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8301
From: Aaron Graham
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 7:51am
Subject: Re: Phil Kaufman
> I did hear he spent a good portion of his dormant 80s nursing
> "Air America" as his follow-up project, only to see it made
> without him. "Color of Night" was probably the veritable film that
> broke him.
>
> I'd certainly be curious if anyone knows more...
Need not look any further than the excellent two-disc dvd version
of "The Stunt Man", as it features a 112 minute documentary directed
by Rush which gives you quite the impression of the man. He hosts and
gives a fascinating recount of what happened to "The Stunt Man", the
marketing process, etc.
Any defenders of "The Savage Seven"? (with, of course, the original
soundtrack featuring Cream, Iron Butterfly and the like...). I'd take
this over "Freebie And The Bean" any day of the week.
8302
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:09am
Subject: Re: Rush
I think he had a heart attack which tabled him for awhile. I wrote
the presskit for Color of Darkness, and even I didn't care for it,
though it's better than average for the genre. Willis's sleazy posse
were much involved in it, plus the demon who used to own Carolco, as
I recall. I'd really have to see Stunt Man again to assess it -
Kael's Wall of Words on that one had everyone kind of keyed up. But
Rush was certainly a "fun" director, to use a Kael word, throughout
his career.
8303
From:
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 4:35am
Subject: The Right Stuff & Jordan Belson
"The Right Stuff" is full of special effects sequences by the great
avant-garde filmmaker Jordan Belson. They are quite personal looking for Belson. They
recall his abstract color harmony films such as "Samadhi". The effects usually
show the sky and clouds, making pretty color patterns on the screen.
I thought the sympathetic sequences with the astronauts in "The Right Stuff"
were a lot better than the satirical sequences in the film.
Mike Grost
8304
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:38am
Subject: Re: Phil Kaufman, et al.
I snuck into Twisted just in time to see it from frame one - a highly
digital all-in-one that starts with birds reflected in Ashley Judd's
eyeball, follows a tear down her cheek to reveal a knife poking the
skin of her neck, then pulls back to reveal the features of the
psycho who is mouthing sweet nothings in her ear (who disappears at a
certain point - I agree with Peter that this one appears to have been
cut to within an inch of its life). Nothing that good later, except
the wide nighttime shot of Candlestick Park where a game is in
progress overlooking an aquatic crime scene.
The script makes In the Cut look like Ben Hecht by comparison, but
Judd is very cute in it and, with her short hair, reminiscent of
Jeanne Balibar - eerily so, at a couple of points. Seeing a film with
a script this lame makes you wonder just what they HAVE been doing at
Paramount. Maybe Lansing liked this one because Judd's relationship
to Samuel Jackson (who gives a very bad performance) reminded her of
her own relationship with Stanley Jaffe.
In the Cut and Twisted - sexually active woman calls down the wrath
of a serial killer. There must be some subtlety I'm missing. As
recorded here I actually LIKED In the Cut - it's so loony! And for
all we know Twisted would've been a bit loonier if scenes hadn't been
playing in voiceover throughout because of all the cuts. Apart from
the sex (was there more of that?) I don't see anything for Kaufman in
this subject, except a chance to photograph Judd and some of his
favorite SF food and beverage spots and get paid for it.
My main feature (before the sneaking-in started) was a Universal
screening of Dawn of the Dead. Great end credits! Should do good
business. Suffers in comparison to the original.
Saw the last 20 minutes of Hidalgo - I teared up when he freed the
horses (and remembered that Viggo M was in Young Guns, another Fusco
script) - and the last forty of The Passion, from which I emerged
shaken and moved by Christ's suffering and victory over sin and
death - hard not to be.* I missed the trial, but did he actually cut
from Caphias lamenting in his ruined temple to Satan howling in agony
at the bottom of the pit of Hell because he knows he has lost? Or was
there a shot in between that I missed?
*The giant teardrop distracts - at the risk of being sacrilegious,
I'd describe it as high-tech Bert I. Gordon. Which from another
standpoint is a GOOD thing.
8305
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:47am
Subject: Re: Jarmusch and Ray
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Jonathan Rosenbaum"
wrote:
> Just for the record: Jarmusch has white hair because his hair
turned
> white and he didn't dye it, not because of Lee Marvin.
Sorry, I completely misinterpreted this info from JJ's Guilty
Pleasures in Film Comment: 'A secret organization exists called The
Sons of Lee Marvin - it includes myself, Tom Waits, John Lurie, and
Richard Bose. We're initiating Nick Cave into it too. There are many
honorary members too. I have a good story about it. Six months ago
Tom Waits was in a bar in somewhere like Sonoma County in Northern
California, and the bartender said, "You're Tom Waits, right? A guy
over there wants to talk to you." Tom went over to this dark corner
booth and the guy sitting there said, "Sit down, I want to talk to
you." So Tom started getting a little aggressive: "What the fuck do
you want to talk to me about? I don't know you." And the guy
said, "What is this bullshit about the Sons of Lee Marvin?" Tom
said, "Well, it's a secret organization and I'm not supposed to talk
about it." The guy said, "I don't like it." Tom said, "What's it to
you?" The guy said, "I'm Lee Marvin's son" - and he really was. He
thought it was insulting, but it's not, it's completely out of
respect for Lee Marvin.'
Actually, I'm told some members of The Bastard Sons of Lee (a West
Coast group to which one of my best friends belongs) have on occasion
dyed their hair, but their main activity is getting too plastered to
walk and marching in the Doo Dah parade once a year.
Both are obviously very cool organizations.
8306
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:30pm
Subject: Re: Re: Histoire de Marie et Julien
--- Jonathan Rosenbaum
wrote:
> I saw the first one, Neige, codirected with her
> boyfriend (whose
> name I forget).
Jean-Henri Roger -- who aslo co-directed "British
Sounds" aka "See You at Mao" by some Swiss filmmaker
whose name escapes he.
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8307
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:34pm
Subject: Re: Phil Kaufman
--- ptonguette@a... wrote:
> And what ever happened to Richard Rush? There's
> maybe a tragedy to be
> written about how the guy who made "The Stunt Man"
> didn't work for fourteen years,
> and then didn't work for another ten (and counting)
> following his "comeback"
> picture.
>
Good question.
I gather he's rather particular -- and certianly
eccentric. I interviewed him at the time of "The Stunt
Man" at his house and he was taking care of a lion cub
that belonged to Tippi Hedren. It was walking around
the place like a giant housecat.
"The Stunt Man" remians a major/minor classic. He
confected a "Making of" film for the DVD fairly recently.
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8308
From: habelove
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:28pm
Subject: Re: Phil Kaufman
> marketing process, etc.
>
> Any defenders of "The Savage Seven"? (with, of course, the
original
> soundtrack featuring Cream, Iron Butterfly and the like...). I'd
take
> this over "Freebie And The Bean" any day of the week.
The "Savage Seven" has a great exploitation opening, which i've
used often in show-and-tell nights at the video store.
As for Bill's comment, Rush is easier to enjoy as a "fun" director
when these odd moments are emerging from cheap biker
movies than star vehicles. But if you can pardon another Kael
reference, I think she also pointed out that you can tell how bad a
movie is by how out of place the good moments seem. "The
Stunt Man" may be good, but it gets a lot of mileage out of great
theme music, and a hammy Peter O'Toole, and certainly isn't
fantastic enough to justify some kind of martyr status for Rush.
He's the kind of director who'd be better off selling out, and
making scuzzy action films with cool moments that the hungry
can feed upon (even Color of Night has a couple)/
hadrian
8309
From: Craig Keller
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 0:58am
Subject: Leave It to Beatrice
I just came back from a double-feature of 'Black Magic' and 'Journey
into Fear' at Film Forum -- on the way out I noticed a neon-yellow
amendation to the posted Welles-retrospective schedule stating that the
scheduled screening of 'Orson Welles: The One-Man Band' will not be
going forward, due to "legal complications"...
On a side-note: Is anyone here going to the screening of 'The Time of
the Wolf' at the Walter Reade in, umm, an hour? I completely flaked on
buying tickets a few weeks ago for this, 'Twentynine Palms,' and 'Pas
sur la bouche.' For all/any attending, can you post here whether it's
the director or the actors of these who attend? And any salient points
during their introductions / Q&As? Much appreciated...
craig.
8310
From: Jonathan Rosenbaum
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:53am
Subject: Re: Jarmusch and Ray
Yes, I know about that joke organization--I even once had an
honorary membership card myself before my wallet at the time got
stolen. (The organization's a joke but the reverence for Marvin,
like JJ's white hair, is real.)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666"
wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Jonathan Rosenbaum"
> wrote:
> > Just for the record: Jarmusch has white hair because his hair
> turned
> > white and he didn't dye it, not because of Lee Marvin.
>
> Sorry, I completely misinterpreted this info from JJ's Guilty
> Pleasures in Film Comment: 'A secret organization exists called
The
> Sons of Lee Marvin - it includes myself, Tom Waits, John Lurie,
and
> Richard Bose. We're initiating Nick Cave into it too. There are
many
> honorary members too. I have a good story about it. Six months ago
> Tom Waits was in a bar in somewhere like Sonoma County in Northern
> California, and the bartender said, "You're Tom Waits, right? A
guy
> over there wants to talk to you." Tom went over to this dark
corner
> booth and the guy sitting there said, "Sit down, I want to talk to
> you." So Tom started getting a little aggressive: "What the fuck
do
> you want to talk to me about? I don't know you." And the guy
> said, "What is this bullshit about the Sons of Lee Marvin?" Tom
> said, "Well, it's a secret organization and I'm not supposed to
talk
> about it." The guy said, "I don't like it." Tom said, "What's it
to
> you?" The guy said, "I'm Lee Marvin's son" - and he really was. He
> thought it was insulting, but it's not, it's completely out of
> respect for Lee Marvin.'
>
> Actually, I'm told some members of The Bastard Sons of Lee (a West
> Coast group to which one of my best friends belongs) have on
occasion
> dyed their hair, but their main activity is getting too plastered
to
> walk and marching in the Doo Dah parade once a year.
>
> Both are obviously very cool organizations.
8311
From: Andrew Grant
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 4:13am
Subject: Re: Leave It to Beatrice
I'm seeing the Thursday 6:15 showing of 'The Time of the Wolf'. Haneke is meant to be there. (I've seen two other films at the festival, 'Inquietude' & 'Qui a tue Bambi' and the directors were present @ both.) Typical embarrassing questions by audience members, but, hey, I'm used to it.
I "may" have an extra ticket for sale ($6) for the show if anybody is interested. I'll know at around noon tomorrow.
----- Original Message -----
From: Craig Keller
To: a_film_by@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 7:58 PM
Subject: [a_film_by] Leave It to Beatrice
I just came back from a double-feature of 'Black Magic' and 'Journey
into Fear' at Film Forum -- on the way out I noticed a neon-yellow
amendation to the posted Welles-retrospective schedule stating that the
scheduled screening of 'Orson Welles: The One-Man Band' will not be
going forward, due to "legal complications"...
On a side-note: Is anyone here going to the screening of 'The Time of
the Wolf' at the Walter Reade in, umm, an hour? I completely flaked on
buying tickets a few weeks ago for this, 'Twentynine Palms,' and 'Pas
sur la bouche.' For all/any attending, can you post here whether it's
the director or the actors of these who attend? And any salient points
during their introductions / Q&As? Much appreciated...
craig.
