Three More Clips from the New Rivette

I guess the English title to 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup will be Around a Small Mountain. Go figure.

Trailer: Rivette's 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup

It's finally here:

On the eve of the start of the summer tour, the owner and founder of a small circus dies suddenly. The troupe, in an attempt to save the season, decides to call upon the owners eldest daughter, Kate. Even though she has left the circus over fifteen years ago, she accepts, to everyones surprise, to put her present activities on hold and joins them.

Chance puts an Italian on her path Vittorio. Intrigued by Kates personality and passionate for the life of a circus, he decides to follow them for a little while. Little by little, he will integrate the life of the troupe, so much so that he will cross the line and become part of the show. But above all, he will try to pierce Kates secret: why did she leave the circus in the past, and why did she accept to come back

At the end of the tour each will go his own way. But which way is that?

When National Lampoon was Funny

More Criterion Rumors Confirmed

Via The Playlist

Definites:
Karel Reisz's The French Lieutenant's Woman
John Ford's Stagecoach
Josef von Sternberg's Underworld and The Docks of New York
Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil
A 25 film boxset for Akira Kurosawa's 100th birthday
10 more IFC titles (including Che, not including Antichrist)

Deals Not Yet Inked:
Charlie Chaplin's films

Strong Guesses by The Playlist:
Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train
Steve McQueen's Hunger
Oliver Assayas's Summer Hours

I'm not that aroused by any of these. Titles owned (and already released) by major studios should continue to be released by major studios at a much cheaper cost that what Criterion will be gauging. IFC should release its own damn films and not take up Criterion's time. And I'm so happy for Kurosawa fans (I'm not one) who already own all of Criterion's Kurosawa DVDs and will not be buying the 25 film boxset.

Still, kudos to The Playlist for the scoop.

Fleeting Thoughts on Basterds

In Quentin Tarantino's latest, the dialog eliminates those forced spurts of trivia like "Royale with Cheese," or the story of the song "Hold Tight" or the very worst one ever: the history of a killer snake. Instead, the conversations work as highly crafted chess-like games of cat and mouse. And when there are spurts of trivia, specifically regarding the cinema of G. W. Pabst, the dialog fits within the context of the plot. (Sorry to those hoping Brad Pitt spews his theory on how Diary of a Lost Girl is a metaphor for big dicks.)

Though while this new type of suspense was a surprise unto itself, Inglourious Basterds lacked those left-field twists that gave his earlier films that extra level of excitement (I'm thinking mainly of Vince shooting Marvin in the backseat of the car -- no suspense, just BAM!) But the maturity in dialog and the less self-indulgent approach to aesthetics was enough to forgive the film of its short comings. This might not be Tarantino's most important work with respect to his career, but it's probably his best.

(picture via Best Week Ever)

Romy & Clouzot's Toronto Reunion

Via Out 1, here's some footage from Henri-Georges Clouzot's abandoned L'Enfer.

More info from the Toronto International Film Festival website, where a doc on the film will screen:

The French director Henri-Georges Clouzot is renowned for suspenseful classics such as Le Salaire de la peur (in English, The Wages of Fear) and Diabolique. Now this incredible documentary gives us new appreciation for his creativity by bringing to light footage from his unfinished film L'Enfer. In 1964, Clouzot set out to direct the story of a husband, played by Serge Reggiani, who suffers bouts of paranoid jealousy over his new bride, played by the twenty-six-year-old Romy Schneider. Hollywood investors promised Clouzot an unlimited budget, which he spent experimenting with months of camera tests. As an art lover – his previous films included Le Mystère Picasso – Clouzot took inspiration from the kinetic and kaleidoscopic visuals that were emerging in galleries. L'Enfer's images were rumoured to be incredible, but the film was shut down three weeks into production and the footage went unseen for over forty years.

Enter Serge Bromberg, a renowned figure in the world of film restoration. His Paris-based company Lobster Films has played a vital role in restoring works by directors such as George Méliès, Jean Vigo and Marcel Carné. Bromberg learned of the footage for L'Enfer from a chance encounter in an elevator with Clouzot's widow. For this documentary, he and co-director Ruxandra Medrea interviewed members of the original L'Enfer crew to unearth the film's behind-the-scenes story and contextualize Clouzot's lost work.

