The Whipped Cream April 2009

Top 5 of the Month

Herbert Ross's The Last of Sheila

Philippe Garrel's The Regular Lovers

Luchino Visconti's Rocco and his Brothers

Alain Resnais's Stavisky...

José Luis Guerín's Train of Shadows

ALL FIRST-TIME SCREENINGS
Abigail's Party (1977, Mike Leigh)
Across the Universe (2007, Julie Taymor)
L'amour existe (1960, Maurice Pialat)
Anticipation (1967, Jean-Luc Godard)
Blood and Roses (1960, Roger Vadim)
La Bride sur le cou (1961, Roger Vadim)
Les Cousins (1958, Claude Chabrol)
To Each His Own Cinema (2007, Various)
La Femme Nikita (1990, Luc Besson)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998, Hou Hsiao-hsien)
The Garden of Earthly Delights (2004, Lech Majewski)
Gradiva (C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle) (2006, Alain Robbe-Grillet)
I Love You, Man (2009, John Hamburg)
The Informers (2009, Gregor Jordan)
The Last of Sheila (1973, Herbert Ross)
Live Free or Die (2006, Andy Robin, Gregg Kavet)
The Lovers (1958, Louis Malle)
Merry-Go-Round (1978, Jacques Rivette)
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2009, Rawson Marshall Thurber)
The Regular Lovers (1995, Philippe Garrel)
Rocco and his Brothers (1960, Luchino Visconti)
Souvenir (1986, José Luis Guerín)
State of Play (2009, Kevin MacDonald)
Stavisky... (1974, Alain Resnais)
Stuck (2007, Stuart Gordon)
Train of Shadows (1997, José Luis Guerín)
Twilight (2008, Catherine Hardwicke)
Le Voleur (1967, Louis Malle)

Damn Beeswax!

The Cinema Guild has acquired Andrew Bujalski's Beeswax for U.S. distribution!

Look for it at Film Forum this August, then hopefully a wide release soon after.

Zemeckis says "Yes" and "No" on Roger Rabbit Sequel

Will this be a good movie? Yes and no.

Sony and Cassavetes

I'm told that the upcoming Sony release of John Cassavetes Husbands will in fact be the 138 minute cut, as opposed to the 131 minute cut. According to Sony, the 154 minute work print screened once in 1970 and may no longer exist. Also, Gena Rowlands only wants Sony to release the 138 minute cut, so there you have it.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know the difference between the three versions?

The DVD will be released as part of Sony's Martini Movies line later this year, so get ready for that DVD cover art.

Ken Russell and MGM

Vote to see Ken Russell's The Music Lovers released onto DVD!

Watch Godard's Anticipation

Ed Howard of Only the Cinema recently posted his review of the rarely seen Jean-Luc Godard short, Anticipation, from the 1967 omnibus film The World's Oldest Profession. The aim of the blog post was more than just to review the film or to say the oft-forgotten film marks a significant event within the director's 1960's body of work, Howard's post also attempted to reach out to the folks at Criterion so that they would include the prostitution story on their upcoming release of Godard's 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her. Well, Criterion responded and Howard posted their email on the .org forum earlier today:

Thanks for writing in. I'm producing both of our upcoming Godard releases. I agree with you that ANTICIPATION would make a lot of sense as an extra feature. However, we tracked down the rights holders, only to be told what we already feared would be the answer: it's not possible to license just the Godard short apart from the entirety of The World's Oldest Profession. Hopefully it will become available at some point; I would love to help that happen but we don't have any plans to do that at this time.

All the best,
Issa Clubb

The good news is that -- in the meantime -- you can watch the entire 20 minute short in two parts (be sure to click that HQ button).

There are two more points of interest to people who have yet to see this film. The first is that Anticipation and not Made in U.S.A. is actually the final pairing between Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

The second bit is the discussion that popped up in the comments for Howard's review. In his recent book on Godard, Richard Brody apparently wrote about the film's infamous "spraying scene" that

It is Godard's most obscene and degrading shot to date, showing the cruel subjection of a woman, with her face sprayed as if with sperm or urine, which the actress is lapping up avidly. It is a view of Godard's readiness to both humiliate Karina and to show her in a state of carnal abasement- to a man who is not him.

Strong claims such as these, without real substance to support them, can only use assumptions to pose an argument, assumptions that often reveal more about the claimer than the subject of the statement. Regardless of whether or not you agree, this method of criticism should hopefully bother you as it bothered many of the commenters.

But with the entire film posted above, I ask you: Are Brody's method and interpretation justified?

Bono or Robin Williams?

From Across the Universe:

The answer, of course, is Robin Williams Bono. Am I the first to ask the question?

