A “reading film” of delirious image and text, Les chants de Maldoror takes its title and inspiration from Comte de Lautréamont’s 1869 proto-Surrealist poetic novel which, for instance, describes beauty as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on an operating table. In the novel’s six cantos, a young misanthrope indulges in depraved and destructive acts. Unexpected encounters abound, with turtles and birds joining Terayama’s regular cast of snails and dogs to wander over books and bare torsos. Feverish video processing posterizes, inverts and overlays images that are further colored by sound—pushing the limits of his literary adaptation. Terayama wrote that the only tombstone he wanted was his words, but, as Les chants de Maldoror demonstrates, words need not be confined to carved monuments or bound hardcopies.
I have been a long-time fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since it made its official debut through 2008's absolutely excellent "Iron Man". The run continued, as did my associated fandom of the films, through the utterly EPIC 2019 finale "Avengers: Endgame".
Nightbooks, the newest entry in children's horror, honors classic horror films, focuses on themes of acceptance, and has awesome production design.
Perhaps the most amazing and groundbreaking quality about The Birdcage is how removed it is from both illness and insensitivity. Whereas films preceding it were often somber stories about the tribulations of being gay in a conservatively straight world, Nichols and screenwriter Elaine May expose the fallacies of conservatism as traditional values are thrown into a more open-minded space. They don’t care how far the community has fallen so much as how high they can rebuild themselves.
All in all, “Event Horizon” is a cinematic misfire, begging to be perfected in the future. While it possesses an array of admirable visuals, the film leaves much to be desired. If only we could see Anderson’s preferred cut, which featured more character development and tortuous imagery. In the meantime, I have a catchphrase for this film: In space no one can hear you snore.
Animation as a medium of storytelling can be thought to be open to all ages and as I hope my readings will reveal, they could be interpreted as transgender stories.
The film is a powerful narrative encompassing a theme that many people can identify with.
