Like Anna Karina's Sweater

Some people say. . .

Filmbrain just finished watching Outfoxed, Robert Greenwald's new documentary about Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News Channel. Though it's an interesting 75 minutes, Filmbrain can't help but feel it might have the same problem as Fahrenheit 9/11 -- is Greenwald, like Moore, simply preaching to the converted? Will people who aren't aware of Fox News' far right-wing bias ever watch the film? For the rest of us, there's not much new to be learned here, though it does contain some interesting interviews, as well as (supposed) reproductions of daily memos sent out that detail what should be discussed on air, and how. Before discussing the film, Filmbrain wanted to mention that Greenwald is also the director of the 1980 film Xanadu, one of Filmbrain's guilty pleasures. (Yes, the quasi-roller skating musical with Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly.) Is there a connection here? Hmmmmm... Fictional media mogul Charles Foster Kane (a role model for Murdoch?) built Xanadu, Greenwald directed Xanadu, which stars Olivia Newton-John, who is Australian, as is Rupert Murdoch, who turned the Fox News Channel into his own stately pleasure dome. (It's 2:45 AM -- Filmbrain is in dire need of sleep!) Though Outfoxed boasts its own roster of writers/journalists commenting on Fox (including Walter Cronkite, James Wolcott, and Eric Alterman), the most revealing bits are the snippets from the channel itself. The way they hammer on a subject non-stop, such as their character assassination of Richard Clarke, it's no wonder that people start to believe and parrot it. (Simple, blind repetition of the talking points issued by the White House.) Then there is the clever (and incessant) use of "some people say. . .", which allows Fox to sneak in opinion, and disguise it as reporting. If, by chance, somebody successfully manages to convey an alternative position, the attacks become even fiercer. Case in point -- Bill O'Reilly's interview with Jeremy Glick, son of a Port Authority worker who died on 9/11. Glick signed an anti-war ad that was placed in several major newspapers, and O'Reilly wanted him on his show. Glick performs beautifully -- calm, rational, and with his facts well prepared. O'Reilly rips into him and throws him off the show. Not satisfied with that, he continues (over the next eleven months) to attack Glick by attributing words to him that he never said. (As Al Franken points out, O'Reilly is a compulsive liar.) There's also a fair amount of overlap with material in Fahrenheit 9/11, such as the revelation that it was Bush's cousin at Fox who made the decision to declare Bush the winner on election night, even though there was no way the data could be processed or analyzed that quickly. What Outfoxed goes on to say, which is very interesting, is that moments after Fox made the announcement, the three major networks followed suit. The film claims that it was this announcement that probably had more to do with Bush getting into office than all the recounts, court hearings, etc. The seed had been planted. Not nearly as inflammatory as Moore's film, Filmbrain wonders if Outfoxed will stir up national debate. Doubtful. The film is critical of all corporate media, so don't expect to see an outpouring of support from CNN, MSNBC, etc. (Plus, Fox has threatened to air dirty laundry if they do.) Filmbrain is going to pass the DVD on to Nicolas, Toto and Jimmy -- let the argument begin. . .

Kubrick's Salad Days: Fear and Desire

Fans and cinephiles well know the story about how Kubrick pulled all prints of his 1953 debut feature Fear and Desire from circulation. Referrng to it as "inept and pretentious", he genuinely wanted to prevent anyone from seeing it. He didn't entirely succeed, and a few prints still exist, including one at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. Though Filmbrain doesn't support the idea of removing works from the public eye, he can understand why Kubrick would want to make this one disappear. Though made the same year as the exceptional short Day of the Fight (review here), there's not a whole lot to praise in Fear and Desire. The film, which takes place in an imaginary time, during an imaginary war, finds a group of soldiers who are trapped behind enemy lines, and details their plan of escape. Filmbrain isn't going to mince words -- it's bad. Film-school bad. First off there is the screenplay, which, as Kubrick says, is indeed pretentious. Too much of the dialog is stream of consciousness -- we hear the overlapped internal monologues of the individual soldiers -- but it is a far cry from The Thin Red Line. These are the kind of pseudo-philosophical lines we all wrote at nineteen that we thought were brilliant. But weren't. Then there is the acting, especially the over-the-top performance by future director Paul Mazursky. Left alone with a woman the soldiers have abducted, Mazursky goes into a pitiful monologue that ends with him turning into a cackling madman -- it's almost too embarrassing to watch. The over-zealous editing is full of quick cuts for no good reason, while at other times the scenes feel oddly incomplete. What can be praised about the film is Kubrick's eye. There are some wonderful shots, several of which he would reuse in later films. (The photo in the middle, above, looks very much like a shot of General Jack D. Ripper from Dr. Strangelove). There's a fight sequence that has close-ups of hands clutching straw as the men are being beaten that is very effective, and the final shots on the river (top right) are quite haunting. Yet in the end, this is a film only for hardcore Kubrick completists. Filmbrain hopes that one day Christiane Kubrick will allow Fear and Desire, and all of the shorts, to get a proper release.

