[ginger_kitty]

I watched Miss Potter, which was absolutely adorable!

Also rented Shopgirl, and loved it! I was skeptical b/c I a not really a Steve Martin fan. But ended up pleasantly surprised by how good the story was. And I loved Claire Daines as Mirabelle.

Saw The Squid and the Whale, which I found kind of dark but very honest.

And also Marie Antoinette, I was affraid I wouldn't like the movie, b/c of the sound track and various other reasons, but I really enjoyed watching it. I'm a sucker for lavish sets, and vivid colors.

[chachaheels]

Oh, Girltrouble, you are so complimentary, I'm blushing! But: you know I looooove that.!

I remember watching The Out of Towners when I was a kid, my brother and I imitated Jack and Sandy's signature lines for days afterwards. I thought the remake (a white telephone concept all by itself, if one ever existed) was roundly disapproved of for exactly the reasons you stated. In that film specifically, the flaunted wealth counterpoints old Jack and Sandy's struggles to get ahead, which are so frustrated. It's such a cynical insult on the original film's commentary, a big ninety minute commercial for Rudy Giuliani's economic bath project in Manhattan ("If you're not making 100K per year, get off this island now or you'll end up like Abner Luima!!").

I know what you mean about the films of the 70's...but the influence of the Situationists (among others) was still so fresh in everyone's minds then, and people really seemed excited about exploring all kinds of issues in film because film seemed to be "opening up" in such interesting ways, all over the world. So many of the US artists working then seemed so promising, but only a few actually kept working along the same veins as the ones which so inspired them. But don't forget about the critics who were also working then: they had a readership who demanded really good analysis, far more than "I liked this film because Starbucks had a big presence in it, and the newspaper's placed my column just above one of their weekly ads..."
Certainly not all the films of that era were great, but they were marked by their sense of experimentation, their comparative fearlessness in presenting a much more realistic portrayal of people, no matter what the "official" portrayals conveyed. So many of those films still hold up.

Pepper, I'm so glad you're computer's revived!!! I know what you mean about the Wizard of Oz. I simultaneously loathe and obsess about the film whenever it's on. The story's so....odd, for a story. So contrary to the whole idea of a "journey". I have a neice who could not stop watching it when she was a child...it really formed her aesthetic sense.

[pepper]

holy shamoly, got my computer back from repair (my geeky little technofreak brother, bless his antisocial basement dwelling soul) and i watched the movie Sicko that he stuck in there. anyone else seen it? yikes, so scary. i cried. i find that kind of real life story more moving, frightening, heart wrenching etc than anything made up.
loved the bit at the end about the hook-a-canadian site for americans wanting to get married for access to health care. what a brat m. moore is.

i watched the wizard of oz the other day with my boy, what a movie that is. i've been reading maguire's wicked and son of a witch recently so it was a whole 'nuther view into the story line.
why don't they make movies like that anymore? the singing in disney films these days is absolutely repellant.

[girltrouble]

chacha, i am so crushed out on you... i love it when you get all filmic...

my idea of the quintessentual american white phone movie is anything with goldie hawn or steve martin. they are the zenith of the type of movie making i loathe. the thing that really chapped my hide was their remake of the out of towners; originally a solidly middle class 70's black comedy, starring jack lemon and sandy dennis, about a man trying to get a promotion into middle management. in the gh/sm version, she is constantly draped in fur coats, expensive clothes, and go to only the nicest hotels. and where in the original they were always reminded of crime and the seedy side of nyc, in the new version, every situation is a set up for a cameo for one of their comedic charecter actor friends....

of course, as you point out, very few films now deal with monitary inequality, or monitary issues at all-- let alone poverty. that, they seem to be saying, is the perview of arthouse films.

personally i fell in love with 80's + british working class films-- like those of ken loach (riff raff, raining stones, ladybird ladybird), or more provocatively, the films of mike leigh (life is sweet, naked, meantime, or even his period piece, vera drake). their grittyness was a refreshing change from the bubble gum simplicity of american film life.

