Blog Directory CineVerse: February 2018

A Fred Astaire from the Far East

Sunday, February 25, 2018

CineVerse presents another World Cinema Wednesday on February 28--this time from Japan. It's “Shall We Dance?” (1996; 136 minutes), directed by Masayuki Suo, chosen by Carole Bogaard

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Springtime is coming...and so is the new CineVerse schedule

Friday, February 23, 2018

Being a natural-born movie fan, it's only natural that you'd want to know what's on deck at CineVerse over the next two months. Our March/April calendar is now live and ready for viewing/downloading. Click here for the 411.

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Italy gives Disney the boot

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Unless you're a denizen of the midnight movie circuit or an aficionado of foreign cult films, you've probably never heard of "Allegro Non Troppo" let alone seen it. It's not a movie that's in wide circulation either (luckily a local library had a copy of the long-out-of-print DVD, or our CineVerse group would have been out of luck). But for those who opt to take this road less traveled, I suggest that the journey is satisfying and worthwhile. That's because "Allegro Non Troppo" is infused with an idiosyncratic artistry and comic approach that is distinctively different from what Americans expect. Watching the picture also provides a fascinating counterpoint contrast to Disney's "Fantasia," which it obviously apes in structure. A roundup of last night's group discussion on this movie follows.

WHAT ABOUT ALLEGO NON TROPPO CAUGHT YOU OFF GUARD AND SURPRISED YOU, IN A GOOD OR BAD WAY?

  • The film is obviously influenced by Disney’s Fantasia; it can be interpreted as both a loving homage and a mischievous spoof of that film. 
    • It echoes or parodies at least three of Fantasia’s segments: the Pastoral Symphony segment with its fauns and nymphs; the Rite of Spring/evolution of the earth segment; and the Night on Bald Mountain segment. 
    • It also interconnects each animated segment with a live-action interlude. 
    • Reviewer Richard Scheib wrote: “Allegro Non Troppo is also a far more adult film than Fantasia. Some of the segments are sexually overt and Bruno Bozzetto has a much darker sense of humor. The end of the film is like a series of Warner Brothers cartoons directed by someone with a sick sense of humor…The live action sequences rely on a Three Stooges slapstick freneticism.” 
    • “Rather than go for the refined beauty that hundreds of Disney animators were able to create in "Fantasia," he embraces his status as a low-budget operation and eschews "Fantasia's" self-importance for whimsy and social commentary. This allows "Allegro Non Troppo" to avoid becoming a knock-off of a famous film and become a masterpiece in its own right,” wrote reviewer Jeremy Fuster. 
    • Reviewer Ken Hanke said: “Allegro Non Troppo satirizes the combined pomposity and squeaky-clean quality of Fantasia at every turn.” 
  • It employs a more ragged, crude animation style than the pristine craftsmanship and classic lines, saturated colors and intricate detail of a Disney feature-length animated movie. The cartoons here look more quickly drawn and feature characters with less anthropomorphic shapes and more exaggerated, rounded characteristics. 
  • It definitely feels of its time, rooted in 1970s countercultural sensibilities, psychedelia, and adult vibes, at a time when other non-Disney animated feature films were often naughty, trippy and experimental (e.g., Ralph Bashki’s movies like Fritz the Cat and Wizards, René Laloux’s Fantasic Planet, etc.). 
  • It’s got the pedigree and reputation of a cult film, a midnight movie, a college campus favorite, and an arthouse picture. These brandings would have hurt its commercial and mainstream appeal, but the fact that it wasn’t a mainstream popular success would have given it high street cred. 
WHAT THEMES EMERGE AFTER VIEWING ALLEGO NON TROPPO?
  • Classicism (depicted and celebrated in Fantasia) has given way to modernism. Consider how the movie seems to satirize the mythical and fantastical realms that are meant to be adored in Fantasia, choosing instead to focus on technology, innovation and modern values and concerns (sex, lust, post-apocalyptic regret, a drug-infused consciousness, etc.). 
  • Life is ever-changing, evolving and morphing. “The movie as a whole ponders the absence of permanence,” posited AV Club writer Noel Murray. 
  • The randomness and insignificance of man’s existence in the universe. 
  • Hell is modern society—with its materialistic trappings, sexual obsessions and overreliance on technology. 
WHAT OTHER FILMS OR ARTISTS DOES ALLEGRO NON TROPPO CONJURE UP?
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey and its “Dawn of Man” segment 
  • The film “Chariots of the Gods”, which is satirized in this movie’s Bolero segment 
  • Woody Allen and Mel Brooks movies 
  • The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine animated film 
  • The offbeat and adult comic sensibilities of Federico Fellini films 
  • The adult and bizarre Terry Gilliam animations in Monty Python films 
  • The surreal artistic style of Salvador Dali 
  • The Wizard of Oz, in that both pictures use color to convey the realm of fantasy vs. black and white/sepia to depict the real world. 
  • Three Stooges shorts, with its slapstick 
  • Chuck Jones-style Looney Tunes animation 
  • The artistic stylings of Robert Crumb and Peter Max

