Suggested Viewings from KCL Film Studies

After the last stressful weeks I am finally back in Italy and have some time to catch up with the posts!

Here are the viewings of the past three weeks of uni!

From the module British National Cinema

My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, 1985)

Set in Thatcherite Britain the first film to openly talk about homosexuality and the second generation immigrants generational conflict within their families and the British society itself. A very interesting case of film made for television which became huge on the big screen on its release.

Notting Hill (Roger Michell, 1999)

Well, what more can be said about this film? I watched it for ten times, I think, but I still laugh and enjoy it every single time! Don't care if it's all romance and clichès, we just need them sometimes. Think about the relationship between American and English characters, the representation of London and Britishness, the reflection on film stardom and the different personas Julia Roberts embodies, not only as Anna, but also as herself as star. 

In The Loop (Armando Iannucci, 2009)

Do you want a swearing lecture?? Please enjoy the best political satire film I've ever seen. Parody of the New Labour Government in the period of declaration of war to Iraq. The film works because it takes the piss out of the highest ranks in both British and American politics and dismantles their authorities, revealing the too-recurrent incapacity of our politicians. 

Here you can watch Malcolm Tucker at his best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LugJd6uGJqI

From the module Hollywood Cinema

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Stanley Kramer, 1967)

Starring the biggest black star of its time, Sydney Poitier, this film is a comedy of misunderstandings and racial stereotypes facing the human rights movements of the 60s. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy give amazing performances re-affirming themselves as two of the best actors of their generation. A film that makes  us still think today, if we consider that racism in both life and films has not disappeared at all, and does not always lead to such a happy ending.

Rocky I (John G. Avildsen, 1976)

Rocky probably contains one of the best and less cheesy love stories in Hollywood cinema. We all want Rocky to win, we all want him to move upwards the social ladder, we all want him to live the American Dream, and live it with him. 

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema

La leyenda del tiempo (Isaki Lacuesta, 2006)

One of the best films I've ever seen, I'm glad I have discovered such an interesting director as Isaki Lacuesta about whom I will write a separate post because I think his films can be very much appreciated and should be more well known. A touching film, travelling to the roots of flamenco in the bay of San Fernando, telling two stories which merge in the same quest: finding one's own voice and origins. The title comes from Federico Garcia Lorca's poem, which Camaron de la Isla, the international flamenco star celebrated and remembered in this film, chose as title for his breakthrough album. I leave you with my favourite lines: 

"Y si el Sueno finge muros

en la llenura del Tiempo,

el Tiempo le hace creer

que nace en aquel momento."

La Comunidad (Alex de la Iglesia, 2000)

One name and one word: Carmen Maura and hylarious. Alex de la Iglesia was another great discovery of this semester and I can only tell you to watch the film and be amazed by the colours, the grotesque, the popular culture quotes such as Star Wars, the recuperation of the Spanish tradition of Esperpento and the use of Madrid and its inhabitants/types in our postmodern reality.

Blancanieves (Pablo Berger, 2012)

Ok I've got to tell you, I cried so many times during this film, it became my absolute favourite among this year's. I will write a separate post on it because there is so much to say. It's a fairy-tale of other times, again searching for the roots of Spanishness, and celebrating Spain's lost silent cinema era, hommaging Spanish cinema, culture, and cinema of all world at its best.

From the module Chinese Cinemas

Xiao Wu/ Pickpocket (Jia Zhangke, 1998)

This is not a film for everyone, especially for its linguistic difficulties since it openly deals with the multiplicity of dialects and languages among the different Chinese communities. But if you are interested in this topic, or you are Chinese students or speakers this might be a good film choice to reflect on language. Check out the director's work in general, which always deals with these issues. 

Cape no. 7 (Wei Te-Sheng, 2008)

A light alternative to Hollywood musicals, funny, catchy, and a good example of Taiwanese blockbuster, nonetheless it was nicknamed "The Chinese Titanic". I leave the connections between the two to you!

Finding Mr. Right (Xiao Lu Xue, 2013)

Building on the Hollywoodian stereotype of love proposed by Sleepless in Seattle, this film promotes it to then dismantle it and actually offer a more realistic picture of humans rather than heroes, and of common relationship rather than the fairy-tale kind of love. I suggest it as a weekend viewing, but also as a point of reflection on issues of transnationalism and Hollywood influences.

48-Hour Film Competition - Pastime

Again I know I've been absent, but uni work keeps me so busy this year!
However I had much fun during the weekend as my flatmate Cecile and I made a short film for a university competition!
It's a comedy with a sci-fi trend set in our house here in London! If you wanna have a good laugh you can watch Pastime here: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEqAuMv7Vy4&feature=youtu.be

And bear in mind...

What if your house became a museum?

Suggested Viewings for the Weekend - KCL Film Studies

From the module British National Cinema: The Young Ones (Sidney J. Furie, 1961). Well, if you know and love Cliff Richard and want to be transported in the youth culture of the swinging London this is the film for you. From here you can actually see where all the High School Musicals came from!

From the module Hollywood Cinema: Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000). I am a big fan of epic dramas, and Gladiator has always been one of my favourites. Watch out for the different representations of masculinity, while you stare at Russel Crowe's body. Freud is always a good start here.

