The Dreamers

After recently re-watching this, I'm compelled to write about it.

Based on Gilbert Adair's 1988 novel The Holy Innocents, Bertolucci's film is a love letter to cinema, French politics, and the innocence of youth.

It follows Matthew (Michael Pitt), a young American exchange student in Paris during the spring of 1968. A lover of all things cinema, he spends a large amount of time in the Cinémathèque Francaise. When it is shut down after the sacking of Henri Langlois, Matthew meets French (non identical) twins Theo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green). Initially drawn together through a love of cinema, an intense triangular relationship evolves that none of them have ever experienced before.

I'm going to state right here that the sex, when it does happen, is explicit, and it deserves its 18 certificate. But I love the fact that there is so much more going on in this film than the sexual relationships between the three central characters. The tumultuous political upheaval of the time is faithfully recreated here, and you can almost feel the electricity in the air. The tracking shot of the Eiffel Tower, set to the strains of Jimmi Hendrix is brilliantly evocative The closing of the cinémathèque that started a lot of the student riots of the time, serves as the beginning of the friendship between the three main characters.

The relationship itself is another reason why I love this film. Each of the actors fully inhabit their roles; something I was apprehensive about whne I found out they were adapting Innocents. Pitt's particular brand of doe-eyed innocence suits Matthew's sensibilities very well, and he is the emotional core of the story. Louis Garrel is ridiculously smouldering throughout, and is a perfect Theo. As for Eva Green? The fact that this was her first film is simply astounding. The camera adores her, and she oozes sex, but manages to simultaneously be forthright and vulnerable. You completely buy into the friendships, and as a result, when the sex does come whilst still being a bit shocking, is entirely believable.

Another thing that I love about this film is Bertolucci's use of classic cinema within the film. The trio's love of cinema is perfectly accompanied by clips from French New Wave classics like A Bout de Souffle, and Bande a Part (including a re-enactment of the infamous Louvre race) along with films like Queen Christina and. Perhaps one of the most poigniant use of this comes towards the end of the film, where events in the twins' flat are intercut with the climax of Robert Bresson's Mouchette. It makes the film student in me very happy.

Everything about this film screams class, and is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in French politics of the 60's, French New Wave Cinema, or indeed cinema in general. It's a film of many subtleties, that is extremely warm and tender.

And it's bloody sexy.

Also worth a watch is the BBC documentary Bertolucci makes 'The Dreamers' that is included on the DVD.

BITCH SLAP

This looks so absurdly good I had to give it its own post.


"3 Bad Girls, 1 Desert, 1 Supercharged Thunderbird, 1,473 Exotic Weapons, 1 Ruthless Crimelord, $206 Million in Stolen Goods, A Cop Who May Not be a Cop, Hundreds More Cops who are Cops (Maybe…), A Pair of Mentally-Challenged Contract Killers, 1 Device That Could Snuff Out Life on Earth, More Cleavage than you can Shake a Stick At and Kidney Rattling Erotic Displays of Carnal Prowess Heretofore Unimagined"


Sure, it's full of horrendous stereotypes, but this looks like a hell of a lot of fun. I particularly like the Asian girl riding a woman as a horse.

Can't. Wait.

Films I Want To See This Year

DISTRICT 9
Inglorious Basterds
Whip It
Bitch Slap
Case 39
The Road
Pandorum
Daybreakers
The Box
Zombieland
Gamer
Sorority Row
H2
Sherlock Holmes
2012

Take me to any of these to make me happy.

The Genius of Michael Mouris

I stumbled across this gem from his youtube page. Simple, stupid, but effective. Mouris takes celebrity tweets (Lindasy Lohan is a clear favourite) and renders them into images using Microsoft Paint. Great bit of pop culture lampooning for a Tuesday evening. He also has a slight obsession with cats.




Michael Mouris' Twitter can be found at http://twitter.com/crazybabyz.

A Small Public Service Announcement

That is all.

When You're A Boy - Men's Fashion Styled By Simon Foxton

'When You’re a Boy celebrates men in fashion photography, specifically the men who create photographs of men. Focusing on the career of a stylist rather than a photographer, this is the first exhibition devoted to the groundbreaking British menswear stylist Simon Foxton, whose career spans the last three decades, a time of profound change in fashion and style
photography.

Foxton (UK, b.1961) is a leading image-maker of men’s fashion, who has anticipated and defined key shifts in menswear design since the early 1980s. Capturing menswear’s spirit and energy in some of the most memorable fashion photographs of the period, he questions definitions of masculinity, national identity and taste. Historic portrait iconography and classic English men’s tailoring are combined with contemporary sportswear design, street fashion and references to gay subcultures to produce sophisticated and innovative fashion images for a range of brands and magazines.

When You’re a Boy explores the working practice of a fashion stylist through Foxton’s important working partnerships with Nick Knight (UK, b.1958), Jason Evans (UK, b.1968) and Alasdair McLellan (UK, b.1974) as well as his numerous collaborations with other photographers including John Balsom (UK, b.1970); Donald Christie (UK, b.1960); Ben Dunbar-Brunton (UK, b.1976); David Hughes (UK, b.1969); Benjamin Alexander Huseby (Norway, b.1978); Giles Price (UK, b.1973); Stefan Ruiz (USA, b.1964); David Sims (UK, b.1966) and Simon Thiselton (UK, b.1975).

Foxton's witty, often provocative and highly influential work is presented through a selection of photographic prints, tear sheets and scrapbooks.'

(Taken from http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pxid=954)

This exhibition is highly recommended if you're in London. The images are highly evocative, and give a fascinating insight to Foxton's working ethic. Foxton's adoration of the male physique is something that informs the entire exhibition, be it the sexualised fantasy of Galliano's Warriors (pictured), or the English gentrification of the Strictly collection of images. I really enjoyed the English Heritage images, where Foxton and Nick Knight have taken famous English paintings and interpreted them using two black models.

Humour is also a large part of Foxton's work, evidenced by the scrapbooks on show. One of the cuttings advertised a club from the 80's that looked very salubrious indeed. There's even a penis on show somewhere in there. If you're interested in men's fashion, or just a good image, you could do much worse than pay this a visit.

The exhibition runs until the 4th of October, with a Q&A with Foxton himself on September 8th.