DJANGO UNCHAINED (out Xmas of 2012), takes place two years before the American Civil War. A time when Historical Trauma was in the midst of it's beggining & in full throttle & well into the grips of everyone who breathed. Quentin Tarantino masterfully demonstrates in a homage to the Spaghetti Westerns of decades past, on how Companionship, Enslavement, Allegiance, Guns, Blood, Resiliency, Violence, Pride, Survival, Conformity, Freedom & lastly but not least Love - are what shape(d) us. 

When powerhouse Django answers King, "I'm positive.", after learning the word & confirming the identity of a prospective payload, we are reminded that in the era before HIV statuses, SNAP food stamps & unemployment checks the one thing an individual was painfully positive about was their living status. You were either Dead or Alive. 

Violence. Yeah, this flick is bloody (so were the Michaels & Jasons), so get over it.  Supervise your young-ins if you can't deal with Django  Unchained being synonymous with bloodbath.  As a Latina woman from NYC, I'm glad I can make an effort of licensing myself  to bear the right of owning a handgun. Do I own one? No. Not my style. But rest assured I'm thankful for the option. People kill people. Don't forget that & if you're fantasizing about going postal please do us all a favor and visit your local psych ER.   For those of you who have ADHD let me reiterate: PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. 

The theme of master & servant has always fascinated me. Alpha & beta. Who really needs who? Thankfully, I don't live in an antiquated culture or in an era where servitude was possibly the situation, (or do I still? When Stephen is composed in a Dutch Angle/Django POV, Samuel Jackson's genius character performance eerily predicts our future generations. Cutting big rocks into little rocks, i.e. crack - all day every day, i.e. marijuana) - I might've been born into. Just imagine being a slave ON TOP of being the love child ON TOP of being half white AND THAN forced to wash your white sister's bloomers for the rest of your life. Suddenly fuming over doing my lazy brother's dishes for the umpteenth time seems very inconsequential.

But back to Django & King. Their relationship is an inception of happenstance, entrepreneurship  & kindness. For a moment one exists because of the other. For a moment one thrives because of the other. And in a dog eat dog world (literally) - one must've been counting their blessings of having someone having your back. My point? From a distance some people's dynamics look/are a slave & master scenario/situation, but for many others - transcendental allegiance is truly empowering and an opportunity for intellectual growth. So, be thankful of whomever you have the luck of calling your companion. If they got your back who cares if it's just your Nanna or doorman. Just as long as you know they are there to holdz itz downz for you - be thankful!

I can go on and on & type in italics the many strong themes of this film, but it's best you go see it. It might be one of the BEST ENTERTAINING films about an African American  "ex-slave" who turned into a ten gallon hat wearing, bad ass looking for his boo - you possibly will ever see.

Redemption

I know this is going to sound crazy, but as a film reader I never saw Charles Laughton's, Night of the Hunter until guest Spike Lee programmed an evening's lineup at TCM. Luckily I missed Lee's intro (thank God, as I later saw on Utube), but I luckily caught just in time Hunter - the first on his "essentials" list. Also, made it my business to see it because a close friend said it was one of his faves as well as he sat on my bed nonchalantly. 

One film I have watched over & over & over again - ever since I saw it at the Angelika - is Lars Von Trier's, Dancer in the Dark.  Despite it giving me motion sickness the first time I saw it (bathroom vomiting break) on the semi-big screen, I have grown to identify myself as a true fan & self bona-fide "expert" of  Dancer. (Proud owner of VHS & DVD, and at one point, would lend it out to naive co-workers.) 

So, throughout most of my watching Hunter, I couldn't help myself, but to constantly exclaim things like, "Oh shit! Dancer in the Dark is the same exact movie as this, but in opposite!" & other similar surprised expletives, & when I reached the ending I was truly convinced Lars Von Trier holds Hunter very close to his heart, and realized Dancer was a sort of Yin & Yang ode. 

There is nothing more applaudable than a filmmaker taking a favorite film and making their influencing material all their own, especially very creatively  (think Mel Brook's, "Young Frankenstein"),

and in this case, Trier makes Night of the Hunter themes of abandonment, innocence vs evil, gynoangst/stupidity vs strong woman, lies vs hidden truths, compassion vs selfishness, prey vs parent, and lastly, preservation vs sacrifice his very own. 

Overall, there are some slight problems with "Dancer in the Dark", but the weird thing is - I had the same issues in Hunter around the same moments as in Dancer (and this is not about that).

