Thursday, May 21, 2009

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song/Melvin Van Peebles


WIKI: "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is a 1971 American independent film, written, produced, scored, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles. It tells the picaresque story of a deprived African American man on his flight from the white authority."

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Embryo Hunts in Secret/Kōji Wakamatsu



WIKI: "The Embryo Hunts In Secret (胎児が密猟する時 taiji ga mitsuryō suru toki), released in July 1966, is the first film made by Japanese director Kōji Wakamatsu independently of any movie studio. "



PLOT: "A man keeps his girlfriend tied up in his small apartment and tortures her. She is undressed, subjected to various types of bondage, whipped, and tortured with a razor blade. He also brushes her hair, applies make-up on her, and breaks down and cries in the fetal position. In the end the girl gets free and has her revenge.

At the time of its release Wakamatsu was quoted as saying "For me, violence, the body and sex are an integral part of life."

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Fireworks/Kenneth Anger


REVIEW: "Completed at the tender age of 17, Fireworks – an audacious pre-Stonewall exploration of homosexuality, violence, and American youth – was the breakthrough film for avant-garde film legend Kenneth Anger."


Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Encounter/Alain Cavalier


REVIEW: "Arty and steeped with metaphysical insights, this French film contains a running stream of director Alain Cavalier's thoughts as he and an unseen lover reflect upon the world's innate beauty while passing their first year together. Episodes from this filmic diary are illustrated with shots of various objects, body parts, wildlife and views from a window."