Mort Abrahams (born 1916 – died 28 May, 2009) was an American film and television producer.
Among his credits are nine episodes of spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and, as associate producer, Doctor Dolittle (1967), Planet of the Apes (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), co-writing the story of the latter.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. theme[1] by Space Age Popper Hugo Montenegro
Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an iconic American actress. She came to fame in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women-in-prison and blaxploitation films, and has generally remained in the public eye, starring in B-movies such as 1974’s Foxy Brown, and in mainstream films such as Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 film, Jackie Brown.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFGrA1KCfEo]
The Last Days of Emma Blank[1] by Alex van Warmerdam
Chances are slim that you come across this film if you live outside of Europe or even Dutch-speaking countries, but if you see this film playing near you, don’t miss it. Warmerdam is the best director of The Netherlands and has been for some time now. His palmares includes Abel (1986), The Northerners (1992), Little Tony (1998), Grimm (2003) and Waiter (2006).
The Last Days of Emma Blank (Dutch original: De Laatste dagen van Emma Blank) is a Dutch film by Alex van Warmerdam released in May 2009. The film is co-produced with La Parti Productions in Belgium and is the story of Emma Blank, a rich woman who is incurably ill and who is living her last days. She is surrounded by personnel who patiently await her death, which takes longer that originally envisioned.
RIP Lucy Gordon (1980 – 2009)
May 2007 photo of Lucy Gordon by David Shankbone[1][2]
I’m skipping Arthur Conan Doyle @150, Arthur Cravan @120 and Carl Craig &@40 to report the sad death of British actress Lucy Gordon, a couple of days before her 29th birthday. Sad because she chose to end her life violently. She just finished shooting Jane Birkin in Joann Sfar‘s Serge Gainsbourg : vie héroïque, scheduled for release in 2010.
James Fox (born 19 May 1939) is an English actor best-known for his portrayal of Chas in Performance (1970, directed by Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg).
Chas (James Fox) is a “performer,” an ultra-violent enforcer for an East London gang who begins to enjoy his work a little too much, culminating in the murder of an associate. He goes on the run, both from the police and from his former colleagues and finds himself a hideout in the house of a reclusive, eccentric rock star named Turner (Mick Jagger) who lives there with his female friends. Chas and Turner are initially repelled by each other, but come to see that the worlds of the rock star and the gangster are not as different as they first appear.
His previous cult film was The Servant (1963, directed by Joseph Losey) in which Tony (James Fox), a wealthy young Londoner, hires Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) as his manservant. Nothing being what it seems, the characters manoeuvre around each other until roles reverse and Tony emerges enslaved to his butler.
Both Performance and The Servant are WMCs.
James Mason (15 May 1909 – 27 July 1984) was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. He acted in such films as Madame Bovary (1949), The Tell-Tale Heart[1] (1953) (animated short subject) (voice), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), North by Northwest (1959), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), Lolita (1962) and Mandingo (1975).
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4s9V8aQu4c]
To me the man is remembered by his voice, there are even spoken word albums by him. Listen to it in the Youtube clip of The Tell-Tale Heart, the cinematic animated adaptation of Poe‘s story about the compulsion to confess, a psychological complex first described by Theodor Reik in The Compulsion to Confess in 1925.
De helaasheid der dingen will premier at Cannes[1] this Saturday as La Merditude des choses.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxKWAuf-4E]
The De helaasheid der dingen (French title: La Merditude des choses) is a 2009 film by Belgian director Felix van Groeningen (co-written by Christophe Dirickx), based on the eponymous novel by Dimitri Verhulst. The film stars Koen De Graeve, Johan Heldenbergh, Gilda De Bal, Pauline Grossen and Wouter Hendrickx.
Felix van Groeningen (1978) is a Belgian filmmaker. Van Groeningen came to the attention with his debut Steve + Sky which starred former model Delfine Bafort (his girlfriend at the time) and the Flemish actor Titus De Voogdt. He studied at the KASK in Gent and graduated in 2000. He also directed short subjects and theatrical work. In 2007 he released Dagen Zonder Lief, with An Miller and a soundtrack by Jef Neve.
His latest project is De Helaasheid der dingen (2009), is a film adaptation of De helaasheid der dingen, a novel by Dimitri Verhulst.
The 2009 Cannes Film Festival opened yesterday evening. On my list of faves there is Antichrist (by Lars von Trier), Bright Star (by Jane Campion), La Merditude des choses (by Felix van Groeningen), Les Herbes folles (by Alain Resnais), Los Abrazos Rotos (by Pedro Almodovar), Soudain le vide (by Gaspar Noe), Taking Woodstock (by Ang Lee), Thirst (by Park Chan-Wook), Vincere (by Marco Bellocchio) and The White Ribbon (by Michael Haneke).
Harvey Keitel (born May 13, 1939) is an American actor best-known for the “tough-guy” characters he portrays and for his memorable roles from Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott’s The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Jane Campion’s The Piano and Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant.
Bad Lieutenant (1992) – Abel Ferrara [Amazon.com]
But surely, his most unsettling film is the Bad Lieutenant by bad boy of American cinema Abel Ferrara.
The film is squarely located in the oasis of American cinema known as the NC-17 pond. Its thematics are religion, rape revenge and general hardboiled existentialism. Its protagonist is Keitel who is tagged as Gambler. Thief. Junkie. Killer. Cop. Keitel’s nameless character is a corrupt police lieutenant who, throughout the movie, is spiralling rapidly into various drug addictions, including cocaine and heroin. His lack of success at gambling reflects his lack of faith. The turning point in the film arrives when the Lieutenant investigates the rape of a nun and uses this as a chance to confront his inner demons and perhaps achieve redemption.
The film features male frontal nudity of Keitel, a rarity in American cinema.
Most recently, erotic photographer Roy Stuart, in his Roy Stuart, vol. 5 reenacted the scene when Keitel stops two young girls in their car, discovers that they have no driver’s license and forces one to bare her behind and the other to simulate fellatio, while he masturbates.
Werner Herzog is to release a similarly titled film in 2009: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans starring Nicolas Cage and Val Kilmer. According to Herzog, the film is not a remake of the original. In fact, Herzog claims to have never seen Bad Lieutenant, nor to know who Abel Ferrara is.
Bad Lieutenant is World Cinema Classic #101.
Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993) was an Anglo-Dutch actress, performer, ballerina, fashion model, gay icon, sex symbol and humanitarian, noted for her performances in films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and her waiflike appearance.
The waif look was then known as “gamine”.
The “gamine” look of the 1950s, associated with actresses like Audrey Hepburn, Leslie Caron and Jean Seberg, was, to some extent, a precursor of heroin chic.