Claire Denis Was All Around the Bay

This spring, Claire Denis films turned up all around the bay. The 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival brought the Tindersticks to the Castro to perform the film scores they composed and performed for Denis' films between 1996 and 2009. One of short films I recalled from the 2011 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival was Dirty Bitch which the credits stated was inspired by Denis' Nénette and Boni.

Finally, the PFA had a six week series on her films. I was able watch three films in the series. All films were directed by Denis. Agnès Godard was also the cinematographer on all three films.

Nénette and Boni starring Grégoire Colin & Alice Houri; French with subtitles; (1996)
Beau travail starring Denis Lavant & Grégoire Colin; French with subtitles; (1999)
Trouble Every Day starring Vincent Gallo & Béatrice Dall; French with subtitles; (2001)

I'm embarrassed to say I had not seen Claire Denis film before this series. I was aware of White Material and 35 Shots of Run (her two latest films) but had not watched them.

Although not by my design, those three films are sequential in Denis' filmography. In other words, she directed Trouble Everyday immediately after Beau travail which she directed immediately after Nénette and Boni. In addition, I saw them in the same chronological order they were made.

§§§

Nénette and Boni reminds me of a French New Wave film. Nénette and Boni are teenage sister and brother. Nénette is several months pregnant. Boni is involved in fencing stolen merchandise, running a pizza van and fantasizing over the neighborhood baker's wife. Nénette and Boni is episodic and portions of the film are Boni's fantasies. Even the portions that represent parts of the narrative have a surreal and exaggerated feel such as Boni's many methods of coping with sexual frustration. In one memorable scene, Boni's kneads some pizza dough with a fervor bordering on pornographic.

Nénette's (Boni's younger sister) pregnancy does not allow her to indulge in teenage pursuits and diversions. The two have been separated as a result of their parents' divorce. Nénette has returned to Marseilles to find her brother - a safe harbor to dock while she prepares for childbirth. Although estranged and initially distant from his sister, Boni & Nénette eventually form an ersatz couple (nothing incestuous).

Fragmented and stylized, the film primarily follows Boni as his hormones rage, his imagination stirs and he confronts his rather shabby surroundings. Nénette and Boni is a poetic film that evinces more than is on the screen.

Partly choosing to attend Nénette and Boni due to its reference in Dirty Bitch, I can see the parallels but Dirty Bitch is a vulgar and violent reimagining of Nénette and Boni with some over the top comedic moments. Reportedly, director Sun Koh saw a heavily censored version of Nénette and Boni from Singaporean library. The artistic qualities of Nénette and Boni were so badly mangled that she was inspired to make Dirty Bitch.

§§§

I was auitably impressed by Nénette and Boni and its director. However, I hadn't seen anything yet.

Beau travail is loosely based on Herman Melville's Billy Budd. To further highlight the relationship between Beau travail and Billy Budd, Denis used some music from Benjamin Britten's opera adaptation of Melville's work.

Semi-random thought - about 12 years ago or so, I saw a great stage adaptation of Billy Budd which was performed on the Balclutha, a ship at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

I don't think I have the skills to really express my thoughts on Beau travail. It's one of the best films I ever seen.

Grégoire Colin (Boni in Nénette and Boni) plays Sentain, the Billy Budd proxy. Sentain has joined the French Foreign Legion. Attractive, young and pleasant, Sentain has provoked an irrational hatred in Sergeant Galoup (Denis Lavant), his immediate superior.

The rest of the film is Galoup simmering as his feelings towards Sentain intensify. There is an undertone of homoeroticism in Galoup behavior but either insecurity and/or jealousy causes him to manifest his feelings as animosity. On this somewhat slender thread, Denis weaves her masterpiece.

It's appropriate that Denis used Britten's opera music for the film because the film has an operatic feel. Balletic too as the Legionnaires go about their exercises. More like tai chi, the soldiers with their shaved heads, look monastic with their ritualistic and synchronized movements. The seeming calmness of their exercises masks the inner turmoil felt by Galoup who joins his men in their exercises.

