Misfortunes of Imaginary Beings: 12/28/24

A blog formerly known as Bookishness / By Charles Matthews

"Dazzled by so many and such marvelous inventions, the people of Macondo ... became indignant over the living images that the prosperous merchant Bruno Crespi projected in the theater with the lion-head ticket windows, for a character who had died and was buried in one film and for whose misfortune tears had been shed would reappear alive and transformed into an Arab in the next one. The audience, who had paid two cents apiece to share the difficulties of the actors, would not tolerate that outlandish fraud and they broke up the seats. The mayor, at the urging of Bruno Crespi, explained in a proclamation that the cinema was a machine of illusions that did not merit the emotional outbursts of the audience. With that discouraging explanation many ... decided not to return to the movies, considering that they already had too many troubles of their own to weep over the acted-out misfortunes of imaginary beings."
--Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Saturday, December 28, 2024

Melvin Goes to Dinner (Bob Odenkirk, 2003)

Cast: Michael Blieden, Stephanie Courtney, Matt Price, Annabelle Gurwitch, Kathleen Roll, Maura Tierney, Jenna Fischer, Fred Armisen, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Scott Adsit, Jack Black. Screenplay: Michael Blieden, based on his play. Cinematography: Alex Vendler. Production design: Michael Krantz. Film editing: Michael Blieden. Music: Michael Penn.

Shopworn (Nick Grinde, 1932)

Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Regis Toomey, Clara Blandick, Zasu Pitts, Lucien Littlefield, LeRoy Mason, Oscar Apfel, Maude Turner Gordon, Albert Conti, James Durkin. Screenplay: Sarah Y. Mason, Jo Swerling, Robert Riskin. Cinematography: Joseph Walker. Film editing: Gene Havlick.

Polyester (John Waters, 1981)

Cast: Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, David Samson, Mary Garlington, Ken King, Mink Stole, Joni Ruth White, Hans Kramm, Stiv Bators, Rick Breitenfeld. Screenplay: John Waters. Cinematography: Dave Insley. Art direction: Vincent Peranio. Film editing: Charles Roggero. Music: Michael Kamen.

Not a Pretty Picture (Martha Coolidge, 1976)

Cast: Michele Manenti, Martha Coolidge, James Carrington, Anne Mundstuk, Reed Birney, John Fedinatz, Diana Gold, Stephen Launer, Lilah McCarthy, Janet Morrison, Melissa Murdock, Hal Studer, Amy Wright. Screenplay: Martha Coolidge. Cinematography: Don Lenzer, Fred Murphy. Film editing: Martha Coolidge, Suzanne Pettit. Music: Tom Griffith.