Misfortunes of Imaginary Beings

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

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Taipei Story (Edward Yang, 1985)

Taipei Story (Edward Yang, 1985)

Cast: Chin Tsai, Hsiao-Hsien Hou, I-Chen Ko, Su-Yun Ko, Nien-Jen Wu, Hsiu-Ling Lin, Shu-Fang Chen. Screenplay: T'ien-wen Chu, Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Edward Yang. Cinematography: Wei-Han Yang. Film editing: Fanchen Song, Qi Yang Wang. Music: Edward Yang.

Saturday, April 13, 2019

A Woman of Affairs (Clarence Brown, 1928)

A Woman of Affairs (Clarence Brown, 1928)

Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Johnny Mack Brown, Lewis Stone, Dorothy Sebastian, Hobart Bosworth. Screenplay: Bess Meredyth, Marian Ainslee (titles), Ruth Cummings (titles), based on a novel and play by Michael Arlen. Cinematography: William H. Daniels. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons. Film editing: Hugh Wynn. Costumes: Adrian.

Friday, April 12, 2019

Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954)

Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954)

Cast: Farley Granger, Alida Valli, Massimo Girotti, Heinz Moog, Rina Morelli, Christian Marquand, Sergio Fantoni, Marcella Mariani. Screenplay: Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Carlo Alienello, Giorgio Bassani, Giorgio Prosperi, based on a novel by Camilo Boito. Cinematography: G.R. Aldo, Robert Krasker. Production design: Ottavio Scotti. Film editing: Mario Serandrei. Costume design: Marcel Escoffier, Piero Tosi.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Weary River (Frank Lloyd, 1929)

Weary River (Frank Lloyd, 1929)

Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Betty Compson, William Holden*, Louis Natheaux, George E. Stone, Ray Turner, Gladden James. Screenplay: Courtney Ryley Cooper, Bradley King, Paul Perez, Thomas J. Geraghty. Cinematography: Ernest Haller. Art direction: John Hughes. Film editing: James Gibbon, Edward Schroeder. Music: Louis Silvers.

*b. 1862, d. 1932

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011)

Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011)

Cast: André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darrousin, Blondin Miguel, Elina Salo, Evelyne Didi, François Monnié, Little Bob, Pierre Étaix, Jean-Pierre Léaud. Screenplay: Aki Kaurismäki. Cinematography: Timo Salminen. Production design: Wouter Zoon. Film editing: Timo Linnasalo.

Monday, April 8, 2019

Easy A (Will Gluck, 2010)

Easy A (Will Gluck, 2010

Cast: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Lisa Kudrow, Aly Michalka, Cam Gigandet, Malcolm McDowell. Screenplay: Bert V. Royal. Cinematography: Michael Grady. Production design: Marcia Hinds. Film editing: Susan Littenberg. Music: Brad Siegel.