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Week 3

Once again, an impressive showing last week. Though not nearly as many of you guessed that the Cinema Studio marquee displaying the Inagaki & Dovzhenko films came from Woody Allen's Manhattan, there were some very clever guesses. (Though Filmbrain has to wonder what led somebody to guess The Wicker Man.) Once again, Sal C was first in with the correct answer. Nice going! Many of Filmbrain's early foreign film experiences took place at 1931 Broadway -- home of the Cinema Studio, which was one of New York's most famous "art theaters". It closed sometime in the late 80's and is now a humongous Barnes & Noble. On to this week's quiz. This one is really quite simple -- just work through your list of films that feature a pachyderm, and you've got it. As usual, send your guesses to this address. Good luck!

NYC Film Lovers: A rare treat this Tuesday!

This Tuesday, 13 July, there will be a screening of Alain Corneau's 1979 film Série Noire. This brutally dark film-noir is rarely shown in the states, and has long been out-of-print on video. Filmbrain has only seen it once -- on a 20th-generation video copy that was practically unwatchable, and still it was an incredible experience. The film is based on the novel A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson, famed blacklisted writer of many noir novels-turned-into-films, including The Grifters, The Getaway, After Dark, My Sweet, and Pop. 1280 (which was made as Coup de Torchon.) A Hell of a Woman is easily the darkest (and greatest) Thompson novel, and Corneau's take on it pulls no punches. The screenplay was co-written by French author Georges Perec, who does a wonderful job with the dialog. It stars Patrick Dewaere, who would probably now be France's greatest actor had he not killed himself in 1982. His performance is nothing short of brilliant, and he's in just about every scene of the film. His co-star is a very young Marie Trintignant (tragically murdered earlier this year by her rock-star boyfriend) who is also wonderful as Mona, the mute teenager and source of all the troubles. Director Alain Corneau is best known in this country for his 1991 period drama, Tous les Matins du Monde, though the two films couldn't be further apart. Set in a rather bleak looking part of France, the film is about Frank (Dewaere), a sleazy traveling salesman who meets Mona (Trintignant), a mute teenage girl who is prostituted by her grandmother. Darkness follows. (And how!) Many have called Série Noire one of the best films of the seventies. While Filmbrain might not be ready to assign it that honor, Dewaere's performance is truly one of the most incredible ever captured on celluloid. To Filmbrain's fellow NYC film-bloggers -- George Girl and a Gun, Aaron Out of Focus, and Karen Cinecultist (and all others he's forgetting) -- Filmbrain implores you to see it, if you can. (If the rain continues, it will be the perfect film to see.) It's being shown as part of a Corneau festival at the: French Institute Florence Gould Hall 55 E 59th St. Showtimes at: 12:30, 3:30, 6:30 & 9:00 pm. Tickets are $8. Full details here. Filmbrain, along with several Gallic friends (including the 1.5 Frenchmen), will be at the 9:00 showing. Do try to make it -- you won't be disappointed. (Filmbrain offers a money-back guarantee!)

