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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 08/05/08

5:00 AM HBO Signature
Elsa y Fred (2005 ESP-ARG): Not to be confused with The Hollies' Charlie and Fred, Elsa y Fred are a pair of senior singles who meet cute in a Madrid apartment building. Fred (octagenarian Manuel Alexandre) is a seventy-something non-risk taker, whilst Elsa (China Zorrilla) is a feisty septuagenarian with a live for today attitude. They make beautiful muesli together in this thoroughly predictable but quite adorable romantic comedy from director Marcos Carnevale, and also scooped up numerous acting awards at Spanish-language film fests around the globe.

5:00 PM Encore Westerns
El Condor (1970 USA): A first-rate cast highlights this otherwise unexceptional western helmed by John Guillermin and penned by TiVoPlex fave Larry Cohen. The film stars ex-footballer Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef as a pair of ne'er-do-wells greedy for gold. In order to satiate their hunger, they ally themselves with a group of renegade Apaches and plan to filch millions in bullion from the titular Mexican military outpost. Of course, fort commander General Chavez (a miscast Patrick O'Neal) has something to say about their schemes, but is badly distracted by well-endowed mistress Claudine (Marianna Hill). Also along for the fun are Elisha Cook Jr., Iron Eyes Cody, and Eurotrash veteran Gustavo Rojo.

6:30 PM IFC
Novo (2002 SUI): Novo's primary point of interest is the presence of Eduardo Noriega (Burnt Money, El Metodo) in the lead role of Graham, a Parisian copy shop employee whose memory loss causes him to forget everything that happens to him within ten minutes of its occurrence. How he manages to hold down a job I'm not sure, but in addition to having a boss (Nathalie Richard) who constantly takes advantage of his disability, he also finds his love life hijacked by Irene (Anna Mouglalis), who enjoys playing with her lover's mental state in order to satisfy her own vapid desires. Novo plays like a cross between Memento and 9 1/2 Weeks - if that sounds like an enticing blend, you'll probably enjoy it.

9:00 PM Sundance
Pusher (1996 DEN): A Danish action movie? We're clearly not in Dogme-land anymore. Not only did Pusher stretch the po-faced parameters of Danish cinema, it also spawned two sequels, both of which will be airing on Sundance in the weeks ahead. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, Pusher stars Kim Bodnia as Frank, a skag salesman currently enjoying the benefits of his hard work: wine, women, song, and fast cars. Things take a turn for the worse, however, when the police catch him with a big bag of someone else's heroin, which they summarily confiscate. Thanks no doubt to soft on crime judges and liberal drug laws, Frank is soon back on the mean streets of Copenhagen trying to evade an unpleasant encounter with the smack's ostensible owner, a nasty Serb named Milo (Zlatko Buric). Will our anti-hero come a cropper in the land of The Little Mermaid? Will Lars von Trier intrude and make him sing a song to a kitchen worker stricken with Down's Syndrome? Tune in to find out!

Wednesday 08/06/08

7:00 PM Showtime
Naked on the Inside (2007 AUS): Turns out it's not just beauty that's skin deep, at least according to this rather unusual documentary. Examining the lives of six folks with body image issues (or five if Showtime is airing the edited for television version), Naked on the Inside dives beneath the surface and explores each subject's innermost secrets in occasionally discomfiting detail. There's the dancer with no legs, the fat activist, and the cross-dressing Sunday School teacher, and each reveals — well, just about everything, as does director Kim Farrant.

9:50 PM Sundance
Kiss or Kill (1997 AUS): An Aussie neo-noir with shades of Tony Scott's True Romance, Kiss or Kill stars Frances O'Connor and Matt Day as Nikki and Al, 30-something villains whose scam — blackmailing randy businessmen — goes off the rails when one of their victims ends up dead and some unwholesome truths are consequently revealed about a sporting legend. Fleeing from Adelaide to Perth, Nikki and Al soon find themselves pursued by detectives Hummer and Crean (Chris Haywood and Andrew S. Gilbert), as well as Zipper Doyle (Barry Langrishe), a 50-something footballer with a nasty skeleton in his closet. Though a bit over-reliant on jump cuts and shaky cam, this is an intelligent and well-acted thriller that takes the road movie in some new and unpredictable directions.

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