tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75644389128213025662024-03-13T20:31:15.733-07:00Movies in the CityA young movie loving cub's adventures through cinema in the Big AppleCaseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-78078016211956978702015-05-27T11:52:00.002-07:002015-05-27T12:09:01.280-07:00DON'T THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN: CAMBODIA'S LOST ROCK AND ROLL (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the search for something different and elusive, fervent music lover followings and entire fan communities have been built up around forgotten music of the past, including Northern soul, English freakbeat, African funk, jazz behind the Iron Curtain, and South American psychedelia. One of the more intriguing and ultimately tragic music scenes to be rediscovered decades after its end is the Cambodian rock scene, brought to larger attention by essential releases like the "Cambodian Rocks" series (from both Parallel Worlds and Khmer Rocks, Inc.) and Sublime Frequencies' "Khmer Folk and Pop Music" compilations in the 1990s and early 2000s. Personally, I prefer the earlier compilations to later reissues, which often include newly-recorded mixes to disguise the poor quality of the surviving materials. Give me the pops and crackles and lo-fi quality. It all symbolizes the struggle these particular records had to get to our ears! Mixing provocative originals with unique covers of American pop songs, the smooth tones of Sinn Sisamouth, the emotional pleas of Ros Sereysothea, the garage punk of Yol Aularong, and the perky pipes of Pen Ran found audiences in the west for the first time. What makes their covers of western songs so unique is that they marry the rhythm and tune of the original with newly-written lyrics, sometimes referencing Cambodian culture and tradition, other times re-imagined as painfully romantic tales of heartbreak and woe, transforming a simple cover into something refreshingly different. Through these releases I, and others like me, fell in love with this special music; I developed a special affection for Ros Sereysothea, who I rank as one of music's greatest neglected vocal gems. She simply stuns me.<br />
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Director John Pirozzi spent nearly a decade completing <b>Don't Think I've Forgotten</b>, a documentary that I've been hotly anticipating since first hearing the fuzzy tones heard on "Cambodian Rocks" and coming up virtually empty when searching for information about who I was hearing. I don't envy his task of compiling the history of this obscure music movement; as detailed in the film, the imposing rule of the Khmer Rouge not only wiped out many of the recordings (which, thankfully, survive in some cases through rare 45's), but specifically targeted musicians and artists because of their public ties to perceived western decadence. Almost all of the singers and groups you hear in this documentary disappeared, never to be seen again; with the vast number of "disappeared" Cambodians during this turbulent period in the nation's history, it's impossible to trace the truth of what happened to them. It is evident they were killed, but how, by whom, and where will likely never be known. We hear survivors tell conflicting stories from different people who claim to know the fates of friends and loved ones Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth, which must make the pain of not knowing even more devastating. Many of the surviving participants in the documentary are band musicians, including members of Cambodia's first rock band Baksey Cham Krong. While they could more easily deny their musical past in the interest of self-preservation, recognizable popular faces like those of Ros and Sinn could not be ignored by Pol Pot's regime. Perhaps the only female singer from the period to survive, Sieng Vanthy (who passed away in 2009) silently weeps as she tells of her lie about being a banana seller saving her life. She is also seen in insanely rare film footage performing in the 1960s with Yol Aularong and Pen Ran, neither of whom were as lucky...<br />
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But before we reach the inevitable tragic conclusion of the story, Pirozzi guides us through both a cultural and musical tour of Cambodia in the 1950s through the 1960s and early 1970s. Emerging from under French rule, Cambodia became a cultural hotbed under Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Sinahouk was such a supporter of the arts that he produced films featuring many of the nation's best musicians, and footage from these tantalizingly rare features is essential to the documentary's story. Western music influences such as the British Cliff Richard and the Shadows, French crooners Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan, and even American rockers like Santana merged into traditional Khmer music to form the Cambodian sound that is known and loved today by music aficionados. Singers like Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea appealed to multiple generations of music lovers at the time, while Ventures-esque guitar band Baksey Cham Krong and pop princess Pen Ran produced largely youth-oriented tunes to be played at go-go dance clubs. All the major names are heard and discussed, but extra exciting is seeing and hearing singers previously not covered in earlier surveys of Cambodian pop music, including Pou Vannary, whose cover of "You've Got a Friend" is just lovely, and the acid rock of Drakkar, music so heavy that it's jarring in comparison to their contemporaries. The development of the rock scene into nationalist anthems is also covered, as Sinahouk was ousted by a military coup and the nation fell into civil war chaos. Ros Sereysothea is seen in newsreel footage training with a parachute troop, while Sinn Sisamouth croons a tune encouraging listeners to not fear picking up a gun and killing. The history lesson becomes much vividly darker as the Khmer Rouge invades capital city Phnom Penh and evacuates its citizens to the country and the notorious "killing fields", leaving Phnom Penh a sprawling ghost town.<br />
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One of the defining elements to the Cambodian rock sound is the echo heard in practically all of the records from this period. The film offers a rare glimpse into the studio where many of these groups and singers recorded their work, revealing the design and structure of the single room where vocalists and musicians gathered around a single microphone. These echos in Cambodian rock music feature a ghostly glow about them, unintended at the time of recording, but hard to ignore when listening to these often astonishingly talented vocalists and musicians. Their songs simultaneously rock adventurous listeners while also becoming haunting specters of their earthly accomplishments. The music is bittersweet, but as the title suggests, how wonderful it is to be able to remember and love these artists in their sorrowful absence. See the film and, without hesitation, buy the soundtrack album, which collects together 20 of the best examples of the Cambodian rock sound with a photo-packed liner notes booklet. The four "Cambodian Rocks" are out of print and expensive, but in my opinion are worth every penny. Thankfully many of these songs are also available on YouTube for your listening pleasure.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ipq4FefX5Ps" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-53148734652564419252015-02-22T12:17:00.001-08:002015-02-22T12:17:27.266-08:00My NYC theater experiences in 2014<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Angelika Film Center (3) </i></u></span><br />
June 2 - <b>We Are the Best! </b>(2013)<br />
June 4 - <b>The Immigrant </b>(2013)<br />
June 7 - <b>Obvious Child </b>(2014) <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Anthology Film Archives (17) </i></u></span><br />
March 27 - <i>In the Flesh:</i> <b>Expose Me, Lovely </b>(1976)<br />
March 28 - <i>In the Flesh:</i> <b>The Double Exposure of Holly </b>(1976)<br />
March 29 - <i>In the Flesh:</i> <b>Sex Wish </b>(1976)<br />
March 30 - <i>In the Flesh:</i> <b>Corruption </b>(1983)<br />
May 29 - <i>Marcel Hanoun</i>: <b>Une Simple Histoire </b>(1959)<br />
May 29 - <i>Marcel Hanoun</i>: <b>The Eighth Day </b>(1960)<br />
June 13 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Misbehavin'</b> (1978)<br />
June 14 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Roommates </b>(1981)<br />
June 15 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Blonde Ambition </b>(1980)<br />
Aug. 4 - <i>Klaus Kinski</i>: <b>Venus in Furs </b>(1970)<br />
Aug. 10 - <i>Klaus Kinski</i>: <b>Salt in the Wound </b>(1969)<br />
Aug. 10 - <i>Klaus Kinski</i>: <b>Buddy, Buddy </b>(1981)<br />
Aug. 10 - <i>Klaus Kinski</i>: <b>Venom </b>(1981)<br />
Aug. 10 - <i>Klaus Kinski</i>: <b>My Best Fiend </b>(1999)<br />
Aug. 29 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>The Budding of Brie </b>(1980)<br />
Aug. 29 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Titillation </b>(1982)<br />
Aug. 29 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Joy </b>(1977)<b> </b> <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Film Forum (12)</i></u></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">March 26 - <b>The Missing Picture </b>(2013)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">March 27 - <i>The Complete Hitchock: </i><b>Frenzy </b>(1972)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">March 30 - <i>Tout Truffaut: </i><b>Jules and Jim </b>(1962) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">May 7 - <b>Ida </b>(2013)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">May 7 - <b>Othello </b>(1952)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">May 8 - <i>Film Forum Jr.</i>: <b>The Red Shoes </b>(1948) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">May 8 - <b>The More the Merrier </b>(1943)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">July 4 - <b>A Hard Day's Night </b>(1964)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Sep. 3 - <b>The Conformist </b>(1970)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Sep. 3 - <b>That Man from Rio </b>(1964)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Sep. 5 - <b>Fedora </b>(1978) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Sep. 16 - <b>Rome Open City </b>(1946) </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Film Society of Lincoln Center - Francesca Beale Theater (5) </i></u></span><br />
Aug. 11 - <i>This is Softcore</i>: <b>Therese and Isabelle </b>(1968)<br />
Aug. 12 - <i>This is Softcore</i>: <b>The Image </b>(1975)<br />
Aug. 13<i> - This is Softcore</i>: <b>The Lickerish Quartet </b>(1970)<br />
Aug. 13 - <i>This is Softcore</i>: <b>Little Mother </b>(1971)<br />
Aug. 13 - <i>This is Softcore</i>: <b>Score </b>(1973) <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Film Society of Lincoln Center - Howard Gilman Theater (3) </i></u></span><br />
Aug. 22 - <i>Freaky Fridays</i>: <b>The Brood </b>(1979)<br />
Sep. 16 - <i>Film Comment Double Feature</i>: <b>Semi-Tough </b>(1977) & <b>The Longest Yard </b>(1974) <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Film Society of Lincoln Center - Walter Reade Theater (14) </i></u></span><br />
Aug. 22 - <i>Strange Lands</i>: <b>Kin-dza-dza! </b>(1986) <br />
Aug. 22 - <i>Strange Lands</i>: <b>Days of Eclipse </b>(1988)<br />
Aug. 23 - <i>Strange Lands</i>: <b>Freak Orlando </b>(1981)<br />
Aug. 23 - <i>Strange Lands</i>: <b>In the Dust of the Stars </b>(1976)<br />
Aug. 23 - <i>Strange Lands</i>: <b>Eolomea </b>(1972)<br />
Aug. 27 - <i>Strange Lands</i>: <b>Morel's Invention </b>(1974)<br />
Aug. 27 - <i>Strange Lands</i>: <b>The 10th Victim </b>(1965)<br />
Sep. 5 - <i>John Waters</i>: <b>Female Trouble </b>(1974)<br />
Sep. 6 - <i>John Waters</i>: <b>Serial Mom </b>(1992)<br />
Sep. 6 - <i>John Waters</i>: <b>Polyester </b>(1981)<br />
Sep. 6 - <i>John Waters</i>: <b>Night Games </b>(1966)<br />
Sep. 7 - <i>John Waters</i>: <b>Hairspray </b>(1988)<br />
Sep. 7 - <i>John Waters</i>: <b>Desperate Living </b>(1977)<br />
Sep. 7 - <i>John Waters</i>: <b>Killer Joe </b>(2011) <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>IFC Center (8) </i></u></span><br />
May 31 - <b>Lucky Them </b>(2013)<br />
June 6 - <b>Ping Pong Summer </b>(2013)<br />
July 7 - <b>The Clock </b>(1945)<br />
July 10 - <b>Finding Vivian Maier </b>(2013)<br />
July 10 - <b>The Set-Up </b>(1949)<br />
July 11 - <b>Boyhood </b>(2014)<br />
Aug. 11 - <i>Queer/Art/Film</i>: <b>The Queen </b>(1968)<br />
Sep. 17 - <b>The Trip to Italy </b>(2014) <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Museum of Modern Art (6)</i></u></span><br />
May 21 - <i>An Auteurist History of Film</i>: <b>McCabe and Mrs. Miller </b>(1971)<br />
May 21 - <i>An Auteurist History of Film Reprise, Part 2</i>: <b>Two Daughters </b>(1961)<br />
May 21 - <i>An Auteurist History of Film Reprise, Part 2</i>: <b>Breakfast at Tiffany's </b>(1961)<br />
May 29 - <i>An Auteurist History of Film</i>: <b>The Merchant of Four Seasons </b>(1972)<br />
May 29 - <i>An Auteurist History of Film, Part 2</i>:<b> Point of Order </b>(1964)<br />
Sep. 4 - <b>Hat Check Girl </b>(1932) <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Museum of the Moving Image (7)</i></u></span><br />
May 9 - <i>Mizoguchi:</i> <b>Utamaro and His Five Women </b>(1946)<br />
May 10 - <i>Mizoguchi</i>: <b>Hometown </b>(1930)<br />
May 10 - <i>Mizoguchi</i>: <b>White Threads of the Waterfall </b>(1933)<br />
May 10 - <i>Mizoguchi</i>: <b>Musashi Miyamoto </b>(1944)<br />
May 24 - <i>Mizoguchi</i>: <b>The Famous Sword Bijomaru </b>(1945)<br />
May 24 - <i>Mizoguchi</i>: <b>Portrait of Madame Yuki </b>(1950)<br />
May 24 - <i>Mizoguchi</i>: <b>Osaka Elegy </b>(1936) <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Nitehawk Cinema (6)</i></u></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">March 29 - <b>The Apple </b>(1980)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">June 12 - <i>The Deuce:</i> <b>The Slumber Party Massacre </b>(1982)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">July 10 - <i>The Deuce:</i> <b>S.O.S. Screw on the Screen </b>(1975)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 4 - <b>Martin </b>(1976)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 7 - <i>The Deuce</i>: <b>Hangup (Superdude) </b>(1974)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Sep. 5 - <b>Flesh for Frankenstein </b>(1974) </span>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-34878040364301071932014-05-21T20:52:00.001-07:002014-05-21T20:52:31.273-07:00MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971) @ MoMA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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1902. The golden days of the "old west" are dead (if, in fact, they ever existed). The Industrial Revolution is well underway. In the mountains of Washington state is a shantytown centered around a filthy saloon/hotel, where the snow and mud never seems to end. This is where the title characters meet, opportunistic John McCabe and seasoned professional whore Constance Miller, surrounded by bearded men who haven't seen in a bath in months and a trio of hookers with little experience and even less sex appeal. This is a western? A mere two years after Peckinpah's <b>The Wild Bunch </b>and George Roy Hill's <b>Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid </b>(both 1969), it's not surprising that Warner Brothers not only balked when distinctive director Robert Altman delivered his final cut, but had no idea how to market this genre-defying oddity. Naturally it did poor business. The years have been kind, however, to <b>McCabe & Mrs. Miller</b>. As in many Altman films, the overlapping dialogue and lack of discernible storyline take some getting used to at first, but patience will be rewarded with a film virtually like no other.<br />
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Altman gives us the barest of storylines: McCabe comes into the filthy mountain town, establishing himself as a fabled gunfighter and a skilled card shark before setting up a piss-poor excuse for a whorehouse. After riding the girls into town (juxtaposed with a cross being erected at the top of the newly built church), the women set up shop in outdoor tents; one goes nuts and tries to stab a john to death. Enter Mrs. Miller, a British import with vast experience in the cathouse game, who partners with McCabe to build a bigger, better house of pleasure for the town's men. This all threatens to fall apart when a mining company makes an offer to buy McCabe's share of the town, an offer he refuses at his peril, as the company is known for hiring professional gunmen to plug a bullet into anyone they can't reason with. This synopsis makes <b>McCabe </b>sound far more intricately plotted than it really is. The dialogue is tough and memorable, the characters complex and sharply drawn, but story is secondary to mood and atmosphere, captured splendidly in the film's isolated Canadian wilderness locations. Imagine Altman's <b>M*A*S*H* </b>in the early 20th-century in the dying west, minus the gallows humor, and you have a pretty fair idea of what to expect from this film. Altman cast one of Hollywood's most handsome leading men, Warren Beatty, in a role that is perhaps his best work, and Julie Christie gives a mesmerizing performance that shows off quite a bit of range, earning an Oscar nomination in the process. The cast includes a number of Altman favorite regulars, including Shelley Duvall, Michael Murphy, Rene Auberjonois, Keith Carradine, John Schuck, Corey Fischer, Hugh Millais (perfection as the smarmy killer), and Bert Remsen.<br />
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Judging by the number of walk-outs during the film at today's screening, it might be safe to say that this unusual Altman film is still a polarizing work and not the established masterpiece we film folk rightly believe it to be. It is barely a western, even in superficial terms, taking place in a locale several hundred miles north of the usual genre locations; the climax of the film takes place amidst swirling snow. Our protagonist is not much of a hero, or an anti-hero for that matter, and his heroine transforms from strong-willed business partner to uneasy drug addict. Both of them are at their lowest points by the finale. But that's what makes <b>McCabe </b>so interesting. Besides the gob-smacking visual style courtesy of cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, its deconstruction of western mythos makes it perhaps the most original revisionist western of the 1970s. There are nods to genre film classics that may be easy to overlook amidst all the grime and discomfort. As in <b>The Gunfighter</b>, among others, McCabe is presented as a man with a past he's trying to leave behind. This past turns out to be pure folklore. As in <b>High Noon</b>, no one helps McCabe duke it out with the assassins sent to take him out, but to be fair, they're a little occupied trying to put out a fire that threatens to destroy the town church. The town forges on without him, making his survival by the end credits vastly unimportant. Business will continue as usual without him, leaving him behind in the wake of "progress". The film's most gut-wrenching scene actually recalls a pretty consistent western trope, wherein a naive young man is tricked into pulling out his gun, then shot in cold blood for sport. That is the best of many scenes that will stick with you once the credits roll.<br />
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Adding another love-it or hate-it element to the film is the score by Leonard Cohen, made up of acoustic folk songs with lyrics that sound improvised on the spot, with a kind of rambling weariness that fits in perfectly with the rundown atmosphere of the film. While watching the film, I was reminded of the unusual scrubbed-clean musical western <b>Paint Your Wagon </b>from two years previous. There are obvious similarities in characterizations and narrative elements, but <b>McCabe </b>is without doubt much more interested in brutal realism over genre escapism.<br />
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<b>McCabe & Mrs. Miller </b>is showing twice more this week, Thursday and Friday at 1:30 in MoMA's Theater 3. See it!