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema: The Red Squirrel (Julio Medem, 1993). Freud is back again in this mental fairytale suspended between dream and reality, exploring the boundaries of what being men and being women means and playing with our attention through symbolism and the actors' great performances until the end.

From the module Chinese Cinemas: The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee, 1993). Again a film that works on many different levels: it can be an enjoyable family drama with a good amount of comedy, it can be a manifesto for the Asian gay community, it can be a challenge, but it can also be tradition, and make you explore the life of a Confucian family through five great characters. It's up to you to choose which of the possible readings it represents.

RIP Syd Field

I am very sad to hear about Syd Field's death, I've been reading his screenwriting manual in the past weeks, and I unfortunately couldn't attend the screenwriting course Raindance organized with him as one of the lecturers. It's been one of those missed occasions one could never replace. Here is the article published on Raindance website:

Syd Field with his mentor Jean Renoir

Beverly Hills, CA—November 17, 2013—Syd Field, long considered by the global film community as “the guru of screenwriting,” died on Sunday, November 17 of hemolytic anemia at his home in Beverly Hills surrounded by his wife, family and friends. He was 77.
Field was the author of eight best-selling books on screenwriting. The first of these, Screenplay was initially published in 1979, and is universally considered to be “the Bible” of screenwriting. It revolutionized how screenwriters and filmmakers approached story and the art of filmmaking and has been published in 23 languages and is used in over 400 colleges and universities around the world.
Born on December 19, 1935 in Hollywood, California, Syd Field received his B.A. in English Literature at University of California, Berkeley in 1960. He began his career at Wolper Productions in the shipping department, earning $75 a week. Field went on to research and write for the original Biography television series, among other Wolper Productions.
Acclaimed by CNN as the “guru of all screenwriters,” and by The Hollywood Reporter as “the most sought after screenwriting teacher in the world,” Field is celebrated as the first writer to outline the paradigm that most screenplays follow, which is the classic three-act structure.
During his more than 50-year career, Syd Field has chaired the Academic Liaison Committee at The Writer’s Guild of America, West, served as lecturer on the faculty at University of Southern California and AFI and has been a special script consultant to 20th Century Fox, the Disney Studios, Universal, Tri-Star Pictures as well as an annual The Visual Art of Storytelling workshop for the scientists of JPL and NASA.
Syd Field was inducted into the Final Draft Hall of Fame in 2006 and was the first inductee into the Screenwriting Hall of Fame of the American Screenwriting Association. He was also a special consultant to the Film Preservation Project for the famed Getty Center.
By special invitation of numerous Ministries of Culture, Field has taught throughout Europe, Asia, South America and Canada. His books and workshops have influenced many of the leading writers and producers in the film industry. Producer Linda Obst (Sleepless in Seattle, The Fisher King, Contact) has said of Field’s workshop: “This course is a virtual must for screenwriters.”
Judd Apatow, Writer/Director/Producer, (Bridesmaids, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People) has said: “What I learned in Syd Field’s class was here’s how Annie Hall works, and here’s how Witness works, and then I begin to think, ‘OK now how would I do it differently than that?’ That concept of ‘Always being in learning mode’ has stuck with me to this day…” Tina Fey, Emmy-Award winning Creator and Writer (30 Rock, Saturday Night Live) commented: “I did a million drafts. And then I did the thing everybody does—I read Syd Field and I used my index cards.”
Frank Darabont, Writer/Director of Shawshank Redemption praises Syd Field’s works: “I’ve gone from reading his books, to being taught by him in courses! I think one of us must have done something right! I thank him all the time for inspiring me.”
In his final speaking engagement in September 2013, Syd delivered the Keynote Address at STORY EXPO in Los Angeles. His talk on “Why We Are Storytellers” brought the packed room to its feet with a long, standing ovation.
A longtime meditator, Field was a longtime student of Baba Muktananda, an Indian meditation master who founded the Siddha Yoga path. He continued as a student under Baba’s successor, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda.
Syd Field is survived by his wife, Aviva Field, and his brother, Dr. Morton Field, both of Beverly Hills; Rika Hofmann, sister-in-law, of Phoenix; Lisa Arcos, daughter, of Atlanta; and Gloria Kessler, cousin, of Los Angeles.

A memorial service will be announced soon.

In lieu of flowers, charitable donations in Syd’s name can be made to:

·         SYDA Foundation, Donations, PO Box 600, S. Fallsburg, NY 12779, www.siddhayoga.org

·         The PRASAD Project, 465 Brickman Road, Hurleyville, New York 12747, www.prasad.org

·         Tower Hematology Oncology Medical Group,?9090 Wilshire Blvd.,? Suite 200 ?Beverly Hills, CA 90211, www.toweroncology.com

Suggested Viewings from KCL Film Studies

Unfortunately I didn't have time to post this during the weekend since I was finishing two essays, but last week was amazing in terms of topics and films. It was probably one of the few in which I was fully satisfied with everything we discussed.

From the module British National Cinema: Mandy (Alexander Mackendrick, 1952). A social drama in the light of post-war England, the touching story of a deaf six-year old girl and her family, building a bridge between different generations, and opening the door on the future.

