and the winner is: BILL CUNNINGHAM !!
both documentaries – ‘BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK’ (2010) and ‘L’AMOUR FOU’ (2010) – are now out on NETFLIX INSTANTS.
‘BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK’ – A FILM BY RICHARD PRESS/DIRECTOR & CINEMATOGRAPHER
‘L’AMOUR FOU’ – A FILM BY PIERRE THORETTON/DIRECTOR
REVIEWED BY NANCY SMITH, JAN 16, 2012
both of these fashion-world documentaries played to small audiences, when they were premiered – but maybe it’s time to check them out on the home screen – via Netflix.
one is the story of (growing) local NYC legend, the New York Times fashion photographer BILL CUNNINGHAM, still going strong at 83 !!
the other is the story of the fashion giant, YVES ST LAURENT who died in 2008 at the age of 72.
apart from the fact that the New York City film – is the better watch, the edit is better – sharper. the films are a study in contrasts. here you have BILL CUNNINGHAM a true fashion paparazzi – with a long trajectory to some sort of fame – for himself – as opposed to his famous subjects. with very little in the way of material goods, just him, his endless files of 35 mm photos, and his bike. which he still rides with great gusto and vibrancy through the streets of New York – in search of the newest trends and it-girls !!
and YVES ST. LAURENT who despite, or maybe because of an early rocket-ship career, with the resultant overabundance of material wealth and acclaim, a period of overabundant and out-of-control hard partying that he had had to put behind him, and enough possessions, homes, and artwork to initiate a serious auction – was tormented, depressed, burnt-out – and dead by 72.
Bill Cunningham is portrayed as the archetypal loner.
Yves is remembered throughout this film by his long time lover and business partner, of over 50 years, PIERRE BERGE – who in fact narrates this film – and sets its sad tone and depressive talking points.
BILL CUNNINGHAM, today. or rather at 81 in 2010. and yeah he’s still out there, on his bike !! with his (film) camera around his neck – as vibrant and sharp as ever . . . maybe it’s that bike that keeps him so fit !! his critical eye, honed on the streets for decades – is renown for a top-notch trend-catching take – that still can’t be beat. and maybe that’s also what keeps him so driven, and sprightly. chasing the talent and the scene.
tell me about it !!
ANNA WINTOUR has a few nice cameos in the film. the most striking thing she says, besides “we all dress for Bill” !! . . . goes something like this:
“we all went to the same shows, but Bill would see something, we didn’t – and then sure enough 6 months later – it was the biggest trend.”
you couldn’t say anything better bout an on-the-scene 24/7 photo street stalker !!
in the film Bill says, cutting edge fashion is just out there for the taking, on the street – all the time. it’s just a matter of being able to catch the moment. and the clues, it’s called: radar.
it’s also interesting to note that he had hands-on skills. He worked as a ladies’ hat maker – in fact he was a very stylish and accomplished milliner in the 50s – when he was in his 20’s in NYC. according to BILL CUNNINGHAM/WIKIPEDIA, his photographic career in the New York Times took off – when quite by accident he took some photos of a woman on the street in a coat that had caught his attention, despite it being “quite plain”. the woman ? GRETA GARBO !! . . . and “as a result of a chance photograph of Greta Garbo – he published a group of his impromptu pictures in the New York Times in December of 1978” . . . that would have made him: 50 !! late bloomer or what . . . if he’d been born any later – he’d probably have to settle for being a blogger. but maybe not, he made some interesting and very fiercely intelligent connections early on, and – well, you’ll just have to watch the film – for the lowdown on that !! DETAILS and WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, included.
there’s also another golden info nugget in that WIKIPEDIA article, that goes . . . as a result of that chance photo of Greta Garbo, with which he began his long series of “impromptu photos” – that still run in the Times, ‘On The Street’, and his high society party column, ‘Evening Hours’, both in the Saturday Style section – Arthur Gelb, his editor has called these ‘impromptu’ photos . . . “a turning point for the Times because it was the first time (!!) the paper had run pictures of well-known people without their permission”.
so Bill lives very simply, and happily – alone – with only a cot to sleep on set up among his treasured photo-filled filing cabinets. and p.s. no hard drives for him !! hard copy, only. it’s fun to watch him work on the negatives, processed in a local neighborhood store, no less. and later on, banter with his ‘digital’ newspaper assistant – as they do the final lay-out.
one of the most fun subtexts of the film . . is people trying to determine if he shares a wealthy background with his more famous subjects – as he gets along so easily with them, NOT !! but another entertaining nugget is when the film watches as he cautions some major mogul – at what appears to be a big museum function: “careful, one handshake could mean a new wing.” !!
a very impressive first time project by New Yorkers, RICHARD PRESS and PHILIP GEFTER, you can read more about them and the other talent behind-the-scenes, here . . . ZEITGEIST FILMS
you can watch the trailer, and for sure . . . cruise the lively website: here . . ZEITGEIST FILMS . . . BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK
a young kickstart genius by anybody’s standards – YVES SAINT LAURENT – was truly a rocket scientist. look at that face. he could be walking around Williamsburg, if not national reality TV shows, today. though the math seems unbelievable, he was only 17 !! when in 1953 he won a major Paris fashion competition, and not too much afterwards – – he was heading the house of Dior !!
the archival clips of him in the film – are astounding for his sensitivity and intelligence. and shyness.
later on he personally attributes his great debilitating depression to the fact that he came to power so soon, and missed out on some freedoms, along the way.
though of course there are pix of his ground-breaking chic chic fashions, as well as archival clips and contemporary interviews with his muses !! – this is not a ‘VALENTINO, THE LAST EMPEROR’, and too bad.
but it is something else, and maybe that’s ok, too. it’s a love poem of a very sad nature from his long time partner PIERRE BERGER, who is in fact telling the story. it’s a bit of a sad story . . . despite all the fame and glory, and houses and possessions. maybe there’s a moral in there, I don’t know. maybe they should have taken up – bike riding !!
cause you sure can’t take it with you !!
and it’s a lot of work – to unload !!
and funnily enough – nothing really caught my eye – as super great art, even as the decorative arts go. but hey, about that house in Morocco – !!
the young and radiant YVES SAINT LAURENT. . . burnt out by his 70s. but by some standards (McQueen) that was a good long ride.
they don’t seem to have a film website – but you can catch two trailers, here’s the first . . . YVES ST LAURENT – ‘L’AMOUR FOU’.
