Looking Back

As Andrew Grant, David Fear and I discussed in our podcast last October, Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín's Tony Manero was my favorite feature at the 2008 New York Film Festival, a marvelously unhinged study of pop-culture obsession in a suffocating environment (if I may crib myself). From All Movie Guide:

As Augusto Pinochet holds Chile in the grip of dictatorship, a fifty year old man obsessed with John Travolta's character from Saturday Night Fever imitates his idol each weekend in a small bar on the outskirts of Santiago. Each weekend, Raúl Peralta (Alfredo Castro) and his friends—a devoted group of dancers—gather in a small bar and act out their favorite scenes from Saturday Night Fever. Raúl longs to become a showbiz superstar, and when the national television announces a Tony Manero impersonating contest it seems like he may finally have a shot at living his dreams. But as Raúl is driven to commit a series of crimes and thefts in order to reproduce his matinee idol's persona, his dancing partners (also underground resistance fighters who rail against the regime) are persecuted by the secret police.

Calling in from Chile, Larraín and I got down! ... I mean, we got down to business over fascism, disco, the Chilean filmmaking scene, and why he agrees with one of his naysayers—with an appropriate smattering of cultural references throughout: Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, John Zorn and Felix Mendelssohn (?!).

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Tony Manero opens in New York tomorrow and in Los Angeles on July 17, with more dates to come. For showtimes and more info, visit the Cinema Village website.

Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

If you've got the guts, you adventuresome types need to check out the final New York Asian Film Festival screening (July 2, 2:00pm, IFC Center) of South Korean actor Yang Ik-June's writing and directorial debut Breathless—that ain't no joke of a title. In its first stressful, claustrophobically close-up scene, a woman is beaten senseless in the streets while loan-shark enforcer Sang-hoon (Yang) observes indifferently, then brutalizes the victimizer before unexpectedly smacking around the woman as well (all the while berating her for being a victim). Sleepy-eyed, gutter-mouthed, mustachioed thug Sang-hoon instantly makes for an unsympathetic protagonist, and as his actions soon prove, he'll turn feral on anyone who so much as breathes the wrong way. His violent outbursts are so relentless that even working as a guy who beats up people for a living, his co-workers have to worry about getting beat up by him, too. Could there be a less likeable character in a more unpleasant viewing experience? Would it have been an easier swallow if the filmmaking were flashy or stylized, instead of unadorned and handheld?

Continued reading NYAFF '09: Film of the Week...

Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

by Jeffrey M. Anderson

In the great tradition of tough-guy filmmakers like Howard Hawks, Don Siegel and Samuel Fuller, Kathryn Bigelow is one of the finest living crafters of male-bonding genre films. It may seem an odd fit, as the beautiful, elegant, highly intelligent 57 year-old woman was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute with a background in painting; she's hardly the eye-patch-wearing, cigar-chomping type like her Hollywood predecessors. When I asked her about this duality in 2002, she responded with genuine puzzlement. Why would a woman want to make muscular action films? Frankly, why not?

Bigelow's latest, The Hurt Locker—easily one of the year's best films, based on journalist-turned-screenwriter Mark Boal's interviews and experiences—revolves around the lives of three Army bomb techs (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty) in the last days of their Iraq tour, circa 2004. Yes, it's yet another right-here, right-now Iraq film, but it doesn't hurl any messages in our faces about the horrors or futility of war. It's not dreary, somber or self-serving. It's not about politics or politicians, wives or families, insurgents or Iraqis. Rather, we're presented with a sturdy combat film with lots of thrills and explosions and summertime-friendly action. It dares to suggest that, sure, war is hell, but it's not without its pleasures.

Continued reading INTERVIEW: Kathryn Bigelow...

Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad)
Directed by Alain Resnais
1961, 94 minutes, In French with English subtitles
Criterion

I don't eat red meat, so it gives me no pleasure to cook a sacred cow like Last Year at Marienbad, an incontestably iconic and beautiful curiosity that simply hasn't held up as the masterpiece it's gushed to be. Perhaps in the context of 1961, this legendary collaboration between twin titans Alain Resnais and nouveau roman writer-turned-filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet was then the epitome of formalist, modernist European film artistry; it's a highly reactionary pooh-poohing of traditional narrative storytelling, academically detached from the confines of space, time and meaning to a meandering extreme of icy impenetrability. (It would be easy to see any single scene replayed verbatim as a spoof of Euro-pretentiousness on The Simpsons.) That's not to say it's entirely plotless, as momentum and suspense build from a loosely centralized, simple drama: a well-dressed man credited as X (Giorgio Albertazzi) pursues stunning woman A (Delphine Seyrig) inside and out of a massive baroque hotel. Did she agree to rendezvous with him a year after their last encounter, as he asserts in an elliptically repeated but varied conversation, or have they even met at all? Are her hazy recollections real, or being seductively implanted by his silver tongue?

