According to Sandy

I post this every year – because I can and also because I get a chance to tout a favorite movie from back in the day, “Black Orpheus”.

The music, the floats, the dance troups,  the beads – Mardi Gras, February 13, 2024. I don’t think of Shrove or Fat Tuesday without having this terrific movie “samba-ing” across my mind.

“Black Orpheus”, 1959, by French director Marcel Camus is the classic Greek romantic tragedy, transplanted to Brazil, of Orpheus (Breno Mello) and Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) set against the back drop of a high energy, high drama, dance troupe.

The costumes, the songs of Rio de Janeiro, the dancing, and all those pretty people being chased by a man in a skeleton mask – fabulous.

Even if you haven’t seen this film, you are probably familiar with its great music by Antonio Carlos Jobim, including “Manhã de Carnaval” (written by Luiz Bonfá).

So, if you can’t get to a Mardi Gras near you, put on some feathers and sequins, watch “Black Orpheus” and Samba!

FYI  ~  “Black Orpheus” won the Palme d’Or prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival,  the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the 1960 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

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“Film Noir”, a label used primarily to describe post World War ll crime drama movies , were mostly in black & white. They’re famous for their evocative, often lurid, pulpy titles, (“Dead Reckoning”, “I Wake Up Screaming”, “Detour”) the snappy dialogue, the scrappy, tough guys in trench coats, (Bogart, Robinson, Ladd) and the dangerous, smart, tough women in wedgies (Joan Crawford, Gloria Graham, Barbara Stanwyck).

These broody “who dunnits” are experiencing a resurgence in popularity (along with the coats and the shoes) and are soooo entertaining. The men are menacing, the women are manipulative and both are inclined to make some bad choices.

Small, independent movie theaters around the country plan double bill weekends for these clever little gems. There are also DVD box sets featuring the films of major directors of the era – Nicholas Ray, Fritz Lang and Samuel Fuller. The most famous of the group, Billy Wilder’s, “Double Indemnity”  (’44) and Otto Preminger’s,  “Laura”  (’44) show up on PBS every few years.

According to a recent PBS piece, on “German Hollywood”, the dialogue and subject matter of “Noir” might come from American crime writers, like Dashiel Hammet and Raymond Chandler, but the shadowy mood lighting, the scenes shot at night on rain slicked streets were influenced by the German expressionist movement of the 20’s (Pabst, Murnau) and was also colored by the melancholy of those who just escaped Hitler’s net: Peter Lorre, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Fritz Lang and Michael Curtiz (he directed “Casablanca”, 1942. Most of the extras were refugees – that impassioned “La Marseillaise” gets me everytime.)

There was a great piece in last year’s Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair magazine. It included back ground on these thrillers with lots of pictures and some snippets of great dialogue: “Out of The Past”, ‘47 – “Is there a way to win?”, the femme fatale asks and Robert Mitchum replies, “No, but there is a way to lose more slowly”.

(Love it! Goes great with popcorn.)

I loved the documentary, “20 Feet From Stardom” a music and reminiscence filled ode to the back-up singer released last year on DVD.  Some added their voices to those early Phil Spector songs (“Da Do Run, Run”) and Rock & Roll tunes featuring great vocals by Darlene Love and Patti Austen. They also did back ground for Elvis and rockers like the Rolling Stones. Anonymous trios and quartets still sing a few feet behind the main acts of today like Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, Stevie Wonder.

You may not know these singers by name or by sight, but you will know them by ear. A talented bunch, back in the day they sang everything, from “do wop, du wahs”, to the now classic line, “rape, murder, it’s just a shot away” (Merry Clayton on “Gimme Shelter” – called to the session late at night, she did 3 takes while dressed in night gown, fur coat & curlers).

2014 Oscar Winner for Best Documentary, “20 Feet From Stardom”, directed by Morgan Neville, never showed up at my local movie theater, thank goodness for the DVD, I would have missed a thoroughly entertaining chance to fit the names and faces to the background voices on some of my favorite songs. Included in the documentary are old concert footage, interviews with singers (those that tried to move 20 feet forward and those that enjoyed singing backup) and stars that hired the voices with great stories about the music biz – a lot of fun, a lot of memories. Watched it twice  🙂

“20 Feet From Stardom”                                                 

Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Patti Austen, Claudia Lennear, Táta Vega, the Waters, the Ikettes and many more.

