Over the Edge

Okay, these days I'm very into coming of age/teenage rebellion films, and a few days ago I watched "Over the Edge", a film thats been lost somewhere under my bed for a couple of months (such a slacker I am). Directed by Jonathan Kaplan (he mainly does Tv-drama-crime-series), starring a very young Matt Dillon (the outsiders etc. etc.) and Michael Eric Kramer. Magnificent soundtrack, mainly by Cheap Trick, whom I don't really know...
Anyway it is a classic, a must see, about teenagers rebelling against their concervative parents, getting drunk, getting stoned and trashing the school. It is not a comedy, it is very gripping and sad and makes the viewer want to run away from everything and/or ruin stuff for all the snotty grown-ups.
Fuck patriarchy and fuck the patriarchs!
PS. Matt Dillon was such a sexy kid!

- Andrae

Carmen

Yesterday we went to Malmö in Sweden, and to the Malmö Stadsteater Intiman to see the play Carmen staged by Kajs Giertz, and interpreted by professional dancers, an operasinger and some actors. My swedish is not perfect but I understood quite a lot of it. They used the original music by George Bizet, only with swedish lyrics. It was very very good I thought, I love crossdressing, dancing and spanish dresses, and the play had it all.

- Andrae

Weekend; wine, cookie dough and shitloads of movies

I had an absolutely terrific weekend. Whilst knocking back many a bottle of cheap redwine and uncooked baked goods, we watched films, the following will be the ones that are worth mentioning;
"The Big Lebowski" by Joel Coen, with Jeff Bridges ( I love that he, "The Dude" also stars in "The mirror has two faces" with the lovely Barbra Streisand, incidentally that movie is peculiar and nice), John Goodman (whom I only remember from "Blues Brothers 2000" and that sitcom called "Roseanne") and Steve Buscemi (wroof! "Ghost World", "Con Air"(Haha), "Resevoir dogs" etc.) and also the fantastic mr. David Thewlis (He plays Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter films, also; "Naked") has a small but well-played part in this film. I've watched it before, I have faith that it will never lose its greatness. Fantastic Soundtrack!

The Dude: "Walter he peed on my rug"
Donny: "He peed on the Dude's rug"






"Inglourious Basterds" by Tarantino, with many many people that have been credited too often, yet i feel a need to mention Eli Roth in the role as the "Bearjew", sgt. Donny Donowitz (who incidentally also stars in "The mirror has two faces" - every badass nazibutcher has a past, nudge nudge), Til Schweiger as my absolute favorite character in this movie the german basterd Hugo Stiglitz. Denis Menochet as Perrier LaPadite from the first scene, and of course Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa. Also I think it is amazing that Samm Levine from "Freaks and Geeks" is playing a basterd, that really made my day. I thought it was amazing watching it in the cinema, but I certainly do not regret buying the DVD.

Hugo Stiglitz: "Say Auf Wiedersehen to your nazi-balls"





"Me and Charly" (Danish: Mig og Charly) from 1978 which is a danish teenage drama-comedy film about two boys and their (at times rather homoerotic) friendship. They become friends despite their different backgrounds. I love it, I really still do.
Lovely.

- Andrae

The Squid and the Whale

I've postponed watching this film for quite a while, my immediate thought was that it seemed kinda dull. It most certainly is not. It is a sad story about divorce and the effect it has upon children. I found it beautiful and very simple, to the point. Particularly the depiction of the heart-broken father (an immensely pretentious writer, beautifully played by Jeff Daniels) who decides to turn his oldest son against his ex-wife. The lovely Laura Linney (Driving Lessons) plays the mother, the children are played by Owen Kline and Jesse Eisenberg, and the film is directed by Noah Baumbach (The Fantastic Mr. Fox).

- Andrae

Australian Lovelies: Strange Planet

I had a wonderful, yet hungover time yesterday watching "Queer as folk 2" (UK), "Strange Planet" and "Sliding Doors" (we love John Hannah!).
Strange Planet (1999) has been forgotten, rather unfairly I think, and thus it is time to mention this incredibly sweet film. It is directed by Emma-Kate Croghan, whom I do not know anything about, since I am not very geeky upon the subject of Australian pop-culture... yet.
It is a story about three women and three men and their many, many problems with their respective lovelives. The film begins and ends at new years which made it very appropriate for watching yesterday.
I feel that this film is a bit more complex than other romantic dramas or comedies. I am not saying that this is an artsy film though, it just has a different and interesting twist/quality to it, and it does not cease to be realistic (in contrast with other romantic comedies way of glorifying single and/or married life).
It is one of my favourite movies because it is hopeful and has possibly the tackiest ending in the world. Lovely.
Starring in this film are three very beautiful ladies; Claudia Karvan, Alice Garner (I love love love her!) and Naomi Watts.
Unfortunately what happened to the "Ghost World" movie cover has happened to Strange Planet as well - Naomi Watts, who is not the main character, but merely one of 6 main characters, has been placed in focus because of her popularity in Hollywood. I hate that, I really do, although placing Scarlett Johanson in the front of the "Ghost World" cover is more of a crime than the Naomi Watts stunt.
That aside, this is a lovely film for the gigglish, and also for those hopeful romantics, and as seen above, I found the proper cover.
Incidentally this film has some rather quirky film-references that are worth noticing. De Niro in "Taxi Driver" is not only mentioned but also impersonated by one of the male characters, and scenes from the 1959 series "The Twilight Zone" are used for the purpose of making a point about life and fate and that sort of thing.
Lovely film.

- Andrae

Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes

Gouttes d’eau sur pierres brûlantes is a very peculiar film. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago and hurried home to watch it. It is so far from what I’d expected, but I was not disappointed. The director is the fantastic Francois Ozon (8 Femmes, Une robe d’été, Le temps qui reste) and the actors in this tragic love story are Malik Zidi, Bernard Giraudeau, Anna Levine and Ozon’s favourite, the beautiful Ludivine Sagnier . What I love about Ozon is that his films have this slightly ironic or sarcastic feeling to them. I would go as far as calling them rather campy. The music and the clothes are often on the tacky side. It is very difficult to explain the sensation; instead one should really just watch the film.

I realized that I was crying my eyes out because of a lederhosen wearing hipster that listens to Schlagers, and I liked it. Also, the soundtrack features (apart from Tony Holiday’s fabulous “Tanze samba mit mir”) a very beautiful and moving song (god I’m such a wuss) “Träume” sung by Francoise Hardy.

This film is worth watching.

- Andrae