1. On this Friday the 13th, let's party like it's 1989. (And that still photo, hattip Bryant Frazer, is more evocative than anything in the new movie.)
2. "Under New Leadership and Facing Economic Realities, Film Society Cuts Staff": At indieWIRE, Anthony Kaufman reports on the trimming of staff at The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Also a chance to catch up with the eviction faced by the Film-Makers' Cooperative, originally brought to my attention by Paddy Johnson, later picked up by Spout and The New York Times. ["The Film Society of Lincoln Center, home to the venerable New York Film Festival and responsible for year-round art-cinema programming at the Walter Reade Theater, has cut its staff by nearly 25%, firing eight staffers on Friday, including administrative manager Sayre Maxfield, a longtime employee who also served as programming associate of the Golden Silents series and assistant development director Will McCord, who also produced the Young Friends of Film program. Others let go include rental manager Sharon Bahus, public relations assistant Caroline Von Kuhn and theater print expediter Fletcher Cossa. The lay-offs came in the wake of a series of departures from the Film Society since Mara Manus, formerly the top executive at New York’s Public Theater, took over as executive director of the film non-profit in September."]
3. Two all-encompassing must-reads: Kevin J. Olson's "Neo, Cyber, and Postmodern Noir: A Look at Film Noir as an Evolving Genre" (for Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies) and House man Vadim Rizov's "The New Depression Cinema" (for GreenCine).["Many critics suggest that Touch of Evil (1958) was the last true noir film, not because the studios stopped making hard-boiled noir films, but because it seemed that as a society, as a culture, America was moving towards something different and was unable to associate themselves with the ambiguous morals of the genre (it’s ironic that postmodernism would base itself on this idea). However, the genre has actually evolved – it has elevated itself – into new, more controversial, more sophisticated realms. Beginning in the uncertain times of post-war America in the 1970’s (Chinatown), moving towards Reagan’s America in the 1980’s with films like Blue Velvet and Blade Runner there seemed to be a new kind of noir that was being labeled as “neo-noir.” These films were representations of how the genre was moving outside the boundaries of noir only being films about seedy gangsters, femme fatales, and cops and robbers; these classic elements of the genre were now being replaced by greedy water companies, and corrupt politicians or policemen who were representations of the evil America never thought could exist in the people they trusted."]
4. "Peter Gabriel Refuses to Sing Butchered 'WALL-E' Song at Oscars": Biko won't speak-o. ["What does the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have against music? First they only nominated three songs instead of five in the Best Original Song category -- omitting such obviously worthy choices as Bruce Springsteen's title number from The Wrestler -- and now they're drastically reducing the amount of time those three songs will get during the Oscar telecast. And Peter Gabriel won't stand for it!"]
5. The Film of the Month Club is delving deep into The Three Caballeros. ["A better film historian than me would have to chime in here, but, isn't the whole aspect of the "film" in this movie kind of ahead of its time? For example, in the first sections, the way it plays with the narrator/subject relationship. Some of the sportive ways it plays with the notion of itself as a film reminded me of Ophuls' La Ronde which is 6 years later and considered inventive for similar approaches."]
Quote of the Day: Mary PickfordImage of the Day (click to enlarge): Samurai Obama, just one of many variations. (Hattip: Ali Arikan)
Clip of the Day: Critic for The Nation Stuart Klawans on two of his must-sees: Gomorrah and The Class. See entry above for House contributor Kenji Fujishima's take on Gomorrah.
"Links for the Day": A selection of Links that will hopefully spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to keithuhlich@gmail.com.
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