Immortel (Ad Vitam): Enki Bilal’s Aeon of Horus
Last night I caught Enki Bilal’s 2004 CGI flick “Immortel (ad vitam)”?
Last night I caught Enki Bilal’s 2004 CGI flick “Immortel (ad vitam)”?
Some fresh Burroughs loot was just added to the mountain of treasure that is Ubu: the entirety of Howard Brookner’s Burroughs: The Movie. Previously available on VHS only (a used copy on Amazon runs you 40 bucks), Burroughs: The Movie was released in ‘85 by poet, Warhol associate, and dial-a-poem instigator, John Giorno, through his Giorno Poetry Systems.
The film features such familiar-but-always-welcome luminaries as Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Francis Bacon, Patti Smith, and Terry Southern. And while there’s a new Burroughs doc just around the corner, there’s still plenty of juicy bits in Burroughs: The Movie. Don’t miss Lauren Hutton introducing Burroughs as “the greatest living writer in America,” before his first appearance on Saturday Night Live (he reads an excerpt of Naked Lunch, by the way!).
Sadly—and unusual for Ubu—Burroughs: The Movie is unembeddable, but to quickly have your ticket exploded just click here.
In his Los Angeles live solo debut, goth legend Steven Severin (he of Siouxsie and the Banshees fame) will be appearing at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater for two evenings, adding moody live scores to several surrealist silent shorts (including Germaine Dulac’s “The Seashell and the Clergyman,” a collaboration with Antonin Artaud). The second night will see Severin premiering a “trance-inducing” new score for Jean Cocteau’s 1930 film “Blood Of A Poet.”
Jan. 13-14, $15 on Jan. 13; $17 on Jan. 14; 8 p.m., Cinefamily at Silent Movie Theater, 611 N Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 655-2510
Cross posting this from Brand X
Ian Dury, lead singer for British New Wave act Ian Dury and The Blockheads, had his warts-and-all life story open up on UK screens last weekend. Back in the day, Dury, who passed away from cancer a decade ago, was by no means my cup of musical tea (I much preferred his Stiff label-mate Wreckless Eric, or —thanks, Richard!—Jilted John), but with Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, there was no denying his ability to craft a hooky song.
And while biopics of a musical nature typically leave me cold (I’m Not There), or incensed (What We Do Is Secret), I’m looking forward to catching Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (trailer below). It stars the fantastically expressive Andy “Gollum” Serkis, and, as Dury’s father, that Sexy Beast himself, Ray Winstone.
It’s no stretch to imagine Ray Winstone playing domineering authority figures, but I still remember his slim, punk-rock self costarring with Diane Lane in one of that era’s best musicals, Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. A.K.A., the film with the forever-humbling line, “You’re just an old man living in a young girl’s world!”
(via The Guardian)
Bowie turns 63 (!) today, and as much as his music continues to resonate, his roles in film, be they bit (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, The Last Temptation of Christ), or starring (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence), are no less enduring.
The “otherness” Bowie exerts as an onscreen presence, in my eyes, always seems matched by the obvious thoughtfulness he injects into his roles. And now, thanks to YouTube, we can turn to the accompanying, mostly silent, clip to see where it all started.
Directed by Michael Armstrong, The Image stars Michael Byrne, who plays an artist tortured by Bowie when his painting of him “comes to life.” Here’s what Cinebeats says of the ‘67 short:
David Bowie plays the mysterious apparition who is haunting the artist and his unusual good looks and other-worldly appearance are used to great effect here. Bowie was just 20-years-old when he made his acting debut, but he had studied with the avant-garde performance artist and actor Lindsay Kemp who included elements of Mime and Butoh into his teaching. Bowie obviously made use of the skills he developed studying under Kemp for his role in The Image and his wordless performance as an unrelenting spectre is undoubtedly the most memorable element of this short film.
The Image was shot in just three days, but its official debut was held off for 2 years. And due to its relatively violent content, it was one of the first British features to receive an X rating.
To learn more about The Image, visit the official Michael Armstrong website
Dangerous Minds pal Brian Butler has a new short film that’s part of a film festival coming up in Los Angeles soon. Brian was a producer on the Disinformation series with me a while back, helming two of the show’s more memorable segments: the feuding Satanists and Rocketboy, the real life superhero/half cat. He also introduced me to Uncle Goddamn
From the press release:
Brian Butler’s Night of Pan Premiers in LA at Projections Festival, January 16 at Roberts & Tilton
Los Angeles, CA: Noted filmmaker, artist and musician Brian Butler (www.brianbutler.com) will premier his short film, “Night of Pan” in Los Angeles on January 16 at 7:30pm at the opening of Projections, a festival of rare and hard to see films including other directors such as Spike Jonze, Harmony Korine, Jean-Luc Goddard, and Miranda July . Projections was curated by Aaron Rose an artist, film director, writer, musician, and independent curator most noted as the co-curator of the successful museum exhibition and book Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art & Street Culture which toured the world through 2008.
Projections takes place at the Roberts & Tilton Gallery, 5801 Washington Boulevard, between La Cienega Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, in Culver City, California from January 16 to February 20, 2010. In addition to screening on January 16, “Night of Pan” will also be screened in a loop at the gallery on February 18, 2010.
“Night of Pan” is a seven and a half minute film featuring film auteur Kenneth Anger and actor Vincent Gallo. The film has been screened in various versions internationally in Beijing, Lisbon, Cannes, Athens, Rome, Berlin and elsewhere, but never in Butler’s base, Los Angeles.
In the film, Anger, Gallo, and Butler depict an occult ritual that symbolizes the stage of ego death in the process of spiritual attainment.
Brian Butler is a multidisciplinary artist who creates works around dark magical themes. He had worked extensively as a producer on director Kenneth Anger’s recent work. Additionally he has written for Dazed & Confused and performs along with Anger in the band Technicolor Skull.
Thanks to the never-ending French love of Frank Herbert’s Dune, we’re in store for a new adaptation of the book to film. What is this?
“I’m cooking like a man on killing spree, my mom says I’m dating, weird like a thug, I’m in love, ‘cause she’s all cooked up!” If Mel Brooks did it with Hitler, maybe filmmaker Steve Russell can do it for Plainfield’s most notorious flesh fetishist? Get ready for Ed Gein: The Musical:
According to the Associated Press, this jaunty-creepy portrait of Gein?