Some Artists I'd Love to Document (or see a great document on...)

I don't know if you guys do this, but there are several moments in film and music that I'm obsessed with, of which I've yet to find a perfect film document.  Some that come to mind are:

The Beastie Boys circa Paul's Boutique
The French New Wave circa 1955-1962
Talk Talk circa Laughing Stock
John Coltrane circa A Love Supreme
Massive Attack circa Blue Lines
Wim Wenders circa Kings of the Road
Abbas Kiarostami in the late eighties/early nineties
Leos Carax in the mid eighties
Bjorn Borg circa the late seventies
The Smiths in the eighties
Bob Dylan circa the early sixties (pre Don't Look Back)

If I ever foray into documentary filmmaking, these would probably be the first places I'd look into doing something.

The riches of Post-Punk

How many great songs and bands emerged in the so-called post-punk era.  I'm still getting around to catching up (30 years later!) with most of them.  But no other period of music is doing it for me as much as this one right now.  Bands like Public Image Limited, Wire, Joy Division, Pere Ubu, Mission of Burma, The Fall, Gang of Four, New Order, and Echo & the Bunnymen.

Here's a great song I just recently discovered.  I listen to it like I eat Triscuits.  Can't do it just once.

Echo & the Bunnymen:  Monkeys (listen on Youtube)

Favorite (four), part five

Just like in my other four posts thus far in this series, I want to take a second to single out the highlights of my recent film viewing.  I'm trying right now to take in almost a film a day.  Most have been first-time viewings.  And most I have been glad to finally see, but only very few have stayed with me.  This series is my filter for those (and hopefully one or two of these will be good to someone else, too).

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death
The most ambitious of the lot and the one that consistently made me in absolute awe of its sheer technical accomplishment.  Reminded me of some of Kubrick's more mind-blowing art direction and kept me repeatedly saying to myself, "I can't believe they just did that."  Probably not the most emotionally satisfying of the Powell/Pressburger films, but the formal accomplishment needs to be seen.  


David Lean's Great Expectations
I've never read the novel so the twists and turns of the story were particularly affecting.  Lean demonstrates his acute visual sense and his wonderful ability with actors.  I felt this one, I admired this one, and I thought it not only underrated, but completely satisfying.  


Abraham Polonsky's Force of Evil
A real masterpiece in my book.  I've long known it to be one of Scorsese's favorite films, but I just got around to seeing it for the first time.  Its visual naturalism is stunning and its raw power quite special. Seems to be a key link to The Godfather.  (In fact, McCluskey's death and the way that Coppola handles it seem to come almost verbatim from this earlier film.)  Also seems to have influenced Mean Streets and the noir texture of some of the early Nouvelle Vague films.  It's tragic that Polonsky didn't have the opportunity to direct more for with this one he left us a real gem.  


Lewis Milestone's The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Milestone might not do anything particularly flashy.  But he captures the noir spirit and keeps this one plowing ahead, always in sync with the dark, complex, and rough noir tradition.  One of the great noir endings and certainly one of its better cast.  A noir that deserves to be a part of the dialogue and history.  

Favorite (four), part four

Just like in my other three posts thus far in this series, I want to take a second to single out the highlights of my recent film viewing.  I'm trying right now to take in almost a film a day.  Most have been first-time viewings.  And most I have been glad to finally see, but only very few have stayed with me.  This series is my filter for those (and hopefully one or two of these will be good to someone else, too).

Mark Robson's The Seventh Victim
Another one of Val Lewton's lo-fi horror films.  This one though is actually as much noir in spirit as it is horror.  And it's a tremendously compact, atmospheric, suggestive film that packs a real punch.  Of all the Lewton films I've seen so far, this one is my favorite.


Luchino Visconti's Ossessione
Based on the same James M Cain novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, that led to two American films, this early film from one of Italian cinema's masters is a neorealist marvel.  Detailed, beautifully observed, this seems like a key influence on Godard's Breathless, and many of the other early French New Wave works.  


Carl Theodor Dreyer's Day of Wrath
Dreyer makes films that feel like six or seven-course meals.  This one is heavy, hard-hitting, and gets under your skin in a robust kinda way.  I can't say I liked it as much as a few of his other films.  But those few other films are among my favorite of all time.


William Wellman's The Ox-Bow Incident
Interesting to think how much of an influence it might have had on both the tone and look of Jarmusch's Dead Man.  The dialogue and feel of the film is stunningly modern at times.  And it once again confirmed how much the war factored in as subtext to the majority of films made during WWII.

Nice Article/Interview on Lullaby (and) Peril

Great piece from yesterday's conversation with Clinton Stark from StarkSilverCreek - All Things West Coast on Stark Insider. Awesome article and audio interview.  Thanks, Clint!

http://www.starkinsider.com/2010/10/stark-insider-film-director-jeffrey-goodman.html

15 Actresses

Just like my previous posts on albums, movies, directors, and actors, here are the first 15 actresses that come to mind.  Would love to hear your various lists.

1.  Anna Karina
2.  Marlene Dietrich
3.  Rita Hayworth
4.  Joan Fontaine
5.  Ava Gardner
6.  Jean Seberg
7.  Angie Dickinson
8.  Brigitte Bardot
9.  Nicole Kidman
10.  Anouk Aimee
11.  Audrey Hepburn
12.  Grace Kelly
13.  Julie Christie
14.  Marie Riviere
15.  Melanie Griffith

15 Actors

Like my previous posts on albums, movies, and directors, I wanted to single out the first 15 actors that come to mind.  These are only the men. I'll focus on the women in a future post.

1.  Jean Gabin
2.  Jean-Paul Belmondo
3.  Al Pacino
4.  Cary Grant
5.  Marlon Brando
6.  Robert De Niro
7.  Jimmy Stewart
8.  James Cagney
9.  Humphrey Bogart
10.  Burt Lancaster
11.  Michel Simon
12.  Gene Hackman
13.  Charlie Chaplin
14.  Jack Nicholson
15.  Montgomery Clift