Frank Vila és un músic en evolució. Els seus orígens com a guitarra rocker a Rockson queden molt lluny. Els seus darrers cd's Lisboa (2004) i La Meitat essencial (2007) ens presenten un Frank Vila introspectiu i experimental, amb un so clar i minimalista que juga amb la buidor com a ambient de fons.

La Meitat essencial és un disc-misteri. L'autor ens dóna pistes de quina "meitat" ens presenta i ho fa en el llibret que acompanya l'enregistrament, ple de referències a Led Zeppelin o a David Bowie, entre d'altres.

Les cadències de "La volta fosca" recorden a l'Angelo Badalamenti quan treballava per David Lynch i l'inquietant portada també s'hi acosta.

Si vols escoltar aquest enregistrament el trobaràs a la Biblioteca de Figueres.

I'm wary of films about writers, so I should confess to going in with trepidation, but (a) it's the start of the Fest and there was nothing else on and (b) the sun was shining and I needed to gain the shade of an auditorium before my pale Scottish skin acquired the hue of scalded pork. The Cineworld nestles in the heart of Edinburgh's Fountainbridge area, once home to Sean Connery's milk round, but the milk float doesn't stop here anymore. If they'd screened the movie at the Dominion Cinema in Morningside I could have called this piece "Death shall have no Dominion," but reality is an imperfect form of poetry.

Why this phobia about writer-films? I *AM* a writer, for starters, and I can't think of anything less interesting to watch than me, sitting here, typing this and cooking spaghetti at the same time. Can you?

Writer-films tend to boil down into two categories: those that try to capture the white heat of the creative experience (and fail) and those that turn out to be only incidentally about writers. IRIS was a love story with Altzheimer's as antagonist. SYLVIA was a love story with depression as antagonist. TOM AND VIV (does anybody even remember that one?) was a love story with P.M.T. as antagonist. Really! I'm not joking.

The third category is occupied mainly by Paul Schrader's MISHIMA which boldly tries to recreate the writer's fictional worlds in cinematic form. This is risky, in that the filmed versions may not really give a true impression of what is important in a writer's work (the specific formal qualities of WRITING), but it is probably the only plausible approach that could make filming a writer's life worthwhile. Cronenberg's NAKED LUNCH and Soderbergh's KAFKA take a fourth route, injecting the author into his own fictional world (or a version of it), which seems like an interesting approach even if it fails.

A recent car advert -- wait -- yes, here we go: THIS recent car advert--

-- used Dylan Thomas' UNDER MILK WOOD, spoken by Richard Burton, as backdrop to some attractive images, attempting to sell you something. Maybury's film uses the poetry in exactly the same fashion, and what is being sold is a concept of British "heritage cinema", the kind of stuff The Film Council and BBC Films, in this case, like to make so they can feel culturally responsible. The movie is actually less successful than the car ad, since in the ad we can actually focus on what's being said. The Maybury drowns out the whispered verse with Angelo Badalamenti's typically lustrous score and with an overactive effects track.

Yeah, about that... There's an undeclared war between composers and foley artists which is highly detrimental to any poetic effect in cinema. What's the point in paying top dollar for Badalamenti's services if you're going to let some effects man with a sheet of sandpaper and some loose change widdle all over the soundtrack? Sound effects work can be a tremendous boon, anchoring picture to sound with deftly chosen, unobtrusive little connections, or it can be creative and miraculous in itself, as in the films of Jacques Tati. But there's a fashion for sticking an effect on EVERY TINY MOVEMENT, and it hacks me off. Sometimes the audio track should be simple.

The other aspect of film fashion that's tripping this film up is fast cutting. This movie isn't even a serious offender, but it's anxious to serve up a new image or angle every few seconds, no matter how sumptuous the current one is (the photography, by Jonathan Freeman, is always very attractive, although the constant smoky shafts of light feel more '80s than '40s). When Maybury produces one of his striking visual tropes, like an overhead view of Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley lying head to head on the floor, with Knightley appearing upside-down, which cuts to an inverted version of the same shot so that it's now Miller upside-down, the effect is diffused, rendered less consequential, by the gratuitous insertion of a side-on wide-shot, providing context, sure, but MEANINGLESS, UNNECESSARY context.

This anxiety about keeping our interest also perhaps explains the superimposed titles announcing that we are in the London underground during the blitz, or in Greece. Of course the first fact is utterly obvious to anybody with knowledge of British wartime history and the ability to see that the shot is of an underground station crowded with sheltering people in '40s dress, and the second fact doesn't particularly matter. But the Film Council really wants us to understand what the Film Council wants us to understand.

Maybury, whose experimental films win plaudits and whose LOVE IS THE DEVIL was an art film about an artist that genuinely did justice to the art and the person, while using cinematic language to capture the feeling of Francis Bacon from the inside, seems to be under the close supervision of the Style Police. The Heritage Cinema Goon Squad have their eye on him, and they whisper darkly that he may, of course, use stylised effects, odd angles and CG manipulations of the imagery, as long as --

1) He uses them VERY BRIEFLY.

2) He spreads them thin so that the overall surface of the film is totally conventional.

3) He uses them in a purely gestural way so that they DON'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE.

So much for style. The film-making is perfectly inoffensive and just interesting enough so that we know a director turned up each day.

The script takes the traditional approach to a writer's life, ignoring the work and concentrating on the important business of showing that artists are generally shits. One thing that stops this rather traditional approach from seeming immediately boring is a certain lack of focus in the writing -- there are four main characters, and absolutely no effort has been made to select from their various stories and relationships a central thread upon which to hang the film. The coda strongly suggests that this is that rarity, a love story between two heterosexual women -- but this won't do at all, since the climax doesn't actually offer an active role for one of them. But as I say, the confusion works in the film's favour to some extent, preventing it from becoming a banal piece of poet-bashing.