Layered on top of this are the vistas of Djibouti. The action shifts an urban (at least what passes for urban in Djibouti) to the desolate as the Legionnaires go on maneuvers near the sea. Denis makes good use of the deserts and water as backdrops for the Legionnaires unending training. There are several extended scenes of the men exercising with the desert or sea as a backdrop. The beauty of Denis' direction is that she makes the repetition hypnotic and lyrical rather than boring and distracting. Her success is likely due to the fact that there isn't much plot to the film.

Denis has constructed a film where the viewer can infer what s/he wants within the parameters established by the film. Galoup and Sentain are left superficial with much backstory or expository dialogue. However, Levant and Colin imbue their roles with much more depth than the spoken dialogue. With a lesser skilled director, this is a recipe for disaster. "Look into the camera and emote." That Denis has managed to make such a film immensely watchable is the highest praise from me.

Finally, there is Galoup's dance scene which serves as the coda. Throughout the film, the young Legionnaires go to the disco to dance. At the end of the film, Galoup who has attempted to kill Sentain, dances alone on the set of the disco. No one else is there and the dance is largely symbolic - inner turmoil, suicide, repressed emtion, etc. Lavant dances like a man possessed. In a very brave decision, Denis changes the tone and look of the film in the final scenes by letting Lavant do his interpretive dance of Galoup's psyche. It could easily be criticized as pretentious because by this point Denis has already established the contemplative even meditative tone for the film. Like everything else in Beau travail, Denis films this scene perfectly.

I was not familiar with Denis Lavant before watching Beau travail. The film is almost a solo vehicle for him. His appearance and performance make it seem like he was born to play the role of Galoup. I'm almost afraid to seek out any of his other performances for fear of disappointment. Actually, I have seen Lavant before. He was the monster in Leos Carax's portion of Tokyo!. Honestly, I can't remember the performance.

§§§

Trouble Every Day was quite a departure form Beau travail. Essentially a vampire story, Trouble Every Day includes some gory scenes but again Denis gives the film comtemplative veneer. Vincent Gallo (who had a small role in Nénette and Boni) plays an American scientist. He is a newlywed (married to Tricia Vessey) who has combined his honeymoon with a business trip to Paris. His business is to find a cure for the disease with which he is afflicted. The unnamed malady causes him to go into a murderous and cannibalistic frenzy whenever he is sexually aroused. You can see how that would put a damper on your honeymoon. Apparently he contracted the disease in Africa (or was it South America)?

Gallo's Shane is not alone though. While searching for Léo, a fellow researcher (Alex Descas), Shane discovers that Coré (Béatrice Dalle) suffers from the same affliction as he does and that Léo is searching for a cure also. Shane's search for Coré and a cure lead to disastrous circumstances.

In Trouble Every Day Denis films two of the most amazing sex scenes I've ever seen. In one, Coré has sex with a punk/intruder. To protect the public, Léo locks Coré in their house. Coré seems to be promiscuous as well as bloodlustful. Anyway, the sex scenes devolves into Coré attacking and killing her paramour. That scene had the feel of a horror film. Dalle looks sexy and malevolent so it had a black widow feel.

Later, Shane stalks a hotel maid. He "rapes" her in the laundry room of the hotel before he kills her. That scene has a much more menacing feel as I always thought there is something creepy about Vincent Gallo.

By contrasting the two scenes, Denis must be commenting on gender roles as well as sex and violence which goes together like bread and butter (at least in films). Denis also throws in the virginal looking Tricia Vessey whose character's marriage is unconsummated due to Shane's disease which he keeps secret from her. Shane is carrying some heavy emotional baggage - he is a killer, he cannot allow himself to be aroused by his wife for fear of killing her and he is guarded about the peculiarly chaste state of their marriage.

Denis trains her circumspectful camera on the horror genre with interesting results. I'm sure the close proximity of sex and murder make many feel uncomfortable. Her languid pacing and Gallo's introspection hint at a genius in Denis' direction that could get lost in the shuffle. Trouble Every Day also has a 1970s aesthetics. It reminded me a little of The Hunger which was 1983. Trouble Every Day is closer to the film I wish Tony Scott aspired to when he made The Hunger. Shane looks like he played for Oakland A's in the 1970s with his mustache and unshaven look.

