Wednesday, May 12th – A Double Feature Event: Hungary Pangs with Kornel Mundruzco and Nimrod Antal

Well darlings, it's been a minute since our last movie night in March---but be sure to make it to this latest cinematic event at our new, much improved residence! In honor of fellow cinematic comrade Erik moving away to Seattle in the next several weeks, Joseph and I would like to host a Hungarian movie night extravaganza---but not because Erik is Hungarian (rather, we've just discussed sitting down to watch Nimrod Antal's first feature over the past few months).

So what do you think about when you ponder upon and discuss the nature of Hungarian cinema?You've probably never given these Paprika-swathed Europeans a second thought, much less their cinematic heritage, have you, you sly devils? But if you're a cinephile, you've probably seen a Bela Tarr film (I caught a screening of his 7 hour+ film Satan's Tango, 1994, a couple years ago), Hungary's ne plus ultra auteur, whose films are, shall we say, an acquired taste? Or maybe you've seen one of Gyorgy Palfi's highly acclaimed/infamous features, either Hukkle (2002) or the outrageously fun and disgusting Taxidermia (2006), for which I had a movie night screening back in the Summer of 2008.

But if you haven't seen the works of these two artists (or any other Hungarian filmmaker) then I strongly urge you to attend our event "Hungary Pangs" for two very different countrymen's offerings. Our first feature, Delta (2008) won the FIPRESCI Prize (International Critics' Prize) at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and was directed by Kornel Mundruzco (whose next feature, the much anticipated The Frankenstein Project is all set for Cannes 2010). Delta tells the incestuously charged tale of a doomed romance, with a climax that has been described as harrowing. Please be aware thgat this film is not available for purchase or viewing in the United States, meaning your screening is even more distinctive and exhilirating.

Our second feature is the film debut of Nimrod Antal, titled Kontroll (2003), a thriller/black comedy/action film/part love story/noirish yarn set entirely in the Budapest subway system. Winning plenty of European and film festival awards, the film was a major success for Antal. He would go on to direct English language films like the excellent Vacancy (2007), Armored (2009), and this summer's reboot Predators (2010) starring Adrien Brody.

In honor of our Hungarian auteurs I will be serving goulash. So come check it out, if not for the fancy digs, the films or the food, stop by to wish Erik the best in his adventure to the coast---and please remember that Frances Farmer will have her revenge on Seattle.

Please contact me for our new address and showtimes!

Out of the Past: The Week In Film

Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) Dir. Lucio Fulci - Italy

Astounding Cinema:
8. La France (2007) Dir. Serge Bozon - France
7. Capturing the Friedmans (2003) Dir. Andrew Jarecki – US
6. Amore (1948) Dir. Roberto Rossellini - Italy
5. Testament (1983) Dir. Lynne Littman - US
4. Deception (1946) Dir. Irving Rapper – US
3. The Spanish Prisoner (1997) Dir. David Mamet - US
2. Blonde Crazy (1931) Dir. Roy Del Ruth – US
1. Hunger (2008) Dir. Steve McQueen – UK/Ireland

Theatrical Screenings:
2. Date Night (2010) Dir. Shawn Levy – US 7/10
1. Vincere (2009) Dir. Marco Bellochio – Italy 8/10

Rewatched Goodies:
1. The House of Yes (1997) Dir. Mark Waters – US 10/10
2. The Shining (1980) Dir. Stanley Kubrick – US 10/10

These Are a Few of My Favorite Kings

After having recently re-watched Stanley Kubrick's amazing film version of Stephen King's The Shining (1980), I was inspired to write a list of my favorite Stephen King adaptations to date. Mr. King defined my childhood---I was in the fourth grade when (perhaps inappropriately) I began reading King, beginning with "Dolores Claiborne," and "Carrie." A year later, I read "It," and steadily after that I made my way through just about everything he'd ever written, up until about "Dreamcatcher," when, sad to say, I felt like I just kind of out grew the wonderful Mr. King. And that's really not to criticize his writing---his excellent works scared me as a child, and I think today they simply remind me of the horrific powerlessness I felt in a dark, deep, and mysterious world at such a young age. His works have not always been successfully adapted for the big or small screen (like It, 1990, or Children of the Corn, 1984) but we all have our favorites. Here's 15 of mine.

Best Stephen King Adaptations:

15. Sleepwalkers (1992)
14. Silver Bullet (1985)
13. The Green Mile (1999)
12. Apt Pupil (1998)
11. Cujo (1983)
10. Dolores Claiborne (1995)
9. Creepshow (1982)
8. Christine (1983)
7. The Mist (2007)
6. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
5. Stand By Me (1986)
4. The Dead Zone (1983)
3. Carrie (1976)
2. Misery (1990)
1. The Shining (1980)



15. Sleepwalkers (1992)
Director: Mick Garris
Stars: Alice Krige, Madchen Amick
Why: King wrote this screenplay about a very strange mother and son duo that look like skinned cats when you hold a mirror up to then. Roaming around the US like vampires, they feed off the virtue of virginal young maidens, and cats are their sworn enemy. Silly? Hell yes, but you get the lovely Madchen Amick from “Twin Peaks” as the virginal object of desire and the terrifyingly creepy Alice Krige as a mother you just don’t want to fuck with and voila! A funny little horror film about skinned cat aliens that also features Ron Perlman, Clive Barker, John Landis, Joe Dante, and King himself is a definitely fun film to bust out with a crowd of people. (Note: One of my favorite horror anthologies I discovered as a kid was called “Twists of the Tale: An Anthology of Cat Horror”).

