To Rent This Week: Paranoid Park

Hallie Borden tells you why you should add Paranoid Park to your rental list this week.

"It's like The Hills, but with skater kids," said my boyfriend last night on the dialogue of Paranoid Park. On one hand, this is a spot-on comparison. On the other, Gus Van Sant's tense teen drama is much closer to a work of genius than the musings of Lauren Conrad.

Paranoid Park follows a 16-year-old kid from Portland in the days surrounding a mysterious murder by the legendary skate park. Snippets of conversations and disordered sequences create a chaotic environment that a mellow overlay of ambient music balances perfectly. The soundtrack is a brilliant mix of Nino Roto (of Fellini's films) and Portland natives like Elliot Smith and Menomena.

Slow, staggered speech and an abundance of 'ums' and 'likes' give the exchanges in Paranoid Park that 'Je ne sais quois' of Heidi and Spencer, but in the context of a dark and dreary high school far from Orange County, the technique seems incredibly realistic. It also gives ample time to focus on the gorgeous long takes that Gus Van Sant scatters about. The film retains the confusion and discomfort of adolescence without slipping into angsty territory— a commendable feat.

Paranoid Park makes an excellent rainy day rental, so traipse on over to the Videotheque— this weekend calls for showers.

Friday Spotlight: The Earrings of Madame de...

After the month-long immersion in spookiness that was The 31 Days of Horror, I needed to take a breather with something altogether different. Max Ophuls' The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) fit the bill perfectly.

The film about a high society love triangle set into motion by a pair of earrings is deceptively simple, beginning light as a Parisian breeze, only to slowly become absolutely engrossing as the emotional melodrama unfolds. And unfold it does, ingeniously building and shedding intricate layers of deceit, romance and circumstance--all captured by Ophul's pioneering roving camera.

Leads Charles Boyer and Vittorio de Sica are ace, but the film belongs to Danielle Darrieux as the beautiful, manipulative Madame. I challenge anyone to see this film and not fall for her charms.

*Note: the clip contains a mess of spoilers. It's in French, though, so only half the battle is lost.


-Phil Morehart

Remember Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss, the pioneering French anthropologist, has passed away at the age of 100. Though his research into "primitive" cultures was extensive, the thinker was rarely documented on film. Luckily, Facets Video's Claude Levi-Strauss in His Own Words amasses years of interviews in which the intellectual plainly discusses his groundbreaking theories on culture and mythology.

This French television documentary recounts the extraordinary career of the father of structural anthropology, whose theories not only impacted that field, but linguistics, mythology, and pop culture studies. Author of Tristes Tropiques and The Savage Mind, Levi-Strauss is a profound intellectual, a confirmed ecologist, a fierce defender of the diversity of peoples and cultures, and all with the temperament of an artist or poet. Consisting of selected interviews from the 1960s through the present, Claude Levi-Strauss Par Lui-Meme presents the anthropologist's story in his own words.

Claude Levi-Strauss in His Own Words is available for purchase at Facets.

The 31 Days of Horror: Day 31

Facets Features bids adieu to the 31 Days of Horror with straight-up evil. Beautiful, glorious evil.

Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, the 1922 Scandinavian silent directed by Benjamin Christensen, is a historical study of witchcraft, superstitions, accusatory panic and mental illness, based at least in part on the Malleus Maleficarum, the 15th century witchcraft inquisition guide estimated to have contributed to tens of thousands of deaths across Europe (I knew that History of Witchcraft class that I took in college would pay off someday).

Haxan is an absolute marvel, complete with incredible, evocative Hieronymus Bosch-like imagery; graphic reenactments of rituals described in 15th and 16th century witchcraft trials; impressively costumed demons and devils (including Christensen as Satan); and a darkly humorous streak aimed at then-contemporary psychiatric practices.

Unfortunately, the clip featured above is without sound. However, Facets FRIGHT School will bring music and more to this horror great TONIGHT with the lecture, Heavy Haxan: Depictions of Satan on Screen. Facets' Brian Elza and Bruce Neal will explore this classic and the craft of conjuring Satan on screen. I can think of no better way to spend a Halloween night! The wickedness begins at MIDNIGHT.

Be there, if you dare!


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror: Day 30

The recent buzz over Paranormal Activity brings to mind another recent shocker which plops audiences directly into horror's midst.

Following the leads of The Last Broadcast, The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead, the 2007 film (REC) is a first-person immersion in terror told through the camera lens of a Barcelona TV reporter and her cameraman who witness a horrific series of events.

