The Decade List: The Tulse Luper Suitcases (2003-2004)

The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story - dir. Peter Greenaway
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The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea - dir. Peter Greenaway

[Edited from an earlier post]

As my interest in the world of film (and, really, everything else) has been going in and out of periods of remission, fancy my surprise that a director I’d “written off” could give me a much needed jump-start. Thanks a marathon on The Sundance Channel, I got to witness Peter Greenaway’s three film entries in his epic, confusing multimedia project The Tulse Luper Suitcases (none of the films have been released theatrically in the US or even on DVD anywhere outside of Russia and Spain, still to this day). Might I suggest that the trilogy—the first titled The Moab Story, the second Vaux to the Sea, the third From Sark to Finish—is a dizzying array of brilliance.

With the combined efforts of 8½ Women, Nightwatching and, to a lesser extent, The Pillow Book, Greenaway shifted from a primary obsession of mine to a director I’d pegged as “losing it.” The Tulse Luper Suitcases encompasses all the good things about the aforementioned films and expands upon his examination of cinema and its boundaries. In short, the films depict the life of 20th century collector/traveler Tulse Luper who is better known as Greenaway’s alter ego and has received mention in other of the director’s work. The films contain sixteen “episodes,” each of which surrounding Luper’s imprisonments, both physical and metaphysical.

In episode four or five (forgive me, I can’t remember which except that it happens in Vaux to the Sea), it becomes more clear that The Tulse Luper Suitcases are to Greenaway as Histoire(s) du cinema are to Godard. It’s a quite literal comparison as this segment focuses on Luper’s confinement in a cinemahouse in France which plays The Passion of Joan of Arc and Boudu Saved from Drowning, among others. Here, the cinema becomes a reflexive look at the newly shaped world for Luper, ever advancing through each stage in his own personal reflection. Greenaway even introduces Joan of Arc and Boudu as characters into the series with character numbers; all of the expansive cast of individuals receive a number and their name in text upon entering the films. However, it isn’t simply the cinema that is the mode of Greenaway’s examination, as history itself reveals itself as the catalyst for the understanding of both man and Luper himself.

The band news, unfortunately, comes in the final film, From Sark to Finish, a confused, unpolished and rushed conclusion to Luper’s adventures. Gone are the glorious fascinations of narrative and visuals, the latter of which is, at times, completely astounding particularly in Greenaway’s use of frame-on-top-of-a-frame. Even the original Luper, JJ Feild, is replaced briefly by Stephen Billington and later by Roger Rees, who plays the aged Luper/double in Vaux to the Sea. Missing too are the recognizable faces, from the wonderful Isabella Rossellini to Steven Mackintosh to Valentina Cervi as Luper’s mistress Cissie Colpitts (a name you should recognize from Drowning by Numbers). However, most damning is that, perhaps through budgetary constraints, episodes are glossed over; one, which depicts Luper’s homoerotic relationship with one of his former captors, doesn’t even include any filmed footage. It’s a sad conclusion to a remarkable experiment, albeit one I won’t soon forget.

The Moab Story

With: JJ Feild, Valentina Cervi, Steven Mackintosh, Jordi Mollà, Tom Bower, Scot Williams, Caroline Dhavernas, Raymond J. Barry, Drew Mulligan, Yorick van Wageningen, Jack Wouterse, Naím Thomas, Debbie Harry, Michèle Bernier, Isabella Rossellini, Molly Ringwald, Keram Malicki-Sánchez, Ana Torrent, Nigel Terry, Patrick Kennedy, Francesco Salvi
Screenplay: Peter Greenaway
Cinematography: Reinier van Brummelen
Music: Borut Krzisnik, Eduardo Polonio
Country of Origin: UK/Netherlands/Spain/Luxumbourg/Italy/Hungary/Russia/Germany
US Distributor: N/A

Premiere: 24 May 2003 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: 12 April 2004 (Philadelphia International Film Festival)

Vaux to the Sea

With: JJ Feild, Valentina Cervi, Isabella Rossellini, Roger Rees, Raymond J. Berry, Franka Potente, Ana Torrent, Steven Mackintosh, Jordi Mollà, Ornella Muti, Maria Schrader, Scot Williams, Francesco Salvi, Anna Galiena, Marcel Iures, Gaspard Ulliel, Keram Malicki-Sánchez
Screenplay: Peter Greenaway
Cinematography: Reinier van Brummelen
Music: Architori, Borut Krzisnik, Eduardo Polonio
Country of Origin: UK/Netherlands/Spain/Luxumbourg/Italy/Hungary
US Distributor: N/A

Premiere: February 2004 (Berlin International Film Festival)

Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching on DVD in September

E1 Distribution announced a 15 September DVD release date for Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching, which stars Martin Freeman as Rembrandt. They will release the film in two editions; the special edition will also contain Greenaway's Rembrandt's J'accuse. Nightwatching also stars Natalie Press, Toby Jones and Jodhi May. Koch Lorber also announced Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy's Rumba for the same date.

