WEEK 52

52. THE FILMS OF HILARY HARRIS, dir. HILARY HARRIS, 2006 (compiled)

Organism [1975]
9 Variations [1966]
Highway [1958]
Longhorn [1951]

WEEK 51

51. DAY FOR NIGHT, dir. FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT, 1973

jacques tourneur has been a film orgy revelation, first with CAT PEOPLE, and again with THE LEOPARD MAN. i thoroughly enjoyed last week's pick, from the brilliant opening shots through the clicking of castanets to the twisted (if tidy) ending. so moody and great fun.

this week: truffaut i've yet to see.

WEEK 50

50. THE LEOPARD MAN, dir. JACQUES TOURNEUR, 1943

HAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPYYYY HHHHAAAALLLLOWWWWEEEEEENNNNNNN.
the best holiday.
and in celebration, a revisiting of jacques tourneur + val lewton (of the glorious cat people of posts of yore).
viva halloween!

WEEK 49

49. THE PUBLIC ENEMY, dir. WILLIAM WELLMAN, 1931

WEEK 48

48. WHITE NIGHTS, dir. TAYLOR HACKFORD, 1985

the poster tag line is killer.
today was not a very good day.
this may seem an ill-fitting film orgy pick in comparison with weeks 1-47, which kind-of-generally-but-i-guess-not-always follow the loose trend of enabling us to slowly but surely make it down our films-i-need-to-see-before-i-die lists.
white nights might not make the cut but
i haven't seen this since i was a kid, and i loved it then.
twyla tharp did the choreography,
and though i have a feeling it will feel very dated and/or convoluted in terms of narrative, good dance never goes out of style, and, not having seen it since i was maybe 8 or 9, i'm really in the mood for this mid-80s mikhail baryshnikov - gregory hines vehicle. this baby clocks in at over two hours, so my main concern: more dance, less KGB-impregnated plot.
{haneke discussion to come}

WEEK 47

47. THE SEVENTH CONTINENT, dir. MICHAEL HANEKE, 1989

i dropped the ball last week. i've yet to get my hands on a copy of LA CAPTIVE, though i intend to bypass netflix and rent it at the local video store tonight. discussion is definitely forthcoming.

there's a profile of michael haneke in the most recent new yorker. it got me thinking about his movies. it's also october, so i figured it might be appropriate to explore HORROR in all the meanings of the word. shall we look?

WEEK 46

46. LA CAPTIVE, dir. CHANTAL AKERMAN, 2000

lola. i loved when she sang "c'est moi, c'est lola," and visually the film was great to look at... perhaps it's unfortunate that my viewing of lola coincided with the mackenzie phillips announcement of (non-consensual) consensual sex with her father john phillips (whose album was, until this point, nowhere near underplayed in our home), because watching the subtly sexual dynamics between cecile the young girl and the adult men of the film was difficult. at the same time, i loved the symbolism here: cecile petite was clearly represenative of cecile grande a.k.a. 'lola' -- the men could get close to the naive/young/carefree child but not touch her, where cecile/lola the grown woman was touchable but did not allow anyone to become close. although juliet said she abandoned an attempt at choosing films in keeping with the feeling of the fallen idol, she couldn't have known before seeing lola that it would be a pretty great in-keeping-with choice. both films were so ripe with quite overt symbolism, which can often get hokey but in both films for me worked quite well --
i realize i never wrote about the fallen idol, which i loved. like juliet i was surprised by how much i enjoyed the film, i was not expecting the perfect marrying of suspense and humor and moral bottom line. the young actor playing phil was mesmerizing, i could watch him say "baines!" all day. the film falls in line with certain older films i've seen over the years that manage to use almost over-the-top visual symbols (in this: the befriending of the snake, various shots of the main characters positioned behind or by bars of some sort -- cages at the zoo, staircases, etc.) to make a point again and again, without ever becoming overly corny -- somehow it adds greatly to the visual appeal of the film without one's eyes rolling forever back in one's head.
the coupling of lola and the fallen idol turned out to be surprisingly right on the money.
i have yet to see part 2 of the double feature: when i put the film in my dvd player on wednesday night it would not move past the f.b.i. warning screen and jammed the dvd player until jarek swooped in hours later to miraculously remove it. i have yet to attempt it again for fear of re-jam, but am going to try once more tonight before sending it back for another. hope to watch in the next few days!
looking forward to la captive. i saw a chantal akerman short film in high school that blew me away and has been eluding me on dvd ever since. it had to do with two girls losing their virginity, i thought it was "je tu il elle," but i think i am wrong on that... any ideas?
oh, and 'jeanne dielman...' (1976) was one of the best film-going experiences i've had, certainly one of my most favorite films ever.