Derek Jarman: An Appreciation

by Kimberly Lindbergs | November 1, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, News, British Cinema, Marianne Faithfull, Gay Interest

As a teenager growing up in the ’80s it was impossible to overlook Derek Jarman’s work. He was all over MTV. He was part of a group of British filmmakers that included Julien Temple and Alex Cox who made music videos or music inspired films that seemed particularly in-sync with their times. Jarman’s work was interesting, experimental and demanding of its audience but I appreciated the challenges he presented. I had grown up watching classic films but as a troubled and rebellious teenager I was eager to break away from convention. Discovering the work of an artistically inclined filmmaker like Jarman, who was creating with a limited budget while trying to express his ideas about the world and his place in it, was incredibly inspiring to me. I was drawn to Jarman’s work as well as the work of directors like Andy Warhol before I even knew what the word “avant-garde” meant. Foreign films were still foreign to me but like most kids my age, I had my MTV. And I watched the music channel with wide-eyed wonder in the early half of the ’80s (1981-84). I didn’t know it at the time but my exposure to the work of directors like Jarman at such an early age helped make me into the film lover I am today. While my passion for ’60s and ’70s cinema is never ending, it should also be apparent that I appreciate the unexpected, thirst for the undiscovered and thrive on the unconventional. I’m also able and willing to see the good in films that are often overlooked due to their limited budgets. I owe some of that to Derek Jarman.

I recently had the opportunity to write about Derek Jarman for Fandor.com during their week-long appreciation of the director’s life and work. The two pieces I wrote are titled, Radical Shakespeare: The Alchemy of Derek Jarman’s “The Tempest” and A Light that Never Went Out: the MTV Legacy of Derek Jarman. The first piece discusses Jarman’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest while the other piece focuses on his music video work for artists such as Marianne Faithfull and bands like The Smiths. If you’re familiar with Derek Jarman’s work or just curious about this unusual and controversial filmmaker please make your way over to Fandor.

Comments (5)

The House That Screamed… “Murder!”

by Kimberly Lindbergs | October 6, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Actors, Horror, Spanish Cinema, Thrillers, Gay Interest

Mod Macabre continues over at The Movie Morlocks today where I take a look at Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s horrific thriller The House That Screamed (1969) featuring a great cast that includes Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbo, Mary Maude and mod wonder boy, John-Moulder Brown. Here’s a brief description of The House That Screamed from my post:

“THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED takes place at an isolated boarding school where troubled young women are being taught by a sadistic headmistress called Madame Fourneau (Lilli Palmer) who enjoys disciplining her female students with a whip followed by a tender kiss. After an attractive young French girl named Theresa (Cristina Galbó) enrolls and is given a tour of the grounds, it quickly becomes apparent that something odd is going on at the school. Unseen eyes seem to follow Teresa’s every move and the tense atmosphere is punctuated by the headmistress’s cursory behavior. The other young women at the school immediately take an interest in Teresa and she becomes an object of adoration and scorn for one particular student by the name of Irene (Mary Maude). Irene is Madame Fourneau’s right-hand girl and she enjoys helping the headmistress discipline ill-behaved girls. Adding to the tension is the addition of Madame Fourneau’s handsome son, Louis (John Moulder-Brown) who is kept at the school due to his poor health. His mother insists on isolating him from the young women who she feels aren’t “good enough” for him. The headmistress wants her son to meet someone like herself who will look after him and keep him safe but Louis isn’t interested in following her advice. It soon becomes apparent that he’s been spying on the girls at the school as well as starting up relationships with a few them. So when an unknown killer begins stalking the students it’s easy to assume that Louis might be the murderer but he’s not the only suspect. There’s the lurking gardener (Vic Israel) who seems to also enjoy spying on the students and of course the headmistress herself comes under scrutiny along with the cruel Irene. Director and co-writer Narciso Ibáñez Serrador keeps the audience guessing until the film’s final moments and the plot’s unpredictable twists and turns should surprise many viewers.”

