A double-feature of XXY and TEETH should be shown to all adolescent girls - followed by a discussion of what it really means to be female. This pensive, moody film looks at gender in a surprisingly non-committal way, and amazes us by asking for the right to choose both! A liberating look at the truly vast continuum which lies between the accepted definitions of male and female, it shows the cruelty (and homophobia) inherent in forcing the "unusual" to be "normal." Inés Efron's performance is excellent, but it is the character of Kraken, Alex's father (played by Ricardo Darín) which really struck me. His name is derived from a word for legendary sea monsters, and he is a scientist devoted to saving endangered sea creatures. When he regards Alex, he sees the beauty, fascination and strangeness of Nature. In one confrontation with Alex's attackers, he refers to his child as first his "daughter" and then in the next breath, his "son." His acceptance is the soul of the film; he is Alex's champion for her/his right to choose both.
Reviews
16 Reviews
Octobre
(1994)
It is a shame that this movie was not shown in the United States
3 November 2007
I saw this film shortly after it was released as part of a "sneak peak" series in Philadelphia. Not a single member (including me) of the otherwise well-read and educated audience knew anything about the historical events depicted in the film. This was embarrassing to say the least! In the discussion afterward, it was obvious that the audience universally appreciated the film, but it was also apparent that it would be a hard sell to U.S. ticket-buyers. So it became no surprise that it was not picked up for U.S. distribution. Because of woeful ignorance of most-things-Canadian that exists south of the border - and god forbid! subtitles - OCTOBRE vanished from our radar in the U.S.
Tuya's Marriage
(2006)
A moving drama about one woman trying to hold it all together
3 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Unlike the two faux documentaries which people now associate with Mongolian films, TUYA'S MARRIAGE is a well-acted, intricate and layered story about a strong young woman trying to hold her life together. Very like Gong Li in THE STORY OF QIU JU, Yu Nan plays Tuya, a stubborn and beautiful woman faced with an impossible predicament who must find her way through an onslaught of well-meaning (mostly) but ineffectual men to keep her family together. Tuya's affection for and loyalties to her disabled husband Bater are put to the test when she is forced to find a new husband in order to survive. All along the "obvious" choice, Shenge, her foolish but adorable neighbor, keeps trying to be the hero but falling on his face. Tuya must keep saving the men in her life from near disaster: Bater, Shenge (twice), and even her young son. The film becomes the romance/triangle of one woman and two men - much like JULES AND JIM or even FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE (co-written by Wei Lu, who also co-wrote TUYA'S MARRIAGE). At the end of the film, her marriage includes both men, but immediately we see that she must continue saving them from themselves - and keeping everything and everybody together.
Ladybug Ladybug
(1963)
This film has stayed with me my entire life!
7 June 2000
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this movie once in a little movie theater in Minneapolis in 1964 when I was ten years old, and to this day it haunts me!
The sense of imminent doom, the "Lord of the Flies"-esque cruelties that erupt amongst the schoolchildren, the steadily-building panic... I will never ever look at an abandoned refrigerator -- or see a plane start to cross the sky -- and not think of the heart-breaking climax of this movie!
The sense of imminent doom, the "Lord of the Flies"-esque cruelties that erupt amongst the schoolchildren, the steadily-building panic... I will never ever look at an abandoned refrigerator -- or see a plane start to cross the sky -- and not think of the heart-breaking climax of this movie!
Kravgi gynaikon
(1978)
An actress prepares to perform Medea...
5 June 2000
Melina Mercouri plays Maya, a jet-setting Greek actress who returns to her homeland to undertake the role of Medea. Searching for inspiration and clues as to how a mother could kill the children she loves, Maya discovers Brenda (Ellen Burstyn), a bible-spouting American woman serving time in an Athens prison for that very crime. The actress's jail cell meetings with the murderess lead up to the movie's climax -- a gripping, parallel sequence of Maya in rehearsal/performance of the original text in Greek and Brenda's emotional reliving of the horrific night she murdered her babies. This film brings to life the woman-scorned essence and bloody passion at the heart of Medea, awaking a 2,500 year-old classic of dramatic literature.
A Page of Madness
(1926)
Haunts me still after 25 years
5 June 2000
I saw "A Page of Madness" in a silent film course at Wesleyan University and it haunts me still after 25 years. Truly ahead of its time - perhaps even still - this gem of a film reveals both the frightening and attractive aspects of madness.
Boys Don't Cry
(1999)
Another tragic but true story about a girl who dresses like a boy
1 November 1999
How ironic that this film is being released at the same time as "The Messenger" - the newest re-telling of the original tragic but true story of a young woman who sheds female trappings, becomes like a male and attempts to grasp traditional male power (war leadership in this case, not sexual control) and is murdered tragically by those she had come to trust.