Dialogue is generally good, avoiding obvious period mannerisms but equally steering clear of anachronism. The film deserves credit for mapping a splendidly twisted set of emotional knots. None of it exercises any real pull on the emotions (I'm a sucker for WWII British stuff, a screen brimming with stiff upper lips will usually have me blubbering, but this movie is all about Celts emoting at each other, so there was no room for me to weep). Acting was first-rate though, and each of the thesps deserves special consideration.

Matthew Rhys, by rights the star, is credited fourth, presumably because he's less famous than the others. I bet Keira Knightley's agent bullies Matthew Rhys's agent, flicking his ears and pulling his tie tight. But this obscurity can't last, as he's endearing, gorgeous and interesting (can any other Brit prettyboy tick all those boxes?). His smile has the same repulsive allure as Richard Burton's, a comparison he'll probably be bludgeoned with until he takes to drink, but he's way cuter than Burton.

Sienna Miller, often dismissed in the past, is lusty and sympathetic here. (Odd, with the script being fairly brimming with passions consummated, that the film is so squeamish about the human body. A paroxysm of editing prevents us catching more than a glimpse of Miller climbing into a bath, lest we be turned to stone by presumably the Medusa-like gaze of her backside, and the men remain chastely covered at all times. A needle stitching a wound is the fleshiest image on display. Even the Thomas' baby son appears to be devoid of genitals.)

Cillian Murphy presents his usual smooth marble countenance and steely blue eyes, and rivets the attention, but his character's post-traumatic stress disorder is chucked in as an afterthought and never acquires the necessary dramatic force. What should have been a central plank of the drama is reduced to a couple of bits of "avant-garde" doodling from Maybury. You can't really bring this stuff alive without choosing a P.O.V. character and sticking with him (as in Henry Jaglom's disturbing TRACKS) or at least showing the disturbed behaviour develop over time, but the film is two-thirds over by the time the script gets around to Murphy's plight.

Keira Knightley. All too often something of a stick, that girl. A wooden stick. A wooden stick, exquisitely whittled into the shape of another, thinner wooden stick. Here and there have been signs of improvement, and now, like many dedicated pretty girls before her, she has evolved into a proper actress. The difficult Welsh accent (one false step and you're in Pakistan) is grasped firmly, but even more impressive are the Welsh facial expressions. I, like you, dear reader, was unaware such expressions existed, but they do, and K.K. has mastered all seven of them. For a moment it looks like at least three of them are going to be intensely annoying, but that soon passes as you get to know the character.

Two cameos deserve mention: Jenny Runacre is glimpsed as "Woman in Yellow Dress", the kind of walk-on that actually makes me slightly cross. Runacre was part of '70s Britain's greatest screen couple with Jon Finch in THE FINAL PROGRAMME, and she's the only woman to have won the Alternative Miss World Competition, an event generally favouring the drag queen. She deserves starring parts. I'm reminded of Kathleen Byron standing mutely in a graveyard in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Of course it's nice to see her again, but it's a terrible insult to use her as an extra. That's like hiring Maggie Smith to tend the honeywagon.

Secondly there's Suggs, in the important minor role of "Crooner", a slightly distracting presence for those of us who grew up with Madness on the radio, and one that immediately suggests a double-bill of this movie with THE TALL GUY. An air-raid! I immediately fear for Suggs' safety. A flurry of frantic frames, lit by flailing flashlights, finishes with a frightful fact -- Suggs is slain.

Suggs is slain.

Ένα νεαρό και σκανδαλιστικά όμορφο ζευγάρι άγγλων μπλέκεται στα δίχτυα ενός αλλόκοτου και εξαιρετικά γοητευτικού ζευγαριού που γνωρίζουν τυχαία στην Βενετία. Ο κλασικός μύθος της αθωότητας που πέφτει ανύποπτα στα δίχτυα του κακού εδώ εκμοντερνίζεται στο σενάριο του Harold Pinter που βασίζεται σε ένα από τα πρώτα βιβλία του Ian McEwan. Ηδονοβλεψία και σαδομαζοχισμός συναντούν την ευαισθησία και την αφρώδη αθωότητα. Το σκοτάδι βρίσκεται με το φως και ο θάνατος παραμονεύει ως μόνη διέξοδος.

Η εξαιρετικά απλή ιστορία και οι μόλις 4 ηθοποιοί της ταινίας έρχονται σε αντίθεση με την πολυτέλεια των ρούχων που σχεδίασε ο Giorgio Armani και τα παραμυθένια σκηνικά του Gianni Quaranta. Η Βενετία είναι φωτογραφημένη σαν κόσμημα από τον Dante Spinotti και ο Paul Schrader δημιουργεί μία από τις κορυφαίες ταινίες του, στιβαρή και σίγουρη αλλά ταυτόχρονα τολμηρή.

Δεν πρόκειται για εύκολη ταινία. Όμορφη την λες, πρωτότυπη και ενδιαφέρουσα επίσης, αλλά η θεατρικότητα της ιστορίας που κινείται αργά μέσα σε 2 δωμάτια με 4 ηθοποιούς κάνει την θέασή της απαιτητική. Οι διάλογοι είναι υπαινικτικοί και απαιτούν πολυεπίπεδη ανάγνωση, οι ευτυχισμένοι και αθώοι Natasha Richardson και Rupert Everett παίζουν υπνοβατώντας μέσα στην λαβυρινθώδη Βενετία, ενώ οι σκοτεινοί και κοσμοπολίτες Helen Mirren και Christopher Walken δίνουν μάθημα ερμηνείας "κακών". Η ταινία είναι ένα διαμάντι που μας περιμένει να το ανακαλύψουμε. Για εμένα αποτελεί παράδειγμα καλού κινηματογράφου. Ένα σκοτεινό αριστούργημα, απρόσιτο αλλά τόσο γοητευτικό.

This week the accomplished film-music composer Hans Zimmer spoke to one of my classes at UCLA, regaling us with stories of getting fired by Stanley Kubrick (on Full Metal Jacket), hired by Terrence Malick (who sought Zimmer out for The Thin Red Line because he loved the music in Disney’s The Lion King), and composing the “unprecedented” two-note Joker theme for the upcoming film, The Dark Knight.

