Recent Movies

 We are currently experiencing very high humidity levels, along with very warm temperatures.  The past few days have been the most uncomfortable of the summer, but lucky for us a breeze is off the river and aimed towards our house, keeping our yard considerably cooler than a Wal Mart parking lot.  Violent storms have been predicted over the past few days, but all have missed our location.  More of them are on the way.

In travel news, Americans are now allowed into Canada by land if they are fully vaccinated and have a recent negative Covid test to show.  However, Canadians cannot yet travel to the US, except via air.  Weird.  With the explosion of new variant cases over there, we are not very interested in visiting anyway, at the moment.

In movie news, I have Deb's two weekend picks to report on.  And there should be time at the end to get back to another work of art from the DIA.  First up was a feature animation, one that promised much but in the end was somewhat disappointing.  From 2007, the film had very physically unappealing characters, a very simplistic story, and a lot of falling to the ground from great heights.  As a cat person, I can say that there are far too many distressing cat sounds in the film, too, enough to greatly alarm any cats withing listening distance.  The premise of the story is a little boy exploring a big city at night, and finding out what goes on.  As Deb said, this would have been enough to base the entire film on, but instead we get a weak story about a shadow that is taking over the world, and only the little boy can save them by facing his fear of the dark blah blah blah.  Some very stunning visuals, and definitely worth watching.  But a masterpiece of animation it is not.  There is borrowing from Disney, Tim Burton, and Japanese animation.

Now showing on Criterion. 

For her leaving August 31st choice she picked a Chaplin short, and a one hour documentary on Eric Campbell.  Eric played the villain in many Chaplin short films, and hailed from Scotland.  His life was cut short by a drunken driving car accident.  The Chaplin short chosen was The Cure, about a sanitarium with water than heals.  It is a very funny film, one of Chaplin's best, with the main laughs coming from a revolving front door at the hotel, as well as Eric Campbell's unwanted amorous advances on a young woman.  The massage scene is also a classic.   Lots of Chaplin is leaving this month, so we will likely watch more.  Deb also squeezed in a short by Georges Melies, the early French animator.  We watched The Diabolic Tenant, a minor masterpiece of stop motion filming and bizarre storytelling.  Again, a lot of these are leaving this month, so will likely watch a few more.

Leaving Criterion August 31st.

Leaving Criterion August 31st.

An 8' film by Georges Melies from 1909, leaving August 31st.

Turning finally to art from the DIA, it's always great fun to discover a wonderful artist one has never heard about before.  The DIA has 8 prints by Anthonie Waterloo, a Dutch artist (1610-1690) with an amazing sense of depth, line, and shadow.  It wasn't easy to choose just one of his works from the museum's print and drawing collection, but here it is.  I love how he allows the eye a chance to escape from all of the intense foreground detail, by providing a partial vista on the left side.

Watermill, 17th C.  Anthonie Waterloo, Dutch 1610-1690.  Etching printed in black ink on laid paper, 11.5" x 9.5".  This is one of a series called Six Vertical Landscapes.  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.

Detail of the mill and stream.

Detail of left side.

Detail of tree above mill.  

Mapman Mike

 

Movies and Art

 Two recent movies of note, both Deb's picks.  From 1942 comes the revised version of Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925).  He dispensed with the title captions, instead choosing to use voice-over (his own).  He also wrote his own score for it.  In its original form that is one of the best silent films ever made.  His does no real harm to it in the revision, but the voice over wears thin after a time.  Highlights include anytime spent in the bush cabin, as well as the "dance of the bread rolls."  We hadn't seen this in a while, and it was great fun watching it again.

Both versions are showing on Criterion.  Deb chose the 1942 revised version. 

From the leaving soon file Deb chose Lilith, a strange b & w drama starring Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, and Peter Fonda, about patients in a high end sanitarium.  Beatty is a war vet looking for a job with some meaning, and he falls in love with patient Seberg.  Most people's distorted views about mental illness likely stem from Hollywood, and this film is no exception.  It's a good movie, dealing with subject matter that most studios wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole (incest, lesbianism, patient/health-worker sex, and even pedophilia, though the young boys Seberg is attracted to are mostly reminding her of her brother, who killed himself after she pressured him to have sex with her.  Fonda is good as a young man who needs constant approval in order to survive.

Leaving July 31st, on Criterion. 

An early Flemish landscape print is on offer this time, from the DIA collection.  I do not remember ever having seen this print on display.  The subject matter certainly calls for a seascape of some sort, but certainly not the lavish background and detail presented to us.  Gotta love those early Flemish artists!