From the module Hollywood Cinema: Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987). First of all, I love Glenn Close, but studying this film is much different than just watching it. I invite you to watch it and pay attention to how the female characters are portrayed in relation to post-feminism. You also may want to consider Newsweek's cover in 1986: 

So, please, don't be among the ones screaming "Kill the bitch", but consider the film's context first! 

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema: Te doy mis ojos/Take my eyes (Icíar Bollaín, 2003). An astonishing masterpiece, I was very pleased to discover the work of Icíar Bollaín. This film is so rich, and offers a very insightful approach to the subject of domestic violence. Among the actors you will recognize some familiar faces from All About My Mother (1999, Almodovar).  Pay attention to the use of paintings within the narrative and how art strenghtens the meaning of the film. 

From the module Chinese Cinemas: Infernal Affairs (Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, 2002). Who said Chinese films are slow and boring? Forget about The Departed, this is the original version. Masculinity is such an interesting topic to discover in relation to China's tradition, so enjoy this breathtaking film. 

"Marvelous Argento" - Dario Argento in Conversation - BFI Gothic

I apologise for the delay in this event report (essays' fault), but I am glad to tell you everything about Dario Argento in Conversation, interviewed by the author, critic and film programmer Alan Jones. 
It's always a beautiful experience when someone from Italy is recognized here, and you see how many people around the world apppreciate his work.
I loved this event, mostly because Dario Argento is a proper Italian: he can't express himself in a perfect English? Nevermind, we Italians are famous for using our hands to emphasize what we are saying, and, in the end, everyone understands. Marvelous Argento did exactly this.

LIFE AND CAREER

First of all, as I did for the Roger Corman's event, a few background lines for those of you who are not familiar with the director's work:
"Dario Argento was born in Rome on 7 September 1940 to a family already entrenched in the visual arts. Although starting his career as a film critic, he was lured into directing afer his collaboration with Bernardo Bertolucci on the script for Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). His directorial effort The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) marked an enormous sea change for the Italian film industry. Its massive critical and box-office success led to more graphically bloody thrillers filmed with the stylish Hitchcockian flair for which he became justly famous - The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971), Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) and Deep Red (1975). Showcasing a score by Goblin, the latter chiller would also set an international benchmark for soundtrack use of high decibel rock music. But it was the visually ornate, shocking horror Suspiria (1977) that brought Argento worldwide recognition, cult status and credit for influencing the modern splatter genre. His celebrated imagery and striking technique added lustre to the further disturbing visions Inferno (1980), Tenebrae (1982), Phenomena (1985) and Opera (1987)."

EARLY WORK AND INFLUENCES

The conversation started with Argento's childhood context: his father was very important in the film industry ad he grew up in the Neorealism period. He went to Catholic school and he wanted to write: a newspaper asked him to work at 17, he dropped school and at 20 he was the only critic of the paper. He was watching many films in that period, the nouvelle vague was especially influential because it represented a global change in the way of making films. Among his favourites there are Fellini, Antonioni, Bergman, Hitchcock, and Powell and Pressburger's films.
The Red Shoes had a great influence on Suspiria in terms of colour, and he loved Peeping Tom.

WORKING WITH SERGIO LEONE

Leone has this idea of a spaghetti Western starring leading women, but he had a difficult relationship with women, so he asked Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci for help. Working with him taught him a lot, Leone always listened, he never talked about films. He taught him the importance of the camera: the camera is the master, more than the story and the dialogues. Argento loves silences in film, because those are the moments of pure cinema. When he was young his father used to give him many screenplays to read, so he grew up with that and decided to start writing films almost as a joke.

THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE

Mr. Argento explained that in the clip we were shown he was impersonating the killer. Mario Bava might have been a suggestion for the film, even though he had a different style, he was more comic. The Italian giallo was born. The soundtrack was fundamental for its modernity. Concerning this Argento talked about his relationship with the legendary Ennio Morricone. They lived quite close to each other and he often went to his house filled with vynils. At the time the film was very fresh and new, but it took a while to get a big audience response. However, it was big in America where Argento was nicknamed: the Italian Hithcock. He said that at the time the success didn't touch him a lot, the film came one after the other. The producers, distributors and exhibitors wanted the giallos, because they sold. This is also the reason why the only time he explored something different with Le cinque giornate (1974), a political film, people didn't appreciate it, because they were waiting for its new giallo. He then decided to go back to the giallo with a different perspective.

PROFONDO ROSSO - DEEP RED

The film was shot in Turin, an easier city for a film in comparison to Rome. The film represents a landmark moment in Argento's work because there's a big change in the soundtrack: a progressive rock sound. At first he wanted the Pink Floyd for the soundtrack, but since they were shooting The Wall they weren't available. He then decided to listen to demos from young and unexperienced people from the Conservatory.

THE THREE MOTHERS TRILOGY: SUSPIRIA, INFERNO AND THE MOTHER OF TEARS

Explaining some of the most graphic moments in the clip we watched, Argento said that, for example, the heart we see is  a real lamb art, because there was no digital at the time. The very much discussed remake of Suspiria by other directors is resultingimpossible: it keeps being rewritten, it's just impossible to remake the film with his same style. Talking about the trilogy as a whole, it wasn't planned, it just came naturally from Thomas de Quincey's section from Suspiria de Profundis.

