Night of the Hunter

I have a confession. I love to buy movies. A simple declaration; something that those that know me well are acutely aware of. But, unfortunately, I've been unable to catch up with my purchases and have an amazing collection of films I haven't seen yet. One of these, a dvd I got for Christmas, is Charles Loughton's The Night of the Hunter. A dark movie about a preacher/serial killer (Robert Mitchum) who learns from his cell mate about a heist he pulled previous to being incarcerated. Harry Powell (Mitchum) is released from prison and proceeds to meet the wife of the other prisoner, marries her, and continues his quest for the cash. Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) has two children who are keeping the secret of the hidden money and Powell will do anything in order to recover it.

A suspenseful, dark, hybrid noir, Night of the Hunter combines the dark cinematography (this is what really stands out. Maybe the best I've seen from an American director.) of traditioinal noir with a religious vernacular and certain themes pertaining to it. There is no femme fatale here. Rather, the man inverts the traditional paradigm and leads the woman to her doom.

Final Verdict: An amazing film that combines spectacular cinematography and brilliant performances with horror and suspense to create a one-of-kind noir. I highly recommend this to anyone who might read this entry.

Random Thoughts

1. Just finished a course entitled "Disaster and Discourse in Latin America" where we got to read various texts about the representations of droughts, volcanoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes. The professor who taught it is a "mexicanista" so I was able to read several Mexican authors that I've never read before including: Carlos Monsivais, Humberto Musacchio, Jose Emilio Pacheco and Marco Antonio Campos. It was a good time.

2. As a result of my class being over, I teach for the next month without taking any courses. I plan on taking a big chunk out of the reading list and taking full advantage of our netflix membership.

3. I've been looking for some new graphic novels to read and here are a couple of the ones I think have promise.

DMZ

Read about it here.

Fables. Read about it here.

4. The Copa America has been dissapointing so far. Argentina has looked pretty bad. Many blame Messi, but the blame should go to Batista. He needs to replace Banega and Cambiasso with Di Maria and Pastore and Lavezzi with Higuain. Plus, the fact that he is trying to play like Barcelona is an insult. Play like Argentina!

5. The Barnes and Noble criterion sale starts this coming week. I'm usually really excited but this time around I can't think of anything to get right away. Maybe The Thin Red Line (blu-ray) or Charade.

6. Beckie is hosting a Harry Potter party tonight celebrating the release of the last film. She's prepared all types of decorations and activities. I kid with her about how nerdy it is but truthfully I think it will be fun. It's cool to see how creative she can get.

7. Little H* has changed quite a bit in the last couple of months. He finally has more than just two teeth and is visibly growing. He won't sit in a shopping cart anymore and instead insists on helping push it. He also loves the Nursery which we are happy about.

What I'm Listening To

Here are a videos from a few of the artists I've been enjoying recently. The new Bon Iver is a standout and a strong candidate for best album of the first 6 months of 2011. The Cults are as good as advertised and both Braids and Gang Gang Dance have put forth some excellent efforts. Also, Adele's strong 2011 has been recognized by indie and mainstream alike. If the second half of 2011 is anything like the first we are in for a great year of music.

Other albums that I've been digging this year include:

1. Panda Bear - Tomboy

2. Cut Copy - Zonoscope

3. Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!

4. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

5. Young Galaxy - Shapeshifting

6. Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine

Bon Iver - Bon Iver ("Holocene" on The Jimmy Fallon Show)

Braids - Native Speaker ("Plath Heart")

Cults - Cults ("Abducted")

Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact ("MindKilla")

Adele - 21 ("Lovesong" on Letterman)

Pinterest

Beckie recently got me hooked on pinterest, a website where one can, similar to a bulletin board, "pin" things they like or that inspire them. You organize your pins onto boards that serve as categories or themes. It's a fun way to find new things whatever your interests are.

In order to register you need to be invited, similar to gmail when it first started. I have 5 invites to give out, so if anyone is interested let me know and I'll send an invite your way.

Michael Bay and Jacques Derrida?

Last week I read this snipet from Entertainment Weekly about Michael Bay's upcoming third transformers movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon:

"Michael Bay deconstructs the perils of an institutionally binary electoral system in this astute...or, you know, robots blow each other up as Shia LaBeouf runs for his life." (85, Entertainment Weekly June 3/10 Double Issue)

So, I ask myself, does Derrida penetrate even the most non-academic writing or is it that this was written by a humanities grad school dropout?