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8312
From:
Date: Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:31pm
Subject: Phil Kaufman and Richard Rush
A big second to Hadrian's sentiment that Rush may have been better off
"selling out," contenting himself with bringing a cool visual vibe (that
focus-racking in "The Stunt Man" and other Rush pictures is pretty sensational) to
less-than-extraordinary projects as opposed to chasing personal projects for years
on end. Of course, "Color of Night" seemingly proves that the guy >is< willing
to take less-than-extraordinary projects (to put it kindly, although the film
has a few nice, eccentric touches), so I don't know what the reason is for
the spottiness of his career.
Thanks to Bill for his comments on "Twisted." It's not very good, at all,
but Kaufman's talent asserts itself in random places. I liked the opening shot
too. I have to believe that Kaufman's cut is indeed loonier because this is a
very intelligent man we're talking about - I can't imagine him shooting some
of these scenes with a straight face. And, as I posted earlier, the
atmosphere was decent enough, but I just watched another San Francisco-set Kaufman
film, his "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" remake, and yikes... how the mighty
have fallen.
Here's the great unmade Kaufman project (and at one point it may have even
been announced): his adaptation of the comic book "Aquaman." Maybe if Lee's
wonderful, idiosyncratic "Hulk" had been a blockbuster, a Kaufman-helmed
"Aquaman" could have happened.
And I also agree with Mike that the sympathetic scenes in "The Right Stuff"
(notably all the stuff with Yeager, but also John Glenn's flight) tend to
linger in the memory more than the satirical portions, although arguably each
"section" of the film feeds off the other.
Peter
8313
From:
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:54am
Subject: Re: Phil Kaufman and comic books
Peter Tonguette writes:
Here's the great unmade Kaufman project (and at one point it may have even
been announced): his adaptation of the comic book "Aquaman."
There is an article on my web site about Aquaman:
http://members.aol.com/MG4273/aquaman.htm
"Aquaman" is a little like "The Right Stuff". Both deal with heroic people
who live in and explore frontier environments: the undersea world in "Aquaman",
space in "The Right Stuff".
The Aquaman stories, like many comic books, are filled with liberal social
commentary.
David Ehrenstein writes:
Well in that case I'd like to see Kaufman do "Kavalier and Clay."
Keep meaning to read this award-winning novel about the Golden Age of comic
books (the 1930's and early 1940's). Had no idea Kaufman was involved in a
proposed film version.
Mike Grost
8314
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:17am
Subject: Re: Phil Kaufman and Richard Rush
The LBJ scenes in Right Stuff and the scenes with Harry Shearer and
Jeff Goldblum are feeble beyond belief. Only the adventure and
heroism work, but boy do they ever. A Kaufman Aquaman would be
great! - and BTW, Hulk did quite well. DC needs an Ang Lee of their
own.
Just one question about Twisted. SPOILER.
When we learn at the end that the heroine's mentor, the Chief of
Police played by Samuel Jackson, killed her parents and scores of
other people before she was born and pinned it on her dead father,
and has been doing the same thing to her by putting a date rape drug
in her wine and killing men she has slept with while she's out cold -
AS WE KNEW PRACTICALLY FROM THE MINUTE THE MYSTERY PLOT STARTS -
hoping that she will think she's the killer (after passing out FOUR
TIMES IN A ROW WITH SYMPTOMS SHE HAS NEVER EXPERIENCED WHILE DRINKING
BEFORE), and that after she learns about the drug she can be
convinced that it's her partner played by Andy Garcia, only to be
foiled - despite the fact that there are enough fake suspects to
populate another sequel to Lord of the Rings - when she sees through
his attempt to pin his latest string of crimes on her partner and
fools Jackson, her mentor as a policeman, into confessing while her
old partner from her days as a patrolman is listening in on the
cellphone AS WE KNEW HE WOULD BE FROM THE SECOND HE TELLS HER TO CALL
HIM IF SHE EVER NEEDS HIM...so that at the end, having ironically
shown Jackson that she has learned his lessons by catching him, she
has to shoot him before he shoots her to prove she has learned the
last lesson, and he falls dead into the water --- is that a DOLPHIN
that surfaces momentarily next to his floating body and dives out of
sight again, or was I hallucinating from just having seen Dawn of the
Dead and the last 20 minutes of Hidalgo (for free, like - thank God -
Twisted)? To cite another example of the downside of sneaking in, it
certainly didn't help me get into the mood for the resurrection
finale of The Passion, which I saw next, that Jackson's signature on
the bodies of the men he kills is a cigarette burn on the back of the
wrist right where SPOILER the mark of the nails is when Jesus' hand
comes into frame before he strides off to begin his new ministry.
Sheer coincidence, but pretty unnerving nonetheless...
8315
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:22am
Subject: Re: Philip Kaufman and Richard Rush
OK, Peter T. has straightened me out - it was the animals we see
during the (now) 32-second exposition scene when Andy Garcia is
taking Ashley Judd on a tour of his old haunts when he was in the
Harbor Patrol. I don't think they're walruses, Peter - probably
seals. But why, why....
8316
From: Joseph Kaufman
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:45am
Subject: Re: Phil Kaufman and Richard Rush
>Just one question about Twisted. SPOILER.
I don't remember for sure now, but I thought it was one of those sea
lions we see elsewhere in the film. (It's all vague in my memory now
from having seen the film, what, two weeks ago?)
--
- Joe Kaufman
8317
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:40am
Subject: Re: Léo
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Craig Keller wrote:
> It all descends into a fabulous mess at the moment
> Desplechin's voice announces during the "répétant" sections something
> to the effect of: "The father and the son... and there must be woman...
> voilà -- 'Hamlet.' C'est ça." Enter the sub-sub-Godard application of
> sequences wherein text and scenes from 'Hamlet' take over
I'm curious about the source for the scene with baby Leo and his
adopted mother.
I noticed a few lines from Romeo and Juliet ('True apothecary,
thy drugs are quick!'), but I assume there's some other source
for the text. (I also thought of Psycho: 'Mother! Mother! Blood!
Blood!)
Paul
8318
From: George Robinson
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 1:24pm
Subject: Interesting on-line resource
Sometimes stuff that seems totally unrelated to film turns out to be very
useful. I subscribe to several excellent e-newsletters about new resources
on the Internet and one of them directed me to Artifact, a website about the
visual arts, which I assumed would be entirely about painters, sculptors,
etc. In fact, it has some very nice film materials as well.
So, FYI,
http://www.artifact.ac.uk/limelight.php
George Robinson
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
8319
From: Jess Amortell
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:05pm
Subject: Re: Leave It to Beatrice
> at Film Forum -- on the way out I noticed a neon-yellow
> amendation to the posted Welles-retrospective schedule stating that the
> scheduled screening of 'Orson Welles: The One-Man Band' will not be
> going forward, due to "legal complications"...
Noticed on their website that The Immortal Story, due to print problems, will be digitally projected -- now, does that mean they show an (imported?) DVD, or does it mean something else?
8320
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:40pm
Subject: Re: Leave It to Beatrice
> Noticed on their website that The Immortal Story, due to print
problems, will be digitally projected -- now, does that mean they
show an (imported?) DVD, or does it mean something else?
We didn't get Immortal story here. Stefan says he has a good
print of it, but he wasn't able to screen it for some bullshit
reason.
8321
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:39pm
Subject: Re: Leave It to Beatrice
Know your enemy...
From the LA Times
And the Oscar Goes to ... the Man in the Back Row for $1 Million
Orson Welles' daughter, despite academy objections, wants to
auction off his 'Citizen Kane' statuette to help fund her animal
welfare work.
COMMENTARY
By Beatrice Welles (Beatrice Welles lives near Las Vegas)
For the last 19 years, I have dedicated most of my life to
protecting and preserving the work of my father, Orson Welles.
His work was the single most important thing in his life, and I
loved him more than words could ever say. My other work is
supporting and protecting animals. I spent my gypsy childhood
traveling with my father around the world, rescuing animals
along the way; he loved it and so did I.
My father's film "Citizen Kane" is considered by many people
around the world to be the best film ever made. In 1942, it should
have swept the Oscars. Instead, when either my father or "Citizen
Kane" were mentioned as nominees, hisses and boos came
from the academy members at the Shrine Auditorium ? many of
them people who feared William Randolph Hearst. My father
refused to attend the ceremony; he knew what would happen,
and it hurt him deeply. He won only the best screenplay award
that evening, and the academy members knew it was given only
so that "Mank" ? Herman J. Mankiewicz, who co-wrote the film ?
would take home an Oscar. Imagine, this was the only Academy
Award given for the best picture of all time.
My father was given his statuette, and he promptly lost it for many
decades. In 1994, I was informed that the Oscar had resurfaced
and was about to be sold privately through Sotheby's. I was
astounded that the Oscar had shown up; I believed it stolen and
lost for good. I put all my resources together and sued to stop
the sale of the statuette. I regained it, and I wanted to put it in a
permanent exhibit at an Orson Welles institute, along with his
other awards, screenplays, poems and drawings that I have
been fortunate enough to accumulate through the years. The
institute was my dream, but it never came to pass. I never had
the money or the time it takes to organize and run such an
establishment. I now realize that it wouldn't have been a good
tribute; my father detested institutions of any kind, which is one of
the reasons he never sent me to school and instead hired
teachers to tutor me in the various countries in which we lived.
My father should be remembered for what he left: his
extraordinary work, which changed the way movies were made.
With the immeasurable help and guidance of my advisor,
Thomas A. White, and my attorney, Steven Ames Brown, I have
been able to protect much of his work. I gave up my career and
business for both my father and the animals, which I would do
again if given the choice.
Three years ago, I found myself in a very bad financial situation
and was forced to think about selling the "Kane" Oscar. I had
used most of my personal funds for my animal welfare work, the
primary function of which is education in humane animal control
in addition to funding individuals and small organizations, many
from Third World countries, that have no resources in the work
they do for abused and abandoned animals.
Selling a family heirloom seemed far better than losing
everything pertaining to my father's work and seemed necessary
to ensure that creditors were paid, although it was the very last
thing I ever wanted to do. Even though my father loathed
everything that this Oscar represented, deciding to sell it was still
one of the most difficult decisions of my life.
A few weeks before the auction was scheduled at Christie's, the
academy's lawyers tried to stop the sale. I now understand the
academy's dislike of Oscars being sold, but even it admits that a
sale does the academy no harm. Simply, I had no alternative left
when I made the decision. To lose what I had fought for ? for my
father ? would have been appalling; to sell the one thing that had
no value to him, but was of great value to others, perhaps was
not so bad after all. The academy's own appraisal in 2002 said
the statuette's value was in the proximity of $1 million.
Despite knowing my predicament and despite knowing it had no
right and no basis to stop the Oscar from being sold, the
academy obstructed me and forced me to sue to get a judicial
decree stating the Oscar was my property. I won that lawsuit at a
great emotional price.
I believe academy President Bruce Davis to be a good and
responsible man who was very ill advised by his lawyers, who
had their own agenda. For a nonprofit organization to spend
copious amounts, as it has in this case, is irresponsible and
unnecessary to the point of stupidity. Worst of all, its behavior
was harmful and morally unacceptable. I was abused and
publicly humiliated by the academy's legal firm in ways that no
academy member would ever tolerate.
Now the academy is threatening to appeal unless it is allowed
to dictate what I can do with my father's 1971 Lifetime
Achievement Award, his second Oscar.
