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23 hours ago
The two of them created starkly different Lisbeths: Rapace played her as a smoldering but certainly human presence, while Mara’s Lisbeth was like something from the spirit world, a banshee gone silent.
- Karen Olsson for The New York Times Magazine on Noomi Rapace & Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
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1 week ago
I would like to believe that, besides older, I’ve become a lot wiser. I don’t often get a second chance but, if it were to happen, I wouldn’t waste it. I hope I am now wise enough to understand and quickly resolve any issues that could generate the need to get away…
- Wingz
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2 weeks ago"
I look forward to a day when
it’s “marriage;”Not interracial marriage or
interdenominational or
gay or same-sex marriage.I look forward to a day when
it’s marriage.Just marriage.
Just marriage.Period.
"- Wingz -
3 weeks ago"The supreme truth is established by total silence - not logical discussion and argument. He alone sees the truth who sees the universe without the intervention of the mind and, therefore, without the notion of a universe."- Maharamayana
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1 month ago"Mitt Romney complaining
about economic fairness
is like Mel Gibson
celebrating Yom Kippur."- Andy Borowitz from the BorowitzReport -
1 month ago
Not in Love by Federico Bebber
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1 month ago"
Deep mystery of beauty
And darkness…Then an idea begins to shape -
A dream coming to life,
A memory awakening,And it is then that I
Open the curtain and
Prepare a reflector;It just takes a little light and
A little courage
To make a photograph.Every photograph
"
Enters the world
As a sigh of hope.- Paolo Roversi -
1 month ago
CINEMA: “Fiona”
Sex, drugs no rock’n’roll. You’ll know from the first painful wail of a tenor sax that this film will be strong on intensity and probably won’t end well.
WARNING ~ “Fiona,” shot in documentary style, is about the prostitute daughter of a prostitute. There is graphic sex and the gritty substance of the film will be inherently offensive to some viewers. ~~~
Abandoned as an infant, Fiona (convincingly portrayed by Anna Thomson) grows up enduring bad experiences through a chain of foster homes. Out of the foster system life remains a tough challenge. When a neighbor who works as a prostitute knocks on her door to explain that she has a client who’s offered a couple hundred dollars to see two women together. Fiona agrees to be the other woman. That day turns out to be her entry into the life and she never looks back.
There is nothing pleasant about this film. Director Amos Kollek has left the characters and their environments unvarnished. The people Fiona encounters aren’t pretty and not every naked body is young or firm. This leaves a striking realism to drive the horror of what is an everyday reality in the underbelly of our cities. Yet, in spite of the harshness of all this, Kollek reveals a powerful story that plays out like a rough draft that could be a bio for so very many unfortunate women who have fallen through the cracks of society.
I feel like I witnessed more than watched this film. Of course some of the turns in the story are predictable but the well crafted script thrives on the unexpected. Even the dirty, ambiguous dénouement exposes a major twist.
I won’t say whether I liked this film or didn’t. I will say that I appreciated that it was made. Like a lost lover, extraordinary cinema leaves a mark that stays with you long after the end. “Fiona” left a mark on me and it’s still there.
I hope my thoughts are helpful [4 of 5 stars] 12-0417 ~~~Wingz
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1 month ago
Actual poster from the mid-50’s issued by Senator Joseph McCarthy at the height of the Red Scare and anti communist witch hunt in Washington. All artists were suspect.
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1 month ago
CINEMA: “Inserts”
I first saw this film years ago. Although the social-political climate of the day required an “X” rating, for some unknown reason the film rating board has converted the film to NC-17. I believe that, if “Inserts” was made today, it wouldn’t even be a hard “R.” Since this kind of smart witty project would be unlikely to gain modern multiplex distribution, if there was a question of ratings I’m sure the film makers would simply bypass the system and release it as “unrated.”
I guess I’m saying this is indeed and ‘art’ film but the ‘art’ is the result of an amazing screenplay located on a single set and wrapped in a simple but brilliant production. That makes the film’s NC-17 rating grossly misleading. The material does, indeed, make this a film for adults but, if you’re looking for nudity or titillation, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
What you can look forward to is an extraordinary performance from a youthful Richard Dreyfuss in 1974. Those were the days when he was skyrocketing toward stardom. This performance came after the classic “American Graffiti” and a year before his stellar, Bafta Best Actor performance in Jaws.
“Inserts” centers around a washed up silent film maker lost in the cusp of the “Talkies.” He’s making a living cranking out (literally) one reel stag films. But even after having reached such a humiliating low in his career, he is still attempting to achieve the impossible task of holding onto his integrity as a film maker and his dignity as a person.
This entire film unwinds in a house partially converted into a film studio and features takes so long that the performances come off like memorized live theatre. The fast talking script demands the kind of delivery you would recognize from 1940’s Howard Hanks classics like “His Girl Friday” (Cary Grant & Rosalind Russel).
“Inserts” is fast and bittersweet and funny and all the things that make live theatre so great - yet it’s blocked for film. This makes it an especially wonderful and rare cinematic experience.
You also get to see just how fantastic a talent Dreyfuss brings to his craft. He’s in
Dreyfuss as the director know only as the “Boy Wonder” is in virtually every scene. That one detail could make one think that “Inserts” would become tedious and overbearing. But, with the support of the great Bob Hoskins and Veronica Cartwright you get balance instead. You get to discover what a fantastic talent the young actor brought to the craft before Hollywood’s star machine had a chance to effect his ego.
This tiny cast under the direction of John Byrum carries the film like a breath of fresh air. Witty, raunchy and fun, “Inserts” is great art, great theatre, great cinema and, most of all, it’s great entertainment.
I hope my thoughts are helpful [5 of 5 stars] 12-0416 ~~~Wingz
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