The Big Picture magazine issue 8

8/9/2019 The Big Picture magazine issue 8

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may/june 2010

cover

imagepandora

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dutchman(

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The Big PictureISSN 1759-0922 2010 intellect Ltd.Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com

Editorial oce Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: [email protected] PublisherMasoud Yazdani Senior Editor & Design Gabriel Solomons Editor Scott Jordan HContributors Jez Conolly, Nicholas Page, Emma Simmonds, Daniel Steadman, Scott Jordan Harris, Tony Nourmand, Alison Elangasinghe, Gabriel SolomonsSpecial thanks to John Letham, Sara Carlsson and all at Park Circus, Jelena Stanovnik, Michael Pierce at Curzon Cinemas and Gabriel Swartland at City ScreenPlease send all email enquiries to: [email protected] / www.thebigpicturemagazine.coml The Big Picture magazine is published six times a year

intellect |Published by

Regulars

04 | Reel World

Crossing Over

18 | One Sheet

Horror Show

34 | On Location

Madrid, Spain

38 | Screengem

Wilson the Volleyball

42 | Parting Shot

Hands Off

44 | Competition

Picture This

46 | Listings

A roundup of this issue

featured lms

contents Issue Eight. May/June 2010Features

04 | Spotlight

Magic Roundabout:

Magic, Circumstance

and Psychology

14 | Art & Film

Still Life:

Iceland's 700ISReindeerland Festival

24 | Widescreen

Secret Cinema:

Maharashtra's Tent

Cinemas

30 | 1000 Words

Slash and Burn:

How Halloween lit theFuse for the SlasherExplosion

30

Produced in partnership with www.parkcircus.com

Perhaps you haven'tfound what you wantyet, perhaps you're

unfullled. Perhapsyou don't even knowwhat you want, perhaps

you're discontented.Discontentment oftennds vent through

malice and destruction.'

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24

celebrates 45 years of cinema coverage

!

Published bi-monthly by the internationally

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f i l m bey o n d th e bo r d er s o f th e s c r een

reel world

the bluesman's crossroads iswhere music, movies, popularculture and American folkloremerge. Updating the medievallegend of Faust, the Deltabluesmen of the 1920s /1930sTommy Johnson and RobertJohnson (no relation) weresaid to have sold their souls tothe devil at this metaphorical(and literal the crossroadsin question is supposedlyin Rosedale, Mississippi)junction in exchange forprodigious guitar talents,with Roberts Cross RoadBlues (1936) immortalizingthe myth in song. Fiftyyears later, the tale was theinspiration for Walter HillsCrossroads (1986), in which agifted young guitarist EugeneMartone (Ralph Macchio)battles for the soul ofbluesman Willie Brown (JoeSeneca) in a guitar duel withJack Butler, the devils starpupil, played by rock guitaristSteve Vai. Hills movi egave the MTV generationa contemporary link to analready seminal moment inmusic history.

The Coen brothers gavefurther credence to theenduring legacy of thecrossroads myth during OBrother, Where Art Thou?(2000). The deft mix ofHomers Odyssey andslapstick comedy includes tcharacter of Tommy Johnso(Chris Thomas King) who,based on both Tommy andRobert, is fresh from makinhis own Faustian pact. TheCoens seamlessly blend theancient and contemporary

tales to create their ownpeculiar vision of Americanbluegrass music and cultur

With blues music festivals,bands, clubs, societies and caall across America bearing thcrossroads name (and the TVseries Supernaturalfeaturingits own version of the tale wian episode entitled CrossroBlues), its evident that thisparticular legend is alive andwell in contemporary populaculture. [tbp]

Te legend o Robert Johnson selling his soul at thecrossroads is more associated with music than flm

but, as n e i l m i t c h e l l explains, movies are responsibleor much o its prevalence in popular culture.

CrossingOver

Hills mvie gve the MTVgeerti ctemprrylik t lrey semilmmet i music histry.