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1iYxrsd59-E" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-52297798423615968562014-05-09T21:14:00.000-07:002014-05-09T21:14:06.925-07:00OTHELLO (1952)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Orson Welles may be the only classic Hollywood auteur who has a following for what he <i>almost</i><b> </b>accomplished. The man was seemingly incapable of delivering a complete masterpiece, full of false starts and moments of genius in films unfortunately damaged by his massive ego. Even <b>Citizen Kane </b>is not the perfect film as many claim, though it is certainly his best. Witness <b>Othello</b>, a film that took three years to complete yet still feels rushed in many spots. Welles' connections to Shakespeare went back to his youthful theatrical days, when he was mounting an all-black production of "Macbeth" (where Welles, as an understudy, first performed in blackface, as he does here) and a fascist Italy variation of "Julius Caesar". There are moments of that rebellious Welles to be found in this troubled production, even if you sometimes blink and miss them. The most noteworthy must be his re-imagining of the Cassio assassination attempt, now set in a bathhouse due to a costuming snafu leaving the production without the proper attire for the sequence. Welles, in a moment of creative innovation, clad his actors in towels and carried on with the shoot. Time is money. The entire production history was recounted in star Michael MacLiammoir's book "Put Money in Thy Purse". If it's anything like his performance of Iago, it must be sinfully good, campy reading.<br />
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Whatever misgivings there are about this film, it remains the best screen version of Shakespeare's tale of treachery and marital jealousy, which ultimately says more about the other lackluster approaches to the material. Its ragged production history shows, especially in bewildering editing choices that would make Doris Wishman blush in embarrassment and unfortunate post-dubbing that will look familiar to fans of low-budget Italian exploitation films. But emerging triumphant through the production errors are the sterling performances of Welles as Othello, bold and bombastic as the role should be played; MacLiammoir, slimy and reptilian, holding a little dog as a Bond villain would stroke his cat; Robert Coote, the perfect simpleton Roderigo. The right actors reciting Shakespeare's prose makes all the difference in the appreciation of the work. Where the film soars and everything works is the final act, including the bedroom scene between Othello and Desdemona. The suspense is palpable, the lighting moody, the editing taut. It makes one wonder why Welles never attempted to make a pure horror film. This surely is the mood and scene delivery Shakespeare dreamed of when the bard envisioned the original play. The wonderful Fay Compton, familiar from so many Hollywood film character roles, is given her chance to shine in the final act as Desdemona's maid, Emilia.<br />
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Welles' <b>Othello </b>is a fascinating mess, with flaws aplenty that actually contribute to its charm and appeal. The dubbing, often teased by critics, gives the whole affair a distinctive otherworldly ambiance, and some of the awkward editing beneficially amps up the pacing. Especially worth noting, the cinematography is a startling thing of beauty, capturing the gorgeous sets and scenery in a lavish and cost-effective way. Any other shortcomings are very easy to overlook when they're presented in such pretty wrapping paper. And I have to give Welles all the credit in the world for doing what often feels impossible in movieland: making something cinematic and captivating out of traditionally stage-bound Shakespeare plays. Very few films are able to pull this off. Welles' <b>Othello </b>certainly does. The film is currently touring the US in a new restored version courtesy of Carlotta Films. You should go out of your way to experience what all the fuss is about. I imagine you will be pleasantly surprised. See it.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fCZ0obRJa08" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-59374262398892614132014-05-09T19:47:00.004-07:002014-05-09T19:47:59.999-07:00IDA (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Playing at Film Forum is a little film from Poland called IDA, which is doing the nigh impossible. Through quiet, thoughtful observations of two women from a family destroyed by the Holocaust, it approaches the historical tragedy from a very different perspective, disquieting because of what it doesn't show or say but what is often left unspoken. Writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski chooses his words carefully, or abandons them altogether, as he follows the mismatched pair through small villages and cold forests on a quest for the truth behind a painful family secret.<br />
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Shot in stark black and white, IDA perfectly captures the bleak hopelessness of Communist Eastern Europe as it existed for decades and in some cases still endures if you go off the beaten path in former Soviet satellite nations. The atmosphere is still permeated with the aura of tragic recovery that this film vividly captures so well. The sky is perpetually overcast, the landscapes barren and forboding. The cities are largely empty, reminders of the previous generations extinguished decades previously. Photographed primarily in motionless single shots, the film at times resembles a series of aged snapshots of a time long past. The unpaved roads, the jazz band (the genre became very popular in Soviet Europe), the suspicious citizens, it's all so eerily accurate. And what of these women? The title character, Ida (or Anna, her adoptive name), is discovering the truth of her identity after being raised and nurtured into a life of nunnery in a convent. In the first scene, she learns she is in fact not an orphan and has one surviving relative, an aunt named Wanda. The mother superior insists that Anna visit Wanda and stay with her as long as she needs before taking her final vows. Their first encounter is awkward, almost confrontational. Wanda reveals that Anna is in fact named Ida, and she is Jewish, the sole descendant of a family exterminated during the war. Wanda has become a Soviet judge, sentencing enemies of the state to death, but seeing her niece, who is a dead ringer for her deceased mother, brings back vivid memories of her lost family and an important crime whose culprits she has never brought to justice.<br />
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First-time actress Agata Trzebuchowska is appropriately angelic and curious for the role, and makes a large impression with those deep searching eyes, but it is the cast's other Agata, Agata Kulesza, who runs away with the film as Wanda. Her character is sardonic, bitter, driven by anger and self-hatred, and absolutely captivating throughout all of her moods. Kulesza has won two Best Actress awards on the festival circuit and in a more just world she would be in the running for an Oscar. It's one of the most moving performances you'll see this year.<br />
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I'm positive that the ending of the film will divide viewers down the middle. Personally I hope to see the film again soon to catch the nuances and moments I may have missed, and to re-evaluate how I feel about the paths of Wanda and Ida by the rolling of the credits. The fact that you will keep thinking about this film days later is a testament to its very effective dramatic power. There is a narrative moment involving a stained glass window that left me breathless. Cutting through many other releases of grander scope and scale, IDA has quickly vaulted to the front of my list of favorite films of the year. See it.
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oXhCaVqB0x0" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-74921688122088723312013-12-10T10:48:00.004-08:002013-12-10T10:59:22.215-08:00My NYC theater experiences in 2013<div style="text-align: left;">
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Presenting a report on my New York City theatrical experiences in the calendar year of 2013.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><u>Top 10 Repertory Experiences</u><u> of 2013</u>:</b></span></span></div>
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<i>Note: I am not counting the "In the Flesh" series because of personal involvement. Otherwise it would have obviously been #1 </i>:D<b> </b><br />
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10. <i>Mods Go to the Movies</i>: <b>Scopitones! </b>(Anthology Film Archives) <br />
9. <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror</i>: <b>Jason and the Argonauts </b>w/<b> The 7th Voyage of Sinbad</b>, <b>The Thing from Another World </b>w/<b> It! The Terror from Beyond Space</b>, <b>Strait-Jacket </b>w/ <b>Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?</b>, <b>Things to Come </b>w/ <b>Just Imagine</b>, <b>Alien</b>, <b>Aliens</b>, <b>Curse of the Demon </b>w/<b> Cat People </b>(Film Forum)<br />
8. <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>While Paris Sleeps</b>, <b>One Mile from Heaven</b>, <b>Trail of the Vigilantes</b>, <b>Woman They Almost Lynched </b>(Museum of Modern Art)<br />
7. <b>Sidewalk Stories </b>(Film Forum)<br />
6. <b>Wild at Heart </b>(BAM Cinematek)<br />
5. <i>That's Sexploitation!</i>: <b>A Smell of Honey a Swallow of Brine</b>, <b>Double Agent 73</b>, <b>The Pickup </b>(Anthology Film Archives)<br />
4. <i>Yasujiro Ozu</i>: <b>An Inn in Tokyo</b>, <b>The Only Son</b>, <b>The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family</b>, <b>What Did the Lady Forget?</b>, <b>The Munekata Sisters</b>, <b>A Hen in the Wind </b>(Film Forum)<br />
3. <b>Antoine and Antoinette </b>(Film Forum)<br />
2. <i>The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer</i>: <b>Mudhoney</b>, <b>Vixen!</b>, <b>Supervixens</b>, <b>Motor Psycho</b>, <b>Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill</b>, <b>Blacksnake </b>(Anthology Film Archives)<br />
1. <i>20th Century Fox Classics</i>: <b>3 Women</b>, <b>Valley of the Dolls</b>, <b>Dirty Mary Crazy Larry </b>(Walter Reade)<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Film Forum</span> <i>and </i><span style="color: orange;">Anthology Film Archives</span> <i>once again tie for me as the best repertory theaters of 2013.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Movies by Theater</u>:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Those marked in <span style="color: red;">red</span> were bad experiences due to patrons, print issues, or the movie itself.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Those marked in <span style="color: orange;">gold</span> were among the best/most memorable experiences I had in 2013. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u><b>AMC Loews 7</b> (2)</u></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 14 - <b><span style="font-size: small;">Mud </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">(201<span style="font-size: small;">2</span>)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug 2 - <b>The Conjuring </b>(2013) </span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Angelika Film Center </b><span style="font-size: large;">(<span style="font-size: large;">13)</span></span></u></span></i><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">March 18 - <b>No </b>(2012)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">March 19 - <b>Ginger and Rosa </b>(2012)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">March 19 - <b>Koch </b>(2012)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May <span style="font-size: small;">8 </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">- <b>What Maisie Kne<span style="font-size: small;">w </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">(2012)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 8 - <b>Renoir </b>(2012)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 10 - <b>Stories We Tell </b>(2012) </span></span></span><u><b><br /></b></u></span><br />
May 29 - <b>We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks </b>(2013)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">June 19 - <b>20 Feet from Stardom </b>(2013)</span><br />
June 27 - <b>Before Midnight </b>(2013)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">June 29 - <b>The Attack </b>(2012)</span><br />
July 24 - <b>Only God Forgives </b>(2013)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 1 - <b>Blue Jasmine </b>(2013)</span><br />
Sept. 26 - <b>Enough Said </b>(2013) <br />
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<u><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Anthology Film A<span style="font-size: large;">rchiv<span style="font-size: large;">es </span></span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">(28)</span></span></span></i></u><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ma<span style="font-size: small;">y 14 - <i>Overdue<span style="font-size: small;">: Delmer Daves</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">: <b>The Red House </b>(1947)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 14 - <i>Overdue: Delm<span style="font-size: small;">er Daves</span></i><span style="font-size: small;">: <b>Cowboy </b>(1958)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">May 16 <span style="font-size: small;">- <i>Overdue: Delmer Daves</i>: <b>The Last Wagon </b><span style="font-size: small;">(1956)<span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 6 - <i>Unessential Cinema: </i><b>Really Bad Prints</b> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">July 11 - <i>Unessential Cinema</i>: <b>United Artists Theaters Training Videos </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 3 - <i>Mods Go to the Movies</i>: <b>Scopitones!</b><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 3 - <i>Mods Go to the Movies</i>: <b>Having a Wild Weekend </b>(1965)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 5 - <i>Mods Go to the Movies: </i><b>Just for Fun </b>(1963) </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 16 - <i>The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer</i>: <b>Mudhoney </b>(1965)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: orange;">Aug. 17 - <i>The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer: </i><b>Vixen </b>(1968)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 17 - <i>The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer: </i><b>Beyond the Valley of the Dolls </b>(1970)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: orange;">Aug. 17 - <i>The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer: </i><b>Supervixens </b>(1975) </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: orange;">Aug. 18 - <i>The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer: </i><b>Motor Psycho </b>(1965)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: orange;">Aug. 18 - <i>The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer: </i><b>Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill </b>(1965) </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
Aug. 21 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>That's Sexploitation! </b>(2013)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 21 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine </b>(1967)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 22 <i>- The Glandscape Artist - Russ Meyer: </i><b>Blacksnake! </b>(1973)</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Aug. 27 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>Street Corner </b>(1948)</span><br />
Aug. 27 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>Olga's House of Shame </b>(1964)<br />
Aug. 28 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>Let Me Die a Woman </b>(1978)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 28 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>Double Agent 73 </b>(1974)</span> <br />
<span style="color: red;">Aug. 29 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>Hot-Blooded Woman </b>(1965)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 29 - <i>That's Sexploitation!: </i><b>The Pickup </b>(1969)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Nov. 12 - <b>The Gilgo Beach Murders </b>(2013)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Dec. 5 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>High Rise </b>(1973)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Dec. 6 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Through the Looking Glass </b>(1976)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Dec. 7 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Take Off </b>(1978)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Dec. 8 - <i>In the Flesh</i>: <b>Wanda Whips Wall Street </b>(1981)</span><br />
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<u><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>BAM Cinemate<span style="font-size: large;">k </span></b><span style="font-size: large;">(<span style="font-size: large;">1</span>)</span></span></i></u><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 11</span><span style="font-size: small;"> - <i>B<span style="font-size: small;">ooe<span style="font-size: small;">d at <span style="font-size: small;">Cannes:</span></span></span></i> <b>Wild a<span style="font-size: small;">t Heart </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">(1990)</span></span></span></span><u><b><br /></b></u><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Chelsea Clearview </b>(2)</u></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 8 - <b>Drop Dead Gorgeous </b>(1999) w/ Hedda Lettuce</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Aug. 9 - <b>The Rocky Horror Picture Show </b>(1975)</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Cinema Village </b>(4)</u></span></i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 3 - <b>Fill the Void</b> (2012)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 12 - <b>The Hunt </b>(2012)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 14 - <b>The Machine Which Makes Things Disappear </b>(2012)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 27 - <b>Blackfish </b>(2013) </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>City Cine<span style="font-size: large;">mas Village East </span></b><span style="font-size: large;">(4)</span></u></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May <span style="font-size: small;">12</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> - <b>The Sapphires </b>(<span style="font-size: small;">2012)</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 12 - <b>The Painting </b>(2011) </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">July 30 - <b>Fruitvale Station </b>(2013) </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 31 - <b>We're the Millers </b>(2013) </span></span></span></span><u><b><br /></b></u></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Film Forum </b>(<span style="font-size: large;">51)</span></u></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">March 18 - <b>M </b>(1931)</span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 7 - <b>Voyage to Italy </b>(1954)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 9 - <b>Post Tenebras Lux </b>(2012)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 10 - <i>Yasujiro Ozu</i>: <b>The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice </b>(1952)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">June 13 - <i>Yasujiro Ozu</i>: <b>An Inn in Tokyo </b>(1935) & <b>The Only Son </b>(1936)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">June 20 - <i>Yasujiro Ozu</i>: <b>The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family </b>(1941) & <b>What Did the Lady Forget? </b>(1937) </span> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">June 24 - <i>Yasujiro Ozu</i>: <b>The Munekata Sisters </b>(1950)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">June 27 - <i>Yasujiro Ozu</i>: <b>A Hen in the Wind </b>(1948)</span> <br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 9 - <b>Intolerance </b>(1916)</span><br />
Aug. 9 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror</i>: <b>Close Encounters of the Third Kind </b>(1977)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 13 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror</i>: <b>Jason and the Argonauts </b>(1963) & <b>The 7th Voyage of Sinbad </b>(1958)</span> <br />
Aug. 14 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>Kronos </b>(1957) & <b>Invaders from Mars </b>(1953)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 15 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>The Thing from Another World </b>(1951) & <b>It! The Terror From Beyond Space </b>(1958)</span><br />
Aug. 16 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror</i>: <b>Mothra </b>(1962) & <span style="color: orange;"><b>Gojira </b>(1954)</span><br />
Aug. 18 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>The Mad Magician </b>(1954) in 3-D! w/ <b>Spooks </b>(1953)<br />
Aug. 18 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>The Tingler </b>(1958) & <span style="color: orange;"><b>Homicidal </b>(1961) </span><br />
Aug. 20 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>Earth vs. the Flying Saucers </b>(1956) & <b>First Men in the Moon </b>(1964)<br />
Aug. 21 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror</i>: <b>It Conquered the World </b>(1956) & <b>I Was a Teenage Werewolf </b>(1957)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 22 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>Strait Jacket </b>(1964) & <b>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? </b>(1962)</span><br />
Aug. 27 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms </b>(1953) & <b>Mysterious Island </b>(1961)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 28 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>Things to Come </b>(1936) & <b>Just Imagine </b>(1930)</span> <br />
<span style="color: orange;">Aug. 31 - <b>Alien </b>(1979)</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Aug. 31 - <i>Son of Summer Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>The Howling </b>(1981)</span><br />
Sep. 1 - <i>Son of Summer, Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>Quatermass and the Pit </b>(1968) & <b>Village of the Damned </b>(1960)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 3 - <b>Aliens </b>(1986)</span><br />
Sep. 3 - <i>Son of Summer, Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>20 Million Miles to Earth </b>(1957) & <b>It Came from Beneath the Sea </b>(1955)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 5 - <i>Son of Summer, Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror: </i><b>Curse of the Demon </b>(1957) & <b>Cat People </b>(1942) </span><br />
Sep. 6 - <b>Contempt </b>(1963)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sept. 27 - <b>Antoine and Antoinette </b>(1947) </span><br />
Nov. 12 - <b>The Freshman </b>(1925)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Nov. 12 - <b>Sidewalk Stories </b>(1989)</span><br />
Dec. 4 - <b>Sandra </b>(1965)<br />
Dec. 4 - <b>Mauvais Sang </b>(1986)<br />
Dec. 6 - <i>Stanwyck:</i> <b>The Miracle Woman </b>(1931)<br />
<span style="color: red;">Dec. 7 - <i>Stanwyck:</i> <b>Double Indemnity </b>(1944) </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>IFC Center </b>(21)</u></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">March 20 - <b>56 Up </b>(2012) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 7 </span><span style="font-size: small;">- <b>The Source Family </b>(2012)</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 9</span><span style="font-size: small;"> - <b>Roo<span style="font-size: small;">m 237 </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">(2012)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 11 - <span style="font-size: small;"><b>From <span style="font-size: small;">Up on </span>Poppy Hill </b>(2011)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 14 - <b>Portrait of Jason </b>(1967)<br /><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 18 - <b>Frances Ha </b>(2012) <i>x5</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 4 - <b>Performance </b>(1970)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 8 - <b>Dirty Wars </b>(2013)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 21 - <b>Berberian Sound Studio </b>(2012)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">July 12 - <b>Crystal Fairy </b>(2013)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 11 - <b>The Outlaw Josey Wales </b>(1976)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 11 - <b>Zipper: Coney Island's Last Ride </b>(2012) </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 16 - <b>The Swarm </b>(1978)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 20 - <b>This is Martin Bonner </b>(2012) </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 30 - <b>Passion </b>(2012)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Aug. 31 - <b>Our Nixon </b>(2013)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Sept. 27 - <b>The Wicker Man: The Final Cut </b>(1973) </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b><br /></b></u><b><i><u>Landmark Sun<span style="font-size: large;">shine<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></u></i></b><i><u><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">(7)</span></span></u></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 16 - <b>In the House </b>(</span></span></span><i><u><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></u></i></span>2012)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">May 16 - <b>Sightseers </b>(2012)</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">June 6 - <b>Shadow Dancer </b>(2012)</span><br />
July 11 - <b>I'm So Excited </b>(2013)<br />
Aug. 29 - <b>Short Term 12 </b>(2013)<br />
<span style="color: red;">Aug. 29 - <b>The Spectacular Now </b>(2013)</span><br />
Aug. 30 - <b>In a World... </b>(2013) <br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Lincoln Center (Walter Reade) </b>(3)</u></span></i><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aug. 10 - <i>Fasten Your Seatbelts (Part 2): 20th Century Fox: </i><b>3 Women </b>(1977)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">Aug. 10 - <i>Fasten Your Seatbelts (Part 2): 20th Century Fox: </i><b>Valley of the Dolls </b>(1967)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">Aug. 15 - <i>Fasten Your Seatbelts (Part 2): 20th Century Fox: </i><b>Dirty Mary Crazy Larry </b>(1974) </span></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>M<span style="font-size: large;">useum of Modern Art </span></b><span style="font-size: large;">(22)</span></u></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 10</span><span style="font-size: small;"> - <i>An Aute<span style="font-size: small;">urist History of Film:</span></i> <b>The Cry </b>(1957)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 15 - <i>An Auteurist<span style="font-size: small;"> History of Film: </span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Les Cousins </b>(1959)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 15 - <i>Chinese <span style="font-size: small;">Realities/Documentary Visions: </span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Old Dog </b>(2011)</span><br />May 20 - <i>Celeste Bartos: </i><b>The Adventures of Robin Hood </b>(1938)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 6 - <i>An Auteurist History of Film: </i><b>The 400 Blows </b>(1959)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 8 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Man to Man </b>(1930)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 8 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>The Half-Breed </b>(1916) & <b>A Modern Musketeer </b>(1917)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 9 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Chances </b>(1931)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 9 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>The Mother of the Ranch </b>(1911) & <b>David Harum </b>(1915)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 12 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>One Mile from Heaven </b>(1937)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 12 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Zaza </b>(1923) </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">June 15 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>While Paris Sleeps </b>(1932)</span> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">June 21 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Trail of the Vigilantes </b>(1940)</span><br />
