Rob Christopher's Blog, page 83

ROY’S WORLD gets its first live, in-person screening in North America!

I am excited to announce that Roy’s World: Barry Gifford’s Chicago will be part of the 2021 Mimesis Documentary Festival, August 4-10, in Boulder, Colorado. This will in fact be the film’s live, in-person North American debut! MDF’s Featured Artist this year is Pedro Costa.

I’ll share more information about the screening date/time, as well as ticketing information, as soon as details become available.

3 things about Mitchell Leisen’s NO MAN OF HER OWN

No Man of Her Own [1950]

1. Has Barbara Stanwyck ever looked so exhausted on film?
2. A few seconds after she slips the ring on her finger, her reflection in the mirror shatters.
3. The telegram reads: WHO ARE YOU? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?

3 things about Alfonso Cuarón’s CHILDREN OF MEN

Children of Men [2006]

1. “I just don’t think about it.”
2. Prescient: everyone at work, no one working; watching the media coverage of the death.
3. Smashed in the face with a cinder block.

3 other things.

3 things about Franklin J. Schaffner’s PLANET OF THE APES

Planet of the Apes [1968]

1. Scratching out the message in the dirt.
2. Interspecies kiss.
3. “His destiny.”

3 other things.

3 things about Claire Denis’ HIGH LIFE

High Life [2018]

1. Her body slowly moving further away.
2. Rivulet of fluid draining from the box.
3. A handful of earth in the bodybag.

3 other things.

3 things about Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI

Flowers of Shanghai [1998]

1. Wine and hot towels.
2. Ham congee.
3. We catch two glimpses of the outside world, both through open windows.

3 things about Joe Dante’s MATINEE

Matinee [1993]

1. Movie poster for Panic in Year Zero!
2. Tiny role for Naomi Watts in the film-within-the-film The Shook Up Shopping Cart.
3. He unthinkingly feeds popcorn to his goldfish.

3 things about Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s THE MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS

The Merchant of Four Seasons [1972]

1. She calmly steps past his body and calls an ambulance.
2. Paper cones for fruit.
3. Shot after shot after shot after shot.

3 things about Alfred Hitchcock’s TOPAZ

Topaz [1969]

1. Private conversation in a walk-in cooler.
2. An important document lies beneath a half-eaten hamburger.
3. Two boarding ramps; one plane is heading to Washington, the other to Moscow.

3 things about George Marshall’s THE BLUE DAHLIA

The Blue Dahlia [1946]

1. Monkey music.
2. “Am I under suspicion?”
“I don’t know. How do you feel about it?”
3. The glow of the glistening street under the nightclub’s enormous neon sign.

Fantastic. Not because the convoluted plot comes together in a satisfying way (it doesn’t) but because of its atmosphere, moment to moment how things unfurl. The nastiness is riveting.