Dancing in the Dark

Πόσα χρόνια πέρασαν…
Κάτω από ψίθυρους αναχωρήσεων, θολών αναλαμπών, βραχνιασμένων προφητειών τέλους.

Είναι μακρύς ο δρόμος γλυκιά μου. Και σύντομος, τελικά…

Shutter Island - Trailer

You 've got to admit, this one looks absolutely stunning - straight back to the Cape Fear days.

Marty doing a horror flick, what more can one ask?

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951) ****

Fear and loathing in Wonderland: Mad Hatter and March Hare scene stands out in the Gilliam-esque orgy factor...

Incredible piece of filmmaking and certainly the most adult oriented cartoon of the early Disney days, Alice in Wonderland walks gracefully among the paradoxes and surrealism of Carroll’s story of a normality bored little girl who decides to tread a world of things turned to their meaning.
Terry Gilliam would have absolutely killed to have done this but, truth be said, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske have done the inimitable task of combining old Disney magic (which is simply unreproducable, even by nowadays Pixar) with a totally unexpected delirium of cinematic madness, plot deconstruction, thematic ambivalence and visual inventiveness.
Even if you don’t care for that kind of moviemaking, Alice stands as an apocalypse of standout narrative.

Forsaken

Deneuve 66

Yours truly madame

Alone I

"The old dreams were good dreams; they didn't work out but I'm glad I had them."

THE LOST WORLD (1997) **** 1/2

Jaws II: wide eyed humans, stare in the mouth of madness

Boasting an action sequence of the highest order (Mercedes, cliffhanging, T-Rexes, the works…), Lost World – a criminally overlooked masterwork, since you ask – conveys seemingly brainless entertaining action while at the same time builds modestly a brilliantly comic allegory of U.S. intervention in Vietnam. How else can you explain that each and every creature attack is a reference to motion picture iconography, or the orgiastic presence of tiny little voracious dinos appearing in a flash from the woods…

The last part becomes even more cinematically charming, when Spielberg pulls all the stops to bring the T-Rex in San Diego! Although not as involving as Master Kong in New York, “Mother” here seeks water, flesh and her little one, only to be caged in the ship that brought her to the civilized West.

IL CARTAIO (2004) * 1/2

A view to a kill: Pedantic Argento, checks out the goods

With a hitchcockian finale at its nuttiest, beloved Dario’s story of a card player serial killer that challenges the Roman police into poker games for the life of a kidnapped girl, is irritatingly predictable and, even more irritatingly, uninspiringly directed.

Here and there, of course Argento’s delight at being voyeuristic with a grand touch of lustful misogyny pays off, yet it’s hard to accept the master in such low form when depicting a murder scene (Remo’s death).
Die hard Argento fans only.

LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (2009) ** 1/2

Almodovar is clearly - and justifiably - in love with his muse, and it shows. He could 've had the lead, too...

Delving into his early 90’s iconography (enter High Heels, Kika and Flower of my Secret), this definitely late Almodovar relaxes upon his familiar “soapdramatic” theme of familial disorder, adding heavy romance to the mix.

The result suffers terribly from miscasting and lack of chemistry between the couple and loses valuable ground towards the never-ending coda.
It plays better, though, as a cinematic homage of shorts (numerous film references include Luis Bunuel and Douglas Sirk), its awareness extended to occasional well written dialogue and Pedro’s comic delight in being politically incorrect - especially when…homophobic.
A bit of self-editing in the garrulous script could have saved perhaps this flawed sweetheart of a movie.
Cruz is, however, an expected delight…

THE CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962) ****

Shit...Sorry to bother! : The Man (Harvey himself) seems adequately disturbed off his slumber..

