An ISLAND Not on the Chart

Some Backstory: in the winter of 2002, I was on a classic horror kick. Thanks to the recommendations of my brother and my friend Barry, I’d seen Ulmer’s THE BLACK CAT, Whale’s THE OLD DARK HOUSE, and – most eye-popping of all – as many Val Lewton-produced films as I could get my hands on. Searching for the latter among the hallowed stacks of old VHS in Santa Monica’s Vidiots, I grabbed Erle C. Kenton’s THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, mistaking it for my intended rental, the Lewton/Mark Robson/Karloff effort, ISLE OF THE DEAD.*

It was a happy accident.

Death is Not the End

I very much wanted to (and still might) do another one of my illustrated blog posts indexing the awesome imagery that gives Victor Sjostrom's 1921 PHANTOM CARRIAGE its spiritual/visceral resonance. Instead, we'll all* have to settle for the review I wrote for GreenCine.

* That is, all two of us that read this blog (hi wife!).

I've delivered sermons to the sea.

Victor Sjostrom in WILD STRAWBERRIES (Bergman, 1957)

Ashes of Time

Dust motes! Just one of the many wacky animated inanimate objects on display in Michelangelo Frammartino's meditation, LE QUATTRO VOLTE (THE FOUR TIMES), which I attempt to explain over at GreenCine.

Five Film Friday

Alternate Alliterative Title:

"Philip's Failure to Find Five Minutes to Fashion (and Finish) a Fitting Tribute to Two Fine DVDs"

It's been a lousy coupla weeks for me to keep up with a blog that, as much as I (sometimes) enjoy writing, doesn't pay a bloody penny (or generate comments). That said, I need to clear the decks and do an unfortunately brief run-down of two fantastic releases by (who else?) The Criterion Collection: THE COMPLETE JEAN VIGO and Chang-dong Lee's SECRET SUNSHINE. So I'll bang these out and clear my to-do list (and conscience) so as to enjoy a weekend getaway with my bride.

While I'm Stalling, Here's This

Buzz Nano had had a busy Solar Unit. He’d taken a tube car over to West Dakota in order to secure a breathing license. With that done, he was settling in for a laser drink with his robot friend, Gr0x Gearsley.

“Th1s stuff 1s g00d,” Gr0x bleeped, pouring the laser into his taste portal.

Buzz adjusted his visor.

“Yup.”

They sat in contented silence. With one metal finger, Gr0x smoothed out the steel wool on top of his head. He scanned the bar, hoping to get lucky with a G-Bot.

“I wonder what the weather’s like on Europa right now,” Buzz mumbled. “I could use a mooncation.”

“Can’t y0u get the S0larCast 0n y0ur v1s0r?” Gr0x asked.

“Nope.”

- excerpted from my forthcoming, 800-page sci-fi paperback, Men of Metal, Book One of the Ursa Minor Chronicles. 

Crickets... (actually, cicadas)

TROPICAL MALADY (2003, A. Weerasethakul)

THIRST FOR LOVE (1967, K. Kurahara)

Awfully quiet around here. Especially since I'm waaaay overdue for my pieces on SECRET SUNSHINE and Criterion's revelatory release of THE COMPLETE JEAN VIGO. Please stand by...

Look! Here's a wooden ball playing Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" in the middle of a Japanese forest: