Vitro Nasu

R.I.P. Ben Gazarra

Ben Gazzara, an intense actor whose long career included playing Brick in the original “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway, roles in influential films by John Cassavetes and work with several generations of top Hollywood directors, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 81.

In Cassavetes’s Husbands (1970), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) and Opening Night (1976), “he plays varieties of himself, as Cassavetes saw him: the moderate man who loses his head and takes immoderate action,” blogs the New Yorker’s Richard Brody.

MUBI obit

“Making Saint Jack was one of the great experiences of my life,” Gazzara told Ben Slater, author of Kinda Hot, which tells the story of the making of Peter Bogdanovich’s 1979 adaptation of Paul Theroux’s novel.

Interview of Ben Gazarra on Charlie Rose

I was enraptured. I was flattered that someone like that would be in love with me. But I didn’t know how deeply she was in love with me until I left her. She told others, not me, that I broke her heart. That’s the kind of classy woman she was.”read more here

Ben and Audrey co-starred in two films, Bloodline (1979) and They All Laughed (1981).. (usually overlooked by Audrey Hepburn fans).

Full movie on youtube was taken down..but luckily saw the film last week on youtube.

Quite possibly the most stunning shot in Fassbinder’s entire oeuvre: two dizzying orbits, and two destinies intertwined with consummate precision.(commentary via youtube)

Martha review here.

Martha, long unavailable, proves to be one of Fassbinder’s dramatic and visual triumphs. It features a brilliantly stylized performance from star Margit Carstensen and the virtuosic camerawork of Fassbinder’s frequent collaborator, Michael Ballhaus. This riveting tale of a sado-masochistic marriage is astonishing in its balance of psychological horror and pitch-black comedy.

(Mishima by Paul Schrader)

NYtimes

Eiko Ishioka, Multifaceted Designer and Oscar Winner, Dies at 73

LAtimes

The Tokyo native who later moved to New York began her convention-defying career in Japanese advertising but eventually expanded it to include design work for Broadway, the movies and Cirque du Soleil.

Eiko Ishioka
石岡 瑛子, Ishioka Eiko, July 12, 1939, Tokyo – January 21, 2012, Tokyo

In a career marked by great versatility, Ishioka won a Grammy Award in 1986 for best album package as art director for Miles Davis’ “Tutu.”
Her sets and costumes for David Henry Hwang’s Broadway play “M. Butterfly” earned her two Tony Award nominations in 1988.

Faye Dunaway
1) Eiko Ishioka (with Faye Dunaway) for Japanese department store, Parco

2) Faye Dunaway Peels an Egg - (youtube)

The Fall
See The Fall – trailer (Previous post – Captive Girls)

Our first marriage from the Fall (youtube)

Bjork Cocoon (youtube)

Eiko Ishioka filmography

A Tribute to Ishioka

Happy birthday Jim Jarmusch. Jan 22, 1953. he is a Water Dragon.

Some trivia from (IMDB )

(via)

On why Jim Jarmusch dedicated “Broken Flowers” to Jean Eustache.

There’s something in him that I want to carry in myself: making a film the way you choose to make it, true to yourself without being concerned with the marketplace or anyone’s expectations – just the pure spirit of wanting to express something in your own style. That’s very important to me.(via)

Jim Jarmusch is working on a new film – a vampire movie no less! – featuring Tilda Swinton, Michael Fassbender, Mia Wasikowska and John Hurt, to be shot in Germany, Morocco and Detroit in early 2012. (wiki)

On his planned Stooges film (youtube)

What happend to his Nikola Tesla Opera?

Music sucks in 99% of commercial films.. in complete agreement here with Jim Jarmusch on(Youtube)

(Repost – his Mitchum stories are too funny.)

Thunder Road Robert Mitchum..

J.J. in Bored to death

A quote from J.J..

The beauty of life is in small details, not in big events.

Ozu Yasujiro (Jim visited his grave in Japan)

Not dead, no broken flowers, no stranger in paradise.. mystery train? maybe..
definetely coffee and cigarattes..and let’s spend a night on earth driving taxis all over the world.

