Pieds nus sur les limaces (Lily Sometimes)

It's officially summer now and I'm in the French (film) mood!

I was waiting to watch Pieds nus sur les limaces aka Lily Sometimes for quite a long time, to see two extremely talented actresses: Ludivine Sagnier and trilingual Diane Kruger working together. 

Pieds nus sur les limaces is a story about two sisters' reunion after their mother's death. The younger one, Lily (Ludivine Sagnier) seems to be incapable of living alone in the family's village house. She is absolutely clueless and vulnerable being accustomed to life within nature's commune, without the idea of money or strangers that one should be cautious of. 

The other sister, Clara (Diane Kruger) decides to move back to her family house to watch over Lily. Even though she's the 'successful' one (a law graduate, works and lives in the city with her lawyer husband), she struggles with making her sister more independent. Instead, she turns out to be a 'mama Clara' for her.

To some extent Pieds nus sur les limaces is about sisterhood and a women's bond. But in depth, it possesses a Gus van Sant flair for depicting the 'feeble' individuals that are detached from the society, the outcasts. 

Lily, in a manner appropriate for a dropout breaks the social etiquette in every possible way. 

• Befriending a turkey and doing its nails? Check.
• Keeping dead animals in the freezer so she can use their fur for DIY slippers and other home-use accessories? Check.
• Eating too much cupcakes on her mother's funeral day? Check.

But interestingly, as much as we hate (or at least don't understand) her behaviour at the beginning, throughout the film we begin to question the dominant social standards that exclude different people as we intuitively classify them as outcasts.

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Red Shoes, directed and written by Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell, is probably one of the most beautiful films ever made. It's a story about a promising ballerina Vicky Page (played by the real ballet dancer Moira Shearer) who needs to choose between her dancing career and her relationship. Like in an ancient tragedy, the great figures can't become eternal without certain (usually very human) sacrifices. 

Consequently, The Red Shoes is a romantic triangle between an aspiring composer Julian Craster, a passionate impresario Boris Lermontov and a torn apart ballerina.

Mr Boris Lermontov embodies a predominant and captivating master, whose lack of any human impulsed has been replaced with a complete devotion to art. 

There could be a comparison drawn between his character and the iconic Phantom of the Opera. 

Both, Lermontov and Phantom are embodiments of art devotees, who seduce their gifted 'chosen' followers. 

Sadly for this genre, the talented women never seem to chose the right men in the end. 

For some reason they prefer to quit their careers and give babies to dull men instead of having a bohemian life with Russian impresario with his own ballet troop and a château in Monte Carlo. Or with Phantom who owns the dungeon under the Parisian Opera with a very convenient system of canals.

Doppelgänger

The inspiration for today's post derives from hearing the very great news about Richard Ayoade's new project called The Double, based on the novella by the génial Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 

One of The Double's motives is the idea of a Doppelgänger, a double of a living person which according to various folk beliefs, brings bad luck or even performs the role of an omen of death. Interestingly, there are testimonies that people like Abraham Lincoln or Johann Wolfgang von Goethe have witnessed the Doppelgänger experience.

The motif of Doppelgänger is not a novelty to the cinema. 

In the old days, mirrors that produce a distorted image could take responsibility for the occurrence of this Doppelgänger. Or the fact that somebody might have had an unknown twin sibling.

Nowadays, the scriptwriters use the sinister motif in a more creative and metaphoric way.

In the Double Life of Veronique Kieslowski explores the idea of being-not-alone in the world, having a genuine 'double' who goes through a parallel life to us. The French Veronique (Irene Jacob) has this particular intuition and she's not mistaken: there is Polish Weronika (Irene Jacob, aussi), who shares a similar life path and equal dedication and talent to music. The sudden death of Veronique's counterpart makes her intuitively change her directions in life.

 In Aronofsky's recent Black Swan, in one of the first scenes that portends Nina's (Natalie Portman) forthcoming insanity, the main character passes her look-alike in the corridor. Soon, the ballerina discovers that she has a 'double' in her group, Lily (Mila Kunis), who yearns to take her place. In order to maintain her part in the Swan Lake, she not only has to prove her talent, but fight her competitor, the double. Yet, the 'real' double of Nina is her dark, Jekyll side that impersonates the black swan.