June 22 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Wicked </b>(1931) & <span style="color: orange;"><b>15 Maiden Lane </b>(1936)</span><br />
June 23 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Rendezvous with Annie </b>(1946)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">June 24 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Woman They Almost Lynched </b>(1953) </span><br />
June 27 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>Friendly Enemies </b>(1942)<br />
<span style="color: red;">June 29 - <i>Allan Dwan</i>: <b>The Restless Breed </b>(1957) </span><br />
Aug. 1 - <i>An Auteurist History of Film</i>: <b>A Woman is a Woman </b>(1961)<br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><i><b>Museum of the Moving Image </b>(1)</i></u></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sep. 1 - <i>Fun City: </i><b>Dog Day Afternoon </b>(1975)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><u>Nitehawk Cinema </u></b><u>(1)</u></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dec. 7 - <b>Black Christmas </b>(1973)</span></span><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><i><b>Quad Cinema </b>(1)</i></u></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">June 10 - <b>Evocateur: The Morton Downey, Jr. Movie </b>(2012)</span></span> </span></span> </span></span></span>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-16985734709860386052013-12-10T08:57:00.003-08:002013-12-10T08:57:42.434-08:00"In the Flesh" - my first curated series<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtLt_mvvrU0/UqdGYWpO7EI/AAAAAAAABss/ve1BbdyZeIc/s1600/IN_FLESH_INVITE4_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtLt_mvvrU0/UqdGYWpO7EI/AAAAAAAABss/ve1BbdyZeIc/s320/IN_FLESH_INVITE4_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It happened. An opportunity presented itself and I grabbed it. Anthology Film Archives, home of some of the edgiest film programming in New York City, gave this untested programmer the chance to put together a festival of adult films. Working together with Steven Morowitz at Distribpix, home of the four films screened from 35mm prints, and Joe Rubin of Vinegar Syndrome, we all put on a show from Thursday through Sunday, giving away prizes for answers to trivia questions, including trailer reels before every film, and conducting Q&A's with special guests involved with the productions. It was simultaneously thrilling, nerve-wracking, and fascinating.<br />
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The first film, on Thursday night, was 1972's <b>High Rise</b>, the only adult film from the late Danny Steinmann. Steinmann passed away in late 2012, but the most enduring aspect of the film is its original score by prolific composer Jack Urbont. Remembering I had spoken with him about the film a few years ago with positive results, I invited him to join us as our special guest. He hadn't actually listened to the score in some time, so watching the whole film (which sometimes works as a series of music videos for his varied and intricately produced score) proved to be quite the experience for him. Jack sat down with me for a Q&A and detailed his incredible career, from Broadway to commercial jingles (Bumblebee Tuna) to soap opera themes ("General Hospital"), which helped drive home the fact that the film's soundtrack benefited from a professional composer with a strong musical background and an ear for catchy hooks. The stellar 16-minute version of the theme song, playing over a lengthy "aw-gee" sequence, even made him ask himself how he actually wrote and recorded it all. Most moving was his revelation that the violin solo during an artistic lesbian scene was performed by his father.<br />
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Second in the series was <b>Through the Looking Glass </b>(1976), a psychological horror masterpiece from Jonas Middleton, who only made three adult films. This, his last, is his best. Middleton has given few interviews over the years and to my knowledge had never appeared in public with his film, so approaching him was a rather difficult idea to get my head around. I managed to find an e-mail address for him and Steve Morowitz worked out all the arrangements for him to attend the screening, his first time greeting the film's audience in-person and answering the many questions posed about his work. This screening proved to be the one with the largest audience, most likely due to the film's crossover appeal to horror fans. Middleton hadn't seen the film in quite some time, and he told me after the screening that it had deeply disturbed him. My Q&A with him delved deeper into his motivations in making the film, revealing personal philosophies regarding religion and female sexuality, the films and directors that inspired him, and memories of the film's stars, including the luminous Catherine Burgess, brooding Jamie Gillis, and promising child actress Laura Nicholson. Middleton's preference is for the soft version of the film, and I can say without even seeing it that I'd probably agree. The feature works because of its disturbing narrative and visual flourishes, the performances of the cast and the swirling score, and the sex has always been a distraction for me.<br />
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The late Armand Weston's <b>Take Off </b>(1978) is, frankly, a film I was concerned about regarding audience reaction. Its length is sometimes seen as a frustrating thing; 103 minutes is epic for an adult film. To my delighted surprise, it had the best laugh responses of all the comedies in the series. The audience also included a number of familiar old-time movie fans from the repertory scene in NYC that stayed through the whole film, laughed along with the jokes and gags, and stayed for the Q&A with the film's still photographer, Larry Revene. Larry was someone I approached from the get-go to be a part of the series, and I think we both had a tremendous time on both nights he appeared. His Q&A revealed some famous names and faces in the film, a cameo by renowned sexploitation distributor Sam Lake, set stories of Armand Weston and Daria Price, memories of Wade Nichols and Leslie Bovee, and was enlivened by the surprise cameos of cast and crew members rising from their seats to say hi! We were also blessed with the presence of illustrious adult film legend Carter Stevens in the audience.<br />
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Closing night featured a screening of <b>Wanda Whips Wall Street </b>(1981), Larry's wonderful comedy about corporate espionage, female-style. The film's star, Veronica Hart, surprised us all by flying in from the west coast to join Larry for a Q&A that turned into a merry remembrance of Chuck Vincent before morphing into a dramatic monologue by actor Scott Baker, reading from Larry's marvelous memoirs. In addition to our special guests, we had a number of adult film writers and performers in the audience as well, cheering on Larry and reuniting under one roof after, in some cases, a long time apart. Reactions to the event were overwhelmingly positive, a good time had by all, and I couldn't be happier! Seeing so many familiar faces immediately got me thinking how we could involve them in future series, what films they were in, if prints were available, etc. It felt to many like a class reunion, and illustrated very well the family atmosphere that developed around both cast and crew within the golden age industry.<br />
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Other than a hiccup with the <b>Take Off </b>print (repeating two scenes after a reel change), all the prints were surprisingly good considering the track record of adult film prints being projected into oblivion over the years. Fading, debris, skips, and grease marks were to be expected, and did not detract from the experience of seeing the films on 35mm.<br />
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Something I decided to do to make the screenings a little more special for the guests and the people involved with production was send professional invitations to all surviving cast and crew in the tri-state area that I could find, which could be turned in at the box office for free admission for two. Having access to the Distribpix archive helped, and I had accumulated contact info for others over the years. Steve Morowitz helped me design them and I got them all printed out and mailed in slick envelopes. Some came back in the mail, and I received a few RSVP's from people who were either excited to attend or couldn't attend because any publicity surrounding their appearances would result in termination from their jobs. It's still that kind of a world we live in, folks, where appearing in or working on an X-rated film decades ago will be held against you. Because the invites were intended to make it easier for cast and crew to attend discreetly, I won't reveal who did attend, and the series has a permanent policy about surprise guest audience members: what happens at "In the Flesh" stays at "In the Flesh". I will say that it was great to see so many people who hadn't seen each other in 30 or more years reconnecting after the screenings. Many of them hadn't ever seen their finished work on-screen, let alone an appreciative audience reaction. That was a very touching experience, to see these talented people before the screening and then hear how much they enjoyed themselves after, especially because of my concern about their possible outrage. The series is all about reviving these films and appreciating the people who made them, and including as many people involved with the productions as possible made it even more of a celebration. For those who were invited and didn't attend, perhaps positive word of mouth about the series may convince them to reconsider in the future?<br />
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So many people to thank for the series being such a success! The guests (Jack Urbont, Jonas Middleton, Larry Revene, Veronica Hart), the audience (so many people attended all four nights), the venue (Anthology Film Archives), the sponsors (Steve Morowitz at Distribpix, Joe Rubin at Vinegar Syndrome). My friends for turning out in support, the staff of Anthology for accommodating us, the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and other news/media outlets that helped promote the screenings, the cast and crew members who joined the celebration of their work and the golden age in general. Our next installment will be four "porn noir's" in March. Here's hoping it's just as much fun as this was!Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-13114049824755005512013-08-10T11:27:00.001-07:002013-08-10T11:27:12.307-07:00THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't enjoy seeing <b>The Rocky Horror Picture Show </b>on the big screen. There, I've said it. At one point, it was a fun experience bringing "virgin" friends, but that was long ago. These days, I prefer to enjoy the film at home, on DVD, far from the hurled insult humor and juvenile and sexualized cast re-enactments. Because believe it or not, despite its reputation as a bad movie deserving of this midnight treatment (even among its fervent followers), Jim Sharman's colorful melange of perverted horror movie in-jokes and outrageous musical numbers is a well-made and truly marvelous genre-blending, gender-bending classic. Initially conceived as a stage musical by British actor-songwriter Richard O'Brien (who also plays Riff Raff), both O'Brien and Sharman, as well as original cast members Tim Curry, Little Nell Campbell, and Patricia Quinn, made the transition from stage to screen with the support of producer Lou Adler and 20th Century-Fox.<br />
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To recap the story of <b>Rocky Horror Picture Show </b>(hereafter shortened to <b>RHPS</b>): Brad and Janet, a conservative couple from Denton, Ohio, find a road journey cut short by a flat tire. They walk through the rain to a mysterious castle, where butler Riff Raff and maid Magenta introduce them to Dr. Frank N. Furter, a tranvestite mad doctor who has created life itself in the form of muscle man Rocky. Frank's former lovers Columbia and Eddie are thrown into the mix, and so is Dr. Scott, a wheelchair-bound scientist who tries to save Brad and Janet from Frank's dastardly plans. The storyline actually becomes far more complex than expected, but it's all part of the fun.<br />
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I will be bold here: anyone who continues to assert that <b>RHPS </b>is a bad movie is ignorant. All of the humor is intentional, and it works. In the end, <b>RHPS </b>is a cheeky spoof of a multitude of B-movies, from the "old dark house" genre to <b>This Island Earth</b>, with a generous splash of twisted sexuality that has no doubt contributed to the film's following. The songs are killer, with the "Time Warp" trying to introduce a new dance craze, "Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me" singing the praises of abandoning chastity for balls-to-the-wall sluttiness, and "Sweet Transvestite" the perfect introductory number for the outrageous Frank N. Furter. I've always had a soft spot for "I'm Going Home", Frank's swan song, but there really isn't a dud in the bunch. Even the songs usually omitted from soundtrack albums, Rocky's "The Sword of Damocles" and the ensemble piece "Planet, Schmanet, Janet", are superb.<br />
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You can't even fault the film for technical flaws. Beautifully shot, nicely edited, and with an ever-impressive set design, this is not some cheap-jack production, or if it was, it surely doesn't like to show it. The mostly British cast is of course highlighted by Tim Curry as Frank, in a performance that in a more liberal year should have won him a Best Actor Oscar nomination. He's just that good. Visiting Americans Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon equip themselves very well within the campy proceedings, with Sarandon especially fun as the corrupted innocent Janet, and rocker Meat Loaf makes a brief but strong impression as Elvis-wannabe biker Eddie. His song "Hot Patootie" is nothing short of spectacular.<br />
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Many have continued to say that <b>RHPS </b>is the original cult film, or the ultimate cult film. Well, if a film enters the mainstream and is loved or enjoyed by just about everybody...that cult seems to have transformed into a religion, or at the very least ceased to be a cult. Everyone knows about the midnight screenings and it's a rite of passage for many young people getting in touch with their sexuality or just hoping to fit in. In my opinion, to continue to be a cult film, there should be resistance to it from the general movie-going public while it is embraced by a minority of followers. No one resists <b>RHPS </b>anymore. It's part of the pop culture lexicon.<br />
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Your enjoyment of seeing <b>RHPS </b>with cast re-enactment and audience participation entirely depends on two things: the cast and the audience. Truth be told, both will likely be filled with high school and college drama and/or improv students who, desperate for attention, enjoy being loud and in the spotlight. This is part of the problem. The youthful reverie of contemporary <b>RHPS </b>screenings surely cannot be what they originally were like in the 70s and 80s, when the tradition began. There is almost non-stop yelling at the screen of mostly unfunny barbs at the expense of the cast and the film, with some tasteless pop culture nods tossed in for topicality. Some jokes land, most just seem childish and desperate. There are just as many inside jokes between cast members and recurring audience members, which don't add to the "fun" at all. Was it always like this? I always leave <b>RHPS </b>screenings with a splitting headache. This also begs the question: what is the purpose of making fun of a comedy or a spoof? All the laughs are right there on the screen. Perhaps it's a desire to interact with or contribute to the humor within the film, but I don't think that's the case with the <b>RHPS </b>audiences.<br />
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It's interesting to note how the <b>Rocky Horror </b>revelers intensely dislike the film's sequel, <b>Shock Treatment </b>(1981). This may be one of the most underrated and unfairly maligned sequels in film history. In many ways, it surpasses the original with its humor, and the score is equal to, if not better than, the <b>RHPS </b>score. However, perhaps it's best that it remain a true cult film, enjoyed by a select few. I imagine it would suffer the same cruel fate as its predecessor if the midnight movie crowd got a hold of it.<br />
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Over the years, it has just become a common assumption that any British Invasion rock group vehicle movie released in the wake of <b>A Hard Day's Night </b>(1964) is terrible. This must stem from one simple fact: none of these bands are the Beatles, so both their music and their movies shouldn't logically hold a candle to those of the Fab Four. Perhaps after all these years, it's time to re-evaluate the band vehicle genre without comparing all of its films to <b>Hard Day's Night </b>and <b>Help! </b>(1965). Yes, even though Herman's Hermits are kinda ridiculous as a band, their star vehicles <b>Hold On! </b>(1966) and <b>Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter </b>(1968) are not at all terrible. Cliff Richard and the Shadows, who never really hit big over here, still do not disappoint with <b>Finders Keepers </b>(1966). At this rate, I'd be willing to bet that even...ugh...Freddie and the Dreamers aren't so bad in <b>Seaside Swingers </b>(1965) and Gerry and the Pacemakers' <b>Ferry Cross the Mersey </b>(1965) couldn't be as disappointing as one expects (by the way, when will these see the light of day?).<br />
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Continuing this surprising pattern, <b>Having a Wild Weekend </b>(1965; also released as <b>Catch Us if You Can</b>), the Dave Clark Five's star vehicle, is an unexpected delight. To begin with, the band members doesn't play themselves. The quintet is a stunt team working on an advertising campaign for the meat industry of Britain, which is using perky blonde Dinah (Barbara Ferris) as its poster child. When Steve (Dave Clark) and Dinah have had enough of the ad game, they take off from a commercial shoot in a rented car and make plans to escape to an island Dinah is considering buying for the weekend. Along the way, they are pursued by the ad company president's henchmen and encounter a group of pre-hippie burnouts, a lecherous middle-aged couple who whisks them and the other four stuntmen to a costume party, and an enterprising farmer attempting to turn his sprawling home on the Moors into a wild west-themed tourist trap.<br />
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Directed by a pre-Hollywood John Boorman and photographed by the superb Manny Wynn, <b>Having a Wild Weekend </b>looks great and actually plays like a dramatic road movie more than a musical or a comedy. In fact, the film only really stumbles when Boorman attempts to turn it into a comedy, with a poorly blocked and edited slapstick chase scene taking the honors as the film's worst moment. Even the title is slightly misleading: the entire film is spent trying to get to Dinah's island for said weekend, but in fact the "wild weekend" is the journey itself, as the youthful semi-romantic couple shuns elder authority figures and attempts to renew their love of life. In fact, for a rock vehicle film, it's shocking what little rock there is to be found here. There are no musical numbers in the film, and there are a mere 4-5 Dave Clark Five songs heard on the entire soundtrack, most repeated throughout. The group spends very little time together, as Dave Clark is pushed into the starring role, relegating his four band mates to the background. They're practically comic relief while Clark plays an early version of the angry young man archetype found in late-60s films. Clark's brooding and handsome act is very believable, and he probably could have successfully pursued an acting career if he'd wanted to. Barbara Ferris, so good in a variety of projects like <b>Sparrows Can't Sing </b>(1963), <b>Children of the Damned </b>(1964), and <b>Bitter Harvest </b>(1963), is quite excellent as the girl with more going on behind that pretty face. It's also a nice surprise to spot some interesting cast members, including an uncredited Sheila Fearn as one of the teenage dropouts, the unusual-looking Yootha Joyce as Nan, the upper-class wife drooling over Steve, and comic character actor Robin Bailey as Guy, her husband attempting to seduce Dinah with his vintage movie memorabilia. Remind me to try that trick sometime.<br />
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Now, quite different from the rock group vehicle film is the 60s rock musical genre. Films in the latter group feature a number of different performers and groups in musical numbers, most often tied together with some semblance of a plot. The best of this genre is arguably <b>The TAMI Show </b>(1964), which is just one performance after another by superstars like The Supremes, The Rolling Stones, James Brown, and The Beach Boys, among others (Marvin Gaye, Jan and Dean, The Barbarians, The Blossoms, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, etc.). Its follow-up, <b>The Big TNT Show </b>(1966), with Ray Charles, The Byrds, Ike and Tina Turner, Bo Diddley, The Ronettes, and many others, is also killer. But rock musicals seem to have been kickstarted as far back as the 1950s by Sam Katzman, who produced a number of twist and rock cash-in films for Columbia (1956's <b>Rock Around the Clock</b> and <b>Don't Knock the Rock</b>, 1961's<b> Twist Around the Clock </b>and <b>Don't Knock the Twist</b>). The incredible number of rock musical films of this type is staggering, and capturing such a variety of performers on-camera is musical gold. Even if the films are less than stellar, hearing and seeing so many interesting varieties of music is always worthwhile.<b> </b><br />
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<b>Just for Fun!</b> (1963) is billed by Anthology Film Archives as a vehicle film, but it's actually one of these rock musicals packed with performances by both well-known and obscure acts. As might be expected from any musical, the story is slight and is merely there to hang plentiful musical numbers on. However, the sheer volume of music vs. plot makes for an exhausting film when one song ends and another begins almost immediately after. This wouldn't be a problem if the music was consistently good, but as the last gasp of pop music before the British Invasion rocked the globe, I concluded the film with two questions: "Where are the girl groups?" and "Can't the Beatles show up already to save music?"<br />
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The plot, which is peppered with terribly unfunny moments, follows two political parties as they change the voting age to include teenagers, but disregard anything the teens have to say about the issues. In this case, the sole issue is that TV will stop showing so many musical programs. No way, man! The youth of England, led by singers Mark Wynter (yuck) and Cherry Roland (who has trouble not looking at the camera), then starts its own political party (yeah, don't ask how) and throw some musicians into the running as their candidates of choice. We never learn who their elected representative is in the race for Parliament, just that the Fun Party wins, but if you thought <b>Wild in the Streets </b>(1968) was the beginning of anti-youth youth films, that nonsensical film must have grabbed its ending from this import.<br />
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So who are the acts in the film? Maybe more importantly, who are the good ones worth hearing? It's doubtful you've heard of most of these bands, though there are some names here. Brian Poole and the Tremeloes are probably the best-known; Poole is geeky hot and their song "Keep On Dancing" (no relation to the Gentrys song) is great. The Springfields, with Dusty front and center, are superb performing "Little Boat". The aforementioned Cherry Roland opens the film with gusto singing the title song. There are three good instrumental groups, the Sounds Incorporated, the sleek Joe Meek-produced Tornados (best known for the organ-driven "Telstar"), and the
superior Jet Harris band, who are photographed dressed all in black
with sparse lighting highlighting the band members' faces and
instruments. Harris returns with Tony Meehan to sing a so-bad-it's-good cover of "The
Hully Gully", highlighted by the use of a bored-looking
female drummer on stage with the singers. It's camp-tastic.<br />
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There are visiting Americans in the mix, too, and not to be biased, but they're among the highlights of the film. Ketty Lester (a
decade before her turn as a horrifying morgue vampire in <b>Blacula</b>)
sings a sultry soul number; Bobby Vee sings two tunes, including his
hit "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"; The Crickets sans Buddy Holly, but
still trying to sound like him and/or the Everlys, also play two songs,
both very good; Johnny Tillotson sings "Judy", a song that feels about
five years past its prime, but he sells it. The
most surprising appearance, and maybe the best of the film, is by a Swedish band, The Spotnicks, who are
actually head and shoulders above most of the British groups, with their
heavily accented cover of "My Bonnie" performed in astronaut suits. In
the film, the Spotnicks are telecast in via satellite to lend support to
the Fun Party, and on that note, it seems that the UK version of the
film had Sylvie Vartan doing the same from France. She would have
enlivened the proceedings quite a bit, I imagine. Jimmy Powell is also missing from the US version from Columbia, which is a shame because he's kinda dynamite, too.<br />
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Now the rest... Goofy-looking Joe Brown, a kind of mix between Jim Carrey and Billy Idol, sings two songs. Kenny Lynch, who you may remember from <b>Dr. Terror's House of Horrors </b>(1965), also sings a pair of forgettable songs. Lynch, the sole black British performer, has zero charisma or soul. Mark Wynter, the male lead, contributes harmless fluff to the soundtrack. Freddy Cannon seems like the Roy Orbison of England: decidedly un-hip-looking, but with a killer voice. He sings two songs, both forgettable, and that can't be said about Orbison; Cannon can also do better, trust me. The absolute worst music in the film is courtesy of The Vernons Girls, a wannabe girl group who merely sing a song in unison, no harmonies and no attempt to be in the least bit interesting. In 1963, girl groups must have been a distinctly American phenomenon, or at least we were the ones getting it right. The Ronettes and The Shangri-Las would have beat the tar out of the Vernons. There are solo girl singers, too, like Louise Cordet, Lyn Cornell, and Cloda Rodgers. No unsung gems are these ladies. Only Cordet's "Which Way the Wind Blows" is mildly fun. It should also be noted that almost all of the acts are introduced by three famous 60s disc jockeys, Alan Freeman, David Jacobs, and Jimmy Savile, kind of like the UK Alan Freed or Dick Clark equivalents.<br />