Zimmer was quite interesting and gave me a new appreciation for the importance and artistry of film scoring. He also got me thinking about the films scores I have loved over the years—those that (in my opinion) elevated the films they accompanied to goosebump-inducing heights. The following is my list of my favorite ten movie scores of all time. What are your favorites?

10) Mulholland Drive – Angelo Badalamenti: Like in his other work for David Lynch, Badalamenti creates a score here that is thick and layered and mysterious. Just like the film.

9) 25th Hour – Terrence Blanchard: This brooding, daring, deeply emotional score provides a cathartic and memorable accompaniment to Spike Lee’s sadly overlooked post-9/11 elegy.

8) Pride & Prejudice – Dario Marianelli: Marianelli received a lot of attention for his Atonement score last year, but I think his best work so far has been the lush, piano-driven score for Joe Wright’s 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice. Who can forget the impressionistic effect of the minimalist music in the famous sunrise scene at the end?

7) Hoosiers – Jerry Goldsmith: Music is so important for rousing sports movies (see Chariots of Fire), and in my view Jerry Goldsmith sets the standard with his synthy work in Hoosiers. Totally 80s… but totally timeless. It almost always makes me want to stand up and cheer.

6) Dances With Wolves – John Barry: Say what you will about the movie itself, but the sweeping, romantic score by the legendary John Barry is absolutely unforgettable. Combined with the film’s gorgeous western landscape photography, this music really soars.

5) Lord of the Rings trilogy – Howard Shore: The music in LOTR is bombastic and ubiquitous… but in all the right ways. So many memorable themes and melodies and moments. The climactic moment in Return of the King when Sam picks up Frodo on Mt. Doom and the music swells to the theme… Oh, man, it gets me every time.

4) Days of Heaven – Ennio Morricone: It was either this or The Mission for the obligatory inclusion of an Ennio Morricone score. I’ll go with Days, because it’s one of my favorite movies of all time… and Morricone’s score is such a beautiful tragedy.

3) Star Wars (the entire series) – John Williams: What can I say? It’s iconic. The Imperial March, the Cantina theme, the stunning main titles, even the “Duel of the Fates”… I don’t know what Star Wars would be without its wonderful music.

2) Braveheart – James Horner: Okay, so it’s true: music has never been more shamelessly employed for a tear-jerker ending. But it’s an ending that—thanks in no small part to the music—provides one of cinema’s most emotionally cathartic moments. Add in some bagpipe and woodwind glory and this is one of the most satisfying film scores I’ve ever heard.

1) The Thin Red Line – Hans Zimmer: A lot of people will tell you that Gladiator is Zimmer’s best film score, but in my view it doesn’t hold a candle to his masterful soundtrack to Terrence Malick’s epic WWII film. Utilizing a cacophony of dreamy strings, exotic chants, riffs on folk hymns, and otherworldy melodies, Zimmer creates a soundscape of Germanic romanticism and Heideggerian phenomenology—so fitting for a Malick film.

Just missed the list: The Hours (Philip Glass), American Beauty (Thomas Newman), The Godfather (Nino Rota), E.T. (John Williams), Last of the Mohicans (Randy Edelman), The Fountain (Clint Mansell), Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood), The Mission (Ennio Morricone), There Will Be Blood (Johnny Greenwood), Out of Africa (John Barry), Letters from Iwo Jima (Kyle Eastwood), The Cider House Rules (Rachel Portman).

Hemingway escribió (Death in the afternoon) que para él era moral todo lo que hacía que se sintiese bien e inmoral todo lo que hacía que se sintiese mal; advierto, entonces, que adapté este criterio a la estética y toda expresión cinematográfica que me guste es buen ejemplo de este arte y no así la que no cumpla con este requisito. Baudrillard (en Ilusión y desilusión estética) critica a los Coen alegando que el estilo recargado de éstos impide ilusionarnos; yo creo que es así en muchos casos[i] (déjenme aclarar un ejemplo de una película que nada tiene que ver con los Coen; en The Beach —Danny Boyle—, Leonardo Di Caprio se tira al suelo, escondiéndose tras unos pastizales, ante el peligro de hombres armados; la cámara avanza en un travelling hasta los ojos desesperados del actor; Baudrillard tiene razón en que es innecesaria esta técnica ya que en cierta forma desprecia la imaginación del espectador; debe haber infinitos ejemplos como este en el cine de género mundial actual) Sin embargo, algunas películas de los Coen (con exageraciones como la del personaje de John Torturro jugando al bowling en The Big Lewoski) no dejan de gustarme.

Lo mismo con los autores musicales que nombraré a continuación. Algunos remarcan las escenas con una orquestación furiosa, otros sutilmente nos entornan la puerta “para dejarnos ver el prado donde relincha el unicornio” (Cortázar) y esa visión, sabemos, nos dejará satisfecho por un tiempo.

En primer lugar, no podemos dejar de nombrar a Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) como precursor de todos los demás. Herrmann musicalizaba los radioteatros de Orson Welles; así es como más tarde hace la música de “El Ciudadano”. El arreglo de violines de la famosa escena de Psicosis es de Herrmann; con Hitchcock también hizo el score de Vértigo, entre otros. Luego trabajaría con Truffaut (La Mariee Etait En Noir), De Palma (Hermanas, Obsesión) y Scorsese (Taxi Driver; Cabo de miedo—en esta remake la música de Herrmann está reorquestalizada por Elmer Bernstein). Herrmann es simple y efectivo, usa melodías fácilmente reconocibles, secas, que estallan en fragmentos repetidos con regularidad; no nos aturde románticamente con frases que confunden.

