Streamathon - Road Trip (Dec. 2017)

Streamathon 

Road Trip (December 2017)

Preface: This is part of an ongoing blog series of curated movie marathons that are thematically or otherwise tied together. The other common factor tying these films together will be their availability to watch them all from the comfort of your own home on various streaming platforms. The goal is that writing this blog will somehow justify the excessive number of streaming platforms I subscribe to. The films will be found on some combination of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Mubi, FilmStruck, Shudder and/or Fandor. These titles will be available for the month that the blog is published. All of these subscriptions offer free trials so feel free to dive in and follow along… Have fun. Just don’t message me for my login information.

By:  Emery Martin-Snyder

Well, the holiday season has found its way upon us once again. And with that, this is the season to load the kids into the car, pack up your snacks, and head out over the river and through the woods. The road trip has been prevalent in cinema for a long time. In 1956, the world seemed a lot bigger to the average American. There was no CNN or BBC piping images from around the world into every television set. As a result, films that showcased exotic locations were a big treat to the average filmgoer. Michael Anderson’s AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS did just that. And it was rewarded with 5 Oscars including Best Picture.

In the years to follow, lots of films have told fictional travelogues, showcasing both exotic and rural locations as the backdrop for ‘fish out of water’ stories. Many of these are specifically holiday films. John Hughes’ PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES has become a Thanksgiving tradition in my house. I decided however for this blog, to choose a smorgasbord of road trip films from different genres, none of which are specific to any holiday. I just thought I could get you all in the spirit of the journey itself…. Enjoy.

The Stream

AMERICAN HONEY (2016) 

Directed by Andrea Arnold – Streaming on Amazon Prime

You’re not likely to find a film shot more beautifully hand-held, in 4:3 than Andrea Arnold’s latest feature. I think one of the reasons this works so well is that the very shallow focus utilized does a great job of mimicking the human eye. This is a great look at far too often forgotten pieces of Americana. Fly-over states, oil fields, well-off religious suburbanites and the extreme poverty stricken all fill in the background for this story about the modern day traveling salesman. Don’t be dismayed by the 163 minute runtime. This film grabs you and immerses you into its world very well.

CRYSTAL FAIRY & THE MAGIC CACTUS (2013) 

Directed by Sebastián Silva – Streaming on Hulu

This is the second best Sebastián Silva film that stars Michael Cera as a culturally inept annoying American in a foreign country. I think MAGIC MAGIC is the better film but we’re not here to talk about that one. This film is about a road trip through Chile to search for a hallucinogenic cactus. In a cocaine induced haze, Cera’s character accidentally invites along a new age woman named Crystal Fairy. This film is both fun and cringe-worthy at the same time. It doesn’t find its heart until the very end but I think it’s worth its runtime.

ROADGAMES (1981) 

Directed by Richard Franklin – Streaming on Shudder

This is a lesser known Ozploitation flick by a much underrated Hitchcockian influenced director. In fact, this film would lead to Richard Franklin’s next film, the underappreciated PSYCHO II. This picture stars Americans Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis, a lot of open Outback highway and a dingo clunking their way through a murder mystery. The plot is an obvious homage to REAR WINDOW but the execution is far more concerned with having fun. Stacy Keach chews the hell out of his dialogue. Much of the film is spent with him waxing philosophy and quoting poetry to his dingo co-pilot. I could have watched a movie that was just that and nothing more. Jamie Lee Curtis is fearless and spunky and her performance is spot on as well. I really adore this movie and would encourage everyone to see it.

THE TRIP TO ITALY (2014) 

Directed by Michael Winterbottom – Streaming on Netflix

If you absolutely have to travel, I highly suggest that you do it in the company of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. This is the second part of a very strange trilogy by director Michael Winterbottom in which these two comedians play real life versions of themselves on scripted road trips together. It’s probably closer to a documentary than most reality shows on television. These films aren’t particularly insightful or profound. They do however give the audience that great feeling that we are just hanging out with a couple of hilarious people for an hour and a half. It’s actually great for repeated and distracted viewings.

WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957) 

Directed by Ingmar Bergman – Streaming on FilmStruck

This is the second month in a row that my Streamathon blog has included a Bergman film. I love Bergman films so I’m sure it won’t be the last time. This story is about an aged professor traveling from his home back to Lund University to receive an award. His travels take his mind back through time and force him to face the insignificance of his own existence. Like a lot of Bergman’s best work, this is a tough but very rewarding watch. And I’ll admit: I didn’t care much for it upon my first viewing. I now regard it as one of his most irreplaceable pieces.

Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN (2001) – Directed by Alfonso Cuarón – Streaming on Netflix

I’m not privy to all of this film’s political and social analogs. I’ve been told that it is a great metaphor for what was happening in Mexican politics around the time but I really latch onto this film for its amazing performances. Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal are both perfect as the typical coming-of-age, insecure boys desperate to enter manhood. Maribel Verdú’s performance is shattering as the broken woman, desperate to escape her reality. Somehow, against all odds, we find ourselves identifying with each of these characters. We feel anxiety in their angst and find solace in their escape.

