Less insightful

Antonioni and Bergman both left behind impressive bodies of work, and, being the film junkie I am, I thought I'd take a minute to say something about both of them.
First, Antononi.
The first Antonioni film I saw was Blowup. I liked its swingin' sixties vibe and getting to see a youthful Vanessa Redgrave was a delight. The irreverence for structure in the piece was what I really enjoyed--and of course the beautiful visuals.
I wasn't aware, however, that Antonioni really was a technician and a formidable auteur until I saw L'Avventura. Every shot is framed so perfectly--the tableaux, tracking shots, all of it is near-perfect. People in the background crawl mysteriously out of the person in the foreground's head. He quite literally implies that our desires and wishes are formed from our own minds, and he also questions how easily we can lose and forget those desires. The scenes on the volcanic island are unforgettable, and this was the first film that made me aware of architecture as texture and symbolism. L'Avventura is an incredible film that I highly recommend.


Bergman, for many of my generation, is an acquired taste. I know I only show my hillbilly sensibilities when I say that I've seen The Seventh Seal twice and it still has yet to make an impact on me. Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander are more my speed. They tell specific tales with universal themes and even though Bergman is asking the big questions, you get a believability and realism that just isn't around in his earlier works. Richard Corliss of Time magazine recently interviewed Woody Allen about Bergman (and Antonioni). [article]
Still, Bergman's influence will be felt for a long time. I hope it leads to more parodies like this French and Saunders piece.


Finally, I wanted to send my condolences to the friends and family of Jeremy Blake. Chances are you are familiar with Blake's work but don't know it. He was an artist for Rockstar Games, but more importantly, he was well-respected video artist. He did the video for Beck's Round the Bend which is consistent with his style of "time-based paintings". He also did the beautiful transitions in Punch Drunk Love. He was starting to show an interest in more narrative, documentary style productions before he took his own life. His girlfriend killed herself on July 7th. Ten days later, he went missing. His naked body washed ashore in New Jersey on Monday. There are some lingering mysteries surrounding his death. [blog post]
We will never know what kind of work he would have produced if he had lived as long as Antonioni and Bergman.
Here's a couple clips to give you an idea of his work--

Movies You Should See -- Pin

Pin (1988) -- dir. Sandor Stern, Canada

I guess this needs a disclaimer: This film is not of the highest caliber as far as production values go. It is not a great film, but it is a film with great ideas executed ably. In fact, I may only like this film because my expectations for it were so low.

Pin is the story of Leon and Ursula, a brother and sister whose parents die in a car accident. The mother was a fanatically clean person and the father was distant, focused more on his career as a pediatrician. The father uses ventriloquy and a life-sized doll named Pin to tell his patients about what's happening in their bodies. He also uses Pin to explain things to his children. This causes Leon to form an unhealthy fixation on the inanimate object, and when the parents die, Pin is his last connection to his father.
Ursula does her best to raise her brother, but his burgeoning psychoses strain their relationship. Her suitors are focal points of his jealousy and rage and eventually a showdown has to occur.
David Hewlett of Stargate Atlantis stars as Leon. Terry O'Quinn from The X-Files plays the father. Sandor Stern, the writer/director does a great job with voice over and touching all the psychological bases. Make time in your busy movie schedule for Pin--I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Goes well with:
Psycho
When a Stranger Calls

Molson

Butter tarts

Movies You Should See -- Songs from the Second Floor

Songs from the Second Floor - dir. Roy Andersson, 2000 (Sweden)

I didn't see this movie until about two years ago, but I'm glad it made its way into my Netflix queue. Based on the poetry of Cesar Vallejo, Andersson's film beautifully and precisely translates the language of poetry to the screen. Like Greenaway and Jarman, Andersson constructs tableaus to tackle the heady ideas of Vallejo. The static camera serves the material well. What is the film about, though?
Well, that's harder to pin down. "Blessed is he who sits down," is repeated throughout the film and the stillness implied by resting permeates nearly every scene. Annoyance at the trappings of modernity and the individual's sacrifice to them also plays a huge role. Of course, the military, religion and the creative process are addressed, as well. These are all ideas that good poets effortlessly reference, but until this film, filmmakers have never been able to capture. In one scene, a man clings to his boss' ankle as his boss drags him across the floor. In another, a salesman is throwing away crucifixes and talking about how he invested his life savings in a loser. The scene below borders the absurd, but absurdity follows no logic and holds no truth. This scene, in its dark (almost pitch) humor illuminates and condemns ritual. Its funny and surreal and, in its own peculiar way, poignant and moving.
Definitely make it a point to see this film. Its images will stay with you long after the movie ends.

