posted 12-07-2002 12:17 AM
Since last month's showing of "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" went so well, I thought I'd clue everybody in to what I'm screening this month. The films are both really great (the second is particularly timely in this day and age)...and you have to admit, the price is right. 
Tuesday, 12/10, being the second Tuesday of December, brings another installation of Cinema Slop to the Dinkytowner. This time around I'll be showing a couple of features by a renowned fashion photographer and documentarist, William Klein!
Klein, an American expatriate who's been living in France for about fifty years, began as an innovative fashion photographer and photojournalist (he's a master of wide-angle photography, a technical innovator to boot), and took up a movie camera in the mid-sixties to produce a small, but precious, handful of blisteringly satirical features and hard-hitting documentaries. His best-known film in the U.S., at least the one that's easiest to see, is "Muhammad Ali, The Greatest", a 1974 documentary about Ali's emerging political consciousness.
On Tuesday night, starting at 8, I'll be showing two full-length features, starting with "Qui etes-vous, Polly Magoo?" (1966; a.k.a. "Who Are You, Polly Magoo?"), a beautifully-shot, hilarious (even if you don't speak French, which is good because my print lacks subtitles) sendup of 60s Vogue fashion culture. Grayson Hall (Dr. Julia Hoffman on "Dark Shadows") does a vicious Diana Vreeland impersonation, and some of the mid-60s' top high fashion models (from the Rudy Gernreich stable, including Peggy Moffitt) bop around looking gorgeous. It's really something; smart eye candy.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0060879
I'll follow up "...Polly Magoo" with Klein's masterpiece, a ferocious piece of Situationist agitprop called "Mr. Freedom" (1969). An anti-imperialist (some might say anti-American, but that's not quite accurate) live-action cartoon about a hyper-American superhero--decked out in red, white, and blue sports gear--who's called to France to defend "freedom"...from the red menace and anybody else who might get in the way of the capitalist system. Eye-popping, jaw-dropping, and howlingly funny, it's also overtly political and kinda mean (thus ensuring its underground, seldom-seen status). This one's entirely in English, and it's a scream (one of Mr. Freedom's hysterical, nonsensical rants sounded to me an awful lot like Jack Black's rabid testimonial in the extended "Sexxlaws" video). I can't recommend it highly enough; it blew my mind, and I now count it among my favorite films. DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE!
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0064674
Next Tuesday, 12/10, at the Dinkytowner (14th and 4th in Dinkytown). Movies at 8pm ("Qui etes-vous Polly Magoo") and 10pm ("Mr. Freedom"). No cover! Which is to say, admission is FREE! Good stuff!
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posted 12-07-2002 12:17 AM
posted 12-07-2002 06:44 AM