Jan 22 birthday people
Antonio Gramasci

R.I.P Vaclav Havel – a leader of the Velvet Revolution and the first democratically elected President of the Czech Republic… He wrote plays, Letters to Olga and many theater works..
Vaclav Havel 1936-2011

Shy and bookish, with wispy mustache and unkempt hair, Havel came to symbolize the power of the people to peacefully overcome totalitarian rule.”

A film directed by Vaclav Havel “Leaving”(via)

Based on his own play, Leaving is “about — what else? — a politician trying to adjust to a new life after leaving politics.” It “tells the story of Vilém Rieger, the former chancellor of an unnamed country, locked in a battle of wills with his successor, the unsavory Vlastík Klein. It’s a King Lear-like contemplation on a politician’s frustrating impotence at finding himself slowly being forced out of his beloved government villa, with several of Havel’s favorite actors among the cast. They include his wife Dagmar [Havlová], who plays the chancellor’s wife, Irena.”

Always the Optimist
Václav Havel’s transcendence of politics. By Stefany Anne Golberg

On the day of Havel’s death, Czech novelist Milan Kundera said, “Václav Havel’s most important work is his own life.” There’s a moral there somewhere, one that Havel would have appreciated very much indeed.

The Power and the Powerless – Obit from Artinfo

Havel was still the President when I took this photograph of the
toilet paper in the Prague Castle
This photo was presented as The Articles of Faith here.

Ozu biography on youtube Ozu was born on Dec 12, 1903.

Tokyo Chorus echoes Ozu’s experience of his struggle with job hunting. (The charismatic Actor Okada Tokihiko – father of Mariko Okada died young. He needs to get a special blog post in the near future)

Innocent children disovered the father was no hero. (A bit like how the 99% feels about our government)

Ohoyo – Good Morning is Ozu’s hilarious Technicolor re-working of his silent I Was Born, But.. .(The younger brother says ‘I love you’.. post war Japan in danchi or suburb the kids negotiate for a TV set).

Ozu spirit of a clown

The clown is lonely, but he must hide his loneliness and play the fool joyfully, comically. That’s the spirit of Ozu’s film.

Wim Wenders made two great documentaries one was Buena Vista Social Club and another Tokyo-Ga. Wim Wenders is responsible for increased attention paid to Ozu.

Aki Kaurismaki calls Ozu a mathematician

Jim Jarmusch on Ozu (He mentioned Kawakita Kazuko a formidable pioneer distributor of Japanese films to Europe and vice versa) in the article

Ozu’s grave “MU’ shows up in many of these documentaries. (See here at Engakuji)

Hou Hsiao Hsien made Cafe Lumiere as a tribute to Ozu.. (see Hou talking about Ozu)
(Dorris Dorie, Cherry Blossoms, Wayne Wang – Dim Sum also are tribute films for Ozu)

Claire Denis on Yasujiro Ozu

Late Spring finale

Floating Words (previous post on Ozu)

Alain Tanner
Happy birthday Alain Tanner – born 6 December 1929.

Influenced by his involvement with the British “Free Cinema” movement in London and with the French New Wave during his years in Paris, Tanner is best known for his movies Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l’an 2000 (Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000), Dans la ville blanche (In the White City) and Messidor. (via wiki)

See his filmography (via MUBI)

“My films have always represented a balancing act between those films whose objective is the discourse, the concept, and those which start from the material, from emotions, behaviour and locations.”

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Thelma and Louis was a remake of Messidor.

Messidor is an original, unpredictable, and disturbing film about two alienated young women in search of freedom from society. The film, in its poetic sweep, is reminiscent of Terrence Malik’s Badlands and could have been a prototype for Thelma and Louise.”

Tanner’s first film.

John Berger wrote the script for La Salamandre (youtube repost) (1971); The Middle of the World (1974); and Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976)

Here are some photos of eleven good men whose lives were cut short with Aids. R.I.P

Klaus Nomi Derek Jarman and Tony Perkins in the middle.
Klaus Nomi died on August 6, 1983 – he was 39.
Perkins died on September 12, 1992.. Berry Berenson (Perkins’ wife), was killed on American Airlines Flight 11 during the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Derek Jarman died In 1994 London, aged 52.

