Unsung Heroism

BENJI THE HUNTED
Joe Camp, 1987

By now you've probably seen the story of Tara, the (heroic) tabby who saved her "kid brother" from their vicious neighbor dog. But what if the kid was a stranger to the tabby? Would Tara still be willing to protect a stranger from someone/something life-threatening?

What about you? Are you willing to compromise your existence just so you could save a bunch of strangers? Yes? Good for you and those strangers. What about this: are you willing to compromise your existence just so you could save a bunch of strangers, but — here's the catch — you won't get credit for doing so? Yes? Weh... 'di nga? Really? Are you sure? Hmm...

When Humanity Breeds Hate

WHITE DOG
Samuel Fuller, 1982

"That's the danger in picking up a stranger," an injured Molly says. Molly (Lynne Moody) is a friend of Julie Sawyer (Kristy McNichol). Julie is a struggling Hollywood actress who nurses an injured German Shepherd back to health and eventually adopts it, only to realize that it is a "white dog" (literally and mentally).

The dog is trained to rabidly attack Black people. Being a dog lover that she is, Julie doesn't want the dog killed, despite the advice of her screenwriter boyfriend (Jameson Parker). Instead she goes to Mr. Carruthers (Burl Ives), a successful animal trainer who then refers her to Keys (a nice entrance by Paul Winfield), an African-American trainer who is determined to "un-teach" the brainwashed dog.

My 20 Fave Moments in "Tess"

(WARNING: Possible spoilers ahead.)

1. The sunrise at Stonehenge.

2. Tess and Angel (Nastassja Kinski and Peter Firth) arriving at the Stonehenge/Tess saying, "There are no stars tonight."

3. Tess' reaction after Alec (Leigh Lawson) refers to Angel as her "mule of a husband."

4. Tess' reunion with Marian (Carolyn Pickles).

Nastassja Kinski: Unforgettable (Forgotten) Actress

Nastassja. What a sexy and musical name. Kinski. Who could forget such a name? If you're a cinephile comme moi, that name is familiar. The name, Nastassja Kinski, is so unique to forget. Conversely, "Nastassja Kinski" is quite difficult to remember to pronounce, mainly because it's not an ordinary name. (I pronounce it as "nas-ta-sha.") Actually, it is pronounced as "nas-TAS-ya."

So, what comes to your mind whenever you hear the name, Nastassja Kinski? This?

Tess: A Picture of Lost Innocence and the Longing for It

There's a scene from Roman Polanski's Tess, a scene that would later be remade in subsequent screen adaptations of Thomas Hardy's novel; it is the one wherein Tess (Nastassja Kinski) is looking back as she walks away from the d'Urbervilles mansion.

Nastassja Kinski in the 1979's Tess

Polanski at His Most Romantic

TESS
Roman Polanski, 1979

Old is the tale of two well-off guys who fall for a destitute girl. So what makes Roman Polanski's Tess any different from the rest? Aside from the fact that it is Polanski's only romantic film (so far), the novel — Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d’Urbervilles — on which the film is based on is one of the first to tell the tale of two well-off guys who fall for a destitute girl. (I think it would be more appropriate to say: the tale of a destitute girl who is pursued by two well-off guys.)

The Beauty of a One-Way Mirror

EXOTICA
Atom Egoyan, 1994

I've always been a fan of surrealism — may it be paintings, poems, or films. There's just this enormous fascination with what's lurking in the great beyond. Predictability just doesn't sit well with me, just as tracing or merely copying a picture doesn't appeal to me as a drawing or a painting. Predictability is emptiness. Chaos is substance. You know what Banksy said, "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable."

Well, Atom Egoyan's Exotica sure disturbed me just as much as it comforted me. This somewhat Buñuelesque film is mostly set in the fictional Exotica, a Toronto strip club where various lives converge to make up a discombobulating tale of love, loss, and heartbreak.

My All-Time Favorite Female Performances

When I was younger, one of my wildest dreams is to become an actress. That's right. And that dream wouldn't be if there weren't no inspiration. Most of the performances that inspired me are by women; I think it's because I can connect more with women than with men. So here they are, the female performances that made me want to be on screen, inhabiting a character and reciting my lines.

Isabelle Huppert, LA PIANISTE

Quentin Tarantino: A Feminist?

L-R: Pam Grier as Jackie Brown. Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.

What comes to your mind whenever you hear the name "Quentin Tarantino?" Tongue-in-cheek violence? Badass men? A shot from a car's trunk? Or maybe John Travolta's revitalized acting career?

Sam Peckinpah: A Latent Misogynist?

Around '60-'70s, second-wave feminism was at its pinnacle. Forthright feminists like Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis, and Susan Sontag would become the voices of the silenced gender. 'Twas also a time when Marlena Shaw recorded Woman of the Ghetto. It was clearly a time when women just won't put up with men's bullsh*t anymore. (No, sir. They'll make you eat yo sh*t.)

It was also around that time when acclaimed filmmaker Sam Peckinpah would make three of his well-known films: The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, and The Getaway. Like Sergio Leone, Peckinpah was/is a hero to the testosterone audience, with men being the lead characters in most of his films.

In 1969, he made The Wild Bunch, which is a tribute to the then-fading Western genre. It starred William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, et al. as a group of aging cowboys/outlaws on to their one last hit — this would later become allegorical since The Wild Bunch is one of the last cowboy films who hit it big at the box office (along with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). During the film's sanguinary finale, there's a scene that seemed somewhat women-unfriendly: Pike Bishop (Holden) shoots back at a woman who shot him. He shouts, "Bitch!" as he fires a bullet at the woman. (Prior to this scene, Borgnine's character used a woman as his "shield" — she is eventually sprayed.)

Borgnine in The Wild Bunch