Five Additional Netflix Instant Suggestions

A friend of mine who just finished school asked me if I could suggest some films for him to watch on Netflix Instant. Here are five additional recommendations. I've previously written about a few of these films and included links to the past reviews of them. Each of the films below were available on Netflix Instant in the USA at the time this was published.

Fish Tank
2009, UK/Netherlands
Andrea Arnold

On paper, Fish Tank sounds rather pedestrian: Mia, a teenage girl from the projects, tries to escape her grim existence by winning a dance competition. But on the screen, it's anything but, thanks to Andrea Arnold's spectacular vision and a dynamic central performance from Katie Jarvis. While the film is consistently breathtaking, there are at least two individual sequences that are just about heart-stopping. Older Post about Fish Tank: Down... on the Ground

With: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Kierston Wareing, Rebecca Griffiths, Harry Treadaway, Sydney Mary Nash, Jason Maza

Network
1976, USA
Sidney Lumet

A fine example of the stellar films coming out of Hollywood during one of its richest periods, during the 1970s, Network is a brilliant satire that only feels more relevant today in our world of reality programs and trash television. On one hand, it's sad to see how far we've fallen from a time when a TV station would be creating a news show following a group of political terrorists, but on the other, I could cite plenty of examples of how the television narrative as evolved. You take the good with the bad, I guess. Faye Dunaway (and the rest of the cast) is impeccable.

With: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, Beatrice Straight, Bill Burrows, Jordan Charney, Kathy Cronkite, Ed Crowley, Jerome Dempsey, Conchata Ferrell, Ken Kercheval, Ted Sorel, Lane Smith, William Prince, Sasha von Scherler, Marlene Warfield, Lee Richardson

Open
2010, USA
Jake Yuzna

A surprisingly tender and whimsical film following two separate pairings of gender dissidents: one a hermaphrodite who goes on something of a road trip/hometown-discovery-adventure with one-half of a couple who have undergone cosmetic surgery to look like one another, the other an FTM transsexual who ends up pregnant after having sex with a cute boy he meets at a show. I've never seen a film handle gender like this; it's honest, unique, and, well, open. Winner of the Teddy Jury Prize at the 2010 Berlinale.

With: Gaea Gaddy, Tempest Crane, Morty Diamond, Daniel Luedtke, Jendeen Forberg, Jill Sweiven

Don't Look Now
1973, UK/Italy
Nicolas Roeg

Easily one of the greatest horror films of all time, Don't Look Now follows an American architect (Donald Sutherland) and his wife (Julie Christie) who relocate to Venice after the death of their young daughter. While Donald Sutherland works on restoring a crumbling church, Julie Christie meets a pair of sisters, one of whom claims to have psychic visions of the dead girl being close-by. Nicolas Roeg used the city of Venice masterfully and created not only one of the great what-the-fuck finales but the greatest sex scene ever committed to film. Older Post About Don't Look Now: Boo!

With: Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania, Massimo Serato, Renato Scarpa, Giorgio Trestini, Leopoldo Trieste, David Tree, Ann Rye, Nicholas Salter, Sharon Williams, Bruno Cattaneo, Adelina Poerio

Night of the Comet
1984, USA
Thom E. Eberhardt

One of my personal favorite apocalypse films, Night of the Comet finds the population in jeopardy when a comet hits earth and turns nearly everyone to dust, except for a duo of sassy teenage sisters from the Valley. Where so many films like it fail, Night of the Comet does a good job balancing its intentional and accidental cheese; it has just enough awareness of itself to keep things playful and annoyingly/hilariously trendy.

With: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell, Mary Woronov, Geoffrey Lewis, Peter Fox, John Achorn, Michael Bowen

May Criterions and Paramount Catalogues in 2010!

Criterion announced their May titles earlier today, which includes a second volume of films by Stan Brakhage, and both collections on Blu-ray. In addition to that excitement, the Eclipse box set for May is Nagisa Oshima's Outlaw Sixties, including the films Japanese Summer: Double Suicide, Pleasures of the Flesh, Violence at Noon, Sing a Song of Sex and Three Resurrected Drunkards. With the Akerman and now Oshima sets this year, I'm more excited for the Eclipse box sets than the mainline releases it seems. Also in store for May are a remastered edition of Nicolas Roeg's great Walkabout (DVD and Blu-ray), John Ford's Stagecoach (DVD and Blu-ray) and Fritz Lang's M (on Blu-ray).

