Hazy Shade of Winter: Honore Deals with a Death in the Family in Sincere Coming-of-Age
Christophe Honoré has built an intricate filmography on the backs of characters consumed with loss and exploring their identities for the past two decades, only occasionally breaking from familiar themes to explore the inherent decadence and taboo of classic literature (such as his adaptations of Georges Bataille or Ovid). His latest, Le Lycéen (Winter Boy), unites coming-of-age tropes paralleled with loss, guilt, and sexuality through a semi-autobiographical lens in his particular talents for loquacious wisdom punctuated by observational sensibilities defining complex human relationships.
Honoré hands relative newcomer Paul Kircher the reins for this quietly poignant narrative about not taking those we love for granted and the inherent power in re-defining ourselves after tragedy shatters the fragile reality of preconceived notions.…...
Christophe Honoré has built an intricate filmography on the backs of characters consumed with loss and exploring their identities for the past two decades, only occasionally breaking from familiar themes to explore the inherent decadence and taboo of classic literature (such as his adaptations of Georges Bataille or Ovid). His latest, Le Lycéen (Winter Boy), unites coming-of-age tropes paralleled with loss, guilt, and sexuality through a semi-autobiographical lens in his particular talents for loquacious wisdom punctuated by observational sensibilities defining complex human relationships.
Honoré hands relative newcomer Paul Kircher the reins for this quietly poignant narrative about not taking those we love for granted and the inherent power in re-defining ourselves after tragedy shatters the fragile reality of preconceived notions.…...
- 4/28/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Noboru Iguchi is a director and screenwriter. He was born in 1969 and he began his career in the 1990s as a director of porno films. His “Kurushime-san” of 1997, which combined horror and black comedy, revealed his interest in extreme genre cinema. The titles of his next films confirmed this passion – his filmography contains “A Larva to Love”, “Cat-Eyed Boy”, the famous “The Machine Girl” about a girl with an arm replaced with a machine gun, “Zombie Ass” and “Karate-Robo Zaborgar”. Starting with “Flowers of Evil” his filmography started taking a more “serious” turn, although the extremity never abandoned a filmmaker that now counts more than 70 titles as a director.
On the occasion of the release of his two latest films, “Tales of Bliss and Heresy” and “Idol Never Dies”, we speak with him about his personal trauma, the messages he wanted to convey, idols, Bataille, and many other topics.
“Tales...
On the occasion of the release of his two latest films, “Tales of Bliss and Heresy” and “Idol Never Dies”, we speak with him about his personal trauma, the messages he wanted to convey, idols, Bataille, and many other topics.
“Tales...
- 3/20/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Many artists are not appreciated till after they have long passed away or society catches up with their ideas. Dying is not a prerequisite to fame since garbage is still garbage. In the case of the singular Jean Rollin, you have a double-edged sword which in documentary Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin (2022) tells well.
Jean Rollin was one of the later to become Eurocult cinema’s most misunderstood personalities. These creators imbue their personalities in their work, unlike mainstream directors. Mainstream will say they create unique stories or camera angles with the full knowledge that it all comes down to one from a studio. The Diabolique films team of Dima Ballin and Kat Ellinger who Directed, Wrote & Produced this roughly two-hour documentary has done a solid job without being academically dry.
Orchestrator of Storms (2022) features lips and interviews with key people in Rollin’s past. The...
Jean Rollin was one of the later to become Eurocult cinema’s most misunderstood personalities. These creators imbue their personalities in their work, unlike mainstream directors. Mainstream will say they create unique stories or camera angles with the full knowledge that it all comes down to one from a studio. The Diabolique films team of Dima Ballin and Kat Ellinger who Directed, Wrote & Produced this roughly two-hour documentary has done a solid job without being academically dry.
Orchestrator of Storms (2022) features lips and interviews with key people in Rollin’s past. The...
- 3/10/2023
- by Horror Asylum
- Horror Asylum
Sorry to Mother You: Shim Takes Familiar Conceits to Logical Conclusions with Innocuous Debut
From Aronofsky to Roger Michell, from Pearl S. Buck to Georges Bataille, countless novels, plays and films bear the simple, often sinister title evoking Mother. For her directorial debut, produced by none other than Sam Raimi and Andre Ovredahl, Iris K. Shim brings us Umma, utilizing the Korean word for ‘mother’ in this supernatural thriller. Never mind there already exists a masterful South Korean film called Mother (2009) from Bong Joon-ho, but here we are in this US set cross-cultural exercise about the need to face one’s demons so they won’t consume you.…...
From Aronofsky to Roger Michell, from Pearl S. Buck to Georges Bataille, countless novels, plays and films bear the simple, often sinister title evoking Mother. For her directorial debut, produced by none other than Sam Raimi and Andre Ovredahl, Iris K. Shim brings us Umma, utilizing the Korean word for ‘mother’ in this supernatural thriller. Never mind there already exists a masterful South Korean film called Mother (2009) from Bong Joon-ho, but here we are in this US set cross-cultural exercise about the need to face one’s demons so they won’t consume you.…...
- 3/19/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Suffice it to say that 2021 has been a big year for author Mike Thorn. February saw the publication of his debut novel, Shelter for the Damned, June witnessed the release of his revamped short story collection, Darkest Hours: Expanded Edition, and October set the stage for his third book of the year, Peel Back and See, featuring 16 new short stories lurking between the covers of what Thorn says could be his "bleakest book to date."
With the horror holiday shopping season upon us (it should be noted that Peel Back and See would fit very nicely in a stocking), we caught up with Thorn in a new Q&a feature to discuss the timely themes rippling through his latest short story collection, the collaborative joys of working with JournalStone on all three of his book releases this year, and some of his holiday horror movie recommendations to help get you...