On Jonathan Rosenbaum and Looney Tunes

Many years ago, when Filmbrain was still Filmteen, he was fortunate enough to study under esteemed film critic and author Jonathan Rosenbaum. While the rest of the university was at the beach enjoying the always-eighty-degree southern California weather, Filmteen was in a dark room getting an incredible education in film and film history from JR. Essential avant-garde cinema, the British classics, early Polanski, Bunuel, Fassbinder -- just a few examples of the kind of films Rosenbaum exposed Filmteen to. For those who aren't familiar with him, Jonathan Rosenbaum has been a film critic for decades, and is considered by many (including Jean-Luc Godard) to be one of America's greatest film critics. He is the author of several books, including the must-reads Moving Places, Placing Movies, Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See, and the recently published Essential Cinema. Without a doubt he is certainly the most passionate film critic working today -- and it's no wonder -- he spent a good portion of his first sixteen years in his family-owned movie theaters. He is currently the lead film critic for The Chicago Reader. Though he owes a lot to JR, the past few years have found Filmbrain too often scratching his head in confusion at some of his reviews. It all began in 2001 when he assigned Masterpiece status to Spielberg's A.I., a film that Filmbrain despised on all counts. From that point forward, it seemed that nearly everything Filmbrain disliked, Rosenbaum loved, and vice-versa. There are several directors that Rosenbaum is an unabashed champion of, with the top two being Richard Linklater and Joe Dante. Linklater is a fine director, but comparing him to Wong Kar-Wai just isn't going to fly with Filmbrain. As for Dante -- Filmbrain simply doesn't get it. In 1998 Rosenbaum declared Small Soldiers as the fourth best film of the year. Filmbrain watched it, trying to find the brilliant satire that Rosenbaum spoke of, but all he saw was a boisterous kid's action film with some choice Phil Hartman moments. Dante's 2003 film Looney Tunes: Back in Action was given Must See status, and received special mention on his top ten for 2003 list. (Full review is available in Google's cache.) This is a film that Warner Brothers described as the "worst film they ever made" and holds the record as the fourth biggest money loser of all time. How could Filmbrain not watch it? The good news is that Looney Tunes: Back in Action is not the worst film Warner Brothers ever made (far from it), yet Filmbrain cannot second the Must See recommendation. Dante is clearly playing to those that grew up on the classic WB cartoons -- Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, et. al. -- and the film is chock full of references to just about every great WB cartoon of the period ("I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque"). Come to think of it, practically the entire film is made up of various in-jokes that will be lost on the kiddies. Some are genuinely funny, and Dante does poke fun at the paint-by-numbers approach of many contemporary films. Even product placement (in the form of a massive Wal-Mart in the middle of the desert) is handled rather cynically -- Kate (Jenna Elfman) reacts to it with "the audience expects this kind of thing. They don't even notice it anymore." B-list leads Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman do their best to hold their own against Bugs, Daffy, and just about every other animated WB character, but they're not always successful. Steve Martin completely hams it up as the evil Mr. Chairman, and Timothy Dalton gets the chance to be James Bond-ish again. There is a plot, but it's mostly irrelevant -- the real fun comes from spotting the little things hidden throughout the film -- the posters of forgotten Jerry Lewis films scattered throughout Paris; the who's-who of classic science-fiction movie monsters in the Area 52 sequence -- these are the bits that make the film worthwhile. Try as he might though, Filmbrain did not see the brilliance in it that Rosenbaum did. It certainly didn't deserve the critical skewering it received, nor should it have failed as miserably as it did, but it's hardly a film to get excited about. Filmbrain sees about one film of this type each year -- and he's not sorry he saw this one. This is exactly what Netflix, a Sunday afternoon, and a sofa are all about. As for Rosenbaum -- is Filmbrain alone in thinking that he's gotten a bit "soft" is his criticism? Cold Mountain, School of Rock (well, that's his boy Linklater), and 25th Hour all made his top ten list last year -- compared to his exceptional top ten list of the 90's, these choices seem terribly lacking. Even so, week for week he's still the most fascinating film critic in the country.

First Kubrick, now Scorsese

A few weeks back, Filmbrain was thrilled at finding a bootleg DVD of Kubrick's early works. Well, it has happened again -- this time with the early films of Martin Scorsese. Entitled Scorsese Assembled: Collected Works, it contains many of his early films, as well as some rarities, including an excellent documentary from UK television. The complete lineup (2 DVDs):

• American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978): An hour long filmed interview with actor Steven Prince (he was the gun salesman in Taxi Driver) that is a real gem. In one scene, Prince tells a story that Tarantino would steal pay homage to in Pulp Fiction.
• What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963): NYU student film about a writer suffering from writer's block.
• It's Not Just You, Murray (1964): Another NYU film. Extremely imaginative short, clearly influenced by several of his favorite European directors.
• The Big Shave (1967): Scorsese's allegory about the Vietnam War. A guy shaves, cuts himself, and bleeds a lot. Fairly powerful little film.
• Italianamerican (1974): Scorsese has dinner with his parents. One of Filmbrain's favorite Scorsese films. Simply wonderful.
• Martin Scorsese Directs (1990): 75-minute documentary from UK television. Contains interviews with De Niro, Pesci, Keitel, Spielberg, etc.
• In Search of Kundun with Martin Scorsese (1998): 90 minute documentary on the making of Kundun. This was available on the European Kundun DVD, but not the American.

It also includes a commercial Scorsese directed for Giorgio Armani. Though not as rare as the Kubrick films (several of the early films were released on VHS some years back), Filmbrain is nevertheless thrilled to have them in his collection.

Ardor or obsession?

