#i was in a david lynch mood though

[firewalkzwit]

in the mood for love // neil lewis x reader

To accept that life is not David Lynch's magnificent "Blue Velvet", or much less Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity", was not an easy thing for a man like Neil Lewis, who adored nothing more than to vicariously live through the screen time of the 50's Hollywood heartthrobs that starred as his favourite characters.

So, in the event that a Rohmerian woman whose quirk could even be seen through her yellow lens Godard-ish sunglasses, Neil found it to be an offer he couldn't refuse.

Word count: 2.8k

Cross-posted on AO3

A.N: i actually never finished watching the detectives bc i was honestly not a fan of the plot so bare with me lol, i was only too in love w cill and lucy liu's characters but the movie itself kinda disappointed me

also, yes i made them fans of MY favorite movies, arrest me.

The sound of intense tapping of nails on the counter, crowded by a disastrous attempt at organising countless VHS tapes scattered all over it, caused the plastic of the films to rattle as the table vibrated. Neil's tired eyes rolled upwards to catch a glimpse of the face before him, a slight frown drawn between her eyebrows and an intensely inquisitive stare which hardly helped him to decipher what exactly she wanted that actually merited bothering him.

The harsh placement of the VHS on his desk caused him to grit his teeth, it felt almost imperative, and it ached him to see his most prized possessions be mistreated. His eyes drifted back up to her, the yellow-tinted lens of her sunglasses still didn't stop him from finding them oddly familiar. Scanning to the rest of her clothes as if he wanted to glimpse her personality based on her looks, he felt like a detective. The black minidress on her body was rather loose, and the sleeves ended close to the start of her wrists, as if it was too short for her arms. It seemed like an intentional fashion choice, despite how unflattering it looked to him. The dress hugged her waist in the centre, with a peculiar silver belt he'd only see in the outfit of a woman in a nouvelle vague film. In fact, her entire style seemed to be the one of a sixties Parisian flâneur, as if she was ruthlessly trying to imitate Anna Karina. Over the turtleneck that culminated her dress, a thin, long golden chain that went as low as her belt had a large and round golden pendant hanging from it.

But as soon as she spoke he was disappointed to find no thick, sexy french accent, but rather an ordinary speech, almost too friendly and passive to be attractive. His eyes drifted down to the VHS on his desk; while he expected Vivre Sa Vie, le Bonheur or Pierrot le Fou, there was no La Collectionneuse on his desk, but rather the most unexpected of outcomes.

Jane Birkin would never rent a chick-flick, Neil thought.

The membership she handed did not belong to her, it was that of a man's, an old one too, judging by his name.

"Alright, that will be eight dollars."

"Jeez, eight?"

"Eight."

"You do know the other rental charges only five, right?"

"I was not aware, thank you." Not only was she of poor taste, but also quite irritating. Even though he refrained from explaining how being a smaller business practically obliged him to charge more to make an actual profit, it was before he could begin to explain the late fees that she snatched the VHS from his hand.

"I'm actually going to keep looking." And just like that, she turned and began to walk slightly bent over, looking at the orange labels that hung on the shelves. Curiosity consumed him, and he also felt it his duty as the owner of the videoclub to assist his customers in making a choice.

"Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Well... What do you have with Robert De Niro?" Neil's eyes suddenly lit up, as if her personality had a chance at salvation the moment those words came out of her mouth.

"Most of his works, there's his classics like Goodfellas, Taxi Driver... I even have Heat if you're looking for something more thrilling."

"Heat?"

"Heat is one of the most critically acclaimed nineties crime dramas. It also stars Al Pacino, it's this kinda' cop and criminal trope but so realistically achieved, even the sound of firearms is claimed to be one of the most realistic in the history of film-"

"I'll just take that one." The tip of her finger slowly grazed his as she gently took the Heat VHS from his hands, a friendly awkward grin displaying discomfort. "It's just for my dad."

"Oh... Sixteen Candles' for you I guess." A soft nasal laugh left her body as her head tilted down, shaking in denial.

"No, that's for my dad too." Ok, weird, but by then she had undeniably picked his curiosity.

"Nothing for you then?"

"I prefer a cheaper rental, this is my dad's membership." As if he couldn't see for himself that such a name would never belong to her, it could only be that of an old geezer who he still struggled to recognise even though he was a member. And even though she intended to make a subtle comment, it did not come off that way.

"Oh yeah? And what do you rent in the cheaper club?" Media Giant could have a wider offer and lower prices, but Neil assumed it wasn't a real loss if the clientele consisted of girls like her.

"I like French movies, Harmony Korine, seventies giallos... Why, you want me to rent them from you instead?" While her first pick was particularly predictable, Italian giallos were a genre he was interested in exploring, and of which he hardly had any in his extensive collection. Neil shrugged almost dramatically, trying to incite her to take yet another pick.

"It wouldn't hurt your dad. Except for the giallo part, ‘can't help you there."

"You mean you have no giallos here?" His face deformed into an awkward pout, as if he'd been defeated in his own ground. "You look like the type of guy to own them on Criterion."

"I don't think so, no." By that point, the humiliation of her light cackle upsetted and confused him even further, returning her change as she piled up the tapes.

"If you ever want to watch a good Dario Argento movie, you let me know when I return you these." And marking her goodbye with a soft grin that slightly lifted the sunglasses that rested above her cheeks, Neil was taken aback beyond speech. Was it a date? Was she joking? He couldn't quite understand, and so couldn't come up with a proper response.

But seven days passed before she returned, and he would have to charge her the late fees that added to the sixteen dollars. However, in the course of those five days Neil hardly remembered her, briefly making a comment about it to his friends. Neil was not the type of man to stress easily, and he was exercising his peace that particular afternoon as he watched the director's cut of Psycho, to him a movie that truly never got old. He snacked on the couch in a slobby posture, his limbs spread over it without a care about presentation. It was not the type of day for him to expect too many customers, and it was too hot to go outside anyway. Hardly did he ever struggle to find an excuse to stay in anyway, so when he heard the doorknob pushed down his expression shifted into a displeased grimace. His eyes peered over the backrest, displeased to find that someone had indeed come in.

As he got up and stretched, mindfully appearing to be homeless, he caught a glimpse of her again. Her head was tilted and on her hands were the two tapes she had borrowed. He was surprised to have even forgotten that he'd rented her the films, usually being more attentive about what went in and out of his club. Probably the bizarre interaction had caused him to forget. That time she wore a tiny pair of black shorts with black stockings up the knees and also black, sharp-pointed flats. The usual thick, high-waisted belt accompanied a loose sage blouse, which was accessorised with elongated collars of various unique beads, and the peculiar yellow-tinted shades. Not that Neil cared at all about fashion, nor did he understand it, but he assumed she was going for chic.

"Sorry for not coming by sooner, hope you didn't miss these." She placed the tapes on the counter and quickly began looking through her pockets for the money she assumed she'd have to pay for being two days late. Before he could tell her how much extra she owed, she placed the four dollars on top of the movies.

"How'd you know how much..." Neil's finger drew a circle above the tapes and the money, as if she was some sort of genie or simply gambling with how much he'd charge compared to his prime competitor.

"My dad." She quickly interrupted, offering him her usual small grin of politeness before making her way out. Yet by that point Neil wasn't oblivious to her previous invitation, overwhelmed by the curiosity her strange looks provoked him.

"Is... the offer for that Dario Argento still up?" He could tell she was smiling through the way her cheeks lifted, visible from behind, and the way her voice sounded. When people smile and talk, their voice accommodates to the wider lips and sound friendlier.

"Glad you asked."

It was by that point that the old-Hollywood mystery enthusiast Neil and the French new-wave, foreign murder-thriller enjoyer Y/N frequented each other in what consisted of visits to the Gumshoe Video and her place. In contrast to his original impression of her, she was quite the film collector, owning a perfect shrine that ranged from art house Kino Lorber films to a wide range of classics on Criterion. She was truly well stocked. The only thing obvious to him from the start was that she was a great enthusiast of foreign films, something she even gave away in the unique way she dressed.