Also, Sony announced Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's Sugar for 1 September on DVD and Blu-ray. The fourth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will be out 15 September. Zeitgeist is releasing Sergei Dvortsevoy's Tulpan on 22 September. And finally, Lionsgate will have 1988's Homeboy, which stars Mickey Rourke as a boxer, on 1 September.

Out of Remission

The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story - dir. Peter Greenaway - 2003 - UK/Netherlands/Spain/Luxembourg/Italy/Russia/Hungary/Germany

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The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea - dir. Peter Greenaway - 2004 - UK/Netherlands/Spain/Luxembourg/Italy/Russia/Hungary/Germany

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The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to Finish - dir. Peter Greenaway - 2004 - UK/Netherlands/Spain/Luxembourg/Italy/Russia/Hungary/Germany

As my interest in the world of film (and, really, everything else) has been going in and out of periods of remission, fancy my surprise that a director I’d “written off” could give me a much needed jump-start. Thanks to the Sundance Channel’s marathon last night, I got to witness Peter Greenaway’s three film entries in his epic, confusing multimedia project The Tulse Luper Suitcases (none of the films have been released theatrically in the US or even on DVD anywhere outside of Russia and Spain). Might I say that the trilogy—the first titled The Moab Story, the second Vaux to the Sea, the third From Sark to Finish—is a dizzying array of brilliance.

With the combined efforts of 8½ Women, Nightwatching and, to a lesser extent, The Pillow Book, Greenaway shifted from a primary obsession of mine to a director I’d pegged as “losing it.” The Tulse Luper Suitcases encompasses all the good things about the aforementioned films and expands upon his examination of cinema and its boundaries. For those unaware, the films depict the life of 20th century collector/traveler Tulse Luper who is better known as Greenaway’s alter ego and has received mention in other of the director’s work. The films contain sixteen “episodes,” each of which surrounding Luper’s imprisonments, both physical and metaphysical.

In episode four or five (forgive me, I can’t remember which except that it happens in Vaux to the Sea), it becomes more clear that The Tulse Luper Suitcases are to Greenaway as Histoire(s) du cinema are to Godard. It’s a quite literal comparison as this segment focuses on Luper’s confinement in a cinemahouse in France which plays The Passion of Joan of Arc and Boudu Saved from Drowning, among others. Here, the cinema becomes a reflexive look at the newly shaped world for Luper, ever advancing through each stage in his own personal reflection. Greenaway even introduces Joan of Arc and Boudu as characters into the series with character numbers; all of the expansive cast of individuals receive a number and their name in text upon entering the films. However, it isn’t simply the cinema that is the mode of Greenaway’s examination, as history itself reveals itself as the catalyst for the understanding of both man and Luper himself.

The band news, unfortunately, comes in the final film, From Sark to Finish, a confused, unpolished and rushed conclusion to Luper’s adventures. Gone are the glorious fascinations of narrative and visuals, the latter of which is, at times, completely astounding particularly in Greenaway’s use of frame-on-top-of-a-frame. Even the original Luper, JJ Feild, is replaced briefly by Stephen Billington and later by Roger Rees, who plays the aged Luper/double in Vaux to the Sea. Missing too are the recognizable faces, from the wonderful Isabella Rossellini to Steven Mackintosh to Valentina Cervi as Luper’s mistress Cissie Colpitts (a name you should recognize from Drowning by Numbers). However, most damning is that, perhaps through budgetary constraints, episodes are glossed over; one, which depicts Luper’s homoerotic relationship with one of his former captors, doesn’t even include any filmed footage. It’s a sad conclusion to a remarkable experiment, albeit one I won’t soon forget.

Remember that episode of Full House when Uncle Jesse deleted DJ's homework assignment? I feel like that

Of course when I finally get around to writing something substantial about cinema, in particular Peter Greenaway's Tulse Luper Suitcases, my computer acts up and loses every word I wrote. Hopefully I'll get around to re-wording what I had to say and post it this week.

Avant que je...

