Phantom Of The Paradise

Here is the poster for our screening of Phantom Of The Paradise.

Designed by our very own Tara Hill, please visit her blog for more of her fantastic work. 

And I forgot to post our poster for The Boy Friend ...

The drawing is by our other very own fantastic Lotti Closs, you can visit her blog too. 

This isn’t the last song.

This piece was written for our screening of The Boy Friend, I wanted to show a contrast in modern musical conventions and how Lars Von Trier had interpreted the legacy of the Hollywood musical and mixed it with raw emotion and reality. 

“This isn’t the last song,

They don’t know us you see,

It’s only the last song,

If we let it be.”

Dancer In The Dark  - Lars Von Trier (2000)

Lars Von Trier had always wanted to make a musical and capture the magic of Gene Kelly films he had seen in his youth, He wondered how he could approach making one and thought it would be interesting to shoot a musical in his faux real life Dogma documentary style.

The result is Dancer In The Dark and it is one of the most harrowing musicals ever filmed.

The film starts in the traditional style with an Orchestral Overture, combined with abstract paintings, which are a motif of Von Trier’s work.  The tragic plot revolves around Bjork who gives a gentle and honest performance as Selma a Czechoslovakian who has failing sight and escapes into musical fantasy while at work in a small town American factory in the 1950’s.  

The story starts with Selma in rehearsals for a community production of The Sound Of Music in which she plays Maria she is helped by her work colleague Cathy (Catherine Denuve), Trier manages to through in a little joke as one of the characters comments that Selma “Sings funny”. Selma is naïve and child like talks with most of the characters about musicals and how there conventions don’t apply to real life, whenever a musical number starts its built up for environmental rhythms such as factory machinery or a train going across tracks.  Selma loves going to the musicals but sadly due to her eyesight can’t actually see the Berkeley dance routines so her friend Cathy has to trace the moments out on her palm.

Trier plants clues of what will to come as Selma talks about hating the last song as when it builds up and the camera pulls up and goes through the roof that the story ends, she leaves the cinema after the second to last song so the film can continue forever. 

Upon seeing the film for the first time I wish I had left during the second to last song, the final song is called  “The Next To Last Song” which is cut horribly short due to the films devastating conclusion and the camera silently pulls up and out of the roof. No violins and no choir. It’s a heart stopping moment and knocks the breath out of you.  

Selma has come to America to raise funds for an operation on her son’s eyes that he would be unable to have in Czechoslovakia. In typical Trier fashion things don’t go to plan and it ends with the slaughter of an innocent who has been cruelly exploited with horrific and inevitable results.  The musical numbers are filmed in a wonky handheld style and the fantasy is firmly placed in reality no large Busby Berkley numbers with lavish costumes and enormous sets, its all quite kinetic using a lot of movement as well as dance. Bjork's songs are beautiful and fragile like her character full of joy and menace and are co-written with Bjork regular Chris bell while the lyrics provide narrative direction and were written by Lars and Sjon Sigurdsson.

The film is helped by a great ensemble cast of including some Trier regulars Jean Marc Bar, Udo Kier, Peter Stormare, David Morse and Stellan Sarsgard.

Lars cleverly casts Joel Grey from Cabaret in a cameo as Selma’s idol tap dancer Oldrich Novy.

I feel Dancer In The Dark is a perfect musical for people who struggle with the conventions of the musical, its emotionally engaging and damaging and will bring tears to the hardest of hearts. 

Read all about us.

We have done an interview about our Kino Klubb screenings with Leftlion magazine, you can read all about it here

May- August 2012 programme

THURSDAY 31ST MAY, 7PM

KEN RUSSELL'S 'THE BOY FRIEND' (1971)

+ SURPRISE SHORT FILM

After the brutality of Benny's Video we thought we'd show something a bit nicer.

Ken Russell’s Busby Berkley homage is a visually stunning musical starring Twiggy and former international ballet star Christopher Gable.
Made and released the same year as The Devils, this film is Russell at his most charming and playful. Everything shines- the sets, the costumes, the script, songs and performances.

“A glittering, super-colossal, heart warming, toe tapping, continuously delightful musical extravaganza”

A film to fall in love with.

You could even bring your nan to this one.
“A glittering, super-colossal, heart warming, toe tapping, continuously delightful musical extravaganza”
A film to fall in love with.
You could even bring your nan to this one.



THURSDAY 28TH JUNE, 7PM

BRIAN DE PALMA'S 'PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE' (1974)

+ SURPRISE SHORT FILM

“He Sold His Soul For Rock n’ Roll”

De Palma's Faustian tour-de-force rock Opera is the Rocky Horror it's OK to like.

Brilliantly bonkers, trashy, colourful and loud. This film is one of the reasons that we started Kino Klubb. You will never have seen anything like it before. 

