With Cannes in full swing, the blog world and twitter are pretty active right now. In case you missed it, the first teaser for “the Master” , the new Scientology-inspired film by P.T. Anderson ( Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will be Blood ) hit the web yesterday morning. The film, “loosely” inspired by the origins of Scientology and the life of L. Ron Hubbard hits theaters in October. Until this trailer and a special preview screening hosted by the Weinsteins at Cannes ( where they also unleashed some advance footage of Django Unchained that sounds too good to be true ) the plot had largely been kept under wraps. Here, in our first glimpse, the eery score of Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood plays as Joaquin Phoenix, who plays the right-hand-man turned defector opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman’s L. Ron Hubbard type character, is interrogated and acts rather evasive as ominous footage of him on a beach plays throughout. Supposedly 9 years in the making and sure to upset a few in Hollywood, the highly anticipated film looks to be one of the most exciting to come in the next few months.
I don’t care how many times people see this video today, it won’t be enough.
Rest in Peace, Adam Yauch, MCA.
RIP Adam “MCA” Yauch. This is the August 6, 1998 cover story where we explore how three punk-rock wiseguys from New York made some records, changed America and built an empire of cool.
Here is an excerpt where they shared how they register at their hotels, as they were about to embark on their first tour in three years.
And Adam “MCA” YAUCH – the spiritual seeker – what of him? He registers under the name I. Clouseau, as in Inspector Clouseau, for he is a huge Peter Sellers fan. His favorite Sellers movie is The Party. “He plays an Indian actor,” Yauch says, “and the movie was banned in India because he is playing this bumbling idiot in the middle of all these white people, and some Indian people were insulted by it. But the irony is that he’s really the only intelligent person there – all the other people are morons. So it has a cool theme.”
RIP MCA. Fuck Cancer
In the 80s, every town, no matter how small, had a video store. These were filled with Reagan-era blockbusters, lower-budget “straight-to-video” fare , the “Classics” that studios had released from their archives, foreign and indepent gems and anything else the shop-owners could fill their shelves with. I remember as a kid and budding cinephile being drawn to particular titles by their box cover art, each movie part of a greater category with its own section. The “Horror” section always had the most shocking art and at once drew me and scared me away. Cliche stories of masked serial killers stalking teens, babies from hell, Demons, Satanic possession, Vampires, Werewolves, and, old-fashioned haunted houses. These represented places filled with dread and paranoia you didn’t dare journey to, yet too intriguing to stay away from.
Like any genre, horror is prone to repetition. These archetypical stories get serialized , turned into sequels, and generally exploited commercially just as they exploit the public. Horror has gone in cycles over the years has remained fresh through experimentation and subversion. The anthology has been a useful to re-invigorate the genre every so often. In the 80s there were anthologies like “Creepshow” that stood out on the shelves and amongst this subgenre. This tradition goes even farther to the 60s with Mario Bava’s Italian anthology classic “Black Sabbath” and even farther to a tradition of telling stories to each other around caves and campfires. Removing the traditional 3-act structures means a viewer can never know how long the story will last or how it will play out.
The new indie horror anthology V/H/S is a welcome addition to this tradition. This time the hook is an all found-footage anthology. A premise that sounds like a gimmick, and it is, yet works brilliantly. The gimmick here also plays off of that one part of the video store I wasn’t allowed and wouldn’t dare go. The “snuff” genre. Films like Faces of Death that supposedly showed actual deaths on film. V/H/S plays out like perfect splicing of home video, snuff film, and horror anthology in the creepies way possible.
When a new technology becomes available, people tend to overuse it. This has certainly been true with video cameras. VHS tapes wore out quickly as they were taped and taped over and sometimes used for pretty sleazy purposes to record things people probably shouldn’t have. V/H/S takes this idea and runs with it. After several scattered images put on tape and taped over the wrap-around premise is apparent. Four young male criminals hoping for their big score are paid by an unknown party to break in to a house searching for a vhs tape they are told they will know “when they see it”. Upon finding a dead man and collection of unmarked vhs tapes they are forced to watch each in search of their prize. Each video marks another film within a film. Each video being an unedited vhs “snuff” tape. A horror short seen through a vary particular point of view each time. Essentially 5 films and a wrap-around that in the hands of a lesser batch of film-makers could’ve failed miserably yet here gives the viewer something unlike anything they could’ve possibly expected.
Without giving too much away, the 5 films play out like this:
1) Some highly unlikeable frat guys are out for a night of partying and, as it quickly becomes apparent, intend to make a porno. The camera in this short is hidden within a pair of glasses one of the bunch is being forced to wear. As their quest for date rape nearly reaches fruition they push one girl a bit too far and pay the price. It sounds gimmicky and it is, yet it works as one of the film’s best segments and sets an intense, visceral and nearly disturbing tone that will play throughout the film.
2) The second segment begins as the home video of a young couple on a road trip that stops at the Grand Canyon. This trip does not have a happy ending. This segment was directed by up-and-coming indie horror director Ti West whose slow-burn style prevails and keeps even the most jaded viewer like myself guessing and waiting. Mr. West plays off the odd relationship between the two leads, who include the mumblecore director Joe Swanberg, and creepy road-side motel vibe to display typical genre motifs and put his usual twist on them as we , the viewer, wait patiently for the the punchline. As usual with Ti West, it’s worth the wait.