Christ Calling St Peter and Saint Andrew, 1523. Dirk Vellert, Flemish. Etching and ink engraving, 5 3/4" x 4 3/8".  This belongs in a Dover colouring book.

Detail of rich background without main figures. Note the appearance of Gormenghast Castle in the upper left.

Detail showing the water calm in the background, and alive in the foreground with the miraculous catch.

Christ amidst a fascinating early Flemish background. 

In local Homestead news, practicing continues to go well.  I am anticipating my 3rd recent lesson with Philip A. this Thursday morning, and hoping he will play some Beethoven for me, too.  Deb has resumed work on her latest Yorick episode, his underwater adventure to rescue and render assistance to a fair maiden mermaid.  Our weather has been quite warm and humid the past three days, and more storms are expected soon.  The grass continues to grow as if it is early June, and cutting continues apace.

Aside from a family visit upcoming in August, it is now likely that no other travel plans will be made.  Leaving the country will just create hassles for us right now, so local it will have to be.  That's okay, too, as there has been a minor explosion of breweries and began restaurants that need visiting and revisiting.  Jenn G. continues to report from B.C., where rain is nonexistent, humidity levels rival the desert of NM, and smoke is perpetually in the air.  Sad times.

Mapman Mike

 
 

 

Movies and Mogi

 What is like for a cat to have his eye removed?  Painful and very uncomfortable, especially if you have to wear a collar and you can't rub the sore area or lick it.  We are keeping him sedated today as much as possible, and applying ice regularly.  He seems to be bouncing back, and continues to eat well.  But it's going to be a long ten days.  Mogi keeps bumping into things with his collar.  Deb says that he is like a little roomba vacuum, hitting something and then immediately changing direction and trying to go somewhere else.  With only one eye he has no depth perception, either.

 

Poor Mogi!  Deb thinks he looks like a beaten prize fighter.  There is still lots of bruising and swelling.
 

I am pretty far behind on my movie updates, so I will try and keep things short.  Deb's going away film was called The Homecoming.  This was definitely not The Waltons version.  Peter Hall first directed Harold Pinter's bizarre play on the London stage, then followed up with this 1973 film version.  It's like a mad tea party for truly demented adults.  Despicable adults.  Enjoyable?  Hardly.  Hard to turn away from?  Somewhat.  Annoying?  Very much so.  We did finish.  Not so with another Pinter filmization, called Butley, starring Alan Bates.  This one was so annoying that we both gave up after about twenty minutes.  Hard to believe people paid money to see this stuff in theatre, and then would rush out to see the film.

Showing on Criterion until the end of April. 

 

Next came my two choices, my main one from the collection, and the secondary one from the leaving file.  I chose Zatoichi #18, The Fugitives.  He kills a lot of bad people, once again decimating the male population of a large area of Japan.  By the time he is through with an area, the male to female ratio must be nearly astronomically small, perhaps one man to 10 women (Caracas anyone?).  Unfortunately, nearly every film in this series has now become the same one.  He arrives, gets involved in local politics, wipes out the bad guys, makes a lot of friends, then leaves.  Any one of them is quite good, but after 18 versions of the same film, one wishes for a slightly different ending someday.

 

Now showing on Criterion.

 

My leaving choice was Gregory's Girl, from 1981, an hilarious teen coming of age movie directed by Bill Forsyth, one of Scotland's wittiest artists.  Gregory, a gawky, shy, girl crazy teen boy falls in love with a female football wizard.  His date with her, and what happens before and after, is the film's raison d'etre.  A wonderful film, and beautifully acted by all involved.    Now a cult classic.

 

Leaving Criterion on April 30th.  A don't miss film. 

 

Lastly (for today's blog) came Deb's weekly main choice, Chaplin's Modern Times.  One of the greatest and funniest films ever made, if you only have time to see one Chaplin film before you die, this is the one.  Though we have seen it multiple times, it was a joy to watch it again.  I am fascinated by how Chaplin can use his body, whether he is walking, running, roller skating, dancing, or doing slapstick, his body is a form of poetry in motion.  The film is hilarious from start to finish, and when he is on camera there is simply nowhere else to look.  Watch for the feeding machine, his work on a very fast factory assembly line, his department store roller skate, and his nonsense song in the cafe.  A true genius.

 

Now showing on Criterion.

 

 Mapman Mike