Aside from the fact that I'm already sick and motherfucking tired of hearing about people's orgasms while watching the new Batman movie (I'm thoroughly convinced that most people can't really separate Heath Ledger's performance from the film itself, which isn't all that good without him), I really have had nothing noteworthy to say in the past few weeks, and I apologize. This blog has fallen by the wayside of my own existential crisis, and even my film viewing has taken the hit. I would say, "Inspire me to get back into it," but I don't think that'd work. I also wish I could tell you that Jacques Nolot's Avant que j'oublie was worth your time, but simply beginning and ending your film well don't add up to a good movie, even if you are trying your hardest to make a Claire Denis film. I could make a list of all the DVDs sitting next to me that I should be watching instead of listening to music online, but just looking at them is daunting enough.

On a brighter note, for those few remaining Peter Greenaway fans, the Sundance Channel will be airing all three parts of The Tulse Luper Suitcases on Saturday the 26th, beginning at 11 pm CT. They will also be airing Tony Gatlif's Transylvania, with Asia Argento, on Wednesday the 30th at 1:45 P.M. CT. None of these four films are available on DVD in the US (the second and third parts of Tulse Luper totally unavailable on DVD), so jump at your chance.

Save the Divine Child

The Baby of Mâcon – dir. Peter Greenaway – 1993 – UK/Netherlands/France/Germany/Belgium

The Baby of Mâcon is a bizarre artifact of contemporary cinema; it’s a film whose extreme notoriety has rendered it nearly impossible for the casual filmgoer to actually behold. After a wretched premiere at Cannes in 1993, very few people got the opportunity to master their own feelings for Peter Greenaway’s wicked tale. This could be attributed to several factors. Firstly, the film never received US distribution, likely due to the negative reception and, perhaps, to the fact that, even after the success of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Greenaway was still a very inaccessible filmmaker for the American public. And this was still back when he was making wonderful films. In fact, The Baby of Mâcon is likely his last great film, which still preserved his unique brand of black humor; think of it as the Arrested Development syndrome, tackling low-brow comedy in a high-brow manner. For Greenaway, most of his films focused on absurdity, particularly of the British upper class throughout the ages. “What beautiful cock and balls this baby has!” declares Julia Ormond in the film after the titular infant is born. The Baby of Mâcon also includes Greenaway’s personal equivalent of a fart joke (ie, something that will induce laughter from the given person, without fail), which would be bumbling idiots in powdered wigs. He loves that shit.

The case of The Baby of Mâcon actually remains one of the more unfortunate ones. It’s a stunning, shocking film, perfectly fitting for the provocative director. Yet I can’t begin to wonder if The Baby of Mâcon was released this decade that it might have seen the light of day somehow. Like Drowning by Numbers (though that particular film’s absence on DVD has something to do with the master print itself), The Baby of Mâcon is only available on DVD from Australia, and based on anything Greenaway’s done since The Pillow Book in 1997, public interest (even in film circles) isn’t going to encourage anyone on the other side of the world to release the film. I suppose there’s also a blasphemy quotient involved in The Baby of Mâcon’s notoriety, as the film focuses on a woman’s (Ormond) heresy over claiming the miracle baby of her deformed mother is actually her own immaculate child. Certainly the images are shocking and the nudity aplenty, but this is only two years after a studio like Miramax released what I’d like to call the most naked film ever made, Prospero’s Books, which also followed their NC-17-rated release of the director’s most famous film, The Cook, the Thief… If Greenaway’s late career missteps haven’t completely left your interest in him cold, seek out The Baby of Mâcon; it’s the final masterwork of a once-brilliant filmmaker whose flair has unfortunately diminished with age.

More Greenaway

As rumored, Zeitgeist will release remastered editions of Peter Greenaway's A Zed and Two Noughts and The Draughtsman's Contract, two visually sumptuous, darkly humorous from the master of visual excess. I hesitated announcing this, as I'm trying to sell off my Fox Lorber Zed and Two Noughts, so hopefully prospective buyers won't see this. Available 12 February 2008.

The 2007 Saint Louis International Film Festival

Cinema St. Louis has officially announced their line-up for this year's International Film Festival, to be held November 8th through the 18th. As usual, the line-up is pretty humdrum (not that I should expect any better in Saint Louis), but Peter Greenaway will be present to receive a lifetime achievement award after a screening, on the 18th, of his lovely Drowning by Numbers. Curiously, Drowning by Numbers will be the only of his films to screen at the festival (which will be nice for those who haven't seen the film, as it's still only available on DVD in Australia). Neither his latest, Nightwatching, or any segment of the Tulse Luper Suitcases will be playing at the fest. The only other rather special event will be held on November 10th, at Webster University, where James Gunn (Slither) will present one of his favorites (and mine), The Naked Kiss.

