Rob Christopher's Blog, page 104
June 24, 2020
3 things about Jeffrey McHale’s YOU DON’T NOMI
You Don’t Nomi [2019]
1. Twin totems of chips and nails.
2. “I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so–scared.”
3. Gina Gershon played it like a drag queen.
June 22, 2020
3 things about Paul Verhoeven’s SHOWGIRLS
Showgirls [1995]
1. Porpoise orgasm.
2. “I have a pussy problem.”
3. Last chance for ice.
Utter garbage that accurately conveys what it’s like to spend an extended period of time in Las Vegas.
June 18, 2020
3 things about Alfred Hitchcock’s THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The Man Who Knew Too Much [1956]
1. Closeup of Jimmy Stewart, his bloodshot blue eyes.
2. The shop assistants hastily move the animals out of harm’s way.
3. The dignitaries bristle at her shrill voice.
June 17, 2020
3 things about Alfred Hitchcock’s THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY
The Trouble with Harry [1955]
1. “She’s a well-preserved woman … and preserves have to be opened someday.”
2. Autonomous closet door.
3. She hates cider.
June 16, 2020
Cheltenham International Film Festival Q & A
Many thanks to Philip Raby (creative director of FilmBath Festival) for moderating the Q & A and the whole staff of the Cheltenham International Film Festival for making this happen. (Just a reminder that UK viewers may still purchase a ticket to watch the film until June 19.)
3 things about Steve Carver’s THE ARENA
The Arena [1974]
1. Priscium: “I won’t handle them at all!”
2. She holds a pottery shard to his throat.
3. Hidden female archers.
June 15, 2020
3 things about Jack Hill’s FOXY BROWN
Foxy Brown [1974]
1. Hospital room sponge bath.
2. Miss Catherine’s enormous owl necklace.
3. “It looks like a pickle jar.”
June 14, 2020
3 things about Paul Verhoeven’s BASIC INSTINCT
Basic Instinct [1992]
1. What an utter waste of Dorothy Malone.
2. Diner under the overpass.
3. Fuck like minks.
June 12, 2020
3 things about Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s FOX AND HIS FRIENDS
Fox and His Friends [1975]
1. In this film from 1975, one guy asks another guy, “What are you into?” So basically, cruising hasn’t changed in 45 years.
2. A gay bar named The Black Orchid.
3. The car salesman says, “Do I look like a Jew?”
June 11, 2020
Must be something in the water
Folks in the UK have really been connecting to my film Roy’s World: Barry Gifford’s Chicago! I was really blown away to read this new review, “A Beautiful City Symphony,” on The Film Stage, written by Logan Kenny, who saw the film in Glasgow. Here’s a quote:
It’s a documentary less interested in the historical beats as much as it is the people affected by them. Gifford’s work is used as a conduit to discuss the prominence of racism, crime, and poverty throughout Chicago’s history, in a way that always feels invigorating and not didactic … So much of the film seems to be about the ability of art and design to transcend its original intentions, becoming special and preserved in the hearts and souls of millions of different citizens. It’s a film not about the nature of creation, but about the wonderful aftermath that the work brings, and the deep satisfaction of knowing that you’re a part of that continuation in any small way. It’s beautiful and more in spirit with the work of its subject than any potential talking heads documentary could have ever been.
And just before the film’s “virtual screening” as part of the Cheltenham International Film Festival (beginning this Friday, June 12), I had the pleasure of speaking with Jennie Kermode at Eye for Film.