With the horror holiday shopping season upon us (it should be noted that Peel Back and See would fit very nicely in a stocking), we caught up with Thorn in a new Q&a feature to discuss the timely themes rippling through his latest short story collection, the collaborative joys of working with JournalStone on all three of his book releases this year, and some of his holiday horror movie recommendations to help get you...
- 12/13/2021
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
The winner of the grand prix is directed by Japan’s Kyoshi Sugita.
Japanese director Kyoshi Sugita’s Haruhara San’s Recorder has won the main prize of France’s FIDMarseille festival, the grand prix of the international competition.
Inspired by a poem by Naoko Higashi, the film was produced by Jun Higeno of Iha Films. It is stars Chika Araki as a woman who has just moved into a new apartment.
Festival director Jean-Pierre Rehm described the film as “uncompromising” and as “a pure cinematographic poem,” one that “abandons the lazy, tired concept of plot to progress by successive...
Japanese director Kyoshi Sugita’s Haruhara San’s Recorder has won the main prize of France’s FIDMarseille festival, the grand prix of the international competition.
Inspired by a poem by Naoko Higashi, the film was produced by Jun Higeno of Iha Films. It is stars Chika Araki as a woman who has just moved into a new apartment.
Festival director Jean-Pierre Rehm described the film as “uncompromising” and as “a pure cinematographic poem,” one that “abandons the lazy, tired concept of plot to progress by successive...
- 7/26/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
At first it seems like the perfect place to quietly enjoy a secluded smoke, but three teens soon discover that their supposed safe haven is actually something downright sinister in Shelter for the Damned, the debut novel from Mike Thorn (author of the short story collection Darkest Hours). With Shelter for the Damned out now from JournalStone, we caught up with Thorn in our latest Q&a feature to discuss the journey of writing his new book, the influences that inspired him along the way, and his upcoming releases that readers can look forward to from JournalStone.
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for us, Mike, and congratulations on the forthcoming publication of your first novel, Shelter for the Damned! When did you first come up with the idea for this book?
Mike Thorn: Thank you so much for having me! I’ve always considered Daily Dead one...
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for us, Mike, and congratulations on the forthcoming publication of your first novel, Shelter for the Damned! When did you first come up with the idea for this book?
Mike Thorn: Thank you so much for having me! I’ve always considered Daily Dead one...
- 2/26/2021
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Katharina Wyss's Sarah Plays a Werewolf, which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from July 2 – July 31, 2019 in Mubi's Debuts series.Accompanied by the booming of an orchestra, a child comes of age and falls apart. Katharina Wyss's cogent chamber drama, Sarah Plays a Werewolf, takes place within a space lined with such clashing processes of knowing and unknowing, entangled in disorientations regarding who is who—or more importantly, who appears as who. Immediately within the title itself, Wyss obfuscates the boundaries between the individual and their assumed part(s). Who is Sarah, and who is the werewolf? How would one tell the difference between a teenage girl and the monster she plays—or is she, rather, a monster playing a teenage girl, the latter acting as a disguise? We may divide Sarah Plays a Werewolf into three acts.
- 7/2/2019
- MUBI
It is said that stars do not need scripts or mere stories to thoroughly inhabit a motion picture. Histories without language, or even thought, quiver behind their eyes. Their presence—ineffable, diaphanous, seductive—provides the audience a beacon to follow a prefabricated narrative to its only meaningful conclusion. Outside the realm of this splendid cosmology, movies that rely on actors and 'acting,' the common tools of theater, tend to miss the mark when these metaphysics come into play.There are eyes that photograph as soulful, as opposed to merely expressive—allowing the onlooker a glimpse into the funnel end of eternity. Think Robert Mitchum and Humphrey Bogart, whose eyes invite inquiry into the unwritten histories behind them. If the eyes are the windows of the soul, great movie stars are constantly defenestrating their spirit essence right down the lens. Joan Crawford could scrub bathtubs by merely gazing at them.
- 11/29/2016
- MUBI
I don’t believe in Karma. But there may be something to it. I’m sitting in my basement getting a whiff of my own shit while trying to write about a movie called Septic Man. Nothing like a good rain to get the sewer backed up. Ugh. Here’s hoping I can get power through this while holding my nose.
Water contamination in a small Canadian town forces an evacuation. That is when plumber Jack (Jason David Brown) is approached by a strange man (Julian Richings) who asks him to look into the cause. Years ago, Jack was able to fix a similar problem and received no recognition. After convincing his pregnant wife (Molly Dunsworth) to leave without him, he goes to investigate at the water treatment plant. Unfortunately for Jack he his trapped in a giant septic tank by metal mouthed, non talker, Lord Auch (Tim Burd) and...
Water contamination in a small Canadian town forces an evacuation. That is when plumber Jack (Jason David Brown) is approached by a strange man (Julian Richings) who asks him to look into the cause. Years ago, Jack was able to fix a similar problem and received no recognition. After convincing his pregnant wife (Molly Dunsworth) to leave without him, he goes to investigate at the water treatment plant. Unfortunately for Jack he his trapped in a giant septic tank by metal mouthed, non talker, Lord Auch (Tim Burd) and...
- 6/21/2016
- by Jeremy Jones
- Destroy the Brain
After starring in the Star Trek franchise reboot and a Terminator sequel in 2009, Anton Yelchin could have transitioned to making blockbusters full-time. But the actor, who died yesterday in a freak automobile accident at the age of 27, went in the opposite direction, putting his franchise clout to work on movies by cult directors like Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive), Joe Dante (Burying the Ex), Paul Schrader (Dying of the Light) and Michael Almereyda (Cymbeline).
Yelchin didn't talk like a movie star, either. For someone who'd been in the industry since he was a child,...
Yelchin didn't talk like a movie star, either. For someone who'd been in the industry since he was a child,...