Angelo Badalamenti transita esa senda, sus melodías son sospechosas, incongruentes, deliberadamente extrañadas; nacen muertas o no terminan de nacer. Por algo es el compositor preferido de David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway). Colaboró con Norman Mailer (el escritor dirigió la adaptación homónima de su libro Though Guys Don’t Dance) y Jean Pierre Jeunet (La ciudad de los niños perdidos) entre otros.

Carter Burwell es el compositor de los films de los hermanos Coen. En Barton Fink el score se confunde y se arma con los efectos sonoros; lo que se escucha es poco; hay insinuación, hay ilusión. Menos minimalista pero igual de emocionante es el score de Miller’s Crossing (Un paseo con la muerte). Uno de sus trabajos sin los Coen es el debut cinematográfico del videasta Spike Jonze, Being John Malkovich (¿Quieres ser John Malkovich?) De los que todavía transitan este mundo, Burwell es el más cautivante.

Hay uno que no necesita tanta presentación; es una caja de música maravillosa, alocada, que toca canciones a la vez dulces y terribles, tan alegres como tristonas, tan misteriosas como cínicas. Tim Burton debe estar muy agradecido a Danny Elfman. Sus melodías acompañan al pálido joven con las manos atrofiadas y al esqueleto que intenta ser Papá Noel. Ya que estamos con Burton, digamos que Howard Shore hizo el hermoso score de Ed Wood. Sumado al metálico y frío que compuso para Cronenberg (Crash) nos deja una certeza: talento.

Hans Zimmer es más estridente; trabajó en El Rey León, entre otras. En True Romance (Escape Salvaje) compuso un score inocente que contrasta con la violencia del film; una de las melodías es una canción de navidad, con reminiscencias de Bach (el Jesu, joy of man’s desiring). Hace unos años la composición de Zimmer sonaba, apenas modificada, en un comercial. Alguna vez hablamos de Mike Figgis; como compositor y supervisor musical hace un trabajo excelente en Leaving Las Vegas (Adiós a Las Vegas) y en One Nigth Stand (Pasión De Una Noche).

Tengan en cuenta a Cliff Martinez; compone para el prolífico Steven Soderbergh. Sobrio trabajo en Kafka y música crepuscular en The Limey (Vengar la Sangre).

También sería conveniente que sumemos al reconocido John Williams (en especial, el score de Atrápame si puedes).

Como musicalizadores, especies de disc-jockeys de sus films, no olvidaremos a Woody Allen ni a Tarantino[ii]. Y como rareza nombramos a Dario Argento componiendo la música de la secuela de La Noche de los Muertos Vivos, Dawn Of The Dead.

Adrián Fares

It’s been years since I last watched the series, and coming back to it now is weird. I watched the pilot yesterday, and my emotions were intertwined so strongly with nostalgia from the first note of the title tune and the first shots of the sawmill that I found it difficult to step back and look at it somewhat more objectively. I didn’t want all my feelings towards the series to be copies of my earlier feelings, reheated moods from the early ‘90s. Especially since television has come a long way since then: back when it first came out, Twin Peaks was clearly revolutionary, but nowadays, there is more varied, more unconvential television. (HBO, I’m looking at you! Don’t screw it up!)

The series still looks surprisingly good for television. Even at 4:3 format, it’s clear in the pilot that Lynch put a lot of effort into framing his visuals. There’s none of the stagey flatness of much of ‘80s television (American television, that is – there are some real gems of English miniseries at the time). In short, Twin Peaks still looks good.

What looks less good from a distance of 15+ years is some of the acting. I never watched the series for its acting, but I don’t think I was quite that aware of how badly acted Bobby Briggs was, for instance, or Shelly and Leo Johnson, or James “Nomen est omen” Hurley. Obviously, Twin Peaks is the wrong place to look for naturalistic acting – but there’s a difference between stylised acting that works (say Kyle Maclachlan’s Dale Cooper or Russ Tamblyn’s Doc Jacoby) and the thespian crime you get from Eric Da Re, for instance.

Nevertheless, the series still holds up pretty well, and that’s mainly thanks to the strong undercurrent of, well, Lynch. There’s a dreamlike intensity even to the first episode which is rather short on the director’s trademark weirdness. It’s not as strong as in his most cinematic work – Twin Peaks does feel like Lynch Light – but it’s there nevertheless. It’s there in the shots of douglas firs swaying in the wind or of lone traffic lights at night. It’s there in the train waggon where Laura died. It’s there in battered, bloodied Ronette Pulaski stumbling across the railway bridge in her torn chemise. And it’s there in the synthetic sounds of Angelo Badalamenti’s unforgettable soundtrack.

A mais-que-contemporânea Dora Longo Bahia lança seu mais novo trabalho pelo Youtube. Já publiquei um texto que fiz para exposição da artista no CCBB do Rio, no qual comento a capacidade dela misturar as linguagens, identidades, numa trajetória única na arte brasileira.

Agora, Dora usa música do Angelo Badalamenti, com letra do David Lynch e voz de Julee Cruise, com distorção da própria artista, para Desterro, que claro tem muito de vídeoclip. Mas ao contrário da linguagem frenética, a imagem é só passagem:

Para quem quiser ver mais vídeos da artista, com direito a link ao maravilhoso Selma&Denise, vai lá!

We are gathering together all the little moments of cinema that make you full of happiness the way John Travolta is full of puddings.

Writer, filmmaker and ghost tour guide Kristin Loeer sallies forth with this distinctive take on the subject. As we enter the low 40s, the Euphoria starts to darken, you see. This is noirphoria... 

"I realised that it’s hardly ever happy moments that seem to stick with me. It seems that the scenes that mean the most to me are those that make me recognise something about myself.

"Watching Twin Peaks Fire: Walk with Me was a great experience. The entire film sort of takes me back to my teens and growing up in a small town and facing so many new and scary things, suddenly growing up: sexuality, depression, dreams and fears.

