I just watched Werner Herzog’s magnificent film Stroszek. Starring the incomparable Bruno S. I had never seen it before and it really impressed me. All the acting is terrific especially Bruno as the title character. The film is filled with an undeniable poetry, the ending is a visionary critique of Capitalism and the American way of life, something that was not scripted but found by chance as Herzog filmed on location. A miracle of Synchronicity. You should watch it and be amazed. 10 thumbs up!
Here is a scene from the great Ermanno Olmi’s film The Legend of The Holy Drinker. I haven’t seen the film but I will watch it as soon as I can. I love Olmi’s films, he was such a cinematic genius. And here’s to Rutger Hauer who just died, another great talent gone on to the next level.
P.S. This film won the Golden Lion at The 1988 Venice Film Festival.
P.P.S. it’s available to watch FREE on Amazon Prime so check it out!
Here she is on the Mike Douglas show talking about Wanda and how she met John and Yoko at Cannes. Pretty Cool. They even show a scene from Wanda, notice how dirty it is, she probably only had one print. Pretty cool.
Hear the late ,great Ingmar Bergman speak about the early influence of The Phantom Carriage, Victor Sojostrum’s classic supernatural silent film. It’s like Bunuel talking about seeing Fritz Lang’s Destiny and how it launched him on his film career. Bergman used Sojostrom in Wild Strawberries, and supposedly the old man was very difficult to deal with. Still it is a great film, with a magnificent ending.
Here is the trailer from a cool independent film made by Barbara Loden in 1970. An amazing film, sort of a feminist Cassavettes trip. Great acting and an incredibly tense bank robbery made on a shoestring budget. Impressive. At one point Wanda the main character goes to a Spanish language movie theater and there is a poster for a film I love, The Brainiac, a Mexican Horror Film. Also you see billboards for TastyKakes, an East Coast delicacy of my childhood. Watch this film and be prepared to be blown away. Actually this is the whole film with Portuguese subtitles.
Here is the trailer for Jacques Demy’s Model Shop. His only film made in Los Angeles. It captures a disappeared L.A. that I find really beautiful. It’s screening soon at the New Beverly, if you’re in L.A. go see it.
Here’s the trailer for Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, great script, great directing, great acting, great cinematography by Eugene Schufftan and great editing by Dede Allen. Watch the whole movie and dig it!
Here is an amazing film made in an optical printer by the talented Zbignew Rybczyński. I met him in NYC years ago , he had a company called 525. He was an early adopter of Hi Def video. But this was done on film.
I remember the insanity surrounding the release of The Exorcist. People waited in lines for hours to see any showing, midnight or 10 AM. I heard Warner Brothers had employees, who were heading home for the Holidays, hand carry prints to their local theaters. They were working round the clock to finish the film and make the Christmas Eve release. My pal Bud Smith edited the film, a magnificent job! My other friend, the late, great, Jack Nitzsche recorded special sound effects for the film, that add immensley to the experience. But here is a short documentary on the phenomenon of The Exorcist’s first release.
Here is a great look at what went on during the making of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. His daughter Vivian had unlimited access and we are lucky that she did. We get to see the master at work. Check it out.
