Flipside Movie Emporium

matt header · Posted: 07.21.2005 4:48 pm Post subject:

Fando and Lis

The sort of movie usually politely referred to as a "meditation" on something or another, Alejandro Jodorowsky's debut epitomizes the avant-garde/arthouse style in the most frustrating of ways. We can say Fando and Lis is a meditation on the loss of childhood innocence -- most of these surrealisms have to do with sadomasochism and/or humiliation arising from blurred gender roles (a doll has a vagina carved into in which a batch of baby snakes slither, Fando is blindfolded and tricked into kissing a man, Fando strips Lis and chains her to a cart so that a group of men can fondle her, etc.). But this is a theme established early on and allegorized to death, smothered by an oppressive succession of similar abstractions.

Some of these absurdities resemble Bunuel or Fellini, but those directors at their best infused their non-realities with a sense of humor and an emotional tie to their characters. Humor seems to be the last thing on Jodorowsky's mind, and when a surprising ending asks us to be emotionally affected by his characters' tragedy, he's already forced his film so far into the realm of abstraction that it's nearly impossible to relate to it in an emotional way. In 8 1/2, the melancholy dance around Guido's unfinished film affects us because the film's fantasies are an extension of Guido as a character. In Fando and Lis the audience becomes tired because the film's fantasies are simply an extension of Jodorowsky's obsessions, which he mostly keeps to himself. What is Fando and Lis about? Supposedly the film, and its mythical city of Tar, means whatever the audience wants it to mean, but after forty-five minutes I just wanted it to be over.
_________________
"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

the night watchman · Posted: 07.21.2005 7:38 pm Post subject:

Michael Scrutchin · Posted: 07.21.2005 7:48 pm Post subject:

the night watchman · Posted: 07.21.2005 8:32 pm Post subject:

It'll definitely be worth waiting if Criterion's involved. Very Happy

_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

beltmann · Posted: 07.22.2005 12:01 am Post subject:

Not on the Lips / Alain Resnais / France / 2003

I don't believe the latest from Resnais found theatrical distribution in North America, but it's finally made its way to DVD. Essentially it's a three-act revival of a 1925 French door-slamming operetta, but it also resurrects the light spirit of old-fashioned Hollywood musicals. (One of the characters has an aversion to being kissed on the mouth, which of course proves pivotal in bringing together a trio of couples before the play's end.) Most of the dialogue is either sung or spoken in couplet form--at least according to the subtitles--but many of the best jokes rest within the asides delivered directly to the audience.

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

matt header · Posted: 07.22.2005 8:23 am Post subject:

I've seen nothing else by Jodorowsky, and I borrowed Fando and Lis from a friend who also has The Holy Mountain and likes that one a lot more. Although I wasn't a huge fan of Fando and Lis, I'm really interested to see more of his stuff; I can imagine myself liking his movies.
_________________
"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

beltmann · Posted: 07.22.2005 3:12 pm Post subject:

I was browsing the documentary DVDs at the local library, and overheard this conversation:

the night watchman · Posted: 07.22.2005 3:27 pm Post subject:

the night watchman · Posted: 07.22.2005 3:30 pm Post subject:

Danny Baldwin · Posted: 07.22.2005 9:41 pm Post subject:

matt header · Posted: 07.22.2005 9:42 pm Post subject:

Danny Baldwin · Posted: 07.22.2005 9:42 pm Post subject:

beltmann · Posted: 07.22.2005 10:36 pm Post subject:

beltmann · Posted: 07.24.2005 4:37 pm Post subject:

7/18 ? 7/24/05

Features in preferential order

Undertow (Green, USA 2004)

Wedding Crashers (Dobkin, USA 2005)

Not on the Lips (Resnais, France 2003)

Hustle & Flow (Brewer, USA 2005)

The Whole Ten Yards (Deutch, USA 2004)

Shorts in chronological order

The Sky Divers (Mackey, USA 1969)

Return from Nowhere (Burnford, USA 1944)

Blackboard Jumble (Lah, USA 1957)

Ye Olden Days (Gillett, USA 1933)

Yes, I really do think the witty banter of and heartfelt chemistry between Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson rivals anything in the Resnais picture. Both movies rely on traditional formulas, and both work them with finesse and craft, but Vaughn and Wilson bring far more inspiration to the material than any of Resnais? players do. The plot of Wedding Crashers is indeed throwaway, but that's hardly reason to stay away?the expected formula has an unexpected degree of charm, and that's something. However, I really disliked Will Ferrell's presence. He seemed like a character airlifted in from another, far less likable movie. I generally enjoy him as a comedian, I guess, but he just doesn't have the chops that Vaughn and Wilson do; the kind of over-the-top, unhinged silliness that belonged in, say, the broad sketch comedy of Elf or Anchorman comes across as bush league hamming in Wedding Crashers. It just felt out of place.

Hustle & Flow, or 8 Miles to That Thing You Do!, can?t live up to its amazing Buddy Guy-scored opening credit sequence. It finally relies on as many cartoonish?and fraudulent?elements as any Michael Bay flick.

Eric
_________________
"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment