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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 59 | February 2008

from the editor

Because we care . . .

Here at Bright Lights, our most important product is ReaderCare™. Unlike other publications that take your money and laugh at your (many) troubles, we're constantly seeking ways to make you feel better. You complain about "too much subtext!" Presto! It's gone. You whine about "too many articles!" Voila! We cut the number. We know how busy you are, so busy you can barely think, much less read in any depth. We don't want to add to the bitter tragedy you call existence, so we've slimmed down this issue to a tasty, compact, easily digestible 24 articles. We even asked our writers to try to avoid too many "ideas" or "insights" — though, alas, they didn't always listen. Shockingly, some of them seemed to take this simple request as a challenge, brazenly inserting even more ideas and insights into their articles than usual! Hey, we tried. Now it's on to Bright Lights!

Skipping into the features foyer, we find Gordon Thomas' enticing exegesis of two once-elusive Peter Watkins masterpieces: Edvard Munch and The Freethinker. BL stalwart Andrew Grossman chimes in, literally, with a wide-ranging exploratory of film scores and a whole lot more. And Lesley Chow gives her all — which is always considerable — to two underrated Cukor films.

Sneaking into the articles antechamber brings us to Dave Saunders' fascinating critique that samples City of God, literacy, and other worthy tropes. Erich Kuersten weighs in with a crackling tribute to Naomi Watts that finds all manner of meaning in the film persona of one of our faves. Three first-time contributors have also taken up residence with Dave and Erich. Amy Abugo Ongiri intriguingly opposes hillbilly exploitation with blaxploitation and finds surprising common ground. Joseph Aisenberg makes an excellent tour guide for Wes Anderson's peculiar, and perhaps diminishing, world. And Andrew Schenker provocatively examines actors versus stars.

Whirling around the recent cinema roundabout, we pause mid-careen to discover 4 Months, 3 Weeks, & 2 Days via Megan Ratner's typically sharp study; L'Âge des Ténèbres through Neil Rogachevsky's thoughtful review; Death Proof courtesy of Erich Kuersten's vigorous analysis; and I Am Legend by way of David Pike's lively inquiry.

Solemnly proceeding into the empty guest room reveals two occupants this time: most bitterly, Heath Ledger, in a fine eulogy by Justin Vicari; and the incomparable Charles Boyer, celebrated in Dan Callahan's inimitable style. Damon Smith went to Sundance this year so we (and you) didn't have to. There he lured Gregg Araki into the interrogation alcove for a pithy chat. Alan Jacobson, who's been away too long, visits two BL spaces this issue: the documentary dormer for a penetrating look at Jesus Camp and the revival room for a rollicking ride on Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train. Elsewhere in the revival room, a variety of films appear. G. S. Morris (no relation to your editor) handily explicates the 1936 all-black Green Pastures; Dan Callahan fetes Lili and Leslie Caron with panache; and yours truly disinters a review of Bloody Mama from his rare and strange 1985 book on Roger Corman.

Speaking of returns, two of BL's favorite international film festivals have once again come a-callin': Chicago, rendered in Bob Keser's ever-enchanting prose; and Thessaloniki, from the sparkling pen of Cleo Cacoulidis. Gordon Thomas and yours truly wrap it up with the former's always illuminating "Bright Sights" DVD roundup, and the latter's "Little Stabs of Happiness (and Horror)," back after enough happiness and horror had accumulated on the shelves (and in the world) to warrant the resurrection.

Peace out (and in), Gary Morris

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Visit the archives for hundreds of other articles, dear.

features foyer

Peter Watkins and the Politics of Expression: On Edvard Munch (1974) and The Freethinker (1994) — "Watkins' filmmaking bravely seeks an insistence on personal truth — his own and the viewer's."

False Consonances and False Consciousness: Contrarian Notes on the Ideology of Film Music — "Defenseless against music, I must submit to its despotism and, depending on its whim, be god or garbage." — E. M. Cioran

The Double Standard: The Twins of Two-Faced Woman and Sylvia Scarlett — "She is both sentimental and shameless."

articles antechamber

Only the Pictures: We're All Editing, Ed — But about this audit

Hillbilly Hustle: The Thin Line Between Hillybilly Sexploitation and Blaxploitation in Trash Cinema — "How you gonna keep um' down on the farm after they seen all this?" — voiceover from the trailer for the 1972 sexploitation film Sassy Sue

Naomi Watts: Cinema's Postmodern Mother of Mirrors — "We're home free in the new mediated womb of the Naomi persona — which is to say, trapped, by our own desire."

Wes's World: Riding Wes Anderson's Vision Limited — Paging crackle, energy, and wit. Come in, please.

Presence and Absence: Towards a Working Conception of Screen Characters — "A basic consistency on the actor's part remains uniquely convincing as character, no matter how simplistic that character's definition."

recent cinema roundabout

Stunted Lives: On 4 Months, 3 Weeks, & 2 Days — Unsettling and unmissable

When Virtue Sleeps: The Moral World of Denys Arcand's L'Âge des Ténèbres — "We are asked to think morally: is the happiness these characters seek possible or desirable?"

The Foxy, the Dead, and the Foxier: Re-Visiting Death Proof — "He's old enough to be my dad!"

A Boy and His Dog: On Will Smith, Apocalypse, and I Am Legend — "Neville remains wholly oblivious, falling into each trap the ferals set . . ."

the empty guest room

On the Walkabout: Remembering Heath Ledger (1979-2008) — "Wasn't he just there, standing right in front of us?"

Nuts to the Squirrels and Roués Redeemed: The Discreet Charm of Charles Boyer — "In Boyer, self-belief and theatrical technique are seamlessly fused together."

interrogation alcove

Rebel, Rebel: Gregg Araki Reflects on The Living End and His Totally F***ed Up Career at Sundance 2008 — "My whole thing, all my life, was march to your own drummer."

documentary dormer

Innocence Lost or Regained? The Clear-Eyed Vision of Jesus Camp — "Real things happening to real people"

revival room

Downward Mobility: On Roger Corman's Bloody Mama — "You never could make a decent living . . . you never did mount me proper."

Communication Breakdown: Reboarding Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train — "You only need one leg to get around. Sure helps to have two."

Thank God for Uncle Tom: Race and Religion Collide in The Green Pastures — A kinder, gentler condescension

Ode to Lili: And Leslie Caron — "This MGM movie is studio-system filmmaking at its most protective, and it's designed entirely to showcase Leslie Caron . . ."

film festival flying buttress

Onward and Inward: On the 2007 Thessaloniki International Film Festival — "Each work limns a moral dilemma that has no discernible answer."

Tickets to the Dark Side: The 43rd Chicago International Film Festival — "We will see whose heart is sharpest!"

bright sights

Bright Sights: Recent DVDs: Our Hitler, Sawdust and Tinsel, Black Sun, Marketa Lazarova, Battleship Potemkin, Nosferatu, Automatons — An ongoing column that looks at some of the most intriguing of recent, under-the-radar releases

little stabs

Little Stabs of Happiness (and Horror): Random Short Reviews of the Worthy and the Worthless in Recent and Old-School Cinema — "Don't snatch! Don't grab! They're ugly!"