After seeing Beau travail, I think any film would have been a letdown but Denis creates an interesting genre piece that she stamps with her trademarks. Trouble Every Day is a serious film within the broad confines of the horror genre that I liked which is only another testimonial to Denis. I typically get bored by the cinematic sophistry filmmakers exhibit to give their horror films the patina of art.

I'd like to see Denis' later films because the three I saw were distinct from each other but have a common look and feel that define them as a Denis filme. Does that auteurism run through all her films? Perhaps what I am sensing are common themes in Agnès Godard's cinematography rather than Denis' direction.

Seeing these three films makes me wish I had sampled Denis' films long ago.

2011 San Francisco International Film Festival

I only saw 11 films at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival. That compares to 21 which I saw in 2010. I saw two films at the Viz, two films at the PFA, two at the Castro and the remainder at the Kabuki.

After a busy first quarter, I didn't have the energy to go for broke with SFIFF. The crowds and likelihood that the films would be released were enough to dissuade me. I watched 11 films on 8 different days. The festival ran 15 days so I only attended it on half of the days. That's a very leisurely pace for me. Among the non-cinematic memorable moments, I saw two men get into a racially charged yelling match in front of the Kabuki and an elderly lady fall ass over teakettle in the PFA theater during the film. The lady was actually sitting directly next to me. I thought she left at the intermission but several minutes into the second act, I heard her tumble a few rows behind me. I thought an ambulance would be needed as it took an extremely long time for her to regain her feet but eventually she hobbled out. Frequently, I see the staff at PFA lead people to their seats with flashlights after the film has started. I'm not sure why this was not the case this time.

I can report on one unofficial announcement which drew gasps of excitement from the audience. Prior to the screening of The Stool Pigeon, programmer Sean Uyehara stated there is a good chance that the San Francisco Film Society would add a Hong Kong film series to their fall offering of programming which includes French, Italian, Taiwanese, animated and local films.

I read a statistic which surprised me. It was glommed from the SFIFF wrap report. The report did not give an exact audience count at the festival but a blurb at the bottom stated "Held each spring for 15 days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in the country's most beautiful city, featuring 15 juried awards, 200 films and live events with upwards of 100 participating filmmakers and diverse audiences of 75,000+ people."

I thought the number would have been larger because I recall Cinequest stating that over 90,000 people attended their festival this year. I though SFIFF was more well attended than Cinequest. It just adds to my growing appreciation of Cinequest. Comparing the two festivals, I give the edge to Cinequest in just about every category. I just wish it wasn't held in San Jose.

By the way, Cinequest has already announced that the 2012 festival will be held from February 28 to March 11. I hope it doesn't overlap with the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2012.

Prior to the screening of Fassbinder's World on a Wire at the PFA, curator Susan Oxtoby announced that PFA was planning a program of Fassbinder films during the 2011-12 academic year. She went on to say that Fassbinder was one of her favorite directors.

The 11 films I watched were:

The Stool Pigeon starring Nick Cheung and Nicholas Tse; directed by Dante Lam; Cantonese with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
Living on Love Alone starring Anaïs Demoustier & Pio Marmai; directed by Isabelle Czajka; French with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
Love in a Puff starring Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue; directed by Pang Ho-cheung; Cantonese with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
The Dish and The Spoon starring Greta Gerwig; directed by Alison Bagnall; (2011)
Sound of Noise; Swedish with subtitles; (2010) - Official Facebook
World on a Wire; directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; German with subtitles; (1973)
Hospitalité; directed by Koji Fukada; Japanese with subtitles; (2010)
La Dolce Vita starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg & Anouk Aimée; directed by Federico Fellini; Italian with subtitles; (1960)
13 Assassins; directed by Takashi Miike; Japanese with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
The High Life; directed by Zhao Dayong; Mandarin & Cantonese with subtitles; (2010)
Outrage starring & directed by Beat Takeshi; Japanese with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website

§§§

Perhaps because I saw so "few" films, the festival didn't live up to expectations. That's grading on the curve though. I expect the oldest film festival in North America to deliver consistently great films. Thinking about my subjectivity objectively, I enjoyed 9 or 10 of the 11 films I watched.