BEING A PRODUCER AND THE ITALIAN INDUSTRY TODAY

He famously produced Dawn of the Dead with George A. Romero, sequel of the Night of the Living Dead. He is  not into producing anymore both for lack of money and possibilities, in Italy especially. Italian giallo and horror are over. The ones he prefers come from Asia because their horrors rediscover the psychology of the characters, a good few from France, better from Spain. The American horrors today, says Argento, with a very simple but sadly true example, are all the same. The most important thing in this genre is the fear. The fear has now disappeared from the movies for the sake of special effects.
The Italian industry has been invaded by the vulgarity of television, which corrupted people's taste. The films for the television, especially, are always the same stereotyped naive comedies, in which everyone has to be happily ever after. And with this I couldn't agree more, every time I go back to Italy watching television is a pain, and a shame.

TENEBRAE AND OPERA

We were shown a beautiful directing example from Tenebrae: a very difficult crane sequence realised on the rooftop, which had to be handmade at the time, but would be done with digital today. It's a long-take, making the film talking through images: that is cinema. Mr. Jones who saw Argento working on set said that when he works he is everywhere, he becomes the camera.
The clip from Opera shows the image he's most famous for: the protagonist's eyes kept open by a torture instrument, as she has to assist her boyfriend's murder. In Italy there is currently the film's theatre production, very well done and conserving the same special effects of the movie.

HIS DAUGHTER ASIA AND DRACULA 3D

He made and produced six films with his daughter, Asia Argento. He explains she works with digital very easily. Dracula 3D came out last year, we were shown a clip. Argento said that it was great to work in 3D and the different depths, extremely difficult though: they needed four people just to move the camera.

SOME ARGENTO'S ANSWERS FROM THE Q&A

About his use of colours

He uses different techniques depending on the film's style. Examples: Suspiria had to look like a fairytale, he took inspiration from the colours from the John Ford's movies, the Technicolor, and Disney.

About his editing style

He prefers the long-take, very different from modern horror films in which cutting is the main thing. But cutting is artificial. (His conception of cinema is very close to Bazin's: the long-take corresponding to realism.)

A comment on Westerns

"I don't like horses!"

And with this last hilarious quote from the event I want to thank Mr. Argento for being an Italian pride, but also an unforgettable and picturesque character. Thank you!

"I make movies for kindred spirits. I'm attracted to extreme violence because it's a form of protest - a refusal of established values. It's why my work is seen as so controversial and often banned or censored in many countries. I'm always ahead of the times. Sometimes it takes a few years before people catch up with my directional approach. But horror fans, my fans, always want something different. And I'll constantly provide  it."

What Shall I Read Today? Part 10

Night Film. Marisha Pessl, (2013)

I love when books keep you awake during the night, when you feel you have to read another page, finish another paragraph, then another chapter. Night Film plays with its readers exactly like this. It is built on many different layers which makes it accessible to every kind of reader. There's the detective story (which people who have loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy will adore), there are the film-experts quotes, there's New York as setting, there are mysterious places, and the book's format is modern and close to our reality which makes us get lost in it even more.
I am glad I found out a new writer whose words can be like knives, and who interplays with different media in her stories: Internet, newspapers, television, films in all their forms, blogs, everything.
Remember that when you are reading it almost nothing is as it seems, be ready to be surprised and puzzled until the very last page.

Favourite quotes:

"Will you curl up with your eyes closed and die? Or can you fight your way out of it and fly?"

"I looked like I wasn't at a cocktail party but an airport, waiting for my life to take off. Infinitely delayed."

"All of them walking around with holes where their hearts should be, wondering where they belong, what side they're fighting for."

"For the impenetrable prison with the impossible lock is your own head."

"There might be a Starbucks on every corner, and an iPhone in every ear, but don't worry, people are still fucking crazy."

"Scientists look for aliens in the universe, but they're here. Aliens who pass for men. They've already invaded. For our own safety we should leave them be."

"It meant deep-diving love, a love that excavates you. It's something you have to have before you die in order to have lived."

"She told me her father taught her to live life way beyond the cusp of it, way out in the outer reaches where most people never had the guts to go, where you go hurt. Where there was unimaginable beauty and pain. She was always demanding of herself, Do I dare? Do I dare disturb the universe? From Prufrock. They were always reminding themselves to stop measuring life in coffee spoons, mornings and afternoons, to keep swimming away, way down to the bottom of the ocean to find where the mermaid sang, each to each. Where there was danger and beauty and light. Only the now. Ashley said it was the only way to live."

"We are nothing without our shadows. They give our otherwise pale, blinding world definition. They allow us to see what's right in front of us. Yet they'll haunt us until we're dead."

Suggested Viewings for the Weekend - KCL Film Studies

From the module British National Cinema: The Red Shoes (Powell and Pressburger, 1948). If you love ballet and fairytale prepare yourself to be enchanted in this tale of life and art becoming one.

From the module Hollywood Cinema: The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008). One of the most successful franchises of our time, and, nevertheless, Heath Ledger's last appearance and awesome performance as The Joker.