I also was doing some browsing on the IMDb and saw that on the page for Joseph Strick's maligned adaptation of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer that Olive Films Opus is listed as the DVD publisher for 2010. So I did a little more investigating, and it seems Olive Films have snatched up a number of Paramount's catalogue titles (kind of like Legend Films did in summer of '08. Aside from Tropic of Cancer, the other titles listed as upcoming DVD releases from Olive Films include Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face [Ansikte mot ansikte] with Liv Ullmann; Guy Green's adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough with Kirk Douglas, Melina Mercouri and George Hamilton; the Raquel Welch western Hannie Caulder; Stuart Rosenberg's WUSA with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Anthony Perkins; Otto Preminger's Skidoo, Hurry Sundown and Such Good Friends; William Dieterle's Dark City with Charlton Heston and Rope of Sand with Burt Lancaster; the Jean Harlow biopic Harlow with Carroll Baker; Nicholas Ray's The Savage Innocents; Edward Dmytryk's Where Love Has Gone with Susan Hayward and Bette Davis and The Mountain with Spencer Tracy.

In addition to those Paramount titles, it looks like they've also got the rights to some recent films from Scandinavia, including the gay neo-Nazi film Brotherhood [Broderskab], which won the Best Film prize at last year's Rome Film Festival, and Letters to Father Jacob [Postia pappi Jaakobille], Finland's Oscar submission from 2009. Way to go, Olive Films.

List #1 for 2007

Here's my first list of the year. There'll be at least two more (best, worst) and maybe another (performances), but here are your best new-to-region-1-DVDs of 2007, in alphabetical order. I didn't have the time or patience to annotate the list, so please forgive (I've been catching up on The Wire, which is better than fucking sliced-bread. (Naturally, the Twin Peaks Gold Box would have made the cut, but I disqualified it as everything but the pilot was already available)

Army of Shadows [L'armée des ombres] - dir. Jean-Pierre Melville - Criterion. With Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret. France/Italy. 1969.

Berlin Alexanderplatz - dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Criterion. With Günter Lamprect, Karlheinz Braun, Hanna Schygulla, Brigitte Mira, Barbara Sukowa. West Germany. 1980.

The Films of Kenneth Anger: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 - dir. Kenneth Anger - Fantoma. Sets includes Fireworks, Puce Moment, Rabbit's Moon, Eaux d'artifice, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Scorpio Rising, Kustom Kar Kommandos, Invocation of My Demon Brother, and Lucifer Rising. With Anger, Marianne Faithfull, Anais Nin. 1947-1972. USA.

Mala Noche - dir. Gus Van Sant - Criterion. With Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate. 1985. USA.

The Milky Way [La voie lactée] - dir. Luis Buñuel - Criterion. With Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff, Michel Piccoli, Pierre Clémenti, Delphine Seyrig. 1969. France/West Germany/Italy.

Muriel [Muriel, ou Le temps d'un retour] - dir. Alain Resnais - Koch Lorber. With Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Nita Klein, Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée. 1963. France/Italy.

Performance - dir. Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg - Warner. With Mick Jagger, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg. 1970. UK.

Sombre - dir. Philippe Grandrieux - Koch Lorber. With Marc Barbé, Elina Löwensohn. 1998. France.

Sweet Movie / WR: Mysteries of the Organism - dir. Dusan Makavejev - Criterion. With Carole Laure, Pierre Clémenti, Anna Prucnal / With Milena Dravic, Ivica Vidovic, Jackie Curtis. 1974/1971. France/Canada/West Germany / Yugoslavia/West Germany.

Viva Pedro: The Pedro Almodóvar Collection - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - Sony Pictures. Set includes: Bad Education, All About My Mother, Talk to Her, The Flower of My Secret, Live Flesh, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, as well as new-to-DVD titles Law of Desire and Matador. With Carmen Maura, Penélope Cruz, Marisa Paredes, Antonio Banderas, Cecilia Roth, Javier Bardem, Assumpta Serna, Darío Grandinetti, Rossy de Palma, Rosa Maria Sardà, Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Javier Cámara, Gerladine Chaplin, Paz Vega, Leonor Watling, Chus Lampreave, Eusebio Poncela, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal. 1986-2004. Spain.

The Eclipse of a Man

A dark cloud appears to be hovering above the world of cinema as two of the grand artistes of the medium have passed on within twenty-four hours of one another. First, Ingmar Bergman, and now, Michelangelo Antonioni. Would it seem fitting that the two were rivals and disliked one another's work? They both questioned human existence through interpersonal relationships, yet their worlds and their visions were not the same. Antonioni isn't mimicked as much as Bergman, but his signature and effect on cinema is equally great. Then again, why would anyone think they could do Antonioni better than the man himself? His passion was intense, and his films were always controversial from the near-riot at the Cannes screening of L'avventura to the boundary-pushing sexuality of Blow-Up. When The Passenger was rereleased a few years ago, one critic lamented that at one point in history, the films of Antonioni were part of the mainstream. Now, you'll be lucky to get a pompous film student undergrad to sit through his work. The world may have changed, but Antonioni's work stayed the same... and it's still as poignant and arresting as it was over forty years ago.