She was also an occasional actress, kindly starring in the indie projects of some of her film geek friends, many who shockingly knew Neil as well. It was natural for them to have so many people in common, especially because people with mutual interests were bound to come across each other in such a small town, however he was surprised to not have seen her previously roaming around or in any of his friends' films. She had a look that just gave away she'd be into acting, the role of a muse seemed to fit her character perfectly.

Because of this, as soon as Neil began to grow an interest in impressing her, she was surprised to hear he wanted to try and film an experimental short, try his luck at producing something beyond an advertising trailer for his videoclub, something more artistic.

Obviously he invited her to star in it, and even though he'd expected her to jump in his arms in excitement, never did she show herself to be shocked or taken aback by any of the bizarre propositions he had in mind. Neil wasn't very knowledgeable or even interested in the world that existed beneath experimental indie films, but she seemed to be willing to comply with the various shots of strange ideas he sketched frantically in strangely-drawn frames.

When it was finally time to shoot, it was clear that the whole tape would be very rudimentary, using the 35mm film gauge she had offered to lend him, demanding that he treat her camera with extreme care.

Despite Neil's attempts of disclosing what exactly he had in mind, rough sketches were clearly not enough, as the minute they began to shoot and the scenes began to come to life, it became too clear to her that Neil just wanted to see her naked, behaving like a conceited filmographer in poor attempts of masking his amateurism. It was hard to imagine senior film-makers like Jean-Luc Godard, especially the favourites of Y/N, and the thousands of breast and butt-naked women takes they had witnessed being filmed in their lifetime. Neil found it hard to imagine them behaving with naturality, but then again he assumed it was the only way to behave if they were actually in search of pristine shots.

"You don't seem to be taking this too seriously." She finally scolded, her forearm hugging her chest to cover her breasts once Neil cut the cameras.

"What do you mean? I'm directing here."

"You're wasting film in countless shots of my tits, what message are you trying to convey?" Interrogation was not on his plans, especially because Neil expected artistic and abstract film to not be questioned, but rather merely interpreted.

"It's about... the beauty of the raw human body." His tone didn't project confidence, and Y/N could tell he was feeding her bull-shit.

"Okay, then I'll film you too."

"Sorry, what?"

"It's not the human body if you also don't see the male." He didn't seem too convinced, obviously it was far more amusing to simply watch than to have to partake. "You and all these film-makers are so open minded when it comes to seeing women, but there's still a taboo for the male body." Neil couldn't find in him the interest to follow her idea. Obviously she had a valid point, but he was never the type to pay attention to the underlying message behind highly interpretable films, rather driven to puzzling movies where connecting the dots until the end was the reason to get his brain working.

However, how could he disagree? By that point it couldn't get more intimate than that, and a sudden high of confidence invaded him and prompted him to begin to undress himself. He began by his shirt, clumsily taking it off and visibly embarrassed. As he begins to rid himself from his pants and underwear, feeling the lens of the camera stare at him probingly, the desire to turn back strikes him to his core. He finally stands there, exposed and naked. He tries to look defiant and confident, but he's achingly vulnerable.

The camera is delighted with his expressions, and his body is posed like he wants to bend inwards and disappear into the air, but just when the filming of his most exposed self seems to never end, the camera lowers and his eyes meet with hers, and her own naked body too.

The naturality with which she accepted being in the spotlight seemed to indicate it was not the first time she filmed something of the sort, and Neil began to wonder who exactly had been gifted with pioneering in such a scene. He, on the other hand, was awkward and hardly artistic, his skinny body and shaky blue eyes screaming how out of place he felt.

"Do you think that's good enough?"

"Yes, I can't keep lending you more film anyway."

"That was... something." As she sat on the floor naked, her back arched sideways and her legs to her left as her arm supported the body, displaying total relaxation. Meanwhile, he couldn't wait for her permission to get back dressed, staring at her clothes as he waited for her to pick them up and imply she could do the same.

"It's a great thing when you realise you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about."

"American Beauty?"

"Yes." In a way, the scene did share odd similarities to the American classic. The filming of odd, regular things and their naked bodies, Neil was bound to expect what would come next would follow as in the movie. He slowly crouched and sat before her, the two sharing brief stares that felt like a lifetime. Her gaze was soft and mellow, contagiously transmitting her tranquillity to his own as he pondered on whether to make a move or not.

By that point it was obvious they were not going to leave that room without something happening before, but the decision of who would initiate the contact seemed to be difficult as the longest minute of their lives passed by them.

So when she finally accommodated her posture and began to lean closer to him, he crawled her way progressing from soft and careful movements to pounding her against the floor. The sound of bone against the wooden floor caused them both to wince, her face wrinkling in a frown of pain. It was before she could hold her head to stroke herself that his own hand slid down from her temple to the back of her head, holding her up to finally kiss her.

The kiss was long, and the sound of their lips engaging in humid contact as their tongues went in and out of each other's mouth echoed across the empty room, Neil's free hand travelling from her navel to her breast as her arms wrapped around his slender body. Her legs followed the motion, soon making her look like she hung from him, clinged to his back as he arched to reach closer to her. Her gaze ogled from the corner of her eye in search of the camera as her arm reached out, finally being released from his grip to set up and continue to film themselves, a prime example of human beauty in its most raw expression.

Needless to say that beyond physical pleasure, it was an intellectual disappointment for the two that despite their love for film, they still couldn't make sex look and feel like a scene from Body Heat, sexiness was greatly rehearsed after all.

this sucks ass i just wanted to write filmbro cillian murphy and yap about my favorite movies tbhngl

#cillian murphy #watching the detectives #neil lewis #neil lewis x reader

[thealmightyemprex]

Sci Fi Month Frank Herbert's Dune(2000)

So I talked about David Lynchs attempt at a Dune adaptaion ,but there have been other adaptaions of the story,with Denis Villenuves Dune PArt 2 currently in theaters by the time of this post,but the adaptaion I am looking at today was a 3 episode miniseries made for the Sci Fi Channel (Still never calling it Syfy ,I can be petty ) .Ive kind of avoided this version because welll......Its a early 2000's TV adaptation of an epic novel for the Sci Fi channel ,which is unfair,as I love a good miniseries but I'll admit I can be a snob sometimes,but over the years I have heard praise and to this day many people (My dad who is an old school Dune fan ) call tyhis the best adaptation of Dune

In this 2000's miniseries Duke Leto Atredies (William Hurt ) is given control of Arakis by the Emperor Shaddam IV (Giancarlo Giannini) who uses it as a ploy to destroy Leto by giving support to Letos enemy the Baron Vladimir Harkonen (Ian McNeice ) to destroy the house of Atredies,but Letos son Paul (Alec Newman ) and Letos concubine Jessica (Saskia Reeves) escape ,join the native people of Arakis ,the Fremen to seek revenge on the Emperor and House Harkonen ,while also taking advantage of a prophecy

.....SO I enjoyed this a lot.Its not flawless but if you are in the right mood it is enjoyable .I will say it is not as grand as the Lynch or Villinuve films,its shot on soundstages and lacks the all star casts of those films....But what I like is its more Shakespeare then space opera ,very theatrical sort of sci fi .I actually like the sets(GEidi Prime in particualr is perhaps my fave take on the planet ).The costume design is where this shines ,I heard the costumes were inspired by Moebius (The French comic artist) and you can tell,the characters feel like they walked right out of a sci fi comic,and with the designs and colors this mybe my favorite LOOKING version of Dune .I think the three episodes tell the story very well,though the best written is part one,and part 2 feels a bit padded but it sticks the landing for part 3 .I also think this miniseries nails the darker parts of the story better then the 84 Dune ,mainly that Paul is NO hero

