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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 01/01/08

7pm Flix
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976 GB): It's been quite a while since Nicolas Roeg's science-fiction shaggy dog tale has been on TV, so we'll avert our eyes, hold our nose, and try to ignore the fact that it's airing in pan-and-scan tonight. At the peak of his powers, David Bowie stars as the titular visitor from outer space, a pasty-faced ET who arrives on the Big Blue Marble in search of water for his troubled home planet. Instead he finds himself mystified, corrupted, and eventually subsumed by the sinful nature of our Edenic paradise. The plot is frequently ludicrous, and Bowie plays up his Thin White Duke persona to full effect, rendering it a challenge to overlook the fact that you're watching a big rock star strutting his stuff onscreen. The Man Who Fell to Earth is not an easy film to enjoy, especially in pan-and-scan, but if you're an admirer of either Roeg or Bowie, you have to see it at least once.

10:30pm Sundance
La Moustache (2005 FRA): The mystique of masculine facial hair is explored in this amusing Charlie Kaufman-esque fable from director Emmanuel Carrere. Vincent Lindon stars as Marc, a Parisian Everyman who decides to shave off his upper lip's facial fuzz one day after apparently gaining the approval of wife Agnes (Emmanuelle Devos). He looks forward to gauging the reaction of his closest friends at a forthcoming dinner party but is baffled when they don't seem to notice the change, and then actively deny that he ever had a moustache in the first place. The dispute evolves into a serious argument that threatens to destroy his long-term relationship with Agnes, and Marc heads off on a solo trip to the Far East to rediscover himself and find the solution to the mystery. Baffling, enigmatic, and thought-provoking, La Moustache also features an elegiac Philip Glass score. Airs again at 1/2 at 10am.

Wednesday 01/02/08

1am Encore Love Stories
Mouth-to-Mouth (1995 ESP): Javier Bardem plays Victor, an aspiring actor who hopes a phone-sex gig will give him a leg up in his thesping career, in this bawdy Iberian comedy. Instead he finds himself falling in love with one of his female customers, only to learn that he has also been providing sensual services to her husband, leading, of course, to outrageous complications. Mouth-to-Mouth is no classic, but as far as sex comedies go, it's vastly superior to Spike Lee's similarly-themed misogynist misfire Girl 6.

1:15am Turner Classic Movies
The Warriors (1979 USA): Walter Hill's testosterone-drenched gang warfare flick makes its wide-screen American television premiere tonight on TCM Underground. Set in an almost-but-not-quite recognizable near future, the film features Roger Hill as New York Mob boss Cyrus, who's convened a gathering of the clans in an effort to assert as much authority as possible over the city. When Cyrus is assassinated at the meeting, the blame is falsely placed upon Coney Island punks The Warriors, who must flee the rally and return to their home hustings via the subway system, where danger lurks around every ticket barrier. The film suffers a little from its outré costuming and proto-80s hairstyles, but as a crackerjack action pic it's hard to beat. Look for future Chuck Norris foil Steve James as a member of the Baseball Furies gang, one of the outfits determined to stop The Warriors from returning to their safe space.

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