Oct 30, 2012

Autumn Owls – Between Buildings, Toward the Sea (2012)


Sarah Blasko – I Awake (2012)


Take This Waltz (2011), Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley's sophomore directorial effort Take This Waltz stars Michelle Williams as Margot, a 28-year-old Toronto woman who has been married for five years to Lou (Seth Rogen), a cookbook author who specializes in chicken dishes. One day she meets Daniel (Luke Kirby) her neighbor across the street, and there is a quick and lasting connection between the two. While she remains faithful to Lou, she finds herself drawn more and more to this seemingly perfect other man. Eventually, Margot is forced to confront the truth about herself, and share her feelings with her unsuspecting husband. Take This Waltz had its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill (2012)

...ALBUM OF THE MONTH...VEROVATNO I VISHE...

Psychedelic Pill is Neil Young’s 35th studio album and his second this year with longtime collaborators Crazy Horse. That bears repeating, if for no other reason than even casual listeners of the legend’s corpus know several of his records by heart. The sonic territory on Young’s latest is perhaps a bit too expansive to be considered iconic or essential, but it proves that the 66-year-old rocker shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

There’s a great deal of nostalgia coursing through Psychedelic Pill both lyrically and sonically. When it comes to guitar tone, no one has quite the consistency that Young has had over his over five decades of studio output. Tonally, guitars sound as bright as they did on Young’s 1975 album with Crazy Horse, Zuma, which will be a pleasant surprise to many who cherish that era of his work. Listeners should be warned, though: this is a long record. Clocking in at almost 90 minutes over two discs, there’s quite a lot of material to handle. And folks should strap in when they listen to Psychedelic Pill. The first track, “Driftin’ Back”, runs in excess of 27 minutes.

Kloster – Ni Salmer og En Aftensang(2012)

The man behind the Monastery, Mikael R. Andreasen, hold on fiercely respektaftvingende certain level from the heavenly ravishing The Waves And Wind Still Know His Voice (2011) on this work, which, as the title indicates bring music and new tunes to a number of hymns – hymns written of klepperter as NFS Grundtvig, BS Ingemann and Hans Christian Andersen.
The premise sounds perhaps not dramatically exciting, but in a fascinating collaboration with impressive 26 guest musicians (including prominent heads as Jonas Haahr Petersen and Rebekka Maria Andersson) is again succeeded Andreasen to create both an enchanting and marvelous work, which once again demonstrates the man’s incomparable flair for combining medieval folk sounds with a boundless presence, a confidential intimacy and a dark melancholy spun equal parts pessimism, despair, faith and hope.

Oct 28, 2012

Nedelja Vece...


Nedelja popodne...

Julie Doiron- So Many Days (2012)


Der Stand der Dinge (1982) , Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders' The State of Things (Der Stand der Dinge) was financed by one of the director's chief mentors, Francis Ford Coppola. This highly autobiographical work concerns a shoestring movie producer and his ragtag crew. Stranded in the outer reaches of Portugal, the director doesn't even have any film in his camera. There's nothing left to do but scare up a potential backer--preferably one of those rich, movie-mad Americans. In illustrating the plight of the fictional filmmakers, Wenders strikes a blow on behalf of the homeless and disenfranchised everywhere; it is also an a clef recreation of the difficulties faced by the director during production of his first American film Hammett (also made under the auspices of Coppola).

Oct 25, 2012

Pleasantville (1998) ,Gary Ross

Gary Ross, Oscar nominated for his Dave and Big screenplays, made his directorial debut with this comedy. The cheerful '50s TV sitcom "Pleasantville" is revived in the '90s for a loyal cable audience. One devoted fan is shy suburban teen David Wagner (Tobey Maguire), who has an almost obsessive interest in the series. Living with his divorced mother (Jane Kaczmarek), David sometimes has disputes with his ultra-hip twin sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon). She wants to watch MTV just when a Pleasantville marathon is about to begin. They struggle over the remote control, and it breaks. A strange TV repairman (Don Knotts) supplies their new remote, a potent high-tech device which zaps David and Jennifer inside Pleasantville, where their new sitcom parents are businessman George Parker (William H. Macy) and wife Betty (Joan Allen). As "Bud" and "Mary Sue," the teens take up residence in a black-and-white suburbia where sex does not exist and the temperature is always 72 degrees. Life is always pleasant, books have no words, bathrooms have no toilets, married couples sleep in twin beds, the high school basketball team always wins, and nobody ever questions "The Good Life." David revels in Pleasantville's Prozac-styled peacefulness.