My father would have thought this normal behavior from academy
officials. Let me leave you in no doubt how he felt about them: He
hated them. His love was for "films and their makers." His
distrust for people who run media institutions is now even more
understandable to me simply because of how I have been
treated.
I will continue my work for my father and my work for the animals;
my passion for both has not ceased and never will.
8322
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:08pm
Subject: Re: Re: Leave It to Beatrice
--- hotlove666 wrote:
She says
> "I will continue my work for my father and my work
> for the animals;
> my passion for both has not ceased and never will."
I wish she'd stick to the animals and leave her father
alone.
>
>
>
>
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8323
From: Robert Keser
Date: Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:57pm
Subject: Re: Leave It to Beatrice
What I can't understand is how that Oscar "got lost"!
In 1967 (maybe 1968), when I was taking a special
course at MOMA in NY, I went into Willard Van Dyke's
office. There was an Oscar showcased on a shelf, and
as I was inspecting it, Van Dyke said "that's Orson Welles's
screenwriting Oscar for Citizen Kane. He gave it to MOMA
for helping him screen films before he started on Kane. Go
ahead, pick it up". This was such an unexpected thrill in a
routine day that it imprinted itself on my mind. So, how did
the statuette go from MOMA to the Lost and Found? I can't
believe some cleaning lady mislaid it!
--Robert Keser
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666"
wrote:
> Know your enemy...
>
> From the LA Times
> And the Oscar Goes to ... the Man in the Back Row for $1 Million
8324
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 0:21am
Subject: Re: Leave It to Beatrice
how did
> the statuette go from MOMA to the Lost and Found? I can't
> believe some cleaning lady mislaid it!
>
> --Robert Keser
>
That's where Portrait of Gina was found in 1986 - in the Lost and
Found department of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, where it had been
for over 20 years.....
8325
From: Jess Amortell
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 1:52am
Subject: Voice movie quiz results
In case anyone is looking for the answers to that Village Voice movie quiz, they're online at http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0411/answers.php . (The print edition only found room for a well-concealed notice, which is probably why I've missed them in years past.)
8326
From: Craig Keller
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:24am
Subject: "It's like a western."
From today's daily World Entertainment News Network report on IMDB --
Gibson Planning Jewish Movie
Hollywood star Mel Gibson is already planning his next foray into the
weighty world of religious film-making - he wants to make a movie about
the origins of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Gibson - who was
criticized by some quarters of the Jewish church, who accused his epic
The Passion Of The Christ of blaming Jews for Jesus Christ's death -
has hinted he may make a filmed account of the Revolt Of The Maccabees,
the story behind Hanukkah. The 46-year-old says, "The story that's
always fired my imagination is the Book of Maccabees. "The Maccabees
family stood up, and they made war. They stuck by their guns and they
came out winning. It's like a western." The Maccabees led a three year
war, 200 years before the birth of Jesus, against Antiochus, a king who
forced the Jews to worship false gods. The war led to the liberation of
Jerusalem. Gibson's interest in Jewish history concerns the Jewish
Anti-defamation League. National director Abe Foxman says, "My answer
would be, 'Thanks but no thanks.' The last thing we need in Jewish
history is to convert our history into a western." Meanwhile, Gibson is
set to become the richest star in the world thanks to a series of
clever financial tie-ins to his self-funded film. The Passion 's
soundtrack has already rocketed to the top of the Christian and
Soundtrack charts in America, becoming one of the best-selling albums
in both territories. And other Passion merchandise is flying off
shelves too - photography book The Passion :Photography from the Movie
The Passion of the Christ has debuted high on America's new
bestsellers' list, and jewelry items such as "The Passion Nail Pendant"
have become fashion statements for fervent Christians.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8327
From: Jaime N. Christley
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 5:53am
Subject: Re: "It's like a western."
So it's Griffith he's trying to emulate? Following a wannabe-BIRTH OF
A NATION with an INTOLERANCE-ish apology? But not quite?
-Jaime
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Craig Keller wrote:
>
> From today's daily World Entertainment News Network report on IMDB --
>
> Gibson Planning Jewish Movie
> Hollywood star Mel Gibson is already planning his next foray into the
> weighty world of religious film-making - he wants to make a movie about
> the origins of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Gibson - who was
> criticized by some quarters of the Jewish church, who accused his epic
> The Passion Of The Christ of blaming Jews for Jesus Christ's death -
> has hinted he may make a filmed account of the Revolt Of The Maccabees,
> the story behind Hanukkah. The 46-year-old says, "The story that's
> always fired my imagination is the Book of Maccabees. "The Maccabees
> family stood up, and they made war. They stuck by their guns and they
> came out winning. It's like a western." The Maccabees led a three year
> war, 200 years before the birth of Jesus, against Antiochus, a king who
> forced the Jews to worship false gods. The war led to the liberation of
> Jerusalem. Gibson's interest in Jewish history concerns the Jewish
> Anti-defamation League. National director Abe Foxman says, "My answer
> would be, 'Thanks but no thanks.' The last thing we need in Jewish
> history is to convert our history into a western." Meanwhile, Gibson is
> set to become the richest star in the world thanks to a series of
> clever financial tie-ins to his self-funded film. The Passion 's
> soundtrack has already rocketed to the top of the Christian and
> Soundtrack charts in America, becoming one of the best-selling albums
> in both territories. And other Passion merchandise is flying off
> shelves too - photography book The Passion :Photography from the Movie
> The Passion of the Christ has debuted high on America's new
> bestsellers' list, and jewelry items such as "The Passion Nail Pendant"
> have become fashion statements for fervent Christians.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8328
From: Raymond P.
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 6:16am
Subject: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
This may be a bit of a crapshoot, but I am wondering if anyone is familiar with Hiroshi
Shimizu, the director that apparently has influenced both Ozu and Mizoguchi? More
specifically, has anyone seen his films?
The Hong Kong International Film Festival will be playing a retrospective for this unsung
master in April. I am trying to help research some additional information on him,
especially from people who are familiar with his works or at least have watch them.
The information of him are really scant. In fact, IMDB.com doesn't even have a chunk of his
films listed! And the only one which has any votes is "Arigato-san" (Mr. Thank You, 1936).
I am trying to find out if anyone has some information (story overview, cast list, etc.) for
the following films:
Mr. Thank You (Arigato-san) 1936, 78 min
Forget Love for Now (Koi mo Wasurete) 1937, 73 min
The Masseurs and a Woman (Anma to Onna) 1938, 65 min
Notes of an Itinerant Performer (Uta-jo Oboegaki) 1941, 98 min
Ornamental Hairpin (Kanzashi) 1941, 70 min
Children of the Beehive (Hachi no su no Kodomotachi) 1948, 86 min
Mr. Shosuke Ohara (Ohara Shosuke-san) 1949, 91 min
A Mother's Love (Bojo) 1950, 86 min
The Shiinomi School (Shiinomi Gakuen) 1955, 100 min
Thanks!
Raymond
8329
From: Andy Rector
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 6:40am
Subject: Ten by Kiarostami
Does anyone know, or know where I can find out, what sort of camera
Kiarostami used for TEN?
best,
andy
8330
From: Dan Sallitt
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 6:48am
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
> I am trying to find out if anyone has some information (story overview, cast list, etc.) for
> the following films:
>
> Mr. Thank You (Arigato-san) 1936, 78 min
> Forget Love for Now (Koi mo Wasurete) 1937, 73 min
> The Masseurs and a Woman (Anma to Onna) 1938, 65 min
> Notes of an Itinerant Performer (Uta-jo Oboegaki) 1941, 98 min
> Ornamental Hairpin (Kanzashi) 1941, 70 min
> Children of the Beehive (Hachi no su no Kodomotachi) 1948, 86 min
> Mr. Shosuke Ohara (Ohara Shosuke-san) 1949, 91 min
> A Mother's Love (Bojo) 1950, 86 min
> The Shiinomi School (Shiinomi Gakuen) 1955, 100 min
I've seen one or two, including ARIGATO-SAN, and wasn't that impressed:
he seemed a little crude and simple to me, though I'd check him out
again if I had a chance, given how many people mention him.
I have credits here for a film not on your list, A STAR ATHLETE (1937).
You can find a few passages on him in Anderson and Richie's THE
JAPANESE FILM - let me know if you haven't got access to this, and I'll
summarize. - Dan
8331
From: Raymond P.
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 6:57am
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Dan Sallitt wrote:
> I've seen one or two, including ARIGATO-SAN, and wasn't that impressed:
> he seemed a little crude and simple to me, though I'd check him out
> again if I had a chance, given how many people mention him.
>
> I have credits here for a film not on your list, A STAR ATHLETE (1937).
> You can find a few passages on him in Anderson and Richie's THE
> JAPANESE FILM - let me know if you haven't got access to this, and I'll
> summarize. - Dan
Thanks very much Dan! That would be a great help. In specific, if the book has the cast list
for A STAR ATHLETE, that would help tremendously. What we are having problems with
now is that we are not sure if the English translation of the Japanese casts' names are right
or not.
Was there an accompanying literature with ARIGATO-SAN when you saw it? Also, I'm
curious to know why you thought the film was "crude" :)
Cheers! - Raymond
8332
From: Jaime N. Christley
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 7:17am
Subject: Speaking of Westerns: De Toth versus The Zees
Just came home from a highly instructive 3-D double feature at Film
Forum. The first film, THE NEBRASKAN, a shitty Z-grade oater directed
by Fred F. Sears and starring the anonymously handsome Philip Carey
(who plays Captain Tennick in SPRINGFIELD RIFLE). The second was THE
STRANGER WORE A GUN, the other 3-D feature directed by one-eyed master
Andre de Toth and starring the inimitable Randolph Scott.
STRANGER isn't one of De Toth's best films, but it's light years ahead
of THE NEBRASKAN (a sluggish and stupid string of cliches: for
trivia's sake, however, this film, not RIO BRAVO, may be the real
inspiration for John Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13), and it's a
fine work unto itself. Compared to its 3-D counterparts (including
HOUSE OF WAX, also helmed by De Toth) it has about half the
seemingly-required number of pointing-at-the-camera gimmicks, and even
those are infused with De Toth's characteristic sense of brutality and
horror.
This sense manifests itself even more effectively in the film's
opening sequence: one of De Toth's signature set pieces, recreating
the liquidization of a ghetto-like community. (De Toth would use
massacre imagery in many other films, including LAST OF THE COMANCHES,
NONE SHALL ESCAPE, and PLAY DIRTY, while the fear of liquidization
hangs over DAY OF THE OUTLAW and others.) A sequence like this puts
the audience's moral anxiety (where they don't yet have a perspective
from which to comfortably view events) ahead of character
identification (Scott is kept in anti-subjective long shots and it's
made clear right away that his implication in the massacre isn't
something that will easily be talked away), and sets the tone for the
rest of what would appear to some to be a routine western about a man
trying to regain his credibility. What may have made Broderick
Crawford's heroic sergeant in LAST OF THE COMANCHES so appealing -
apart from the novelty of seeing Crawford in an unquestionably
sympathetic and street-smart role - could have been the immediate
gratification of a hero perspective after an apocalyptic opening
massacre.
The routine is effectively and unsurprisingly carried out: for the
latter half of the picture, De Toth's direction is fine and
occasionally striking but for the most part doesn't do much to
complicate the efficient and predictable completion of the scenario.
