Better behave yourself …
Steve Buscemi’s in town!
He has one of the roles in JOHN RABE, a film about a German diplomat who saved about 20,000 people during the Nanjing Massacre. I guess he’s been out on the town a bit, but I haven’t seen him. Keanu Reeves was here recently too with his martial arts teacher, but as far as anyone knows right now, it wasn’t related to any film project.
A related note: I’ve decide that I won’t show RESERVOIR DOGS if I teach American Film next semester. I’ll talk about Tarantino and everything, since he is so important, but the film was just too violent for the students to deal with. We had several flee-ers last time, one only five minutes into the film. It went over like a ton of bricks, although, surprisingly, the students thought Mr. Pink was really funny and laughed whenever he talked about being professional. I’ll look for something by the Coen Brothers or Richard Linklater, maybe, to use as a replacement.
October 31st, 2007 at 12:22 pm
As a filmmaker who has had shorts screened at Sundance, a BFA in film, an MA in cinema studies, and two books to my (real) name - Quentin Tarantino’s place in American Cinema is a blip. He’s not worth inclusion in an American cinema class unless you’re doing 90s era directors.
It appears you’re doing something American cinema circa 90s cinema-ish. Cohen’s are eighties and don’t fit. Linklater is a good choice, but like Tarantino his cultural influence and importance are minimal and rapidly disappearing. You might fare better showing a Linklater film if you want to avoid controversy.
If it’s 80s and 90s era American independent cinema then I vote for the Cohens and Jim Jarmusch. Most of their work should play well for the squeamish.
However, if it’s modern American cinema then don’t forget: Scorsese, Altman, Woody Allen, Coppola, Barbara Koppel, Gordon Parks, Sr., Roger Corman, John Cassavetes, Kenneth Anger, Steven Soderberg, George A. Romero, Samuel Fuller, Stan Brackhage, Jonas Meekas, Frederick Wiseman, John Waters, Spike Lee, Sam Peckinpah, Don Seigel, Douglas Sirk, that JAWS guy (should I metnion his name?), that STAR WARS guy (ditto), Brian DePalma, Frank Carpa, howard Hawks, John Huston, etc…
November 1st, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Since I’m in China and only have one semester, I’m limited by availability and time. It’s hard having to choose a only a couple of representative or important works for each decade. Hopefully my class will whet my students’ whistles and motivate them to look at more unusual American films. Usually I show some Chaplin, Keaton, a Marx Brothers film, CITIZEN KANE, a film noir (by Preminger or Siodmak, or even by Samuel Fuller), REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE GRADUATE (or MIDNIGHT COWBOY), ROSEMARY’S BABY (or IT’S ALIVE), and then for the seventies, it’s hard to choose. In different semesters I’ve shown APOCALYPSE NOW, ROCKY, TAXI DRIVER (which got a more positive response than I’d anticipated), CLEOPATRA JONES, SHAFT or SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. For the eighties, I usually show Oliver Stone’s WALL STREET, plus either TOOTSIE or THEY LIVE. Nineties selections have included RESERVOIR DOGS and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. One semester I showed A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN for 2000+, which a lot of students found really interesting, because of the parallels between Mexicans in the US and migrant workers in China. I’d like to be able to show CROOKLYN, but I’ve never seen it here.
I’m not a big fan of Tarantino — I find his characters really boring — but at least he did open some people’s eyes to Hong Kong/Japanese cinema.
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:50 am
Some interesting choices. I was surprised at the diversity of nuggets I was able to find in Shanghai. I know MIDNIGHT COWBOY has been available on the bootleg DVD circuit, since i find my copy there!
It also warms my heart that you include Larry Cohen (IT’S ALIVE) in your choices. A very underrated talent (admittedly with more misses than hits, but when eh strikes gold it’s sterling) . Ever see Cohen’s RETURN TO SALEM’S LOT, complete with the late Samuel Fuller as a vampire hunter??? It’s not a great film (nor does it ever try to be), but it’s a hoot and a half. His epsiode of the first season of MASTERS OF HORROR, entitled PICK ME UP reunites him with Michael Moriarty and Cohen + Moriarty always equals guilty pleasure. If you can find that in China check it out (not for class but for fun).
I take serious issue with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which is little more than a riff on what Ruggero Deodato did in 1978 with CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, minus the supernatural crap. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST can be found in China (again, I found a copy in Shanghai) but it’s the Italian language version without subtitles (an Italian film - it was actually shot in English). I wouldn’t recommend shooting it to any of your classes in any capacity given just how extreme it is and the potential tsunami of headaches you’d receive from administration for screening it.
I’d recommend hitting the torrents if you can’t find the films at the shops. You’d be surprised what’s out there. Even CROOKLYN.
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:51 am
Oops. I meant “showing,” not “shooting” CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST to your classes. Sorry.