Andrew Bird – Hands of Glory (2012)


Cemeteries – The Wilderness (2012)

 Dark + Dream Pop Za Jos Jedno Sivo Sumorno Nebo U niskom Twin Peaks-u!
Living among industrial wasteland and urban desolation, Kyle J. Reigle looked to the woods outside his Buffalo apartment for escape. Fairytales and folklore instill a fear of the woods, but Reigle is more distrustful of an unlit alley or the unknown abyss of sewers.
Cemeteries is goth-pop without the pageant of black make-up, pagan jewelry and capes; if you have the willingness to consider Julee Cruise's Floating Into The Night record as goth. Reigle looked to vintage horror films and a bit of the Badalamenti tenderness for inspiration. The Wilderness is a dancing death knell of arresting funereal organs and chilling synths.

The Crane Wives – The Fool in Her Wedding Gown (2012)

While their first album, Safe Ship Harbored, expels a youthful glow that sits at home amidst the plains of the Middle West, The Crane Wives’ sophomore attempt, The Fool In Her Wedding Gown, seems to beckon listeners with a sound that emanates from the heart of Michigan’s forests—biting, rustic, and fiercely independent.
“Icarus,” the premiere track, opens with a fiddling reveille that both speaks to the energy and aspirations of the band, but the original tale errs of caution when it comes to getting caught up in the critical success of Safe Ship Harbored.
Rather than being consumed by the flames of their past, the band seems to put aside the exuberance of the first album, instead finding a rekindled sound in the deep, dark, and lovely parts of folk.

Oct 23, 2012

Pretty Poison (Noel Black, 1968)


Perkins stars as Dennis Pitt, a recently released mental patient with a record for arson. With help from his counselor, Pitt gets a job at a chemical plant in a sleepy little New England town where he meets the beautiful high school cheerleader, Sue Ann Stepanek. Pitt’s mysterious nature intrigues Sue Ann, and when he tells her that he’s a secret agent working for the CIA, that only serves to heighten her fascination. Sue Ann and Dennis embark on a number of “missions” where the young girl soon proves herself to be a cold blooded and calculated killer, far more capable of violent acts than the delusional Mr. Pitt. Sue Ann soon begins to pressure Pitt to run away with her to Mexico, but before they go, Sue Ann insists they must do away with her domineering mother (Beverly Garland).The real joy of the film is the chemistry between Perkins and Weld. Like Norman Bates, Dennis Pitt is also controlled by a woman, but it is not the spectre of a dead mother but rather the innocuous virtue of Sue Ann Stepanek that controls Pitt. The film’s quick turn, from watching a crazy man con a young girl to the unveiling of the cheerleading sociopath is so well played by the actors that I took great joy in watching them develop the bait and switch. While Perkins is exceptional, Weld really impresses.

Killer Joe (William Friedkin, 2011)

When 22 year-old drug dealer Chris (Hirsch) has his stash of drugs stolen from him by his mother, he has to come up with six-thousand dollars quick, or he's dead. Desperate, he goes to the trailer-park to see his father, Ansel (Hayden Church), and he lays out the plan. Chris's mother, who everyone hates, has a life insurance policy that would clear up his debt and make them all rich. The problem is that Chris' mother is very much alive. Enter Detective "Killer" Joe Cooper, a hired hit man with the manners of a Southern gentleman, who will do the job - for an upfront fee, that Chris and Ansel can't pay. Just as Joe is about to leave, he spots Dottie (Temple), Chris' innocent younger sister. Joe makes Chris an offer, he'll keep Dottie as sexual collateral until the money is collected and his fee can be paid.

Oct 18, 2012

Balthazar – Rats (2012)

“We’re less restless than before. Our souls have calmed down.”

 The Belgian Balthazar are an alternative pop band, with rock, electro and hiphop influences. They were formed at the end of 2004 in Kortrijk-Belgium and anticipated their first album with gigs all over Europe and a tour in South Africa. Their debut album “Applause” was released in Benelux, march 2010, and both the album as well as their live performances (Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Lowlands, etc.
The sound is skinned and then fine-tuned. Its purity is a credit to Ynge Leidulv Sætre. The Norwegian wizard is brought on board because of his skills (Annie, Kings of Convenience, Röyksopp) and his open-mindedness. He doesn't know Belgium nor has he ever heard of Balthazar and the band is perfectly ok with that.