"There are two particular scenes which remind me exactly of the feeling of being between the ages of 13 and 16 again. One is the nightclub scene. I am not saying that is what happened when I went out being about 14, but the general feeling of this scene is exactly the feeling I remember from that time. The raw sexuality, the characters and how they talk and seem to deeply understand each other when it is not making much sense. It is comforting somehow to recognise so much later that the first nights out are not necessarily experienced like the prom in Pretty in Pink, but more like this scene from Fire Walk with Me. It is not exactly a happy realisation or memory but makes you think that some people out there experienced it the same way you did. Which makes me feel better... even though I propably shouldn't.

"The other is the one in which Laura is in bed at night and Bob comes through the window and crawls onto her bed and they make love and she realises it’s her father. I did not find the scene that disturbing compared to others. It just felt like that is just exactly what sexuality feels like to young girls between 13 and 16. –or is that just me?

"-- well, even if it is just me, this scene makes me happy because it is not just me, Laura felt like that too -- and no, you don’t have to be abused by your father for it!

"And then of course I remember that significant moment when I zapped through TV many years ago and suddenly saw that moment from Blue Velvet where Isabella Rossellini asks Kyle McLachlan to hit her. It was part of a very short trailer for the film which was going to be on that night. It made me feel very strange and I knew I had to watch this, what ever it was.

"It was one of those first moments I remember where I really thought to myself "Ohh, something is VERY WRONG with you."

"But that’s all a bit… well, dodgy?" 

We don't judge, here at Cinema Euphoria. 

(I repeat: Kris is a ghost tour guide. She leads people into Edinburgh's most haunted catacombs and tells them stories. Come to Edinburgh and she'll scare the crap out of you for money.)

Interestingly enough, the extract already on Youtube comes as part of a series of "Worst Movie Scenes," which shows once again that it takes diff'rent stroke / all kinds, etc. But the reasoning behind the scene's classification as a "worst" seems highly dubious to me, suggesting that maybe it DOESN'T take all kinds, just a magical combination of weirdballs and dumb-asses.

Even interestinger, the very reasons given by the YouTube people for worst-tagging this scene are part of the reason Kris likes it: the baffling dialogue. It's not that it makes sense to her as such, but it makes sense for the dialogue to BE baffling.

As a sign of how under-regarded this movie was when it came out, the British distributor accidentally released a version without any subtitles for the roadhouse scene,  so this scene was even more puzzling than Lynch intended, since it's very carefully mixed so you can't hear quite what anybody is saying (which, as Kris observes, makes it the perfect evocation of the clubbing experience).

The little guy who talks backwards was unsubtitled too, which made things pretty tough.

Of all the stuff you guys have chosen for Euphoria, this clip maybe loses most, firstly because it's too short, so you don't get the full oppressive effect of Angelo Badalamenti's music (which eventually fades out with the longest decay EVER) and secondly because there's no way it's going to sound like it should sound in a cinema. I mean, I know our little boxes here are far from adequate at the best of time, I just think this time the shortfall is more than usually destructive.

(Incidentally, Badalamenti came to the Edinburgh Film Festival a few years back and turned out to be THE FUNNIEST MAN ALIVE.)

I think this is a fine example of Cinema Euphoria, even if a lot of people might find it strange. Film is a mental connector, a bridge between minds, and sometimes that projector beam shines out just to find a single person, somewhere in the darkness, and make them glow.

Слова Оскара Уайльда "правда редко бывает чистой и никогда не бывает простой" как нельзя лучше характеризуют все происходящее в мистическом сериале о жизни в тихом городке.

Лытдыбр

• 10:30 Бортовой журнал. Звездная дата 8777.0. Начало дня со свежевыжатого морковного, свекольного и яблочного сока. Или это уже коктейль? #
• 10:34 Чрезмерная пропорция свеклы превратила микс в едкую свекольную гадость. Добавим еще яблочек. #
• 12:56 Настроение абсолютно нерабочее. Не знаю, как себя сдвинуть и заставить работать. Не знаю, спасет ли обычное ожидание вдохновения? #
• 12:57 Решил больше не читать множество RSS лент, а переключиться на что-то одно. Сейчас это будет недавно заполученный (спасибо kastil) I-ый сезон Twin Peaks. #

Twin Peaks

• 13:21 Смотрю первый эпизод TP. Раньше я смотрел сериал TP, но не с начала. Я знаю, что произойдет, но все же до дрожи чувствуется напряженность. #
• 13:28 Какие же красавицы Норма и Шэрил. А какие странные школьники в Твин Пиксовской школе. Все странное. И красивое или отвратительное. #
• 13:37 Бляха-муха, все плачут. Лору убили. Сейчас тоже начну плакать. Блин... #
• 13:55 Специальный агент ФБР Купер так прожужжал уши своим пирогом с вищней, что аж есть захотелось. А у меня только борщ на обед. Пойду греть. #
• 14:49 " - Что это за дама с поленом? - Мы её так и называем - леди с поленом". #
• 15:01 Не перестаю восхищаться музыкой в Твин Пиксе. Это неповторимое, восхитительное и неотъемлимое дополнение к волшебной атмосфере. #
• 15:14 Сорок четыре пончика трех видов + кофе + кофе без кофеина! Секретарша Люси творит чудеса. Несомненно Гомеру бы это тоже понравилось. #
• 15:19 В Твин Пиксе у каждого есть своя тайна, а все тайны вместе с музыкой Анджело Бадаламенти и елями Дугласа - это и есть Твин Пикс. Какое захатывающее начало... #

Express-заметки - срочные краткие заметки (часто на две-три темы по несколько строк), собранные из Twitter (с помощью http://www.loudtwitter.com/) или Jaiku за определенный промежуток времени. Здесь может быть все, что угодно - следите тэгами (в правой части экрана есть облачко)

Ссылки по теме:

• Смотря Twin Peaks: Fire walk with me « Imprints of life
• GPRS анлим от Мегафона и новая музыка « Imprints of life
• Обо всем понемногу. Истинный express-note « Imprints of life
  Одна из тех заметок Express-рубрики, где говорится о многом вкратце.