Lars Von Trier in some instances pays homage in reverse.  For example, in both films there are hangings. In Hunter it's the bank-robbing DAD (an oh, so handsome Peter Graves), who is sentenced by hanging. This happens fairly EARLY in the film, and we don't see the execution itself.  In Dancer, it's Selma, a MOM, who gets hanged at the ENDING. The hanging itself is very graphic and real. 

Here goes:

•  hidden $money$ (doll & tin can)
• they both have court room drama
• both films have 'da police in them & cell scenes
• the presence of a doo doo head wife
• a place of convening (church in Hunter and the rehearsal spot in Dancer)
• single parent
• children which propel the film forward (Gene is not as present  - a Yin & Yang complement)
• a protective older woman (Lillian Gish & Catherine Deneuve, both film legends)
• mob mentality
• music (in Hunter music is all through out and Dancer is a musical - a Yin & Yang complement)
• presents 
• evil in the guise of a protector
• shacks/homes engulfed in nature
• nature/water shots
• Hunter is 93 mins & Dancer is 139 mins
• just look at their titles

Yorgos Lanthimos'

DOGTOOTH  was generally reviewed & described as having themes about "over protection" & secularism and some even said it was a statement about Greek society. 

What I clearly continue to see (because I keep going back to Yorgos Lanthimos' films), is a theme of abuse & power and what happens before, during and after. Other prominent themes of his are: Control, blindness, incest, neediness, subservience,  hiding, disrobing, detachment, confusing, substituting, gross indifference, repetition, repeating longing scenarios & cathartic/ritual performances. Your typical ingredients for a Greek tragedy.

Mainly, Lanthimos' films are magnificently composed & well lighted tales of functioning dysfunctional dynamics. The characters are mistreated individuals, whether by life circumstances or some weird dichotomy in some group or family.  The fact he accomplishes all of these complicated even surreal worlds in a very subtle blase way, only demonstrates the evolution of a powerful auteur. In Lanthimos' films every shot is literally an extension of his complicated characters.

DOGTOOTH tells the tale of two sisters and a brother who are apparently physically older than their mental intellect. Facial desperation and body language hint the voyeur to their confusion and ever present neediness. Perhaps deep inside they know something is off kilter or maybe it's a direct aftermath of years of conditioning.  So who is to know what truly happened in the past in this seemingly docile household, (nothing happens overnight or does it?). 

Flesh. Flesh is always exposed. Whether in short summer shorts, undergarments or just old fashioned undressing. Bedrooms are also recurring locations in Lanthimos' films. 

A bread winning father with a stoic face and a once attractive mother hint the beginnings of what should be their golden years. The latter are the problem. As luck would have it, one of the sisters played by intense and devoted actor Aggeliki Papoulia, (she is AMAZING - can't help to notice her initials hiding in the title ALPS as well), becomes exposed to the world. Via VHS tapes mind you. Defiance and internal dilemma ensues.

In ALPS, Lanthimos' hones in more, in case you missed it in DOGTOOTH, on the theme of controlled vision. What you see. What you don't see. Artificial light sources, mainly through lamps or pretty overheads, are ever present making their cameos. A cool lamp store is even worked into a scene, (like the ones you see in predominately Orthodox Jewish communities). The lamp store ironically serves as a hiding den and evolves from a mere backdrop location to being fully developed into the scene.

Papoulia's character is a nurse, and despite her own neediness, one of her other subservient rituals is tending to her father. Even before taking off her own jacket, the minute she enters the house, she applies eye drops to her dad. Back to the lamp props. In DOGTOOTH, a night table lamp almost falls over while a mental midget son bangs away a security guard, who, oddly enough,  was driven to their home, blindfolded, by the controlling father. 

This makes for a great segue for pointing out the overbearing, authoritative male characters in Lanthimos' films. For instance, in ALPS, "the greatest coach of the cosmos" is but a mere hairy A hole. 

Quid Pro Quo, is a significant theme in Yargos' films too, but in ALPS it evolves. In DOGTOOTH, it's a paid for sex security guard & in ALPS it's a simple haircut, which releases free, if only for a moment, a damaged damsel.

Gross Indifference. It's what some parents suffer from in Lanthimos' films as well. In Dogtooth it's clearly the maternal unit who is afflicted & in ALPS the dancing dad. Severe detachment. So close yet so far. Poor babies.