(eft) setting the scene: crossroads(1 986)

(above) robert johnson (2001)(right) raph macchio in crossroads

www.thebigpicturemagazine .com may/june 2010


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MagicRoundabout Images courtesy o Park Circus Limited

c i n em a' s th em ati c s tr an d s

spotlight

Numerous flms eature characters cursed - bymagic, circumstance or their own psychology - to

relive the same inescapable pattern in the sameinescapable place. jez conolly visits six such

movies and hopes hell be able to return.

pandora is unable

to love anyone butherself, and claims

that the measureof love is how much

one is willing tosacrifice.

eftava gardner

beowjames mason and ava gardner

Pandora (Ava Gardner)lives in the Spanish port ofEsperanza. She is unable

to love anyone but herself,and claims that the measureof love is how much one iswilling to sacrice. Dutchcaptain Hendrik van derZee (James Mason), arrivingin Esperanza, is in fact thelegendary Flying Dutchman,condemned to sail the seasfor eternity unless he cannd a woman who loves himenough to die for him. Everyseven years, the Dutchmanis allowed to come ashore forsix months to nd and fallin love with a woman. Heis unwilling to let Pandoradie, and deliberately tries toprovoke her into leaving him,until she learns the truth, andswims out to his yacht oncemore so that they can bejoined together in death. Thelm was shot in Tossa de Mar,where a statue of Gardnernow overlooks the townsmain beach.

Pandora and The FlyingDutchman is back in UKcinemas from 14 May.

Pandoa and THFn dTHMan (1951)Dir. Albert Lewin

coverfeatureY

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may/june 2010

spotlight magic roundaboal (2)

A group of people in formaldress arrives at an elegantlyappointed home for a dinnerparty. However, once dinneris over and the guests retireto the drawing room, theydiscover that the servants havegone away and for somereason they cannot leave.There is no explanation why there are no locked doors orbarred windows preventingthem from going home butthe guests are convinced thattheyre stranded.

The inability of the guests toleave is a metaphor for thebourgeois tendency to blindly

emulate ones neighbour andreluctance to be seen to breakany rule of etiquette, howeverludicrous. Buuel believed thata member of the bourgeoisiewould rather starve to deathor degenerate into savagerythan commit the tiniest socialfaux pas, such as being therst to walk through an opendoor. The guests in the lm areprisoners of their own making.

TH xTMnaTnan (1962)Dir. Luis Buuel

An architect (Mervyn Johnsarrives at Pilgrims Farm fora routine appointment andexperiences intense djvu. He can predict what thehouseguests are about to sayand do and foresees a terribevent the culmination of arecurring nightmare withinwhich he is trapped. The otguests relate their own strantales, most famously that ofpsychiatrist (Frederick Valk)about a ventriloquist (MichRedgrave) whose dummyseems to have a mind. TheMbius strip nature of the

lm the nal scene exactlymirrors the opening shots inspired cosmologists FredHoyle, Thomas Gold andHermann Bondi to developtheir steady-state theory ofthe universe, an alternativeto the Big Bang. Gold said think we saw that movie several months before, and afteI proposed the steady state, said to them, Isnt that a bilike Dead of Night?

dad oF nHT (1945Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti,Charles Crichton, BasilDearden, Robert Hammerbuuel believed

that a member ofthe bourgeoisie

would ratherstarve to death

than commit thetiniest social

faux pas.


spotlight

eftsef imposed damnation

top rightsir michae redgrave (and friend)

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Okay campers, rise andshine, and dont forget yourbooties because its COOOLDout there today. Its cold outthere every day intonesthe irritating DJ for the nthtime as the radio alarm clockbelonging to TV weathermanPhil Connors (Bill Murray)

ips over to 6am. Due tosome unexplained temporalanomaly, Connors seemsdestined to relive the same24 hours reporting onthe supposedly predictivebehaviour of the groundhogknown as Punxsutawney Phil.

When even suicide fails tobreak the spell, the initiallymean-spirited Connorsdecides to spend his ownprivate eternity on self-improvement, saving lives,performing random acts ofkindness and getting to knowhis producer Rita (AndieMacDowell), which results ina relationship that eventuallystops the time loop. GroundhogDay bore many similaritiesto the Richard Lupoff shortstory 12:01 PM(1973), whichwas made into an Oscar-nominated short lm in 1990and a feature lm in 1993.

ondHo da (1993)Dir. Harold Ramis


spotlight

when even suicidefails to break the

spell, connorsdecides to spendhis own private

eternity on self-improvement.

eftbi murray is heading for a fa

abovejohn cusack checks in

A sceptical writer (John Cusack) checks in to Room 1408 atthe Dolphin, determined to stay the night and disprove itsreputation as a haunted hotel. The hotels manager (SamuelL. Jackson) warns him that it is an evil fucking room and thatnobody has lasted more than an hour in it before. Undauntedby this, the writer enters the room. When the clock radiobegins playing Weve Only Just begin by the Carpenters andcommences a 60-minute countdown it is the prelude to thenew occupants seemingly endless incarceration in the inf ernalroom. Director Mikael Hfstrm reshot the lms ending af terUS test audiences responded negatively to its d ownbeat nature.The original denouement sur vives on the UK DVD release.

