Film Nite 13: Clips nite special! Emma's clips

Gould meets McLaren (1993)
by Norman McLaren

The music is Bach's Fugue 14 in f# minor (from the Well-tempered Clavier Book 1 BWV 859) played by Glenn Gould. Gould had a habit of humming along as he played (much to the annoyance of his producers and sound recordists): you can hear him in this recording.

It's from the excellent 1993 film Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould. This is one of the 32 films featured.



Hedghog in the Fog (1975)
This is Yurij Norstein's seminal animation which is either loaded with Soviet analogies and metaphors, or just a really beautiful, tender folk story - you choose.

I saw both this and the McLaren animation during insomniac nights after my A-levels, back in the days when you could still see really interesting stuff on TV if you were ready to forsake sleep and wade through a lot of bad smut and/or 'pages from Teletext'.



The Cat Concerto (1946)
Tom & Jerry at their finest. Please note that the sequences in which Tom is playing piano are musically accurate and correct -- I doff my cap to the animators for this.

I put it in as a counterweight for the McLaren animation, plus who doesn't love Tom & Jerry?

I first saw this on that Rolf Harris animation show for kids, when I was about 10, but which profiled some of the most skilful and well-crafted animations around the world. Lots of the stuff I saw on that show really stuck with me -- another notable T&J episode sees them figure-skating on the frozen floor of the kitchen.



Fishing with John (1991)

There's no YouTube for this one because the Criterion Collection people have been jumping on people posting it up there illegally.

This series is a marvel of scuzzy VHS tape. Each episode sees anarcho-jazzist John Lurie setting off on a fishing expedition with a famous person in tow. In this episode, Lurie takes Jim Jarmusch off the coast of NY state to catch some sharks.

Later episodes feature Tom Waits, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe and (a special double episode) Dennis Hopper. They are all brilliant and the (Lurie composed) soundtracks especially so.

I love Fishing with John for its combination of satire, humour, dreaminess and experimental/surreal techniques. Though I don't really care for angling.

Fishing with John on IMDB

And that, children, is what is going on inside my brain.

#12 Lizzy's second

A nightmare of bubblegum horror that will STERILISE you with FEAR! Are you ready for Film Nite #12 - TEENAGE FREAKOUT!?

HAUSU (AKA House)
1977


Nobuhiko Obayashi's experimental teeny-bopper fantasy horror/nightmarish psychotic episode.
















THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES!!?
1964





Starring and directed by kitschmeister auteur Ray Dennis Steckler, this monster musical has it all. Thrills! Chills! Zombies! Gypsy hypnotism! Racist dances! Death!



(NB Due to technical constraints, the film will unfortunately not be shown in the original Hallucinogenic Hypnovision.)

#11 Kate's second

*The Bogey-man Cometh*

An evening in honour of the great Bogey-man, kicking off with 1946 noir classic, The Big Sleep. Private Investigator Philip Marlowe takes on a blackmail case set in a backdrop of a seedy, searingly hot, stormy and debauched L.A. populated by murderers, mobsters, debt-ridden party girls and callous good-time Charlies. Humph and Bacall's sizzling off-screen chemistry is clearly apparent on-screen. Bogey is electric, managing to exude a kind of shabby uber-cool sex appeal with style, charm and wit. Based on a Raymond Chandler novel, the film was directed by the great Howard Hawks with a screen play co-written by William Faulkner. With such delicious lines as 'Get up angel, you look like a pekinese' what's not to love?!


Then on to my personal fave Woody Allen film, Play it Again Sam from 1972, Woody's homage to the great man himself! Woody stars as Alan Felix, an unlucky-in-love film critic who, deserted by his wife, develops Bogey's Marlowe persona as an alter-ego to mentor him and improve his confidence with women, to great comic effect. Cue a great number of romantic disasters and misguided, cheesy chat-up lines like 'I love the rain. It washes memories off the sidewalk of life'.

A rare San Francisco set film for Woody (lots of lovely shots of trolleys and thrift stores) with a fabulous supporting cast; Diane Keaton has never been more adorable and Tony Roberts puts in a great comic performance as assured, dead-pan work-obsessed executive, Dick. This is also one of Woody's best performances as a scriptwriter and actor; he exudes a very natural charm. However, the film was directed by Herbert Ross (perhaps this enabled Woody to concentrate more on his own acting performance?). There are great slapstick moments and the film hangs together very well with a good linear narrative as opposed to a series of unrelated amusing comic sketches, which sometimes Woody is guilty of in other films. Perhaps this is in part due to the film having been based on a successful play by Woody.

#10 Emma's second

A *big* evening of *accidental anti-heroes* and *slightly baffling plots*:

First up, John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China (1986) is an action comedy that defies explanation, but very roughly: all-American 'hero' Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) loses his truck after driving it down an alleyway and getting side-tracked by the Lords of Death, deep in San Francisco's Chinatown. Wearing a wifebeater vest and tight blue jeans tucked into his boots, Burton just wants to pay his dues and get the Pork Chop Express back despite the best efforts of a shittle of Oriental bad guys waiting to beat his Occidental ass.

Next up, the 1998 Coen-helmed classic, The Big Lebowski. Do I need to tell you about the Big Lebowski? We've never seen it all together for some reason, despite quoting it at each other regularly/incessantly. The Dude Abides.

Were you born ready? Have you paid your dues?

#9 Jimmy's second

Alice (Jan Svankmajer 1988)

Unusual Czech live action/stop motion animated adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland. A real dusty attic retelling, with some impressive and bonkers re imaginings of familiar scenes and characters.

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0095715/

Dellamorte Dellamore (Michele Soavi 1994)

This G. Gough approved low budget Italian movie is almost impossible to catorgorise. Although somewhat gory and having the trappings of a horror movie, its more of an absurd, deliberately baffling, black comedy. A surprisingly cool Rupert Everett in the starring role is an unexpected treat.

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0109592/

#8 Bryan's second

The Party (1968)

Silent Movie (1976)

#7 Graham's second

Last Night is a cult Canadian film made in 1998 that recently received a belated DVD release. Directed by, written by, and starring Canuck crazy-face Don McKellar, Last Night follows several Toronto natives as they prepare for the end of the world. It’s a surprisingly funny and uplifting low budget film featuring a who’s who of Canadian character actors, including Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie and even David Cronenburg. Definitely one of the best films I’ve seen this year.

Mad Max 2 should need no introduction but I’m going to give it one anyway. Mad Mel stars as the post-apocalyptic saviour and leather-clad badass in possibly the greatest action movie of all-time. Commando favourite Vernon Wells does his bit as a hideously kinky savage who’d rather like to see our hard-bitten hero get deaded, while some of the most memorable supporting mutant bastards ever seen provide evil support! And if that isn’t enough for you, Mad Max 2 features the best chase scene of all-time - often imitated but never improved.