the_lady_lily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_lady_lily) wrote2009-02-21 06:20 pm
the_lady_lily) wrote2009-02-21 06:20 pm
Entry tags:
Filmography
Aria
G and I watched this for our anniversary last week; G had seen it many moons ago and couldn't quite remember what he thought of it, and from his description, it sounded worth seeing. The general conceit is quite interesting - ten avant guarde film makers of the late 1980s were ask to make a short film to an operatic aria. One film acts as a framing narrative that connects the other nine together, but very loosely. The ten film-makers involved were Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, Bill Bryden, Jean-Luc Godard, Derek Jarman, Franc Roddam, Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Charles Sturridge and Julien Temple.
Now, there's not much point in me telling you what every segment contained, so I'm going to pick up on just a couple of them. Godard's was the oddest of the lot, all French and naked women swanning around with body builders - A Bit Odd but apparently it makes sense in the context of the opera the aria comes from. The segment based on Wagner's Liebestod was genius in terms of a modern compression of Wagneric themes but very, very hard to watch. Derek Jarman's bit involved Tilda Swinton, to absolutely no one's surprise. Theresa Russell cross-dressed as King Zog in the first segment, which was quite fun. The second segment, La virgine degli angeli, was black and white and heartbreakingly beautiful. The Rigoletto take was hysterically funny and totally out of place with the rest of the film - but it worked, oddly, in conjunction with the lycra-clad body-builders. The most oddly stylized and psychological was to Nessun Dorma as a woman hallucinated her way out of being in a massive car accident and needing quite severe surgery to recover. If you're interested, more info is in the Wikipedia article.
I really, really enjoyed this. It reminded me very much of a similar film cut together of short segments we watched in the German film class - but a lot better. Probably because of, you know, having a budget and some comprehensible overarching thematic drive. And not requiring a hell of a lot of political background and context to understand. Definitely five stars - because when you give excellent film-makers the opportunity to make excellent images to music without having to fuss about with staging dialogue, they make beautiful things.
Son of Paleface
As I said in my last filmography post, I grew up with Son of Paleface, and it only made sense to watch it again after Paleface itself. Again, Bob Hope and Jane Russell star, with Hope playing the son of his previous character, and Russell playing notorious local bandit the Torch with a line in gold robberies. They are joined by Roy Rogers, playing a federal agent trying to trap the Torch, and his wonderful horse Trigger.
Things start normally enough - Rogers is sent off to find the Torch, and Junior Potter rolls into the local Western town, fresh from Harvard, to claim his father's inheritance. Of course, Potter Snr has hidden the inheritance and left all his debts unpaid, so Junior has to fool the townsfolk and work out a way to get some money. He thinks the best way to do this is by marrying Mike, the owner of the local saloon - who, guess what? Just happens to be the voluptuous Russell, who is perfectly happy to marry Junior and get her hands on his inheritance. It all works out in the end, of course - but the film gets more and more surreal as it goes on, in ways I'd honestly forgotten about - like Junior's car rearing up on its hind wheels to say farewell to Rogers and Trigger, rearing against a vivid sunset.
Oh, so very silly. And Russell is so very pretty, especially in saloon girl singing costumes. And when scrubbing up in a tub. There's also much more music in this film than in the first - apparently it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song ('Am I In Love?"), which to my mind was well deserved. Four stars for old time's sake - and for the lovers of Jane Russell.
G and I watched this for our anniversary last week; G had seen it many moons ago and couldn't quite remember what he thought of it, and from his description, it sounded worth seeing. The general conceit is quite interesting - ten avant guarde film makers of the late 1980s were ask to make a short film to an operatic aria. One film acts as a framing narrative that connects the other nine together, but very loosely. The ten film-makers involved were Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, Bill Bryden, Jean-Luc Godard, Derek Jarman, Franc Roddam, Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Charles Sturridge and Julien Temple.
Now, there's not much point in me telling you what every segment contained, so I'm going to pick up on just a couple of them. Godard's was the oddest of the lot, all French and naked women swanning around with body builders - A Bit Odd but apparently it makes sense in the context of the opera the aria comes from. The segment based on Wagner's Liebestod was genius in terms of a modern compression of Wagneric themes but very, very hard to watch. Derek Jarman's bit involved Tilda Swinton, to absolutely no one's surprise. Theresa Russell cross-dressed as King Zog in the first segment, which was quite fun. The second segment, La virgine degli angeli, was black and white and heartbreakingly beautiful. The Rigoletto take was hysterically funny and totally out of place with the rest of the film - but it worked, oddly, in conjunction with the lycra-clad body-builders. The most oddly stylized and psychological was to Nessun Dorma as a woman hallucinated her way out of being in a massive car accident and needing quite severe surgery to recover. If you're interested, more info is in the Wikipedia article.
I really, really enjoyed this. It reminded me very much of a similar film cut together of short segments we watched in the German film class - but a lot better. Probably because of, you know, having a budget and some comprehensible overarching thematic drive. And not requiring a hell of a lot of political background and context to understand. Definitely five stars - because when you give excellent film-makers the opportunity to make excellent images to music without having to fuss about with staging dialogue, they make beautiful things.
Son of Paleface
As I said in my last filmography post, I grew up with Son of Paleface, and it only made sense to watch it again after Paleface itself. Again, Bob Hope and Jane Russell star, with Hope playing the son of his previous character, and Russell playing notorious local bandit the Torch with a line in gold robberies. They are joined by Roy Rogers, playing a federal agent trying to trap the Torch, and his wonderful horse Trigger.
Things start normally enough - Rogers is sent off to find the Torch, and Junior Potter rolls into the local Western town, fresh from Harvard, to claim his father's inheritance. Of course, Potter Snr has hidden the inheritance and left all his debts unpaid, so Junior has to fool the townsfolk and work out a way to get some money. He thinks the best way to do this is by marrying Mike, the owner of the local saloon - who, guess what? Just happens to be the voluptuous Russell, who is perfectly happy to marry Junior and get her hands on his inheritance. It all works out in the end, of course - but the film gets more and more surreal as it goes on, in ways I'd honestly forgotten about - like Junior's car rearing up on its hind wheels to say farewell to Rogers and Trigger, rearing against a vivid sunset.
Oh, so very silly. And Russell is so very pretty, especially in saloon girl singing costumes. And when scrubbing up in a tub. There's also much more music in this film than in the first - apparently it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song ('Am I In Love?"), which to my mind was well deserved. Four stars for old time's sake - and for the lovers of Jane Russell.