14. Silver Bullet (1985)
Director: Daniel Attias
Stars: Corey Haim, Gary Busey, Everett McGill
Why: Based on King’s novella, “Cycle of the Werewolf,” this film stars the recently deceased child star Corey Haim that discovers that a cherished member of his community has been turning into a werewolf and killing people. King often wrote excellent child characters, perhaps why he appealed so much to be as young’un. Haim is an intelligent, resourceful and heroic little boy against one of the better ‘80s werewolf features. And fans of People Under the Stairs (1992) will be happy to see Everett McGill, playing menacing and creepy here as well.

13. The Green Mile (1999)
Director: Frank Darabont
Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, Patricia Clarkson, Sam Rockwell
Why: Stephen’s resurrection of the serial novel was turned into this award winning feature about prison guard and the relationship he develops with a prison inmate, who just might have special powers, and also may be quite innocent for the heinous crime that has seen him sentenced to death row. Darabont is the best director of King’s work, as his three adaptations all made this list.

12. Apt Pupil (1998)
Director: Bryan Singer
Stars: Ian McKellan, Brad Renfro, Bruce Davison, Joshua Jackson
Why: Ian McKellan is the real treat here, starring as a Nazi war criminal whose identity is discovered by a precocious young man (Renfro) who develops a bizarre cat and mouse blackmail relationship with the retired demon, based on the novella of the same name from the collection “Different Seasons.” While it was not critically hailed, I enjoyed the film---and it stands as one of the last decent Brad Renfro performances before his passing a decade later in 2008.

11. Cujo (1983)
Director: Lewis Teague
Stars: Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro
Why: While it’s not terribly horrific, the film does a decent job of switching from a drama about infidelity to rabid dog attacking woman and child in her broken down car in the country quite effectively. 80’s scream queen icon Dee Wallace stars as a mother who must show down a slobbery, scary St. Bernard. It’s too bad that child star Danny Pintauro would grow up to be a meth addict outed on manhunt.

10. Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Director: Taylor Hackford
Stars: Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Straithairn, Christopher Plummer
Why: Hackford does an excellent job at adapting this novel with Kathy Bates starring as a crochety old bitch of a maid accused of killing her bitchy employer (Judy Parfitt) which resurrects the accusations against Claiborne from decades prior when someone may or may not have killed her abusive husband. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Bates’ estranged daughter in this eerie, beautiful, bizarre drama.

9. Creepshow (1982)
Director: George A. Romero
Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris, Ted Danson, E.G. Marshall
Why: Based on a comic book by King, Romero takes several horrific vignettes and weaves them into a delightfully creepy film I used to love as child and still love today. My favorite part of the film is “The Crate” with a boozy and bitchy Adrienne Barbeau.

8. Christine (1983)
Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Keith Gordon, Harry Dean Stanton, Kelly Preston
Why: The story is quite simple – a nerdy boy falls in love with a possessed car and leaves behind his best friend a girlfriend that’s entirely too attractive for him anyway to keep his 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine happy. Of course, the best parts are when Christine gets jealous. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

7. The Mist (2007)
Director: Frank Darabont
Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Toby Jones
Why: The most recent adaptation on this list, Darabont expertly adapts King’s short story from the collection “Skeleton Crew.” A group of people are trapped in a grocery store enveloped by a deadly mist that harbors dangerous, deadly creatures killing anyone that ventures outside. A microcosm of good vs. evil in the form of a fundamentalist Christian preacher played by a delightfully evil Marcia Gay Harden ratchets up the tension in this excellent feature.

6. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Director: Frank Darabont
Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, James Whitmore
Why: Darabont’s crowning achievement, I am well aware that this is the number one rated film on imdb.com. There is such a thing as praising something too much. But this is one damn good movie, and one of the best movies about male friendships ever made. Based on the novella “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” from the collection “Different Seasons,” Robbins stars as a man in prison that didn’t commit the crime which he was sentence for. Morgan Freeman ends up being his friend and confidante, resulting in one of the most enjoyable prison breaks ever put to film.

5. Stand By Me (1986)
Director: Rob Reiner
Stars: River Phoenix, Jerry O’Connell, Wil Wheaton, Cory Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland
Why: An excellent film about a group of young boys that trek off in the woods to look for a dead body they’d heard about, this has to be one of the best coming of age movies ever made. Starring another dead protagonist (the 3rd on this list, after Haim and Renfro) the 80’s was a hard decade for the child star. Based on Stephen King’s novella “The Body,” also featured in “Different Seasons,” this lovely, melancholy movie is one of the best flics to come out of the ‘80s.

4. The Dead Zone (1983)
Director: David Cronenberg
Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerrit, Martin Sheen
Why: Cronenberg is one of the best directors that has ever lived. Period. His adaptation of King’s novel is fucking excellent. Creepy Walken stars as a man that wakes up from a coma and discovers he has developed psychic abilities and mourns the woman that moved on (Adams) while he was in a coma.

