My Sunday Film Festival - CRONOS

What a treat. This movie is a gem.

Perhaps I should have watched it back to back with VIDEODROME. It would have made a perfect double feature. Both involve some stomachs ripping open and flesh peeling off faces, you know.

CRONOS is Guillermo del Toro's debut feature about an old antique dealer who finds an ancient mechanical-insect-thing that gives him strength and immortality - with a twist. The first Guillermo del Toro movie I saw was MIMIC, followed by BLADE 2, then HELLBOY, and then PAN'S LABYRINTH. Somehow I missed CRONOS. I also missed DEVIL'S BACKBONE. I know, I know... next Sunday, maybe.

CRONOS TRAILER

My Sunday Film Festival - MODERN TIMES

The first Charlie Chaplin movie I remember seeing was THE KID. Everyone who has seen that movie all tend to agree that it has one of the most emotionally pleasing chase scenes in movie history. This one:

Final scene in THE KID

MODERN TIMES always makes me a little sad. It was made almost a decade after the advent of sound, so for audiences to see a movie where they would have to read title cards was thought by the masses as a step back. But Chaplin insisted that he make the movie silent. He felt dialogue slowed down the action in movies. Look at any number of silent sequences in CITY LIGHTS and you'll get more emotional storytelling than you would with a monologue or punch line.

ASSEMBLY LINE SCENE FROM MODERN TIMES

One more thing to rave about in MODERN TIMES is the beautiful Paullette Goddard. She was up for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND. I can see that. I can totally see that.

from MODERN TIMES

My Sunday Film Festival - 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER

Just finished watching Jean-Luc Godard's 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER.

I love watching Godard movies, but I know they're not for everyone. One thing I've noticed about 2 or 3 THINGS as well as VIVRE SA VIE is his fascination with prostitutes photographed up against a wall covered in posters.

Here's a shot from 2 or 3 THINGS:

And here's a shot from VIVRE SA VIE:

And for fun let's take a look at some exploitive rubbish from HUSTLE & FLOW (hee hee) :

Godard shoots these no bullshit shots, aiming directly at his subjects. Sometimes it's right into the back of a character's head. You'll hear a whole conversation and not see their faces. Sometimes the eye-line of the characters are so close to camera it's like they're looking right at you. And sometimes they break the 4th wall altogether and stare you down. I took pictures of my TV as I watched 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER. I tried to grab all the moments when someone looked into the camera. Here they are.

 

A scene from 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER

My Sunday Film Festival - VIDEODROME

I have a problem. More of a sickness, really. It's called Amoeba Music.

Every so often (meaning, more times than not) I go to Amoeba Music on Sunset Blvd. and buy more movies than I should. I think I've got maybe a handful of vices... maybe I should say, I can count my vices on one hand... but one of the big ones, the thumb on that hand, would be movie buying splurges.

There is no rhyme or reason to my spending habits, they are erratic and impulsive. On one trip I'll buy up all the Michelangelo Antonioni DVD's I can find, then head over to the VHS section and buy up all of the cult section (out-of-print shit for under $5. Amazing!) Lately, I've put into place some rules 1) only buy movies I have not seen, and 2) only spend less than a $100. Both of these rules are helpful guides, but I violate them constantly. I mean, I've seen Bridge Over The River Kwai, but not on Blu-ray... so that $20 bad boy is going in the basket, rules be damned.

Unfortunately, the stack next to my chair consisting of movies I have yet to see is getting taller and taller, tilting over in a Suessical way. The best way I whittle down the stack is program my own Sunday Film Festivals. This is a joy. I love these.

First up today is David Cronenberg's VIDEODROME. This falls into the "film I saw on Showtime at my next door neighbor's house when I was way to young to watch it or get it" category.

VIDEODROME TRAILER

Considering this movie was made in 1983, it skewers our current obsession with voyeur-viewing. Back when I was a kid, the only porn you could get your hands on had a modicum of production value (like a script, or, dare I say it... actors.) Nowadays, not only is porn a click away, it's packed with amateur video. We all want to be watching our next door neighbors go at it instead of Jenna Jameson and Rocco. Or at least have the illusion that we're watching normal people. People like us.

James Woods plays a programmer (or CEO) of a cable station that plays soft-core porn and other stimulating content. But he wants something more raw and engaging. He stumbles across a signal that broadcasts a room where people are tortured and murdered. This channel is called Videodrome. 

At one point in the movie, a woman named Masha tries to sell James Woods on her soft-core programming. After she shows him a clip of beautiful, half-naked women rolling around in a Roman spa, James Woods character replies with a frown: "I'm looking for something a lot more contemporary. I want stuff that really shows what's going on under the sheets." Masha then replies, "Well... it's your market."

We now live in that market. Average Jane now rules over Jenna Jameson. Maybe she always did. Maybe all that was required was a webcam.