REMEMBRANCE OF FILMS SEEN AND UNSEEN

Interesting myspace pages:

THE LOTUS EATERS
http://www.myspace.com/thelotuseatersuk


MY COMMENT IN GIRISH'S BLOG:
http://www.girishshambu.com/blog/2007/04/notes-on-welles-1.html

--I just read some comments in imdb.com and think it is very interesting to know that THE HEARTS OF AGE (1934) might be a spoof of BLOOD OF A POET (1930, Jean Cocteau) and UN CHIEN ANDALOU, because watching THE HEARTS OF AGE doesn’t remind me of those two films. I think THE HEARTS OF AGE might be as difficult to follow or understand as UN CHIEN ANDALOU, but it still has a distinct style of its own. The faces of the characters in THE HEARTS OF AGE are very scary to me. Some parts of the film seem like a nightmare in broad daylight. And the hanging scene in THE HEARTS OF AGE makes me want to watch the hanging in CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT again. The film might be a spoof, but it still has some other interesting things beyond that.

Btw, films which really remind me of Cocteau’s are the early films from Kenneth Anger. Their films are not alike, but I guess the reason why I feel their films have something in common is because they both directed films in 1940’s and 1950’s, so the styles of that era are in their films.

--I also like that the novel FLICKER by Theodore Roszak has Orson Welles as its character, and the plot has something concerning his “HEART OF DARKNESS” project.

--To tell you the truth, it took me many years not to get confused between Orson Welles and George Orwell (but not Orca the Whale). I tend to get confused by many foreign names. On the other hand, I guess it might take a while for someone to learn to memorize the full name of Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

--I didn’t know that “How Men Are”, “Killermont Street”, and “Deep & Wide & Tall” come from the same album. Wow! Thanks for telling me. I first knew Aztec Camera in 1990 when “The Crying Scene” was played on the radio. I bought his “Stray” (1990) album and like “Good Morning Britain” very much.

I can’t recall if any British film mentions Aztec Camera, but last year I saw BLUE (2001, Hiroshi Ando, A+), which is a Japanese lesbian coming-of-age film, and I was glad to see that the main characters in this film talked about Aztec Camera, though they were Japanese high-school girls in the 21st century. I think one of the girls knew Aztec Camera via her older male lover.

I really like Aztec Camera and many bands that were famous in the late 1980's, not because they are better than bands from other eras, but because they remind me of my high-school years and old friends. Apart from Aztec Camera, the bands that I love because of this include The Style Council, Deacon Blue, Prefab Sprout, and 16 Tambourines. The album "How Green Is Your Valley?" by 16 Tambourines is one of my most favorite of all time.

Myspace pages of "16 Tambourines" and "Prefab Sprout" are here:
http://www.myspace.com/16tambourines
http://www.myspace.com/prefabsprout

--I really love the music videos of RED HOT & BLUE (1990) album. I like the song "Do I Love You?" very much, though I think the song is not as catchy as others in the same album. As for the music videos of that album, my most favorite ones are:

1.Well, Did You Evah? (performed by Iggy Pop and Deborah Harry, directed by Alex Cox) It makes me laugh incessantly.

2.It's Alright With Me (performed by Tom Waits, directed by Jim Jarmusch) This music video is very creepy. Everything seems to be under a voodoo spell.

3.Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye (performed by Annie Lennox, directed by Ed Lachman) I always like the whiteness of Lennox' face.

4.You Do Something to Me (performed by Sinead O'Connor, directed by John Maybury)

5.Down in the Depths (performed by Lisa Stansfield, directed by Philippe Gautier) Big applause for the light technicians of this MV.

Sonthaya Subyen, my cinephile friend, likes the MV of "So In Love" (performed by k.d. lang, directed by Percy Adlon). I think it is plainly beautiful.


--Apichatpong Weerasethakul and his friends in the PROJECT 304 organized the second Bangkok Experimental Film Festival in late 1999, before he started devoting most of his time to direct feature films. It was one of the best film festivals I ever came across in Bangkok. I could manage to see only 25% of the films shown in the festival. I wish I had seen more at that time. The festival showed about 100 short films and several features. I don't know which films were selected by Apichatpong and which ones were selected by his friends. But I guess Apichatpong was responsible for the showing of the Bruce Baillie retrospective, because Baillie is one of his most favorite directors, and for the showing of PERSISTENCE (1996, Daniel Eisenberg), because Eisenberg had taught Apichatpong in Chicago.

THE HEARTS OF AGE was shown in the classic film section in that festival. Films shown in this section include:

1.DREAMS OF THE WILD HORSES (1960, Denys Colomb Daunant)
2.ANEMIC CINEMA (1926, Marcel Duchamp)
3.DIAGONAL SYMPHONY (1923, Viking Eggeling)
4.RAIN (1929, Joris Ivens)
5.BALLET MECHANIQUE (1924, Dudley Murphy + Fernand Leger)
6.LE RETOUR A LA RAISON (1923, Man Ray)
7.RHYTHM 21 (1921, Hans Richter)

My most favorite films in the whole festival include:

1.BLIGHT (1996, John Smith, UK)
The perfect combination between images and sound. You can read an article on John Smith in Senses of Cinema.

2.ALL MY LIFE (1996, Bruce Baillie, USA)
When I first saw Baillie's films, I thought they were so-so. But after just one week, I had a chance to see them again, and then I felt like my wavelength had been tuned into his films. I felt enraptured in bliss.