Pictured: Teresa Hurtado and John-Moulder Brown (1969)

To read more just follow the link:
- The House That Screamed… “Murder!” @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

Comments (0)

Reinventing Lolita

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 8, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Giallo, Actresses, Science Fiction, Spanish Cinema, Gay Interest, Movie Morlocks, TCM, Stanley Kubrick

Top: Sue Lyon in Murder in a Blue World (1973)
Bottom: Sue Lyon in Lolita (1961)

From my latest post at The Movie Morlocks:

One of the most iconic images to emerge from the cinema in the 1960s is the figure of a young Sue Lyon, peering over her sunglasses at a leering James Mason in Stanley Kubrick’s LOLITA (1961). And I’m definitely not alone in my view. The Spanish genre director Eloy de la Iglesia must have agreed with me when he decided to cast Sue Lyon in his intriguing futuristic thriller, MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD (aka CLOCKWORK TERROR; 1973). Eloy de la Iglesia’s film has often been labeled a low-budget and poorly constructed Spanish knock-off of Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) and it’s easy to understand why. But its meta-referencing goes way beyond A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and tips its hat in equal measure to Kubrick’s LOLITA. In fact, MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD is really an homage to Kubrick himself and possibly one of the most interesting films released in Spain during the early ‘70s.

If you’d like to read more about Sue Lyon in Eloy de la Iglesia’s MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD please follow the link:
- Reinventing Lolita in MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD (1973) @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I’ve also compiled a Flickr gallery of images from the film that you can find here.

Comments Off

Velvet Goldmine: Celluloid Pictures of Living

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 30, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Musicals, Modern Mondays, Gay Interest

“Histories, like ancient ruins, are the fictions of empire. While everything forgotten hangs in dark dreams of the past, ever threatening to return.”
- from Velvet Goldmine (1998)

When Velvet Goldmine was originally released in 1998 it confused and frustrated a lot of critics who were turned off by its uninhibited style, hyper editing, abundant close-ups and nonlinear narrative structure. They also bemoaned the film’s playful take on musicals and biopics. This glam infused Citizen Kane homage didn’t appeal to a ‘90s audience hooked on grunge rock. Ticket sales plummeted as many critics and the general public turned their backs on Velvet Goldmine but I embraced Haynes’ film. I had become familiar with Haynes work in the early ’90s after seeing Poison (1991) on video followed by Safe (1995) during its initial theatrical release but Velvet Goldmine turned me into a lifelong Todd Haynes’ fan.

As someone who came of age in the ‘70s and later bummed around in various bands as a keyboardist during the ’80s while struggling to find work as a music journalist, I immediately formed a deep kinship with the film’s main protagonist, Arthur (Christian Bale). Like Arthur, I went down the rabbit hole and managed to come out the other side but I’m also a little worse for wear. An unrestricted look deep inside the bowels of the music industry took a lot of the sparkle off the blinding light of celebrity. Watching Arthur transform from a spotty adolescent kid seduced by the power of music into a jaded adult trying to sort out his past is all too familiar to me and Bale makes his character’s journey a convincing one.

“Meaning is not in things but in between them.” - from Velvet Goldmine

I also appreciate the way director Todd Haynes captured the downright dirty and dangerous side of rock ‘n’ roll. As a gay artist, Haynes knows what’s it’s like to be a real outsider and he understands the appeal of beautiful boys who are willing to bare all on stage while they exploit our deepest desires and fears. Unlike Cameron Crowe’s godawful Almost Famous (2000), which offered viewers an “insiders” look at the life of a young “rock journalist” but is completely devoid of passion and creativity, Haynes’ film gives us a journalist’s romanticized fantasy populated by the shadows of ’70s pop idols like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan and Bryan Ferry that’s much more imaginative and heartfelt than the incredibly benign and dreadfully dull Almost Famous. Velvet Goldmine works because all the talented performers involved (Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard, Micko Westmoreland, etc.) fully embrace the glamorous world they’re inhabiting and give 100% to their roles. And Haynes’ kinetic directing style also gives the film a real energy that should be a prerequisite when you’re making a film about the power of music. Naturally critics loved Crowe’s Almost Famous, which has currently earned a whopping 88% of “like” votes at Rotten Tomatoes while Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine languishes at 55%. It’s a sad reminder of how conservative and conventional film criticism was 10 years ago. Thankfully the predictability of film criticism seems to be slowly changing and that’s partially due to the onslaught of film blogs and film sites that are willing to champion lesser seen or forgotten movies that are often overlooked by mainstream critics. And speaking of Velvet Goldmine and alternative film sites …