. . . . .
and here’s: the second . . . YVES ST. LAURENT – ‘L’AMOUR FOU’.
ALL PHOTOS – FROM THE OFFICIAL FILM WEBSITE (CUNNINGHAM) and YouTube (ST. LAURENT).
~BILL CUNNINGHAM vs. YVES ST LAURENT |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | January 17th, 2012, 12:24am
MARILYN MONROE vs. YOUNG ADULT
YOUNG ADULT WINS !!
but only – by a single strand of bleached blonde hair.
the determining straw: which is the best movie as a whole – both female leads: MICHELLE WILLIAMS and CHARLIZE THERON – are the stuff of stars.
‘MY WEEK WITH MARILYN’ – DIRECTED BY SIMON CURTIS and STARRING MICHELLE WILLIAMS
‘YOUNG ADULT’ – DIRECTED BY JASON REITMAN and STARRING CHARLIZE THERON
REVIEWED BY NANCY SMITH. FRIDAY, JAN 13, 2012
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of my movie pals thought MICHELLE WILLIAMS didn’t rise to the part. I beg to differ, I don’t agree with that at all . . . I thought she, Michelle was raw magic, pure incandescent and absolute Marilyn – in all her shatteringly brilliant facets. c-h-a-r-i-s-m-a.
t-a-l-e-n-t.
looking back I was thinking, maybe I feel so in love – because I saw ‘MY WEEK WITH MARILYN’ at the new NITEHAWK CINEMA in Williamsburg, after a typical Brooklyn weekend brunch, that is: whatever – and a couple or . . 4 Bloody Mary’s !! more importantly we got there early and NITEHAWK ran this incredible series of archival clips of the real Marilyn before the movie started, with no other distractions, ads or coming features to steal the thunder, I mean: wonder.
they even showed newsreel clips of the original London press conference that starts ‘MY WEEK WITH MARILYN’ , and is featured at the start of the film’s official trailer as well. and then NITEHAWK even went on to unspool numerous and really wonderful, totally enchanting archival clips from the original 1956 film, this 2012 movie is constructed around – the 1956 British production: ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’, featuring MARILYN MONROE and SIR LAWRENCE OLIVIER !! and of those clips, the most notable was …. the footage of the real Marilyn Monroe’s swanky swell solo dancing scene – in the shop !!
also duplicated delightfully – in the movie, at hand. it’s a bio – get it ?
so, long story short, when Michelle Williams hits the screen as Marilyn – departing her plane into the ‘fan’ driven madness of that 1956 press conference – you have had the ‘real’ celluloid Marilyn in focus, not the mirage in your mind – and maybe that helped me sync the visions . . . into one.
but no, just now, watching the trailer on the film’s official website weeks later, the magic was still there. the ravishing MICHELLE WILLIAMS was MARILYN MONROE – no doubt about it. no ifs, ands or buts – and I’m not allowing room for dissension. if the glass slipper fits, then wear it !!
where the film goes weak – is in how the (mostly very famous) ensemble of actors who support the plot – just go wooden. you can catch it in the trailer if you look hard. one dead give-away is DOUGRAY SCOTT – who really doesn’t make it as Arthur Miller. that’s for starters.
EDDIE REDMAYNE doesn’t totally inhabit his role, either. neither does KENNETH BRANGH as SIR LAWRENCE OLIVIER, nor DAME JUDI DENCH, nor even EMMA WATSON. the only supporting character who took hold – was JULIA ORMOND as VIVIEN LEIGH !!
ok. EDDIE REDMAYNE was good. he held sway in most of his scenes. but, just.
so what happened here, why the rest of the cast – didn’t take flight is hard to tell. did they want to deliberately tap these guys down to double-up on Ms. William’s glow ? if so, they hadn’t had to. was it the director, I don’t know. I just know usually the Brits can carry off a period piece like this, no sweat. it’s a piece of cake to them. they do it all the time and pretty swell, too – esp on the small screen in countess mysteries and costume dramas, so what happened ? put it this way: it’s not ‘The King’s Speech’ which is kind of the exact opposite to this – where you go in thinking you’ll have a boring ole time – and you come out in shock and awe.
watch the trailer, you’ll see the shock and awe in Ms. William’s performance – it could light a house on fire. but it’s like it’s nowhere to be found in the degree called for, anywhere else.
the movie’s website bye the way, is excellent in a totally British way . . . details the narrative, and explains film’s ‘conceit’ – definite worth the whole ‘site’ tour.
watch: the trailer, here – and check out the website, ‘MY WEEK WITH MARILYN’ !!
MICHELLE WILLIAMS is MARILYN MONROE, with DOUGRAY SCOTT as ARTHUR MILLER behind her – arriving in Britain in 1956 to make the ‘The Prince and the Showgirl.’
yeah – you only wish – she could melt in your mouth.
this is MICHELLE WILLIAMS – pretty much just the way her mythical M.M. character was – incandescent. the movie is based on a wonderful true story, and you can learn all about it – on that previous link – to the film’s website.
now, ‘YOUNG ADULT’ – delivers the whole package. could it be the young and up-and-coming, move-over !! director: the Montreal-born JASON REITMAN ? (hello Montreal – my hometown, too !!)
I bet the fab and way gifted writer/producer DIABLO CODY had something to do with that, too. I even notice JOHN MALKOVICH in the credits as a producer. ha. In fact there were a total of 5 producers, and 3 executive producers on this film – so, I guess it takes a village of talented people to make a great movie. maybe there was more ‘script’ for the cast to hold onto. maybe it was cast to perfection. I don’t know. I just know – it takes off, and flies solid and true all the way through.
