The Movies That Changed My Life: 'Aviva' Filmmaker Boaz Yakin

Pegging the career of filmmaker Boaz Yakin is incredibly difficult and maybe that’s the point. “I have pretty eclectic taste so nothing comes as a surprise to anyone who knows me,” he says. And it’s true, Yakin’s career is incredibly diverse and disparate, often tackling high and low. Case in point, his first published screenplay credit is Dolph Lundgren’s pulpy “The Punisher” Marvel film in 1989, and that was followed up by buddy cop action film “The Rookie,” starring Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen. But his directorial debut, “Fresh,” based on his inner-city experiences in New York, revealed a gritty indie realness that earned him the Filmmaker’s Trophy at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.

Yet, if you would think “Fresh” would lead to a career of indie-darling dramas, you’d be mistaken. Yakin’s heterogeneous palate would lead him all over the map, writing many commercial mainstream efforts for Hollywood (“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” and “Now You See Me”), directing his own mainstream crowd-pleasing efforts (“Remember The Titans” with Denzel Washington, “Uptown Girls” with Brittany Murphy), diving into the genre of horror (directing “Boarding School,” executive producing Eli Roth’s “Hostel” movies and creating the now-defunct Raw Nerve company with him), tackling full-blown action (“Safe” with Jason Statham), and even trying on a family adventure drama (2015’s dog-as-Marine movie “Max”). No genre is too high or too low, Yakin just indiscriminately loves a good yarn.

While Yakin has always balanced personal and commercial projects, his latest, the experimental dance drama, “Aviva” is arguably his first true indie since “Fresh.” About love, sex, and relationships, “Aviva” is almost like a mix of Gaspar Noé’s “Climax” meeting Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” and a really fascinating look at intimacy. While SXSW 2020 didn’t really happen because of COVID-19, the film was part of the official selection and Strand Releasing recently put the film in virtual cinemas. Given Yakin’s broad, wide-ranging taste, we thought he’d be the perfect subject for our The Movies That Changed My Life series.

What’s the first movie that you remember seeing in the theater?
I was three years old and my family was on vacation in Fire Island and my Mom took me to see the 1950’s live-action Disney “Robin Hood” movie. It started with a fight between two people in a room and one of them killed the other with a knife, which you didn’t actually see, but they knocked over some ink and panned to it dripping off a table or something to symbolize the blood. I started crying because of the violence and my Mom took me out of the theater. I never saw the rest of the movie and still haven’t to this day. The next week they were showing “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and my Mom took me to see that, thinking it’s for kids so how bad can it be? First scene Dick Van Dyke is trying out some flying skis invention that goes wrong and he goes zipping around out of control and all the other kids in the theater were laughing and I started crying because I didn’t understand why they were laughing at that poor man and my Mom had to take me out of the theater again. I did not get taken to another movie in a theater until I was six years old.

The best moviegoing film experience you ever had.
Easy. The first movie I saw in a theater since I was three. When I was six years old despite my mother’s warnings my Dad took me to the Regency Revival theater to see Errol Flynn in the 1938 Warner Brothers production of “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was all good with violence by now, in fact, there was nothing I would rather watch, and the more of it the better. When Robin Hood makes his big entrance in a gigantic banquet hall filled with knights who want to kill him and swaggers past them all with a poached deer over his shoulders I knew what kind of man I wanted to be in life.

The first film you saw that made you realize you wanted to be a filmmaker.
Akira Kurosawa’s “Kagemusha; the Shadow Warrior.” I was 14, and on a shidduch date with a daughter of some of my parents’ friends. I had been a cinephile until then in that I had seen a million movies and loved them but always thought only about the actors in them, really. This was the first time it really dawned on me that there was a vision behind the camera orchestrating things. And what a vision it was. By the end of the movie, I knew two things: One, that I did not want to go on another date with the daughter of my parents’ friends. And two: I wanted to get into making movies somehow.

The first film you saw that you realize you could be a filmmaker.
Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets.” I saw that at the Thalia when I was in high school. It was so raw and personal and immediate. As a young ethnic New Yorker, it made me feel like movies didn’t have to be this glamorous shining object to fetishize from a distance… that they could come from the heart and the streets in a way that could be grasped and expressed by someone like me.

The movie that always makes you cry (or the movie that is your emotional comfort food).
The first time I saw “E.T.” in a movie theater, when Elliot thinks ET is dead and says— “ET, I love you” I started crying so hard and so profusely I literally didn’t see what happened for the rest of the movie through my tears. I had to go back to see it again before I could actually make out there was a bicycle chase and everything. I still cry when I watch it.

The movie that always freaks you out/makes you scared.
Oh, man. I’m an easy lay when it comes to movies giving me nightmares for years and years. I grew up with sleep paralysis because horror movies scared me so much. The worst ever was a made for TV movie I saw when I was 11 years old at my friend Marc Davis’ place called “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” that starred Kim Darby. She and her husband moved into this fucking house in the suburbs where these hideous little troglodytes with furry bodies and veiny human heads lived in the old stove and came out when she was home alone to drag her down to Hell. I dare you to watch that shit now and try to sleep easily afterward.

The film you’ve rewatched more than any other.
“Jaws.”

The movie you love that no one would expect you to love.
I have pretty eclectic tastes so nothing comes as a surprise to anyone who knows me.

The movie that defined your coming-of-age/high school experience.
“Dodes Ka Den,” directed by Akira Kurasawa.

The movie that defined your childhood.
My childhood was actually defined by a TV show. “Star Trek.” OG. The only true version.

What’s a movie that you love, that is vastly underseen by the moviegoing public that you recommend?
It depends on which public you mean. I will go with the contemporary American public and go with Fellini’s “8 ½.” See it and you will understand why!

“Aviva” is in virtual theatrical now. Watch the trailer below.