Paul Banks – Banks (2012)



The Base pares down those synthetic effects for its gentle choral refrain, Banks proclaiming in his natural voice that “Now and then I can see the truth above the lies”. Certainly, it’s a playful acknowledgement of Banks’ identity swapping, but it still bears resemblance to his previous incarnations. The same can be said of the almost acoustic, gentle lull of Arise, Awake.
It’s on Lisbon and Another Chance that Banks really forges his own, individual identity – and ironically so, because these are the tracks which feature the singer least. The former is a semi-tropical instrumental, and an ultimately innocuous one at that, while the latter loops quotes from obscure film Blackout over an increasingly spooky, sinister, X-Files-esque leitmotif. It’s certainly the album’s most interesting and distinctive moment, though it bears little resemblance to the rest of it.


Oct 17, 2012

Love at the Top (1974) ,Michel Deville

In this French satire, a meek little bank (Jean-Louis Trintignant) clerk finds fame and fortune when he begins getting lessons from an impoverished novelist (Jean-Pierre Cassel) . Soon the clerk is wowing the Parisians with his ability to make the women swoon, and for his talent at attracting money. The film is also known as The French Way Is.

Oct 16, 2012

Vitus (Fredi M. Murer, 2006)


Helen and Leo von Holzen are blessed with a gifted and sensitive child. They name him Vitus and have plans to make him (and them) famous and rich. Vitus does display amazing skills at playing the piano, but also has a crush on a much older girl, Isabel, his babysitter. He offers friendship, but she prefers someone older, contrary to this boy-genius' theory that since a woman's libido matures faster than a males', the world would be a better place if women were married to males younger by at least 6 years. Aloof from other classmates, proving that he is much more smarter than his teachers, he withdraws into himself, but opens up a bit when in the company of his grandfather. Then when pressures from his parents increase, he refuses to follow the path that they have set for him and goes into a silent rebellion that will change everyone's lives forever.

Alps (Giorgos Lanthimos, 2011)

Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos' "Dogtooth" is probably the flat-out weirdest film ever nominated for an Academy Award. In Lanthimos' follow-up film, "Alps," he seems to have pulled back from the political allegory of "Dogtooth" to push further into territory that is more emotional though no less abstracted. In it, a small squad of people hire themselves out as substitutes for the recently deceased so that loved ones may more slowly engage with their grief or attempt to recreate favorite moments.
The film takes some deciphering, but once a viewer cracks its code "Alps" opens up into something expansive and rich. Part of what makes Lanthimos so uniquely masterful is that he remains in control while refusing to point toward any singular interpretation. When a character mentions he likes the name "Alps" for their club/business/team/cult because it "in no way reveals what we do" he might be speaking to Lanthimos' oblique style, which at times seems designed to reveal one thing only to conceal another, storytelling as a series of trapdoors and blind turns.

Oct 13, 2012

Chico & Rita (2010), Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal,Tono Errando

A love affair between two musicians spans six decades and numerous countries and political regimes in this animated romantic drama. In 1948, Chico (voice of Eman Xor Ona) is a hotshot jazz pianist living in Havana, where his reputation as a ladies' man nearly outshines his talent at the keyboard. One night, Chico sees Rita (voice of Limara Meneses) singing "Love for Sale" at a nightclub, and it's love at first sight, though Rita is put off by the fact Chico already has a steady girl. However, when Chico backs Rita during a talent competition held at a Havana radio station, she realizes they're musically simpatico, and her heart soon follows her creative instincts. But after a quarrel with Chico, Rita is approach by Ron, an American talent scout who says he can make her a star, and she takes him up on the offer, traveling with him to New York. Not wanting to lose Rita, Chico and his best friend Ramon head to New York City, but as Rita achieves fame and fortune in the United States, Chico finds the limelight is keeping them apart, and after returning to Cuba, the island's unstable political climate proves even better than Ron at keeping him away from Rita. Chico y Rita (aka Chico and Rita) was a collaboration between filmmaker and music producer Fernando Trueba, artist and designer Javier Mariscal, and animator and director Tono Errando, and features cartoon "cameo appearances" from a number of legendary jazz artists, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Chano Pozo.

