Pray For Smurph by Gary Panter (2008).
This is a CD released by Overheat (who also published some Panter stuff in the 80s, I think? Or do I misremember?).
I kinda thought that this would include a little comic book, but it doesn’t. There’s a couple of illustrations, though.
This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.
Well, the Matarazzo flick I saw the other day was kinda insanely entertaining. So I’m getting my hopes up way too high for this one, which has
virtually no viewers.
So this is one of those really lost movies in the Criterion Eclipse series.
Oh, she’s back from the previous movie. Cool.
And that guy is back, too! Cool. They’re both really engaging actors.
The plot is deliciously melodramatic.
And then the father gets a heart attack because of course he does.
So evil!!!1!
It’s a totally shameless movie, and I love that.
This was released only four months after the previous movie, Chains, and it was another smash hit at the box office (and another critical failure, apparently).
That’s a lot of dishes!
Awkward! Of course all dishwashing stations have a huge window out into the audience. I mean corridor.
It’s like the movie just goes all in on making the scenes as melodramatic as possible, without any regard for logistics.
And I’d be hard pressed to explain what the plot actually is, but I’m all in anyway.
Then we get a little concert. I love it.
It’s amazing how Matarazzo is pulling this off. He’s just letting the actors and the preposterous plot points do their thing, and sort of keeping out of the way? I mean, all shots are framed nicely and everything, but the camera is just capturing it all without any flourishes.
And it totally works.
That’s a swell movie.
Tormento. Raffaello Matarazzo. 1950.
This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.
This is very stylish.
This is all well and good, but the movie doesn’t quite feel fully baked. It’s like they had a couple of ideas, and a crew that kicks ass, and then they went out filming.
That is, every scene looks great, but it’s hard to keep being interested?
This movie looks so great that I kinda hate not loving it.
But I don’t.
The opening and closing sequences in particular are brilliant. I just wish I knew what the Hell was going on!
Take Aim At The Police Van. Seijun Suzuki. 1960.
This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.
This is very cute. It’s like an anti-neorealism movie? But not quite? It’s a melodrama, and it’s fun.
The first half of this movie was amazeballs great. But then… it really drags?
It picks up again at the end, with a totally over-the-top court scene. Fantastic.
Chains. Raffaello Matarazzo. 1949.
This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.