Based on a short story by Stephen King, 1408 possesses distinctsimilarities to The Shining except that, this time, the hotelproves even more difcult to escape.

1408 (2007)Dir. Mikael Hfstrm

Bse shrt stryby Stephe Kig, 1408pssesses istictsimilrities t TheShining ecept tht,

this time, the htelprves eve mreifcult t escpe.

al (2)

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may/june 2010 1


spotlight

Three sinners, ndingthemselves together in whatappears to be a hotel room,come to believe they areactually in hell. They initiallyexpect to receive some kindof torture or punishmentfor their sins, but when nosuch treatment materializes,it slowly dawns on them thatthey have been put togetherto torture each other for aneternity, hence the playsfamous line Hell is otherpeople. Jean-Paul Sartresexistentialist masterpieceHuis clos (1944) (most oftentranslated as No Exit) has belmed several times: rst in1954 by Jacqueline Audry anagain eight years later by TadDanielewski. Feature-lengthversions have struggled tosuccessfully expand the plotwithout prolonging the agonfor the audience the playlasts a mere 50 minutes buDanielewski inserted silentashback enactments of thesins committed in an attempto give the viewer some reliefrom the oppressiveness of thinescapable room. [tbp]

no xT (1962)Dir. Tad Danielewski

three sinners,finding themselves

together in whatappears to be a

hotel room, cometo believe they are

actually in hell.

eftrota gam & viveca indfors

Kobal

lso see... 12:01 PM (1973)

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Could you summarize the700IS Reindeerland festivalfor us and describe just whatmakes it unique?700IS Reindeerland is aninternational experimentalvisual arts festival with videoart as its main focus. It isbased in a remote area ofeast Iceland that has onlyaround 12,000 inhabitants.The festival is different inthat the submission processis designed to be particularlyartist-friendly; this yearthe initial selection processhappened entirely via theInternet. The organizers of700IS are artists themselves,so from the beginning it wasvery important to us that therebe very few rules. Artists cansubmit as many lms as theylike, with no restriction onwhen the lm was made, itslength, the age of the artist orany need for qualications.The only stipulation is thatthe lm / video has not beenshown in east Iceland before.

Every year the festival travelsto different parts of the world,mainly within Europe: we willscreen in Germany, Sweden,Russia, the Faroe Islands aswell as the USA. 700IS also

forms part of a EU-fundedproject called AlternativeRoutes in Hungary, Portugal

and in the UK (Liverpool).The festival is bigger this yearthan in previous years andfor the rst time we offereda residency programme, forthree selected artists.

An interesting feature of thefestival is the travelling artexhibit, which displays videostills taken from submittedlms. Can you explain whythis is an important part ofthe festival?I have a personal interest invideo stills, as I come froma visual arts background; Itrained as a painter rst andthen went into experimental

art, with a particular interestin nding new ways ofpainting a picture. My newtool in this was the videocamera from a Super 8camera in 1996 to a digitalcamera today.

I think some of my personalwork has been moresuccessful when viewedas video stills and this iswhy I wanted to have thisextra show, to introducethe Icelandic audience tothe concept of video stills.

v i s u al ar t i n s p i r ed by f i l m

art&film

Now in its fth year, the 700IS Reindeerland estival isan innovative celebration o flm and video art. With its

accompanying video-stills exhibition, it provocatively takesthe motion out o motion pictures. e m m a s i m m o n d s met its

director and curator k r i s t n s c h e v i n g.

Still Life

cockwise from opposite pageinterior day/ eina medeyview from window of eidar art centre in east iceandgun / dominic nguyen

'The rgizers f 700S re

rtists themselves, s frm thebegiig it ws imprtt tus tht there be very few rules



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Finally, which are yourfavourite lms from thisyears festival?I really enjoyed Sara

Gunnarsdttirs Sugarcube,as it is very nostalgic andhas personal resonance. UKartist Elina Medleys lmInterior Day has a similarappeal. Althoug h she haslmed moments in which,at rst, little appears to behappening, it is the smallthings she is ultimatelyinterested in: a shadow on thewall or someone living in aquiet space, looking out of awindow and observing peopleliving in the distance.

