Bytowne Cinema
Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008) Friday, May 1st, 6:50PM
The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989) Monday, May 4th, 9:05PM
Adoration (Atom Egoyan, 2008) Friday, May 15th, 8:50PM
Nightwatching (Peter Greenaway, 2007) Friday, May 22nd, 9:05PM
Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carné, 1946) Wednesday, May 27th, 5:00PM
Mayfair Cinema
Y tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001) Tuesday, May 5th, 9:15PM
Dingo (Rolf de Heer, 1991) Wednesday, May 6th, 9:30PM
Ms. 45 (Abel Ferrara, 1981) Saturday, May 9th, 11:45PM
The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956) Sunday, May 17th, 1:00PM
The Education of Charlie Banks (Fred Durst, 2007) Friday, May 22nd, 7:00PM
The Tracey Fragments (Bruce McDonald, 2007) Friday, May 27th, 8:45PM
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Morbid Psychological Impetus
The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)
** (worth seeing)
The Brood (1979), written and directed by David Cronenberg, deals with a father’s, Frank Carveth (Art Hindle), attempt to get a restraining order on his dementia induced wife Nola (Samantha Eggar) who is currently getting therapy in Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed) Soma Free Psychoplasmic Institution. On one of their daughters, Candice (Cindy Hinds), weekly visits to see Nola she receives ambiguous beatings and lashings. His goals change from restraining to protecting as possessed brood’s start murdering the individuals that are looking after her. The brood’s vicious attacks and the instituted patients abnormalities elicit tension and queasiness and are meditations on body horror and the vulnerability of flesh. A recurring theme in the films of David Cronenberg.This is a good contemporary horror film with many interesting qualities except for an embarrassing Psycho stabbing rip-off and Howard Shore's mimicking Bernard Hermann musical score.
The Canadian film articulates national identity as the story unfolds in winter and markers include snowy, oak-tree encapsulated, cottage-country landscapes with the characters in respective winter-wear. As well subtle references to Halifax, Vancouver and Toronto. The characters in the film are everyday people and through psychoplasmic intervention and intimate conversations repressed psychological and physical traumas are revealed with an emphasis on their devastating adaptability consequences. (The Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank Street, Saturday, May 30th, 11:15PM)-David Davidson
** (worth seeing)
The Brood (1979), written and directed by David Cronenberg, deals with a father’s, Frank Carveth (Art Hindle), attempt to get a restraining order on his dementia induced wife Nola (Samantha Eggar) who is currently getting therapy in Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed) Soma Free Psychoplasmic Institution. On one of their daughters, Candice (Cindy Hinds), weekly visits to see Nola she receives ambiguous beatings and lashings. His goals change from restraining to protecting as possessed brood’s start murdering the individuals that are looking after her. The brood’s vicious attacks and the instituted patients abnormalities elicit tension and queasiness and are meditations on body horror and the vulnerability of flesh. A recurring theme in the films of David Cronenberg.This is a good contemporary horror film with many interesting qualities except for an embarrassing Psycho stabbing rip-off and Howard Shore's mimicking Bernard Hermann musical score.
The Canadian film articulates national identity as the story unfolds in winter and markers include snowy, oak-tree encapsulated, cottage-country landscapes with the characters in respective winter-wear. As well subtle references to Halifax, Vancouver and Toronto. The characters in the film are everyday people and through psychoplasmic intervention and intimate conversations repressed psychological and physical traumas are revealed with an emphasis on their devastating adaptability consequences. (The Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank Street, Saturday, May 30th, 11:15PM)-David Davidson
Monday, April 6, 2009
Examplary Optimism
Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957)
Nights of Cabiria (1957) is my favorite Federico Fellini neo-realist film. Compared to his autobiographical reflexive, and reflective, later work (8½, Roma, Amarcord) the focus of Nights of Cabiria is melancholic as it gives attention to the plight of the poverty-stricken lower class. A great example of 1950s art house cinema it is exotic, wistful and full of disenchantment. The story follows a spirited and naive prostitute Cabiria Ceccarelli (Giulietta Masina) and her endearing endeavor's to find some sort of financial, romantic, and social security in a desolate post-war Roman landscape. Cabiria is filmed with such warmth and admiration that the devastating climax is one of the most wrenching scenes in film history.-D.D.
Nights of Cabiria (1957) is my favorite Federico Fellini neo-realist film. Compared to his autobiographical reflexive, and reflective, later work (8½, Roma, Amarcord) the focus of Nights of Cabiria is melancholic as it gives attention to the plight of the poverty-stricken lower class. A great example of 1950s art house cinema it is exotic, wistful and full of disenchantment. The story follows a spirited and naive prostitute Cabiria Ceccarelli (Giulietta Masina) and her endearing endeavor's to find some sort of financial, romantic, and social security in a desolate post-war Roman landscape. Cabiria is filmed with such warmth and admiration that the devastating climax is one of the most wrenching scenes in film history.-D.D.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Cinematic reappropriation's
Guy Maddin's Time-Machine Filmography
Bimbo's Initiation (Dave Fleischer, 1931)
Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930)
Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932)
Liliom (Fritz Lang, 1934)
Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939)
Johnny Apollo (Henry Hathaway, 1940)
Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942)
Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942)
The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther von Fritsch & Robert Wise, 1944)
Love Letters (William Dieterle, 1945)
Strange Illusion (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945)
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (Robert Siodmak, 1945)
Caught (Max Ophüls, 1949)
Moonrise (Frank Borzage, 1949)
Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)
El (This Strange Passion) (Luis Buñuel, 1952)
On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1952)
Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)
The Egyptian (Michael Curtiz, 1954)
The Devil's Cleavage (George Kuchar, 1975)
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (Stephen Quay & Timothy Quay, 1988)
Home Stories (Matthias Müller & Dirk Schaefer, 1990)
Caelum Vatnsdal, Kino Delirium: The Films of Guy Maddin, Arbeiter Ring Publishing, Winnipeg, 2000, pp. 130
Bimbo's Initiation (Dave Fleischer, 1931)
Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930)
Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932)
Liliom (Fritz Lang, 1934)
Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939)
Johnny Apollo (Henry Hathaway, 1940)
Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942)
Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942)
The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther von Fritsch & Robert Wise, 1944)
Love Letters (William Dieterle, 1945)
Strange Illusion (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945)
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (Robert Siodmak, 1945)
Caught (Max Ophüls, 1949)
Moonrise (Frank Borzage, 1949)
Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)
El (This Strange Passion) (Luis Buñuel, 1952)
On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1952)
Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)
The Egyptian (Michael Curtiz, 1954)
The Devil's Cleavage (George Kuchar, 1975)
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (Stephen Quay & Timothy Quay, 1988)
Home Stories (Matthias Müller & Dirk Schaefer, 1990)
Caelum Vatnsdal, Kino Delirium: The Films of Guy Maddin, Arbeiter Ring Publishing, Winnipeg, 2000, pp. 130
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