Indignation is the directorial debut of industry heavyweight James Schamus, who wrote and produced classics from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to The Ice Storm. Based on the novel by Philip Roth, Indignation begins amid the Korean War as Marcus, a Jewish boy from Newark played Logan Lerman, attends a Catholic Ohio college to skip the draft. In the spirit of the 1950s, the sterile facades of the film reveal little about the turmoil underneath. But Lerman is deft as Marcus, an atheist who confronts religious and moral authority, isolates himself from his fellow students and meets a lovely but unstable girl (Sarah Gadon). Repression becomes the seething foundation of the film as Marcus suffocates under the cultural norms of mid-century America, searching for redemption in his own sexual and intellectual freedom.

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Viggo Mortensen leads Captain Fantastic as the father of six children raised iconoclastically, off-the-grid in northern Oregon. When their mother dies of illness, the father and children, who range from seven to 18 years old, must leave this wooded idyll and their realm of intellectual ideals, self-sufficiency and independence from social norms. Contact with the outside world, though, makes Mortensen, his charmingly isolated children and their normalized nuclear family vulnerable and uncomfortable. It’s through this lens that Captain Fantastic grapples with the paradigm of modern life versus that of the purist, and if or how a middle ground can exist. The film is directed by Matt Ross, an actor known for roles in Silicon Valley, American Horror Story, American Psycho and Aviator, and received the Un Certain Regard Directing Prize at Cannes 2016.

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George Dureau, The Photographs collects the photography of the influential yet often neglected New Orleans artist George Dureau, best known for his charcoal sketches and black and white portraits featuring male athletes, dwarfs and amputees. Dureau originally began photographing his lovers as research for his lush figural paintings, and only later began to take the medium seriously in its own right. Working out of his studio in the French Quarter or out in the city’s streets, Dureau captured stark, tender portraits with a tangible connection between photographer and subject. These subjects frequently became a part of his ‘extended family’ and were photographed over many occasions. Dureau is often compared with his younger contemporary Robert Mapplethorpe for his erotic male nudes, yet never received such widespread recognition, even as his work predated Mapplethorpe’s. With an essay by author and former New York Times writer Philip Gefter, George Dureau, The Photographs reiterates Dureau’s talent and legacy through one of the first complete collections of his groundbreaking imagery.

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via Aperture

Twenty years after his breakout film Welcome to the Dollhouse, writer-director Todd Solondz revisits its protagonist, the middle-school geek Dawn Wiener (nickname Wiener Dog). She is now a lonely vet technician played by Greta Gerwig and one protagonist in a series of piercing vignettes connected by the shifting ownership of a dachshund.

Wiener Dog progresses through three other humans from various walks of life: a young boy and his frenzied mother (Julie Delpy); a tired film professor (Danny DeVito) wrangling his Hollywood manager; and a grandmother (Ellen Burstyn) visited by her drug-addled granddaughter (Zosia Mamet). Expertly helmed by Carol cinematographer Edward Lachman, the film aims straight for the grittier aspects of human nature. Each story finds the dachshund sadly overshadowed as its owners grapple with mortality and regret, all underpinned by Solondz’ dark, absurd humor.

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Told Slant is the project of Brooklyn-based Felix Walworth, a lyricist, producer and founder of The Epoch arts collective. Walworth returns with his ambling, melancholy songwriting on Going By, the follow-up to his 2012 self-released debut, Still Water. With quavering falsetto and banjo twanging over faraway guitars, there is a requisite comparison to Modest Mouse, yet Walworth incorporates this sound into part of something updated and fresh. Lyrically, Told Slant takes on anxiety and isolation in simple phrasings like, “I want to be a good sky on a bad day” and “I don’t know how to talk to you without a can in my hands.” The album is largely written and recorded as a solo project, but Told Slant’s raw and dynamic live shows feature fellow Epoch members Emily Sprague of Florist, Oliver Kalb of Bellows and Gabrielle Smith of Eskimeaux. Also featured on Going By are Cleo Tucker & Harmony Tividad of Girlpool.

via Double Double Whammy

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From first-time Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas, Desde Allà (or From Afar) garnered the top prize of Golden Lion at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. The film is co-written by Vigas and Mexican novelist Guillermo Arriaga, whose past work with Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu includes screenplays Amores Perros (2000) and 21 Grams (2003). Chilean actor Alfredo Castro plays an introverted 50-year-old man who cruises the poor, gritty neighborhoods of Caracas watching boys from afar and later paying for their company. He hones in on the 17-year-old gang leader Elder, played by newcomer Luis Silva, who is aggressive, volatile and becomes more and more attracted to the older man’s quiet persistence.

Detached and observational in style, From Afar was shot by Sergio Armstrong, who often works with Chilean director Pablo Larrain (No, The Club). The camera’s understatement and neutral palette work to heighten the slow build of emotion between the two men, capturing even minute body language with tight closeups against the bustle and grit of Caracas.

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American Apparel takes pride in the philosophy “Made in the USA.” With the launch of the new initiative “Made In,” the company will support small US manufacturing projects by giving them the chance to be carried in the 200+ American Apparel stores worldwide.

The contest focuses on accessories: leather goods, canvas goods, footwear, jewelry, paper goods, fragrances, small home furnishings and more. To enter, submit a new or existing video up to 60 seconds in length that displays your “Made in the USA” product and company. Submissions will be selected based on voting as well as advisors on the expert panel, which includes us at Issue Magazine.

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Moonface, the side project of Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug, once again teams up with Finnish rockers Siinai following their 2012 collaborative album, With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery. Krug’s last few releases as Moonface have been solo, comprised almost entirely of contemplative piano ballads, but their new album My Best Human Face proves raucous and celebratory from its first single, “Risto’s Riff,” whose melody accelerates to an explosive chorus. As Krug explains, “The title speaks to the vague theme of identity—confusion that is loosely woven into the songs—a reoccurring theme I recognized only after the writing was done. It’s a confusion which I think exists for most of us, sure, but that doesn’t mean it has to be the campfire in the middle of our circle; we don’t have to stare into the flames. It’s simply not that important. At end of it all, these are good-time songs, meant to inspire good times in the listener. They were made joyously with a stubborn love of music at their centre. And while some of the content might be dark or sad, the memories of making these songs brings only gladness and gratitude, and it’s their construction, not deconstruction, that I want to celebrate now.”

via Jagjaguwar

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