The actors are mostly good,though very few are my favorite takes on these character.Some stand outs are Karel Dobry as the enigmatic Liet-Kynes(My fave take on the character),Julie Cox in an expanded role as Princess Irulan,Barbora Kodetova is good as Chani ,Saskia Reeves is a very good Lady Jessica ,Jan Unger is a suitably slimey Piter de Vries ,and Matt Keesler is suitably villainous as Feyd .The big star gets of the miniseries are Giancarlo Giannini as the Emperor who is better then Jose Ferrer but still lacking a bit of gravitas ,and William Hurt as Duke Leto ,who I think does a fairly good job as the noble duke even if its funny he is top billed as a guy wh dies in the first part .The scene stealer of the series is our villain ,the Baron played deliciously deviously by Ian McNiece ,who might be my favorite take on the Baron ,he feels like a classic Shakesperian villain and McNice is clearly having a ball without going as over the top as Kenneth McMillian in the 84 film

If the miniseries has a weak point the weakest has to be Paul.Alec Newman is not bad ,in fact hes pretty good at anti hero Paul near the end....But his begining PAul feels like it is written younger,and he comes across too petulent and whiney

However I do reccomend this and it is very solid ,higly reccomended

@ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie @piterelizabethdevries @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @princesssarisa @countesspetofi @filmcityworld1

[happiestrothko]

hi i love your blog :) & was wondering if you could recommend your favorite/the best sapphic n wlw media like shows books movies please? I have recently come to ... Realisations .. :') I do love picnic at hanging rock btw and also the similar vibes of the media that you tend to reblog. homeorotic energy w out being Explicity Stated it also very welcome <3 thank you if you can and i hope thats okay !!! have a good day :)

hellooo what a lovely question - thank you so much! i’ll happily rec some things i’ve loved, especially that i find homoerotic/wlw media that Compel me much harder to come by - and i agree, picnic at hanging rock is so unique.

books:

- zami: a new spelling of my name by audre lorde - an “autobiomythography” & maybe thee most formative book for me, in terms of wlw reading. i read it for university and it changed me as a person, changed the way i look at loving women. it’s beautiful

- nightwood by djuna barnes - if you like the more unsettling aspects of picnic at hanging rock, something lynchian and modernist, this is a dark and heavily abstract lesbian novel which i really love

- our wives under the sea - a really poignant and lovely soft sci-fi depiction of a wlw relationship, themes of grief, identity, loss etc. some compare it to annihilation though expect much less science fiction

- her body and other parties by carmen maria machado - a lovely (probably my favourite!) collection of short stories which often are wlw-centric or have a vibe. stunning prose in general

- hera lindsay bird by hera lindsay bird - wlw poetry, very fun and contemporary, what i call self-aware poetry

- mary oliver’s poetry!!!

- for biographies, anything about tove jansson….

- anything by virginia woolf will fit the not explicitly stated vibe feeling - mrs dalloway has a really wistful lesbian undercurrent, orlando is a love letter to vita sackville-west. etc. etc.

movies:

- persona (ingmar bergman) - thee movie. it’s Not explicitly stated, it’s feverish and desolate, but it’s both intensely homoerotic and a searing exploration of identity, existential dread etc.

- mulholland drive (david lynch) - again, unsettling vibes. not even gonna elaborate on it - it’s a david lynch - but it’s a must-see

- passing (rebecca hall) - a moody, poignant and beautiful adaptation of nella larsen’s novella (which is on my to-read list) about a relationship between two women

- the favourite (yorgos lanthimos) - recently rewatched with a friend, no notes. a bizarre, obsessive, thrilling story. rachel weisz is to die for in it

- kajillionaire (miranda july) - a tender and strange (affectionate) depiction of a bond between two women in unexpected circumstances

- thoroughbreds (cory finley) - what if murder was homoerotic, what if murder was a metaphor. in a way this is about every codependent friendship between girls that has ever veered towards obsession

- vita & virginia (chanya button) - a biopic abt virginia woolf and vita sackville-west specifically, people have very mixed feelings on it but i personally love it to bits.

tv shows:

- black sails - anne and max’s storyline in black sails is the most visceral and lovely wlw story i’ve seen in tv or film… there are specific tws i would heed for max’s arc in the first season which i’d be happy to elaborate on, but their story is beautiful

- first season of killing eve is still unmatched 😔 second is still quite nice, if not as good. third is hm. the ending scene has whimsy to it. never watch the fourth.

things my gf loves that i still haven’t read/seen:

- portrait of a lady on fire - i just know it will Get to me so i’m waiting for the right mood to watch it

- this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar & max gladstone - same reasoning!

things i’ve started but haven’t had a chance to finish yet:

- little blue encyclopaedia (for vivian) by hazel jane plante - a beautiful (but sad, and also about grieving, hence it’s taking me a while) trans wlw story. quaint and quiet and wistful.

#wlw recs #wlw books #wlw movies #thank you for this question this was so nice to think about!!! #lesbian book recs #answered #my dream is for something like autobiography of red about women to exist #One day maybe i’ll make it happen #and i would love recs too!!!

[juleecruisearchive]

A Peek Into Lynch's World

by Dennis Hunt

A vocalist wearing a prom dress sings eerie ballads while suspended in midair. A topless nymph slithers up the back of an abandoned car, crawling in a space that’s normally a back window. Standing next to a clarinet player and a young woman writhing in ecstasy, a midget repeats an early, heart-breaking dialogue between a man and a woman.

Welcome to director David Lynch’s nightmare world.

“Industrial Symphony No. 1,” a 50-minute home video that was released this week (on Warner Reprise, $19.98), is a fascinating, constantly intriguing stroll through a dark, bleak, surrealistic landscape, resembling what a city might look like after a nuclear war--one big industrial junkyard.

Everything is smoky and lit by flashing searchlights. All the vocals are performed by Julee Cruise, who has a high, frail, angelic voice and an ethereal, jazzy vocal style. Her dream-like songs, such as “Up in Flames” and “I Float Alone,” provide a chilling contrast to the string of stark, menacing images.

In Lynch’s world, the bizarre seems normal. So when a squadron of dolls slowly descends into a frantic crowd, it seems like business as usual. You never quite know what’s going on, but that’s obviously what Lynch intended.

It starts off with a short phone conversation between a couple (played by Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage, who star in Lynch’s movie “Wild at Heart”) on the verge of breaking up. The succeeding images seem to reflect their turmoil and anxiety.

Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, who writes the music for Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” TV series, composed a slow, spare, moody, jazz-oriented score—part instrumental and part vocals—that enhances the pervasive, nightmarish mood. Though it looks as if it had been shot on a sound stage using elaborate cinematic special effects, this program was filmed last November during a live performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House.

Because this is a Lynch project, “Twin Peaks” fans might be tempted to sample it. But this wildly unorthodox program is less for that audience than it is for fans of the far-out—for instance, those who love Lynch’s outrageous “Wild at Heart.”

Source: Los Angeles Times September 5 1990

#1990 #julee cruise #industrial symphony no. 1 #david lynch #angelo badalamenti #badalamenti #review #Los Angeles Times #LA Times #Nicolas Cage #Laura Dern

[fiendishthingee]

"My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it, and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me. There was only one danger - that my joints would rust; but I kept an oil-can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed it. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and being caught in a rainstorm, I was left to stand in the woods. While I stood there, I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love, I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved to ask Oz to give me one.” 

