Professional Documents
Culture Documents
contents
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1 0 | Spotlight Pt.2
Mind Games: Exploring Cinema's Subconscious
1 8 | Widescreen
A Perfect Match: Chris Moloney's Unique Form of Filmography
2 6 | 1000 Words
The Dream Team: Dali and Hitch Visualize the Subconscious
Regulars
'What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it.' R.P. McMurphy
cover image altered states ( 1980 Warner Bros. Pictures)
0 4 | Reel World
Fight Club
24 | Four Frames
Altered States
3 0 | On Location
Mumbai, India
3 5 | Screengem
The Typewriter in Delirious
3 8 | Parting Shot
Heads Up: Very Unusual Headgear
26
Published by
4 2 | Listings
A Roundup of this Issue's Featured Films
The Big Picture ISSN 1759-0922 2012 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com Editorial office Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com Publisher Masoud Yazdani Chief Editor & Art Direction Gabriel Solomons Editor Neil Mitchell Contributors Nicola Balkind, Rob Beames, Jez Conolly, Helen Cox, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Scott Jordan Harris, Neil Mitchell, Chris Rogers, Gabriel Solomons, Helio San Miguel Please send all email enquiries to: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
intellect
| www.intellectbooks.co.uk
November/December 2012
reel world
f i l m b e yo n d t h e b o r d e r s o f t h e s c r e e n
Heavy Hitters
Sometimes life can imitate art in disturbing ways, h e le n cox breaks the first rule to look at Fight Club's offscreen copycats.
davi d f i nch er's psychodrama Fight Club (1999) initially attracted critical attention for its perfectlyexecuted twist: that our suspiciously flaky narrator and the audacious Tyler Durden are in fact the same person; two split personalities in conflict within our protagonist. Though based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, and thus clearly a work of fiction the representation of Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID) within the narrative is deeply sympathetic to the experience of actual real-life sufferers. The narrator speaks about long periods of insomnia and life feeling like a copy of a copy. Indeed, an inability to distinguish fantasy from reality is often quoted as a symptom.
Fight Clubs real-life reflections do not, however, stop at a candid deconstruction of a complicated and much misunderstood mental illness. After the films release, several American communities saw fight clubs being founded on their doorsteps. USA Today reported in 2006 that techies in Menlo Park California had formed their own underground Fight Club in which they instigated violent street brawls. Even more shocking though was the 2009 report in The Washington Times that insinuated 17 year old Manhattanite Kyle Shaw was mimicking Brad Pitts Fight Club character after being arrested for planning an explosion outside a Starbucks Coffee Shop. Certainly, the behaviour of these individuals does mirror that of Durden who asks: how much can you possibly know about yourself if youve never been in a fight? Whether the film truly inspires such behaviour or just makes for a convenient scapegoat for those with antisocial tendencies however, is a divisive debate. [tbp]
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SPoTlIGHT PT.1
c i n e m A ' s t h e m At i c s t r A n d s
Image: 2012 DMG Entertainment, Endgame Entertainment
clocKWise From leFt Bruce Willis and JosePh gordon-levitt ( looPer) humPhrey Bogart and lauren Bacall ( darK Passage) nicholas cage and John travolta ( Face oFF)
Masters of Disguis
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Does a change of body mean a change of self? c h r i s r o g e r s goes undercover to take a closer look at Altered identity in film.
identit y, the awareness of self is such a definitional part of what it is to be human that film-makers have explored the concept continuously and often inventively, although hidden or changed identity could be said to be fundamental to the creation of all dramatic film, involving as that does an actor assuming a persona. Since cinema and psychoanalysis arrived simultaneously in 1895-6, the presence of a psychological element in many of these films is unsurprising. Disguise the masking of self occurs in every genre and every style of film, from the war movie to the period drama. It may be presented simply, as with Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro, or more intricately, as with The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert or the orgy sequence in Eyes Wide Shut where every character is concealed (or perhaps revealed) morally as well as physically. Masked and costumed superheroes are also cloaking differences in their skills and origins, underlined in Watchmen. A mask may be virtual yet still retain its power. H.G. Wellss invisible man has had many screen incarnations, with Paul Verhoevens Hollow Man the most visceral and least restrained in its depiction of a man for
whom lack of face and body permits everything. Speaking with anothers voice can also be an effective mask, as Rick Rossovich finds in the gently comedic romantic Roxanne. A literal change of physical identity adds layers of meaning. The fugitive criminal undergoing plastic surgery is common to the point of clich. The noir thriller Dark Passage, however, escapes the limitations of the trope and its purpose as a star vehicle for Lauren Bacall and her then husband. Teasingly, its first act is shot entirely from the point of view of Humphrey Bogarts character, whose face is therefore never seen, up to the moment where he removes his bandages and looks in the mirror at his new self. Fifty years later Face/ Off audaciously subverted the same clich to permit enjoyably grandstanding performances from its leads. Constructing another identity, almost always with the intent of freeing the self, is typically a decisive act by the protagonist, though the consequences are not always positive. As disturbing today as it was on release, John Frankenheimers Seconds savages the American dream, reinforced in the post-war boom, that a man can become whatever he wants to become.
