Prince Avalanche

Prince Avalanche is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by David Gordon Green and starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch. The screenplay is based on the 2011 Icelandic film Either Way (Á annan veg). The film was shot in Bastrop, Texas, after the Bastrop County Complex Fire.

Prince Avalanche
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Gordon Green
Produced by
Written byDavid Gordon Green
Based onEither Way
by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson
Starring
Music by
CinematographyTim Orr
Edited byColin Patton
Production
company
Distributed byMagnolia Pictures
Release date
  • January 20, 2013 (2013-01-20) (Sundance)
  • August 9, 2013 (2013-08-09) (United States)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$725,000
Box office$442,313[1]

Plot

In 1988, an odd pair of sorts, meditative and stern Alvin (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend's brother, Lance (Emile Hirsch), dopey and insecure, leave the city behind to spend the summer in solitude repainting traffic lines down the center of a country highway ravaged by wildfire. As they sink into their job in the remarkable landscape, they learn more than they want to about each other and their own limitations. They regularly encounter a drunk truck driver. As Lance leaves for a weekend in the city, Alvin enjoys his solitude and explores the woods by himself. He comes across a house that has been burned to the ground by the wildfire, and encounters a woman who explains that it is her house, and she is searching in the rubble for her pilot's licence.

Lance returns distraught and with a black eye, claiming to have been beat up by the boyfriend of a woman he had been involved with. Later, however, he reveals that the real reason behind his distress is that a middle-aged woman he has been seeing is pregnant with his child, and he laments and ponders his fears of fatherhood and responsibility. Lance later finds that his sister Madison, Alvin's girlfriend, has sent Alvin a Dear John letter and the couple are heard arguing on the phone about Alvin's absence and Madison's new lover.

A distraught Alvin is comforted by Lance after the break-up. Alvin also encourages Lance to embrace parenthood and ensures him he will be a great father, and the two form an unlikely friendship. Alvin nicknames their duo "Alvinlance." In a final scene, they greet the truck driver, and Alvin notices the woman he had encountered earlier entering his truck, but the truck driver does not see her.

Cast

Production

The idea of making Prince Avalanche came when the band Explosions in the Sky proposed the idea of making a movie with director David Gordon Green at Bastrop State Park, which was being restored following the 2011 Bastrop County Complex fire.[2] Adapted from Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson's 2011 film Either Way, the script for Prince Avalanche consisted of roughly 65 pages – about 30 pages short of an average feature-length screenplay.[3] From development onward, the film was fast tracked to completion. "We really didn’t have time for proper or traditional development," said Gordon Green. "We had the idea in February of 2012, we were filming in May, and sound mixing in July. It was an unusually tight production schedule."[4] Paul Rudd joked to an Entertainment Weekly interviewer, "I found the biggest challenge of working on this was trying to stifle my alpha-male [masculinity]."[5]

The film's entire production was done in secret; it was only announced to the public after completion in June 2012. This was at the request of the director, David Gordon Green, who wanted to get back to his independent roots after his last three films were completed by a major film studio.[6] Principal photography for Prince Avalanche began in May 2012 and lasted for 16 days in Bastrop State Park. Because of its scale, the film was shot with a small 15-person film crew.[7] While already mid-shoot, the film crew came across Joyce Payne, a resident of the area whose home was destroyed in the fire.[8] Fascinated by her story, Gordon Green included her in the film. "It wasn’t scripted at all; it was something very real for her that we documented," said Gordon Green. "It ended up being pivotal. I couldn’t imagine the movie without it now."[4]

Release

Prince Avalanche premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on 20 January.[9] Then it had its international premiere in competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2013[10] where David Gordon Green won the Silver Bear for Best Director.[11] It subsequently screened within such U.S. festivals as South by Southwest and Maryland Film Festival.