My festival favorite was the Hong Kong crime/suspense film, The Stool Pigeon. The major participants were director Dante Lam, Nicholas Tse and Nick Cheung who made the wildly entertaining The Beast Stalker which I saw in 2009. The Stool Pigeon was slightly less entertaining but still a taut suspense film which kept me engaged throughout. Nick Cheung plays the cop and Nicholas Tse plays the criminal in The Stool Pigeon (their professions were reversed in The Beast Stalker). Whereas I would characterize The Beast Stalker as an action film, I consider The Stool Pigeon to be closer to Infernal Affairs - some action elements but mainly a suspense/thriller film.

The Stool Pigeon focuses on Don Lee (Cheung), a cop who uses confidential informants to break up crime gangs...frequently with dire consequences for the CIs. In his latest investigation, he latches on to Ghost (Tse) a wheel man who is getting out of prison. Ghost's sister is forced into prostitution to pay off their father's debt to loan sharks. Lee offers to pay off the debt if Ghost will infiltrate the gang of Barbarian, a vicious robber planning a jewel heist.

There are plenty of action scenes and some romantic tension between Ghost and Barbarian's girlfriend (Guey Lun-mei) but most of the psychological heavy lifting is performed by Don Lee who has seen his most recent CI nearly killed and now insane, living on the streets like a bum. In addition, Don Lee caught syphilis which he transmitted to his wife. Distraught, she attempted suicide. She survived but now has amnesia. She works at a dance studio where Don Lee attends just so he can glimpse his wife. That part was superfluous and could have been cut been the point is Don Lee is under tremendous pressure from his CIs, his supervisor, his wife's family but most of all his own conscience.

Start with some chase and fight scenes, throw in a dash of romance and a large help of internal conflict and you get The Stool Pigeon which I though was well worthwhile.

§§§

The copy for Living on Love Alone made reference to Godard's Pierrot le Fou but while watching it, I was reminded more of Breathless. Anaïs Demoustier plays Julie, a young woman who is confused about her life. She can't get excited about the jobs she takes which involve babysitting her supervisor's children on her day off or selling door-to-door magazine subscriptions. She does, however, show an aptitude to one night stands with older men.

Then she meets Ben. He is more age appropriate for her but the source of his livelihood is dubious. Julie finds a handgun in his kitchen but that doesn't dissuade her from continuing the relationship. In fact, it may even excite her although her detached demeanor gives little insight. The ending is telegraphed but its the journey that excites. Demoustier gives an amazing performance (which reminded me a little of Jean Seberg in Breathless) that is alternately cynical and naïve. Still waters run deep with Julie and her seeming passivity must be tamping down her aggressiveness. At least, that's the impression I had while the film and it was ultimately confirmed in the end (as well as a telling scene with her mother and brother).

§§§

The Stool Pigeon and Living on Love Alone were the two films I would unequivocally recommend. La Dolce Vita is also on that list but I can't add anything to the voluminous commentary on that classic film.

There were a number of films that I enjoyed that were a notch below those.

Love in a Puff was a fun romantic comedy that had two twists - it was set during the time Hong Kong enacted public smoking bans so smokers had to huddle in hidden and remote spots in order to smoke and they formed social units based around their smoking circle. Two of them, Jimmy (Shawn Yue) and Cherie (Miriam Yeung) embark on a romance which has much to overcome. First Cherie is older than Jimmy which is probably more an issue in China than here. Second, Cherie is asthmatic so she has even more reason to quit smoking than most. Jimmy, on the other hand, is on the rebound as her girlfriend has taken up with the French manager at their company. Their romance has its ups and downs and the film takes some interesting side trips than are not directly related to Jimmy & Cherie. The effect is an enjoyable lightweight comedy that was a big hit in HK. In fact, the programmer who introduced the film mentioned they are shooting the sequel.

The Swedish film Sound of Noise is a pastiche of various genres - romance, policier and avante-garde. The plot, such as it is, centers around "six guerilla percussionists whose public performances are terrorizing the city." The cop who is assigned the case is tone deaf. Not only that but his family lineage includes several noted symphony directors. Silly and surreal, Sound of Noise probably has something serious to say about television pundits, banks, high society activities such as the symphony and modern life but I wasn't looking for those messages. I "suspended disbelief" and went along for wacky and hilarious ride.