That said, his compositions blow the typical 3-D film off the fucking
map, and what's astonishing is that, while he may have been unable to
tailor them specifically to 3-D, the action sequences have a depth and
beauty that the 3-D process actually *enhances*: it was in STRANGER
WORE A GUN that I felt that the gimmick really presented filmmakers
with new possibilites for planar and depth staging, something I failed
to notice even in DIAL M FOR MURDER. In other words, while watching
the film, I felt at some points that De Toth didn't give a shit one
way or another about the 3-D process, but also that, all the same, his
skill in composing his frame was a cut above the typical 3-D
spectacle, that the viewer needed the 3-D goggles to appreciate these
images fully (or at least, this viewer needed them), and that he used
landscapes, rocks and hills and dust, in ways that reveal STRANGER to
be a close relative to PLAY DIRTY and LAST OF THE COMANCHES.
8333
From: Raymond P.
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:24am
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Dan Sallitt wrote:
> I've seen one or two, including ARIGATO-SAN, and wasn't that impressed:
> he seemed a little crude and simple to me, though I'd check him out
> again if I had a chance, given how many people mention him.
>
> I have credits here for a film not on your list, A STAR ATHLETE (1937).
> You can find a few passages on him in Anderson and Richie's THE
> JAPANESE FILM - let me know if you haven't got access to this, and I'll
> summarize. - Dan
Whoops, sorry! I was just informed that the cast list problem has been solved, so no need
for the transcribing. Thanks very much for offering to help, Dan. Though I'm still curious
to know why you think his films are a little "crude" :)
Cheers,
Raymond
8334
From: Gabe Klinger
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:35am
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
Some of his films were just shown in Berlin. Chris Fujiwara speaks briefly about
NOTES OF AN ITINERANT PERFORMER in his report:
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/movies/multi_1/documents/03644521.asp
Gabe
8335
From: Kevin Lee
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:30pm
Subject: Auteur Wars, con'td: Rosenbaum gives screenwriter auteur status
From his new review of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND:
http://www.chireader.com/movies/archives/2004/0304/040319.html
"Only once in a blue moon does a screenwriter who isn't a director
become known as an auteur. Plenty of distinctive movie writers have
reputations as actors or as actor-directors, starting with such
giants as D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Erich von Stroheim, but
they're rarely celebrated for their writing. You have to go back to
Robert Towne, who's done only a little directing, and Paddy
Chayefsky, who never did anything but write and produce, to find
auteurs known mainly as writers.
A Chayefsky movie isn't hard to identify, but I think it's safe to
say that these days a Charlie Kaufman movie is even more
recognizable. On the basis of just four original scripts -- Being
John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation, and now Eternal Sunshine of
the Spotless Mind -- he's achieved a public identity few other
screenwriters in history have acquired.
All of these movies are founded on goofy, surrealist fantasies
concerning the thwarted desires of neurotic and ineffectual
characters, and all have scrambled methods of telling a story,
including juggled chronologies and viewpoints. It's refreshing that
Kaufman is using his growing fame to make his experimentation even
more audacious and complex, trusting his coworkers and audiences to
be equally adventurous.
It's important to acknowledge that Kaufman has become an auteur in
the public consciousness, but it's equally important to understand
that auteurism is more a way of viewing films than a formula for
understanding how films are created. The screenplay of Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is credited to Kaufman, an American
screenwriter, but the story was initially hatched by two Frenchmen --
Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth. Gondry, who's known mainly for his
music videos (including those for Bjork), directed only one previous
feature, Human Nature, for which Kaufman wrote the script, and
perhaps it's telling that the two other features with original
Kaufman scripts were directed by Spike Jonze, also known mainly for
his music videos. (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which Kaufman
adapted from Chuck Barris's autobiography, was the first directorial
effort of actor George Clooney.)
In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind he clearly surpasses
himself. For the first time he delivers an ending that doesn't feel
like either a cop-out or a throwaway, even if it's Hollywood to the
core. He's also figured out a structure that perfectly matches the
emotional tenor of his theme and isn't just an amusement-park ride
that can be forgotten as soon as it's over. Furthermore, he's working
with people -- notably writer-director Gondry, cowriter Bismuth (a
visual artist), and actors Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood,
Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, and Tom Wilkinson -- who are willing to
serve the screenplay as a team rather than take it as an opportunity
to show off. One result is that Winslet is more demonstrative than
Carrey, in keeping with the characters they're playing. Another is
that Gondry as director pushes himself beyond Human Nature, astutely
underscoring the fluidity of certain mental transitions by using
stage techniques such as quick lighting and scenery changes and film
techniques such as shifts in focus and digital alteration."
Recalling the debate a few weeks back about Paddy Chayevsky, I'm
still a hung jury member about non-directors as auteurs, but I'm
leaning in the direction indicated by Rosenbaum. For me, one key
question is whether the auteur theory requires that the aesthetic
qualities of a film must (or even can) be attributed to a single
creative mind; or that non-directorial contributions must always be
seen as subordinate to the directorial vision. Intuitively, I have a
problem with the hierarchical value of artistic contributions implied
by this conception; empirically, there are too many instances of
great, compelling, even masterful films that are not the singular
vision of their director (i.e. A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, TAXI
DRIVER, THE THIRD MAN), but are actually enriched by a possibly non-
hierarchical collaboration of contending visions.
Fred, would you be interested in having a poll or survey conducted
among our members, let's say 5-10 key questions that get at the heart
of defining the auteur theory? For example, I'm still unsure about
whether one can really define an auteur after seeing only one of
their films (unless he/she is told beforehand that it's an auteur).
Dan, I know you said auteur status can be claimed for Laughton after
only NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, but I feel that if that's so then how does
that shed light on the issue of career consistency? What if say
Laughton made another film and it turned out to contradict the terms
by which you defined his auteurism in HUNTER? I ask this because
this happened to me with the Reed films I saw after THIRD MAN.
8336
From: Fred Camper
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:37pm
Subject: Re: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
I've seen three, one which I can barely remember, "Mr. Thank You," and
"Children of the Beehive." The two that I remember I liked enormously.
"Mr Thank You" is amazing, actually, and I was surprised Dan called it
"crude." It's "crude" only in the sense that it doesn't do what western
films do at all. It is one of the best examples for the thesis that
Japanese cinema of the thirties really could be very different form
that of the west: not only does almost nothing happen in this film of a
bus ride, but there is a notable absence of artificial drama or dramatic
tension. The big "climax" comes when a touring car that had passed the
bus is seen to have broken down. There's an almost Buddhist acceptance
of the flow of life (in the bus ride) and tiny details therein.
"Children of the Beehive" is superficially a bit less original, but very
gentle, very beautiful, very moving. I'm delighted that I'll be able to
see more of his films while I'm in Hong Kong, and sad that I won't be
able to see the whole retrospective.
- Fred
8337
From: Kevin Lee
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:39pm
Subject: Re: "It's like a western."
Does anyone else feel that THE PASSION is "like a horror movie"? I
think it's the Christian equivalent to TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and I
mean that in a good way. I wonder what Robin Wood would have to say
about it...
8338
From: Kevin Lee
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:42pm
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Fred Camper wrote:
> "Mr Thank You" is amazing, actually, and I was surprised Dan called
it
> "crude." It's "crude" only in the sense that it doesn't do what
western
> films do at all. It is one of the best examples for the thesis that
> Japanese cinema of the thirties really could be very different
form
> that of the west: not only does almost nothing happen in this film
of a
> bus ride, but there is a notable absence of artificial drama or
dramatic
> tension. The big "climax" comes when a touring car that had passed
the
> bus is seen to have broken down. There's an almost Buddhist
acceptance
> of the flow of life (in the bus ride) and tiny details therein.
>
Sounds a lot like Kiarostami (and yet not so much like the Shimizu
film that I saw). Would you agree?
Your description of "a notable absence of artificial drama or
dramatic tension" certainly applies to Ozu's films of the 30s, or of
any decade...
8339
From: Kevin Lee
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:36pm
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
I didn't realize Chris had written about the fest, thanks for the
link. I got to meet him and sat next to him during NOTES OF AN
ITINERANT PERFORMER. My own notes are below. Incidentally Gabe, do
you have a Berlin wrap-up posted somewhere?
"Notes of an Itinerant Performer (1941, Hiroshi Shimizu)
not listed on IMDb
YES YES - Absolutely wonderful use of space, a dramatic and dynamic
use of foreground and background in a way that conceals and reveals
characters, up there with the best of Renoir and Mizoguchi in this
period. Like Mizoguchi, Shimizu also seems punch drunk on tracking
shots, and uses them to a stunning variety of effects, from dramatic
to comic, sometimes at once. The compositions are immaculately
conceived, each character and object placed in a way that they seem
to give off their own glow in relation to each other.
- The story seems like textbook Mizoguchi -- a dancer in a travelling
show is sold to a rich household to be the dance trainer for the girl
of the house. When the patriarch of the household dies the family is
thrown into disarray, but the woman makes sacrifices in order to save
them. The resolution however is rather un-Mizoguchian in its
looseness and candidness -- instead of going for full throttle
dramatic intensity it opts for something less assuming, more frank
and unexpected, almost spontaneous like in some of Ozu's endings.
Like both of them he seems very attuned to the transience of life and
how people make moral decisions in response to the less-than-ideal
situations in which they find themselves. I really want to see more
of Shimizu's films. If they're as good as this one then he really
should be considered among the all-time Japanese elite filmmakers."
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Gabe Klinger"
wrote:
> Some of his films were just shown in Berlin. Chris Fujiwara speaks
briefly about
> NOTES OF AN ITINERANT PERFORMER in his report:
>
>
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/movies/multi_1/documents/03644521.
asp
>
> Gabe
8340
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:49pm
Subject: Re: Re: "It's like a western."
"NASCAR Jesus" is precisely like a horror movie. And I
don't mean that in a good way.
I've no doubt Robin Wood would object to its knee-jerk
homophobia.
--- Kevin Lee wrote:
> Does anyone else feel that THE PASSION is "like a
> horror movie"? I
> think it's the Christian equivalent to TEXAS
> CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and I
> mean that in a good way. I wonder what Robin Wood
> would have to say
> about it...
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
http://mail.yahoo.com
8341
From: Kevin Lee
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 5:23pm
Subject: Re: "It's like a western."
I think that, if he wanted to, Wood (or anyone) could argue that the
film is as homoerotic (unintentionally but tellingly nonetheless) as
it is homophobic. That is, if he considered the film worth
retrieving from its already-calcified reputation as anathema for
liberal intellectuals to take seriously. Critics seem eager and
relieved to wash their hands of this bloody mess without reflecting
on the phenomenon of the film's resonance with audiences. A first
step could be to investigate a term like "NASCAR Jesus" and its
operating assumptions in setting up the cultural judgments in play in
understanding the film.
Here's an interesting essay by David Walsh in the World Socialist
Website -- its objectifying attitude towards the film's audience is
still a bit condescending (this has been my biggest problem with the
film's critics, as if the elitist spectre of Pauline Kael had
descended on them en masse) but at least he's trying to understand
why the film resonates so much with the psychic state of the mass
audience (the kind of analysis Robin Wood excels at, esp. with in his
writings on the horror genre):
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/pass-m05.shtml
Kevin
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein
wrote:
> "NASCAR Jesus" is precisely like a horror movie. And I
> don't mean that in a good way.
>
> I've no doubt Robin Wood would object to its knee-jerk
> homophobia.
>
> --- Kevin Lee wrote:
> > Does anyone else feel that THE PASSION is "like a
> > horror movie"? I
> > think it's the Christian equivalent to TEXAS
> > CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and I
> > mean that in a good way. I wonder what Robin Wood
> > would have to say
> > about it...
