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This juxtaposition is why I love my job...
CXVII: I Spit On Your Grave (Meir Zarchi, 1978)
Genuinely disturbing, but frankly not very good, rape revenge film. This is one of the notorious video nasties, and probably would have long been consigned to landfill had it not gained notoriety. A friend was one of those who helped it be recertified. A female writer who has been sunbathing on holiday is raped - frankly gangbanged - and seeks revenge on her assailants in nasty ways. From what I recall, the BBFC wanted to cut the rape (sexualised violence is a no-no), which removed her motivation and made it look worse, but her revenge is sexualised too. Unfortunately production qualities get in the way of what actually is a smart piece of work, which discusses the "she was asking for it" issue, and clearly sees that's no excuse. I showed part of it to students - it disturbed them.
CXVIII: Dougal and the Blue Cat (Serge Danot, 1972)
A film that gave me nightmares when I heard the record version, which I seem to recall being bought (and this may be one of my earliest memories). It must have been another eighteen years before I saw the pictures that went with the soundtrack. Feature length Magic Roundabout narrative, told as always by Eric Thompson with guest Fenella Fielding and songs and a 2001 joke which I've ripped off myself. A blue cat arrives in the Magic Garden, and is given shelter, only or him to attempt to take over the world. Genius.
CXIX: Pollux et Le Chat Bleu (Serge Danot, 1970)
Curious to see and hear the original, where actors play differently characterised and sounding, er, characters. The story always is that Thompson watched the originals without sound and made up his own narrative, but there are enough coincidences (I need to check the colours of the seven doors in the test the cat has to pass) in dialogue to suggest he heard the soundtrack or had been given a translation. The sound effects and music is the same - though I am pleased to see the 2001 joke is not here, though stuff about leaps for dogkind is. Note that the treacle factory in the Magic Garden is a whip factory in the Beautiful Wood, and that there are jokes about the Academie Francaise and the appreciation of abstract art (do it silently). But whip factory - and the Ermintrude analogue is pleaed to be kidnapped. I spot subtext. So, is the cat Hitler or Napoleon?
CXVII: I Spit On Your Grave (Meir Zarchi, 1978)
Genuinely disturbing, but frankly not very good, rape revenge film. This is one of the notorious video nasties, and probably would have long been consigned to landfill had it not gained notoriety. A friend was one of those who helped it be recertified. A female writer who has been sunbathing on holiday is raped - frankly gangbanged - and seeks revenge on her assailants in nasty ways. From what I recall, the BBFC wanted to cut the rape (sexualised violence is a no-no), which removed her motivation and made it look worse, but her revenge is sexualised too. Unfortunately production qualities get in the way of what actually is a smart piece of work, which discusses the "she was asking for it" issue, and clearly sees that's no excuse. I showed part of it to students - it disturbed them.
CXVIII: Dougal and the Blue Cat (Serge Danot, 1972)
A film that gave me nightmares when I heard the record version, which I seem to recall being bought (and this may be one of my earliest memories). It must have been another eighteen years before I saw the pictures that went with the soundtrack. Feature length Magic Roundabout narrative, told as always by Eric Thompson with guest Fenella Fielding and songs and a 2001 joke which I've ripped off myself. A blue cat arrives in the Magic Garden, and is given shelter, only or him to attempt to take over the world. Genius.
CXIX: Pollux et Le Chat Bleu (Serge Danot, 1970)
Curious to see and hear the original, where actors play differently characterised and sounding, er, characters. The story always is that Thompson watched the originals without sound and made up his own narrative, but there are enough coincidences (I need to check the colours of the seven doors in the test the cat has to pass) in dialogue to suggest he heard the soundtrack or had been given a translation. The sound effects and music is the same - though I am pleased to see the 2001 joke is not here, though stuff about leaps for dogkind is. Note that the treacle factory in the Magic Garden is a whip factory in the Beautiful Wood, and that there are jokes about the Academie Francaise and the appreciation of abstract art (do it silently). But whip factory - and the Ermintrude analogue is pleaed to be kidnapped. I spot subtext. So, is the cat Hitler or Napoleon?
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