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema: Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006). The magic, the history, del Toro's beautiful camera work and aesthetic guides the viewers through an emotional, complex and rich expericence, enjoyable on many different levels.

From the module Chinese Cinemas: Two Stage Sisters (Jin Xie, 1964). An example of Maoist socialist cinema focusing on women, a consideration of female friendship and women power, and perfect for Chinese opera lovers.

The Rest Is Noise Festival - My weekend in the 1960s

This post will give you a general overview on the talks I've attended during the past weekend, I have many notes to go through and I unfortunately got ill, so the posts on each event will be a little bit delayed, but I promise I'll try to write them as soon as I can!
This said here are the fantastic events I attended, (desctriptions taken from the event's booklet).

Saturday 26

Richard Weight - The Sixties, For Now

Richard Weight discusses the social liberalism of Britain in the 1960s, the country's relations with the USA and Europe and the founding of the modern, largely secular country we live in today. This is followed by a discussion with Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre, before questions are taken from the audience. Richard is the author of Patriots: National Identity in Britain 1940-2000 and Modern British History: The Essential A-Z Guide. Richard also taught history at UCL, King's College London and Boston University.

Psychiatry and the 1960s

The writing and teaching of R D Laing caused a dramatic shift in attitudes towards mental health in the 1960s. Heavily influenced by existential philosophy, Laing tore up the rule book and became a huge influence on successive generations of psychiatrists, writers, and philosophers. In this event, his son Adrian Laing, a lawyer and writer, discusses his influence with chair Anthony David.

Double Bill: John Cage & Roland Kirk's Sound & What the Future Sounded Like

Dick Fontaine's experimental 1966 film Sound brings together two very different musical iconoclasts - Rahsaan Roland Kirk and John Cage - who shared a similar vision of the boundless possibilities of music. In What the Future Sounded Like, the fascinating story of British electronic music is revealed.

The Noise of Third Cinema: 1968 and Film

Bev Zalcock, filmmaker and teacher, and Helen de Witt from the BFI explore the relationship between radical film practices and politics, including the emerging influence of feminism. Taking Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino's revolutionary film, The Hour of the Furnaces, and their manifesto, 'Towards a Third Cinema', as the starting point, this discussion, which included extracts, will look at the films of the anti-Vietnam War protests, the May '68 uprisings, the Black Panther Party and other activist movements.

Sunday 27

The Beat Generation

Iain Sinclair has long been recognized as a great writer of the marginal and the esoteric, and his latest book American Smoke is a journey in the footsteps of the Beat writers and the landscapes rhey inhabited. He discusses the lasting impact of figures such as Charles Olson, Jack Kerouac and William Borroughs with chair Garth Cartwright, author of More Miles Than Money: Journeys Through American Music.

Zappa on Zappa

Gail Zappa, Frank Zappa's widow, in conversation about her life, the 1960s in the US and the UK, and being a rock and roll wife. 

Noise Bites

A whistle-stop tour of the key artists, movements and political breakthroughs of the era. With 15 minutes per topic, the need-to-know subjects include the cult film Performance, The New Hollywood, Computers and Artistic Experiment, and Feminist Performance Art.

Roger McGough & Brian Patten

The cultural melting pot of 1960s Liverpool gave rise to the most significant poetry movement of the era, when Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten fused pop sensibility and a zest for performance to create The Mersey Sound. At this very special event, McGough and Patten read poems and discuss Liverpool during that heady decade, before taking questions from the audience.

Angela Davis

Angela Davis is an iconic figure of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. She emerged as a nationally prominent activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA and had close relations with the Black Panther Party. At this event, Angela Davis looks back at the enormous social gains made during a decade of revolution, and their resonance for the present day. Chaired by Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre.

Suggested Viewings for the Weekend - KCL Film Studies

From the module British National Cinema: Millions Like Us (Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, 1943). A war-time propaganda picture focusing on the role of women during WWII, interesting in terms of message, character representation, and sense of community.

From the module Hollywood Cinema: Beverly Hills Cop (Martin Brest, 1984). Biggest grossing film in 1984, Eddie Murphy's laugh (can be both hilarious and annoying), a film embodying the structure of the high concept in the blockbuster era.

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema: Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona (Woody Allen, 2008). A film that works on many levels: simple pleasurable experience about the turistic Barcelona, a transnational and "fake" representation of Spanishness, a starting point for stardom studies, plus Javier Bardem is always a visual pleasure.

From the module Chinese Cinemas: The Goddess (Yonggang Wu, 1934) Probably the most modern and interesting silent film I have ever seen, emotional, starring the "Chinese Garbo" Ruan Lingyu, a tragic movie star figure in the 30s.

Roger Corman in Conversation - BFI Gothic

This evening has been one of the greatest and most thrilling experiences of my life so far. I got to meet one of my myth: the legendary Roger Corman.

