Moon In The Gutter

First-Time Viewings (January, 2012)

2012-02-01T07:29:00.006-06:00

January turned out to be the best month I have had in quite awhile with each week bringing good, and sometimes surprising, news. Fingers crossed that February and the rest of 2012 continues the good-luck streak.
I also had a fairly good month movie-watching wise, with the exception of just a couple of clunkers coming into view. The best older-films I saw for the first time this past month were Bo Arne Vibenius' insane Breaking Point, Radley Metzger's brilliant Naked Came the Stranger, Gus Van Sant's haunting Paranoid Park, Dario Argento's shot-for-television The Tram and Dennis Gansel's exciting vampire thriller We Are the Night.
I also caught up with a few more 2011 releases with the best being Alexander Payne's touching The Descendants, Roman Polanski's ferocious Carnage and the Tomas Alfredson's engrossing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (give that bloody Oscar to Oldman please!)
As for 2012 releases. I loved Soderbergh's thrilling and inventive Haywire, dug Mark Wahlberg's no BS genre flick Contraband and was bored by The Devil Inside.
Here's are the full lists and, as usual, consider anything with a 3 or more star rating as a recommendation.

2012 Films:

The Devil Inside **
Haywire ****1/2
Contraband ***1/2

2011 Films:

Carnage ****1/2
The Descendants ****1/2
Mission Impossible 4 ***1/2
Red State ****
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****1/2

Older Films:

Adrift ****
Breaking Point ****1/2
His Way ****
Il vicino di casa (The Neighbor) ****
Just the Two of Us **
Kurt & Courtney ***1/2
Misty ***1/2
Molly (1977) ***
Naked Came the Stranger ****1/2
Paranoid Park ****1/2
Psychopathia Sexualis ****
Remember Me ***1/2
Tentacles *
The Initiation ***
The Nesting ***
The Tram ****1/2
We Are the Night ****
World's Greatest Dad ***
You Can't Run Away From It **1/2

A Moon in the Gutter Q&A with Celia Rowlson-Hall

2012-01-30T07:38:00.026-06:00

Today I am absolutely delighted to present this new Q&A with Celia Rowlson-Hall, a filmmaker whose startling work I just recently discovered. I have become completely enchanted by Celia's work and am thrilled that she agreed to stop by and discuss her career. After reading the Q&A, please stop by Celia's Tumblr, Vimeo and official page for more information on her career and to watch more of her incredible films.

-Celia Rowlson-Hall in her mind-bending PROM NIGHT-

Hi Celia, first of all thank you so much for agreeing to participate in this Q&A. I just recently discovered your work and I must say that your short-films are some of the most exquisite and haunting pieces I have seen in some time, so it’s a thrill to have you stop by here.
To start off, can you tell us where you are from originally and what sparked your initial interest in the arts?

I'm from a very small town called Urbanna, Virginia. My parents definitely caused that spark. They put me into ballet, piano and art classes at a very young age and immediately I was drawn to dance.

Who were some of your early influences were growing up?

The poet Shel Silverstein, I wanted to be him. I signed my papers at school Celia Silverstein.
My babysitter, Christine Williams, was (and still is) simply the most loving person ever.

Before we talk about your films can you tell us a bit about your life as a choreographer and a dancer?

I went to college, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, for modern dance and choreography. After graduation I moved to New York and danced with two incredible choreographers- Monica Bill Barnes and Faye Driscoll. During that time I also choreographed my own work and presented it in various theaters and venues. I then began choreographing for film and music video, which opened me up to that world.

I know you won the prestigious Bessie Award in 2010. Can you talk a bit about that and what you were specifically awarded for?

Yes, I was a performer in a show called 837 Venice Blvd which was directed/choreographed by Faye Driscoll. All collaborators in the show, from the performers to the set designer, were awarded Bessie's for their contribution to the work. So I was awarded for my performance. I did a lot of singing, kicking, crying, punching, screaming and dancing in that piece so it felt really nice to be acknowledged!

One thing that really impresses me about your films, specifically Prom Night, is the remarkable way you incorporate your work as a choreographer, dancer and model into them. How important is your background in dance to your work as a filmmaker?

-Celia in her dazzling A STUDY IN COLOR-

It's essential. You don't see me speaking in my films for a reason! I best know how to communicate with my body and movement- so yes, it's very important! I also feel that the more I put "me" into my work, the clearer I can be with my story and intention.

Speaking of choreography and film, I loved the work you did with one of my favorite modern-bands Sleigh Bells. How did that come about and how were they to work with?

Sleigh Bells "Infinity Guitars" from Phil Pinto on Vimeo.

The casting director for that video, Zan Ludlum, is a friend of mine and got me that job. Since I was choreographing on the models, I didn't work with the band. I also enjoyed working with the director, Phil Pinto, he's very fun and laid back.

Moving to your work in front of and behind the camera, tell us about your early filmmaking ventures and perhaps mention a few favorites.

A still from Celia's mesmerizing PINATA-

Goodness, I feel like I am still in my early filmmaking ventures. I'm not working on any different "level" (budgets, collaborators etc.) than I was a few years ago when I started, so I feel like I'm still in the first phase.
Although it's easier to be out of the work for me to properly direct it, I must say I love being in the work- it's an additional challenge I really enjoy.

Are there any particular filmmakers that influence your work behind the camera? Also I sense a real love for both fashion and music in your films and I was hoping you might discuss that a bit as well.

When I got into filmmaking I didn't know a thing- but the past couple years I've been voraciously watching movies. I really love the work of Andrea Arnold, Roy Andersson, Lynne Ramsay, and Giorgos Lanthimos.
They influence me by reminding me to push myself to BE SPECIFIC, and keep going past your comfort zone- get deeper, get uglier, get weirder, get dangerous.

Okay, onto the amazing Prom Night. I was recently introduced to this startling film by a friend at Facebook and I have to give you big congratulations on it. Outside of how technically great it is, there is something about it that is both extremely moving and quite unsettling. How did the film come about and can you discuss some of the aspects that went into making it?

I have always wanted to be someone other than me and thought it was time to explore that. Somehow exploring it in the context of prom seemed right to me so I developed the dance solo first and then figured out the women I wanted to be and then worked with my amazing collaborators- Jae Song and Lindsey Hornyak. We spent many hours rehearsing, questioning, costuming, set dressing.

One of the major things that I loved about Prom Night is how open-ended it is as far as interpretations go. There was a comment over at Vimeo that echoed my thoughts on it in that it was a Ghost-story focusing on a young girl who plays out these particular prom-night fantasies on an endless loop for all eternity. I also had the thought that it could just be commenting on the different roles and stereotypes women are often forced to play…of course, both interpretations could be wrong, which is something I really appreciated about the film! Are there any thoughts on the meaning of the film you would like to share or are you happy with the ambiguity?

I'm really happy with the ambiguity and rather not say. It's very clear in my mind what I am communicating but it's neat to see all the interpretations!

You are clearly a very gifted young artist. Can we perhaps look for a feature-length project at some point in the future and what are some of your upcoming career plans in general?

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your words and interest in the work. That means a lot to me.
Yes you can expect a feature length from me soon. There's that tricky thing called "funding" to deal with first. Ha! But I'll figure out a way.

-Celia in her lovely ONE SUNDAY-

Thanks so much Celia for this! I hope it leads some more folks to your work and I can’t wait to see more of it. I wish you the best for 2012 and thanks again!

Thank you Jeremy!

...

Radley Metzger's Naked Came the Stranger (1975)

2012-01-27T18:41:00.000-06:00

For a brief period in 1969, a Long Island housewife named Penelope Ashe was one of the most popular novelists in America. Her face was everywhere and her first book, Naked Came the Stranger, was a smash and eventually landed on The New York Times bestseller list. While there was nothing strange about a first-time writer having a hit out of the gate, the thing that made Mrs. Penelope Ashe unique was that she was as fictional as the book her name had graced. Penelope Ashe and Naked Came the Stranger were an elaborate, and quite brilliant, literary hoax put-on by a frustrated Newsday columnist named Mike McGrady, and a number of his colleagues, who set out to prove that by 1969 it was trash that was selling and not great literature. To make an odd story even odder, when the truth was revealed about Penelope Ashe, Naked Came the Stranger became an even bigger phenomenon spawning copycat books and even sequels of sorts by McGrady himself, all of which is detailed extraordinarily well by Benson Hurst in his great liner-notes to the just released special edition of the 1975 film based on the literary prank.

While the novel of Naked Came the Stranger was deliberate trash, the cinematic version written and directed by Radley Metzger (under his Henry Paris guise) was great-art and Distribpix's tremendous new special-edition of the film finally grants its proper-placing as one of the defining films of the mid-seventies. Erotic, funny, and very smart, Radley Metzger's Naked Came the Stranger is among his greatest and most provocative works and one of the best adult-films ever made.

Radley Metzger mentions on the terrific audio-commentary for Naked Came the Stranger that by 1975 he felt, in a way, that he could do no wrong and that thought is more than accurate as he had been creatively on fire throughout the early and mid-seventies. Within just five-years Metzger had unleashed a series of erotic masterworks including The Lickerish Quartet (1970), Little Mother (1973), Score (1974), The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann (1974) The Image (1975) and Naked Came the Stranger. This unbelievable winning-streak would crescendo in 1976 with the dazzling The Opening of Misty Beethoven, a work rightly considered as the best adult-film ever made (and the next definitive edition Distribpix are working on).

While many are content writing a film like Naked Came the Stranger out of film history books, the film is a truly exceptional and special work. Lawrence Cohen writes in his wonderfully crafted analysis of the film, featured in the Distribpix liner notes, that, "if one simply dismisses Naked Came the Stranger as just another hard-core offering from the mid-seventies that is not worthy of critical attention, one utterly fails to do justice to the film's undeniable sophistication and polish." Cohen (who summons up the ghosts of Diogenes, Fitzgerald and Valentino in his notes) later writes, that Naked Came the Stranger is, "vintage Metzger" and I think it is just as good, if not better, than his first superlative effort as Henry Paris, The Private Afternoons as Pamela Mann.

While The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann seemed obsessed with the idea of vision, then it is sound (and during one sequence the lack of) that is at the forefront of Naked Came the Stranger. From the talk radio-show that stars Darby Lloyd Rains and Levi Richards host in the film, to the incredibly humorous and sexy sequence featuring Darby listening at the door as Levi has a romantic encounter with Mary Stuart, to the astonishing silent-film section, Naked Came the Stranger is a film pushed by the importance of sound in cinema and the way that characters listen (but often don't hear) one another. Like all of Metzger's great works, it is a film fuelled by his enduring love for cinema and the fact that it embraces old Hollywood in the midst of a cultural revolution that all but ended the classic-period makes it a quite profound and moving work. With Naked Came the Stranger, Metzger is indeed paying a sweet-farewell to the old while totally embracing the new.

Like all of his other Henry Paris productions, Metzger was blessed with an extraordinary cast for Naked Came the Stranger. As the frustrated housewife Gilly, who attempts to get her philandering hunsband's attention by having her own string of affairs, Darby Lloyd Rains is an absolute revelation and her work here is quite astonishing, as she mixes humor, grace and sexiness to absolutely devastating effect. Hurst's notes on Rains fascinating, and often frustrating, career are particularly poignant and he writes that today, "Darby lives quietly" and "remembers Radley well." Extremely handsome Levi Richards is on hand as Gilly's husband Billy and the charming Mary Stuart makes a big-splash as Billy's assistant and mistress Phyllis. Keep a look out for a hilarious cameo by iconic Marc Stevens during a party-sequence as well.

Hurst, Cohen and Ian Culmell do such an exhaustive job discussing the film in Distribpix's notes that it feels a bit awkward to go over much of it here. A few facts are worth repeating though. Metzger shot the film, just before Christmas in 1974, less than six months after The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann had its premiere. Once again Metzger would use New York as an additional character for the film and the many shots of the city remain some of the most arresting and captivating ever captured on film. Upon release Naked Came the Stranger would be a hit with both mainstream and adult critics as well as audiences, who flocked to the film. A particularly telling portion of the disc's 'ephemera gallery' is a vintage article stating that Naked Came the Stranger was the highest grossing film in New York for a stretch in 1975, ahead of such films as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Day of the Locust and The French Connection 2! It's a jarring reminder as to just how disturbingly conservative film goers and theater-owners have become since the artistic golden-age of the seventies.

