TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday April 21 2009 through Monday April 27 2009
By John Seal
April 20, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 04/21/09
1:30 AM Sundance
Ghosts of Cite Soleil (2006 DEN): Criticized by some (including The Guardian's estimable Peter Bradshaw) for glorifying the violent lifestyle of the Haitian chimere, this Danish documentary definitely belongs in the "takes no prisoners" category. Directed by Asger Leth, Ghosts of Cite Soleil records the exploits of a pair of street thugs named Bily and 2Pac (no, not that one) and the complicity of a French aid worker in their murderous activities. There's definitely more than a hint of Man Bites Dog Stockholm Syndrome here, as Leth seems interested in little more than getting the juiciest, bloodiest incidents on film. It's riveting stuff, but you might want to take a shower after watching it. Also airs 4/25 at 11:45 AM.
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Naked Street (1955 USA): A pseudo-noir obscurity directed by screenwriter Maxwell Shane, The Naked Street features Anthony Quinn as Phil Regal, a mobster out for revenge against ex-con Nicky Bradna (Farley Granger), who's knocked up Quinn's sister Rosalie (Anne Bancroft). Meanwhile, hungry young cub reporter Joe McFarland (Peter Graves) is working on a story that he hopes will bring down Regal's crime syndicate. If one can get over the bizarre concept of Quinn and Bancroft cast as siblings, The Naked Street is a worthwhile little feature, well shot by Floyd Crosby. TiVoPlex favorite Whit Bissell has a small role and there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-him early appearance by Lee Van Cleef.
7:00 PM Sundance
Flow: For Love of Water (2008 USA): Water seems to be the most ubiquitous substance on Earth, but it's becoming increasingly scarce and increasingly off-limits for those in the so-called "Developing World". This documentary takes a look at how water may be the next natural resource we'll be fighting over. It's pretty depressing stuff — the film even suggests California will be out of fresh water sometime in the next 20 years — but does offer a solution, albeit one that won't be very dear to the hearts of Michelle Bachmann and Glenn Beck.
Wednesday 04/22/09
5:00 AM Encore Love Stories
Saawariya (2007 IND): It's not often that Bollywood comes to the TiVoPlex, so you'll excuse me for hyping a film I haven't seen yet. Saawariya is a 142-minute romantic musical based on a story by Dostoevsky, which sounds like a thoroughly improbable and incongruous blend of elements. The first Bollywood film to be financed by a major studio (Sony), Saawariya makes its American television debut this morning.
Thursday 04/23/09
5:30 PM HBO
Trouble the Water (2008 USA): This remarkable, HBO-produced cinema verite look at the horrors of Hurricane Katrina had a brief theatrical run last year, was nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award, and finally arrives on the small screen tonight. Shot on handheld video by New Orleans residents Kimberly and Scott Roberts and edited into film form by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, the film is an astonishing record of what happened over the course of a grim two-week period in and around the Crescent City. If Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke was Katrina's macro-masterpiece, here's its micro equivalent. Also airs at 8:30 PM and 4/24 on HBO2 at 10:30 AM.
7:00 PM Sundance
The Duchess of Langeais (2007 FRA): The most recent film directed by octogenarian New Waver Jacques Rivette, The Duchess of Langeais is a handsomely mounted frock flick based on a story by Balzac. The late Guillame Depardieu stars as Armand, the hunky and hairy Marquis of Montriveau, hero of the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps overwhelmed by his own PR, Armand meets le cute with the titular noblewoman (mousy Jeanne Balibar) and immediately claims her as his own — without taking into consideration either her husband or the vows she is preparing to give to a local order of nuns. There are lots of long, languid conversations, but finally Armand tires of waiting for the Duchess to desert either her physical or spiritual spouses, and like the Stratego master he is, outmanoeuvres his opponent. Thrill a minute it isn't, but Rivette's eye for detail (period and otherwise) and a particularly fine performance from Balibar make it all worthwhile.
Saturday 04/25/09
1:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Perversion for Profit (1965 USA): Recently deceased Los Angeles newscaster George Putnam plays host in this salacious, half hour long warning to parents. George wants you to know that there are many threats lying in wait to pollute the minds of innocent American children: smut peddlers, blue movies, dirty magazines, and most dangerous of all, those wicked, wicked homosexuals. Produced by our good friends at Citizens for Decent Literature, Perversion for Profit is a mind-boggling time capsule that proves the Christian right have been losing the "Culture Wars" for a long, long time. It's followed at 2:15 AM by the fascinating Ask Me, Don't Tell Me (1961 USA), a short documentary about the rehabilitation of San Francisco gang members.
2:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
I Married a Monster From Outer Space (1958 USA): The title says it all, doesn't it? Tom Tryon stars as Bill Farrell, a man whose body is taken over by an alien being as he drives home from his stag party on the eve of his marriage to fiancée Marge (Gloria Talbot). Ignoring Bill's strange new personality, Marge goes ahead with the marriage — and it takes her a full year before she realizes the man she married may not, er, be the man she married! Finally suspicious, Marge follows Bill on one of his late night visits to his hidden flying saucer — and soon discovers that most of the town's other eligible men-folk also harbor space aliens from a dying planet. Turns out the fairer sex on their home planet are sterile — but making love to Earth women is not as easy as our galactic gigolos imagined. TCM is airing I Married a Monster in widescreen — a small screen first, I believe — so be sure to attend the ceremony this afternoon!
Sunday 04/26/09
5:00 AM IFC
Ballad of a Soldier (1959 USSR): Sometimes I recommend films I haven't seen in 20 years or more, basing my opinions on dim memories from countless trips to long gone movie palaces like the UC Theatre or the Telegraph Repertory. Now that I've seen this one again, I'm pleased to issue an even more fervid recommendation than on previous occasions. Ballad of A Soldier is a very simple story of a Russian infantryman (Volodya Ivashov) who stumbles into committing an act of bravery. Impressed by his ability to knock out two German tanks, his commanding officer grants him a leave to fix the family roof. He has six days to get home, fix the roof, and return to the front, and numerous obstacles get in his way, including an overburdened rail system, a legless Russian veteran (played brilliantly by Yevgeni Urbansky, who looks a bit like Marlon Brando) in need of help, a recalcitrant railway guard who responds to bribery, and - most importantly - a young woman (Zhanna Prokorenko) who falls in love with him. The film is deeply moving without being in the least bit sentimental and is gorgeous to look at, featuring magnificent and superbly framed black and white cinematography by Vladimir Nikolayev and Era Savelyeva. Try watching it without at least getting a lump in your throat.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Broken Lullaby (1932 USA): Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, this little seen Paramount anti-war drama begins on Armistice Day 1919. Set in Paris, the film features Phillips Holmes as Paul Renaud, a veteran who cannot recover from, or forgive himself for, the crime he has commited: the killing of a man in the heat of battle. Unable to find solace in the church, Paul decides he must track down the family of his victim and beg their forgiveness — but finds father Holderlin (Lionel Barrymore) unwilling to give him his blessing. Filled with tortured silences and agonized looks, this atypical Lubitsch feature is downbeat from start to finish, and all the better for it. It's followed at 6:30 PM by the very rare 1933 James Whale meller Kiss Before the Mirror, in which the apparantly immortal Gloria Stuart puts in a spicy semi-nude appearance.
9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Phantom Carriage (1921 SWE): An astonishing piece of gothic cinema directed by Victor Sjostrom (He Who Gets Slapped, The Wind), Phantom Carriage has been granted a DVD release in the UK but has never had any exposure — home video or otherwise — in the United States. That changes tonight as it makes its American television premiere. Taking place on New Year's Eve, the film relates the tragic tale of down and outer David Holm (Sjostrom himself), who regales his fellow drinking buddies with the story of the Phantom Carriage, a ghostly conveyance that he plans to take charge of at the chime of midnight. Filled with beautiful imagery, double exposures, tinted frames, and a moving message of man's inhumanity to man, this is one of the best silent films you haven't seen, and probably haven't heard of, either.
Monday 04/27/09
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Captain Applejack (1931 USA): John Halliday portrays bored British nobleman Ambrose Applejohn in this Warners programmer. Applejohn is hoping to sell the old family mansion for enough money to take him on a trip around the world, but when a mysterious Russian woman (Kay Strozzi) and a pair of stranded motorists (Otto Hoffman and Julia Swayne Gordon) show up on his doorstep one dark and stormy night, his plans quickly change. If you like old dark house mysteries, hidden passageways, and long lost pirate booty, you'll definitely enjoy Captain Applejack. It's followed at 4:15 AM by Captain Thunder, a shaggy dog story from 1930 starring Fay Wray as the beloved of the titular Mexican bandito (Victor Varconi).
5:00 PM IFC
Renaissance (2006 FRA-GB): Daniel Craig, Romola Garai, and Ian Holm are amongst those lending their voices to this gorgeous piece of "adult" animation. Though the motion capture animation itself is quite remarkable, the story — of a starkly regimented future Paris that looks more like a noir City of Light circa 1950 — is pretty hackneyed stuff. It's still worth a look, especially as IFC will be airing it in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.