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  • flix we partook of over the hump

    Posted by Unknown Member on December 2, 2001 at 10:09 AM

    since flix are The artform of the last century, and since we do not live on sw alone (riiiight? 😮 ), this thread is a continuation of a long-term topic i started elsewhere. (due to a recent format switch which renders the above link illegible- and my no longer being able to trust the judgment of the moderator at that location- i am resuming this thred here :)) it is intended as a terse record of my film explorations, with (a personal emphasis of mine) occasional comment on the music therein. organic (“off-topic” ) crosstalk is encouraged; everyone is welcome to regard any subject raised herein as jumping-off points for whatever remarks you wish to add :) digressions happen; the Hump goes on :)
    my comments on each mentioned film are designed for punchiness, speed of digestion and maximization of recognition (i.e. if you’ve seen a flik but aren’t sure if you recall it, i’ll describe it in such a way so as to increase the chance you’ll remember it, so as to provoke discussion :) ). as such, they don’t qualify as “critiques” or “reviews”. on the other hand they’re not quite “blurbs” either (e.g., “i Loved it!” sez gene shalit in a movie’s newspaper ad, flecks of dried pastrami spitting out his big bushy mustache :p ) instead, i refer to them as “humps” or “humpins”, after this thred title :sur: either way, y’all are also welcome to contribute “humps” of your own, and your “humps” may be as long or short, in-depth or glib as you wish to make them :)
    i tend to avoid new releases; home video’s my preference. that said, unless i cite a film’s year of release it came out within the last decade or so. anyhoo, on to my now-traditional opening:
    What hump? You know what hump :p because previous incarnations of this thred are all but obliterated (the net, after all, is such an ephemeral medium :dead: ), i wish to begin by recapping of some of my faves covered on previous Humps. though i’m tempted to include a few better-known ones such as Flirting With Disaster, Fight Club, Party Girl, Pi, Pierrot Le Fou, Being John Malkovich, Lock Stock & 2 Smokin Barrels etc, the idea here is to Provoke Fruitful Discussion. and mentioning flix already discussed to death ain’t the way to get That ball rollin, so i’ll skew a bit more esoteric & emphasize those i feel proud & lucky to have discovered; let’s see if That rings any of yer bells :)
    first, 4 i’ve already amazon-reviewed:
    venice/venice– henry jaglom’s incisive, escapist, subversive, sublime meditation on reality, movies & wuv 😎
    some prefer cake– low-budget, superfun, sanfran-style slacker-love hijinx :D
    high art– complex, convincing professional & personal relationship between a heroin-addicted photographer (yummy ally sheedy :kiss: ) and a photomag editor 😎
    clockwatchers– lisa kudrow, toni collette & yummy parker posey (:kiss: ) navigate office politics as peon temps; subtle, poignant, superfun :)
    also:
    gummo (harmony korine dir.)- absorbing, visceral, 4-day-old-body-stench-soaked window unto brain-cell-killing white-trashdom :D
    happiness (todd solondz dir.)- marvelous, wickedly funny, panoramic window unto middle-class alienation, shallowness and sexual self-loathing, jersey style :p perfectly-cast, nuanced turns by philip seymour hoffman, lara flynn boyle, jon lovitz, camryn mannheim, louise lasser, dylan baker (as the pederast who nonetheless maintains a surprisingly healthy & frank relationship with his pre-teen son) etc : ) soundtrack features increasingly stinky (this stuff does Not age well) 70s/80s cheese such as “mandy”, “you light up my life” and air supply :p
    daytrippers (parker posey, anne meara, greg mottola dir.)- superfun misadventures during a family-station-wagon trip into manhattan :) bossanova-tinged richard martinez score :)
    blue in the face (wayne wang dir.)- superfun, cameo-crammed ensemble comedy about a brooklyn cigar store’s oddball neighbors :)
    the real blonde (matthew modine, kathleen turner, daryl hannah, tom dicillo dir.)- superfun, cameo-crammed ensemble comedy about careers, romances & milieux of several manhattan artiste-types :rolleyes: fun jim farmer score & yummy bridgette wilson :kiss:
    career girls (mike leigh dir)- superfun, poignant london vignette about two college chums reuniting six years later :)
    fallen angels (wong kar-wai dir.)- not as well-known as wong’s Chungking Express, but a more stylin, cooler, noir/french-new-wave tale of a hongkong hitman, his ardent Gal Friday and an eccentric, enterprising mute who breaks into retailers’ shops at 3am, reopens them and forces passersby to be his customers :crazed:
    tieta do agreste (carlos diegues dir.)- gorgeous, breezy brazilian flick bout an urban madam (sonia braga) who returns to her small home village in style; features Excellent caetano veloso bossanova score :happy:
    the mystery of rampo– poetic, involving japanese mindphuque about a novelist’s femme protagonist seemingly coming to life 😎 excellent akira senju score.
    book of life– hal hartley’s stylin, supercool, introspective, compact (63 minutes), pomo-tech jesus-vs-satan armageddon faceoff set in turn-of-millenium nyc : )
    pillow book (ewan macgrrrregarrrr, peter greenaway dir)- dense, stylin, supercool story of a japanese model compelled to combine carnality & calligraphy ;)
    dream with the fishes (david arquette, cathy moriarty, kathryn erbe (:kiss: ) )- complex, superfun pact between a suicidal guy & terminally ill guy to help each other carry out their final wishes :)
    relax it’s just sex– superfun 16mm dramedy about a “gay man trapped in a straight woman’s body” (hilarious jennifer tilly) and the luvlives amongst her mixed-persuasion posse, including convincing lori petty and radiant serena scott thomas :kiss:
    a life less ordinary (macgrrregarrr, camdiaz, ian holm, danny boyle dir.)- superfun crime-spree romp about heaven’s attempts to orchestrate love between a rich girl & a janitor :stupid:
    splendor (gregg araki dir)- yummy kathleen “90210” robertson’s the magnetic crux of this superfun, slick-hip romcom in which she works out a menage-a-troi living arrangement with 2 guys 😎 features fun kelly macdonald (who made her debut in danny boyle’s Trainspotting) and a cool remix of everything but the girl’s “before today” :)
    do i think these are among the Best films made in the last decade? geez, how do i know. i don’t concern myself here with posterity, only conveyance of personal taste & sensibility. all i know is i certainly found them among the best Fun :D
    vt
    np (now playing): leftfield’s rendition of john barry’s You Only Live Twice “space march”

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