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"I am a human being"

Sunday, February 18, 2018

David Lynch's "The Elephant Man" is a moving and visually memorable movie set during a turning point in man's history--a time when the English monarchy was becoming more symbolic and less political, an era when the Industrial Revolution and the machine age were gaining momentum, a time when ignorance and superstition was giving way to science and intellectual thought. This simple story of a doctor's compassion for and faith in a man cursed by disfigurement and shamed by society still resonates with viewers and packs a strong emotional punch. Much was discussed about this film at our recent CineVerse meeting, including the following:


WHAT SURPRISED YOU ABOUT THIS FILM?
  • It was directed by David Lynch, a filmmaker known for strange, surrealistic visions and twisted narratives that can be difficult to follow. By contrast, this narrative is straightforward, linear and mainstream. 
  • It was filmed in black and white. Arguably, that was the right decision, imbuing it with a period piece authenticity and antique sheen. What the year of this release is 1980, a time when black and white was certainly out of fashion and a commercial liability that would likely hurt box office appeal. 
  • The movie has a life-affirming, positive message and vibe, despite a character and subject matter that can be depressing, dark and sad. In the words of DVD Savant reviewer Glenn Erickson, “The Elephant Man has just about everything: a human story, told with remarkable sensitivity it’s a nightmare film we can all relate to, even if the leading character is a once-in-a-century freakish aberration.” 
  • It was actually produced by Mel Brooks, standing as the initial project for his newly formed Brooksfilm company. It says a lot about Brooks that he chose this story for his first foray as a producer. 
  • The sound design of the movie features a disturbing cacophony of machine noises and unnerving sounds meant to get under our skin. 
  • The film has all the trappings of a classic horror movie: high contrast lighting and dark shadows in a black-and-white universe, a physical monstrosity worthy of our sympathy like the Frankenstein monster, the gothic romanticism of Victorian England, etc. Yet, this is not a horror film – it’s a humanistic portrait of a doctor and his patient. 

WHAT THEMES ARE ON DISPLAY IN THE ELEPHANT MAN?
  • The dark side of the Industrial Revolution and the machine age. Consider that Dr. Treves perform surgery on a man terribly mangled by a machine; the filmmakers also continually depict dark Victorian machines and men who try to wield them. 
  • The dangers of ignorance, insensitivity, intolerance, social cruelty and premature first impressions. 
  • Man’s inherent right to dignity, respect, and freedom from ridicule. 
  • Our humanity is partially defined by the way others treat and perceive us. According to blogger and essayist Norman Holland: “It is not reason, but people’s reactions to Merrick that define him and them as human – or not. It is when Treves treats him as a man, not just some weird thing to be shown to the medical society, it is when the nurses stopping terrified by him and relate to him as a patient, it is when two beautiful women speak to him kindly, it is in the finale when the theater audience admires his courage, that both Merrick and those reacting to him acquire humanity.” 
  • Trying to build a holy house—a temple of peace, grace and beauty. Merrick attempts to construct a paper cathedral, which he has to use his imagination to make and finish. The cathedral could be a wish fulfillment object that embodies his desire for a more perfect temple (body). 
  • Life is a “show”; Holland said: “The Elephant Man is one long series of (shows): 
    • Bytes shows Merrick as part of a freak show. 
    • Treves shows Merrick to “society” (medical society). 
    • Treves shows that Merrick can recite the 23rd Psalm. 
    • The night porter shows Merrick to a girl. 
    • Treves shows Merrick to his wife. 
    • Merrick shows his mother’s portrait to Mrs. Treves. 
    • Merrick shows Nurse Kathleen his model of St. Phillips’ church. 
    • Merrick is shown to the actress Mrs. Kendal. 
    • Merrick shows Mrs. Kendal his mother’s portrait. 
    • Merrick is shown to “society” (London elite). “He’s only being stared at all over again.” 
    • Treves feels guilt about his own showing of Merrick, even as he is surrounded by “shows,” i.e., objects d’art. 
    • Princess Alexandra makes an appearance and shows a letter from the Queen. 
    • Merrick is shown to the drunks from the tavern. 
    • Bytes shows Merrick in a European freak show. 
    • Merrick goes to the theater, sees a pantomime show, and is shown to the audience. 
    • Lynch “shows” us Merrick’s dying moments. 
    • One long string of “shows” by a master showman. And that final audience applauding in the theater— that includes us, doesn’t it? 
OTHER FILMS THAT THE ELEPHANT MAN REMINDS US OF:
  • Mask 
  • The Miracle Worker 
  • Freaks 
  • La Strada 
OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY DAVID LYNCH:
  • Eraserhead 
  • Blue Velvet 
  • Wild at Heart 
  • Lost Highway 
  • The Straight Story 
  • Mulholland Drive