Image: (top) 1947 Warner Bros. Pictures / (above) 1997 Paramount Pictures
A literal change of physical identity adds layers of meaning. The fugitive criminal undergoing plastic surgery is common to the point of clich.
November/December 2012
Image: (opposite) 1966 John Frankenheimer Productions Inc. / (above) 2010 Fox Searchlight Pictures
aBove rocK hudson suFFers( seconds) oPPosite natalie Portman gets intense ( BlacK sWan)
John Frankenheimers Seconds savages the American dream, reinforced in the post-war boom, that a man can become whatever he wants to become.
undetected from their supposed pasts, in a collision of memory, age and doubt. Knowingly entering another world vicariously is often deemed healthy, at least initially. Whether fighting (Avatar, Avalon, Gamer), relaxing (Westworld, Futureworld) or merely living (Surrogates), participants project themselves into an alternate place that confers a new identity, as soldier, boxer, gunslinger or simply a better version of themselves. A reckoning is, as ever, not far away. Characters in The Matrix, on the other hand, were placed in simultaneous realities with simultaneous identities. Whatever the level of complexity or transparency, the question of whether a person retains their inner nature even as their outer body changes its form or location is usually being posed. The answer is for us to decide. [tbp]
Identity is further complicated by duality in films as varied as Dead Ringers, Bullitt and Black Swan, and the passage of time in Twelve Monkeys and Looper.
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SPoTlIGHT PT.2
c i n e m A ' s t h e m At i c s t r A n d s
Film-makers have long had a fascination with the inner workings of the mind. n i c ol a B a lK i n d and r oB B ea m es put their heads together to explore cinema's subconscious.
HARvey (1950)
Dir. Henry Koster
Mild manners outshine peculiar behaviour in Henry Kosters Harvey. James Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd a name with which youll become familiar. The film is, at its core, an odd couple friendship. Elwood enthusiastically squires his friend around town, introducing himself and his pca, Harvey, to everyone they meet. Soon it becomes clear why some run screaming: Harvey is an invisible friend in the form of a six foot, three and a half inch tall rabbit. This unconventional friendship is a source of stress for Elwoods high-strung sister Veta (Josephine Hull) and her boyfriend-seeking daughter Myrtle Mae (Victoria Horne). Their decision to have Elwood committed results in a chase a run-around of bodies and emotions. Compassion and positive reactions to Elwoods polite and wise storytelling manners bring out the best in his friends (many of them freshly acquired). This theatre of the mind disregards psychoanalysis in favour of the discovery that genuine behaviour and the practice of overcoming others peculiarities are lifes greatest teachers. [Nicola Balkind]
Games
comPaSSIon and PoSITIve reacTIonS To elwoodS PolITe and wISe SToryTellInG mannerS brInG ouT THe beST In HIS frIendS (many of THem freSHly acquIred).
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PeRSoNA (1966)
Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Persona explores the element of choice in mental illness. When actress Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullmann) falls mute with no physical or mental explanation, she comes under the care of a young nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson). Though she expresses concerns that she is too young and inexperienced to handle Elisabeths case, Alma begins caring for the silent patient but soon finds that in sharing her secrets, her personality and Elisabeths persona are beginning to merge. Bergmans stark lighting and bold composition of the hospital both outline and sharply contrast the complex exchange of emotions between Elisabeths nervous tension and Almas relaxed, caring conduct. In turn her kindness is complemented by the seeming ease of their countryside retreat. The films minimalist look also enhances the poetry of anxiety and abandonment, images of selfimmolation, revealing emotional moments, and dramatic actions: all playing into the psychological mysteries of the film which, Bergman claims, saved his life. [Nicola Balkind]
The films minimalist look ... enhances the poetry of anxiety and abandonment, images of self-immolation, revealing emotional moments, and dramatic actions.
aBove JacK nicholson as mcmurPhy toP leFt BiBi andersson and liv ullmann
McMurphy, though a criminal and certainly a disreputable character, is by contrast one of Nicholson's most amiable characters...