The film begins innocuously with the duo filming the workaday routines of a night-shift fire station for a local TV show. When a seemingly routine distress call from an apartment complex comes into the station, the firefighters race to the scene with TV crew in tow. What they find upon arrival is far from normal, though. The building's occupants are infected with something that drives them to kill. The building is swiftly sealed, quarantining all inside--including the TV crew who capture the ensuing nightmare on camera.

The film is truly terrifying. The shaky hand-held camerawork lends a frightening immediacy to the action, plunging viewers into a darkness that only reveals its hidden violence when the dim camera light is directly on top of it.

As is the case with most successful horror imports from abroad, (REC) received an American remake. Quarantine, starring Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter, follows the same track as (REC)--nothing more, nothing less, supposedly. This begs the question: Why not just release the original film state-side? I ask this question each time a remake of a foreign-language film hits our shores. I'm still waiting for an answer.

I hope to get an answer and more TONIGHT at Facets FRIGHT School. Facets' encyclopedia of cinema Miguel Martinez digs into this new classic of zombie cinema and its place within the new upswing of horror films coming out of Europe at present with his lecture, (REC) & The European Union Horror Revolution. A screening and discussion follow the lecture. As always, the action begins at MIDNIGHT!

- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror: Day 29

A proper celebration of horror cinema isn't complete without a spotlight on the iconic Bela Lugosi.

The great Hungarian was a master who brought an overwhelming presence to all roles, from movie monsters Dracula and Frankenstein to notorious malevolents Igor, Murder Legendre, Dr. Mirakle, and more. It was a power that Lugosi maintained throughout his career. Even during his frail, drug-addled, tragic final years, he still owned the screen, as evidenced by this brief turn in one of his last films, Ed Wood's z-classic, Glen or Glenda (1953).


-Phil Morehart

Explore Immersive Documentarians & African Cinema!

Hey all! Don't forget! Facets Film School Fall Session 2 opens next month! Two new classes are featured and they're both exceptional. If you haven't experienced Facets Film School, you don't know what you're missing. This isn't your typical film school--no tests, just great lectures and in-depth discussions led by some of Chicago's finest instructors!

Fall Session 2 includes...

LES NOUVELLE EGOTISTES
Mondays, Nov. 16 - Dec. 21
7-10 pm

Instructor Ronit Bezalel examines the work of Les Nouvelles Egotistes, an informal group of documentary filmmakers who place themselves squarely into their films. Films screened include Kurt and Courtney (Nick Broomfield, 1998), Roger and Me (Michael Moore, 1989), Manufacturing Dissent (Rick Caine & Debbie Melnyk, 2007), Super Size Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004), Louis and Michael (Louis Theroux, 2003) and Parallel Lines (Nina Davenport, 2004).


AFRICAN CINEMA:
MYTH, MAGIC AND RESISTANCE
Thursdays, Nov. 19 & Dec. 3-17;
Tuesday, Dec. 29; Wednesday, Dec. 30
7-10pm

Instructor Kristen Barnes explores the rich cultural landscape of Africa by reviewing groundbreaking works that have been instrumental in defining African cinema. Films screened include Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambety, 1973), Yeelen (Souleymane Cisse, 1987), Camp de Thiaroye (Ousmane Sembene & Thierno Faty Sow, 1987), Hyenas (Djibril Diop Mambety, 1992) and Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene, 2004).

*Note: Classes will not be held on November 26 or December 24.

For full course descriptions, instructor bios and more, visit Facets Film School online here.

Enroll online here or sign-up at Facets before class begins!
Space is limited. Enroll now to guarantee yourself a seat!

Facets Patron Circle Members get priority and an additional $45 OFF the regular class price of $125. For membership information, click here.

For additional info, call 773-281-9075 or visit Facets.org.

The 31 Days of Horror: Day 28

Jealousy. Fear. Lust. These are the devils that live within human beings. They gain strength when we are desperate and hungry.

These are some of the real-life terrors that haunt the characters in Onibaba, a 1964 adaptation of a very old Japanese ghost story. This is a great cinematic exploration of a time-tested and all-too-true theme--dark forces lie right at the doorstep of each of our souls. If we are desperate enough, hungry enough, angry enough, jealous enough, we just might let them in.

This frightening and beautiful black and white film by Japanese legend Kaneto Shindo (who has literally scores of movies to his name, and has writer, director, and art director credits on this film) features dark, erotic, emotional performances; a memorably scary score that builds to a frenzy; and frightful images you won't soon forget. Thanks, Kaneto, for keeping me up all night! Onibaba should be on your Halloween watch list.


-Jeff Waldhoff (aka Val Lewton's Valet)