- 6/20/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Carnal Knowledge: The Larrieu Bros.’ Strange Depiction of Summer Lovin’
Directing duo Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu create oddly distinct pieces of bizarre cinema, yet remain relatively unknown outside of France even though they’ve been regularly presenting new features over the past decade. Their latest is a necrophilic inspired sexual awakening comedy, blasting away at the usual sort of conventions we’re accustomed to in similar provincially mannered fare. Reteaming with a few ensemble players who’ve populated their last features, 21 Nights with Pattie is an enigmatic pattern of elements both unpredictable and borderline grotesque. Delightfully strange, and featuring an excellent ensemble of familiar French faces, this is certainly a more inventive take on the sexual awakening portrait—sort of like a romantic comedy version of Georges Bataille with just a dash of Jorg Buttgereit.
Caroline (Isabelle Carre) travels to a small village in the Pyrenees to bury her mother,...
Directing duo Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu create oddly distinct pieces of bizarre cinema, yet remain relatively unknown outside of France even though they’ve been regularly presenting new features over the past decade. Their latest is a necrophilic inspired sexual awakening comedy, blasting away at the usual sort of conventions we’re accustomed to in similar provincially mannered fare. Reteaming with a few ensemble players who’ve populated their last features, 21 Nights with Pattie is an enigmatic pattern of elements both unpredictable and borderline grotesque. Delightfully strange, and featuring an excellent ensemble of familiar French faces, this is certainly a more inventive take on the sexual awakening portrait—sort of like a romantic comedy version of Georges Bataille with just a dash of Jorg Buttgereit.
Caroline (Isabelle Carre) travels to a small village in the Pyrenees to bury her mother,...
- 3/11/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
One cannot but share the praises for the "imaginary friends"—filmmakers Gabriel Abrantes, Alexander Carver, Benjamin Crotty, and Daniel Schmidt—by film critics and sensitive audiences, and all the adjectives are right, from the sumptuousness of imagery to the unpredictability and boldness of their scripts. Discovering and/or returning to the films remains a constant pleasure and an uncommonly thought-provoking experience.Going back to some of the films, and thanks to a certain distance in time and circumstances, I feel something could be said about precisely these particular relationships and the elegant tone created by the friendship's humorous and burlesque qualities.In, for example, Palaces of Pity (2011), Ennui ennui (2013), The Unity of All Things (2013), as in La isla está encantada con ustedes (2015), families, siblings, couples and groups (more than individual "characters") go through adventures where they are all faced with the immensity of the universe, time and space, history and traces,...
- 2/22/2016
- by Marie-Pierre Duhamel
- MUBI
Mubi has partnered with New York's Film Society of Lincoln center to bring online audiences part of their February series, "Friends with Benefits: An Anthology of Four New American Filmmakers," programmed by Dennis Lim and Dan Sullivan. In less than a decade of activity, the four friends and polymorphously promiscuous collaborators Gabriel Abrantes, Alexander Carver, Benjamin Crotty, and Daniel Schmidt have made some of the most ravishing and least classifiable films in recent memory—and established themselves as a school of filmmaking unlike any other. These uncompromising young visionaries share a penchant for provocation, a taste for transgression, and a host of strategies and obsessions all their own. At once lyrical and perverse, by turns hilarious and delirious, their films obliterate distinctions—between high- and low-brow, between sensual and cerebral, between art cinema and the avant-garde—while remaining sharply attuned to the byproducts of globalization and the fluctuations of post-internet pop culture.
- 2/18/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Nina Forever
Written and directed by Ben Blaine and Chris Blaine
UK, 2015
The Marquis de Sade wrote, “There is no better way to know death than to link it with some licentious image”. Georges Bataille latched onto this idea, arguing that without death there is no desire. Factors of procreation and beauty play a role in sex, but true desire is rooted in our mortality: we want to fuck because we know we will die. The link between death and desire is at the heart of the Blaine brothers’ debut feature, Nina Forever. After the death of his girlfriend and a failed suicide attempt, Rob (Cian Barry) starts a relationship with his young co-worker, Holly (Abigail Hardingham). But every time they have sex his dead girlfriend, Nina (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), appears mangled and bloodied in their bed.
At the heart of absurdity is fear. Great horror is often intensely absurd,...
Written and directed by Ben Blaine and Chris Blaine
UK, 2015
The Marquis de Sade wrote, “There is no better way to know death than to link it with some licentious image”. Georges Bataille latched onto this idea, arguing that without death there is no desire. Factors of procreation and beauty play a role in sex, but true desire is rooted in our mortality: we want to fuck because we know we will die. The link between death and desire is at the heart of the Blaine brothers’ debut feature, Nina Forever. After the death of his girlfriend and a failed suicide attempt, Rob (Cian Barry) starts a relationship with his young co-worker, Holly (Abigail Hardingham). But every time they have sex his dead girlfriend, Nina (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), appears mangled and bloodied in their bed.
At the heart of absurdity is fear. Great horror is often intensely absurd,...
- 7/15/2015
- by Justine Smith
- SoundOnSight
All that Glitters: Barney’s Operatic, Caterwauling Art-house Epic
Those familiar with the work of Matthew Barney, namely his impressive Cremaster Cycle (2003) and Drawing Restraint 9 (2005), either appreciate his artistic ambition to collapse, discombobulate, and erase the distinction of form, or discount his credibility (an appraisal that can be attributed to most provocative artists). His filmic language generally consists of a grand mixture of anthropomorphic fascination, formal cinematic composition, musically discordant fascination with opera, and a kind of live performance art/sculpture exhibit, amongst others. Sprawling, decadent, and enigmatic, fans and critics vacillate between lobbing appellations that range from ‘pretentious,’ to ‘genius,’ and he’s been referred to as one of the most important artists of his generation.
Whatever your opinion of his work, one cannot overlook the sheer audaciousness of his latest long-gestating hybrid, River of Fundament, a seven year project that kinda, sorta, maybe is the most interesting...