Continued reading DVD OF THE WEEK: Last Year at Marienbad...

Comments (8)

Comments on this Entry:

(Olaf K. on Jun 24, 2009 11:38 PM) I cannot say that I utterly enjoyed Marienbad, but at least I couldn't dismiss it. I felt intrigued by the over the top stylization and other-worldly-ness, which formed an experience in its own right (much like Inland empire I guess). As such, it was everything that Hiroshima mon amour was not, for me. That one I just dismissed as over the top pretentious 60s babble that constantly annoyed me.

(Fred S. on Jun 26, 2009 1:59 AM) Wow I cannot disagree more with this review. I found both Inland Empire and Limits of Control aimless, boring and a retread of what directors like Resnais did so well originally. Marienbad still feels very fresh and interesting to me, much more so than these contemporary films. Perhaps you should have seen Marienbad first? Can someone still appreciate The Shining if they watched the Simpsons parody before the actual movie?

(James McNally on Jun 26, 2009 9:36 AM) Olaf, I so disliked Hiroshima Mon Amour that I've never even wanted to see Marienbad. Now, I'm hearing that "Les Herbes Folles," Resnais' latest effort is coming to TIFF and that it's quite a bit different. I think I'm more likely to see that than to take a chance on Marienbad.

(Glenn Kenny on Jun 30, 2009 7:11 AM) Sorry, but you and I are gonna have to break up now. Kidding! But seriously, I respect your right not to enjoy the film...and yet you're still wrong! I will convince you of this once I get around to writing up my post about how "Groundhog Day" is in fact a remake of this "Marienbad."

(Adrian Marcato on Jun 30, 2009 8:57 AM) "Why does the older film seem like a musty artifact to me (a forced visit to Grandma's house!)" Yikes! I've heard Marienbad called a lot of things, but "musty artifact"? Holy shit! I think it still smells as fresh as a daisy... As much as I love Inland Empire and The Limits of Control, they ain't in the same league as Marienbad. Not even close. And I would be willing to bet that Lynch and Jarmusch would agree.

(Aaron Hillis on Jun 30, 2009 4:59 PM) He said, she said, they said. We're talking about a widely praised "masterpiece" I had been waiting years to see for the first time in a proper format, so perhaps my expectations were impossibly high. (And I like plenty of Resnais!) That a given, I haven't read any actual arguments in the comments here that demand I re-evaluate my disappointment. Seen through 2009 eyes, the film seems overrated, outmoded, and iconic only for its fashion, cinematography and puzzling "-ness." It's an otherwise shallow work of art, to my senses. You may keep it, my nostalgic friends.

(Glenn Kenny on Jun 30, 2009 7:39 PM) Wow. I was kidding the first time. Now I think that you are to this film what Tom O'Neil is to Murnau's "Sunrise." No joke.

(Craig P on Jul 1, 2009 10:26 AM) For those who wonder what Glenn is referring to: http://glennkenny.premiere.com/blog/2008/04/sunrise-semeste.html But I'd call putting Aaron in his company a bit of a stretch, in my humble opinion. I think Aaron's laid out pretty well why he was ultimately disappointed in the film, to his own frustration, while also leaving it open and intriguing enough where people should see it and judge it for themselves. I really want to see the Criterion DVD now more than ever, even if I recall having a similar reaction in film school many years ago (to be fair, that was a crummy print and I was beyond tired in class that day, and also 21 years old). So he's piqued my curiosity which I think any good review, positive or negative, of an important film, can do. cp

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be a guest at the deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City, where I sat on a panel following a screening of Paul Osborne's humorously revealing documentary Official Rejection. Chronicling the fulfilling highs and frustrating lows Osborne and filmmaker Scott Storm faced when their previous feature collaboration was taken to the festival circuit, the film debunks a few myths about the emerging auteur experience. Among the subjects sharing their two cents are Bryan Singer, Chris Gore, Traci Lords, Kevin Smith and the President of Troma Entertainment himself, Lloyd Kaufman—who also sat in on the panel, and showed characteristic dignity by doing his onscreen interview with dropped trou.

Kaufman, pictured here with his iconic star of the Toxic Avenger series, knows a thing or two about festivals and the evolution of independent cinema. As a filmmaker, producer and actor (and current chairman of the Independent Film and Television Alliance), Kaufman has been making cult indie movies under the Troma umbrella since the mid-'70s. Gleefully rife with debauchery, bloodshed, gross-out comedy, and other camp ingenuity, his work has been cited as influential by Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino and Takashi Miike.

