"In a musical, nothing dreadful ever happens."
So says Selma in Dancer in the Dark, a darkly ironic line, given that film's subject. So I had to follow it up with a film that lived up to that line, and gosh darn it, Jacques Demy's joyous musical does that in spades. And hearts.
A celebration of the Hollywood musical yet an outstanding film in its own right, with delightful music from Michel Legrand (he even cheekily namechecks himself in one…
A movie to watch to mark Catherine Deneuve's 80th birthday and this was available on Kanopy. I saw this at the cinema when it came out and I was a blubbering mess by the end. 23 years later, and guess what? Yep, a blubbering mess again. The dehumanising and utterly abhorrent practice of capital punishment is clearly shown with a performance by Björk that is raw and untethered, and it is only made bearable by the musical interludes, which I…
Imagine my surprise and delight when I arrived in San Francisco, and discovered they were screening Hausu, and projected on 35mm no less.
There is no film experience quite like it, ostensibly a horror film but so much more than that. Obayashi is a director not restrained by any technique in this film and boy, does he throw everything in there, yet still retains a cohesive feel. I mean it's totally bonkers but hell, watching it in a nearly full…
7,999,999 to go.
Loved it, on location New York looked stunning, and maybe, just maybe, a young William Friedkin was watching.
Imagine the most brainless characters and then make them more stupid, just for cheap thrills. To a certain extent, the filmmaker takes his audience to be just as brainless. On the plus side, it's nicely shot and definitely passes the Bechdel test. So there's that.
