Tuesday Morning Diary (October 13)

Claire Denis’s masterpiece 35 Shots of Rum

by Sam Juliano

New York Yankee fans are in seventh heaven after the team’s first-round sweep over the Minnesota Twins, earning the Bronx Bombers an American League Championship rendez-vous with the California Angels beginning on Friday.  Wonders in the Dark Phillies fans are also hopeful their team will advance after an expected victory over Colorado after some Rocky Mountain snow delays.  Actually, the Phillies did triumph and willnow advance to the championship round.

At Wonders, while we had some very active threads, the biggest news was the wind-up of the 1980’s poll, with results due any day, courtesy of Angelo A. D’Arminio Jr.  Results  may be posted as early as Wednesday, with the 90’s polling set to launch by the end of the week.

I had another busy week on the cultural scene, though my theatrical movie total total was down from last week.  At the Metropolitan Opera I saw the new production of Puccini’s Tosca, which was later broadcast on Saturday afternoon at area movie theatres.  I decided to take the opera in a second time on HD to gain the close-up perspective.  (My review of the on-live staging appeared here on Friday of last week).  On Saturday night I attended a staging of a “vampire musical” titled The Cure on 54th Street in Manhattan, which I personally found awful in every way imaginable.

On the movie scene I saw the following:

35 Shots of Rum *****   (Film Forum; Monday night)

Paranormal Activity  **** (Sunday night; Clifton, N. J. multiplex)

An Education ****  (Friday night; Union Square Cinemas)

Good Hair  *** 1/2  (Saturday afternoon; Edgewater multiplex)

The Boys Are Back *** 1/2  (Sunday afternoon; Montclair Claridge Cinemas)

Paranormal Activity,

reportedly produced for $11,000 with a hand-held camera slowly builds tension, and the final twenty minutes is as horrifying as anything I’ve seen in ages.  An Education contains an extraordinary performance by Carey Mulligan and brilliant script of Nick Hornsby set in 60’s Britain. This variation on the coming-of-age theme is lovingly textured and felt, and it’s re-creation of period is remarkable.  Good Hair is a surprisingly effective social documentary about African-American hair, with humor and perceptive insights in black femininity.  The Boys Are Back is a passable family drama about a father thrust into the role of single-parent by tragedy, which sometimes veers precariously into melodrama.  Clive Owen delivers a moving performance.  Claire Denis’s 35 Shots of Rum is a masterpiece.  It’s another observational, detailed expression (with few words) much in the style of Ozu that conveys the disperate feelings in a socially-changing France of loneliness, and the small gestures that define a simple existence entwined with spirituality.  In the end this is a deeply moving work of humanism.  My good friend Jason Giampietro, who attended with me, was also blown away by the film.

Around the blogosphere there is some great stuff:

• We are only a week aways from Kevin J. Olson’s widely-anticipated Italian Horror-Blog-A-Thon at Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eg04Zz3CERw/SsmZb7IVJhI/AAAAAAAACvs/pCJ4xlY5DNo/s1600-h/Sidebar+Banner+02+resized.BMP
• Troy Olson’s, Kevin’s brother is embarking on his Trip to Italy: http://troyolson.blogspot.com/2009/10/vacation-time-italy.html
• John Greco’s superlative review of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing is at “24 Frames”: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/the-killing-1956-stanley-kubrick/
• Dave Hicks is up to 1986 and Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters with his annual countdown: http://goodfellamovies.blogspot.com/2009/10/1986-hannah-and-her-sisters-woody-allen.html
• Ed Howard and Jason Bellamy have really been on fire with their monthly conversations, and the one on “Pixar” and Wall-E is one of their best: http://www.thehousenextdooronline.com/2009/10/conversations-pixar.html
• Dee Dee’s Halloween countdown continues with a posting of a review of Disney’s Lonesome Ghosts at “Darkness Into Light”:  http://noirishcity.blogspot.com/2009/10/31-days-to-halloween-countdowncontinues_09.html
• Tony d’Ambra’s latest very accomplished sensory piece is up at FilmsNoir.net: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/electric-nightmares-in-dark-empty-warehouses.html
• David Schleicher’s fabulous new piece on the 90’s and The Sweet Hereafter is stll up at his place: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/electric-nightmares-in-dark-empty-warehouses.html
• The esteemed Film Doctor has a piece up at his site on The Hitchiking Movie: http://filmdr.blogspot.com/2009/10/america-weird-notes-on-hitchhiking.html
• Jon Lanthier has three short capsules up, including a four-star consideration of what appears to be a fascinating film titles Araya at The Powerstrip: http://blog.aspiringsellout.com/2009/10/this-week-slant.html
• Dan Getahun’s excellent “pre-review” of A Serious Man is up at Getafilm: http://getafilm.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-serious-man.html
• Andrew Wyatt has an excellent capsule up at Gateway Cinephiles on Baader-Meinhof Complex: http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2009/10/05/quick-review-the-baader-meinhof-complex/
• Reporting from the Chicago International Film Festival Marilyn Ferdinand has a review up on Beyond Ipanema: http://ferdyonfilms.com/
• Craig Kennedy has a joyous repeat-viewing report up to start-up his weekly “Watercooler” at Living in Cinema: http://livingincinema.com/2009/10/11/the-watercooler-a-serious-education/
• Pat at Doodad Kind of Town has an intriguing Weekend Diary up at her place which appears to be essential reading: http://doodadkindoftown.blogspot.com/2009/10/diary-of-weekend-movie-marathon.html
• Kaleem Hasan has an interpiece photo piece up on “Calcutta’s Lighthouse Cinema” at Satyamshot: http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/9508/
• Judy of “Movie Classics” has a new review up of Devil Dogs of the Air: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/devil-dogs-of-the-air-1935/
• Qalandar’s newest post is titled “A Movie Poster Yatra”: http://qalandari.blogspot.com/2009/10/movie-poster-yatra.html
• Dorothy Porker has what appears to be fascinating comprehensive piece up at Inside the Gold titled “The Ladies from Nine do Vogue: http://www.insidethegold.com/2009/10/ladies-from-nine-do-vogue.html
• T.S. of Screen Savour still leads with The General in his continuing Keaton series: http://www.screensavour.net/2009/09/general-1927.html
• Samuel Wilson at “Mondo 70” features The Gambler at his place: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2009/10/gambler-1974.html
• Alexander Coleman still headlines with his very fine review of The Horse Boy at CCC: http://colemancornerincinema.blogspot.com/2009/10/horse-boy-2009.html
• Shubhajit has a capsule review up at Cinemascope of Polanski’s Repulsion: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2009/10/repulsion-1965.html
• Joseph Demme at a reciew of The Brothers Bloom up at Cinexcellence: http://cinexcellence.com/2009/10/06/the-brothers-bloom/
• Bob Clark, who penned the  great Heaven’s Gate review at Wonders still has his equally great Inglourious Basterds piece up at The Aspect Ratio: http://theaspectratio.net/inglouriousbasterds.htm

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