but then, i love the pessimism, grit, and inventiveness of american movies of the 70's...i just wonder where the hell all the good films went. i miss those complex charecters, which explains why i adore solendz' happiness.

as for storytelling, i think it was a bit maligned because many of the reviewers thought the idea of a movie having the lead part played by several different actresses of all different types, was pure gimmick. not realizing it was a technique done by the father of surreal film, bunuel, in the brilliant, that obscure object of desire. in object of desire, the main charecter fails to notice that the woman he is obsessed with is played by two different actresses. the result is that we see she is far, far different that the ideal he imagines her to be. the same point is made by storytelling, as you can guess from it's title-- it's about this way we have of not looking at this teenage girl who is trying desperately to get pregnant, and white wash her with our own assumptions. solondz certainly doesn't take sides, either. both the left and the right are taken on. what is interesting to me, anyways, is the way that solondz makes us aware of those assumptions with each change of actress. all the while we think we know what she should do, our perception of that subtly shifts, when she is black, a red head, etc... and i think that is what i like about his films since happiness, he keeps you at once in the film, but aware of how you are perceiving what is going on in the film...something very few directors can do for any length of time...

back to crash for a second, i agree about the odd chemestry of deborah kara unger and james spader. it seems much more real to me than most movie relationships. but then i've had a huge crush on DKU for a while. i adored her in the game. how can you not love a movie where its all about turning michael douglas' life to shit. even if it's temporary. he seems to make these weird equally detached, upscale (white phone?) masculine nighmares (think fatal attraction, basic instinct)

[sukouyant]

I love that concept.

[chachaheels]

"White telephones" is just a literal translation of "telefoni bianchi", an era in filmmaking around the beginning of the 20th century, particularly in Italian film. Films of that era would feature any kind of story but the one stipulation about those stories was that the characters and sets all had to be lavish and overly dressed and extremely glamourous. In other words, films that were trying to show an "ideal" of life to the audience, who, in reality, did not live "glamourously". These kinds of films were being made and shown to people who survived the dearth of the first world war, and, following that, the extreme poverty of the depression (which was much much worse there than it was here in North America). Those kinds of films lead to the rise of Neo Realism in film making: think of movies like the Bicycle Thief by Vittorio di Sica. Films which actually featured real scenery and realistic sets, characters who looked like the members in the audience, themes which grappled with the same kinds of ideas, problems, and politics those watching the movies thought about and lived with. Filmmakers became less focused on telling "fairy tale" like spectacle stories and more interested in actually reflecting the world around them as another means of connecting with their audiences. And the goal of filmmakers became less about selling "dreams" than it did about social change. Roberto Rossellini's films, for example, are so entrenched in the idea of reflecting reality that people often criticized his work as a sign of his confusion between the news and movies.

There's definitely been a return of the "white telephone" style of filmmaking in US cinema if you consider what we're shown as "typical" characters. A simple story cannot be told without the backdrop of wealth and a perfected ideal of beauty. Finances are never a concern for many characters (in fact, money's never an object, and many never even seem to work for a living or only work at jobs that pay extraordinarily well...a situation fewer and fewer people will ever know). Think of a film like You, Me, and Dupree (terrible film, but just for an example of a "light" movie made and released weekly in the US): which is about a newlywed young couple, just starting out....who've somehow acquired the means for a splendid Frank Lloyd Wright style manse gloriously outfitted in sumptuous leather couches, hermes blankets, and a kitchen that would make a chef drool. For starters. How many just-out-of-school young marrieds do you know like this? Speaking for myself, even if I include friends who are heirs/heiresses with trust funds at that age, when they "just started out": not a one.

Another example: compare the typical US film's cast with those in films from countries like the UK. Actors have to be "perfect" here in a way that doesn't seem to exist in other countries. People like Helen Mirren or Judy Dench, for example, would never have become film stars in the US (they're only famous in the US now because they became film stars in very successful British films and television series, first).

