Favorite Movie Moments: The Conformist

Unlike men, women can do a lot of things together without being labeled "gay." We can hold hands, walk arm in arm, dance together, kiss each other on the cheek, sleep on one bed, etc. If I mention all of the things we can do together without society branding us "dykes," you might drown in its bounty.

 

Dominique Sanda and Stefania Sandrelli in Bertolucci's The Conformist.

 (Image source here.)

Delicious and Heartwarming

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Jon Avnet, 1991

"Whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people."

- Ruth 1:16

The '90s cinema was abundant with feminist films; there was Thelma & Louise, Nikita, The Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Fried Green Tomatoes, The River Wild, Bound, G.I. Jane, Jackie Brown, Elizabeth, etc.

Among those films, Fried Green Tomatoes is the one whose approach to feminism I liked the most. It doesn't feature gun-toting women, rather it features everyday women who aren't afraid to speak their mind and assert themselves.

Cinematography: The Skin I Live In

THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cinematographer: José Luis Alcaine

Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In is a twisted tale of madness, obsession, and revenge.

The film features Antonio Banderas in his most sinister role as Dr. Robert Ledgard, an exceptional surgeon haunted by the demise of both his wife and daughter. Dr. Ledgard is currently in the process of finishing the flawless skin. His guinea pig is a mysterious "woman" named Vera Cruz (played by the beautiful Elena Anaya). Vera also has her share of dark past, and wants out of her claustrophobic existence.

Aside from the strange nature of the film and the actors' performances, another thing that stood out for me is José Luis Alcaine's cinematography.

Vera's reflection.

Fave Movie Quotes: Chasing Amy

You know, I didn't just heed what I was taught, men and women should be together, it's the natural way, that kind of thing. I'm not with you because of what family, society, life tried to instill in me from day one. The way the world is, how seldom it is that you meet that one person who just *gets* you - it's so rare. My parents didn't really have it. There were no examples set for me in the world of male-female relationships. And to cut oneself off from finding that person, to immediately halve your options by eliminating the possibility of finding that one person within your own gender, that just seemed stupid to me.

- Alyssa Jones

Beyond the Limits

BOUND
The Wachowskis, 1996

Although The Matrix is not really my cup of tea (it's too sci-fi for my taste), I am convinced that The Wachowski Brothers The Wachowskis have an impressive talent to create flawlessly entertaining, kinetic films. The Wachowskis, comprised of Andy and Larry (who is now called "Lana"), know how to equilibrize different genres in one film; in The Matrix movies, they successfully fused action, romance, sci-fi, and thriller.

Three years before the Wachowskis entered The Matrix, they made their directorial debut with a sexy neo-noir crime thriller called Bound. Stylishly photographed, well acted, and intelligently written, Bound is about two women who go beyond the limits to f*ck over the f*ck-worthy mafia — not in a literal sense, get your head off the gutter! :P

Fave Movie Quotes: Mother Joan of the Angels

All redemption is in love. Love is as strong as death.

- Father Jozef Suryn

Starring Geraldine Chaplin

(Photo belongs to its owner/s. I don't own or claim to own this photo.)

Yes, she has her father's surname. Looks a lot like him. But there's more to Geraldine Chaplin than being Charlie's daughter.

The lovely actress turns 67 today. The eldest of Charlie Chaplin's eight children with Oona O'Neill, Geraldine first mesmerized audiences with her breakthrough performance in 1965's Doctor Zhivago.

With more than 100 films to her credit, Geraldine surely made a name for herself. She has established a prolific career in Spain, France, and Hollywood. Geraldine has also worked alongside celebrated directors like Robert Altman, David Lean, Alain Resnais, Carlos Saura, and Almodovar.

A Fusillade of Passion

THE DAMNED
Luchino Visconti, 1969

Fellini. Antonioni. Bertolucci. De Sica. Pasolini. Rossellini. And Visconti. Italian cinema would practically be nothing hadn't those names existed.

Among those filmmakers, Luchino Visconti is the one whose works I find very exciting. Most of his films are fearless; yet underneath that audaciousness lies a certain touch of overwhelming tenderness.

Death in Venice is Visconti's most popular work. (That film is a tearjerker.) While The Damned is, in my opinion, his best and sadly underrated opus.

Fave Movie Quotes: Network

Television is not the truth. Television's a goddamned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a travelling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business. So if you want the truth, go to God. Go to your gurus. Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever gonna find any real truth. But, man, you're never gonna get any real truth from us. We'll tell you anything you wanna hear. We lie like hell. We'll tell you that Kojak always gets the killer, and that nobody ever gets cancer in Archie Bunker's house. And no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don't worry. Just look at your watch. At the end of the hour he's gonna win. We'll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true.

- Howard Beale

Sings a Rare Tune

"Commerce should adapt to art, and not art to commerce."

- The Diva

DIVA
Jean-Jacques Beineix, 1981

The 1980s saw the emergence of cinema du look, it's kinda like the decade's nouvelle vague. "Youth versus the authority" is one of cinema du look's basic themes. Diva signaled the birth of this new era in French cinema.

Diva's hero is Jules (played by Frederic Andrei), a young man who suddenly finds himself in imbroglio. Jules doesn't look like the type of guy who'd get into any kind of trouble; he is polite and lanky. He also makes an honest living as a postman.