Taking Inventory as of April 20

Dogs of Chinatown (2008) - Official Website
Made in USA starring Anna Karina; directed by Jean-Luc Godard; French with subtitles; (1966)
Wild Boys of the Road; directed by William Wellman; (1933)
We Work Again short film; (1930)
Tokyo! directed by Joon-ho Bong (Shaking Tokyo), Leos Carax (Merde) and Michel Gondry (Interior Design); Japanese and French with subtitles; (2008) - Official Website
Tokyo Sonata directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Japanese and French with subtitles; (2008) - Official Website
Gabriel Over the White House starring Walter Huston and Franchot Tone; directed by Gregory La Cava; (1933)
The Road Is Open Again short film; (1933)
Hell-Bent for Election animated short film; directed by Chuck Jones; (1944)
I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale documentary; directed by Richard Shepard; (2009)
Dog Day Afternoon starring Al Pacino, Charles Durning and John Cazale; directed by Sidney Lumet; (1975)
Mister Scarface starring Jack Palance; dubbed; (1976)
Chained Heat starring Linda Blair, John Vernon, Sybil Danning and Stella Stevens; (1983)
Vigilante starring Robert Forster, Fred Williamson and Woody Strode; (1983)
Raw Force starring Cameron Mitchell; (1982)
Lady Terminator (1988)

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I saw films all over town the past few weeks. I visited the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts screening room for the first time last Saturday when I watched Mister Scarface and Chained Heat.

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale and Dog Day Afternoon screened at the Vogue. Director Richard Shepard answered questions about his documentary on John Cazale. He was interviewed by SF Chronicle movie critic Ruthe Stein.

I Knew It Was You was followed by Dog Day Afternoon. Sadly, it was projected from a DVD.

I watched Tokyo! at the Landmark Opera Plaza and Tokyo Sonata at the Landmark Bridge.

Dogs of Chinatown screened at the 4-Star.

Made in USA, Vigilante, Raw Force and Lady Terminator played at the Castro.

Wild Boys of the Road and Gabriel Over the White House were part of PFA's program titled From Riches to Rags: Hollywood and the New Deal. The four film program explored how Hollywood filmmakers responded to FDR’s New Deal.

We Work Again, The Road Is Open Again and Hell-Bent for Election were short films that preceded the feature films in From Riches to Rags: Hollywood and the New Deal.

Mister Scarface, Chained Heat, Vigilante, Raw Force and Lady Terminator (along with Escape from New York which I did not watch this weekend) were part of the Alamo Drafthouse's Rolling Roadshow Tour. Austin's famed movie house periodically takes some of its film prints on tour. On this trip, they stopped in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.

Vigilante, Raw Force, Lady Terminator and Escape from New York were co-presented by Midnites for Maniacs.

Movie Puke

I was at the Landmark Bridge Theater this past weekend to see Tokyo Sonata (great film by the way).

As I was milling about the lobby, I noticed some tri-folded pieces of 8.5 x 11 paper. I picked one up at there was a picture of Corey Haim and Corey Feldman on the cover with the subtitle "Corey vs. Corey The Ultimate Battle." The rest of the "tiny zine" was an introduction of the Two Coreys phenomenon in the late 80's. Does anyone remember the commercials for the Two Coreys chat room? After setting up the Coreys Craze, the unsigned author proceeded to give thumbnail descriptions of her favorite bad movies starring one or both of the Coreys. I thought it was entertaining and can relate to a fellow "bad movie connoisseur" as well as her adherence to grammar and spelling.

The title of the 'zine was Movie Puke - A Tiny Zine for Cinemasochists - clever word play.

Going back to the table with the handouts, I found two more Movie Pukes - Issue #2 titled "Revenge of the Beach Comedy" and Issue #3 titled "The Girly Issue." Both 'zines brought back memories from my teenage years or introduced me to films so obscure/bad that I wouldn't watch them as a hormonally overactive teenager.

Anyway, Movie Puke has a Myspace page. There is even a photo of Issue #4 called "Dance Dance Dance."

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I notice that before screenings at Landmark Theaters, an employee will come out and thank the audience. S/he doesn't always comment on the film but they do thank the audience for coming. It's a nice touch in tough economic times. The Sunday 3:10 showing of Tokyo Sonata had a good crowd - there was probably over 50 people in the audience on Easter Sunday.

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I notice several films at the upcoming 2009 San Francisco International Film Festival are being shown in previews trailers at Landmark Theaters. Tulpan, Tyson and Rudo y Cursi are three that I'm aware of.

I am violating my previous pledge to skip the 2009 SFIFF completely. I bought a ticket to see Rembrandt's J'Accuse at the PFA on April 26. One of the first "independent" films that I saw in a theater was Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover during the summer of 1989 when I was living in Los Angeles. I cannot remember the name of the theater but it was extremely wide. It might have been an IMAX screen although I don't think the film was IMAX. I'll never forget two scenes from that film. I'll never forget Helen Mirren and Alan Howard being spirited out of the restaurant (coitus interruptus) and having to make their escape in a meat van with dead pigs hanging off of hooks. Of course, the final scene where The Lover is literally roasted and served to The Thief. Roasted penis anyone?