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Fantasia, Italian style

World Cinema Wednesday returns to CineVerse on February 21 with a special from Italy: “Allegro non troppo” (1976; 75 minutes) directed by Bruno Bozzetto, chosen by Mike Bochenek; Plus: enjoy the Nutcracker Suite segment and Sorcerer’s Apprentice segment from Disney’s “Fantasia”; and a trailer reel preview of the March/April CineVerse schedule.

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Pinch yourself: David Lynch directs a straightforward narrative movie

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Plan to join CineVerse on February 14, when we'll be celebrating Valentine's Day with “The Elephant Man” (1980; 124 minutes), directed by David Lynch, chosen by Dan Quenzel

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Same as it ever was: a great concert film

Thursday, February 8, 2018

To conclude our current quick-theme quintet, we took a bit of a departure from the conventional rock doc last night at CineVerse, choosing instead to spotlight a long-beloved concert performance film: "Stop Making Sense," the Talking Heads' unforgettable 1984 movie that, for many, is the benchmark against which rock concert flicks are judged. Here are the main takeaways, based on our CineVerse discussion:

IN WHAT WAYS IS THIS FILM MORE CINEMATIC THAN OTHER CONCERT PERFORMANCE MOVIES AND HOW DOES IT LOOK, FEEL AND RESEMBLE A CLASSIC NARRATIVE HOLLYWOOD FILM?