1953 - Random Cinematic Year in Review

A Random Cinematic Year In Review

1953

 

 By: Emery Martin-Snyder

Preface: I have decided to write this series at least in part because I don't make it out to see new films very often and I've found that I spent too much time at the end of the year attempting to see all the big releases (many of which I'm not even interested in) for no other reason than to make an obligatory 'year end list'... This is a way that I can continue writing about films without feeling the pressure to see a bunch of stuff that I wouldn't otherwise take the time to. I'll still see most of them eventually, just on my own time. I use a random number generator to pick a year and I use letterboxd.com to determine the actual release year.

1953 saw two major historic events that had and continue to have major cultural ramifications on the artistic and entertainment industries. Both of which, over six decades later, have come to be an accepted standard in the world we live in, for better or worse.

The first event to highlight of 1953 took place on August 12th. This is the date that the U.S.S.R. tested their first thermonuclear device, the JOE-4, a hydrogen bomb. This event effectively added a true and definite Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) aspect to the Cold War. Hydrogen bombs differ from the previously detonated atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki eight years prior because of a bunch of science stuff that essentially translates to way bigger explosions. The combined energy of both devices dropped on Japan in 1945 was approximately 1000 times less than that of our most powerful hydrogen bombs.

Less than a year later, as part of “Operation Castle”, the U.S. would drop Castle Bravo in Bikini Atoll, yielding approximately 2.5 times more energy (and nuclear fallout) than had been expected. The crew of a Japanese fishing boat named Daigo Fukuryū Maru that was in the area would become the world’s first victims of a thermonuclear device, including one fatality of acute radiation syndrome. This turned out to be the inspiration for the greatest cultural distillation of fear in cinematic history… I am of course referring to Ishiro Honda’s GODZILLA (or GOJIRA more specifically.)

Other master auteurs would offer up their cinematic apprehensions regarding nuclear fear in the coming years. Films like Akira Kurosawa’s I LIVE IN FEAR (’55), Stanley Kubrick’s DR. STRANGELOVE (’64) and Andrei Tarkofsky’s THE SACRIFICE (’86) are only a few of the most prolific examples. This is still a very pressing issue today. In fact, just last year cinefiles were treated to a highly underseen update on the cultural reflection of that fear with Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi’s SHIN GODZILLA. This film shows us how little things have changed in the past 63 years… and it does so in beautiful color… I watched it on my TV.

Segue anyone?... If I may lighten the mood a bit, the other significant historical event that happened in 1953 was the FCC’s second iteration of the standard known as the National Television System Committee or NTSC. This newer standard is what allowed for the broadcast of color television. Various processes of filming and projecting a film in color had been around for a long time, as early as 1902 if you count additive coloring systems. But over 50 years later and over 25 years after the invention of the television, there still hadn’t been a system in place to actually broadcast anything that took up more bandwidth than black and white. It would still take about a year before the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade became the first national color broadcast. Slowly but steadily, the medium followed suit and by 1965, half of all prime time programs were broadcast in full color.

So if you’re in your mid 30’s like I am and you remember growing up in the 80’s watching ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney” every Sunday, give the FCC a call and thank them for the NTSC. Or just say it out loud in front of your Smart TV, Amazon Echo, Android device, Apple TV or Kellyanne Conway’s microwave… They’re listening.

Emery's Notable Five

5 – SUMMER WITH MONIKA (Directed by Ingmar Bergman)

 

This, like most of Bergman’s work begins with a rather capricious and light hearted tone and ends on a far more serious note. By its final credits, you feel as though you have experienced the equivalent of a cinematic gut-punch.

4 – TOKYO STORY (Directed by Yasujiro Ozu)

 

If you think that you have an aversion to small stake quiet family dramas, you’ve never experienced Ozu. His films are touching and impactful without being tragic or overwrought. His set direction, his shooting style and especially his actor’s composure gives the relationships in this film that perfect ‘lived in’ feeling that a lot of Hollywood dramas lack. To many of his fans, this is his best film. I love it but it’s not my favorite. It is however, a great place to start if you are currently unfamiliar with his work.

3 – UGETSU (Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi)

 

In a lot of ways, this is a story that is as old as time. It’s a stern warning against the perils of unwarranted ambitions and greed. I like old parables, especially when seen though unique traditional lenses. The storyteller is usually more important than the story. But in this case, I’m kind of a sucker for both.

2 – THE WAGES OF FEAR (Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot)

 

Nicknamed the French Hitchcock, Clouzot had been sharpening his figurative tension building cinematic teeth for years before he made this film. This is the very definition of a high-concept thriller. Its beauty is in its simplicity, four guys in two trucks full of nitroglycerine drive up a bumpy road. I can’t really articulate why this works so well but it’s one of the most respected pieces of cinema ever and for good reason.

1 – PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (Directed by Samuel Fuller)

 

This is my favorite Samuel Fuller and that is saying a whole lot. I flat out love a multitude of his flicks. The dialogue in this film is robust to say the least. You will likely find yourself pretending to understand all the jargon in order to make yourself feel cool. That’s what I do. The clear standout in this flick is Thelma Ritter’s Moe, an informant trying to make enough money to for a burial plot. She’s quirky and unique, strong and opinionated… she’s like a manic pixie stool pigeon. I don’t think it’s possible not to fall in love with this film… seriously... Fight me!