I had seen her perform that song in the Warsaw Bar, in NYC, with my rock buddy Carmen. There we were, rocking in Brooklyn, NY, with the beats of a Canadian band. So what? Sue me for being a rock girl, we said, and smiled endlessly.

Neko Case goes to the dark side, though, and that's the reason I love her. While she makes my day with her New Pornographers songs, when she goes to the country roots and adds the black ingredient, and quotes Angelo Badalamenti as one of her influences. And in the same way that I needed to listen her Mass Romantic album every morning, I need her "Look for me (I'll be around)" at night. Before I go to sleep, I want to know that even when it may not seem exciting the way those others do, I'm emotion, my devotion, and that you will need some day as I need you...

Will she be around too? She has been everywhere. Born in the state for lovers, raised in Tacoma, Washington, studied in Canada and moved to Seattle only to find out that the grunge capital wasn't being nice to the local musicians, she moved then to Chicago and after that she has been touring with different musicians, like The New Pornographers.

I go to the dark side too. We all do. And if we don't go on tour, we travel. And if we don't travel, we build shelves around us that are so closed we can't even hear the waves of our enviroment. And that's why I like Neko Case. Because she can promise to be around, and then leave. She can believe or not in forever, and still smile on stage. I smile on stage everyday, I make jokes to my audience too. Because in life, we are all artist on tour, showing what we've done and not who we are, hoping to find the connection that we need, to feed ourselves with the others, to make a song that we will want to share with everyone. And we hold out for that teenage feeling.

1. Générique
2. L'anniversaire d'Irwin
3. Les Enfants sauvent One
4. Mort de la pieuvre
5. Opium Prince
6. Le ra...radicateur
7. La clé de la victoire
8. Le voyage du rêve
9. Miette
10. L'exécution
11. Les puces
12. La foire
13. Cerises pour un dîner à deux
14. Krank...
15. Final
16. Thème - La Cité des Enfants Perdus

Please support the artist: Buy or Download

1. Laurens, Iowa
2. Rose's Theme
3. Laurens Walking
4. Sprinkler
5. Alvin's Theme
6. Final Miles
7. Country Waltz
8. Rose's Theme (Variation)
9. Country Theme
10. Crystal
11. Nostalgia
12. Farmland Tour
13. Montage

Please support the artist: Buy or Download

1. Main Title
2. Night Streets / Sandy and Jeffrey
3. Frank
4. Jeffrey's Dark Side
5. Mysteries of Love (French Horn Solo)
6. Frank Returns
7. Mysteries Of Love (Instrumental)
8. Blue Velvet / Blue Star (Montage)
9. Lumberton U.S.A. / Going Down To Lincoln (sound effects suite)
10. Akron Meets The Blues
11. Honky Tonk (part I) (performed by Bill Doggett)
12. In Dreams (performed by Roy Orbison)
13. Love Letters (performed by Ketty Lester)
14. Mysteries of Love (performed by Julee Cruise)

Please support the artist: Buy or Download

1. Theme For Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me
2. The Pine Float
3. Sycamore Trees
4. Don't Do Anything (I Wouldn't Do)
5. A Real Indication
6. Questions In A World Of Blue
7. The Pink Room
8. The Black Dog Runs At Night
9. Best Friends
10. Moving Through Time
11. Montage From Twin Peaks (Girl Talk/Birds In Hell/Laura Palmer's Theme/Falling)
12. The Voice Of Love

Please support the artist: Buy or Download

1. Twin Peaks Theme
2. Laura Palmer's Theme
3. Audrey's Dance
4. The Nightingale
5. Freshly Squeezed
6. The Bookhouse Boys
7. Into The Night
8. Night Life In Twin Peaks
9. Dance Of The Dream Man
10. Love Theme From Twin Peaks
11. Falling

Please support the artist: Buy or Download

This could be the soundtrack to a David Lynch film, dark, psychedelic, bitter-sweet and claustrophobic. Enter an old US-cabriolet, let the dry bass come out of the speaker like magma and start your drive from the cemetary to the desert, crossing a city by night, flickering lights, people standing at street corners hiding in the shadows of abandoned buildings with destroyed windows. You have to stop at an old industrial area, Nick Cave, Calexico and Angelo Badalamenti wait for you, they argue who will sit on the front seat. But the music lets you relax and think about Elvis, a melancholic and ironically smile is the last thing the three guys see, when you aim at them with your gun. The windshield wiper washs the blood away, you pull up the volume on your highway to hell, va a ser un nuevo dia!

David Keith Lynch nació en Montana, Estados Unidos el 20 de enero de 1946.Sus 2 hermanos pequeños eran la única compañía infantil que el joven David frecuentaba.

Las continuas mudanzas eran una rutina en la vida de Lynch. Su padre Donald, era un científico que trabajaba para el Ministerio de Agricultura, y su madre Sunny daba clases particulares de lengua.

A los 15 años trabajó como acomodador en la toma de posesión del presidente Kennedy.

Mientras terminaba sus estudios secundarios, asistía a una escuela de arte en Washington D.C. Mas tarde, al finalizarlos, acudió durante un año al School of the Museum of Fine Arts de Boston.

Se embarcó rumbo a Europa junto a su amigo Jack Fisk, con el fin de estudiar con el pintor Oskar Kokoschka durante tres años, aunque regresó a las 2 semanas.“Tenía la intención de quedarme tres años. En cambio, ¡me quedé 15 días! Me acuerdo de estar acostado en un sótano en Atenas con lagartos que trepaban a las paredes, y pensaba en que estaba a 7.000 millas de McDonalds!"

Durante 1966 vive en Philadelphia, donde asiste al Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, y dirige su primer corto, Six men getting sick, descrito por el propio director como 57 segundos de desarrollo y pasión y tres segundos de vomito. Consiguió el primer premio del certamen anual de la academia, que le permitió seguir dirigiendo. "Las escuelas tienen olas, y sucedió que yo le pegué a una ola creciente y gigante. Había tanta gente buena en la escuela. Y ese fue el comienzo de todo. Se me aclararon las cosas en términos de pintura, y mi estilo encontró su camino.

