Sedmikrasky (1966)

In film and theater class this week, we screened Vera Chytilova's Sedmikrasky (Daisies). It's one of the most bizarre films I've seen. Of course it hasn't de-throned Un chien andalou as THE most bizarre, but it's definitely one of the most unique ones I've seen. We were covering Czech New Wave and this was our example, Czech with English subtitles. The editing is brilliant. and this is from '66 when they cut up their film and edited by splicing it together. Not sure of the film stock, but the colours were so vibrant. It's a psychedelic experimental with no strong narrative thread.


So anyhoo, the film is about two young women, both named Marie (Jitka Cerhova and Ivana Karbanova), doing absolutely anything and everything they want. And doing anything to get it. They don't have a care in the world and hustle older men into wining and dining them, while the girls take off on them after. Then there will be an interlude of disjointed words and a sort of Brechtian thing happening when the two sit propped up or in various poses, reciting some kind of poetry, looking toward the camera, sometimes blowing on a trumpet. This is when the trippy editing would happen. The film would change to a series of monochrome colours one after the other, repeating the same image. Also, There would be a series of static, close up shots of different flowers, daisies being the main motif.


These girls ate and ate and ate. They scammed other people into buying them food, they stole food and got obnoxiously drunk whenever they could. They looked totally joyful and stress-free doing whatever they wanted. Apparently, it's supposed to be a commentary on the rampant consumerism at the time (or so I read). I could not take my eyes off of this film. And the two Marie's were perfect, especially the darker haired Marie. I was mesmerized by her the entire time she was on screen. It's just one of those films everybody should experience at least once. It caused such a brouhaha in Czechoslovakia, that it was banned for a year and Chytilova never received any more state funds for her filmmaking. From Cahiers du Cinemart, "My one and only preoccupation is to stimulate reaction from the viewer, to make him think, consider, analyze problems. What I may think or say is of no importance. What matters, for me, is that others should think when they see my films. I want to make people think," says director Vera Chytilová. Very creative and interesting ending.

More ramblings to come.....

Movie Quote of the Day: Hoodwinked

I picked this up because I was looking for inspiration for this Snow White satire I'm working on. I'm writing the script and looking for movies with a modern take on fairy tales to watch. Hookwinked is a modern twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story. It's animated and for children but it is really freakin' funny. It's directed to look like an action movie. The music and slow-mo action sequences give it that feel. It's also voiced by some impressive talent with Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Patrick Warburton, James Belushi, Chazz Palminteri, David Ogden Stiers, Xzibit, Anthony Anderson and Andy Dick. I visit the IMBD boards of films I had a reaction to and read what other viewers think. Most of the time if I get a weird thought like, "Whatever happened to Chunk from The Goonies?" I can look it up and find out he became an entertainment lawyer in L.A. (who woulda thunk?). Just about every movie will have some negativity thrown at it with "Worst movie ever made" threads, but I have a whole new appreciation for the craft. It's very challenging medium. One of my instructors called it "the most masochistic art form there is". I never thought it would be as much work or be as time consuming. I'm especially impressed when people can do a lot with a small budget. Anyhoo, on the IMDB message boards for this movie a lot of people bitch and moan about the computer animation being "cheap". This movie was made for less than $20 million, which is impressive considering the talent they had. Just enjoy it for what it is, a funny, family movie. Directed and Written by Cory Edwards and Todd Edwards.


The story is told as an investigation. Red (Hathaway), Granny (Close), The Wolf (Warburton), and The Woodsman (Belushi) are being held for questioning by the forest police who are looking for the "Goodie Bandit". The story is told four times through four points of view. Which is different because each time a story is told, it adds another layer and more elements. Agent Flippers (Ogden Stiers) is the main interrogator with the incompetent and the conclusion-jumping Chief Grizzly (Xzibit) and Detective Stork (Anderson) attempting to assist. One of those films marketed towards a young audience when a lot of the jokes are aimed at an adult audience. In the beginning when Red enters Granny's house, she starts saying to the Wolf in Granny's clothing, "what big eyes you have, what big hands you have, etc. Here it is...