The winning lms are, ofcourse, also favourites ofmine Patrick Bergeron habrilliant way of taking you o

a trip and his lm LoopLoopwas ultimately chosen asour Film of the Festival.Sara Bjrnsdttir won theAlternative Routes prize foSalem Light; in it she workswith a material as ugly ascigarette smoke, yet turns itinto something beautiful thbrings to mind the AuroraBorealis. I also like slaugEinarsdttirs incendiarylm Lla very much: it wasnamed Icelandic Film of thFestival. [tbp]3seemore... Festivl website: ww w.700.is

You mentioned that someviewers of the stills getconfused and think themphotographs. Do you thinkattendees will view it asthough it were, in eect, anexhibition of photography?No, I dont think it makes agreat deal of difference to ouraudience whether these arelm stills or photographs. Itis, of course, very differentfor the artists / lmmakers

themselves, as they are in somuch control of where tofreeze their lm to make theirvideo still. Choosing the rightstill from a lm can be verydifcult because you have somuch choice and what youwant to say might get lost. Ihave found this with my ownwork it is hard to select onlyone image to represent a lm.

It seems to me that manylms are constructed, almostconsciously, in order to beconsumed as both lms andas still images; that the mise-en-scne is so carefully stagedthat they lend themselvesto it. Are there any lmsfrom the festival that youthought did this particularlyeectively?Yes, I think the stills madeby Elina Medley and DavidWhitaker and DominicNguyen are the mostsuccessful in this way. ElinaMedley is a photographer rstand then a video artist, and

that shows. She has selectedthe moments so carefully,and they are so peaceful andbeautiful, that they workperfectly as stills with orwithout the lm. The same canbe said of Dominic Nguyenand David Whitakers Gun.

eople do get confusedd think they are lookinga photograph!) The lmsmain the most importantcus for the artists themselvest I sometimes feel morennected to the stills. Weo thought this would be an

novative way of promotinge festival, as we are showinge stills in a few of the mains institutions in Reykjavik,well as exhibiting the stills

ow around the country inists residencies and othernues.

you think a still image canpture the essence of a lm?hink that stills can be viewedmost as a new work they

the audience make up theirwn story, as they are onlytting a glimpse of the wholeece. The majority of the timehen you watch a lm youe seeing the story that theist / lmmaker wants yousee. L ooking at a still givesu an opportunity to viewother version, and perhapseven gives the audienceore freedom to understandat lm / video. Also, ourdience might have seen all in the catalogue, on ourb page or in the still showsd come to the lm havingeady made up their own

ory around it, and then berprised by what they see.

t&film 700is reindeerland festival

'hsig the right stillfrm lm c be veryifcult becuse yuhve s much chice wht yu wt tsy might get lst.'

cockwise from abovefestiva director kristn schevinglooploop/ patrick bergeronstreymi/ mara daberglla / saug einarsdttirsalem light/ sara bjrnsdttir



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Brilliant horror flms oten inspire brilliant, andhorriying, flm posters. t o n y n o u r m a n d, o the ReelPoster Gallery, studies our international examples.

d ec o n s tr u c ti ng f i l m p o s ter s

one sheet

m any, if not al l , of u s

enjoy the titillating prospectof being scared senseless by a

horror movie, and it is the job

of lm-poster artists to deliver

the rst fright. Of course, the

horror genre is packed withcreations just begging artists

to explore: from blood-sucking

vampires and Gothic monsters

to giant apes and humanmutants. The styles employed

to depict such creations,

however, vary greatly between

artists and countries.

Eastern European poster

artists are renowned for

exploring the darker elements

within their designs, and thisis even more pronounced

when they address the horror

genre. This Polish poster forKaidan (which literally meansghost story in Japanese) is

by famed artist Wiktor Gorka

(b. 1922). Gorka graduated

from the Krakow Academy

of Fine Arts in 1952. He hastoured exhibitions of his work

around the world and has won

numerous awards. Three of his

most famous designs are thePolish posters for Spartacus

(1960), 2001: A Space Odyssey

(1968) and Cabaret(1972).

gofurther... www.reelposter.com [aTIST] Wiktor Gork [aTIST] anselmo Bllester


kwaidan (1964) origina poish / art by wiktor gorka

Horror

Show


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ro m ua ld so c ha (b. 1943) isanother successful Polish posterartist and graphic designer. Hisdesign for Polanskis Le locataire/The Tenantsuccessfully capturesthe paranoia of being watched andthe lms creeping sense of dread.

