Voluptuous Horror: RIP Karen Black

The world lost one of its shining stars yesterday, as legendary actress Karen Black died following a long battle with cancer. An actress with a look that was just as striking as her presence, Black saw her career take off at the very beginning of the 1970s after co-starring in Dennis Hopper's iconic Easy Rider and Bob Rafelson's stunning Five Easy Pieces, which garnered the actress an Academy Award nomination as well as the first of her two Golden Globes wins. Her other Golden Globe win came four years later for Jack Clayton's adaptation of The Great Gatsby, in which she played Myrtle Wilson. The '70s were a particularly lucrative decade for Black, who also appeared in Jack Nicholson's directorial debut Drive, He Said, John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust, Robert Altman's Nashville, Dan Curtis' Burnt Offerings (as well as Curtis' cult TV movie, Trilogy of Terror), Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot (his final film), Jack Smight's Airport 1975, and Peter Hyams' Capricorn One.

Black brought her talents as a stage actress to the screen as well, reprising her role in Altman's film adaptation of Ed Graczyk's play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, alongside her Broadway co-stars Cher and Sandy Dennis. From the 1980s on, Black's film career comprised of a number of cultish oddities, of the horror ilk (Tobe Hooper's Invaders from Mars, David Winters' The Last Horror Film–playing herself, Alex Cox's Repo Chick, and Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses) and the arthouse variety, starring in a pair of films from directors Lynn Hershman-Leeson (Conceiving Ada, Teknolust) and Henry Jaglom (Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?, Irene in Time). She also had cameos, playing herself, in Altman's The Player and in the TV mini-series version of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. Black's presence as something of a gay icon for queer movie lovers lead to a number of supporting roles in low-budget, American LBGT films, like Todd Stephens' Gypsy 83, Tag Purvis' Red Dirt, Steve Balderson's Stuck!, and a few others not worth mentioning.

In addition to acting, Black was also a gifted singer and songwriter, which carried over into a number of her film roles (Nashville, Gypsy 83, Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?). In the music world, performance artist Kembra Pfahler named her band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black after the actress. Pfahler herself posted a few photos to her Instagram page yesterday regarding Black's passing. Musician Cass McCombs featured Black on vocals on the song "Dreams Come True Girl," off his 2009 album Catacombs; she also appeared in the music video for the song. The two are pictured above. Karen Black, you will be forever missed.

Altman's Streamers on DVD, Acquisitions, Foreign Oscar Submission Updates

Music Box Films acquired the first installment of the Millennium trilogy, based on the posthumously released novels of Stieg Larsson, entitled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [Män som hatar kvinnor] directed by Niels Arden Oplev (Worlds Apart). Part 2, The Girl Who Played with Fire [Flickan som lekte med elden], was released in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway on 18 September, and Part 3, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest [Luftslottet som sprängdes], is scheduled for 27 November in Scandinavia. The second and third installments are directed by Daniel Alfredson.

Film Movement picked up the Erik Poppe's Norwegian thriller Troubled Water for a 2010 release. Film Movement previously released Poppe's Hawaii, Oslo a couple years ago. Lorber Films have added two new documentaries to their slate in Niko von Glasow's Nobody's Perfect, about individuals with birth defects as a result of the drug Thalidomide, and N.C. Heikin's Kimjongilia, which interviews North Korean refugees about their experiences. Strand has also picked up Florian Gallenberger's biopic John Rabe, which stars Ulrich Tukur in the title role as well as Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi and Anne Consigny. The film premiered at Berlin earlier this year.

Two more titles have been added to the Foreign Oscar race. Columbia chose Ciro Guerra's Los viajes del viento [The Wind Journeys], and Havana Marking's documentary Afghan Star will represent the UK.

Shout! Factory announced a 19 January street date for Robert Altman's Streamers, which stars Matthew Modine, Michael Wright, Mitchell Lichtenstein and David Alan Grier and is based on the play by David Rabe. It's pretty minor Altman, in my opinion, but a noteworthy release nonetheless. Fox will release (500) Days of Summer on DVD and Blu-ray on 22 December. Gini Reticker's doc Pray the Devil Back to Hell will be released by Passion River on 10 November. And finally, Warner has announced Blu-ray released of Clint Eastwood's Mystic River and Morton DaCosta's The Music Man for 2 February 2010.

And some more date changes: Kino has pushed Loren Cass to 5 January. Paramount moved the first season of The United States of Tara to 29 December.

The Decade List: The Company (2003)

The Company - dir. Robert Altman

Though Gosford Park and A Prairie Home Companion, with the director's recognizable flare for multiple character storylines with esteemed actors, received most of the praise during the last stages of Robert Altman's career, I've always preferred The Company, his documentary-style portrait of Chicago's Joffrey Ballet company. Altman teases us with a narrative that surrounds a dancer named Ry (Neve Campbell, who finally delivers on the promise Hollywood gave her in the 90s), whose career looks to be on the rise, but character and convention are really of little concern in appropriately titled The Company.