Filmbrain has a question primarily for his female readers, but everybody is welcome to respond. Imagine this scenario -- it's Christmas eve, and you are at home wrapping presents with your husband of nearly ten years while your daughter, aged 8, is in the other room sleeping. The doorbell rings. It's one of your husband's female students, inquiring why he didn't turn up at a party that night. She's extremely drunk, and within moments is throwing herself all over your husband, begging to spend one final night with him before she moves away. You break down, realizing that your husband has been having an affair. Your illusions about marriage, raising a child, and growing old together have just been shattered. You run to the bedroom, but the young student follows. Locking the door behind her, she spells out all the gory details of the affair, which included an abortion. Desperate, she grabs for something and smashes your head with a blunt object. You fall to the floor, unconscious and bleeding from the skull. Six months go by. You are now living in a remote village, still with your husband and daughter. You suffer from almost constant headaches, and are addicted to painkillers and anti-depressants. Most of your day is spent in bed, or driving around the village in a daze. Your relationship with your husband is strained to say the least. You often cry, still trying to make sense of the whole affair, and questioning why you are still with him. You don't even enjoy sleeping next to him in the same bed. When you confront him on these issues, he is compassionate and understanding, but rapidly losing patience with repeatedly having the same discussion. He feels that sacrificing his career to move with you to the countryside is penance enough for his transgression. One day, your car runs out of gas on a road just outside the village. A shiny black SUV pulls up behind you, driven by an extremely good looking, but overtly confident man. Coming to your aid (and flirting with you in the process), you learn that he is a doctor in the village. He is married, but his wife lives in the city, visiting only a few times a month. Some days later, you visit the doctor in a panic as you have run out of pills. He is convinced your headaches could be cured by other means -- getting out more, walking, living, etc. He proposes a game for the summer -- that you and he start an intense sexual relationship, with the loser being the first one that says "I love you". You ask him if he has played this before. He has. You ask about his wife. She doesn't mind, as long as she doesn't see it. Given what you've been through, and considering that it's only been six months since your husband's young mistress showed up at your door, would you accept his offer and play the game? Would you go and do the same thing your husband did as some sort of eye-for-an-eye revenge? This is exactly the choice that Mi-heun is presented with (and accepts) in Byun Young-joo's Ardor. Filmbrain has mixed feelings about the film, and honestly doesn't know what to think. That Ardor was directed by a woman (of which there are sadly too few in Korean cinema) only adds to his confusion. Korean cinema, much like Korean society, is often accepting and forgiving of males who cheat on their spouses, and Byun's attempt to confront the issue is wonderful in theory, yet her execution leaves much to be desired. Perhaps Mi-heun feels trapped in her new life in the country, where the eyes of literally everybody are upon her. Having an affair right under their noses is then both an act of rebellion, as well as an act of revenge. But is it truly a form of empowerment? Is agreeing to a sexual relationship with a man who is both married and cheating on Mi-heun at the same time a step forward in the reduction of double standards? Is not the offer of sex without any ties, emotion, or commitment the epitome of male fantasy? Mi-heun is a very interesting (and strong) character, and her experience in the opening ten minutes is an excellent setup for a great story. As disgusted as she is with her husband's actions, she still turns to a man who is blatant about his non-acceptance of morality or fidelity -- yet we're never really sure what drives her to that point. Why does Byun feel the need to create the doctor (In-gyu) as perfect gigolo -- handsome, wealthy, sensitive and (naturally) a selfless lover as well? With this, the film jumps from powerful drama to an Adrian Lyne (Unfaithful) vehicle, and as a result the film turns into a soft-core potboiler. That In-gyu and Mi-heun fall in love comes as no surprise, but there's nothing about their relationship to make it seem credible. At the very least, Filmbrain imagined that the film would end with Mi-heun making a difficult choice, and as a result would become a stronger, more confident woman. Instead, Byun throws in a deus ex machina that further drags the film down into "horrible third act" country. Byun Young-joo is better known as a documentary filmmaker, and this is her first feature. Her most famous film is a powerful documentary about Korean "comfort women" during WWII (The Murmuring), which further confuses Filmbrain when thinking about Ardor. Why does this film, made by a feminist director, come across as just the opposite? Part of the problem lies with her depiction of In-gyu. Is he meant to be held in contempt? Are we to view him as the living embodiment of the worst qualities a man can possess? One would never guess that by watching the film, where he is continually shown as the ideal dream man and object of lust. Is Mi-heun's tit-for-tat affair meant to be an uplifting, positive message? Maybe Filmbrain is at fault, and he simply took it too seriously. What if Ardor is meant to be nothing more than a soft-core film for women? Viewed at that level, it's not such a bad film. Beautiful landscapes, with beautiful people, having beautiful sex. However, if it's held up against films with a similar theme (A Good Lawyer's Wife, An Affair, Happy End) then it comes off as terribly lacking. Another possibility, of course, is that there is a cultural element to the film that escaped Filmbrain's grasp. Filmbrain would love to hear from anybody who has seen the film to find out if his reading of it is totally off base (which it very well might be). Feel free to comment here or get in touch via email.