CHARLIZE THERON is MAVIS GARY. to watch her tuck her little lap dog into it’s pink traveling bag, carefully and quickly duck its tiny head under the zipper, and then zip it up, with one flourish – – is to see Mavis having done this, and done it, her entire life. there is no entering a disbelief zone, you are already on the other side.
well, and yeah PATTON OSWALT as MATT FREEHAUF, o.k. the cripple – is incredible. . . as he watches Charlize/Mavis deconstruct and unravel . . . PATRICK WILSON is more than pitch perfect as Buddy – the big lug of an old flame Charlize/Mavis never really put behind her. but my fave is ELIZABETH REASER – as his new wife. and wouldn’t you know it – the coolest fem band drummer in town !!
if you want more on her part, read the DIABLO CODY quotes on the movie’s website !! “She’s really cool, she’s in a band. She sends Mavis over the edge.”
I also really liked the young COLLETTE WOLF, in a difficult role – as Matt’s kid sister, Sandra – who just adores Charlize/Mavis – and gets to give her those famous last words: all’s that’s wrong with you is – you gotta get yourself back out of this town . . . and, can I come along with you ? ( !! )
yeah, for sure: check out the website, though it’s trailer is very brief, short and pretty. the filmmakers’ bios, statements, and the film background texts – are very good.
CHARLIZE THERON as MAVIS GARY, if looks could kill . . . you’d be dead.
yep. CHARLIZE THERON as MAVIS GARY is about to throw a major fit and ruin the little baby’s naming ceremony !! big time. and yep, her nemesis, ELIZABETH REASER, as the new Buddy love – wife and baby mama – is just about to – you know what !! spill that red wine all down Mavis’ new silk dress. fab. fab, and more fab. hard role, Ms. Reaser pulls it off – just the same way she plays those drums – and that’s the reason ‘Young Adult’ wins, the supporting ensemble cast – is incandescent, too.
IMAGES FROM – THE OFFICIAL WEBSITES.
~M.M. vs. Y.A. |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | January 13th, 2012, 12:58am
SHERLOCKE – WINS !!
‘SHERLOCKE HOLMES: A GAME of SHADOWS’ – DIRECTED BY GUY RITCHIE, STARRING: ROBERT DOWNEY, Jr. and JUDE LAW
‘A DANGEROUS METHOD’ – DIRECTED BY DAVID CRONENBERG, STARRING: MICHAEL FASSBINDER, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY & VIGGO MORTENSON
REVIEWED BY NANCY SMITH, JAN 12, 2012
‘SHERLOCKE HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS’ – is one sequel that does not quit. In fact it is so good – it leaves you panting for the next. Fast paced, with a great story – tons of action, way romantic settings, and imbued throughout with a dense and gifted production in every nook and cranny – it is a movie for all movie fans across the spectrum, but esp for quick-minded visual artists and graphic designers, to say the least. even the credits roll – with sheer audacity.
The sets are astounding, set in 1891 London – the mad crazy street scenes, esp turn-of-the-century Chinatown in London !! just rush into the solitary overgrown madness of the famous detective’s home office – without missing a beat, and the visual rush just keeps on giving. . . the breath-taking high mountain villa, built over a waterfall, is that a real place ? – is just jaw dropping.
the acting is sublime and the ensemble cast just mesh into one black velvet cape of a caper. not to mention that every time Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law come on screen – which is pretty much always !! – your heart does skip a beat. Magnetic, charismatic, totally taking over the plot and bringing these old literary characters to life again. A rich, ripe, ironic and true – cinematic magic life. It’s not so much that you get involved in the emotionality of the movie and the characters – it’s that you are swept up and surprised and damn well entertained !!
the seamlessness of Guy Ritchie’s movie – he is so better off without Madonnna, is he not ? – is shadowed itself – by a bookend set of wonderfully seamless !! visual puns, pulled off by Robert Downey, involving a full body camo suit of the most curious nature – – and that’s all I’m going to say. The trailer and the film clips might be consumed by the fierce acrobatic action scenes, but yo any artist, in any creative endeavor or field – of any stripe !! – is gonna fall hard for this one – esp in the final frames, ha. wicked. good one, couch potato, NOT !! RITCHIE !!
ok. hint: it involves a hood and some good ole Victorian upholstery.
post script: one review I read put the movie down – because it was “unbelievable”. my godz, to say that is to really miss the point. that’s what it’s really all about. get over that notion – fast. or miss a brilliant movie-making feast. the action is over-the-top – it is a thriller. and even the more so for being an historical thriller at that. but you can ride it, you can suspend your disbelief, and the plot does tie up rather outrageously, but in essence: neatly !! that’s the brilliance of the Conan Doyle stories, after all. and that’s why the foxy Sherlocke Holmes lives to see another – day. mile high rushing mountain water falls notwithstanding.
and if you like to follow that path, for sure hit IMDb – and scroll down to their Did You Know ? section. where they lay out some of the film’s anachronisms, continuity slips, ‘crew or equipment visible’ – caught by sharp eyed historian and/or film buffs. as for me, I’m still digging the running gag on Jude Law’s hand-made knitted scarf, and Downey’s book end scene-stealing – camouflage stunts !!
and p.s. although of course everybody is making, or trying to make media-wise, a big deal of the great gypsy tarot card reader NOOMI RAPACE plays, duh. I thought the low-key RACHEL McADAMS pulls off a terrific, totally believable, and graciously under-played humorous rendering of the long-suffering wife of Dr. Watson. who not incidentally makes being thrown off a train racing across a miles high bridge into the rushing waters below – well, a bit far-fetched – but absolutely and most maddeningly charming. well, that’s the walloping ride of a great movie, for ya – in a fast plunging, and most extravagant – nutshell.
bet Steven Speilberg wishes he could still make movies like that.
watch the trailer: ‘SHERLOCKE HOLMES: A GAME of SHADOWS’
ROBERT DOWNEY, Jr. in one of his disguises, this one – be it ever so tacky !! – it’s a wicked brilliant fast-paced game of shadows, after all.