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ultimately the film explores whether there is any meaningful difference between reality and our own perception of the world.
Gondry and kaufman use Joel Barish's (Carrey) experience of the memoryremoval process, made possible by Dr. Mierzwiak's (Tom wilkinson) unlikely band of misfit doctors at Lacuna Inc, as a way to imaginatively explore the fractal and unreliable nature of memory.
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right Keira Knightley as saBina sPielrein inset viggo motensen as Freud and michael FassBender as Jung
The real patient of the piece is Jung, constantly manipulated by his peers and protgs alike as he navigates his everchanging academic field.
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wIdeScreen
gaBri el solomons chats to Chris Moloney about his fascinating FILMography blog, which marries film photos to their locations as they are now.
APerfect Matc
what inspired you to put together the FILMography blog? you seem to be following in the footsteps of ken Josephson's 'images within images' project from the 1970s but were you aware of his work before starting your blog? One of my high school teachers was quite fond of Ken Josephson so he's always been on my radar but I'm not sure if I consciously used him as a model for my blog. The difference between Ken Josephson and myself is he is an artist and photographer, whereas I'm just a guy who takes pictures. There's a scene in Jane Wagner's "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" where Lily Tomlin holds up a can of Campbell's and a Warhol and says, "This is soup. And this is art." I'm well aware I'm making soup. Does your working background have any relation to this project or was it simply a 'lightbulb moment' to pursue a personal interest? I've spent the past 15 years working in television as a writer and producer so I've trained myself to think visually but I have no real knowledge of photography. Most of the original pictures on my blog were snapped with a BlackBerry. People are horrified when I tell them that. Have you been surprised at the public reaction to the blog and why do you think the project resonates with people? Very surprised. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that thousands of people, from around the world, stop-by my blog and look at my photos every day. I think it speaks more to people's love for Hollywood and movies than my abilities though.
[top] Leon the Professional (1994) [above] Die Hard With A vengeance (1995)
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wIdeScreen fIlmoGraPHy
Photos Chris Moloney Photo Chris Moloney
why do you think people are so affected when stumbling across a filming location - or when they seek out locations specifically? Does it go any deeper than mere filmic sightseeing? I can only speak from my own experience. I know when I stumble upon a spot where a movie that I love was filmed I get excited. The idea that someone like me can have a connection - even one this insignificant - to filmmakers like Woody Allen or Martin Scorsese is pretty unreal. Plus, it's fun to play movie director. "Where did they put the camera?" "Did this pole get in their way too?" what are the challenges when taking your photographs? There have been conflicting comments about the accuracy (or not) of the process, but do you have a particular criteria to follow when taking the snaps? My approach to my blog has changed since I began in June. When I started it (with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man) it was more of a tourism site. Accuracy wasn't important to me, I just wanted to show my friends and family "Hey, I work near the spot where they filmed that awesome movie." But now that more people have started coming, and the media has started throwing around words like "photographer," the expectations are higher and I try to take a bit more time with the shots. How do you choose the locations to photograph? iconic locations/scenes or is it dependent on 'chance'? I've seen a lot of movies and even before I started the blog I found myself making mental notes of where things were shot. New York is such an iconic city that you can always spot something in the background of the scenes that will tip you off to where they were shot. I'm also a big walker and occasionally I'll recognize a spot from a movie and go back with a photo later.
Do you have future plans for the blog? There is a current trend for popular blogs such as yours to result in a published book - is this where you see the blog going or do you have grander plans for it? I'm Canadian and by nature we don't make grander plans. In the past couple of weeks I've seen my name and my work in dozens of newspapers and many of the magazines I grew up reading. I'm not really sure how I would take it beyond that or if I would even want to. That said, if someone wants to publish my photos in a book I'm not going to say no. It would just mean one less Christmas present I have to buy for my parents. Are you interested in opening up the project to the wider public in the same way that Taylor Jones' 'Dear Photograph' website does and what do you see as the benefits or downsides of this more inclusive approach? People compare my blog to 'Dear Photograph' all the time because of the similar approach. But that's totally unfair to 'Dear Photograph.' My site is a place where people come to see pictures of movie scenes. 'Dear Photograph' is so much bigger than that. People go there to reflect on their lives and remember their dead dogs. There's really no comparison. As for accepting submissions from people, I'm happy to publish someone else's photos. I get a lot of eyeballs on my site and I'm happy to share my audience with the work of others. But I'm not a gatekeeper. All FILMography doesn't need to pass through me. what has been the most promising or most interesting feedback to the blog that may have surprised you as to the impact and potential of the project? The best part of the whole thing is getting to connect with people that are just as nerdy and passionate about things as me. The other day I got a message through my site from a guy in Madrid. He laid out exactly what was wrong with my photos. He told me I was stupid and my blog was stupid. He was so angry. Then, at the very end, he writes: "I also like 'You've Got Mail.'" [tbp]
The idea that someone like me can have a connection - even one this insignificant - to filmmakers like woody Allen or Martin Scorsese is pretty unreal.
gofurther
[weB ] explore many more FILMography images at the official site philmfotos.tumblr.com/
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Masterful Miniatures
c h ris r oge r s continues our architecture and film series, this time casting an eye over the alchemy of models, matte paintings, photographs or computer-generated imagery used to create a believable environment.
Below/Middle Matte paintings used to create scale in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain and North by Northwest
The Coen Brothers spent half a million dollars in todays terms on a dozen very-large-scale (one inch to two feet) miniatures of selected New york skyscrapers for The Hudsucker Proxy. They were so effective that they were subsequently re-used in adapted form in Babys Day out and The Shadow.
M u c h of the a r c hit ec t u re on show in films doesnt actually exist, as a location or even a set. Instead, buildings are conjured through the alchemy of models, matte paintings, photographs or computer-generated imagery. Miniatures have been used to represent the unbuilt or unbuildable for many decades, either on their own or in combination with live action. Fritz Lang deployed both in his epic Metropolis, creating a dazzling vision of a future city in which aircraft and cars filled canyon-like streets between vast towers. Lang used the ingenious Schfftan process, where the camera films through an angled mirror with part of its reflective coating removed, to insert actors into the models. Simply placing a miniature in front of the camera whilst it is filming a real scene is also highly effective; the encrustation within the atmosphere processing station in Aliens was achieved in this way, whilst the vertiginous bridge across a deep ravine in The Living Daylights is in fact a model carefully aligned with the top of the real bridge, which only crossed a shallow ditch. The Coen Brothers spent half a million dollars in todays terms on a dozen very-large-scale (one inch to two feet) miniatures of selected New York skyscrapers for The Hudsucker Proxy. They were so effective that they were subsequently re-used in adapted form in Babys Day Out and The Shadow. Only one model was needed to bring the glass skyscraper that becomes The Towering Inferno to the screen, but at over 70 feet high, itself equivalent to a five or six storey building, it was one of the largest ever constructed and had to be secured with guy ropes when not in use. Hitchcocks delight in playing with artificiality has featured in previous instalments of Beyond the Frame, but there is much more to discover. The United Nations building as seen in North By North West comprises a series of paintings. Exteriors are matte paintings on glass, with interiors achieved through vast scenic backdrops. Both are dramatic but somewhat theatrical in their execution, subtly contributing to the nightmarish nature of Roger Thornhills situation. The nighttime exterior of the Vandamm house, though, is realised through exquisitely subtle matte paintings so convincing that many who see the film assume it to be a real structure. The directors most audacious simulation of architecture occurs in Cold War thriller Torn Curtain when Paul Newman is shadowed whilst walking into and around one of Berlins great museums, the Alte Nationalegalerie. Opened in 1876, Friedrich August Stlers great neo-Classical temple stood in what was then East Berlin, beyond the reach of a Hollywood film production. Instead of seeking a substitute location or building elaborate sets, however, Hitchcock took an extraordinarily daring step. Emboldened by success on a smaller scale twenty years previously with The Paradine Case, he filmed the entire two-minute sequence using only matte paintings to replicate the museum. The actors were shot in a studio against minimal sets often simply a decorated floor and a piece of wall and optically composited into the paintings. The surprisingly powerful impact that the architecture of the suburban street can have on a films mood was explored in Beyond the Frame #2 (available online at www. thebigpicturemagazine.com). This is confirmed in a key scene from David Finchers Zodiac. In 1960s San Francisco, Detectives Toschi and Armstrong arrive at a crime scene, a crossroads in a quiet suburb late at night. The neighbourhood is cast in a sickly green glow. A taxi stands at the kerb, its driver lying dead within. A hand-held camera follows as they walk the area, point at house windows and converse with colleagues. And yet only a very small portion of this haunting scene existed in real life or was filmed at the real location; the majority was shot on a studio backlot against bluescreen, with the evening sky, street lighting and period-accurate buildings and vehicles all generated by computer. An architectural lie reveals the truth. [tbp]
Above Miniature architectural renderings used for The Hudscucker Proxy 1994 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Opposite The Schfftan process used in Fritz Lang's Metropolis 1927 Universum Film (UFA)
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four frameS
t h e A r t o f A b b r e v i At e d s t o r y t e l l i n g
weIR D SCIeNCe
1
Jez c o n o l ly explores the hallucinatory consequences that a meeting of an ancient ceremony with Ken Russell's wild imagination brought forth.