Notable Filmography:
Eros (2004) - with Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar-wai
Beyond the Clouds (1995) - with Wim Wenders
Identification of a Woman (1982)
The Passenger (1975)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Blow-Up (1966)
The Red Desert (1964)
L'eclisse (1962)
La notte (1961)
L'avventura (1960)
Il grido (1957)

Other Assorted Filmography:
The Mystery of Oberwald (1981)
China (1972)
La amiche (1955)
Love in the City (1953)
Youth and Perversion/The Vanquished (1953)
Story of a Love Affair (1950)

Extracurricular:
Blow Out (1981) - Brian de Palma's ode to Blow-Up
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - Don't tell me you don't see the influence
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) - Documentary about the famous Z Channel, which aired L'avventura unedited during its short run
Vive l'amour (1994) - Antonioni's influence struck a chord with Asian filmmakers, especially in Tsai Ming-liang's debut film
Performance (1970) - Though closer in relation to Bergman, the film contains plenty of characteristics of Blow-Up
Phoenix (2006) - A gay remake of L'avventura
Under the Sand (2000) - François Ozon does his best L'avventura with Charlotte Rampling as a woman whose husband disappears mysteriously
Climates (2006) - Antonioni was a big influence on Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan for this film
Paris, Texas (1984) - Wim Wenders' classic, for which he took serious inspiration from Antonioni
Twentynine Palms (2003) - Hello, Zabriskie Point!

Checkmate

It's easy to throw out referential comments about Ingmar Bergman's death today: "he finally lost the chess game with Death" or, as my friend Chris put it, "he's finally going to meet that giant spider in the sky." Bergman's films frequently dealt with death, whether it be the fear of the afterlife or the question of God's existence; in a way, his films were his own eulogy. From Harriet Andersson in Cries and Whispers, Ingrid Thulin in The Silence, and Max von Sydow in Winter Light, death was inescapable in Bergman's world. To call Bergman one of the finest filmmakers of all time seems redundant, as this is fairly widely recognized, but it's no overstatement. He was consistent and prolific, churning out some of the most wrenching and memorable films ever committed to the screen in quick succession. He became known internationally with his romantic comedy, Smiles of a Summer Night, but truly executed his signature later with The Virgin Spring, his Silence of God trilogy, and meta nightmares like Persona. He won three Academy Awards, for The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, and his final opus Fanny and Alexander (he announced that to be his final film, but followed it with small made-for-Swedish-television dramas and Saraband, a sequel to his famed Scenes from a Marriage). Women were always the subject of fascination and intrigue from Liv Ullmann, Andersson, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and Gunnel Lindblom; Bergman's obsession proved unforgettable and influential to filmmakers from Woody Allen even to Pedro Almodóvar. His death came as no surprise this morning, but it offered a fine time for reflection on his work... He was 89.

Notable Filmography:
Saraband (2003)
Fanny & Alexander (1982)
Autumn Sonata (1978)
The Magic Flute (1975)
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
The Passion of Anna (1969)
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Persona (1966)
The Silence (1963)
Winter Light (1962)
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
The Virgin Spring (1960)
The Magician (1958)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Summer with Monika (1953)

Other Assorted Filmography:
After the Rehearsal (1984)
From the Life of the Marionettes (1980)
The Serpent's Egg (1977)
Shame (1968)
All These Women (1964)
Brink of Life (1958)
Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)
To Joy (1950)
Thirst (1949)
Port of Call (1948)
Crisis (1946)

Extracurricular:
Deconstructing Harry (1997) - Woody Allen's version of Wild Strawberries
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) - Allen's loose adaptation of Cries and Whispers
Interiors (1978) - Another Allen rendition of Cries and Whispers/Persona
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) - Allen's Smiles of a Summer Night
Manhattan (1979) - Contains the wonderful argument between Allen and Diane Keaton over Bergman
Husbands and Wives (1992) - Allen's Scenes from a Marriage
Scenes from a Mall (1991) - Paul Mazursky comedy with Bette Midler and Allen, sort of influenced by Marriage
Torremolinos 73 (2003) - Spanish comedy where a man decides to direct a porn film in Bergman-style
Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie (1963) - Vilgot Sjöman's (I Am Curious: Yellow) documentary
Light Keeps Me Company (2000) - Documentary about Bergman's cinematographer, Sven Nykvist
Torment (1944) - Bergman's first screenplay
Faithless (2000) - Liv Ullmann's film from a Bergman screenplay
Performance (1970) - Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's male equivalent of Persona
3 Women (1977) - Robert Altman's pseudo-remake of Persona with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall
Mulholland Drive (2001) - David Lynch's homage to Persona
Un chien andalou (1929) - Notice Bergman's reference to this film in the opening montage of Persona
Me Without You (2001) - There's a humorous moment in the film where Kyle Maclachlan blasts a young girl vying for his affection for responding Wild Strawberries, the typical response, for what her favorite Bergman film is.