3. Carrie (1976)
Director: Brian De Palma
Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, John Travolta
Why: A first in many ways, this was King’s first novel, Sissy Spacek’s big break, De Palma’s first huge success (after the excellent Sisters, 1973) and a return to the screen for legendary Piper Laurie (who had not been in a film since 1961’s The Hustler) Carrie, the story of an awkward, telekinetic, abused young woman is on a level of pop cultural existence that few films ever reach. Prom has never been so horrific before or after this film. And anytime someone talks about pig blood, you know what comes up in conversation.

2. Misery (1990)
Director: Rob Reiner
Stars: Kathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall
Why: My number two pick was a toss up between this and Carrie, but I suppose it’s Kathy Bates legendary/infamous/amazing/wonderful Oscar winning performance as the world’s greatest psychotic number one fan is unparalleled to this day. The story of a famous writer (Caan) who ends up in a horrible accident, only to be rescued and taken care of by a mentally deranged nurse in her isolated country home is the ultimate celebrity nightmare.

1. The Shining (1980)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers
Why: King was very unhappy with Kubrick’s adaptation, but it just happens to be one of the creepiest, eerie and beautiful films I’ve ever seen, so there. The story of a somewhat sinister and recovering alcoholic writer that moves his wife and son to reside in the massive Overlook Hotel as the caretaker for the 5 month brutal winter and becomes a homicidal maniac is one of the only movies ever to unnerve me as a youngster. Recently re-watching it this past weekend with two virgins to the material was a real treat---it’s lost none of its potency to thrill. Nicholson is hilariously and somehow fittingly over the top, while Duval turns in quite the entertaining performance as an effective hysteric---she’s pathetic but she’s not stupid---nice balance. The amazing score and stunning cinematography moved me to thinking about all the wonderful creepy, scary movies we’ve had thanks to Stephen King (whether or not he liked the celluloid reflections of his words). The Shining is just one of those films to watch over and over again to remind us of why movies are just so damn good.

Out of the Past: The Week in Film

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. Trantasia (2006) Dir. Jeremy Stanford - US

Astounding Cinema:
4. Miller’s Crossing (1990) Dir. Coen Bros. – US
3. The Sting (1973) Dir. George Roy Hill - US
2. Lourdes (2009) Dir. Jessica Hausner – France/Austria
1. Victim (1961) Dir. Basil Dearden – UK

Theatrical Screenings:
2. Police, Adjective (2009) Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu – Romania 5/10
1. Why Did I Get Married, Too? (2010) Dir. Tyler Perry – US 7/10

Rewatched Goodies:
1. The Room (2003) Dir. Tommy Wiseau – US 6/10
2. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Dir. Charles Crichton – US/UK 8/10
3. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) Dir. Frank Oz – US 9/10
4. Donnie Darko (2001) Dir. Richard Kelly – US 10/10

Trantasia (2006): Though this documentary about the first “World’s Most Beautiful Trannsexual Pageant” isn’t nearly as tacky as the ridiculous title would suggest, it definitely lacks any strategic or cohesive structure. For a film anchored and inspired by what is marketed as a progressive event (held in Las Vegas), we sure don’t see too much about the happenings at the pageant. Instead we get a random smattering of several contestants, who, like em or not, are given the task of shouldering the documentary. Though they may be the most interesting elements of this topic, Trantasia is like really good sandwich without any condiments or bread.

Miller’s Crossing (1990): The third feature from the Coen Bros. is like a talky conglomeration of 30’s gangster and 40’s noir---pretty damn good and intellectual to boot. Gabriel Byrne stars as an Irish gangster trying to navigate shifting power structures between the Irish mob boss (Albert Finney) and the Italian up and comer (Jon Polito) during Prohibition era politics. And while a woman seemingly stirs up the conflict (Marcia Gay Harden), the climax comes to fruition because of a homosexual love. Harden has Finney wrapped around her fingers, mostly because this affords her flamboyant grifter brother (John Turturro) some protection. But Turturro has angered the Italian mob boss, and the Irish aren’t willing to hand him over. Oh, and Harden is also sleeping with Finney’s right hand man and friend, Byrne. Oh, and Turturro is sleeping with Steve Buscemi (named Mink, lol) who really belongs to the Italian’s right hand man, the scary and creepy J.E. Freeman. Murder, double crossings, and an awesome scene with Albert Finney and a tommy gun makes this one of fine picture that’s funny, moody, dark and completely worth your time.

The Sting (1973): Yes, I’d never seen this monolithic Best Picture winner from 1973 starring Hollywood golden boys Paul Newman and Robert Redford (it also garnered Redford is only nomination ever for acting). Considered one of the best con artist films ever made, The Sting is about a 1930’s era sting against a criminal banker (Robert Shaw) when Redford, a small time con artist, joins forces with Newman, a master of the con, to revenge the death of his old partner (Robert Earl Jones----yeah, the papa of James). Newman and Redford had excellent buddy chemistry, though it’s a little more muted here between cons, the 30’s era atmosphere, and crooked cop Charles Durning tracking down Redford for slipping him counterfeit cash. Director George Roy Hill (born in Minneapolis in the 1920’s) also won Best Director---definitely must see cinema, a classic from 70’s era American film.