Watching this film is like paging through a great artist's sketchbook. For all the “making of” movies in the world, few take us as deeply into the creative process as this one. We watch as camera tests evolve into fully realized scenes. Clouzot sought to evoke a powerful eroticism through images as simple as that of Schneider puffing a cigarette (and just wait till you see how she handles a Slinky toy). Clouzot also wanted to visually convey the descent into madness. Without today's digital effects, he relied on the old-fashioned movie tools of cinematography, costuming and makeup. But the stress of his over-reaching ambition brought the production to an end. Thanks to this documentary, we now have a chance to see what we've been missing all these years.

Oh man, go take another look at that slinky on the crotch.

A Torrent of BBYO Memories Overwhelm Me

The Onion has the scoop:

Chubby Jewish Boy Dreams Of One Day Being Next Apatow Muse

EVANSTON, IL—Sources close to Arthur Meyer reported that the overweight Jewish teen hopes to someday inspire film producer Judd Apatow to create a series of comedic vehicles for him to star in. According to friends and family members, the 14-year-old is working to develop the persona of a foul-mouthed, emotionally stunted young man who seems hopelessly crude and self-indulgent but is ultimately lovable and capable of redemption. "I've been practicing having 'guy moments' with my pals where we call each other gay, but not like in a bad way," said Meyer. "I just want to be a movie star who plays an everyday guy who spends all his time looking at or discussing pornography, and then somehow winds up dating hot chicks." At press time, Apatow had already produced six films slated for a 2010 release with Meyer in the lead role.

Trailer Watch: Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story

No comment.

Godard's King Lear on DVD.. in Italy?

Or so it seems.

And that's actually not a terrible cover, either.

ZOMG! - The DVD Cover

And that ties the game: Out 1, Zombies 1

Out 1, Zombies 0

Anyone else on board with a name change if it means a DVD release?

Lionsgate Resurrects The Dead?????

I too was shocked when I heard the news that Lionsgate would release a DVD of a film someone actually wanted to watch.

And then it hit me: Lionsgate thinks John Huston's adaptation of James Joyce's short story The Dead is a zombie film. Too bad Jacques Rivette didn't call his film The Dead Nun for it would no doubt already be available on DVD (albeit sporting a tacky cover with the words "HORRORFEST" sprayed across Anna Karina's face, but beggers can't be choosers).

Lionsgate Resurrects The Dead

I'm kinda loving these bad blog titles.

Anyway, Joe's telling us that Lionsgate will finally release John Huston's The Dead onto DVD this November.

Not the Poster for the New Rivette Film

But a link to the press notes:

Official 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup Page is Up

And it looks like the film clocks in at..... 84 minutes???!!!!

Some pics (click on em, they get pretty big):

Viva Jacques Rivette!

Resnais's Latest Gets Distribution!

Sony Pictures will distribute the latest (and maybe last) Alain Resnais film, Les herbes folles.

Do I speak for everyone when I say "Thank God IFC won't!"

R2: Masters of Cinema's Complete Lang/Mabuse Box

Via the MoC Twitter page:

Eureka's Masters of Cinema label does absolutely terrific work, do they not? It's a real shame that Criterion is slowly retiring from the game to release more contemporary and mainstream films. With too many films neglected by home video, it would have been nice for two major companies to share in the service. But I guess like Highlander, there can be only one.

Free Candy... Clunk it!

My apologies in advance for any supporters of the "Cash for Clunkers" government program.

My buddy Rob (of Democracy Is... fame) has put together yet another entertaining political piece for youtube, shot at what I think was my old Safeway in Arlington.

It's been making the rounds among the many libertarian blogs, but I'm guessing you don't need to appreciate libertarian economic theory to find it quite funny... or maybe knowing Rob makes it all the more enjoyable.

Bujalski's "Tribute to Extras"

It kind of speaks for itself.

Luis Bunuel and Simone Signoret are Badass Muthafuckahs

See-ee...

Rivette's South Park Connection

I feel obligated to continually explain that specific vibe I get from most Jacques Rivette films despite my inability to put it into words. In a recent discussion with Erich of The Acidemic Film Blog, I saw an opportunity to explain what it is that gives La Belle noiseuse so much power over my psychology each time I watch it. Yet during this discussion I was merely repeating what I always have said. Was Erich convinced of the film's potency? Perhaps.

But here is another, more fun attempt to once again scratch my compulsion. Below is the "Lets Fighting Love" clip from Season 8's "Good Times with Weapons" episode of South Park

In this clip you get two parallel worlds. The first is that which the elementary school children imagine as they play with weapons. The second is that which the man sees as he drives by in his car.