JUDE LAW, who else could partner with Robert Downey, Jr. and come out – so on point ? droll is the word.
and, yeah. ya gotta love that hand-knitted rag of a scarf around his neck . . . tres beau. nice detail, wonderful production, absolutely top notch.
on the other hand, ‘A DANGEROUS METHOD’ – is absolutely the worst movie I have ever had to sit through, period. except for maybe some contemporary boring and way over-wrought French films. the worst production. the most boring adaption of an historically vivid moment that ever ruined the big screen. the production skills are zilch. the acting is even worse. the narrative is stiff and, I think annoying, is too kind a word for what goes on here.
once you’ve seen VIGGO puff down on his first cigar – you’ve seen it all. and I mean – he isn’t even good at that. they should have shown him doing Freud on coke (cocaine) – now that would have been not only a bit more dramatic and real !! but it would have given Viggo something to get into. acting range-wise, Ms. Knightley is just plain annoying, setting a most un-delightful tone that miscarries throughout. not to mention that she comes across as just plain ole desperate. her accent is the pits. no, she does not a Jewess, make. her jaw wrenching fits made me want to flee, right then and there . . . and if her movie-career can recover from this fiasco – I’d be very surprised. I mean unless you think seeing her full on naked, tied up to the 1920 era bedposts – is the cat’s meow ? ok. so she has her real breasts, is it just me – or does that not in itself a movie – make ?
MICHAEL FASSBINDER is such a woody one-dimensionally flat Jung – that he doesn’t even make it to wormy and deceptive. His performance was so un-nuanced and so un-inspired – it made me want to come home and throw out all my Jung books, and I mean that, tarot card manuals and all. there goes his rep, Jungian hi-end highly illustrated coffee table books be damned. and if cigar smoking ever had a chic – well, no longer. and for sure, take that Freudian clause – off your professional Dr. shingle, pronto.
the only thing that revived me after this clueless and stagnant hoax of a cinematic drama – was catching a real New York City – deli egg cream. and that’s not funny. or Freudian.
the only thing ‘dangerous’ about this movie is that the audience doesn’t come equipped with real rotten tomatoes to throw at it. what a ghastly over-written flop. if the guys who made this misfired production show up at the red carpets – shame on them. and throw the tomatoes – fast and furious.
watch the trailer: ‘A DANGEROUS METHOD’.
MICHAEL FASSBINDER as JUNG, and VIGGO MORTENSON as FREUD, and that’s about as good as this movie gets. once you’ve see Viggo chomping on a cigar – he doesn’t even seem to like it – you really don’t want to see it over and over again . . . not to mention with nary a facial variation, or even a big breathy exhale – to add a little old European spice. ‘A DANGEROUS METHOD’ is like an endless edit gone bad . . . way bad. boring and dumb. curious it could have been, big legends going down here.
so, don’t even bother – except possibly if you’ve got a taste for some celebrity S & M porn, in which case it’s rich fodder for hardcore KEIRA KNIGHTLEY fans.
ALL IMAGES COURTESY – THE OFFICIAL FILM WEBSITES.
~SHERLOCKE HOLMES vs. JUNG & FREUD . . . |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | January 12th, 2012, 10:38am
‘MONEYBALL’ – DIRECTED BY BENNETT MILLER
REVIEWED BY NANCY SMITH, OCT 13, 2011
yep, this movie is all its cracked up be, and more.
swift script, great story. beautiful beautiful cinematography and editing. all the actors inhabit their roles, and hold you glued to the screen, whether it’s the star – whose golden boy looks have been toned down somewhat, whether it’s Jonah Hill who doesn’t say much – but cracks you up, or PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – with his authentic meaty freckled forearms – the obstinate bull-headed coach who doesn’t get it – to the sweet little girl, KERRIS DORSEY who plays Brad Pitt’s onscreen daughter – and has to sing out loud – in front of Brad Pit (!!) and a huge film audience – and whose nervousness – seems pretty much – just how you’d feel in that mind boggling situation – and never mind, just 13.
an ode to the underdog . . . to contrarians everywhere . . . to people who just know. . . . when the new game is on, the old game is over. . . way before anyone else has even caught on – that things have changed, big time. it’s not exactly the big win – but that’s also what’s so great about it. its all about the: process, the mind-think that turns big ships – 180 degrees. in the opposite direction.
BRAD PITT – is Billy Beane. besides living in a charmingly underscored small home with ‘souvenir’ plates mounted on the kitchen wall (!!) – and he is hyper – a real speedball. his relentless intensity radiates from the screen. spit that tobacco chaw in the paper cup, boy.
JONAH HILL – I guess I started to love him after his brilliant turn in ‘GET HIM TO THE GREEK’. it’s not easy to be the schlump opposite the golden boys. esp the smart one. the first time he comes onscreen in ‘MONEYBALL’ – is just so kick-ass backwards – it’s exquisite. and way underplayed, too. it’s just great. I nearly fell out of my theater seat from laughing and my next door neighbor had to give me a couple of sharp elbow jabs – to get me to settle down. and all he does is, not much. but that not much – is ALL.
it’s like what we like say in the art world: less is more. He just pops up as part of an ensemble of mid-level suits in an office and the camera actually forgets about him, as it pans to the right. oh, what a sweet directorial move. they cut it, just right. right on the digital dot. cracked me up. right there.
(not to mention. just change one single letter in his character’s last name, from Brand to Brant – and you got Peter Brant – a big time art world player. . . a little chuckle for the insiders, or what..)
the rest of the hand-picked crew is right on too. from the colorful cast of gritty two-bit characters who play the hard-knock talent scouts, to the first baseball club owner – the small market league owner. no, no and no – but bring in the wins. that’d be the Oakland A’s. to the suave money no problemo – owner of the big market Chicago White Sox. pitch perfect.
in fact, let’s just leave it at that: ‘MONEYBALL’ – is pitch perfect. obstinate, hyper and contrarian . . . just the way we like it.
see: ‘MONEYBALL’ – the official website
~MONEYBALL with BRAD PITT & JONAH HILL |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 13th, 2011, 9:57am
GEORGE HARRISON on his English estate FRIAR PARK in 1975.
