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From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.

Tuesday 2/1/11

3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Eskimo (1933 USA): It’s February—as I’ve written in the past, the worst month of the year TiVoPlex wise (though December runs it a close second). Why is it so bad? Because TCM dedicates 31 days to Oscar winners and nominees, which means the Best Channel in the World airs a lot of films we’re already pretty familiar with. However, they still dredge up some of the more obscure films and performances that have caught the Academy’s eye over the years, so the month is not a total loss. And if this is the price we have to pay—one month of comparatively dull programming for eleven months of great stuff—so be it! As for Eskimo, it’s a docu-drama about Inuit life in the Great White North. Framed as a year in the life of an Eskimo couple - portrayed effectively by Alaska native Mala (AKA Ray Wise) and Hawaiian enchantress Lotus Long (Think Fast, Mr. Moto) - the film takes us from summer to winter and back again, but there the similarities to the films of Ki-duk Kim end. Detailing the hardships of a hunter/gatherer society in one of the world's harshest and remotest regions, this pre-Code film is also surprisingly unflinching in its appraisal of the white man's intrusive and poor behavior, depicting Europeans as inebriated orgiasts with a penchant for rape, until, of course, the steadfast and true lads of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police show up to put things right. Stunningly shot by (amongst others) Clyde De Vinna, Eskimo can't quite match the magnificence of the anthro-documentaries of Cooper and Schoedsack, but did take home the very first Academy Award for Best Editing.

8:30 AM Showtime Extreme
Project: Human Weapon (2000 USA): And then there’s Project: Human Weapon. No, Toto, we’re not on TCM anymore. I actually haven’t seen the film, but couldn’t resist that title. Apparently it was shot in Bulgaria, stars Judge Reinhold and a bunch of Eastern Europeans, and has something to do with mind control, which is probably a good idea as the special effects budget was undoubtedly pretty low.

2:20 PM Starz
An Education (2009 GB): Carey Mulligan’s role as the ‘new Audrey Hepburn’ began, for all intents and purposes, with this award-winning drama from Danish director Lone Scherfig. The pixie-ish one stars as Jenny, an early ‘60s English teenager who falls in love with older (if not necessarily wiser) David (Peter Sarsgaard). Their relationship eventually comes to a crossroads, and Jenny must choose between Oxford and her imperfect paramour. An Education isn’t my regular cup of tea, but Nick Hornby’s screenplay is suitably wry and the supporting cast (Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, and Sally Hawkins) solid. Also airs at 5:20 PM.

11:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Last Summer (1969 USA): “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away...”—what’s that? This isn’t a marathon airing of Wham!’s maudlin holiday classic? It’s actually a Frank Perry character study about three young people (Richard ‘Johnboy Walton’ Thomas, Barbara Hershey, and Bruce Davison) in search of themselves? Oh, I forgot...it’s 31 Days of Oscar, and Last Summer co-star Catherine Burns earned a Best Supporting Actress nom for her role as the threesome’s chum. I don’t think Last Christmas earned so much as a thumbs-up at the VMAs. Fun fact: Pa Walton himself, Ralph Waite, plays the father of Richard Thomas’ character, Peter. Spooky.

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