Goes well with -
L'age D'or
Un Chien Andalou
Swedish Fish
Anderssons

Movies You Should See -- Crazed Fruit

In an effort to give this blog some much need structure, I'm going to try to make my Monday posts about films. Not just any films, mind you, but FILMS. You know, the ones that have informed our sociopolitical discourse'n'shit. The ones that have inspired countless knock-offs and contributed to the language of cinema.

Yeah, that's right, important films.

The first film on my list is Crazed Fruit directed by Ko Nakahira and based on Shintaro Ishihara's novel. The film was released in 1956 and was shot in only 17 days. It tells the story of two brothers who fall in love with the same girl. Sure, the story seems age-old, but the way in which it is told somehow manages to be fresh, even by today's standards.

Natuhisa and Haruji are priveleged Japanese adolescents whose ennui leads them to the beach. There they meet the mysterious Eri. There's some really beautiful cinematography in this early section of the film. Most of it is shot on the beach, and this is perhaps how this film and others like it became known as taiyozoku ("sun tribe") films. These films are marked by youth, post-war disillusionment, and rebellion. Think of it as a Japanese Rebel without a Cause (it was released a year after Rebel).

Truffaut saw and loved the film. In fact, you can pull many, many references between Crazed Fruit and Jules and Jim. Pulling even further down through the annals of cinema, you can find nods to Crazed Fruit in Kids, The Doom Generation, Badlands, and a fistful of others. However, the film is not perfect--it is interesting but not perfect.

Criterion released this film last year and I got it for Matt for his birthday. We haven't sat down to watch it yet, but the bonus materials (commentary, at least) are supposed to be top-notch with some Japanese film scholar taking you through how the film came to be and what its lasting influence is.

There's some more history around the film regarding the author and the star (brothers). You can read more from the wikipedia link above. I guess the elder became a statesman and eventually penned a biography of his (now deceased) brother. Interesting.

Goes well with:

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Jules and Jim by Francois Truffaut

A Hundred Years of Japanese Film by Donald Richie

Sapporo

Boredom

2 Fassbinder 2 Furious

Awww, yeah! Just to note, the images at the bottom of this post will not be suitable viewing for work unless, much like my work, you spend a lot of your day looking at genitalia.

Ok, now onto the post.

In my desire to continue the Canon of Queer Cinema, I have been scouring Netflix for films worthy of canonization. Along the way, I rediscovered the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. His beautiful take on Genet's Querelle de Brest was a critical disaster, but as is the case with many great works of art, it has taken a few years' distance for its genius to crystallize. Querelle will be the canonical entry, but while we wait for me to formulate a few ideas about the piece, let's take a look at his 1975 film Fox and His Friends.

Fox and His Friends tells the story of Fox who is an out of work carnie that wins a lot of money. Of course, the money creates rather than solves problems, and Fox eventually takes an overdose of valium to escape his pitiful life.

Simple enough story, right? Well, it is a simple story, and that allows Fassbinder the luxury of touching on many topics--classism, capitalism, industrialization, homosexuality.
Fox and His Friends is a rare film in that the lead (played by Fassbinder himself) and many of the supporting characters are gay. Some of them are effete, some masculine. Some of them are rich, some poor. Some are kind, some predatory. This film was made over 30 years ago and filmmakers still have problems depicting our community so humanly.
Should this film be canonized? Probably. Rather than depicting how gay men fit into the straight world, it deals more with how gay men treat one another (not very well). Fox's lover, Eugen (Peter Chatel), is an upper-middle class asshole who uses Fox solely for his money. His two-year (and then some) scheme to drain Fox of his money is a bit implausible, but by this point in the film, the relationship is more allegory of the rich exploiting the working class.

Perhaps Fassbinder's greatest accomplishment with this film is the plethora of wiener shots (including a couple of his own).

For your viewing pleasure:

Additional Resources:

Roger Ebert's take on the film

Senses of Cinema bio.