Karina on SpoutBlog

Under discussion:

My Winnipeg  (2008)

Heavy Metal in Baghdad  (2008)

Filth and Wisdom  (2008)

• Jurgen Fauth has nothing but praise for Heavy Metal in Baghdad (we felt pretty much the same when we saw it in Toronto), the screening of which, Jurgen says, “was so oversold that I ended up in the front row, effectively watching a distorted fun house mirror version of Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti’s documentary.”
• “Most of the European critics came down pretty hard on Petri Kotwica’s Black Ice, a film in competition from Finland,” notes Filmbrain, “But I found this deliciously dark drama about dangerous deceptions to be a good bit of trashy fun.” Mr. Grant is far less enthusiastic about In Love We Trust and Just Anybody.
• Daniel Kasman is not entirely sold on Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, but he concedes “Maddin???s humor comes through perhaps stronger in this film than any other (he narrates himself, with dialog by regular collaborator George Toles), pushing an obsessive, if not repetitive, theme of the life of a city and the life of a boy being an inescapable series of traumatic, almost unreal conflicts and co-minglings of unreturnable pasts and their dream-like traces in the present.” Also at The Auteurs Notebook: an extremely memorable one-liner from Klaus Kinski’s “notorious one man show,” Jesus Christ Saviour.
• 3..2…1…and the Filth and Wisdom backlash has arrived.

Under discussion:

Morocco  (1930)

The Blue Angel  (1930)

Because we can’t *possibly* allow the designated day for the monetization of affection to pass by without comment, let’s spend it living vicariously through romantic triumphs and tragedies of Marlene Dietrich!

Above: watch Marlene reduce a respected professor into a giddy, giggling schoolgirl in The Blue Angel! Below the jump, watch Marlene herself succumb to the madness of obsession, literally throwing caution to the wind, rejecting her life as a kept woman to join the gypsies who trail behind Gary Cooper. Unfortunately, the unadulterated clip doesn’t seem to be online, but that scene is tacked on the end of this crazy fan-created Morocco montage set to Marliyn Manson doing “The KKK Took My Baby Away.” Enjoy!
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Under discussion:

Michael Clayton  (2007)

There Will Be Blood  (2007)

New York Magazine’s Grub Street blog points to a glorified press release wire story about the menu created by James Sakatos at the Carlyle Cafe for the Academy’s official New York Oscar viewing party, with one course devoted to each of the five Best Picture nominees. Sakatos says he watched all five films in a weekend and took copious notes before putting the menu together, but he’s apparently not much of a deep reader, because each entree is a thuddingly literal interpretation of the film’s themes??????and at least one isn’t even accurate.

For instance: There Will Be Blood is represented by Sakatos’ favorite dish of the five, a squid ink risotto with mushrooms, cuttlefish and blood orange foam. That sounds awesome, but the last thing I think of when I think of Daniel Plainview is a delicate seafood risotto. Check out Sakatos’ description of why this is more appropriate than, say, cold steak and a milkshake: “The black ink brings to mind the film’s oil gushers, with blood orange foam to remind diners of the struggle and, of course, the title.” OF COURSE. How silly of me.

Way, way, way worse, is Sakatos’ justification of how Dover sole is the embodiment of Michael Clayton: (more…)