I recently had the opportunity to write a little tribute to Velvet Goldmine for Fandor. Fandor is an online movie service devoted to independent films where you can watch award-winning titles, festival favorites, and international gems. If you have eclectic film tastes and are looking for an alternative to Netflix I highly recommend giving Fandor a try. Fandor also publishes articles and news features about the films they program on their Keyframe blog. Earlier this month, the editors of Fandor asked a group of writers to contribute a brief piece about a film that portrays a “vanishing way of life.” I decided to share some thoughts about Velvet Goldmine. It might seem like an odd choice and I suppose it was but I had just seen the film again recently so it was fresh in my mind and I wanted an excuse to write about it. Hopefully I’ll find the time to write a longer piece about the film someday since there’s much more I’d like to say about Velvet Goldmine but here’s a little snippet from my Fandor contribution:

“Todd Haynes‘ Velvet Goldmine is a love letter to a rock ‘n’ roll past that is often more fiction than fact, because the history of rock simply can’t be written. It’s told in tall tales exchanged in smoky bars where the drinks are poured generously and the music is so loud that you can’t hear what anyone is actually saying. Haynes knows this but he also wants us to believe that rock ‘n’ roll once had the power to change the world, or at the very least, it could transform the inner world of one teenage boy.”

You’ll find my full piece along with the others at the Fandor.com site:
- Last Picture Shows: Essential Films About Vanishing Ways of Life

Comments Off

In Search of Sascha Brastoff

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 12, 2011

Categories | Costume Design, Gay Interest, Movie Morlocks, TCM

Sascha Brastoff as Carmen Miranda in Winged Victory (1944)

From my latest post at the Movie Morlocks…

“I love to explore local antique shops and visit flea markets when I’m not watching movies. As a new homeowner I’m always on the lookout for good deals on vintage furniture and as a collector I enjoy hunting for unusual things that happen to catch my eye. I have a tendency to gravitate towards mid-century design and one of the more unusual artists I’ve become interested in lately is Sascha Brastoff (1918-1993). Brastoff is probably best remembered as an accomplished ceramic artist who designed beautiful house wares. But I recently discovered that Brastoff also worked in Hollywood as a designer and many Hollywood stars collected his creations. The story of Brastoff’s life is fascinating and I thought it might interest other classic film fans so I decided to share what I’ve learned during my search for Sascha Brastoff.”

Brastoff was an amazing artist who went from being a Carmen Miranda impersonator to designing costumes for 20th Century Fox. If you’d like to know more about Sascha Brastoff please stop by the Movie Morlocks and check out my latest post there.
- In Search of Sascha Brastoff @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

Comments Off

Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 3, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, British Cinema, David Hemmings, Thrillers, Gay Interest, Movie Morlocks, TCM

It’s a rare occurrence when I come across a movie I’ve never heard of before or seen. Such is the case with John Mackenzie’s Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971). I sought the movie out because the title was intriguing and it caught my attention when I was scanning David Hemmings’ filmography on IMBD. After hunting around a bit I discovered that the film was available to watch at Amazon so I purchased it for a number of reasons. First of all, I love Hemmings and enjoy watching him in just about anything. I also love British cinema and I’m especially fond of horror films, mysteries and thrillers. Unman, Wittering and Zigo isn’t a typical horror film and I hesitate to call it one since it relies on mystery more than outright fear to unnerve its audience but debating genre labels is tiresome. You can call Unman, Wittering and Zigo whatever you want and I’ll just call it a damn good movie that genuinely surprised me. You can read my take on this unusual British film at The Movie Morlocks blog.
- Authority Is the Child of Obedience @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

Comments Off

Seduced by Pierre Clémenti

by Kimberly Lindbergs | January 27, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Actors, Italian Cinema, Romance, Ennio Morricone, Pierre Clementi, Gay Interest, Movie Morlocks, TCM

Pierre Clémenti in Listen, Let’s Make Love (1967)

Regular Cinebeats’ readers are undoubtedly familiar with my fascination with the French actor and filmmaker Pierre Clémenti. I’ve written about him enough that he’s earned his own blog category so you can imagine my surprise when I came across one of the little seen films that he appeared in playing on Netflix Instant Watch recently. The erotic European drama Listen, Let’s Make Love (1967) is the last thing I’d expect to come across on Netflix but I’m really glad that I stumbled on it. It’s a gorgeous film with some amazing set designs and eye-popping art direction as well as a fantastic score by Ennio Morricone. Fans of Euro cult films like Radley Mizger’s incredible Camille 2000 (1969) should give it a look but be forewarned, I suspect that the version of Listen, Let’s Make Love that’s currently available at Netflix might be edited. The film is dubbed and contains no nudity except for a few derrieres and breasts displayed at an erotic art exhibit. But don’t let that stop you from watching it. Listen, Let’s Make Love is an interesting film and if you’re a Pierre Clémenti fan like myself it’s a must see!

