Offscreen Notes
-
The Edifice at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois
“THE EDIFICE reveals the mysterious road-trip of a man and woman set out to find a plot of land. Within an ambience of sacred/profane tension, nonlinear narrative embraces magical realism as a mythic contemplation of the human condition.” (Press Kit)
Plays at Le Rendez-vous on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19 ~ 14h 30 (2:30pm)
Cinémathèque québécoise, salle Fernand Seguin : 335, boul. de Maisonneuve Est -
Blake Edwards: 1922-2010
The world of comedy keeps getting hit with hard blows. First was the death of Leslie Nielsen on November 28, then Mario Monicelli on the day after, and then on December 15, writer, producer, director Blake Edwards dies at the age of 88. Edwards will be best remembered for his wonderful collaborations with the great comic actor Peter Sellers, which include all of Sellers’ Pink Panther films, plus one of the funniest films of the 1960s, The Party. I remember feeling quite depressed one New Year’s Eve when things conspired to keep me home for the night. I turned on the television and happened across The Party, and ended up laughing myself out of any funk.
-
Jean Rollin: 1938-2010
Sad news for fans of Euro-horror, as one of its very tallest giants, French director Jean Rollin, passed away on December 15, 2010, at the age of 72. Rollin was one of the most unique stylist among a group of Euro-horror directors known for their style (Jesus Franco, Amando de Ossorio, Paul Naschy, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, etc.). Rollin’s style was shaped by an openness to nudity and a conception of the nude body (usually female) as a tool of his painterly and poetic approach to the cinematic image. More than the other noted directors Rollin showed the influence of Surrealist cinema (Georges Franju, Luis Bunuel) and art (especially the art of Paul Delvaux). Scythe wielding women, vampires stepping out of clocks, comatose women walking along train tracks, twinned vampires moving through Gothic landscapes, and many more such imagery comprised Rollin’s visual (and not to discount the aural, since his use of music was also innovative) imagination. The latter perhaps best defines Rollin’s contribution to cinema, and the horror genre: an imagination unfettered by confines of narrative protocol or commercial cinema. I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Jean Rollin in Montreal when he was an invited guest at the 2007 Fantasia International Film Festival, where he was given a lifetime achievement award, and his then latest film was shown, La nuit des horloges, a wonderful panorama of Rollin’s past film’s themes and images. Already then his fragile health was in evidence. When I have the time I will do a proper essay in homage of this filmmaker who has touched me (and like-minded) in ways few have. In the meantime I encourage you to read the Offscreen essay on Rollin written by one of Fantasia’s festival programmers, Simon Laperrière, entitled “Cinematic Nostalgia and Blue Nights: On Jean Rollin’s Two Orphan Vampires.” Please visit the site linked, “Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience,” which is gathering links to Rollin tributes as they come in. He will be sorely missed. (Donato Totaro, editor)
Offscreen editor Donato Totaro with Jean Rollin
-
Raro Video in North America
The Italian DVD label Raro Video has been ‘secretly’ providing fans of important (mainly) Italian cinema treasure after treasure for many years now, and is about to expand their horizon with the recent news of a partnership deal with Cult Epics to distribute their films in North America. To launch this initiative Raro Video is strategically releasing work from a more established filmmaker, Federico Fellini, which should no doubt sell itself, and a lesser known filmmaker, Fernando Di Leo. The Fellini film is the hard-to-find The Clowns (1970), while the Di Leo package involves a more ambitious 4-disc “The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection.” Well informed fans of the Italian crime film, which were extremely popular during the 1970s, will be aware of the importance of this release. Three of the four films in this set are absolute gems, marked by riveting characters, visceral action, and melancholic atmosphere. These three, which comprise the “Milieu Trilogy,” are Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9), The Italian Connection (La Mala Ordina) and The Boss (Il Boss). The set’s final disc includes 1976’s Rulers of the City, which stars Jack Palance as a mob boss. There are good times ahead indeed, for fans of both popular Italian filone and art house classics. Future releases include: Antonioni’s The Vanguished (I Vinti), Pasolini’s The Anger (La Rabbia) and Carmelo Bene’s Our Lady of the Turks (Nostra signora dei Turchi).
-
Charlie Chaplin: From Laughter to Tears: Dec. 10-23
Charlie Chaplin does not really need an intro, but his major retrospective playing at the Cinema du parc comes at a good moment for the world of film comedy, which has lost two giants in the weeks leading up to the retrospective: Leslie Nielsen and Mario Monicelli (see obits in Offscreen below). So we can all use a good laugh. And who better than Mr. Chaplin to provide it. The retro is showing restored 35mm prints of all Chaplin’s major feature films (except for A Countess in Honk Kong, which is being projected digitally). This alone is a cause of celebration, to have the opportunity to see these classics of (mainly) silent cinema in good 35mm copies, and with a crowd (comedy is, if anything, a social gesture and thrives, excels when seen in a large group). It is hard to pick out which films to see from the group, but for this viewer, the ones not to miss are The Gold Rush, Modern Times, my personal pick for his masterpiece, and The Great Dictator, his most debated, discussed, and talked about film at its time of release. But they are all great films, each having their own specific historical and cultural reason for being included.