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Week 2

Amazing. All of you. Really. Of the ~200 responses, there were only three incorrect guesses -- and all three of them guessed the same film -- Bull Durham. (There was one additional response from the Provincial Director of the Standard Bank of South Africa, Johannesburg Branch, who promised Filmbrain 60% of $25million in exchange for some information about his checking account, but rest assured, Filmbrain can not be bought.) As you all clearly know, the answer to last week's quiz is the Coen brothers' masterpiece, The Big Lebowski. The dude, a joint, a warm bath, and whale songs. A tip of the hat to all of you, and a special nod to Sal C, who was first with the correct answer. (That was such a minor scene in the film -- how did you all get that?) Still thinking about a prize. Perhaps a Korean DVD of the winner's choosing? As knowledgeable as you all are, Filmbrain is still hesitant to make the quiz too difficult, so this week's entry again falls on this side of simple. The problem is that he has four shots from the film, and is at the moment trying to decide which one to use. OK, decision made. This one is probably the easiest of the four, but the film within a film reference is pretty cool. Send your guesses to this address. Good luck!

Hou does Ozu

Some good news this morning -- an English language website for the latest Hou Hsiao-Hsien film, Café Lumière. Hou, one of Taiwan's best directors (The Puppetmaster, Good Men, Good Women, Flowers of Shanghai) has set his latest production in Japan, and it is a tribute to Yasujiro Ozu for the 100th anniversary of his birth. Ozu's influence can be felt in many of Hou's films, but with Café Lumière he "tried to think how Ozu himself would have shot a film in today's Japan" and the film is meant to echo the spirituality that pervades over all of Ozu's films. The film stars newcomer Yo Hitoto, and Tadanobu Asano, who is rapidly becoming the John C. Reilly of Japan, given the vast amount of films he appears in (Distance, Ichi the Killer, Zatoichi, Last Life in the Universe, etc.) It tells the simple story of a writer (Hitoto) who meets and befriends a second-hand bookshop owner (Asano) who records the sounds of trains in his spare time. Sounds like a perfect Ozu setup. Described as a Tokyo Story for the 21st century, Hou has said that his aim was to "portray the real and evince other things the eye cannot see". Hopefully this will get a wider distribution than his previous films. Filmbrain can't wait.

Short Cuts: Fahrenheit 9/11 & Brando

Filmbrain received an email last week regarding the lengthy discussion thread on Fahrenheit 9/11. It read: Hey Filmbrain, Are you sure this French guy N is your friend? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Filmbrain likes his friends like he likes his films -- difficult, confrontational, and full of drama. N is a great guy who keeps Filmbrain on his toes -- though in this case he's having a hard time defending himself. The thread, which also includes contributions from Toto, Jimmy, and Scotty from I Don't Need a Tuxedo is really quite fascinating. Filmbrain hopes to find the time today to write a response. Please feel free to dive in as well. Speaking of Jimmy, he has written a wonderful piece on his blog about the film, which includes a convincing argument why everybody needs to see the film. Forward it to the conservative relative of your choice.

On Brando: Naturally, there's been a tremendous outpour of praise for and recollection of Brando by just about everybody. On Friday, Charlie Rose managed to quickly put together a tribute show with Brando pal Sean Penn, and critics A.O. Scott and Richard Schickel. (Penn was fantastic!) But in the blogosphere, the greatest Brando tribute came in the form of a brief but brilliant comment from Cynthia Rockwell on her blog. Somewhere in the ether, Brando is smiling about this. As a memorial, Filmbrain wanted to watch a Brando pic over the weekend, but wasn't about to settle for one of the obvious choices -- so instead he chose the star-studded but ill-fated Candy. In it, Brando plays Grindl, a faux Indian guru whose temple is in the back of a moving truck, and whose insanity rivals that of Colonel Kurtz. Though this attempt at filming Terry Southern's novel was for the most part a failure, it does contain some incredible performances by Brando, Richard Burton, Walter Matthau, and James Coburn. Certainly not Brando's finest hour, but it's deliciously over the top. Now if only somebody would release Reflections in a Golden Eye on DVD. . .