In Fincher's Fight Club, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) breaks the mundane life routine of the main character (Edward Norton) by introducing him to the mysterious underworld of street-fighting. Their relationship is a mixture of brotherhood and rivalry; it's quite elusive. Only in the very end, we learn that Tyler was a real 'double' of the narrator. 

The Good and The Bad film about sexual desires

The Bad

SHAME

Having so many expectations towards Steve McQueen's Shame, I found the film very disappointing. Of course, the acting (Michael Fassbender + Carey Mulligan)was amazing and the dominant long shots were well-crafted. Yet the main character, Brandon, seemed to be so unconvincing and, despite the title,shame-less? 

Apart from one little hint that gives us a clue about his family background, we don't know why he's a sex addict. What we do know is that almost every second of his existence has been devoted to sex and porn. 

The Good

THE PIANO TEACHER

While watching Shame I couldn't stop juxtaposing it with Haneke's The Piano Teacher, which gives us an insight to the perverted life of a cultured pianist, Erika. 

Erika's sexual perversions resulted from her toxic relationship with her mother, who managed to raise her daughter with the stern discipline necessary for the future great pianist. 

The only chance for Erika to abandon her twisted fantasies would be to develop a relationship with her student Walter, who seems to be genuine and caring. Inevitably, Erika's profoundly corrupted mind infected Walter's and they begin their power-struggle game.

Costa-Gavras and his political thrillers

Costa-Gavras must have been the first director to think that it is not life that creates the best scenarios, it's politics. As a result, in 1969, with his film Z, he established a new genre of films that are politically engaged. Contrary to the mainstream Hollywood, Gavras' projects were supposed to force the audience to think independently and add to their knowledge.

His very first films (Z, Confession and State of Siege) constituted a trilogy that treated of dominant political ideologies at the time (extreme right-wing, communism, American imperialism). 

So far I have only seen Z and State of Siege, both based on true stories. 

Z portrays Greek political scene few years before the military coup d'état in 1967 and the assassination of the popular pacifist and left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis. It is an absolutely amazing story that induces doing some research about Greek post-war political background and its nuances.

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In State of Siege  Gavras targets American 'neo-colonialism' while presenting the story of Dan Mitrione's abduction by the group of Uruguayan Tupamaros. Mr Mitrione was alleged of training local police how to torture people and fight the opposition. He was one of the US advisers designated to support country's development.

Cannes 2012

Comme chaque jour, this year Cannes' selection looks amazing. I personally can't wait to see:

Michael Haneke's Amour.

I think that Haneke's is a Spielberg of arthouse films. As if everything he touches, turns into little indie masterpiece; Funny Games. Caché. The Piano Teacher. The White Ribbon.

De plus, Haneke is such a great film-story-teller that everybody has even forgiven him telling one particular story TWICE...

David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis.

Similarly to Haneke, Cronenberg has quite a distinctive, edgy style that he might have betrayed (a little) while making The Dangerous Method. Yet, the trailer for Cosmopolis can reassure us that the old-good Cronenberg is back.

Even the choice of Robert Pattinson for the main part makes so much sense! After all, in Cronenberg's Naked Lunch the most acclaimed role belonged to the talking typewriter in a shape of a cockroach.

Walter Salles' On The Road.

Based on the book by J. Kerouac, On The Road have all the qualities to become an epic film;

it portrays a jazzy era of the postwar Beat Generation and has quite a spectacular cast: Steve Buscemi, Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Kristen Stewart and playing the main part, Sam Riley.

Sam Riley, ever since he played Ian Curtis in Control must have a special clause in his contract regarding how he's being shot.

Which is like that:

There's trailer for On The Road (and towards the end we can see Sam Riley's The-Pose)

An intellectual crush of the moment: Slavoj Žižek

The first time I came across Slavoj Žižek was while writing an essay on Kieslowski's Blind Chance. I'm not the greatest fan of Kieslowki and I believe that once you put aside the use of light and colour, plus the distinctive dose of symbolism; your 'critical field' becomes pretty narrow. Therefore, I was astonished that Mr Žižek managed to intersperse Kieslowski's film work with Freud's psychoanalysis, gender issues or contemporary pop culture. 