LIFE AND CAREER
For those of you who are not familiar with his work, here's a little background:
"Roger William Corman is an Academy Award-winning American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Much of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Admired by members of the French New Wave and Cahiers du Cinéma, Corman was the youngest filmmaker to have a retrospective at the Cinémathèque Francaise, as well as the BFI and the Museum of Modern Art. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award. Corman mentored and gave a start to many young film directors such as Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovich. He helped launch the career of actor Peter Fonda. Corman has occasionally taken minor acting roles in the films of directors who started with him, including The Silence of the Lambs, The Godfather Part II, Apollo 13, The Manchurian Candidate, and Philadelphia. A documentary about Corman's life and career entitled Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel premiered at Sundance and Cannes Film Festival in 2011, directed by Alex Stapleton. In total, Roger Corman has produced over 300 movies and directed more than 50."

INTERVIEW - The Gothic and the Edgar Allan Poe Cycle
Mr. Corman talked about his childhood experience of the Gothic, in terms of films he was a big fan of Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein, but the big infatuation came when he was 12 and was assigned a work on an Edgar Allan Poe's short story for school. After that he asked his parents for the whole collection of Poe's works. 
When he started working as a filmmaker Gothic genre was out of fashion.
Producing films for the American International Pictures (AIP) meant having a very low-budget, working on a double bill over 10 days and shooting in black and white. Mr. Corman suggested to use colour for the adaptation of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. Since they were complaining about the lack of monsters in the story, Corman clarified that the house is actually the monster.
Going back to his first big experiences with horror The Undead was his first horror picture (1956), we then moved to a clip from A Bucket of Blood, the opening credits sequence.
Corman explained that the character's speech was meant to be meaningless in order to represent a pretentious and fake artist. This was his first comedy-horror film and it was shot in 5 days. The setting is a beat cafè of the time, it was also one of the first films to have such a contemporary setting, and to be a very innovative approach to an "house of wax" story.
As you will notice by watching it the opening is shot in long take with a frequent use of dollies, he wanted the camera to wander around and show the space while the fake artist's speech went on.
We then moved to one of his most interesting works: the Poe Cycle:

1. House of Usher (1960)

2. The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

3. The Premature Burial (1962)

4. Tales of Terror (1962)

5. The Raven (1963)

6. The Haunted Palace (1963)

7. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

8. The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

We watched House of Usher's trailer, the title is different from the original story because the company wanted to put emphasis on the "house".
Corman thought about the most clichè way of opening a picture regarding a classic, so he brought in the idea of the book opening on the story as a kind of joke to open the film.
Since the AIP was a very small company, having 15 days for the making of a film was a gamble, but also meant a step forward for them.
He was then asked about the use of Cinemascope and widescreen in the cycle, since all Poe's stories are very claustrophobic. That was again the company's idea since Cinemascope was selling very well, and it fortunately was a success for the House.
After that he really wanted to make The Masque of the Red Death, but Bergman's The Seventh Seal had just come out. So, he made The Pit and the Pendulum first.
He started using horror stars from the earlier period such as Boris Karloff, bringing in better and good actors was a great improvement for the pictures also. 
There's an anecdote about the making of The Raven that I found very interesting. The film starred Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. Three great and very different actors. On the second day of shooting Karloff went to Roger to tell him Lorre was improvising the whole script and he had no idea on what to do. This problem between the actors was connected to their training: Lorre, German actor, studied with Bertolt Brecht and the Stanislavsky method, whereas Karloff, had an English background. They finally managed to solve everything. I haven't seen the film yet, but the interviewer quoted the wine-tasting scene of which Corman is very pleased, especially for the idea of introducing humour in the picture, because in that way they were always trying to vary from one production to the other.
We continued with the trailer of Tomb of Ligeia, shot in England. The Poe films were doing very well there, and by shooting in England they could also get a subsidy and obtain a longer schedule, plus the casting of very good British actors.
For The Masque of the Red Death he explained that the script looked too simple for him, so, together with a writer, they incorporated another Poe's short-story as a subplot to make it more complex.
In 1961 he had faced his first failure: The Intruder. 
A film I was waiting to hear about was The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963). The film is sci-fi/horror story, an attempt to combine these two genres. The original idea saw the protagonist as a man having x-ray visions, he then changed the character into a doctor working on vision. The ending of the film is also a religious moment: we see the doctor seeing through the centre of the universe, being blindened by the powerful vision of God. Stephen King actually wrote an alternative ending to the film. He thought of redoing it in the future since it would improve a lot thanks to the new technologies.
The Terror (1963) has a very intricate story concerning its making rather than the actual film plot. He shot it in two days shooting 15 pages a day with Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson. The latter saying that Corman would be the only person to hire him for 10 years. He always believed in his talent, and said that Nicholson is always a great writer, who wrote many things for him too.
For the last Poe picture, Tomb of Ligeia, he tried to work with the unconscious mind as both Poe and Freud did, without being aware of external influences. He tried to work on an hermeneutic environment. 
An interesting common element in his films are the figures of heroines who become monstrous, which is also a theme that ran through Poe. He often took a story and turned the lead into a woman, because it brings more dramatic value and complexity. 

INTERVIEW: The street films and the New World Pictures
Being a member of the counterculture in the 60s he wanted to take some time apart from the studio and actually go shoot on the streets.
So he made the first biker movie: The Wild Angels (1966). The producers wanted a story in which the "monsters" were the Hell's Angels, he wanted the opposite: he wanted them to be the main focus, the heroes or antiheroes, his identification being with the "bad guys".
In 1970 he decided to turn to producing by funding his company: New World Pictures. He was a bit tired of the genre and was more interested in contemporary subjects.