> >
> >
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
> http://mail.yahoo.com
8342
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 5:59pm
Subject: Re: Re: "It's like a western."
--- Kevin Lee wrote:
> I think that, if he wanted to, Wood (or anyone)
> could argue that the
> film is as homoerotic (unintentionally but tellingly
> nonetheless) as
> it is homophobic.
One doesn't cancel out the other, well DUH!
That is, if he considered the
> film worth
> retrieving from its already-calcified reputation as
> anathema for
> liberal intellectuals to take seriously.
There is no reason to take it seriously.
Religion is nothing more than an irrational response
to Death. Unwilling to face the finiteness of life
"Man has created Gods" (Fritz Lang in "Contempt")
The Western one is a bi-polar sadist that we (like a
gaggle of battered housewives) are required to declare
over and over again shows us "Love" and "Mercy."
When you die your body is tossed into the ground and
the worms eat you. THE END!ONE LIFE TO A CUSTOMER!
MAKE THE MOST OF IT!
Critics
> seem eager and
> relieved to wash their hands of this bloody mess
> without reflecting
> on the phenomenon of the film's resonance with
> audiences. A first
> step could be to investigate a term like "NASCAR
> Jesus" and its
> operating assumptions in setting up the cultural
> judgments in play in
> understanding the film.
>
As it's MY term, what is it that you wish to know?
> Here's an interesting essay by David Walsh in the
> World Socialist
> Website -- its objectifying attitude towards the
> film's audience is
> still a bit condescending (this has been my biggest
> problem with the
> film's critics, as if the elitist spectre of Pauline
> Kael had
> descended on them en masse)
Being sane and having standards is "elitist"?
Fine. BRING 'EM ON!
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
http://mail.yahoo.com
8343
From: Raymond P.
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 6:00pm
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Fred Camper wrote:
> I've seen three, one which I can barely remember, "Mr. Thank You,"
and
> "Children of the Beehive." The two that I remember I liked
enormously.
> "Mr Thank You" is amazing, actually, and I was surprised Dan
called it
> "crude." It's "crude" only in the sense that it doesn't do what
western
> films do at all. It is one of the best examples for the thesis
that
> Japanese cinema of the thirties really could be very different
form
> that of the west: not only does almost nothing happen in this film
of a
> bus ride, but there is a notable absence of artificial drama or
dramatic
> tension. The big "climax" comes when a touring car that had passed
the
> bus is seen to have broken down. There's an almost Buddhist
acceptance
> of the flow of life (in the bus ride) and tiny details therein.
>
> "Children of the Beehive" is superficially a bit less original,
but very
> gentle, very beautiful, very moving. I'm delighted that I'll be
able to
> see more of his films while I'm in Hong Kong, and sad that I won't
be
> able to see the whole retrospective.
>
> - Fred
Luckily, you can still catch these two!
JAPANESE GIRL AT THE HARBOUR 4/16/04 @ 5:15PM
ORNAMENTAL HAIRPIN 4/17/04 @ 6:00PM
I am going to try and catch most, if not all, of the Shimizus after
the HKIFF. Oh, and the Lubitsch as well...
Cheers,
Raymond
8344
From: Richard Modiano
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 7:08pm
Subject: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Raymond P." wrote:
"This may be a bit of a crapshoot, but I am wondering if anyone is
familiar with Hiroshi Shimizu, the director that apparently has
influenced both Ozu and Mizoguchi? More specifically, has anyone seen
his films?"
Shimizu is a director of some excellence. I agree with Fred C. that
his films support the thesis that '30s Japanese cinema was sui
generis in relation to Western cinema. Far from crude I found the 4
films of his I've seen to be quite subtle, but I don't see an
influence from Shimizu on either Ozu or Mizoguchi. You should take
a look at the chapter in Noel Burch's "To the Distant Observer" that
discusses Shimizu; he gives a good account of THE STAR ATHLETE. And
since many of Shimizu's stories are about children the connection
that Kevin made to Kiarostami bears further study.
Richard
8345
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 7:10pm
Subject: Re: Speaking of Westerns: De Toth versus The Zees
I sadly missed Stranger with a Gun at our 3-D series. (Stefan
Droessler flew in and saw everything.) But I did see The Lawless
breed, by yet another one-eyed director, Raoul Walsh, which was
pretty much the same that you describe: mid-level Walsh,
stunning landscape compositions. Could also be the
cameraman.
8346
From: Jess Amortell
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:05pm
Subject: Re: "It's like a western."
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Kevin Lee" wrote:
> Critics seem eager and
> relieved to wash their hands of this bloody mess
I'll probably regret fanning these flames, but I'm curious as to whether anyone who's actually seen the thing would care to evaluate the following evaluation by Matt Zoller Seitz:
http://www.nypress.com/17/10/film/film.cfm
"Gibson is the most visually gifted movie star to pick up a camera since Charles Laughton made The Night of the Hunter back in 1955."
And continuing, for what it's worth:
"(Note the daring, vertical wipe that emotionally connects Jesus, imprisoned underground, with his mother aboveground, as well as the brief but politically supercharged glance exchanged between Jesus and a Nubian in Herod's court. These are touches Sam Peckinpah would have been proud of.)"
Seitz isn't my most trusted guide to cinema, and he basically panned the film, but that said, I haven't come across anything approaching such an encomium anywhere else (although his sidekick Armond White also took the thing seriously, although from a different angle).
8347
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:24pm
Subject: Re: "It's like a western."
I only saw the last 40 minutes by sneaking in. (See Re: Phillip
Kaufman, et al.) It's absurd to say that. Eastwood is much more
gifted, for one, and so is Paul Newman, just to cite two obvious
examples, to which David will no doubt want to add Warren
Beatty and Barbra Streisand. But like Eastwood, Gibson had a
good teacher (Siegel for the one, Miller for the other), so it's not
dull - the Resurrection is well-done. I'd have to see the whole
thing to say what I think of it - I missed most of the anti-Semitic
stuff and all the homophobic stuff: just saw the Stations of the
Cross - but I would very much like someone to answer the
question I asked in the above-mentioned post: Does Gibson
actually cut from Caphias lamenting in his ruined temple to
Satan howling in defeat in Hell after Christ's victory, or did I
hallucinate it?
Re: What Kevin said. Just based on what I saw after sneaking in
- he already looked like a side of beef - this is the most extreme
example of cinematic body violence since the films of Herschell
Gordon Lewis. Just 40 minutes worth left me shaken, and I eat
horror movies for breakfast.
8348
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:42pm
Subject: Re: Re: "It's like a western."
--- Jess Amortell wrote:
> Seitz:
> "Gibson is the most visually gifted movie star to
> pick up a camera since Charles Laughton made The
> Night of the Hunter back in 1955."
>
Now THAT'S blasphemy! Gibson is the most pretentious
hack since Lars Von Trier.
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8349
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:44pm
Subject: Re: Re: "It's like a western."
--- hotlove666 wrote:
Does
> Gibson
> actually cut from Caphias lamenting in his ruined
> temple to
> Satan howling in defeat in Hell after Christ's
> victory, or did I
> hallucinate it?
Not a hallucination.
>
> Re: What Kevin said. Just based on what I saw after
> sneaking in
> - he already looked like a side of beef - this is
> the most extreme
> example of cinematic body violence since the films
> of Herschell
> Gordon Lewis. Just 40 minutes worth left me shaken,
> and I eat
> horror movies for breakfast.
>
>
You hit on precisely who I was thinking of --
Herschell Gordon Lewis!
It's "Blood Feast" for the "pious."
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8350
From: George Robinson
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:46pm
Subject: Re: Re: "It's like a western."
The only way that someone could consider Gibson "visually gifted" is if they
hadn't seen any of his three films.
George Robinson
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
8351
From: Jess Amortell
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:10pm
Subject: Netflix piece in Times
Final newsprint nugget of the day, I promise. In today's Times article on the joys of Netflix and its ilk, by the discerning restaurant critic William Grimes, I was amazed at the outright philistinism that was deemed publishable in a statement like the following:
'...Why not roll the dice and order, say, "Russian Ark," a bizarre Russian film, part audioguide and part costume drama, that pulls the viewer through the Hermitage Museum in a single, extended camera shot, skipping from century to century. It's even more unwatchable than it sounds. But so what? I dropped it in the mailbox knowing that "Naked City" and "Adaptation" were on their way.'
At least he's honest! Still, even though I'm not really the world's greatest Sokurov fan, and I'd further imagine that Russian Ark on video probably *is* unwatchable, I can't help wondering what would happen if, God forbid, a Times writer ventured to call a prominent hip-hop record, let's say, "unlistenable."
And there's little need to add that it wasn't a hard-core auteurist who authored such lines as 'Anyone hoping to binge on Barbara Stanwyck will have to do without "Ball of Fire." Preston Sturges fans will look in vain for "Easy Living."' Still, it's tempting to find the early signs of enlightenment in a passage like the following:
'Right now my account page tells me that, based on my rentals and ratings, I might like to rent "Aguirre, Wrath of God," "Stagecoach" or "The Vicar of Dibley." I see the logic, and it is primitive. The "Stagecoach" recommendation reflects my rental of John Ford's "Searchers," just about the only western I've seen in my adult life, unless you count "Blazing Saddles." CineMatch got lucky here. I found "The Searchers" riveting, and I put Howard Hawks's "Red River" on my queue. "Stagecoach" is indeed a viable candidate.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/movies/19NETF.html
8352
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:10pm
Subject: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
So if he actually cuts between Caphias' and Satan's similar
reactions to the victory of Christ, as David and I both saw him do,
that settles the anti-Semitism question right there. The
significance of that cut is not "compare and contrast Satan and
Caphias." In-depth discussions of the intricacies of Roman
Occupation politics in the Middle East are superfluous.
On actor-directors, I would also put Sylvester Stallone (Paradise
Alley) and Cornel Wilde ahead of Gibson. And by the way, the
snotty tone of the Film Comment article on Wilde undid any
benefits of recognizing the talented, intelligent, adventurous,
humane artist who made Beach Red and The Naked Prey. Then
there are the tv actor-producer-directors, Jack Webb and the
great Ozzie Nelson (both of whom did good features). And is the
author of that statement unfamiliar with the work of John
Cassavetes, and a certain clown-turned-director named Jerry
Lewis?????
8353
From: George Robinson
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:27pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
I would add Ida Lupino to that list.
Also, one might like to note that Raoul Walsh was a leading man before the
accident that cost him his eye.
Oh yeah, there's also that Welles guy.
(And, as Damien will probably jump in to note, Blake Edwards appeared in a
few films in the '40s.)
Of course, none of these folks can compare to the Great Mel.
g
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: "hotlove666"
To:
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 4:10 PM
Subject: [a_film_by] Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
> So if he actually cuts between Caphias' and Satan's similar
> reactions to the victory of Christ, as David and I both saw him do,
> that settles the anti-Semitism question right there. The
> significance of that cut is not "compare and contrast Satan and
> Caphias." In-depth discussions of the intricacies of Roman
> Occupation politics in the Middle East are superfluous.
>
> On actor-directors, I would also put Sylvester Stallone (Paradise
> Alley) and Cornel Wilde ahead of Gibson. And by the way, the
> snotty tone of the Film Comment article on Wilde undid any
> benefits of recognizing the talented, intelligent, adventurous,
> humane artist who made Beach Red and The Naked Prey. Then
> there are the tv actor-producer-directors, Jack Webb and the
> great Ozzie Nelson (both of whom did good features). And is the
> author of that statement unfamiliar with the work of John
> Cassavetes, and a certain clown-turned-director named Jerry
> Lewis?????