Many of Jacques Rivette's films present themselves from the same point of view as the elementary school children, mainly films such as Celine and Julie Go Boating and Duelle. In the world of these films, the spectator see the supernatural (alternate reality) as plainly as the nose on Bulle Ogier's face. Then there are other supernaturally-minded Jacques Rivette, though in these particular films, Rivette employs the perspective of the man passing by in his car. Because of this shift in point of view, these films, most notably Paris Belongs to Us and Pont du nord can make the spectator feel more ambiguity as to whether or not the supernatural does exist. Our only link to seeing the supernatural is through those characters who, like the elementary school children, appear to only see this alternate reality.

In La Belle noiseuse, the subject of supernatural powers is the art that Frenhofer paints. We discover that his art was so powerful that he had to abandon his final painting years prior, an event that has left him artistically impotent. By the film's end, Frenhofer's wish to hide the final painting from the world is almost an act of humanitarianism as the act prevents the painting from potentially destroying the lives of other people, namely Nicolas and Marianne.

However, unlike the sorcery in Duelle or the undefined powers of the underground society in Paris Belongs to Us, any painting's inherent potency is barely an alternate reality, even if it sometimes hides itself from the human eye. To this degree, Rivette may not be discussing the supernatural at all. Instead Rivette is more likely to be applying his familiar obsessions with the supernatural to La Belle noiseuse in order playfully express the mystique not just of Frenhofer, but of the medium of painting as a whole, a medium made even more mysterious by its potentially dead status within the general art world.

So if all you saw was paint dry in La Belle noiseuse, I highly suggest giving it one more look, but maybe after one of Rivette's more paranoid or fantastic romps is fresh in your mind. I'm almost positive that under this particular spell, you'll see the same film that I see.

Define Excitement

I will. On the set of Jacques Rivette's latest (via theauteurs):

Health-O

Followers of Michael Moore (and they are thinning by the minute) might be curious to know what Michael Moore looks like to Republicans. Well, behold what appears to be the best example of the bizarro-conservative Michael Moore:

Under Bush, Moore thrived by uniting the anti-corporation and anti-Republican sentiments. Now, with Democrats controlling both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, will many in Moore's base want to hear the same simplified and faux-populist attacks against the current administration or the likes of Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, or Tim Geithner (maybe I'm wrong to assume honesty in the film)? Or has Moore eaten the shark?

The Whipped Cream July 2009

Top 5 of the Month

Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd

Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses

Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Maurice Pialat's Police

Edward Yang's Yi Yi

ALL FIRST-TIME SCREENINGS
Adam Resurrected (2008, Paul Schrader)
Alice's Restaurant (1969, Arthur Penn)
Bad Lieutenant (1992, Abel Ferrera)
Bellissima (1951, Luchino Visconti)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956, Fritz Lang)
Brüno (2009, Larry Charles)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008, Scott Derrickson)
The Daytrippers (1996, Greg Mottola)
Doomsday (2008, Neil Marshall)
A Face in the Crowd (1957, Elia Kazan)
From Hell (2001, Albert & Allen Hughes)
Funny Reels (1957, Maurice Pialat)
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009, Mark Waters)
Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996, Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Hangmen Also Die! (1943, Fritz Lang)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009, David Yates)
House of Bamboo (1955, Sam Fuller)
The Hurt Locker (2008, Kathryn Bigelow)
Identification of a Woman (1982, Michelangelo Antonioni)
In the Realm of the Senses (1976, Nagisa Oshima)
Janine (1961, Maurice Pialat)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1976, Chantal Akerman)
Judex (1963, Georges Franju)
Lookin' to Get Out (1982, Hal Ashby)
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999, Luc Besson)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009, Shawn Levy)
Nuits Rouges (1974, Georges Franju)
Obsessed (2009, Steve Shill)
Orphan (2009, Jaume Collet-Serra)
Police (1985, Maurice Pialat)
The Proposal (2009, Anne Fletcher)
Public Enemies (2009, Michael Mann)
Screwballs (1983, Rafal Zielinski)
Student Bodies (1981, Mickey Rose)
Von Gogh (1948, Alain Resnais)
Whatever Works (2009, Woody Allen)
Yi Yi (2000, Edward Yang)

Get Ready For Me To Change Your Life

Or not.

Garry Marshall sums it up best at the end of Soapdish: "It's hypnotic. It's like a truth serum."