i n h i s q u e s t to explore altered states of consciousness, neuroscientist Edward Jessup (William Hurt) travels to Mexico to take part in an Ayahuasca Ceremony conducted by a remote tribe. During the ceremony an elder slices Jessups hand open and drips blood into a strange brew containing Amanita muscaria mushrooms and Banisteriopsis caapi root that the tribesmen and Jessup then drink. As a result he experiences a series of bizarre, surrealistic hallucinations that seem linked to his intense relationship with fellow scientist and wife-to-be Emily (Blair Brown). At one point he sees himself and Emily walking towards a mushroom cloud, a vision that appears to originate from a brilliant point of light emerging from the wound on his hand, from which then crawls a small lizard. Part chin-stroking talk-fest on existentialism, part Eighties bodyhorror silliness, Ken Russells wild, hallucinogenic take on Paddy Chayefsky's breathlessly cerebral script boasts enough chemically-induced bad trip dreamscapes to boggle the mind and put you off cream-of-mushroom soup for life. Read More f o u r f r a M e s online at www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
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1000 wordS
m o m e n t s t h At c h A n g e d c i n e m A f o r e v e r
When Hitchcock wanted to explore the subconscious onscreen he turned to Surrealist Salvador Dali. Unsurprisingly, their collaboration was memorable and highly influential. By a lex a n dr a he l l e r -n i c ho l as
One of the earliest films to employ psychoanalysis as an explicit element in its plot, Alfred Hitchcocks Spellbound (1945) explores Dr Constance Peterson's (Ingrid Bergman) romance with and investigation of the mysterious John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), a man whose amnesia leads him to take on another mans identity. Psychoanalysis is purported to be the tool with which Constance not only assists John in regaining his memory, but also helps them solve the murder of the man whose identity Ballantine has adopted. Key to this is a dream the as-yet unidentified Ballantine has, which Constance and her mentor, the Sigmund Freud-like Dr Brulov (Michael Chekov), analyse in the hope of discovering clues. Ballantines dream begins in a gambling house where curtains with painted eyes are cut with giant scissors. A man with a beard is accused of cheating and threatened by a faceless proprietor. The bearded man falls off the edge of a building as the proprietor who has been
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Below/Right/Far Right Salvador Dali taps the subconscious in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound
hiding behind a chimney reveals himself and drops a small wheel. The dream finishes with Ballantine running down an abstracted, sloped space chased by giant shadowy wings. As Brulov and Constance explain to Ballantine, from a psychoanalytic perspective this dream is crucial: once they can unlock its secrets, they will solve the mystery that plagues him. Famously based on paintings by renowned surrealist Salvador Dal, tensions between producer David O. Selznick and the artist resulted in a scene substantially reduced in both length and intensity: even Hitchcock himself winced at Dals oft-quoted suggestion to include a sequence showing Ingrid Bergman covered in ants. Despite being one of Hitchcocks least favourite of his works, it was a huge commercial success and critic Thomas Hyde rightly considers it a precursor to later efforts such as Psycho (1960), Marnie (1964) and Vertigo (1958). Loosely based on the 1927 novel House of Doctor Edwardes by Francis Beeding, the script emphasises its quasiclinical fascination with the guilt complex and its impact on the unconscious. At the time of the films release Freuds theories were far from obscure in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the publication of Some Elementary Lessons in Psychoanalysis in 1938 highlighted that his ideas about an active, decipherable unconscious mind were still very much in the public eye. Selznick was drawn to the story because of his own personal, positive experience with psychoanalysis and he accurately judged that audiences would readily understand that in Spellbound this dream was to function as a primary source of clues to its mysteries, rather than simply as a colourful aside. Cinematic dream sequences such as Dal/Hitchcocks in Spellbound offer modern examples of the literary tradition of the dream allegory, sometimes called the dream vision. These tales were popular during the Middle Ages, appearing in works such as Geoffrey Chaucers Book of the Duchesse (1368-72). With some accounts tracing the origins of the fictional dream sequence back as far as Aeschylus play The Persians (472BC), its heritage on film stems from examples as diverse as Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 1942), the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (1984-2010), Federico Fellinis 8 (1963) and the work of postmodern auteur David Lynch, a director frequently linked to surrealism through films such as Eraserhead (1977). While a fractured movement from its earliest days, key surrealists such as Dal sought to express the ideas of psychoanalysis creatively through art, charmed in many instances by the randomness and absurdity of the unconscious mind and its dreams. The Spellbound dream sequence contains many of Dals signature surreal images: his melted wheels, strange landscapes and of course the cut eyeball sequence, which refers explicitly to his earlier short film collaboration with Luis Buuel, Un Chien Andalou (1929). But the finished product was far from the dream product Dal or Hitchcock had imagined, despite its commercial success. While some critics have in retrospect held the simplicity of the films treatment of psychoanalysis responsible for this perceived failure, it is perhaps fairer to suggest that at its heart Freud and his theories and the creative links to them were little
Below Cob and Mal build their dream reality in Christopher Nolan's Inception
Cinematic dream sequences such as Dal/Hitchcocks in Spellbound offer modern examples of the literary tradition of the dream allegory, sometimes called the dream vision.
