Stars (Looking Good) Behind Bars

 

Woody Harrelson, the blonde, gap-toothed grinner refers to his three daughters as a "goddess trilogy," and says that most of his best moments in acting were probably mistakes. His laid-back Texas drawl gets me every time, but this bad-boy mug shot really takes the cake.

Look at this smooth criminal! Mickey Rourke looks comfortably guilty and effortlessly macho, lounging in massive substance abuse, pre-nightmare surgery.

Every human being with a pulse's fantasy, Johnny Depp,  flipping the bird. God I love his 90's hair, turtleneck and black eyes of steel, dear Johnny you always make me swoon.

Last but certainly not least, Al Pacino at 21, was cruising for a bruising and left us with an iconic shot of one of the most handsome profiles in movie history.

Farewell Dear Summer, Until Next Time!

 

 

                         
                       

UMRAO JAAN 1981/The Saddest Story Told Through Song

"Oh Life, it seems I have only seen you in my dreams."

The Incomparable REKHA

"What is my heart? You take my life."

Watching the legendary Bollywood actress Rekha inhabit the role of the infamous Lucknow courtesan in UMRAO JAAN 1981 is a miracle to behold. I became fascinated with Bollywood romances a few years back, mostly for their musical sequences and tender ballads. UMRAO JAAN veers far away from typical  spashly Bollywood formula and is unique in its subtle approach to a woman's downward spiral . There have been quite a few versions of the tragic life of UMRAO JAAN but this is the definitive one, please don't watch the awful version with Aishwaryia Rai, a beautiful woman, but can't even come close to the depth and pain that Rekha effortlessly oozes. Muzzafar Ali, over the course of 2 1/2 hours, draws you into a mysterious world of Lucknow, modern day Pakistan/India border, with Umrao's unsuccessful journey for liberation and love. Sadly she tries to escape the brothel existence through various lovers but as a courtesan she can never gain respect in the straight world.  UMRAO JAAN is based on an Urdu novel "Umrao Jaan Ada" in which the author Mirza Hadi Ruswa recounts his meetings with the famous courtesan at a poetry gathering. After hearing her beautiful couplets he insisted she tell him her life's trials and tribulations. 

The culture of Lucknow was one of a decadence; an opulent patriarchal society of indulgence and pleasure. Courtesans, like young Amiran, whose name is changed to "Umrao" were often little girls sold into brothels and trained to become an object of beauty, wit, grace, movement and exploitation. She is raised among the wealthy, learns to write "ghazals" a type of hypnotic Urdu poetry, dance glorious dances and be showered with jewels by adoring customers. However Umrao as a woman is trapped in her castle of fortune, most of which goes to the house madam who creepily shows her complete ease of accepting young girls into her house for sheer profit. Watch UMRAO JAAN for Rekha's astounding portrayal, of a woman trying to attain a sense of dignity through her art for that is all she will ever truly claim as her own. Watch it when you feel hopeless and need words of reflection, it's haunting melodies that illustrate life passing a woman by, a life that she can never be a part of. She is a misfit, a pariah, she is envied  and ultimately all alone.

"I did not attain he whom I desired, but I did see the realities of the world."

"What place is this, my friends?"

 http://youtu.be/L3JwIRye_lE

You be you and I'll be me, happiest fourth.

HAZY LAZY DAYS/ SUMMER FILMS OF MY HEART

                                       NIGHT TIDE 1961

                                                           

 Curtis Harrington's delightfully haunting and fantastical film, NIGHT TIDE, stars a cherubic- faced young Dennis Hopper, as Johnny, a sensitive sailor who becomes entranced with Mora "the Mermaid," an ethereal woman working at a sideshow, played by Linda Lawson. The eerie sunshine filmed in black and white, occult moments complete with ritualistic dancing and a pretty accurate tarot spread, NIGHT TIDE, has all of MY favourite themes, mermaids and mysticism! The local town warns naive Johnny not to fall into Mora's curse of her Sirens heritage but of course, he refuses to believe the myth. Will he drown in her well of danger?