Yes, I think Igby Goes Down (a film i hardly remember, i hate to say) qualiies, but only in the sense that we're looking at a universal story told in the context of the New York Elite. Ultimately, it's about a boy who's in a dysfunctional family, undergoing some abusive situations, a kid who's supposed to be one of the best and brightest (compare it to a film like The Squid and the Whale for an example of a similar story with a less economically advantaged backdrop). I think of White Telephone whenever I see films like "You've Got Mail". A Cinderella story with oodles of spondulux, pretty pretty people, cotton candy padded aggression, and a happy little ending despite it all.

Storytelling really upset me. But I think that was the point. I like the Dollhouse movie, though...as [painful and disturbing as that was too.

[faerietails2]

Hello my lovelies! I'm back from my vacation.

I saw Becoming Jane and I liked it. It took a while to get past her accent, but after a while I didn't even notice it anymore. (Though I must admit, James McAvoy's the one who kept me hooked throughout...I drool every time I look at the man. It's Pavlovian.)

I finally saw Kinky Boots and really liked it. It's completely predictable, but whatever.

I'm I the only one who loved the increasing creepiness of Little Children (I even bought a used copy of teh movie this week)? I like the dialogue and the narration, and when I first saw it, I was like, "Hmm...what a neat little movie." And then it began to get weirder and weirder and creep me out. And I liked it. I have macabre sensibilities, what can I say?

[anarch]

I loved both Magnolia and Happiness. Magnolia, because it was the first (only?) film I'd ever seen that addressed the subject of awful fathers and didn't let them off the hook. Happiness, because of the scenes between the psychologist and his son - damn fine acting, direction, and writing, all walking a tightrope balance that for me struck truth, in representing human beings in all their complexity.

What do people here think of Solondz's Storytelling? I also loved his Welcome to the Dollhouse (he so gets being unpopular in junior high school). But I've heard mixed reviews of Storytelling, and as race is a hot button issue for me I've been wondering if watching it will just piss me off.

[snow white]

girltrouble~ god, i haven't seen "magnolia" since highschool, but i hated it! something about tom cruise screaming 'tame the pussy' at the top of his lungs just turns me off... (probably b/c i can see him doing that in real life)

chachaheelss~ i just googled "white telephonies" so i get the premises, but can you throw some examples out? (i was thinking "igby goes down" but maybe i'm totally off).

[chachaheels]

I also think Crash is one of Cronenberg's truly erotic films....but I "get" why people find it so repulsive. When it first came out on video I watched it with a bunch of friends, and one of them is still so upset about the film (this is years later!) that you just need to mention the word and he'll start ranting. Spader and Deborah Kara Unger are amazing to watch, though; and there is something so deeply united about them as a couple. I found the book to be equally disturbing, but also very good (I just finished reading it). I think Cronenberg's one of the bravest filmmakers around for actually exploring sexuality on film in a way that doesn't fit into the "porn" standards or the "code" standards we're still seeing in every commercial film being made. There's a complexity in each portrayal, and often it's really disturbing or creepy or even sickening or sometimes comical (like the sex scene featuring Maria Bello in a cheerleader's get-up on History of Violence...which also has an aspect of creepiness, come to think of it)....but that's because you have to admit that sexuality can be those very dark things. Especially between 2 people...often married people...a dynamic he likes to "expose" as wildly opposed to the Ozzie and Harriet norm we're still being fed, quite often in his movies.

But that's what I love about Cronenberg: he's the filmic antidote to "white telephones" (and we're definitely in a white-telephone revisitation period), "feel-good" movies with swelling, manipulative music scores; Disney; cynical "historical" biopics; and items like a closeted, scientology-bearded John Travolta screaming about how he's not a gay after doing a transvestite role in a movie remake originally written and directed by a gay man.

And Cronenberg's damn fine looking, too, with a calm and distinguished presence. Like you could talk to him over lunch and not have to hide from everyone else in the restaurant because his behaviour turned out to be catastrophically childish and attention depraved.

Other than that, I just watched the documentary called "Who Killed the Electric Car" and now I feel like there's very little hope.

And that Solenz' Happiness makes me think: "oy".