Similarly to Christopher Nolans Inception (2010) and its shared fascination with the fantastic possibilities of the unconscious mind, it is love not science that drives their protagonists and our interest in them.
more than a surface gimmick pasted onto Spellbounds real source of interest: romance. For all the attention lavished upon Freuds talking cure in the film, it is not psychoanalysis but love that conquers all. Constance is the central character, not Ballantine, and as such it is a story about rejecting the clinical and the professional, and surrendering instead to the hyperbolic heterosexual romance Selznick celebrated only a few years before in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Similarly to Christopher Nolans Inception (2010) and its shared fascination with the fantastic possibilities of the unconscious mind, it is love not science that drives their protagonists and our interest in them. [tbp]
go further...
[weB] Alfred Hitchcock discusses his collaboration with Dali on Spellbound tinyurl.com/9ljk5xb
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Mumbai
t h e p l A c e s t h At m A k e t h e m o v i e s
on locaTIon
Mumbai, a megalopolis of almost 20 million people is the home of Bollywood, the beating heart of the Indian film industry, and the film set of thousands of fictions that cant be confined to a few stereotypes. h eli o sa n m i g uel , editor of World Film Locations: Mumbai takes us on a whistlestop tour of a city rich in cinematic heritage and buzzing with energy.
oPPosite niruPa roy as the Poor single mother BeloW JacKie shroFF and anil KaPoor
Dir. Vidhu Vinod Chopra IND, 154 minutes Starring: Jackie Shroff, Kamal Chopra and Madhuri Dixit
Parindas realistic depiction of gangster life found critical and popular success despite its untraditional tragic ending, and ushered in a new era of Bollywood cinema. Karan, just back in Mumbai after completing his studies abroad, witnesses the killing of his childhood friend Prakash, who became a policeman and is the brother of beautiful Paro, the object of his affection. Mumbais urban landscape the Dadar fountain where they grew up and Prakash gets killed, Babulnath temple, abandoned factories, fancy hotels, the imposing Gateway of India where the climactic scene takes place all serve as the theatre for a calculated revenge, but also as a lost haven filled with childhood memories. Karans downward spiral from nave college graduate to the depths of the underworld, also made Parinda the precursor of Mumbai Noir, the successful genre that delves into the citys underbelly, paving the way for other movies like Ram Gopal Varmas acclaimed Satya (1998).
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on locaTIon
t h e p l A c e s t h At m A k e t h e m o v i e s
Dir. Kiran Rao IND, 100 minutes Starring: Prateik, Monica Dogra and Kriti Malhotra
In Mumbai Diaries, Kiran Raos debut feature, the thread that weaves the different stories together is Munna, a dhobi who delivers clothes from Mumbais iconic outdoor laundry called Dhobi Ghat, and who dreams of becoming a Bollywood star. Through his daily routine we get a glimpse into the life of the slums, an existence mired in poverty and gangster extortion that deprives slum dwellers of much of their dignity and hope. Munna also befriends upper-class Shai, accompanies her around the city to take pictures, and even poses for her. She in turn is infatuated with painter Arun, who is captivated by videos left behind by Yasmin, the previous tenant of his apartment. Through their eyes we explore other sides of the city, the ones of cafs, art shows, fancy clubs, tourist sites And in the middle of it all lies Mumbai, the multifaceted megalopolis that becomes the muse that daily weaves millions of such threads together.