PHOTO: TERRY O’NEILL/Getty Images/THE NEW YORK TIMES
GEORGE HARRISON is the subject of a new documentary directed by MARTIN SCORSESE, ‘George Harrison: Living in the Material World’ – which will be screened in 2 parts – on HBO this WED and THURS – OCT 5 and 6, 2011.
DAVE ITZKOFF of the THE NEW YORK TIMES, wrote an intriguing advance article on the flick – published last weekend, Sunday Sept 25, 2011.
One of the things I found most interesting, was to learn – what an archivist – George Harrison was. He actually maintained “fully packed suitcases from trips abroad that he kept as time capsules.” (!!)
as well, apparently the film’s production team, lead by key production man NIGEL SINCLAIR, who also worked on Scorsese’s brilliant and moving BOB DYLAN ode, ‘No Direction Home’ – “sought out archival footage, while producers conducted interviews with longtime Beatles associates like the bassist and visual artist KLAUS VOORMAN, who designed the cover of ‘Revolver’; the photographer ASTRID KIRCHHERR, who took many of the earliest photos of the band; and the producer PHIL SPECTOR, who in 2009 was sentenced to 19 years to life for the murder of the actress Lana Clarkson.”
“Asked how the meeting with Mr. Spector was arranged, Mr. Sinclair said, ‘We were able to capture that interview before he was no longer available to us, which is a very euphemistic way of saying it, isn’t it ?'”
read the article for yourself, here: GEORGE HARRISON, ‘Within Him, Without Him’ – THE NEW YORK TIMES
~ooooh for HBO. . . GEORGE HARRISON |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 4th, 2011, 7:23am
‘CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS’ – DIRECTED BY WERNER HERZOG
REVIEWED BY NANCY SMITH, AUGUST 20, 2011.
ONE OF TWO ALBINO ALLIGATOR DELIVERED TO A CROCODILE FARM IN CENTRAL-EASTERN FRANCE – EXPORTED FROM THEIR NATIVE LOUISIANA (USA !!)
PHOTO: PHILIPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images. FEB 04, 2010. COURTESY/LIFE
cute when they are young, aren’t they. wait til you see them all grown-up !!
nasty mothers, evil yellow eyes floating on the water horizon.
don’t even get me started on this one.
I swear WERNER HERZOG just used the ‘filming of the world’s first ever cave man drawings’ in Central France – (ancient) dead men talking, get it ? – as a ruse to expose France’s dirty little secret. I mean clearly, even he cannot believe he has scored the footage . . . of what must be a top secret project. France is raising, as Werner calls them – radioactive mutated albino alligators – just on the other side of the ridge of the now famous recently discovered cave housing the earliest known human drawings – in a man-made artificial jungle made from the hijacked heat and over-flow waste waters – !! – of France’s biggest nuclear power plant !!
NOT. . .
apparently according to a post by EDWARD DAVIS to INDIE WIRE – which includes a live clip of WERNER HERZOG on STEPHEN COLBERT – the albino alligator tale is: “a wild post-script, it’s a wild science-fiction sort of fantasy …”
see: WERNER HERZOG confesses/posted JUNE 7, 2011
“. . . of course it’s fictitious and that’s not a spoiler, Herzog has maintained for several years – that while some charge it to be irresponsible fabrication – that his films contain “an ecstatic truth” rather than the “accountant’s truth” . . . damn. is he senile. or did the French threaten to take him out, or what.
damn. I still say, no wonder McQueen wanted out. I’m thinking there still must be some kind of alligator farm out there, otherwise what’s with the LIFE photo ?
I mean it was way more fun to think JURASSIC PARK – was alive and well, and for real. in central-eastern France. STEVEN SPIELBERG – where are ya ?
than to learn, what probably everyone else already knows, that – WERNER HERZOG – is a kind of a fraud. . . for messing with the word: documentary and making it stupid . . . and I was thinking, wow – they gonna be mass producing haute couture albino alligator bags . . . in France, soon !!
As for the primitive cave drawings, they are very sophisticated and for the most part look to be done by one set of hands ?
the depicted animals are all graceful, with gentle faces. mostly bison. they do say: sustainable protein abounds in these parts – back in the day. way back. when humans survived and the Neanderthals did not.
these first human drawings are more ‘connect-the-dots’ than ‘think outside the box’. it’s clear someone – saw the animal profiles – in 3D – in the lines and crooks and nooks – of the natural rock cave walls – and they just followed the lines. much like the early Greeks traced the ‘animated’ constellations in the stars of the night sky. much like many sculptors (throughout the ages) tell ya, the stone speaks to them.
were the images just there for the taking, at random – or did a greater force lay down the blue print ? that’s the bigger question.
but do they sustain a botched-up documentary – not.
talk about the downward arc of civilization. Werner Herzog: zero. Anslem Kiefer: 10. (outta 10).
see: ‘CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS’/OFFICIAL WEBSITE
~NANCY SMITH REVIEWS: ‘CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS’/WERNER HERZOG |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 20th, 2011, 12:37am
ANSLEM KIEFER/PRESS PHOTO
SOPHIE FIENNES ON LOCATION/PRESS PHOTO BY REMCO SCHORR
‘OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW’ – A FILM BY SOPHIE FIENNES ABOUT ANSELM KIEFER
REVIEWED BY JAN ALBERT. AUGUST 17, 2011
If you have had it with superheroes, lame rom coms, and the rest of the half-hearted movies Hollywood is peddling this summer, I recommend ‘OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW’ at the Film Forum. It is an immersive, unique experience that will fill your head with the visions of artist – with a capital A – Anselm Kiefer. It’s stunning and you want to see it on a big screen.