Dario Argento cast Jessica Harper in Suspiria after seeing her performance in this.

THURSDAY 26TH JULY, 7PM

LINDSAY ANDERSON'S 'IF...' (1968)

+SURPRISE SHORT FILM

“Which Side Will You Be On?”

Malcolm McDowell’s debut performance and probably his finest.

The first part of Anderson’s Mick Travis trilogy this savagely attacks the English Public School system. A beautiful film with some fantastic cinematography and a wonderful soundtrack. It is oddly surreal and at the same time brutally honest. It's also number 12 in the BFI's 100 best British films.

THURSDAY 30TH AUGUST, 7PM

STANLEY KUBRICK'S 'LOLITA' (1962)

+ A SPECIAL SCREENING OF HOLY STATE'S 'DIAL 'M' FOR MONOLITH' (2012)

LOLITA-

“How Did They Ever Make A Movie Of Lolita?”


How indeed? Kubrick Masterfully directs Nabokov’s classic with gorgeous stark crisp monochrome photography and the dream cast of James Mason, Shelly Winters and Peter Sellers. It feels both old Hollywood and also thoroughly modern. A must see, especially on the big screen.


DIAL 'M' FOR MONOLITH-

"How did they get here, these mysterious black monoliths, void of texture or detail? A freak natural occurrence, an alien race, a "higher" power... or a manifestation of our own uncomprehending minds? As we draw near we begin to feel the pull, calling on an ancient power long lost in our ancestry. Our tonal prowess evolves out of the galaxy, and our brains are slowly destroyed - 1:4:9"

Taken from the album 'Electric Picture Palace', out now on Brew Records.

"An absolute masterclass" - Rock Sound

Video directed by Robin Fuller.

www.holy-state.co.uk

The Thinking Man’s Video Nasty?

Another great guest piece, this time written by the mysterious Mr A. Fan. 

It is only fitting at a screening of Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video (1992), to mutter the title of another psychological Austrian cinematic gem, Angst (1983).

In 1983, Angst was distributed theatrically by Cine – International, totally uncut and only in its native country of Austria. Written and directed by Gerald Kargl and starring Das Boot (1981) actor Erwin Leder, the film forces the viewer on a journey alongside a convicted killer, who upon release from a ten year stretch, immediately wishes to indulge in more sadistic and unprovoked violence towards the local community, with one intention, to kill as many people as he can.

You are presented with a cold, detached and alienating character that is only driven by the lust to kill. This un-named character is not portrayed as an unstoppable Hollywood killing machine, as in the form of Michael Myers, nor is he depicted as an intelligent and charismatic cannibal like Hannibal Lecter. Instead, he is presented as clumsy, prone to mistakes and somewhat unplanned in his mission of misery. This invites the viewer to playfully believe in him for 80 minutes; believe that he could actually exist, as his human error, is all too familiar.

The film is carried along by the internal monologue of the killer, his unnerving descriptions of past childhood events and his previous violent shenanigans are extremely powerful; mainly due to the fact they have been lifted from documented confessions of actual serial killers from the viewer’s world. From the beginning, the film moves slowly but creepily along, initially free from extreme violence and at a pace that is unheard of in mainstream violent horror movies. However, the film turns its head and snarls at the viewer, particularly in one scene, influential and comparable to the extreme underpass assault in Gasper Noe’s Irreversible (2002).

If you pray at the alter of Gaspar Noe you may be intrigued to hear that Angst has been cited by the man himself in several interviews, as an influence on his film Seul Contre Tous  [I Stand Alone] (1998). Noe saw the French distributed version of Angst in his youth (re-titled as Schizophrenia which was distributed on VHS by VDS Video). The rare opening scene of Schizophrenia (sadly edited from Angst) serves to the viewer a presentation of photographic stills (similar to Noe’s movie), comprising of the protagonist’s family portraits, and the photographic evidence of the weapons used in our character’s previous murder; all this combined, connotes a documentary style fable. The viewer of the French version is also treated to the footage of the original killing that imprisons our character in the first place, prior to his release in the opening of Angst.

But there is light?

There is a surprising four-legged presence of humour in this film, in the shape of a dachshund dog, which is owned by one of the victims, and whose performance when it comes to loyalty (and a pair of false teeth) is incredibly funny.

What helped this film stand out from the usual 80’s stalking ‘slasher’ movies, found on the DPP list, are the excellent performances delivered by all parties involved (including the dog). The camera work is suffocating, the use of a body attached camera, at times gives the impression that you are hovering above the killers shoulders, in an almost spirit fashion. The camera, attached to the actor’s waist, swings and tilts about, creating a drug induced visionary experience, not too dissimilar to the bar scene in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973). 