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
8354
From: filipefurtado
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:47pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
Well, there's Dennis Hopper (didn't care for Easy Rider, but
the guy who did Out of the Blue deserves a lot of respect).
I'm fond of Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand too. And the Burt
Reynolds direct film that I saw (Sharky's Machine) was pretty
good.
And if we start to mention less obvious cases, Bogdanovich
start as an actor (and even has a role in Targets).
I'm start to think if there's any actor/director really much
worse than Gibson (thinking about it, I hate The Green
Barrets less than Braveheart...)
Filipe
---
Acabe com aquelas janelinhas que pulam na sua tela.
AntiPop-up UOL - É grátis!
http://antipopup.uol.com.br
8355
From: habelove
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:28pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
It seems every actor at some point tries his hand in the directing
arena, and most don't stay. It's probably a natural attempt to
extend a career, that for all but the most lucky (or canny) doesn't
last more than a decade. And maybe their egos get bruised by being
told what to do all the time, and from the quality of the average
director, it probably doesn't look that hard.
Taking a glance through the section I have in my store devoted to
these cinematic oddieties, it seems EVERYBODY tries their hand at
least once.
For your pleasure and consideration:
Telly Savalas (Beyond Reason)
Robert Forster (Hollywood Harry)
Jack Lemmon (Kotch)
Lou Diamond Philips (Sioux City)
Anthony Michael Hall (Hail Cesar)
Cliff Robertson (The Pilot)
Maximilian Schell (The Pedestrian)
Kirk Douglas (The Posse)
Mathew Modine (If..Dog..Rabbit)
Brian Keith (Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck)
Tom Hanks (That Thing You Do)
Anthony Perkins (Psycho 3)
Chris Rock (Head of State)
Robert De Niro (A Bronx Tale)
Al Pacino (Looking for Richard)
Gary Oldham (Nil By Mouth)
Alain Delon (The Fighter)
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Anniversary Party)
Steven Seagal (On Deadly Ground)
Jack Nicholson (several)
Liv Ullman (Faithless)
James Hong (The Vineyard)
The Kentuckian (Burt Lancaster)
Danny Devito (several)
Denzel Washington (Antwon Fisher)
Michael Landon (Sam's Son
Peter Lorre (Verlorene)
Burgess Meredith (Ying and Yang of Mr. Go)
Jerry Reed (What Ciomes Around
Bert Convy (Weekend Warriors
Jeff Daniels (Escanaba in the Moonlight)
Bill Paxton (frailty)
John Malkovitch (Dancer Upstairs)
Matt Dillon (city of ghosts)
Roseanna Arquette (Looking for Debra Winger)
Kevin Spacey (Albino Alligator)
Jeanne Moreau (The Adolescent)
David Carradine (Americana)
Gene Wilder (several)
Jose Ferrer (Return to Peighton Place)
George C. Scott (Rage)
Griffin Dunne (several)Peter Berg (Very Bad Things)
Alan Arkin (several pretty good comedies)
Arnold Schwartznegger (Christmas in Connecticut remake)
Peter Ustinov (Hammer Smith is Out)
James Caan (Hide in Plain Site)
Robert Dulvall (several)
Yul Brynner (The Buccaneer)
Klaus Kinski (Nosferatu in Venice and, of course, Paganini)
Dom Deluise (Hot Stuff
Jack Webb (D.I.)
Charles Laughton (Night of the Hunter)
Nicholas Cage (Sonny)
Steve Buscemi (Trees Lounge)
John Turturro (several)
Antonio Banderas (Crazy In Alabama)
Micahel Ironsdie (Blood Money)
Marlon Brando (One Eyed Jacks)
Charles Heston (Mother Lode)
John Candy (Hostage For a Day)
Burt Reynolds (Sharky's Machine)
Not to mention the ones who've fully made the transition, Paul
Newman, Kevin Costner, Warren Beatty, Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton,
Robert Redford, Woody Allen, Jody Foster, Ron Howard, Griffin Dunne,
Forest Whitaker, Emilio Estevez, Mel Brooks, Tommy Noonan, Sean Penn
The question is....which actors HAVEN'T tried directing.
8356
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:49pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
No one on Hadrian's list who floats my boat, but I'm reminded
that one of my favorite directors period is Sean penn, and that
Diane Keaton is very gifted - I hope that now she's through with
As Good as it Gets s he uses some of her clout to make another
film as good as Heaven.
8357
From: Aaron Graham
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:52pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666"
wrote:
> On actor-directors, I would also put Sylvester Stallone (Paradise
> Alley)
Thank you for this. Stallone never gets any respect. His "Rocky III"
montage is as perfect as a montage can be.
I'd also add Burt Reynolds to the list, although the only exceptional
one is "Sharky's Machine".
8358
From: Aaron Graham
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:55pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "habelove" wrote:
>>>David Carradine (Americana)
I've always felt Dennis Hopper should have made something like this
after "Easy Rider", in place of "The Last Movie".
8359
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 0:02am
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
Leos Carax is a great fan of "Paradise Alley" and
reviewed it for "Cahiers."
--- Aaron Graham wrote:
> Thank you for this. Stallone never gets any respect.
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8360
From: habelove
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 0:40am
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
Bill, I hope you know I wasn't pitching any of those as particularly
good, as much as just showing the sheer inevitability of an actor
directing eventually
... but if i had to pick out a couple success stories, I would say
aside of Sean Penn's work, Laughton's Night of the Hunter is
obviously pretty great. I think Alan Arkin's comedies (Little
Murders and Fire Sale) are genuinely funny,
On the whole you're right; they're not very good films though. I
think they ARE an interesting insight into the actors that made
them. They are often character-based to a fault --lots of
exposition, revealing pans of their heroes apartments, actors'
moments galore.
"It's hard to act when you're cold" --Nicholas Cage, on the
"Sonny" audio commentary.
8361
From: habelove
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 0:42am
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
Stallone does have some amazing popular instincts...but who
can forgive him for changing the end of First Blood. In the novel,
the Richard Crenna character shoots Rambo at the end, to put
him out of his misery like a sick dog. Now that would have been
a great movie (maybe not a hit, though).
8362
From: Jaime N. Christley
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 0:51am
Subject: RUSSIAN ARK and ignorance
> '...Why not roll the dice and order, say, "Russian Ark," a bizarre
Russian film, part audioguide and part costume drama, that pulls the
viewer through the Hermitage Museum in a single, extended camera shot,
skipping from century to century. It's even more unwatchable than it
sounds. But so what? I dropped it in the mailbox knowing that "Naked
City" and "Adaptation" were on their way.'
>
> At least he's honest! Still, even though I'm not really the world's
greatest Sokurov fan, and I'd further imagine that Russian Ark on
video probably *is* unwatchable, I can't help wondering what would
happen if, God forbid, a Times writer ventured to call a prominent
hip-hop record, let's say, "unlistenable."
During a break in shooting my short film, we were eating pizza and my
AC was only too happy to inform me that RUSSIAN ARK "sucked!" I'm
well aware that a lot of people probably didn't care for the film, and
that many of them may not be ignorant loudmouths. And then, there are
those that didn't, and are. This tied into an earlier conversation
wherein he explained why THE THIN RED LINE was so bad, which somehow
ended with him telling me that he had evaluated the film objectively,
and that the people who thought that TRL was great weren't being
objective.
Funny how people who talk about "objectivity" are always right. It
really works out pretty good in their favor, doesn't it?
Just had to get that off my chest. I celebrate differing opinions,
and barring that, I'll take ignorance any day of the week (and I do),
so long as a person doesn't start granting themselves the "objective"
point of view. That's when I hear the little voice in my head that
says, "Get a rope."
-Jaime
8363
From: Zach Campbell
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 0:51am
Subject: Re: "It's like a western."
George Robinson wrote:
> The only way that someone could consider Gibson "visually gifted"
> is if they hadn't seen any of his three films.
But he is gifted to some degree, and this is precisely why he might
be dangerous. (Haven't seen PASSION, btw.) As a wide-eyed 12-year-
old, I was blown away by BRAVEHEART and that was the film that (I
sheepishly must admit) started my road towards cinephilia. It took
me a few years to even realize the way BRAVEHEART situates its
viewers' perceived sympathies (against the effeminate, in favor of
tribalism, etc.) in a way that slyly appeals to prejudices that
someone like a 12-year-old white Catholic me doesn't know he has.
My experience could be explained away as a naive kid's reaction,
which it was, but ... a lot of people older and supposedly wiser
than me, and certainly with more cultural clout, seemed to have the
same reaction.
I'd say Gibson would make a good propagandist, but really,
the "would" is inaccurate. He simply is a good propagandist.
--Zach
8364
From: Aaron Graham
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:08am
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein
wrote:
> Leos Carax is a great fan of "Paradise Alley" and
> reviewed it for "Cahiers."
> --- Aaron Graham wrote:
> > Thank you for this. Stallone never gets any respect.
I wasn't aware of this; can you recall any specific things he had to
say? Thanks, I'm highly interested.
8365
From: habelove
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:20am
Subject: Re: "It's like a western."
If you want to know if Gibson's a good propagandist, go to the
imdb, and peruse the user comments. Read entry after entry of
semi-lapsed to full-blown christians describe the weepy state
they were reduced to. One viewer said, 'one would have to not
be human, to not be moved by this film.'
Today, I found a flyer on the sidewalk with the words "Who Killed
Christ?" on the front, and a series of meetings on the back
entitled "The Passion of Christ".
8366
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:22am
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
--- Aaron Graham wrote:
>
> I wasn't aware of this; can you recall any specific
> things he had to
> say? Thanks, I'm highly interested.
>
>
>
Lord, now I'll be up for a week digging through my old
"Cahiers"!
As I recall it was a suitably extravagant review in
the MacMahonist mode.
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8367
From: Gabe Klinger
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:26am
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
To the list of talented director-actors I would add Jean-François Stévenin,=
who has
made three fine films. And Jacques Nolot, whose PORN THEATER was one of the=
best
films released in the U.S. last year.
Ben Stiller made ZOOLANDER and THE CABLE GUY, two very funny and very intel=
ligent
films that seem to get better and better with time. (I'm not a big fan of R=
EALITY BITES,
though.)
And lastly I'll mention Karl Malden, who made a one-off called TIME LIMIT, =
based on a
stage play (I think). He got great, memorable performances out of Richard W=
idmark,
Richard Baseheart, and a young Rip Torn.
> The question is....which actors HAVEN'T tried directing.
I dunno... someone like Robert Mitchum was never interested in directing.
Gabe
8368
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:34am
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
--- Gabe Klinger wrote:
> To the list of talented director-actors I would add
> Jean-François Stévenin,=
> who has
> made three fine films. And Jacques Nolot, whose PORN
> THEATER was one of the=
> best
> films released in the U.S. last year.
>
>
Indeed! "Porn Theater" is a gem of "Termite Art." And
Stevenin's "Double Messieurs" is one of the great
films of the 80's.
His latest hasn't been shown in the U.S. yet.
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8369
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:36am
Subject: Re: Re: "It's like a western."