– L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Los Angeles, the world where I've hung my shingle for nearly 20 years, is a place of many moods. There’s the bright sunlight and a creative sprawl that really only exists in our collective fantasies of fame and fortune, and there is the corrupt, overpopulated dystopia, built on illusion and eating itself from within. The truth is that this “seventy two suburbs in search of a city” is both, a schizophrenic planet of its own where the beautiful parts of human nature are always at odds with the ugliest. You can get pulled in one direction or the other on any given day, scrambling for a sense of peace that may or may not exist. Like some bittersweet pocket symphony by The Beach Boys, you might feel jolts of wonder and possibility here and there, but they’re usually tempered by the suspicion that you’re heading down a blind alley. Many people can be dissociative and narcissistic, coming off as weirdly alien or robotic in how they transact rather than interact. Most of the time, you do your work and keep to yourself, finding comfort in that because you think it’s temporary. Once you start to believe that it’s not, though, despair can set in, amplifying itself to the point where you might not hear anything else. David Lynch’s fabled “golden sunshine” becomes harsh and unforgiving, and that unfurling sense of space claustrophobic. You can’t get your head above the water, but your feet can’t touch the bottom either. So, is it really a “city of dreams,” or just a junkyard strewn with what’s left of them? Ask me again in 17 years.

#los angeles #david lynch #dystopia #beach boys #wizard of oz #california #santa monica #dorothy parker #oz #l frank baum #brian wilson

[reviewsclown]

Wild at Heart 1990

First off, gotta say, did miss the first like 20 minutes of this movie, oops. This is directed by David Lynch though so that's cool, never seen one of his movies before I hear he writes good stuff?

Outfits/set design are very good, very 90s movie extremely so. They gave Nic Cage (playing a character named Sailor in this one (??) a weird Elvis-type accent because he's obviously meant to be an Elvis-type guy, has metal music though so that's a bonus. They gave him a snakeskin jacket too that's pretty swaggy

There's a noticeable weird use of sound effects, noises and a scream they play a few times it's odd, maybe the use of sound effects is what makes this Lynchian in nature. Lots of cutting to new scenes with very different moods and back, I assume that is also Lynchian

Very neat characters, they're distinctive, a lot of memorable evil guys. Honestly a very silly movie in a serious way as someone said, it's comedic in nature a lot of times but it's not a comedy

Nic Cage does say the f slur but he also apologizes for it later so it's fine.

Rating: yeah this is good, lots of sex scenes some violence in it but it's a good movie, nic cage and lynch work well together turns out. you should watch this and not miss the first 20 minutes probably.

#reviews #movies #nicolas cage #wild at heart

[the1975attheirverybest]

whats ur fav genre of films? cuz recently ive been pretty interested in court/crime films (finished the sparring partner last night and oof.. heavy topic)

also!! do u have any film recs???

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Ooof. I’m pretty boring. I tend to like psychological thrillers and stuff like that. But, honestly, I’m open to all kinds of genres as long as the film is good, I’ll watch it!

For film recs: well, anything with Florence Pugh in it! Most Timothee Chalamet films are fun. Though I haven’t seen Dune yet. Heard it wasn’t too good. The French Dispatch it great if you like historical stuff, or Little Women (2019).

If you want Matty-related recs then Quentin Tarantino films. I LOVE True Romance. And when I found out it was the inspo behind Robbers I died. Matty also loves anything David Lynch I think. Oh, and Buffalo 66.

Of course, whenever I’m in a mood and want just some comfort, I’ll go for early 2000s rom-com. The golden age of chick flicks. 10 Things I Hate About You. She’s The Man. Clueless, etc. really I love anything that’s good, haha. Genre doesn’t matter too much.

#ʕ•ᴥ•ʔanon

[smreine]

Dune (Villeneuve 2021) review

I made the mistake of watching Lynch's Dune two days before Villeneuve's Dune was released. Months later, I still find myself unable to decide which is the "better" movie. I suspect it's Villeneuve's. Certainly, Villeneuve's is much more successful in the box office. Yet I can only think of Villeneuve's Dune in terms of how it lacks compared to Lynch's Dune.

Dune is largely considered impossible to adapt, which is silly, because Lynch did fine adapting the whole book. Turning half of the book into a montage may not be what certain fans prefer, but if you watch the movie for itself in Watsonian fashion, it makes sense: Paul Muad'Dib is created by the events in the beginning of the movie, and we see his creation being the downfall of his enemies when he fights Sting And Friends at the end. It is a story at mythic scale that does a "one two, skip a few, ninety-nine, one hundred" approach to the plot. You can try to argue with Lynch's approach, but there's no point, because this is David Lynch we're talking about.

Villeneuve's Dune isn't a complete story in itself. It ends halfway through the book, in a fashion both anticlimactic and abrupt, and does not attempt to construct a standalone story out of that material.

In the meantime, the movie drags us through many long, slow scenes that amount to little more than concept art while establishing world and mood. I genuinely believe that the amount people enjoy this movie is dependent on how likely they are to repeatedly peruse an Art of Dune coffee table book. Although I love concept art, this isn't in a style which appeals to me. It's minimalist, geometric, and nearly monochromatic to almost a comical degree - as though Villeneuve was making a deliberate move away from the lush Baroque world Lynch built.

What do you think the future will look like after humans have spent a couple thousand years trucking around the galaxy? Will we have ancient structures that glory in the accumulated wealth of our empire, or will we be utilitarian?

What do you *want* the future to look like? If you think, "I hope the future has a lot of sheer sandstone faces," then I bet you will love to stare at Villeneuve's Dune.

Similarly, I found the actors' performances less compelling than in Lynch's adaptation - probably because many of them were flown in for a partial movie shoot, whipping out a few scenes under the promise they will have a lot more scenes in the second half of the movie that has yet to be made. But Villeneuve's vision for this movie also involves making Paul Atreides a "normal boy" who is moody and irritating, completely unlike Lynch's Paul Atreides, who feels like he was born a legend and will die a legend and belongs to the mythic forces surrounding his life. The sense of drama is so different.

I could continue enumerating the elements of this adaptation which I found to be inferior, simply because they are so much less *interesting*, but I think I've said enough to make it clear I'm more of a Weird Movies Person than a Whatever Villeneuve Was Trying To Do Here person. I can't evaluate this version of Dune on its own merits, and I don't want to. The fact I sat through it for so many hours isn't just because Oscar Isaac is one of the hottest people on the planet. I was clearly some kind of entertained. But it will never be anything but the Lynch's Dune turned down from 11 to a 4.

#movie review #archived from letterboxd #dune

[thispabulum-blog]

I Know That You're Timid

What's the Tea? Tuesday

Life is dumb right now and I'm having to focus more on responsible stuff instead of dating, so this is going to be another fairly short one. Also the guy across the street woke me up at 8:30 am using a chainsaw on his trees, so I'm not in the best mood.

How was last week?

Sunday was a good day. Cuddlebug went to work all day, and while he was gone I turned his bed into a small painting studio so I could funnel some of my stress into being creative. Lots of cartoon characters, weird memes, and I'm also working my way up to painting people which is very intimidating.

Once he was home for the evening we watched more Squid Game - including the most difficult episode with the marbles.

My emotions!

It's such a good show.

Monday morning I woke up from weird nightmares, and did more painting. We finished Squid Games. I swear we're not the most boring people ever, except sometimes we are and that's fine, too.

Later I was feeling productive so I took nice pictures of the stuff he's selling on eBay. Helpful Girlfriend. Anybody want to buy some old Atari games?

We spent the afternoon cuddling and trying to pick a movie to watch, and because I was put on the spot I suddenly forgot both the titles and plots of every good movie I've ever seen. I failed at summarizing movies so badly that he asked me to show him trailers instead. We somehow landed on Blue Velvet, because I'm always down for watching weird shit. So after a quick Burger King run we started watching it, and...man, I just don't know. What can you say about David Lynch?

*credits roll*

Cuddlebug: *points at screen* That was a movie.

Me: That sounds right.

Cuddlebug: And we watched it.

Me: Yup.

Cuddlebug: I give that a "Movie" out of 5.

