During a recent visit to Munich, Bright Lights associate editor Andrew Grossman noticed an unusual product in one of the local supermarkets: ice cream that's supposed to taste like movies. With earlier gimmicks like "smell-o-vision" and 3D either in the historical dumpster or heading there, perhaps a big scoop of Cannibal Holocaust will indeed hit the spot for novelty-starved consumers. Or how about a banana split that you'd swear was in fact Fassbinder's BRD Trilogy? For that matter, why stop with movies? Celebrities could franchise themselves too. How about a sundae that tastes like Brad Pitt? Or, for the cognoscenti, Margaret Rutherford? (If her DNA can be found.) The possibilities are endless, even if the chemistry is lagging.

Andrew's witty riff on this surprising collision of pop culture and butterfat is just one of many tasty treats we have lined up for you in this issue of Bright Lights. Speaking of bodies and the forces that besiege them, Matt Brennan leads off this issue with a deep-sea dive into the "body politic/body politics" trope, in the process giving readers something in short supply today: hope. Lesley Chow also shows a bold optimism in mining culture for its treasures in a provocative piece on cinema experimentalists Chris Marker, Alexander Sokurov, and Jose-Luis Guerin. Our buddy Dave Saunders reminds us of the pleasures of Bunuel in Mexico and Bela Tarr in Edinburgh in a rather enchanting piece.

If Boris Barnet is not a household word in your house, you should consider moving. The brilliant Boris is the subject of a lengthy, authoritative profile by new contributor Giuliano Vivaldi, and you'll be running to the nearest Russian cinematheque after you've read this one. Equally obscure and fascinating, André Delvaux gets the spotlight thanks to a fine piece by Santiago Rubín de Celis. Better known and equally thrilling is Frank Borzage, whose masterful parable of war, No Greater Glory, is the subject of Peter Lee's wide-ranging study that includes other "boy soldier" films.

As longtime readers know, we at Bright Lights worship the now (even if we don't look the part), and nothing says au courant like investigating how sci-fi movies have changed in the wake of 9/11. That's just what new contributor Natalie Bograd does in a thoughtful piece called "Cylons, Avatars, and Barack Obama." Also topical are two fine articles by Joseph Natoli that use Green Lantern, Unstoppable, and The Lincoln Lawyer as a springboard for a bracing look at where we are as Wall Street's slow coup d'etat moves toward completion and moves us toward oblivion.

Of course, we all need to take a break sometimes from such real-life horrors, and how better to do so than to revisit cinematic monsters? BL newbie Alex Kirschenbaum does so with a clever frame analysis of two films in what he's dubbed the "metamorphosis" genre: The Howling and An American Werewolf in London. Not to be outdone in the "clever frame analysis" department, BL stalwart Matt Sewell offers up a meticulous study of the power of a secret phrase in P. T. Anderson's Magnolia in one of his appetite-whetting "Short Takes." Other individual films that get the once-over this time include Kim Ki-duk's Arirang, in an excellent study by Jonathan MacAlmont; Children of a Lesser God, sharply critiqued by Ian Murphy; The Green Hornet, which L. Andrew Cooper expertly mines for such riches as racism and homophobia. The "good young boys" of Hangover get a much-deserved comeuppance in newbie Terri Carney's sure-to-be-controversial study of that inexplicably overrated film. Another fresh face at Bright Lights, Allen Redmon, energetically explores The Long Goodbye and the question of whether it's in fact the "goodbye" it says it is. Jacob Mikanowski brings his sober sensibility to two films this issue: Meek's Cutoff and the latest in Terrence Malick's pompous "masterworks," The Tree of Life. BL regular Gordon Thomas calls our attention to six worthy art-house films/revivals in this issue's irresistible "Bright Sights" column.

Television gets its due in two pieces this time: Matt Brennan's engaging study of Aaron Sorkin's "moral compass" (via The American President, Sports Night, West Wing, and The Social Network); and Mervyn Nicholson's ongoing series on Star Trek, this one a vibrant character analysis of the "old man/young woman" theme in that show.

How would Greer Garson taste? That's not the question answered by new contributor Meredith Hicks in her smart profile of the "Great Lady's" war years, but perhaps Meredith will address it after her next visit to Munich.

In the festivals foyer, yours truly covers the 2011 QDoc festival, the only queer documentary fest in the United States (Portland, Oregon). Wrapping up the issue are four book reviews, three on the apparently inescapable subject of horror. Joseph Aisenberg reviews the updated version of Kim Newman's Nightmare Movies; newbies Chad Trevitte and Cynthia Scott cover, respectively, Jonathan Lethem's They Live and Jason Zinoman's Shock Value; and our pal Mark Adnum takes a retrospective look at Vito Russo's allegedly seminal study of queer cinema, The Celluloid Closet.

Bon appétit!!

Gary Morris