 

                                             DIRTY DANCING 1987

Upstate New York, beautiful but boring family vacation becomes a coming-of-age tale with all the right moves for Baby Houseman, played by Jennifer Grey. Sure, it's right out of a every teenager's diary but who wouldn't want Johnny, the one and only beloved Patrick Swayze, to free you from your parents' thumb and become a great dancer in the process, showing them all that "Nobody puts Baby in the corner!" DIRTY DANCING is iconic and parodied, the best for me was seeing "My Big Gay Italian Wedding," the famous lift done with the two male grooms at their wedding. Besides the jokes and predictable happy ending DIRTY DANCING has hilarious character actors, and a surprisingly well-handled subplot with Penny's pregnancy, played by Cynthia Rhodes. I remember this part being highly edited on television when I was a kid. Also the wonderful Jerry Orbach, the golden age of the Catskills and a killer 60's soundtrack perfect for late-night dancing. The sharp contrast/attraction between  Baby's innocence yet  protected suburban upbringing to Johnny's working class dreams that got deferred realism, DIRTY DANCING delivers a classic summer romance. Thanks for reading and enjoy turning down the lights, cranking the AC and watching the summer tales unfold!

POSSESSION 1981 ISABELLE ADJANI=SHEER PERFECTION.

YOU ARE NOT DIFFERENT FROM ANYONE ELSE. WE ARE ALL THE SAME BUT IN DIFFERENT WORDS, DIFFERENT BODIES, DIFFERENT VERSIONS. INSECTS. MEAT.

 JUST WATCH IT. POSSESSION 1981 is one of my top 10 personal favourites. A good film buddy of mine said that this would be right up my realm of understanding and boy was he right. We went into the Film Forum a few months ago when it was showing and from the opening creepy electronic piano beats and Isabelle Adjani's panicking eyes (my 2nd favourite brunette)I knew I was in for a ride. 

 

I do not know, nor wish to dissect what POSSESSION is about. I know what it meant for me to be stunned, at the edge of my seat in a dark room for 2 hours. When it was over I couldn't speak and wandered throughout the city my whole sensory body tingling. Like David Lynch says, why try to analyze an emotion? Especially when there are so many dark tremors and searing pains on the screen that the brave director ANDRZEJ ZULAWSKI chose to expose in a beautifully raw, honest and terrifying journey.

A messy divorce? Berlin, West Germany/The Wall? Supernatural happenings? HATE, LOVE, BLOOD and HYSTERIA? SURE, it's all these things. And it's not for the faint of heart.Vincent Canby of the NY TIMES compared POSSESSION to REPULSION, one of my other all time favourites, but said the latter was a far better film.  Personally I feel that POSSESSION deals/plays with some of the themes of REPULSION but brings it to an entirely different level of pure shocking exposure that didn't exist on film really in 1965. I find POSSESSION strangely refreshing and new. REAL terror and fear and cruelty is depicted in POSSESSION unlike most modern horror films that are cheap pornography/butchery.

This being said, I do enjoy horror films but I hate gratuitous violence for no apparent reason. POSSESSION is extremely gory but it's balanced out with scenes/shots depicting wide desolation, sterility and coldness that was West Berlin, a perfect back-drop.

 

 Luckily, you can watch this film which is currently unavailable for us Americans without multi-regional DVD players. That's all I will say without giving away the experience..

                    http://youtu.be/R_XPJHwOsHE
 

Have you ever been collared and dragged out into the street and thrashed by a naked woman?

REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE is one of Elizabeth Taylor's last greatest performance, although I am partial to her "good bad" movies like "BOOM!" and "Ash Wednesday." This John Huston knockout from 1967, filmed in a gorgeous golden hue is taken from the eerie short story by the incomparable Carson McCullers about "a fort in the South, where a murder happened a few years ago..."

Combining the themes of repressed sexuality, voyeurism, the raw freedom of nature versus strict military discipline, REFLECTIONS reminds you of how Hollywood CAN produce thought-provoking film and entertainment thanks to a star-studded cast and a gripping story. Along with Ms. Taylor, Marlon Brando is mind-blowing as the fuming general, a young male beauty Robert Forster and wonderful actors such as Brian Keith, Julie Harris and Zorro David as the fabulous Anacleto.

Without giving away too much, this film is an audience as well as an actor's dream come true, from Marlon Brando experimenting with cold cream and weight-lifting to horseback riding in the nude, stunning cinematography and my favourite, Elizabeth Taylor, owning the screen with her potent sex appeal and perfect performance, REFLECTIONS will leave your mind reeling for days. And that's why we love movies, don't we "old sugar!"

                                                       ~ The Divine Elizabeth Taylor~

I LOVE YOU, CINEMA STYLE.

                                                        Happy Valentine's Day, Lovers!