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Under discussion:

Metropolis  (1927)

Considering Fritz Lang's Metropolis on the eve of its latest revival (it plays for one week at New York's Film Forum beginning this Friday), Ed Halter gives long-overdue credit to a certain Italian pariah of pastiche for stoking the film's endless comeback:

Synth god Giorgio Moroder produced his own notorious MTV-style remix of the film in 1984, complete with songs by Freddie Mercury and Pat Benatar. Though frequently lamented by purists, Moroder's version nonetheless cemented the film's cult rep. (Desperate side note to repertory programmers: What the hell are you waiting for??? The '80s revival won't last forever. . . . )

While we're waiting, there are actually several clips from Moroder's Metropolis on YouTube. Here's my favorite, featuring Bonnie Tyler's "Here She Comes":

Under discussion:

Great World of Sound  (2007)

Billy the Kid  (2007)

The new issue of FILMMAKER Magazine hits stands this week, and in it you'll find their annual picks for the 25 New Faces of Independent Film. A few of these faces might look familiar to SpoutBlog readers: Billy the Kid director Jennifer Vendetti made the cut, as did Craig Zobel, the mastermind behind Sundance/SXSW hit The Great World of Sound. But the list also serves as a kind of early warning signal for a number of previously under-the-radar projects that I simply can't wait to get a look at.

First and foremost among them is Prodigal Sons. On the surface, it's a personal documentary in which filmmaker Kim Reed journeys back to her hometown for her father's funeral, and documents her subsequent attempt to repair a fractured relationship with her adopted brother. But it's also got a couple of great, additional hooks. To quote from the story: "Reed is a transsexual, and her trip back home was her first as a woman. And, while making the film, Reed and her brother Marc discovered that he was the grandson of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth."

Orson Welles' fans have a tendency to be a bit obsessive, especially when it comes to Welles' tempestuous relationship with Hayworth (um, Jack White?), so news of a surviving Welles/Hayworth descendant is bound, in some circles, to be a really big deal. I did some digging on this, and found this message board thread on WellesNet, dated October 2004, about the death of Marc's biological mother, Rebecca Welles. A poster by the name of Christopher notes that "it's a great comfort for the dwindling family of Orson Welles to know that Rebecca had a son and that he and his children will carry on the line... it is so wonderful to know that the looks, the genes and maybe even the genius of Orson Welles will continue." According to the FILMMAKER story, Reed's film includes footage shot in "Croatia, where she filmed Marc 'inheriting his legacy' in a meeting with Oja Kodar, Welles’s ex."

If this sounds half as exciting to you as it does to me, you can check out an extended synopsis of Prodigal Sons at the film's website. The producers are also soliciting donations and looking for volunteers to help push the film through post-production.

Under discussion:

Punch-Drunk Love  (2002)

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry  (2007)

The gay marriage debate seems to have been relegated to the back-burner of late (apparently, there's a war going on). Could Adam Sandler help bring it back?

At AfterElton.com [via GreenCine Daily] Alonso Duralde says I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry "will probably do more for the national debate on gay marriage than every book written by conservative gay writer Andrew Sullivan and every letter you've sent to your senator put together." He goes on to explain that this is mostly because "average" Americans are apparently willing to pay money to see Adam Sandler do just about anything, regardless of whether or not the themes of his films jibe with their personal preferences or political beliefs. It seems like a valid point, even if Paul Thomas Anderson might disagree.

But at the Village Voice, Nathan Lee has much more fun nailing Chuck and Larry's potential power; the openly gay critic boldly claims that the film is "as eloquent as Brokeback Mountain, and even more radical." (Lee, it should be noted, famously defended Brokeback's "middle-brow man-on-man masochistic romanticism" around the time of that film's release.) The whole review is basically begging to be blockquoted, but here's a choice excerpt:

This sodomite had a gay old time. The coup of the movie is that Sandlerites will, too. They're the ones unmistakably addressed in the courtroom climax, the moment when Chuck and Larry confess their deceptions and assert their principles. Momentarily possessed by remarkable authenticity, Sandler seems to step out of character as he appeals to the crowd to stop using the word "faggot." I've used it a lot myself in the past, he says in a manner less like a line reading than a mea culpa, but it hurts the same way it does if you called me a kike.

Meanwhile, Jeff Wells links to a clip of Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff promoting his boycott of Hairspray on The O'Reilly Factor. Naff says Scientology is anti-gay, and since John Travolta is a Scientologist, ergo, a film that began life as a Broadway musical based on a cult film starring a drag queen and written/directed by the most successful openly-gay filmmaker of the last thirty years is -- wait for it -- also anti-gay. "Gay people are not so desperate for entertainment that we should be lining the pockets of those who want to cure us," Naff huffs. Adam Shankman, director of the new Hairspray, responded: "Everybody involved in Hairspray - all the creators - are gay...me, the writers, composer, John Waters - all gay."

I guess the only question is this: how many gay pockets do you need to line to outweigh the damage done by putting cash in the pants of one Scientologist?