from: the sleazy sex-snuff apocalypse of the Balkans and Swedish cinema’s trailblazing sexual openness to the ‘kicker’ phone booth vandalism of mid 1980s Stockholm; 21st wave 70s feminism via German DEFA science fiction and the 1976 TV show, Star Maidens; Bob Hope meets Thriller: They Call Her One-Eye; Let the Right One In vs. Twilight; Thor in the Gardens of Sebastain Venable, and of course some Nordic alien theory.

The following short films, each less than one minute in length, were created for the compilation project, OneDreamRush. First, we have Asia Argento on the fluidity of SEXUAL IDENTITY. Next is Kenneth Anger looking - not for the first time - at DEATH. And finally, David Lynch looks - not for the first time - at DREAMING. I hadn’t ... read more »

An apt cinematic analogy of the Polanski brouhaha can be found in Charles Laughton’s NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, namely the hyper-reactive old salt of the general store, Mrs. Icey Spoon (Evelyn Varden). First she practically forces Robert Mitchum’s homicidal preacher on poor Shelley Winters, taking his collar and phony rap at face value, endangering and ... read more »

A Royal Scandal (1945) is an Ernst Lubitsch production directed through – rather than by – Otto Preminger. It stars Tallulah Bankhead as Empress Catherine of Russia, aka Catherine the Great. It is not, however, a work of history. It is a sex comedy – one in which sex is never mentioned, much less shown. ... read more »

It’s mother’s day and as I was watching MULHOLLAND DRIVE just now for the millionth time, it occured to me that my love for cinema would not be nearly so fierce if not for my own mother was not a natural blonde, Swedish to be precise, and if you don’t know what that means, it’s ... read more »

Watching the last of the sophisticated and sassy Lubitsch box, ONE HOUR WITH YOU, I’m suddenly, painfully, anguishedly aware of the heavy burden the short guy “wimp” characters bear in all matters of pre-code l’amour. The benefits of being tall–and able to sing–are tremendous in comparison to the short guys, played by Charlie Ruggles, Roland ... read more »

Imagine Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston deciding to live together and share Brad Pitt! How hot would that be? But no, now we live in a much more (as in less) enlightened age, but once, long ago, these sorts of things happened…in pre-code films… to Miriam Hopkins. There’s no Miriam Hopkins to be found on ... read more »