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Before music videos, before YouTube, there were Scopitones. What are Scopitones, you ask? Using a jukebox technology developed in France in the late 1950s, a Scopitone machine would store short 16mm reels containing filmed scenarios built around a popular song or artist. In other words, you would deposit your money in a Scopitone much as you would a jukebox and instead of simply hearing an artist perform, you would see them perform on a screen attached to the top of the machine. An essential guide to the world of Scopitones can be found <a href="http://www.scopitonearchive.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Introduced tonight at Anthology Film Archives by Gary Balaban, a quirky and engaging collector of films and music, the Scopitones, all from his personal collection, were presented in two reels, connecting a group of the 16mm films together. Reel 1 was almost entirely made up of French and German Scopitones, with a number of ye-ye girls like Francoise Hardy and Sylvie Vartan. Foreign-language covers of popular songs like "Sherry", "The Locomotion", "I Got Stung", "America" from <b>West Side Story</b>, and even "Goldfinger" (!) were among the surprises to be found here. Reel 2 graduated to slightly more familiar American artists, many of the films shot in glowing Technicolor instead of the faded Eastmancolor tones of the European Scopitones. Procol Harum promotes their enduring hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale" in a later-period film, Frank Sinatra Jr. seems unsure if he's imitating dear old dad or Jerry Lewis in "Love for Sale", Nino Tempo and April Stevens sing a surprisingly downbeat version of "Land of 1000 Dances", Donna Theodore prances in a bikini and complains about men drooling over her in "Femininity", and buxotic Joi Lansing, peerless in my book, seductively croons "The Silencer" and her cult classic "The Web of Love", looking ready to pop out of her outfits at all times. Brook Benton in particular looks mighty embarrassed to be surrounded by white go-go girls dancing to an entirely different rhythm than that of his marvelous "Mother Nature Father Time".<br />
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The evening hit a snag when the 16mm mag sound project bulb went out, leading to the final group of Scopitones being projected without sound, but accompanied by oddly appropriate freakbeat tunes that miraculously complemented the images beautifully. While Anthology apologized and graciously offered to comp admission for their next Scopitone event, I can't imagine anyone not feeling like they got a full evening's worth of entertainment before the technical snafu. I sure as Hell did!<br />
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Now for the videos. I selected 10 of my favorite Scopitones from this evening and was surprisingly able to find all of them on YouTube, the world's greatest pop culture depository. Hold on to your hats and please to enjoy.<br />
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<br />Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-74314897808637987622013-08-02T14:31:00.004-07:002013-08-02T14:33:32.467-07:00THE CONJURING (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The most unusual thing about the film industry's history of looking down on the comedy and horror genres is that they're the most difficult kind of films to pull off. There is nothing worse than a painfully unfunny comedy or a cliched and horror film, and on the flip side, there are fewer pure pleasures than consistent laughter or the adrenaline rush of suspense and terror when a genre film is done right. The horror genre often feels like a horse carcass beat beyond recognition these days, with torture porn, found footage, and ghost stories spewed out semi-regularly in various venues (theaters, straight to video, on-demand, streaming). I recently wondered aloud to my fellow horror fan gal pal Lita Robinson, a writer for Diabolique Magazine, if the genre has just become so mediocre and predictable that any film that is the slightest bit above average gets a tremendous amount of attention. So I went into <b>The Conjuring </b>unsure if it would live up to expectations. After all, <b>Drag Me to Hell </b>(2009), raved about left and right, proved to be a more violent variation on the far superior <b>Curse of the Demon </b>(1957), and I forgot I had even seen the film a week later. The honest truth: this is the most effective horror film I've seen in a long while.<br />
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In a not very promising pre-credits sequence, we meet Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), a married pair of paranormal investigators who help two nurse roommates deal with a creepy doll inhabited by a demon. The film thankfully improves with the introduction of the Perron family: truck driver father Roger (Ron Livingston), doting mother Carolyn (Lili Taylor), and daughters Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy, and April (Shanley Caswell, Hayley MacFarland, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, and Kyla Deaver). The Perrons have purchased a secluded Rhode Island farmhouse at a bank auction and have high hopes for it to be just what their family needs to make a fresh start. The eerie haunting shenanigans begin after a boarded-up cellar is discovered. The family dog won't come into the house, little April starts talking to an imaginary friend, Rupert, who she says emerged from a music box, Cindy begins sleepwalking and banging her head against a mysterious wardrobe in Andrea's room, Carolyn begins developing strange bruises overnight, and Christine is woken in the night by something yanking on her leg. The Warrens are asked to investigate, resulting in what the credits crawl claims was a true-life case so "malevolent" they are only now allowing it to be publicly revealed. To give away much more would detract from some incredible shock scares and a supremely intense final third.<br />
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There is nothing particularly original about <b>The Conjuring</b>. We've all seen haunted house, possession, and paranormal investigation horror films before. We know that the youngest child will be the one in the most danger, the family dog is toast, levitating and a demonic male voice will be possession symptoms, etc. There are equal doses <b>Amityville Horror</b> (both <b>1 </b>and <b>2</b>), <b>Poltergeist</b>, and <b>Blair Witch Project</b> to be found woven throughout the narrative. But director James Wan, working with a very talented cast and a firm understanding of how the genre works best, has done something very special here. Set in 1971, the film has the visual style and storytelling panache of the best genre films of that decade. If you're an admirer of the "good old days" of horror, you will find a lot to love in <b>The Conjuring</b>, with contemporary twists keeping it fresh and lively. Wan has gathered together a talented ensemble of actors that keep things convincing at all times. Wilson is a solid actor, and Livingston has the lovable schmoe act down pat, but the film belongs to the women. Farmiga, who I've loved since her indie days of <b>Dummy </b>(2003), <b>Down to the Bone </b>(2004), and<b> Running Scared </b>(2006), enjoyed a career surge after <b>The Departed </b>(2006) and an Oscar nom for <b>Up in the Air </b>(2009). I'd follow her anywhere, and thankfully she never disappoints, especially here. Another indie darling, Taylor has been away from the big screen too long, and her last haunted house flick, an ill-advised 1999 remake of <b>The Haunting</b>, gave no indication of how good she could be in this kind of film. She is really put through the ringer as the tortured family matriarch, in a role that not just any actress could excel in. Of the girls, Joey King ("Christine") sells her sheer terror the best, especially in a suspenseful sequence where she sees a horrific...something...that neither her sister or the audience can.<br />
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Not everything works in <b>The Conjuring</b>: the aforementioned pre-credits sequence of a doll is nowhere near as striking as<b> </b>similar material in Wan's earlier (and very underrated) <b>Dead Silence </b>(2007); a comic relief policeman attached to the investigative team and his banter with the Warrens' assistant Drew isn't truly necessary (though the cop's eventual encounter with the supernatural is one of the film's highlights); and the demon's attempt to "make it personal" with the Warrens by targeting their daughter is, while effective, slightly feels like padding to boost the scares before the climax. But there is so much done right here that it's hard to fault Wan for these negatives. Any film that can make this hardened horror fan jump twice in his theater seat is one that can't be recommended enough.<br />
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Contemporary horror tends to produce one auteur darling every couple of years that the fans embrace and enthusiastically hope is the future of the genre. A decade ago, it was Eli Roth. Then it was Rob Zombie. Most recently it was Ti West. This year it's James Wan. Where West seems to have shot his wad with his first feature, <b>The House of the Devil </b>(2008), as all subsequent efforts have been fairly disappointing, Wan seems to be on a roll. He made a splash with 2003's <b>Saw</b>, considered the originator of the lamentable "torture porn" subgenre, but his follow-up film, <b>Dead Silence</b>,<b> </b>landed with a thud. It's time to re-evaluate that one, folks. His last genre film, <b>Insidious </b>(2010), received very positive notices from people whose taste I trust, but I have yet to see it. It proved successful enough to warrant a sequel, coming to theaters next month (September 13). If it's as good as <b>The Conjuring</b>, Wan will have released two superb horror flicks in one calendar year. When's the last time that happened? <br />
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Word of warning: don't watch the official trailer for this. The teaser, linked below, is far more effective, and reminds me of a 1970s horror film preview.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Gb-jRz7HWqs" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-74020991012163977412013-08-01T18:04:00.003-07:002013-08-01T18:04:27.481-07:00A WOMAN IS A WOMAN (1961)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jean-Luc Godard and I have a love-hate relationship. Every time I think I am won over to his peculiar yet certainly innovative films of the French New Wave, something sticks in my craw and detracts from his overall achievement as one of the most important directors in contemporary cinema. My previous review of his <b>Week End </b>(1967) proved controversial, and to be honest, my opinion of the film has changed over time, as I reflected on its powerful moments and troubling themes and came to the realization that it was in fact a masterpiece. I have to now wonder if my opinion of <b>A Woman is a Woman</b> will change months from now. For now, I think it best to share my initial thoughts on the film and what stuck with me, and perhaps in the future can revisit it and make more informed and in-depth observations.<br />
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The stunning Anna Karina, Godard's wife at the time, stars as Angela, a nightclub performer who develops the urge for a baby with her boyfriend Emile (New Wave favorite Jean-Claude Brialy). When he refuses, she turns to his best friend Alfred (New Wave poster boy Jean-Paul Belmondo), who has been holding a torch for Angela. Typical with Godard, the story is slight and rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.<br />
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The pre-credits sequence, made up of large words flashed on-screen, gives the impression that Godard is making his first musical, and the film does make interesting use of its score. Rather than have his characters perform in musical interludes, the director plays with music throughout his sparse narrative. Music drops on and off the soundtrack, disappearing when Angela sings but reappearing during lyrical breaks, and one lengthy scene features a Charles Aznavour single, bemoaning his lady "letting herself go", played in its entirety on a jukebox. For some time, the characters speak in rhythmically spaced dialogue exchanges, but this concept doesn't last for the duration of the film. That said, music is a key element of the film's structure, whether it be original compositions by Michel LeGrand or snippets of popular songs.<br />
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The three characters play to the camera, bow to the audience, wink after dropping film references, and in other ways drop the facade of acting in a film. The fourth wall simply does not exist in Godard's world, and most of the fun to be had with <b>Woman is a Woman </b>is in seeing the actors and their director simply have a ball making a movie together. We ultimately don't care who Angela ends up with, nor if she ever gets that baby she's been pining for, but Godard does allow a semi-conventional ending to wrap things up. There are magical moments like a stripper's newest trick, which allows her to walk through a closet in underwear and emerge in a random costume, the quarreling lovers flashing book covers and titles to call each other names, Angela's musical number, capturing Karina in ravishing gel colors, and Alfred watching Angela's awnings as code for whether she will return to him or not, lighting the cigarettes of passers by as he waits until his cigarette burns down to nothing. Godard's films seem to work best as a series of vignettes, or at the very least are filled with memorable scenes that threaten to, but don't quite, make a compelling whole.<br />
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Shot in blazing color and widescreen, but with the avant-garde improvisational structure of his earlier black-and-white works, <b>Woman is a Woman </b>feels like the cusp film between early Godard (<b>Breathless</b>, <b>Vivre sa Vie</b>) and middle-period Godard (<b>Contempt</b>, <b>Pierrot le Fou</b>). As a film bordering these two phases of his career, it is not as accessible as films from either period. There was a surprising number of walk-outs while viewing the film at MoMA, including a couple sitting next to me expecting a musical with some semblance of a coherent story with a beginning, middle, and end. But the only commercial aspects of <b>Woman is a Woman </b>are the addition of color and widescreen to Godard's otherwise very singular and not always appreciable vision. Godard also demonstrates his consciousness of the New Wave by referring to both his own films (Belmondo says he doesn't want to miss <b>Breathless </b>on TV) and the films of his contemporaries (Charles Aznavour and <b>Shoot the Piano Player </b>are discussed, Jeanne Moreau appears in a bar and is asked how <b>Jules and Jim </b>is going). And naturally Godard refers to classic Hollywood throughout, most importantly giving Alfred the last name of Lubitsch, but also giving shout-outs to Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly, Bob Fosse, and Burt Lancaster.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zOyEj2SKVCQ" width="420"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-78509120439480702042013-08-01T16:42:00.002-07:002013-08-01T19:04:07.803-07:00BLUE JASMINE (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you ever wondered what <b>Woody Allen's <i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i></b> or Cate Blanchett as Blanche duBois would be like, Allen's newest, <b>Blue Jasmine</b>, should vividly answer those questions. Comparisons between Tennessee Williams' destruction of the Southern belle mythos and Allen's story of two sisters forced together when one falls from her ivory tower are bound to happen, but this film is much more about the delusion of grandeur attached to obscene wealth than the dynamic between estranged sisters.<br />
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Cate Blanchett is Jeanette, no, Jasmine, an egotistical high society matron who married rich and changed her name, transforming herself in the process. One gets the impression that Jeanette was like Veda in <b>Mildred Pierce</b> and Jasmine is the end result of a lifelong pursuit of the finer things. Her marriage comes crashing down when the Feds catch up with her husband (Alec Baldwin), who has been cheating the government and his financial backers, not to mention philandering behind Jasmine's back. Home and belongings are repossessed and Jasmine is forced to crawl to San Francisco (on first class no less) to live with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins). The two have not seen each other since Ginger's visit to New York with her then-husband (Andrew Dice Clay), and Jasmine finds that little sis has found another roughneck boyfriend named Chili (Bobby Canavale) since her divorce. As Jasmine struggles to find a job and complete her college education, she also begins to slowly unravel as the cold reality of her situation begins to chip away at her sanity...which was never very solid to begin with.<br />
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The trailer for <b>Blue Jasmine </b>almost sells it as a whimsical comedy, and while the film has its share of humorous moments, it really benefits from a veneer of darkness cast over its characters and their interactions. We follow Jasmine and Ginger, and while we hope that there is some hope for them when all is said and done, that simply won't be the case. It's interesting to note that both sisters are adopted, and while Ginger ran away from home because their parents supposed preferred Jeanette and made her own way from a young age, Jeanette never had to figure things out for herself. She dropped out of college to marry a man who spoiled her with lavish gifts and social standing, and when it all falls apart, she has nowhere to turn but to a sister who she sneers at for having poor taste in men. Jasmine is too busy judging Ginger's choices to notice that she has her own home, supports her two children with menial jobs, and is with a man who, while blue-collar and uncouth, loves her. But then <b>Jasmine </b>is not about these women coming together after so many years and learning to understand each other. It's about one continuing to make poor decisions, and the other settling into a comfortably numb existence. Allen doesn't much care for his characters here to grow or reach life-changing revelations, but that isn't necessary for us to appreciate the time spent with these hot messes.<br />
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In some ways, <b>Jasmine </b>feels like a Woody Allen film for people who hate Woody Allen films. He does not appear on-camera, nor has he cast a similar stand-in, but more importantly, his biting attack on the elitist upper-class is in direct opposition of his usual class politics. Sure, some scenes come off as "wealth porn", basking in the gorgeous homes and locations Allen was able to secure for shooting, but Ginger's apartment is never shown as being that big of a step down for Jasmine. Perhaps because with these changing economic times, it looks pretty damn cozy and downright familiar to today's audiences. While Allen's films tend to be aimed at a more elitist crowd of film viewers, <b>Jasmine </b>does not feel like it's intended for that same audience. This slightly new artistic point of view, and being his first film shot mostly in San Francisco, encourages me to recommend this film to just about everyone, including his detractors.<br />
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In what might be the year's first front runner performance for a Best Actress Oscar, Blanchett is a ball of nervous energy, when she isn't cruising through life with a breezy and entitled point of view. She makes it very difficult to completely dislike Jasmine, with her pitiful eyes and bouts of manic conversation with herself. We want Jasmine to find herself back into a kept woman marriage, if only so she can stop being so damn miserable and leave her sister to live as she wants. British Hawkins, well cast as flighty free spirits in films like <b>Happy-Go-Lucky </b>(2008) and <b>Made in Dagenham </b>(2010), slides nicely into the role of Ginger, though unlike Australian Blanchette, she has some trouble maintaining her American accent. It's good to see comics Andrew Dice Clay and Louis C.K. here. While C.K. does his sad-sack "Louie" routine very well, it's Clay who is really impressive as Ginger's bitter ex-husband. All memories of <b>Adventures of Ford Fairlane </b>are forgiven. I don't know how to feel about Allen casting former "Bachelorette" Ali Fedotowsky as a physical trainer; recognizing this reality star in a legit film project unpleasantly took me out of the movie.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FER3C394aI8" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-23702988250136457552013-07-10T08:59:00.003-07:002013-07-10T08:59:59.826-07:00The Films of Yasujiro Ozu at Film Forum Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Returning to the comedy genre, <b>What Did the Lady Forget? </b>(1937) is a departure from the melodramatic Ozu films immediately preceding it. Members of his marvelous repertory group are here: Choko Iida and Takeshi Sakamoto are reunited after <b>An Inn in Tokyo </b>(1935) as husband and wife (Iida makes an entrance in a lavish get-up that would make Stella Dallas blush); another <b>Inn </b>alum and Ozu's go-to child actor, Tomio Aoki, appears as the schoolmate of Masao Hayama, another Ozu favorite. Sumiko Kurishima, the first Japanese female movie star in her only film with Ozu, stars as the frigid Tokiko, a bespectacled wet blanket who reluctantly hosts her visiting niece, rambunctious Setsuko (played with relish by the ill-fated Michiko Kuwano). The young girl smokes, drinks, and takes a shine to visiting geisha houses, immediately connecting with her bemused uncle Okada over her conservative aunt. The couple's strained marriage is tested by Setsuko's presence, especially when Okada lies about a golfing trip so he can spend a day away from home with his protege, a plot development Ozu re-used with sexes reversed in his later <b>Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice </b>(1952). Some of the funniest moments occur in the girl talk scenes between Tokiko and her girlfriends, loud Chiyoko (Iida can do no wrong in my book) and subdued Mitsuko; another comic gem occurs when a clueless tutor attempts to help Mitsuko's son with his arithmetic homework. The film, at 70 minutes, is one of few films that might make some viewers wish Ozu, known for spending a considerable amount of time with his characters, had . The third act feels rushed, atypical for the director, and the pat resolution has none of the satisfaction of his later marital problem films. All this said, this is lesser Ozu, but as such is possibly most likely to win over newcomers to the director's oeuvre. It is laugh-out-loud funny, beyond charming, and sorely in need of a region 1 DVD restoration.<br />
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<b>The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family </b>(1941), released the same year Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, feels more influenced by Western films than most of Ozu's work, in particular Leo McCarey's brilliant <b>Make Way for Tomorrow </b>(1937). A later film, the French <b>Summer Hours </b>(2008), also borrowed a great deal from Ozu's story of family troubles initiated by the death of its patriarch. This is one of Ozu's most gripping family melodramas, opening with a family photograph being taken of the Toda clan before the father dies of a coronary hours later. With the father's death come the creditors, demanding their debts be paid, forcing the children to sell the lavish family estate and everything of value and casting Toda's widow (Ayako Katsuragi) and youngest daughter, Setsuko (Mieko Takamine), out on the street. The two women, oldest and youngest of the family, are moved from one sibling's home to another, never feeling welcome in any of their new surroundings and eventually choosing to retire to a secluded rundown villa still in the family's possession. This last act of desperation does not sit well with youngest son Shojiro (Shin Saburi), who figures into the film's completely satisfying finale. It's a wonder why this film has not been given the Criterion treatment in this country. <b>Toda Family </b>is certainly not lesser Ozu, and might stand as one of his most accomplished works, in both narration and style. In fact, as one of the director's most accessible works that still manages to include all of his polarizing trademark flourishes, it's a very good choice for Ozu 101. Some viewers may find it unusual and rather awkward that Shojiro emigrates to China, considering Japan's horrific invasion of the large Asian nation over the years of the war. But casting aside real world events in favor of immersing yourself in Ozu's engrossing tale is best. Saburi is marvelous as head strong Shojiro, and he would join the director's repertory cast, appearing in a number of his works over the years. Mitsuko Yoshikawa, so funny and winning in <b>What Did the Lady Forget?</b>, demonstrates her acting range by playing the icy class-conscious elder daughter to perfection. Michiko Kuwano, who also appeared in <b>Forget</b> as the mischievous Setsuko, similarly plays against type as the friendly lower-class friend of this film's Setsuko; this would be one of her last films before dying young from an ectopic pregnancy. It's a shame that both of her Ozu films are generally unavailable to American audiences.<br />
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<b>The Munekata Sisters </b>(1950) was produced by Toho Studios, the
one time Ozu worked for the titans of Japanese film, and because it has
remained in the Toho library, remains very difficult to see. It has been
released on DVD in Japan, without subtitles, and a Spanish bootleg DVD,
but that's about it. The studio allowed Film Forum to screen the film <i>once</i>
over the course of the series, an 8pm screening on June 24, and
needless to say the theater was packed with Ozu admirers anxious to see
this obscure effort. While it's not Ozu's finest (in fact, some might
argue it's his most commercial and Western feature), it does not deserve
to languish away from the public eye as Toho seems to want. The news
that her father has a mere year to live coincides with a crossroads in
Setsuko Munekata's marriage to her alcoholic unemployed husband,
Ryosuke. Setsuko's sister, Mariko, sneaks a peek at her sister's diary
and learns that sis was once in love with old friend Hiroshi, and makes
it her goal to reunite the two, coaxing her sister to pursue her own
happiness and abandon her indifferent and often abusive husband. The
reason why <b>Munekata Sisters </b>doesn't completely work is the fact
that it is based on a then-popular novel, so the studio and its audience
had built-in expectations for the film. Ozu injects his personal style
into the project, and visually it is an Ozu film. Thematically, however,
it comes up short and does not gel with the other films he was making
around the same time (<b>Late Spring</b>, <b>Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice</b>, <b>Early Summer</b>).