Unlike "The Messenger," however, "Boys Don't Cry" is a brilliant film, disturbing in how well it depicts the fragility of self and the innocence of the belief one has in those one loves (the blindness with which Lana sees her "man").
A classic of tragic love - but with powerful resonances across multiple lines of gender issues, sexuality, alienation, class and lost youth.
Unlike "The Messenger," however, "Boys Don't Cry" is a brilliant film, disturbing in how well it depicts the fragility of self and the innocence of the belief one has in those one loves (the blindness with which Lana sees her "man").
A classic of tragic love - but with powerful resonances across multiple lines of gender issues, sexuality, alienation, class and lost youth.
5 Branded Women
(1960)
A true "guilty" pleasure!
1 November 1999
From the same director who brought us "Norma Rae" this classic World War II "resistance band fights guerilla warfare against Nazis in the snowywoods" has an interesting twist: they're all women and decked out in leather bomber jackets, crew cuts and machine guns.
Jeanne Moreau, Barbara Bel Geddes, Silvana Mangano, and Vera Miles - all shaved, humiliated, and thrown out of their peasant villages for sleeping with the enemy - now have taken arms against that enemy, but the "real" resistance doesn't want them. So these women must fight the men who are against them AND the men who are supposedly on their side, as well as each other.
Melodrama, to be sure, but different enough and with a fascinating sub-text, that it has become a "guilty" pleasure.
Jeanne Moreau, Barbara Bel Geddes, Silvana Mangano, and Vera Miles - all shaved, humiliated, and thrown out of their peasant villages for sleeping with the enemy - now have taken arms against that enemy, but the "real" resistance doesn't want them. So these women must fight the men who are against them AND the men who are supposedly on their side, as well as each other.
Melodrama, to be sure, but different enough and with a fascinating sub-text, that it has become a "guilty" pleasure.
Mansfield Park
(1999)
Truly, the best Jane Austen film adaptation ever!
20 October 1999
Finally, a film that Jane Austen herself would have been proud of, this funny and biting social satire has a warm heart and a very brilliant head. Not a pretty costume drama content to watch pretty people dance and converse wittily, this wonderful adaptation by Rozema - which makes use of the controversial Austen novel "Mansfield Park" plus Austen's own adolescent stories and diaries - puts Austen's world into its political and social context. This has the effect of making the characters three-dimensional and much more contemporary with ourselves. And the dialogue is intelligent and truly engaging.
Absolutely, the best adaptation of Austen ever made, I cannot recommend this film highly enough.
Absolutely, the best adaptation of Austen ever made, I cannot recommend this film highly enough.
Three to Tango
(1999)
What were they thinking?
13 October 1999
"Three to Tango" has some great slapstick and some amusing performances but two huge problems stop the film in its tracks.
Not knowing Matthew Perry from anything other than his "I Love Lucy"-in-reverse comedy "Fools Rush In," which was cute and easy on the brain, I had no expectations of any kind when I attended a sneak preview. I knew that "Three to Tango" had something to do with fake gay-ness and that it had been compared to "In and Out," a film which I thought was only okay.
So I laughed while Perry fell over things and at the other well-timed slapstick comedy, but I kept trying to grapple with a lack of believability. Suspension of disbelief is so rarely demanded in romantic comedies, but here I was expected to swallow that a young, beautiful, strong, intelligent modern artist character (Neve Campbell) would accept being the MISTRESS of a snake-like rich guy! Excuse me, what were they thinking? It would have been one thing if the character or ANYBODY else in the film brought this mistress life-choice up or asked her why, but it passes unmentioned and accepted as a given to the story.
Worse, the big "coming out" speech that is the climax of the film - in which Perry announces that he must be honest, come out of the closet, and tell his secret...He's not gay! Surprise! - is delivered to an audience of gay professionals who have awarded this fraud with Gay Professional of the Year. Guess what all you people who have been fighting for acceptance and legal rights all your lives, this guy's really a breeder, a het, and he has stolen this honor from you! What does this audience of thousands of gay people do? Those softies, those limp-wristers, those pansies - they applaud! They give him an ovation! Yeah, right. In the real world, this would not have been so pretty. And of course, after the one token gay guy jumps up to applaud, the camera only shows us the other heteros in the audience who are so relieved (or disturbed) by this news.
As a gay woman, I can usually step out of myself enough to enjoy any kind of well-made film, including romantic comedies about straight people. But this film just annoyed the hell out of me - because it was clear no one really put any thought into it.
Not knowing Matthew Perry from anything other than his "I Love Lucy"-in-reverse comedy "Fools Rush In," which was cute and easy on the brain, I had no expectations of any kind when I attended a sneak preview. I knew that "Three to Tango" had something to do with fake gay-ness and that it had been compared to "In and Out," a film which I thought was only okay.