One more reason to buy a blu-ray player

I saw this and thought of my friend and fellow blogger Ben. Blu ray Citizen Kane + The Magnificent Amberson (which has never been released on dvd or blu ray) = another reason to upgrade.

Film Noir and Criterion

Up until this year, criterion's selection of film noir has been scant. The film noir I refer to here is the traditional Hollywood kind; born and bred in the US of A . With the exception of Siodmak's The Killers and a few titles from Samuel Fuller and Jules Dassin the collection is mostly made up Japanese and French noir along with some selections of neonoir. Don't get me wrong, I love Melville's noir style and Godard is a genius, but, I would love to see more Hollywood noir.

It looks like they've gotten my mental memo and have announced some great noir releases for later this year. These include: Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly, and the already released Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick).

Here are ten more noir greats that I would love to see on Criterion.

1. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)

2. Asphalt Jungle (John Huston)

3. Detour (Edgar G. Ulmer)

4. Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur)

5. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks)

6. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)

7. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)

8. Laura (Otto Preminger)

9. The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett)

10. Dark Passage (Delmer Daves)

Napolean Dynamite the Cartoon

Heck yes! I'm excited about this. I'm not going to lie.

I'm your favorite daydream, I'm your famous nightmare

Twin Shadow's TV debut on Fallon. Good stuff.

Charleston

Spring semester ended last Monday when I submitted my grades and turned in my last two papers. No more school for the rest of the summer, right? Well, not exactly. I accepted a teaching offer for summer term and in order to take it I needed to be registered for two courses. We thought it was good opportunity and decided it was the best thing to do. I'll be taking a class about "La literatura fantastica" during "maymester" (a short 3-week term with 3 hour, daily classes). I'll then take another ecocriticism course, this one focusing on natural disasters, starting in June.

Before maymester, Beckie was nice enough to plan a small getaway to Charleston, SC for the three of us. We had a great time. Charleston is beautiful city, full of gorgeous antebellum architecture. We walked around the city, enjoying the homes and streets and it was clear that a long, important history had embedded itself into every block. Originally, we planned on visiting Fort Sumpter but decided that the aquarium was more child-friendly. The decision worked for the best as our little guy had a great time.

We ended our trip with a short detour to the Angel Oak, the oldest tree east of the Missippi. The little one loved the ground covered in leaves.

Rise of...

...The Planet of the Apes. I saw this trailer a couple of weeks ago and my reaction was definitely positive. It looks really good regardless of the fact that James Franco is playing a scientist (I'm not a fan. In my opinion, overrated as an actor). Unfortunately, it doesn't come out until August. In the meantime enjoy the trailer.

*For some reason this version of the trailer has two trailers in one. The actual trailer is not 3 and half minutes, rather just half of that.

What I'm Loving This Week

D*Face's show that opened in LA last weekend. It's showing at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. I wish I wasn't on the other side of the country so I could go see it. See more pics here.

The last novel we're reading this semester in my ecocriticism course. I've enjoyed what I've read from Aridjis so far. I'm excited for this one.

The latest video from The Soft Moon. A dark, hypnotic ride through a Godard/Lang inspired dreamscape. The video matches the song.

I've had this song stuck in my head for the past couple of weeks. Catchy, fun, and unforgettable.

Tomboy

Panda Bear's new album comes out next week. You can listen to it now at npr. I've been listening to it for the past couple days and it's great. But, don't take my word for it, check it out here.

Homero Aridjis - Perro espectral

Lo vi corriendo por el aire

en respuesta a la voz que lo llamaba en vida.

Todo era luz en las praderas de la tarde.

Todo era ausencia en los cuerpos presentes en la calle.

Su pelambre amarillo estaba descolorido;

sus orejas negras, transparentes.

A mi lado ya no emitía los ruidos

con que celebraba mi retorno después de las separaciones,

ni corría de un lado a otro para festejarme.

Jadeó su afecto y me extendió la pata.

Yo atravesé su pecho con la mano,

yo acaricié su hocico inconsistente;

sus mandíbulas estaban desencajadas

y sus ojos abiertos ciegos.