Other features of note screening this year:
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead - dir. Sidney Lumet - with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney - USA - November 11, 7pm, Plaza Frontenac
Bill - dir. Bernie Goldmann, Melisa Wallack - with Aaron Eckhart, Timothy Olyphant, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Alba - USA - November 13, 9:30, Tivoli [This was filmed partially in Saint Louis]
Crossroads - dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa - Japan - November 10, 7pm, Saint Louis Art Museum
Daisy - dir. Andrew Lau - South Korea/Hong Kong - November 17, 7:15pm, Plaza Frontenac / November 18, 6:30pm, Plaza Frontenac
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The [Scaphandre et le papillon, Le] - dir. Julian Schnabel - with Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Marina Hands, Max von Sydow, Isaach De Bankole, Emma de Caunes, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey - France/USA - November 18, 6pm, Saint Louis Art Museum
Honeydripper - dir. John Sayles - with Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Charles S. Dutton, Vondie Curtis-Hall - USA - November 8, 7pm, Tivoli
Iron Horse, The - dir. John Ford - USA - November 16, 7pm, Saint Louis Art Museum
Juno - dir. Jason Reitman - with Michael Cera, Ellen Page - USA - November 14, 7pm, Tivoli
Persepolis - dir. Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi - France - November 17, 7pm, Plaza Frontenac
Ploy - dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang - Thailand - November 10, 9:45, Plaza Frontenac / November 12, 7:15, Plaza Frontenac
Walker, The - dir. Paul Schrader - with Woody Harrelson, Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ned Beatty, Moritz Bleibtreau, Mary Beth Hurt, Willem Dafoe - USA - November 16, 7pm, Plaza Frontenac / November 17, 9:30pm, Plaza Frontenac

As usual the foreign-language films of the festival look to be socially-conscious, politically-ripe, and downright boring. So, happy festival-going... I will probably go to a few screenings before the fest, hopefully, and have something to say.

Webster University Film Series: Summer 2007

For those of you in Saint Louis, I thought I'd give a heads-up to the films playing at the Webster University Film Series this summer (though you can find the complete listing here). Alexandra Lipsitz's documentary Air Guitar Nation played this past weekend, but coming next weekend is Cam Archer's ambitious Wild Tigers I Have Known, with Fairuza Balk and with nods to Derek Jarman, Kenneth Anger, and Araki's Mysterious Skin. The Ralph Nader documentary, An Unreasonable Man, will be screening the following week. On the 1st of June, the documentary, The Cats of Mirikitani, which Mike Steinberg, director of the series, has been raving about, will be screening all weekend. They will also be showing 35mm prints of Jodorowsky's El topo and The Holy Mountain later that month, as well as the beastiality doc, Zoo (or, better known among my friends, They Fuck Horses, Don't They?). July will show two of Peter Greenaway's early films, The Draughtsman's Contract and (my personal favorite) A Zed and Two Noughts. Expect reviews of most of these films on Playback's website, which I will, naturally, link from this blog.

Bloated, Unstructured Wish List for DVD 2007

What this intends to be is exactly what the title suggests. A horrible flu + cold medicine + not being able to sleep = a lot of time wasted on the Internet and plenty of blog postings that don't require much eloquence or thought on my part. So, I've compiled a list of 40 (er, 41) DVDs that would make me smile if their respective studios decided to release them in this upcoming 2007. They are in no particular order, whatsoever.

Antonioni Adoration:

1. Red Desert (Il deserto rosso) - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni - 1964 - Italy/France
[NOTE: Available Region 1 from Image Entertainment, though highly out-of-print (and of mediocre quality). The disc usually goes for well over $100 on amazon.com; also available in France, Italy, and Russia without English subtitles]

2. Zabriskie Point - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni - 1970 - USA

3. Beyond the Clouds (Al di là delle nuvole) - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders - 1995 - Italy/France/Germany
[NOTE: Previously released and discontinued by Image. Available in France.]

Give Me Ken Russell:

4. The Devils - dir. Ken Russell - 1971 - UK

5. The Boyfriend - dir. Ken Russell - 1971 - UK/USA

6. Whore - dir. Ken Russell - 1991 - USA/UK

Oh, Derek Jarman:

7. The Garden - dir. Derek Jarman - 1990 - UK
[NOTE: Available in the U.K. and Japan, Region 2.]

8. Wittgenstein - dir. Derek Jarman - 1993 - UK
[NOTE: Available in Japan, Region 2.]

And, Oh, Peter Greenaway:

9. Drowning by Numbers - dir. Peter Greenaway - 1988 - UK/Netherlands
[NOTE: Available in Australia (Region 4) and Japan (Region 2), panned and scanned.]