No SMokING (2007)
Dir. Anurag Kashyap IND, 128 minutes Starring: John Abraham, Ayesha Takia and Paresh Waral
No Smoking is a quirky and disconcerting movie, written and directed by enfant terrible Anurag Kashyap, the leading director of what we can call Neo-Bollywood, a group of film-makers that in the last two decades is expanding the boundaries of Bollywood and by extension of commercial Indian cinema. Here a wealthy and goodlooking executive embarks on a program to quit smoking. Kafkian reminiscences are hinted in his name, simply K. His journey takes him from the top of his posh apartment in a high-rise building and from Mumbais fanciest clubs, to an underground inferno shot between the slums of Dharavi and the Mukesh Mills in South Mumbai, where the surreal detox program takes place. Although bordering on the implausible at times, No Smoking is nonetheless a genius film that turns upside down the idealizations of upper class habitats that are all too frequent in current Bollywood mainstream movies.
MAMMo (1994)
Dir. Shyam Benegal IND, 124 minutes Starring: Farida Jalal, Surekha Sikri and Amit Phalke
After the tragic riots and ensuing terrorist attacks that tore Mumbai apart between December 1992 and March 1993, many filmmakers turned their cameras towards that pressing reality. Shyam Benegal, one of the top filmmakers of the parallel cinema movement and (along with Mrinal Sen), the most respected Indian filmmaker alive, decided instead to focus on the recent past. Recruiting critic and film-maker Khalid Mohamed as screenwriter, they together made three movies about the situation of Muslims in India. Mammo is a moving coming of age film about Riyaz, a middleclass Muslim teenager who loves Western cinema and The Beatles, plays classical music to his fish, and secretly smokes. Set in 1970s Mumbai against the backdrop of the still resonating Partition, and made in the aftermath of the 19921993 devastating events, Benegal and Mohamed's Mammo tellingly portrayed normal middle-class lives lived within a diverse and inclusive city.
Through Munna's daily routine we get a glimpse into the life of the slums, an existence mired in poverty and gangster extortion that deprives slum dwellers of much of their dignity and hope.
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ScreenGem
e vo c At i v e o b j e c t s o n s c r e e n
The Typewriter
in Delirious (1991)
scot t Jordan h arris ponders the fantastical, love/ hate relationship a writer has with the tool of his trade.
MUMBAI
eDITeD By heLIO SAN MIgUeL
PaPerbacK
9.95 Y
ALSO AvAILABLe
LOS ANgeLeS MADRID
Fascinating, incommensurable, and chaotic, Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is a megalopolis of dramatic diversity and heartbreaking extremes, where immense wealth is just steps away from the searing poverty of its huge slums. The home of Bollywood, Mumbai is also the epicenter of Indias film industry and its foremost film location. Through the lens of Mumbais manifold cinematic representations, World Film Locations: Mumbai explores the sheer complexity of this incomparable city. This volume comprises insightful essays and beautifully illustrated scene analyses by leading scholars and film critics who explore the ways filmmakers from India and abroad have represented Mumbais astonishing urban and human landscape. Their contributions show how movies have created in the imaginations of billions of spectators the vivid image of a city that constantly tempts people to escape their dreary existence and offers them a chance to fulfill their dreams. World Film Locations: Mumbai will be necessary reading for scholars and film buffs alike.
BeIjINg
eDITeD By jOhN BeRRA
PaPerbacK
9.95 Y
The title of Li Yus film Lost in Beijing evokes the experience of many firsttime visitors to Chinas bustling capital. The citys sprawling structure and rapid redevelopmentembodied by the high-rise apartments taking over historic districtsrender Beijings streets hard to navigate and its culture just as difficult to penetrate. World Film Locations: Beijing is a revealing and engrossing introduction to both. In a series of spotlight essays and illustrated scene reviews, a cast of seasoned scholars and fresh new voices explore the vast range of filmsencompassing drama, madcap comedy, martial arts escapism, and magical realismthat have been set in Beijing. Unveiling a city of hidden courtyards, looming skyscrapers, and traditional Hutong neighborhoods, these contributors depict a distinctive urban culture that reflects the conflict and tumult of a nation in transition. With considerations of everything from the back streets of Beijing Bicycle to the forbidden palace of The Last Emperor to the tourist park of The World, this volume is a definitive cinematic guide to an ever-changing and endlessly fascinating capital city.