The only problem I have with this film is that it is still unavailable officially in the UK, the US and basically everywhere, except Germany. The two-disc DVD box set of Angst (distributed by Epix Media), can be picked up from the German Amazon site, however, sadly there are no English subtitles included. Also to rub salt in, I discovered on this release, there is an interview with the actor Erwin Leder and Klaus Schulze (the composer of the soundtrack, known to many as a member of the German Prog-Rock group, Tangerine Dream).

I might add that this film suffered terribly from distribution right from the start. In the 80’s, British video distributors didn’t touch it due to the video nasty fever that was sweeping the nation, and in the US it was suggested that if distributed, it should carry a XXX rating, which would force Angst on to the shelves alongside pornographic material.

I suggest, when searching the World Wide Web for more information (if you catch my drift); do consider searching under the title of Schizophrenia. You need to view the film in its original cut; and again, the official German DVD release of Angst still has the opening scene missing.

Come on Gerald, the rest of the world is ready for some Angst…

Yours Sincerely,

Mr. A Fan.

Sounds Of The Summerisle

I am going to be playing some of my favourite Soundtracks for a night at the Broadway.
Its to tie in with Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson has got a great taste and his soundtracks become there own character in his films. A nice collage of 60's pop and Mark Mothersbaugh score. I love the build up on his "Hey Jude" cover for The Royal Tenenbaums where Richie releases Mordeci on the roof.
I love soundtracks which are written by one artist so there is a real mood carried through the film. I also love soundtracks that tell a story and are one step away from being a musical as the characters are singing the songs.
I had to do an interview to promote the night.
One of the questions was "Whats your favourite soundtrack of all time?"
That's such a hard question to answer.
I said the Wicker Man by Paul  Giovani but to be honest I had a list of around 30 to choose from.
Here are six that have a special place in my heart.

The Wicker Man - Paul Giovani

Weird and wonderful collection of traditional folk songs and Giovani compositions.
The music IS the film, Its so important.
How the hell did this all come together? I want to be at that meeting when they decided to bring the songs into the narrative, We're still making a horror right?
I love the closing song "Summer Is A Coming In", its oddly uplifting and joyous with its military pomp of the brass and bass drum, some tracks have such beauty such as "Willows song".  The randomness of "The Landlords Daughter" is great, I love the delivery of line "The parts of every gentlemen do stand up at attention".
The best track has got to be The Maypole Song though, absolutely bonkers choral work, Pagan pop perfection.

The Wicker Man - Maypole Song

O Lucky Man - Alan Price

"If you have a reason to live on and not to die you are a lucky man".

A soundtrack to live by, written by poor people for poor people. Alan Price plays the part of Greek Chorus to Lindsey Anderson's masterpiece singing honest songs of misery that is reminiscent of Brecht.
I love how a lot of the scenes with Alan in are just in a practise room filled with smoke with Lindsey Anderson looking bored in the corner.
The best track has go to be "My Home Town"...Heart breaking.

Alan Price - My Home Town

Harold and Maude - Cat Stevens

This soundtrack is obviously a massive influence on Wes Anderson.
Its such a lovely collection of songs that nearly push this film into musical territory.
Its actually a kind of greatest hits of Cat Stevens as he only wrote two songs for the film.
The soundtrack was never released at the time, Cameron Crowe pressed it on vinyl a few years ago and it goes for insane prices on Ebay...Its my dream to own it one day.
Uplifting and melancholic. Just like the film. Just listening to it gives me shivers.


Cat Stevens - I Think I See The Light

Profondo Rosso - Goblin

Superb Italian prog from one of the greatest soundtrack scorers.
Its difficult to choose just one Goblin soundtrack but I think this just pips it with the amazing jazzy title track. I love Claudio Simonetti's crazy synth sounds and the ridiculous slabs of bass.
They bring something very special to Dario's films and I'm not sure how his films would work without them. Its a very Hitchcock and Herman relationship.

Goblin - Profondo Rosso

Mishima - Philip Glass

What a beauty!
Simply gorgeous work from Mr Glass, its a theme you have heard a thousand times in adverts and other films. The music packs such a punch in the film and combines with Paul Schraders direction perfectly.
Its a mixture electronic synths and string quartet. I love the delicate nature that swells in mood.

Philip Glass - Mishima (Opening Theme)

Assault On Precinct 13 - John Carpenter

I love all of John Carpenters soundtrack work, even his vocal performance on Big Trouble In Little China.
He has such a simple style, he has said that the Halloween theme is just a piano warm up exercise that his father taught him. His synths are amazing sinister and emotive, I love that analogue sound.
I have chosen the theme from Assault On Precinct 13 as its had such a massive impact on modern music.

John Carpenter - Assault On Precinct 13 (Theme) 

Benny's Video

Our next screening will Michael Haneke's Benny's Video.
More information here.