Monday, October 1, 2007

September, 2007 Film Viewings

9.1- Trust
9.2- Donkey Skin
9.3- Blades of Glory
9.4- Le Retour a la Raison
9.5- Rhythmus 21
9.6- Anemic Cinema
9.7- Ballet Mecanique
9.9- Baby Doll
9.10- Symphonie Diagonale
9.11- Le Vampire
9.12- The Hearts of Age
9.13- In the Company of Men
9.14- Blazing Saddles
9.18- Croupier
9.21- Marooned in Iraq
9.22- The Fountain
9.23- Death of a Cyclist
Day of Wrath
9.24- Hua Yang De Nian Hua
9.25- Stranger Than Fiction
9.26- Iraq, My Country
9.27- Hotel Chevalier
9.28- Knife in the Water
9.29- The 40 Year-Old Virgin
9.30- The Wire 3.1, 3.2

6 comments:

  1. Any standouts here, Russ?

    What did you think of Baby Doll? Donkey Skin? I've seen the former and only a bit of the latter.

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  2. We liked BABY DOLL a lot and loved DONKEY SKIN. I'll post a little more about them later tonight.

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  3. DONKEY SKIN was a great time. The film is lush with color and light in tone, even despite the creepy subtext of the story and the source tale. The anachronistic helicopter at the end was a nice touch, and there's an effect shot of the fairy godmother coming through the roof that's a neat homage to the backwards-played effect from Cocteau's LA BELLE ET LA BETE.

    There's an interview with Carroll Baker on the BABY DOLL DVD where she says with a straight face that she didn't anticipate all the furor that the film would stir up until the Legion denounced the film. She's either lying or obtuse. It's a great film, and really effective in defining all the characters as parties to various transactions, each as crass as the other.

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  4. Wait, I thought I posted here earlier. The system didn't want to let me in, but I thought it finally had. Weird. If something crazy happens and I end up saying this twice, my apologies.

    Anyway, thanks, Russ, for the comments. You've got me wanting to watch Donkey Skin. And I greatly enjoyed Baby Doll, too. I don't remember Baker's comment, but wow, that does seem questionable. One of my favorite things about the film is how it was shot on location in Mississippi. I believe some locals were included in bit parts--a nice touch. I also seem to recall a pretty terrific blues song being performed....

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  5. Oh, and about DONKEY SKIN-- remember that bit about Virginia's daddy issues? Well, the fairy tale/film is about a princess who has to leave the castle because her widowed father decides he's going to remarry to the most beautiful woman in the kingdom and then he realizes that he sired the woman fitting that description. Ali teased the girls about how that would be a horrible thing to have to face, since the daughter is forced to choose between loyalty and any semblance of morality. The older girls laughed and said they'd flee to the woods, too. As solemnly as a four year-old can muster, Virginia said, "I'd stay."

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  6. Ha ha! That is too funny, Russ. :) Kids...they just say the darndest things.

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