Joel Asa Miller - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Hereâ€™s the skinny:
Born New York City in 1957. Family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1960, year the "Mau Mau" was defeated. Moved to Washington, DC 1971, just after Cambodia bombings and in time for Watergate.
Returned to Milwaukee in 1975 just in time for post Vietnam recession. Washed dishes, drove a hack, worked in factories including 10 years on the assembly line at GM.
Admitted to UCLAâ€™s School of Theater Film and Television 1988 Earned the Masters of Fine Arts in Film and TV Directing in 1995. Worked in Hollywood studios (just couldn't fit in) and on independent and student films. Directed theater.
Wrote, produced and directed photography on TV commercials including Suzuki, Alta Vista, Oracle and GTE.
Creator and Executive Producer on nationally aired Canadian documentary series, Jewish Sparks.
Cowrote the recently released feature film, The Descendant (2006) Winner Best Fiction Feature at the Philadelphia International Film Festival.
Completed 18 Windows 42 minute documentary, June 2007.
Completing a collection of short fiction, Johnny Cash At The Vista Del Mar.
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My Interests

I'd like to meet:

About the Photos

The above images and those in the related albums, were shot between 1996 and 1997. The San Pedro-Wilmington photos represent my interpretation of this bleak landscape of petrochemical refineries, declining industries and rotting memories. The album represents the work of a day trip I took down to the Port of Los Angeles area with my son, Jared Miller about 10 years ago.

There is no way you could possibly replicate the desolation of these areas in a simple photograph. Packs of wild dogs wander around the empty, poisonous streets peacefully sniffing through decades of debris. They'll check you out with a curious intelligence and then return to their work once they realize you aren't going to chase them off, try to run them down or shoot them. These dogs all look like they were born to the same litter or simply through the process of breeding with each other over a few generations, have reverted back to some kind of generic doghood.

The Boyle Heights pictures were part of a research project conducted for a proposed film that was to be directed by Ray Leos. I had shot a short for Ray a few years earlier called "I'll Pick the Flowers You Love" which got a lot of attention for its visceral performances which Ray and I accentuated with an equally visceral and improvisational approach to the prize winning film's photography.

The Hollywood, Chicago, Downtown LA and Various Albums were all shot in 1997 in the immediate aftermath of my mother's death. The Ship's Restaurant sign however was shot earlier as part of a job I did for the owner of the Restaurant when this Los Angeles landmark finally closed its doors.

For the technically curious, all the effects and color treatments were executed in camera with the final framing decided upon in the darkroom.

Television:

Hanged Man: Film & Music by Rebecca Berry (BB) Go Chuck Go! Mabellene Why Can't You Be True? You Done Started Back Doing The Things You Used To Do. Nice & Rough With Ike & Tina Turner What A Show: The Spanish Inquisition. On The Tube With Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen. When American Television Had Something To Say Crap, Crap & More Crap! Did Bob Rafelson anticipate Wal-Mart over 30 years ago? Hear Leonard HaCohen Praise The Lord Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash: One Too Many MorningsRichard Pryor: Crime Don't PayRemember Mario Savio

My Blog

The Wind Blows In November - Flash Fiction

by Joel Asa MillerNow the wind blows in November. The sky changes without as rapidly as he changed lovers since Marie-Anne left him that spring. He seeks warmth inside a bookstore.A young woman leafs ...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:41:00 PST

Spellbound Rhythm of the Train - Fiction

By Joel Asa MillerI'm sitting on the metro: windows glaring in every direction. They're inescapable and bounce your reflection at you from every angle like those three-way mirrors they used to have in...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:05:00 PST

Exterior Day Laurier & St. Laurent - For Jackie

by Joel Asa MillerHe stands in the park bouncing his new balloon: delighted to watch it joyfully defy the rules of gravity like dreams flouting the laws of cause and effect. His mother wraps the strin...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:38:00 PST

Back In The Day-Revised Version

by Joel Asa MillerThe bronze imp poised as if ready to pounce, flashes against its green background as the shingle its painted on hangs swaying against the gray sky, whipped by the blowing snow.Diehar...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:22:00 PST

Gunshots & Grapes-Story Fragment

by Joel Asa MillerIt was the end of winter and I was on the road with my mother driving along the bluff, looking out over the St. Laurent: not a river, not an ocean, a fleuve. We whipped past clumps o...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:35:00 PST

I Cheated With Your Image

I cheated with your imageShortcut load of your face in my song of loveOr was it song of fate?Entwined in the high hat of my visionToday it comes into focusAfter the light starts to fade Always too lat...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:56:00 PST

Back In The Day - Story Fragment

by Joel Asa MillerHe bought those jeans he’s wearing back in the day too. He wears layers of long underwear underneath to mask the holes. But they’re still his favorite jeans. He fingers t...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:40:00 PST

you left me souvenirs

you left mesouvenirs intense and condensed strong as coffee bitter against my tongue tasted against a back-plate of music retro french bossa nova...even alone it is profoundtouching me like the memory...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:04:00 PST

Lhiver lâche prise sur Montréal (French & English versions)

L’hiver lâche prise sur MontréalEt nous nous tenons entre les saisonsEntre l’amour et le désir Comme la neige qui fond lentement et s’évaporeÇa n’est pas une promenade facile E...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:45:00 PST

the starlings

the starlings rustle busy in the trees cracking branches like whips across her backshe buries the past in the adrenaline of the present oblivious to the night sweats of tomorrowas snow falls gentle m...
Posted by Joel Asa Miller on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:31:00 PST