Berlinale 75: "Dreams" is sure to be controversial

by Elia Giudici 

After the Emilia Pérez affair, Dreams by the Mexican director Michel Franco presents a portrait of the Mexican population that is sure to spark intense debate. Even as the audience left the theater, groups of journalists were already engaged in animated discussions among themselves. This is because, at the film's conclusion, Franco makes a bold choice that inevitably compels one to take a firm stance. His hand, clearly visible, is that of the director of Nuevo Orden, a filmmaker who, when confronted with violence and cruelty reaching almost unbearable heights, approaches them with the cold detachment of a surgeon...

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I Dream of... Ruby?

by Nathaniel R

"Ask her about Cold Mountain! Or who her favourite actors were as a child!" I pleaded with a certain Australian goddess. But this REM version of Nicole Kidmanwasn't cooperating. (We know it's considered dull to discuss dreams unsolicited but you'll forgive us when it involves subconscious actressexuality, won't you?)

You see, in my dream last night, Kidman had been asked to moderate a Renée Zellwegger tribute where very long clips were shown...

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The Honoraries: David Lynch's masterpiece "Mulholland Dr"

The Governors Awards (Honorary Oscars) will be held on October 27th, 2019 with director Lina Wertmüller, actress Geena Davis, director David Lynch, and actor Wes Studi celebrated. We'll be discussing each of them.

by Eric Blume

The decision to give David Lynch an honorary Oscar this year is among the Academy’s smartest and most inspired choices.  Lynch’s movies are so singular, so not-conceived for commercial consumption, that he was never likely to gain enough popular majority to actually win as Best Director. But he has garnered three nominations over the years: 1980’s The Elephant Man, 1986’s Blue Velvet, and 2001’s Mulholland Dr.  Each of these films contains stunning and memorable images, a feverish sensibility, a subversively compassionate worldview, and a mastery of storytelling... even when the story feels incomprehensible.  

Mulholland Dr truly merits the term overused word "masterpiece".  Lynch is in complete control and it’s a film that could only have sprung from his mind and heart.  While we’ve seen many versions of the American Dream story, none has ever emphasized the “dream” portion of that term in the way that this film does...

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Rosemary's Baby Pt 2: This is Really Happening!

Rosemary's Baby print by Jonathan Burton. For sale here.50th Anniversary Three-Part Mini-Series
Occasionally we'll take a movie and baton pass it around the team and really dive in. 

Rosemary's Baby (1968) is 50 years old now but it feels both ancient and fresh. It's always alive when you watch it. Having seeped into the very DNA of both the movies and our nightmares, it deserves a deep dive. In Part One by Seán McGovern we watched as Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavettes) moved into a strange new apartment building, saw a neighbor mysteriously die, and become socially entangled with an intrusive neighbor couple Minnie and Roman Castavet (Ruth Gordon and Sydney Blackmer), who are both eccentrically endearing and very possibly sinister. 44 minutes into the film we can scratch out "very possibly" and just make that sinister. Full stop. We return to Rosemary just as we realize she's been drugged by Minnie's chocolate mousse "mouse" and has begun to dream... - Editor

Part 2 by Jason Adams

44:21 It seems appropriate to jump right in in the middle of a dream about to turn nightmare, for what else is Rosemary's Baby but that?

44:21 So much of this sequence will come back to haunt us later when Rosemary makes her final horrific discovery...

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Rosemary's Baby Pt 1: Tannis, anyone?

50th Anniversary Three-Part Mini-Series
Occasionally we'll take a movie and baton pass it around the team and really dive in. If you missed past installments we've gone long and deep on Rebecca, Silence of the Lambs, Thelma & Louise, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and A League of Their Own. Now... Rosemary's Baby - Editor

Part 1 by Seán McGovern

I'm delighted to take you through Part 1 of Rosemary's Baby, a terrifying personal favourite. 

00:01 William Castle, who in the pantheon of horror was basically a schlock-jock, produced the film but according to Mia Farrow, Castle was at one point going to direct. What would the outcome of that have been? Potentially not the paranoid horror we revere today but maybe something more gimmicky. William Castle was portrayed by John Waters in Ryan Murphy's Feud: Bette & Joan, and if that's not a fitting tribute I don't know what is.

01:00 In these short two minutes of opening credits are also the names of some of the twentieth century's best character actors: Ruth Gordon, Charles Grodin and Ralph Bellamy. The theme melody is la-la-la'ed by Mia Farrow herself, giving that girlish tone a chill that you'll also be humming all day...

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