While Naked Came the Stranger is a wonderful film throughout its running-time it is at its most extraordinary and daring when Metzger brilliantly recreate a classic black and white silent-film at the Hotel St. George. The scene is visually jaw-dropping, beautifully-shot and stands as one of the great tour-de-force moments of Metzger's career. Watching it, in the lovely new transfer from Distribpix, I teared up several times due to the fact that you would hard-pressed to find such ingenuity, passion and skill in too many American films after the seventies.

Like their exemplary releases of Metzger's The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann and Maraschino Cherry, Naked Came the Strange has been beautifully restored from the original negative and comes armed with a slew of valuable extra-features. These include the aformentioned booklet and audio-commentary as well as deleted and alternate scenes, a look at the film's locations (then and now), trailers, radio-spots and a film-facts subtitle track. It's another beautiful and lovingly put-together package from Distribpix that again solidifies their place as some of the best film-archivists on the planet. They are currently working on The Opening of Misty Beethoven and many of us already have our glasses raised with the words, "Here's to the big-one" at our lips.

Her Ghost: Celia Rowlson-Hall's Prom Night (2010)

2012-01-23T18:41:00.009-06:00

I wanted to take a moment and give an enthusiastic endorsement to a startling short-film I was recently introduced to, by a friend over at Facebook, entitled Prom Night. Directed by and starring a young actress, choreographer and filmmaker named Celia Rowlson-Hall, Prom Night is one of the most hypnotic and poetic short-films I have seen in some time and I must admit that I haven't been able to shake images from it since I first watched it a couple of days back. It's a refreshing and haunting film, made by a clearly talented young artist, and I highly recommend you visit Rowlson Hall's Vimeo, Tumblr and official page for more examples of her work. First though, watch the remarkable Prom Night and I hope you find it as moving and powerful as I did.

PROM NIGHT from celia rowlson-hall on Vimeo.

"I Paint My Own Reality": Julie Taymor's Frida (2002)

2012-01-23T09:48:00.013-06:00

***I wrote this look at Frida a few years back for the excellent and much-missed blog Film for the Soul. I have recently dusted it-off a bit and am now presenting it here.***

Few theatrical experiences have left me more incensed than the one I experienced in the winter of 2000 for Julie Taymor’s Titus. I still remember stumbling out of the Lexington, Ky. Theater, where I saw it with my equally pissed off friend David, into the winter night and thinking that a bitter cold fresh air had never felt quite so good.

It wasn’t that I disliked Taymor’s first film, it was more like I despised it. It’s a bit hard for me to articulate what it was about Titus that angered me so much, but I felt like my resentment towards the film was palatable that cold winter evening, as I made my way sleepily back to my home in Frankfort, Ky. Part of it was my love for Shakespeare’s original play, and my thought that if there was one of his works that needed a solid adaptation then Titus Andronicus was the one. Another aspect that was swelling the seething anger I was feeling was the near universal acclaim the film was receiving from both critics and the public. Had I seen another work entirely? Perhaps an ill conceived and particularly rough cut had made its way to certain theaters and I had been unlucky enough to catch it. I knew of course this wasn’t the case; a fact that made my feeling of disenchantment with the world around me even stronger. Finally though, what made me really angry was the fact that it was obvious Julie Taymor was extremely talented, and despite my hatred of what she did to Shakespeare’s most savage play, I had to admit that.

Flash back to a few years before to my first experience seeing Salma Hayek on the big screen. I had missed all of Salma’s early work including her first films with Robert Rodriguez, all of which I would catch up with later, so the first time I got a good look at her came in 1996 while watching the thrilling Rodriguez directed Tarantino scripted From Dusk Till Dawn. Despite the fact Salma only appears for what amounts to just a few minutes of screen time, she became a major film star in those few moments. Like some sort of God made cross between the doomed Soledad Miranda and Ave Gardner in her prime, Salma Hayek was undeniably special, but throughout the nineties her looks eclipsed her talent as she was all but wasted in one film after another. By the turn of the decade it looked as though Hayek would disappear into the long line of great could have beens…another actress buried by her looks despite the obvious talents she possessed.

I mention my first experiences with both Julie Taymor and Salma Hayek because I believe their one film together, 2002’s exquisite Frida, to be an absolute collaboration…a rare cinematic work where the person in front of the camera has as much claim to authorship as the person behind it. I would go so far as to argue that the true auteur behind Frida is Salma Hayek and not Julie Taymor, which isn’t to diminish Taymor’s direction and vision of the film. Instead I mean it as a tribute to Hayek, who was the one who worked her ass off for much of the late nineties and early part of this decade to get Frida off the page and into the theaters in the first place.

Few modern artists lives seem more fitting for a big screen movie than Frida Kahlo. After all, the Mexican born Kahlo really LIVED a life. Besides being one of the most astonishing talents of the twentieth century her circle of friends, lovers and collaborators included everyone from Diego Rivera to Josephine Baker to Leon Trotsky. Add her accomplishments and partners on to what was truly a difficult existence filled with enough pain and heartache to cover a dozen lives, and the story of Frida Kahlo is one that seemed to demand telling…so why did it take so long to get made?

The attempt to get Frida Kahol’s life to the big screen would itself make an interesting and compulsively entertaining movie. Everyone from Madonna to Meryl Streep were rumored to take her story on in front of the camera, with filmmakers ranging from Robert De Niro to Brian Gibson being attached at one point behind. The film almost got made in the late nineties with talented and sorely undervalued Laura San Giacomo in the title role, but that fell through like all of the other aborted projects had, and by the beginning of the decade it appeared the long awaited Frida Kahlo film would become one of Hollywood’s ultimate back burner projects…until a much determined Salma Hayek stepped in.

Hayek’s work on the film is quite astounding. She acquired the rights to Kahlo’s extraordinary paintings, as she knew that without them the film would fail, and she helped assemble the film’s supporting players, a key to getting the film the financing that finally came from Miramax in the early part of the decade. Big names like Edward Norton, Antonio Banderas, and Ashley Judd signed on for much less their usual fees because of their belief in the fiery Hayek In fact the entire production of Frida can be viewed as a tribute to not only Frida Kahlo but as well to Salma Hayek, an actress refusing to slip into oblivion before she played the role she felt was destined for her.

While it is just Julie Taymor’s second film as a director, the maturity and growth between it and her first film Titus is quite startling. Whereas Titus felt like a visual exercise without a sense of control or reason, Frida is a colorful intelligently designed feature that shows Taymor learning to reign in her particularly distinctive visions in order to satisfy, and not overwhelm, the production she is directing. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Frida, outside of Salma Hayek’s magically moving performance, is the fact that it finally plays out less as a film about the life of Frida Kahlo, and more like a part of one of her life’s works.

The pleasures of Frida are as easy to pinpoint as its faults. It’s a spectacularly beautiful film featuring some of the most distinctive and colorful photography of the decade courtesy of Oscar nominated Rodrigo Prieto. Prieto’s work here is just beyond belief and seeing the film on the big screen was so incredibly vivid that I don’t even know how to go about putting it into words. Another high point of the film is in the moving score by Oscar winner Elliot Goldenthal, which gives a musical life to Kahlo’s most unforgettable and stunning paintings. Oscar nominee Julie Weiss’ beautiful and imaginative costume designs also supply the film with many of its most eye popping moments, causing the picture from beginning to end to function as its own very specific piece of living art.

Despite the work of the incredibly talented cast in front of the camera, with special kudos going to Alfred Molina and Mia Maestro, the unnerving and bewitching Hayek totally controls the film. In one of the great performances of the decade Hayek delivers a brilliant, brave and blistering performance as the trailblazing Kahlo, and she never makes a wrong move from the unforgettable opening close-up of her face, to the final shot where she literally burns into one of the Frida’s paintings. Hayek is overwhelming in the film, and she probably deserved the Oscar in 2003 over the equally stunning Nicole Kidman, who won for her spectacular work in The Hours.

Frida isn’t perfect though and too often it feels like it is just scratching the surface of Frida Kahlo’s life. The biggest mistake the film (and probably mostly Miramax) makes is attempting to squeeze Kahlo’s life down to just two hours. If any film this decade was deserving of a truly epic length then it was Frida, and the work suffers because of the brevity of its running time. Also, while Taymor’s direction is much improved over Titus, there is still the feeling she hasn’t fully come into her own as a filmmaker yet. For all of the bravura set pieces and undeniably artistic brilliance Taymor shows, certain sequences just don’t feel resonate enough and, more often than not, the power behind Frida is in Hayek’s performance, and Kahlo’s art itself, and not in Taymor’s direction. Still, the film is an impressive achievement for Taymor, and she remains an interesting talent to watch.

Despite its faults, I find Frida to be one of the most resonate and beautiful works of the decade. Whether or not Salma Hayek ever gets another part quite suited to her considerable talents remains to be seen, but Frida is an invigorating and intoxicating tribute to her and I am thankful she got the film made. While the film divided critics back in 2002 when it came out, and it continues to do so, I feel that perhaps the biggest question to be asked in regards to its success is does a watching Frida serve as an invitation to explore more of Kahlo’s life and works? I honestly can’t imagine anyone saying no, a fact that alone make Frida a resounding and quite a moving success.

The Moseby Confidential Files: Radley Metzger's Maraschino Cherry (1978)

2012-01-21T16:03:00.016-06:00

***Radley Metzger, one of Moon in the Gutter's heroes and favorite filmmakers is celebrating his birthday today, so I couldn't let the occasion go by without a tribute. Very soon I will be posting a long-look at the amazing special edition DVD Distribpix have recently released of Naked Came the Stranger, but today I am dusting off this old Harry Moseby Confidential Piece I wrote awhile back on an another Distribpix special edition, dedicated to Metzger's last major work Maraschino Cherry. Warm Birthday wishes to one of American cinema's great artists and mavericks!***

Few American filmmakers of the past fifty years have deserved critical and popular reconsideration more than New York born director Radley Metzger. Throughout the sixties and seventies, Metzger consistently proved himself as one of the most inspired, inventive, and original directors American cinema had ever seen with works such as Carmen Baby, Camille 2000 and The Lickerish Quartet standing as some of the great masterworks of the period. While Metzger’s reputation has grown in the years since he stopped making films in the mid eighties, his name still isn’t held in as high regard as it should, but time should solve that as his great films look better and better with each passing year.

Perhaps the most intriguing period of Radley Metzger’s career was a five-year span in the seventies when he worked under the gloriously stylish pseudonym of Henry Paris. As Paris, Metzger delivered a stirring collection of erotic films that are without peer in the industry, with his stunning The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976) rightly considered the greatest film of its kind ever made. While it isn’t his greatest work as Henry Paris, 1978’s Maraschino Cherry is one of the most important, as it the swansong for Metzger’s alter-ego.

Starring a dazzling cast made up of the best New York based actresses of the seventies, including Gloria Leonard, Leslie Bovee, Annette Haven, C.J. Laing, Jenny Baxter, Susan McBain and Constance Money, Maraschino Cherry is an extremely stylish spectacle that sends Henry Paris out in style.

Made up of new footage interspersed with some unused older scenes (including the ones including Money), Maraschino Cherry is, along with Barbara Broadcast (1977), the most episodic film Metzger created under the Paris pseudonym, but what it lacks in narrative consistency is made up for by the go for broke attitude of Radley and his extremely talented cast. Maraschino Cherry is a seriously cool film that run hot in its rather slim running time of 84 minutes, and it remains one of the most memorable films of the late seventies.

A visually dynamic production, thanks to Metzger’s always dazzling cinematic eye, Maraschino Cherry also benefits greatly from sharp editing (credited to a Harvey Katz but probably done by Metzger himself) that keeps the production flowing quickly and smoothly. Metzger’s directorial flourishes and great camera work is also apparent in every shot of the film as his great eye for composition, even though Maraschino Cherry finally plays out as one of the least defined great films of Radley’s career.