Lourdes (2009): The feature debit of Austrian director Jessica Hausner, Lourdes stars impish Sylvie Testud as a wheelchair bound woman making a pilgrimage to Lourdes not because she’s really looking to make a pilgrimage or hoping to be healed, but she really just has no other opportunities to get out. And so begins this quietly moving film about a quiet little woman that experiences a miraculous healing at Lourdes---much to the suspicion and chagrin of all those around her. The head matron (Elina Lowensohn) is crusty, dismissive, and has devastating problems of her own; the volunteer assigned to look after Testud (Lea Seydoux) is jealous of the attentions that an officer/guide (Bruno Todeschni) bestows upon Testud, and often abandons her to be looked after by an older woman attending the pilgrimage tour. The film never attempts to rationalize Testud’s recovery (she gains the ability to walk and move her arms) but instead focuses on perceptions of who deserves to be healed, forgiven, and even loved (Testud is neither the most depressed, the worst off, and she’s clearly not even religious). There’s a lot going on beneath the surface of Hausner’s film, a beautiful and breathtaking piece of cinema.

Victim (1961): Infamous for it’s subject matter, Basil Dearden’s UK film Victim is decades ahead of its time. Dirk Bogarde stars as a closeted homosexual, a successful barrister in a seemingly steady and loving marriage. However, a young man repeatedly attempting to phone Bogarde at the beginning of the film suddenly ends up murdered, and Borgarde discovers a blackmail plot to expose the young boy as homosexual (apparently the blackmailer has a picture of the boy and the barrister). Interestingly, the blackmailers consider of a man of Bogarde’s social status immune to blackmail---he’s too high up on the food chain to mess with. However, homosexuality was deemed, at this time, illegal, and one would be convicted of homosexuality and sent to prison---therefore, a blackmailer’s dream. It turns out there’s a gay blackmail sting operation going on in London, and Bogarde takes it upon himself to put an end to it and risk ruining his marriage and career. The scenes with Bogarde’s wife (Sylvia Syms) confronting him and a very frank scene with a barber shop owner discussing how nature has made men like him are candid, open, and revolutionary for film. Consider that in 1961 in the US the ban against homosexuality against film was just lifted that year and the two films dealing with homosexuality (The Children’s Hour; Advise & Consent) hardly depict a character as well balanced and level headed as Bogarde. An excellent film worthy of celebration and exultation, I still can’t believe such a brave film was made in 1961 and starring someone as big as Dirk Bogarde (who gives an excellent, noteworthy performance).

Police, Adjective (2009): Well, this made a ton of very notable critics best of the year lists. It also won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes last year. And I didn’t quite care for it at all (I think I felt the same way as I did over Assayas’ Summer Hours, 2008). To be frank, I was bored stiff throughout Police, Adjective, which centers on a young police officer tasked with tailing a student for smoking marijuana, while coming to the conclusion that he will refuse to arrest the student (since Romania is one of the only countries in Europe where the smoking the drug is illegal) because it would ruin this young man’s life. In fact, he takes great great pains to follow the boy and discover where the drugs are coming from in order to nab the supplier instead. However, the powers that be pressure our protagonist (Dragos Bucur) into insisting that they arrest the boy. The films greatest scene between Bucur and his commanding officer discuss the nature of language, the purity of the meaning of words like conscience, and yes, police. I understand that the country’s political and past baggage informs most of what’s going on beneath the surface of the film. Very sparse on dialogue, most of the film is shot in real time, meaning we see Bucur following his suspect and watching him. It feels like we’re on the job with him. Hailed as a thinking man’s film (and though there may be some humorous moments) I couldn’t help but wish the film had been at least 40 minutes shorter. Granted, I saw a 9:55 screening on a Friday night, and it didn’t help that the seven other people that were at the film all got up to leave before the end (and I am not kidding). So I was distracted a bit, but as much as I’d love to say I liked the film, I can only say I appreciate that I saw it and that so many other people love it (the second feature from Corneliu Porumboiu of the much hailed 12:08 East of Bucharest, 2006).

