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

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

The Killers (Don Siegel, 1964)

Cast: Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Angie Dickinson, Ronald Reagan, Clu Gulager, Claude Akins, Norman Fell. Screenplay: Gene L. Coon, based on a story by Ernest Hemingway. Cinematography: Richard L. Rawlings. Art direction: Frank Arrigo, George B. Chan. Film editing: Richard Belding. Music: John Williams.

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Nuovo Olimpo (Ferzan Özpetek, 2023)

Cast: Damiano Gavino, Andrea Di Luigi, Luisa Ranieri, Alvise Rigo, Greta Scarano, Aurora Giovinazzo, Loredana Cannata, Giancarlo Commare, Annandrea Vitano. Screenplay: Gianni Romoli, Ferzan Özpetek. Cinematography: Gian Filippo Corticelli. Production design: Giulia Busnengo. Film editing: Pietro Morana. Music: Andrea Guerra.

Monday, January 20, 2025

Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 2007)

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, Zane Pais, Ciarán Hinds, Halley Feiffer, John Turturro. Screenplay: Noah Baumbach. Cinematography: Harris Savides. Production design: Annie Ross. Film editing: Carol Littleton.

Torso (Sergio Martino, 1973)

Cast: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson, Roberto Bisacco, Ernesto Colli, Angela Covello, Carla Brait, Conchita Airoldi, Patrizia Adiutori. Screenplay: Sergio Martino, Ernesto Gastaldi. Cinematography: Giancarlo Ferrando. Production design: Giantito Burchiellaro. Film editing: Eugenio Alabiso. Music: Guido De Angelis, Maurizio De Angelis.

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2001)

Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Paulyn Sun, Susumu Terajima, Shun Sugata. Toru Tezuka, Yoshiki Arizono, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Satoshi Niizuma, Suzuki Matsuo, Jun Kunimura, Sabu. Screenplay: Sakishi Sato, based on a manga by Hideo Yamamoto. Cinematography: Hideo Yamamoto. Production design: Takashi Sasaki. Film editing: Yasushi Shimamura. Music: Karera Musication, Saiichi Yamamoto.

Nocturnal Uproar (Catherine Breillat, 1979)

Cast: Dominique Laffin, Bertrand Bonvoisin, Marie-Hélène Breillat, Joe Dallesandro, Daniel Langlet, Dominique Basquin, Gérard Lanvin, Hubert Drac, Bruno Devoldère, Maud Rayer. Screenplay: Catherine Breillat. Cinematography: Jacques Boumendil. Production design: Dominique Antony. Film editing: Annie Charrier. Music: Serge Gainsbourg.

Friday, January 17, 2025

Cecil B. Demented (John Waters, 2000)

Cast: Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Alicia Witt, Adrian Grenier, Laurence Gilliard Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jack Noseworthy, Mink Stole, Ricki Lake, Patricia Hearst, Michael Shannon, Kevin Nealon, Eric Barry, Zenzele Uzoma. Screenplay: John Waters. Cinematography: Robert M. Stevens. Production design: Vincent Peranio. Film editing: Jeffrey Wolf. Music: Basil Pouledori, Zoë Pouledoris.