What will really put Seventies film enthusiasts in absolute heaven with Maraschino Cherry is its extraordinary cast. The always reliable Gloria Leonard was never better, or sexier, as the title character and she generates so much intelligence and wit for Metzger here. Scene-stealing Leslie Bouvee is particularly lovely here and drop-dead gorgeous Annette Haven is especially memorable in the film’s final section. The exquisite Constance Money also brings her oh so distinctive brand of beauty and Jenny Baxter is a real charmer as Maraschino’s sister Jenny, but the film ultimately belongs to the fearless C.J. Laing, who really blows the roof off the place in the show-stopping ‘dungeon’ set finale. Laing, as she did in Barbara Broadcast, proves herself to be one of the most searing and sexiest performers film world has ever seen and it is impossible to take your eyes off her when she appears.

Radley Metzger would all but retire from the film world after the release of Maraschino Cherry, as he only had a few relatively minor works on his resume after its release. His final Henry Paris production is marked by the same innovation, skill and style of all his great works and it is an absolute must see for Metzger enthusiasts and seventies film fanatics in general.

Thankfully Maraschino Cherry has been granted a full-blown special edition release thanks to DistribPix’s Platinum Elite Edition. This beautiful double disc collection, which comes with a booklet (with tremendous liner notes by Benson Hurst, which can be read at Distribpix's blog) and film negative, contains a very nicely remastered version from the uncut 35 mm negative as well several really nice extras, including a fascinating 30 minute recent interview with Leonard, bonus scenes, rare photos and trailers. Like their other collectors editions, the team at Distribpix put a lot of love into the release of Maraschino Cherry and it gives this important film a great home.

My Favorite Older Films Seen in 2011 Now at Rupert Pupkin Speaks

2012-01-19T13:49:00.008-06:00

My buddy Rupert recently asked me to submit my list of favorite older films that I caught up with in 2011 and I was happy to oblige. The list is now posted over at Rupert Pupkin Speaks for those who wish to give it a look.

My list is made up of a dozen films, with some brief thoughts on each, and includes everything from a classic screwball comedy to seventies exploitation to two of the most moving documentaries I have ever seen.

Thanks so much to Mr. Pupkin for asking me to join in the fun! It was my pleasure.

For a complete list of the films I watched back in 2011, you can visit this link.

Intellect's Directory of World Cinema: East Europe

2012-01-17T12:35:00.009-06:00

The East Europe volume of Intellect's Directory of World Cinema is now available to order over at Amazon and Amazon UK. I have a number of pieces in this new volume including my reviews of Vera Chytilová's Daisies (1966), Dusan Makavejev's WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), Walerian Borowczyk's Blanche (1972), and Milos Forman's Loves of a Blonde (1965). I also have two longer articles in the book on the careers of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Walerian Borowczyk. The book also features my tope-five list of personal favorite Eastern European films for those interested.

It's a great looking volume and I am proud to have some of my work (especially my pieces on Borowczyk) featured, especially in that it gives me the opportunity to be in the same volume with one of my favorite writers, Daniel Bird. Thanks to those who might order a copy and I hope you enjoy the book.

I will next be appearing in Volume 2 of the American Independent edition, which is scheduled to street later this year.

...

Win Copies of the Upcoming Jean Rollin Blu-rays!

2012-01-16T10:19:00.001-06:00

For those of you who haven't already seen the link, I have partnered up with Kino Lorber and Redemption over at my Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience to give-away copies of the upcoming Rollin Blu-rays. Just click over to Fascination for information on how you can be entered to win one copy of all five of the new Rollin releases, which include The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires, The Iron Rose, Lips of Blood and Fascination. Entering is super-easy and I'll be announcing the winner at Fascination around January 23rd or so. Thanks!

I'm Featured in the New Issue of Rue Morgue

2012-01-11T09:12:00.007-06:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I am fortunate enough to be featured in the January-February 2012 issue (119) of Rue Morgue that recently hit stores. I have a two page spread in their special Jean Rollin article, focusing on his final interview with Eric S. Eichelberger, where I take a look at The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires, The Iron Rose, Lips of Blood and Fascination. These are the titles that are getting ready to hit Blu-ray courtesy of Redemption and Kino Lorber.

I'm very excited to have some of my writing featured in the magazine and wanted to make mention of it here. The issue features Daniel Radcliffe on the cover and has extensive coverage of the upcoming The Woman in Black, along with the Rollin material and much more.

More information on Rue Morgue can be found in the links above and the issue is available now at most booksellers, including Barnes & Noble.

Film-Bloggers That Inspired Me in 2011

2012-01-10T12:40:00.018-06:00

While I didn't comment as much as I should on my fellow-film bloggers posts throughout 2011 I continued to be extremely inspired by many of them, and wanted to highlight some of my favorite posts from the past year. These are all really tremendous writers, and film-historians, and all of these posts are absolute must-reads as far as I am concerned. Bravo to my friends and fellow-bloggers for another year of really fine work!

In no particular order...

All of Sheila O'Malley's amazing output on Elvis Presley at The Sheila Variations, with special note going to this important post with Kent Adamson.

J.D. LaFrance on Cop, one of James Woods' most underrated features, and Roman Polanski's incredible Frantic at Radiator Heaven.

Richard Harland Smith, at Movie Morlocks, with a Beginner's Guide to the End of Everything.

Derek Hill at Detours with this wonderfully original take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Mondo Heather discusses Radley Metzger's incredible Camille 2000.

Hans from Quiet Cool on Borowczyk's stunning Docteur Jekyll and His Women.

Ed Howard on Todd Hayne's impressive Mildred Pierce at Only the Cinema.

This informative series on Jess Franco's 80s actors at Robert Monell's I'm in a Jess Franco State of Mind.

Stacie Ponder on the Lucio Fulci documentary Paura at her eternally cool Final Girl.

Tony Dayoub on Lars Von Trier's masterpiece Melancholia at Cinema Viewfinder.

Ben on Jean Rollin's mesmerizing The Iron Rose at Breakfast in the Ruins.

A reappraisal of Garbo's final film Two Faced Woman at Classic Movie Ramblings.

Erich Kuersten at Acidemic on I'll Take Sweden and They Call Her One Eye>.

Dead Treadway's terrific series on Forgotten Movie Songs at Fimicability.

Cinezilla's moving post about visiting Jean Rollin's final resting place, which includes a link to a killer mix-cd.

David Zuzelo at Tomb in May Concern on Hammer's Frankenstein Films.

Kate at Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire on Seven Deaths in Cat's Eye.

Bob Turnbull at Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind on Kuroneko.

Mr. Peel's Sardine Liqueur on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Also his look at the Kill Bill films.

Amanda remembers Freddie Prinze with these posts at Made for TV Mayhem.

Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun on Roman Polanski.

The much-missed Arbogast on Film discusses The Nightcomers and In a Dark Place.

Distribpix explores creating the box-art of their new release of Naked Came a Stranger>.

The Gore Gore Girl on The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann.

James Hansen at Out 1 on Drive.

By Kubrick's Beard on Fat City.

Kimberly at Cinebeats on Saturday Night Sunday Morning.

Joe Valdez at This Distracted Globe on Big Trouble in Little China.

Daniel Bird takes us inside Walerian Borowczyk's archive.

Steve Langton shares some of his amazing gig memories at The Last Picture Show.

I realize I am leaving out a lot of favorites and I apologize to those that I missed or forgot to mention. There is so much good writing on film happening right now that it is hard to keep up. I'm proud to be a part of a community that includes all of the above writers!
...

So Long Amanda Whurlitzer: Little Darlings (1980)

2012-01-06T05:17:00.000-06:00

***While Little Darlings is still unavailable on disc, Turner Classic Movies is screening the film tonight! More information can be found here.***

Truth be told, growing up on the seventies and eighties, I always thought there was something incredibly special about Tatum O’Neal. What kid and teenager back in the day wasn’t overwhelmed by her first in Paper Moon (1973) and then especially in the original and only The Bad News Bears (1976). She was remarkable…a spirited and sad spoiled little rich girl that you just knew would be your friend if you could ever be lucky enough to get close to her.
Tatum was 16 when she shot 1980’s Little Darlings, a wonderful little film in which she co-stars with Kristy McNichol, Armand Assante and Matt Dillon. Tatum had hit a dry spell after Nickelodeon (1976), International Velvet (1978) and Circle Of Two (1980) had failed to capture the public’s eye in the same way her earlier acclaimed and award-winning work had. Looking back on it today, Little Darlings is indeed the pivotal film in O’Neal’s career and its failure to find its audience pretty much ended her justified bid at adult stardom.

Little Darlings started out life as a coming of age story by co-screenwriter Kini Peck. Peck, who used some of her own memories of the hardships of being a teenage girl, was paired with TV writer Darlene Love by Paramount pictures in 1978 to flesh out her story into a full blown screenplay. The two would come up with an endearing work that would take the rather audacious step of centering a serious film on teenage sexuality with a near all female cast to portray it. Little Darlings, and its storyline centering on a group of teenage girls at camp betting on who can lose their virginity first, could have been a pandering and leering film (one can only shudder what the American Pie generation would have done to it) but instead the two female writers deliver an uncommonly good and sincere film filled with more heart and emotion than most films on teenage life can barely touch.

A big part of the credit to Little Darlings success must go to director Ronald F. Maxwell, a less than prolific filmmaker who is probably best known for Gods and Generals (2003). Maxwell’s subtle and un-showy style suits the coming of age story very well and Little Darlings is never less than expertly handled through his lens for its all too brief running time.
Joining Tatuam and the rather impressive cast I mentioned above is a young Cynthia Nixon, from future Sex and The City fame, as well as Krista Errickson who would find some success in film and television in the eighties and early nineties. Everyone in the rather large ensemble cast, made up of girls ranging from ten to sixteen or so, are completely believable and Maxwell is a smart enough of a director to give a nice democracy of framing so the film never feels one-sided or less the sum of its parts.

The males in the film are basically just represented by the camp councilor that O’Neal falls for, played very well by the very handsome Assante and the local street kid that captures McNichol’s heart, the always excellent Matt Dillon seen here at the dawn of what has turned out to be one of the great modern careers. With the exception of a couple of other minor characters that is it for any male figures. Little Darlings is a defiantly female driven picture and, as such, it feels almost completely foreign to the typical male dominated gaze of the traditional teenage movie.

I must admit that watching the film all of these years later, I was most affected by McNichol’s very moving and heartfelt performance here. She was nominated for an Young Artist Award here and her work really shows someone that should have been given more attention at the time. She is particularly good in her scenes with Dillon where she is able to essay the rather hopelessly awkward feelings of young love perfectly.

The soundtrack of the film is also a key component (and is ironically part of what is keeping it off DVD) and features some expertly placed performances by Blondie, John Lennon and Rickie Lee Jones. The incidental music in the film is expertly handled by Academy Award nominee Charles Fox, who was coming off one of his most exceptional scores with 1978’s Foul Play.
The film falters a bit in some moments that venture over into a more ‘cutesy’ side, mostly involving the youngest girls in the camp. It is also way too short, as it ends in a rather cookie cutter manor just past the ninety minute mark, as if the studio suddenly lost their guts in looking to deliver an authentic and honest portrayal of young female sexuality and friendship.

Still, the film has a lot more going for it rather than against and it is a real shame that it didn’t perform better when it was released in 1980 to mixed reviews and a just okay performance at the box office. Rated R, mostly for language and some suggestive content, the film was butchered for television release later and many of the best songs were removed from the home video version. The film has, to my knowledge, never appeared on DVD anywhere.

Paramount never really knew what to do with the film and the poster and promotional material suggest an exploitation comedy along the lines of Porkys much more than the sensitive and serious film it actually is. Roger Ebert didn’t much care for the film but he did point out rather intelligently that Little Darlings, “earns the right to its subject matter - even though the movie's advertisements….unashamedly exploit the subject matter.” I agree and it is very unfortunate.

So what of Tatum O’Neal, the troubling figure who brought me to the film in the first place. She is quite amazing in it actually. While not on par with her performances in Paper Moon and The Bad News Bears, her work in Little Darlings shows the young woman who should have become one of the key figures in modern cinema but, unfortunately, her own personal demons stopped that from happening.
Still, I must admit, even after twenty five years of disappointing career choices, tabloid headlines, reality TV and two tragic tell-all books, I still find Tatum O’Neal as special as the first time I saw her nearly three decades ago. Little Darlings is a neat little capper to a remarkable trilogy of films that saw her capturing the imagination and hearts of a lot of young people in this country…myself included. Time or any other mistakes, on hers or our part, can’t take that away.