Unusual – even for a film about an artist!, it is an almost wordless experience. It opens with long pans that glide through dark tunnels dug out of earth, then moves on to half-built concrete bunkers, filled with broken glass and lit by single bare light bulbs. Gradually, the camera reveals cracks of natural light through doorways. We are somewhere in the woods.
With no narration to guide us through these labyrinthian ruins, just momentous creepy music, and since the director (Sophie Fiennes – yes, she is the sister of “Lord Voldemort”, himself – Ralph Fiennes) is in no rush to get on with things, my mind started to race with connections and possible scenarios.
I felt like WALL-E, searching for signs of life and adding to his collection of artifacts from a bygone culture.
There were sheaves of paper and massive books, solidified into rocks . . .
An occasional child’s dress, covered with soot, hanging from a lone hanger . . .
Rusted metal, staircases to nowhere.
Could be a war zone, what with those pillar-like outposts, like the ones left standing after the apocalypse in ‘THE ROAD’.
For me, it was evocative of so many things –
being lost and confused in the virtual world of MYST . . .
the remains of Pompei or the World Trade Center . . .
the kind of place kids play in and bad things happen in horror films . . .
a settlement after an Indian attack or New Orleans after the flood.
It brought to mind the royal crematorium I saw in Rajasthan, India, with branches piled up for the next funeral. Also, a town in Mexico, half-swallowed by a volcano.
It had the mark of ritualistic human creation, like OPUS 40, a magical place near Woodstock, carved by one man out of a rock quarry.
It could be an abandoned construction site or a bombed-out storage facility of some kind.
Who built it ?
Turns out Anselm Kiefer did. In 1992, the artist bought a town in the South of France near Avignon, called Barjack, and over the next 16 years, he transformed a derelict silk factory and the hundreds of acres surrounding it into an art factory and an enormous site-specific art piece.
Although this opening sequence goes on for what seems like 15 minutes, it’s far from boring. It casts it’s spell, then introduces the sorcerer who cast it.
We move from the forest inside to a factory space where the artist and his crew of assistants are focused on mixing concrete, smelting lead, and moving giant things with cranes. A cat looks askance at the whole enterprise, especially the noise, which is considerable.
Now, at last, just when you expect the director to launch into an interview with the creator or to explain what’s going on, she confounds the viewer again. Although there are moments when Kiefer speaks about his art, they are few and far between. Throughout the rest of the film , we are flies on the wall, watching Kiefer make this world and it is disturbing, exciting, confounding, and incredible – just like great art.
Anselm Kiefer is introduced in an amazing sequence where he is finishing a large landscape painting of the woods we just traveled through. His assistant dumps a cloud of ash all over the canvas, then we watch in real time as the excess crap drops off onto the floor, and the surviving scene seems to emerge through a cloud of gun smoke or a forest fire.
We see Kiefer directing his helpers to place a huge ship on an even vaster canvas of the ocean until they get it “just so” and we are lost at sea.
We follow the crew as Kiefer orchestrates a bulldozer to cut paths through the bunkers and pillars we saw outside. Then, the heavy machinery helps them lift huge blocks of stone one on top of another to assemble a series of dream-like towers in a clearing. They teeter, but somehow remain standing.
The workers break dishes, smash great sheets of glass, start fires and toast books lie marshmallows, until the artist declares them perfectly ruined.
Anselm Kiefer was born at the close of WWII and grew up in the ruins of postwar Germany. He played with bricks from the destroyed houses in his neighborhood instead of building blocks. He has spent his whole life as an artist, digging through those ashes; confronting the not so distant past and future, calling upon poets, Gods, mystics, geography and humanity to frame his work. Seeing this visionary in the throes of his own creation-destruction cycle is Sophie Fiennes’ great gift to us. You don’t have to understand it to be impressed, amazed, and moved.
Near the end, we hear Kiefer quote a passage from the Book of Isaiah about Lilith inhabiting an abandoned city. It gives the film it’s title, ‘OVER YOUR CITIES, GRASS WILL GROW’.
In 2008, Kiefer moved to Paris and left this mysterious and provocative ruin behind for man and nature to build on or destroy.
Thanks to Sophie Fiennes’ sensitive film record, it will never disappear completely.
AT THE FILM FORUM THROUGH TUESDAY, AUGUST 23rd, 2011.
oh yeah, most def, ya gotta see: ‘OVER YOUR CITIES, GRASS WILL GROW’/THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE – for the TOTALLY AMAZING !! – film clips !!
ok, this how much I mean that:
go to: CLIP 1 – and watch: ‘RAISING THE THE PAINTING’, and then on that page’s dashboard – click on CLIP 2-‘THE TOWERS’, CLIP 3-‘MELTING LEAD’, and CLIP 4-‘AMPHITHEATRE’ !!
SCREEN GRAB – FROM THE CLIP – ‘RAISING THE PAINTING’.
oh yeah, images speak louder than words . . . in this almost silent, but most magic film.
I guess it would be optimal to see the film on a large screen – but even the small scale digital format of the clips – works pretty well – in getting across the film’s eloquence. Jan told me the film is amazing – and I believe it, and she said she didn’t even get into – “the bones and the teeth” !! ~ nancy.
from the artlovers archive . . .
see: photos from the ANSELM KIEFER exhibit – ‘NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM’, which ran NOVEMBER 6 – DECEMBER 18, 2010 at GAGOSIAN GALLERY on 24th St in NYC – a blockbuster installation – which meet much popular, and critical acclaim.