Though I was having trouble staying awake throughout the movie - I'm starting to think big pasta dinners are fucking with my blood sugar - my couch sleepiness did not translate to bed sleepiness (as is so often the case), so I stayed up too late.

Tuesday morning I woke up to Cuddlebug on the phone making a doctor's appointment. Which...hot. Definitely playing into my Responsible Adult kink. But also fuck it was loud.

He teased me about being grumpy, which I feel is a natural reaction to being woken up by someone shouting 6 feet away from you. But it was almost noon, so we won't hold that against him.

Then he went out to run errands and came back with baked goods. Cookies, red velvet whoopie pies, cream puffs, flan. He specifically brought me a slice of Italian Creme cake because he's a smart man and he knows the way to my heart.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Dr. Strangelove texted me to ask if I'd seen the new Doctor Strange movie. We've been texting infrequently and mostly superficially. I'm keeping the lines of communication open because we still have logistical things to coordinate for a while, and as Cuddlebug said a while back, it's always good to have less enemies.

While he was starting dinner, Cuddlebug and I started Baccano! (an anime that he pitched to me as "There are a bunch of people on a train. Some of them are immortal and some aren't"). We watched the first four episodes, and I'm gonna be honest, I still really don't understand what's happening. But it's entertaining, for sure, and I'm fine sticking with it. It's only 16 episodes, anyway, and he assured me it'll make more sense at some point. Do I believe him? Mostly.

Wednesday we did a good amount of couch cuddling and watching Rick and Morty while eating the rest of the baked goods. Then he made me a sandwich and took me home.

Since then I've really just been applying for jobs, watching old episodes of John Oliver, writing, and painting.

I've definitely got some fun things to look at tomorrow...

#Spotify #okcupid #dating #poly #dating app #online dating #tinder #relationships

[beaft]

people liked my last masterpost of mood playlists, seemingly - but it was getting a little long, so i made a new one! feel free to check out or follow any of these~

the sense of an ending

well, it's over. you thought you'd feel triumphant, but instead you just feel empty, unsatisfied, restless, and wounded in a way you can't quite articulate. something has broken here that cannot be fixed. it's like nbd though lol

calming cat

songs to study or chill out to. mostly classical/ambient.

rabid women covered in blood

a playlist for female villains, final girls, and women who have really and truly lost the plot

liminal

is this what the kids call "weirdcore"? songs that you might expect to hear in a dream, or a david lynch movie. cw for unreality

soundtrack to your own personal horror movie

what it says on the tin. (several of these tracks have disturbing lyrics or themes, so tread carefully!)

someday you will ache like i ache

songs that literally sound like grief

#playlist #mixes #spotify #be shh now

[headinthestaticsky]

The Dusk Comes for me: Jasper Hale x My OC Fleur Swan, Chapter 4

Warnings: Moments of violence, cussing

AUTHORS NOTES: None of the characters in Twilight belong to me. All rights go to Stephenie Meyer.

 Sorry if you find anything misspelled or out of place. I proof read these chapters 3 times I still find things wrong with it.

“I'm alone, look at the sky, my dear. I am not every falling star make a wish every time I leave so we can love until infinity.” I'm Waiting Here by Lykke Li and David Lynch

One minute I was I sleeping with Jasper in my room and the next it seemed I was in a unfamiliar location. My movements were not at will, my feet pounded against the steel floor. It was as if I was chasing someone, I soon caught a glimpse of who it was. It looked like a security guard as I was running I noticed a sign on the wall “Grimsham.” Grimsham, that’s in Mason County. What am I doing in Mason County? Two men had ran ahead of me eager to catch the man. The two men looked unfamiliar to me, I was sure I had never seen them before. The security guard had made it outside just about to get out of the area when the man with long blonde hair caught him taking him down to the ground. They then began to feed on him, They were vampires that explained the speed. But why was I moving so fast though? My uncontrolled movements moved toward the man about to start feeding on him. It was then that I noticed that I was not in my body. My “hands” looked far to pale to be my own. Before I could see who the woman was I jumped up, gasping for air. I looked around the room, Jasper was gone. 

For once I was thankful about him not being there. I didn’t need him stressing out about something that I was a dream. I stretched and got up quickly getting ready for school as I slept in a bit too long. I went for a white lace long sleeved shirt and black jeans with the same ankle boots that I've owned for 4 years. I grabbed an apple since I didn’t have much time to eat. Just as I had closed the door I saw Bella slips on a big patch of ice. I held in a laugh wanting to be a little nicer today. I saw dad pull up in her truck and quickly help her up.

“Geez are you okay Bells?” He asked.

“Yeah, ice doesn’t exactly help the uncoordinated.” She replied.

“Well I put new tires on your truck since the old ones were getting pretty bald.” 

“Oh thanks dad.”

“I’ll put the chains on your tires tomorrow okay Petal?” 

“That’s fine dad, thank you.”

“I’m gonna be late for dinner today. I’ll be working overtime.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, a security guard  that works at Grimsham Mills down in Mason county got attacked by some animal.” He explained.

“Oh.” Was all I could say. My heart dropped down into my stomach I didn’t know what else to say. This couldn’t have been a coincidence, no way it couldn’t of been. But, I wasn’t a vampire how could I have predicted this. My mind was racing. Dad seemed to have noticed my distant look on my face.

“Are you okay Petal? You’re looking kinda pale there.” He asked

“Oh yeah I’m fine sorry my mind wandered. Be careful down there dad.” I replied.

“Yeah be careful dad.” Bella said.

“I always am. love you guys.”

“Love you too.”

These past few days have been pretty tense. Bella was of course on even more edge than usual as Edward hadn’t been showing up to school. Every time I pulled into the back of the lot and joined the rest of the Cullens I could feel Bella’s eyes burn at the back of my skull. I didn’t dare to look back, thinking I might combust into flames if I even glanced at her for a second. 

Today seemed to be one of those days. Jasper and I began to walk up the stairs toward the school. He suddenly stopped and turned around glaring back at her. Bella faltered and turned around quickly, seemingly intimidated by his harsh glare.

“You didn’t have to do that you know that right? I can handle my bony twin sister.”

“I felt like I had to darlin, her emotions were starting to give me a migraine.” 

“Aww, I’m sorry love.” I said I then pecked his lips.

“Edwards suppose to be back to though right?”

“Yes, he is he’s just running late.”

“Oh okay. Maybe him being back will calm her down.”

“Hopefully, now come on, we have a history test to take.”

“Ugh, why would you remind me about that now I got a migraine.” I said.

He chuckled before dragging me to class. As much as I wanted to focus on my test I just couldn’t. That dream kept filling my head after every questions I read. 

“Who was America named after?”

“Where is the Hudson River located at?”

“Name differences between federalist and anti-federalist.”

I just couldn’t formulate a full answer without drifting back to the dream. The three people ravaged that poor security guard and I was in one of those monsters bodies. Am I connected to them in someway or was this really just a dream? For my sanity and racing heart I just came to the conclusion it was. I just barely finished that history test before the time had run out. I finally lifted my head to see Jasper looking at me, worry etched all over his chiseled face. I couldn’t be helping his migraine at all. I grabbed his hand and led him out of the classroom. English and Calculus went by quickly and I was soon back at lunch. Bella hadn’t been glaring at me from across the room today. Jasper must’ve of scared her a bit. It was nice to get a break from the constant looks of pure hatred. I was working on an essay about the Scarlet Letter for English and Jasper had left to take a quick walk. As soon as he left Rosalie had tapped my shoulder.

“Hey are you okay? You’ve seemed kinda off this morning, Jasper’s starting to notice it too. She asked.

“No, I’m not.”

Alice and Dean’s interest had peaked and listened in on our conversation.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen to you?”

“No, not exactly. I just had a really bad nightmare. It was like I was in on the attack, It wasn’t me me though I was in someone elses body. I helped with the attack I was chasing that poor man with two other men.” 

