Quick Review: The Kids Are All Right

As fans streamed out of the Lakers NBA final, I was across the street from the Staples Center (surrounded by riot police) walking out of the LA Film Festival screening of “The Kids Are All Right,” thinking I could avoid the insanity and traffic.  Not to be.  So I went upstairs to the rooftop after-party and mingled with the cast and producers of the movie.

The kids of two lesbian parents get in touch with their biological, sperm-donor father and he surprisingly kindles a relationship with one of their mothers.  The two teenage kids are played by Mia Wasikowskia (pronounced “vah-shee-KOF-ska” as Letterman clarifies here) of Alice in Wonderland fame, and Josh Hutcherson, a quickly emerging actor who starred with Brendan Fraser in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Directed by Lisa Cholodenko and starring Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right” is a light drama with moments of comedy and emotion.  It attempts to dive into issues of adolescence, family, love, sexuality and contemporary culture.  It does so with decent results.

Ultimately, the film felt like several caricatures – the hippie organic gardener, the shy kids of a non-traditional family, the bully etc.  I couldn’t help sensing that the production had gotten bigger than the director could handle deftly.  When Mark Ruffalo sets his box of perfectly colorful organic vegetables into his truck at his urban farm, it feels like a movie set.  Before Ruffalo and Moore ravage each other in bed, the chemistry and tension is barely allowed to build. The kids are hardly interesting… both shy and awkward.  Nevertheless, it’s the type of drama that’s high-concept enough to hopefully make its money back in its video and TV years.  And there are enough funny bits of dialogue and genuine heart to make it enjoyable.

Social Media Marketing for Movies

I have a few friends who have carved out salaried jobs as managers of social media for film-production companies.  Experienced professionals are being displaced in the job market by upstart young people with their “social networks” and “new media” — or so went a recent comment on KCRW’s “The Business.” And I’ve heard people from diverse backgrounds challenging the value of putting film marketing money into thinks like Facebook and Twitter.  What’s the actual value? Where’s the quantifiable return?

There are a lot of polarized opinions about “new media.”  After launching and marketing a website for a media company in Spain last summer, I discovered the power of Twitter for discovering and contacting relevant people.   I found Twitter and Facebook to be most valuable as PR and market research tools.  Through contacts found and made through Twitter, I had the website featured in the LA Times, The Austin American Statesman, and in blogs around the world.  However, I did not find Twitter to be a valuable traffic generator.  I learned that Twitter is best used as an interactive medium – responding to questions, providing useful info and making entertaining comments.  It’s no wonder that Twitter has exploded as a valuable tool for celebrities to talent managers to keep celebrities in touch with fans.  Small wonder that 8 of the TOP 10 most-followed tweeters in the world are entertainment celebrities… with Britney Spears at the top!  For better or for worse, this is the world we live in today, June 2010.

Britney Spears on Twitter

The greatest value these tools give us is the power to connect personally.   The value of a brand in this crowded, loud marketplace of torrential information is in making a meaningful impression on a highly targeted demographic.  Social media allows this, with increasing power.  Just as the Long Tail revolutionized the concept of inventory, social media is revolutionizing the concept of targeted marketing.

The much-discussed marketing campaign for Paranormal Activity is an example of the future of web movie marketing.  It successfully accomplished three things:

1. Viral video – the youtube video of audience reactions to the movie were compelling. It makes you want to see what they’re seeing, in a PG-13 two-girls-one-cup sort of way. See below.
2. Interactivity – inviting audiences to “Demand” a screening in their hometown created quite a stir.  And gave some valuable info to Paramount.
3. Mythos – Created a story about the story.  – Spielberg saw it and loved it? It was made for only $15 grand?  It got picked up by a studio?  If there’s a great story about how the film was made or sold, tell it!

Those three traits are pretty much the secret sauce to any successful online campaign.