In contrast to the moregraphic designs of Eastern

Europe, Italian poster artistsfavoured a more painterlyapproach, as demonstratedby Anselmo Ballesters posterfor The Face Behind the Mask.Ballester (18971974) isfamous for his beautiful lmposter art and designed morethan 500 posters over a 45-year period. He is known forhis work with independentdistribution company, MinervaFilm, where he was employedas the main artist. He is alsorenowned for the work he

produced through BCM acompany he created withLuigi Martinati and AlfredoCapitani and which specializedin lm poster design. ThroughBCM, Ballester also workedextensively for Columbia.

Eraserhead(1976) was DavidLynchs opus, which he workedon obsessively for ve years.Hypnotic and violent, the lmtells the story of a child borna reptilian mutant. The surrealworlds that Lynch creates in his

lms have a nightmare qualityin which reality is supplantedby the bizarre landscapes ofhis imagination. The Japaneseposter on the next pagefor Eraserheadsuccessfullyembodies this disturbingcharacteristic. It also illustrates atypical trait of Japanese posters,which often favour the use ofphotography over more classicillustration. [tbp]

0 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com

mul Sch'sesig fr Plskise locataire/ TheTenantsuccessfullycptures the prif beig wtche the lms creepigsese f re.

(above)the tenant / e ocataire (1976)origina poish /art by romuad socha

(eft) the face behind the mask / 'uomo daa maschera (origina itaian / art by ansemo baester

may/june 2010 2

esheethorror


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esheet horror

directory of

worldcinema

directory of world cinema:

american independent

From the raw realism o John Cassavetes to the postmodern nightmares o

David Lynch, the flms that have emerged rom the American independent

sector represent a national cinema that has generated worldwide devotion

and discussion. The Directory of World Cinema: American Independent

provides an insight into American independent cinema through reviews o

signifcant titles and case studies o leading directors. The cinematic lineage

o dysunctional amilies, homicidal maniacs and Generation-X slackers take

their place alongside the explicit expressionism o the American underground,

making this a truly comprehensive volume.

The Directory project is published by intellect, is an independent academic publisher with a focus

on creative practice and popular culture, we are committed to providing a vital space for widening

critical debate in new and emerging areas. To find out more visit www.intellectbooks.com.

Visit the website and explore the volume for free

www.worldcinemadirectory.org

eraserhead (1977) origina japanese



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may/june 2010 2

Te ingenious entertainment traditiono screening flms in makeshit tentsacross rural areas o India is fnallygetting the publicity it deserves thanksto researcher s h i r l e y a b r a h a m andphotographer a m i t m a d e s h i y a.

Intr od uction by s l a

Inter view by g l s l

f i l m i n a wi d er c o n text

widescreen

SecretCinema

A distinct eature o the architecture o these itinerant cinemas-

the ashionably modifed walls and roos o the tent, which are

oten constructed rom discarded flm posters and banners.



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may/june 2010 2

descreen tent cinemas

Tell us a little about the Tent

Cinemas project: who wasinvolved, what backing did

you receive and what was the

purpose of the project?

Amit and I started workingon the project in January2008 with support from theIndia Foundation for the Artsunder their arts research anddocumentation programme. Weconducted the rst eld trip toPusegaon village about 200 milesaway from Mumbai and were

fascinated to witness such anantiquated yet organized form ofexhibition. We were also intriguedby the sheer ingenuity of thecommunity, who have sustainedthese cinemas for all this timeand preserved the experienceof collective cinema viewing formore than six decades.

We then began looking forreferences to the tent cinemasin popular accounts of cinemasevolution in India but theywere hardly mentioned at all.

This became the impetus toundertake an extensive projectof research and documentationto nd out why their stor y hasntbeen told. We began excavatinghistorical developments in thistimeline, and started to developan exhaustive project exploringnumerous strands in thiscaptivating yet untold story.

Why is it that the tent cinemas

lack any real documentation?