CINeMA HAS SeeN many noteworthy typewriters from those that clack out the articles that bring down the corrupt Nixon administration in All The Presidents Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976), to the insane, insectile machine that is easily the most memorable character in David Cronenburgs Naked Lunch (1991) but none has quite the power of the one belonging to Jack Gable, the struggling soap opera writer played by John Candy in Tom Mankiewicz's Delirious. After Gable is knocked unconscious, he wakes up inside the TV show he created and learns he can control it simply by typing. When he wants a pastrami sandwich, he writes a Jewish deli into being. When his beloved Rachel (Emma Samms) is carried off by a runaway horse, he types a scenario in which he heroically dashes to her rescue. But, when he catches himself writing sex scenes Rachel will have to act out, he becomes disgusted at his addiction to his typewriter and angrily smashes it. Soon, though, he has to race to repair it in order to regain influence over his life and to save the life of a friend. Gable can control reality with his typewriter, but his typewriter can also control him. When it works, he feels omnipotent. When it doesnt, he feels impotent. As such, it is the ideal metaphor for a writers talent. [tbp]
gofurther
Intellect is an independent academic publisher of books and journals, to view our catalogue or order our titles visit www.intellectbooks.com or E-mail: orders@intellectbooks.com. Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, UK, BS16 3JG. | Telephone: +44 (0) 117 9589910 | Fax: +44 (0) 117 9589911
35
WORLD
DIRECTORY OF
CINEMA
Directory of World Cinema: Britain Edited by Emma Bell and Neil Mitchell Paperback Price 15.95 ISBN 9781841505572 eBook Price 6 ISBN 9781841506074 To view our catalogue or order our books and journals visit www. intellectbooks.com.
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ParTInG SHoT
Images: (Below) 1985 Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment / (Bottom) 1983 AJF Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Heads Up
i m i tAt i o n i s t h e s i n c e r e s t f o r m o f f l At t e r y
Below A brilliant failure: Doc Brown's brain wave-analyzer in Back to the Future (1985)
Science fiction movies are by design replete with outlandish visual images, here ne il m itch e ll doffs his cap in honour of some very unusual headgear.
Shiny, angular and bedecked with light bulbs, the brain-wave analyzer, an invention that doesn't actually work, is fittingly as wild as Doc's hair and imagination.
h o w d o yo u c o n t r o l , manipulate, explore or capture what is going on in someone else's mind? In movie-land, the intangibility of thoughts, memories and emotions hasn't stopped governments, scientists (sane or otherwise) and various underworld figures from literally plugging into the brain in an effort to conquer inner space. To counter the insubstantiality of what is being sought, film-makers often opt for including visually arresting headgear in scenes during which invasions of the subconscious occur. In a movie containing numerous disturbing images, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971) saves perhaps the most unsettling one for its central protagonist, ultra-violent Droog Alex (Malcolm McDowell). Imprisoned and subjected to The Ludovico Technique, an extreme form of aversion therapy, Alex is strapped to a chair and bombarded with images of rape, murder and war. Like the neural connections dotted around his brain, a network of electrodes is studded across his head, the bizarre sight compounded by the metal clamps that keep his eyes open. Over a decade later, Douglas Trumbull's Brainstorm (1983) posited a world in which other people's experiences and sensations could be recorded and
viewed; ostensibly for pleasure or education but co-opted for nefarious reasons by the military industrial complex. A number of prototype versions of what becomes 'the hat' (itself a forerunner of the 'Squid' in Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow,1995) are seen during the movie, all of them physical entry points into previously unattainable, ephemeral universes. Sometimes, the headgear on show works as an extension of the personality of the person wearing it, with Doc Brown's (Christoper Lloyd) brain-wave analyzer in Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) a prime example. Shiny, angular and bedecked with light bulbs, the brain-wave analyzer, an invention that doesn't actually work, is fittingly as wild as Doc's hair and imagination. Intrusive and bizarre, frightening or funny, headgear that affects the mind, be it in Terry Gillam's Brazil (1986), Johnny Mnemonic (Robert Longo,1995) or Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002), occupies a relatively small but visually distinct part of the iconography of science fiction cinema. [tbp]
Above A painful process of rehabilitation for Alex in A Clockwork Orange (1971) Opposite An unusual recording device: Brainstorm (1983)
go further... [weB ] Science fiction becomes science fact? The ePOC neuroheadset tinyurl.com/ycfs37k
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Fight Club (1999) Dir. David Fincher
g see page 4/5
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Altered States (1980) Dir. Ken Russell
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Dir. Milos Forman
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Intellect is an independent academic publisher of books and journals, to view our catalogue or order our titles visit www.intellectbooks.com or E-mail: orders@intellectbooks.com. Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, UK, BS16 3JG. | Telephone: +44 (0) 117 9589910 | Fax: +44 (0) 117 9589911