--- habelove wrote:
> If you want to know if Gibson's a good propagandist,
> go to the
> imdb, and peruse the user comments. Read entry after
> entry of
> semi-lapsed to full-blown christians describe the
> weepy state
> they were reduced to. One viewer said, 'one would
> have to not
> be human, to not be moved by this film.'
>
Well that settles it. I'm not human!
Must be a Repicant. Maybe I should take the
Voight-Kampf test to be sure.
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8370
From: iangjohnston
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:05am
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
And worth adding to the list: Erich von Stroheim.
8371
From: iangjohnston
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:11am
Subject: Re: RUSSIAN ARK and ignorance
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Jaime N. Christley"
wrote:
> I'd further imagine that Russian Ark on
> video probably *is* unwatchable
>
DVD is the only format I've been able to see this in. Obviously not
ideal, but definitely "Watchable".
Ian
8372
From:
Date: Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:27pm
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
No one's mentioned Keith Gordon yet, but he began as an actor in some very
distinguished auteur films in the late '70s and '80s (De Palma's "Home Movies"
and "Dressed to Kill"; Carpenter's "Christine"; Fosse's "All That Jazz") and
eventually graduated to directing features with "The Chocolate War" in '88.
Since then, he's gone on to produce a remarkably consistent (both thematically
and stylistically) and powerful body of work. Until his very underrated remake
of "The Singing Detective" last year, he specialized in literary adaptations -
"The Chocolate War" (still his best film), "A Midnight Clear," "Mother
Night," "Waking the Dead."
I interviewed Keith last year and he said that he always had his eyes on the
director's chair - he'd always be following De Palma and Carpenter around on
the set, watching and learning and asking questions.
Peter
8373
From: Richard Modiano
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:27am
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
PANIC IN YEAR ZERO by Ray Milland was a first rate 'scope movie.
Another good 'scope movie was THE LEGACY OF THE 500,000 by Mifune
Toshiro.
Didn't Max von Sydow direct something?
Richard
8374
From: jaketwilson
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:28am
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
I'm surprised no-one's spoken up yet for Robert Duvall. Still waiting
to see THE ASSASSINATION TANGO, but THE APOSTLE is great -- and the
opposite of propaganda.
JTW
8375
From:
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:40am
Subject: Re: Actor directors
I'm not familar with most of the movies on the long list. But Tom Hanks' "that thing you do!" stands out. This is a sweet little movie of real charm.
Also enjoyed Ben Stiller's satirical comedy "Zoolander".
Whether either of these is an example of formally brilliant mise-en-scene is another question. Both directors do have a flair for their milieus, and an ability to re-create them lovingly on screen.
Mike Grost
PS Really envious of people's chance to see auteur classics in 3D. Yeasr ago liked Jack Arnold's "It Came From Outer Space" and "Revenge of the Creature" in 3D. Very poetic.
8376
From: michelle carey
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:48am
Subject: Re: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
> I have seen two of his films: Young Girls at Yokohama/Japanese Girls at the
> Harbour (1933) and The Masseurs and a Woman (1938). Two very different films
> and both immensely enjoyable. The former lingered in my mind particularly and
> reminded me more of American or Chinese silent cinema of the 1920s than the
> Japanese cinema of the time. Very spiritual and dare I say transcendental. The
> use of ³jump ins² (a phrase I just made up, referring to a kind of jump
> cut-zoom - is there a technical word for this?) to heighten dramatic instances
> and the sweeping tracking shots are striking and the story very moving. The
> latter film is lighter (relatively) in tone but still formally interesting.
>
> It is difficult to find credit information on Shimizu¹s films. Keiko McDonald
> at University of Pittsburgh is writing a book on him, which will hopefully
> contain more filmographic and bibliographic information.
>
> We will also be featuring a section dedicated to Hiroshi Shimizu in Senses of
> Cinema in the middle of the year.
>
> Michelle
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> * To visit your group on the web, go to:
> * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/a_film_by/
> *
> * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> * a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
> *
> * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8377
From: Fred Camper
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:58am
Subject: Re: Auteur Wars, con'td: Rosenbaum gives screenwriter auteur status
Kevin Lee wrote:
>>
>Fred, would you be interested in having a poll or survey conducted
>among our members, let's say 5-10 key questions that get at the heart
>of defining the auteur theory?
>
I'm not sure of the point of this. The "auteur theory" is of course not
a theory, but an approach, and that approach is going to differ from one
person to the next. Few of us, perhaps none of us, have a problem if
group member A wants to declare the scriptwriter B or actor C or
producer D is the "auteur" of a particular film, even if we don't agree
about that particular film and auteur. Since the auteur theory is not a
theory it has no theoretical principles that such statements would
violate. And also most of us or all of us, even me, would agree that for
commercial features even if the director is the "auteur" there are going
to be elements of the film contributed by others, and so the
distribution of credit for the whole is not a black and white issue.
If some members of our group want to organize a "defining auteurism"
project that will produce a document we can put on our site, great,
start emailing each other about it and come up with a reasonable
methodology and you're off.
Hey, everyone, if an article is free on the Web, don't post big excerpts
of it here, just post the url! We may consider adding this to our
"rules"; there are good reasons to request this.
- Fred C.
8378
From: Elizabeth Anne Nolan
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:59am
Subject: Hiroshima Mon Amour & Night and Fog music
Criterion commentary on HMA mentions that the music in N&F
(by a different composer) is similar, even though the composer had
never heard the music in HMA. Interesting suggestion
for auteur influence.
8379
From: michelle carey
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:01am
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors
Not an actor but a Œmodel¹ bien sûr ....but François Leterrier, from
Bresson¹s Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut or
A Man Escaped, ventured into directing from the 1960s onwards and sports the
illustrious director credit for Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977) yes from that
Emmanuelle series.
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> * To visit your group on the web, go to:
> * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/a_film_by/
> *
> * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> * a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
> *
> * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8380
From: Fred Camper
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:02am
Subject: Re: Re: Need help with Hiroshi Shimizu films
Kevin Lee wrote:
>--
>
>
>Sounds a lot like Kiarostami (and yet not so much like the Shimizu
>film that I saw). Would you agree?
>
>
Only to a small extent. I'm not I can put my finger on the difference
exactly, but the Kiarostami films I have seen (I'm not his biggest fan)
don't have the utter evenness of the two Shimizus. I don't say that in a
negative or positive sense, just descriptively. There are odd twists to
the narrative that create the smallest of tensions -- "Mr. Thank-You"
was without such tensions.
- Fred C.
8381
From: Gabe Klinger
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:24am
Subject: Bresson's models
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, michelle carey wrote:
> Not an actor but a Œmodel¹ bien sûr ....but François Leterrier, from
> Bresson¹s Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut =
or
> A Man Escaped, ventured into directing from the 1960s onwards and sports =
the
> illustrious director credit for Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977) yes from that=
> Emmanuelle series.
I did not know this about Leterrier.
The continuations of Bresson's models are always fascinating. Babette Mango=
lte
recently made a feature about the models/actors in PICKPOCKET. Anyone see t=
his? It's
screening in Chicago in a month or so.
Slightly off tangent but i thought I would share it: one of the funniest an=
d most
interesting stories in the "where did they end up?" dept. is of one of the =
bums (really a
bum in real-life) in VIRIDIANA. Buñuel recounts in My Last Sigh that this b=
um was
wandering around in Spain where a couple French tourists recognized him fro=
m the
film. After this he got it into his head that he was famous in France and s=
tarted to
wander towards Paris. The story says that he died somewhere along the way.
8382
From: Doug Cummings
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:08am
Subject: Re: Bresson's models
>The continuations of Bresson's models are always fascinating. Babette Mango=
>lte recently made a feature about the models/actors in PICKPOCKET.
>Anyone see this? It's screening in Chicago in a month or so.
I have seen it--Babette was kind enough to lend me a VHS screener for
review at www.robert-bresson.com. It's an excellent documentary,
and part essay film in the way that it's so rigorously first person.
She chases down the various key models of "Pickpocket" from France to
Mexico and offers her own reflections as narration along the way.
She was especially pleased with the way chance seems to work in the
film, much the way it appears in Bresson.
The film was rejected by all the major festivals last year, and I
believe she said the primary reason why was because she doesn't
include any clips from "Pickpocket." Can you believe it? That's a
pretty lame critique if you ask me, but I guess festivals don't like
exhibiting films that depend too much on knowledge of another
work...?
I plan to write up a piece soon, and possibly include an interview
with Babette; she has been very enthusiastic and supportive. She
teaches at UCSD and I attended a Bresson colloquium she gave a few
months ago. She's very bright and charming.
(Speaking of her work--was I the only one here you managed to attend
some of the Chantal Akerman retrospective currently screening in Los
Angeles? Last Sunday, I was able to see "News From Home," "D'Est,"
"South," and "From the Other Side" all in a day at the new REDCAT
theatre. It was wonderful!)
Doug
8383
From: Zach Campbell
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:07am
Subject: Re: Bresson's models
Gabe:
> The continuations of Bresson's models are always fascinating.
> Babette Mangolte recently made a feature about the models/actors
> in PICKPOCKET. Anyone see this? It's screening in Chicago in a
> month or so.
Check it out. I've seen some of it (extended segments of the Martin
LaSalle and Marika Green interviews), and it's quite revealing. I'd
really like to see the entire film if I get a chance.
--Zach
8384
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:57am
Subject: Re: Hiroshima Mon Amour & Night and Fog music
The composer is Hans Eisler -- a contemporary of
Weill.
Brecht wrote songs with him too.
--- Elizabeth Anne Nolan wrote:
> Criterion commentary on HMA mentions that the music
> in N&F
> (by a different composer) is similar, even though
> the composer had
> never heard the music in HMA. Interesting
> suggestion
> for auteur influence.
>
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
8385
From: Andy Rector
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:37am
Subject: Babette Mangolte and Akerman
There is a beautiful essay by Mangolte buried in a book called CAMERA
OBSCURA, CAMERA LUCIDA (a tribute to Annette Michelson put out by
Amsterdam Univ Press). She talks about the film image and the digital
image and comes around to her project on PICKPOCKET (which I assume is
on DV?). I've not seen the movie but the article is poetry.
Doug, (and I belive we met at the Marker screening REMEMBERENCE OF
THINGS TO COME, through Jonathan T.) I saw all the Akermans at the
UCLA/REDCAT retrospective except for AMERICAN STORIES. Certainly the
highlight was the marathon of documentaries. These are some of the
most humane films the most generous films to restore dignity to the
documentary form. Akerman's amphibiousness was never more needed and
appropriate. What can I say, but they are all magnificent. It was
the first time that I'd seen JEANNE DIELMAN projected and in spite of
the crowd (who made their feeling of somehow being obliged to sit
through it known throughout [films should be made so that people can
leave the theater--JM Straub]) it was a major experience, it should be
a fundamental in the history of cinema, not in some special category
thereof.
Berenice Reynaud, your achievment is immensly appreciated by us
"hardcores"! Like the tree, like the ocean by Ernie, if an Akerman
film is made and Berenice isn't there to show it in LA, is it finished?
Other highlights for me: MAN WITH A SUITCASE (most disquieting, I
don't ever want to see it again, like the American in the film),
I...YOU...HE...SHE..., TOUTE UNE NUIT & LA CAPTIVE (not since the
silent cinema, Murnau, has something like this been done), and above
all DE L'AUTRE COTE. So nice to see, truly, and contemporarily a point
of view that is "a concrete situation in a cluttered landscape".