10. Prospero's Books - dir. Peter Greenaway - 1991 - UK/Netherlands/France/Italy/Japan

Pre-Romance Breillat:

11. Sale comme un ange (Dirty Like an Angel) - dir. Catherine Breillat - 1991 - France

12. Tapage nocturne (Nocturnal Uproar) - dir. Catherine Breillat - 1979 - France

Y Buñuel:

13. The Exterminating Angel (El ángel exterminador) - dir. Luis Buñuel - 1962 - Mexico
[NOTE: Available in most countries. The U.K. version is region free.]

14. Tristana - dir. Luis Buñuel - 1970 - France/Italy/Spain
[NOTE: Available in many regions.]

¡Pedro!:

15. Labyrinth of Passion (El laberinto de pasiones) - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 1982 - Spain

16. Pepi, Luci, Bom (Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón) - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 1980 - Spain
[NOTE: Available Region 2 from the U.K. and Spain.]

Jodorowsky:

17. El topo - dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky - 1970 - Mexico
[NOTE: No existing media release of the film has ever been fully uncensored.]

18. The Holy Mountain - dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky - 1973 - Mexico/USA
[NOTE: Available in edited versions from Italy and Japan.]

And the Rest:

19. The Addiction - dir. Abel Ferrara - 1995 - USA
[NOTE: Available region 1 from Mexico, and in various European countries.]

20. À la folie (Six Days, Six Nights) - dir. Diane Kurys - 1994 - France
[NOTE: Only available in Australia.]

21. Before the Revolution (Prima della rivoluzione) - dir. Bernardo Bertolucci - 1964 - Italy
[NOTE: Available in Italy and Japan.]

22. The Castle (Das Schloß) - dir. Michael Haneke - 1997 - Austria/Germany
[NOTE: Available in Germany.]

23. Flaming Creatures - dir. Jack Smith - 1963 - USA

24. A Hole in My Heart (Ett Hål i mitt hjärta) - dir. Lukas Moodysson - 2004 - Sweden/Denmark
[NOTE: Available for rent exclusively from Netflix.]

25. Johnny Guitar - dir. Nicholas Ray - 1954 - USA

26. Last Year at Marienbad (L'année dernière à Marienbad) - dir. Alain Resnais - 1961 - France/Italy
[NOTE: Formerly available from Fox Lorber, currently available in the U.K.]

27. Love & Human Remains - dir. Denys Arcand - 1993 - Canada
[NOTE: Available in the U.K.]

28. Made in U.S.A. - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - 1966 - France
[NOTE: Available in France, Japan, and Italy.]

29. The Magician (Ansiktet) - dir. Ingmar Bergman - 1958 - Sweden
[NOTE: Available throughout Europe and Japan.]

30. Mala noche - dir. Gus Van Sant - 1985 - USA

31. Mon homme (My Man) - dir. Bertrand Blier - 1996 - France

32. Multiple Maniacs - dir. John Waters - 1970 - USA

33. Napoleon - dir. Abel Gance - 1927 - France
[NOTE: Available in many countries.]

34. No Skin Off My Ass - dir. Bruce LaBruce - 1991 - Canada
[NOTE: Available in the U.K. as a double-bill with Super 8 1/2, both edited for content.]

35. Nowhere - dir. Gregg Araki - 1997 - France/USA
[NOTE: Available in France.]


36. The Passion of Darkly Noon - dir. Philip Ridley - 1995 - UK/Germany/Belgium
[NOTE: Available Region 1 in Canada.]

37. The Reflecting Skin - dir. Philip Ridley - 1990 - UK/Canada
[NOTE: Available in Japan.]

38. Rosetta - dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne - 1999 - Belgium/France
[NOTE: Available in France and U.K.]

39. Shy People - dir. Andrei Konchalovsky - 1987 - USA

40. Trouble Every Day - dir. Claire Denis - 2001 - France/Germany/Japan
[NOTE: Available for rent on Netflix with a Hong Kong NTSC disc, available most everywhere else too.]

And one to grow on...

41. A Portrait of Jason - dir. Shirley Clarke - 1967 - USA
[NOTE: Available in the U.K. from Second Run.]