***

An Interview With Bret Wood at Fascination on the upcoming Jean Rollin Releases

2012-01-03T21:39:00.005-06:00

Just a quick note to mention that I have posted a new Q&A I recently conducted with filmmaker and Kino Lorber producer Bret Wood over at my Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience blog. Bret takes us through how Kino Lorber acquired the Rollin titles, what went into producing the discs and what we can expect from them. He also delves into his own film career and his history producing some of Kino's best discs. I am really appreciative that Bret took the time to do this so I wanted to make mention of here for folks who might otherwise miss it.

The first wave of Kino Lorber's remastered Jean Rollin DVDs and Blu-rays come out later this month and they include The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires, The Iron Rose, Lips of Blood and Fascination. They are available for pre-order over at Amazon and are among the most anticipated releases of this new year.

I Just Wanna Belong Someplace: Hugh Hudson's Lost Angels (1989)

2012-01-02T17:51:00.021-06:00

Few filmmakers have ever fallen from critical and popular grace quite as fast as British-born director Hugh Hudson. A former documentary filmmaker and advertiser, Hudson received his first break in feature-length filmmaking when he acted as the Second-Unit Director on Alan Parker's chilling Midnight Express (1978). Within a year of working with Parker, Hudson got his chance to sit in the lead directors chair for a period piece focusing on two runners training for spots in the 1924 Olympic Games. That film was Chariots of Fire and it immediately became one of the most acclaimed films of its time, when it was released in 1981, and Hudson briefly became one of the most respected directors of the period.

After losing the Best Director Oscar for Chariots of Fire in 1982 Hudson began to immerse himself in what would turn out to be his next project, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan (1984). The shoot was gruelling and was strife with problems and the behind the scenes issues stretched to the screen, as Hudson's follow-up to Chariots of Fire proved to be a major critical and financial letdown. The lukewarm-reception granted to Greystoke was nothing compared to the crucifying Hudson took for his third film, Revolution (1985), a bold but flawed work that all but ended Hudson's time as filmmaker any studio would bank on, even though he had helmed a best-picture winner less than five years before.

Disillusioned and embittered after the troubles he had with the studios on both Greystoke and Revolution, Hugh Hudson stepped away from the world of film for several years in order to regroup artistically and spiritually. He would re-emerge in 1989 with what would turn out to be his finest film, a moving low-budget drama centering on a troubled young teen named Tim, but few took notice and the still-stirring Lost Angels has all but slipped into obscurity.

Had he not been a member of one of the most consistently brilliant groups of the last quarter of a century, Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz (Ad-Rock) could have probably had quite a film career, as he has both the looks and talent of a great star. Horowitz has appeared in a number of films since making his big-screen debut as the star of Hugh Hudson's Lost Angels but his acting career has never sparked the way his music work had and continues to. Watching Lost Angels today, it's striking just how moving and resonate Horowitz's work is. His performance has a real rhythm and grace to it and it's hard to not feel a tinge of regret at the thought he never had the chance to capitalize on it, although he came close with Abbe Wool's equally in need of rediscovery Roadside Prophets (1992).

Horowitz plays Tim Doolan, an angry and frustrated teen who is committed to a psych hospital after continually getting in trouble at home and at school. While inpatient, Tim meets an understanding psychiatrist named Charles Loftis (played wonderfully by the great Donald Sutherland) and the two form a strong, if unexpected, bond that helps heal both of them.

The gritty and small-scale Lost Angels was a real left-turn from the bold big-budget period-pieces Hudson was known for in 1989. Whereas Hudson felt like a filmmaker in trouble on both Greystoke and Revolution, he is back in total control on Lost Angels and he guides the film with an assured confidence and fluid style. Most surprising is the fact that Hudson showed that his real gift as a director could be found in the way he handled his actors in intimate and sometimes uncomfortable to watch situations. Lost Angels has all the heart found in Chariots of Fire without the bombast and it stands as a sharp reminder that, given the right material, Hugh Hudson is a talent to be reckoned with.

Lost Angels was the final script produced for the big-screen penned by Oscar nominated writer Michael Weller, a man who won much acclaim for his work on Ragtime (1981). Lost Angels could have been just another Rebel Without a Cause clone but Weller's script is really fine and in the moments between Tim and Loftis it is really quite great. Weller's dialogue is finely-tuned and really taps into what it was like to be an angry and disillusioned Reagan-era youth. Lost Angels stands out among the many angsty troubled-youth films of the late eighties and it's a shame that it isn't more well-known.

Shot by the wonderful Spanish cinematographer Juan Ruiz Ancjia, scored by none other than Philippe Sarde and featuring startling art-direction from legendary Alex Tavoularis, Lost Angels feels like a work of love from all involved, especially considering its low-budget and quick-shooting schedule. It's moving, both beautifully acted and directed and was all but ignored when it was dumped in just a few theaters by Orion in May of 1989. Despite the fact that it had been nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Lost Angels failed to find much critical or popular support upon its release and Hugh Hudson's valiant attempt at resurrecting his film career sadly did not pay-off.

After the relative failure of Lost Angels, Horowitz would step back into his iconic role as a Beastie Boy and within a few years would help solidify the group as one of the greatest in rock history. His role in Roadside Prophets remains his sole starring role outside of his powerful turn in Lost Angels.

Hugh Hudson would drift away from film for nearly a decade before his sweetly stirring return with the lovely My Life So Far (1999), another fine work few took note of. He has since returned to the world of documentary filmmaking with the very personal Rupture: A Matter of Life OR Death (2011).

Lost Angels was released on VHS and laserdisc in the early nineties but it has never had a DVD or Blu-ray release, though it is available to stream over at Netflix. One of the great unknown American movies of the late-eighties, Lost Angels is quite a special little film and I would love to see it resurface one day and finally find the audience it has always deserved.

First-Time Viewings: December 2011

2011-12-31T03:43:00.005-06:00

The Christmas holiday and my rediscovery of the amazing Larry Sanders Show both kept me from watching too many films throughout December. The best films I watched were actually all mostly released this year, as you can see from the list below. Still I caught up with a few great older ones and already have several lined up for January that I am greatly anticipating.

Pre-2011 Films:

Around a Small Mountain ***1/2
C.H.U.D. ***1/2
Criminal Woman: Killing Melody ***1/2
Gainsbourg A Heroic Life ****1/2
I Am Loved *****
Insatiable 2 **1/2
Jackass 3 *****
People Will Talk ***1/2
Red Riding Trilogy: 1980 ****1/2
The Auteur **1/2
The Horde **
The Unholy Wife ***

2011 Films:

Hugo ****1/2
Pearl Jam 20 ****1/2
The Black Power Mix-Tape 1967-1975 *****
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo *****
Young Adult ****1/2

...

Gil Scott-Heron's The Last Holiday: A Memoir

2011-12-28T06:22:00.006-06:00

The final literary work from the late Gil Scott-Heron is set to be released on January 10th and I wanted to supply a link here for its Amazon listing for those interested. I am still torn up over the loss of Gil and am grateful to CanonGate for releasing this very important work. I hope some of my readers here will support this upcoming release. More information can be found at their website.

Something Dead Inside My Hole: Young Adult (2011)

2011-12-25T08:11:00.015-06:00

When I attempt to go home again all that awaits me is a great big hole. Let me explain...The only stretch of stability I had in my childhood was the period between sixth grade and graduating high school when I lived with my mom, and occasionally father, in a lovely two-story house next to the Ohio River in Newburgh, Indiana. Not all of the years there were good, most were probably bad, but in that seven year time frame I finally began to feel like I had a homebase, something I had never encountered before. When I graduated high school, and left for college, my parents moved back to Kentucky and the house was bought by a family who promptly had it picked-up and moved to a new location. So, when I try to go home again all I find is this lonely large hole in the ground...a hole that I often imagine leads further down than even I care to imagine.

I've been thinking a lot about that hole lately and it's become more than a little symbolic to me. As I am closing the corner on my fortieth birthday I am finding more and more that the anxiety and depression I have always had nagging at me is becoming more and more predominate and the only real solace I get is from my time with my wife and the music and movies that somehow never let me down. Most days I feel like that hole is getting larger and larger as I become blanker and blanker. I have successfully managed to cultivate a seemingly neutral every thing's okay persona but, secretly, I feel the pressure of 'too much' everyday....too much drink, too much debt, too much fear, too much rage...too many memories I would like to stop dwelling on. That hole has a lot of dark stuff in it and it has gotten so cluttered that I'm not even sure what I believe in anymore or even who I really am at this point.

Anyone reading might ask what any of this has to do with the new Diablo Cody scripted film Young Adult starring Charlize Theron, a work partially focused on a troubled 37 year old-writer named Mavis who returns to her hometown with the idea of getting an old flame back, despite the fact that he is married and has a newborn daughter. While most are viewing this film as a work about a truly despicable person that no one should care for, I found more of myself in Young Adult than any work I have seen in quite awhile. The cool, mostly silent, distress and rage that guides Theron's stunning performance was instantly recognizable to me and I felt like the film was holding, a sometimes hard to look at, mirror to me throughout. Of course, I can't completely speak as to Diablo Cody's intentions were with Young Adult, but I can say that while most of the audience around me was laughing at Charlize Theron in the film I was laughing with her.

Young Adult is the best film so far from Jason Reitman (a man who directed a film I loved, Juno, and one I didn't, Up in the Air). Reitman's direction here is beautifully understated, almost matter-of-fact, but his growth as a filmmmaker is quite remarkable. Diablo Cody's script for Young Adult is also the best work she has ever done and it captures something very honest and real about alcoholism and depression and it does so much better than most 'important' films on the subjects. The trailer for Young Adult sells Cody's smart and sneaky script way short. This isn't really a comedy about a selfish woman attempting to break up a marriage but is, instead, a devastating portrait of a horribly damaged person being sucked down a hole by a bored couple who view her sad life as a twisted reality show they secretly so much want to be a part of.

While Cody's script for Young Adult is quite incredible, the film is ultimately all about Charlize Theron's performance, which is an absolute force of nature. Theron has never been better and she captures Cody's fractured and tragic character with a stunning degree of authority and range. Theron's both funny and heartbreaking in the film and my recognition of many of her most despairing moments scared me but also made me feel not quite so alone. The film's final moment, featuring a haunting close-up of Theron, is both exhilarating and tragic and it's as brilliant and subtle of an ending as you'll find in any American film from the past decade.

2012 is shaping up to be banner year for me with several publishing opportunities, a big move, new-job and more time with my lovely-wife but I can't shake this increasingly terrible emptiness. Perhaps I should use the upcoming year to stop running away from it and face it...to admit I am perhaps fucked, find some relief in that acknowledgement and then, finally, really do something about it.

...

Behind the Scenes With My Favorite Actors: Jean-Pierre Léaud in Domicile conjugal (Bed and Board)

2011-12-19T05:34:00.001-06:00

Behind the Scenes With My Favorite Actors: Claude Jade in Bed and Board

2011-12-18T05:16:00.001-06:00

***Captured from a vintage short found on Criterion's Antoine Doinel Box-Set.***

Operation Screenshot (Films of the Sixties) François Truffaut's Antoine and Colette (1962)

2011-12-17T14:45:00.004-06:00

Operation Screenshot (Films of the Fifties) François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959)

2011-12-16T13:56:00.005-06:00

Truffaut for your Bookshelf

2011-12-15T06:23:00.001-06:00

There have been many books written about the films and life of François Truffaut, as well as many volumes dedicated to his own writing. While quite a number of great books are out of print, quite a few are still fairly easy to snag here in the states. Here are a few of my favorites with links to their Amazon listings:

Truffaut's Writings:

The Films in My Life

Hitchcock

Interviews

Correspondence 1945-1984

Truffaut par Truffaut

Early Film Criticism

Books about Truffaut:

Truffaut: A Biography

Francois Truffaut

Taschen's Francois Truffaut

...

Truffaut the Critic: On Jacques Rivette's Paris Belongs to Us (1960)

2011-12-14T06:05:00.007-06:00

"Every month the death throes of the "nouvelle vague" are announced. But there are twenty-four 'first films' in 1960...you'll become familiar with the names of these young filmmakers...Out of all of them we reserve special mention for Jacques Rivette. The release of Paris Belongs to Us, his first film, is a score for every member of the team-or of our Mafia, if you prefer...it was Rivette who took the initiative, who thew himself into the task, who worked and made us work...Rivette was more of a cinema nut than any of us, and his film proves that he is more of a moviemaker than any of us as well...Rivette reminds us at the beginning of his film that Paris belongs to no one. But cinema belongs to everyone."

