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foreign film.

In a message dated 10/9/99 6:28:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
franny_glass1 at hotmail_com writes:

> ummmmmm foreign and art cinema are my faves.........
> greeaway being my fave but films by: wim wenders,
> jean-claude lauzon, zheng yimou (''raise the red 
> lantern'), films like: 'the scent of green papaya', blue,
> red and white,  
> 'street of crocidiles' by the quay brothers,
> norman mclaren--anything, the city of lost children, etc........

yes, debby!

interesting i should spend last night watching
City of Lost Children with my beloved, only to
see now that you had spoken of it the night previous.
this was at least my third (and best) viewing
of this genious french film.
there's another film by the same makers,
with the same cast... the name escapes me
at present, but it is also along genious status.


it is when i watch this film, or so many other
foreign films that i love, when i realize there's
no american movie that captures an experience
quite the same way. the filming, scripting,
cerebral wittiness, the wild imagination and play
on beauty and ugliness...

i find that my favorites tend to be european in origin,
i find hispanic films (like water for chocolate, jamon jamon)
to be rediculously superstitious, amusing during
the serious moments, and absurdly adulterous
just for sake of the "excitement" of it all...
in short, naive.
not always, but usually.


(by the way, i also loved Scent of Green Papaya.)


and you mention Wim Wenders.
one of my other favourites is Wings of Desire.
i first watched it for the Nick Cave appearance
and music, then found it to be one of the most
beautiful experiences on film.

an excerpt from Wings of Desire,
Song of Being A Child:

When the child was a child
it was enough to live on apples and bread.
And it's still that way.
When the child was a child berries fell
only like berries into it's hand.
And still do.
The fresh walnuts made it's tongue raw.
And still do.
Atop each mountain it craved
yet a higher mountain.
And in each city it craved yet a bigger city.
And still does.
Reach for the cherries in the treetop
as elated as it still is today
Was shy in front of strangers.
And still is.
It waited for the first snow.
And still waits that way.
When the child was a child
it waited restlessly each day for the return of the loved one
and still waits that way.
When the child was a child
it hurled a stick like a lance into a tree 
and it's still quivering there today.


my favorite era of film:
early German, 1920s - 1930s.
Metropolis, the Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, Nosferatu, etc.

i have a unique specialty if anyone is interested...
some people cook exceptionally, some juggle,
i offer amazing showings of Metroplis.
it is obviously a silent film, and i have developed
the perfect mixed soundtrack for it. i take two
stereos and weave my industrial/ambient/?
collection thru the viewer at distinct points of the film.
machine sounds in time with the film from the front,
sweeping ambient sculptures from behind.
chanting and small bits of terror mixed in for good measure.
...all shrouded by the gilded glow of candlelight
and thick scent of nag champa.

i'm not opposed to openly saying that this is
one of the most unique experiences available.


foreign film has a way of showing the ordinary
as extraorinary, always brings out the places
in myself i like to visit more frequently than i do.


good day,

edward jay


NP: einsturzende neubauten mp3's

The machine does not isolate man from the great problems
of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 
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