Why Did I Get Married, Too? (2010): And so it is that Tyler Perry’s latest was the best theatrical experience of the week. Go figure. There are several reasons that I quite liked this film, the foremost being my husband’s love and obsession for Janet Jackson, who also starred in the first film from 2008 (which I previously had considered Perry’s best effort). Second, there’s no interminable preaching (plus I believe I heard Michael Jai White’s character quickly quip about gay marriage) and none of that infernal drag queen Madea nonsense that Perry depends on to sell tickets. At its boiled down best, Perry’s treatise on marriage is all about issues and problems that many married couples face. Since the only interracial couple I’ve yet to see in a Perry film was a very toxic affair between Sanaa Lathan and Cole Hauser in The Family That Preys (2008), I would love to see Perry explore this further if he ventures a third outing with Ms. Jackson in the lead (and the ending of this film just might hint at that). Of course, the whole affair is rather soap operatic, but sees Perry engaging us more than he has before, with each scene resulting in mini-cliffhangers towards the end and without the usual bi-polar emotional kamikaze he usually flings at us. Casting himself again as Sharon Leal’s husband, Perry fares a little better acting wise in the sequel, though Leal is still something of dull characterization. While Jackson may be the draw (and emotional heart of this feature), the scene stealer that Perry sometimes depends on a bit too much is the phenomenal Tasha Smith as Angela, the foul mouthed temper tantrum incarnate. He makes her a bit more human, though more melodramatic than ever. The biggest improvement is Jill Scott---she’s still one of the weakest sidelines in Perry’s episodic narrative, but she’s far less persistently pathetic and annoying than in the first film. Over the top antics aside, Perry’s managed to pull together a film that’s far less caricature and a little less black and white. Some important issues do rise to the occasion, even if they’re wrapped in a blandness akin to daytime television at times. And yeah, I agree that Perry neglects to capture the beauty of the Bahamas from the first half, but there’s so much going on one can hardly bother with the location anyway. Louis Gossett Jr. and Cicely Tyson show up for some wasted scenery (and the only scene I hated with Tasha Smith) while Perry decidedly ruins the good thing he had going in the last ten minutes or so, in particular one awful, forced hospital scene that will leave the most open minded audience cringing at it’s idiocy. While it may be receiving a lot of negative reviews (as most Perry films do) it’s miles better than something like, I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) or Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005).

A Fish Called Wanda (1988): The hubby had never seen A Fish Called Wanda, and so on Easter we caught up on some old VHS comedies I dug out. I forgot how cute Jamie Lee Curtis was, while John Cleese is quite good. I did enjoy Kevin Kline in his Oscar winning performance here, but I guess I feel like he’s done better elsewhere. Quite light on plot, the film is of course about Kline and Curtis conning barrister Cleese into fumbling the defense of his client, a man they are trying to screw over on a con they pulled. Charles Crichton directed, who worked mostly in television----and I can’t help but think what a better endeavor this might have been with just a little bit tighter direction, though there are several moments of classical hilarity, thanks to the animal loving, stuttering Michael Palin.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988): And another 80’s trip down memory lane is this hilarious little caper gem from Frank Oz starring an awesome Michael Caine, Steve Martin, and Glenne Headly. Martin and Caine are two con men working the French Riviera, though Martin’s kind of a lower class con man that Caine takes under his wing to avoid having his cover blown. When they choose the American soap queen (Headly) to con first for her money, and then for her virtue, the boys may have gotten into something way over their heads. The best moments, however, are when Martin poses as Caine’s mentally retarded brother, Ruprecht, to fight off a bevy of rich ladies they’ve conned, one being Frances Conroy.

Donnie Darko (2001): When I first had seen Donnie Darko it was in 2003 and I was a senior in high school. I remember instantly falling in love with this twisting, labyrinth of a film that was about time travel, clueless adults, depressed kids, and a fear of the end. I may have over-related to Jake Gyllenhaal’s titular protagonist at that age, but inching towards a decade later, I still find that I love the film more than ever, perhaps having more questions about it now more than ever. I can’t help but love the compassionate and endearing qualities of this dark angsty tale, with performances from Mary McDonnell and Katharine Ross that move me every time. Anyhow, now in 2010, this was my ant-Easter themed treat for the hubby since he’d never seen it (you know, because it features Frank, the evil bunny, portrayed by James Duval). Darko also sports great turns from Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Noah Wyle, and the late, great Patrick Swayze. If you haven’t seen Donnie Darko, please do so, and ignore that annoying nerdy cult following it has trailing/touting it---it’s a film deserving and worthy of cinematic love.

The Room (2003): And yeah, we just had to have another group of friends over to experience this again. Good times!

Out of the Past: The Week In FIlm

Cess Pool Cinema:
1. Satan’s Baby Doll (1982) Dir. Mario Bianchi - Italy

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. Iron Man (2008) Dir. Jon Favreau - US

Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. The September Issue (2008) Dir. R.J. Cutler - US
2. Spring of Life (2000) Dir. Milan Cieslar – Czech Republic
3. Stromboli (1950) Dir. Roberto Rossellini - Italy

Astounding Cinema:
6. Fine Dead Girls (2002) Dir. Dalibor Matanic - Croatia
5. Car Wash (1976) Dir. Michael Schultz - US
4. Rome, Open City (1945) Dir. Roberto Rossellini – Italy
3. Jules and Jim (1962) Dir. Francois Truffaut - France
2. Nine Lives (2005) Dir. Rodrigo Garcia – US
1. Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her (2000) Dir. Rodrigo Garcia - US

Theatrical Screenings:
3. The Girl By the Lake (2007) Dir. Andrea Molaioli – Italy 5/10
2. Greenberg (2010) Dir. Noah Baumbach – US 8/10
1. Terribly Happy (2008) Dir. Henrik Ruben Genz – Denmark 9/10