“That’s strange, no wonder you’ve been out of it all morning.” Rosalie said.

“But it gets even worse, dad told me today he had to go down to Mason county because a security guard got attack by an animal. It was the same place in my dream.”

Rosalie, Emmett, Dean, and Alice looked shocked not exactly knowing what to say.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You’ll drive yourself crazy.” Rosalie said.

“Yeah don’t worry about it short-stack.”

“Yeah, you guys are right I need to stop worrying. I just can’t help it. It felt so real to me.”

“We’ll check out the area if that makes you feel better.” Alice suggested.

“I couldn’t ask you guys to do that but, thank you for the offer.”

“It wouldn’t be much trouble.” Dean said.

“No really I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Rosalie asked.

“Yeah it’s okay, can we just keep this between us for now.

“Don’t worry, We won’t tell anyone else.” Rosalie said.

“Thank you.”

Jasper had returned to the table putting his arm around my should and kissing my head. I noticed he had someone else with him, that person being Edward. 

“Been a while Edward, are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I feel a lot better.”

“Good.”

I then took Jasper’s hand feeling more content. It felt nice to tell somebody else about my dream. It was like a weight fell off my shoulders and my heart had returned to it’s normal pace. After Art and Calculus I made my way out of the building ready to head back home. Hopefully Bella would be in a better mood I didn’t want to fight today. I felt my arm being tugged on to turn me around... I of course knew who it was I guess him being back didn’t help he much. 

“Yes, Bella?” I asked in a calm tone.

“Look I know you’re around the Cullens all the time what’s going on with Edward!? She demanded.

“I don’t know.” I lied.

“Don’t lie to me! How stupid do you think I am? Everything was going fine in Biology and then when I asked about his eyes he freaked out again.” 

I held in a comment I didn’t want this to escalate.

“I am not lying Bella I don’t what is going on we never talk much.”

“Oh don’t give me that load of crap! Tell that freak of a boyfriend of yours to stop glaring at.”

“He can look where ever he wants to and he is not a freak. Don’t start something you can’t finished Bella. It won’t end well for you.” I said and started to walk away. 

“Oh no your not, you’re not going to walk away from me again!.”

Before I could say anything else I heard the screeching of a van. It was heading right towards us. I pushed Bella out of harms ways as much as I wanted to rip her head off I wouldn’t let her get crushed by a van. But I didn’t have enough time to move myself. I put my hands up knowing that it would help the impact but, my instincts just told me to do that. I was suddenly knocked down hitting my head on the pavement. I looked up with blurry eyes to see Jasper holding me and stopping the van. My breath was stuttering I didn’t know what to do.

“Are you okay darlin? I feel pain.” He asked he amber eyes filled with worry.

“I’m fine. You need to go though you can get caught. We don’t need anyone getting suspicious about you guys.” I said.

He nodded, kissed my head then left. I was suddenly surrounded by students all of them shouting to call 911.

“Oh my gosh Fleur!”

“Are you okay?!”

“I’m calling 911 now.”

“I’m sorry Fleur I tried to stop!” I heard Tyler say, he had a cut on the side of his head

My head started spinning so I laid down before I closed my eyes though I saw Bella's face for once she didn’t look at me with hatred but, shock and worry.

#jasper hale x oc #jasper hale x reader #jasper hale #rosalie hale #emmett cullen #alice cullen #esme cullen #carlisle cullen #bella swan #twilight #twilight saga

[juleecruisearchive]

A Star Is Born

by Greg Kot It could well be a plot summary of Blue Velvet, or perhaps Twin Peaks: “It’s all about relationships-inside and outside the company. Famous film directors. Composers. Me. It’s so complicated and giant and strange.” But it’s actually Julee Cruise, the diminutive musician-actress whose angelic voice has graced the provocative Blue Velvet movie and the hit Twin Peaks TV series, talking about life with David Lynch.

After being released to critical raves and commercial indifference last year, Cruise’s Floating Into the Night (Warner) album has cracked the Top 100 pop charts, thanks in part to the success of Twin Peaks. Floating Into the Night provides theme music for the show, and Cruise appeared in an episode of the Lynch-produced series as a roadhouse singer.

The album, full of deceptively straightforward romantic lyrics written by Lynch and an alternately lulling and jarring score composed by Angelo Badalamenti, sounds like nothing else in pop music. Cruise sings in a soft, child-like soprano over a cushion of purring keyboards and percussion, only to have myriad sound effects disrupt the mood: guitars out of Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti westerns, early ‘60s girl-group choruses and Big Band horns. It’s not unlike watching a Lynch movie: Just when you think you have a handle on things, something strange and discomforting happens.

“The person singing those songs is very lonesome; in fact, she’s losing her mind,” Cruise said with a laugh. It’s clear that besides being a mesmerizing singing performance, Floating Into the Night is also a first-rate acting job.

“Technically this music is so delicate that it’s a challenge just to sing it,” she said. “But at the same time, it allows me to be more dramatic, more psychotic than if I were just singing ‘Oh, baby, baby’ into the microphone. Certain things you can’t overact while you’re singing. This, I can overact and get away with it. I can stylize it.”

Cruise met Lynch after he had hired her friend, Badalamenti, to work on the score of Blue Velvet in 1986. “David wrote the lyrics out on a napkin and gave Angelo a few instructions,” she said. “Angelo wrote the music based on that.”

She rounded up some other singers, none of whom could negotiate the nebulous, free-floating rhythms and subdued, dark textures of the song, Mysteries of Love. Finally, she tried it herself.

“There was just the hint of a melody, no breaks in the music, no place for a singer to breathe,” she said. “At first I said I couldn’t do it. I didn’t think I could hold my breath that long.” But she so impressed Lynch and Badalamenti with her interpretation that they insisted on pushing the project further, into a full album.

While the record deal took shape, Cruise took a job as a Janis Joplin-style singer in a New York play and “completely butchered my vocal cords.”

“I had to hit rock bottom and almost lose my voice before I could learn how to use my voice for this album,” she said. She also gave up smoking, and as the album progressed, her voice grew stronger.

“On half of the album, they had to overdub my voice three or four times to make it sound strong enough,” she said. “But by the last half of the recording, my voice was strong enough to stand on its own.”

The album’s unique mixture of sounds, its undercurrent of stylized madness, evolved as the three worked together. “There were times I was worried that it was going to sound too clichéd, too bland,” she said. “The track I Remember, for example, sounded like something out of a bad soap opera at first. Then, by accident, we came up with these weird synthesizer notes that transformed the song into something credible, something with real bite to it.”

Though critics loved the album, commercial radio didn’t know what to make of it. But the success of Twin Peaks has rekindled interest in all things Lynch. “I wasn’t counting on Twin Peaks changing anything for me,” Cruise said. “I didn`t think it would be a hit except with the black turtleneck crowd.”

The series’ broad-based appeal ensures that a second Cruise album will appear next year (“the same voice but with a different feel”), and that she’ll be singing in the Twin Peaks roadhouse next fall.

Though she has risen to the level of collaborator with Lynch, Cruise still remains a fan of his work. “I turn out all the lights, climb in my favorite chair and watch Twin Peaks on Thursday night just like everybody else,” she said.

And the notorious Blue Velvet? “It frightened and fascinated me,” she said. “It took me somewhere else.”

