Film Serious

Loyal readers of this column (God help ye) may have noticed that I have been deferring a lot recently to other blurb writers. So what… ya wanna make sumtin of it! Don’t be so surly. It is all for you.

All the Blurbists are Film Board members. They are some of the crazies who sit around and snipe and snarl at each other to get their pet flicks onto the Film Series. I think it is only fair not to monopolize this column and give these filmic lords and ladies a chance to hype up the films they championed for the series. It provides a diversity of opinion, and it means I don’t have to go back to the hyperbole well too often in defense of films I haven’t seen or don’t give a what about.

Expect to see more blurbs from Film Board and expect to be thrilled about it. Also, if there are any passionate laypeople out there who want to write blurbs, too… go for it. Live your dreams. Send it to me (jschulkin@wesleyan.edu) prior to my Thursday afternoon deadline and I will print your blurb. If you have Film Board aspirations, or if you just love the bejeezus out of movies, this is your chance to be heard. And famous.

FRIDAY (2/17). WONG KAR-WAI’S 2046. 8 p.m. GFC.
By Anna Rabinovitch

“2046” is a continuation of Wong Kar-Wai’s “In the Mood for Love,” which was shown on Thursday. If you missed that, don’t fret: this film stands on its own and should be seen accordingly. This new film, also set in 1960s Hong Kong, follows pulp novel writer Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) on his erotic adventures. The number 2046 has multiple meanings: it is the room number next door to Chow’s in which he has a series of encounters and affairs with the women who stay there. It is the future Chow writes about in his novel and that the film presents as a destination where people travel to retrieve lost memories. 2046 is also the year that marks the end date of the Chinese government’s 1997 decree that Hong Kong would remain unchanged. Wong plays with the themes of time, memory, and the relationships between men and women with his rich cinematic style and subversion of classical narrative structure. So yes, the story is complex and convoluted, but when you see a Wong film you submit yourself to a universe that is elusive and perplexing, but ultimately breathtakingly beautiful.

SATURDAY (2/18). THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. FREE. 8pm. GFC.
By Jordan Schulkin

Oh 1950’s Sci-fi… you are so funny. I like to laugh at you. Look out, there goes the giant Gila Monster that ate Cleveland. That’s so silly.
Get that notion out of your head for THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Yes, it’s relatively campy and, if that’s how you get your kicks then fine… go ahead and laugh the easy laugh. OR jive with the most Jesus-ly symbolic, pro-United Nations, anti-Cold War, pro-miscegenation sci-fi film of all time. Robots get down with aliens, aliens get down with housewives, and we all learn a mighty good lesson in the end.

WEDNESDAY (2/22). DON’T LOOK BACK. 8pm. GFC.
By Ray Tintori

“Don’t Look Back” is one of the best films you will ever see. Witness 25-year-old Bob Dylan, at the peak of his genius, on the verge of going electric, touring England in 1965. Dylan is a very angry man. He is also very funny. Dylan is twenty times smarter than everyone around him. Everyone around him is an over-mannered Brit.

Sample dialogue:
British Reporter: Excuse me, Mr. Dylan, do you care about people?
Dylan: Well that depends on your definition of a few words…like care…and people.

Dylan is so cool in this film that you will have to rethink your whole
life. The film should be called “It’s time to get serious, you damn chump.” He is one of the best characters ever put on the big screen. This film pulls no punches. It shows him at his moments of glory, and also at moments when he is cruel and sadistic and quite possibly the worst man who has ever lived. This film is nearly impossible to see on the big screen. It is so hard to find a print of this film that members of the Film Board had to hunt down the director D.A. Pennebaker in order to borrow his copy of the film, which is what will be shown in the Film Series on Wednesday night. That’s how much we care about this film. You will too. It is required viewing. It’s time to get serious.

THURSDAY (2/23). THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES. FREE. 8 p.m. GFC.
By Audrey Golden

I have been trying to get The Color of Pomegranates on the film series for three years now. It is a biopic of the Armenian poet Sayat Nova, which might not sound too interesting, but read on. The now-famous Soviet director Parajanov made this film in 1968, and it was quickly banned by the Soviet government for its subversive content. And eventually, Parajanov was even sent to prison for the films he created.
Really, this film is beautiful—even on a DVD on a 13“ television—and will be especially amazing on a giant film screen! And it’s a print, which means the color will be even more gorgeous! I’m sure you might have looked at the film series poster and wondered why anyone would want to go watch a film biopic of an Armenian poet from another era. But I promise, it’s not really just a biopic. It’s SO much more. So GO! And it’s only 79 minutes long, so we can all still go to this and then go to cocktails!