Bringing back medieval folklore: Sleepy Hollow

This story...

And this film adaptation have been keeping me a tad busy lately:

The changing tonal qualities throughout the film and the medieval costume are beautiful. And although I didn't love the first viewing (it was late after a long week at work... I think I fell asleep twice and it was all a little bit 90's Goth) I had no issues with enjoying the second screening. Johnny Depp's re-invention of Ichabod Crane is hilarious. The sharp tongue, the insane steampunk props and his caricatures ranging from 'squealing little girl' to 'gallant hero' were divine.

And the film style, swinging between romantic fairy tale and gothic nightmare... every frame is a little piece of art.

I just hope it loved it enough to produce 2,500 words on Ichabod Crane in the coming weeks.

MIFF memories

I completely missed the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) this year, despite all intentions.

However, given there was a whole swag of films I had planned to see, I thought a visual list was called for. Here are the films that I had hoped to see - in no particular order of greatness:

 

Live in Movement

Tiny Furniture

You are here

Melancholia

Martha Marcy Mae Marlene

 The Future

HI-SO

Fleurs du Mal

Life in a Day

Medianeras

 PressPausePlay

 Jane Eyre

La Mirada Film Festival 2011

On a sun-drenched Sunday, we scoffed down our tapas and red wine before heading into the ACMI theatre to watch Bon Appétit followed by the Q&A session with Unax Ugalde. For me, Nora Tschirner absolutely stole the show. [See the trailer here]

The films they made me watch

Returning to study part time while continuing to work full time has brought about many surprises. The first is the shock of an overwhelming schedule (all work, no play). The second, is discovering the silver lining in each cloudy assignment. I figured, choosing film-based units would be the perfect excuse to watch lots of movies. 'Watching TV again hey?' 'No dear, I'm studying'. And that really works for me!

The third and final surprise has been delving into films that I would normally reject. Looking at the list of movies I had to watch over Summer reminds me how much I enjoyed re-watching the classics (Jane Eyre, The Wizard of Oz and all the Hitchcock films). And it also reminded me of the fear I originally had, in having to sit through 20-odd Westerns. And the fear was justified: there were some absolute shockers!

Watching the Fincher films was a pleasure, in a gory, surreal sort of way. It solidified my adoration of Helena Bonham Carter for her character Martha Singer (Fight Club). But then it would, given I had to re-watch the 'Martha' sequence approximately 50 times to complete an assignment.

Back to the list that was...

The films They made me watch (2010 - 2011):

• 3:10 to Yuma (Mangold, 2007)
• Deadwood (Series HBO, 2004)
• A Fistful of Dollars (Leone, 1964)
• 3:10 to Yuma (Daves, 1957)
• Little Big Man (Penn, 1970)
• Shane (Stevens, 1953)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Hill, 1969)
• Johnny Guitar (Ray, 1954)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford, 1963)
• Stagecoach (1939)
• Frankenstein (Connor, 2004)
• Jane Eyre (White, 2006)
• Thelma & Louise (Scott, 1991)
• My Darling Clementine (Ford, 1946)
• Bandidas (Ronning & Sandberg, 2006)
• The Quick and the Dead (Raimi, 1995)
• Gunfight at the OK Corral (Sturges, 1957)
• The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, 1969)
• Rio Bravo (Hawkes, 1959)
• Red River (Hawkes, 1948)
• The Great Train Robery (Porter, 1903) - early narrative
• The Big Trail (Walsh, 1930 - early sound & widescreen
• Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005)
• Appaloosa (Harris, 2009)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Dominik, 2007)
• The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
• Se7en (Fincher, 1995)
• Run Lola Run (Tykwer, 1998)
• Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
• Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
• Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
• Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
• Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
• The Wizard of Oz (Fleming, 1939)
• Shadow of a Doubt (Hitchcock, 1943)

Late for the Sundance

Really, really must remember to check out the favorites from last month's Sundance Film Festival.

This guy - Adam Palcher - has a decent list of films to watch out for. At a glance, I'd like to see:

• The Guard - any dark comedy with Don Cheadle would naturally make my list
• Martha Marcy May Marlene - for the wonderful title and the possibly unsettling intrigue 
• Circumstance - for a story of character and location
• Life in a Day - a doco collated from YouTube content

While the study intensifies, I am distracted by the looming Alliance Francaise French Film Festival in Melbourne next month. It will be my first encounter with the AFFFF and I am just a tad excited! Hopefully I'll get tickets to all 5 films of choice - would love to see more if I had more time.

And then there is MIFF in the winter months. I recall seeing a few shorts at MIDFF many years ago which is quite dismal considering how much I love going to the movies, and the fact that it's been running for oh, around 60 years now.

No excuses this year - I plan to attend as many film festivals as I can manage, even if it means only a movie or two at each festival. It the experience of watching films that I know very little about, or have only a snippet of narrative that sounds a little bit interesting. Yes, it is time to step up the Festival-game.

Black Swan

Friday night's psychological thriller Black Swan was just the thing to ignite my adrenaline before intense drive home through the Melbourne storm. I don't know what was more frightening - the film or the trip home.

The film... shockingly beautiful! The shadows and the moments of light... the horrendous close-ups of horror-inducing nightmares... the incredible transformation gave me goosebumps to mimic Ninas...

And I adore her fitted pink coat.

Must take a closer look at 'Clothes on Film'. No more free time for non-Uni films for the next few weeks at least: must keep focus. Fortunately this week's homework included the optional viewing of the new True Grit so I had an excuse to go to the cinema twice this weekend. Both completely different styles of movies at two completely different types of cinema. A perfect way to spend a rainy weekend.

Fine film finds

In short, 'Images' is for people who don't just passively watch movies

What a find!

Our recommended reading this week (aka: Week 9) for 'Screen History & Research' includes the Images journal, specifically for the 'in focus'  piece about Westerns.

But how to stay focused with so many other interesting links on the page?

 

Screening: The Big Trail

Last week's screening for Uni included the 1930's Raoul Walsh film 'The Big Trail' starring a very young John Wayne (only 23 for his first leading role). It's a fabulous example of early sound: thankfully the technology has improved and my TV speakers didn't blow up in the process due to the excessive volume I had it set for basic audibility.

It's also a great example of early widescreen. As it was a difficult film to track down in time I purchased the boxed set above which unfortunately includes the traditional 1.33:1 aspect ratio. On the plus, the set includes this week's screening 'Red River' and is nicely packaged in a white tin container.

Mythical Monkey posts an interesting essay on 'The Big Trail' and Wayne's involvement including his original name (go there to find out...) and Wikipedia have some great trivia in the 'Production' section (including the legend that the director had Tyrone Power Sr. beaten).

Although the movie was considered a flop, John was a fine young man in his day:

Photo from 'A Mythical Monkey writes about the movies'