Those familiar with the work of Matthew Barney, namely his impressive Cremaster Cycle (2003) and Drawing Restraint 9 (2005), either appreciate his artistic ambition to collapse, discombobulate, and erase the distinction of form, or discount his credibility (an appraisal that can be attributed to most provocative artists). His filmic language generally consists of a grand mixture of anthropomorphic fascination, formal cinematic composition, musically discordant fascination with opera, and a kind of live performance art/sculpture exhibit, amongst others. Sprawling, decadent, and enigmatic, fans and critics vacillate between lobbing appellations that range from ‘pretentious,’ to ‘genius,’ and he’s been referred to as one of the most important artists of his generation.
Whatever your opinion of his work, one cannot overlook the sheer audaciousness of his latest long-gestating hybrid, River of Fundament, a seven year project that kinda, sorta, maybe is the most interesting...
- 4/29/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
I got a real treat for ya my ghouls: more of what you love… namely, yours cruelly! Ya see, creeps, this here bit o’ wretched writing debuts a brand new format from the ol’ Ouija Board Kid, wherein I annoy—err—entertain you with even more revoltin’ reviews, insane interviews, and other assorted ass-foolery! I present to you the Giant-Sized Man-Thing Treasury Edition Super Special debut of The Outre Eye Of Daniel Xiii!
This week I turn my unblinking third eye upon the following fearsome flicks: Beneath, The Human Race, The Twilight Zone Essential Episodes, and Septic Man!
Release Date: Available Now on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Xbox, Time Warner, Comcast and Direct TV Written By: Patrick Doody, Chris Valenziano Directed By: Ben Ketai Starring: Jeff Fahey, Kelly Noonan, Brent Briscoe
Can You Get A Grip On The Thrills Of Beneath’S Long, Dark Shaft?
Caves and mines: not...
This week I turn my unblinking third eye upon the following fearsome flicks: Beneath, The Human Race, The Twilight Zone Essential Episodes, and Septic Man!
Release Date: Available Now on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Xbox, Time Warner, Comcast and Direct TV Written By: Patrick Doody, Chris Valenziano Directed By: Ben Ketai Starring: Jeff Fahey, Kelly Noonan, Brent Briscoe
Can You Get A Grip On The Thrills Of Beneath’S Long, Dark Shaft?
Caves and mines: not...
- 8/21/2014
- by Daniel Wilder
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Sneak Peek footage from director Jeese Thomas Cook's horror feature "Septic Man", starring Jason David Brown as a sewage worker who ends up transforming into a hideous mutant by way of toxic sewage:
"...'Jack' (Brown) is an average sewage worker who has been asked to investigate a water contamination in his hometown that has forced everyone else, including his pregnant wife 'Shelley' (Molly Dunsworth) to evacuate.
"Jack decides to investigate the local sewage plant but ends up getting trapped in a septic tank by 'Lord Auch' (Tim Burd) and his brother 'Giant' (Robert Maillet). They refuse to let Jack out despite his pleas and the toxic sewage eventually begins to transform Jack into the hideous mutant 'Septic Man'..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Septic Man"...
"...'Jack' (Brown) is an average sewage worker who has been asked to investigate a water contamination in his hometown that has forced everyone else, including his pregnant wife 'Shelley' (Molly Dunsworth) to evacuate.
"Jack decides to investigate the local sewage plant but ends up getting trapped in a septic tank by 'Lord Auch' (Tim Burd) and his brother 'Giant' (Robert Maillet). They refuse to let Jack out despite his pleas and the toxic sewage eventually begins to transform Jack into the hideous mutant 'Septic Man'..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Septic Man"...
- 8/20/2014
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Septic Man loves vomit above all other bodily fluids (though it loves those, too) -- fitting, considering its generally putrid quality. With a premise that recalls The Toxic Avenger but without an ounce of its smart superhero action or satire, Jesse Thomas Cook’s film follows septic expert Jack (Jason David Brown) as he’s paid by a mystery man (Julian Richings) to investigate his town’s horrid contaminated-water crisis. As citizens evacuate, including Jack’s pregnant wife (Molly Dunsworth), Jack goes to the local irrigation facility, falls in a hole, and finds that the problem is being caused by dead bodies that were dumped into the water system by chainsaw-wielding psycho Lord Auch (Tim Burd), who speaks in animalistic chir...
- 8/13/2014
- Village Voice
If there’s ever been a film that made me feel like I needed a shower afterwards, it’s Jesse Thomas Cook’s Septic Man. Much like the tagline states, “It’s a crappy job,” but someone has to watch it, right? If you can get past all the pooping, vomiting, rotting and festering, a unique story influenced by Lloyd Kaufman’s Toxic Avenger model might break through the cloud of odoriferous unpleasantry, but weaker stomachs will struggle to keep their lunch down. The good thing is, your tolerance will be tested within mere seconds of the films opening, so if gross-out body horror isn’t your schtick, no time is wasted introducing the disgusting lengths Cook plunges in order to deliver the most realistic depiction of sanitation-gone-wrong possible. If you can’t stand the smell, get out of the bathroom – as quickly as possible.
Jason David Brown plays Jack...
Jason David Brown plays Jack...
- 8/11/2014
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
Welcome to New York
Directed by Abel Ferrara
Written by Abel Ferrara and Chris Zois
USA, 2014
Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils, –nor the human race, as I believe, –and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day.
-The Republic, Plato
Starring an aged and ruthless Gerard Depardieu as Devereaux, a French banker accused of rape while staying in New York, Abel Ferrara’s Welcome to New York is a feverish meta-textual and multilingual portrait of contemporary privilege. The character, a clear evocation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was both the head of the International...
Directed by Abel Ferrara
Written by Abel Ferrara and Chris Zois
USA, 2014
Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils, –nor the human race, as I believe, –and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day.