Paul Thek and Peter Hujar
Peter Hujar, Paul Thek and David Wojnarowicz at Mathew Marks Exhibition
Susan Sontag by Peter Hujar

Paul Thek New York City in 1988. He was 55.
Peter Hujar November 26, 1987. He was 53.

Wild Combination Arthur was an original Michel Foucault would not mind to be paired with him.

Arthur Russell died on April 4, 1992, at the age of 40
Foucault died in Paris on 25 June 1984, he was 58.

Tseng Kwo-Chiand Herman Costa having a blast at photobooth (Thanks Herman for this photo).
Martin Wong with lunchboxes
Tseng and Martin – pride of Chinese Americans!

In 1990, TSENG died at age 39 in NY.
Martin Wong died on 12 August 1999 in San Francisco.. He was 53.

Nestor & Reinaldo Arenas
They were good friends in Cuba.
Nestor Almendros died on 4 March 1992 in NY. He was 62
Reinaldo Arenas died on December 7, 1990. he was 47.

“All these years, I’ve felt Manhattan was just another island-jail. A bigger jail with more distractions but a jail nonetheless. It just goes to show that there are more than two hells. I left one kind of hell behind and fell into another kind. I never thought I would live to see us plunge again into the dark ages. This plague — AIDS — is but a symptom of the sickness of our age.” Reinaldo Arenas

Ken Russell – Formidable film director with an impish sense of humour and a talent to entertain and provoke died at 84 years old on Nov 27.
Many Ken Russell film clips are assembled here including an interview of Martin Scorsesee and Ben Kingsley talking about Ken and their favorite films. How many Ken Russell films have you seen?

Nuyerev as Valantino dances Tango here from a film Valentino directed by Ken Russell. (direct link)

TO SEE FULL MOVIE -Here

Savage Messiah (More on Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Ezra Pound, Helen Mirren from previous post)

The fascination with genius, ambition and the creative process — and the project of making high culture accessible to a popular audience — continued in Mr. Russell’s later fictional features. Many of them take considerable liberties in exploring the lives and works of composers and artists: the Tchaikovsky biopic “The Music Lovers” (1970);“Savage Messiah” (1972), about the French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska; “Mahler” (1974); “Lisztomania” (1975), which imagined Franz Liszt as the original pop superstar. (NYTimes via)

Ken Russell as a young Photographer
Like the much-better-regarded Stanley Kubrick, Russell’s creative career progressed from still photographer to short filmmaker. (See a slideshow of his photographs)

Ken Russell July 3rd, 1927 to November 27th, 2011

He has made three films based on D.H. Lawrence, the most critically aclaimed “Women in Love’ for which Glenda Jackson won her first Oscar, “The Rainbow” came next and more recent “The Lady Chatterlay’s Lover”. “The Devils” was his most controversial. Derek Jarman did the art/set design for the “Devils” and launched his career in films.

Bio pics of composers, artists, dancers and architect links

Song of Summer – Delius (previous post) – (Considered to be one of his finest bio-pics).

Elgar ( youtube)

Sunday Painter Henri Rousseau
A non-actor played Henri Rousseau.. both Rousseau and Alfred Jarry were so authentic a truly marvelous joyful portraiture rarely seen in films these days. (Alfred Jarry was played by Annette Robertson in the role of the surrealist playwright.)

Isadora Duncan (youtube)

Gaudi (youtube)

One of his early films ( via)

Part Two <> <> Part Three <> <> Part Four <> <> Part Five

Conversation with Michael Ondaatje ( Coming Through Slaughter 2005 previous post on M.O.)

Ways of Seeing (youtube) 4 programs

Interview may 2011

John Berger collaborated with Swiss filmmaker Alain Tanner who made inspiring films in the 70′s – (Tanner’s Messidor was remade as Thelma and Louise in Hollywood).

Revisionsing Europe the films of John Berger and Alain Tanner

is among the few existing English-language discussions of the films made by British novelist John Berger and Swiss film director Alain Tanner. It brings to light a political cinema that was unsentimental about the possibilities of revolutionary struggle and unsparing in its critique of the European left, and at the same time optimistic about the ability of radicalism and radical art to transform the world

Happy birthday John Berger!