-Excerpts from Truffaut's 1961 piece on Paris Belongs to Us. The full-piece can be found in his The Films in My Life-

Save the Children: François Truffaut's L'Argent de poche (Small Change)

2011-12-13T18:36:00.009-06:00

While perhaps not as well known or as discussed as his other great works, L'Argent de poche (Small Change) is one of the finest films Francois Truffaut left us. A heartfelt and moving masterpiece from 1976, Small Change is a real miracle of a film and it has long deserved to be held in the same esteem as legendary works like The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim and Day for Night.

The idea for Small Change had been in Truffaut’s head since the mid-fifties when he shot his early short film The Mischief Makers. He would write in his marvelous novelization of Small Change that he originally planned it as a, “collection of short stories.” Thankfully that led to a screenplay but it took years for him to get it to the screen. The unforgettable moments that would finally make up Small Change had indeed been occupying Truffaut for two decades but he knew the shoot would be a difficult one (due to the majority of the cast being made up by children) and he had to find a way to script what could be just a purely episodic film into a narrative whole.

For those who haven’t seen it, Small Change focuses on, in Truffaut’s words, a group of children and “the events in Theirs during the last month of the school year.” He would go onto write that the film, “presents about ten youngsters, boys and girls, whose adventures illustrated-from the first feeding bottle to the first loving kiss-the different stages of passage from early childhood to adolescence.” Truffaut shot his funny and touching film almost exclusively with non-professional actors and the project feels perhaps more grounded and gritty than any of his other films. Truffaut would call the experience of shooting the film, “exhausting”, but it would turn out to be one of his biggest worldwide hits.

Truffaut knew that Small Change was going to be one of the trickiest films he had ever made as he began prepping shortly after he wrapped shooting on The Story of Adele H. Beyond the typical concern of just making a quality film, Truffaut would recall in 1979 that he felt, “the filmmaker’s responsibility is greater when he is filming children, because the public cannot keep itself from superimposing a symbolic meaning on everything a child does”. He would go onto state that he was aware of the fact that, “when we look at a particular child doing something on the screen, we are immediately projected back to our own childhood, and what that child is doing seems to us what childhood as a whole does”. Truffaut was more than aware that with Small Change he would be making a movie ultimately for adults but, at the same time, he wanted to make a genuine film about childhood or, in his own words, he was aware that, “children should be filmed only because you love them.”

After what seemed like an endless amount of preparation and auditioning, the filming of Small Change began and took well over two months in the summer of 1975. Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana would note in their excellent biography of Truffaut that his original cut was over three hours long and the exhausting shooting, as well as looming editing, would eventually cause his doctor to, “prescribe him a month of complete rest.”

Dedicating the film to Victor Hugo, Charles Trenet and Ernst Lubitsch, a still fatigued Truffaut nervously unleashed Small Change to theaters 1976 unsure about the film he had made. His doubts were soon displaced with joy though when the film became immediately embraced by huge crowds and mostly great critical plaudits. Pauline Kael, who had been so blown away by The Story of Adele H. had serious reservations before seeing Small Change but admitted that the film was, “a rarity-a poetic comedy that’s really funny.” And, while it didn’t perhaps has never gained the recognition granted to The 400 Blows, Small Change equaled the box-office success of that earlier masterwork in France, England and The United States.

I first saw Small Change in the mid-nineties via a VHS copy I rented at a local movie shop in Lexington, KY and it immediately became one of my favorite Truffaut films. The film provokes reaction and I can’t recall a work that caused me to both laugh and cry in equal measure quite as much a Small Change. I also can’t think of another film that deals with the jubilation and turmoil that go hand in hand with childhood like Truffaut’s film does. He really captured some striking universal truths with this film and it remains one of the most accurate, authentic and moving narrative works I have ever seen.

Advertising Truffaut in the States: Stolen Kisses (1968)

2011-12-11T09:39:00.001-06:00

Truffaut the Critic: On Vadim's And God Created Woman (1956)

2011-12-10T09:26:00.000-06:00

"And God Created Woman is a sensitive and intelligent film with no trace of vulgarity. It's a film that belongs to this generation: simultaneously amoral (rejecting the current moral system but proposing no other) and puritanical (conscious of it amorality and disturbed by it). Far from being trivial, it is revealing and completely honest...only the young will side with Vadim, because he sees thing as they do...obviously the film isn't perfect...but what is good is really good. Brigitte Bardot is magnificent; for the first time she is completely herself...And God Created Woman, an intimate film, a notebook film, reveals a new French director who is more personal than Boisrond, Boissol, Carbonnaux, and Joffe-and just as gifted."

-Excerpts from Truffaut's 1957 review. The full piece can be found in his The Films in My Life-

Remaking Truffaut: Johnny Tough (1974)

2011-12-09T19:01:00.011-06:00

Thankfully the films of Francois Truffaut have only been officially remade a handful of times although, sadly, rumors of more are on the horizon. The results so far have been mostly, and not surprisingly, disappointing with the most high profile pictures being the lackluster Burt Reynolds retread of The Man Who Loved Women and the horrendous Angelina Jolie Mississippi Mermaid redo Original Sin. Among the most interesting have been the underrated Jules and Jim remake Willie & Phil and the film this older post of mine focuses on, Horace Jackson's flawed but well meaning inner-city take on The 400 Blows, Johnny Tough. To go along with my month-long Truffaut celebration I thought a revisit was in order:

It is a real shame that the directorial debut from Horace Jackson, 1974’s Johnny Tough, isn’t a more consistent film. A shame because the idea behind it, to remake Francois Truffaut’s monumental masterpiece The 400 Blows as an inner city African American drama, is a fascinating and compelling one. Even though the film is ultimately a disappointment and a flawed feature it is still an interesting one and is deserving of a look if you can track it down.

Jackson only directed two features in his career, with the other being 1977’s Joey (a.k.a. Deliver Us From Evil), and he is probably best know as the screenwriter of the fascinating The Bus Is Coming (1971.
Jackson’s film career started in the mid sixties with Living Between Two Worlds (1963), a film he wrote, produced and even acted in. Johnny Tough shows him as an ambitious talent but, unfortunately, an inexperienced cast and budgetary problems damage the film and watching it today one can only sense the great-film it might have been.

Johnny Tough is indeed an almost straight remake of Truffaut’s legendary first Antoine Doinel film with young Dion Gossett (seen here in his only big screen appearance) as the troubled title character. Gossett is actually quite good in the film and, truth be told, he is more convincing than most of the adult actors that surround him.

The rest of the cast is almost entirely made up of actors with no film experience and it shows as almost everyone struggles with Jackson’s ambitious screenplay. Character actor Renny Roker is the only one featured of the major players who has more than a handful of credits on his resume and it is no surprise that he gives one of the better performances in the film. The rest of the cast, put simply, fail to sell the demanding material and the film has a hard time making up for this.

The film is also fairly visually flat and finally resembles a TV movie more than a big screen feature, although admittedly the faded full frame print I saw makes it hard to definitively judge the photography of Pets cinematographer Mark Rasmussen. Even in this print though it is clear that Johnny Tough lacks the urban finesse that typified the best of this period. It is a bland looking picture about an exciting subject and it simply never visually pops.

The score, by acclaimed Detroit musician Dennis Coffey, is also a bit of a let down as it suffers from a lot of needless repetition, which is more than likely due to the limited budget and short shooting schedule.

Despite all of the major problems the film has, it is still hard not to admire what Jackson was attempting here. The film has balls and I must admit by the closing scene (which does a fascinating turn on Truffaut’s famed closing still of Jean-Pierre Leaud’s Doinel) I was more than a little moved…even though my emotion was due more to the fact of what was behind the film rather than what was actually on the screen.

Johnny Tough was released in theaters in 1974 and failed to connect with audiences or critics. It floated around for awhile (sometimes under the title of just Tough) and reappeared in 1977 on a Drive In Bill as a companion piece to Jackson’s Joey. It can be found on a public domain, transferred from VHS, DVD usually for around a dollar around the country.

Johnny Tough is an undeniably flawed but really well meaning little film with a lot of heart and made with a lot of ambition. Wile not the great work it surely could have been, fans of African American cinema in the seventies and admirers of Truffaut’s film in general shouldn’t miss it.

Truffaut the Critic: On Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

2011-12-08T11:44:00.008-06:00

"I'll make my praise brief. The Girl Can't Help It is more than a good film, more than a funny film, more than an excellent parody; it's a kind of masterpiece of the genre...Tashlin exaggerates Jayne Mansfield's statuesque figure with false breasts and the rest of it, but instead of ridiculing her, he makes her a likable and moving personality, like Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop...it's funny all the way through, and beautiful all the way through as well...I had the chance to see The Girl Can't Help It three times before I finished these notes. Like all great films, it's more beautiful and successful each time you see it. You laugh less, but you love it each more each time, and you feel increased emotion."

-excerpts from Truffaut's 1957 review. The full-text can be found in his The Films in my Life-

Advertising Truffaut in the States: Day For Night (1973)

2011-12-07T06:54:00.010-06:00

Truffaut the Critic: On Kazan's A Face in the Crowd

2011-12-06T19:58:00.008-06:00

"There's no denying that the film lacks consistency, but to hell with consistency! What's important is not its structure but its unassailable spirit, its power, and what I dare call its necessity. The usual fault with 'honest' films is their softness, timidity and anesthetic neutrality. This film is passionate, exalted, fierce, as inexorable as a 'mythology' of Roland Barthes-and, like it, a pleasure for the mind."

-François Truffaut on Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957)-

***Truffaut's full-review can be found in his The Films in My Life.***

Advertising Truffaut: Small Change in the U.K.

2011-12-06T06:24:00.007-06:00

Suspicious Minds: François Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid (1969)

2011-12-05T09:30:00.033-06:00

1968 had seen the release of one of François Truffaut's greatest films, the extraordinary Baiser Voles (Stolen Kisses), and every cinéaste was wondering what he would do next. Stepping away from the autobiographical Stolen Kisses, Truffaut decided his next film would be another literary adaptation taken from the same author who penned The Bride Wore Black, the flawed but striking film he had made just prior to Stolen Kisses. It was indeed during the shooting of The Bride Wore Black that Truffaut first came across Cornell Woolrich's 1947 novel Waltz Into Darkness (a thriller he had written under the name William Irish).

Truffaut greatly admired Waltz Into Darkness, specifically the, "distribution of incidents, the appearances, disappearances, and reappearances of the main characters". Sensing it would make a great film, Truffaut kept the novel in mind during the tumultuous year of 1968, while he was immersed in revolution and Stolen Kisses, and by 1969 he was ready to embark on another Irish adaptation.

Truffaut would re-title Waltz Into Darkness with the oddly compelling moniker La sirène du Mississipi (Mississippi Mermaid) and would admit that his final screenplay was, "less an adaptation in the traditional sense than a choice of scenes", taken from the book. Even though he was able to, "realize every director's dream", of shooting Mississippi Mermaid in chronological order, the film would turn out to be one of his more fragmented and problematic works. When it works it delivers big-time, and is as resounding as any film from the period, but it feels overlong and it meanders in spots where it should really flow. Mississippi Mermaid is a better film than The Bride Wore Black but it isn't one of Truffaut's more transcendent works, even though it did give him the opportunity to finally work with two of the most iconic stars France had ever known.

Just before shooting commenced on Mississippi Mermaid, Truffaut called Jean-Paul Belmondo his, "favorite actor", along with Jean-Pierre Leaud. Calling him the most, "complete actor", in France Truffaut was giddy with the possibility of working with Belmondo although he would write to producer Robert Hakim as early as 1966, when he first approached Belmondo about the gestating project, that the great actor liked the novel but had great concerns about the, "character's age", and that he was too young for the part. The two finally agreed to work together and with the casting of Belmondo, Truffaut now had half of his dream-team in place.

