Easy Wind and Downy Flake

Performance 7 out of 10
This movie was shot in 68 but not released until 70 because Warner Brothers was so shocked by the film footage. Sex! Drugs!! Gender Bending Rock Stars!! Boy will be boys...or will they??!! References to Homoerotic content in bodybuilding!!! Welcome to to the Swinging 60s everybody. Indentity and gender confusion was never so trippy.

I saw this move some 15 or 20 years ago and I can't remember if I liked it then, I know I liked it this time, though. On one level it was a bit like putting on your mom's old vintage clothing and time traveling back to 68. On the other hand there is a feeling of being Alice slipping down the rabbit hole.

Although Mick Jagger is the face most people will identify right away, he doesn't appear in the first 1/3 of the film. The real star is James Fox (who, didn't make movies for a *decade* after making Performance) While Jagger petulantly flounces around being Jagger (and doing a fine job of it!), Fox crafts an eerie portrait of a man whose self identity is disintegrating minute by minute.

I saw a grainy but bright and colorful movie print. I read on IMDB that this might be released on DVD this year. It's worth a spin


Dark City 8.25 out of 10
HOW THE HELL DID I MISS THIS AWESOME FILM??!!

That's all I have to say; it was *that* good. Imagine The matrix but written for adults and with a good plot. I'm so ashamed this flew so far under my radar. I've never been a huge Rupert Sewell fan but he's good in this and he's has a quirky but talented supporting cast to back him up: 2006 Oscar nominee William Hurt, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O'Brien of Rocky Horror fame and Keifer Sutherland playing a guy who is a bit like Jack Bauer's mirror image (think twitchy, pale, timid and bespectacled)

The movie begins with a man waking up in a bathtub in a seedy hotel. Uh-Oh, there's a dead prostitute in the next room and that's never a good thing. Of course he doesn't remember committing murder and in fact, most of his memories are a bit hazy. I can't say more without giving away some of the plot twists. This is one nifty roller coaster ride. A bit of A bit of oddness though, there is a scene at the end the is *identical* to a scene at the end of 'Requiem for a Dream" which also starred Jennifer Connelly. Darren Aranofsky swears that he didn't see Dark City until after filming Requiem for a Dream but after seeing that final scene, I'm not so sure.

Do yourself a favor, rent this film. (Thanks Shaun!)


I went to the Saturday and Sunday night showings of The Raconteur's French Film Fete and here's what I saw:

Read My Lips (Sur Mes Lèvres) French w/ subtitles (Paul and Carla) 7 out of 10
This was a great thriller that, At nearly 2 hours, might be a bit long for many American filmgoers. I enjoyed how they actors and director wound up the tension and you weren't always sure who was playing straight with who. In short, mousy secretary hires hunky recent ex-con to be her office assistant. She can use his petty thieving skills to help her advance on the job and he can use her super-duper lip reading skills to 'eavesdrop' on his new boss, a small time club owning mobster with a volatile wife and a heist in the works. If you like French cinema, this one is worth a viewing. Snuggle up with a sweetie, a bowl of popcorn and a good French wine

Lovers on the Bridge (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf) French w/ subtitles (Alex and Michele) 2.5 out of 10
I suspect that if I had seen this when it first came out in the early 90s I might have liked it more. No, let's revise that. If I had seen this when I was in my early 20s I might have liked it better. Emphasis on the word 'might'. A boy, a girl, an old man and her cat all living squatting on the Pont Neuf in Paris while it is closed for renovations (the story begins in 1989. Renovations on the bridge were completed in 91). This was one of the most expensive French movies ever made, not that you would know it on sight. Apparently they were unable to film on the bridge and so big chunks of Paris had to be reconstructed on a sound stage. To be blunt, Michele, (played by Juliette Binoche in between 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' and 'Damage'.) takes a real beating in this film and after a while it was hard for me to watch. The young man she shares her life with is obsessed with her and it just becomes creepy the lengths he will go to to keep her at his side. Even after he goes to jail for a mishap related to keeping her with him, he still is obsessed with her. Despite that, there are moments of the tender whimsy of new young love, unfortunately its set against a backdrop of mental illness and squalor. Watch this film if you like, once was enough for me.


What's on tap for The Cinema_Babe......
Not much this weekend. I'm going to try to see Brokeback Mountain, probably on Friday. Since I'm not scheduled to work that day, I'll probably try to squeeze in some other films as well. If there's anyone who's around anytime Friday or Saturday afternoon and wants to catch a movie, let me know. (Pretty much anything except King Kong that is....)

My friends at The Raconteur are having a special screening of Lars Von Trier's Manderlay on Feb 10th to be followed by a discussion of the movie. This film is part 2 of von Trier's trilogy that began with Dogville. Currently this movie is playing in New York and there are no New Jersey showings except for the one at The Raconteur. Suffice to say I'll be renting Dogville sometime next week to refresh my mind.

If this appeals to anyone (or two or three), let me know, maybe we can do dinner first.