FYI: “Da Do Run, Run” The Crystals, 1963

I loved the documentary, “20 Feet From Stardom” a music and reminiscence filled ode to the back-up singer just released on DVD. Those women, and men, that added their voices to early R&B songs, sung by Phil Spector‘s girl groups like Darlene Love and The Blossoms, (I still know the words to their hit – “Da Doo Run Run”) to rockers like the Rolling Stones, to the trios and quartets that sing a few feet behind the main acts of today like Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, Stevie Wonder. You may not know the singers by name or by sight, but you will know them by ear. A talented bunch, they sang everything, from “do wop, de wahs”, to the now classic line, “rape, murder, it’s just a shot away” (Merry Clayton on “Gimme Shelter” – called to the session late at night, she did 3 takes while dressed in night gown, fur coat & curlers).

Oscar Nominated for Best Documentary, “20 Feet From Stardom”, directed by Morgan Neville, never showed up at my local movie theater, thank goodness for the DVD, I would have missed a thoroughly entertaining chance to fit the names and faces to the background voices on some of my favorite songs. Included in the documentary are old concert footage, interviews with singers (those that tried to move 20 feet forward and those that enjoyed singing backup) and stars that hired the voices with great stories about the music biz – a lot of fun, a lot of memories. Watched it twice  🙂

 “20 Feet From Stardom”       

Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Patti Austen, Claudia Lennear, Táta Vega, the Waters, the Ikettes and many more.

FYI:   “Da Do Run, Run” The Crystals, 1963

Famed director Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal”, (1957) with the amazing Max von Sydow and the rest of his stable of actors (Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, and Bibi Andersson) gained a cult following when first seen in the U.S. I was introduced, in the late 60’s, to this beautiful black and white film about a chess playing chalk faced man in a black cloak and loved it. It still shows up on those “Greatest Films of all times” lists after all these years and I still think it’s terrific.

In short, the story is about a 14^th century Swedish knight that returns from the crusades. After being followed home thru the devastation of a war torn and plague infested countryside, he plays a game of chess with “death” to save his life. Lots of stark landscapes, lots of symbolism and abstraction – great stuff! “The Seventh Seal” isn’t shown much now, so I am grateful for the DVD.

Ingmar Bergman, (1918-2007) – Hugely prolific, below are only some of his films that are available on DVD:

1950s: Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries

1960s: The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, Persona

1970s: Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage , Autumn Sonata

1980s: Fanny and Alexander

French film, A Prophet (Un Prophète, 2009) directed by Jacques Audiard struck me as a cautionary tale for wayward youth. It details the experiences of 19 year old Malik (Tahar Rahim) as he serves his 8 year prison sentence for refusing to cooperate with police.

A product of juvenile detention facilities, incarceration in an adult prison matures him, not in the way usually meant. Instead of rehabilitation, “learning his lesson” while repaying his debt to society, etc., prison teaches him questionable survival skills and he toughens. What he learns in prison far surpasses what he could have learned on the streets.

Surviving alone may work on the outside, but in captivity, being part of a group is vital, and being the top dog in that group is prime, doing whatever it takes to get there. Malik adapts to the inhumanity that surrounds him and prospers.

You get drawn into the story and after awhile, you start to root for this young man and want him to rise above somehow. Which perhaps is a testament to both the acting and writing because Malik does some evil stuff, but you still want him alive and freed after his 8 years. (It’s not so much that you want him to “win”- but you want him to survive, to live long enough to discover another way of being in the world.)

But, what lingering effects will violent actions and experiences have on a kid? Are they difficult to erase like tattoos? Is he branded forever? I don’t know.

Fascinating movie.

BTW:  Un Prophète (2009) won the Grand Prize at Cannes Festival, 2009

I kept noticing this “Tattoo” book on the local paperback best seller list for the past year or so and  I got curiouser and curiouser.

