PX2019: Wildest Dream

Wildest Dream by Gary Panter (110x160mm)

I don’t know how I missed this little book when I was actually doing the PX series — but the indicia claims that it was published in 2019.

So this is a sketchbook…

… and it’s really nice.

I’m not sure how the pages were selected — they’re from 1974 to 2019, and there doesn’t seem to be any thematic thing going on?

But it’s Panter, so it’s all good. And I like the colour scheme.

This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.

PX Stuff

Screamers: Demo Hollywood 1977 (with a cover by Gary Panter).

This illustration for Screamers was probably Panter’s most famous single image for a decade there in the 80s?

Screamers used it for a series of posters at the time… and they’d be insane not to. That’s the best poster ever. I want one on my walls.

The Screamers - Anything (Demo Hollywood 1977)

Anyway, they never released any albums while they existed, but this record was released last year, and it’s pretty good? It’s kinda right in the middle of the punk/post punk schism?

This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.

PX Stuff

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.

Eclipse 1950: Tormento

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.

Eclipse 1960: ‘十三号待避線’より その護送車を狙え

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.

This persons puts it well:

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.