The film is aided by the superb central performances by Kinuyo Tanaka
and Hideko Takamine as Setsuko and Mariko, respectively. Takamine is a
sprightly comic presence, afforded many lovely funny moments but also
appropriately moving in dramatic scenes. Tanaka at first gives us very
little to work with in her characterization of Setsuko, but as the film
progresses and we learn how trapped she is in her marriage, how duty
drives her daily life, how she is deserving of the happiness constantly
denied her, the pain in her performance becomes almost unbearable. The
final confrontation between husband and wife is a stunner, and audibly
upset many Film Forum audience members. Takamine had worked with Ozu in
his silent film <b>Tokyo Chorus </b>(1931), but sadly would not work
again with the director. Tanaka was a favorite of another Ozu
contemporary, the great Kenji Mizoguchi, and also appeared in a number
of earlier Ozu features. She would later star in <b>Equinox Flower</b>
(1958) for him. Ozu regular Chishu Ryu is inadequately used as the
Munekata patriarch, and another Ozu favorite, Tatsuo Saito, is the
doctor who delivers the bad news to Setsuko in the opening sequence.Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-45967643621090754462013-07-10T08:37:00.002-07:002013-07-10T08:40:31.550-07:00The Films of Yasujiro Ozo at Film Forum Part 1<br />
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In one of his last silent films, <b>An Inn in Tokyo </b>(1935), Ozu tackles family dynamics in a Depression-era scenario, much darker and more serious than his subsequent more famous films from the late 1940s and into the 1950s. It in fact is very similar to the post-war neorealist films of Italy. Takeshi Sakamoto is a single father, wandering the country with his two sons, the eldest played by Ozu child actor regular Tomio Aoki, searching for a job and a way to feed his children. He stumbles upon an old friend, Choko Iida, who offers him employment and a place to live, but his growing love for a down-on-her-luck single mother (Yoshiko Okada) and her infant daughter leads to drinking and more trouble as he becomes determined to pay for the young girl's hospital bills. The film's aesthetic is one of dreary uncertainty, with many barren fields, dark alleys, and shadowy interiors; it's an unusual contrast to the lighter, airier compositions found in his later work. But this is a film that inspired my interest in seeking out more of Ozu's silent films. Without dialogue, the emphasis on performance, editing, and photography brings out a more vivid and compelling form of storytelling that I found nicely surprising in comparison to his sound works. This is a masterpiece of surviving early Japanese cinema.<br />
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Ozu's first talkie, <b>The Only Son </b>(1936), reunites the director with Iida as the single mother of the title character, who she sacrifices everything for so he can get a good education and make a name for himself. Visiting him in Tokyo years after he leaves for school, she discovers he is married, has a child, and is working as a night school teacher...and is deeply unhappy with the path of his life. Tension builds between mother and son, as she reveals just how much she has given up for him, and he reconsiders his aspirations and concerns over his future. The theme of human kindness trumping wealth is carried over into the sound era, as the son's wife sells her kimono to earn money so the family can spend a day out together, but the money goes towards a neighbor boy's hospital bills after he is kicked by a horse (the boy is played by Aoki). With sound, Ozu begins his tradition of a sparse narrative in favor of simple camera set-ups and quiet scenes of character interaction, often in the domestic space, with deliberate pacing that will either draw you in or repel you into bored slumber. Truth be told, for the longest time, I was in the latter camp, but approaching Ozu with one film after another, a wider appreciation for his accomplishments as a director began setting in. I can now count myself as an admirer and follower of his work. It was this one-two punch combo of <b>Inn in Tokyo </b>and <b>Only Son </b>that converted me, and led me to re-visit his other films through new eyes.<br />
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<b>The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice </b>(1952) is a return to the concept of traditional versus contemporary values, but one that is often overshadowed by Ozu's preceding and subsequent films (1951's <b>Early Summer </b>and 1953's <b>Tokyo Story</b>, respectively). Rather than explore the dynamic between parents and children, <b>Green Tea </b>focuses on the stagnant marriage of Taeko, a spoiled upper-class woman, and Mokichi, her dull husband. Taeko's social circle of lady friends includes her niece, Setsuko, a single woman with a modern sensibility about dating and marriage. While Mokichi tries to bond with their maid, Fumi, instead of his wife, Taeko regularly lies to her husband so she can go on spa getaways with her girlfriends. As per usual with Ozu, the film takes its time developing into a solid narrative, and the turning point occurs when Setsuko abandons an arranged marriage interview at the Kabuki theater and, returning to her aunt and uncle's house, is taken to a bike race and gambling casino by her uncle and Non-chan, his work apprentice, who naturally becomes a solid romantic interest for the rebellious young woman. This immediately sparks questions of their arranged marriage for Taeko and Mokichi, and if they've reached their breaking point. An argument over the way Mokichi eats his favorite meal, described in the film's title, leads to the film's very good third act, with genuine suspense over whether the couple will reconcile and if so, just how will it happen. If it's possible for there to be an underrated Ozu film, it's this one, rarely spoken of in the same breath as his more popular films, but a worthwhile starter film for newcomers to his oeuvre and one for Ozu admirers to give a second look.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SF3lJ5MuX04" width="420"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-76656527459659214392013-07-10T08:24:00.002-07:002013-07-10T08:24:38.163-07:00The Films of Allan Dwan at MoMA Part 3We enter the 1940s and 1950s with this continuing Allan Dwan retrospective, as Dwan reached a relative high before plummeting to the lowest point of his creativity. <br />
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Based on a popular play from the WWI era, <b>Friendly Enemies </b>(1942)<i> </i>was reportedly shot in 9 days, according to Dwan, but in fact took 21 days to produce (nice lie, there, Dwan). Shot on a set on loan from Paramount to independent producer Edward Small, for whom Dwan made five films, this patriotic propaganda piece, while still set in 1918, was timed perfectly to coincide with WWII and the need for national support of the war effort. Character actor darlings Charles Winninger and Charles Ruggles are Karl and Heinrich, two lifelong friends who emigrated to the U.S. from Germany and have made good in their plans for a better life. However, where Heinrich (who insists on being called Henry) has adopted the U.S. as his new home, Karl still feels allegiance to the heimat, so much so that he donates money to a propaganda machine claiming to be pro-Germany during the world war conflict. Karl's son, engaged to Heinrich's daughter, has secretly enlisted in the army to fight for America, much to his father's chagrin, though dear old dad feels much worse when he learns the money he donated went towards a German spy ring's bomb attack on the ship sending his son over to Europe. The film never really escapes its stage-bound origins, and other than Winninger and Ruggles, only fellow character actor great Otto Kruger makes an impression as the slimy villain Anton Miller. Nancy Kelly and James Craig are atrocious as the young couple (Dwan rarely, if ever, delivered on building believable romances in his films), though Craig is a stunningly handsome figure, and one referenced by Gore Vidal regularly in his camp classic "Myra Breckinridge". The narrative gains momentum near the end, though Karl's complete reversal in his national allegiance is overwrought and ridiculous, throwing out his German newspapers and replacing his framed portrait of the Kaiser with President Wilson. Ultimately <b>Friendly Enemies </b>is goofy pro-America propaganda, but is an interesting time capsule piece demonstrating how Hollywood worked hand-in-hand with the government to sell the war to the American public.<br />
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Reuniting Dwan with the marvelous Gail Patrick in what would be her last film, <b>The Inside Story </b>(1948) is a deliberately paced comedy of errors set in a small Vermont town in 1933 during the Depression. While the story is slight (an envelope of $1000 is accidentally dispersed among a group of townspeople, all of whom desperately need it), it is enlivened by the marvelous cast of familiar faces and delightful characters. When you went to work for Republic Studios during this period, it was pretty clear, depending on your previous star status, that your career was either not going in the right direction or you were being afforded better work than most majors were offering. In the case of <b>Inside Story</b>, it was mostly the latter. Gathered together here is a confident class of talented character actors and actresses, each given the opportunity to shine as unique characters. Patrick in particular, rarely given a leading role during her tenure at major studios in the 1930s and 1940s, shines as a devoted wife forced to support her household when her sad sack husband can't find employment as an attorney. She is much warmer here than many viewers can believe, based on her best-known roles. Top-billed is Marsha Hunt, soon to become a victim of the McCarthy blacklist, but here simply superb as a feisty small town girl forced to work at her father's hotel while waiting for her artist boyfriend to sell one of his paintings. Notice a pattern here? The women in the film are the movers and shakers, surrounded by men forced into stagnation by the Depression. Even the richest person in town is a woman, Geraldine Atherton, the wise-cracking owner of a once lucrative mill, played to perfection by divine character actress Florence Bates. Gene Lockhart (as Hunt's father, the blustery innkeeper), ever-charming Charlie Winniger (as Uncle Ed, the bumbling hotel clerk and narrator of the story), the hilarious Roscoe Karns (as the insurance agent whose money vanishes into the town's population), and crotchy Will Wright (as the money-grubbing banker) are all at the peak of their form in the world of Hollywood character acting. Tough guy Allen Jenkins and gangly Tom Fadden also show up as a New York gangster and a farmer, respectively. All of this gushing over the cast does not, however, excuse the almost far too light pacing of the story. It takes 45 minutes for the big plot development to take place, but once that happens, the narrative action never lets up, and truth be told, it's more involving because we've spent so much time with the characters and have grown to love them. One could almost call this film a low-rent Capra picture, by way of Dwan, and that is meant as a compliment.<br />
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Continuing his assured work at little Republic Studios, <b>Woman They Almost Lynched </b>(1953)<i> </i>is one of Dwan's most enjoyable films, and is a good example of low-budget westerns sometimes exceeding their generic limitations. Joan Leslie, a good decade after she was the ingenue darling of Warner Brothers, is given a far better role than she was ever given at her old studio, as Sally Maris, a prim and proper young lady who takes a stagecoach to Border City, where her brother Bill owns a saloon. Another fallen star, Brian Donlevy (reportedly a pain in the ass to work with), co-stars as Quantrill, a rebel rouser who massacres the Union soldiers escorting Sally on her journey, then attempts to blackmail the foreman of Border City's lead mines into filling his pockets with the stuff. Jim Davis (before "Dallas" and, er, <b>Dracula vs. Frankenstein</b>) is Quantrill's right hand man, who intends to force Sally into matrimony before leaving town. Audrey Totter could never play a believable "good girl"; her eyebrows and mouth always had a perpetual sneer to them, though she gets to play both sides of the fence as Kate Quantrill, a wanton woman who was abducted by Quantrill before she could marry Sally's brother...and took the Stockholm syndrome to a whole 'nother level by marrying her kidnapper. Her feud with Sally reaches two violent climaxes with a cat-fight for the ages and a gunfight in the streets of Border City. The movie stops cold for two song numbers featuring Totter, who can at least lip synch quite well (pretty sure her vocals were dubbed by Peggy Lee). Totter is joined by her B-list film noir contemporary, Ann Savage, several years after her incredible turn as Vera in Edgar G. Ulmer's <b>Detour </b>(1945), who plays the ringleader of the wisecracking trio of saloon girls. You barely recognize her because, well, she smiles a lot and wears makeup and garish costumes, a far cry from the dirty, sweaty, snarling look film fans are familiar with. She is marvelous support in her last film for 33 years. Frankly, the men are left in the dust here (in some cases literally). Even the town mayor is a brash, hard woman, Delilah Courtney, played by Nina Varela with such toughness and ferocity that Hope Emerson would cower in fear. Similarities to <b>Johnny Guitar </b>(1954), also produced by Republic the following year, are far too glaring to chalk up to coincidence, right down to the casting of youthful Ben Cooper in essentially the same role (though his character here has a famous name). This film does not reach the masterpiece levels of Nicholas Ray's color gender-bending western, but Dwan's woman-on-woman conflict does feature some interesting sexual politics of its own, namely when Sally advises Kate to "act like a woman". In a gender role reversal on <b>Guitar</b>, Kate wears pants and Sally a dress, while in Ray's film the heroine wore pants and the villainess wore a dress. Come the finale, sisters are doing it for themselves in a wholly satisfying twisting turn of events. Most wonderful of all is Leslie, stretching her acting muscles, getting physical with stunts, and still looking damn near perfect.<br />
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Nearing the end of his career, <b>The Restless Breed </b>(1957)<i> </i>is a tremendously cheap western, produced independently on ridiculously phony-looking sets and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Shabbily directed and edited, and just as poorly acted (though leading man Scott Brady, at his beefcakiest, gives it his all), there is very little to recommend about this cliche-ridden genre entry. Brady saunters into town to seek vengeance for the murder of his lawman father, befriending the local preacher and his adorable adopted moppets, including the eldest, Angelita (Anne Bancroft). It's humiliating to watch Bancroft, five years before her first Oscar win (1962's <b>The Miracle Worker</b>) and ten years before her career-defining work in <b>The Graduate </b>(1967), in such a thankless and cliched role. It's almost too perfect that Roger Corman regular Leo Gordon shows up as the standard heavy, because this film looks and feels like a Corman film from the same period: super cheap and bringing nothing new to the table. The most irritating element of the film is the editing; Dwan cuts from action to random cutaway shots of characters in what look like alternate dimensions listening in on who the audience should really be looking at. Scott Marlowe's screen time is pretty much all in cutaway, as he chews on the edge of his hat or on a piece of rope while listening to supposedly important dialogue. He ditches town during the finale...leaving us to wonder what the hell was the point of his character and all that cutaway footage anyway? Jim Davis returns to work with Dwan in what is essentially a glorified cameo as the mysterious murderer of Brady's father, who shows up in the final 10 minutes. Perhaps the ultimate reason the movie doesn't work is because by 1957, westerns had taken over television, proving the most successful programs with viewers nationwide. Even though this film was shot in color (the print shown at MoMA was in black and white), there's nothing here you couldn't see on television for free. It's not even shot in the then-standard Fox CinemaScope, since the shoddy sets would be more obvious if photographed with any attempt at grandeur. Among the worst films of Dwan's filmography. In his interview with Bogdanovich, the two claim that he was making an intentional comedy in an attempt to save face. Unlike <b>Woman They Almost Lynched</b>, which has particular moments of clearly intentional camp and tongue-in-cheek humor, this film fails even on that level.Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-25082104414239376332013-07-10T08:07:00.002-07:002013-07-10T08:07:28.129-07:00The Films of Allan Dwan at MoMA Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Continuing on with the Allan Dwan series, thankfully each successive film revealed a far better portrait of the director and his work than the first week of screenings had indicated. While I am still not convinced Dwan is an auteur worthy of plentiful accolades, I do think that his work is far more important in discussing the B-movie units in the Hollywood studio era. As his career in sound films continued, Dwan's knack for finishing films quickly made him ideal for cranking out programmers for all of his contracted studios, including Fox Films/20th Century-Fox, United Artists, and Republic, not to mention his other studio work in-between. If anything, Dwan was perfectly capable of delivering solid small features with slight hints of finesse and enough entertainment value to warrant scholarly attention to the classic B-movie-making process.<br />
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Produced near the start of his long association with Fox Films, and subsequently 20th Century-Fox, <b>Wicked</b> (1931) has some interesting elements going for it: it's pre-Code, features women-in-prison scenes, and even has a little gangster violence. But in its brief 55 minutes, Dwan sets up a lot of potential that is rarely fulfilled. Margot Rande is imprisoned for accidentally shooting a policeman as they attempt to arrest her bank robber husband, giving birth to a daughter and forced to relinquish her to a children's home while completing her sentence. Upon her early release, she learns her raison d'être has been adopted by a wealthy childless couple, and stops at nothing to get her daughter back. Some superb camerawork excepted, this is a disappointment, made all the more unfortunate because there is so much potential here. The ending is in particular sloppily resolved, as if the studio was going to shut down production so a quick conclusion was shot so the film could be released on the bottom half of a double bill. The primary fault with the execution is, as with many Dwan films, in the casting. He proves time and time again that he was not at all an actor's director, and leading lady Elissa Landi, a pale imitation Ann Harding, is never reigned in from her over-the-top theatrics that sink any possible dramatic weight in her character's plight. One wonders what another actress could have done with this role, like Ann Dvorak or Loretta Young (who did play a similar role in 1934's <b>Born to Be Bad</b>). Landi is hopelessly inadequate, and Victor McLaglen as her knight in shining armor is little better. The proceedings are enlivened by Una Merkel, the bubbly Southern comic character actress who was always a welcome addition to many a low-budget studio film in the 1930s, as Margot's post-prison living companion. Merkel is second only to Joan Blondell in the comic blonde casting pool of the decade.<br />
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<b>While Paris Sleeps </b>(1932) is a prime pre-Code programmer, and perhaps the strongest Dwan title in the series thus far. It also should be noted that seeing this, <b>Call Her Savage </b>(1932), <b>Hullabaloo </b>(1933), and <b>Wild Girl </b>(1932) at recent MoMA screenings provides overwhelming evidence that the Fox Films library (before the merger with 20th Century) is one ripe for reappraisal. Their pre-Code titles are so different from Warner Brothers' gritty films of the same era, but no less surprising and entertaining. The film reunites Dwan with his <b>Zaza </b>(1923) child actress, Helen Mack, blossomed into a lovely twenty-something and delivering a quite compelling performance as Manon, a young French orphan whose mother has recently died and whose father died a war hero, or so she was told. However, the truth is less admirable: while he is a war hero, he accidentally killed a man in a bar fight, sentenced to a life imprisonment. Dwan opens the film with his escape from prison, and follows his journey through the back streets of Paris in search of his daughter, and when he finds her working in a dance hall frequented by "women without virtue" (pre-Code for prostitutes), he makes it his mission to do her one good deed to compensate for his absence in her life. In a swift 61 minutes, Dwan weaves a believable tale of patriarchal duty and self-sacrifice, with gripping suspense during the film's final race against time. In stark contrast to his earlier talkies (reviewed elsewhere), <b>While Paris Sleeps </b>has astonishing cinematography, and the set design, transforming a studio sound stage into the foggy alleys of Paris, seems to be the same used in Frank Borzage's <b>7th Heaven </b>(1927). In a nice touch, all written dialogue is shown in French first, then fades into English. There is an organized crime subplot that allows for a rather horrific scene of a police informant thrown into a flaming furnace, kicking and screaming throughout. This gang also makes plans for Manon, namely shipping her to Brazil as part of the white slave trade. Yes, you heard that right, white slavery, one of many topics soon to be dispelled from Hollywood films after the Code. As in all Dwan films, the romance is stale and unconvincing, but Mack tries her darndest. She must surely be one of the most under-appreciated ingenues of the era. Victor McLaglen, three years before his Oscar win for a similar performance in John Ford's <b>The Informer </b>(1935), is a blustery likable presence, far better here than his previous work in Dwan's <b>Wicked</b>, and it's fun to see another <b>Zaza </b>co-star, Lucille La Verne, as the dance hall madam. One can only hope that 20th Century-Fox will start releasing the films of the original Fox Studio at some point as part of its movie-on-demand collection. There are bound to be more jewels like this one in the library.<br />