Orlando (1992), Sally Potter

Independent filmmaker Sally Potter's gender-bending epic, which views four centuries of sexual politics through the eyes of a sex-switching main character, is based on the 1928 novel by Virginia Woolf. The androgynous title character is played with delicate quietude by Tilda Swinton. The story begins during the reign of the aging Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp, in a droll turn recalling his The Naked Civil Servant). Queen Elizabeth takes a shine to the attractive young Orlando and seeks out his sexual favors. In return, Elizabeth grants him a large estate, commanding him, "Do not fade, do not wither, do not grow old." Orlando takes the queen at her word and doesn't. When Elizabeth dies, Orlando becomes attracted to Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey), the daughter of a Russian diplomat, but she rebuffs his advances. Crushed, Orlando accepts an ambassadorship to Constantinople. After witnessing the killing of a man in battle, Orlando undergoes a change of sex, becoming a woman and returning to England, where she hobnobs with 18th-century geniuses like Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Addison. Walking through a garden labyrinth, the time frame shifts to the 19th century, and Orlando falls in love with a handsome American (Billy Zane). Now in the 20th century, Orlando gives birth to his child and continues on.

Art Brut - Emily Kane


Oct 11, 2012

Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

F. W. Murnau's landmark vampire film Nosferatu isn't merely a variation on Bram Stoker's Dracula: it's a direct steal, so much so that Stoker's widow went to court, demanding in vain that the Murnau film be suppressed and destroyed. The character names have been changed to protect the guilty (in the original German prints, at least), but devotees of Stoker will have little trouble recognizing their Dracula counterparts. The film begins in the Carpathian mountains, where real estate agent Hutter (Gustav von Wagenheim) has arrived to close a sale with the reclusive Herr Orlok (Max Schreck). Despite the feverish warnings of the local peasants, Hutter insists upon completing his journey to Orlok's sinister castle. While enjoying his host's hospitality, Hutter accidently cuts his finger-whereupon Orlok tips his hand by staring intently at the bloody digit, licking his lips. Hutter catches on that Orlok is no ordinary mortal when he witnesses the vampiric nobleman loading himself into a coffin in preparation for his journey to Bremen. By the time the ship bearing Orlok arrives at its destination, the captain and crew have all been killed-and partially devoured. 

Oct 10, 2012

Ladyhawk – No Can Do (2012)

Condensing heavy times into two-and-a-half minute bursts is a formidable skill, and on “No Can Do”, singer Duffy Driediger and company do this expertly. Without losing any of his vocal sleepiness, Driediger sounds angry– he’s as disgusted with himself as he seems to be with whoever the song is about. No one’s painted in an attractive light, no one figures anything out, and then it’s over. In Ladyhawk’s world, being bummed isn’t alluring– it’s just the way things are, and by embracing it, they make it seem like an alright place to be.
No Can Do was recorded at the Hive Creative Labs with Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Cave Singers) with “electro-acoustic help” from Black Mountain/Lightning Dust member Joshua Wells, and was mastered by JeffLipton (Bon Iver, Destroyer, Numero Group).

Scent of a Woman (Dino Risi, 1974)

An army cadet accompanies an irascible, blind captain on a week-long trip from Turin to Naples. The captain, Fausto, who wants no pity, brooks no disagreement, and charges into every situation, nicknames the youth Ciccio ("Babyfat"), and spends the next few days ordering him about and generally behaving badly in public. In Rome, Fausto summons a priest to ask for his blessing; in Naples, where Fausto joins a blind lieutenant for drinking and revelry, the two soldiers talk quietly and seriously about "going through with it." Also in Naples is Sara, in love with Fausto, but treated cruelly by him. What do the blind soldiers plan? Can Sara soften Fausto's hardened heart?

Oct 8, 2012

Jason Lytle "Dept. of Disappearance"(2012)


La jetée (1962) ,Chris Marker

The movie that inspired Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, Chris Marker's La jetée is a landmark of science-fiction filmmaking, a 28-minute masterpiece told almost entirely in still frames. Set in a post-apocalyptic near-future, it tells the story of an unnamed man whose vivid childhood recollections make him the perfect guinea pig for an experiment in time travel. After a lengthy and nightmarish period of conditioning, he is sent into the past, where he falls in love with a woman whom he once saw on a pier. At the experiment's conclusion, he is visited by an advanced race, who offer him the opportunity to journey into their future world, but he instead requests that they send him permanently into the past, where he can remain with the woman of his dreams. A singular experience.

Cesar & Rosalie (1972) ,Claude Sautet

Claude Sautet's romantic drama César et Rosalie (Cesar and Rosalie) stars Romy Schneider as Rosalie, a beautiful young woman involved with successful businessman Cesar (Yves Montand). One day, Rosalie's former flame David (Sami Frey) appears and attempts to win her back. Cesar reacts with a jealous intensity never before seen by Rosalie, and because of that, she returns to David. She remains conflicted regarding her choice of partner, but eventually, one of the men does something which resolves the situation. César et Rosalie contains one of the first screen appearances of French actress Isabelle Huppert.