Videodrome to See Shitty Remake

Now this deserves the Ron Howard treatment.

Bleg! What's This Song Called?

Please, someone tell me the name of this jazz standard that plays over the soundtrack to this hip scene from Roger Vadim's 'feh' adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

To be fair, Juliette de Merteuil has become one of my favorite Jeanne Moreau characters, and there is something Chabrol-like about the film's milieu as a whole (no surprise there), but it's no La Curée

Though more importantly, please someone tell me the song, and for ten more points, tell me where else I might have heard it.

Another Antichrist Trailer

And this one's better.

Alain Robbe-Grillet on DVD

'Eurocult' label Mondo Macabro touts in their blog that they will be releasing onto DVD Alain Robbe-Grillet's Gradiva (C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle / It's Gradiva Who is Calling You) slated for this August.

Their blog post features a pretty decent chronicle of Robbe-Grillet's career as well as a few NSFW pics and videos (so click on through).

They also say at the beginning "Over the next couple of months we'll be announcing DVD releases from two masters of EuroCult - that are maybe so far apart that they meet in the middle." Now, the second master could be anyone, but could this sentence also mean that more Robbe-Grillet is on the way? One can only hope!

Resnais the Comic

A moment from the Alain Resnais flick Stavisky... We start with a blank white canvas.

Then, like the opening to the Gershwin sequence from Fantasia 2000, Resnais draws a line down the middle.

Until we see it wasn't a canvas at all!

Whether it was intentional or not it made me smile.

You Can Spin it Any Way You Want

The latest film by Kirby Dick attempts to justify why he 'outs' several key politicians and political players... but whether helpful or harmful to the gay rights movement, Outrage appears to be little more than a collection of malevolent 'revenge outings' aimed that those who Dick blames for why the gay rights movement is an uphill battle. And if you are quixotic enough to enjoy pretending the various gay rights political debates are battles, and if Kirby Dick is your ally, then you will surely cheer his tactics.

UPDATE: This just came into my RSS feed, and it makes me wonder, are openly gay politicians that much better with gay rights than their closeted comrades?

"Frank: Democrats Punting on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Until 2010":

“I believe we should and will do ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ next year,” said Frank, a co-chairman of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Equality Caucus. “We haven’t done the preliminary work, the preparatory work. It would be a mistake to bring it up without a lot of lobbying and a lot of conversation.”

Bullshit excuse?

Remember the Night on DVD?

Is this real, or a glitch?

I caught this Preston-Sturges-penned, Mitchell-Leisen-helmed Paramount comedy last year whilst binging on Leisen, and while it doesn't live up to masterpieces like The Lady Eve or Midnight, I do hope Universal is releasing this and that the Amazon.com link above is indeed not a glitch.

Criterion and Last Days of Disco?

Normally I wouldn't think much of this, but considering that the upper of the video appears to be Image Entertainment (ie Criterion's overlord), does this mean the rumored Criterion DVD is coming soon?

I'll Still See It, but Whatever Works Looks Terrible

A clip from Woody Allen's latest film arrives on MTV's blog, and I say "Huh?" Why this scene? It's painful. Larry David doing Woody Allen, Evan Rachel Wood doing David Cross (think the "Y'all's people eat oatmeal?" routine).

Did you laugh? Dare I say it doesn't work at all?

More on "Let the Love Come Through"

For those who just can't get enough of "Let the Love Come Through", that Bacharach/David song I posted last week, here's a bit more info from Serene Dominic's indispensable Burt Bacharach: Song By Song.

"Let the Love Come Through" aka "Flying Saucer -- First Stop Berlin" (Burt Bacharach - Hal David)

First recorded by Roland Shaw
From the album World of Spy Thrillers
Decca SPA 213, released 1967

British bandleader Roland Shaw recorded some generic orchestral albums for Decca before hitting on a winning formula -- anthologizing James Bond movie music for people who didn't wish to buy each successive soundtrack. With the series updated every few years to include new music, Shaw amassed a nice collection of albums with bikini-and-bazooka babes on the covers, easily spotted in the sea of droll Mantovani-and-his-baton sleeves.

People who bought his 1967 spy maestro work probably scratched their heads wondering why they'd seen all the Bond films but never heard this song. They did: less than two minutes worth of "Let the Love Come Through" was featured without words as part of "Flying Saucer -- First Stop Berlin" from Casino Royale. Whether it's a rejected love theme or a lyrical afterthought, it provides Bacharach fans a fine excuse to seek out a Roland Shaw recording. Sung by a double-tracked coquette, it's got pretty bare-boned instrumentation, with piano, chunky rhythm guitar and, dare I say it, funky brushwork on the drums. Once again, Hal David is forced into a hip corner by pseudo-psychadelic music, but extricates himself in stylish fashion: "I know what you know where it's at tonight, let the love come through / It's right here in my arms when I hold you tight, let the love come through / There is nothing to be afraid of / Our emotions are what we are made of, darling." The groove is actually very similar to Paul Simon's psychedelic gripe "Fakin' It," which came out days before the Summer of Love officially kicked off.

