In what is one of the most interesting ways to promote film, The Talkies is an event that invites a director to perform a live commentary track while the audiences watches. The Heights previously hosted this event for Cameron Mitchell and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and hopefully this time proves just as successful.Though unlike the previous directors, Guy Maddin has been cutting his commentary teeth for some time now, performing several live narrations along with actors and musicians for Brand Upon the Brain! and My Winnipeg in all sorts of exotic Canadian locales. Just think, now Minneapolis and Canada can share more then Ice Hockey and Poutine!
Saddest Music in the World
Thursday, June 18
The Heights
7 PM (movie only) |$7
9 PM (with live commentary from Guy Maddin)|$18.50
I have struggled with trying to come up with a suitable intro for this review. With its mix of sex and artistic flare it is a tough nut to pin down, and not typically the sort of thing I can readily compare to my everyday life. You see Marta’s Sex Tape is a very unique viewing experience, one that I wouldn’t not normally sit down to watch. Yet I am quite sure that is why I enjoyed it.
Marta (Pilar Padilla) is deep in debt and unsure how to drag herself out of this mess. Her friends can’t afford to buy any more of her paintings and she can’t get a job, so she decides to take a very unusual approach and make her very own sex tape in the hopes of selling it to a local pornographer. But unfortunately for Marta the tape is far too artsy, and while sex sells, there just isn’t any money in art.
Welcome to our Olympic coverage of Rummaging through the Old Maids! Sure this doesn’t involve anything more then me posting via tape delay (Note to the audience: I have no idea what that means) but it is the thought that counts. Right?
While the amount of DVD releases this week are relatively thin, their are two pretty damn good ones especially worth noting. First is the Criterion release of Brand Upon the Brain, Guy Maddin’s oustanding pseudo-documentary science fiction/horror film on his growing up on a remote island with a mother who eats children to maintain her youth. It is a fantastic film and being released by Criterion inevitably means the transfer will be outstanding.
The other big release is CJ7, which took its sweet time coming to DVD even though it had a theatrical release last summer. Coupling Stephen Chow’s Looney Tunes styled direction with the most adorable alien ever created, CJ7 is a ridiculously cute and fun children’s film that appeals to adults as well.
Coming to theaters this week is the new film by Mumblecore vets Jay and Mark Duplass, Baghead, about a group of filmmakers that head up to a cabin to try and write their next movie. Only to discover that the movie they envision might be coming true. I don’t know too much about the movie outside of the trailer, but I enjoyed The Puffy Chair and I think the movie looks pretty interesting.
But the movie I am most excited for is Man on Wire, a documentary on tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s daring and incredibly stupid attempt to walk on a tightrope that spans between the newly built Twin Towers in New York City. It is a stunning documentary that should be a must see for everyone. Word of warning, even though it is almost all still photography, if you experience vertigo, or have a fear of heights, be prepared to have the crap scared out of you.
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