-The Republic, Plato
Starring an aged and ruthless Gerard Depardieu as Devereaux, a French banker accused of rape while staying in New York, Abel Ferrara’s Welcome to New York is a feverish meta-textual and multilingual portrait of contemporary privilege. The character, a clear evocation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was both the head of the International...
- 8/5/2014
- by Justine Smith
- SoundOnSight
Painted on the canvas in primitive colors was a life-size portrait of the Elephant Man. This very crude production depicted a frightful creature that could only have been possible in a nightmare. It was the figure of a man with the characteristics of an elephant. The transfiguration as not far advanced. There was still more of the man than of the beast. This fact – that it was still human – was the most repellant attribute of the creature. There was nothing about it of the pitiableness of the mishapened or the deformed, nothing of the grotesqueness of the freak, but merely the loathing insinuation of a man being changed into an animal.
- Sir Frederick Treves, The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences (1923)
Now there is a second element, less obvious but no less powerful, in assessing the beauty of a man or woman. The further removed from the animal is their appearance,...
- Sir Frederick Treves, The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences (1923)
Now there is a second element, less obvious but no less powerful, in assessing the beauty of a man or woman. The further removed from the animal is their appearance,...
- 6/1/2014
- by Justine Smith
- SoundOnSight
The Girl Can’t Help It: Von Trier’s Indelible First Chapter a Sobering, Ruminative Examination of the Last Cinematic Frontier
In today’s modern world, where cinematic censorship is still alive and well within the euphemism of the rating system, provocateur Lars Von Trier’s latest bag of infamy, Nymphomaniac Vol. 1, is a surprisingly powerful onslaught of culturally ingrained attitudes towards sexuality and acceptable representations of it. That is to say, it’s not the exploitational grandstanding that one would expect if you have memories of Antichrist (2009) in the back of your mind. The first chapter in the last entry of his Depression Quadrilogy, it’s a well-written, intelligent examination of erotic pleasure, comprised of several moments of explicit sexual imagery, as well as, of course, unvarnished discussions of sex.
Lying unconscious and bruised in a wet alley, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is discovered by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), who offers to call an ambulance.
In today’s modern world, where cinematic censorship is still alive and well within the euphemism of the rating system, provocateur Lars Von Trier’s latest bag of infamy, Nymphomaniac Vol. 1, is a surprisingly powerful onslaught of culturally ingrained attitudes towards sexuality and acceptable representations of it. That is to say, it’s not the exploitational grandstanding that one would expect if you have memories of Antichrist (2009) in the back of your mind. The first chapter in the last entry of his Depression Quadrilogy, it’s a well-written, intelligent examination of erotic pleasure, comprised of several moments of explicit sexual imagery, as well as, of course, unvarnished discussions of sex.
Lying unconscious and bruised in a wet alley, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is discovered by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), who offers to call an ambulance.
- 3/22/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Metamorphoses
Director: Christophe Honore
Writers: Christophe Honore
Producer: Philippe Martin
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: George Babluani, Damien Chapelle, Sebastien Hirel
While his last film, 2011’s Beloved was unfairly criticized for being more of the same from the musically inclined provocateur, whose films sometimes feel like (in tone, not visual style) a sexually playful Jacques Demy, his latest effort, an adaptation of the Roman poet Ovid’s epic mythological narrative, sees Honore changing it up a bit. Continuing his penchant for adapting difficult literary works (his 2004 Isabelle Huppert headlined Ma Mere was an unfinished novel by Georges Bataille and 2008’s The Beautiful Person was inspired by a novel by Madame de La Fayette), Honore’s cast consists of mostly unknown actors, his first film in over a decade not to star either of his muses, Louis Garrel or Chiara Mastroianni. With such lofty aspirations, the enigmatic Honore’s latest...
Director: Christophe Honore
Writers: Christophe Honore
Producer: Philippe Martin
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: George Babluani, Damien Chapelle, Sebastien Hirel
While his last film, 2011’s Beloved was unfairly criticized for being more of the same from the musically inclined provocateur, whose films sometimes feel like (in tone, not visual style) a sexually playful Jacques Demy, his latest effort, an adaptation of the Roman poet Ovid’s epic mythological narrative, sees Honore changing it up a bit. Continuing his penchant for adapting difficult literary works (his 2004 Isabelle Huppert headlined Ma Mere was an unfinished novel by Georges Bataille and 2008’s The Beautiful Person was inspired by a novel by Madame de La Fayette), Honore’s cast consists of mostly unknown actors, his first film in over a decade not to star either of his muses, Louis Garrel or Chiara Mastroianni. With such lofty aspirations, the enigmatic Honore’s latest...
- 3/6/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Trans-Europ-Express (1967)
Redemption films resurrects two long unavailable titles from director Alain Robbe-Grillet, a member of the Nouvelle Vague best known as the screenwriter for Last Year at Marienbad, the surrealist classic from Alain Resnais. As a director, Robbe-Grillet has a lesser known yet equally lucrative body of work, consisting of ten titles that seem to exist somewhere out in the frayed hinterlands of any sort of definable movement. Many of his titles will put you in mind of works by other filmmakers, but each title seems to walk the line between sweet dream and beautiful nightmare, defying notions of narrative and, often, logic. That said, his films don’t cater to popular tastes, and many of his titles as director seem to have floated into an oblivion, the exception being his 1983 fantasy/nightmare La Belle Captive, one of his few offerings available on DVD. Until now, that is. While the...
Redemption films resurrects two long unavailable titles from director Alain Robbe-Grillet, a member of the Nouvelle Vague best known as the screenwriter for Last Year at Marienbad, the surrealist classic from Alain Resnais. As a director, Robbe-Grillet has a lesser known yet equally lucrative body of work, consisting of ten titles that seem to exist somewhere out in the frayed hinterlands of any sort of definable movement. Many of his titles will put you in mind of works by other filmmakers, but each title seems to walk the line between sweet dream and beautiful nightmare, defying notions of narrative and, often, logic. That said, his films don’t cater to popular tastes, and many of his titles as director seem to have floated into an oblivion, the exception being his 1983 fantasy/nightmare La Belle Captive, one of his few offerings available on DVD. Until now, that is. While the...