Truffaut had already worked with several of Europe's great screen beauties by 1969, but one that had so far alluded his camera was legendary Catherine Deneuve, an artist whose looks were only overshadowed by her acting ability. Truffaut admitted that it was, "impossible not to think of her", for Mississippi Mermaid. Ironically the studio had thought the same thing and had actually tried to convince Deneuve to make the film with a safer director which Truffaut recalled that, "she refused (pretty courageously)", to ensure that they could finally work together, nearly eight years after Truffaut had directed her iconic and much-missed sister Francoise Dorleac in The Soft Skin.

Deneueve had reservations about Waltz Into Darkness but she was moved by all of the letters Truffaut wrote to her attempting to convince of her its value and she wrote, in her journals, that she was, "looking forward to doing Mississippi Mermaid", even though it wouldn't turn out to be the success anyone thought it might be. Perhaps Deneueve knew that working with Truffaut would bring up thoughts of her tragic sister, a leading light of sixties cinema who had been killed in the summer of '67 in a horrible car-crash. While celebrating her 25th birthday on the set of Mississippi Mermaid, the famously composed Deneuve wrote that she, "burst into tears", when she realized that was how old Francoise was when she left her. She would go onto write that Dorleac would, "haunt me at night" all throughout the filming of Mississippi Mermaid.

Truffaut his cinematographer, Denys Clerval, and the rest of the crew and cast would travel to a variety of locations while filming Mississippi Mermaid including Reunion Island, Nice, Antibes and Lyons. They would wrap the difficult shoot up near snow covered Grenoble, the location where Mississippi Mermaid would mount its chilling and eerie ending. It was the biggest production Truffaut had mounted since Fahrenheit 451 several years earlier, although the final product would not have the same impact as his wonderful Bradbury adaptation.

Mississippi Mermaid tells the story of a lonely and rich owner of a tobacco plant named Louis who, frustrated be his lack of a love-life, orders a mail-order bride. When the mysterious woman named Julie arrives, Louis takes note that she looks nothing like the photograph that had been supplied to him but ignores this fact due to how beautiful and perfect Julie seems. The two's idyllic relationship soon begins to turn sour though when the real reason for Julie's arrival becomes more apparent to Louis.

Truffaut's second adaptation of a Woolrich novel once again finds him paying cinematic tribute to an artist he was totally immersed in at the time, Alfred Hitchcock. Truffaut's historic recorded talks with Hitchcock from earlier in the sixties were still fresh in his mind and Mississippi Mermaid is a film that actually deserves the description of 'Hitchcockian", even though ultimately Truffaut would dedicate the film to another one of his great cinematic heroes, Jean Renoir. Truffaut would write that, "this one goes to Renoir because, in my work of improvisation, it was of him that I was always thinking."

Perhaps the sense of cinematic unease that is apparent throughout Mississippi Mermaid has something to do with the idea of improvisation that Truffaut was looking to bring to the film. He wanted Belmondo and Deneueve to reflect the surprise of their characters so he would often hand them their dialogue at the last possible moment so that they, "had just time enough to learn their texts." For a film that relies so much on narrative drive, this choice might have ultimately been a mistake as the production doesn't feel as consistently compelling as it should be. Belmondo and Deneuve are both remarkable in the film but one can't help but wonder if a more controlled shoot might have made Mississippi Mermaid a more successful film.

While Mississippi Mermaid feels overlong and confused at times, it is still ultimately a pretty fine film highlighted by some of the most memorable moments in Truffaut's canon, terrific performances by Belmondo and Deneueve and a final section that is quite devastating to watch. The film was not a hit with audiences though and it wouldn't be released in the states until 1970 in a version that was cut by more than fifteen minutes, an act that would make it feel even more disjointed.

Critical opinion on Mississippi Mermaid has always been sharply divided. The great film-historian and Truffaut biographer Annette Insdorf would write that the film, "ultimately falls short of Truffaut's other efforts", and, "one of the film's problems is its lack of cohesion." Robert Ingram, on the other hand in his Taschen study of Truffaut, was much kinder and would call the film wonderfully, "nuanced." Truffaut himself considered the film a failure due to the fact that he hadn't made a work audiences could relate to, something he felt was his responsibility as a filmmaker.

MGM's Region 1 non-anamporphic presentation (from which my stills were taken from) of Mississippi Mermaid leaves a lot to be desired but the disc still is in print for those who haven't seen the film here. The film is also available on a Region 2 disc where it has thankfully been given a much-needed anamporphic presentation, although sadly it is as bare-bones in the extras department as the American disc.

Advertising Truffaut in the States: The Bride Wore Black (1968)

2011-12-04T06:50:00.005-06:00

Running Wild: François Truffaut's Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me (1972)

2011-12-03T19:28:00.008-06:00

Shot in 1972 just after his epic masterpiece Two English Girls, Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is admittedly minor Truffaut but it has its charms such as its star, the always-incredible Bernadette Lafont, one of the New Wave’s most valuable and iconic players.

More than anything else, Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is meant as a tribute to Lafont’s incredible comedic skills and natural charms. Truffaut obviously wasn’t attempting any grand masterful work here and the when the film succeeds it is mostly due to Lafont’s energy which is never less than infectious.

Truffaut needed a bit of a break after the draining Two English Girls, and Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me worked towards his desire to “make a gay film” after finishing “a sad one.” Describing Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me during filming as, “a mixed salad between Shoot The Piano Player and The Bride Wore Black with a sprinkling of The Mischief Makers.” Truffaut seemed to realize that the film would be a bit of a transitional work for him and that’s exactly what it is.

Based on a an American novel which Truffaut said had him, “howling with laughter at every page” the famed director never had anyone else in mind for the film’s lead character other than Lafont, and he admitted that he immediately saw her, “superimposed over the deeds and gestures of the heroine in the novel.” After securing the rights to the film from Columbia, Truffaut recalled that he “still needed to convince Lafont”, and that, “it took no more than making her listen over the phone to my riffling the pages of the book.” to do it.

After recruiting writer Jean-Loup Dabadie to help him with the script, Truffaut found the making of Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me to be a pleasurable one, mostly due to his great working relationship with Lafont. Truffaut also enjoyed the idea of making a comedy where he could, “film a story whose characters are all crazy.” He would also note that it would be, “his least sentimental film” and that more than anything else he wanted to, “get back to the best moments of Shoot The Piano Player.” While the film never reaches those heights there is much to savor in the lovely photography of award winning Pierre-William Glenn and the vibrant supporting cast including Claude Brasseur, Charles Denner, Daniele Girard and frequent Jean Rollin player Michel Delehaye.

Despite having Truffaut, Lefont and composer Georges Delerue attached to it, Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me failed with the public and critics when it was released in 1972 and it has become one of the least regarded films in Truffaut’s impressive canon. Truffaut continued to value it though and three years after its release as The Story of Adele H. was stunning audiences and critics, the director would call Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me, “the most controlled, coherent, and complementary” film he had ever made.
Time has begun to be kind to the film as well. Robert Ingram had much praise for the film in his 2004 Taschen guide to Truffaut and would write that Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is, "richly comic on several levels", and that, "the dialogue is frequently very funny...and the pace is literally breathtaking." Compare this enthusiasm to Don Allen's take on the film in his 1985 study on Truffaut where he stated it was like, "the disconnected ramblings of the analyst's couch", and that it was, "tenuous and self-indulgent". Perhaps Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me just needed a little time for viewers to recognize the pleasures which are there.

More than anything else, Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is a frenetic and slightly crazed tribute to Bernadette Lafont, whose mere presence makes the film a success. Annette Insdorf in her book on Truffaut called Lafont’s character in the film, “one of his most liberated heroines, vulgar and vital, a gambler with life and death.” A minor work by a major director perhaps, but as a celebratory teaming of two of the New Waves most memorable figures, Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me more than deserves an American DVD release.

Advertising Truffaut in the States: The Wild Child (1970)

2011-12-02T19:03:00.007-06:00

Truffaut's Greatest Muses: Bernadette Lafont

2011-12-02T19:02:00.002-06:00

Operation Screenshot (Films of the Fifties) François Truffaut's Les Mistons (1957)

2011-12-02T06:19:00.010-06:00

"How can you make excuses for a 'first film' and above all how can you get by without excusing yourself? Still and all, if- thanks to the images of Jean Malige, the words of Maurice Pons, the music of Maurice Le Roux, the presence of Gerard Blain, Bernadette Lafont and five kids from Nimes-my 'stammered' truth becomes a little 'your' truth, then I'll repeat the offense soon and without too much embarrassment."
-François Truffaut, November, 1957-

My Lonely Sad Eyes: The Story of Adele H. (1975)

2011-12-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Perhaps more than any other film ever made, Francois Truffaut’s 1975 feature L'Histoire d'Adèle H. (The Story of Adele H.) is the story of a face. That unforgettable face in question, the face that Truffaut’s camera seems positively bewitched by, is that of then nineteen year old Isabelle Adjani. Truffaut films Adjani peaking through windows, glancing into mirrors, staring into the camera…he even films her distorted reflection in the few moments she is not directly on screen. He films her face obsessively, like he’s stumbled upon the answer to a very complicated ancient riddle no one else could ever solve. Truffaut famously exclaimed upon the release of The Story of Adele H. that he personally didn’t, “know Isabelle Adjani”, but his camera knew her more intimately than perhaps any director had ever ‘known’ an actress before or since.

Truffaut discovered Adjani in the early seventies when he saw her in an early television appearance. He recalled that, “she is the only actress who made me cry in front of a television screen” and he knew immediately that he had to film her in an effort to, “steal precious things from her.” The prized role of Victor Hugo’s doomed daughter Adele was an inspired one for Adjani and it finally allowed Truffaut to get the film off the ground, something he had been attempting to do since the late sixties. The film the two of them would embark on would turn out to be an emotionally draining one but it proved to be a powerhouse production fueled by a director at his peak and an actress who at nineteen was already better than any of her peers.

In her original review of Truffaut’s work based on the story of Adele Hugo’s obsessive love for a young soldier who has no regard for her, Pauline Kael wrote that Truffaut had created, “the only great film from Europe (she had seen) since Last Tango in Paris.” It was typical Kael hyperbole but her enthusiasm was warranted, as The Story of Adele H. is one of the great films of the period. It’s a mesmerizing work that is as beautifully written and directed as it is acted. Kael would go onto write in her review that, “no one before Truffaut has ever treated a woman’s crippling romantic fixation with such understanding, black humor and fullness.” For an artist who admitted a lifelong certain mystification at women in general, The Story of Adele H. was a major achievement for Truffaut, who had never found an actress who possessed the sort of ‘magic’ he had always spoke of like Adjani.

The Story of Adele H. followed one of Truffaut’s greatest successes in America, the astonishing Day For Night and in many ways it has that earlier film that has always overshadowed just how truly wonderful Truffaut’s historic epic is. Day for Night was a hard act to follow but with The Story of Adele H., Truffaut created a film that was its equal, if not in scope then in depth, and it deserves just as much acclaim and praise.

The Story of Adele H. was not a huge success for Truffaut upon its release financially or critically for the most part, although it eventually was granted a best-film award from the French Syndicate of Film Critics. Author Don Allen wrote in Finally Truffaut that part of the problem at the heart of The Story of Adele H. for a lot of viewers was that Truffaut, “was so obsessed with the performance of Adjani”, that he ignores everyone else. Allen has a point but this was a deliberate decision on Truffaut’s part. He addressed it in his valuable forward to the published script for Adele by writing, “I felt it would be a fascinating challenge to concentrate on a single character, obsessed by a one-way passion.”

Adjani was justifiably lavished with praise and won several prizes for her performance and was even nominated for an Oscar, which she lost. Truffaut’s heroic effort on the film was mostly ignored, save for winning Best Screenplay from the New York Film Critics. While the film was not one of Truffaut’s more successful works, it would immediately establish Isabelle Adjani as the most intense and gifted actress of her generation, an artist truly possessed by genius. Truffaut never worked with her again as the experience of filming her had been too overwhelming. He admitted to Jean-Loup Dabadie, in a letter written during the editing of the film, that he couldn’t imagine filming it again and that he feared Adjani had succeeded so well as the older Adele H. that, “she would have to reverse the process for her next roles”, so her real age could catch up to Adele. Ironically, Truffaut also wrote to Dabadie that Adjani needed, “other styles of direction” going forward and he just wasn’t, “the man for the job”…

First-Time Viewings (November, 2011)

2011-11-30T05:45:00.007-06:00

Due to various activities and projects, I didn't have time to catch up with as many films as usual in November. One major highlight came via PBS with the extraordinary American Masters presentation of Woody Allen: A Documentary, a work which really blew me away. In theaters I saw two of the best films of the year, the chilling Martha Marcy May Marlene and the stunning Melancholia, films that feature the two of the best performances I have seen in some time courtesy of Elizabeth Olson and Kirsten Dunst. I also saw Breaking Dawn and, while I thought it was the most problematic of the Twilight series, I quite enjoyed the film's second half.

