Saturday, November 22, 2003

December Movie Schedule: International Auteur Month

In an effort to change things up a bit a and get away from the exploitation/genre kick we have been on, we decided that December was a perfect time to "up our culture". So each week will focus on a specific country and a specific director from that country. (As Owen has pointed out that we have a snowball's chance in hell of getting marathon tickets even if we had money, I have gone ahead and scheduled Dec 16.)

Tuesday December 2nd: Spanish Heat -- The Films of Almodovar
7pm: Dark Habits [1983] - Described on IMDB as "Confusing, incoherent & extremely bizzare". Almodovar exorcises every last remaining demon from his days in a Catholic boarding school. I don't think the Pope liked it.
9pm: All About My Mother [1999] - The master of mayhem tones it down and wins an oscar. I think one review called it "a love-letter to all women".

Tuesday December 9: Nouveau Vague -- Early Godard
7pm: A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) [1960] - The beautiful (and tragic) Jean Seberg & Jean-Paul Belmondo are young lovers on the run. Later remade (for no decernable reason) with Richard Gere.
9pm: Band A Part [1964] - Again sticking close to his Film Noir inspirations. Said to contain the scene that inspired the "twist contest" in Pulp Fiction.

Note changes!!

Tuesday December 16: Beyond Lola - The Other Films of Tom Tykwer
7pm: Wintersleepers [1997] - Deals with similar material as Run Lola Run, (his "breakthrough" film), fate, chance, & serendipity; but this time with a less frenetic, more poetic approach.
9pm: Heaven [2002] - From a script by Krzysztof Kieslowski (The Three Colours trilogy), Tom Tykwer gets the chance to prove what a good actor I always knew Giovanni Ribisi was.

Tuesday December 23: Zen and the Art of Camera Manipulation - Shohei Imamura
7pm: Vengence is Mine [1979] - Considered one of the great serial killer movies, Imamura's approach might be a little hard to follow at first, but the emotional payoff is worth it.
9pm: Warm Water Under a Red Bridge [2001] - Strange romance involving a woman with "interesting" sexual powers. Contemplative imagery and a sense of humour that is a little left of center dominate.

Tuesday December 30: The Dutch Madman - Paul Verhoeven
7pm: The Fourth Man [1983] - Sexual thirller/comedy made as an "artful" response to critical complaints about the exploitive nature of Speters. Makes Basic Instinct look like a walk in the park.
9pm: Speters [1980] - Kind of like a Dutch Wild Ones, but with a lot more nudity and a gay rape scene that has to be seen to be believed.

I apologize in advance for the abnormally high sex content of most of these films (I just sort of noticed it), but I guess this is what happens in countries that weren't founded by Puritans. An open mind is highly recomended.

See ya soon,

~meeko

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