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A year before working with her again in <b>One Mile from Heaven </b>(see Dwan part 1), Dwan and Claire Trevor created slightly sophisticated diamond thieving fun in <b>15 Maiden Lane </b>(1936). The duo would make 6 films together, and this is one of the best. Another brisk 20th Century-Fox quickie, this actually has enough charm and intrigue to pass for a studio A-picture, if it weren't for the 64 minute running time and the rather pat conclusion. The title is the address of the most lucrative jewelry retail building in New York, where an expensive diamond has gone missing. The prime suspects are Frank Peyton (suave Cesar Romero, who never looked better) and Jane Martin (Trevor), revealed to be professional jewel thieves who decide to work together fleecing the city's wealthy of their jewels. The twist is that Jane is actually the niece of an insurance agent, deciding to do some inside detective work of her own and trace the recent series of jewel thefts all the way to the top. Admittedly, some of the mystery becomes a tad convoluted, but it all comes together by the third act, taking some violent turns along the way. Trevor, resembling at times an earthier Lana Turner, never became a major leading lady, one of the great mysteries of classic Hollywood. She was never less than excellent in everything, coming to the larger attention of the public and the industry in William Wyler's <b>Dead End </b>(1937, for which she received an Oscar nod) and John Ford's <b>Stagecoach </b>(1939). But even those proposed star-making roles didn't make her hot box office. A new book, "Claire Trevor: Queen of the B's and Hollywood Film Noire" by Carolyn McGivern, will be released in July of this year, and about time, too. In <b>Maiden Lane</b>, she is sexy, smart, resourceful, and completely endearing. You will want to see everything she's ever done, a noble and worthwhile quest. Romero, remembered today mostly for his work on "Batman" and other late-period career moments, was at one point a reliable romantic lead in B-pictures, a fact vividly supported by his work here. What a delight to know now that he was batting for the man lovers' team. Marvelous support comes from slick Douglas Fowley as a devious P.I., Lloyd Nolan as the no-nonsense detective on the case, and Robert McWade as Jane's increasingly aggravated uncle. Another widely unavailable film worth tracking down.<br />
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Hiding behind the generic B-western title of <b>Trail of the Vigilantes </b>(1940) is one of the finest comic westerns Hollywood has ever made, as Dwan takes a tired story (cattle rustlers and a town's leader-turned-villain against outsider hero and comic relief assistants, with pretty girl love interest) and infuses it with inventive sight gags, snappy dialogue, and some of the best stunt work of the low-budget genre. According to Dwan, the film was written as a straight action picture, but he saw the cast he was handed and decided to have fun with it. Everyone in front of and behind the camera seems to be having a blast, and that sense of frivolity and creative excitement is vividly felt by the audience. Franchot Tone, the former Mr. Joan Crawford, is maybe the best he ever was as an investigative reporter who ventures to Peaceful Valley, a Western town with very little peace due to a rise in cattle rustling. Burly Broderick Crawford (always unconventionally sexy to these eyes) and irritating comic relief Andy Devine (afforded few good lines here) become his chums and bring him, as well as master of disguise Mischa Auer, to work on a local ranch. When Tone isn't fending off the advances of underage farmer's daughter Peggy Moran, he discovers the man in charge of protecting local farms from rustlers has a sinister past and may be the culprit behind the recent crime spree. Of course, he is played by reliable cad Warren William, so you know he's up to no good from his introduction. The final knock-down drag-out saloon brawl, followed by a roof-top chase and a violent fall to the death, is a stunner, and the clever comic elements enliven what would otherwise be a dull Saturday matinee western. This Universal programmer comes highly recommended, if you can find it anywhere.<br />
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<b>Rendezvous with Annie </b>(1946) was made as Dwan was funneling his way downwards in Hollywood studio prestige. Republic, a low-budget outfit best-known for its B-movie westerns, was apparently a place where Dwan felt comfortable and happy, as studio brass rarely interfered in his production process, and his films for the studio are among his most entertaining. The best way to describe <b>Rendezvous </b>is a mentally challenged Preston Sturges film, as it attempts to combine elements of <b>Hail the Conquering Hero </b>and <b>The Miracle of Morgan's Creek </b>(both 1944) but with none of the sly wit and attention to character that make Sturges' films classics. Here, Eddie Albert is a poor replacement for Eddie Bracken, as an American soldier stationed in London who goes AWOL on a three-day pass and secretly flies home to his small New Jersey hometown to surprise his wife (Faye Marlowe, in a strictly amateur hour performance) for their second anniversary. Nine months later, he returns home after being discharged and discovers his wife has given birth to a son...that the entire town thinks was fathered by another man. In order to gain an inheritance from his wacky uncle, Albert has to prove that he is the true father of his baby by tracking down anyone who can confirm his visit. The only problem: it was such a covert operation that turning up witnesses proves difficult. Considerably longer than Dwan's usual quickies, this is a painless comic misadventure helped by a very good supporting cast, including C. Aubrey Smith as a British aristocrat, Raymond Walburn as a slimy banker, William Frawley ("I Love Lucy") as a general who collects the autographs of every person he encounters, Phillip Reed and James Millican as Albert's fast-talking, quick-thinking Army buddies (a movie about them would have been better), and vivacious Joyce Compton (unforgettable as Dixie Belle Lee in 1937's <b>The Awful Truth</b>) as a nightclub photographer. A real casting coup appears in the form of Gail Patrick, sigh, Gail Patrick... 10 years previously, Patrick made her well-known mark as the devious sister to Carole Lombard in La Cava's <b>My Man Godfrey </b>(1936); the director cast her again the following year in another classics, <b>Stage Door </b>(1937). While her star never soared during her Hollywood career, her striking features and, sigh, that smooth, silky voice ensured her consistent work. She is a scene-stealer here as a nightclub singer aiding Albert in his mission, and has one heck of an introductory scene. Patrick would retire two years later, after working with Dwan again on <b>The Inside Story </b>(1948, to be covered later). The restricted budget shows most during scenes in Albert's hometown: Woodville looks nothing like a small contemporary town in New Jersey, or anywhere else for that matter, as it's obviously shot on the studio backlot so often used for Republic's quickie westerns.Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-61416439109551892992013-06-21T18:48:00.003-07:002013-06-21T18:48:57.540-07:00The Films of Allan Dwan at MoMA Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When he was interviewed by Peter Bogdanovich for a career retrospective book on his career, Bogdanovich chose the title "The Last Pioneer" to describe his place in cinema history. When he was discussed in the auteurist bible, Andrew Sarris' "The American Cinema", he was written about in glowing terms, endorsed by Sarris as "the last of the old masters" and pondering if there was "much more to be said" about his oeuvre. Over the years, his reputation continues to build into a kind of feverish cult, known as "Dwaniacs", reaching an apex with the recent MoMA series, a new book by Frederic Lombardi, and a recently published 460-page dossier containing essays by multiple academic authors shouting praises for his work. Does Allan Dwan warrant all of this attention as an unsung auteur deserving of attention from scholars and film fans alike? In a word, no. For all of his technical innovations in the silent era, and proposals of recurring themes involving family and paternity throughout his work, Dwan has a handful of good, not great, films scattered in-between thoroughly average and in some cases well below average films. As the MoMA series continued, I struggled to get excited about discovering new facets of Dwan as a filmmaker as various examples of his fragmented career with multiple studios unfolded in the grand Theater 1 of the museum. But with each new film, I became further convinced of his mediocrity. This is part one of several blog entries that will attempt to cover the series in its entirety. Who knows? Perhaps by the conclusion of the series, I will have turned over a new leaf and be shouting for the re-evaluation of Dwan from the rooftops of the city. But with the first week done and gone, I am now dragging my feet to future Dwan screenings. Frankly, in terms of B-list directors, I'd be more interested in a Lew Landers retrospective. Now <i>there </i>is a director in need of renewed scholarly attention.<br />
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Dwan became a director purely by accident. Trekking out to a California location for the film company he was working as a story man for and discovering the director had abandoned the production, he stepped in and basically never stopped. The earliest film in the MoMA series, <b>The Mother of the Ranch </b>(1911), is little more than a short entertainment with a capsule story brought to life by a seemingly non-professional cast. Dwan would shoot an incredible number of these for the company Flying A throughout the teens. In this interesting trifle, a man leaves his mother to make his fortune in the west, but finds it easier to be a cattle rustler and is killed for his trouble. She arrives out west looking for him, but is told he died a hero and then adopted by the seven cowboys who tracked him and killed him...The End. Subsequent shorts made for Flying A, including <b>Calamity Jane's Ward</b>, <b>Man's Calling</b>, and <b>The Thief's Wife </b>(all 1912), were also screened in the series, but I decided to bypass them. In doing so, I did miss a 45-minute incomplete version of 1917's <b>The Fighting Odds</b>, shot for the Goldwyn Company before it morphed with Metro Studios and Louis B. Mayer to form M-G-M. An audience member reviewed the film negatively on IMDB.<br />
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And then there was <b>David Harum </b>(1915), one of the dullest and most forgettable films of this early silent era, courtesy of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players, before it morphed into Paramount Pictures. It is also the only surviving film of the many Dwan made for the studio. The "famous player" here is the esteemed and lavishly billed William H. Crane, a popular stage actor lured to the movies by one of Zukor's lucrative studio contracts. He recreates his stage success of the title character, a jovial banker in a small town who is apparently the nicest guy on earth. Harum figures into the chemistry-free romance between a young man he hires as his right hand man and a young New York socialite he lures to the sticks to be a schoolteacher. There are two needlessly confusing conflicts involving stolen money (of course the Snidely Whiplash employee is to blame) and a widow's overdue mortgage, and very little else to be seen in terms of film form, style, and content. Auteurists make note of the first use of the dolly shot in cinema, but this adds mere historic value to a film that is otherwise not worth sitting through. Most of Dwan's photography is, as it would remain for most of his silent work, made up of simple camera set-ups and and long single takes, indistinguishable from the many other directors of that era. The sole point of interest is second male lead Harold Lockwood, a handsome and talented actor who died in 1918 at 31 during a nationwide flu epidemic. He so closely resembles Mark Blum, who played Rosanna Arquette's clueless husband in <b>Desperately Seeking Susan </b>(1985), that one could swear they're related. They were both even born in Newark, NJ.<br />
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With a receding hairline and a double chin, it's tough to imagine Douglas Fairbanks as box office dynamite in the teens and into the 1920s. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Al Jolson, and that is not terribly flattering. But what he lacks in matinee idol looks, he makes up for with admirable athleticism, performing his own stunts with much derring-do. It is for this reason Fairbanks is still fondly remembered today; a number of MoMA audience members applauded wildly when his name and face appeared on-screen. He made 11 films with Dwan, and four of them were included in the series.<br />
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Two of the earliest were paired in a double-feature. The print screened at MoMA of <b>The Half-Breed </b>(1916) was roughly 25 minutes long, missing many important scenes of exposition and the entire final reel (possibly the last two). In such poor condition, it is perhaps tough to judge the film as a whole, but what remains here is nothing to get excited about. The story of a half-breed named Lo caught between two women, a white preacher's daughter and a traveling gypsy performer, and pursued by a sheriff who is actually his father isn't particularly interesting. Ohher than a surprising practically nude introductory scene of Fairbanks and beautiful outdoor scenery, there just isn't enough surviving movie here to warrant any interest. A later Dwan-Fairbanks collaboration, <b>A Modern Musketeer </b>(1917), plays like a Buster Keaton film with an extra boost of adrenaline, and is a noted improvement on their previous work. Fairbanks (far too old for the part) plays Ned Thacker, a proposed reincarnation of D'Artagnan, the wildest Musketeer of Dumas' classic story. <b>Half-Breed</b>, Dwan captures the picturesque outdoor locations with an eye for wide vistas and vivid depth of field, but unlike that film, this one is a lot of fun, mixing comedy and action in ways that only Jackie Chan would convincingly do in the decades to come. One moment of surprising brilliance appears when Chin-de-dah is asked to reveal his bride to be; the villain shows Elsie a reflection of herself in his Bowie knife. It's a shining jewel of creativity in a worthwhile and entertaining affair, with decent stunt work by Fairbanks and some humorous moments that still wouldn't give Keaton any sleepless nights. Look fast for Zasu Pitts as a Kansas neighbor gal enamored of our reckless hero. The print in MoMA's collection was restored by the Danish Film Institute and looks spectacular. It is still missing some exposition about Forrest Vandeteer and his alter ego, Forrest Barris, but it's not hard to follow what remains here. We are treated to a raucous opening sequence of D'Artagnan destroying a tavern and defeating all of its male inhabitants in battle simply to return a damsel's handkerchief. Flashing forward to contemporary Kansas, Ned seeks new adventure on the open road, and happens upon Elsie Dodge, her mother, and grifter Forrest Vandeteer, who is courting Elsie with a cross-country road trip. The quartet make their way to the Grand Canyon, where local Indian chief Chin-de-dah sets his sights on Elsie with the intention of forcing her to marry him. Naturally Fairbanks doesn't intend to take this laying down.<br />
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After his split with Fairbanks and moving back to the east coast, where he felt more comfortable working, Dwan teamed for the first time with Gloria Swanson, an actress he would make eight films with (only four survive today). Their debut collaboration, <b>Zaza </b>(1923), is based on both a novel and play of the same name. Classic film fans may acknowledge the 1938 version starring Claudette Colbert, which might be an improvement over this one. The title character, a thoroughly unpleasant and vain showgirl in a popular cabaret, performs on-stage by dangling over the audience on a giant swing, throwing flowers onto the men sitting underneath her. That is the extent of her act, but she aspires to sing on the Paris stage. She competes for audience approval with Florianne (Mary Thurman, who practically steals the movie), who seeks vengeance for Zaza's catty backstage violence by cutting the rope on her swing, leading to an accident that puts our "heroine" out of commission for a spell. During that time, she falls in love with a Parisian businessman (the far too old H.B. Warner) who hides a secret that threatens to tear them apart forever. Dwan's photography is far more assured and versatile here after years of trial and error; his mobile camera on Zaza's swing is quite a sight. But the narrative of the film is the problem here. Zaza is such a nasty character that we don't much care for her happiness. She is always a sight to behold, in outrageous costumes and plentiful jewelry in the shape of the letter "Z". Swanson always had a hard veneer to her on-screen persona, projecting something cold and unapproachable in almost every character she played. Her performance here is also in stark contrast to the women around her, all of whom emote in styles that still seem contemporary and not at all dated. Thurman in particular is wonderful as Florianne, the frienemy who becomes a very important figure as the story progresses, and the tragic Yvonne Hughes (strangled at age 50), as Zaza's maid, comic character actress Lucille La Verne, as Zaza's elderly female caretaker, and the barely-billed actress who plays the other woman (credited in a title card in the film, but apparently nowhere else in print) make more of a vivid impression than the film's star. Over time, Swanson's acting would improve. By the sound era, particularly in 1933's <b>Perfect Understanding</b>, she was miles ahead of her work here. The screening was blessed with a glorious live accompaniment by Ben Model.<br />
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Dwan reunited with Fairbanks for <b>The Iron Mask </b>(1929), an early attempt to wade in the waters of sound filmmaking for both director and star. Fairbanks, looking younger than in many of his previous films, stars as D'Artagnan, the wild and carefree Musketeer from the pen of Dumas, and a character he had previously played in both <b>Modern Musketeer </b>and Fred Niblo's <b>The Three Musketeers </b>(1921). This version of Dumas' "The Man in the Iron Mask" is not without its charms, but looks and feels far older than it is, more in keeping with the style and storytelling of the early 1920s and not Hollywood's new sound era. That said, the film benefits from very good pacing and editing, enhancing the suspense and excitement to be found in the action sequences (including an early scene with a knife-wielding Milady de Winter). The sole sound scenes occur when Fairbanks, in character, addresses the audience directly, speaking in prose through badly matched dubbing. Believe it or not, the musketeer Aramis is played by Eugene Pallette, soon to be a familiar rotund character actor in 1930s films, most notably as Friar Tuck in Curtiz' <b>The Adventures of Robin Hood</b> and the beleaguered family patriarch in La Cava's <b>My Man Godfrey </b>(1936). Adolphe Menjou, another familiar face in sound cinema, shows no sign of his later talent in his campy, over-the-top portrayal of Louis XIII. The version screened at MoMA is incomplete at 96 minutes, but is still longer than the version on Netflix, which is a 72-minute re-release version from 1952, including Fairbanks' two sound addresses to the audience but replacing the title cards with new narration by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. <br />
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As Dwan entered the sound era, he, like many of his contemporaries, struggled with the new technology and it took a few hiccups before he got back up to speed. <b>Man to Man </b>(1930) is one of those hiccups. Burdened with a lackluster cast, with a leading man as talented as Evie Harris in "Asteroid!", and a not quite compelling story, Dwan is on autopilot for this First National-Vitaphone quickie programmer. It wouldn't be until at least 1931-32 that First National's 60-70-minute-long wonders, distributed by Warner Brothers, would really deliver the goods, with directors like William Wellman and Mervyn LeRoy providing reliable and consistent direction. Until then, audiences were stuck with garbage like this. College campus golden boy Michael Bolton (stop that snickering!), played by deadly dull Phillips Holmes, loses his run for class president when it is discovered his father has been convicted of murdering the man who killed his brother. The one scene of potential excitement is never shown, in a classic low-budget move. Michael returns home to his small town home, where he begins working at a bank; 18 years later, dear old dad is let out for good behavior and tries to rebuild his life by opening a barber shop in town. There's a romance between Michael and saccharine blonde Lucille Powers, a juvenile mystery involving stolen money, and a half-hearted resolution between father and son. Classic film junkies may want to see Dwight Frye in an early sound role, appropriately enough as the villain of the piece, but they might also be discomforted by the black stereotype comic relief. Only Grant Mitchell, as the jailbird father returning home to make good, makes a lasting impression among the cast, with a very strong performance that kept him in character roles throughout the 1930s and 1940s. His resume is filled with noteworthy credits, including the currently-lost <b>Convention City </b>(1933). Silent director-turned-actor George F. Marion isn't half-bad as the bank manager, either.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2KaOyY8gW4U/UcUB9Dk3olI/AAAAAAAAAjc/azCFGKqJ30s/s1600/chances.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2KaOyY8gW4U/UcUB9Dk3olI/AAAAAAAAAjc/azCFGKqJ30s/s320/chances.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>Chances </b>(1931) is another hiccup, also shot for First National and still saddled with a disappointing cast and a strictly by-the-numbers wartime romance plot. Brothers Tom and Jack, both soldiers in the British Army during WWI, are torn apart by their love for a beautiful woman they've known since childhood. Historical value can be found in the fact that Dwan was paired with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. here, the son of his frequent leading man. Fairbanks Sr., for all of his unorthodox movie star looks, at least had charm and a gimmick to entice people into theaters in the silent era. Fairbanks, Jr., however, despite being more handsome than his father, lacked almost all of his charisma, and his movie career never really took off to the heights his legacy might have anticipated.
Decades later, he is best-known as Mr. Joan Crawford from 1929-1933
(including during production of this quickie). Rose Hobart, a poor man's
Norma Shearer, is a disappointing romantic interest, though dashing
Brit Anthony Bushell, resembling a less smug George Sanders, does a more
than capable job as the cuckolded brother. Character actor par
excellence Tyrell Davis, whose pursed lips and tightly clipped mustache
were a fixture in 1930s films, is memorable as a mincing family friend.
