TiVoPlex
By John Seal
November 9, 2009
9:35 PM Encore Dramatic Stories
Mr. Frost (1990 GB-FRA): A decent if underdone thriller, Mr. Frost stars Fly-guy Jeff Goldblum as the titular fellow, a British serial killer caught in the act of burying his latest victims and imprisoned for two years. The police are desperate to get Frost to open up and blab about his exploits, but the man is resolutely tight-lipped and utters nary a peep — until he's sent to a posh clinic "somewhere in Europe", where he develops a bond with shrink Sarah Day (Kathy Baker). In fact, so comfortable is he with the good doctor that he reveals his true identity to her: he is Mephistopheles, Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer, sent to Earth on a mission to remind man that he really does exist, and will steal your soul to prove it! In short, he just needs a hug. This Euro-oddity co-stars Alan Bates as police inspector Detweiler, Jean-Pierre Cassel as his sceptical supervisor, and Vincent Schiavelli — who surely looks a lot more like the Devil than Goldblum does — as an asylum employee.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Poor Pretty Eddie (1975 USA): Sometimes, synchronicity happens. Take the case of Poor Pretty Eddie: unseen on small screens for decades, it's a film I recently acquired on VHS tape and was — quite literally — just about to transfer to DVD-R. Thanks to the TCM Underground, however, that won't be necessary, and I won't have to adjust my tracking after all! Shelley Winters stars as Bertha, a big woman running a tiny motel in the middle of nowhere with the assistance of her Elvis impersonator son Eddie (Michael Christian, who also produced the film). After traveling singer Liz's (Leslie Uggams) car breaks down nearby and she takes shelter at the inn, Eddie develops an unhealthy crush on her and decides that she can help him become a rock 'n' roll star. When Liz rejects his advances, Eddie goes cuckoo nutso and rapes the poor woman — and the local authorities, including Slim Pickens, Ted "Lurch" Cassidy, and Dub Taylor won't lift a finger to provide justice for a person of pigment. A wild mashup of themes lifted from Deliverance, I Spit on Your Grave, and Coffy, Poor Pretty Eddie is guaranteed to entertain, and guaranteed to have you running to the shower for a thorough scrub-down after the final credit crawl.
Sunday 11/15/09
9:00 PM Sundance
Dororo (2007 JAP): This epic length fantasy features Kiichi Nakai as Daigo Kagemitsu, a samurai who makes a deal with the devil in exchange for untold wealth and power. Actually, he makes a deal with 48 devils, each of whom claim a portion of the body of Kagemitsu's newborn son Hyakkimura — an easy decision to make, I'm sure. After Hyakkimura grows up (yes, he does, though with artificial body parts!), the lad determines to regain his original bits from the various demons, stitch himself back together, and become a real boy, just like Pinocchio! Though it clocks in at well in excess of two hours, Dororo is never boring: there's tons of bloody action and enough camp to pitch a tent under. Based on a comic book from the 1960s, Dororo went on to win the Orient Express Award at Sitges 2007. No, I'd never previously heard of the Orient Express Award, either.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Orpheus (1950 FRA): Jean Cocteau's contemporary re-telling of the Greek myth of Orpheus returns to the airwaves tonight on TCM. Handsome Jean Marais stars as the title character, a gloomy poet who falls in love with Death (Maria Casares) when he witnesses her attempt to claim the soul of an accident victim. This doesn't sit well with Orpheus' wife Eurydice (Marie Dea), who also happens to be the apple of Death's chauffeur's (Francois Perier) eye. Feel the sexual tension! For anyone who admires Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, Orpheus offers similar phantasmagorical delights and is filled with startling and poetic imagery. Look for young songbird Juliette Greco as one of the Bacchantes.
Monday 11/16/09
4:30 AM Encore Dramatic Stories
The Long Way Home (1997 USA): Life for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust didn't suddenly become easier with the arrival of VE Day. Most European Jews no longer had homes to return to and from 1945 until the establishment of Israel in 1948 were unwanted and virtually stateless. This unabashedly pro-Zionist documentary examines their three year trek in the wilderness and makes a strong case in favor of the establishment of a Jewish state. The avoidable tragedy of Palestine lay just over the horizon — but that's the subject of another documentary or three.
6:00 PM Sundance
The Glass House (2009 USA-IRA): I haven't seen this documentary about troubled teenage girls in Iran, but it received rapturous plaudits on the festival circuit and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance fest. I'll be tuning in.
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