There is an economic function

that has been associated with thesecinemas, and hence they havebeen perceived and representedas a window of exhibition. Thismeans they have only found aplace in the distribution guresof regional Marathi cinema, whilethe other performing arts likethe tamasha (regional theatre) which have always accompaniedthejatras have been widelyintegrated into both popular andacademic writing.

s the lunr clendr heralds the ull moon atere crop-gathering season, pilgrims in remote hamlets

Maharashtra (western India) begin preparing to

rticipate in the annual religious airs that are hosted by

dal villages. Simultaneously, another set o devotees

art getting ready or their annual pilgrimage: thewners o the touring tent cinemas begin piling on their

els, projectors, posters and tickets to accompany the

rs a well-worn tradition in these parts. The season

the tent talkies is the only time in the year when

trons in hundreds o villages stand enraptured by the

ver screen, which uels dormant dreams and spins a

orld o antasy. Thousands travel rom neighbouring

lages to the airs, where the tent talkies (a rare annual

perience) must compete with acrobats, trick shows,

aditional olk theatres, and daredevil stuntmen.

With around fve to seven cinemas pitching

or attention, the setting demands large and

striking flm banners. These are ingeniously

designed by reurbishing the publicity

material generated rom the distribution

center in the city. Oten such collages employ

poses o actors rom various flms, and not

just rom the flm currently showing in the

tent cinema. Seen in this image, a poster-

collage o Murder(2004, Hindi).

Old flms still remain popular and run to

packed tents in the airs. Seen here is the flm

poster o Yevu Kaa Gharaat(1992, Marathi), a

riotous comedy directed by Dada Kondke.

continued on page 28

sese, the sme

ptrge evtitht ws ce the sleprvice f the religiusfirs hs w cme tee the uiecesreltiship with thetet ciems.

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What can you tell us about theimportance of these travelling

cinemas to the cultural and

social life of the communities

they engage with?

From being a neocolonialexperience when they wereintroduced to villages inMaharashtra in the 1940s,the travelling cinemas haveevolved to become inseparablefrom the cultural lives of theirpatrons even physically so, asthey are located on the eldssurrounding the villages. Forthese communities (locatedfar from xed-site theatres)tent cinemas provide the onlybig-screen experience available.They have also become part ofthe pilgrimage; families travel toparticipate in a religious ritual,but they also watch a lm in thetent cinema. In a sense, the same

patronage and devotion that wasonce the sole province of thereligious fairs has now come todene the audiences relationshipwith the tent cinemas.

It's fascinating to note that the

tent cinemas found a venue inreligious fairs (jatras) early on

and that now their gods seem to

have to share equal billing with

screen icons and movie idols.

Is there not a bit of a conictof interests? A bit of idolatry

creeping in where it shouldn't?

Interestingly, this is more ofa symbiotic relationship, ofharmonious coexistence. Thecinemas were introduced inthejatras in order to sourcepotential audiences, and now

as the cinemas become theprime attraction of the fairs

they have also strengthenedthis old community festival.There are also instances ofreduced attendance in thejatraswhere there has been a certain

censoring of entertainmentthrough the cinemas.

DVD, television and othermedia must pose a threat to t

existence of the tent cinemasDo you feel there is a chance

they will simply die out - or do

they oer something unique

that will ensure their surviva

The threat of new, slick, widelavailable means of cinemadistribution is a very palpableone. While it may be speculatito predict the longevity ofthe cinemas, it is notable howthe owners are continuouslyreinventing the cinemas inorder to sustain them. To lurethe audiences into the tents,they have introduced novelmarketing techniques such

as putting the lead actress ofthe lm in a two-person-widerusted ticket dispenser, fromwhere she distributes ticketsand gives away complimentarphotographs of herself. Thereare also contests that are heldafter lm screenings. With eveprogressive season we havealso seen a greater penetrationof brands advertising theirproducts on tents, providingsome much needed sponsorshSo, it seems the tent cinemasare unwilling to fold up withoputting up a ght.

Whats next for the project?

We have been selected for theanniversary grant programmethe Goethe Institute (an organzation that promotes the studyof the German language abroaand encourages internationalcultural exchange and relationThe story of these tent cinemwhich were initiated with sec-ond-hand Bauer projectors (o

German make) from Bombay,extremely pertinent to the insttute, so we propose to make aninteractive installation, tracingIndo-German association in theld of lm exhibition. We arealso in the process of developia book and a documentary lmon tent cinemas. [tbp]

descreen tent cinemas

may/june 2010 2

morephotogrphy See more of amit Mdeshiy's work t: www.lightstlkers.org/mit-mdeshiy

uer projectors o German make were the

t projection machinery brought to these

sty villages in the mid 1940s. Till date,

same projectors- though much modifed

d Indianized, have been handed down

e heirlooms- across generations spanning

re than six decades.

Apart rom flms in the local dialect

Marathi, some tent owners also screen

mainstream Hindi flms, oten employed

as teasers to attract audiences. Seen on

this screen is one o the years biggest

Hindi blockbusters starring Shahrukh

Khan. Bollywood flms are oten screened

to kickstart the proceedings o the day.

Lately, action flms rom the regional

flm industry in south India have become

extremely popular among the audiences.

Seen here is a poster o a Telugu flm

dubbed in Hindi.

The ciems were

itruce i thejatrasirer t surce ptetiluieces, but w theyre stregtheig this lcmmuity festivl.



16/25

andfew fil m s have changedthe landscape of horror asmomentously and indisputablyas John Carpenters Halloween(1978). Carpenters debutestablished a sub-genre thatimmediately became one ofthe most popular, populousand protable in NorthAmerican movies. (Note that

I write North American andnot Hollywood: because ofthe tax breaks available tolmmakers in Canada, andthe low budgets needed forslashers, the country quicklybecame a prolic producerof the lms.) Its villain, themonolithic masked madmanMichael Myers, gave themovies one of their mosticonic characters and hisinuence led to the lms thatgave Halloween fans two more:

A Nightmare on Elm StreetsFreddy Krueger and Fridaythe 13ths Jason Voorhees.

The slasher lm did notspring fully formed fromZeuss (or John Carpenters)head. The seeds of thesub-genre can be found inAlfred Hitchcocks Jack theRipper-inspired silent TheLodger: A Story of the London

Fog(1927) and ve yearslater, in sound and on theother side of the Atlantic in George Archainbauds

Thirteen Women (1932) withMyrna Loy. Other long-acknowledged precursors

to the slasher movie includethe so-called splatter movie(gore-heavy horror lmsin the style ofBlood Feast(1963)); the vibrant andtwisted Italian sub-genre ofhorror giallo (exempliedin the deliciously disturbingwork of Dario Argento, MarioBava and their imitators); andthe American exploitationpictures of the 1970s.

But there are more directprototypes. As discussed inAdam Rockoffs Going toPieces: The Rise and Fall of

the Slasher Film (which isprobably the denitive bookon the subject) and its 2006lm adaptation of the samename (which is denitelythe denitive documentaryon the subject), two darkmasterpieces from 1960 Michael Powells career-killingPeeping Tom and Hitchcocksseminal Psycho clearlyinspired the slasher. Twelveyears after them, Wes Cravenand Sean Cunningham(who, a decade later, wouldwork separately to create twofranchises synonymous withthe slasher movie,A Nightmareon Elm Streetand Friday the13th) worked together on the

Tw rk msterpieces frm

1960 Michel Pwellscreer-killigPeeping TomHitchccks semil Psychoclerly ispire the slsher.

oppositejamie ee curtis

rightmoira shearer

beowanthony perkins

burn

When Michael Myers frst stalkedcinemagoers in 1978, he sparked anentire sub-genre. Ater Halloween,the slasher movie exploded. s c o t tj o r d a n h a r r i s looks at a trueturning point or flm.

1000 wordsm o m en ts th at c h an ged c i n em a f o r ev er



17/25

ad mr ws: [SNGM]Michel Myers Msk [BILLIaNT FaILS]Student Bodies

infamous TheLast House onthe Left(1972).

With its story of nubileteenage girls gruesomelygutted by a sadistic lunatic,Last House was a denitestep toward the slasher aswe know it today. Two yearsafter, Bob-A-Christmas-Story-Clarks festive fright ickBlack Christmas (in which themembers of a sorority houseare systematically murdered)was a veritable leap toward theslasher proper: it had virtuallyevery element that woulddene the slasher lm, justwithout much slashing.

It is only in retrospect,however, that we can seethese pictures as leading tosomething. Pre-Halloween theywere simply a collection ofvaguely similar lms, whoseconnections may, or, morelikely, may not have beennoted. Post-Halloween they areevidence of the extraordinarilyslow gestation of a type of lmwhose growth, once it emergedinto the world, would beextraordinarily rapid.

In the aforementionedlm Going to Pieces, horroracionado and former New

Line Cinema executive,Jeff Katz, calls Halloween aperfect lm. And so it is. Itis not perfect in a nebulousand unattainable sense (itis not the ultimate movie)but it is perfect in a morerealistic sense: everything itdoes, it does as well as couldpossibly be done. No aspectofHalloween feels as if itcould be improved upon and,however much the movie hasbeen imitated (and it has beenimitated endlessly), no lm ofits kind has ever surpassed it.