The WWI battle sequences are pale imitations of those found in Lewis
Milestone's<b> All Quiet on the Western Front </b>(1930), the previous year's Best Picture Oscar winner, but Dwan shows some flair for action photography and editing, enlivening the last act of the film considerably. And the final scene of the film is surprisingly moving and downright dreary, even with its proposed "happy ending". Not a complete waste of time, but also not at all indicative of a developing auteur at work.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NMLGDHdqPbw/UcUCWDoLC-I/AAAAAAAAAjk/fCUVpllnvNI/s1600/one+mile+from+heaven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NMLGDHdqPbw/UcUCWDoLC-I/AAAAAAAAAjk/fCUVpllnvNI/s320/one+mile+from+heaven.jpg" width="215" /></a>During his duration as a contract director for 20th Century-Fox, Dwan directed two of Shirley Temple's most noteworthy films, <b>Heidi </b>(1937) and <b>Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm </b>(1938), neither of which are included in the series (for shame). In-between came <b>One Mile from Heaven </b>(1937), a 67-minute programmer with a B-list cast and a storyline that would feel more at home in the pre-Code era, and probably would have been better handled at a studio like Warner Brothers by a director like LeRoy. Claire Trevor, a decade before her Oscar win for <b>Key Largo </b>(1945), plays 'Tex', a tough-talking newspaperwoman a few years before 'Hildy Johnson' in <b>His Girl Friday </b>(1940). Anxious for a story, and sent on a wild goose chase by her male reporter competitors, she pursues a human interest piece after discovering a white girl, appropriately named Sunny, with a black mother, Flora, living in a predominantly black neighborhood. Quelle horreur! The publicity of the story inspires the juvenile authorities to investigate, but just when it seems the case is open and shut, a wrinkle appears in the person of an ex-con with the truth about who little Sunny is. The shining moments of the film are in the press room scenes, with Trevor holding her own surrounded by a trio of conniving numbskulls, and demonstrating that Trevor deserved to go on to the better projects ahead of her. She remains one of the studio era's most underrated actresses, and is the biggest reason to see this film. Child actress Joan Carroll, proposed by Fox as a Shirley Temple heir apparent, is nowhere near as talented or appealing as the studio's primary breadwinner, and her career was short-lived, though she must have learned a few acting tricks over the years since this film because she is superb in Gregory La Cava's <b>Primrose Path </b>(1940). <i>[Now <u>there</u> is an auteur who needs a MoMA series!]</i> Making an incredible entrance, tap-dancing on the city sidewalks and beckoning all the children of the black neighborhood to come running to see his moves, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson is a scene-stealer as a neighborhood cop with a love for hoofing. That said, some of his "Amos 'n Andy" dialogue is grating, and the same goes for Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as a neighborhood store owner. Fredi Washington, so artificial in the original <b>Imitation of Life </b>(1934), has vastly improved in her acting skills, though this would be her last film of a very brief career. Considering the racial politics seen here, and her future as a civil rights activist, it's perhaps not that surprising that she chose to exit the business after this one. And that is the biggest problem with the film, and perhaps why it's so obscure today. While it's not as offensive as<b> </b>other key examples of politically incorrect Hollywood cinema, the resolution to the dilemma here is an uneasy one, putting the black characters in their place (the domestic caregiver role) and championing white saviors in solving social ills. Bill Robinson's response to the final judgment in the case is particularly unsavory. I sat in stunned disbelief as the film ended, negating all of the seemingly positive steps the film was making towards some sense of equality. As a social and historical artifact, I have to recommend <b>One Mile from Heaven </b>(1937) as an example of how the studios addressed race issues during this time. Eagle-eyed film fans will enjoy seeing Leonard Kibrick, an <i>Our Gang</i> alum, as a mouthy juvenile delinquent, and Lon Chaney, Jr., a few years before he became immortalized as <b>The Wolf Man </b>(1941), as a helpful cop at the policeman's ball.Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-7688700066188700382013-06-19T18:14:00.001-07:002013-06-19T18:21:54.301-07:0020 FEET FROM STARDOM (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bruce Springsteen puts it best in <b>20 Feet from Stardom</b>: "It's a bit of a walk...that walk to the front is complicated." The intricacies of the music industry and its politics, especially revolving around gender and race, are revealed to be the complications Springsteen, among others, readily acknowledges in this marvelous documentary sure to be adored by anyone with an ounce of affection for music. The "stars" of the film (I use the term loosely because additional voices are given equal attention) are Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, and Lisa Fischer, with an "introducing" credit given to Judith Hill. Love really needs no introduction; her work with Phil Spector, among others, is legendary, and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is a holiday standard. Clayton is arguably best-known for her work on the Rolling Stones' brilliant "Gimme Shelter", and she has worked with just about everybody in the business since starting as a Raelette for Ray Charles. Fischer began as a back-up singer for Luther Vandross, becoming a celebrated background vocalist through the 1980s and 1990s, even winning a Grammy for her solo work...before fading into the background soon after. Hill, who shot to stardom in a most unorthodox way (singing at Michael Jackson's televised memorial service), yearns for a solo career, in stark contrast to Fischer, who is perfectly content staying out of the spotlight. Hill's problem may be that her sultry voice, coupled with her song-writing and piano-playing, is reminiscent of Alicia Keys, a figure the music industry might feel they only need one of. But this unique new talent will hopefully break out after this film. She clearly deserves our attention.<br />
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Director Morgan Neville takes us on a journey through these four women's lives and careers, stopping along the way to give us sample after sample of their stellar vocal abilities. Love is someone I've never considered a back-up singer, as she had solo hits and has been considered a music icon for a while now. Her story of singing back-up for singers as diverse as Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Frank Sinatra before producer Phil Spector locked her into a decade-long contract, casting her as the ghost voice for the successful girl group The Crystals, reaches a frustrating climax when she is forced to clean houses to make ends meet. <i>[She did escape from Spector's grasp to do uncredited vocal work on a wide variety of records. Her voice turns up in the oddest places throughout the 1960s.]</i> Clayton, a self-confessed diva, still has a powerhouse voice today, and describes her dedication to succeeding as a star, but failing at almost every turn, as if fate had other plans for her. Fischer, with plentiful gold records and awards, seems content to stay in the background, singing for Sting and the Stones, but her voice is that of a star. <br />
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Also discussed as in-depthly as the film's "stars" is Ikette Claudia Lannear, the inspiration for the Rolling Stones "Brown Sugar" and who appeared in a 1974 issue of <i>Playboy</i>. A whole documentary on the revolving door aspect of the Ikettes, a
trio whose members include future songwriter Jo Armstead, the divine
P.P. Arnold, Shelly Clark (soon to join The Honey Cone), the late great
Pat Powdrill, both Brenda and Patrice Holloway, and a number of other
talented, vivacious ladies, would be a great idea. Lannear remembers her friendship with Mick Jagger and working with Ike and Tina, as well as Joe Cocker on "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" and George Harrison on "The Concert for Bangladesh", but soon after her attempt at a solo recording career, her opportunities dried up and she ran from the industry with her tail between her legs. However, her story comes to a satisfying conclusion, which can be said for all of the women spotlighted here.<br />
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There are moments in this film that made me get emotionally choked up simply out of my joy for the music of the past. Love, reuniting with original Blossoms Fanita James and Jean King, still alive and singing as if no time had passed at all... Merry Clayton listening to her voice, isolated, singing the best and most memorable part of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" (Mick Jagger pops up to give his memories of the last-minute recording session)... Clayton in a rare, blistering TV appearance on "The Music Scene", singing "Southern Man", giving it all her all, while talking head interview subjects, including Clayton, come up empty when searching for excuses why her solo career went nowhere (her solo albums are glorious, seek them out)... the Waters Family sitting around their dining room table and recounting their vast credits, breaking into impromptu harmonizing of some of their most familiar back-up vocals. These are small scenes with the emotional weight of dramatic monologues. Revisiting music history has rarely been captured so beautifully. <br />
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Classic pop, soul and R&B fans will be elated to see Gloria Jones of "Tainted Love" fame, Love's sister Edna Wright of the best 70s girl group, The Honey Cone (may her singing sister Syreeta rest in peace), classic Raelette Mable John, Susaye Greene of the 70s incarnation (and dare I say superior line-up) of the Supremes, Rose Stone of Sly and his Family, and bubbly Tata Vega, whose voice you may recognize from <b>The Color Purple </b>soundtrack (she was Margaret Avery's singing double). We even meet David Lasley, a male back-up singer who worked with everyone from Sister Sledge to Luther Vandross. Speaking of Vandross, we learn of his origins as a back-up singer on David Bowie's "Young Americans". The film makes a strong argument for these legendary men and women actually being the driving force behind the success of many of the singles they appeared on. And when you consider the hooks of these songs, it doesn't seem so far-fetched. The famed choruses of songs like "Sweet Home Alabama", "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Love the One You're With", and "What'd I Say" are so catchy and well-loved because of the vibrant voices behind the lead singer. The next time you listen to one of your favorite songs, pay close attention to the background vocals, and wonder what their story is...and why they haven't graduated to the front of the stage.<br />
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And now for some music. First, Darlene Love with the Blossoms singing with Tom Jones on his variety show in 1971. Second, Merry Clayton's tremendous cover of "Southern Man". Third, Lisa Fischer taking over for Clayton on "Gimme Shelter" with the Stones in 1995. Fourth, Claudia Lennear performing "Let It Be" with the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lHumkOWEqJk" width="420"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-3407177316542786722013-06-06T21:38:00.002-07:002013-06-06T21:38:53.437-07:00THE 400 BLOWS (1959)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Approaching the French New Wave 50-plus years after it began, it might be helpful to categorize the movement's noted directors for newcomers to their work. Alain Resnais and Jacques Rivette made arguably the most challenging films of the movement, where Jean-Luc Godard's feel as experimental and innovative as they did then, providing different challenges to their viewers. Claude Chabrol's feel the most accessible for today's viewers, but Francois Truffaut's just might be the most pleasurable to watch of all his contemporaries. More than the others, he wears his love of all things cinema boldly on his sleeve, making his work endlessly fascinating and enjoyable upon repeat viewings. His cinematic opening act, <b>The 400 Blows </b>(1959), takes a simple autobiographical story and infuses it with unexpected depth and intelligence, and it would just get better from here.<br />
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Antoine Doinel is a troublemaker, passing bikini-clad centerfolds in class, skipping school to run through the streets of Paris, and generally being a poor student and son, at least in the eyes of his elders. Inspired by Truffaut's troubled childhood and dedicated to late film criticism legend Andre Bazin (credited with saving Truffaut from a life wasted through crime and poor decisions), <b>400 Blows </b>stacks the cards completely in favor of Antoine. His parents are ill-equipped to handle a son they can barely conceal they don't want, his teachers berate him and discourage him from improving himself, and his sole moments of solace are spent with best friend Rene (based on a real-life life-long friend of Truffaut). Antoine's most joyous experiences take place in wide, free spaces, otherwise he is confined to a claustrophobic apartment as his home, a dull classroom, or a literal cage, seen in the film's final act. This containment of youthful exuberance, rejected completely in the finale, is the real enemy of the piece, as Truffaut's camera follows Antoine's long, excited run through the country, setting his hero free and creating a New Wave masterpiece in the process.<br />
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Compare <b>400 Blows </b>with Godard's <b>Breathless </b>from the same year. Godard demonstrates his love of film by breaking it into pieces to see how it works and not really caring to put it back together again, creating a different kind of film language. Truffaut's love of film flows throughout the narrative, which is also more focused and detailed than Godard's work. There are moments in <b>400 Blows </b>where Truffaut's camera gazes longingly at the joy of looking: the audience POV juxtaposed with Antoine's POV in the whirling gravity-defying ride, the multiple reactions and emotions on the faces of young children watching a puppet show. It is during these scenes when we might remember that Truffaut's background in film criticism, and the pleasure he received from viewing films from his favorite American directors as well as other European visionaries like de Sica and Rossellini is reflected beautifully in the faces of his characters.<span class="st"></span><br />
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The last third of the film, dealing with Antoine's punishment for his actions, feels anti-climactic, but perhaps precisely because we have identified with his youthful devil-may-care behavior and are reminded vividly of that moment when one stops being a child and has to be an adult. Such coming-of-age lessons, in film as in real life, are rarely happy ones. The practically non-ending feels appropriate, and Truffaut would follow Antoine Doinel in three subsequent films and one short film, his alter ego always played by maturing child actor Jean-Pierre Leaud. The kid became a star for a reason. He is simply superb, a natural talent. Special note must also be made of the wonderful score, part of which recently appeared to great effect in Noam Baumbach's <b>Frances Ha</b>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/i89oN8v7RdY" width="420"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-47225425577235710782013-05-18T16:52:00.003-07:002013-05-18T16:52:27.776-07:00FRANCES HA (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is that moment when your friend is telling you about his or her life, and it all sounds so perfect, and according to plan, and what you should be doing...so your only proper response is to lie that everything with you is going just fine, and "pretty great myself", out of a sense of competition but also a desire to give a sense of false comfort to yourself. <b>Frances Ha </b>has one of the best of those moments ever captured in a film. HBO's "Girls" had a similar moment in this past uneven season, but Greta Gerwig and Mickey Sumner, as Frances and Sophie, two best friends whose paths post-college are going in wildly different directions, make this phone conversation, crossing the Atlantic, so grand and vivid. Frances is a modern dancer, only she has all the determination and passion for the art form without the requisite talent. Sophie is working a nine-to-five at a book publisher's agency. Clearly one is making more money than the other, and there begins the fork in the road of their relationship.<br />
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While <b>Frances Ha </b>is about these two women and how they grow apart over the course of several months, the focus is squarely on Frances, as she bounces from one apartment to another, struggling to find a permanent place in a modern dance company where she has been apprenticing for who knows how long. The film is broken into chapters based on her current address, beginning in Brooklyn, jumping to Chinatown (living with Adam Driver, another link to the film's apparent sister series, "Girls", and Michael Zegen, a single writer whose constant flirtations go unnoticed), then to a couch in the apartment of established dancer Grace Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter), and finally to a summer camp in Poughkeepsie, surrounded by younger college students judging her lack of upward motion post-graduation. Even a splurge trip to Paris for two days results in missed opportunities and generally ignored tourist sights in the background. Frances' story concludes with a rather pat final sequence, almost too perfect in its solutions to her problems, but does wisely leave room for her continued self-improvement. A character this dynamic and with such interesting quirks and dilemmas cannot be perfected within the space of a narrative feature film. By the end credits roll, Frances has turned a corner, but she has many more ahead of her. As I left the theater, I wondered what was in store for Frances, and hell, myself, as we both traveled life's journey after graduating college and pursue finding stability, love, and a space in the world all your own.<br />
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Noah Baumbach, a polarizing director whose work either inspires rage or empathy from his viewers, has rather wisely shared this film with Gerwig, who is credited as the script's co-writer. This makes it far easier to recommend <b>Frances Ha</b> to anti-Baumbach enthusiasts, because the finished product feels more like a Gerwig vehicle, from page to screen, than a Baumbach vision. Gerwig herself, however, has raised the ire of some viewers, who find her hipster pixie girl persona off-putting and phony. To those viewers, I bite my thumb. In this title character, and in just about everything else she's done, she is warm and funny and awkward and beautiful. We wince as Frances makes bad decisions, and applaud her small triumphs, and it's because of the vibrancy Gerwig so fearlessly gives her character. The highlight of the film, seen in the trailer, finds Gerwig running and dancing across New York crosswalks to David Bowie's "Modern Love", with a sense of joyous adventure and eager excitement that cannot help but be infectious. It is this shameless exuberance that makes <b>Frances Ha</b> such a pleasure.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ke7owylVeMg" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-70589231254146446612013-05-15T22:05:00.001-07:002013-05-15T22:07:32.826-07:002 by Delmer Daves at Anthology Film Archives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the few key directors discussed in Andrew Sarris' "The American Cinema" without a book-length biography is Delmer Daves, which is surprising considering how popular and well-loved many of his films have remained over the years. However, unlike his fellow auteurs working in similar genres (John Ford, Anthony Mann, Howard Hawks), one cannot generally tell a Delmer Daves film by its visual style or its thematic elements. He was, like many of his contemporaries, a solid studio-era director who just so happened to deliver good films time and again, even if they did not distinguish him from others of his type. Anthology Film Archives, whose "From the Pen Of..." series sheds light on underrated Hollywood screenwriters, also devotes several weeks a year to another series, "Overdue", programmed by critics who select a filmmaker who deserves, at long last, a retrospective film series. The month of May spotlights Daves with 5 films, including classic movie fan favorites like 1945's <b>Pride of the Marines</b> and 1950's <b>Broken Arrow</b>. If you asked fans of those films who directed it, one has to wonder if they would know. The stars, yes, are John Garfield and Jimmy Stewart, respectively, but the director? Daves is not a cinematic name brand. Maybe he never aimed to be.<br />
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Produced during the same year the HUAC hearings began, the provocatively-named <b>The Red House </b>(1947) is often written about as being a <i>film noir</i>, with its dark shadows and murderous secrets. However, anyone coming to this film expecting something in the <i>noir</i> mode will be disappointed. It does deliver a solid, if a tad unbelievable, mystery, engaging performances, and beautiful suspenseful atmosphere. Daves broke from the studio system to write, produce, and distribute this film independently for United Artists producer Sol Lesser, giving the film a slight edge and individual look that other pictures from 1947 did not offer. More than half is shot outdoors, in some confining spaces, contributing further to the overall independent aura of the production, free from the restrictions of studio walls.<br />
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There is something overwhelmingly Lynchian about <b>Red House</b>, as the small town is introduced by voice-over narration as a quaint locale far from the big bad city and with an innocence that has lasted over generations. Then the squeaky-clean rural setting is corrupted by the mysterious mention of a "red house" residing within the Oxhead Woods, one that produces blood-curdling screams that carry over wild winds in the dead of night. Pete Morgan (Edward G. Robinson) warns his young farmhand Nath (Lon McCallister) to stay away from the woods at night, naturally giving the inquisitive teenager a case of the investigative bug. He recruits Pete's adopted daughter, Meg (Allene Roberts), to help him find the red house, incurring the wrath of Nath's jealous sexpot girlfriend Tibbie (singer Julie London, channeling Rita Hayworth in <b>Gilda</b>) and the villainous advances of property protector Teller (beefcake Rory Calhoun). Pete's spinster sister Ellen (Judith Anderson, who has never been bad in anything) knows the secret of the red house and threatens to burn the dastardly hovel to the ground.<br />
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The investigative team of Nath and Meg, and in fact the entire scenario of a small town's secret being hidden not-so-deep beneath the surface, surely had a vivid influence on Lynch's <b>Blue Velvet </b>(1986), and Roberts' Meg is about as impossibly innocent as Laura Dern's Sandy. But even ignoring the obvious Lynch connections, <b>Red House </b>has much to recommend. As the film becomes progressively more intense and mysterious, the sunny vistas become more ominous and threatening, through superb photography by Bert Glennon. Robinson gives one of his finest performances as a man driven by his dark past and doomed to repeat his haunting mistakes, and while McCallister isn't the most engaging hero, Roberts is the ideal blonde American apple pie heroine. As previously mentioned, Anderson is always marvelous, though she is not featured in the film nearly enough, and London and Calhoun provide gender-specific eye candy. If there is a major fault with the film, it's that the running time is far longer than the mystery's interest can sustain. By the time the red house is found, it's some distance from the final act, which is where the discovery would hold more dramatic weight. That said, Daves builds the suspense as Robinson's dark secrets emerge and the lives of those around him are continually threatened. And that dark woodland ending is a stunner.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The complete movie <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>The Red House</i></span></span></b><br />