~JAN ALBERT REVIEWS: ‘OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW’/ANSELM KIEFER |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 17th, 2011, 7:45am
MARION COTILLARD in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY WOODY ALLEN
REVIEWED BY NANCY SMITH. JUNE 6, 2011
with the art world so sleepy, if not downright totally dismissable – at least if you’re dependent on the gallery scene !! movies are your best bet this month.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is sweet and goes down very charmingly. OWEN WILSON might make you miss that ole codger WOODY, in the prime of his nebbisha youth, but wisely he was allowed to bring his own brand of slow (and, thankfully underplayed) comedic pace to the role. But the undeniable star of the show is French actress MARION COTILLARD. Unbelievable magnetic. She’s worth the price of admission alone, and will want you buying the DVD . . . . her portrayal here, of the ‘ultimate art groupie’ is – that timeless and captivating. Every time she appears on the screen, your heart skips a beat. Her costumes are also worth a mention. and I bet they have some impact in fashion – going forward. slouchy flapper style dresses, with minimum fuss – that just skim her figure beautifully – with a music all their own. a thin band of navy blue light-reflecting sequins on one neckline, a shiny yellow satin ribbon on the delicate sailor-style neckline of another. from an artisan’s point of view – just beautiful.
The worst part of the movie was their big kiss. although the chemistry between the two time travelers – heats up nicely – the actual ‘big’ kiss is the worst edit ever, as we get subjected to those mandatory huge ‘open-your-mouth’ close-ups . . . that feel more like we are watching steam shovels in motion than anything else . . ugh.
the official trailer is a dud and doesn’t capture any of the movie’s considerable magic. the film’s actual opening montage of the city – PARIS – aka THE CITY OF LIGHTS – is a photographic & editing knock-out, just drop dead, I wana be there – awesome. and they should have just had a leap of faith – and used that.
It was amusing to see CARLA BRUNI – a face that could launch a thousand magazine covers. ADRIEN BRODY was mad wild as D-A-L-I !! the other famous characters came to life – kinda hit or miss – but in a huge fun way. kinda like choosing from a box of elaborate chocolates. you might not like the jelly center, but the chocolate shell was delish . . . I liked the TOULOUSE DE LAUTREC cameo, the best. no wait, I liked the COLE PORTER portrait – the best !! which comes closer to the beginning of the movie – and sets the tone for the entire evening of Parisian fantasy. the Cole Porter soundtrack was as dreamy as hell.
and yeah, I liked the guy who played PICASSO, too. that nutshell portrait rang really true, stranglely enough. the one that got under my skin the most was ERNEST HEMINGWAY. But what do I know ? the blustery presentation had the more literary types in the audience around me, hooting out loud in appreciation – every time he made the scene.
see: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE & TRAILER
~NANCY SMITH REVIEWS: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS |
Posted in Movie Reviews | By Nancy Smith | June 6th, 2011, 8:38am
SPORK – WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY J.B. GHUMAN
REVIEWED BY NORA DEMENUS. JUNE 2, 2011
SPORK is an electrically colorful and vibrant little movie about a young, outcast girl, played by the cute and clumsy SAVANNAH STEHLIN, brought up in a trailer park who happens to be a hermaphrodite. Without a mother and father, her older brother, a pot-smoking slacker has raised her in the family Airstream and as a result she knows little of femininity and seemingly even less about hair care. Much like a modern-day Williamsburg scenester, she rocks a fuzzy and wild ratsnest of a hairdo, wears giant Terry Richardson-esque glasses and has little to no fashion sense. Ridiculed in school for her publicly known confusing sexuality, she has no real friends. In the trailer across the way, her neighbor and classmate – an incredibly foul-mouthed fly-girl who is hip on the dance scene – takes her to a booty-shaking club for a night and inspires her to sign up for her middle school dance off.
As a first feature length film for Director J.B. Ghuman Jr., it came across a bit too much like the leader in films like these, Napoleon Dynamite. However, he makes very good use of all of the conventions of this recently popularized genre of ‘unpopular teen-life in the middle of nowhere’ flicks – everything from its bright colors, cartoony editing, cool 90’s soundtrack, on-screen doodles (the sun and clouds are cleverly drawn directly over the film with crayon), and awkwardly amusing characters that you sort of have to love out of pity – making it an enjoyable film to watch. The plot was remarkably similar though, and throughout the film I found myself feeling as if it was a Napoleon Dynamite for young girls!
I thought the most impressive aspects were the costumes and dance numbers which basically owned the hour and half long flick. One in particular was really cool, when Spork’s neighbor drags her along to watch her compete in a high energy krumping competition. Everyone in the club had awesome almost tribal-seeming red and white face paint on, complementing their shrunken jean jackets, denim leggings, shiny bras and converse hightops – the lights, colors, and the sick, high-energy dance moves were most entertaining! Another scene that stood out to me was where the mean girl posse at school (nicknamed “the Byotches”) gather in the hallway to show off their slick skills (and hilarious matching hairdos), dancing and lip synching to a fun, choreographed ‘Is It Cos I’m Cool’ by Mousse T. Spork’s final dance in the school dance-off where she busts loose some serious break dance moves with the help of a twister mat and UV lights, is also pretty sweet.
A big thumbs-up to all of the young talent in the film – the dancing was supreme and they really brought across a great and funny exaggeration of middle/high school life!
I would say, go see it, it was a real fun time for sure.
It’s not boring at all – and it’s sort of cool, too. Although I felt like I had seen a lot of it done before, there were a lot of fun, quirky things that had yet to be done in the quickly growing (and quickly running out of new things to amuse us with) world of hipster cinema.
NOW PLAYING AT THE QUAD CINEMA, NYC.
watch: the trailer on the film’s official website.
where there is also a video interview option – with the film’s director – J.B. GHUMAN (above).
there is also a very enlightening Q & A with Mr. Ghuman in the film’s ‘PRESS NOTES’ option, left of screen, that begins with these intriguing words . . . “My father is from India, and my mother is from North Carolina …. ” !!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
artlovers has got a new movie page contributor !!
meet NORA DEMENUS – a recent grad of NYU FILM SCHOOL (CLASS OF 2008).
SPORK is her debut essay.
~NORA DEMENUS REVIEWS: SPORK |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 2nd, 2011, 11:47am
TEXT & PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH. MAY 20, 2011
“SOMETIMES LIFE GIVES YOU THE FINGER / AND SOMETIMES IT GIVES YOU . . . HESHER”
the real HESH – at the ANGELIKA FILM CENTER – last FRI MAY 13th, 2011 – the first day of the film’s commercial screening in NYC . . .