You can find my full review and lots of images from the movie posted at the Movie Morlocks.
- Seduced by Pierre Clémenti @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I’ve also created a Flickr Gallery for the film if you want to see more images from Listen, Let’s Make Love (1967)
- Listen, Let’s Make Love (1967) Flickr Gallery

Comments Off

Old Rubber Lips

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 10, 2010

Categories | Actors, British Cinema, Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg, Gay Interest, Movie Morlocks, TCM

Tomorrow night TCM Underground will be airing one of my favorite films, Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg’s Performance (1970) starring The Rolling Stones’ frontman Mick Jagger. I’ve spent a lot of time writing and thinking about Performance but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to express my affection for the movie again. In a post that I unimaginatively titled The Many Roles of Mick Jagger I delve into my early obsession with The Rolling Stones and discuss the various acting roles that Mick Jagger has taken over the years. Naturally I focused most of my attention on Performance since it provided Jagger with his best role and I never get tired of revisiting it. It’s a movie that I’ve seen countless times but I’ll probably be watching it again when it airs on TCM tomorrow evening. Visit the Movie Morlocks Blog if you’d like to read more about Mick Jagger’s movie roles.

Other recommended links where I opine about my love for Performance:
- The British are Coming to DVD
- Performance VHS VS DVD
- James Fox: Subverting Sexual Identity & Social Class in British Cinema
- 10 Characters I Love

Comments (4)

Modern Mondays: Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy” 2002-2005

by Kimberly Lindbergs | November 16, 2009

Categories | Movie Reviews, American Cinema, Modern Mondays, Gay Interest

“Ours is a culture notoriously uncomfortable with death. We’ve minimized and sterilized our rituals for processing it; we pack it away in Styrofoam and plastic wrap at the grocery store; we worship our children and pour our resources into the fantasy of postponing old age. Yet it courses into our collective consciousness with renewed insistence every day. Death in Iraq, death in New Orleans, death in Sudan, Afghanistan, Israel, Indonesia. Death on local streetcorners and in apartment buildings down the block. More death than it seems possible to comprehend.”
- Holly Myers

I’ve admired Gus Van Sant’s films since first seeing Drugstore Cowboy (1989) and My Own Private Idaho (1991) in the early ’90s but my relationship with the director’s work has occasionally been strained. I still don’t understand why Gus Van Sant thought remaking Hitchcock’s Psycho (1998) was a good idea and I’ve found some of his films such as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) unwatchable but I keep coming back to his work. Van Sant has been very active in the last 10 years and his films have received a lot of critical attention but I think his “Death Trilogy” which included the movies Gerry (2002), Elephant (2003) and Last Days (2005) are the director’s most interesting recent films. They’re good movies on their own but together they make up one of the most compelling cinematic experiences I’ve had in the last 10 years.

The three movies that form Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy” are not easy viewing and demand a lot from their audience. They also deserve more attention than I can give them at the moment so I thought I’d share some excerpts from one of my favorite pieces written about the films by the Los Angeles based critic Holly Myers for n+1. In Myers’ lengthy piece called Nothing Happens to No One: The Death Trilogy of Gus Van Sant she brilliantly explains exactly why I find the director’s “Death Trilogy” so intriguing. She also does a terrific job of pointing out the importance of these American films and why they’ve made such a lasting impression on me.

“Like the two subsequent films—Elephant (2003), based on the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, and Last Days (2005), a fictionalized account of the death of Kurt Cobain—Gerry cuts through the shock, the bafflement, the extravagant displays of empathy and moralistic hand-wringing that invariably characterizes Hollywood and the media’s treatment of death-stories by dispensing with the basic conventions of narrative and character. Van Sant does not sensationalize. Instead, in each film we see plot distilled to a single, profound arc: the slow, strange transition of a body from being alive to not being alive. Taking the silence, the mystery, the essential unknowability of death as a given, Van Sant makes no attempt to interrogate or explain. He simply enacts this transition and encourages his viewers to watch.

The result is closer to meditation than to storytelling, and the films are difficult in the way that meditation is difficult, which has made them—Gerry in particular—a hard sell.”

READ MORE

Comments (2)