  • Like a carefully constructed classic screenplay, “Stop Making Sense” is a three-act story.
  • The band members function as characters that each have unique musical personalities and serve a role that forwards the story or “narrative”.
  • The band members are introduced gradually. The first number starts with David Byrne alone; one by one and with each successive song, more musicians join the story until the first act ends with all musicians together on stage performing “Burning Down the House.” 
  • Act 2 concludes with arguably the band’s most famous song, “Once in a Lifetime.”
  • Act 3 builds to a strong climax with its final three show-stopping numbers, the first of which, “Girlfriend Is Better,” showcases Byrne in the famous big suit costume.
  • Because the film appears to gradually build in intensity, in terms of its songs, band size and cinematic techniques, you can make a case that “momentum is itself a character in Stop Making Sense,” according to Slant Magazine critic Chuck Bowen.
  • The filmmakers employ stark, expressionistic lighting, endemic of film noir, horror and mystery movies. 
  • This film is referential to cinematic history and classic movies: consider how the opening credits resemble those for “Dr. Strangelove” (the same title designer, Pablo Ferro, worked on both movies); Byrne riffs on dance moves made famous by Fred Astaire in movies like “Royal Wedding” (Byrne dances with a lamp like Astaire dances with a coat rack) and “Swing Time”; Byrne staggers around as if shot during “Psycho Killer”, similar to how Jean-Paul Belmondo staggers in “Breathless.”
  • Like an A-list Hollywood musical, this film is meticulously choreographed, not in terms of dance moves but in its editing style, shots and camera angles, lighting and cinematography. This is a carefully crafted work that was tediously planned and staged.
IN WHAT OTHER WAYS IS STOP MAKING SENSE A VAST DEPARTURE FROM OTHER ROCK CONCERT FILMS YOU’VE SEEN?
  • Rarely is the crowd shown; many concert movies prominently pepper in shots of the audience and their fawning reactions to the performers.
  • Smack dab in the early MTV era, when music videos were known for rapid-fire cutting, this picture veers away from a fast-paced editing style, instead choosing to linger on extended shots of one or more musicians.
    • “We didn’t want the clichés. We didn’t want close-ups of people’s fingers while they’re doing a guitar solo. We wanted the camera to linger, so you could get to know the musicians a little bit,” said Talking Heads drummer Chris Franz in an interview about the movie. 
  • David Byrne is an enigmatic, unpredictable and fascinating performer. His sheer kinetic energy and infectious enthusiasm powers this film. Think about the offbeat, unusual and sometimes unnerving body movements, gestures, poses, and dance moves. We see him writhing and spasming about on the floor, jogging around the stage, flailing about like he’s being electrocuted, dancing with a floor lamp, making playful shadows on the screen in back of him, and trying to look rhythmic and natural inside a gigantic suit that makes his head looked tiny. 
  • “The actual physical impact of the film is…exhilarating: Watching the Talking Heads in concert is a little like rock ‘n roll crossed with “Jane Fonda’s Workout,” wrote Roger Ebert.
  • About the big suit, Byrne said in an interview: "I was in Japan in between tours and I was checking out traditional Japanese theater — Kabuki, Noh, Bunraku. A fashion designer friend said in his typically droll manner, ‘Well David, everything is bigger on stage.’ He was referring to gestures and all that, but I applied the idea to a businessman's suit. I wanted my head to appear smaller and the easiest way to do that was to make my body bigger, because music is very physical and often the body understands it before the head."
  • Director Jonathan Demme and his collaborators were careful to film three different Talking Heads concerts from virtually every angle possible using multiple cameras. The result is an abundance of coverage and interesting angles and close-ups that you typically don’t see in your standard concert movie.
ARE THERE ANY THEMES THAT CAN BE EXTRACTED FROM STOP MAKING SENSE?
  • The title speaks for itself: the music, lyrics and style of this avant-garde band will require viewers to abandon logic and reason and just give in to the music and energy. Put another way, trying to make sense out of everything can kill art, spontaneity, mood and magic.
  • Revenge of the nerds: David Byrne in particular looks like the ultimate 1980s adult geek, but one who has found salvation and purpose in exploring different musical genres – including funk, gospel, country, reggae, new wave, punk and rock ‘n roll.
  • Rock ‘n roll doesn’t always have to be sexy: Byrne certainly doesn’t exude any sex appeal, nor do his songs; yet, Talking Heads’ music can be quite alluring and ecstatic.
  • According to Bowen: “Byrne’s theme, and his empathy, meshes with the theme of many of director Jonathan Demme’s other pictures: life as a fleeting, varied ride of odd little things, too texturally varied to invite self-pity. Byrne, especially in “The Big Suit,” is a potentially dwarfed white man who finds catharsis in everything.”
OTHER NOTABLE FILMS BY JONATHAN DEMME:
  • The Silence of the Lambs
  • Melvin and Howard
  • Something Wild
  • Philadelphia
  • Rachel Getting Married
  • Married to the Mob
  • Swing Shift

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And you may find yourself...coming to CineVerse on February 7

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Bring your toes and be prepared to tap them on February 7, the date that CineVerse concludes its Quick Theme Quintet with “Stop Making Sense” (1984; 88 minutes), directed by Jonathan Demme. Plus: watch a trailer reel of other renowned rock docs.

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Seventies swan song

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Many film critics and scholars consider Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz" the greatest of all rock docs and concert movies. A big reason is the high production values and cinematic structure employed, with the songs performed and interviews rendered providing a dynamic narrative that is both entertaining and fascinating in its construction. Below is further proof of this picture's fine pedigree, as discussed last night at CineVerse:

HOW IS THE LAST WALTZ DIFFERENT FROM OTHER CONCERT FILMS YOU’VE SEEN?

