The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Andreas from Pussy Goes Grrr here, with one of the sultriest musical numbers ever committed to film.
Nightclub acts are scattered throughout the seamy annals of film noir. For starters, you've got Lauren Bacall singing "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" at the casino in The Big Sleep, and Veronica Lake putting on a magic act in This Gun for Hire. Live music, cut with equal parts despair and eroticism, is just perfect for noir's postwar underworld. In Gilda, Rita Hayworth outdoes every other noir chanteuse with her unforgettable rendition of "Put the Blame on Mame." It's sexy, sassy, and bundles up the film's themes in a black satin ribbon.
By the time the nightclub performance arrives, though, we've already heard Hayworth rehearsing the song twice. She's humming along to it during her indelible introduction ("Gilda, are you decent?" / "Me?") and later, her paramour-turned-husband Johnny (Glenn Ford) catches her singing it for Uncle Pio, the old washroom attendant. Throughout, the song acts as Gilda's leitmotif, emblematic of her fearsome sexual power. It's a side of her that the jealous, overprotective Johnny doesn't want anyone else to see.
Michael C. from Serious Film here, eager to dive back into a film I’ve been meaning to revisit for ages: Todd Haynes’ whirlwind Dylan collage I’m Not There(2007). All this Mildred Pierce talk has given me Haynes on the brain.
I was the ideal audience member for Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There. I am a devoted Bob Dylan lover, a big admirer of Hayne’s work, and am literate in pop culture to the point that when Haynes paid simultaneous homage to Fellini’s 8½ and Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back I had no trouble keeping up. And while I found lots to admire in this hugely ambitious project – and I was grateful Haynes didn’t attempt a traditional linear biopic – the film mostly left me cold. I was too conscious of the intellectual constructs at every turn. Dylan’s music can be pretty cerebral at times too, but I love it because he combines that obliqueness with the ability to absolutely destroy me emotionally on a consistent basis.
And yet –and yet - right at the heart of the Richard Gere section of the film, the section I found most problematic, there is this amazing scene that I haven’t been able to shake since I first viewed it four years ago.
If I’m Not There is a whole movie constructed of tangents then the scenes involving Gere playing a character named Billy the Kid riding a horse around a bizarre Old West town called Riddle may be a tangent too far. I get that it’s supposed to represent Dylan’s self-imposed exile in Woodstock in the late sixties, and that the sequence is wild grab bag of Dylan references, but these scenes still stop the movie cold with their randomness.
Or at least that's the case until all the townsfolk wander to the center of Riddle to hear Jim James of My Morning Jacket sing a hypnotic cover of Dylan’s "Going to Acapulco" backed by the band Calexico.
Covering Dylan is almost a genre of music onto itself and this incredibly soulful take of a relatively obscure track deserves a place along side the all time greats. For a little over three minutes I don’t care about Haynes’s thesis statement. Nor do I care about making sense of the riot of costuming and set decoration I’m witnessing (love the random giraffe). For those three minutes I don’t care about anything but the fact that James, Calexico, and Haynes have managed to tap into that thing I love about Dylan. All those levels of meaning can take a back seat to the visceral experience of the music.
We all have are our favorites movies, the ones we know scene for scene, line for line. But equally valuable are the individual moments, those stand alone gems from those films that otherwise didn’t reach us. The “Going to Acapulco” scene from I’m Not There is such a moment for me. I doubt I’ll ever unravel the mystery of why it made such an impression on me, not that I have any interest in doing so.