The same could be said for Julee Cruise's intensely introspective music. Source: Chicago Tribune June 17 1990

#1990 #julee cruise #Chicago Tribune #Floating Into the Night #twin peaks #blue velvet #david lynch #angelo badalamenti #interview #badalamenti #twin peaks soundtrack #newspaper clippings #mysteries of love #i remember

[codylglobalcinema]

Blog 5: Micheal Haneke, Code Unknown;Cache

Through the many countries, languages, directors, and ideas we focused on this semester, there was one film that stood tall above the rest for me. That film was Code Unknown by Austrian film director Micheal Haneke. In just about every film we viewed, there was a great deal of cultural shock that had to be overcome, in order to help visualize the stories as much as I could. The way in which Haneke depicts the lives and thoughts of people, all types of people, broke down that wall for me almost immediately during the viewings of some of his films. There were motivations and emotions which transcended the boundaries of language, struggles shared by people of all walks of life. The two films which I have chosen to examine critically in this paper are Haneke’s Code Unknown (2000) and Cache (2005). The lens in which I am going to examine these films is with the focus on how they portray day to day life. But first, I will be going into the artistic background of Micheal Haneke himself. 

  Born in Munich, Germany in 1942, Haneke was the son of two people who were very accomplished in Cinema, German actor Fritz Hanke and Austrian actress Beatrix von Degenschild. As an adolescent he showed a personal contempt for school, with strong interests in literature and music. He attended the University of Vienna, and worked as an editor and dramaturge at the southwestern German television station Südwestfunk from 1967 to 1970. He made his TV directorial debut in 1974, and made his feature film debut in 1984 with The Seventh Continent. His work is known for often examining social issues and depicting the feelings of estrangement, never being afraid of tackling what may seem like very mundane emotions on the surface level. Hanke believes that “films should offer viewers more space for imagination and self-reflection. Films that have too much detail and moral clarity, are used for mindless consumption by their viewers” (McCan 76). What he means by this is that having all meaning and morality explained and rationalized for the viewer leaves the viewer with no room to think or analyze for themselves. One similar filmmaker who shares this sort of ‘passionate detachment’ of emotions from day to day people is David Lynch. Haneke’s distinct style is one to take note of, his unique worldview, because “he recognizes that the crises that affected twentieth-century humanity, in particular alienation and repression, continue in the new millennium even if they are simply embraced as features of contemporary life in much postmodern artistic expression” (Mcan 77). His style is very out of the ordinary, and has earned him the high acclaim and prestige which he carries today. 

The next aspect in discussing Micheal Haneke involves discussing the social and economical environment in which he works. Being from Austria, the locations and social topics of his film occur from within Europe. In the case of Cache, the meaning of his films can change based on the global events that happen around it, in this case being Cache’s theme of guilt and what to do with it, which had the impact of 9/11 tacked onto it due to how close the films release was the the tragedy. In Cache, Haneke does touch upon the war in Algeria a bit, and during an interview had this to say about its inclusion in the film: “I made use of this incident because it fits in a horrible way. You could find a similar story in any country, even though it took place at a different time. There's always a collective guilt which can be connected to a personal story, and that's how I want this film to be understood” (Schiefer). Hanke uses conflicts like this as just a backdrop to his stories, some historical context to add to the deeper meanings of his films. The true tension in his films does not come from larger-scale specific events, but rather the long-term reactions and ways in which characters deal with these events, opening up a channel to the viewer to see these events from another human point of view.

The final aspect of analysis directed towards Micheal Haneke himself is the ways in which he finances and distributes his films. Hanke premieres his films in film festivals such as Cannes, and the Locarno international film festival. This is his method of getting his films to reach more international and western audiences. 

     The first film which I will be doing a critical analysis of is Haneke’s Code Unknown. A film filled with several unfinished stories, it was my personal favorite film the entire semester of the Global Cinema course. The film shows many snippets and sections of life from different people's point of view, many of these characters briefly interacting with one another in different ways. The substance behind these many mini stories is the day after day, regular lives lived by each of the characters. Their actions are not the focus of the story, but their thoughts and their emotional choices. These characters are used to create a mood, a shared state of mind, “the characters more often function as parts of a puzzle rather than as empathetic figures in a drama” (Rooney). The two characters who I was drawn to the most, mainly due to them having the most screen time, were Anne (Juliette Binoche) and Jean (Alexandre Hamidi). Binoche’s character is an actress, which lends well to the films fractured storytelling, as it makes the viewer what is real, a flashback, or a rehearsal of a scene. “The fragmentary structure undermines the utopian idea of a community premised on a vague, and thus problematic, notion of the''common ``. In the "community without community" that Haneke envisions (after Balibar) the principles of democracy are tested on a daily basis rather than taken for granted” (Trifonova) . I really love this structure of storytelling, it adds much more than a linear format, as the whole film serves to dissect and strip away the normal, day after day feeling of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ujWUrZTulo 

The second and final film which I will be doing critical analysis on is Cache. Another film focused on character emotion with places and actions being a backdrop. The focus of this film is guilt. Hanke himself even states this, posing the question of “Do I accept it? And if I don't, what do I do? And if I do, what do I do?” (Delaney). The presence of real world events are much more present in this film, and affect the narrative directly. “Haneke uses this historical event that has been wiped from the French collective memory to frame his exploration of racism, violence and guilt in a postcolonial context ­ from the point of view of the privileged white middle class” (Delaney). The film has many subtle attributes in it, with one of the immediate details I loved were the actors for Anne and Georges reprising their roles from Code Unknown. The film follows Anne and George’s bourgeois home in which they’ve been living mundane lives, until disturbing video tapes begin to show up at their door. As the film goes on, you begin to realize that these video tapes are an allegory for France’s forgetting of the Senile river massacre, and the guilt that comes from that, as well as the idea of guilt in the eyes of a child. “‘Caché’ is the sharpest in terms of mocking its protagonist’s sense of reality and his delusion that he possesses any ability to be in control of it” (Celik). The characters have their weaknesses and insecurities laid bare on the screen, humanizing them and breaking down the way guilt and society affect people even after events have come and gone throughout history. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_ZtfuvxpEw 

[caltropspress]

FEEDBACK LOOP #4: Armand Hammer & The Alchemist’s “God’s Feet”

As a child I introverted and drew pictures while my mother prayed to Jesus reading King James scriptures.

—Ras Kass, “The Evil That Men Do”

The dark and evil passions of his soul, His secret plot, and sordidness complete, His hate, his purposing…

—George Marion McClellan, “The Feet of Judas”

Bury the Bible at my feet, A testament at my head. If my dear father should call for me, Tell him that I am dead.

—Nelstone’s Hawaiians, “Fatal Flower Garden”

1.  James Joyce apostatized from his Catholic faith but continued to dig it for its rituals. That was an aspect to it he could tolerate and utilize for his art, as if his indoctrinated mind could fully renounce it if he wanted to. ELUCID’s first raps were recorded in a church—hallowed ground for some; narthex reverb, and nothing else, for him. Organized religion is “totally manufactured…a tool of control,” he’s said. Still, he concedes “the Bible is a beautiful book…if you remove the spirituality.” He renders its rolling paper pages into something worth uttering. Smell the burning coals and incense.

2.  “Blow that horn fast, we been read’ to go. When that horn blast, the dead is coming home.”

woods sings first, but ELUCID’s singing voice, to paraphrase Jupiter Hammon, is a penitential cry. I turn the radio knob to 89.9 FM on Sunday mornings when I go for groceries in Passaic. WKCR’s Amazing Grace plays raw gospel, which is what ELUCID emulates here: where the more hideous the voice gets, the holier the expression becomes.

The song structure is raw and unblunted, too. The refrain cuts for 80 seconds before a single verse, like Bashō in its brevity, staggers us. The Alchemist and Earl Sweatshirt co-production is muted: soft keys and Mark tree accents. They leave space to let God in.

3.  White is not a color!

In Franco Rosso’s Babylon, the titular Babylon is—among much mayhem—the cops with the no-knock warrant—the abhorrent clampdown on the sound-system. The guns of Brixton need blazing (or at least a knife to the gut, courtesy of Brinsley Forde). “Racial tension” is only a euphemism for murderous oppression.