Oct 6, 2012

Tame Impala – Lonerism (2012)


L'Homme Blessé (1983) , Patrice Chéreau

L'Homme Blesse is known in English-speaking countries as The Wounded Man. Jean-Hughes Anglade is a lonely, isolated young man who lets no one get close to him. He meets a street hustler and comes out of his shell, going 180 degrees into gay Obsession. Though he has yet to physically approach the object of his affection, Anglade builds up so much unrequited lust that it explodes with horrible results.

Oct 5, 2012

Wickerbird – The Crow Mother (2012)

...ALBUM OF THE MONTH...

Wickerbird is Blake Cowan. Homesick and disillusioned by his impending transition to mature society, he concluded his sophomore year of college in New York City and returned to his native Washington State. There, in a borrowed trailer, buried among the foothills of Mt. Rainier, he found rest. More however, he found time. It was in this time of stasis and lucidity that he resigned himself at last to open his consciousness, confront the haunting truths of life and to extract his own answers from the unanswerable.
The sounds of Wickerbird are the manifested revelations, fears, and raw emotions begotten in his mountainside reveries. Equally though, they are the emotions of the mountain itself, lending its own eternal voice to the fill the silence, soaking into the cracks and crevices.

Françoiz Breut – La Chirurgie des Sentiments (2012)


La musique de Françoiz Breut vient des profondeurs. De quelque chose qui sommeillait en nous. Une part de l’enfance, un bout d’âge adulte. Tout cela tourne comme une ancienne ritournelle soudée à nos pas. Une vie antérieure teintée de modernité. C'est cet alliage de notes électroniques et de phrases synthétiques qui roulent en boucle, comme des vagues à l’âme, qui parfume d’odeurs oubliées nos mémoires. Il y a quelque chose de Proustien chez Françoiz Breut, une mélancolie, le chant d’une sirène, quelque chose de marin, une note salée déposé sur la joue. Du grain blanc sur la peau.
Ne me demande pas comment j’ai pris racine sur tes paves détrempés. Dans Bruxelles Bleuette, il y a là la couleur du territoire et de l’identité, un des points d’ancrage thématique de l’artiste. Dunkerque, Bruxelles, Cherbourg, des villes de pluie, des villes d’eau semblant faire écho à La fille des eaux et à Marie-Lise, qui tourbillonne dans les bals des ports. Une ritournelle humide. Une saudade du Nord. Une saudade pop.

Oct 4, 2012

Doki-Doki (2003), Chris Eska


Eros (2004) , Michelangelo Antonioni,Steven Soderbergh,Wong Kar-Wai

Three of the world's most gifted filmmakers offer their own unique perspectives on love and lust in this omnibus film. The initial episode, "The Hand," was directed by Wong Kar-Wai, and tells the story of Zhang (Chang Chen), a young, virginal dressmaker's assistant who finds it difficult to control his desire when he is sent to the home of Hua (Gong Li), a beautiful and refined prostitute, for a fitting. Steven Soderbergh directed the film's second story, "Equilibrium," in which Nick Penrose (Robert Downey Jr.) spends a session with his analyst (Alan Arkin) discussing a recurring dream of a beautiful naked woman in his apartment, but he keeps wandering off on tangents about alarm clocks and hair loss. Finally, Italian virtuoso Michelangelo Antonioni brings his short story The Dangerous Thread of Things to the screen, a story of a jaded couple, Christopher (Christopher Buchholz) and Chloë (Regina Nemni), whose relationship comes to a crossroads when both husband and wife become infatuated with the same woman, Linda (Luisa Ranieri).

The Trial (1963) Orson Welles

Much of Orson Welles' latter-day reputation as an "unfathomable" genius rests upon his seeming unwillingness to tell a story in clear, precise fashion. Sometimes, as in such films as Touch of Evil, Welles' spotty storytelling skills can be forgiven in the light of the excellent visuals. In other cases, as in his 1962 adaptation of Kafka's The Trial, Welles'style comes across as empty virtuosity, precious and petulant when it should be profound. Anthony Perkins plays Joseph K, a man condemned for an unnamed crime in an unnamed country. Seeking justice, Joseph K is sucked into a labyrinth of bureaucracy (Welles once described the character as being a "little bureaucrat" himself, who deserves to be punished. This is never clearly expressed in the finished film). Along the way, he becomes involved with three women -- Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli -- who in their own individual ways are functions of the System that persecutes him.