-
Mario Monicelli: Italian Cinema Legend Dies
A strange turn of fate. One day after the death of comedy giant Leslie Nielsen on November 28, 2010, the cinema loses an even greater figure in the annals of film comedy, director Mario Monicelli, on November 29, 2010, at the ripe age of 95. I say strange because Monicelli is along with Nielsen, two of the greatest figures in film comedy that I had the good fortune to interview for Offscreen, see link below for interview. For someone who was at the forefront of creating the particular brand of ‘commedia all’italiana’ that was marked by tragedy and misfortune, it is a bitter irony that Monicelli threw himself from his 5th floor Lazio Hospital balcony as a quick respite from his terminal prostate cancer. I knew I was in the hands of a genius the first time I saw his groundbreaking comedy I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958), with its wonderful moody lighting by Gianni Di Venanzo (another tragic figure, who died in a car accident at the peak of his career at age 45 in 1966), brilliant comic timing and brilliant ensemble acting from a young Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassmann, and an oldish Totò. The world is definitely a sadder place.
-
Leslie Nielsen: R.I.P. 1926-November 28, 2010
A very sad day for Canadians and lovers of absurd, non-sequitur (Nielson was a master) comedy, with the passing of Leslie Nielsen on November 28, 2010 at the age of 84 (born in Regina, Saskatchewan, 1926). Nielsen was in his mid-forties when he decided to take on the role of Dr. Rumack in the Zucker brothers’ Airplane! in 1980. The rest, as they say, is comic history. His nutty portrayal as Det. Frank Drebin in first the TV series Police Squad! and the Naked Gun series should be remembered as the finest example of the ‘straight-faced” comedian. I had the great pleasure of interviewing the man when he was in Montreal shooting a film that will not go done as one of his better ones, 2001: A Space Travesty, actually one of his worse, but he was ever the gentleman, relaxed, cordial, and every the professional (click below for link to the interview).
-
INDEX035 FERRY RADAX THOMAS BERNHARD – THREE DAYS / DREI TAGE
Thomas Bernhard – Three Days
A film by Ferry Radax
Original version with English, French and Spanish subtitles I Germany 1970, 52 min
Concept & Image: Ferry Radax I Cinematography: Michael Wingens (film), Ferry Radax (video) I Sound: Ben Janse
Editing: Ferry Radax I Editorial Journalist: Christhart Burgmann I Executive Producer: Günther Herbertz
Production: IFAGE-Filmproduktion, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)This portrait of the great Austrian writer combines a brilliant monologue delivered by Thomas Bernhard and
the artful film work of Ferry Radax. The location chosen for three summer days is a park in Hamburg full of
huge old trees. While sitting on a white bench, Bernhard talks about dark childhood memories, his youth, and
his struggles with writing. A striking element is his high praise of obstacles as “material for the brain.”Ferry Radax about his film Thomas Bernhard – Three Days
An interview with Ferry Radax by Georg Vogt in 2006
Original version with English subtitles I Austria 2010, 40 min
Moderation: Georg Vogt I Cinematography: Christian Karst I Production, Editing: AUTOCHTHON (Otto Mörth)In an interview conducted by Georg Vogt, Ferry Radax talks about the work process during the production of the
film and how his shooting concept enabled Bernhard to open up and talk about his past for the first time, which
later appeared in his autobiographical prose. (Brigitta Burger-Utzer)“The original intentions gave way to an experiment whose unknown outcome could only arise from the performative
moment created by the interaction of participants and location. Similar to Sonne halt! and Mosaik im Vertrauen before it,
this allowed improvisation within an extremely open context to generate a film from the reaction to the situation,
from the acknowledgment of what Radax called “what the film called for.” (Georg Vogt)Extra:
20 pages booklet, bilingual English-German. “Resistance and Productive Inefficiency – On Ferry Radax’
television portrait Thomas Bernhard – Three Days”, by Georg Vogt -
Ingrdi Pitt (1937-2010)
The woman dubbed the “first Lady of British horror” by her fans died Nov. 23, 2010, at the age of 73. Born in Poland, and with a life history fraught with more drama than her films (see bio linked), Pitt exploited her ‘exotic’ (i.e. East-European) looks for a successful career during a period and studio (Hammer) which introduced busty women, sexuality, and carnality to the horror film. Perhaps best known for her lesbian turn in the Sheridan Le Fanu-influenced Carmilla role in The Vampire Lovers (1970, Roy Ward Baker) and her portrayal as Countess Bathory-like Countess Elisabeth Nodosheen in Countess Dracula (1971, Peter Sasdy). Visit her official website for memories and condolences.
-
Dino De Laurentiis: 1919-2010
One of Italy’s most successful producers, Dino De Laurentiis, has died on November 11, 2010, at the age of 91. In North American De Laurentiis is best known for such popular as Serpico, Death Wish, King Kong and Ragtime, but in his home country De Laurentiis worked with some of the most artistically accomplished directors, including Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, and Alberto Lattuada.