INTERVIEW: What about Jaws? The coming of the blockbuster.
The big come-back of the monster movie actually happened in 1975 with Spielberg's Jaws about which a scholar said: "What is Jaws but a big-budget Roger Corman's film?"
Corman explained that the big studios were starting to understand. And then there was Star Wars. These pictures were bigger and better. This was a big problem for B-movies and smaller companies. He actually talked to both Spielberg and Lucas and they both watched his films and the old monster movies when they were young.
Even with these complications, Roger Corman managed to stay, and still be, in the business.

Q&A

• What's next in the monster world?                     
• He is now looking back, working on Greek mythology, with a subject like Medusa, for example.
• 3D in the 50s and today.
• 3D is great when naturally and intelligently used such as Cameron did with Avatar. On the other hand, there are films which are not as good which damage the concept. Gravity is another recent and excellent example of 3D use. 
• Can you talk about the making of The Trip?
• Joe Dante is working on a documentary about the making of this film. The purpose of the film was to shoot a long LSD trip, with the help of Nicholson and many others. The funny thing is that Bruce Dern, the main character, had no experience with LSD.
• Are there today actors of the caliber of Karloff, etc.? 
• Yes, there are good equivalents today. 
• Contemporary filmmakers he admires.
• Coppola, Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuàron. 
• How do you manage to work on a very small budget?
• The small budget is a challenge, and it allows you to use intelligence and creativity more.
• Which filmmakers influenced you the most?
• He has been influenced by every film he saw, he particularly admires Eisenstein (The Battleship Potemkin staircase scene), Hitchcock, Hawks, Ford. He said: "I was absorbing the world around me."
• What about women directors?
• He worked with quite a few great women: Tina Hursh, Amy Jones, but even if we did not have so many great women directors we have a great number of women producers. Usually the most successful and richest. 

Last, but not least, I bought the book about his career (Crab monsters, teenage cavemen and candy stripe nurses. Roger Corman: King of the B Movie, Chris Nashawaty) 

and got his autograph and the picture with him. It was a great moment, a unique chance probably, I am glad I did not miss it.

p.s: Corman keeps a pencil and a pad near his bed because he happens to wake up in the middle of the night with ideas to write down. (I should start doing that too.)

London Film Festival: Screentalk - Ralph Fiennes

In occasion of the London Film Festival the BFI hosted a very special guest: Ralph Fiennes presenting his film The Invisible Lady which he directed and in which he starrs as Charles Dickens. 
Last Friday I went to attend his Screentalk about his acting and directing career and future aspirations.
His first aspiration was that of becoming a painter. This changed for him after watching Laurence Olivier's Henry V which made him understand his love for Shakespeare and the language leading him to the theatre.
His first key role on screen was that of Heathcliff in Wutherings Heights adaptation (Peter Kosminsky, 1992), and this role is what brought him to Steven Spielberg's attention. 
His video audition for Spielberg's Schindler's List was actually the first time he got to direct and direct himself.

We then watched a clip from Schindler's List: when his character, Amon Goeth is looking at himself in the mirror. Raplh Fiennes explained his understanding of the character and the film, the Nazis portrait in that case is that of a real man, the film is trying to depict the day by day reality, it is not a judgemental review. He did a lot of study on the character, in this sequence we are shown someone examining themselves: "Do you ever think of forgetting people?" 
Being asked about S. Spielberg's attitude in directing his actors, he explained Spielberg has a really powerful vocal energy, and he is very specific about physicality, moreover, he stated, "Steven always has great ideas".

The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996) is the film during which he got more curious about the directing, the actual making of the film.
In 2011 he had his first directing experience with Coriolanus, one of the most difficult Shakespeare's works. The play turned into a film made it even harder. He had to figure out a way to make it cinematic, this is also why he said that one of the hardest works is that of the screenwriter's: the responsibility of conveying the film to the reader and viewer.
The clip we watched was that of the "gladiatorial fight" between Coriolanus and Gerard Butler's character.

Talking about his latest film, we had the chance to see a couple of extracts. The film is about Charles Dickens's relationship with a younger actress when he was still married. The film is filled with the idea of a woman seeking a kind of closure with a past love.
But the film also presents the tragic figure of the other invisible woman: Catherine Dickens, the wife, who was she really? She wanted to keep and donate Dickens's letters so that one day the world would know he loved her once.
I really liked the extracts, so I can't wait to see the film! Here you can see the video of Fiennes on the red carpet: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/video/video-ralph-fiennes-red-carpet
I'll leave you this phrase Ralph Fiennes said during the Q&A:

"The theatre is the purest arena for an actor."

