by Sam Juliano
Hard to believe we have moved into May, but the passage of time rarely leaves us prepared. Here at Wonders in the Dark we are approaching the planned time frame for the long-advertised “Science Fiction film countdown” and are anticipating the start of the first phase: the forwarding of ballots. This particular countdown has admittedly received less enthusiasm in a general sense, but I am hopeful it will still be successful. Otherwise, political junkies are no doubt getting their fix with the spate of crucial presidential primaries that have all but anointed Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as their party’s nominees.
Lucille and I had a pretty unforgettable week, one that offered diversity and quality. Coming on the heels of the Tribeca Film Festival – where we managed 35 feature films over eleven days – it allowed us to maintain a high level of activity while straining the limits of our stamina. I hope to post some reviews of the experiences, even while I continue by scene-specific Tribeca coverage.
We attended the Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, an off-Broadway staging of Tennessee Williams’ rarely performed Orpheus Descending, a classical concert that included J. S. Bach at Rutgers University, a theatrical screening of the new Jungle Book and two features at the Montclair Film Festival.
The Jungle Book **** (Saturday) Secaucus
Newtown *** 1/2 (Sunday) Montclair F.F.
Do Not Resist **** (Sunday) Montclair F.F.
My plans are to individually reviews some of the events from this week.
Jeez, Sam, if I’d been you two I’d have given myself a week’s bedrest after the exertions of Tribeca! Dunno how you both do it.
Looking forward to the individual reviews, when they come, and to the SF ballot.
Oh I do hear ya John, and those were the original plans. But what’s that adage -“the best laid plans of mice and men go awry”. Even the present week has been a hectic one, with a number of events being negotiated. I must get back to the reviews indeed, though the annual school trip to the nation’s capital is upon us from Wednesday to Friday. My youngest son Jeremy -a graduating 8th grader- is one it as well. Have a great upcoming week my friend!
Sam –
Even when the two of you “downshift” a bit, you and Lucille STILL:
(1) attended the Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible,
(2) attended an off-Broadway staging of Tennessee Williams’ rarely performed Orpheus Descending,
(3) attended a classical concert that included J. S. Bach at Rutgers University
(4) attended a theatrical screening of the new Jungle Book and
(5) enjoyed not one, but two features at the Montclair Film Festival!
That’s most people’s turbo-boosted mode!
Hahahaha Laurie, your documentation is not only telling but a testament to some of the over-the-top itinerary we sometimes follow. Yes this week was “supposed” to be far more relaxed, but it was anything but. Have a great week my friend. I know you are far from home at this juncture! Looking forward to the report.
Sam, I’m curious. Which of the two Newtown documentaries did you prefer?
Looks like a very long year for Yankee fans.
Peter, I liked both but MIDSUMMER IN NEWTOWN more so for a host of reasons.
I loathe to think where the Bombers will end up my friend. Ugh.
Have a great week and many thanks!
Another incredible week Sam. You and Lucille are troupers. I look forward to your report/review on The Crucible. Carol saw it a few weeks ago with her friend.
Thanks so much Frank! I do need to write up “The Crucible” and “Orpheus Descending” as well in fact! I bet Carol loved it! Many thanks as always my friend.
Sam, hope you guys are doing well and getting a little rest. Sounds like you had another action-packed and satisfying week, after another year of the Tribeca sprint. From where I’m standing, you guys do it exactly right!
Only one viewing for me this week, Lupino’s Outrage. I liked it okay, particularly the way she filmed the initial assault, but I preferred The Bigamist and The Hitch-Hiker. I also just realized that my comments last week were actually about Outrage and not The Bigamist. I found The Bigamist quite impressive and its humanism and Lupino’s permormance to be really noteworthy.
Thanks so very much Jeffrey and my apologies for the tardy responses during yet another crazy week. And thank you too for that incredible catch up on past MMDs which I will respond to momentarily. To be sure the Tribeca Festival yielded some terrific features this year, and a number have actually already opened theatrically, including ELVIS AND NIXON. But the documentaries are always what really elevate Tribeca.
Yes, I certainly do agree that THE HITCH-HIKER and THE BIGAMIST do trump OUTRAGE. I also agree wholeheartedly with your scene-specific comments on the former. Have a terrific upcoming week my friend.
Hello Sam and everyone!
Thanks for the kind words on my experience last week, and I hope that you have a great time this week, continuing the cultural experience.
Here are the movies I saw last week:
– A Pilot for a Show About Nowhere (2015, Martine Syms) ***1/2 Like a back-to-basics presentation on issues of race and identification. For those debating TV high-middle-low brow these days, should take a look at this little film.
– Ashik Kerib (1989, Sergei Parajanov, Dodo Abashidze) **** Parajanov makes tableau vivants, but not to make a statement on the state of cinema or its artistic possibilities, but because it’s the only way in which he finds images can work. Inspired from the wall paintings of his home country, he puts up a flat canvas where everything is evident yet at the same time beautiful. Here he advances in his search as he uses the foreground more successfully than in his earlier films, but at the same time it feels more and more like something that could’ve been represented in theater more than put in the canvas of cinema. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless, but just that I need a bit more when it comes to how you’re going to present your spectacularly beautiful images.
– I’m Going Home (2001, Manoel de Oliveira) ****1/2 I’ve yet to see loads and loads of Oliveira films, but if this isn’t on my top 5 whenever I come to the end of it, well, I might as well eat my shoes. This is a superb work of deeply felt emotions with the erotic viewpoint of a director who is obsessed with the empty frames and the point of view of people.