- 2/11/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
It wrecks lives – but it has also inspired art from the poetry of Baudelaire to the music of Lou Reed. In Paris and Berlin, Andrew Hussey traces the path of heroin through modern culture
One of the easiest places to find heroin in Paris is in the streets in and around the Gare du Nord, a stone's throw away from the Eurostar terminal. I know about this place partly because I live in Paris and I am a frequent Eurostar traveller, and partly because this is where Google sent me when I typed in the request "Where to find heroin in Paris". Apparently the most popular spot for dealing is the rue Ambroise-Paré which contains a series of entrances to underground car parks where users can shoot up in relative privacy. The place permanently stinks of piss and is under constant police surveillance, as dealers and clients scurry back and forth between their hiding places.
One of the easiest places to find heroin in Paris is in the streets in and around the Gare du Nord, a stone's throw away from the Eurostar terminal. I know about this place partly because I live in Paris and I am a frequent Eurostar traveller, and partly because this is where Google sent me when I typed in the request "Where to find heroin in Paris". Apparently the most popular spot for dealing is the rue Ambroise-Paré which contains a series of entrances to underground car parks where users can shoot up in relative privacy. The place permanently stinks of piss and is under constant police surveillance, as dealers and clients scurry back and forth between their hiding places.
- 12/22/2013
- by Andrew Hussey
- The Guardian - Film News
Women Are From Velvet: Labute’s Latest Chapter in Power Struggles of the Sexes
Its title recalling that late 60’s psychedelic pop song from Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelton, a duet between a man and a mysterious woman that instructs him in the ways of love, Neil Labute returns to what he does best with Some Velvet Morning, a one setting two-hander that feels an awful lot like a filmed stage play. It also happens to be the best output from the provocateur in over a decade, though that’s not to say it’s an overtly appealing film. Rather, it’s a bit tiresome to sit through, a bickering pair of selfish ex-lovers duke it out in a constant struggle to remain in control of a tense reunion in seemingly endless revolution. Until, as seems to be Labute’s custom, a surprising twist is revealed which begs for a...
Its title recalling that late 60’s psychedelic pop song from Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelton, a duet between a man and a mysterious woman that instructs him in the ways of love, Neil Labute returns to what he does best with Some Velvet Morning, a one setting two-hander that feels an awful lot like a filmed stage play. It also happens to be the best output from the provocateur in over a decade, though that’s not to say it’s an overtly appealing film. Rather, it’s a bit tiresome to sit through, a bickering pair of selfish ex-lovers duke it out in a constant struggle to remain in control of a tense reunion in seemingly endless revolution. Until, as seems to be Labute’s custom, a surprising twist is revealed which begs for a...
- 12/11/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
We’re back with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes DVD release details for Shiver, information on the Mile High Horror Film Festival, an exclusive excerpt from Dead is Only Skin Deep, a Q&A with 13-year-old Emily Diprimio for Carver, and more:
Q&A Interview with Up-and-Coming 13-Year-Old Filmmaker Emily Diprimio
by Heather Wixson
It’s not often that you run across aspiring genre directors who are still in their teens so when we discovered a brand new Kickstarter campaign for Carver, an upcoming indie slasher from the filmmaking team of Ron Diprimio and his 13-year-old daughter Emily Diprimio, we immediately took notice.
In the campaign, the Diprimios’ describe Carver as, “a throwback 80’s style slasher that follows a group of teenagers who are haunted by a despicable act they committed on Halloween when they were younger.
Q&A Interview with Up-and-Coming 13-Year-Old Filmmaker Emily Diprimio
by Heather Wixson
It’s not often that you run across aspiring genre directors who are still in their teens so when we discovered a brand new Kickstarter campaign for Carver, an upcoming indie slasher from the filmmaking team of Ron Diprimio and his 13-year-old daughter Emily Diprimio, we immediately took notice.
In the campaign, the Diprimios’ describe Carver as, “a throwback 80’s style slasher that follows a group of teenagers who are haunted by a despicable act they committed on Halloween when they were younger.
- 9/15/2013
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
by Seth Metoyer, MoreHorror.com
The feature film lineup for this years Mile High Horror Film Festival has been announced. Some really outstanding films are on tap this year. Check out the official announcement below!
From The Press Release
Mile High Horror is excited to announce its highly anticipated feature films lineup for its 4th Annual Film Festival, which will run October 3-6 at the new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Littleton, Colorado.
Tickets for screenings will be available for purchase at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 17th.
The 2013 Mile High Horror Film Festival Feature Films Lineup is as follows...
We Are What We Are
-- Opening Night Film --
USA, (2013) 105 min., Directed by Jim Mickle
Director Jim Mickle will be in attendance!
When the patriarch of the family passes away, the teenage children must take responsibility for the family chores: the preparation of the rituals, the hunting and putting...
The feature film lineup for this years Mile High Horror Film Festival has been announced. Some really outstanding films are on tap this year. Check out the official announcement below!
From The Press Release
Mile High Horror is excited to announce its highly anticipated feature films lineup for its 4th Annual Film Festival, which will run October 3-6 at the new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Littleton, Colorado.
Tickets for screenings will be available for purchase at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 17th.
The 2013 Mile High Horror Film Festival Feature Films Lineup is as follows...
We Are What We Are
-- Opening Night Film --
USA, (2013) 105 min., Directed by Jim Mickle
Director Jim Mickle will be in attendance!
When the patriarch of the family passes away, the teenage children must take responsibility for the family chores: the preparation of the rituals, the hunting and putting...
