ON INFERIORITY COMPLEXES
from thom andersen's los angeles plays itself (2003), a fascinating, intricately researched documentary on the way los angeles has been depicted in the movies. here andersen looks at the use of los angeles' modernist residential architechture, those glass and steel dens of vice. in other words, where all the fun happens.
the scene from lethal weapon 2 is particularly wacky!
and the abbreviation L.A.? elsewhere in the film, andersen admits he hates it.
he sees it as a symptom of a city with an inferiority complex. huh.
MAN RAY, MAN RAY
this is a still from william wegman's one minute biography of the artist
man ray. it was originally made for a compilation of films about artists made by artists. it is funny and so, so smart, like all of wegman's films.
wegman's longtime collaborator is his weimaraner, man ray (1970? - 1981). man ray (dog) was born into his role as an artist and was involved in hundreds of wegman pieces transcending the borders of art and beyond.
this is such a fitting tribute to man ray (man) and i just know that he had to have loved it.
man ray, man ray was completed in 1978
click here to watch
thanks, always and forever to ubuweb
ERASING ALL EMOTION
plazaville is a new video art work based on godard's alphaville.
it is set in 21st century new york city. scenes from the original alphaville are being re-enacted by artists, actors and videographers, members of the artist collaborative, artist meeting, in collaboration with g. h. hovagimyan and christina mcphee.
the group shoots these episodes on the fly, without permits or permission and
uses the internet as a means of distributing the deconstructed narrative in short episodes. it's like a serialized program but is not in any order. it will be presented as a video installation work when it is completed.
you can watch the current scenes of plazaville (via a computer) at:
g. h. hovagimyan's youtube channel
the artist meeting website
or by logging onto the itunes store and search for plazaville.
thanks again to post.thing.net
AND IT'S WORKING
WATER IN MILK EXISTS (2008) by lawrence weiner (!) 22:52 min.
"in cooperation with the swiss institute, lawrence weiner teamed up with cinematographer kiki allgeier to realize WATER IN MILK EXISTS, a fresh skin flick that challenges both artistic and pornographic conventions. the film contains quotations from the artist's children books, austere dialogues on string theory, animations, as well as a lot of carnal action. a multitude of events accompany the launch of the film, mingling porn and art as two of today's most lucrative industries." (from ubuweb)
watch the whole thing here. fascinating. nsfw.
SCOPITONE A-307
we just watched elevator to the gallows (ascenseur pour l'échafaud) .
i was struck again by how great a film it is. i had seen it a while ago and forgot how well written and shot it is. louis malle has done such amazing work and i don't know that much about him. keep a watch on our film log because i feel as though i may be going through several of his films in the coming weeks. thankfully he is a criterion favorite and there is a wealth of his films available.
oh and jeanne moreau...well jeanne moreau.
thanks to jeanleto for uploading this scopitone from 1966!
POP MUSIC
burt bacharach and elvis costello from 1998
look for the loosening of the necktie around 1'30" or so
TRAILER BY GODARD
new trailer for viennale film festival created by jean luc godard
many thanks to cinema=godard=cinema
SHE LOST IT AT THE MOVIES
a fantastic audio file of pauline kael speaking at uc berkeley in 1968, posted generously at illusion travels by streetcar. download immediately.
A GREAT LIFE
he was well thought of around here.
juliet still remembers the first time
that she really saw him- "paul newman, oh man!"
for a while and quite by accident (i think), my dad and i would
watch hud, everytime i went home for a visit. he was well thought
of around there, too.
THE LATITUDE OF A MAN'S WORLD
DO WE KNOW EACH OTHER?
charade (stanley donen, 1963)
the first in a series of our favorite screen introductions.
we start with one of the best.
THE END OF THE ECLIPSE
the ending of michelangelo antonioni's l'eclisse "the eclipse" (1962)
thanks to ozukardozi
godard and miéville's "2x50" (1995)
thanks to grimsgrud
i have assembled a playlist of all the parts (1-7) of grimsgrud's upload so you can watch the whole thing if you want- go here
THERE'S NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWER HERE
cinefile has started carrying the frederick wiseman dvds!
a line-up of beautiful, no-nonsense spines. hot damn.
DAISIES (SEDMIKRASKY)
visually hideous, tiresomely gimmicky satire on materialism, with two bored girls, both named marie, who spend the entire movie causing havoc in restaurants and nightclubs, ripping off unsuspecting men and generally eating and behaving like pigs. as an allegory it lacks any resonance, as a movie it stinks. (adrian turner, from our time out film guide)
how could someone be so wrong?
spend the entire movie causing havoc in restaurants and nightclubs, ripping off unsuspecting men and generally eating and behaving like pigs?
that's practically an endorsement. this movie has nerve to burn.
get carried away with it.
(dir. vera chytilova, 1966)