This comparison may need some closer analysis, but The Company reminded me a lot of a Maysles brothers film. The camera only appears to capture what it's invited to see, from selected moments in the forming of a relationship between Ry and Josh (James Franco), who's not a member of the troupe, the head of the company Alberto Antonelli's (Malcolm McDowell) bittersweet acceptance of an award from the people who had once criticized his decision to become a dancer, the shattering of the Achilles heel of one of the top performers and the uncertain futures of a new recruit and one who isn't meeting his potential. While these character glimpses in The Company are placed between lovely dance performances, everything in the film is draped with its own resolute history. As in Grey Gardens, the entire company is affected by what has come before it. Though the devastating toll AIDS took on the dance community during the 1980s and 1990s is alluded to (though never actually named), other things, not least of which the tightness of the company's money and the aging of their star dancer, suggest a declining future for these individuals' craft.

Altman makes brilliant use of depth and foreground within the frame. While this may be similar to Gosford Park, especially in terms of trailing conversations, his framing is put to better use here. The scene where Ry performs her big number, Altman shifts from multiple perspectives (the audience, the performer, the stage-hands, the musicians), shedding light on what it is he's trying to do with The Company. The film isn't about the world of dance or the characters within it, but instead, it's a remarkable window into the process of creating and replicating art and the variable of its success.

With: Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Franco, Barbara Robertson, William Dick, Susie Cusack, Marilyn Dodds Frank, John Lordan, John Gluckman, Davis Robertson, David Gombert
Screenplay: Barbara Turner, story by Neve Campbell, Turner
Cinematography: Andrew Dunn
Music: Van Dyke Parks
Country of Origin: USA/Germany
US Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Premiere: 8 September 2003 (Toronto International Film Festival)
US Premiere: 10 September 2003 (Boston Film Festival)

Universal Backlot, Olive Films and Other DVD Updates

Universal has added four more titles to their Blacklot Series, all set for 7 July: Arthur Lubin's Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, with Maria Montez; William A. Wellman's Beau Geste, with Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Susan Hayward; David Miller's Lonely Are the Brave, with Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands and Walter Matthau; and Henry Hathaway's The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, with Sylvia Sidney, Fred MacMurray and Henry Fonda. Universal has also announced a 20th Anniversary Edition of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which will also be out on Blu-ray on 30 June. In other Blu-ray news, Robert Altman's M*A*S*H will be out through Fox on 14 July.

In other news, Wolfe announced the DVD for Pedro, the biopic of Pedro Zamora that was written by Dustin Lance Black (Milk), for 9 June. The film aired on MTV a couple of days ago. Sony will release Jack Garfein's The Strange One, with Ben Gazzara, on 16 June. Sony also set a new date for Waltz with Bashir, on DVD and Blu-ray 23 June. Lionsgate has a horror film with Crispin Glover and Blake Lively called Simon Says for 23 June. Indiepix will release Chico Teixeira's Alice's House [A Casa de Alice] on 23 June. City Lights Pictures has Adam Rifkin's Never on Tuesday, with Peter Berg, set for 23 June. And in television news, look season 5 of Lost on 8 December.

Olive Films Opus announced a number of DVDs set for later in the year as well. The titles include Pavel Chukhraj's The Thief, with Vladimir Mashokov, on 22 September (the film was released previously from Sony but is now out-of-print); Aku Louhimies's Frozen Land [Paha maa] on 4 August; Marius Holt's Mirush [Blodsbånd] on 18 August; and José Joffily's Who Killed Pixote? [Quem Matou Pixote?] on 29 September.

The Decade List: (Some of) The Worst Films (2000)

Though I don't wish to devote time writing about the following films, I have made a shortlist of some of the significantly awful films from 2000 that I had the displeasure of seeing:

- Baise-moi - dir. Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi - France
- Battle Royale - dir. Kinji Fukasaku - Japan
- Battlefield Earth - dir. Roger Christian - USA
- Big Momma's House - dir. Raja Gosnell - USA
- Boys and Girls - dir. Robert Iscove - USA
- The Crow: Salvation - dir. Bharat Nalluri - USA/Germany
- Dr. T & the Women - dir. Robert Altman - USA/Germany
- Groove - dir. Greg Harrison - USA
- Hollow Man - dir. Paul Verhoeven - USA/Germany
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas - dir. Ron Howard - USA/Germany
- The Iron Ladies - dir. Youngyooth Thongkonthun - Thailand
- Km. 0 - dir. Yolanda García Serrano, Juan Luis Iborra - Spain
- Malèna - dir. Giuseppe Tornatore - Italy/USA
- Mission: Impossible 2 - dir. John Woo - USA/Germany
- Mission to Mars - dir. Brian De Palma - USA
- Pay It Forward - dir. Mimi Leder - USA
- The Smokers - dir. Kat Slater - USA
- Stardom - dir. Denys Arcand - Canada/France
- Vulgar - dir. Bryan Johnson - USA