Hospitalité also likely had a serious message about hypocrisy and the pitfalls of adhering to social politeness but it was overwhelmed by preposterous plot that I can't quite identify. I've seen a few films where a stranger plants himself in the middle of a family and causes pandemonium. That is the plot for Hospitalité. The family has several secrets and shortcomings which the stranger exploits but overall his brief and notable stay leaves the family better off than before he arrived. The film had its moments but overall, I wasn't too impressed. Nice performances all around so it must have been the story or the moral that left me luke warm.

The High Life was a Chinese film about the underclass in China. We're not just talking about gangsters but con men and naive girls from the country who learn life's lesson the hard way and then some. The second half of the film shifts to a jail or low security where the guard forces his charges to read his poetry as part of their rehabilitation program. That he is susceptible to flattery is obvious in his self-serving penal techniques. However, he falls under the charm of a young female prisoner whose transfer to another facility distracts him from his duties.

The High Life was director Zhao Dayong first non-documentary feature film. In hindsight, the film felt more like documentary as if he let the story follow whatever path it would follow. However, The High Life was narrative fiction and the plot could have used some help. Programmer Rod Armstrong mentioned that Zhao would be available for Q&A after the film and alluded to the sharp turn the story takes midway but I wasn't able to stay for the Q&A.

13 Assassins and Outrage were two well made genre films (samurai and yakuza, respectively) from Japan. Directed by the prolific Takashi Miike, 13 Assassins was actually a remake of a 1963 film. The story involves a ridiculously evil lord whose atrocities go too far and motivate a group of samurais to plan his assassination...and what a plan it is! An entire town is turned into a giant trap as the brave and noble 13 take on hundreds of foes in the extended climax.

Outrage is one of those films where everyone double crosses and kills everyone else. Johnny To has made a few similar films set in the world of Hong Kong Triads. I recall seeing a similar film set in NYC and involving the Mafia. Actor, director, television talk show host, standup comedian Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi) stars and directed Outrage. There were some nice violent, Tarantino-esque flourishes including a memorable scene at a dentist's office. The film seemed to drag on as one gangster after another was killed. I will say that Kitano has a face that looks made for Yakuza films - weathered, emotionless (except occassional eruptions of rage) and great eyes that can express emotion or glaze over to become inscrutable.

World on a Wire was a German television miniseries directed by Fassbinder. I'm not sure if Fassbinder pioneered the sci-fi techniques which would later be used in countless film. Regardless, in 2011, the 1973 production looks quaint, clichéd and extremely dated. At nearly 3.5 hours, the film also seemed self-important. Fassbinder visually style and adept handling of what can only described as melodrama were impressive enough to partially salvage the experience for me.

World on a Wire is getting at least a one-week run at the Roxie starting July 29.

§§§

That only leaves The Dish and The Spoon which is long on indie film street cred. The film itself came up short for me. The much touted performance of star Greta Gerwig left me wondering if I missed something. Actually, I did miss something because the film put me to sleep. I find that falling asleep during a film is actually quite an accurate indicator for my likes and dislikes. I fell asleep during The Dish and The Spoon, then I had dinner and watched Sound of Noise. I stayed awake every minute of Sound of Noise (on a full stomach).

I assmume The Dish and The Spoon with its reference to the nursery rhyme was intended as an adult fairy tale. The two main actors (Gerwig and Olly Alexander) play act at being a couple by switching gender roles and dressing in Colonial Era costumes. The films moves along disjointedly which some describe as quirky. However, I could never quite believe Gerwig's performance. She has a tremendous transformation though. At the beginning of the film, she looked like a teenager. By the end, she looked like a woman approaching 30. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

Getting back to her performance, her anger, frustration and despair was not believable to me. It looked like she was acting and her skills couldn't quite muster the inner rage and pain needed for those scenes. Her co-star Alexander also looked young but didn't age as the film progressed. He was definitely the second banana because his backstory was developed so he remained a mystery. Who is he, what is he doing in Delaware with his English accent, why was he past out in a lighthouse?

These two young people don't share physical intimacy but develop a strong bond as they pretend to be a couple. Ultimately Gerwig's character decides to return to her philandering husband (after she confronts his lover). By this point in the film, I was apathetic. I was awake but I can't recall the ending. Summarizing my criticisms of the film - Gerwig's performance wasn't as great as billed, Alexander's character could have used more development, the plot was a series of scenes which didn't tell much of a story but was supposed to sketch out Gerwig's character's journey but I could never empathize with Gerwig's character.

