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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 58 | November 2007

from the editor

The Day After: A Reading Guide

With so many possible cataclysms looming — World War III, eco-armageddon, and our personal fave, violent revolution — it's good to remember that whatever happens, you'll need reading material. We feel it's crucial, as the bombs rain down, or Alaska becomes Death Valley North, or you're hauled off at midnight to the reeducation camps, to have something to read. That's where Bright Lights comes in. Our civic duty demands we be there (wherever there is — gulag, garbage scow, dumpster, or dungeon) to keep a smile on your face as you lurch into oblivion.

This time we've carefully selected articles that will make you the most informed person on your block, even if there is no block! In the features foyer, you'll find three delightful diversions: John Minson continuing his porn history saga with a sideways trek to its exploitation sources; Dave Saunders playing warden in a variety of cinematic jails, literal and metaphorical; and BL newbie Kevin Ferguson guiding us through that everpresent yet oddly elusive movie motif: wallpaper!

The nearby articles antechamber highlights a variety of pieces sure to help you lose those end-of-the-world blues. Associate editor Alan Vanneman neatly profiles Mike Hammer and Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly. Ian Johnston thoughtfully limns Jia Zhang-ke's masterful Still Life. Lesley Chow lays the lorgnette as only she can on the bittersweet Tony Leung vehicle Wait 'Til You're Older. And yours truly left the bomb shelter long enough to exhume his study of The Searchers from an ancient print edition of Bright Lights. This section includes three new writers, too. David Church fetes Guy Maddin's magical Brand Upon the Brain! Nick Goundry looks at some of the more problematic aspects of IMAX. Jason Mark Scott says a heartfelt hello to Welles' goodbye to Hollywood, The Lady from Shanghai.

Of course, Bright Lights is nothing if not modern, and so we make several forays into the now in the recent cinema roundabout. Vanneman leads the pack with a juicy take on Superbad; while recent arrivals Matthew Sorrento and Kristen Elizabeth Thompson check out, respectively, Travolta's Folly in Hairspray and the intoxicating whiff of Tom Twyker's sadly underrated Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

Fassbinder's massive Berlin Alexanderplatz is finally getting its due in the form of a DVD release loaded with extras, and BL regular C. Jerry Kutner visited the vale of video to 'splain it all to us. Gordon Thomas expands the DVD fun with this issue's "Bright Sights" column, covering six worthy releases showcasing everybody from Rudolph Valentino to H. P. Lovecraft's pet, Cthulhu. Gordon also celebrates, with some reservations, the recent release of Pabst's moody Threepenny Opera.

Meanwhile, in the cellar of silence, Vanneman adds The Gold Rush to his exhaustive exegesis of Chaplin's career, and our Chicago-based buddy Robert Keser, examines a recently unearthed "lost film," the curiously titled Colleen Moore rarity Her Wild Oat. Keser also sat down in the documentary dormer to sling the dish on Man of Cinema: Pierre Rissient.

If silence is golden, what the hell is speech? we often ask ourselves. There's plenty of the latter in the interrogation alcove. The incomparable Bert Cardullo prompted Zhang Yimou to be at his most voluble. The estimable Damon Smith chatted up Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky about Manufactured Landscapes. And the charming Damien Love spoke to the creator of Telos, Sinbad, Jason, and tragic Ymir, Ray Harryhausen. Meanwhile, the revival room yields two treasures this time: Dan Callahan's fresh take on Bergman's Autumn Sonata, and BL inductee Henry Midgely's explanation of why Luc Besson's Léon is far from the pedophilic horror some have claimed.

Finally, Lesley Chow and associate editor Megan Ratner attended, respectively, the Melbourne and New York Film Festivals — so you wouldn't have to. And they write them up with their usual panache. Now grab some cocoa, curl up in your favorite chair, cock your gun in case anybody knocks, and enjoy!

Gary Morris

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Watch for new issues of Bright Lights every three months: August, November, February, and May. To be automatically notified when the next issue is posted, join our mailing list.

Visit the archives for hundreds of other articles, dear.

features foyer

Covering the Cinema: On Wallpaper in Some Films — "Wallpaper is a cut-rate imitation of reality based on an equation of repetition and pattern, but so is Hollywood . . ."

The Wages of Skin: The Irrepressible Rise of All-American Smut — Linda Lovelace meets the Forty Thieves

Oh What a Lovely Jail: Crime Is Old, Crime Is New — Just Like Those Mind-Forged Manacles Blues

articles antechamber

IMAX: The Bigger Picture: Everything New Is Old Again — Superman, we need you!

"Ode to a Nectarite Harvest": On Brand Upon the Brain! — Maddin at his most masochistic — and magical

Whose Noir Is It, Anyway? Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly — Mike Hammer deconstructed, or Mike Hammer disrespected?"

"Give My Love to the Sunrise": The Lady from Shanghai — Welles bids farewell to Hayworth and Hollywood

The Searcher: On Ethan Edwards and John Ford's Masterpiece — "Ride away . . . ride away . . ."

Still, Life: Looking at Jia Zhang-ke's Recent Masterpiece — "Present-day society doesn't suit us because we're too nostalgic."

The Poisoned Story: The Myth of Magic in Wait 'Til You're Older — "Even the least imaginative people are incredulous about aging: surely this isn't the only story, the only body I get to inhabit."

recent cinema roundabout

The Devil Wears a Fatsuit: John Travolta in Hairspray — "Even if the new Hairspray seems a welcome return to camp for Travolta, his mock-seriousness is as frozen as ever."

"What Is Beauty Worth?" On Perfume: The Story of a Murderer — (And an Artist)

Too Gay, or Not Gay Enough? Greg Mottola's Superbad — The urge to merge with a splurge — story of my life

vale of video

Imagine a Man in a Box: Berlin Alexanderplatz on DVD — "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree."

Will the Shark Bite? G. W. Pabst and The Threepenny Opera — "Macheath: I'm not asking you to put on an opera." — Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera, Act 1, scene 2

bright sights

Bright Sights: Recent DVDs: The Valentino Collection (The Young Rajah, Moran of the Lady Letty, Stolen Moments, Society Sensation), True Heart Susie, She, The Call of Cthulhu, El Bruto — An ongoing column that looks at some of the most intriguing of recent, under-the-radar releases

cellar of silence

Looking at Charlie — The Gold Rush: An Occasional Series on the Art and Life of Charlie Chaplin — Hats off, dudes! A masterpiece!

Colleen Moore Comes Back: On the Rediscovered, Restored 1927 Rarity Her Wild Oat — "Go sit on a flagpole!"

documentary dormer

The Passion of the Auteurist: On Man of Cinema: Pierre Rissient — "It's not enough to like this movie"

interrogation alcove

Beyond the Fifth Generation: An Interview with Zhang Yimou — "I know myself, and know that I can't really be separated from the land where I grew up."

Made in China: Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky on Their Travels Across Manufactured Landscapes — "We've created a world that buffers us from nature."

Monsters, Inc.: An Interview with Ray Harryhausen — "I wrecked Washington, and I wrecked New York, and San Francisco. That got rather tiresome after a while."

revival room

Bergman vs. Bergman: Ingrid Dearest in Ingmar's Autumn Sonata — "Ingmar can't fully follow his own gloomy party line as he stares at this simple, oblivious, wondrous creature."

Mother to the Man? Rethinking Luc Besson's Léon — Age is just a number

film festival flying buttress

How Did History Happen? The 2007 Melbourne International Film Festival — "Each stranger is a figure of seemingly infinite potential, pinned down to a changing series of points."

Safety First: The 45th New York Film Festival — The 2007 NYFF's more cautious than courageous this year