So, I cheated and watched “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” on DVD first and then read the books – yes, plural. I was so hooked on the main characters and their adventures that  reading the whole trilogy by Swedish writer Stieg Larson was the only option.  Had such a great time! (All 3 are now available on DVD)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

The books are cleverly dense with detail, suspense, intrigue and double dealing. The screen writer was selective in what was included in the subsequent movies, but they are well done (I think  “Tattoo” was the best).  I love a mystery – who disappeared, who was betrayed, who covered up. The 2 main characters, fearless,  antisocial “Lisbeth Salander”, fiercely brought to life by Noomi Rapace and investigative journalist “Michael Blomkvist”, played by Michael Nyqvist, were great, but I must say that everyone was.  Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, they did a super job.

The action takes place in Sweden – I marvel at the similarities and the differences to American life. A conspiracy is a conspiracy, politics is politics, muckraking is muckraking regardless of the language.  The methods to uncover evil machinations are now global with the blanket use of the internet. Hacking has never seemed so exciting. A warning – some scenes are violent, but, they do give some insight as to why our “Girl” behaves as she does.

Of course I’m sorry Mr. Larson passed away in 2004, especially since after reading the final book and watching the DVD (“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”), I got the distinct impression that our non-heroine/heroine, Ms Salander, was not finished – there was more to do, more to reveal and dig up, more people to disturb. Sigh… (Hope that didn’t sound too callous?)

I don’t know why, but there is an American remake planned with David Fincher as Director (He did Social Network), David Craig (the most recent actor to play James Bond) and relative newcomer Rooney Mara as the tattooed girl.  It better be good!

FYI: I’m getting a Tat for my next birthday – something tiny and therefore, not too painful (but I’ll feel a little fierce 😎 )

Italian Neorealist director Roberto Rossellini, (1906-1977), made a series of films just after World War II labeled the “War Trilogy”. They have been issued in a DVD box set :
“Rome Open City, (1945)” “Paisan” (1946) and “Germany Year Zero” (1948)

Acclaimed by French directors François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, their articles appeared in the film magazine “Cahiers du Cinema”,  declaring Rosselini “the father of the French New Wave”. His use of non-actors, his focus on little human interest stories and his use of the Italian street as back drop gave Rossellini ‘s films a grittiness and realism rarely seen in Europe before the war.

Roberto Rossellini’s “War Trilogy”

This 2006 film, directed by Martin Scorsese, was just on network TV last night and I couldn’t help myself, I watched it again. Even with all the commercials and bleeps, it is a fabulous movie. (If you can, find the DVD to have a seamless experience and no bleeps – If you like Scorsese, you’ve heard the words before.)

The Departed is a violent, hard film, no sweetness here, no happy ending. A young police officer goes undercover in a local gang, just as another cop infiltrates the same gang.

Who’re the good guys? Who’s wearing the “white” hat? Who is doing what to whom? Cynical with assorted shades of grey – both cops and criminals seem to have other revenue sources, sort of a cross pollination effect.

As always, this director knows the value of a good story- a lot of blood, high suspense and one of the most explosive final lines of any film that I’ve heard.  The actors were totally committed to making the bizarre characters real and believable which is not just an example of the talent of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, but it is also a testament to Scorsese’s skill.

I’ve seen most of Scorsese’s films and if this isn’t the “best” he has done, it won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director, it’s pretty close to my other favs like Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, etc.

The Departed – a tough, entertaining movie!

Btw – The Departed is a remake of the 2002 Chinese movie called Infernal Affairs, directed by Andrew Lau (also on DVD)

“This Is It” is the documentary released in DVD that captured the final days of the “King of Pop” as he prepared for a concert tour in 2009. I’ll be honest, I began to watch with some hesitation – Is this going to be a sad, tragic documentary about a frail former super star? (I didn’t really want to see that.) But happily, no worries.

“This Is It” is a joyous celebration of the pop entertainer’s talent and hard work.  This compilation of rehearsal footage includes a lot of the songs and dance moves we all know and love and as the show is rehearsed and shaped, we also get to see the attention to detail, the professionalism that was Michael Jackson. He was totally present and engaged. Nothing was too small to go over until it was right. He loved it all.

It becomes obvious why MJ was not “famous” just for wearing gem encrusted gloves –  his fans loved him because he so obviously cared about them. He wanted his audience to be entertained. He wanted them to say “Wow” and they did.

Michael Jackson, R.I.P. (Still hard to believe)