Sitting down with the ever-affable Kaufman in his Manhattan home, our half-hour-ish chat was surprisingly more earnest than you might expect from a guy who had a cameo in Crank: High Voltage. ("The most serious interview I think I've ever done," he'd tell me later.) Broadly addressing the state of indie film in this desperate climate, Kaufman and I discussed TromaDance, net neutrality, why having his films bootlegged may not be such a bad idea, how his Chinese studies at Yale have helped him see the industry more clearly, and more tales of the devil-worshiping media cartels.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

[Kaufman's most recent directorial feature, the gonzo fast-food satire Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (a NY Times critic's pick!) is now on DVD, and his new book "Produce Your Own Damn Movie!" will be released on August 28.]

Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(Travis Betz on Jun 19, 2009 11:11 AM) Amazing interview. Lloyd hits the nail on the head and inspires every time. I am knee deep in the indie game and it can be very daunting. Thanks for this. Helps brighten the edges a bit.

(Jerry Lentz on Jun 20, 2009 12:27 PM) Don't forget, "Direct Your Own Damn Movie!" is out now from Focal Press with very few typos, if any.

L'important c'est d'aimer (The Important Thing is to Love)
Directed by Andrzej Zulawski
1975, 113 minutes, In French with English subtitles
Mondo Vision

The opening seven minutes of Polish iconoclast Zulawski's first French production—adapted with Christopher Frank from his novel La nuit américaine (no relation to Truffaut's Day For Night)—tease with such psychodramatic intensity that one might mistakenly brace for the button-pushing provocations of an exploitation flick. It opens with hard-luck actress Nadine Chevalier (Romy Schneider, who won a Best Actress César award in 1976 for the film) staring at the camera in someone's domicile, a woman's offscreen voice cueing her to back up, turn around and approach the body of a dead gunman leaning against a blood-splattered wall. We're on a movie set, and world-weary freelance photog Servais Mont (Fabio Testi) has just crashed the party, bribing anyone who questions him while taking unsanctioned shots of the movie star. The barking director demands Nadine mount the fake-bloodied corpse and profess "je t'aime," but in the moment, she can't perform, and Servais captures her vulnerable, tear-streaked visage before he's thrown off the set, his negatives taken, and a fistfight erupting with two crewmembers. Beaten, but not without getting in his blows, Servais escapes with a roll of undeveloped film hidden in his mouth, and takes off for another gig to shoot gay bodybuilder porn—a financial obligation to seedy loan sharks. Whether it's 1975 or 2009, sometimes we all have to whore ourselves out to get by in desperate times, so don't you go judging our ethically lax anti-hero. (Side note: will this new recession prompt for more characters sinking to the lowest of lows for a buck?)

Continued reading DVD OF THE WEEK: L'important c'est d'aimer...

Comments (3)

Comments on this Entry:

(Joe Bowman on Jun 18, 2009 3:06 AM) I think I read somewhere that Schneider considered this her best work, and I can't really disagree. However, Testi is beyond weak here; being swallowed whole by all the characters/actors that surround him (Kinski, Schneider, Dutronc), I barely remember that he was in the film.

(Harry Caul on Jun 18, 2009 7:57 AM) Andrzej Zulawski phonetically equates as Andrew Bujalski...

(Aaron Hillis on Jun 18, 2009 3:34 PM) I don't know, Joe, I think Testi has a certain apish impulsiveness that befits the role, but Schneider is certainly the one to watch among the three. I'm thinking of a famous line: "You're not very smart, I like that in a man."

by Vadim Rizov

A few weeks ago, some utterly clueless study was conducted showing that the Romanian films so popular on the festival right now were, shockingly, not box office successes in Romania. Why anyone was taken aback by this is hard to guess. Most country's festival films have always been persona non grata—commercially and sometimes politically—in the places they emerged. (Recall, for example, Tony Rayns launching his war against Kim Ki-Duk by pointing out that his financing was almost entirely foreign, as if that were an automatic demerit.)

From Samira Makhmalbaf's Blackboards

In the late '90s, Iranian cinema was the wave of the art-house future: Jafar Panahi, Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and (grudgingly conceded) Majid Majidi were all enjoying fair success. Their films, too, weren't necessarily commercial hits in Iran (Panahi is used to having his work banned), but then something else happened: the amount of foreign cinematic attention paid to Iran these past few years—with the exception of Panahi's Offside—has been almost null. Kiarostami is off doing art installation-type dares to the audience, Makhmalbaf hasn't seen American distribution since 2001, Majidi continues to tickle the middlebrows with allegorical children and Panahi has to fight to make a film every three years. There is, of course, nothing inherently sinister about a country's cinematic profile temporarily ebbing a bit; certainly, given how the cinematic country du jour seems to change every few years (Iran, Korea, Thailand, Romania), it might just seem like some kind of anomaly. Given current events, that's really not the biggest of concerns right now. But what, precisely, has been going on?

