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CURRENT VIEWING:SALO: 120 DAYS OF SODOM: PASOLINI

Pier Paolo Pasolini's brutal indictment of a film has been re-released by CriterionPier Paolo Pasolini's brutal indictment of a film has been re-released by Criterion

CURRENT VIEWING: THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE: BUNUEL

Carole Bouquet's legendary beauty on display  in "That Obscure Object Of Desire"Carole Bouquet's legendary beauty on display in "That Obscure Object Of Desire"

CURRENT VIEWING:LA CHINOISE: JEAN LUC GODARD

Viva the revolutionary wauldrobe!Viva the revolutionary wauldrobe!

REFERENCE LIBRARY:THE EARLY FILMS OF SISSEY SPACEK:

Sissy Spacek in Terence Malick's "Badlands"Sissy Spacek in Terence Malick's "Badlands"

There is a moment in Terence Malik's "Badlands" when Sissy Spacek looks slightly off camera with one of those vacant stares only a teenaged face can master. The gaze is noncommital...suitably blank...and then for a second you understand why what some people think of as a "plain face" can be so prismic. Everytime I watch those key Sissy Spacek vehicles, "Coal Miner's Daughter", "Carrie" and the earlier "Badlands" I see a certain kind of American beauty that goes perfectly with that kind of Federalist, Shaker simplicity that is a great part of the aesthetic of this country. Of course in "Carrie" Spacek lives out the dreamworld/nightmare of every shy teenager in high school. I simply love Spacek's face and everytime I watch her films I wish a really diligent American model scout would source a new girl with this kind of feeling. Super-editorial that Spacek.

CURRENT VIEWING: THE RAD HOURANI LIBRARY

Rad Hourani's DVD collection is impeccably curated (and nicely arranged to boot!)Rad Hourani's DVD collection is impeccably curated (and nicely arranged to boot!)

TI's beloved Rad must be able to read minds. Last night I was thinking...I need to do a "Current Viewing" for movies, but in a different way. Then Mr Rad's snap of a portion of his DVD collection shows up in my in box! I love that "Flashdance" in French translates to " Le Feu de la Danse ". Thanks Rad!

DESIGN PERFECT MUSIC

Blow Up LP cover: Music by Herbie HancockBlow Up LP cover: Music by Herbie Hancock

Fashion worships Antonioni's "Blow Up" as the most perfect film ever about the subject of fashion and photography. Every frame has been called "an epiphany that calls the very idea of framing into question" . TI loves all that but I also loved the music which was the complete antithesis to the expected "Swinging London" pop. (The director's feelings about modern pop music are pretty much made explicit in the scene where a mob of fans inside a swinging London rock club fight for the remnants of a guitar hero's guitar. The fight spills outside. The last fan standing is left with a fragment of guitar ..surveys it and tosses it away) . How great is the design of this LP cover? It is one of the things I miss in the otherwise fantastic age of mp3's...the space designers had to create via those little cardboard squares.

CURRENT VIEWING: MISTER LONELY:HARMONY KORINE

Diego Luna IS Micheal Jackson in Harmony Korine's "Mr. Lonely"Diego Luna IS Micheal Jackson in Harmony Korine's "Mr. Lonely"

News update on the Korine myth. The infamous auteur behind "Gummo" has gotten married, gained weight and has lensed a quirky new opus called Mr. Lonely. The narrative? A bunch of celebrity impersonators are holed up in a Scottish castle. Diego Luna is Micheal Jackson. Denis Lavant is Charlie Chaplin. Anita Pallenberg is The Queen. There's also a Marilyn Monroe, a James Dean, a Madonna, a Little Red Riding Hood, Shirley Temple and Buckwheat. Then Werner Herzog and a troupe of sky diving nuns show up. Things are bound to go wrong no? And they do, in the way only Harmony Korine could get away with. God Bless!

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