Just remembered this one and it ranks really high on the
wierdness meter.

Black Cat, White Cat introduces an idea early in the
film which is pretty funny. But the viewer has to ask,
"Why do they tell us about something which they can't
possibly show?"

Later in the film, they do it.

Adhering to my admonition to try things you know nothing about,
I picked one up today called "Songs From The Second Floor."
The jacket description was irresistable but New Yorker Video
has put out some of the most boring garbage I have ever fed
a media player.

Stay tuned.

• Black Cat, White Cat

Danger Will Robinson, Stay Away, Stay away!

My opinion of anything on New Yorker Video remains unchanged.
That thing I said about Songs From The Second Floor-- forget it.

I am looking for fresh meat again.

I spent a good chuck of the weekend with the special features on
the Dark City dvd: Both analyses totalled about 4 hours worth.

The original film is so fascinating, these background interviews
and film references were not a waste of time. It'll likely stand as
a classic, even if it doesn't get a lot of press.

• Dark City

Nope. I guess you'd call it that Bergmanesque heavy on the
symbolism, underplayed on the acting style.

Even if you actually like seeing 65 year old women undressed,
it's pretty feeble.

If you want to really get into Nordic Strangeness(c) then
you'd have to look up a copy of "Leningrad Cowboys Go America"
by Aki Kaurismaki.

That one is a _bewt_.

What exactly is vague about the cinematography in Bladerunner?
Or did we blend into talking about Dark City? Ok.
as to Dark City, it's strongly influenced in cinematic style
by the German Expressionistic films of the 20's like
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the world of Fritz Lang
(Metropolis) and F.W. Murnau ("M"). Dark City is so dense even
4 or 5 hours of explication leaves q's.

Dark City is a noir murder mystery set in a science fiction
nightmare.

• Leningrad Cowboys

I'm familair with Wenders from Until The End of the World
and the angel films. They are superb and I consider them
classics. Wenders tarted to weaken with things like an End To Violence and the Hotel one. Plus the Buena Vista Social Club is one of the
worst made films I've ever seen.

For Latin Music and Cuban in particular look for Jam Miami and
Calle 54. With my new dvd playere, I'd like to find Calle 54 again:
all the greats on there: Chu Chu Valdez, Micahel Camilo and Chico O'Farrel, plus Tito of course. But I'm off the subject.

German Expressionism features settings that are more like paintings
with sharp angles and unusual lighting effects. So in Dark City
the street scapes and everyting else is rarely shot straight on, but rather at an angle: diagonal or below or above.

I only really recall where soft focus is used in Bladerunner
during the scene where Decker looks at his photographs and sees
the woman in the reflection. There is no noticeable soft focus
in Dark City.

Last night I was watching the extras from Minority Report on
the builds and effects for that Spielberg film. In MR they used
a film bleaching technique to give everything that bluish cast.
DVD's have so much more detail of the films. And even though all those extras are prob'ly designed to sell to cable tv, they are
still interesting. The Sky Captain one must be a hoot. I saw that
on the old vhs player, unfortunately.

Only original Chico O'Farrill tune I really know is from airplay
and this is called "Igor's Dream" which he wrote about his cat.

Other fave Latin style tune is Clifford
Brown's Joy Spring
done by Tito Puente