Of the older films I watched, the best features were two Jean-Pierre Melville films I had never seen (Bob le flambeur and Le Doulos) and Steve Mcqueen's powerful Hunger. I also greatly admired the documentary on filmmaker and Warhol collaborator Danny Williams, A Walk into the Sea.

Here are the complete lists for those interested:

2011 Films:

Martha Marcy May Marlene ****1/2
Melancholia *****
Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 ***
Woody Allen A Documentary *****

Pre-2011 Films

A Walk Into the Sea *****
Anthony Zimmer ***1/2
Bob le flambeur ****1/2
Dagmar & Co. **1/2
Ghosts Italian Style **
Hunger (2008) ****1/2
I Was a Male War Bride ****1/2
La Strega in Amore ****
Le Doulos *****
Loose Change: An American Coup ***
My Soul to Take *1/2
Night of a 1000 Cats *
Philip Glass: Looking Glass ****
Sam Kinison: Why Did We Laugh ****1/2
Sassy Sue **
Sky West and Crooked ***1/2
Stones in Exile ****
The Climax (1967) ***
The Devil's Angels ***
The Possession of Virginia **1/2

...

Ken Russell R.I.P.

2011-11-28T10:13:00.008-06:00

I woke up to the very sad news this morning that the great Ken Russell has passed away at the age of 84. I first discovered Russell's films of as a teenager in the eighties when I first saw his searing and unforgettable Crimes of Passion. I soon immersed myself in as much of his work I could find at the time and everything from Women in Love to The Lair of the White Worm became favorites of mine. While he made many films that I count among the best of British Cinema, the film by Russell that has continued to haunt me in the twenty or so years since it first shook my world is The Devils, a film which I count among the great works of art I have ever seen.

I'm still trying to process the fact that Ken Russell has left us but I did want to send good wishes to his friends and family on this very sad day. For fellow fans, pull out your favorite film from the great man and rewatch it with the kind of awe and respect all of his work demands.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard: Twenty Personal Favorites

2011-11-27T18:22:00.014-06:00

I had a great time recently putting together my Woody Allen list so I thought this "Twenty Personal Favorites" tally might be a fun weekly thing to do here. With my month-long Francois Truffaut tribute coming up, I thought a list dedicated to an artist he was so deeply connected to would be more than fitting.

The career of Jean-Luc Godard has been as chaotic as his friendship with Truffaut was and he has never lost his ability to fascinate and repel (often at the same time). To say cinema would have been a much less interesting place without the films of Godard is a massive understatement. Perhaps a more fitting epitaph would be that the last fifty years of cinema would have been a totally different place without him. Godard didn't just change film, at times he turned it against itself and created something entirely new, totally alien and completely unique. These are my twenty personal favorites (listed mostly with their English language titles).

1. Contempt (1963)

2. Slow Motion (1979)

3. Number Two (1975)

4. Week End (1967)

5. Band of Outsiders (1964)

6. Masculin Feminine (1966)

7. First Name: Carmen (1983)

8. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1966)

9. Tout va bien (1972)

10. Pierrot le fou (1965)

11. A Woman is a Woman (1961)

12. Alphaville (1965)

13. Detective (1985)

14. How's it Going? (1976)

15. My Life to Live (1962)

16. Made in U.S.A. (1966)

17. Breathless (1959)

18. A Married Woman (1964)

19. One Plus One (1968)

20. New Wave (1990)

...

Coming in December: Moon in the Gutter Celebrates its 5th Anniversary with a Special Tribute

2011-11-25T21:05:00.009-06:00

While it is hard for me to comprehend, next month marks Moon in the Gutter's fifth anniversary. It was on December 18th, 2006 that I sat down for that inaugural post on the untimely passing of one of my favorite actresses, Claude Jade. I was 33 at the time and had recently returned to college to finish my degree. While many folks look upon online writers, and particularly bloggers, with a harsh eye I must say that Moon in the Gutter has been one of the great experiences of my life and I am quite proud of it. The nearly 2000 posts I have created here have helped get me published in print, have helped me create friendships with some of my favorite actors, artists, directors and musicians and have helped me grow as a writer and film historian.
Longtime readers have perhaps noticed a decline in quality and quantity in the past several months here at Moon in the Gutter. I am more than aware of it and can only say that I have been in a bit of rut, and that rut has given me one of the most severe cases of writer's block I have ever had to deal with. I am going to try and reverse this in December and get Moon in the Gutter back on track with a month long celebration of the filmmaker I usually refer to as my all-time favorite director, François Truffaut. So, starting Thursday December, 1st I will begin celebrating a man who pulled me out of an artistic and spiritual slump once before, many years ago, with the hope that he might do it again. I hope you will join me and to the readers who have stuck with me these past five years...thank you, thank you, thank you.

...

The Moseby Confidential Files: A Candice Rialson Double-Feature

2011-11-22T08:23:00.012-06:00

The much-missed Candice Rialson would have been turning sixty years old next month so I thought another look at two of her major roles was in order. While Pets and Chatterbox are both flawed works, especially the latter, Candice is incredible in both and they still serve as a great reminder of how undeniably unique and startling her screen-presence was.

Part satire, part sexploitation film and part social commentary, Raphael Nussbaum’s 1974 feature Pets is a fairly remarkable feature on all counts. A low budget film with big ideas, Pets is mostly remembered today for giving talented 23 year old actress Candice Rialson her first starring role in a feature film. Rialson, who had previously appeared in just a handful of small feature and television roles, gives one of the most electric debut performances of the seventies under Nussbaum’s direction and Pets is worth a larger audience than it has ever had.

German born Nussbaum has had an interesting, if fairly unremarkable, career as a writer, producer and director and Pets stands as his most important and fully realized work. After making some early features in Germany in the early sixties (including one with Daliah Lavi), Nussbaum relocated to America in the late part of the decade with his first American credit being a co-writing detail on the 1969 Al Adamson film, The Female Bunch.

Pets started out life as a 1969 series of one act plays by Richard Reich starring notable future film actress Marlene Clark. Reich’s play received mostly scathing reviews during its Off-Broadway run by critics not able to see that its scenes of sado-masochism and male dominance were attempting to make a sharp statement on the changing role of women in society due to the blossoming feminist movement. Reich’s play and Nussbaum’s film makes the point that it wasn’t just the misogynistic male world that feminists had to overcome but also years of personal imprisonment. Regardless of Pets notorious ad campaign, and the fact that it has to play into some of the trappings of a strictly exploitation vehicle, there is a lot more going on here than the misogynistic work it is often being accused of being.

The three one-act plays came into the hand of Nussbaum and exploitation producer Mardi Rustam in the 1973 and they quickly worked it into a film script and began casting soon after. Several familiar faces were soon signed on including Ed Bishop and two-time Elvis Presley co-star Joan Blackman. The key role of Bonnie though would go to the near completely unknown Candice Rialson, billed here as Candy Rialson, and it would turn out to be the film’s masterstroke as Rialson controls the film with a ferociously intelligent and electric performance that still resonates over thirty years later.

Pets is about overcoming submission…submission not only to others but more importantly an imprisonment of a personal kind to society’s expectations. Pets is a political film posing as a sexy drive-in feature…the fact that it works as both quite well marks it as one of the most impressive low budget features of the seventies.

***Spoilers Follow***
After an eerie and striking opening sequence showing a series of animals and finally Rialson (Bonnie) chained in a group of cages, Pets begins (as it ends) in a car. We are introduced to Bonnie who is being driven around town late at night by her controlling and abusive brother. After being pushed one step too far, Bonnie escapes from her brother and makes her way into the lonely city night. The next morning Bonnie meets Pat (Teri Guzman) a tough talking thief who connives her into kidnapping a middle aged man fresh from the beach, tying him up, and robbing his house. Bonnie is a good person, but she clearly enjoys being the one in control and foolishly follows through with Pat's plan. After the robbery she is not surprisingly abandoned by the double crossing Pat. Bonnie then runs away again only to meet another person looking to control her, a lesbian painter named Geraldine (Blackman).

Bonnie enters into a relationship with Geraldine but is soon yearning to escape as the same feelings of entrapment and personal disillusionment creep on. After Geraldine murders a burglar Bonnie has a one night stand with, Bonnie escapes once again this time to a perverted art collector named Victor...a man who collects not only paintings but also exotic animals and women (both of which he keeps imprisoned in his basement). After submitting Bonnie to torture and humiliation she finally pretends to submit to his every whim and ends up chained in a cage in his basement. When Victor lures Geraldine to his house, Bonnie captures them both and abandons the house and her ways as a prisoner. As the film ends it is now Bonnie driving the car...independent and in control and free of the chains that have been around her all of her life.

Pets benefits greatly from the editing of actress and producer Roberta Reeves. I suspect that Reeves understood the films underlying themes and her cutting style slyly gives the upper hand to Rialson all the way through. We are not only sympathetic to Rialson but can also feel her blossoming empowerment...when she finally escapes from the house and her role as society's second class citizen, Reeves cleverly cuts between Bonnie triumphantly leaving the house with the sight of the animals escaping as well. Draped in a fur coat and smiling, the ending of Pets is exhilarating stuff and the clever question mark after the "The End" notice doesn't mark the hint of the sequel, but instead the beginning of a new generation of women refusing to buckle under the weight of the chains much of society stills tries to put them under.

Rialson is nothing short of spectacular in the role of Bonnie. Breathtakingly beautiful and seemingly totally aware that her role is representative of much more than just a single woman in peril, Rialson injects Bonnie with a strength and intelligence rare for any film of this kind in the seventies or since. Pets should have been the beginning of a long and prolific career for the charismatic and talented Rialson and it is tragic that only a handful of roles followed for her.

The rest of the cast is okay if not overly noteworthy. Bishop plays the sickening Victor with the right amount of sleaze and charm but Blackman is rather bland in what should be one of the film's most dynamic characters. Guzman is quite good in her part, as is television actor Brett Parker in his small but memorable role as the kidnap victim.

Technically, Art director Mike McCloskey does a solid job with Victor's foreboding house by filling it with antiquities and reminders of his role as a villainous collector. Nussbaum's direction is also fairly thoughtful throughout, although Pets does suffer from its low budget trappings. The film also feels more than a little episodic, no doubt due to its origins as three separate one-act plays. Still, for the most part, Pets is a remarkable achievement and its relative obscurity is unfortunate.

Pets came out in the early part of 1974 with one of the most notorious and misleading ad campaigns of its day. If the film manages to transcend its sexploitation stature then the seedy promotional art embraces it. The film, originally released under the title Submission, was for the most part ignored by the critics, never caught on with the public and was just finally given a limited DVD release within the past couple of years via Code Red.

Three years after Pets, Rialson made perhaps the most infamous film of her tragically short career. I’ve always suspected Chatterbox would have made a good short film in something like Woody Allen’s Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know about Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask). Unfortunately, the film that stalled what should have been the thriving career of talented Candice Rialson is feature length and it wasn't written by someone of Allen’s creativity and intelligence.

1977’s Chatterbox, inspired by the successful French film Le Sexe Qui Parle from a few years earlier features the last starring role of the late Candice Rialson, who would appear in just a few more productions in just smaller supporting and bit roles. How much the failure of Chatterbox hurt Candice’s career is perhaps up for question, but it needs to be noted that that failure is in no way due to her performance as it is the only real bright spot the doomed production has.

Director Tom DeSimone had mostly worked in the adult industry in the years leading up to Chatterbox under the name of Lancer Brooks. He would go onto to direct features such as Hell Night (1981) with Linda Blair and Reform School Girls (1984) with Sybil Danning. His direction of Chatterbox, while flat at times, is spirited with special note going to a couple of the film’s montages and one particular musical number towards the end inspired by the MGM musicals of Hollywood’s first Golden Age.