So I laughed while Perry fell over things and at the other well-timed slapstick comedy, but I kept trying to grapple with a lack of believability. Suspension of disbelief is so rarely demanded in romantic comedies, but here I was expected to swallow that a young, beautiful, strong, intelligent modern artist character (Neve Campbell) would accept being the MISTRESS of a snake-like rich guy! Excuse me, what were they thinking? It would have been one thing if the character or ANYBODY else in the film brought this mistress life-choice up or asked her why, but it passes unmentioned and accepted as a given to the story.
Worse, the big "coming out" speech that is the climax of the film - in which Perry announces that he must be honest, come out of the closet, and tell his secret...He's not gay! Surprise! - is delivered to an audience of gay professionals who have awarded this fraud with Gay Professional of the Year. Guess what all you people who have been fighting for acceptance and legal rights all your lives, this guy's really a breeder, a het, and he has stolen this honor from you! What does this audience of thousands of gay people do? Those softies, those limp-wristers, those pansies - they applaud! They give him an ovation! Yeah, right. In the real world, this would not have been so pretty. And of course, after the one token gay guy jumps up to applaud, the camera only shows us the other heteros in the audience who are so relieved (or disturbed) by this news.
As a gay woman, I can usually step out of myself enough to enjoy any kind of well-made film, including romantic comedies about straight people. But this film just annoyed the hell out of me - because it was clear no one really put any thought into it.
One from the Heart
(1981)
A Fellini-esque musical ode to Las Vegas. A visual feast!
14 July 1999
Francis Ford Coppola and Zoetrope Studios went nearly bankrupt for this movie and it's worth every tear they must have shed! Having built the entire Las Vegas strip inside an enormous sound stage (which cost many $), Coppola was able to control every little visual nuance (just like the master, Fellini). Coppola created neon sunsets and an electric glow to bathe his cris-crossed little love story about two people looking for magic in fantasy land. Songs by Tom Waits and sung as ironic commentary by Waits and Crystal Gayle add an extra cynical spice.
A ground-breaking little tele-film about first love between two women.
1 February 1999
Originally broadcast by KCET (PBS) on their dramatic showcase series, "Visions," this sweet, quiet film has never been forgotten by any woman who ever saw it. Set during World War I, it is the story of Amy, a proper, but lonely housewife whose husband is away at war. She finds solace in a friendship with a more worldly female photographer, only to have her entire world turned upside down when the friendship becomes genuine love and she is forced to choose. Groundbreaking for its powerful yet non-prurient portrayal of lesbian first love.
Under the Skin
(1997)
Aww, come on, it was better than that!
14 December 1998
A risky, edgy film which is not easy to watch, but clearly I liked it a whole lot better than these other commentators did and apparently so did the Boston Society of Film Critics. They awarded "Under the Skin" two honors on 12/13/98: best actress for Samantha Morton and best new filmmaker for the director of the film, Carine Adler.
Molière
(1978)
One of the best back-stage biographies ever filmed!
17 November 1998
The brilliance of the film, Moliere, is due to Ariane Mnouchkine's direction and creative genius. She is one of the best stage directors working in the world today. Her highly visual, physical and multi-cultural adaptations of the classics with her own Theatre du Soleil in Paris regularly set new heights in theatrical achievement.
This film tells the life story of France's greatest dramatist with all the intimacy and crucial understanding that a fellow theatre-person can bring. The scene of Moliere's death while he was performing on stage - followed by a slow-motion, but intensely frantic race on a flight of stairs by his fellow performers carrying his dying body - will be one of the few images that stay with me for the rest of my life.
I saw this film on public television in the late '70s and have spent the last 20 years trying to find a copy to purchase.
This film tells the life story of France's greatest dramatist with all the intimacy and crucial understanding that a fellow theatre-person can bring. The scene of Moliere's death while he was performing on stage - followed by a slow-motion, but intensely frantic race on a flight of stairs by his fellow performers carrying his dying body - will be one of the few images that stay with me for the rest of my life.
I saw this film on public television in the late '70s and have spent the last 20 years trying to find a copy to purchase.
Count Dracula
(1977 TV Movie)
Far and away, the best of the Draculas!
17 November 1998
Public television used to show this every year around Halloween, and it was a treat!
Louis Jourdan's portrayal of the Count succeeded as the sexiest, most suave, persuasive yet poignant performance in the history of the genre.
Unfortunately, it seems to be no longer available. I have been searching for a copy for 20 years!
It is the best Dracula made to date. Period.
Louis Jourdan's portrayal of the Count succeeded as the sexiest, most suave, persuasive yet poignant performance in the history of the genre.
Unfortunately, it seems to be no longer available. I have been searching for a copy for 20 years!
It is the best Dracula made to date. Period.
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