Bergman's mark on cinema is far more expansive than this list (especially Scenes from a Marriage and Persona), but there's a starting point if you want to investigate further.

A few DVD announcements

Criterion will be giving Vittorio de Sica's neo-realist masterpiece Ladri di biciclette the double-disc treatment under its direct translation Bicycle Thieves, instead of the singular The Bicycle Thief as it is commonly known in the United States. If you've seen the film, you'll know why this title change is necessary. If you haven't, here's your chance. The old Image disc kinda sucks. [ 13 Februrary 2007 ]

I mentioned this release before, but it's worth mentioning again. Warner will finally be putting out Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's brilliant Performance, starring Mick Jagger and James Fox, this spring. Think of it as Bergman's Persona only with dudes and with a lot more rock n roll. I had always wondered what would have made Persona a better film, and Roeg answered that: Mick Jagger. [ 13 February 2007 ]

Though sadly missing Kika, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, and Dark Habits (the latter two are available from Wellspring now), Sony will be releasing the Viva Pedro! box-set with
six excellent Pedro flicks (All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Bad Education, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Matador, and Law of Desire) and two not-so-great ones (Live Flesh and The Flower of My Secret). The box-set will include a bonus disc. No word yet whether the previously unreleased Matador or Law of Desire will be available separately for those of us who already own the others. Also, no date for Volver as of yet. [ 30 January 2007 ]

You know you wanna see all those sexy people above fucking. Actually, if that's the reason you want to see it, you'll probably be disappointed. Anyway, ThinkFilm will be releasing Shortbus this spring, and as it's likely not to be shelved at Blockbuster, queue it up on Netflix. [ 13 March 2007 ]

I thought there was a bunch more noteworthy releases for early 2007 when I started writing this, but apparently not. You can expect a better release guide once better titles are announced.

2007 is looking good already!

I knew I couldn't have a shitty day if I woke up to find that Warner Brothers has finally announced the much-delayed DVD release of Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's Performance, starring Mick Jagger, James Fox, and Anita Pallenberg. This will be the first release of the film anywhere and will also be the uncut version of the film, thank God. The disc includes a documentary and will be out on Feburary 13th, 2007. So, if you wanna be my valentine, you know what to get me.



I must also wish a happy birthday to the late, great Divine, who would be 61 today. Divine is assuredly one of the finest comic actors that ever graced the screen. Too bad Divine ain't around any more, or I'd get her those coveted Cha-Cha Heels. Look and see:

A Sick Movie, Made by Sick People, For Sick People

Rant of the Day: Bad Timing - dir. Nicolas Roeg -1980 - UK

The title of this post refers to what the studio, Rank, had to say about Nicolas Roeg's long-forgotten Bad Timing (also known as Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession), which has only recently (since it's gorgeous Criterion release) received the attention it deserves. Probably Roeg's last great film, Bad Timing investigates the apparent suicide attempt of a young girl (Theresa Russell) through the memories of her older lover (or is it stalker?), Art Garfunkel (I'll try to forgive Roeg for showing me more than I ever wanted to see of Art). Bear witness to some of the most marvelous editing techniques you may ever see (well, aside from Roeg's previous films). He intended to make a film about how a man cannot intellectualize himself out of love and/or obsession, but also acutely tackles ideas of truth, reality, and fatal attraction. While I don't think it's nearly as glorious as Walkabout, Don't Look Now, or Performance -- it haunted me for days.

Boo!

Pick of the Day: Don't Look Now - dir. Nicolas Roeg - 1973 - Italy/UK

Without question (along with Ken Russell's The Devils), one of the horror greats of the 70s, and I suppose it's no surprise Hollywood is planning on redoing (and likely, ruining) this film. Like so many horror films out now (in the post-M. Night Shamalamawhatever world of horror), Don't Look Now relies on its final momenets (which Bravo shamefully gave away in one of their scariest moments on film countdowns) for a better understanding of the film. Unlike any of M. Night's flicks, the surprise is not a moment of cinematic trickery. Knowing how Don't Look Now ends doesn't make us wanna go back and marvel at how well Roeg lead up to our final gasp. Instead, Don't Look Now works in the same way Citizen Kane does. It's final revelation allows us to look at the film intellectually and discover what exactly our filmmaker tries to convey. Since I'm one of those people who perfers to go into a film with no expectations, I won't give away what happens. Instead of remaking Don't Look Now, Hollywood should take note. Instead of altering our perception in some clever, betcha-didn't-see-that-comin' sort of way, why not engage our audience intellectually?