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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 35 | January 2002

from the editor

"Good Golly Miss Kali!"* sez your editor from his perch in the panhandle

Now that things are calming down — the "war" is "over," Argentina’s collapsed, Pakistan and India are ready to nuke it out, Somalia and Iraq are bracing for the bombs, Clinton’s dog was run over, a large bird ate my caftan, etc. — it’s time to relax, grab some hooch (or a handful of oxycontin), flick on the blacklight, and plunge into the netherworld that is the new Bright Lights. In our unceasing effort to transport culture-starved readers from the dreary reality of the prison cell/cubicle, soup line, or porn theatre booth where they normally sit, stand, or kneel, we’ve lined up a veritable world tour of some of cinema’s bright boulevards and brackish backwaters.

Associate editor Alan Vanneman’s Fred and Ginger Show, with Joan Fontaine standing in for Ginger, continues apace with Damsel in Distress. Bob Castle takes a thoughtful stroll through one of the lesser-known areas of Kubrick’s last gasp, and Bright Lights newcomer Maria van Dijk (Wilkommen, Maria!) puts her well-polished spyglass on the French B movie. Andrew Grossman’s in-depth study of lesbian/feminist/orientalist ripples through Chinese cinema is sure to provoke and excite, while BL regular Julian Upton offers a droll hymn to one of Britain’s most disreputable genres — feature films based on lousy TV sitcoms.

Robert Wise remains robust after what seems like centuries of inventive cinema, as evidenced by new contributor Andrew Rausch’s (Aloha, Andrew!) informative interview. Peter Jackson’s epic of hairy-footed boys and big bad monsters rates two tantalizing reviews: one by Vanneman, another by BL newbie Phil Cooper. (Bienvenidos, Phil!) America’s hermetically sealed movie screens don’t admit much outside the mainstream (and that includes the duplicitous "indie mainstream"), so it’s important to take note of the less controllable film festivals. Three are reviewed here: Robert Keser nicely navigates the Chicago International; Cleo Cacoulidis adroitly analyzes the Argentinian portion of the Thessaloniki International; and yours truly prattles on about San Francisco’s Berlin & Beyond.

On the video front, M. Valdemar — make that A. Vanneman — gets the blue ribbon for sitting through and writing up three Brigitte Bardot DVDs; the ever-clever Matthew Kennedy reviews two classic ‘60s Czech films and Gregory La Cava’s masterpiece My Man Godfrey; Andrew Grossman does a surgical strike on two "Japanese gay pink films"; Scott "Eraserhead" Thill manages to make those confusing Mabuse films sound phat, if not da bomb; and your editor lays the lorgnette on Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire. Not to forget "old-school technology," we’ve included two book reviews this time (with many more to come next issue): Richard Armstrong’s intriguing analyis of Raymond Haberski’s study of American films and critics, and Dorna Khazeni’s deft interweaving of a history of recent Iranian cinema in a review of Hamid Dabashi’s problematic book on that subject.

Prayers of the congregation.

Gary Morris

*With thanks and apologies to my nephew, Jon-Paul Kroger.

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Visit the archives for hundreds of other articles, dear.

features foyer

Fred Astaire Goes Solo in Damsel in Distress — Nice work if you can get it

The Dharma Blues, or How I Brooded but Did Not Weep over Kubrick's Bomb — Opening the Eyes Wide Shut censorship battles for a close look

Return of the Repressed: The Resurgence of the French B Movie — Despite the enduring lure of Gerard Depardieu in a frock coat, inventive French auteurs are reviving the low-budget genre film

Better Beauty Through Technology: Chinese Transnational Feminism and the Cinema of Suffering — Feminism adrift in a sea of ogling orientalism, global capitalism, and fatalist aesthetics

Carry On Sitcom: The British Sitcom Spin-Off Film 1968-80 — These cinematic dogs get a pat on the head before being given the boot

interview cupola

Sure, I’ll Do It: An Interview with Robert Wise — This movie master is still busy after all these years

tolkien corner

Mastering Middle Earth: Fellowship of the Ring — Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Tolkien’s classic soars despite its flaws

Queer for the Rings — Pretty boys in danger: How yummy!

film festivals antechamber

37th Chicago International Film Festival (2001) — "It’s so twenty-first century!"

San Francisco’s Berlin & Beyond Festival (2002) — Despite the American juggernaut, Germany and its neighbors continue to make good regional cinema

Uncertainty and Change: The 42nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival (2001) — The fest’s focus on New Argentine cinema is especially timely in light of the country’s dire economic situation

video reviews root cellar

Bardot on DVD Offers Vintage Titillation — "See that girl? Her ass is a song."

The Diabolical Dr. Mabuse on DVD — Please pay attention to the madmen behind the curtain

Closely Watched Trains and The Shop on Main Street on DVD — Czech out these two favorites from Czech cinema’s Age of Camelot

Gregory La Cava’s My Man Godfrey on DVD — The Criterion Collection offers another scrumptious golden-era DVD

Beautiful Mystery and I Like You … I Like You Very Much on DVD — The DVDs of these two rare gay pink films could use some extras and better source prints, but at least they’re here!

Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire on DVD — The longest episode of foreplay in cinema history?

book reviews boudoir

"It’s Only a Movie!": Films and Critics in American Culture, by Raymond J. Haberski

Close Up, Iranian Cinema Past Present and Future, by Hamid Dabashi