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Following the excellence of <b>3:10 to Yuma </b>(1957), it's quite a step down for Daves to deliver such a formulaic western as <b>Cowboy </b>(1958). The film reunites Daves with his <b>Jubal </b>(1956) and <b>Yuma </b>star Glenn Ford, but also saddles him with an unusually cast Jack Lemmon in a role perhaps better suited for someone with more gravitas as a western/action star. It's your rather standard manhood rite of passage story, based on what might have been a more compelling book by Frank Harris, played here by Lemmon. He is a poor hotel clerk who yearns to be a working man, and whose interest in a Mexican beauty leads him to enlist with Ford's cattle trail team. When he discovers she has married in his absence, Lemmon hardens and becomes a heartless cowboy, only softened by Ford's gradual growth towards sensitivity and humanity. Snore. While Daves does include some rather thrilling set pieces (the trail hands play with a rattlesnake with deadly results, Ford must place a ring around a bull's horn, a rough and tumble fistfight around the campfire), they are not enough to completely enliven what is otherwise a puerile genre effort. Even the Saul Bass titles are dull. The supporting cast has some fun faces in it, including Dick York (pre-"Bewitched"), Richard Jaeckel, Brian Donlevy (third-billed in what is essentially a glorified cameo), Strother Martin, and Anna Kasfhi as Harris' love interest (at the time she was Mrs. Marlon Brando). Daves would make a far better western, <b>The Hanging Tree </b>(1959), the next year.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">This<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> t<span style="font-size: xx-small;">railer is far better than the film.</span></span></span></b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NnC2T31f_Mk" width="560"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-83231505026313269432013-05-15T20:58:00.000-07:002013-05-15T20:58:32.588-07:00Portrait of Jason (1967)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The common perception of the documentary is that we, the audience, are seeing the truth. But it's a "truth" that has been shaped by others, building "performances" out of people seemingly being themselves and often working towards a narrative structure that real life does not always afford. So when Shirley Clarke placed her camera in front of a middle-aged black homosexual hustler in 1960s New York to capture his incredible stories, it takes some poking and prodding to get her subject going in the directions she wants. By the abrupt conclusion of <b>Portrait of Jason </b>(1967), there is the glaring question of what or who exactly it is a documentary about. This question is what continues to make Clarke's work an enduring classic finally reaching a wider audience through its Milestone Video re-release.<br />
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The most vivid truth of <b>Portrait of Jason </b>is that its central character, a self-admitted hustler and con artist, is giving the performance of his lifetime. Jason Holliday isn't even his real name; he was born Aaron Payne, but adopted his pseudonym while living in San Francisco. His stories, while involving, can never be fully trusted. But that doesn't stop them from helping to create an engrossing and very human character before our very eyes. Provided with ample alcohol and pot by Clarke and her filmmaking cohorts, who also throw out prompts for good stories ("Talk about Brother Tough. Do some of your act."), Jason's story is his to tell, but it is also molded by the filmmakers, culled from a marathon 12-hour interview session. He recalls his various houseboy jobs, many revealing the world of racial divide he grew up in, but also openly discusses his homosexual liaisons and how well-endowed he is (or isn't). Jason deviates from his established free-wheeling character for hilarious celebrity impersonations, from Mae West to Butterfly McQueen to Katharine Hepburn, which he claims are part of a nightclub act he is actively working to make a reality...before he laughs himself silly at ignoring multiple phone calls from a venue interested in booking him. <br />
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This almost constant laughter of Jason's, as he downs tumblers of booze and chain smokes marijuana cigarettes, is at first charming. But as the film progresses, we wonder how someone can be this jovial, even under the influence. Then his stories begin to betray layers of self-hatred and pain. But then, are these feelings genuine? Are the stories real? When Clarke's fellow interrogator Carl Lee (son of blacklisted actor Canada Lee) accuses Jason of betraying him in the film's final act, the hustler's tense and tearful reactions are unlike anything we've seen from Jason before. But there is that question again, are they real? Does it matter? In the long run, not really, because Jason is one unique showman, and keeping we viewers enthralled for a feature's length is no small feat. This is a film you can come back to numerous times and still be surprised by new discoveries in Jason's stories, his delivery, the narrative structure, and what Clarke is truly attempting to do with this unusual documentary form.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gK9qRfb7pbc" width="420"></iframe>Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-17284213883163115732013-05-08T18:47:00.004-07:002013-05-08T18:47:47.477-07:00May 7 - first day back!My return to New York was also a return to the movies, and the city continues to be the best place for film lovers in the world. Yes, L.A., even better than you.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XOjJ4FXCjFE/UYr-E4mxZEI/AAAAAAAAAbM/1vTDJSnoG9Y/s1600/Voyage+in+Italy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XOjJ4FXCjFE/UYr-E4mxZEI/AAAAAAAAAbM/1vTDJSnoG9Y/s320/Voyage+in+Italy.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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Roberto Rossellini's <b>Voyage to Italy </b>(1954) (or as it's referred to just about everywhere but the Film Forum calendar, <b>Journey to Italy</b>) has managed to elude much attention from scholars and film fans over the decades since its release, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that it paired the director with his controversial real-life amour Ingrid Bergman. Andrew Sarris and Francois Truffaut, the original auteurist scholars, were admirers of the film, but it has largely been forgotten in favor of focusing on Rossellini's pre-Bergman work. It's interesting to consider that even as his marital indiscretions with his Swedish muse and wife have been forgiven over time, his films with her still tend to be dismissed. One has to wonder why this particular film has been chosen for a re-evaluation over their other collaborations; <b>Stromboli </b>(1950) is particularly interesting, and has much in common with his neo-realist origins, and <b>Fear</b> (1954) is a fine psychological thriller. Both are better than <b>Voyage to Italy</b>. Beautifully restored by the consistently great Cineteca di Bologna, the re-release of <b>Voyage to Italy </b>is not a complete waste of time, but is also not a revival to get overly excited about.<br />
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Bergman and George Sanders play Catherine and Alex, a British couple on their first vacation together alone, driving through Italy to reach Naples, where Alex hopes to place his late uncle's villa on the market. As the two begin to notice that not only are they happier when they are without the other, but they are developing overwhelming romantic desires for others, the journey becomes more uncomfortable and reaches a boiling point with an explosive argument over a borrowed car that leads to words they both wish were never spoken.<br />
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We are really given very little information about who Catherine and Alex are, making their eventual discovery that they don't really know each other very well slightly more effective. We don't know either. Sanders, who always tended to be smug and condescending in everything he did, provides vivid contrast to the emotional highs often found in Bergman's performances. If they seem mismatched, all the better. This is a couple that has very little in common, except perhaps the fact that they don't love one another. Based on a novel by Colette, the woman we can also blame for <b>Gigi</b> (1958), the slight narrative of the film is enlivened by striking black and white cinematography by Enzo Serafin. The camera prowls the museums, ruins, and streets of Naples and Pompeii, serving as a fine travelogue of 1950s Italy while also providing comparisons between the doomed couple and the stone works of art. There are also interesting casting choices that outsider film fans will admire. Paul Muller, later to become a member of Jess Franco's regular troupe of thespians, plays a beatnik-type tagging along with a trio of free-wheeling lady tourists, and Leslie Daniels, appearing here as the caretaker of Alex's uncle's villa, somehow followed up his esteemed work in European arthouse films with a memorable co-starring role as the doctor's assistant whose arm is gorily torn off in <b>The Brain That Wouldn't Die </b>(1959/62). From Rossellini to Jan in the Pan...that's quite an actor's journey.<br />
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A disastrous ending can completely undo a film, no matter what good came before it. In the case of <b>Voyage to Italy</b>, the final scene seems to contradict everything Rossellini was trying to accomplish in his exploration of a marriage disintegrating. If this was the ending of the novel, it's a wonder that the director even bothered adapting it in the first place. For the master of Italian neorealism to conclude his story with a wildly unrealistic and stylized Hollywood ending voids much of the film's effectiveness. It destroys what could have been a minor, but noteworthy entry in his oeuvre.<br />
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You probably know of <b>The Source Family </b>(2012) even if you think you don't. If you've seen <b>Annie Hall </b>(1977), <b>Just the Two of Us </b>(1970), <b>Alex in Wonderland </b>(1970), or <b>Cisco Pike </b>(1972), the Source restaurant, a mainstay of the Sunset Strip in 1970s Los Angeles and home to the Family, is featured prominently in key sequences in those films. As featured in this documentary, the Family even inspired a skit on "Saturday Night Live". Where the Manson Family and Jim Jones' Peoples' Temple have shifted public awareness of cult mentality into negative images of mass murder, mindless followers, and megalomaniacal leaders, Jim Baker's Source Family was quite a different animal. This group began with a health food store and blossomed into a 140-person commune of men, women, and children following a self-written philosophy combining the best elements of major world religions. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and the Family's existence lasted a mere five years before Baker's unusual behavior (including adopting 13 wives and moving the family headquarters to Hawaii) led to family members heading for the hills and eventual group disintegration following their leader's death. Baker, known first as Father Yod and then as YaHoWha within the Family, had a fascinating life story even before he, but to reveal more of this unusual story would rob you of the wonderful surprises in store for the adventurous spectator.<br />
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The most incredible aspect of the documentary is the sheer volume of archival material used. Assigned by Baker with the task of documenting the Family and its history, Isis Aquarian (the film's associate producer, and ex-girlfriend of famed photographer Ron Raffaelli, also interviewed here) captured daily life, meditations, and key events of the Family's existence in photographs, audio recordings, and home movie footage. Maybe the best material is to be found in the film's soundtrack, made up entirely of original recordings by the Family's rock band, the YaHoWha 13, which released a staggering nine albums in a very short period of time. Original copies of the LP's sell for top dollar among collectors today, but the curious can check out the few CD releases available. Most are available on iTunes listed either under Father Yod and the Source Family or the Yahowha 13. There is even a mammoth 13-CD boxed set, now out of print, that looks to be the final word on the musical world of the Source Family.<br />
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Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195073158983528498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564438912821302566.post-21606953190633470982012-12-29T07:05:00.000-08:002012-12-29T07:08:30.789-08:00My NYC theater experiences in 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"> <span style="color: white;"><u><b>10 Best NYC Rep Movie Experiences of 2012</b></u></span></span><br />
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10. <b>Ms. 45 </b>(Museum of the Moving Image)</div>
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9. <b>Chinatown Nights </b>w/ <b>Woman Trap </b>(Film Forum)</div>
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8. <b>Smile </b>(Anthology Film Archives)</div>
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7. <b>Wild Girl </b>(Museum of Modern Art)</div>
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6. <b>Myra Breckinridge </b>(Walter Reade Theater/Lincoln Center)</div>
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5. <b>Heroes for Sale </b>w/ <b>Wild Boys of the Road </b>(Film Forum)</div>
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4. <b>What Have You Done to Solange? </b>(Anthology Film Archives)</div>
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3. <b>Dial M for Murder </b>in 3-D (Film Forum)</div>
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2. <b>Bonjour Tristesse </b>(Film Forum)</div>
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1. <b>Don't Torture a Duckling </b>(Anthology Film Archives)</div>
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<i>Based on my top 10 favorite experiences seeing classic/vintage movies in a theater, </i><b><span style="color: orange;">Film Forum</span> </b><i>and </i><b><span style="color: orange;">Anthology Film Archives</span> </b><i>tie as the best repertory theaters in the city for me.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>Movies by Theater</u>:</span><br />
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Those marked in <span style="color: red;">red <span style="color: white;">were bad experiences due to patrons, print issues, or the movie itself.</span></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
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Those marked in <span style="color: orange;">gold <span style="color: white;">were the best/most memorable experiences I had in 2012.</span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Angelika Film Center (<span style="font-size: large;">4</span>)</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Jan. 26 - <b>We Need to Talk About Kevin </b>(2012)</span><br />
Sep. 9 - <b>Hello I Must Be Going </b>(2012)<br />
Dec. 14 - <b>Silver Linings Playbook </b>(2012)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Dec. 17 - <b>The Sessions </b>(2012)</span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Anthology Film Archives (18)</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Mar. 1 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>Smile </b>(1975)</span><br />
April 7 - <i>Spanish Cinema of the Early Post-Franco Era: </i><b>The Disenchantment </b>(1976)<br />
April 8 - <i>Spanish Cinema of the Early Post-Franco Era: </i><b>Ocana: An Intermittent Portrait </b>(1978)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 8 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>Payday </b>(1973)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 8 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>The Innocents </b>(1961)</span><br />
Sep. 14 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>The Stepfather </b>(1987)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 14 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>Cops and Robbers </b>(1973)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 16 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>Walk on the Wild Side </b>(1962)</span><br />
Sep. 16 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>The Loved One </b>(1965)<br />
<span style="color: red;">Sep. 17 - <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>The Panic in Needle Park </b>(1971)</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Sep. 17<b> </b>- <i>From the Pen of...: </i><b>Play It as It Lays </b>(1972)</span><br />
Sep. 21 - <i>Giallo Fever: </i><b>House with Laughing Windows </b>(1976)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 21 - <i>Giallo Fever: </i><b>Don't Torture a Duckling </b>(1972)</span><br />
Sep. 22 - <i>Giallo Fever: </i><b>The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh </b>(1971)<br />
<span style="color: red;">Sep. 22 - <i>Giallo Fever: </i><b>Deep Red </b>(1975)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 22 - <i>Giallo Fever: </i><b>What Have You Done to Solange? </b>(1972)</span><br />
Sep. 23 - <i>Giallo Fever: </i><b>The Girl who Knew Too Much </b>(1963)<br />
<span style="color: red;">Sep. 23 - <i>Giallo Fever: </i><b>One on Top of the Other (Perversion Story) </b>(1969)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Cinema Village 7</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">April 27 - <i>Tribeca Film Festival</i>: <b>Side by Side</b><i> </i>(2012)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>City Cinemas East Village</i></u></span><br />
Sep. 22 - <b>The Master </b>in 70mm (2012)<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Film Forum (3<span style="font-size: large;">4</span>)</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Feb. 9 - <b>Pretty Poison </b>(1968)</span> <br />
<span style="color: orange;">Feb. 13 - <i>Wellman</i>: <b>Chinatown Nights </b>(1929) & <b>Woman Trap </b>(non-Wellman, 1936<b>) </b>(2)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Feb. 14 - <i>Wellman</i>: <b>Nothing Sacred </b>(1937) & <b>A Star is Born </b>(1937) (2)</span><br />
Feb. 16 - <i>Wellman</i>: <b>Night Nurse</b> (1931), <b>The Purchase Price </b>(1932) & <b>The Man I Love </b>(1929) (3) <br />
<span style="color: orange;">Feb. 17 - <i>Wellman</i>: <b>Heroes for Sale </b>(1933) & <b>Wild Boys of the Road </b>(1933) (2)</span> <br />
Feb. 21 - <i>Wellman</i>: <b>Stingaree </b>(1934), <b>Central Airport </b>(1933), & <b>Safe in Hell </b>(1931) (3) <br />
<span style="color: orange;">Feb. 24 - <i>Wellman</i>: <b>Track of the Cat </b>(1954) & <b>Westward the Women</b> (1951) (2)</span><br />
Feb. 27 - <i>Wellman</i>: <b>The Young Eagles</b> (1930), <b>The Conquerors </b>(1932) & <b>Frisco Jenny </b>(1932) (3)<br />
<span style="color: red;">April 2 - <b>The Long Day Closes </b>(1992)</span><br />
April 9 - <b>Ruggles of Red Gap </b>(1935)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">April 23 - <b>The Gang's All Here </b>(1943)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">April 30 - <b>Bonjour Tristesse </b>(1958)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">May 10 - <b>Celine and Julie Go Boating </b>(1974)</span><br />
May 11 - <b>Grand Illusion </b>(1937) Celebrity sighting: Peggy Steffans Sarno<br />
Sep. 3 - <i>French Old Wave:</i><b><i> </i>The Earrings of Madame de... </b>(1953)<br />
Sep. 3 - <b>The Good, the Bad and the Ugly </b>(1966)<br />
Sep. 5 - <i>French Old Wave: </i><b>Le Million</b> (1931) & <b>A Nous la Liberte </b>(1931)<br />
Sep. 9 - <i>French Old Wave: </i><b>Orphee </b>(1950) & <b>Beauty and the Beast </b>(1946)<br />
Sep. 16 - <b>Port of Shadows </b>(1938)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 29 - <b>Dial M for Murder </b>in 3-D (1954)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b> </b></span><br />
Oct. 16 - <b>Creature from the Black Lagoon </b>in 3-D (1953)<br />
Dec. 17 - <b>Consuming Spirits </b>(2012) <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>IFC Center (<span style="font-size: large;">7</span>)</i></u></span><br />
Feb. 4 - <b>Kill List </b>(2011) <br />
Feb. 26 - <b>Oscar-Nominated Live Action Shorts </b>(2011)<br />
Feb. 26 - <b>Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts </b>(2011)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Sep. 8 - <b>Detropia </b>(2012)</span><br />
Sep. 8 - <b>Girl Model </b>(2011)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Oct. 7 - <b>The Man who Knew Too Much </b>(1934)</span><br />
Dec. 17 - <b>It's a Wonderful Life </b>(1946)<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Lincoln Center - Francesca Beale Theater</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Sep. 9 - <b>Keep the Lights On </b>(2012)</span><u><i> </i></u><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Lincoln Center - Howard Gilman Theater</i></u></span><br />
Oct. 1 - <i>50th New York Film Festival: </i><b>Pursued </b>(1947)<u><i> </i></u><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Lincoln Center - Walter Reade Theater (15)</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Feb. 10 - <i>Cinematic Goddess, American Sex Symbol: </i><b>Myra Breckinridge </b>(1970)</span> <br />
<span style="color: red;">Feb. 12 - <i>Cinematic Goddess, American Sex Symbol: </i><b>Kansas City Bomber </b>(1972)</span><br />
Feb. 12 - <i>Cinematic Goddess, American Sex Symbol: </i><b>Hannie Caulder </b>(1971)<br />
Feb. 12 - <i>Cinematic Goddess, American Sex Symbol: </i><b>The Last of Sheila </b>(1973) <br />
<span style="color: red;">Feb. 23 - <i>Film Comment Selects: </i><b>Silent House </b>(2011)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Feb. 23 - <i>Film Comment Selects: </i><b>Headhunters </b>(2011)</span> <br />
Mar. 10 - <i>Rendez-Vous with French Cinema: </i><b>Last Screening </b>(2011)<br />
Mar. 10 - <i>Rendez-Vous with French Cinema: </i><b>38 Witnesses </b>(2012)<br />
Mar. 22 - <i>New Directors/New Films: </i><b>Las Acacias </b>(2011)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Mar. 24 - <i>New Directors/New Films: </i><b>Goodbye </b>(2011)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Mar. 24 - <i>New Directors/New Films: </i><b>The Raid: Redemption </b>(2011)</span><b> </b> <br />
<span style="color: orange;">Mar. 24 - <i>New Directors/New Films: </i><b>How to Survive a Plague </b>(2012)</span> <br />
<span style="color: red;">Mar. 29 - <i>New Directors/New Films: </i><b>Oslo, August 31 </b>(2011)</span> <br />
April 1 - <i>New Directors/New Films: </i><b>Porfirio </b>(2011)<br />
Oct. 1 - <i>50th New York Film Festival: </i><b>Liv and Ingmar </b>(2012) Celebrity sighting - Ricky Jay<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Museum of Arts and Design</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: red;">April 19 - <i>Argento: Il Cinema nel Sangue: </i><b>Suspiria </b>(1977)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (1<span style="font-size: large;">7</span>)</i></u></span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Mar. 14 - <i>Canadian Front 2012: </i><b>Sunflower Hour </b>(2011)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Mar. 14 - <i>Canadian Front 2012: </i><b>Monsieur Lazhar </b>(2011)</span> <br />
Mar. 15 - <i>Canadian Front 2012: </i><b>Mesnak </b>(2011) <br />
Mar. 16 - <i>Canadian Front 2012: </i><b>Romeo Eleven </b>(2011) <br />
<span style="color: orange;">Mar. 16 - <i>Canadian Front 2012: </i><b>Starbuck </b>(2011) </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Mar. 18 - <i>Canadian Front 2012: </i><b>Cafe de Flore </b>(2011)</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Mar. 18 - <i>Canadian Front 2012: </i><b>Roller Town </b>(2012)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">April 3 - <i>Carte Blanche: Cindy Sherman: </i><b>Fuego </b>(1969)</span><br />
Oct. 11 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i><b>Call Her Savage </b>(1932)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Oct. 11 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i><b>Wild Girl </b>(1932)</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Oct. 14 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i>Anarchist Movies of the Spanish Civil War - <b>Report on the Revolutionary Movement </b>(1936) & <b>Carne de Fieras (Flesh of Beasts) </b>(1936)</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Oct. 14 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i><b>Barrios Bajos (Slums) </b>(1937)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Oct. 14 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i><b>Tell Me Lies (A Film About London) </b>(1968)</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Oct. 16 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i><b>San Diego Surf </b>(1968)</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Oct. 17 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i><b>Sparrers Can't Sing </b>(1963)</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: orange;">Oct. 17 - <i>To Save and Project 10: </i><b>Genghis Khan </b>(1950)</span> </span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Museum of th</i><i>e Moving Image (MoMI) (3)</i></u></span><br />
Jan. 28 - <i>David Cronenberg: </i><b>They Came from Within </b>(1975)<br />
Jan. 28 - <i>David Cronenberg: </i><b>Rabid </b>(1977)<br />
<span style="color: orange;">May 11 - <i>Fashion in Film: If Looks Could Kill: </i><b>Ms. 45 </b>(1981)</span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><i><u><span style="font-size: large;">Regal Union Square</span></u></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nov<span style="font-size: small;">. 12 - <b>Skyfall </b>(2012)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Tisch - Cinema Studies Cinematheque</i></u></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">De<span style="font-size: small;">c. 7 - <b>You and Me </b>(1938) <span style="font-size: small;">&</span> <b>Remember the N<span style="font-size: small;">ight </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">(1940)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><i></i></div>
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