The First Face/Off: Pierre Brasseur (left) and Alida Valli (right) carve up another victim in EYES WIHTOUT A FACE.

With theaters offering no new genre films this weekend, The Cinefantastique Podcast turns its all-seeing gaze back through the mists of time to a 50th anniversary examination of EYES WITHOUT A FACE, director George Franju’s moody masterpiece of art house horror. Imagine a dream of lyrical black-and-white images, of a lonely young woman, flitting through her home like a silent spectre. Her face, hidden behind a placid, mannequin-like mask, is a ruined mess. Her father, a brilliant but monomaniacal surgeon, is trying to restore her beauty – a process that involves kidnapping look-alike victims and transplanting their faces onto hers. When you see the operation in full view of the unblinking camera, you realize that your dream has erupted into a nightmare whose shock derives from the horrendous manner that the graphic imagery violates the poetic beauty of the film. The result is a classic not only of the genre but of cinema, easily one of the greatest horror films ever made. Follow Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski as they dare to look beneath the mask – it’s all part of Cinefantastique’s ongoing Celebration of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror films of 1960.

IN THIS EPISODE:

1. News
2. Opening in Theaters
3. 50th Anniversary Discussion: EYES WITHOUT A FACE
4. New on Home Video
5. New at cfqmag.com

An Even Dangerouser Game: Adrien Brody (right) and Alice Braga (center) take point in PREDATORS.

This week, the Cinefantastique Podcast sets its sights on PREDATORS, produced by Robert Rodriguez and directed by Nimrod Antal, from a screenplay by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch. Is this sequel to PREDATOR (1987) a brilliant pop culture mediation on the ability of the human spirit to triumph in dire circumstances, or is it merely a crushing disappointment that fails to deliver on the promise of its trailer? Listen in to find the answers to these and other intriguing questions, along with the usual roundup of news, events, and home video releases in the world of science fiction, fantasy, and horror film.

Ahead to the Past: Tilda Swinton in a retro-future moment from I AM LOVE.

Before going on a brief hiatus (explained further in the show; we’ll be back at the end of July, latest), we were lucky enough to get some time with Luca Guadagnino, director of the captivating drama, I AM LOVE.

The film comes out of Italy, and — in its story of a well-to-do woman (Tilda Swinton) being reawakened to life’s possibilities, to both tragic and positive ends — manages at once to embrace the country’s classic filmmakers while paving a new direction with Guadagnino’s distinctly bold, visual style and dynamic editing. Driven by the complex, densely-layered music of composer John Adams, this is a lush, emotional experience, and one of my favorite films so far this year.

Click on the player to hear the interview.

This Episode is Brought to You by:
STELLA ARTOIS
“Le CO2eux Soirée”

=============================

I AM LOVE
Trailer
[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.iamlovemovie.com

IMDB Listing

Subscribe to MMP on iTunes

Sign Up for E-Mail Updates

Your email:

 

One of the Legends.

Liberation's Forge: A tense moment from STONEWALL UPRISING.

And so now we catch up on a couple of very good films that opened last week, but — because there’s only so much podcasting I can do before my ears start to bleed — had to wait a week to be covered. In the case of the film featured in this episode, STONEWALL UPRISING, the delay turns out not to be too bad: We’re still in the midst of  Pride Week, after all, so this documentary remains relevant.

This is from Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, whom we met earlier this year with the release of their black metal documentary WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON. There are fewer church burnings in STONEWALL, but that doesn’t mean the event depicted — a 1969, NYC riot sparked when the police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn and the patrons decided they’d had their fill of harassment — didn’t stoke its own kind of fire, specifically the birth of the gay rights movement. Davis and Heilbroner rally some great, eyewitness interviews — including the vice cop who led the raid — and manage to put the story in context with considerable footage from news shows and “educational” films showing how, even in the mid- to late-sixties, attitudes towards homosexuality had barely advanced beyond the let’s-burn-’em-at-the-stake stage. If you paired this up with another great doc released last week — 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION, about the Mormon church’s concerted efforts to have their institutionalized homophobia turned into law — you’d get a good view of how far gay rights have come, and how far they still need to go.

Click on the player to hear the show.

This Episode is Brought to You by:
THE COLLECTOR
Play the Game!

===========================

STONEWALL UPRISING
Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.firstrunfeatures.com/stonewalluprising.html

IMDB Listing

Subscribe to MMP on iTunes

Sign Up for E-Mail Updates

Your email:

 

A Worthy Complement.

Household War: John C. Reilly (left) faces down Jonah Hill in CYRUS.