Yargos is so subtle in making his powerful points that I fear they get lost in translation. For instance: DOGTOOTH's last shot. Again. The theme of something horrific, hiding in something as simple as a car. You see cars all the time. Crossing the street, riding in them, driving them. What really lurks in them? A controlling father who raised his children to believe up is down and left is right? Throwing you off and hiding what's actually going on? The real horror is in what you do not see.

Sidney Lumet's The Wiz is...

The 8th baby of Motown Productions, The Wiz, is truly a splendor to watch over & over. Too bad the now devolved de Passe Entertainment is most likely just managing royalties.

It's amazing to me how not too many big fantasy/sci-fi productions with an all black cast just don't get produced. I'm referring  à la TBurton, PJackson, et al. There are virtually no sci-fi, middle ages, dynasty or whatever else that's popping into your head, of fantastical themes which have an all minority/majority cast.

Can't a cool script of a rich JZ type, with an inflated ego, almost like Alien be made? With his employees and family members an array of brown tones manning a spaceship? In the far distant future, can't there be a lunar bus belonging to a cool looking DWashington type be transporting a bad ass HBerry?

Thank God for Debra Martin Chase. Tho, she has been pigeon holed (remake Queen), but at least she is out there updating what many think the minority census longs for. Honestly, if done right and when good is good, I will lap up a sci-fi with an all people of color cast. I mean, lets face reality! We see all white casts ALL THE TIME? So what's up?

This is why I probably found The Wiz to be:

AWESOME

I mean - there's vouging in it! The Crows & that awesome lady in red! Cool grandiose dance sequences, glorious sets, amazing costumes, awesome singing & great music, (you know you are watching a musical scene in your mind's eye just as you're reading this. Don't play yourself)!

 BUT

Back to my serious point. AArau's Like Water for Chocolate & GdToro's Pan's Labyrinth are non white fantasies, which are splendid. Let us not forget MGibson's Apocalypto, (thank you Mel). HOWEVER; It's insulting - at least to me - that there is MAJOR lacking in ALL BLACK AND/OR LATINO BOMBASTIC TBurton types of  productions, which by now should be the norm.

It's just a constant reminder to me of the unspoken yet so obvious master & servant mentality. This is why Homogenic societies such as Asia have a VAST array of fantasy flicks. They don't have the major hang ups which plague America.

I mean, it's like we have been duped  to believe all we care about are relationship psychodramas or musicals. As a close friend confided to me, "They think black men don't fly in their dreams.", as we glided down the Regal Theater's escalators at Union Square this past Spring.

Back to HoeWood: Don't get me wrong - I LOVE TBurton, RScott et al, and as defense to them, they can easily argue, "Well, I don't have all Black or Latino casts because I'm neither of them and I can't relate." Fair enough. 

We can also easily argue - to truly take a creative stance in art is to delve into what is completely unknown to us. Film, after all, is truly one of the finest art forms. But the old ruling blokes are so back tracked they are still struggling with their Animus complex - hence their affinity for leading ladies as their far stretched choice in delving into their other side. That story is old all ready.

So who is at fault? The SLees & JSingletons, which most likely have been shot down when stepped out of the box? HoeWood? Us? The Jews? The WSmiths? Who should grow balls and take this leap? Are we enablers? I mean, do we boycott all? Or continue to just follow along?

Do we continue to take the BLATANT racism which persists?  You mean to tell me an all brown fairy land can't exist? No wonder Mel lost it.

Will a small kid from Harlem - or wherever - grow up to be the next big thing, AND demand an almost all black cast for his major production film, set in an African back drop, his version of Prometheus or E.T. and say, "But this is what I identify with, this is the vision in my mind."? Are we not allowed to receive in trust - vasts amounts of money to produce as well? Just mini videos? Time Periods?

If an era of 10 back to back Latino films came into existence will they be considered exploitation films? Are the ridiculous "star power" JAnnistons & BPitts films an inverted form of exploitation or could they easily be called WhitExploitation? 

Either way, The Wiz is a sad reminder of what gorgeousity an all "ethnic" fantasy, which is well directed, with a big budget can result in.

Until than your copy of the great fantasy/musical The Wiz will rest among some more musicals, remakes,  melodramatic dramas & Soul Plane.

E V O L V E....it's a beautiful thing.      

RIP: SLumet, TRoss, MKing, MJackson, NRussell, TMerritt, LHorne, RPryor, TCarpenter & Dancers. They are, most possibly, truly Whiz on Downing in the great road of PARADISE, cuz here is just a Mucky Mess.

CLiCK here for Cool PICS!