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XX: Altered States (Ken Russell, 1980)
It's rare that I shout at the end of a movie, but here's a case, and if I ever wanted an eucatastrophe I've found one.
Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) is a medical student fascinated with the sensory deprivation tank in the basement of the hospital he's training in. With the supervision of Arthur Rosenberg (Bob Balaban, a fine director in his own right) he experiments with it and experiences various visions. Following his interests, he later goes to Mexico to try a drug that unlock the unconscious, and has mystical experiences. He starts combining drugs with deprivation, with the impact that he appears to be regressing to a more primitive state.
Whilst structurally very different, this is a variation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with the unleashing of the id by chemical means. Here, however, is the notion of forgiveness and redemption, so the violent ending is avoided.
There's pretty things to look at, especially in some of the visions, and the depictions of Hurt as illuminated (altered) man - it seems to anticipate Lawnmower Man. It's a Ken Russell movie so it is also (frankly) barking. I'll talk more about the ending on Solar Flares, but I just about saw it coming and it still made me gag, I'm afraid. Turn off ten seconds before the end...
XXI: The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953)
One of Lang's Hollywood noirs, although stylistically the first half is much flatter than the second - I guess there's a sense of the main character's descent into hell.
Not that it's clear who the main character is, as in the bright world of capitalism everyone is interchangeable. A journalist/columnist Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr) has taken a shine to Crystal Carpenter (Ann Sothern), only when he phones up he gets the just-dumped Norah (Anne Baxter), who shows up for a date in the Blue Gardenia. She speedily gets drunk to Nat King Cole, and goes back to his place where he makes a pass. The next morning, she remembers nothing, but Prebble is dead. As the police close in on the panicked Norah, journalist Casey Mayo (Richard Conte) tries to get her exclusive. And Mayo has a black book of phone numbers of his own.
It's a twisty turny ride, and at one point I thought the police would assume that Crystal is the killer and arrest her - only to find the forensics don't match. But the net closes in, and it's only a remarkable chance which rescues the heroine.
Jolly good fun, and an interesting mix of woman's picture and noir (I must rewatch Mildred Pierce one day, and recommended.
XXII: Sarah Silverman - Jesus is Magic (Liam Lynch, 2005)
Recorded version of a couple of night of Silverman's show, with some songs as well. Recommended only if you think you might find "Oh God please let them find semen in my dead grandmother's vagina" funny, otherwise give it a wide berth.
Silverman caused a bit of a sensation late last year on her first London solo show, which lost its support act, and then lasted less than an hour. I suspect the hour is an Edinburgh's set length, but no support is perhaps lacking in value. Her stick is to look like the innocent flower and then talk dirty - much of it is deliberately racist, daring her audience to laugh at it, or not to laugh at it. A typical line is about how Mexican stick, but one Mexican couldn't smell it. Oh course not, she explains, you can't pick up your own smell. I don't care if you think I'm racist, she says, I just care that you think I'm thin.
Some of the songs that are shoe horned in are fun, but South Park style adult funny, but the acted segments around it are awful and have sub-Lynch bad acting. It's meant to build up her persona as lazy and self-obsessed, and how she lies that she has a show, but it would work well without it. The DVD has extras - a making of documentary, a trailer and a video.
Another quip: When God gives you AIDS - and God does give you AIDS, by the way - make lemonAIDS.
And another: I was raped by a doctor. [pause]
Which is, you know, so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.
I think I want more, but not in any great hurry.
Totals: 22 - Cinema: 5; DVD: 17; Television: 0
It's rare that I shout at the end of a movie, but here's a case, and if I ever wanted an eucatastrophe I've found one.
Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) is a medical student fascinated with the sensory deprivation tank in the basement of the hospital he's training in. With the supervision of Arthur Rosenberg (Bob Balaban, a fine director in his own right) he experiments with it and experiences various visions. Following his interests, he later goes to Mexico to try a drug that unlock the unconscious, and has mystical experiences. He starts combining drugs with deprivation, with the impact that he appears to be regressing to a more primitive state.
Whilst structurally very different, this is a variation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with the unleashing of the id by chemical means. Here, however, is the notion of forgiveness and redemption, so the violent ending is avoided.
There's pretty things to look at, especially in some of the visions, and the depictions of Hurt as illuminated (altered) man - it seems to anticipate Lawnmower Man. It's a Ken Russell movie so it is also (frankly) barking. I'll talk more about the ending on Solar Flares, but I just about saw it coming and it still made me gag, I'm afraid. Turn off ten seconds before the end...
XXI: The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953)
One of Lang's Hollywood noirs, although stylistically the first half is much flatter than the second - I guess there's a sense of the main character's descent into hell.
Not that it's clear who the main character is, as in the bright world of capitalism everyone is interchangeable. A journalist/columnist Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr) has taken a shine to Crystal Carpenter (Ann Sothern), only when he phones up he gets the just-dumped Norah (Anne Baxter), who shows up for a date in the Blue Gardenia. She speedily gets drunk to Nat King Cole, and goes back to his place where he makes a pass. The next morning, she remembers nothing, but Prebble is dead. As the police close in on the panicked Norah, journalist Casey Mayo (Richard Conte) tries to get her exclusive. And Mayo has a black book of phone numbers of his own.
It's a twisty turny ride, and at one point I thought the police would assume that Crystal is the killer and arrest her - only to find the forensics don't match. But the net closes in, and it's only a remarkable chance which rescues the heroine.
Jolly good fun, and an interesting mix of woman's picture and noir (I must rewatch Mildred Pierce one day, and recommended.
XXII: Sarah Silverman - Jesus is Magic (Liam Lynch, 2005)
Recorded version of a couple of night of Silverman's show, with some songs as well. Recommended only if you think you might find "Oh God please let them find semen in my dead grandmother's vagina" funny, otherwise give it a wide berth.
Silverman caused a bit of a sensation late last year on her first London solo show, which lost its support act, and then lasted less than an hour. I suspect the hour is an Edinburgh's set length, but no support is perhaps lacking in value. Her stick is to look like the innocent flower and then talk dirty - much of it is deliberately racist, daring her audience to laugh at it, or not to laugh at it. A typical line is about how Mexican stick, but one Mexican couldn't smell it. Oh course not, she explains, you can't pick up your own smell. I don't care if you think I'm racist, she says, I just care that you think I'm thin.
Some of the songs that are shoe horned in are fun, but South Park style adult funny, but the acted segments around it are awful and have sub-Lynch bad acting. It's meant to build up her persona as lazy and self-obsessed, and how she lies that she has a show, but it would work well without it. The DVD has extras - a making of documentary, a trailer and a video.
Another quip: When God gives you AIDS - and God does give you AIDS, by the way - make lemonAIDS.
And another: I was raped by a doctor. [pause]
Which is, you know, so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.
I think I want more, but not in any great hurry.
Totals: 22 - Cinema: 5; DVD: 17; Television: 0
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