Wow. Four films worth talking about, all opening in the same week, and I’ve got interviews for all of them. I’m also pretty strung out to begin with, so I’m not going to attempt to get them all in within a single show, or even a couple of shows. Instead, we’ll start off with two comedies that are somewhat interrelated because they both break the mold in their own ways. Then, next week, we’ll be back with one episode looking at a fantastic documentary about the event that gave birth to the gay rights movement, and another episode about a beautiful and riveting drama from Italy starring Tilda Swinton. (Yeah, I could tell you titles, but, hell, listen to the show — they’re mentioned at the end).

Flawed Production: Agnès Jaoui (left) endures the ineptitudes of Jamel Debbouze (center) and Jean-Pierre Bacri in LET IT RAIN.

This week, we’ve got Agnès Jaoui discussing LET IT RAIN, her film about a politician (Jaoui herself) enduring an inept documentary crew (Jamel Debbouze and frequent Jaoui collaborator Jean-Pierre Bacri) in her public life, and family friction in her private one. As with the director’s previous effort, LISTEN TO ME, the interlocking havocs set the stage for a keenly nuanced view of the human condition, only this time with a considerably lighter tone.

Marisa Tomei (left) and John C. Reilly in CYRUS.

Then we’ll be talking with Jay and Mark Duplass about their new film CYRUS, wherein John C. Reilly tries to woo Marisa Tomei while fending off attacks from her passive-aggressive, live-at-home son, played by Jonah Hill. And if that log-line gives you chills, remember that the Duplasses were responsible for such cutting-edge, indie projects as THE PUFFY CHAIR and BAGHEAD. Here, they let that feeling of spontaneity — ganged to an exceptional cast — work its magic, and the result is a comedy with a refreshing sense of humanity.

Good stuff this week, with even more to come next. Click on the player to hear the show.

This episode is brought to you by:
GET HIM TO THE GREEK

============================

LET IT RAIN
Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.ifcfilms.com/films/let-it-rain

IMDB Listing

============================

CYRUS
Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.foxsearchlight.com/cyrus

IMDB Listing

Subscribe to MMP on iTunes

Sign Up for E-Mail Updates

Your email:

 

When Reilly was Cyrus (sort of).

Clowntime is Over: Dany Boon confronts the enemy in MICMACS.

The premiere audio review of science fiction, fantasy, and horror is back with another exciting episode! This time, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski eschew the big-time summer blockbusters in favor of the French comedy-fantasy MICMACS (Micmacs a tire-lairgot, or “Non-stop Madness”), latest surreal confectionery from supreme stylist Jean-Pierre Jeunet (who charmed audience with AMELIE). Also this week, we bring you the latest news, the Cinefantastique Calendar of upcoming events, and previews of the week’s home video releases. All in all, it’s more fun than a Jerry Lewis festival!

Not Quite Human: Delphine Chanéac as Dren in SPLICE

In Volume 1, Episode 17 of the Cinefantastique Podcast, Dan Persons Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski delve into the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, unraveling the mysteries of genetic engineering and bad parenting as they analyze SPLICE, Vincenzo Natali’s thoughtful variation on the old “mad scientists create a monster” scenario. Also this week, the usual round-up of news, home video releases, and upcoming events.

Click on player to hear show.

Tougher than You: Doctors at work in LIVING IN EMERGENCY

It’s getting to be that my fortitude is being tested on a weekly basis. I’ve witnessed the psychotic outrages of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (and liked it), the moral confrontation that is THE KILLER INSIDE ME (liked it), and the let’s-put-The-Rock-in-a-tutu TOOTH FAIRY (you’re kidding, right?). But all that was make-believe stuff. LIVING IN EMERGENCY is very real, a documentary, and at points can be rough going. But if you can work up the nerve to tough it out, your courage will be greatly rewarded.

‘Course, if you want to talk about courage, you have to talk about the subjects of the film: four doctors who have volunteered to work for Doctors without Borders (aka Médecins Sans Frontières) in two, war-ravaged countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Director Mark Hopkins — making his feature documentary debut having previously produced numerous docs — takes his cameras into the exam, operating, and break rooms, and doesn’t flinch from showing both the staggering challenges the volunteers face, and the effect those challenges sometimes have on them (one doctor compares the attitude of another to Heart of Darkness — that’s never a good thing). The film winds up an unwavering, credible evaluation of why the organization has justly received a Nobel Peace Prize — one of the best docs I’ve seen so far this year. It also reminded me why I need to stop whining when I have to watch movies like TOOTH FAIRY.

Click on the player to hear the interview.

This Episode is Brought to You by
EXAM

LIVING IN EMERGENCY
Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.livinginemergency.com

IMDB Listing

Subscribe to MMP on iTunes

Sign Up for E-Mail Updates

Your email:

 

No connection, but a great doc.