4 actresses all share a house in Oklahoma. One finally moves off to L.A. to try her luck, and a new roommate, A new girl, Cat, shows up to take her place. The lives of Charlie (an anxiety-ridden newly out lesbian), Beth (a deeply Catholic girl who wants to act for Jesus) and April (Intense, driven, and with zero tolerance for inconvenience) and a couple of wayward LDS missionaries are all going to change, whether they like it or not.
This absurdist deadpan comedy/horror(?) really does bring laughs, often of the quiet internal chuckle type, but most definitely delivering some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments. The performances are all quite good, with occasional moments of real greatness. Cate Jones directs, writes, and acts as Cat. A truly ensemble piece, everyone gets their a chance to play out their story, told with a talking-head documentary interviews as a framing device.
Inventive, efficient, funny. And, as a bonus, BEAUTIFULLY shot in widescreen b&w. Hard to ask for more from an indie comedy.
Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin (2022 - Dir Dima Ballin & Kat Ellinger)
If you know of Jean Rollin at all, you probably know him as a 70’s exploitation filmmaker. Maybe you think “Is he the Lesbian Vampire guy?” and you’d be close (that was Jess Franco’s Vampyros Lesbos 1971). Rollin WAS most well known for his vampire exploitation films like The Nude Vampire (1970) and Rape of the Vampire (1968). And if there’s any image associated with him, it’s women clothed only in diaphanous transparent gowns walking through moonlit graveyards, among castles, and along rocky coastlines.
This film, however, attempts to correct this record somewhat, making a convincing argument for reevaluation of Rollin’s work as drawing from a long line of surrealist and dada art in which he was surrounded, growing up. His mother was a central figure in French intellectual circles, and Rollin eagerly absorbed these influences in his youth. Social and political realities lead to his being shunned by the French film community, which was deep into its New Wave, and wrote off Rollin.
Rollin had found a friendly producer who allowed him to make whatever films he wanted to make, so long as there was sex and some horror elements so they could be sold on the exploitation circuit around Europe and in the US. Ironically, when France formally lifted it ban on pornography, that market cratered, and Rollin spent a while making hardcore porn, simply to finance the occasional film he actually wanted to make.
It’s a well told story of a fascinating life and artist that, while his work won’t be to everyone’s tastes, is certainly worth a critical look.
Well, you missed a lot of the zanier stuff that comes in through the 2nd half, but you know, it’s not some rare masterpiece. If it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing.
Had some intense bingeing on The Americans and I had forgotten about 70% of the show Really very good, though when you binge, the dilution in quality of later seasons is much more apparent than it was when watching it weekly.
Taking a break before Diplomat, because I can’t take that much Keri Russell (to those to whom she looked familiar, her original claim to fame was Felicity, in which she played the eponymous lead, a night & day difference from the later breakout role on The Americans).
Currently watching S6 of Better Call Saul. Again there’s some dilution over the seasons, but not as much as there was in Breaking Bad.
I’m saving the “new” Luther for when I’m in the mood. Have a feeling I’m going to want to rewatch all of Luther before / after.
Finally watched Downhill Racer (1969) last night! Pretty darn good. Robert Redford does a great job as the one-dimensional skiing wizard. The skiing sequences are great and of course Gene Hackman is always first-rate (he plays the coach of the US ski team). Definitely worth two hours of your time!
I watched the first 4 seasons then got more sporadic but did watch the last season all the way through. It was fun and quirky and I liked all the actors. They had great guest stars pop up like Sam Elliot and Peter Gallagher and the main 4 actors were superb.
Fun (depressing) fact: The Golden Girls were all supposed to be in their 50’s(!!!) and early 60’s (except sophia) at the start of the series. Dorothy (Bea Arthur) was supposed to be 53!
Oh, the rugged Sam Elliot, at the time he was the answer to my idea of ‘tall, dark and handsome’. He’s had quite a stable career. ‘Wild Times’ was the first show I saw him in. Then I had to backtrack a few years. Some greats, some real duds. He’s been out there a long time.
Both my ex and current partner have both said Sam Elliot is right near the top of their free-play list.
He’ll always be The Stranger in Lebowski for me… He was great in Tombstone (but let’s face it, Val Kilmer stole that show) and he was genuinely evil (and, more to the point, MUSTACHE FREE) as the big bad in the last season of Justified.
What I was HOPING for was, well, what it said in the title. A werewolf story set among vikings and battle axes and such. That is not what I got.
Instead, I got, essentially, the Norwegian version of Ginger Snaps. Yes, Vikings are involved in the prologue, where they unwittingly bring the werewolf curse to Norway from one of the raids in Normandy. But then the time frame jumps to the resent, and we meet Thale, the new kid from Oslo, now in the small town of Nymo, where her mom is the new police deputy and her stepfather is trying hard to be a good guy, but she’s a teen and, well…
A much more low key affair, this has frights and sufficient wolf-maulings to keep the interest of the genre fans, and is does a nice bit of work with the outsider-teen theme.
Now, I compared it to Ginger Snaps, but that’s almost unfair. Ginger Snaps is the rare film that seems to punch way, WAY above its weight. Viking Wolf doesn’t do that, but it’s a good time nonetheless. It would be a good companion to a slightly older Scandinavian film, When Animals Dream (2014) which deals with similar themes and subject matter.
(currently available on Netflix in the US. maybe where you are. maybe not)
This has been rebooted to the Roku channel from a previous run on ABC.
Ellie Klemperer and Zach Cherry host, and we have Prue and Paul as judges.
Thankfully, it all works even without a charming UK regional accents. And I have to say that as a whole, I think the UK contestants are at a higher skill level than their US counterparts.
I think that they actually moved all the contestants to the UK to bake in the official tent. I wonder if the difference between US and UK ingredients might have played a part in some of their issues.
I haven’t seen Cocaine Bear as I haven’t been properly fucked up enough to watch that yet, but as I mentioned in your quoted reply, I know her from The Americans.
Really very good, though when you binge, the dilution in quality of later seasons is much more apparent than it was when watching it weekly.