Red: What big ears you have....
The Wolf: All the better to hear your many criticisms.
(It's all in the delivery)

Til next time.......

DVD Quote of the Day: Corner Gas

I friggin love this show. Corner Gas: Season 3 came out on DVD this Tuesday and I picked it up, but haven't had time to watch it. I plan on doing that this weekend. Great ensemble cast with Brent Butt (gas station owner, Brent Leroy), Gabrielle Miller (big city transplant, Lacey Burrows), Nancy Robertson (Brent's smart alecky co-worker, Wanda Dollard), Fred Ewanuick (Brent's loafing friend, Hank Yarbo), Eric Peterson (Brent's over-reacting father, Oscar Leroy), Janet Wright (Brent's all powerful matriarch, Emma Leroy), Lorne Cardinal (bumbling police officer Davis Quinton), and Tara Spencer-Nairn (Davis' more adept partner Karen Pelly). A lot of people compare this to Seinfeld and there are some similarities, but it's a show all its own. Saskatchewan plays a major character, as well. I sent Season 2 on DVD to my sister in Rhode Island for Christmas last year. She loves it, but I'm not sure if her hubby thinks it is as funny because he hasn't seen it. Seeing things like, the house on main street that's a liquor store/insurance broker (this house is in every small town in Saskatchewan), and the cars parked on an angle on main street with the doors unlocked and the windows wide open, these are distinctly "small town prairies". We're awfully proud of this show here. The kids and I actually went out to Rouleau, where the exteriors are shot, and visited the Cop Shop which is actually an ice cream/souvenir shop. I was pretty disappointed when the owner and resident Corner Gas expert informed me that there was no "World's Biggest Hoe", it was put in digitally on the computer. I was hoping it was something props built and was somewhere out there so I could get a picture.


This show takes place in fictional Dog River, Saskatchewan. Brent owns and runs the town gas station (40 klicks from nowhere). His co-worker Wanda is very educated, obviously too smart to just be a cashier at the gas station and full of sarcasm. Lacey moved out from Toronto when her Aunt Ruby died and left her the town cafe. She's sweet and well-meaning and as much as she tries to fit in, she just can't help inadvertently alienating and offending everyone. If this was the prairies Seinfeld, Hank would be Kramer. He doesn't seem to have a job and is always wandering around town getting into everybody's business. Oscar and Emma together are hilarious. Davis and Karen are the two police officers in Dog River with very little to do, afterall, how much crime happens in Dog River? The other characters in town are as quirky as the main characters. Since I am not familiar with Season 3, I'm quoting from season 2, the episode where Brent, Wanda and Hank bring back their band from the 80's. Brent is playing a tune for Lacey on an air guitar that their band played before......

Brent: What does this sound like to you?
Lacey: A weasel caught in a fan belt?
Brent: A weasel in a fan belt sounds completely different.
Lacey: A gopher caught in a chainsaw?

More ramblings to come....

Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)

Today I almost skipped by film and theater class to finish my cinematography assignment for this week, but I'm glad I didn't. This week we screened Marcel Carne's Les Enfants du Paradis. Actually, Part II, as the lecture part ran longer than expected. So, I will be checking this out of the film library at school so I can see the film in its entirety. This was filmed in Nice during the Nazi occupation which I think makes it a bigger accomplishment. It is French with English subtitles and even has Pierre Renoir playing the part of Jericho. I loved this beautiful complicated love story. Right now we are discussing campiness of films that depict theater, theater actors or theater life. Les Enfants du Paradis involves a group of actors in a strange relationship with each other.


Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) is a theater mime who falls in love with a woman he helps on the Boulevard de Crime, Garance (Arletty). Garance is a carefree, spirited woman who also has three other admirers. She is briefly involved with Frederick (Pierre Brasseur), a pretentious self-involved actor, Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand), a self described thief who does a little bit of murdering, and Count Eduard de Montray (Louis Salou), a wealthy man who wishes to obtain Garance. We missed the part where Garance and Baptiste fall in love. Baptiste leaves Garance because he doesn't agree with her assertion that "love is simple". We came in around the part where Frederick is becoming a great actor and insults the writers of his play. Apparently before that Garance gets into trouble because of Lacenaire and Count de Montray offers to bail her out if she becomes his woman. She leaves France to travel with Count de Montray and away from Baptiste. Baptiste then marries Nathalie (Maria Casares), a very cute and sweet actress in his show who adores him, even though she knows he's still desperately in love with Garance. Garance comes back and watches Baptiste's show nightly anonymously from a private box. Frederick gets seated in her private box and asks her where she has been. He tells her that she doesn't look happy. She says she is not happy, but not especially sad and says that "it's like a spring in the music box broke. It's the same tune but a different key." She tells Frederick that even though she's traveled the world with her sugar daddy, the Count, she can't stop thinking about Baptiste and is still in love with him. Frederick feels jealousy for the first time and is happy that he now has something to tap into to play Othello, the only character that has eluded him. She tells Frederick to tell Baptiste that she is in town briefly if he'd like to see her. However, Jericho has found out as well and tells Nathalie that Garance is there. Nathalie sends their young son to tell Garance that they are all happy together. He asks her if she is alone and she says yes. Garance seems so sad you can actually feel her loneliness. She leaves as Frederick tells Baptiste Garance is there. In the middle of his performance, he looks into his lovely wife's face and stops his performance and runs to the box but Garance has already left. He then becomes very depressed and holes up in a room in a boarding house and stops performing because he realizes how unhappy he has been without her.


The Count catches on that Garance's nightly pilgrimages to the Funambules is because she is in love with someone there and he wants to kill them. She has told the Count that she doesn't love him and loves someone else. Garance and The Count attend Othello and during the break, Frederick meets The Count and Lacenaire. The three men get into a heated discussion, because Eduard has already met Lacenaire and learns of his past and his association with Garance. Eduard also suspects that Frederick is the man Garance is in love with. Meanwhile, Garance wanders out into the lobby only to run into Baptiste who has been looking for her. They run outside to a balcony and profess their love for each other. Baptiste tells her he regrets not believing her when she says that love is simple. They kiss and Lacenaire reveals to Eduard that Baptiste is the one she loves. Eduard and Frederick are to duel in the morning and Garance and Baptiste run to his room. They spend the night together and both seem so happy to have found each other again. The next morning Nathalie comes with their young son, not realizing that Garance has spent the night. She is very angry because she has stood by him and adores him, even though she knew he didn't love her back the same way. She also confronts Garance and tells her it must be so easy to come and go as you please, be missed and come back with memories enhancing your presence. Garance tells Nathalie that even though she has been everywhere, Baptiste was always there with her and that she never stopped loving him. Garance leaves and Baptiste chases after her, leaving Nathalie and their son behind as he searches for Garance in a crowd. In the closing scene, Baptiste is seemingly swallowed by the crowd. There is no real resolution. Does he ever find her again? Why did Lacenaire want to cause such trouble for the other men? His motive was unclear. I loved this movie and hope to see it again soon. I was reading the message board for this movie and I have to quote this person with the username unsolvedfan. Many people had said how much they felt for Baptiste until he leaves Nathalie and his son behind to chase after Garance and this user has this to say about it. "I would like to point out that I do not agree with the comments about Baptiste being a "bastard." I can only reply by adapting a line from this film. It was not Baptiste himself who betrayed his wife, it was fate that did the betraying. In other words, there is no stopping love and desire at a certain point. Devastating and sad, but not cruel." Very poignant. A must see, if you ever get the chance.