Checkmate

It's easy to throw out referential comments about Ingmar Bergman's death today: "he finally lost the chess game with Death" or, as my friend Chris put it, "he's finally going to meet that giant spider in the sky." Bergman's films frequently dealt with death, whether it be the fear of the afterlife or the question of God's existence; in a way, his films were his own eulogy. From Harriet Andersson in Cries and Whispers, Ingrid Thulin in The Silence, and Max von Sydow in Winter Light, death was inescapable in Bergman's world. To call Bergman one of the finest filmmakers of all time seems redundant, as this is fairly widely recognized, but it's no overstatement. He was consistent and prolific, churning out some of the most wrenching and memorable films ever committed to the screen in quick succession. He became known internationally with his romantic comedy, Smiles of a Summer Night, but truly executed his signature later with The Virgin Spring, his Silence of God trilogy, and meta nightmares like Persona. He won three Academy Awards, for The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, and his final opus Fanny and Alexander (he announced that to be his final film, but followed it with small made-for-Swedish-television dramas and Saraband, a sequel to his famed Scenes from a Marriage). Women were always the subject of fascination and intrigue from Liv Ullmann, Andersson, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and Gunnel Lindblom; Bergman's obsession proved unforgettable and influential to filmmakers from Woody Allen even to Pedro Almodóvar. His death came as no surprise this morning, but it offered a fine time for reflection on his work... He was 89.

Notable Filmography:
Saraband (2003)
Fanny & Alexander (1982)
Autumn Sonata (1978)
The Magic Flute (1975)
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
The Passion of Anna (1969)
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Persona (1966)
The Silence (1963)
Winter Light (1962)
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
The Virgin Spring (1960)
The Magician (1958)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Summer with Monika (1953)

Other Assorted Filmography:
After the Rehearsal (1984)
From the Life of the Marionettes (1980)
The Serpent's Egg (1977)
Shame (1968)
All These Women (1964)
Brink of Life (1958)
Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)
To Joy (1950)
Thirst (1949)
Port of Call (1948)
Crisis (1946)

Extracurricular:
Deconstructing Harry (1997) - Woody Allen's version of Wild Strawberries
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) - Allen's loose adaptation of Cries and Whispers
Interiors (1978) - Another Allen rendition of Cries and Whispers/Persona
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) - Allen's Smiles of a Summer Night
Manhattan (1979) - Contains the wonderful argument between Allen and Diane Keaton over Bergman
Husbands and Wives (1992) - Allen's Scenes from a Marriage
Scenes from a Mall (1991) - Paul Mazursky comedy with Bette Midler and Allen, sort of influenced by Marriage
Torremolinos 73 (2003) - Spanish comedy where a man decides to direct a porn film in Bergman-style
Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie (1963) - Vilgot Sjöman's (I Am Curious: Yellow) documentary
Light Keeps Me Company (2000) - Documentary about Bergman's cinematographer, Sven Nykvist
Torment (1944) - Bergman's first screenplay
Faithless (2000) - Liv Ullmann's film from a Bergman screenplay
Performance (1970) - Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's male equivalent of Persona
3 Women (1977) - Robert Altman's pseudo-remake of Persona with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall
Mulholland Drive (2001) - David Lynch's homage to Persona
Un chien andalou (1929) - Notice Bergman's reference to this film in the opening montage of Persona
Me Without You (2001) - There's a humorous moment in the film where Kyle Maclachlan blasts a young girl vying for his affection for responding Wild Strawberries, the typical response, for what her favorite Bergman film is.

Bergman's mark on cinema is far more expansive than this list (especially Scenes from a Marriage and Persona), but there's a starting point if you want to investigate further.

Zombie Robert Altman

Famed American director Robert Altman died yesterday, and, along with Sven Nykvist, he's probably the most important cinematic figure to pass while I've been writing (I had nothing to say about Jack Palance, as he was the drunk responsible for Marisa Tomei's Oscar). He's the man we could have slapped for making the multi-character "we're-all-connected" sub(crap)genre (see Magnolia, Playing by Heart, Crash, and a bunch of other shitty movies for more examples). His films were wildly varied in quality, but no one's denying the man sure wasn't prolific. He made a few masterpieces (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, 3 Women), some overrated junk (Gosford Park, Short Cuts, The Player), some plain ol' junk (Popeye, Ready to Wear, Dr. T & the Women), and some underrated gems (The Company, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean). He won an honorary Oscar last year, because the Academy had goofed, realized he was old, and not awarded him a best director trophy. It's always sad when cinema greats die after making a lousy film like Prairie Home Companion. The same thing happened to Walter Matthau (Hanging Up), Jack Lemmon (The Legend of Bagger Vance), Raul Julia (Street Fighter), Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut), Federico Fellini (The Voice of the Moon), and many many others (expect this to happen to Antonioni and Bergman if they don't throw out another picture to wipe clear Eros and Saraband, respectively). Plus, how can you not honor the man who discovered Shelley Duvall?


Notable Filmography:
MASH (1970)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Images (1972)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Nashville (1975)
3 Women (1977)
A Wedding (1978)
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Secret Honor (1984)
Aria ("Les Boréades") (1987)
Tanner '88 (1988)
The Player (1992)
Short Cuts (1993)
Kansas City (1996)
The Gingerbread Man (1998)
Cookie's Fortune (1999)
Gosford Park (2001)
The Company (2003)