SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19
JACK SMITH AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS
+ SPIDER BABY
OT 301
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20
CRIMINAL LOVERS (+ LA RICOTTA)
DE NIEUWE ANITA
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 21
MARTYRS
CAVIA
Details for all films below….
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19
20:30
JACK SMITH AND THE
DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS (2006)
Directed by Mary Jordan
96 minutes
In English
A great documentary portrait about one of the most profound artists of the last century. Jack Smith was simultaneously hailed as the founding father of performance art, was critically recognized as a master photographer, and was one of the most revolutionary filmmakers of his day. He had a huge impact on the modern art world, though most people today have never even heard of him.
At the tender age of 20 Jack Smith left home and went to NYC. During the late 50s he started with photography but soon found himself involved in avant-garde theatre. This lead to his work in cinema where he could let his fantasies run wild. Smith created his own deranged world of trash-baroque aesthetics, and they were featured heavily in his incendiary film Flaming Creatures, a film (described as a ‘a comedy set in a haunted movie studio’) which broke the censorship laws and was banned throughout America. But although Flaming Creatures was famous, no one was allowed to see it…and although Jack’s performances were notorious within the art world, he himself was living in dire poverty. This film is a great collection of interviews with people that knew him, mixed with archival footage and narrated with audio recordings that Smith made just before he died.
His legacy can be seen in artists like Andy Warhol, Nan Goldin, Mathew Barney, John Waters, performance artist Paul McCarthy, even Federico Fellini, David Lynch, Cindy Sherman, Robert Wilson, Laurie Anderson, etc. The list of artists that acknowledge his influence is endless. One critic has stated ‘Jack Smith is the hidden source of practically everything that’s of any interest in the so-called experimental theatre today.’
As Nayland Blake states: “So many contemporary artists trace their practice back to Warhol at this point, and a lot of the important ideas in Warhol come from Jack.” John Waters says: “He did it all first. He started something that other people took and became more successful with.” John Zorn puts it more bluntly: “Jack Smith was the real Warhol.”
This is a multi-faceted documentary featuring interviews with John Zorn, Jonas Mekas, John Waters, Sylvere Lotinger, Tony Conrad, Mike Kelly, George Kuchar, Robert Wilson and many others. This film is an absolute must for anyone interested in contemporary art or poetic cinema….so hope to see you there!
The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwk7xoyjo1Q&feature=related
+
22:15
SPIDER BABY (1968)
Directed by Jack Hill
81 minutes
In English
What film could I possibly add to a Jack Smith film to make a double feature? I guess the answer is the legendary cult film SPIDER BABY.
Jack Hill’s black and white horror-comedy influenced numerous films, including Blue Velvet’s ear found in the meadow. Spider Baby is about an inbred family cursed with the mysterious degenerative “Merrye’s Disease”, which transforms even sweet children like Elizabeth, Virginia, and Ralph into murderous cannibals. The great Sig Haig is wonderful as the overgrown “baby” of the family. Lon Chaney Jr. has one of his last great roles as the chauffeur of the family who is determined to protect the pack of inbreeds he works for.
Director Jack Hill, whose films range from horror (Switchblade Sisters) to Blaxploitation (Coffy), made sure in Spider Baby to balance comedy with horror to create a weird blend which ends up being a kind of black humor slightly similar to Lynch’s Eraserhead. Along with Tod Browning’s Freaks, Spider Baby is considered one of the most bizarre cult films of all time. Its also loved by many musicians including Mike Patton and Rob Zombie.
CINEMA DERIVE
OVERTOOM 301
Time: 20:30 (doors open at 20:00)
Membership 4 Euros for the evening
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MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20
CRIMINAL LOVERS / Les amants criminels (1999)
Directed by François Ozon
96 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Alice is a pretty girl who, like a small child, can be utterly cruel one moment and then tender the next. When Alice convinces her naive boyfriend Luc to prove his love for her by helping her murder a cocky Arab classmate Saïd, the stage is set for a cross-country crime spree. For them homicide is just foreplay for their love affair. While trying to dispose of the body in the forest the pair crosses paths with and are ultimately trapped by a mysterious hermit who brings their fling to a not-so-happy ending. The ogre/hermit teaches Luc about the facts of life in the old-fashioned “Greek” manner, if you get what I mean. The mood of the film is magnificent, and although the film is taboo-breaking it is never gruesome or nasty or violent. Think of it as a modern dark fairy tale….surreal and poetic.
In CRIMINAL LOVERS, acclaimed director François Ozon (8 WOMEN, SITCOM) weaves the story of the pair of lethal lovers-on-the-run with the fairy tale of “Hansel and Gretel”, twisting together a story of psycho-sexual tension that’s wonderful. It all looks very simple, but what is going on in CRIMINAL LOVERS is complex. Director Ozon is adept at conveying the shifts in our emotions and clearly enjoys exploring our conflicted natures.
A cruel, beautiful film. Cold, aggressive, nostalgic, sad and strange….with more than a few black humor stabs at Disney.
“Romeo & Juliet Meets Hansel & Gretel (meets Delicatessen)”.
Featured in “John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You # 1.8”
The French trailer without subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjZwvC0UmCQ
+ short film: LA RICOTTA (1963)
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
33 minutes
CINEMANITA @ De Nieuwe Anita
Frederik Hendrikstraat 111
Doors open at 19:30
Film starts at 20:30 sharp
Membership- 2.50
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TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 21
MARTYRS (2008)
Directed by Pascal Laugier
99 minutes
In French with English subtitles
One of the hardest hitting films I have seen in a long time, a film which carries a physical, emotional and psychological impact that’s rarely seen in cinema today. Very disturbing, yes, and very transgressive. So that means that its not for the squeamish! If you come to this film, which is in the vein of recent French extreme cinema, then expect to go through a vision of hell. A totally out of control cult film that’s a favorite with many who like their cinema on the wild side.
After that warning, what is the film about? Fifteen years after a horrifying experience of abduction and prolonged torture, Lucie embarks on a quest for revenge against her oppressors. Along with her childhood friend, Anna, who also suffered abuse, she quickly descends, without hope, into madness and her own delusions. The first half of the film keeps balancing on borderline horror, keeping its crude and dark exterior, but never crossing any boundaries. A Ring-like ghost in added to the film, but Laugier stays close to the drama and never allows the film to become a mere horror flick. Things take a turn for the worse around halfway through, as Anna, Lucie’s guardian, discovers the truth about the torture/kidnap story of the past. From that moment on, the film becomes really explosive and crosses over to the realm of Gaspar Noé. One hell of a film. Riveting and haunting.
One viewer’s response:
“French horror has been pushing the boundaries for some time now. First there was Haute Tension, then A l’Intérieur and newest in line is Martyrs, hyped up to take it all a little further. And it did, it definitely did. It’s just that it doesn’t belong in the same list as the films mentioned before. Martyrs goes way beyond. Those expecting another fun, bloody, gory, insane horror flick can just up and leave, because Martyrs isn’t like that. While it borrows the horror from films, the tone and effect of the film is much closer to Irréversible or better yet, Grandrieux’s La Vie Nouvelle. And Martyrs stands proudly at the top of that list.”
Ciné Interzone (Filmhuis Cavia)
Time: 20:30