Too good a song to waste, "Let the Love Come Through" was recorded again by Australian singer Janice Slater the following year (Spin EK-1984, produced by Robert Iredale).

Other Versions: Janice Slater (1968)

Along with "Fakin'It" (and my guess quite a few other songs), I'm guessing most cinephiles also hear the orchestral rendition of Serge Gainsbourg's "Sous Le Soleil Exactement" from Anna, which Filmbrain was kind enough to upload more than three years ago.

In the Home Movies of Guerín

On the European DVD for In the City of Sylvia there are two videos that appear to be little more than José Luis Guerín's futzing around with his video camera whilst filming the movie. You be the judge.

And while we're on the subject, can anyone decipher what the beautiful Pilar López de Ayala says about 20 seconds into the video? It sounds as if Guerín reversed her voice a la Rivette toward the end of Out 1. Thoughts?

UPDATE: Nevermind that Rivette thought -- thanks, elzo!

More Buñuel to DVD

Microcinema, the company responsible for releasing Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou onto DVD will follow up later this year with two more of his titles: Las Hurdes and Death in the Garden.

Judging by the preliminary cover art, it looks like both will be milked on separate DVDs.

"I'm Gonna Dip My Balls in It!"

On DVD 7/14.... The State.

Is Les hautes solitudes Coming to DVD?

A friend tells me that a new print of Philippe Garrel's Les Hautes solitudes has been struck. For what? DVD? Television? A new retrospective?

Maybe it's nothing.

Pirate Bay Found Guilty

F. Download Out 1 while you still can.

More Women Bite My July Paycheck

Mainly these two...

Full press release here.

Cat Fight: Criterion Releases More Godard and Polanski

Bound to a chair, but no longer forbidden to leave the same prison that continues to hold thirteen alleged conspirators (to name just a few), Anna Karina and Catherine Deneuve agree to vie for my July paycheck with their teeth.

Criterion skipped a spine # between Made in U.S.A. and Repulsion; 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her perhaps? UPDATE: Yes.

Video: "Let the Love Come Through"

So apparently, Ridley Scott directed the very first Burt Bacharach / Hal David music video. Is it me, or does it sound like Anna Karina should be singing along while exactly under the sun or something?

And I hear David Lynch directed the new Moby music video.

More on that Criterion and Focus Rumor

Add Monsoon Wedding to that list of titles...

I believe the Mira Nair picture saw distribution when Focus was still USA Films, but I might be mistaken.

Project X, Cinema Guild Ink Deal

Congratulations to both!

Watch José Luis Guerín's Souvenir from 1986

My rough translation of the opening title card (and the subsequent cards that follow):

White clouds pass by Notre-Dame in an old film by Jean Renoir. And I tell myself, thus, these clouds crossed over there more than 50 years ago.

Seeing this after Guerín's In the City of Sylvia, the narrative and function of the film becomes clear fairly quickly, but its an enjoyable, albeit manipulative, short even still. And, if anyone recognizes the pop song in the background please let me know.

Recent Issues with Authorship

Joe Klein, TIME's self-proclaimed humorist and journalist, once again incorrectly applies auteur theory in his quest for that perfect narrative (and notice how unfunny snark can be when the theory is insipid):

As it stands, our socialist, pacifist, crypto-Muslim President has bagged three terrorist [sic] in the most dramatic fashion and saved a Captain.

Juxtapose that with Matt Zoller Seitz's recent 'tree falling in the woods' vlogs concerning Wes Anderson's signature (Seitz calls it style) and your head will surely spin.

Lars von Trier's Antichrist Trailer

Perplexed and excited.

BAM! Godard's King Lear

In the next few weeks, BAMcinématek will begin their auteur-driven series titled The Late Film, which will feature many holy grails including:

Lubitsch's Cluny Brown (May 2nd)
Lewis's Cracking Up (May 5th)
Rohmer's Autumn Tale (May 7th)
Sembene's Faat Kiné (May 8th)
Pialat's Le Garcu (May 8th)
Bergman's After the Rehearsal (May 9th)
Bresson's L'argent (May 10th)
Aldrich's ...All the Marbles (May 11th)
Hawks's Red Line 7000 (May 20th)

But most importantly, BAMcinématek will also screen Jean-Luc Godard's rarely seen adaptation of King Lear (May 15th), easily one of the most sought-after works in the director's oeuvre (maybe more than Numéro deux) and one that currently only exists as a long out-of-print VHS tape with poor audio. Should any of you make it up to Brooklyn for the Godard screening, or any of these screenings for that matter, please pay close attention to the distribution logos which may appear at the beginning of the prints. (Does MGM still own King Lear?)

