Mar 3
Airing originally on German television as a two-part miniseries, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s World on a Wire is a prescient, intelligent, complex piece of work that serves as a precursor of sorts for films like The Matrix and Inception. Fassbinder’s film has now been released on Criterion Collection in its full three-and-a-half-hour glory and really should be experienced as a whole work.
Mar 4
The Exorcist is cited as being one of those “essential” pictures. It has iconic imagery and sequences that were very distressing for film audiences upon its 1973 release. It’s understandable, as the subject is tense and controversial. Through the years, however, we’ve been exposed to a lot more by way of shock value and things have changed. Less is no longer more, usually at least, and the litany of vomit and vulgarity that is The Exorcist comes off as rather dated.
Now before you spray me down in pea soup, hear me out. Here was a film that relied heavily on mood and shock in its time. The vulgarity and profanity used by young Linda Blair was considerable and surprising, providing the context of the demonic presence and the stunning horror in vivid fashion. The classic shots – the spider-walking down the stairs, the turning head, the vomit – were entered into the iconography of cinema because they effectively scared the pants off audiences. But do they last?
Woody Allen takes on the future with Sleeper, a 1973 science fiction comedy. The film is zany and goofy, without question, but it’s also unfortunately disjointed and repetitive. The sudden ending is unsatisfying and the humour built up so well in the movie’s first half doesn’t carry over into the second half. It’s generally regarded quite highly by critics and fans, but Sleeper left me wanting more.
Nov 20
Disney’s Robin Hood is one of the most enjoyable versions of the legend ever put to film. The 1973 motion picture is the 21st movie in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Robin Hood wasn’t given much of a budget to work with and, as such, some of the song and dance numbers are traced from other Disney pictures. Some characters, too, are mirror images, with Little John being the most obvious of examples as he is incredibly similar to Baloo from The Jungle Book. The same voice actor is even used.
Even with the apparent repetition and copying, Robin Hood is a pretty good little picture. It’s not a classic, but it’s a fun movie that gets a nice turn from Peter Ustinov as the slippery and ultimately weak Prince John. It’s a film I remember watching an awful lot as a kid and it carries an energy that many will find enjoyable, I think.
Nov 12
The ultimate story of revenge, Lady Snowblood (Shurayukihime) laid the groundwork for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films and proved to be the inspiration for several others. It is a blood-spattered and beautiful picture, directed by Toshiya Fujita with all sorts of fierce, blood-spurting glee. While many would argue and perhaps complain that this gem of a samurai exploitation flick is only getting attention because of Tarantino’s homage/rip-off, any awareness of Fujita’s little blood-fest is good news in my book.
Thematically, Lady Snowblood fits comfortably in the exploitation genre. It is a film about social change and victimhood as the characters react to incoming Western philosophies and new forms of rule. Like many exploitation films, Lady Snowblood uses violence and graphic content to draw notice to its central theme. Unavoidably, the graphic violence overshadows the theme and the blood-and-guts take over in full force.