3.ALONE, LIFE WASTES ANDY HARDY (1998, Martin Arnold, Austria)
You can read an article on this film here:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/04/32/alone_life_wastes_andy_hardy.html

4.WHAT THE WATER SAID (1997-1998, David Gatten)
Gatten put lengths of unexposed, undeveloped film in a crab cage on a South Carolina beach, and let the film be soaked by salt water, and be buffeted by sand, rocks, shells and the crab cage. WHAT THE WATER SAID is the result of this act of film rape. (Sonthaya Subyen wrote that "film rape" is a very popular tradition among filmmakers who dry film in the sun, put it in the mud, print it over and over by optical printer, wash it with acid, bleach it, degrade its colors, dye it, or scratch it.)


5.EXOTIC 101 (Michael Shaowanasai, Thailand)
In this satirical film, Michael (the star of IRON PUSSY) teaches the audience on how to be an exotic male dancer. It is very funny and witty. I think it should be added as a bonus in the DVD of TRICK (1999, Jim Fall).

6.PSYCHIC TEQUILA TAROT (1998, Isabell Spengler, Germany)
Leila, the main character of this film, is described as the daughter of John Waters and Annie Sprinkle. I think the film can be shown alongside Bruce La Bruce's.

7.I MOVE, SO I AM (1997, Gerrit Van Dijk, the Netherlands)
The animation director's website is here:
http://www.gerrit-van-dijk.nl/

8.THE THIRD WINDOW (1998, Hanna Nordholt + Fritz Steingrabe, Germany)
This animation film is inspired by Paul Virilio's essay "War and Cinema". More information about the directors and the films can be found here:
http://www.shortfilm.de/index.php?id=394&L=2&type=1

9.MEMORIES OF WATER #21, 6, 27 (1997, Leighton Pierce)
Jon Jost (Wow!) wrote an article called LEIGHTON PIERCE: MASTER MINIATURIST here:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/02/20/pierce.html

10.ILE DE BEAUTE (1996, Ange Leccia + Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster)
I think Nicole Brenez also likes this film.

Other interesting films in that festival include:

1.TODAY (1996, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Finland)

2.THE FRUIT OF THE WOMB (1996, Barbara Albert, Austria)

3.MORPHOLOGY OF DESIRE (1998, Robert Arnold)
An animation film

4.ECCE HOMO (1999, Robert Cash, Belgium)
This film is inspired by some biblical stories, but chooses to tell the story in a modern day setting.

5.KITTYPORN (1999, Angela Christlieb, Germany)

6.PHILOSOPHICAL TALE (THE CAVERN) (1998, Philippe Fernandez, France)
The film's website is here:
http://philfern.free.fr/Conte_philosophique_(La_caverne).htm

7.IMMER ZU (1997, Janie Geiser, USA)

8.I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC (1997, Shalinee Ghosh, India)

9.PANIC BODIES (1998, Mike Hoolboom, Canada)

10.OZ MIX (1999, Harada Ippei, Japan)
Ray Pride in indiewire.com wrote that this film is an engaging renewal on music video, a five-minute scratch mix of Yasujiro Ozu's calm classic TOKYO STORY.

11.APPARATUS 'M' (1996, Takeshi Ito, Japan)

12.ALTAIR (1995, Lewis Klahr, USA)

13.CROSSROADS (1991, Raimund Krumme, Germany)
The drawing of this animation is very simple, but the film is great.

14.THE FIVE BAD ELEMENTS (1997, Mark Lapore, USA)
I think Film Comment has an article on Mark Lapore a few months ago.

15.GOSHOGAOKA (1997, Sharon Lockhart, USA)

16.MAKING OUT IN JAPAN (1996, Janet Merewether, Australia)
Information about the film can be found here:
http://gogirlproductions.com.au/japhome.html

17.THE IDIOTIC SCOOTER GIRL – A PIPE ORGAN DREAMING (1999, Yuri Obitani)

18.STARK FILM (1997, Eric Patrick, USA)
Maybe one of the best road movies. Patrick painted directly onto the film. The sound is very impressive. You can download the film freely from this website:
http://www.1uffakind.com/gallery/ericpatrick/ericpatrick.htm

19.EGYPT (1997, Kathrin Resetarits, Austria)
I haven't seen this film, but I like the acting of Kathrin Resetarits in FREE RADICALS (2003, Barbara Albert) very much.

20.HIDARI (1998, Koji Shirakawa, Japan)
I haven't seen this film, but WHILE THE RIGHT HAND IS SLEEPING (2002, Koji Shirakawa) is one of my most favorite Japanese films.

21.HALL II (1997, Thomas Steiner, Austria)

22.L'ARRIVEE (1997, Peter Tscherkassky, Austria)

23.DECODINGS (1988, Michael Wallin)
You can buy Wallin's DVD from amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Boy-Michael-Wallin/dp/B0001O3YT4

24.WHEN I'M 21 (1997, Andrew Wilde, UK)

25.AS SEEN ON TELEVISION (1996, Denise Ziegler, Finland)
A film which plays with the imagination of the audience. This film replaces the images of three TV episodes with texts. So the audience can only read the texts on the black TV screen and imagine the images themselves. Maybe this film should be shown together with HER NAME IS VENICE UNDER DESERTED CALCUTTA (1976, Marguerite Duras).