Art Garfunkel Memorial Reading List (January - June 2009)

1.) In the Heart of the Heart of the Country - Gass (1/5)

2.) Murphy - Beckett (1/11)

3.) Bottomless Belly Button - Shaw (1/19)

4.) Kill All Your Darlings - Sante (1/21)

5.) the Group - Mary McCarthy (1/27)

6.) Out Stealing Horses - Petterson (2/3)

7.) Watchmen - Moore (2/4)

8.) Helen and Desire - Trocchi (2/4)

9.) Real Life of Sebastian Knight - Nabokov (2/16)

10.) Death and the Penguin - Kurkov (2/22)

11.) the New York Trilogy - Auster (3/18)

12.) the Guiltless - Broch (3/23)

13.) Book of Laughter and Forgetting - Kundera (4/5)

14.) Plainsong - Haruf (4/26)

15.) Midnight's Children - Rushdie (5/18)

16.) Spring Snow - Mishima (5/25)

17.) At Swim-Two-Birds - O'Brien (5/28)

18.) Pussy, King of the Pirates - Acker (6/3)

19.) the Immoralist - Gide (6/10)

20.) Cosmicomics - Calvino (6/15)

21.) Nowhere Man - Hemon (6/26)

Year in Film Retrospective: 2001

10.) Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike)
9.) Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat)
8.) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
7.) Y tu mama tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
6.) Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
5.) Happiness of the Katakuris (Takashi Miike)
4.) Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
3.) the Man Who Wasn't There (Joel Coen)
2.) the Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke)
1.) the Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)

Celluloid #51

In Theaters

Moon (2009) Jones - Moon is a "space madness" movie that starts off seeming like a potentially derivative hybrid of 2001 and Solaris, but instead recognizes that viewers will likely be familiar with those films and toys with the audience's pre-conceived notions. It's hard to talk about this film without giving things away, so I will just say this: It's David Bowie's son's debut feature film. I enjoyed the low-budget aesthetic (as opposed to shiny looks/CGI expected of modern sci-fi). I thought Sam Rockwell was enjoyable as the nearly sole actor. I also got in an argument with a strange older lady in Berkeley, who acted like she was confused about certain aspects and wanted to ask a question, but when said questions were answered, she countered with nonsensical data and had to be told that she must not have been paying attention...Irregardless, I liked the film a lot upon exiting the theater, and perhaps even increasingly in the days that have passed. 4.5/5

In Home

All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) Iwai - One teenager is obsessed with a pop star named "Lily." Her music is a bit dark and strange and her fans communicate using Internet message boards and chat rooms. This film follows a class of students from middle school to their first year in high school. Each student has a screen name and uses the message boards. They are changing and becoming more rebellious; shoplifting and jumping each other. I got bored with the Internet gimmick after a while and the story also had problems keeping my interest. 3/5

Baran (2001) Majidi - Iranian film about workers at a construction site; namely focusing on Latif and Rahmat. Latif is 17 and Iranian. Rahmat is also young, but Afghani and considered an illegal worker, and thus gets paid a lower wage, has to travel far distances just to reach work, and has zero job security. Latif makes several mistakes in his job to the point of demotion. His position is given to Rahmat. At first, Latif is furious, but when he learns that Rahmat is actually a female in disguise, trying to support her family, he begins feeling extremely sympathetic. 3.5/5

Man Bites Dog (1992) Poelvoorde - A satirical Belgian mockumentary about a serial murderer. He goes around killing senselessly while his film crew captures everything. At first the crew is merely witness to these crimes, but as time passes they become increasingly involved. The film plays with ideas of violence and how the media perpetuates it. 3.5/5

Paris is Burning (1990) Livingston - Famous documentary about the tight-knit gay scene in Harlem. The scene revolves around "Balls" where individuals do a version of walking the runway in a variety of categories ranging from drag queens to dressing like business executives to "realness" (being able to pass as straight). This particular scene is also famous for the dance battles involving "vogueing." The documentary is fairly short and quite engrossing. 4/5

Celluloid #50

In Theaters

Up (2009) Docter - An old man decides to move his entire house to Paradise Falls; a place he and his late wife had dreamed of adventuring to since their childhoods. Carl is accompanied by a young wilderness explorer, a giant bird, and a dog that can speak in a human voice. I felt a little silly crying at least three separate times behind my 3-D glasses, but when it comes down to it, the film is dealing with pretty universally sad situations...losing your loved one, not fulfilling your dreams, etc. 4/5

In Home

Fat Girl (2001) Breillat - Anais and Elena are sisters. One is 12, the other 15. One is overweight, the other thin. They love and hate each other the way sisters do. Elena meets a guy in college who is determined to claim her virginity...a goal he eventually achieves, with Anais in the room. Anais is a fascinating character and the film ventures into unexpected places. 4/5

Five Easy Pieces (1970) Rafelson - Bobby comes from a family of musicians and upper class values. He abandons them and their Washington island to work on oil rigs. His wife, Rayanne, is nice but clingy, dense, and decidedly lower class. Bobby treats her terribly and frequently cheats. He discovers that his dad is dying and goes to see his family again, realizing that he doesn't really fit in either way of life. 4/5