Best,
andy
8386
From: Andy Rector
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:51am
Subject: Re: Hiroshima Mon Amour & Night and Fog music
And Eisler wrote a book, COMPOSING FOR THE FILMS, which must have
crossed the desk of any film composer who gave a damn about the
politics and cliches of film composing.
I don't think Eisler ever achieved the counterpoint that he sets
forth in the book, except in the NIGHT AND FOG score, which is
extraordinary and really courageous considering the images. Though I
haven't seen WOMAN ON THE BEACH or heard the proper score for Ivens'
film NEW EARTH (which, along with the last reel that inspired Brecht
to write a poem about throwing bread into the sea for market reasons
while people starve, is cut out of video versions already horrid in
quality).
best,
andy
8387
From: Jonathan Rosenbaum
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:10am
Subject: Re: Bresson's models
I've seen it. It's truly remarkable, and not to be missed.
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Gabe Klinger"
wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, michelle carey
wrote:
> > Not an actor but a Œmodel¹ bien sûr ....but François Leterrier,
from
> > Bresson¹s Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où
il veut =
> or
> > A Man Escaped, ventured into directing from the 1960s onwards
and sports =
> the
> > illustrious director credit for Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977) yes
from that=
>
> > Emmanuelle series.
>
> I did not know this about Leterrier.
>
> The continuations of Bresson's models are always fascinating.
Babette Mango=
> lte
> recently made a feature about the models/actors in PICKPOCKET.
Anyone see t=
> his? It's
> screening in Chicago in a month or so.
>
> Slightly off tangent but i thought I would share it: one of the
funniest an=
> d most
> interesting stories in the "where did they end up?" dept. is of
one of the =
> bums (really a
> bum in real-life) in VIRIDIANA. Buñuel recounts in My Last Sigh
that this b=
> um was
> wandering around in Spain where a couple French tourists
recognized him fro=
> m the
> film. After this he got it into his head that he was famous in
France and s=
> tarted to
> wander towards Paris. The story says that he died somewhere along
the way.
8388
From:
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 11:38am
Subject: Jerzy Skolimowski
The subject of actor directors brings up Jerzy Skolimowski. Many of his acting roles are small and even bits, but he did a good job in "White Nights" as the smooth but vicious KGB agent.
One of the best Skolimowski-directed films seen here is his adaptation of Turgenev's "Torrents of Spring" (1989). This is a beautifully filmed historical drama, rich and colorful. I got very involved with the characters' lives and feelings while watching it. It's a "real movie", a classically composed film with plot, characters, atmosphere, visual beauty and mise-en-scene.
Mike Grost
8389
From: Fred Camper
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:04pm
Subject: Pasting in articles (a new group rule, sorry)a_
While we don't want to burden our group with rules, we find it necessary
to institute a new one. It is prohibited to paste in the text of a whole
article or review -- or significant portion of same -- IF that text is
already available free on the Internet. The Chicago Reader, for example,
doesn't have to make its content available for free, and to the extent
they do so it's because they hope to benefit from advertising, which
can only potentially happen if people visit their site. Most commercial
Web sites monitor the number of hits an article gets, and for all one
knows that may even affect their attitude toward the writer, so people
wishing to read articles should read them on the original sites, where
the formatting will be better, including italics where called for.
It is in fact a copyright violation to reproduce copyrighted writing on
the 'Net without authorization, but even more it shows disrespect,
though surely unintentional among members of our group, for sites that
put their content up for free, and for writers who do so as well. The
original Web site has the article as the author or publication wished it
t appear, and persons wishing to refer to an article on the Web should
post the url, not the whole article.
Very short quotes from an article on the Web fall within the doctrine of
fair use and are OK.
Fred and Peter
8390
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:37pm
Subject: Re: Jerzy Skolimowski
It's unfortunate that
href="http://ehrensteinland.com/htmls/g011/jerzyskolimowski.html"
target="_blank">Jerzy Skolimowski's career as a
director would appear to be pretty much over. In the
mid-60's there was a moment when he loomed as large as
Godard and his compatriot Polanski (he co-write the
scrpit of "Knife in the Water" and co-starred with
Polanski in Wajda's "Innocent Sorcerers")
His first features "Identification Marks: None" and
"Walkover" (in which he also starred) were much
discussed by "Cahiers" and others. "Bariera" is
amazing and "Le Depart" isn't far behind it. In
between them came the aborted "Hands Up!" which was
begun in 1967 but not completed until 1981 by which
time it had taken on another form -- going from a
black and white allegory about post-Stalinist Poland
to a full-color contemplation of the destruction of
Beruit. In between he made "KingQueen and Knave" ( a
Nabokov adaptation suggestive of a Frank Tashlin
bedroom farce) one of the most obscure and bizarre
international co-productions of all time "The
Adventures of Gerard" starring John Moulder-Brown,
Jack Hawkins and Claudia Cardinale. For reasosn I have
never been able to divine for this film (alone) he
changed his name to Yurek Skolimowski. "Moonlighting"
his sweetly melancholy tale of displaced Polish
workers in Poland was a minor hit and restored his
reputation. But "The Lightship" and "Succes is the
Best Revenge" while excellent got him nowhere
critically or commercially.
He's very amusing as the inventor of the translation
machine in "Mars Attacks!" (which as far as I'm
concerned is Tim Burton's best film to date)
Wish he could get back to work behind the camera. But
the cinema Skolimowski was born and raised in is no
more.
-- MG4273@a... wrote:
> The subject of actor directors brings up Jerzy
> Skolimowski. Many of his acting roles are small and
> even bits, but he did a good job in "White Nights"
> as the smooth but vicious KGB agent.
> One of the best Skolimowski-directed films seen here
> is his adaptation of Turgenev's "Torrents of Spring"
> (1989). This is a beautifully filmed historical
> drama, rich and colorful. I got very involved with
> the characters' lives and feelings while watching
> it. It's a "real movie", a classically composed film
> with plot, characters, atmosphere, visual beauty and
> mise-en-scene.
>
> Mike Grost
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
8391
From: George Robinson
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:20pm
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
And then there's Vic Morrow's never-to-be-forgiven -- er, forgotten "A Man
Called Sledge."
g
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
8392
From: George Robinson
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:24pm
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
And Mario Van Peebles has directed a couple of movies.
I'm not sure if he qualifies as an actor, even with his SAG card.
g
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: "habelove"
To:
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 6:28 PM
Subject: [a_film_by] Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
> It seems every actor at some point tries his hand in the directing
> arena, and most don't stay. It's probably a natural attempt to
> extend a career, that for all but the most lucky (or canny) doesn't
> last more than a decade. And maybe their egos get bruised by being
> told what to do all the time, and from the quality of the average
> director, it probably doesn't look that hard.
>
>
8393
From: George Robinson
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:27pm
Subject: Raising passions
Here's another point-of-view on The Passion of the Christ.
Peace, it's wonderful.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0318042passion1.html
g
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
8394
From: George Robinson
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:29pm
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
Assassination Tango is pretty much by-the-numbers, despite an intriguing
variation on a creaky premise. It's nice that Duvall cares about
human-rights violations enough to make a movie about it; I just wish it were
a better movie.
g
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: "jaketwilson"
To:
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 10:28 PM
Subject: [a_film_by] Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
> I'm surprised no-one's spoken up yet for Robert Duvall. Still waiting
> to see THE ASSASSINATION TANGO, but THE APOSTLE is great -- and the
> opposite of propaganda.
>
> JTW
>
8395
From: George Robinson
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:34pm
Subject: Re: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
And he learned his lessons well -- A Midnight Clear is an impressively
thoughtful piece of work and quite beautiful to look upon, as they say.
By the way, Peter, nice interview with Keith Baxter.
g
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 10:27 PM
Subject: Re: [a_film_by] Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
> No one's mentioned Keith Gordon yet, but he began as an actor in some very
> distinguished auteur films in the late '70s and '80s (De Palma's "Home
Movies"
> and "Dressed to Kill"; Carpenter's "Christine"; Fosse's "All That Jazz")
and
> eventually graduated to directing features with "The Chocolate War" in
'88.
> Since then, he's gone on to produce a remarkably consistent (both
thematically
> and stylistically) and powerful body of work. Until his very underrated
remake
> of "The Singing Detective" last year, he specialized in literary
adaptations -
> "The Chocolate War" (still his best film), "A Midnight Clear," "Mother
> Night," "Waking the Dead."
>
> I interviewed Keith last year and he said that he always had his eyes on
the
> director's chair - he'd always be following De Palma and Carpenter around
on
> the set, watching and learning and asking questions.
>
> Peter
>
8396
From: George Robinson
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:39pm
Subject: Re: Re: "It's like a western."
I had the misfortune of watching about fifteen minutes of Man Without a Face
the other night and whatever was good about it -- not much -- came from
Donald McAlpine, the DP.
g
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: "Zach Campbell"
To:
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 7:51 PM
Subject: [a_film_by] Re: "It's like a western."
> George Robinson wrote:
> > The only way that someone could consider Gibson "visually gifted"
> > is if they hadn't seen any of his three films.
>
> But he is gifted to some degree, and this is precisely why he might
> be dangerous. (Haven't seen PASSION, btw.) As a wide-eyed 12-year-
> old, I was blown away by BRAVEHEART and that was the film that (I
> sheepishly must admit) started my road towards cinephilia. It took
> me a few years to even realize the way BRAVEHEART situates its
> viewers' perceived sympathies (against the effeminate, in favor of
> tribalism, etc.) in a way that slyly appeals to prejudices that
> someone like a 12-year-old white Catholic me doesn't know he has.
> My experience could be explained away as a naive kid's reaction,
> which it was, but ... a lot of people older and supposedly wiser
> than me, and certainly with more cultural clout, seemed to have the
> same reaction.
>
> I'd say Gibson would make a good propagandist, but really,
> the "would" is inaccurate. He simply is a good propagandist.
>
> --Zach
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
8397
From: Jess Amortell
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:51pm
Subject: Re: RUSSIAN ARK and ignorance
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "iangjohnston" wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Jaime N. Christley"
> wrote:
> > I'd further imagine that Russian Ark on
> > video probably *is* unwatchable
> >
>
> DVD is the only format I've been able to see this in. Obviously not
> ideal, but definitely "Watchable".
That was me, not Jaime, though -- he shouldn't be blamed for my sarcasm, which was somewhat misplaced since Russian Ark was, of course, shot on digital video.
8398
From: hotlove666
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:58pm
Subject: Re: Bresson's models
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Doug Cummings wrote:
>
> >The continuations of Bresson's models are always fascinating.
Babette Mango=
> >lte recently made a feature about the models/actors in PICKPOCKET.
>
I love Babette Mangolte. Moi, Je and What Maisie Knew are as good as
or better than the best of Akerman, IM(humble)O. The fact that a work
by this important filmmaker was turned down by every US festival
should supply (cold) comfort to people who've been slighted by the
same bande de cons. How can I see it?
8399
From: hotlove666
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:05pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "George Robinson"
wrote:
> Assassination Tango is pretty much by-the-numbers, despite an
intriguing
> variation on a creaky premise. It's nice that Duvall cares about
> human-rights violations enough to make a movie about it; I just
wish it were
> a better movie.
> g
Angelo, My Love was an excellent debut film.
8400
From: iangjohnston
Date: Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:32pm
Subject: Re: Actor directors (Was: "It's like a western")
Has anyone mentioned these actresses turned directors:
- Ida Lupino (though I've never seen any of her films)
- Liv Ullmann
- Diane Kurys
- Sylvia Chang
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