Hasta el momento en el que se habían mudado jamás habían experimentado el miedo. "Vivíamos barato, pero la ciudad estaba llena de miedo. Un niño fue disparado en nuestra calle y las marcas de tiza que rodeaban el lugar en el que había yacido quedaron en la vereda durante cinco días. Nos robaron dos veces, nos dispararon a las ventanas y nos robaron el coche."

En 1971 se mudó a Los Angeles para asistir al American Film Institute Conservatory, donde comenzó a dirigir su primer largometraje, Cabeza borradora, pero el insuficiente presupuesto no le permitió finalizar el film hasta 1977. Dinero conseguido de préstamos de familiares y amigos, además de dedicarse durante un tiempo a vender periódicos. Lynch se refiere a esta película como su historia de Philadelphia, apuntando a muchas de las experiencias que experimentó durante el tiempo que pasó allí.El director Stanley Kubrick afirmó ser una de sus películas favoritas de todos los tiempos.Tal fue así la repercusión que el productor Mel Brooks contrató a David para dirigir El hombre elefante, la historia de un hombre con una malformación que hace que esté encerrado en su propio mundo, ya que la gente o le tiene miedo, o directamente se burla de su aspecto. Fue nominada a los Oscars con 8 candidaturas.

En 1986 se embarcó en un nuevo proyecto, Terciopelo azul, donde un universitario (Kyle MacLachlan) descubre dando un inocente paseo, una oreja humana cortada. Ese descubrimiento le hará verse envuelto en un mundo totalmente desconocido y oscuro mundo. Está sería la primera, de continuas colaboraciones con el compositor Angelo Badalamenti.

A finales de los 80, el productor Mark Frost, le ofreció dirigir la serie Twin Peaks, ambientada en una pequeña localidad de Washington donde la joven estudiante, Laura Palmer, es descubierta muerta flotando en el río. El agente especial del FBI, Dale Cooper es el encargado de llevar a cabo la investigación del asesinato, donde las pistas le irán rebelando las escabrosas vidas de sus aparentemente apacibles habitantes.

A está le siguió, la road-movie, Corazón salvaje, adaptación de la novela de Barry Gifford, que lleva el mismo nombre. Protagonizada por Nicolas Cage y Laura Dern. No obtuvo muy buena crítica, y se rumorea que durante la proyección del film en el Festival de Cannes de 1990, algunos espectadores salieron en mitad de la película.

Tras este golpe, en 1991, la serie Twin Peaks deja de ser emitida por el bajo nivel de audiencia, con lo que Lynch escribe un guión contando los días previos a la muerte de Laura Palmer. El film seria bautizado como Twin Peaks, Fuego camina conmigo. Actualmente, podemos disfrutar de Lynch tanto en la música, como en la pintura, la fotografía e incluso, el diseño de mobiliario.

Sinopsis:

El agente Desmond (Chris Isaak), es el encargado de investigar la muerte de la camarera Teresa Banks, durante la búsqueda, el agente desaparece en extrañas circunstancias. La investigación pasa a manos del agente Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), que se ve envuelto por todo el misterio de Twin Peaks.

Días previos a la muerte de Laura Palmer, su pureza se ve eclipsada por el lado más oscuro de la noche (las drogas y la prostitución) y todo revela que finalmente su destino le hará seguir los pasos de Teresa Banks. Cuando su mejor amiga Donna parece ir por el mismo camino, Laura lo evita por todos los medios ya que para ella aun no es demasiado tarde.

CURIOSIDADES:

El propio Lynch hace un cameo en la película como Gordon Cole, el sordo jefe del agente Cooper.

La actriz que interpretaba a Donna, Lara Flynn Boyl (la mejor amiga de Laura), en la serie, fue sustituida en el film por Moira Kelly.

Podemos disfrutar del genial David Bowie interpretando a un agente desaparecido.

FICHA TÉCNICA:

Dirección: David Lynch

Guión: David Lynch, Robert Engels

Fotografía: Ronald Victor García

Música: Angelo Badalamenti

Intérpretes: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Moira Kelly, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Phoebe Augustine, David Bowie, Eric Dare, Miguel Ferrer, Pamela Gidley, Heather Graham, Chris Isaak, Peggy Lipton, David Lynch, James Marshall, Jürgen Prochnow, Harry Dean Stanton,Kifer Sutherland 

 FILMOGRAFIA DEL DIRECTOR:

Cabeza borradora (1976)

El hombre elefante (1980)

Dune (1984)

Terciopelo azul (1986)

Corazon salvaje (1990)

Twin Peaks: Fuego camina conmigo (1992)

Carretera perdida (1996)

Una historia verdadera (1999)

Mulholland drive (2001)

Indland Empire (2006)

¿Quieres que hablemos de tus películas, o series preferidas? Mándanos un mail a andrea.mentes.inquietas@gmail.com

::Andrea Cabrero:: 

::MENTES-INQUIETAS::

It also makes me think of the Tour de France. The leader of the 3 week event wears the yellow rider's jersey. My yellow shirt has less significance but I'd like it back all the same.

As my head is less clouded I'm hoping I can write a better music trail today. I'm going to start on OoooohGabrielle's page again. She's the one who turned me on to Patrick Watson and Old Man River. Gotta love this Aussie girl.

Artist #1 - The Cinematic Orchestra

(To Build A Home) is the song on Gabi's page. I love this tune. From the opening piano chords to the all-too-soon finish it's beautiful. The slow start and rising action draw me in as they're intended. The high voice of the male singer sounds almost falsetto. It also sounds like Patrick Watson. I bet it is. Probably his "other band". You know how artists do that. They play one style with one band and another style with their "other band". Think of The White Stripes vs. The Roccanteurs.