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) Leigh - Poppy is always bubbly and cheerful. She has her group of friends and a job she likes. Not everyone appreciates her happy demeanor, but she lets their negativity roll right off her. I appreciate that this film champions a nontraditional path (you don't have to get married or settle down to have a good life), but I found Poppy pretty irritating and would have liked a little more conflict in the course of the narrative. 3.25/5

Little Otik (2001) Svankmajer - A couple cannot have a baby and the woman is going crazy. To help ease his wife's grief, the husband finds a tree root that he carves to look a little like a child. At this point, the wife is practically delusional. After faking a pregnancy and birth, the root comes alive and is very hungry...I love the creepy style of the film--it's like the weirdest kids' movie ever. 4/5

Sleepaway Camp (1983) Hiltzik - Angela and her cousin attend summer camp...and staff and campers begin dying off. A particularly campy 80s slasher with lots of ripped teenage boys in short shorts and half-shirts (to a degree that cannot be solely attributed to 80s fashion). Instead of the normal horror movie morality tale surrounding promiscuity, this film may be making a statement about gender and sexuality...or I may be reading too much into it. Either way, enjoyable for the genre. 4/5

Celluloid #49

In Theaters

Brothers Bloom (2009) Johnson - Two brothers grow up depending on each other, and starting in childhood, become skilled con men. Stephen comes up with crazy cons/scenarios complete with literary references, and enables Bloom (the younger brother) to act out his fantasies (or Stephen's perceptions of them). Bloom grows up wanting out because he wants something real...Stephen has one last con for them. Rian Johnson makes clever movies for people who love movies, and I have never found Adrien Brody as attractive as he is here. Dysfunctional family combined with stylish crime film hit the spot for me. 4.5/5

In Home

Spider (2002) Cronenberg - Ralph Fiennes plays the crazy main character, who I believe is a schizophrenic. He mumbles, has strange habits, and frequent flashbacks of his childhood. As a boy, he witnesses his dad commit a crime against his mom, starting a string of elaborate events. 3.5/5

Terminator (1984) Cameron - Sarah Connor must be saved so that her future son can grow up to be a leader of men. Arnold the Terminator, has come from the future to execute her, but a lone fighter has also been sent to protect her. First time I have ever seen this classic action film, and it holds up pretty well...I still continue to have problems with James Cameron's cheesy dialogue. 4/5

Tout va Bien (1973) Godard - Workers at a meat factory are on strike. They have locked up the manager along with a reporter and her husband. Talks a lot about May 1968 and politics concerning class struggle, in addition to defining marriage as "sex, food, and occasional activities." 3.5/5

Year in Film Retrospective: 2002

10.) Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay)
9.) the Son (Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
8.) Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
7.) 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle)
6.) Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Chan-Wook Park)
5.) Gerry (Gus van Sant)
4.) Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar)
3.) Secretary (Steven Shainberg)
2.) City of God (Katia Lund)
1.) Punch-Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson)

List inspired by Filmspotting...post your own in the comment section

Celluloid #48

In Home

Ariel (1988) Kaurismaki - A miner witnesses his father's suicide and decides to abandon his job in search for a better life. Immediately, he gets beaten up and robbed of his entire savings. Homeless and jobless, Tasi meets a woman who takes him in. He encounters one of his assailants, attacks them, but is caught and sent to jail. Even though his sentence is less than two years, Tasi plans his escape. 4/5

Devil's Backbone (2002) del Toro - Takes place in an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. Scandals abound between one of the grown orphans and the mistress of the house, cruelty inflicted upon the boys by the same grown orphan, and not to mention the ghost of a dead boy. Pretty similar to the Orphanage which came out a couple years ago...also featured orphaned children and creepiness. 3.75/5

eXistenZ (1999) Cronenberg - Alegra is the premier game designer for virtual reality-type games that transport people into alternate realities. Someone has been tampering with her latest game, so she has to play with someone in order to discover the problem. The film still features typical Cronenberg fleshy, grotesque weirdness, but the "twist" was utilized too much for me..."Are we still in the game?" I get it. It's difficult to distinguish reality...give the mindfuck a rest. 2.5/5

the Last of Sheila (1973) Ross - Like Clue, but on a yacht! An ensemble cast (including Racquel Welch and a very young Ian MacShane) enact a murder mystery in which they are all guests invited to play a week long game. Everyone has a secret and part of the game is to match each person to their secret. Lots of twists, but done playfully. 4/5

Mean Girls (2004) Waters - Cady has been home schooled in Africa until now, her junior year in high school. She's really pretty and gets invited to hang out with "the Plastics" or most popular girls in school. They are vicious to each other, but Cady doesn't want to be mean. However, the more time she spends with the Plastics, the more she becomes like them. The film is written by Tina Fey, so it's funny, even while spreading a girl power message. I particularly enjoyed the jungle-inspired slow-mo scenes. 4/5

Space is the Place (1974) Coney - Sci-fi/blaxploitation featuring Sun Ra...sounds amazing right? While it was a nice surprise to see Oakland and San Francisco featured prominently in the film (Sun Ra is trying to recruit black people to start a new space colony), I would have liked some more "Space." 3.5/5

Unknown Pleasures (2002) Zhang - Described as a Chinese version of Slacker, but really doesn't have any where near the amount of dialogue you expect with Linklater. Instead, it's clear that China's economy is in the toilet as we follow around two 19 year-olds while they try to find jobs, hang out with their girlfriends, listen to music, or talk about Pulp Fiction. 3/5