The problem with Chatterbox doesn’t lie with Rialson or DeSimone, but instead rests on the lap of novice screenwriter Mark Rosin. The Great Texas Dynamite Chase (a much better film than Chatterbox) writer’s work is really flat here. Chatterbox wants more than anything else to be funny and it simply isn’t. The majorities of the films jokes are the kind that could have been found on any number of second rate sitcoms from the period and they really bury the film, which is a real pity as in the right hands Chatterbox could have been something of a camp classic or even a probing satirical work on female sexuality…it’s neither. It’s like a gaudy knock-knock joke with a cheap punch line and Candice Rialson deserved much better.

The film, brief at under 75 minutes, is absolutely worth a look though to see Rialson at possibly her most radiant. She’s charming even when the film isn’t and manages to give the role respectability when any other actress would have struggled to even achieve trashiness (this is after all a film about a woman with a talking and singing vagina). Without a decent script and having to recite some of the worst dialogue of her career, Rialson’s charisma, poise and intelligence still shines through…a remarkable achievement is a sadly vacant film.

Lots of familiar faces pop up from Rip Taylor to Sandra Gould to Larry Gelman but none of them can elevate the material much. The film is at least an attractive one, thanks to the cinematography by future legend Tak Fujimoto. The score by Neil Sedaka is also fairly pleasing although it none of it compares to the best of the singer-songwriter’s work.

Chatterbox is also a surprisingly conservative picture, with only a glimpse of full frontal nudity on display. It’s not a relatively titillating production and those hoping to uncover one of the seventies more explicit exploitation films will no likely be disappointed.

The film does come to life during the audacious and successful final musical number but it only serves as a note to what kind of film it could have been. Rialson is positively radiant in this scene and it serves as another reminder to the scope of this woman’s talent.

Chatterbox was released by AIP in February of 1977 to pretty much universal disdain. It was released on VHS in the mid eighties by Vestron but quickly sank out of print and legitimate copies are fairly hard to come by. To my knowledge it has never had an official DVD release, although grey market copies are fairly easy to track down for those interested.

Directed by Woody Allen: Twenty Personal Favorites

2011-11-21T18:35:00.016-06:00

I hope everyone is watching the excellent American Masters two-part episode dedicated to Woody Allen that is concluding tonight on PBS. While watching this wonderful documentary I thought I would attempt to post the kind of favorites list I haven't done in awhile.
I decided to narrow this list to just twenty-films, mostly so I could torture myself for leaving out so many I love. This list would have been slightly different yesterday, and will probably change tomorrow, but I think all twenty of these films are brilliant works by one of our great artists so I am happy to present it. If you missed the American Masters special, do yourself a favor and track it down as it is extraordinary, as is the artist it is dedicated to.

***A behind the scenes shot from Annie Hall (1977).

1. Hannah and her Sisters (1986)

"I wandered for a long time on the upper west side, it must have been hours. My feet hurt, my head was pounding, and I had to sit down I went into a movie house. I didn't know what was playing or anything I just needed a moment to gather my thoughts and be logical and put the world back into rational perspective. And I went upstairs to the balcony, and I sat down, and the movie was a film that I'd seen many times in my life since I was a kid, and I always loved it. I'm watching these people up on the screen and I started getting hooked on the film. I started to feel, how can you even think of killing yourself, I mean isn't it so stupid. Look at all the people up there on the screen, they're real funny, and what if the worst is true. What if there is no God and you only go around once and that's it. Well, ya know, don't you wanna be part of the experience?"

2. Manhattan (1979)

"Not everybody gets corrupted. You have to have a little faith in people."

3. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

"Cristina, on the other hand, expected something very different out of love. She had reluctantly accepted suffering as an inevitable component of deep passion, and was resigned to putting her feelings at risk. If you asked her what it was she was gambling her emotions on to win, she would not have been able to say. She knew what she didn't want, however, and that was exactly what Vicky valued above all else."

4. Stardust Memories (1980)

"Just a little while back, just before I died in fact. I was on the operating table and I was searching to try to find something to hang onto, you know, cause when you're dying your life really does become very authentic and I was reaching for something to give my life meaning and a memory flashed through my mind: It was one of those great spring days, it was Sunday, and you knew summer would be coming soon. And I remember that morning Dorrie and I had gone for a walk in the park and come back to the apartment. We were just sort of sitting around and I put on a record of Louie Armstrong which was music I grew up with and it was very, very pretty, and I happened to glance over and I saw Dorrie sitting there. And I remember thinking to myself how terrific she was and how much I loved her. And I don't know, I guess it was a combination of everything, the sound of the music, and the breeze, and how beautiful Dorrie looked to me and for one brief moment everything just seemed to come together perfectly and I felt happy, almost indestructible in a way. It's funny, that simple little moment of contact moved me in a very, very profound way."

5. Annie Hall (1977)

"After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs."

6. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

"If you want a happy ending, you should go see a Hollywood movie."

7. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

"And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows."

8. Deconstructing Harry (1997)

"All people know the same truth. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it."

9. Husbands and Wives (1992)

"See, I will always have this penchant for what I call kamikaze women. I call them kamikazes because they, you know they crash their plane, they're self-destructive. But they crash into you, and you die along with them."

10. Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

"You know what my philosophy of life is? That it's important to have some laughs, but you gotta suffer a little too, because otherwise you miss the whole point to life."

11. Anything Else (2003)

"Since the beginning of time people have been, you know, frightened and, and unhappy, and they're scared of death, and they're scared of getting old, and there's always been priests around, and shamans, and now shrinks, to tell 'em, 'Look, I know you're frightened, but I can help you. Of course, it is going to cost you a few bucks...' But they can't help you, Falk, because life is what it is."

12. A Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy (1982)

"It's nothing serious - just an arrow in his heart."

13. Sleeper (1973)

"I'm always joking, you should know that about me; it's a defense mechanism."

14. Love and Death (1975)

"And so I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Actually, make that 'I run through the valley of the shadow of death' - in order to get OUT of the valley of the shadow of death more quickly, you see."

15. Scoop (2006)

"I'm a would-be investigative reporter who has fallen in love with the object of her investigation."

16. Another Woman (1988)

"I wondered if a memory is something you have or something you've lost."

17. Every Thing You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972)

"Before you know it, the Renaissance will be here and we'll all be painting."

18. Whatever Works (2009)

That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works.

19. Bananas (1971)

"We fell in love. I fell in love - she just stood there."

20. Midnight in Paris (2011)

"Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in - its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present."

...

My Favorite Closing Shots: This Property is Condemned (1966)

2011-11-21T13:53:00.004-06:00

The Moseby Confidential Files: Laura Gemser in the Seventies (Amore libero-Free Love)

2011-11-20T06:16:00.025-06:00

Born Laurette Marcia Gemser in Java, Indonesia a few weeks before Halloween in 1950, Laura Gemser came of age in the Dutch city of Utrecht after her parents relocated to the Netherlands just before her fifth birthday. A bright student with an interest in the arts and fashion, Gemser found herself enrolled at Artibus Art School in Utrecht in her late teens. While enrolled at Artibus, Gemser's striking good-looks led to a blossoming modelling career and soon she was being featured in various Belgium fashion and men's magazines.

It was her sudden success as a model that made Laura Gemser relocate from The Netherlands to Italy in her early twenties and film offers soon began to trickle in. Gemser's first film, Amore libero-Free Love, would be shot in 1973, and released in 1974, just before Laura's 24th birthday.

Directed by Pier Ludovico Pavoni, Amore libero-Free Love is a picturesque, if vacant, production that survives solely on its glorious locations and Gemer's incredible charisma. Better known for his terrific work as a cinematographer on works such as Mill of the Stone Women (1960), Pavoni's directorial credits include just three films, with Amore libero-Free Love being the second. The story, what there is of one, centers on a lonely engineer named Francesco (Enzo Bottesini) who, while searching for a missing miner on a beautiful tropical island, begins an affair with a lovely young woman named Janine (Gemser).

Amore libero-Free Love is a fairly pedestrian film and Pavoni doesn't show a lot of flair as a director, although to his credit he was smart enough to realize the main selling points of his film were the island and Gemser. Clocking in at under 90 minutes, Amore libero-Free Love never completely outstays its welcome and as a eye-popping travelogue it's quite a functional film and Gemser shines in her first role, even though ultimately Pavoni doesn't ask a lot of her other than just being gorgeous.

Amore libero-Free Love wasn't the easiest film to track down, when I first saw it, and my copy comes from an old television broadcast. It was released as The Real Emanuelle, to capitalize on Gemser's legendary films as Black Emanuelle, by MyA DVD a few years but apparently they utilized a print as poor as my copy. While it is understandable why MyA retitled the film, Amore libero-Free Love is actually a much more innocent and tamer work than those later Joe D'Amato films, although it can be seen as a bit of an early run-through in certain aspects.

***Harry Moseby Confidential was a mostly visual-based blog dedicated to the seventies that I have maintained, on and off, for the past several years. I have recently shut the site down and will be transferring the best of the Moseby posts to Moon in the Gutter and my Tumblr site, Gutter on the Moon, with added text when needed.***

...

The Mod Squad (Episode 19) "The Uptight Town"

2011-11-18T15:24:00.012-06:00

The Story: When Captain Greer goes missing, our young squad traces him to an isolated desert town where they are greeted by hostility, mistrust and prejudice at every turn.

The Crew: Earl Bellamy is back in the directors chair for "The Uptight Town", one of the best episodes from The Mod Squad's first-season. Working from an insightful and sharp script from the pens of Tony Barrett and Harve Bennett, Bellamy delivers an exciting, intense and smart episode of dramatic television. With his assured and inventive direction guiding the lightning paced "The Uptight Town", Bellamy proves himself as the idea filmmaker to deliver Barrett and Bennett's subtle, but powerful, discourse on the prejudice often levelled against against minorities and the young. "The Uptight Town" is not only a great Mod Squad episode, but it is a splendid example of how it was a series not afraid to tackle the topical issues of its day.

The Guest-Stars: "The Uptight Town" has several notable costars, including Donna Baccala (who would end up in Peru just about a year later for Dennis Hopper's legendary The Last Movie). Baccala is joined by the talented but troubled Barry Brown, an up and coming actor who made several notable appearances in film and television throughout the seventies before tragically committing suicide in 1978.

Two instantly recognizable faces will be future-Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. and prolific character actor Cliff Osmand. Cult-film icon Jason Evers also makes a great appearance as the sheriff of the mysterious town who clearly has something to hide.

The Verdict: "The Uptight Town" is a flat-out awesome episode of The Mod Squad and it is easily one of the highpoints of Season 1. After the lackluster "A Hint of Darkness, A Hint of Light" it was a real return to form for a series that was really beginning to find its footing as one of the great shows of the late sixties and early seventies.

Operation Screenshot (Films of the Sixties) Martin Scorsese's Who's That Knocking At My Door (1968)

2011-11-17T17:51:00.005-06:00

Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy Hits Criterion Blu This Week!

2011-11-13T18:50:00.005-06:00

Krzysztof Kieślowski's legendary Three Colors Trilogy is hitting Blu-ray this week via a new box-set from The Criterion Collection. While most of the extras seem ported over from the old Miramax box, there are some new goodies for fans of this astonishing trilogy to savor. The most important thing though is that these are Brand-New high-definition digital restorations and you can bet that Criterion's set will have these oh-so-special films looking better than ever.
Blue, White and Red are, simply put, three of cinema's greatest works and I am sure this new set from Criterion will prove to be the definitive one. Don't miss it...

Open and Release Me: Lou Reed and Metallica in Germany

2011-11-12T16:41:00.007-06:00

Last night Lou Reed and Metallica gave an astonishing near hour-long performance on live German TV that was equal parts moving, pulverising and jaw-dropping. Coming on the heels of their fiery performance on Later With Jools Holland, this German concert can be viewed in its entirety over at Lulu's official site. Here, I am sharing the thrilling live debut of "Mistress Dread", one of my favorite tracks off Lulu.

Lou and Metallica are heading to Italy next and then France and I am hopeful some American dates might be forthcoming. Also, for those who haven't heard, Darren Aronofsky has recently directed a video for "Iced Honey" and it should be appearing soon.

I will continue to help promote Lulu as I am convinced it is one of the absolute great albums in recent memory. Last night's stunning live-show has even began turning some bandwagon haters around if a number of different message-boards are anything to go by.