Continued reading A Dangerous Shift in Iranian Cinema...

Comments (4)

Comments on this Entry:

(Jonah on Jun 15, 2009 6:18 PM) This is hyberbolic, and it seems as if it has been cobbled together from various festival reports and articles from the Western mainstream media -- rather than any particular knowledge of the Iranian film scene. There has always been a split between fare destined for festivals and art houses, and a popular genre cinema, much of which has unsavory political content (not to mention the TV shows--NB: one of those mentioned above is Palestinian, not Iranian-- that have long been vehicles for propaganda). It may be that there has been something of a freeze. But the circumstances of a few privileged "auteurs" is not necessarily the best litmus test. Makhmalbaf and Kiarostami have their own reasons for working abroad, notably that K's films have been financed by foreigners since the early '90s (cf. Hou Hsiao-Hsien, who has similarly gone from making European-financed films to making European films tout court). And Panahi has long had difficulties making films due to his outspokenness. In any event, much more--and more evidently informed--information is necessary . This same is true of Western coverage of Iran in general, which indulges alternately in wishful thinking and doomsaying, and could use a lot more fact and nuance.

(Ray Privett on Jun 15, 2009 7:00 PM) Soon after Ahmadinejad's election, I ran into a friend who had been involved with many of the late 90s / early 00s titles that sold internationally, and also were popular domestically. I asked about how the election would change things. "It's all over," my friend said.

(dirk on Jun 17, 2009 4:44 AM) The Iranian lecturer is wrong about Tom & Jerry being producedby Walt Disney, it was produced by Hanna & Barbera. I don't know what religion they had..

(brendon on Jun 28, 2009 5:19 PM) You should probably note that the Makhmalbaf who directed 'Blackboards' is Samira, not Mohsen.

by Vadim Rizov

Released three months apart, Death Wish and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three are twinned images of the subway as a microcosm of 1974 New York City: Death Wish the urban hell variant, Pelham a dystopian playground. Both focus on people with guns infesting the transport system and start a general acceptance of the city being as violent and out-of-control as could be. (The next year, the city almost had to declare bankruptcy, leading to the infamous Ford to City: Drop Dead Daily News headline, which pretty much sums up the overall tenor.) Both have lasted far past their initial sell-by dates as basic programmers. On the occasion of Tony Scott's ill-advised remake of Pelham, it's worth thinking about the ways the films complement each other.

Continued reading Subways, Shitholes & Death Wishes...

Comments (3)

Comments on this Entry:

(Rob on Jun 13, 2009 12:52 PM) Very astute analysis. To me, TTOP123 uses the heist plot merely as a skeleton over which to layer various wry textures, in the same way that Peter Stone's earlier screenplay for "Charade" did. Of course the remake completely misses that point.

(Jason K. on Jun 17, 2009 1:07 AM) That wasn't Roscoe Lee Browne that Matthau was talking to. I think it was Joe Seneca (from Walter Hill's "Crossroads"). Do they look the same to you?

(vadim on Jun 19, 2009 12:39 AM) Man, not at all. I have no idea why I thought it was Browne, except that he's the kind of '70s character actor who *seems* like he should be in here. (And I saw UPTIGHT recently, so he's been on my mind.) But you're absolutely correct.

Internationally renowned Dutch actor and filmmaker Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, The Hitcher) again lends his name and talents to the third edition of the Rutger Hauer FilmFactory (June 18 – 28), a Rotterdam-based workshop program that unites 30 budding auteurs for masters classes with such notables as Paul Verhoeven and Robert Rodriguez. (Both of whom will be teaching virtually via Skype.) Other notable coaches include Polish filmmaker and artist Lech Majewski (The Garden of Earthly Delights), Golden Bear-winning Peruvian director Claudia Llosa (La Teta Asustada), and Belgian cinematogpraher Walther van den Ende (Joyeux Noel). Funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; the Rotterdam Film Fund and other cultural organizations, the program challenges directors, producers, cinematographers, editors and actors from all over the world to make 12 to 18 short films in only 10 days. "Victims," Hauer playfully calls them.

I called Hauer today at his hotel in the Netherlands to discuss this year's edition of the Rutger Hauer FilmFactory, why he hasn't collaborated with Verhoeven since 1985's Flesh + Blood, and the experience of doing love scenes for Nicolas Roeg with the director's then-wife Theresa Russell. If you notice that Hauer's voice begins to sound a little glitchy near the end, keep listening for the ironic explanation.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

[DISCLAIMER: Cory McAbee has a tiny role in The Guatemalan Handshake, a Benten Films DVD release.]

