Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Sitting Target (1972)

Sitting Target (Poster)

I've been wanting to see this since Finders Keepers released the amazing soundtrack in 2007. The soundtrack by Stanley Myers is creepy, badass, and inventive. It's such a great soundtrack to a film that seemed so obscure to me that I guess I assumed the soundtrack outdid the film, and, like so many Italian films of the 70's, assumed it was a mediocre film with a great soundtrack. But wow -- Sitting Target is just as cinematic and brutal as the images the soundtrack inspires. It's great filmmaking; a low-budget(ish) and gritty crime movie that never loses interest.


It's become a fun recession time activity for me to look for hard-to-find bootleg movies on the internet. This one comes from a service I've never used before, and it's a little annoying because you can't watch more than 72 minutes at a time without paying for it. I ended up watching it over two days. Which I didn't really mind, but then, I also apparently don't mind watching sub-VHS quality feature films on the internet.


Watch it here. (Click "Full Movie")

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

L'Invenzione Di Morel




Here's a youtube bootleg I couldn't help watching. Emidio Greco's 1974 adaptation of Adolfo Bioy Cesares' The Invention of Morel. I heard it repeated often enough that Last Year in Marienbad was inspired by the book that I began to forget how little they have in common, which made this straight-forward adaptation a bizarre discovery. Without the narration of the fugitive it gets a little ponderous. But it has it's moments. It's almost like a silent film; it's not even much of a problem there's no subtitles. And it's interesting to see Anna Karina cast as Faustine, who was inspired by Louise Brooks.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

You Poor Thing

New YPT Poster2
Next month I'm excited to be meeting up with Kara and John in Milwaukee to start putting together a feature-length film titled "You Poor Thing". They'll be playing two characters taken from a screenplay I wrote several years ago. Inspired by Bonnie and Clyde films. A couple of broke artists who turn to criminal activities. Also it's a monster movie. He's terrorizing the wayward youth of Milwaukee. I've just started the new script. We're shooting photos in mid-October. And we're aiming for to shoot the film next year in September or October.

Above: a mask I photographed at a grade school art competition while visiting my Grandma in Iowa. The disguises they wear while committing some of their crimes will be based on this mask.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Happy Birthday, Greta Garbo

Garbo's BirthdayToday Greta Garbo would be 106 years old. September is also my birthday month. It's been a great month; I've been helping out with other films. And having almost non-stop visitors to Seattle, where the weather was beyond sublime for most of the month. Now it is wet and brisk out. Time to get back to work. Get out the sweaters. Get out the Mal Waldron record.