  • This movie features direct interviews with the band members as well as expected concert performance footage. 
  • This was the first feature-length concert movie actually shot on higher-quality 35mm film as opposed to cheaper 16mm film. The filmmakers also employed multiple 35mm cameras to cover various angles for each performance. 
  • Director Martin Scorsese carefully planned this production – in contrast to the “capture whatever you happens” style of guerrilla filmmaking utilized in Woodstock, Monterey Pop and other previous concert films. He wanted this to be a controlled environment, and he went so far as to storyboard each song and create a script detailing the set list and lyrics to every song. 
    • He hired excellent technical talent to achieve his vision, including Boris Leven – production designer on The Sound of Music and West Side Story; and ace cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs (Easy Writer, Five Easy Pieces, Ghostbusters) and Vilmos Szigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Deliverance). 
    • He meticulously choreographed camera moves using cranes, rolling tracks the cameras moved along, handheld cameras, and stationary cameras, and he planned dramatic stage lighting – elements that correspond with certain songs and even lyrics to a song or guest appearances. The filmmakers also focused on recording better sync sound that didn’t rely only on the camera’s microphone. 
    • The set, located in the Winterland ballroom in San Francisco, was carefully dressed and appointed with decor like eye-catching chandeliers used in Gone With the Wind. The backdrop was borrowed from a San Francisco Opera recent production. 
    • In fact, the filmmakers even recalled many of the performers back to the stage months later to shoot additional performance footage. 
    • As a result, the rock artists had to relinquish spontaneity and organic performing in exchange for a precisely edited, more cinematically appealing film that attempts to capture virtually everything – priceless expressions, smiles and winks passed between the performers, transitions to solos, etcetera. 
    • Consequently, this picture is more cinematic, fluid and rhythmic than earlier concert film efforts that appeared ragged, improvisational, and raw. 
    • “Although he sometimes acts as if the final show were a bit overproduced, Scorsese’s use of Hollywood professionals to dress up the movie was a very good move,” wrote DVD Savant reviewer Glenn Erickson. “Frankly, most earlier concert films tended to become repetitious and boring, unless one were a fanatic music fan. The carefully planned lighting changes and nicely designed stage sets give the show an edge. For once, a concert film isn’t a poor substitute for really being there.” 
    • Erickson further wrote: “Scorsese’s filming didn’t imitate the camera clichés of television variety shows, swooping past meaningless decor, pulling focus on blurred lights, or combining close-ups and full body shots in double exposures. His angles are straightforward and powerful, brightly lit and sharply focused.” 
    • Rolling Stone’s David Fear wrote: “There’s an incredible sense of the community onstage that gets captured by making this a performance film first and foremost, and that was exactly what Scorsese was after. The director wasn't interested, he said, in showing two girls giggling and then cutting to Rick Danko looking like a Tiger Beat pin-up; he wanted to see Helm shooting Danko a glance as they lock into the beat and go into the bridge of "Ophelia." It's as cinematic a rendering of the alchemy that musicians – and especially those five Band members – produce when they're caught in that spotlight.” 
  • Interestingly, the subject matter of the film is a rock group who arguably wasn’t as well-known at the time, or even now, then many of the subjects of other famous rock docs or, for that matter, most of the guests who appear alongside them in this movie. Also, the kind of rock that The Band played and was known for isn’t as popular a sub-genre: roots/folk rock, alt-country, or “Americana.” 
  • Other concert performance movies often feature ample crowd shots and close-up reactions from fan attendees. This movie is all about the performers on the stage and the statement they’re trying to make. 
  • Surprisingly, the movie begins with its encore, showing the concluding number that was filmed and then segueing to the concert’s earlier moments. 
WHAT THEMES STAND OUT AFTER WATCHING THE LAST WALTZ?
  • The end of an era: this is meant to be the swan song farewell for The Band, who want to go out on a high note. 
  • Tribute and homage: rock royalty come to pay tribute to a lesser known but highly respected and appreciated group; their presence in the film elevates the occasion and the stature of this rock doc. 
  • Performing music well is like a graceful dance – hence the significance of the title of the movie. A waltz is also considered a more formal, regal and traditional dance appreciated by the cultured and sophisticated, just as this movie arguably has a more formal and traditional structure and cultured and sophisticated sheen about it. 
OTHER FILMS BY MARTIN SCORSESE
  • Mean Streets 
  • Taxi Driver 
  • Raging Bull 
  • The King of Comedy 
  • Goodfellas 
  • Casino 
  • The Departed 
  • Hugo
  • The Wolf of Wall Street

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