Stingray Sam
Directed by Cory McAbee
2009, 62 minutes, U.S.A.
[currently undistributed]

Rocketing through another monochrome corner of the gently surreal, weird-humored universe shared by his lovely, Lynchian 2001 intergalactic musical The American Astronaut (any film with characters named "The Blueberry Pirate" and "The Boy Who Actually Saw a Female Breast" makes my cut in this decade's cult canon), musician-filmmaker-actor Cory McAbee again follows his heart and whimsical mind to the outer limits with Stingray Sam. Modeled after old Buck Rogers serials and the like, McAbee's musical space-western yarn spans six serialized episodes, each "presented" by fictional every-corp Liberty Chew Chewing Tobacco, a satirical stand-in for the annoying overlap between entertainment and consumer culture (commercials, ubiquitous product placements, having to whore oneself to make a living).

Continued reading FILM OF THE WEEK: Stingray Sam...

Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(James McNally on Jun 10, 2009 1:51 PM) Not sure when/if we'll get this up here in Toronto, but you've made me want to crack open my Guatemalan Handshake DVD again. Cory McAbee played the wonderful Spank Williams in a very cool segment that I think he directed for Todd Rohal.

(Mike on Jun 13, 2009 6:08 PM) The American Astronaut is one of my favorite films and gets plenty of rewatches at home. Can't wait for whenever and however this one is released for purchase.

Currently working overtime on Broadway in 9 to 5: The Musical, Emmy Award winner and Tony nominee Allison Janney (Juno, TV's The West Wing) can also be seen, beginning this weekend, in Away We Go. Co-written by married novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida (with whom I spoke recently), it's the first feature from director Sam Mendes that I've liked, perhaps because it's so warm and engaging that it doesn't seem like a Sam Mendes film:

Longtime (and now thirtysomething) couple Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are going to have a baby. The pregnancy progresses smoothly, but six months in, the pair is put off and put out by the cavalierly delivered news from Burt's parents that the eccentric elder Farlanders are moving out of Colorado – thereby eliminating the expectant couple’s main reason for living there.

So, where, and among whom of those closest to them, might Burt and Verona best put down roots to raise their impending bundle of joy? The couple embarks on an ambitious itinerary to visit friends and family, and to evaluate cities. The first stop on the grand tour is Phoenix, where the duo spends a day at the (dog) races with Verona's irrepressible (and frequently inappropriate) former colleague Lily (Allison Janney) and her repressible family...

...and the rest of this sweetly funny (and from its early critical reception, underrated!) flick should not be spoiled. Janney was even lovelier in person than I imagined as we sat down to discuss my home state of Arizona, why she appreciates political doublespeak, the reason she thinks she'd be an awful mother, and the illicit on-set behavior of Sam Mendes (don't sue me, Sam Mendes!).

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Away We Go opens in limited release tomorrow. For more info, visit the official website.

Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

Une femme mariée (A Married Woman)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
1964, 95 minutes, In French with English subtitles
Koch Lorber

Subtitled Suite de fragments d'un film tourné en 1964 en noir et blanc ("fragments of a film shot in 1964, in black and white"), one of Godard's least known features from his most fertile decade ticked off censors and de Gaulle himself, if only for one image of a bidet and the article in the original title—"The" Married Woman might have implied that JLG was depicting the typically illicit behavior of every modern French wife. They certainly don't all cheat on their husbands like Charlotte (Macha Méril), who is introduced in the opening shot, sort of. Her left hand, wedding band giving away that she's the titular "A," slinks into frame and rests on an empty bedsheet. Then a man's right hand glides in to embrace her wrist from underneath, the first of many shots elliptically compartmentalizing and tastefully eroticizing a couple's tangled parts. (Her stomach, his hands; the back of his head, her hands; etc.) Charlotte's lover (he wears no ring) is an actor named Robert (Bernard Noël), but when she goes home to her pilot husband Pierre (Philippe Leroy), their sex is a nearly identical affair, in attitude as well as how legendary Nouvelle Vague cinematographer Raoul Coutard frames their bodies. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, Charlotte simply can't choose between the two men. Neither particularly stands apart, but the film does.

Continued reading DVD OF THE WEEK: A Married Woman...

Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(jackstone on Jun 4, 2009 1:56 PM) If you refer to Macha Meril's filmography in www.imdb.com, the actress has had a busy career and continues to act. She made a couple of Hollywood movies in the 60s--"The Defector" with Montgomery Clift and "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?" Fassbinder brought her and Anna Karina together in "Chinese Roulette". Charlotte in "A Married Woman" is probably based in part on Anna who was known to have carried an affair with actor Maurice Ronet during her tempestuous marriage to Godard.

