I have been getting a lot of input from students around campus and the main consensus is “Jordan, Pimp my Film Series.”
Done and done. The website is up and running and it’s got tints and rims fo serious, but no spoilers (wesleyan.edu/filmseries). We also got the new this year: trailers for upcoming films in the series will run before every screening. Sometimes these trailers are very dated, which means a healthy dose of hilarity (“On the Waterfront.” A warm and moving story…with brass knuckles!!!“).
The film series is off to a record-breaking start. People are digging it like they were some form of great film-loving shovel. The scary part is we’re just getting popping. Hyperbole aside, Wednesday’s screening of ”The General“ was the finest event we have ever had. A packed house, just loving the bejeezus out of a Buster Keaton silent film, a one-of-a-kind 35 mm print, oh and a live orchestra that includes a bedpan player. Those who did not attend: a pox on all your houses. Do not miss another event; this will be your penance.
Lastly, a caveat: The film series is only to be truly enjoyed by those who show up on time. As Film Department Chair/demi-god Jeanine Basinger lays it down: ”You miss the credits, you miss the movie.“ Get there on time, not Wesleyan time. You will get your just reward. Unlike other shows on campus, ours are never cancelled and are never truncated for any reason (don’t quote me on force majeure). We are pretty much the zestiest of the bestiest.
FRIDAY (9/16): THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU. 8 p.m.
”Hi my name is Wes Anderson. I directed ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.’ I also helmed ‘The Royal Tenenbaums.’ Both these films are so cute and candy colored and I love putting in kitschy items that you wouldn’t even expect to see in a movie! I am so precious. I am so clever. Pack in the whimsy! Get me a dude who sings David Bowie in Portuguese. Pastels! Pastels like gangbusters! More whimsy, dammit… I’m Wes Anderson!“
Yes, Wes Anderson shoots his film in a singularly quirky-jerky style. Yes, Wes Anderson’s mantra is Leggo my ego. But…Bill Murray is revelatory as usual and Jeff Goldblum gays it up, which is a hoot. And their talents are squandered. For shame. How come this demi-man keeps conning ace actors into making his films seem semi-worthwhile? He is the greatest gypnotist of our age.
But, you know, whatever. Prove me wrong. Show up in droves, lynch me in effigy. I’m used to being a pariah (see Jordan’s middle school years).
SATURDAY (9/17): TO CATCH A THIEF. 8pm. FREE.
Hitchcock: the man knew what he was doing. And if he chooses to glam it up with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly on the French Riviera, what mere mortal dares to scoff? Cary Grant plays a retired cat burglar hot on the trail of a purloiner who is aping his style. Grace Kelly, as a millionairess, is his partner in preventing crime. They also both don swimwear (Swoon!).
Crucial sidebar: Cary Grant is the rainmaker. A recent article in Newsweek illustrated that Cary Grant has been in more classic films than any other performer by a wide margin. Of the 54 films he has starred in, 24 are bonafide classics that will stand the test of time (”Charade,“ ”Bringing Up Baby,“ ”The Philadelphia Story,“ ”Notorious,“ ”North by Northwest,“ ”To Catch a Thief,“ etc.). That is a batting percentage of .444! Hall of Fame material. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt is approximately 3 for 30, which a .100 batting average. Hall of Shame, pretty boy!!
WEDNESDAY (9/21): HOTEL RWANDA. 8pm.
Remember that time stuff happens outside of Wesleyan? Like atrocities? Like the Rwandan genocide? ”Hotel Rwanda“ pierces the Wesleyan bubble and turns our rarefied air stifling. A must must must-see as long as this film is still sadly topical. Please don’t turn a blind eye to genocide. Leave that to the United Nations.
THURSDAY (9/22): DETOUR and GUN CRAZY 8pm. FREE.
Distilled B-movie noir: Sass-talking molls. Serrated dialogue. Pervasive doom. Pulpy films retrospectively anointed masterpieces. Oldies but greaties. A NOIR DOUBLE BILL, which is always the best kind.
”Detour.“ See why people don’t hitchhike anymore. This film is dark. Way dark. God, I miss nihilism.
”Gun Crazy“ (originally titled ”Deadly is the Female“).
Liked ”Bonnie and Clyde?“ Well this came first. Liked when 2Pac wrote a song called ”Me and My Girlfriend,“ but it was really about his piece (gun). Well this came first. Peggy and Bart substitute gunplay for foreplay, ripping off banks, and each other’s clothes. The robbery scenes are balls/ovaries to the wall thrilling.
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