- 9/15/2013
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Second #4089, 68:09
1. Dorothy to Jeffrey: “Do you want to do bad things? / Anything . . . anything. / I want you to hurt me.”
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Experience (1844):
It is very unhappy, but too late to be helped, the discovery we have made that we exist. . . . Ever afterwards we suspect our instruments. We have learned that we do not see directly, but mediately, and that we have no means of correcting these colored and distorting lenses which we are, or of computing the amount of their errors. Perhaps these subject-lenses have a creative power; perhaps there are no objects.
3. Jeffrey, in Dorothy’s arms, is in some sort of zone, confined by the frame of the screen but unmapped nonetheless. He ventures, but where to? Dorothy calls to him, beckons him, from some other place, which grows more distant the closer he gets to it. Dorothy: she is someone’s daughter.
4. Emily Dickinson,...
1. Dorothy to Jeffrey: “Do you want to do bad things? / Anything . . . anything. / I want you to hurt me.”
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Experience (1844):
It is very unhappy, but too late to be helped, the discovery we have made that we exist. . . . Ever afterwards we suspect our instruments. We have learned that we do not see directly, but mediately, and that we have no means of correcting these colored and distorting lenses which we are, or of computing the amount of their errors. Perhaps these subject-lenses have a creative power; perhaps there are no objects.
3. Jeffrey, in Dorothy’s arms, is in some sort of zone, confined by the frame of the screen but unmapped nonetheless. He ventures, but where to? Dorothy calls to him, beckons him, from some other place, which grows more distant the closer he gets to it. Dorothy: she is someone’s daughter.
4. Emily Dickinson,...
- 3/6/2012
- by Nicholas Rombes
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
"Inspired by the idiosyncratic personality of author, theorist, and artist Pierre Klossowski whose densely cerebral erotic fiction was influenced by such notorious literary figures as the Marquis de Sade and the excommunicated surrealist Georges Bataille, as well as Klossowski's final novel La Baphomet, The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting is an indelibly haunting, endlessly fascinating, and maddeningly abstruse composition on Pirandellian ambiguity and the inherent subjectivity of perspective. Raoul Ruiz's ingenious use of baroque, compositional tableaux vivants that intrinsically meld static art and corporeal physicality creates a blurred delineation between reality and fiction that, in turn, conflates the multi-layered existential relativity between subject and viewer, operating as both an aesthetic evaluation of the paintings and as a psychological portrait of the eccentric logic behind the conspiracy-obsessed collector. (Note a similar narrative permutation in Ruiz's surreal whimsical fable, Love Torn in Dream.) Ruiz further fuses art and reality by visually...
- 8/27/2011
- MUBI
Updated through 5/15.
"'Your vagina will not be penetrated. Your vagina is a temple.' With these words, Sleeping Beauty establishes the ground rules and sets the scene for a bizarre sexual nightmare." The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw: "It is technically elegant, with vehemence and control, though often preposterous, with the imagined classiness of high-end prostitution and art-porn cliches of secret sexiness in grand chateaux: shades of Eyes Wide Shut. Author-turned-director Julia Leigh has certainly made an assured debut, which evidently owes nothing to Jane Campion who has 'presented' this movie in some kind of Executive Mentor capacity. Instead, Leigh aims for the occult ritual of Buñuel and the formal exactitude of Haneke: rigorously framed and composed shots."
"n telling the story of a girl falling into the most eerily art-directed prostitution ring this side of a Freemason hazing ceremony, Leigh's way revisionist fairytale bluntly points out the ways in which...
"'Your vagina will not be penetrated. Your vagina is a temple.' With these words, Sleeping Beauty establishes the ground rules and sets the scene for a bizarre sexual nightmare." The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw: "It is technically elegant, with vehemence and control, though often preposterous, with the imagined classiness of high-end prostitution and art-porn cliches of secret sexiness in grand chateaux: shades of Eyes Wide Shut. Author-turned-director Julia Leigh has certainly made an assured debut, which evidently owes nothing to Jane Campion who has 'presented' this movie in some kind of Executive Mentor capacity. Instead, Leigh aims for the occult ritual of Buñuel and the formal exactitude of Haneke: rigorously framed and composed shots."
"n telling the story of a girl falling into the most eerily art-directed prostitution ring this side of a Freemason hazing ceremony, Leigh's way revisionist fairytale bluntly points out the ways in which...
- 5/15/2011
- MUBI
'The wildness of the avant-garde is never pure. But that's no reason to reject the category entirely'
I suppose I should worry that the French and military codeword avant-garde still seduces me. This word, after all, can conceal so much snobisme. But then: there's no reason to dismiss something just because it's impure, and this idea of the avant-garde, in its essence, is a noble ideal. The avant-garde is wildness: a wildness of content, and a wildness of form.
And this is one reason why I harbour another complicated attraction. My idea of the avant-garde is so often Parisian.
This isn't, of course, entirely a form of romance. In the bourgeois 19th century, Paris was where the avant-garde was invented. But even then, the ideal of wildness was precarious. It was Walter Benjamin who observed how the association of art and isolation was "all the more dangerous because, as it...
I suppose I should worry that the French and military codeword avant-garde still seduces me. This word, after all, can conceal so much snobisme. But then: there's no reason to dismiss something just because it's impure, and this idea of the avant-garde, in its essence, is a noble ideal. The avant-garde is wildness: a wildness of content, and a wildness of form.
And this is one reason why I harbour another complicated attraction. My idea of the avant-garde is so often Parisian.
This isn't, of course, entirely a form of romance. In the bourgeois 19th century, Paris was where the avant-garde was invented. But even then, the ideal of wildness was precarious. It was Walter Benjamin who observed how the association of art and isolation was "all the more dangerous because, as it...