And while we're talking about Rohmer's Autumn Tale, there is a rumor spreading across the internet that Criterion has inked a deal with Focus for more than ten titles including the Rohmer, a few Mike Leighs, von Trier's The Idiots and others. Guillermo del Toro's Cronos will be the first of these titles to see a release later this year. Of course, these are merely rumors and none of my sources knew anything about this deal, so for all we know this isn't true at all. But since Cronos was hinted at in the latest Criterion newsletter, I felt it was worth mentioning.

Download Out 1

Touch it in its entirety here (torrent).

I couldn't refrain this time. The quality is quite good, as are the English subtitles. Face it, this is the best we'll get for at least ten years.

A Trend in Television Sincerity

Regarding NBC's new Parks and Recreation, are the over-the-top aesthetics for real, or are they a subversive satire of the now vapid visual poetics of The Office? Seriously, you be the judge -- a few minutes from the pilot episode:

Semiotics and Cable News

The rules of FOX News / Opinion Dynamics telephone surveys are pretty well established: Opinion Dynamics, a respectable polling firm and one who's pollsters historically have leaned to the left, writes the questions at the beginning of the survey for their own index (Job Approval, Favorable Ratings, Right Direction / Wrong Track, etc) while toward the end of the survey FOX News analysts get to write their own questions. This symbiotic relationship among pollsters and their clients is a fairly common practice, but FOX News is consistently more awesome at question writing than anyone else is:

I'm perplexed not only by the use of join but also by my inability to decipher whether the tea or the party will be symbolic. Is it possible that the 58% who declined the invitation would have said "yes" had they not been so tuckered out by their other recent partying in the virtual? Enjoy the full survey results here.

Kidman the Man Child

I stumbled upon this video the other day and it has become like a Lars von Trier rock-in-the-shoe. Why? Nicole Kidman is sitting there making the most disturbing of expressions with her face. They mutate -- and not necessarily in this order -- from constipated baby, to complete paranoia, nascent schizophrenia, weak orgasm, etc etc (this all starts at about 1:00).

Watch for yourself. Am I being too critical of the beautiful actress?

The Whipped Cream March 2009

Top 5 of the Month

Nagisa Oshima's Death By Hanging

Yasujiro Ozu's Floating Weeds

Pascal Laugier's Marytrs

Eric Rohmer's The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque

Roberto Rossellini's Voyage to Italy

ALL FIRST-TIME SCREENINGS
Adventureland (2009, Greg Mottola)
Alexander the Last (2009, Joe Swanberg)
Charleston Parade (1927, Jean Renoir)
Cruel Story of Youth (1960, Nagisa Oshima)
A Day in the Country (1936, Jean Renoir)
Deal of the Century (1983, William Friedkin)
Death By Hanging (1968, Nagisa Oshima)
Dillinger is Dead (1969, Marco Ferreri)
Eastbound & Down: Season 1 (2009, Various)
Floating Weeds (1959, Yasujiro Ozu)
Hanky Panky (1982, Sidney Poitier)
He's Just Not That Into You (2009, Ken Kwapis)
The Headless Woman (2008, Lucrecia Martel)
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008, Robert B. Weide)
Inglorious Bastards (1978, Enzo G. Castellari)
Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (1967, Nagisa Oshima)
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007, Seth Gordon)
The Little Match Girl (1928, Jean Renoir and Jean Tédesco)
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001, Larry Blamire)
Martyrs (2008, Pascal Laugier)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939, Frank Capra)
September (1987, Woody Allen)
Such Good Friends (1971, Otto Preminger)
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970, Otto Preminger)
The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque (1993, Eric Rohmer)
Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa... (1965, Luchino Visconti)
The Visitor (2008, Thomas McCarthy)
Voyage to Italy (1954, Roberto Rossellini)
Watchmen (2009. Zach Snyder)
Watchmen Motion Comics (2008, Jake Strider Hughes)
Who's Minding the Mint? (1967, Howard Morris)

"Lies fallow in the night"

Marianne Faithfull's cover of "Children of Stone" (featuring Rufus Wainwright) from her 2008 Easy Come, Easy Go:

Download the original Espers mp3 here.