“Just because you have eyes does not mean you can see,” challenges the great director-contrarian Peter Greenaway in his new cine-essay, which reveals the mysteries hidden in plain sight in one of the most famous paintings of all time, Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Where most see only a great work of art, Greenaway dissects the Dutch masterpiece to uncover an indictment, a conspiracy and a murder mystery sweeping across the ruling elites of Amsterdam’s Golden Age. Hosting the proceedings like a well-mannered 21st-century judge, Greenaway “investigates” each of the painting’s 34 characters, their poses and costumes, as well as the picture’s setting and lighting, to discover clues to Rembrandt’s fascinating take on, and indictment of, the power struggles of 17th-century Amsterdam. In the process, Greenaway moves far beyond narrative and documentary filmmaking (further beyond his already out-there early works like Drowning by Numbers or The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) to level his own j’accuse on contemporary visual illiteracy. With actors (including Martin Freeman of British TV’s The Office) restaging certain scenes and Greenaway’s clever intellectual side-notes and diversions (the development of candle-making in relationship to painting aesthetics, for instance), Rembrandt’s J’Accuse will change how you view art, and the world.

Actually, this film reminds me of an annual tableaux vivant event in Orange County called Pageant of the Masters in which paintings are recreated by real people in costumes, sets and make-up to match the paintings. I've never been able to attend but would like to see it one day.

The Bigamist and The Wild Child

On Sunday, I trekked over to Berkeley to see The Bigamist (1953) as part of Film on Film Foundation's "Lupino Noir" double feature. The second half of the program was Outrage but I was tired and had an early meeting on Monday so I skipped it.

The first thing I noticed was that I have already seen this film. It screened almost 3 years ago as part of the Balboa Theater's Reel San Francisco series. The film starred Edmond O'Brien, Joan Fontaine and Ida Lupino (who also directed). Much of the film was filmed and set in San Francisco.

The title tells the story - O'Brien has two wives - one in SF (Fontaine) and the other in LA. The story attempts to cast O'Brien in sympathetic light although he committed adultery, fathered a child out of wedlock and eventually committed bigamy out of sympathy for Lupino's mousy but brassy character. It put some of the blame on Fontaine's character, not just a wife but a business partner. She's hard-charging in the boardroom and barren in the bedroom. Overall, the film was dated and I didn't feel much sympathy for O'Brien. If you knock a woman up, you divorce your wife, you get an abortion or you pay child support but you don't commit bigamy (even in 1953).

The emcee shared a story that could only happen in Hollywood. Lupino was married to The Bigamist's screenwriter, Collier Young. Lupino divorced Young in 1951. Prior to the filming of The Bigamist, Young and Joan Fontaine were married; so the lead actresses had a real-life relationship that bizarrely resembled the plot. It's amazing that the three could or would work together; especially with Lupino as the director.

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On Wednesday, I saw The Wild Child or L'Enfant Sauvage. This 1970 French film (with English subtitles) was directed by and starred Francois Truffaut. Based on a true story from 1798, the plot involves a 12 year old boy that is discovered by some villagers. The boy is nude and has seemingly lived in the wild all his life. His story catches the attention of Parisian Dr. Itard (Truffaut). He arranges for the boy to live with him so he can conduct experiments on the boy's ability to integrate into society. Some think the boy is a savage that should be locked away but Itard thinks he can teach the boy social and language skills.

The rest of the film follows the ups and downs of teaching Victor (the name give to the boy) and how Itard and Victor (and their housekeeper) learn personal lessons on the meaning of humanity.

The film is slow-paced and looks like a flim from the 1970's but it's clearly a labor of love for Truffaut. His daughter says he played the lead role because he didn't want an actor between him and the film. Jean-Paul B as Victor delivers the payoff performance - he runs around naked in the woods for the first part of the film and throws temper tantrums for the second half of the film. A few scenes such as him looking balefully at the moon to convey his sense of isolation, his frolicking in the rain to show his comfort with the outdoors and his inability to steal a chicken to represent his partial integration into human society make the film a small and gentle masterpiece.

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I saw The Wild Child at the Landmark Opera Plaza. I saw some postcards for Tokyo Sonata, a well-regarded Japanese film that has been making the festival circuit. It played at this year's Cinequest and will play at SFIAAFF. Although I didn't see an announcement, I suspect Tokyo Sonata will get a run at a Landmark Theater.

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Through March 11, I'm averaging $7.66 per program or film. I've seen 77 films since January 1, 2009. January through March is the busy period for film festivals in San Francisco; at least it is for me. January is Noir City, February is IndieFest and March is the Asian American Festival. The most popular festival in SF is the International Film Festival in April. I usually skip the festival because the crowds are so large, I'm burnt out by April and many of the films get distributed after the festival or get picked up by other local festivals.