Rewatched Goodies:
1. Tootsie (1982) Dir. Sydney Pollack – US 10/10

Satan’s Baby Doll (1982): You’d probably assume that I’d just love a movie with this title that sports dialogue from a leathery, tan nun (played by B Eurosleaze sensation Mariangela Giordana) like “I’d rather die than let an oily character like you stain me,” or our villain/protagonist (I don’t know and don’t remember) played by Aldo Sambrell screaming “You dirty paraplegic!” But I just didn’t. Seemingly about a young girl (Jacqueline Dupre, a barely legal thing showing off her tender bits in her only credited screen role) that’s possessed by the soul of her dead mother, who just happened to be the world’s biggest slut, the film explores every possible and impossible rationalization for women from all walks of life to be naked and vaguely playing hard to get. The result is, as you can imagine, quite dull. I bought this a couple years ago when it was granted a DVD release (when I was going through a peculiar Italian giallo phase, though I must admit I never really cared for any of them. I’ve also quite smoking and become a gym rat since then, so I guess let that speak for itself) based purely upon the fact that it mentions a bizarre chicken scene (save your breath and watch John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, 1972 instead) and it’s clever riff on the Carol Baker/Tennessee Williams hothouse Southern melodrama, Baby Doll, 1956. Needless to say, this is one baby that belongs in the corner. Directed by Mario Bianchi.

Iron Man (2008): Now, I can’t say I really care for Jon Favreau as an actor, and I think I like him even less as a director. The only reason I sat down to watch Iron Man was because Mickey Rourke looks delightfully creepy in the soon to be released sequel (and I do enjoy Robert Downey Jr.). One of the biggest box office hits from 2008, I wasn’t expecting that I would be so, well, fucking bored. I mean it takes an hour for the film to set itself up (Downey constructing makeshift Iron Man suit in Afghanistan caves, Downey rebuilding a more advanced suit at home, Gwyneth Paltrow in an underwritten role, second that for Terrence Howard) for a rather uneventful second half involving baddie Jeff Bridges as Iron Monger. Bleh. A running time over two hours, and for what? Downey is entertaining, but in that bitchy way people talk when they know they have an audience---he does the exact same thing with a British accent in Sherlock Holmes (2009). While it may not be the worst super hero film I’ve seen, it’s definitely not worth two hours of life.

The September Issue (2008): Gays seemed to rejoice everywhere about this documentary concerning Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine (and whom The Devil Wears Prada, 2006, is based). What results is hardly as sensational as you’d think (yeah, she’s kind of a crusty bitch, but so what?) since it’s really about a professional woman that takes her job, well, seriously. An interesting glimpse into the machinations behind a colossal, worldwide empire, I found Anna Wintour to be anything but the dragon I had assumed she was. I doubt we’d be friends, but something tells me we might respect each other if we didn’t have to be coworkers.

Spring of Life (2000): I hardly know why I absolutely love some WWII holocaust dramas and why I just can’t get into others----and I may just be more and more desensitized to the subject matter as my cinematic years fly by. This feature from the Czech Republic centers on a group of German women being experimented on by the Nazi SS, but it’s hardly as salacious as you think, and nothing as arduous or terrifying as a film would be about Mengele experimenting on Jewish twins. Basically, the SS collected a bunch of very ‘Aryan’ looking women, put them in a country house (sounds a bit like Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom, 1975, right?) have some German soldiers knock them up and then cart off the babies to be raised us brainwashed Aryan youths (which also eerily reminded me of The Boys From Brazil, 1978). Our story is told through the eyes of Gretka (Monika Hilmerova) a young Serb whose German officer is homosexual, prompting her to have intercourse with and become impregnated by the young Jewish slave/farmhand she is in love with. While there’s nothing innately wrong with Spring of Life, it’s just a bit sanitized and completely by the numbers. Hilmerova turns in a good performance but there’s not much to be taken away from watching it.

Stromboli (1950): The infamous Italian language film funded by Hollywood and where Roberto Rossellini began his infamous, scandalous affair with the married Ingrid Bergman. The result was a rather messy film, perhaps suffering most from studio funded control and a director a tad unable to tear himself away from how he felt about his leading lady and how he felt about his movie. A change in the production company changed the lead from being Anna Magnani (who Rossellini was also having an affair with) to Ingrid Bergman, and strangely, a simultaneous film went on to be made in the same year starring Magnani called Volcano. Bergman stars as a woman from the Baltic stuck in a prisoner’s camp after WWII. Attempting to flee to South America, she is not granted a visa and therefore marries a young Italian soldier (Mario Vitale) who has asked her hand in marriage. He carries her to the volcanic island he was born and raised, Stromboli, where Bergman nearly immediately hates and spends the entire film bitching and moaning about how much she hates living there. While some find this to be an underrated classic, I found it to be pure camp, and an obvious example of the difference between an auteur finding a muse and an auteur obsessed with a woman. The very last frame seemed especially laughable, but this is definitely a film to check out for fans of Bergman or lovers of Rossellini. I wonder if Isabella likes this movie?

Fine Dead Girls (2002): A lesbian thriller from Croatia? I could barely contain myself at the find (which, by the way, is officially the first Croatian film featuring gay protagonists). The film opens with as a framed story as one ex-lesbian relates the story of her tragic past in order to tell two policemen her rationale for accusing a wheelchair bound woman of abducting her child. What follows is the story of a closeted lesbian couple renting an apartment in a working-class area known as Zagreb, which turns out to be a hothouse of homophobia, prostitution, and one insanely monstrous female landlady---she’ll make you feel so dirty and gross you’ll feel like you just bathed in bootleg vodka. Several instances in the film had me feeling extremely uncomfortable----this isn’t a polite, tidy thriller and I highly recommend seeking it out.