Hey, TFE readers. As you check out this latest reader spolight I'm probably in the friendly skies (heading to Nashville as previously indicated). One day I hope to flap my arms and fly to Australia (despite my fear of kangaroos) where Peter hails from. Peter, who you know as 'par' in the comments, used to run a blog "six things" that I worshipped -- our elongation of every mention of Laura Linney's name to "The Lovely Laura Linney" is his fault -- so this is my selfish excuse to make him list things again. And unlike so many of you he's older than me. Not everyone reading is allowed to claim Beauty & The Beast or The Lion King as their very first movie; People were having babies before 1987! (gasp)
Nathaniel: What were your first six movie obsessions? PETER:
i. anything that played on tv on a weekend as we lived hundreds of miles from the nearest cinema (usually Doris Day musicals) ii. cabaret iii. jesus christ superstar iv. grease v. hair (sensing a theme here?) vi. the invention of the VCR (yes kids i am that old) enabling me to see movies at home on my own schedule
Hey I remember the big-change of the VCR, too. The 1980s were so eventful. What are your six favorite things about The Film Experience (yes, I'm shameless)
a. the film bitch awards b. the endless love for actresses c. so much goodness every single day (seriously, i couldn't keep my blog going at one thing a day) d. narrowing down the oscar contenders throughout the year so i don't have to e. you, nathaniel f. that it's still around (when you spun off to the blog from the original site i feared you were making a huge mistake)
Your 6 favorite actresses. The others only got 3 aren't you proud? PETER:
Six things you would do if you were elected Supreme Overlord of the Movies for a year.
one - no budgets over $10,000,000 (except for pixar) two - no 3d three - no sequels four - ang lee gets to do whatever the hell he wants five - make woody allen watch all the movies he made between 1969 and 1994 in the hope he might make another as good (starring diane keaton) six - i'll be deciding the oscars this year, thank you very much
Six Oscars you would recall. Who would they go to?
1. grace kelly (the country girl) to judy garland (a star is born) 2. helen hunt (as good as it gets) to helena bonham carter (the wings of the dove) 3. julia roberts (erin brockovich) to the lovely laura linney (you can count on me) 4. gloria grahame (the bad and the beautiful) to jean hagen (singin' in the rain) 5. donna reed (from here to eternity) to thelma ritter (pick-up on south street) 6. crash to brokeback mountain
Six favorite things about Australia. As you know I have a never-been-there fetish.
01. olivia newton-john 02. judy davis 03. toni collette 04. guy pearce 05. peter weir 06. kangaroos - big, scary, street roaming, american-blogger-eating kangaroos!
Have you ever been so out of control drunk that your buddies had to do a physical intervention and shove your sorry ass in a cold shower? Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) has.
In A Streetcar Named Desirei, which I haven't been able to shake since we did our "Best Shot" episode (how about you?), Blanche Dubois is always taking baths to relax or to clear her head. Her nemesis and brother-in-law law Stanley isn't obsessed with bathing. His liquids are clearly blood, sweat and tears. But in this scene the shower wakes him from his violent stupor.
But still dripping wet, he's back to generating his own waterworks; a crying boy seeking comfort from the woman he's abused.
NASHVILLE I'm packing up and heading out to the Nashville Film Festival which is becoming something of an annual jaunt for me. The opening night film is Bloodworth starring this year's career achievement honoree Kris Kristofferson.
I'm on the jury for the narrative competition with actor Dan Butler (Frasier, Crazy Stupid Love) and critic Joe Leydon. Last year I had the pleasure of attending an event honoring composer Carter Burwell but this year I have to miss the Gustavo Santaoalla celebration, damnit. (Since the festival is in Music City, they wisely opt to honor composers each year).
I'll send you little bits from the festival and meanwhile the usual contributors will be on hand here to keep you entertained!
Have you ever been to Nashville? A few years back when I went for the first time I took a trip to the Parthenon and i'd never wanted to know how to play guitar worse. I woulda busted out the strings and sung Nashville's "It Don't Worry Me ♫" at the top of my lungs right then and there.
DISNEY Sorry about that Hit Me With Your Best Shot situation. We'll do something special for Beauty & The Beast once I'm back from Nashville. Next week's Wednesday night film is Charlie Chaplin's The Circus (1928) but we'll figure something out. It's part of my Personal Canon anyway so we have to work Belle & The Beast in. In the meantime I really hope you'll click around and read all those posts it prompted among animation fans.
Broadway's "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN": Norbert Leo Butz (Tom Hanks role), Aaron Tveit (DiCaprio's role), Tom Wopat (Christopher Walken's role)
BROADWAY I'm doing too many things at once. Before I head out to Nashville I had to also get up this week's Towleroad column where you should head if you want to read a bit on The Hobbit Part One or my reaction to Broadway's "Catch Me If You Can" (hint: it's better than the reviews say).
Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 11:00AM 
Andreas from Pussy Goes Grrr here, with one of the sultriest musical numbers ever committed to film.
