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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 43 | February 2004

from the editor

Divided here!¹

Now when we rest an easier teeny-weeny piece in our aerie due to the mysterious development that it can indicate that a certain president-king will be overthrown they come in November, this is the time to relax with a foam bath, the substance controlled of his option, and the new High Lights...²

OK, so that new intern we hired doesn't have the firmest grasp of English. He had other, more important charms. But perhaps we'll send him to China, to join the hapless student translators who produced the strange subtitles on a bootleg DVD of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, wittily profiled by Bright Lights (excuse me, High Lights) newbie Naeem Mohaiemen. Naeem isn't the only new face in the cobwebbed corridors of Castle Bright Lights. There's also Edward D. Miller, who cogently inquires, "Who's the real monster in Monster?" Meanwhile, Alan Jacobson joins the pack to raise a royal stink about the lack of appreciative audiences for Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Down with Love. Finally, Bert Cardullo, who published a book of interviews with legendary film critic Stanley Kauffmann, came up with an unpublished one for Bright Lights. Kauffmann's in fine form in his mid-eighties. Bienvenidos, guys!

BL associate editor and Waldo Lydecker double Alan Vanneman continues his massive study (at this point on par with La Comedie Humaine) of Fred Astaire movies, this time taking on the oddly noirish Astaire vehicle The Sky's the Limit. Also under the Vannemanscope are Mona Lisa Smile starring Her Toothiness, and Bonnie and Clyde, done to the nines in this ambitious piece. Also on hand with two exciting articles is BL stalwart Andrew Grossman. In the mega-meta "What We Talk About When We Talk About Ho Meng-Hua," he takes the Socratic dialogue to new heights. Andrew also thoughtfully skewers some queer and queer-tinged cinema of today and yesterday in "Twelve-Tone Cinema: A Scattershot Notebook on Sexual Atonality."

BL regular Megan Ratner offers quietly powerful readings of Olmi's Il Posto, recently released on a Criterion DVD, and Nathaniel Kahn's acclaimed documentary about his famous father Louis, My Architect. The unkillable James Bond returns yet again to these pages courtesy of perennial BL-er Bob Castle, who cleverly relocates On Her Majesty's Secret Service at the top of the 007 heap, rather than its accustomed place at the bottom. Frequent contributor Jack Stevenson, who knows everything about Scopitones and Dogme, authoritatively examines the case for and against Lars von Trier as pornographer. The verdict? Read the article. Beloved comrade Scott Thill, deviser of the fantastic Morphizm zine, was apparently in a geographical frame of mind this time. In a fine piece on Return of the King, he explains why you can't go home again if the home is in Middle Earth; and he pays tribute to William Gibson via the new DVD about the "new romancer," No Maps for These Territories.

Novelty-starved readers (you know who you are) will cheer a new section created by BL champ Robert Keser. It's "Distribute This!", a look at various worthy but little-known films in danger of dissolving into the festival circuit and then oblivion. This issue Bob looks at a recent Mexican film, the fabulous, Jodorowsky-esque (we mean that in the good sense) Vera. Pray to whatever idol is nearby that this one will surface.

And yours truly weighs in with a review of Peter Sehr's Kaspar Hauser, eternally, and we think unfairly, eclipsed by Herzog's version of the same sad story; and a slew of brief reviews of curious films that are all over the cinema map.

Now party!

Gary Morris

1Translation: Party over here!

2Translation: Now that we're resting a wee bit easier in our eyrie due to mysterious developments that may indicate a certain king-president will be dethroned come November, it's time to relax with a bubble bath, the controlled substance of your choice, and the new Bright Lights...

articles antechamber

Fred Meets Joan Leslie and The Sky's the Limit — "Never let it be said little Freddie can't carry his load"

The Revolutionary James Bond Movie: On Her Majesty's Secret Service — In which Lazenby, like Lazarus, is resurrected, along with the movie

Lars von Trier: Pornographer? — Impossible...

The League of Extraordinary Subtitles: Bad Translations Offer Meta Fun — "Got it into your head to stuff from the dark continent." Got it?

features foyer

Bonnie and Clyde: Together Again — Warren Beatty's seminal sixties shoot-em-up revisited

What We Talk About When We Talk About Ho Meng-Hua — How to strike at the heart of a beast with the heart of a beast

interrogation alcove

Over Forty: An Interview with Stanley Kauffmann — A legendary film (and theatre) critic looks back over a 40-year-plus career

revivals

Baden Boy: Peter Sehr's Kaspar Hauser — Poor boy, long way from home

cornucopia corner

Little Stabs of Happiness (and Horror): Random Reviews of the Worthy and the Worthless in Recent and Old-School Cinema — Tormented Christians, hacker boyz, cannibal queers, fish people — you know, all those folks who keep it real

distribution dormer

Distribute This! Francisco Athié's Vera — Bad day at Bedrock

palace of the perverts

Twelve-Tone Cinema: A Scattershot Notebook on Sexual Atonality — Is queerness an angry chord or a beautiful harmony?

recent film roundabout

You Can't Go Home Again: Return of the King — Maybe that's a good thing

Down with Underrated Masterpieces!! Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Down with Love — The sound of no hands clapping

A Memoir of Circumstance and Substance: My Architect — A son looks at a father and sees much more in this superb doc

Capturing the Beauty of the Beast: Aileen Wuornos, Charlize Theron, and Monster — The "monster" Wuornos and why she won't go away

Roses Without Thorns, Gains Without Pains, Love Without Tears: Mona Lisa Smile — Doctor Julia explains it all

temple of video

"Being There": No Maps for These Territories on DVD — "I was just doing my job."

Architecture as Social Commentary: The Absurdities of Il Posto — Olmi's 1961 masterpiece comes to DVD in an excellent transfer

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