– The Rainbow Man (1949, Kiyohiko Ushihara) ***1/2 No subtitles. I didn’t follow this at all, so a rewatch is needed whenever there are some available. This is a visually compelling film that feels almost as if Lang had traveled to Japan and made a third rate genre picture. Sure, it apparently is the first science fiction/horror film of Japan, but the elements are slight and the basis of the rainbow creature/human/experiment isn’t clear without subtitles. It plays more like a chamber drama with some unexplained murders and sudden blasts of color. Still, visually the shots are really complex and inventive for the time.
That’s all, have a great week everyone!
Yet another terrific round-up there Jaimie! I spent the better part of an evening on Wednesday with our mutual friend Joel Bocko, and we both thought it would have been great to have you with us. Bob Clark nearly attended to. In any event another awesome report. I’ve seen two of the films–and agree the Parajanov is exceptional, even if a few others of his are even greater. And the de Oliveira is quite fine, though again not one of his very best. Without subs THE RAINBOW MAN would be most difficult. Have a terrific upcoming week my friend.
Approx. 3.2 movies a day for 11 days. Cowabunga!
In reference to ‘Listen Up Philip’: Is art enough when the artist is a prick? ‘Philip’ presents highly unflattering portraits of a budding writer (Jason Schwartzman) and his literary idol (Jonathan Pryce, a thinly veiled Philip Roth), but here the writerly transgressions are rather pallid. Nothing approaches the violent sexism of Mailer with his harem, the malevolent Hemingway quarrels with his fellow authors, the infamous hedonism of film director R.W. Fassbinder or the moral squalor of a Kenneth Tynan. Since the only thing Nathan Zuckerman (whoops, Philip Lewis Friedman) and E.I. Lonoff (er, Ike Zimmerman) are guilty of are bad manners and dyspepsia, Alex Ross Perry’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Shit-Heel never really grips. I kept waiting for a Mailer headbutts Vidal/Vidal bites Mailer contretemps or a masturbatory frenzy a la Tynan, any juicing up of the atmosphere, but nothing shockingly revelatory ever happens as the film slowly trickles to its conclusion.
So is art enough when the artist is more than just Perry’s garden-variety cad, when the artist is a hater, a pugilist, a preening narcissist or a closet pornographer? Of course, though friends, colleagues and spouses of the hater/pug/cad would certainly think otherwise. This world would be a poorer place without the Nick Adams stories or ‘The Naked and the Dead,’ not to mention the theater criticism of Tynan, or the Roth canon itself.
So is art enough when the artist is more than just Perry’s garden-variety cad, when the artist is a hater, a pugilist, a preening narcissist or a closet pornographer?
Yes indeed Mark, I was never one to understand the concept of moderation, though I am embracing it more and more as the time moves forward. Excellent commentary on the difficulty in appreciating a film and character with seemingly no redeeming qualities. I finally got to see PHILLIP and I thought myself of Phillip Roth. There is an underlying cynicism of course, yet the film is extraordinarily well acted and written. Excellent reference point to Nick Adams stories and “The Naked and the Dead” As always a brilliant addition here my friend! Have a great week.
Hey Sam,
Sorry I’ve been a bit AWOL lately. So busy with the kids and gardening lately that there isn’t almost no time in between. Hope you have been well. We are having a good spring and can’t believe there’s only a month left of school! The kids are itching for warm weather, pools, and sprinklers for sure.
On the film front I saw the following:
Phoenix: This is a flat-out masterpiece and one of the best if not THE best film of last year. I’m a huge fan of melodrama so this was right up my alley. It’s told with a very keen eye toward classic film, but creates new avenues and ways of thinking on its own. I did thoroughly enjoy this one from beginning to end. It’s darn near perfect. Some films that came to mind of course are: Vertigo, Matarazzo’s duo of Nobody’s Children/The White Angel, The Third Man, and the Neorealist films from Rossellini. Just a beautiful film and can’t wait to watch it again.
The Emmigrants: I’m done with the first film of the duo from Troell on the new Criterion release. It’s an engrossing and beautifully acted film. Not quite like anything I’ve seen in this kind of detail. Sydow and Ullmann are perfect of course. 🙂
Anyway I’ll be watching The New Land this week. Hope you have a great rest of your week Sam!
Jon, while I always look forward to your comments here, I also marvel that you able to enter as many as you do with your spectacularly daunting schedule. The traveling alone is beyond the pale. But what especially amazes me is how you are able to do so much with your family in view of it. You define the word trouper!
I simply cannot wait for your report on THE NEW LAND! You may recall I labeled both films as among the greatest ever made and I stand by that! Yes Ullmann and Von Sydow are perfect indeed. And yes, yes, yes on PHOENIX which was my #2 film of last year behind only BROOKLYN and by a hair at that. The Criterion edition is upcoming!!! Have a great week my friend!
Laurie is correct – you folks are turbo-boosted! We will enjoy your future comments about your adventure at a slower pace 🙂
Thanks so much Patricia my friend! Always appreciated! But yes the pace must be far more relaxed to be perfectly honest, and what is coming up this week with miles and miles of walking won’t cut it! 🙂
Sam, what will you and Lucille do for an encore?
Ha Ricky! Everything is always in flux. Thanks for stopping in my friend, and have a great week!
In any case, Jeremy and I will be on the annual school trip to D.C. from Wednesday to Friday, so I offer that as a kind of encore. 🙂