Step off your train! Know.

After having watched a series of pretty demanding films (Tarkovsky - The Mirror, Vinterberg and von Trier - Festen and Lynch - Blue Velvet) perhaps we should move on to something a bit more emotional, though not cheesy or cheap. What I have in mind for the next period are three films, two of which are parts of the same story. At Laurence's suggestion we'll separate those by another title, so that the idea in the first part can mature - as the characters also do.

Being one of my absolute favorites, I could talk about this title quite extensively, but I don't want to spoil any of the delicate moments which ornament the beautiful epic. I will only tell you how I've discovered it.

During my high school I had a very good friend who was 4 years older than me, which happened to have a huge and ever growing movie collection. I think that in those years I watched on average 3 to 4 films a week, and I really had almost 0 (zero) selectivity for what to watch next. A major exception was this one. Perhaps I already had this movie 6 or 7 months before I dared to give it a chance. But then came the summer break, my friend was on a holiday, and soon I ran out of new things. I starting rewatching movies - for the "Linklaters" I had no interest what so ever.

I thought that it may well be the most boring film ever to be produced. Why? Well, I zapped though it on several occasions, but I couldn't see anything happening. A more or less static scene, that being a couple filmed from a "news" angle - discussing. Very little background change (nice but similar places in Vienna), almost no soundtrack, so thought I could also turn the radio on, it might be the same experience.

Now being bored one summer day, I actually started listening to that dialogue. I couldn't stop. I watched the second part right away, and couldn't believe how captured I was by the whole unfolding.

This one is a must. If you've seen it you will probably love to return to that atmosphere!

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When: Monday, 4th of July, 19:00 (after the MCN lecture)
Where: GSN Seminar Room (ground floor)
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Before Sunrise

Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Julie Delpy
             Ethan Hawke
Year:     1995

Velvet underworld, not underground.

For this post I will restrict myself to only copy-and-pasting an excellent review which I stumbled recently upon while looking for some facts about our next screening.

"The last real earthquake to hit cinema was David Lynch's Blue Velvet —I'm sure directors throughout the film world felt the earth move beneath their feet and couldn't sleep the night of their first encounter with it back in 1986—and screens trembled again and again with diminishing aftershocks over the next decade as these picture makers attempted to mount their own exhilarating psychic cataclysms. But no one could quite match the traumatizing combination of horrific, comedic, aural, and subliminal effects Lynch rumbled out in this masterpiece—not even Lynch himself in the fun-filled years that followed before he recombined with himself to invent The Straight Story and Mulholland Drive.

[...]perhaps it is Isabella Rossellini's femme fatale Dorothy Vallens that is Blue Velvet's greatest gift to posterity. Director and neophyte actress collaborated to retool the old genre's often stock figure, to deglamorize and humiliate the supermodel, to knead her pulpy nakedness into a bruise-colored odalisque of inseminated sensualities and untrusting ferocity. There is something sharply porno-entomological, something of the implacable godless terror with which insects mate and devour, and something terrifyingly true, in the bearing of this bravely performed character. Nuns at Rossellini's old high school in Rome held a series of special masses for her redemption after the release of this film—still a hilarious, red-hot poker to the brain after 20 years. A new print has been struck for the special anniversary two-week run at Film Forum."

Source: villagevoice.com

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Where: GSN Seminar Room (Ground floor)
When: 19:00 (after the BCCN double lecture)
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Blue Velvet

Year: 1986
Director: David Lynch

Imdb: here

Welcome to the party!

After havin' set up the scene of this little event (the film club), maybe it's time to move on to somewhat more provocative titles. The next film will be a very European shot, one which managed to create a whole new directing canvas and embedded this into a tradition of anti-Hollywood art. It came as a suggestion from Marc's side, and I must admit that the photography and the cutting style were missing links regarding my personal cinematographic understanding. Thanks!

The two friends - Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier - together with some other directors swore allegiance to a “vow of chastity” aimed at jolting filmmakers around the world who had become stuck in the mire of slick, emotionally manipulative, high-concept, and bombastic movie productions. They named their philosophy “Dogme95,” and its tenets demanded a return to the basic core of filmmaking: the use of natural lighting and a hand-held camera, and the refusal to use special effects, a soundtrack of any kind (only natural sounds found on location were acceptable), and movie sets (all shooting was to take place on location).

Maybe you think that any movie which complies to this manifest would automatically become an amateur flick with a bizarre plot accompanied by massive headaches due to the bad sound and the shaky camera. Well - if you do think this - than I definitely recommend joining the next screening. Yes, the film turns out to be quite minimalistic when compared to the incredible pictures which have their origin in California - but this exactly IS the point. Most of what is produced oversees is quite incredible; incredible as in unreal, fake, fast-food: shiny and gross. And all that is left behind after peeling the onion is a delicate display of talented actors, intelligent writers and an excellent understanding of what it takes to create an awesome film.

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When: Monday 20th of June 18:30 (After the BCCN Talks)
Where: The GSN Seminar room (ground floor)
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IMDB page: here

We're only in it for the money!

Looking already forward for the second screening I thought of continuing the line of humoristic and engaging cinema. This time, the title chosen has long gained the status of a classic picture and can be regarded as setting the scene for a new film genre: the mockumentary. Well, yes...it's Woody Allen's "Take the Money and Run", a chaotic and very funny succession of almost dada-like scenes. Although maybe some of you have already watched this one, I think that certain movies have a whiskey-esque quality: the more often you taste them, the more richer you perceive 'em.
Since the next Monday (12th of June) is a legal holiday we can discuss the date and time of the next screening. Sadly there will no longer be free drinks and snacks offered by the GSN, but I'll promise to arrange them at supermarkt prices, so we can enjoy this classic in the company of a perfect beer. ;)

Have a nice and productive week!
Dinu.

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Update: We decided that the next screening should be on the 16th (i.e. the next Thursday) evening at 19:00.0. We have a class until then, so in the case that the door is locked it means that our colleagues where really keen on presenting their assigned paper and we'll be there in 5 minutes. :D
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Take the Money and Run

Director: Woody Allen
Release Year: 1969
Language: English

IMDB: here

Quote: He had no conception of the instrument.
He was blowing into it.
He loved his cello.