Saturday, May 30, 2015

Freja Beha Erichsen


ph: Craig McDean

Solitary Man (2009)



A car magnate watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

Basically a well-played and produced tragicomedy (or rather just a touch humour) about a quite unnerving and disagreeable character.

Maltin***: "Provocative character study of a louse, played with charismatic bravado by Douglas, who's surrounded by good actors in similarly three-dimensional roles."

Who's That Girl?


Photographer: Andres Serrano

Anastasia Khodkina


ph: Jurij Treskow

Friday, May 29, 2015

Mannequin


Regensburg, May 2015

Katharina Siegmund


A day in the life, May 27


A day in the life, May 27, standing outside looking inside

Rachel Hilbert


New York


Natalie Portman


First Lines: Josephine Tey - The Franchise Affair


It was four o'clock of a spring evening; and Robert Blair was thinking of going home.

Joy Bryant


A day in the life, May 26


A day in the life, May 26, objet trouvé

Sophia Lie


ph: Nicolas Artistidou

New Stuff: Judith Schalansky


A wonderful book listing and describing 50 fairly unknown islands.

Anabel Jorge


New Stuff: Funeral Parade of Roses


An underground classic from Japan: "A feverish collision of avant-garde aesthetics and grind-house shocks (not to mention a direct influence on Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange), Funeral Parade of Roses takes us on an electrifying journey into the nether-regions of the late-'60s Tokyo underworld."

Emina Cunmulaj


ph: Greg Vaughan

Zui hao de shi guang (2005)



Three love stories set in three times, 1911, 1966 and 2005, the two main characters in each story played by the same actors.

Masterfully elegiac study of the complexity of communicating love througout different ages.

Maltin***: "Although the last part is its weakest, this languid and lyrical film, which is shot in varying styles reflecting each of its time periods, is an accomplished and moving mood piece."

Petra Nemcova


New Stuff: Kenji Mizoguchi


A nice 4 movie set from Kenji Mizoguchi's middle phase, still need to find Ugetsu monogatari.

Alena Seredova


ph: Alberto Tommaso Badalamenti

Band of Angels (1957)


A young woman grows up as a privileged southern Belle in the ante-bellum South but after her father dies broke, her world is destroyed when she discovers her mother was black.

Lush production of an otherwise long-winding and absurd story.

Halliwell (no star): "Long-winded romantic adventure, rather lamely scripted and developed. The star's presence reinforces the impression of sitting through the ghost of Gone With the Wind."

Maltin**1/2: "Flat costume epic..."

Kylie Minogue


New Stuff: Ornette Coleman


Finally: the complete Atlantic recordings in a re-issue for a reasonable price!


Who's That Girl?


Art: Aleksander Gierymski

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

First Lines: Len Deighton - The IPCRESS File


They came through on the hot line at about half past two in the afternoon.

April Tiplady


ph: Bec Parsons & Bart Celestino

A day in the life, May 24


A day in the life, May 24, clover

Dorith Mous


ph: Mason Poole

Driftwood (2006)


Riddled with guilt over the loss of his rock star older brother a16-year-old becomes obsessed with death, leading his misguided parents to send him to Driftwood, an attitude-adjustment Camp for troubled youths.

OK as a youth prison camp drama led by a corrupt and sadistic ex-marine, but the supernatural conclusion ruins it.

On second view: I still agree with my original assessment.

Louise Brooks


Les Misérables (1935)


In early 19th Century France an ex-convict who failed to report to parole is relentlessly pursued over a 20 year period by an obsessive policeman.

Nearly perfect Hollywood adaptation of the classic novel, fast-paced and straightforward, with excellence in all departments, especially cast, photography and settings.

Halliwell****: "Solid, telling, intelligent version of a much-filmed classic novel; in adaptation and performance it is hard to see how this film could be bettered."

Maltin***1/2: "Meticulous production..."

Monday, May 25, 2015

Who's That Girl?


Art: Hideshi Hino

Ada Cee


A day in the life, May 23


A day in the life, May 23, objet trouvé

Bhumika Arora


New York


Shalom Harlow


First Lines: Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone


In the first part of ROBINSON CRUSOE, at page one hundred and twenty-nine, you will find it thus written:
"Now I saw, though too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost, and before we judge rightly of our own Strength to go through with it."