What Shall I Read Today? Part 9

Two, Irène Nemirovsky (1939)

Reading Irène Nemirovsky's novels is always like reading into myself, looking at myself in the mirror. One has to read her words seriously to understand how brutal her writing can be behind a surface of tenderness.
She wasn't afraid of words, and she wasn't afraid of life and death, she was fire in the blood.
Deux (Two), of which I couldn't unfortunately find any English translated quote, was published in 1939 and considered Nemirovsky's first romance novel.
The simplicity of the story leaves space to the extreme characterization and intensity of the protagonists. They are the reason why this is, in my opinion, one of the best stories about growing up ever written. It is a great study of the passage to adulthood, the passion of twenty-year-old people, the great love that can fade away with time and when a ring is put on your finger.
From these sketches of life we get to know Marianne, Solange, Antoine, Dominique, Gilbert and Evelyne.
I think this book hit me in particular way because, even though it is set in the post-First World War Paris, I am now twenty myself and I experiment their same feelings, the same hunger for life, to which the protagonists try to hold on to until the end.

"I met her in a kingstown bar

We fell in love I knew it had to end

We took what we had and we ripped it apart

Now here I am down in kingstone again

Everybodys got a hungry heart..."

(Bruce Springsteen, Hungry Heart)

She would have loved Springsteen's attitude towards the being young.

The opening quote is the only one I can rewrite in English, but I will write down some of my favourites in Italian anyways.

Favourite Quotes:

"We seek no more the tempest for delight,

We skirt no more tthe indraught and the shoal - 

We ask no more of any day or night

Than to come with least adventure to our goal..."

Rudyard Kipling, The Second Voyage

"Si baciavano. Erano giovani. I baci nascono in modo così naturale sulle labbra di una ragazza di vent'anni! Non è amore, è un gioco; non si insegue la felicità, ma un attimo di piacere. Il cuore non desidera ancora niente: è stato colmato d'amore durante l'infanzia, saziato di affetto. Che taccia, adesso. Che dorma! Che lo si dimentichi!"

"Niente può alterare lo splendore della gioventù."

"A volte prendeva un volume a caso, non lo leggeva ma lo apriva appena un po' e lo respirava, come si annusa il bouquet di un vino, poi lo rimetteva al suo posto, esattamente, e ne cercava un altro."

"Da giovani, in certi momenti in cui la felicità arriva al punto più alto, quasi doloroso, si è al tempo stesso attori e spettatori - spettatori inebriati, innamorati di se stessi."

"Solo la gioventù sa come vola il tempo. Più tardi, ci si abitua alla brevità della vita, come alla malattia, alla sfortuna, ma a vent'anni ogni istante che passa lo si vorrebbe trattenere, stringerlo a sè, come più avanti il bambino che cresce."

"Come sempre, quando si aspetta la morte di qualcuno che non è indispensabile alla nostra esistenza, al nostro stesso respiro, non si pensa tanto al morente quanto a noi stessi."

"Ogni essere umano si rassegna facilmente alla freddezza, all'indifferenza degli altri, a condizione di regnare in almeno uno o due cuori."

"Quando si cessava di tormentarsi l'un l'altro per volersi finalmente bene?"

Suggested Viewings for the Weekend KCL Film Studies

From the module British National Cinema: Say it with Flowers (1934) directed by John Baxter. A British quota-quickie famous among local audiences because of its use of the beloved music hall tradition and one of its biggest star's performance: Marie Kendal.

From the module Hollywood Cinema: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) directed by George Roy Hill. Paul Newman and Robert Redford in a revisitation of the Western genre becoming a manifesto of the Hollywood Renaissance? Definitely one my favourite films among this week's. And watch out for references to the French New Wave!

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema: Tesis (1996) directed by Alejandro Amenabar. One of the best firsts features ever. The film is an intense study on spectatorship starring the already star Ana Torrent and the soon to be stars Fele Martinez and Eduardo Noriega in a breathtaking thriller questioning the desires of our gaze.

From the module Chinese Cinemas: Rouge (1988) directed by Stanley Kwan. What happens when the ghost of a 1930s brothel's prostitute walks into the present to find her lost lover? And what happened to the Hong-Kong she left, where everything was red and gold, and love was one and only forever? This film has already found its place among my favourites.

Some suggested viewings from KCL Film Studies Course

Since I watched 6 films during the past 5 days, I thought I could share the films' titles weekly as suggested viewings for you!

From the module British National Cinema: Evergreen (1934) by Victor Saville, starring the star Jessie Matthews, great if you love musical, London, theatre life and art deco.

From the module Hollywood Cinema: Casablanca (1942) by Michael Curtiz, always classy, never goes out of fashion, personally I am never tired of watching it, "Here's looking at you kid."

Disorder by Huang Weikai, of which you can read more in my previous post:

http://artbookscinema.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-visual-festival-disorder-by.html

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema: Raise Ravens (1976) by Carlos Saura. Beautiful, I would say, fascinating, symbolic, starring two wonderful actresses such as Ana Torrent and Geraldine Chaplin.

From the Film Society weekly screening: Masculin Feminin (1966) by Jean Luc Godard. Starring the grown-up Jean Pierre Leaud, a wonderful reflection on French youth in the 60s, a reflection on genders, and just as good as only Godard could have made it.

From the module Chinese Cinemas: A City of Sadness (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien. Difficult to follow, I have to admit, slow and long, but once you start feeling part of the narrative it is an amazing journey in the depth of Chinese unspoken history and non-speaking people.