No se adonde se había ido desde aquella noche

en que lo dejé dormido a la puerta de mi cuarto

y al amanecer no lo encontré esperándome.

Venía de un lugar donde no hay comida

y para beber solo hay luz oscura.

Como a una sobra nadie

lo había llamado por su nombre.

Rápidamente nos reconocimos.

Le puse la correa roja en el cuello

y con la pata impalpable abrió la puerta.

Era hora de su paseo y salimos a la calle.

Pero en la esquina, nos desvanecimos.

(Los poemas solares, 2005)

A tribute to María Félix as Doña Bárbara

I finished reading Rómulo Gallegos' (no relation to my wife, Beckie) Doña Bárbara this week and was interested to find out that, besides having a telenovela named after it, there is also a movie with famed Mexican actress María Félix staring as the "Devorador de hombres". I haven't had time to watch it yet (it is available on youtube here in 15 parts) but I did find this short tribute to her role in the previously named film. No dialogue, just music, with lots of great images. An interesting find if you have either read the novel or are a fan of Félix.

Ludo - Nature and the City

Ludo is a street artist / public interventionist (is this a word?) from Paris who combines images of nature and city/urbanization/technology in order to create new hybridized works of art. He explains this a little bit in the video at the end of this post.

These works take on greater significance as one thinks about the relationship between nature and city. Is city part of nature or is it an entirely separate entity? What impact does the city have on nature or vice versa? What is our role as humans in this relationship? Enjoy!

Missing

I came across this movie while at the public library last week. I'm a big fan of Costa-Gavras' work (The film Z in particular) and somehow missed this one. Missing (1982) is a film about an American reporter in Chile during the coup who goes missing and the subsequent search by his father (Jack Lemmon) and wife (Sissy Spacek). A promising premise but what carries the film is the acting. Great performances all around, especially by Lemmon and Spacek. Costa-Gavras isn't afraid of using political thrillers as a platform to address head-on, issues of corruption and dictatorships. He is successful because he is director first and activist second. He knows how to make a great film.

*Z and Missing are both available through the Criterion Collection.

What I'm Loving This Week (Week ending February 19, 2011)

1. Estrella Distante - I read my first Bolaño novel this week. I’ve been meaning to read something of his for some time now, and although 2666 was at the top of my list, I didn’t have time for such a monstrous novel.

2. Criterion Re-releases - Criterion announced the re-releases of both Solaris (Tarkovsky) and Diabolique (Clouzet). The latter being one of my favorite thrillers.

3. Hip Hop on Fallon - This was the week of Hip Hop on the Jimmy Fallon show. He brought in underground rappers Tyler, the creator and Hodgy Beats (Odd Future), who delivered with a crazy, punk-like performance, and followed them with Raekwon and Ghostface. Having the Roots as your in-house band certainly helps.

4. "Circo" Trailer - Just saw this today. A documentary about a traveling Mexican circus. What's not to love?

What I'm Loving This Week

Here are a few things that I've really been into this week with music, literature, and movies. This is something I'll try to do every week.

James Blake

Toro y Moi

Tu, la oscuridad by Mayra Montero -

This is the first novel we're reading in my eco-criticism class. Dangerous jungle treks, voodoo, and endangered frogs; what else could one ask for?

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore -

A fascinating graphic novel that deals with human relationships within the context of the zombie genre. Although the savage brutality is present it is only secondary to character studies of the text. Very cool stuff!

Even the Rain (Tambien la lluvia) Dir. by Iciar Bollain-

Saw this trailer this week and became really excited. A film that's premise is the making of a film about the conquest within the context of present-day Bolivian society. Can't wait for this one to come out.

A Little Bit of Nostalgia

It's always fun to go back home and see family and create new memories in the same places where you had some of your first. Although it's been years since I lived at home there are still traces of my youth in my old bedroom and in the garage. One of things I found this time around were a collection of basketball posters that I had inherited from my brother in the late 80s, early 90s; Posters of Jordan, 'Nique, and the occasional Phoenix Sun (Larry Nance). My favorite poster out all them was from the Jordan/Mars Blackmon (aka Spike Lee) advertising campaign. In it, Jordan is palming Lee's head with the caption "The Best on Earth, The Best on Mars". Jordan was the best and always will be. The commercials were always fun as well. Below are a couple of my favorites.