(Glenn Kenny on Jun 9, 2009 2:37 PM) Memorable Meril Moment: Her super-gory murder about 20 minutes into Argento's "Deep Red."

Nénette et Boni (Nenette and Boni)
Directed by Claire Denis
1996, 103 minutes, In French with English subtitles
Strand Releasing

In his secret diary "Confessions of a Wimp," sullen 19-year-old and Marseilles pizza-van operator Bonifacio (Grégoire Colin) professes his horniest dominant fantasies for the neighborhood baker's space-cadet wife (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, married to a perpetually flour-coated Vincent Gallo), but as his self-effacing title suggests, he's incapable of following through. Aside from his intense stalker stare and ineffectual come-ons (ordering from his object of lust "a nice, long French stick," she replies that they're all the same length), Boni's passion manifests itself in sensually shot masturbation sessions—and, as its undulating gurgle seeps into one of his lewd dreams, the Krups coffeemaker on his nightstand, which he awakes to with a smile and bedroom eyes. Later, it's the act of kneading dough that spurs on an orgasm, further proof that this teenager is coming of age in the distinctively impressionistic, lyrically detailed style of beloved auteur Claire Denis and her regular writing partner Jean-Pol Fargeau (Beau Travail, The Intruder, 35 Rhums).

Continued reading DVD OF (LAST) WEEK: Nenette and Boni...

Comments (3)

Comments on this Entry:

(Joe Bowman on Jun 1, 2009 5:02 PM) Excellent choice, Aaron. I'm glad Strand finally put this out. Now, if only someone will do the same for S'en fout la mort and Trouble Every Day.

(Boe Jowman on Jun 3, 2009 9:29 AM) You meant ''SPUR on an orgasm', presumably. Spurn (were you thinking of sperm, perhaps?) means something else.

(Aaron Hillis on Jun 3, 2009 9:33 AM) Good catch.

Pontypool
Directed by Bruce McDonald
2008, 95 Minutes, Canada

Canadian cult filmmaker Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments, and my personal favorite, Highway 61) tackles Tony Burgess' novel "Pontypool Changes Everything," a minimalist but slyly entertaining take on the zombie movie—if, of course, you removed the zombies and added the most terrifying semiotics lesson in horror history. From the official website:

Shock jock Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) has, once again, been kicked-off the Big City airwaves and now the only job he can get is the early morning show at CLSY Radio in the small town of Pontypool, which broadcasts from the basement of the small town's only church.

What begins as another boring day of school bus cancellations, due to yet another massive snow storm, quickly turns deadly. Bizarre reports start piling in of people developing strange speech patterns and evoking horrendous acts of violence. But there's nothing coming in on the news wires. So is this really happening?

Before long, Grant and the small staff at CLSY find themselves trapped in the radio station as they discover that this insane behavior taking over the town is being caused by a deadly virus being spread through the English language itself.

Do they stay on the air in the hopes of being rescued or, are they in fact providing the virus with its ultimate leap over the airwaves and into the world?

At the IFC offices, I sat down on the other side of a conference table from McDonald, McHattie and co-star Lisa Houle—who plays McHattie's producer in the film, and his wife in real life. Noting that our setup felt like a job interview, I tried to choose my words carefully (appropriate, given the film's subject) as we discussed language, what scares them, the Korean choir they had to contend with, and whether New York has earthquakes—not including what we may have experienced halfway through the interview.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Pontypool opens today in limited release, and is available on-demand via IFC's Festival Direct. For more info, visit the official site.

Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

[Steven Boone, who writes for The House Next Door and other fine film sites, steps in today like a man possessed.]

"To please the majority is the requirement of the Planet Cinema. As far as I'm concerned, I don't make a concession to viewers, these victims of life, who think that a film is made only for their enjoyment, and who know nothing about their own existence."
- Andrzej Zulawski

"My goal is not to offend people. It is to entertain, thrill, scare, make them laugh, but not to offend them."
- Sam Raimi

"I don’t give a fuck about the audience."
- Andrzej Zulawski

Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987) and Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession (1981) are two sides of the same cursed coin, producing in the viewer an identical effect—sheer giddiness at their audacious, divinely, demonically, deliriously inventive visual play. Each flick is a series of riffs on the notion of possession—Raimi's aimed at the grindhouses, Zulawski's at European arthouses. But both films are so dizzyingly choreographed that keen viewers will recognize them as two of the 1980s' most sublime horror classics. Like the possessed humans, hands and furniture dancing around in them, these films simply convulse with creative electricity. They forced their way out of their creators.

Continued reading Zulawski & Raimi: The Hell They Dragged Us Into...

Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(Brandon on May 31, 2009 3:59 PM) When Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress at Cannes last week for what appears to be an over-the-top crazy performance (I don't know, I wasn't there), I thought about Adjani's performance doing the same for this film. She is so far gone, it's amazing. Respect to Bruce Campbell and Raimi, but their channeling The Three Stooges somehow doesn't compete in my eyes. Whenever someone asks me "What's the craziest film you've ever seen?", I promptly reply: Possession by Andrzej Zulawski. And I mean that as high compliment.

<center

We've been asked: why didn't GreenCine Daily cover Cannes comprehensively? First of all, who could (or would want to) compete with David Hudson for his meticulous round-ups of winners and links, and not unrelatedly, which one of you sugar mamas reading this was supposed to pay my way to France? I made an executive decision that the world didn't need one more armchair critic recycling opinions and industry (over)hype, and inroads have been made to mine fresh content for next year's event.

Until then, we turn to Mike D'Angelo ("a professional film critic for the past dozen years, primarily for Time Out New York and Esquire"), who has just returned stateside from Cannes, where he filed a sharp, utterly merciless series of reports for the A. V. Club. Sitting down at my kitchen table, D'Angelo and I discussed the unusual way he funded his 12-day expedition, why he feels Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon was a lousy choice to win the Palme d'Or, the significance of Twitter in film journalism today, and why he never seems to like any of the movies he sees (or so you think).

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Comments (5)

Comments on this Entry:

(Nictate on May 26, 2009 9:48 PM) Veddy nice report on Cannes. Thanks for putting it together. Random question: What's the song at the start?

(Aaron Hillis on May 26, 2009 10:00 PM) In honor of my guest, it's "Left & Right" by, yes, D'Angelo. (featuring Method Man and Redman, circa 2000.) The closing bumper is Jacqueline Boyer's "Was in Cannes begann," circa 1970.

(HarryTuttle on May 27, 2009 4:26 AM) my comment was not "approved"?

(Aaron Hillis on May 27, 2009 5:38 AM) Just checked, Harry -- there's no other unapproved comment for you in the system. Hope it wasn't a long one!

(HarryTuttle on May 28, 2009 3:49 AM) nm

The Girlfriend Experience
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
2009, 78 Minutes, USA

Shot similarly to Bubble, Soderbergh's other low-budget digital drama featuring a cast of non-professional actors and utilizing "structured improv" (as the director called it in my interview with him), The Girlfriend Experience has made bigger news for the professional ringer who shoulders its story, 21-year-old porn star Sasha Grey in her first non-XXX role. (For my interview with her, click here.) From the official website:

Chelsea is an upscale Manhattan call girl who provides more than just a sexual encounter; for a price, she’ll simulate a complete romantic relationship—a girlfriend “experience.” Despite a wide variety of happy customers, Chelsea wants to expand her business. Her real boyfriend Chris, a personal trainer at a downtown gym, has come to terms with his girlfriend’s level of experience, not to mention the posh apartment they share as a result of her success.

But it's October of 2008 and the faltering U.S. economy is on everyone’s lips. One of Chelsea’s clients, a Hassidic jeweler, advises her against keeping her savings in diamonds—"Diamonds have no value. Keep it in gold." Meanwhile, she solicits advice from businesspeople (some of whom are clients) on how to achieve growth in a down market. Chelsea goes so far as to visit a sex connoisseur who runs an influential website and who promises Chelsea a favorable review in exchange for a free sample. Meanwhile, Chris finds himself at an impasse in his own career: training wealthy hedge fund managers, he’s generating plenty of business for the gym, but little of that lucre is coming back to him. Worse, his relationship with Chelsea has cooled--hardly a girlfriend experience at all. On the heels of a nasty web review from the sex connoisseur, Chelsea meets Philip, a new client from out of town who listens to her as she unloads her career anxieties to him. In Philip, Chelsea finally sees the promise of a real relationship—a real girlfriend experience—not just another transaction.

Sitting in my Brooklyn living room, I conducted my third and final Girlfriend Experience interview with film critic Glenn Kenny—a good friend, neighbor and colleague (for that matter, the guy who gave me my start in film journalism, damn him)—to jabber about his villainous supporting role as "The Erotic Connoisseur," how the film reminds him of Richard Lester's Petulia, the raunchy industry slang he picked up in his research, and whether he would've done a simulated sex scene if asked. [Warning: Mildly NSFW.]

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Also of note: Glenn's set diary has been posted at the Auteurs'.

The Girlfriend Experience opens tomorrow in limited release, and is already available via Video on Demand. For more info, visit the official site.

Comments (4)

Comments on this Entry:

(z. on May 21, 2009 1:55 PM) I think the film is actually quite shorter than 144 min.