[Editor's Note: I checked and it is Patrick Watson singing on the track. I so fuckin' rule!]

(Colours) is the second song from The Cinematic Orchestra that I get to enjoy. It's an instrumental piece so far. I think it'll keep on keepin' on. A little piano. A little picked acoustic guitar. Some other instruments I can't or don't care to indentify. {Maybe I don't rule.} This piece is good but doesn't strike me like (To Build A Home). Well worth a listen though. Different style is all.

(Breathe) is the third track. It's a soulful mellow piece so far. Let's see where they take it. The vocals sound a little like a Moby song. The one from the Green Mile soundtrack if I remember correctly. This song is nothing like a Moby song though. It's almost chilling. Great track if you're in the mood. Last week I think I would have cried. Hahaha... thank goodness for the fuckit quotient.

{Editor's Note: The fuckit quotient is something the editor refers to when you've reached a point where you've done all you can or care to do. At that point you most frequently say "Fuck it" with a casual disregard for what happens next.}

The last song available right now is (Child Song). It has the least plays on their page. I wonder why. Maybe people are expecting more after hearing (To Build A Home). I admit the other songs are in a different category but they're all good. Maybe mySpace only counts a listen if you listen to the whole track. (Child Song) doesn't have a whole lot going for it in terms of flavor. A good chunk of the first part of the song is OK but not great. Then it drifts into jazz piano and a snare drum. Decent sure. Exceptional, mind blowing, engrossing? Well not so much.

If you're interested you can check them out at Bimbo's 365 club in San Francisco in September. Various vocalists will be performing with them throughout their tour. Cross your fingers for Patrick Watson but check his page first. I think he's touring Europe at that time. Fat chance he'll be in this town of ours.

From The Cinematic Orchestra's top friends I'll pick no one. I was scrolling through the comments and found someone I wanted to click on. So by random chance Gus Gus makes it into my mySpace music trail.

Drat!

Gus Gus has (Breathe) by The Cinematic Orchestra on his page. It sounds so good though, especially as I wasn't expecting to hear it. It's such a fresh track.

OK. Let's try this again. From Gus Gus' top friends I'll pick Pensieri Dolci.

Drat again! She's set to private. Probably has to do that to keep stalkers away. What? Who? Me? : )

Round three. I should have done the right thing and stuck to the trail. But nooooo. I had to go where the moment took me.

I've picked Ryson from Gus Gus' top friends. He's got music playing. Yes! The song has style. Ryson's photo makes it look like he has style. Things are looking good so far.

Artist #2 - Angelo Badalamenti

(Go Get Some) is the track. It's sort of a haunting instrumental piece. Like scratching violin mixed over loops of beats and a guitar. It's working for me as background music. Play it while you read or study or you're working in your garage, if you have one.

So this is a little awkward. Ryson has a jukebox on his page so I can't go directly to the artist page. Let me see if they have one. If they do then I'll listen to more of their music.

And they do. Or he do. Or he does. It turns out he's a composer. Looks to be famous too.

(Half Heart) is the first track that comes up on his mySpace page. It's a classical, ambient piece, completely different from (Go Get Some). I have to admit it makes me feel like I'm in an old folk's home. The song isn't doing it for me. Sure, it's well produced but there's something lousy about it. I can't wait for the next track.

The next track is (The Butterfly). This song is much better than (Half Heart). The vocalist is good. The action within the orchestration ebbs and flows enough to keep my interest. Good tune.

(Shelly Quits) is the next track. It opens with a bass line and ambience of a song in an 80's or 90's movie. Whoa. The song is rather short. I'm guessing it was a piece used in a movie. You don't need to have 3 1/2 minutes for non-radio work.

(Holocaust of the Ch...) is the last track. I wonder what Ch... stands for. Thanks mySpace for giving so much space for such an essential element. This instrumental piece sounds like something from maybe The Twilight Zone. It's really from Evil Enko though. I wonder what that movie is about.

Angelo Badalamenti is known most for his compositions for Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, and Mulholland Drive. I guess he's the shit. Out of context and just listening on mySpace it doesn't move me quite so much. Although I can see how it would all fit in a movie.

I want to find one more artist to review. From Angelo Badalamenti's top friends I'll choose Rebecca.

YES! She's got Blonde Redhead. First off I can totally relate with my own head of strawberry blonde hair. Secondly I've been wanting to hear them.

Artist #3 - Blonde Redhead

(Spring And By Summer) is the track on Rebecca's page. Someone has posted a comment on her profile that reads "you have great taste in music." Well Blackheart Society is right. This song is an upbeat gem. Finally something upbeat today. I couldn't tell you what any of the lyrics are but it doesn't matter in the least. The song moves quickly and it's easy on the ears. Don't get me wrong it's not a fluff piece. It rocks out in an easy on the ears kind of way.

(23) is the next track. The female singer has a high voice that works well with the sound. I tend to find "alternative" bands a little bland these days. (23) is solid and frothy though. It foams with goodness. Check it out. You'll see.

(Silently) is the third and final song available on Blonde Redhead's page. I'm diggin' it. There are multiple changes within the song. Beats and textures blend in and out of the vocalists melodic delivery. I feel a little emotion while listening to it. That connection right there is priceless for a band.

I think that's enough for today. I need to prepare for an interview. I may have to start working again.

In today's mySpace music trail I started out with OohGabrielle's page. She has great taste in music and had The Cinematic Orchestra on her page. I had to steal her song again and put in on my profile. That's like three times now.

From Cinematic Orchestra's comments section I found Gus Gus. After failing to find new music on his and on one of his top friend's pages I eventually ended up on Ryson's page.

Ryson had Angelo Badalamenti playing in his jukebox. Turns out he's a famous composer. New to me though.

From Angelo Badalamenti's top friends I ended up listening to Blonde Redhead via Rebecca's page. Blonde Redhead were the upbeat band of the day. Finally something to rock out too! I missed them at Coachella this year. Doh.

Until next time,
Walter