Rubber, Somewhere, The Films of Frank Henenlotter

Just watched Rubber, it's a kind of absurdist comedy about a killer tire, written and directed by Quentin Dupieux. The slightly half arsed plot concerns Robert (pronounced 'rubber', clever huh?), a disguarded old tire who inexplicably comes to life and begins a journey of self discovery and murder along an American highway, eventually becoming transfixed by a mysterious young woman. Meanwhile, a group of people watch the story take place through binoculars (as a "film"). I guess that sounds like a Fellini rip off or something, but it's actually quite funny and not too pretentious. Although you can see the influences, the end result is quite original. I thought it was kind of awesome.








Another new film thats probably worth checking out is Somewhere by Sofia Coppola. It's a nice little mood piece/character portrait about a hollywood actor played by Stephen Dorff, and his relationship with his young teenage daughter played by Elle Fanning.














Frank Henenlotter made a series of 'out there' horror c-movies during the 80s, probably the greatest of which is Basket Case. It's about an ex siamese twin who carries around his deformed brother in a basket.



The other good one is Brain Damage. The young protagonist, Brian, discovers theres a parasitic talking worm living in his body. He supplies it with fresh human brains in exchange for endorphines that the worm injects into his own brain.

Cesta do praveku (Jeorney to Prehistory) (1955)

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Baron Prasil (1961)

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Animation

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Samuel Fuller, Pete Walker, Death In Venice, Los Olvidados, Bunuel

Recently been kind of re-discovering Samuel Fuller. I was always a big fan of Shock Corridor, Fullers psycho-thriller about an ambitious journalist who infiltrates an asylum by pretending to be mad, but I never realised the amount of other really interesting films he made. His films remain largely unknown, and mostly unavailable in this country, but he's a legend amongst his peers. Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese have both mentioned his films as a major influence. Fullers follow up to Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss, is a strange, noirish melodrama about a prostitute who escapes her old life to become a nurse in a small town, only to discover that the handsome town patron whom she has an affair with, seen at the end of this clip, harbours a dark secret.























Also discovered these Pete Walker films, Die Screaming Marianne and Frightmare. Walker seems to have made quite a few decent exploitation movies during the 1970's, I see him as maybe like a British answer to Jess Franco. Like Franco, Pete Walker's films are characterised by camp dialogue, unnecessary nudity, bizarre sadistic characters, pacey and unpretentious plots and cinematography that sort of harkens back to classical hollywood and old gothic horror movies.





















Having finally watched Death In Venice, the amazing film by Luchino Visconti, I can safeley say it's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.















Recently I bought Los Olvidados, a film directed by Luis Bunuel, about street kids in Mexico City. Bunuel left Spain to escape fascism, its pretty clear if you watch any films of his, such as Viridiana or Exterminating Angel, that he was quite radically left wing and anti church. Los Olvidados is also famous for this dream sequence.


Un Chien Andalou's eye slicing sequence is probably the most iconic of any of his films.


Exterminating Angel is about a group of South American aristocrats at a dinner party who find themselves suddenly an inexplicably unable to leave their hosts small drawing room. It seems to be about what happens when culture and propriety give way to survival.

Memorable Scores part II

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Memorable Scores and Themes

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