Car Wash (1976): While Richard Pryor and George Carlin are featured on the cover, their appearance here are more akin to cameos than roles----and it’s no matter because the best part of this light and frothy, yet touching and moving film (that is credited with signaling the beginning of the end of blaxploitation) is the ensemble cast of employees and their experiences in one day at the car wash. An absolute standout is Anthony Fargas as a sassy drag queen who famously tells a young Bill Duke, “Honey, I’m more man than you will ever be, and more woman than you will ever get.” Scripted by Joel Schumacher and directed by Michael Schultz, Car Wash is a one film from a bygone era that still feels funky, fresh, adorable and utterly charming.

Rome, Open City (1945): The first of Rossellini’s War Trilogy began filming directly after the war ended, features Anna Magnani as an expecting mother and Aldo Fabrizi as a priest helping the resistance. However, Magnani, about to be married, is ruthlessly shot down in the streets when her fiancé is arrested for helping a resistance leader attempt to leave the country, himself betrayed by his lover played by Maria Michi in her film debut. The film is credited with bringing on the wave of neo realism with it’s gritty, documentary style unfolding of horrific events in 1944 on the streets of Italy.

Jules & Jim (1962): One of the most famous films of the French New Wave, and one of the most famous and influential films of all time is Francois Truffaut’s Jules & Jim, which made Jeanne Moreau an icon of cinema. Having so many expectations for what was considered a revolutionary film, I wasn’t disappointed, and Truffaut created quite the cinematic masterpiece that centers around two best friends and their (pathetic?) passion for one very selfish, somewhat unremarkable woman. Oscar Werner and Henri Sarre star as the eponymous buddies that pine over one of cinema’s most famous, irritating, yet thoroughly engaging female characters created.

Nine Lives (2005): I had been meaning to watch Rodrigo Garcia’s first two feature films for some time, but I stuck them farther and farther on the backburner after watching his third feature film, Passengers (2008), which I think we can all agree was an utterly disastrous failure of a film----but in retrospect, I have come to believe this was Garcia’s attempt at a big budget flick written by someone else. Within minutes of sitting down to watch Nine Lives, which is simply the semi-intertwining stories of nine very different women at different crossroads in their lives, I was utterly engaged and in love with the film. Between Elpidia Carrillo and Lisa Gay Hamilton both had me in tears, and each segment was moving, touching, and absorbing in its own way, boasting a cast of Robin Wright Penn, Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, Amanda Seyfried, Dakota Fanning, Ian McShane, Sissy Spacek, Sydney Poitier, Jason Isaacs, Amy Brenneman, Mary Kay Place, William Fichtner, Kathy Baker, and Joe Mantegna. Immediately after watching this film I knew I had to get a copy of his feature debut, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her (2000), which, as you can see….

Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her (2000): made the number one spot this week. A little tighter than his followup, Garcia’s first film (who is, by the way, the son of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez) features the stories of five different women, also at very different parts of their lives. Again, within minutes I was drawn into these raw and nagging little vignettes, my favorites here being Glenn Close, and I was moved and upset after Holly Hunter’s segment. Calista Flockhart and Cameron Diaz (both actresses that made me want to avoid the film initially) turn in powerful turns, with support from Amy Brenneman, Kathy Baker, Valeria Golina, and the late, great Gregory Hines. Words cannot describe the cinematic poetry of both of these Rodrigo Garcia films. It is a shame and a crime that his first feature was not released theatrically due to it’s studio frightened that it may not find an audience----which is truly depressing because this is exactly the kind of cinema that stands as a piece of moving, speaking art. I don’t know what he was thinking or what happened behind the scenes on a turkey like Passengers, but Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her is one of the most moving films I’ve seen in some time and I can’t begin to tell you how damn excited I am for his latest film to be released in my area, Mother and Child (2009), which I am now kicking myself for neglecting to see at Toronto last year.

The Girl By the Lake (2007): While it’s not a terrible film, it certainly is one of the dullest murder mystery thrillers I’ve endured for some time. The directorial debut of Andrea Molaioli, who has worked as an assistant director with some of Italy’s modern auteurs, swept the David di Donatello awards in 2008 (the Italian Oscars) and I’m sad to report that I didn’t really care for it at all. A young woman’s body is discovered by a lake, and Toni Servillo does his methodical best to discover whodunit. And yeah, that’s about it. Valeria Golina stars as the mother of a dead young child, and even she is unable to breathe any fresh air into this rigid formula.