HESH aka HASH HALPER – the film’s off-the-wall HESHER, played so brilliantly by JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT. and he is hot. ok. violent and out of control too, what else is new . . . is a take-off on the real-life Hesh. outlaw. underwear, shirtless and all. somehow – just there. making the dots scramble, non-conformist. karmic ? moving through people and places with an unworldly wind, and seemingly not a care in the world – behind his back.
yep, this is the character . . . that launched a movie.
the character . . . behind the character.
He brought a small posse to the screening. although obviously the filmmakers had had some kind of relationship with him, Hesh, and certainly none of his friends had seen the flick . . . before, so nobody really knew what kind of a ride – they were in for. but the way Hesh showed up – was kinda auspicious, no ?
First off, before the flick even started the entrance was kinda grand. with the security guard inquiring of us – as to whether that was – the HESHER of the movie ? hell, yes !!
Then, when we got into the small multi-plex cinema, there were only two completely empty rows left – in the back which would enable Hesh and all his pals – to sit together . . . except for one nice straight-looking ultra conservative middle-aged businessman-type guy sitting smack dab in the middle of the last row of empty seats. what to do ? no problemo. Hesh, the real Hesh – just, rather imperiously told the guy, in no uncertain terms to scram.
“Hey dude – this is my movie !! You gotta move so me and my friends can watch it together. YO. I’m not joking dude, this is my movie. . .” After a few seconds of thinking it over – and probably for the better. the guy actually got up and moved. I’m not sure how I would have re-acted in the same circumstance, but anyways. the lights went down and the opening trailers went up . . . and, then what a shock – as ‘HESHER’ unspooled. I guess we all thought it would be one big hoot. a real laugh-fest. and in some ways it was . . . at first.
the first few times Joseph Gordon-Levitt hit the celluloid and popped up as the on-screen Hesher – we all went crazy. screaming and clapping with delight – damn !! he was HESH !! but then as the story progressed, and things got darker and more stuff was at stake – than we could have possibly imagined – the power of movie-making, dudes. the real-life peanut gallery grew just as silent and engrossed as the rest of the audience. no doubt about it, that was one shocking ride. it took you up and didn’t put you back down, for one moment. wow. how much of this was Hesh, and how much of this was movie magic ?
as we stumbled out, numb and in total silence – It was plain to see that the movie had hit home in ways hard to explain, to each one of us, in its own way, but in particular to the star attraction. Hesh looked to be in shock. shock and awe. First he said, and we all agreed in complete unison – wow, we didn’t think it would ever – be that good. damn. Then I asked Hesh, well did it trouble him ? I’m thinking bout the violence. but that seemed to go right over his head. He just replied, “well, its true once a friend of mine’s had someone die in their family, and I moved in for two years” . . . but, he continued . . the worst thing about the whole movie – was how it had stripped him of his anonymity !! Already, he complained, kids were waving to him – in the street !!
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVEITT as HESHER . . .
image/courtesy: HESHER – THE MOVIE
one of my very fave parts of the movie, apart from being captivated by the on-screen HESHER. was that primitive black line, like a marker. stick-man tattoo on his chest- blowing his brains out !! a metaphor – for these days – of challenged creativity and spirituality. dead-endness – if I ever did see one. In his rave review, ‘Antihero to the rescue’ – KYLE SMITH of the NEW YORK POST last week, spoke of: “Hesher, violent of hair, black of jeans and sporting a large middle finger tattoo on his back …” – but it was the front tattoo of the chalk-like stick-man blowing his brains out – at point zero – that got to me !!
p.s. did you catch how bad KYLE SMITH trashed “YAWNY DEPP” – aka – ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” in the paper today ? ha. calls it “barely see-worthy” !! yep, our boy HESHER beats out Johnny Depp, this time around.
flamin’ outsider in his beat-up van – takes down the million dollar blockbuster – with its worn-out ways, hands down.
bye the way, I asked. the real Hesh – has no tattoos.
LOST.
but come to think of it, I did just come across some sidewalk chalk scribbles recently, that caught my attention.
looking back . . .
WHITE BOY RULES WORLD . . . . ?
wow. they do remind me of that ‘chalk-like’ stick-man tattoo . . . blowin’ out his brains, that the celluloid Hesher sports.
it was the night of the KARA WALKER opening at LEHMANN MAUPIN on the Lower East Side. April 21, 2011.
and hey, coincidence or what. Hesh, the real Hesh was there, too.
speak of the devil.
Flash forward to this past Sunday. Sunday May 15, 2011.
2 whole days after we had seen the movie – as I rolled into Williamsburg to do some business – who be calling my name out on the busy hub of Bedford St. – but Hesh, the real-life Hesh and his pal, TJ. hanging out a bar window, natch.
(I hate to ask, but . . . the real TJ ? not, I think . . . )
anyways, that’s how the real life Hesh manifests. in real time. movin’ and groovin’ to a secret beat. mystical. way beyond the simple hours as they peel off the clock face.
anyways, like I said. I had had time, 2 whole days, to think about it . . . and so since the opportunity presented itself, so beautifully, as if by magic. I asked Hesh outright what I was dying, burning ? to ask him right after the movie but didn’t quite have the words . . . having had my own buttons pushed by the film, and yeah. I was rendered immediately speechless afterwards too, just like the rest of the crew.
so catching the momento – I really tried to a nail Hesh on the violence in the film that bears his name. bears witness to him. Answer, Hesh. Was he shocked by the violent bent in the movie ?
“No”, he said. “My friends know I have violence inside me – but I manage to keep it in check.”
and there ya go, outta the mouths of the ‘marked’ ones, the ones that jump the grid, and spin the grind !! of everyday life – human truth. in a nutshell. go figure !!
ALL PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH – EXCEPT WHERE OTHERWISE – NOTED.
see: HESHER THE MOVIE/THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE
~WILL THE REAL HESH – PLEASE STAND UP . . . NEW PIX !! |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 20th, 2011, 11:05pm