4.  And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth. (Revelation 17:5, KJV)

When Mississippi John Hurt sings “Make Me a Pallet on the Floor,” he’s humbling himself—subordinating for the sake of adulterous love. The pallet is on the floor, and it’s soft and low. The sinful sweet-talk, he knows, signals risk: shoot, cut, stab. There’s no tellin’ what she might do. But the Book of Revelation offers an Armageddon glimpse of what she’s capable of. When accounting for behavior, though, who’s really the whore?

5.  “So the story goes…”

The pallet is full of pestilence and plague—of lice, roaches, scourges. It doubles as a coffin, or a cooling board. Son House sang of his love “laying on the cooling board” on “Death Letter Blues.” The pain of “her Judgment Day” seemed to rack him, and the “10,000 people…standin’ around the burying ground” felt it, too.

In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the stable buck Crooks—the sole Black man on the ranch—associates only with the horses he tends to. Crooks’ bunk is a “long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung.” He’s segregated from the other workers, surrounded by harnesses and the sound of halter chains. Crooks, whose nickname carries the weight of criminality, “reduce[s] himself to nothing” when a white woman apocalyptically threatens him with a lynching.

6.  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:17, KJV)

Milton William Cooper’s Behold a Pale Horse is, of course, a blessing and a bane. A dog-eared and spine-cracked hood classic on 125th in Harlem. But Wise Intelligent has recognized the limits of it. In its hip-hop adoption, the failures and shortcomings show through. Like on 2000’s “Horsementality,” where Kurupt barks a litany of adverbs including “ultramagnetically,” and it’s on “We Are the Horsemen” that Ced Gee looks beyond God to complain “the universe bothers [him].” You’ve got Canibus’ needlessly excessive 666 wordplay and Kool Keith’s “gamma data” and “galactic horse” super-scientifical madness. ELUCID, though, deals in the concrete, disregards the conspiratorial. He “find[s] the spirit getting lifted,” in a decidedly non-Keith Murray manner. When he beholds the white horse that comes forth conquering, we’re reminded of his anticolonialism, not black helicopters and chemtrails.

7.  “In the blink of an eye, the faithful go where they are made whole. / …the dead coming home, prepare a table... / Leave your freshest linens.”

God’ll have you feeling welcome, invited, only to leave you to the cops for violating the Sabbath. He’ll roll up on you like, Wilt thou be made whole? (John 5:6, KJV). Like, Motherfucker, do I look like I want your help? He’ll convince you your disability deserves a miracle, crap on crip culture, and then chastise you about “sin” while he spits ableist fictions.

8.  “Singing murder ballads. / Looking for a body.”

Harry Allen, in his eccentric and alchemical liner notes for the Anthology of American Folk Music, pens a summative headline for “Fatal Flower Garden”: “GAUDY WOMAN LURES CHILD FROM PLAYFELLOWS; STABS HIM AS VICTIM DICTATES MESSAGE TO PARENTS.”

There’s a foreboding to, arguably, every Armand Hammer recording—an educated guess, or a warning. (Aw shit!—you got a red dot on your head, too.) The mood is pervasive, like lily-white hands in murder ballads. One can find comfort in this consistency. It’s a proven fact ELUCID is up on that folk tradition shit: He hammers out danger. He hammers out a warning. What the song does is make the killing, the revolution, irresistible.

9.  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. (1 Corinthians 15:25, KJV)

What do God’s feet do exactly?

Does He still keep His Timbs on? Does He pirouette spin in a pair of Timbs? Is it haram to show the sole of your shoe?

If you read Corinthians, the feat of God’s feet suggests a more Old Testament-style HIB violator—a brutal and vengeful supreme being on the bully pulpit letting you know what’s what. Or maybe it’s not so wrathful. Maybe God’s feet are just a power move—the aggrandizement of the Godhead at the expense of the masses: “The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1, KJV). We’re used to getting stepped on. The back alley boot stomp. We mortify our flesh, self-flagellate. And we keep coming back for more. But why? “God’s Feet” speaks of a return, but it’s more a recidivism.

Images:

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem (detail), by David Roberts (1850) | Screenshot from Franco Rosso’s Babylon (1980) | Mississippi John Hurt, Folk Songs And Blues cover art (detail), Piedmont Records (1963) | [Dr. Richard Burr, an embalming surgeon in the Army of the James demonstrating the procedure on a dead soldier] between 1860 and 1865 | Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (detail), Viktor Vasnetsov (1887) | The Crucifixion, panel from the Isenheim altarpiece (detail), Matthias Grünwald (1515) | Anthology of American Folk Music liner notes (detail), ed. Harry Smith (1952) | Screenshot from Franco Rosso’s Babylon (1980)

[theda-rison]

Thursday Night Link Roundup - September 10th (ish)

Ever have a week-long depressive funk and you can’t tell if it’s because of hormones (surfing the crimson wave), injury (somehow fucked up my foot in a week when all I did was sit on my ass??), or friend group drama (oi), or just all of them happening at the same time.

But yeah, I had a bit of a week filled with the Sads. How are you guys?

Our first video: Star Trek Voyager Is Good, Actually by Renegade Cut.

I appreciate the hell out of this video. Voyager is one of my favorite Treks, for a lot of the reasons that are in this video and it was nice to see someone else appreciate it. I… hate Discovery. It’s all flash and no substance and people running around yelling “I love math/science!” and a severe lack of ethical quandaries. I know that not everyone likes the whole… “we’re basically in an ethics class” part about Star Trek, but like… maybe don’t watch or write Star Trek if you don’t like it? 

Star Trek is supposed to be Spec Fic, not… you know.. Star Wars.

Also Janeway is my favorite captain and you can fight me if you don’t like it.

Another video from MelinaPendulm, Black Sci-Fi & Fantasy + BOOK RECOMMENDS.

I’ve written all the authors and books/short stories/etc. she listed down, and I need to get a bunch and read them before I go back to writing again. I’ve been doing a lot of writing and story planning lately and no book reading and need to like… make a list of things to read and then make some time.

From Hello Future Me, On Worldbuilding: Class, Wealth, and Power. The beginning totally threw me off and I started laughing and had to start it over lol.

This is another one of those dense, dense videos that I need to go back and take notes from. 

Then he almost killed me a second time when he slipped into “YES! COMRADES!” again lol.

I don’t even know how to introduce this one. It’s from cosmavoid, and it’s “David Lynch being a madman for a relentless 8 minutes and 30 seconds”

I just like… aspire to be this weird? I know it’s probably odd to have such an aspiration, but like… I guess we both have Monica Bellucci dreams, and think that both wood and Laura Dern are pretty fucking amazing.

Mood.

I actually had another video for the fun bit this week, but I had to put the newest King video by Daniel Thrasher instead, “When the king takes a piano lesson in medieval times”

“Now shut up and let me finger your button-box!” A phrase I never could have even imagined to possibly exist.

Songs of the Week:

GlassDuo - Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdoTdG_VNV4

Honestly, someone in the comments said this song was made for the glass harp, and like… when you’re right, you’re right.

Grantwoolard - Classical Music Mashup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OYkWSW7u4k

This like… I don’t know. I was listening to it in bed one night after falling down a classical music hole and it sort of blew my mind. I do wish some of the combinations went on for longer though, but I suppose “I love this, please make more” isn’t really a criticism, lol.

bill wurtz - and the day goes on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHZr6P1csiY

I don’t know how I missed this when it came out two years ago, but it’s such a nice little ditty. Like, reassuring somehow? Anyway, “speaking of genius, here’s Bill Wurtz.”

#Thursday Night Link Round Up #Star Trek #Star Trek Voyager #Renegade Cut #MelinaPendulum #Black Sci-Fi & Fantasy #book recommendations #Hello Future Me #Worldbuilding #Class Wealth and Power #cosmavoid #David Lynch #the absolute madman #Daniel Thrasher #GlassDuo #Sugar Plum Fairy #Tchaikovsky #Grantwoolard #Classical Music #Bil Wurtz #and the day goes on