HORROR/DRAMA SALO (18) 1 12min
Pier Paolo Pasolini's loose 1975 adaptation of the Maeruis De Sade‘s The 120 Days of
(BFI ovo retail) eeeee
Sodom gets an excellent two disc DVD (and Blu-ray) makeover with a ton of fantastic extras. Pasolini transposed De Sade's tale of decadence and debauchery from 18th Century France to the last days of Mussolini’s regime in the republic of Salt). It's a gut-turning chamber piece that visualises scenes of emotional and sexual abuse in the name of denouncing the Fascist indulgence and mass corruption. Salo is not an easy film to watch but it is an important
and unforgettable one and this set attempts to rid the film of the tabloid horror associations that have dogged it since its cinema release.
The second disc of extras really make this a very attractive proposition. It includes Robert Purvis' new documentary Walking with Paso/ini which explores the meaning and impact of Salo, with contributions from Neil Bartlett. David Forgacs, Noam Chomsky and Craig Lapper (Chief Examiner. BBFC). Also Dutch documentarian
PLAYLIST
Not enjoying the films you're watching? Why not just re-cut them to reflect your own sick tastes? Reworking or ‘mashing-up' classic films is a popular internet sport. Millions have already seen how much cuter The Shlnlng's father-son dynamic would look if Cameron Crowe gave it the Jerry Magulre touch (tinyurl.com/2wd95k). It’s a test of an editor's ingenuity to use the same material to alter a film's genre. Check out how by putting the romance between Robert De Niro and Cybil Shepherd at the centre of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, (tinyurl.com/673yqb) a romcom is born. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. A good re-cut can help us find a different meaning in the original film. Nannies are pretty creepy, so why not add a horror slant to re-imagine Julie Andrews as Scary Poppins (tinyurl.com/6397ch)? Robin Williams' latex mask in Mrs Doubtflre is just as disturbing (tinyurl.com/5w27wo). And the same fear of home invasion turns Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Sleepless In Seattle into something rather
darker (tiny.cc/NmHWY).
Got the idea? Then see how the sexual machismo of the language in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross works well as serious drama. but also lends itself surprisingly smoothly to a low-brow comedy about four aging gigolos (tiny.cc/dHMdY). And equally, when the homoerotic subtext of Top Gun becomes central, Tony Scott's film works much better (tiny.chw3jz).
Trailer re-cuts are a modern phenomenon that could be dismissed as a few film fans with too much time on their hands. But it also suggests that new technologies allow us to mould and adapt classic texts — how long will it be before a feature is remade in a different genre? Or to put it another way, how long will it be before someone actually makes a full-length entertainment from a popular mash-up like Brokeback to the Future (tinyurl.com/6397ch)?
(Eddie Harrison)
60 THE LIST 18 Sop—2 Oct 2008
Philo Bregstein's Whoever Says The Truth Shall Die the classic 1981 documentary on the life and death of Pasolini. Also Fade to Black. a documentary from 2001 discussing the relevance of Salo. Plus Ostia, a short about Pasolini's last days starring Derek Jarman. This is a vital purchase for anyone interested in the work of this great Italian filmmaker. (Paul Dale)
HORROR THE SICK HOUSE (18) 104min
(Showbox DVD retail) .0
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Young archaeologist (Gina Philips) finds her research into London’s great plague of 1665 barred when public health officials reveal that the former orphanage she is excavating still contains plague. Undeterred. she makes a midnight visit to the site before its destruction, where she's joined by a group of young tearaways escaping responsibility for the stolen car they've crashed. lnevitably, the spirit of an evil priest is conjured. and gets up to all manner of nastiness. Curtis Radclyffe's film promises tension but opportunities for real scares are dissipated by the repetitiveness of the visuals — all darkened halls, rats and shadows - from which no relief is offered. The plot, too, is poorly constructed, so little motivation seems to impel the characters to a silly, over convenient wrap-up. Extras include a perfunctory ‘making of' documentary. (Steve Cramer)
DRAMA
HALF MOON (PG) 107min
(ICA DVD retail) ‘OO‘O
Mamotlshmail digital), a brusque Kurdish
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musician living in Iran has spent months trying to arrange a permit for one final concert in Kurdish lraq. When this is resolved. his problems really start. He sets about haranguing his ten errant uninterested sons into joining him and has to deal with belligerent police before he even makes it to the stage. Bahman Ghobadi is best known forA Time for Drunken Horses and Turtles Can Fly, and the hint of absurdity in each becomes broad comedy here as the film segues into a magic realist tone. Half Moon might disappoint admirers of Ghobadi‘s earlier work looking for something more sober. It is more useful to see this film as a venture in trying to incorporate not so much bigger themes as broader tones. Minimal extras. (Tony McKibbin)
DRAMA
STILL LIFE
(15) 109min
(BFI DVD retail) eeee
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Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke (Platform, Unknown Pleasures) hails from the tradition of Asian long-take. observational masters that include Hou Hsiao- hsien and Tsai Ming- liang, but Zhang-ke's work often has a greater sense of historical immediacy. Indeed it is so immediate here that it is geographical as Zhang-ke follows a miner and a nurse as they look for their absent spouses in Fengjie — just as the
entire town is being demolished and relocated prior to its deliberate flooding as part of the Three Gorges Dam project. Shot on actual locations with largely non- professional actors. this is no gritty social tract but a quiet, contemplative, demanding and significant work. Extras include and critic and Asian cinema historian Tony Rayns excellent commentary and Zhange-ke's documentary Dong, shot at the same time. (Tony McKibbin)
COMEDY/DRAMA THE LIAR
(15) 88min (Bluebell DVD retail) eee
THE LIAR .. .
Written by and starring Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki and directed by his brother Mika, The Liar is an early 19808 monochrome mood piece with the nouvelle vague echoing in the distance. One critic proposed that this was the Finnish reflection of the European New Wave with a 20-year time lag. There are references to Bande a part and homages to A bout de souffle, but there is also plenty that anticipates Aki's work to come. The opening line ‘Is life a disappointment?’ The frequent use of fixed frames. and the deadpan approach to getting inebriated are all indicative of brother Aki's work.
Aki plays the liar of the title. a man who is unemployable, feckless. and emotionally impetuous and, sin of all sins, pretentious to boot and yet still manages somehow to pick up a beautiful girl whom he then treats with bohemian indifference. Extras include the slickly made short Jackpot 2 and an interview with Mika. (Tony McKibbin)
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