The ability to engage people into philosophy combined with the mass culture (especially film) stands for Žižek's trademark. Hence, he's called the most 'rock and roll' and the hippiest philosopher!

Devoir: The Pervert's Guide To Cinema(2006)is an epic documentary in which Žižek talks about sexual desires, class consciousness and problems with identity in films such as A. Hitchcock's Birds, C.Chaplin's Modern Times or J. Cameron's Titanic.

Tiny Furniture

Recently I tend to watch a plethora of European 'National' Cinema and if I watch something English or American, it must be something genuinely old or cult (or both). Therefore, seeing  a quite nicely crafted piece of modern American (indie) cinema, is quite refreshing and reassuring. 

Tiny Furniture (2010) is a compelling New York-based drama about a Film Studies graduate Aura (Lena Dunham) who tries to figure out what to do with her life next. Aura is a generic female character* that, luckily for us, is surrounded with an interesting lot of people; for example, a guy who places Nietzsche's philosophy into the Wild West décor on YouTube her best friend from childhood that is a notorious bon vivant (and my favourite character!).

Lena Dunham that not only cast herself as a main character, but also has written and directed the film, has already been pronounced the new Woody Allen. I would disagree with such comparison. The only 'New Woody Allen' is a sequential 'New Woody Allen Film' and creating a witty narrative on neurotic New Yorkers doesn't make you the 'NWA.' Still, miss Dunham has done a good job, providing there's enough room for few more neurotic artists. 

Devoir: This is a very interesting interview with Lena Dunham on recent changes in the film industry and the ongoing digital revolution, provided by the 'PressPausePlay' documentary that you can watch online.

*A generic female character existed in the cinema long before Twilight's Bella, yet her characteristic traits give us the perfect description of the GFC; a mediocre girl that can get away with wearing flares during  the whole film, and for some reason the most amazing male protagonist falls in love with her/ she gets to become Miss Congeniality, etc.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) is a timeless portrait of people’s demise as they struggle for better lives(money, career, people’s recognition and respect etc.). The arena on which the dancing contest takes place resembles Roman Coliseum filled with ravenous lions and Christians; to everybody’s joy (at least those gathered on the safe side).

Sadly, the same dancing contest can be perceived as a study on today’s cruel entertainment, where people’s dignity and hopes are determined by its commercial value. 

Trailers for the films selected for Sundance 2012

(Al Weiwei: Never Sorry)

visit

https://prescreen.com/Sundance-2012?ui=all-movies-filter

Devoir

Pieds Nus Sur Les Limaces (2010)

Devoir

Film Socialisme (2010)

Deep End

I haven’t seen that many Skolimowski’s films yet and after seeing Four nights with Anna and Essential Killing I wasn't sure whether I'll be keen on catching up any time soon.

BUT finally having seeing Deep End (1970) I can imagine why it is one of the ‘cult’ films.

The main character Mike starts his very first job at the public bath house where he meets his love interest Susan. Shortly, his life begins to resemble The Sorrows of Young Werther as his attraction becomes more and more fatal.     

In the amazing final scene that takes place in an empty swimming pool, finally (after months of plotting and stalking his Lotte) Mike’s craving is coming true. But, since his moment has been created in a bogus space (the swimming pool without water), when everything goes back to its place(the swimming pool is getting filled with water)the desire is replaced with the despair.

Another Earth

The Future (Miranda July)

My Week With Marilyn

My Week With Marilyn (2011) is one of these films that you can’t resist watching. It consists of  a good script based on the life of one of the most iconic and desired woman of all times. A woman that happen-to-be the Marilyn Monroe and with her complexity, still keeps us insatiate, hence we want to read more about her psychoanalysis, love affairs or poetry that she’s been writing.

Michelle Williams portrays her credibly and it’s a very smart move that the narrative doesn’t focus on her, but on geeky Colin Clark, so her appearance is measured and therefore – absolutely splendid.

The only shortcoming is a scene in Marilyn’s bedroom, when geeky CC claims how much he loves her and how they can get married and elope far away from the evil Pinewood Studios. But this is an inevitable cliché outcome of the fact that the script was based on CC’s memoirs that are probably spurious.