"NYMPHOMANIAC has wooden performances and a baffling plot - STRANGER BY THE LAKE is a far sexier proposition" so states The Sunday Times banner covering its film reviews .... Von Trier's latest four-hour opus is "droning, repetitive, pants-down piffle", where "frustrated by her inability to achieve orgasm she seeks the help of an amateur sadist named K, played hilariously by BILLY ELLIOT (Jamie Bell). Who would have thought the world's most famous dancing child would make the world's least convincing dom? Yet here he is, playing a proficient whipper with all the menace of Postman Pat".
So goes the hilarious review by Camilla Long - who liked that new French gay thriller STRANGER BY THE LAKE (though it first opened in France last year) a whole lot better. It seems to be the one to watch, the dvd is out in May, I may well wait until then, as reading Andrew Sullivan's colum, has practically put one off going to an actual cinema ....
As Andrew says "You'd be forgiven for believing there was a resurgence in serious movie-making in America after all the big-budget, special effects mega-movies of the recent past", due to the current glut of Award-nominated movies of recent months, with the Academy Awards next Sunday. But, as he points out, "only one best picture nominee made it into the top 10 of highest-grossing movies of 2013: GRAVITY, a special effects movie with two bankable stars. 12 YEARS A SLAVE made it number 70, the others could not even crack the top 100! It seems the real moneymakers of the last year were comic superhero franchises (IRON MAN 3, THOR II, MAN OF STEEL) or animation (FROZEN, DESPICABLE ME 2). Food for thought there ...
Andrew also bemoans the state of cinema-going now. "There is clearly an audience for grown-up films but it is not, perhaps, in the actual cinema" .... "Most middle-class homes in America now come with vast flat screens of crystal-clear images that would have looked like something out of science fiction in the 1990s. So instead of venturing out to pay ridiculous sums of money for popcorn and a fizzy drink, endure unfathomable rudeness, get distracted by the texter two seats down and by the constant chatter behind you, and get blasted with endless promos for upcoming films that you have no interest in seeing" - or wait a couple of months and watch the same movie in your own place"? "A good film should not be wasted amid a noisy, distracting mob".
My friend Leon made a similar comment to me yesterday, he was outraged by the prices of films in the West End of London now, ok he went to the Odeon, Leicester Square - maybe THE prime first run cinema where the prices were "£16, 18 or 22 - for a FILM" ! As i said, its cheaper to buy the dvd and you get to keep the film and get all those extras and can watch it without being disturbed.
That other current explicit film BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR makes one realise how what can be shown on screens has changed, as is demonstrated by a new book: SEXPLOSION by Robert Hofler (a senior editor of Variety), which I will just have to order. It covers that era from 1966 (when a brief moment of nudity in Antonioni's BLOW-UP was a sensation to those early 70s years when suddenly everyone was stripping off, as cinema pushed the boundaries, first with nudity and then violence. It all seems a long time ago now, as time rolls on and values change. As the review of the book (by Clive Davis) says, "When Ken Russell died in 2011, news bulletins struggled to explain why a scene of two men wrestling in the nude in WOMEN IN LOVE had once seemed like the end of civilisation as we know it", likewise his THE DEVILS, still strong stuff. I remember a discussion at the then National Film Theatre in 1970 when actors on stage, including Billie Whitelaw and Romeo Leonard Whiting (in a crushed velvet blue suit) were discussing the topic of "The Actor and Nudity", a hot potato at the time - my point was when an actor is naked they are no longer than character but the actor naked. The interesting cast of characters in SEXPLOSION include the then censor John Trevelyan, whom I remember well, and Princess Margaret expressing her disapporval at SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY .... Bring it on.
That other current explicit film BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR makes one realise how what can be shown on screens has changed, as is demonstrated by a new book: SEXPLOSION by Robert Hofler (a senior editor of Variety), which I will just have to order. It covers that era from 1966 (when a brief moment of nudity in Antonioni's BLOW-UP was a sensation to those early 70s years when suddenly everyone was stripping off, as cinema pushed the boundaries, first with nudity and then violence. It all seems a long time ago now, as time rolls on and values change. As the review of the book (by Clive Davis) says, "When Ken Russell died in 2011, news bulletins struggled to explain why a scene of two men wrestling in the nude in WOMEN IN LOVE had once seemed like the end of civilisation as we know it", likewise his THE DEVILS, still strong stuff. I remember a discussion at the then National Film Theatre in 1970 when actors on stage, including Billie Whitelaw and Romeo Leonard Whiting (in a crushed velvet blue suit) were discussing the topic of "The Actor and Nudity", a hot potato at the time - my point was when an actor is naked they are no longer than character but the actor naked. The interesting cast of characters in SEXPLOSION include the then censor John Trevelyan, whom I remember well, and Princess Margaret expressing her disapporval at SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY .... Bring it on.
Now for a new subject: Some bands I like:
Little Feat - nice to see a new compilation boxset of their albums. Little Feat were the quintessential Americana band, developing a potent hybrid of rock, blues, funk, jazz, and country (rather like Leon Russell and his funky band then), led by their beatnik genius singer/guitarist Lowell George, a slide guitar ace and a vocalist of rare blues quality; sadly he died in 1979 at the young age of 34 - of heart failure, according to Wikipedia (I had thought it was of a heroin overdose). Back in the 70s I loved their FEATS DONT FAIL ME NOW and DIXIE CHICKEN albums (iPod staples now), with those tracks like "Rock and Roll Doctor", "Down The Road", "Long Distance Love".
Here's a treat, though it won't let me upload it just now: Liberace, Phyllis Diller, Dusty Springfield and Millicent Martin in a hilarious comedy clip. Gets one in the mood for that Liberace biopic !
and some club hits I like ....
And that man again: Sky Arts channel here is currently running THE DOORS IN EUROPE quite a few times, its, as per Doors label, where I am visible looking up at Jim Morrison, towering over me, back at The Roudhouse in Camden, in 1968 when the group was touring Europe with the Jefferson Airplane. I was 22 ande on acid with my hippie friends, but never saw the recording until a decade or s ago .... and nearly fell off my chair seeing myself in it. I really must try and get the image lightened and cleared up .... Jim was so sweaty in that white shirt and leather trousers ...
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