John Berger reads Palestinian writer Letter from Gaza – Ghassan Panafani

When did Palestine become central to your writing?
I’ve only been actively concerned with Palestine as a writer for about seven years. But the crisis, the injustice, the suffering of the Palestinians, have coexisted alongside my whole life as a writer. The length of this injustice, the lack of recognition of it by the rest of the world, while Israel pursues its own logic, totally regardless of the views of the external world – all this I was not conscious of then, but I am now. I look back on the young man I was in Paris in 1948, with Jewish friends who were thinking of going to Israel. They all wore strident blue shirts, and they gave me one, and I wore it with pride. We had an idea of what a kibbutz was to be – an ideal of a co-operative, with a healthy link to the land, a collectivity, a questioning of individuality, all of which appealed to me.

Interview Newstatesman.

Across the planet we are living in a prison.” John Berger

Bento’s Sketchbook.

Happy birthday Tilda Swinton! (Her new film.. We Need to Talk about Kevin?)

Vivien Leigh dances Charleston she too was born on Nov 5.
Three birthday celebrations from UK.

1895: Auguste & Louis Lumière: Le squelette joyeux

Charles Ives “Hallowe’en”

Kabocha Kusama and Let them eat pumpkin pie.

John Berryman Dream song 63

Edward Gorey a Style icon?

How it works

Where do monsters come from?

Nestor Almendros was born on October 30, 1930 in Barcelona.. later moved to Cuba.

“Almendros was an artist of deep integrity, who believed the most beautiful light was natural light…he will always be remembered as a cinematographer of absolute truth…a true master of light”

Malick hired Nestor after seeing “Wild Child’ by Francois Truffaut. He liked the feeling of silent cinema from Nestor’s camera treatment.

“My job was to simplify the photography, to purify it of all the artificial effects of the recent past,” said Almendros. To that end, he and Malick studied the silent films of Griffith and Chaplin, they used real firelight to illuminate faces, they recreated the arid loneliness of Andrew Wyeth and the inviting interior warmth of Edward Hopper, they achieved all of their special effects in the camera. For the stunning shot in the locusts sequence where the insects ascend to the sky, they dropped peanut shells from helicopters and had their actors walk backwards while running the film in reverse through the camera. When it was projected everything moved forward except the locusts! (Movie Maker)

(via Your 100 favorite Cinematographers)

List of Nestor Almendros’ filmography
(Notable with his collaboration with Truffaut, Rohmer, Barbet Schroeder.. he filmed Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice, Kramer vs Kramer.. etc. )

In his later years, Almendros co-directed two documentaries about the human rights situation in Cuba, Mauvaise Conduite (1984) (Improper Conduct) about the persecution of gay people in Cuba, and Nadie escuchaba (Nobody Was Listening) about the arrest, imprisonment, and torture of former comrades of Fidel Castro.

Nestor who was educated in Cuba was a friend of Reinaldo Arenas who appears in this film (part 5)

Imporoper Conduct reviewed by Vincent Canby

The witnesses in ”Improper Conduct” include distinguished writers, journalists, playwrights, doctors, poets and painters, as well as more ordinary folk such as tour guides and hairdressers, a number of whom spent time in one or more of the country’s forced-labor camps.

Susan Sontag, the American critic and a former supporter of the Castro regime, describes the Castro campaign against homosexuals as ”a heritage, in a way a ‘Puritan’ one, that is deeply embedded in the morals of the Left.” She continues: ”The discovery that homosexuals were being persecuted in Cuba shows, I think, how much the Left needs to evolve.”

Nestor Almendros

In 1992, Néstor Almendros died of AIDS in New York at age 61

A Man with A Camera a great book by Nestor Almendros – a must read for cinema lovers.

Photo of Montgomery Clift by Stanley Kubrick (via)

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Montgomery Clift doing a little dance at Paestum – photo by Kevin McCarthy

(Repost – see previous posts)

In Praise of Monty Clift – (Sheila’s Variations)