Reception

Prince Avalanche received positive reviews and has an approval rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 122 reviews with an average score of 6.91 out of 10. The consensus states: "A step back in the right direction for director David Gordon Green, Prince Avalanche shambles amiably along with a pair of artfully low-key performances from Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch."[12] Metacritic gives the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]

Soundtrack
Prince Avalanche
Soundtrack album by
Explosions in the Sky & David Wingo
ReleasedAugust 6, 2013 (2013-08-06)
GenreSoundtrack, post-rock
Length37:35
LabelTemporary Residence
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[14]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[15]
Alternative Press[16]
Clash7/10[17]
Consequence of SoundC+[18]
Drowned in Sound8/10[19]
Exclaim!6/10[20]
NME6/10[21]
Pitchfork Media6.5/10[22]
Popmatters7/10[23]
Rolling Stone[24]

The soundtrack was scored by Explosions in the Sky and David Wingo.[25]

No.TitleLength
1."Fires"1:29
2."Theme from Prince Avalanche"2:22
3."Dear Madison"1:47
4."Passing Time"1:51
5."Rain"1:08
6."Alone Time"4:59
7."Hello, Is This Your House?"4:10
8."Can't We Just Listen to the Silence"1:35
9."Wading"1:38
10."Dear Alvin"1:21
11."The Lines on the Road that Lead You Back Home"2:00
12."An Old Peasant Like Me"3:47
13."Join Me on My Avalanche"3:29
14."The Adventures of Alvin and Lance"1:50
15."Send Off"4:09
Total length:37:35

References
  1. "Prince Avalanche (2013)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  2. Abrams, Simon (August 9, 2013). "Q&A: David Gordon Green on Prince Avalanche, Emile Hirsch & Bitching About Movies". Esquire. Hearst Corporation. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  3. P. Sullivan, Kevin (August 13, 2013). "Emile Hirsch Was Unsure If 'Prince Avalanche' Was Actually A Movie When Filming It". MTV News. Viacom Media Networks. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  4. Dowd, A.A. (August 15, 2013). "David Gordon Green on Prince Avalanche and its Nicolas Cage companion piece". The A.V. Club. The Onion, Inc. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  5. Breznican, Anthony (February 8, 2013). "News and Notes. Sundance's Indie All-Stars: Smile! Film's finest braved the cold to sizzle inside our Park City, Utah, photo studio". Entertainment Weekly. New York: Time Inc.: 14.
  6. "Rudd, Hirsch wrap secret indie". Variety. Penske Business Media. June 6, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  7. Sacks, Ethan (August 9, 2013). "To film 'Prince Avalanche,' David Gordon Green went into the wild with Emile Hirsch and Paul Rudd". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  8. Hannaford, Alex (October 18, 2013). "Prince Avalanche: story behind a heartbreaking cameo". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  9. "2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in Premieres and Documentary Premieres". December 3, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  10. "Berlinale 2013: Competition Now Complete". berlinale. Retrieved 2013-01-19.
  11. "Prizes of the International Jury". Berlinale. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  12. "Prince Avalanche (2013)". Retrieved 24 May 2020 – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  13. "Prince Avalanche". Metacritic. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  14. "Prince Avalanche Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  15. Heaney, Gregory. "Prince Avalanche (Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  16. Stewart- Panko, Kevin (July 30, 2013). "Review: Explosions in the Sky & David Wingo – Prince Avalanche: An Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Alternative Press. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  17. Wilson, Anna (August 22, 2013). "Explosions In The Sky and David Wingo – Prince Avalanche: A Motion Picture Soundtrack". Clash. Music Republic Ltd. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  18. Arroyo, Steven (August 8, 2013). "Album Review: Explosions in the Sky and David Wingo - Prince Avalanche". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  19. Hanratty, Dave (August 20, 2013). "Album Review: Explosions In The Sky – Prince Avalanche". Drowned in Sound. Silentway. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  20. Persaud, Travis (August 7, 2013). "Explosions in the Sky & David Wingo – Prince Avalanche". Exclaim!. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  21. Gardner, Noel (August 2, 2013). "Explosions In The Sky & David Wingo - 'Prince Avalanche OST'". NME. Inspire. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  22. Howe, Brian (August 5, 2013). "Explosions in the Sky / David Wingo: Prince Avalanche OST". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  23. Ezell, Brice (August 7, 2013). "Explosions in the Sky & David Wingo: Prince Avalanche OST". Popmatters. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  24. Dolan, Jon (August 12, 2013). "Explosions in the Sky and David Wingo: Prince Avalanche: An Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album Review". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  25. iTunes
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.