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writers gone wild!
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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 48 | May 2005

from the editor

Mission Accomplished!

Yes, like our beloved president, we've done it! And without the large banner or casualties (recorded or not, immediate or delayed) usually associated with "missions." Indeed, we've done it twice this time. Not content with publishing one issue, we've also added the entire contents of the Douglas Sirk print issue of Bright Lights from the halcyon winter of 1977-78. Blame it on our record caffeine intake, or perhaps those fistfuls of pretty pills so thoughtfully provided to Bright Lights' staff by the drug companies. (But take a hint, fellas; in the future, please label them.) Anyway, you can read about dapper Doug here, or just glance to the right and click on the links.

This issue we've also added two associate editors to the roster, BL regulars Megan Ratner and Robert Keser. They join Alan Vanneman in this exalted status. Wilkommen, Kameraden! (We're frantically trying to learn German — through an excellent online translation service — for the obvious reasons.)

The "official" new issue of Bright Lights contains, as our leaders might put it, a Köstliches Festmahl. From new writers come a number of provocative pieces. First up is Stephen Glaister's intricate, persuasive redemption of Spielberg's wrongly dished AI: Artificial Intelligence. Boston-based Tom Sutpen parlays the passion onto Losey/Pinter's The Servant, Shirley Clarke's sadly unavailable Portrait of Jason, and Allen Baron's legendary (also unavailable) late noir, Blast of Silence. New York-based critic Dan Callahan takes a pithy look at Klute and the Jane Fonda legend. And finally, recent emigré Peter Crowe boldly declares Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen in the running for "best British film of its time." Guten tag, guys!

BL quasi-regulars are also here in force. Boris Trbic expertly explains why subtitles are misleading, confusing, even unnecessary. Natalie Reitano handily uncovers the too-numerous flaws in Regis Wargnier's Darwin drama Man to Man. Paul Brand returns with a bull's-eye of his own on the Archers' A Matter of Life and Death, while Taiwan expat Ian Johnston offers artful analysis of Fruit Chan's appetizing Dumplings and Hou Hsiao-hsien's cozy Café Lumiere. And for good measure, Mark G. E. Kelly slams the amusing but perhaps over-revered Team America: World Police. Wieder freue mich ich, Sie zu sehen!

BL stalwarts (including yours truly with "Little Stabs of Happiness and Horror") have returned to praise and pan in equal measure. Alan Vanneman continues his exegesis of Fred Astaire movies by joining the Easter Parade, surveys a slew of jazz documentaries and footage on DVD, and draws his gun on our favorite existential TV western, Paladin. Megan Ratner made it to Berlin this year and writes it up with her usual verve. Robert Keser cannily critiques two Chicago-based festivals, the European Union fest and the international documentary fest, and devotes a separate article to Alain "No I'm Not Dead" Resnais' latest, Not on the Lips. Meanwhile, Matthew Kennedy lays the lorgnette, as only he can, on three German (again) queer silent movies, Cukor's classic Dinner at Eight, and John Stahl's creepfest Leave Her to Heaven. Nett, Sie hinter zu haben, Freunde!

Gary Morris

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Watch for new issues of Bright Lights every three months: August, November, February, and May. To be automatically notified when the next issue is posted, join our mailing list.

Visit the archives for hundreds of other articles, dear.

articles antechamber

In Your Easter Bonnet, with All the Frills Upon It: Irving Berlin's Easter Parade — Fred and Judy celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ

Class Dismissed: Revisiting Losey and Pinter's misunderstood masterpiece, The Servant — They also serve who only stand and annihilate

Beyond Subtitles: Some Thoughts on Viewing Foreign Language Films — It's the visuals, stupid

Dancing and Dirging with Jason: On Shirley Clarke's Portrait of Jason — "Going on stage would've been awfully redundant"

Got Trouble? Wire Paladin! The Western for Existentialists — Richard Boone slaps leather in the classic fifties oater, Have Gun, Will Travel

Hooker with a Heart of Darkness: Jane Fonda in Klute — Bree Daniels trumps all Fonda's real-life characters

Shadow Man: On Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby, the Coming Together and the Falling Apart
What's inside those "sculpted spaces of dark intimacy"

S P E C I A L

Bright Lights’ Douglas Sirk issue (#6, 1977-78) reprinted complete!

Introduction — Gary Morris

Sarris on Sirk — Andrew Sarris

Sirk and the Critics — Jean-Loup Bourget

Love Affairs That Always Fade — Robert E. Smith

The Lure of the Gilded Cage — Jeanine Basinger

Intimations of Lifelessness: Sirk's Ironic Tearjerker — Stephen Handzo

God Is Dead, or Through a Glass Darkly — Jean-Loup Bourget

George Zuckerman and Albert Zugsmith on Sirk — Michael Stern and Gary Morris

Two Weeks in Another Town: Interview with Douglas Sirk — Jane and Michael Stern

features foyer

Saving AI: Artificial Intelligence: Philosophical Aspects of Spielberg's Neglected Robo-Epic — Human, mecha, supermecha — and David

film festivals flying buttress

Maybe Next Year: Slim Pickings at Berlinale 2005 — When good ideas go wrong

In the Realm of the Real: The 3rd Chicago International Documentary Film Festival —
"The governments will be forgotten but the masterpieces will remain."

O Bruder, Where Art Thou? The 8th European Union Film Festival (Chicago) —
Doing the Continental

revival room

The Archers Hit a Bull's-eye: Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death —
"This is the universe. Big, isn't it."

distribution dormer

Distribute This! Blast of Silence (Allen Baron, 1961, U.S.A.) — This missing noir masterpiece enters the canon in first place

recent cinema roundabout

Train to Somewhere: Hou Hsiao-hsien Pays Sweet Homage to Ozu in Café Lumière — Hou honors the master while remaining true to his own vision

Compliments to the Chef: Three . . . Extremes: Dumplings Expertly Mixes Social Critique and Questionable Cuisine — Bring some dramamine to Fruit Chan's best film to date

Pucker Up: The Enchantments of Resnais' Not on the Lips — The world's first Spherist masterpiece?

Rousseau Redux: Regis Wargnier's Disappointing Pygmy Tale, Man to Man — These "noble savages" — and the issues they embody — deserve better

Losing Liam: On Ken Loach's Realist Masterpiece, Sweet Sixteen — The best British film of its time?

Only in America: On Team America: World Police — Trey Parker and Matt Stone fight Hollywood ignorance with some ignorance of their own

the vale of video

The Good, the Bad, and the Disingenuous: Jazz on DVD — You get what you pay for, if you're lucky

Tears for Queers: Different from the Others, Michael, and Sex in Chains on DVD — Kino's unusual series spotlights German silent gay-themed cinema

Dinner Is Served: The Return of MGM's Witty '30s Romp — Cukor's all-star gala remains a tasty dish

"She Loves Too Much": The Ravishing Leave Her to Heaven on DVD — No matter what she says, don't upset her

cornucopia corner

Little Stabs of Happiness (and Horror): Random Short Reviews of the Worthy and the Worthless in Recent and Old-School Cinema — "Here's to lost beauty. May it always be nearby with the potential to keep you warm."