With our land, cash in hand
Self-command, future planned
And we'll hold to our gold
Tradition that is old, reluctant to be bold.

[More on this on the LA Times from a few years back.] Happy Fourth! --craig phillips

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(Tom Russell on Jul 3, 2009 9:57 AM) I watch this movie every Fourth of July. I started doing so "ironically" but came to realize what a really good film it is. The songs are all pretty great, but the long songless sequences of political debate are a stand-out. So few films give us any sense of the process, the arguments, the rough-and-tumble, the arm-twisting, the clash of personalities. This one does in spades.

(Craig P on Jul 3, 2009 10:44 AM) It really is a bit underrated, isn't it, Tom? I enjoyed it even more on recent viewing than in the past. It's more fun than "John Adams" at any rate. I also always loved William Daniels as John A. As an aside, anyone notice the "window opener" in this scene is same character actor who played the recurring shoeshine guy in "Police Squad"? (Among other characters.) Anyway, the film is definitely worth a watch.

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

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

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

To listen to the podcast, click here.

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

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(Peter Nellhaus on Jul 5, 2009 5:43 AM) Whoa! You mean I got to see "Tony Manero" in Denver weeks before it got a theatrical release in NYC?

(jaxrogue on Jul 6, 2009 11:56 PM) Hmmm. So with the John Travolta impersonators and crime, the sequel could be called "Vincent Vega".

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

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

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

Continued reading INTERVIEW: Kathryn Bigelow...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To listen to the podcast, click here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From Samira Makhmalbaf's Blackboards

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

Continued reading A Dangerous Shift in Iranian Cinema...

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

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

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

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

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

Continued reading Subways, Shitholes & Death Wishes...

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

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

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

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

To listen to the podcast, click here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To listen to the podcast, click here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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