- 3/26/2011
- by Adam Thirlwell
- The Guardian - Film News
This past Halloween weekend FilmShaft was entrenched at the Grimm Up North Horror and Sci-Fi Festival in Manchester for three days of horror entertainment. It was a case of the good, the bad and the ugly. Isn’t it always?
The great thing about the programme was the variety. There was interpretations of horror from around the world. Although the Dancehouse has a certain faded and decayed opulence in an art deco kind of way, the sound wasn’t amazing and the screen wasn’t the best. But one images this is what it was like to watch a film in the days before the multiplex and Thx sound.
Below is a selection of what movies stood out and for various reasons.
The Reeds (dir: Nick Cohen, 2010)
Nick Cohen’s low budget British horror/ghost story, The Reeds, is an atmospheric and well shot film. The plot is a bit hard to keep track of,...
The great thing about the programme was the variety. There was interpretations of horror from around the world. Although the Dancehouse has a certain faded and decayed opulence in an art deco kind of way, the sound wasn’t amazing and the screen wasn’t the best. But one images this is what it was like to watch a film in the days before the multiplex and Thx sound.
Below is a selection of what movies stood out and for various reasons.
The Reeds (dir: Nick Cohen, 2010)
Nick Cohen’s low budget British horror/ghost story, The Reeds, is an atmospheric and well shot film. The plot is a bit hard to keep track of,...
- 11/2/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Since her 1988 debut Chocolat, Claire Denis has established herself as one of France's most respected film directors, with a wide-ranging body of work and a taste for danger. Her latest film, White Material, which stars Isabelle Huppert, draws again upon her colonial African childhood, and its violence has sparked
controversy in the French press. Not that she cares…
One of the lingering charms of the Left Bank of Paris in the 21st century is that, although much of the area has long since surrendered to chain stores and fast-food joints, the streets between Boulevard Saint-Michel and rue Mouffetard are still dotted with fleapit cinemas with names such as L'Accattone, Studio Galande and Le Champo. On any given afternoon – to take a random sample from the programmes on offer in these places last week – you can take in Battleship Potemkin, a Buñuel retrospective, a lesser-known Fellini, or Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar...
controversy in the French press. Not that she cares…
One of the lingering charms of the Left Bank of Paris in the 21st century is that, although much of the area has long since surrendered to chain stores and fast-food joints, the streets between Boulevard Saint-Michel and rue Mouffetard are still dotted with fleapit cinemas with names such as L'Accattone, Studio Galande and Le Champo. On any given afternoon – to take a random sample from the programmes on offer in these places last week – you can take in Battleship Potemkin, a Buñuel retrospective, a lesser-known Fellini, or Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar...
- 7/3/2010
- by Andrew Hussey
- The Guardian - Film News
Twilight Saga: Eclipse is very, very close to being unleashed on the world. Will we soon her a million screaming twihards positively freaking out that their heroes, villains and objects of desire are back. Of course we will. The vuvuzela shall be replaced with the twihard cry. Now a lot of sites and people are incredibly snobby about Stephenie Meyer’s book and the films. Why? There’s nothing wrong with people reading books and watching movies, is there?
The Twilight series is nothing but a redrafting of the age old classic romance. Sure the vampires might not be from the Dracula School of Villainy, but it’s interesting to see them cast in alternative roles and situations. The romantic agonies of life and love have often been well captured in the horror genre. Read some Georges Bataille essays, he’ll explain the link between eroticism and death. And just...
The Twilight series is nothing but a redrafting of the age old classic romance. Sure the vampires might not be from the Dracula School of Villainy, but it’s interesting to see them cast in alternative roles and situations. The romantic agonies of life and love have often been well captured in the horror genre. Read some Georges Bataille essays, he’ll explain the link between eroticism and death. And just...
- 6/23/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
[Our thanks to Andrew David Long for the following report from the set of Shunji Iwai's debut English language feature, Vampire.]
Shunji Iwai's upcoming film Vampire will be treading about as far from Bela Lugosi territory as one can get, but if the writer/director of such critical favourites as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), and Hana and Alice (2004) has his way, we will all leave the cinema with the coppery taste of blood lingering on our tongues. Despite having earned a reputation for artfully crafted depictions of teen angst and uncertainty, Vampire promises to turn Iwai's unique sensibilities towards a much darker path than any of his work to date. While his films have developed a loyal festival and art-house following in North America, Vampire will be pushing for a broader release; it's Iwai's first English-language feature, and he's working with a carefully assembled cast including Kevin Zegers, Amanda Plummer, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Zegers stars as Simon, a man with a predilection for the taste of blood,...
Shunji Iwai's upcoming film Vampire will be treading about as far from Bela Lugosi territory as one can get, but if the writer/director of such critical favourites as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), and Hana and Alice (2004) has his way, we will all leave the cinema with the coppery taste of blood lingering on our tongues. Despite having earned a reputation for artfully crafted depictions of teen angst and uncertainty, Vampire promises to turn Iwai's unique sensibilities towards a much darker path than any of his work to date. While his films have developed a loyal festival and art-house following in North America, Vampire will be pushing for a broader release; it's Iwai's first English-language feature, and he's working with a carefully assembled cast including Kevin Zegers, Amanda Plummer, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Zegers stars as Simon, a man with a predilection for the taste of blood,...
- 5/31/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Zift is one of five films to screen at SXSW this year which is being promoted as a simultaneous premiere at the festival and on Video on Demand via IFC (like all of its fellows in the series except for Joe Swanberg's Alexander the Last, it comes to Austin and your living room after an extensive festival run; two of the films in the series, Paper Covers Rock and Medicine for Melancholy, screened at SXSW last year). We talked to Zift director Javor Gardev talked about meeting Americans in Argentina, offered the only fast and loose plot synopsis I've ever seen to invoke both Casablanca and Georges Bataille, and declared himself "the king of the blur ...
- 3/9/2009
- by Karina Longworth
- Spout
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