15th Hall of Fame

It's a good idea and sounds fun We should keep the Hofs fresh, so that people don't get bored with them...Some sort of a 'so bad it's good Hof', or maybe just really, really bad movies, the worst one wins.

Is Showgirls not objectively stunning? I'll post screenshots to back my case up if need be? It's a very dumb film but it's also gorgeous.

I didn't find it gorgeous but it has been a long time. Hard to say when you think a movie is so damn dumb I guess. The acting doesn't help my memory on aesthetics either I guess. Hard to think past those three performances when thinking about it. His home, the bar, just nothing sticks out as visually pleasing. I can't believe people enjoy it.

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Letterboxd

It's a really great film visually:



Think watching it as an adult genuinely blew my mind, there's naked Jessy from Saved By The Bell yet everything else is more interesting.

I have never really wanted to see Showgirls, but that screenshot has me feeling all kinda Refn or something.

This is a Production shot from that CInetamographer:

Cinematographer*

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Yup!

Hedwig and the Angry Inch




I was curious about whether I would still like this; I actually think I liked it more this time around.

Hedwig is straddling divides between East and West, man and woman and the film also does this in different ways. There are not so much contradictions as incongruities - Hedwig performing a full on, hilariously inappropriate act in front of bemused diners, the way that the film blends storytelling and performance, animation and live action and the fact that it’s an amusing rock parody but also genuine and heartfelt.

There are some specific references - a guy in the band with Sid Vicious style hair, Tommy Gnosis channelling Billy Corgan, Miriam Shor’s Yitshak like a drag king Dave Grohl - but they’re touchstones in a broader rock/drag act pastiche with its own entirely unique style and story.

This is pure chutzpah, energetic, highly stylized tragicomedy - Hedwig’s head in the oven! The pictures of the Titanic in the Bilgewater restaurants! It does lose pace a little when recounting the story of Hedwig and Tommy’s relationship but recovers it for a suitably abstract rock opera ending. (And was Tommy being named Tommy a coincidence or a reference to the movie?)

Hedwig is an interesting and unique character, played well by John Cameron Mitchell. Minor detail but I loved Hedwig’s sparkly red lipstick in Origins of Love. I felt most empathy for Yitshak though - especially in the scene where Hedwig rips up the passport.

There’s plenty of off-beat quotable dialogue too (“leaving in my wake a trail of rainbow carnage”).

The songs are really good. I think Wig in a Box was my favourite.

I'd be curious to see the stage version and how it differs.

Awesome movie.

I don't remember Showgirls being visually stunning (though it may very well be?), but I do remember it being sleazy, inappropriate and entertaining, and I think that is why it developed legs amongst film lovers, regardless of it's obvious faults.

Kyle MacLachlan banging Berkley in the pool with the water splashing at every thrust was a moment in film I wished I could have un-seen, haha.

your insights into, and perceptions of films is quite the joy to read, @Thursday Next

Love your review!

I'm still kicking myself for deciding not to catch Hedwig when they were touring last (though John Cameron Mitchell was not playing the role when they were in my area, instead it was Darren Criss from Glee), but there are some recordings of the show with the original cast on YouTube. The quality isn't great, since they were recorded by audience members, but it's still an interesting watch.

The biggest difference is that very little of what you see in the film is actually shown in the stage version. Hedwig tells her story, interspersed with songs, and periodically Yitzak opens the back door and we hear Tommy Gnosis singing or speaking from his concert. The voice of Gnosis is that of whoever is playing Hedwig. Yitzak and the rest of the Angry Inch are on the stage with her, but we don't see Tommy, or Luther, or Hedwig's mother or anyone else. The stage version also gives us more insight into the relationship between Yitzak and Hedwig - Yitzak is a former drag queen with far more natural talent than Hedwig but Hedwig made him promise never to do drag again. She constantly verbally abuses him and tries to prevent him from getting attention lest he upstage her. He also acts as her personal assistant, bringing her beverages and assisting with costume and wig changes onstage.

What's also interesting is the list of names of those who have played Hedwig. Besides Mitchell, those names include Neil Patrick Harris, Michael C. Hall, Taye Diggs, and also a few women including Ally Sheedy.

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When L'Avventure premiered in Cannes it was heckled and booed and really who can blame them. Antonioni promises an adventure in the title, the set up is great a girls friend disappears and her boyfriend and best friend go on a search for her. Antonioni is naturally trolling his audience as practically nothing happens for the next two and a half hours. Some might even call the film pretentious with Antonioni trying to show off how beautiful he can make his shots while giving the audience little to no story.

Now if it were up to me I would have action in the beginning of the film and slowly throughout the story make each scene longer and duller, but Antonioni just decides to bore from start to finish. The characters are somewhat interesting, and some of the story could be well told without dialogue but for me this just felt like a film filled with missed opportunities.

[rating]let me think about it[rating]

It would've been nice to see more of that in the film version, since there would be a little more impact to Hedwig yielding the stage to Yitzak at the end.

Throughout the film, I thought there was going to be a reveal about Yitzak also being transgender. Since he was clearly being played by a woman, I thought he had transitioned from female to male, and that he was going to be the other half of Hedwig or something. I'm not sure if I still would've thought that if Yitzak was played by someone else, or if I hadn't noticed that the actor was female very early in the film.

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They filmed scenes that explained Yitzak's backstory, but cut them for whatever reason. I would've liked to have seen them included, too.


It's been awhile but I vaguely recall an interview with John Cameron Mitchell where he said something to the effect of Yitzak being played by a woman partly for the sake of convenience, since he wanted a female voice for backing vocals. I'm not sure if that's still been the case on stage when the role of Hedwig has been played by a woman though.

@edarsenal @SilentVamp @jiraffejustin

Only 3 weeks left. Deadline: April 6th

I've got Hedwig, Station, Rebecca and In Mood from my library, still have the link for Out of the Blue, so I'm lined up to knock 'em out

I have everything I need ready to go. Now it's just about time and opportunity, but that will come and I will finish this up.