Greenberg (2010): I was one of the only people, it seems, that absolutely loved Noah Baumbach’s brilliant, dark and downright bitchy and mean third feature, Margot at the Wedding (2007). In fact, I’m still convinced that if some European auteur had directed it that it would have had a better chance at receiving the attention it deserved. That said, Baumbach’s latest feature, while far from being a bad film, is perhaps my least favorite Baumbach film so far---again, which isn’t to say that I didn’t highly enjoy it. Ben Stiller gets all awards hungry as a man having recently suffered a nervous breakdown who goes to stay at his brother’s home (Chris Messina) and falls in love with his personal assistant (mumblecore queen Greta Gerwig). Gerwig especially shines here as a young twentysomething navigating her way through a loveless world and making all the wrong decisions, the biggest, of course, being falling for a grade A asshole like Stiller’s character. Rhys Ifans is another bright spot in the film as Stiller’s friend from high-school, as is Baumbach’s wife and co-writer Jennifer Jason Leigh as Stiller’s ex from high school. The whole affair felt like a down and dirty Wes Anderson look at the male psyche, but that reading, I admit, it entirely lazy and dismissive---though moments felt like an Anderson film but just removed from any fantastical quirkiness. And while all involved have created a pretty damn good film about an asshole, egotist in the throes of midlife neurosis, I just wanted Ms. Gerwig to kindly walk away and realize her sweetness would find someone so much better suited for her.

Terribly Happy (2008): I must say I was terribly pleased with my much anticipated viewing of the Danish film, Terribly Happy (which is about to be remade for illiterate Americans) and focuses on a police officer banished to a small town for punishment (more midlife crises drama) after a nervous breakdown, only to discover some severely devious happenings going on with some of the residents. To me it felt like the Coen Bros. at their darkest directing their black comedy version of Hot Fuzz (2007), but that’s only speaking to the atmosphere and tone of the film. I think I was expecting the film to be a lot more comic than it is, but I did enjoy it’s moodiness, which, thinking back on, does happen to feel a little Lynchian, if only for the strange and bizarre way the small town comes together over certain, ahh, issues. Definitely must see cinema, and please make a point to see this before whatever remake happens to come along in the next year or so.

Tootsie (1982): Oh my, it’s been a quick minute since I sat down to watch Tootsie, which I insisted on making the husband watch since he had never seen it. Dustin Hoffman nails every scene he has in drag and had me cracking up in almost every scene. I don’t think I had remembered how damn funny Teri Garr is as Hoffman’s sometimes girlfriend, while Charles Durning and Bill Murray (and a young Geena Davis) were all refreshing little highlights. It was hard for me to admit to myself watching it now that Jessica Lange’s not all that special in her Oscar winning performance here---but then I truly think it’s because Meryl Streep won for Sophie’s Choice and Jessica Lange, who was also nominated for Frances in the Best Actress category, was given compensation by winning for this. Oh well. It’s pretty hilarious and was directed by one of the best American directors we had, Sydney Pollack, who sadly passed away in 2008---thank you for Tootsie and that damned fine film, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969).

The Best of March 2010

March 2010
Essential Cinema:
1. Rome, Open City (1945)
2. Judgement at Nuremberg (1961)
3. Jules & Jim (1962)
4. Walkabout (1971)
5. Car Wash (1976)
6. Cria Cuervos (1976)
7. Germany, Pale Mother (1980)
8. Lola and Billy the Kid (1999)
9. Red Lights (2004)
10. Nine Lives (2005)
11. Fish Tank (2009)
12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
13. Mystery Team (2009)
14. The Ghost Writer (2010)

Re-Watched Essentials:
1. Tootsie (1982)
2. Sling Blade (1996)

Subsequent Essentials:
(9/10)
1. It Always Rains On Sunday (1947)
2. Key Largo (1948)
3. Peppermint Frappe (1967)
4. Myra Breckinridge (1970)
5. Chinese Roulette (1976)
6. Making Love (1982)\
7. Terribly Happy (2008)

Re-Watched Subsequent Essentials:
1. A Woman’s Face (1941)
2. Strange Impersonation (1946)

Additional Subsequents:
(8/10)
1. She Done Him Wrong (1933)
2. Portrait of Jennie (1948)
3. The Flower of My Secret (1995)
4. Fine Dead Girls (2002)
5. Good Hair (2009)
6. Greenberg (2010)


Memorable Performances:
Googie Withers – It Always Rains on Sunday
Olivia Williams – The Ghost Writer
Jeanne Moreau – Jules & Jim
Kate Jackson – Making Love
Geraldine Chaplin – Cria Cuervos
Geraldine Chaplin – Peppermint Frappe
Ana Torrent – Cria Cuervos
Claire Trevor – Key Largo
Elsa Lanchester – Willard
Joan Crawford – A Woman’s Face
Raquel Welch – Myra Breckinridge
Mae West – Myra Breckinridge
Nomi Rapace – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Eva Mattes – Germany, Pale Mother
Katie Jarvis – Fish Tank
Mae West – She Done Him Wrong
Dakota Fanning – The Runaways
Lisa Gay Hamilton – Nine Lives
Elpidia Carrillo – Nine Lives
Teri Garr – Tootsie
Anna Magnani – Rome, Open City

Maximilian Schell – Judgement at Nuremberg
Ewan McGregor – The Ghost Writer
Donald Glover – Mystery Team
Edward G. Robinson – Key Largo
Billy Bob Thornton – Sling Blade
Lucas Black – Sling Blade
John Ritter – Sling Blade
Dwight Yoakam – Sling Blade
John Huston – Myra Breckinridge
Morgan Freeman – Lean On Me
Jean-Pierre Darroussin – Red Lights
Michael Fassbender – Fish Tank
Dustin Hoffman – Tootsie
Antonio Fargas – Car Wash