12/3: Ratcatcher

to start off the month (or rotation) of female-directed films, i've picked the following:

RATCATCHER
1999, written and directed by Lynne Ramsay



In her breathtaking and assured debut feature, Lynne Ramsay creates a haunting evocation of a troubled Glasgow childhood. Set during Scotland’s national garbage strike of the mid-1970s, Ratcatcher explores the experiences of a poor adolescent boy as he struggles to reconcile his dreams and his guilt with the abjection that surrounds him. Utilizing beautiful, elusive imagery, candid performances, and unexpected humor, Ratcatcher deftly contrasts urban decay with a rich interior landscape of hope and perseverance, resulting in a work at once raw and deeply poetic.
-criterionco.com

Francisco's Photographs

Canyou post them from "Joe's Movie Night," Sunday night, and the scene re-enactments that you did? I'm interested in seeing all of them.
Thanks dude.

F for Fuck

so, in addition to the two names I mentioned tonight (Fred Zinneman, High Noon; Francois Truffaut, Stolen Kisses), we've also watched two other films by 'F-named' directors: City of God by Fernando Meirelles and 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould by Francois Girard.

in case anyone is wondering, we've watched only one film by a director whose LAST NAME begins with F. it was: Loves of a Blonde directed by Milos Forman.

Criterion blog

Unofficial information about THE CRITERION COLLECTION from the people who are officially in charge

you all probably knew about it.

Auteur or Auteurs?

An article in the NY Times
(If the link doesn't work, just type the director's and screenwriter's names on yahoo and search, it's the first result)

Basically, director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (of Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel) have a fall out because they have a disagreement on who gets the "credit" for their films. Inarritu thinks he's an auteur but Arriaga thinks it is a collaborative effort, and that his scripts are "more than 90% responsible for the structure of the films". Because of that, the director banned the screenwriter from attending the Cannes Festival in May.

What do you think?

Not to discredit the director, but I think Arriaga is probably very influential in the films because "The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada",written by him and directed by Tommy Lee Jones, has very similar narrative structure (and the film is great). It is egotistical for a director to claim sole credit.

Maybe Inarritu will show people how much an auteur he is after this fallout.

Sometimes we really give the directors too much credit.

Errol Morris to Document Abu Ghraib

according to Cinematical

11/26 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I've talked about showing this for a while, so we'll watch it on Sunday.
From imbd: "King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obstacles."
Directed by: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. England, 1975.

11/27 at RIVER OAKS

hey guys... i decided what we're gonna watch on monday night at river oaks
thanks again for helping kathryn put it all together... it really means alot

the movie should start around 7:45pm, so starting around 7 i think we'll watch an episode of the OFFICE (BBC, of course) so people can hang out for a bit before we start the movie... that way if people want to come but don't feel like staying for the film they have some time to hang out...

the main feature will be:

THE FIREMEN'S BALL
1968, Milos Forman
73 min.



A milestone of the Czech New Wave, Milos Forman’s first color film The Firemen’s Ball (Horí, má panenko) is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen’s ball where nothing goes right—from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organizers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was “banned forever” in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman’s move to America.
-criterionco.com

Robert Altman: 1925 -2006

Director Robert Altman died on November 20, 2006. He was 81. Altman's movie "Short Cuts" was featured on the August 27 th's movie night, hosted by Rory.

Personally I am not a big Altman fan but it is still very sad to hear about the death of Altman. AP stated he was working on the fictionalized version of "Hands on A Hardbody" (which I really want to see).

11/19: il posto

Sorry for the late post. After struggling to pick between two movies, I finally decided to pick "Il Posto" instead of "The Devil and Daniel Johnston". Here's a description for the movie from amazon:

When young, fragile Domenico (Sandro Panseri) ventures from the small village of Meda to Milan in search of employment, he finds himself on the bottom rung of the bureaucratic ladder in a huge, faceless company. The prospects may be daunting, but Domenico finds reason for hope in the fetching new worker Antonietta (Loredana Detto). A tender coming-of-age story and a sharp observation of dehumanizing corporate enterprise, Ermanno Olmi's Il Posto is a touching and hilarious tale of one young man's stumbling entrance into the perils of modern adulthood.

I picked this movie because I've seen the director's the other movie "I Fidanzati" (The Fiance). I really like his lyrical and delicate style.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston is actually a really good movie, I may still pick it in the future. And I found out Daniel Johnston went to Abilene Christian University briefly, too (as I did).

Themes?

Francisco and I were discussing the possibility of doing themes per month every so often (not every month). Like one month could be all female directors (since we haven't really done any), or like one month could be "Silent Film Month" (not very creative, but you get the idea)... just a thought

Movie Night Statistics For the Curious!

Tally, by countries:
Algeria: 0.5
Brazil: 1
Canada: 1
Czechoslovakia: 1
Denmark: 1
France: 4
Hong Kong: 1
Italy: 1.5
Japan: 2.5
Spain: 2
UK: 4
USA: 19.5
Taiwan: 1

37 feature length films, 2 shorts (Cat Soup & Lost Buildings), 3 DVD magazines (The Wholphin Series) and 2 TV documentaries (Seven Up & Seven Plus Seven).
13 countries
6 countries have been picked more than once (USA, UK, France, Japan, Spain and Italy)
Movies from each continent have been featured except for Australia and Antarctica.
48.75% are from The U.S. and A
None of the movies we picked were made by a female director
44.5 (86.25%) of our were made by White directors. None of the directors are Black or of African descent
Pedro Almodovar and Errol Morris are the only directors whose movies were picked more than once (twice for both)
One silent film was picked (City Lights)
11.5 (28.75%) of our picks are black-and-white ( the .5 is Seven Up)
7.5 (18.75%) of our picks are documentary films (I counted the Glenn Gould movie as .5)

Tally, by decades:
1930s: 2
1940s: 1
1950s: 6
1960s: 4 1/2 *
1970s: 4 1/2 *
1980s: 4
1990s: 11
2000s 7

(* The halves belong to Seven Up/Seven Plus Seven since the two pieces were released in two different decades)

9:30 or 9:00

I noticed that the tag line under the blog title says "9:30"... but I thought we always say 9:00 as the starting time even though we rarely start on time.

R. Kelly's "Trapped In The Closet"

Has anyone seen it? I've only seen the first four chapters, and I think it would be pretty awesome to watch. But I also want to show Monty Python's Holy Grail... I guess I'll need to start a queue for Movie Night.
Francisco, Rory, are you guys here?

Previous Movie List

Joe,
Aren't you forgetting "Citizen Kane"? I'd add it, but I don't remember when we watched it.
And is it just me, or is the list repeated and twice as long?

11/5 (updated)

Screening at my place this sunday (call me if you need directions to my new place):

American Movie
1999, directed by Chris Smith

In this quirky documentary that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, director Chris Smith chronicles aspiring filmmaker Mark Borchardt's battle to finish his horror flick Coven, despite a lack of just about everything, including sense. Over three years, Smith follows Borchardt's dogged quest, lending encouragement and cash to a motley crew that includes Borchardt's friends, local theater talent and his inimitable Uncle Bill.
-netflix.com