47 years on, this one off experiment in embarrassingly low budget and high horror class, remains a truly unique motion picture. Herk Harvey, the director of more than four hundred features (be it documentary, fiction, or tv work), never came close to his ghost story of phenomenally twisted ending, one wisely served by 85 bad sounding, trashy looking and, indeed, brilliant preceding minutes.
And yet, despite the amateur looks of it, Carnival remains a testament to the true powers of cinema mechanisms. All works for, not against it. Creepy makeup, uninvited apparitions, haunted organ-only soundtrack, clueless acting, all, lead up to a carnival of souls resurrecting and dancing sadly around an unsuspected one.
Romero and Shyamalan (to name two) couldn’t be without it.

Good night and good luck

Το ότι οι νεοέλληνες αισθάνονται καλύτερα στον «κεντρώο» χώρο είναι γεγονός που δεν σηκώνει ενστάσεις. Από τις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα αποδεικνύεται αυτό και η «δεξιά παρένθεση» ήταν είτε προϊόν βίας ή εκλογικής νοθείας. (Σπανιότερα, όπως το 2004, ήταν αποτέλεσμα συνειδητοποίησης των πρασινότοκων πως ο Σημίτης δεν ήταν κεντρώος.) Όταν δε, ο αείμνηστος ιδρυτής του πράσινου κινήματος αντικατέστησε την δεξιά δημόσια μηχανή με την πασοκική – διευρύνοντας ταυτόχρονα πρωτοφανώς το μέγεθός της – το υπάρχον αγνό φρόνημα θα είχε την ιστορική του ευκαιρία να μην το κουνήσει ρούπι μέχρι να ψοφήσει (και άμα…), συμβάλλοντας στην…αφύπνιση και όσων είχαν απομείνει.

Βέβαια η κεντρώα διεύθυνση του Πα.Σο.Κ. είναι κωμωδία αλλά…είπαμε η πολιτική στην Ελλάδα είναι σαν το ποδόσφαιρο. Ο Ολυμπιακός να παίρνει το πρωτάθλημα κι η γη θα εξακολουθεί να γυρνά κανονικά…

THE INFORMANT! (2009) ****

Strip(p)ed: An exceptional - and fat- Damon proves who the real force, both acting and film wise really is.

Soderbergh may not be the visionary of his generation (Fincher, I’d say), not the most auteuristic (Nolan, anyone?), not even the most talented one (Aronofsky calling) and definitely isn’t the most popular (Quentin, practically, begging).

Well, he is more of a filmmaker than any of them will probably ever be!

Informant! - with enviable filmmaking expertise - is a cinematic equivalent of a puzzle where Matchstick Men-meets Erin Brockovich- meets Michael Clayton- meets Catch me if you Can- meets Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a puzzle, that is, of a series of related movies.
Similarly, yes, to the riddle Damon’s character represents, a (harmless – unless you’re a multinational corporation…) monster, a chameleon who ‘s forced to survive and then labeled dangerous sociopath.
Go figure…

Leonard Cohen - Dance me to the end of love

No end...

"Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone..."

Time waits for no one - Rolling Stones

Περίοδος Stones - λόγω δουλειάς αυτή τη φορά, αλλά δεν μου κακοπέφτει...

Θυμήθηκα τούτο, ένα από τα πιο μελαγχολικά - και άγνωστα πια - τραγούδια τους.

Μεγαλώνοντας όλο και πιο δικό μας ακούγεται...

UP (2009) **** 1/2

Through a storm darkly: Jules Verne's fantasy unleashed in the search of one's true self

These guys over at Pixar are very dangerous indeed. They steal our childhood dreams, they brilliantly flash before you a 3 minute lifetime version without them, only to bring you to the point (which could be at 35 as well as at 75…) of complete and utter nostalgia for those you’ve forgotten but somehow still desperately long for.
In the meantime the everlasting boyishness declares the constant need for a “new adventure”, a notion that sometimes may even painfully exempt those you ‘ve learned to live for..

An inevitable masterpiece of subtlety, charm and understanding of the human condition, UP, surpasses the unsurpassable WALL-E in my books, basically due to the fact of making me alternately laugh and cry every goddamn 10 minutes.
Bless you guys…