1. "The End of the New York Underground Film Festival": In The Village Voice, Ed Halter looks back at the history of The New York Underground Film Festival, which begins today at Anthology Film Archives, it's 15th and final incarnation. See here for more details. See also our Clip of the Day.
["Two guys in their early twenties starting up a film festival might not seem so interesting today, when new festivals appear every other week. But back then, festivals were much rarer, and there wasn't anything like this one before; it felt like an old New York punk show in cinematic form, married to a vintage P.T. Barnum–style get-asses-in-seats-by-any-means-necessary ruthlessness. I remember once a guy at a bar nodding approvingly when I said I worked for the Underground: "I love that thing. You guys always show fucked-up shit.""]
2. "Torture Memo Released by Pentagon": An Associated Press report.
["The 81-page legal analysis largely centers on whether interrogators can be held responsible for torture if torture is not the intent of the questioning. And it defines torture as the intended sum of a variety of acts, which could include acid scalding, severe mental pain and suffering, threat of imminent death and physical pain resulting in impaired body functions, organ failure or death."]
3. "On Desire's Wings": House contributor Lauren Wissot reviews Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon. Look for our own piece on the film, by Kenji Fujishima, this Friday. Other House contributor work: N.P. Thompson on Jhumpa Lahiri's latest short story collection, Unaccustomed Earth.
["“You know, grown-ups are a bit complicated,” a frazzled Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) tells her 7-year-old, mop-headed son Simon (Simon Iteanu) in Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien’s exquisite, spectacular little gem Flight of the Red Balloon (inspired by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 short “The Red Balloon”). This from a woman stuck in her own childhood world – a small, cluttered Parisian apartment (Simon gingerly steps over her books not any toys), a silver “magic box” in which she keeps super 8 reels of her puppeteer grandfather, a job that allows her to spend her days voicing Asian puppet shows. Her significant other Pierre is off in Montreal finishing a never-ending novel, leaving her with a downstairs freeloading tenant (a struggling screenwriter) named Marc who – like everyone else in her life – pops in unannounced. Her daughter Louise from an earlier relationship is living with her own father in Brussels. From the fairytale cobblestone streets of Paris, to the ancient puppet plays, to her nearly bohemian commune lifestyle (in several scenes Simon wears a T-shirt reading, “Change The World”), Suzanne seems to forever exist in an earlier time – or in a state of timelessness itself."]
4. "Meet a Critic: USA Today's Claudia Puig Surveys The Critical Landscape": Jen Yamato interviews for Rotten Tomatoes.
["What has been your most bizarre movie-going experience? CP: Going to a movie in the afternoon at a studio and watching a colleague fall asleep just a few minutes into it and listening to him snore loudly throughout it. I looked for his review on Friday and he loved the movie!"]
5. "New DVDs": Dave Kehr's latest DVD column focuses on the films of Alain Delon.
["The Lionsgate collection contains one anomaly — Bertrand Blier’s artsy and imponderable “Notre Histoire” of 1984 — but otherwise offers some prime Delon. Included are “Diaboliquement Vôtre” (1967), the final film by the veteran tradition-of-quality director Julien Duvivier (“Pépé le Moko,” 1937); Pierre Granier-Deferre’s “ Widow Couderc” (1971), from a novel by Georges Simenon and co-starring Simone Signoret; and “Le Gitan” (“The Gypsy”), directed by José Giovanni and starring the slinky Mr. Delon as a none too convincing representative of the Romany people. But the centerpiece is “La Piscine” (“The Swimming Pool”), an icily erotic 1969 melodrama that is an established favorite in France but remains essentially unknown here. Directed by one of Mr. Delon’s favorite collaborators, Jacques Deray (“Borsalino,” “Flic Story”), “La Piscine” functions as a sort of middlebrow, commercial correlative to the bourgeois-bashing films that flourished during this period of political upheaval in France."]
Quote of the Day: Gertrude Stein
Image of the Day (click to enlarge): What is "My Gayest Look" all about? Click here to find out, and add your own. 
Clip of the Day: The inimitable Dr. Zizmor pimps the New York Underground Film Festival
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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Links for the Day (April 2nd, 2008)
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10 comments:
#3 - Did you mean to post that image to go with Wissot's review, Keith?
Jesus! The Florida sun is going to my head. Fixed THAT little snafu. Thanks Ali. :-)
Aw, I could have used a good snafu this morning. Hope it involved Dr. Zizmor. (Thanks, Keith!)
It actually involved the "gayest look" photo being in two too many places. I THINK you'd have gotten a kick out of it, Lauren.
What a wonderful Freudian slip-up, Keith! Enjoy the flicks and white sand.
Seen this?
Health update from Roger Ebert.
The Wire's Fifth Season DVD set will be released on Aug 12
Cover art, extras, other gritty details after the jump.
Hell, since people are posting links, here's Outlaw Vern's big April Fools' Day effort - a killer take-down of commercialized film blogs.
(Regular site here.)
The Outlaw Vern fake-out site is fantastic. I especially love the entry slobbering over posters for a Transformers sequel. "I prefer the other way but even if this is the correct orientation it is a thrilling poster design. I cannot wait for this trademarked property to return in 2009!"
I guess Vern's swiping of the font and hypertext style of Cinematical is an editorial comment, too. "POLL: Are You Sick of George Clooney?"
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