I will admit that the night I saw The Dish and The Spoon and The Sound of Noise at the Kabuki, SFIFF screened Toby Dammit (directed by Fellini and starring Terence Stamp) at the Castro. The screening was not announced until after the festival started and by that time I had purchased the tickets to The Dish and The Spoon and The Sound of Noise. I had a serious case of buyer's remorse which may have clouded my judgment of The Dish and The Spoon. I doubt it because I have no regrets about seeing The Sound of Noise.

Four Days in the Castro

A couple weekends ago, I believe I set a personal record. I went to the same theater four days in a row without a film festival or retrospective running at the theater. The theater was the Castro.

The films were:

Picnic at Hanging Rock with John Jarratt; directed by Peter Weir; (1975)
The Passenger starring Jack Nicholson & Maria Schneider; directed by Michelangelo Antonioni; (1975)
Bullitt starring Steve McQueen and Robert Vaughn; directed by Peter Yates; (1968)
Freebie and the Bean starring James Caan & Alan Arkin; directed by Richard Rush; (1974)
Heavy Metal; animated; (1981)
Trick or Treat starring Marc Price; directed by Charles Martin Smith; (1986)
The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter & Edward G. Robinson; directed by Cecil B. DeMille; (1956)

Heavy Metal and Trick or Treat were part of a Midnites for Maniacs quintuple bill which also featured This is Spinal Tap and The Monster Squad.

§§§

I was vaguely aware of Picnic at Hanging Rock mostly by name and reference to the famous Australian landmark. I was expecting upscale Ozploitation and instead I got Australian Gothic. That's not a complaint because director Peter Weir's film is fascinating to look at with its 1970's aesthetics and languid pace. It was the exact opposite of what I was expecting. The plot involved some boarding school girls who go missing at Hanging Rock. Even though one of the girls is found, she is unable to explain their disappearance. I won't detail the script too much because the film is about the mood surrounding the repressed sexuality enforced by the alcoholic headmistress. Is Picnic at Hanging Rock the classic it is made out to be? It wasn't quite to my liking but I have to admit it never lost my interest and Rachel Roberts was outstanding as the headmistress.

If I was misinformed about Picnic at Hanging Rock, I was completely ignorant of The Passenger, an Antonioni film from the 1970s. Looking very much of its time, the film features Jack Nicholson as a British-born, American-raised reporter who fakes his own death in Africa to exchange places with a naturally-deceased stranger at his hotel. It turns out that the stranger is an arms dealer and Nicholson gets in over his head. If the film was made now, you'd get an action thriller with lots of explosions. In 1975, Antonioni was able to make a very different film. Antonioni and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli lovingly film the sand dunes of Africa, the grungy "hotel" in a backwater, Third World town and Barcelona as I've never seen it on film. Without a doubt, the centerpiece is the final silent sequence where the camera pans out of a hotel window, swivels around and returns to the room where a man has just been murdered. I'm not sure if that scene could even be made today. First, it would be done in CG and then some idiot would layer on a pretentious soundtrack to let us know what to think.

Putting aside Antonioni and Tovoli's mastery of the camera lens, Antonioni story is more existential than thriller. It's hard for me to remember that Jack Nicholson was once a serious actor. When did he jump the shark? Batman? The Shining? A Few Good Men? I don't know but in The Passenger, he's not Jack as I have come to regard him but a capable actor who has subtlety in his repertoire. Coming into the film cold and seeing Nicholson's performance made The Passenger a revelation to me. It validates Antonioni and Nicholson's reputations but to a certain extent, validates the reputation of 1970's cinema which is much acclaimed by serious film critics but not much appreciated by me.

§§§

There is not much new to be said about Bullitt. I've seen it several times on television. There is the car chase and Steve McQueen is way cool. McQueen/Bullitt (do we even know his first name?) is cooler than 99.9% of the actors/characters to ever be on the silver screen. He makes eating a white bread sandwich with a glass of milk look cool. The more I see the film, the more I appreciate Robert Vaughn's slimy politician. Bullitt couldn't be the legend if he didn't have Vaughn's Chalmers to play off of. Even Norman Fell delivers a performance notable for how much he conveys with silence and a look. Also, the two killers who die in the crash convey more without a word of dialog than any hitman in movie history. Those two actors, the white haired John Aprea and Bill Hickman (who looks vaguely like Karl Malden) were incredible - professional, detached, stone cold killers. They'd kick Jules and Vincent's asses without breaking a sweat.

