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writers gone wild!
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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 36 | April 2002
from the editor
You heard it here second: April is the cruelest month!
We didn’t deliberately set out to be cruel; it just happened that way. (Though we have to admit that, like April, we like nothing more than whipping up a batch of memory and desire.) Yes, despite our abiding allegiance to peace — make that peace and quiet — eagle-eyed readers will notice a certain viciousness filigreeing the new issue of Bright Lights. Much to our shock, our writers apparently care little for sacred cows. Alan Vanneman applies the verbal violet wand to Oscar nominees in his reviews of Gosford Park and In the Bedroom, a trend he continues in his exegesis of Fred & Ginger’s Carefree. Even poor Bill Clinton, and Wag the Dog, and the mindset that produced it get bitch-slapped by Bob Castle in "The Clinton Syndrome." Steve Stewart compounds the cruelty in his lively survey of queer motifs in some military movies — a noxious genre experiencing a revival thanks to recent depressing events.
Of course, April is about more than dishing ex-presidents and excoriating pretentious mock-indie movies. Yes, Bright Lights’ nobler impulses are also happily evident this time. Lynne d Johnson engagingly examines the ins and outs and ups and downs of both indie and mainstream black film distribution. Peter Tonguette explains why Richard Lester’s Superman films are worth a reappraisal. Megan Ratner stylishly explores the bitter charms of Amelio’s The Way We Laughed. John Champagne and Maria van Dijk offer two thoughtful views of Michael Haneke’s Piano Teacher. Richard Armstrong thoughtfully eulogizes the late Billy Wilder. Yours truly spews out a few choices words on The Fluffer. And Jane Mills handily investigates the career of a name some of our older readers may remember from some years ago, Quentin Tarantino. Ring a bell, anyone?
A peek into the Film Festivals antechamber shows three recent worthy mid-range fests: Belfort (France) International, the Victoria (Canada) Independent, and the Bergamo (Italy) Film Meeting. A tip of the chapeau to, respectively, Maria van Dijk, Joanne Bealy, and Megan Ratner for these pithy write-ups.
Fans of old-school technologies will be happy to see that instead of our usual ratio of ten DVD reviews for every book review, this issue we’ve reviewed eleven books this time and only four DVDs. A hearty salute to Scott Thill for taking on Rockers and Andrew Grossman for shrewdly using three Japanese pink film DVDs for a bracing discussion of some larger issues. Book reviews by Julia Leyda, Richard Armstrong, Scott Thill, and yours truly wrap it up.
Finally, a word to students. It isn’t that we don’t admire your increasingly crafty strategies for extracting quiz answers, exam essays, doctoral theses, etc. from our staff, but we must remind you that it’s your responsibility to "compare and contrast the Nabokov novel with Kubrick’s Lolita" and to determine whether "the gaze" in Psycho is "male or female, both or neither." Here’s a typical, deceptively sweet e-mail, one of far too many lately, from a young man trying to get us to do his homework: "We are having an ongoing discussion amongst friends that perhaps you could help us out with and provide some professional insight. The topic at hand deals with prostitution in Nights of Cabiria and its significance throughout the movie. What are your thoughts on this idea? Hope we hear from you. We are all interested to hear what you have to say. Thanks, Chad T." Interested indeed. Chad, please, if you’re smart enough to almost put this over on us (we might have succumbed had we not finished our last box of wine), you’re surely smart enough to give some thought to this question yourself. Do it for yourself, your parents, your teachers, your country, the children, and most of all, for us.
Gary Morris
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Visit the archives for hundreds of other articles, dear.
articles foyer
Independent Black Filmmakers Take on Hollywood: The Distribution of Black Films — For many black auteurs seeking distribution, working around the system has proven as rewarding — and necessary — as working within it
Catch Me If You Can: The Tarantino Legacy — Has Tarantino gone underground or is he revving up to zap the box office with another mega hit?
Fred & Ginger, Together Again, yet Not Quite Carefree — "Colorblind," and maybe just a little bit tone-deaf
The Clinton Syndrome, or the Survival Legacy — Revisiting the failure of Wag the Dog and other, more troubling failures
Anti-Heroics: The Superman Films of Richard Lester — In Lester’s hands this superhero ain’t nothin’ but a sandwich
recent films root cellar
Gosford Park: Not Renoir, but Not Bad — Robert Altman gets all warm and fuzzy on your ass
The Burden of Dreams: Gianni Amelio’s The Way We Laughed — The rise and fall of two brothers in postwar Italy
Todd Field's In the Bedroom: Wake Me When It’s Over! — More boring than real life, plus you have to pay to get in
It’s Alive! Jan Svankmajer’s Little Otik — If only "little" Otik had stayed that way!
Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher: two views
Alienation and Perversion: Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher — Is the film reinforcing or exploding stereotypes about female sexuality, or both?
Undoing Oedipus: Feminism and Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher — Feminist or misogynist? A psychoanalytic reading of this controversial film offers some clues
homo corner
All Is Fair in Love and War Videos: GLBT Men and Women in the Military — Don’t ask, don’t tell, but do watch
Why Won’t You Love Me? The Fluffer — Sean, meet Johnny Rebel’s cock. Johnny Rebel’s cock, meet Sean.
film festivals antechamber
The Belfort International Film Festival, France 2001 — Identity politics, urban terror, and Bulle Ogier distinguish this festival from some of its more pretentious peers
The Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival, Canada 2002 — An engaging mix of cinema — two-thirds of it Canadian — visits the Great White North’s "postcard village on steroids"
The 20th Bergamo Film Meeting, March 9-17, 2002 — This fine Italian festival features wide variety, no polemics
the empty guest room
The King Steps Out: Goodbye to Billy Wilder — "A brain full of razor blades and a heart full of chutzpah"
dvd reviews sun room
The Japanese Pink Film: Tandem, The Bedroom, and The Dream of Garuda on DVD — All jargon and no authenticity?
Reggae Heaven: Rockers (1978) on DVD — It’s the culture, stupid
book reviews boudoir
Framing the South: Hollywood, Television, and Race During the Civil Rights Struggle, by Allison Graham
The Money Shot: Cinema, Sin, and Censorship, by Jane Mills
Addicted: The Myth and Menace of Drugs in Film, ed. by Jack Stevenson
Books in Brief — Of Tourneur and Cukor, White Zombie and Warner Sisters, and others