3) This segment plays off the 80s slasher cliche of kids or young adults going camping only to be stalked and slashed one by one. This is a piece of “meta” film making that seems to serve almost as filler. Not my favorite of the found footage but not necessarily bad. There is a reliance on visual effects and distortion that can be a bit off putting for some viewers yet still retains a creepy vibe.
4) Skype or Face-time style video-chat is the visual hook for this segment. A long distance couple couple stays in touch this through this method until the boyfriend can come home to visit. The girl believes her apartment to be haunted and the boyfriend tries to comfort her as things get a bit out of control. We are given a bit of much-needed comic relief here and once again an old sub-genre is given a film-makers’ modern twist. As in all segments, what shouldn’t be the least bit visually interesting is given a distinct visual touch as the film maker stays within the format of V/H/S.
5 ) In the beginning of the wrap-around plot sement we were told the criminals would “know when they found” the vhs tape the were looking for. With this final short, it is safe to say they’ve found it, although possibly too late. When four friends , armed with video camera in hand, head to a halloween party what they get is…well…I’m gonna have to side with Scott Weinberg here where he said in his Fearnet review “Even the simplest of plot synopses would rob this fantastic horror short of a dash of its impact.” What is amazing here is how the the team know as “Radio Silence” take a format meant for micro budgets and fills it with Hollywood-worthy special effects culminating in a Poltergeist meets the Blair With Project effect. There lie moments of comedic brilliance that reverberated throughout the audience as the team of film makers gave us some real chills. Apparently this is the favorite of all the film makers involved in V/H/S and it’s easy to see why.
At the end of V/H/S I didn’t know what hit me. The omnibus seemed to have a disorienting effect even amongst theater employees. I thout I had seen it all as a cinephile but , suffice it to say, this movie is not for the faint of heart. I knew little going in and my expectations were low, anthologies are admittedly hit-or-miss, but this turn to be an adrenaline-fueled rollercoaster ride I was almost sorry for having gotten on at first. Ultimately it was more than worth the price of admission.
Film-going can leave even the biggest fan a bit jaded at times. Here, though, a fresh batch of film making talent is given a chance to show off and succeeds by taking stale genre motifs and giving them all a new lease on life. Each film would have worked fine on its own but when bound together by the wrap-around plot they create a wondeful piece of indie horror. This is indie horror in the tradition of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead, etc. I was drawn to this by a nice blurb on the festival in / Film but that never could have prepared me for what I saw. It’s unfortunate this was the only film of the fest I could make it to but I consider myself lucky to have seen this in a great, packed theater months before its initial release. If you have a strong stomach and an appreciation for the creativity that happens when budgets are restrained and rules are presented do not hesitate to see V/H/S.
Full Trailer: COSMOPOLIS (dir. David Cronenberg) 2012
“I want a haircut.”
finally, somebody finally made a movie about my monthly odyssey to Supercuts (let’s just pretend i didn’t make that joke when i posted the teaser). seriously though, this looks too amazing to be a real thing, and i think i can say with some certainty that Cronenberg and co. didn’t play it safe this time around (do they ever?). the trailer takes me back to the 80s in the best way possible — that sleeveless leather vest might as well be a DeLorean — and if Robert Pattinson was the conduit Cronenberg needed in order to get back to his roots and pump out Videodrome 2.0, well that’s just fine by me.
this trailer confirms that Cosmopolis will be at Cannes next month, so stay tuned for early reviews in the near future.
(via The Film Stage)
update: video fixed!
“I’ve been lucky because I’ve had opportunities. Thanks to Bergman, I’m sure, I’ve gotten a lot of those. I’ve gotten opportunities to play in interesting stories and work with interesting directors and, of course, interesting actors. It’s all a matter of opportunities. I’ve known so many great actors who never got the opportunity to have audiences see what they do or really be appreciated. I’ve been lucky. Yes, I’ve been lucky.”
Max von Sydow (born April 10, 1929)
Michel Gondry & Jim Jarmusch Remix The White Stripes
so apparently this is a real thing? the track, on which the two filmmakers rework the lead single of the White Stripes’ penultimate record, was released on a limited edition vinyl in 2006 (only 2,000 copies pressed). if the six seconds i spent trying to google a recording of this song are any indication, this version of “Blue Orchid” has practically faded off the face of the earth, but you can hear a snippet of it here (scroll down). it pretty much sounds like “Blue Orchid,” but underscored with John Ford-era native american chanting.
if anyone out there has a full recording of the tune, please be so kind as to send it along to criterioncorner@gmail.com
p.s. Michel Gondry *would*be Meg White.
Hollywood insists on ruining the classics instead of green-lighting original scripts. On a move that is sure to baffle horror, exploitation, and cult-film geeks and cinephiles everywhere, the director of Pineapple Express is set to remake the distinctly Italian and psychedelic Dario Argento film Suspiria. A movie that sets atop many lists of top horror and grindhouse films of all time.