Freebie and the Bean was a rambunctious film featuring James Caan and Alan Arkin as wild cops tracking down hitmen sent to town (in this case San Francisco as well). Wacky comedies and over-the-top chase scenes may have been all the rage in the 70s but Freebie and the Bean felt like a mean-spirited It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with racial overtones thrown in for good measure. Valerie Harper plays Arkin's wife with Puerto Rican accent so thick you'd think she be wearing fruit on her head and dancing the samba. The most amazing part is that she is able to deliver a humorous performance while talking like an outcast from West Side Story. Even more impressive is a scene where Arkin and Harper express their love while discussing her douche bag and Arkin continually saying she is not as stupid as he thought. Harper deserved a better career than what she had. Caan & Arkin quickly bored me and the car chases became tedious. There was a transvestite killer that added some surprise at the end. It was interesting to see the Financial District of SF in 1974 but otherwise, Freebie and the Bean left me unenthused.

§§§

On April 30, Jesse Hawthorne Ficks is hosting a special Maniacs event at the Red Vic. I have previously discussed the Red Vic's financial troubles. Ficks put the odds of the Red Vic survival at the unusually precise figure of 11%. One in nine? That's not much of an encouragement to go to the event. Why contribute money to a dying cause? Another issue is that they scheduled the fundraiser opposite the most prestigious film festival in the City. I still urge you to support the Red Vic but I'll be at the SFIFF.

Heavy Metal is a film I remember from my adolescence and it proves that the forces of nostalgia can be quite strong. I believe I have seen the film twice in the past 25 years and each time I see it, it appeals to me less. Juvenile, sexist, silly and borderline pornographic, the film was obviously designed to target 13 year old boys (or men who think like 13 year olds) which was when it hooked me. Set in the future where all young women are beautiful, nymphomaniacs and have 38DD breast implants, watching Heavy Metal gets old pretty fast. I'm not sure how much of that is the film and how much is the cynical outlook of a fortysomething year old.

There were only two vignettes that kept my interest - Harry Canyon, a noirish tale about a hardscrabble cabbie who hooks up with a beautiful woman with killers on her tail and Taarna, a story about a beautiful female warrior (dressed like a S&M dominatrix) and her loyal pterodactyl who single-handedly battle the forces of evil. Even those two stories were mediocre at best. The only thing that really saves Heavy Metal is a soundtrack that kicks ass and takes name, as we used to say back in the day.

After taking a few hours to finish my income tax returns and go to the gym, I returned to see Trick or Treat. When I read the synopsis, I recognized director Charles Martin Smith's name. He was memorable as the tax accountant on Kevin Costner's team in The Untouchables. The name Marc Price (wasn't there an NBA player by that name?) didn't ring any bells but as soon as I started watching Trick or Treat, I immediately recognized him as Skippy Handleman from Family Ties. Another embarrassing pleasure of my youth revealed. During my high school years, I was a big fan of Family Ties. I identified with Skippy, I aspired to be Alex and I lusted after Mallory. I even remember one of my favorite scenes even though it's been 20 years since I've seen the show. Alex was dating Tracy Pollan's character. He would eventually break up with her on the show but marry her in real life. Alex was out of his environment because the two of them were so different. Spying a poster of the Beatles in her dorm room, he asks if they are her brothers. I don't know why that stuck with me for over 20 years.

Back to Trick or Treat, Skippy is sporting a mullet and he's an unpopular kid at school who calls himself Ragman. I can't remember why. He's into heavy metal music and idolizes Sammi Curr, a heavy metal musician who went to the same high school as he attends. A DJ (Gene Simmons) gives him a pre-release version of Sammi's final album. Sammi has just died (suicide?) and Ragman is depressed about it. Unfortunately, the album is backward masked. For those too young to remember, allegedly several albums in the 1980's had hidden messages that were audible if you played the record or tape in reverse. Some of these hidden messages were satanic and, allegedly, drove teenagers to murder and/or suicide. The gist of Trick or Treat is that Sammi has backmasked his final album and like he's Freddy Kruger's cousin, his spirit can run the record in reverse and conjure him back to life to wreak vengeance and havoc on unsuspecting teens. Ragman has discovered the secret and is the only one who can save his school's prom from becoming another Carrie.