(StaciStern on May 22, 2009 7:38 AM) Well, Glenn Kenny was the best part of the movie actually...but it comes across a bit flat overall. It will at least be an eye opener for those who are unaware of the daily business of an escort . Would have liked to have seen more in-depth analysis of the character’s history/background. Who is she? Where did she come from? What was her upbringing like? The movie ignores these details which are usually important for a character study.

(Tom Russell on May 23, 2009 6:20 PM) "Would have liked to have seen more in-depth analysis of the character’s history/background. Who is she? Where did she come from? What was her upbringing like? The movie ignores these details which are usually important for a character study." Other than "who is she", those are the *LEAST* important details for a character study. It's what Paddy Chayefsky called the Rubber Ducky approach to writing a character-- because "x" happened, this is who I am. We don't need to know what Travis Bickle's parents were like; the one thing that really sinks the otherwise excellent "One Hour Photo" is the scene where the filmmakers tell us why the character is the way he is. Good writers and filmmakers ignore those kind of reductive explanations; they don't explain, but question. Telling us "why" is against the entire point of a character study in the first place.

(Igor on May 25, 2009 6:04 AM) The film lasts 78 min actually.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Directed by Peter Yates
1973, 102 minutes, USA
Criterion

It's all about Mitchum. Bullitt director Peter Yates' and screenwriter Paul Monash's faithfully grimy, tonally overcast adaptation of the crime novel by George V. Higgins (his debut, while still serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston) has a couple crackerjack bank heists and wall-to-wall street chatter that's unpretentious but could still shoulder through crowds. Yet what'll ultimately hook you on this picture is Robert Mitchum's hangdog anti-hero Eddie "Fingers" Coyle, a low-level Beantown gunrunner way past his prime. In a characteristically subdued performance for an uncharacteristic role, Mitchum dims his own marquee glow to anchor the whole shebang as a desperate, drained—no, outright defeated—man whose "friends" would rat him out for a hefty reward, or more likely, if their survival counted on it.

Continued reading DVD OF THE WEEK: The Friends of Eddie Coyle...

Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(km on May 21, 2009 3:07 PM) Holy fuck they finally released this on dvd!?!?

by Steve Dollar

Although he bowed out in 2006, at age 79, as a globally revered grand master of cinema—his nation's greatest living filmmaker—Shohei Imamura may have simply refined his touch over a 45-year career so that his gritty vision of Japanese society played more elegantly on the screen. He didn't stake his reputation on arthouse propriety. Not that you'd necessarily infer that from the somber, poetic tone of latter-day productions such as The Ballad of Narayama (1983). Over time, the director became so smoothly transgressive that his final feature, 2001's Warm Water Under a Red Bridge, could employ female ejaculation as a metaphor and not raise any eyebrows.

Because so many of his films from the 1960s—the period when Imamura broke with convention and boldly defined himself as a fearless observer of the human condition, mapping the gamier precincts of postwar Japan—have been out of circulation or otherwise hard to see, contemporary audiences have missed out on most of the ripe, juicy stuff.

Continued reading Pigs, Pimps and Other Friends of Shohei Imamura...

Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(Todd on May 19, 2009 6:17 PM) Thanks for this; I've been meaning to dive beyond Kurosawa and Ozu in Japanese film but didn't know where to go next. Appreciate the introduction/pointer.

As announced in yesterday's press release from Cannes, the World Cinema Foundation (a/k/a WCF, founded and chaired by American auteur and all-around goodfella Martin Scorsese) has partnered with indie-film buzzmakers B-Side Entertainment, online cinematheque <a href= http://www.theauteurs.com/ " target="_new">The Auteurs, and the DVD heroes at Criterion. Dedicated to film restoration and preservation, Scorsese's foundation—whose advisory board includes Wong Kar Wai, Abbas Kiarostami and Guillermo Del Toro—has just unveiled three new projects for 2009: Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day (Taiwan, 1991), Shadi Abdel Salam's Al-Momia (Egypt, 1969), and Fred Zinnemann & Emilio Gomez Muriel's Redes (Mexico, 1936). Under the new partnership, many more eyes will hopefully get to take in the fruits of WCF's efforts.

Still in France, Scorsese called me today to discuss this alliance, plus his holy grails of unreleased cinema, and what he considers the greatest Technicolor film ever made. As a podcast bonus feature, newly appointed WCF executive director Kent Jones also jumps on the line to discuss their "mini-empire of good guys" (why did I say that?) and humor me about Marty's famous motormouth.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(HarryTuttle on May 17, 2009 5:50 AM) Great interview! And great initiatives. This World Cinema Foundation should spread everywhere in the world.