underrepresented because it's simply, you simply don't see that kind of programming like we used to, where you might have a news reel, a short subject, an animated cartoon before a feature when you go to see something in the theater.

So I absolutely love that a festival like Fargo has a category for experimental content, for animated content, student films, narrative shorts, and documentary shorts.

These films are all, you know, 40 minutes or less.

And some of them are as short as seven minutes.

I mean, one of my favorite films in the festival this year is only seven minutes long and it knocked me out as much as any feature did.

- You mentioned this just a moment ago.

You're confident that the Fargo Film Festival will be in-person.

Can you tell us just a little bit about it?

It's in March?

- That's right, March 15 to 19.

And I know Sean Volk was here to share information about the upcoming festival and how excited we all are about our offerings.

We try to show around 100 movies in the course of five days.

That's exciting by itself.

And this year I know we have more than 100 movies in the festival and, including some locally- and regionally-made films that are every bit as good as what you could see coming out of New York or Los Angeles or anywhere else in the world.

So I'm very excited about seeing those with an audience.

- A couple of questions here.

What are some of your top movies you've seen in 2021?

- Well, we mentioned "The Power of the Dog."

That was, you know, very close to the top of my own list and like many other critics, I loved Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car."

This is a Japanese filmmaker who has been gaining critical acclaim by leaps and bounds just over the last few years.

He made, he released two movies this year, one called "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" that was, some critics liked just as well as "Drive My Car."

But I normally would say, you know, a nearly three-hour-long movie about a morose theater director?

Forget it.

But it was, it felt fresh and it moved and it was a delight from start to finish.

So that's another one I would highly recommend.

- All right, so now let's expand it.

Do you have a favorite movie, or top three or five, of all time?

- Absolutely.

"Casablanca" is number one, and which it is for many cinephiles of my generation, older generations.

I saw a piece that was this week online that said "Casablanca" had lost its allure and was no longer, you know, in the conversation as the greatest American studio film.

And I thought, what a click-bait chasing article this is because I had never heard the notion that you couldn't still pack a classic movie series repertory screening of "Casablanca."

Every time it shows at the Fargo Theater, I take my family.

Last time, my kids were quite young and the patron in front of us, I think she was nervous that they were gonna talk or get restless.

And they were enraptured the whole time.

She turned around at the end and said, "I just wanna say, I was worried that your kids would talk, but they didn't make a peep."

And I said, "Well, it's 'Casablanca.'"

- Other films, or just your top- - "Star Wars," I mean, I was born in 1972, so I saw "Star Wars" at the Fargo Theater in 1977.

My dad took me and that was a game changer, you know.

When I talk to my students, I'll say, "One of the reasons I'm here is because I saw 'Star Wars' when I was a kid."

And Richard Edlund, the special effects cinematographer who worked on all three of the original "Star Wars" films was born in Fargo and lived here till he was 11 or 12.

And we had him as our guest at the Fargo Film Festival the last year before the pandemic happened.

And it was a career highlight for me to talk to a kind of a movie-making hero.

Here was the guy who personally photographed the opening crawl.

He helped design and build the Dykstraflex camera with John Dykstra, you know.

Helped invent motion control special effects photography.

Amazing career, and how thrilling it was to have him come back.

He still has family members and cousins who live around here.

So it was fun for him to return.

- Obviously you have a passion, we can see it, we can feel it.

But when you teach a film class at Concordia, how do you approach it in terms of opening the world of movies to young people?

- Well, a lot of people use the quotation from Roger Ebert, that movies can act as a kind of giant empathy machine.

So if you think about cinema as a way to understand human beings, human behavior, to think about what it's like to be, you know, a person whose experiences are different from yours, that is an absolute thrill.

I teach a global cinema class this semester.

And so we watch films from all around the world and all primarily non-English language films.

And it's eye-opening to see some of these students who never would've otherwise elected to watch a movie made, you know, in a language that they don't speak.

- Very sorry we're out of time, but if people want more information, where can they go?

Who can they contact?

- Well they can always find me at Concordia College.

Yeah, GCarlson@cord.edu, always happy to talk movies.

- All right Greg, thanks so much for joining us today.

- Thank you.

- Stay tuned for more.

(upbeat music) Abraham Tabares, Jr. can be found playing his red guitar throughout the region.

The raw emotion in his lyrics is real.

And his unique style for his unplugged performance is a mix of pop, indie, and classic rock.

(upbeat acoustic guitar music) ♪ I was blinded ♪ ♪ But now I see ♪ ♪ An apparition ♪ ♪ Right before me ♪ ♪ Her eyes so drunk with hazel ♪ ♪ Staring back at me ♪ ♪ And I began to freeze ♪ ♪ As she smiled gracefully ♪ ♪ When at first I saw her ♪ ♪ She was quite the sight ♪ ♪ Sitting by the table side ♪ ♪ Between walls of white ♪ ♪ I wish that I knew then ♪ ♪ What she would mean to me ♪ ♪ And maybe it would be ♪ ♪ Easier to leave ♪ ♪ I'm done with wishful thinking ♪ ♪ I think I know now ♪ ♪ That she won't feel the same about me ♪ ♪ Anyhow ♪ ♪ And I ♪ ♪ I'm losing my mind ♪ ♪ And I ♪ ♪ I should leave her behind ♪ (acoustic guitar solo) ♪ Images of her ♪ ♪ Dance in my head ♪ ♪ And I think of all the things ♪ ♪ That I should have said ♪ ♪ But now it's far too late ♪ ♪ For what I have to say ♪ ♪ But I can't help but wonder ♪ ♪ And dream of yesterday ♪ ♪ Maybe I'll give in ♪ ♪ And tell my truth ♪ ♪ I wonder what she'd say ♪ ♪ If she knew ♪ ♪ Now would she feel the same ♪ ♪ Or break my heart instead ♪ ♪ But I have come to know ♪ ♪ It may be better left unsaid ♪ ♪ I'm done with wishful thinking ♪ ♪ I think I know now ♪ ♪ That she won't feel the same about me ♪ ♪ Anyhow ♪ ♪ And I ♪ ♪ I'm losing my mind ♪ ♪ And I ♪ ♪ I should leave her behind ♪ (acoustic guitar solo) - Well, that's all we have on "Prairie Pulse" for this week.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, and by the Members of Prairie Public.