The film was fairly silly but it was fun to see Skippy Handleman with a 1980's mullet. At times, Price portrayed Ragman as if he were channeling Skippy. Tony Fields (a Solid Gold dancer) was suitably over-the-top as Sammi. Doug Savant has a nice role as the school bully. Ozzy Osbourne makes a cameo. Beyond that, it was pure 80s fluff which isn't a bad thing. In fact, Ficks has built a decade long film exhibition series around celebrating 80s fluff. Would someone not familiar with the 80s enjoy it? I think so but it definitely helps to have grown up in the period in which the film was set. I went to high school with guys like Ragman and no, I'm not referring to myself.

§§§

Finally, on a Sunday evening, I settled in for the four hour version of The Ten Commandments. The film has looked out of place for decades but I was intrigued by the chance to see it on the big screen and in one sitting. Everything that was ridiculous about the film on television is amplified on the Castro's huge screen. Charlton Heston's diction and ridiculous beards, Anne Baxter's vulgar arousal, Yul Brynner's dialog, Edward G. Robinson's miscasting and the patently staged look of the crowd scenes. It's pure Cecil B. DeMille and despite everything I could criticize, I loved it.

They don't make movies like The Ten Commandments anymore but that's probably because they don't make movie stars like Heston and Brynner anymore. A line Brynner has to say sums up the film. When speaking to a reluctant Anne Baxter who will be his future but alway reluctant wife (didn't the Egyptian pharaohs marry their sisters?), Brynner utters this all-time classic, "You will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, except that I shall love you more - and trust you less." Give Brynner credit, he plays it straight and comes within a hair (pun intended) of pulling off that line.

Forgotten André de Toth Film and Busy Times Ahead

I saw Two Girls on the Street at the PFA in Janaury. The main reason I went was because André de Toth directed the film.

Two Girls on the Street; Hungarian with subtitles; (1939)

I remember being disappointed when the film was over. Expectation ran high for a de Toth film in his native language. I can't remember anything about the film three months later. Usually, at worst, I only remember a scene or two. Sometimes reading the PFA notes on the film jog my memory. Not with Two Girls on the Street and I can't find a more detailed plot summary on the internet. I'll have to leave it at that.

§§§

With the exception of some Claire Denis films which are part of a PFA series, I'm fully caught up now. The first quarter was packed with more films than usual for me. Noir City, Cinequest and SFIAAFF really put me through the ringer.

During Q1, I saw 117½ films or programs. That compares to 94 films in Q1-2010. 70½ filmsin the first quarter of this year were from the three festivals mentioed in the previous paragraph.

The cost is a little tricky because I donated to SFIAAFF in 2010 and most of my donation was tax deductible. I received a T-shirt, book and two DVDs in addition to my festival pass. I'll estimate the total admission costs at an even grand. That puts the average cost a $8.51 per screening.

§§§

The film festival schedule for the second quarter is coming into focus. The San Francisco International Film Festival will be held from April 21 to May 5. After some initial hesitation, I bought a 10 film Cinevoucher. I'm seeing films at the Castro, Viz, PFA & Kabuki Cinemas.

From May 13 to 26, the Roxie screens I Wake Up Dreaming — 2011 : The Legendary and the Lost!, their annual spring noir festival. Although I don't see his name in the on-line program description, I assume Elliot Lavine is programming the series as before. The progam includes films from Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Joseph Lerner, Anthony Mann & Robert Aldrich.

The YBCA has a program from May 19 to 26 called Three-Way: A Trilogy of Vintage Erotica. The series includes Camille 2000 from legendary director Radley Metzger. The YBCA ends their overview with "Stay tuned for 'Three-Way Redux: A Trilogy of Contemporary Erotica.'"

Another Hole in the Head Film Festival plays at the Roxie from June 2 to 16. This year, they dispensed with the screenings at the Viz.