[anna k]

I liked The Ten. It was irreverent and silly, and I especially liked the stories involving Winona Ryder, Gretchen Mol, Liev Schreiber, and the Rhino segment. I liked that Winona was more wild and weird and funny, Gretchen has become a better actress, Liev's very good at being deadpan and silly at the same time, and I interviewed the director David Wain for my zine once.

[designermedusa]

I saw 2 Days in Paris tonight, and it was really funny. The audience was laughing so much you couldn't hear some of the dialogue. I really didn't think it was going to have so many comedic scenes. I have never cared for Adam Goldberg, but he was so good in this film.

[Jaymi]

sukouyant - lol..then I guess I better go see it! Maybe I'll treat myself to it this weekend.

Snow - I saw little children and thought the same thing as you...started out like an offbeat love story and turned into something pretty creepy. But overall I liked it - very interesting!

[girltrouble]

oh, yeah, bunny, people love or hate c's crash. i think it hits those same melodramatic notes a douglas sirk film does but for utterly different reasons...to me it's like a bizarre, kinky romance novel, really, i can't get enough of it...i find it terribly, terribly erotic, but i'm kinky like that.... i could watch that movie a kazillion times, but the first time i didn't know what to make of it... but that was one of the most memorable critic's screenings i've attended...lol... they were awfully squirmy....

and snow, you're thinking of another film named crash. this one stars kink charecter actor supreme, james spader, holly hunter, and rosanna arquette.
as for brick, i loved it, some here hated it....

but speaking of love or hate movies, how about, "happiness" by todd solenz, or "magnolia" by what's his head....?

[snow white]

was Crash that movie w/ all the intersecting plot lines? i've been avoiding it, it looks like a gimick mascerading as something very "deep". same thing with that Butterfly Effect movie w/ ashton kutcher. along the same vein though, has anyone seen Brick?

[bunnyb]

I loathe Crash and think the book is the biggest load of crap I've ever read (I had to study it); it put me off watching any other Cronenberg films.

[anna k]

I liked Crash too, and when the film of the same name came out in 2005, I kept getting it confused with the Cronenberg movie.

[girltrouble]

i didn't really find spider that hard to follow, actually... i hate to say this, especially about chronenberg, since he used to be one of my favorites... but i found it a bit predictable. i loved the mis-en-scene-- very claustrophobic, and the big metal monstrosity in the back ground was delightful. ralph is awesome (he can do no wrong in my book because of strange days),but i prefer mid career chronenberg. i liked a history of violence a lot, but i prefer the videodrome thru crash era. he's pretty much left the body horror genre, for the more mundane violent commentary films. sigh... i adore crash....but i'm kinky like that.

speaking of kinky:

))<<>>((

i loved u, me and everybody. it was heartbreaking, which says it all in a film.

[chachaheels]

Well, now I'm even more determined to see it, Anarch. I wouldn't say your dependence on the commentary means you're slow on the uptake, no way. Cronenberg definitely has his own vision, and I'd have liked him to tell me a lot more about all his movies because there is always quite a lot going on in them. He used to scare me senseless when I was younger but as I grow older I'm finding his way of seeing the world is very similar to my own, for reasons I didn't even "see" in his work when I was younger. Anyway, I'm paying the exorbitant late charge at the library (they're underfunded anyway) so I can have a close look on your recommendation.

I just can't have John Travolta in the same mental space as the one I've allotted to Divine. So I just can't watch the remake of Hairspray. On the other hand, I suppose I should be grateful for the small blessings: they could have remade Female Trouble, with Travolta playing Divine's role in that.

[anarch]

I saw Spider on DVD. I found it a little difficult to follow, but liked it. Then I watched the director's commentary, which pointed out tons of details that I hadn't noticed and that made it much easier to see what was going on. So then I had to re-watch the movie again & decided I loved it. Miranda Richardson is of course fabulous. (Of course there's the issue of, if the commentary's necessary to make the message clear, perhaps the movie was too obscure? on the other hand maybe I'm just slow on the uptake, in needing its message spelled out.)

Dark, though. I think I read somewhere that it's like a counterweight to the relatively positive A Beautiful Mind.