Indeed, Halloweensevery element proved soun-improvable that a basicdescription of its plot and mostdistinctive features stands asbasic description of the plotand most distinctive featuresof just about every slashermovie made since. On a day ofcelebration, a mysterious andapparently invincible maniacstalks an array of pert andperky American teens. He slaysthem in succession, usuallywith a bladed weapon, andeach murder is more ingeniousthan the last. Adults are absent,or unbelieving. The teens arealone with the horror. That

horror, though perpetuallyimplied, only intermittentlyerupts onto screen. In betweenmurders there are false frightsand semi-scares that keep thecharacters, and the audience,jumpy. Throughout, there areshots from the killers point ofview. For the teens, having sexmeans inevitable evisceration.Only the upstanding, virginal,nal girl can survive.

That these elements seemso clichd now that, in fact,they sound like rejected linesfrom a script for Scream isevidence of how originalthey were, and how well theyworked, when Carpenter rstcombined them. But there ismuch to praise in Halloweenthat isnt John Carpentershandiwork. There is theoverall inuence of co-writerand co-producer Debra Hill.There is the elegant andeerie cinematography ofDean Cundey, and the subtlyunnerving production designof Tommy Lee Wallace (who isresponsible for that ingeniousmask and, therefore, for somuch of Michael Myerspotency). And then there isJamie Lee Curtis ttinglyunderstated performance asMyers main prey and DonaldPleasences ttingly overstatedperformance as his tireless

pursuer. Halloween, however,is undeniably Carpenterscreation.

Carpenter produced anddirected the lm. He wroteboth its script and its score.(The score deserves specialpraise. Its jangling ostinato isfrightening and unforgettable.Subsequently, it is alongsideBernard Herrmanns nerve-corroding screeches of stringsin Psycho and John Williamsunbearably foreboding lurchesof cello in Jaws a piece ofmusic now synonymous withcinematic terror.) Carpenteralso orchestrated Curtiscoronation as HollywoodsScream Queen, and boostedthe career of Donald Pleasence(who would return to theHalloween series well afterCarpenter and Curtis hadabandoned it). He created aclassic. And he did it all on abudget of $300,000.

That last detail is crucial.With Halloween, it was clearCarpenter had invented anartistic model so precisealmost anyone could followit but, once the lmsenormous box-ofce takingswere calculated, it was evenclearer he had invented abusiness model sure to makemillions. It was this that causedthe explosion of the slashermovie. [tbp]

A re-imagining ofA Nightmareon Elm Streetwill be releasedin cinemas 7 May 2010.

1000 words slash and burn

With Halloween, it wsler rpeter h

vete rtistic mel precise lmst yeul fllw it but,ce the lms ermus-fce tkigs werelculte, it ws evelerer he h ivete busiess mel sure t

mke millis.

eftfreddie kruger (robert engund)

abovekrug stio (as david a. hess) inthe last house on the left

mentedflms.com

Film Season:

Rithy Pahn13 to 29 June 2010

Supported by Alliance Fransaise de Glasgow and

Culturesfrance.

GLASGOW FILM THEATRE

BOX OFFICE 0141 332 6535

BUY TICKETS ONLINE WWW.GFT.ORG.UK



18/25

th e p l ac es th at m ake th e m o v i es

on location

oppositeaberto cosas

beowucia bos

MaddLocated in the centre oSpain, and in the centre othe countrys cinematicimagination, Madrid hasalways been an integralpart o Spanish cinema.nicholas page looks atsome o this historic citysfnest flm appearances.

Along with his long-term friend and collaborator,

Luis Garca Berlanga, Juan Antonio Bardem (uncle ofnoted screen-actor Javier) led the revival of Spanishcinema during the 1950s. Perhaps his most successfullm during that particular period, Death of a Cyclist isconcerned with the moral corruption of the Spanishbourgeoisie under Franco. The lm follows a universityprofessor named Juan (Alberto Closas) who strikesand kills a cyclist with his car before eeing the scene.Eventually both his guilt and fate catch up with him.

MT d nSTa/ daTH oFa ST (1955)Dir. Juan Antonio BardemSpain, 88 minutesStarring Alberto Closas, LuciaBos, Carlos Casaravilla



19/25

th e p l ac es th at m ake th e m o v i es

on location

Used as inspiration for theTom Cruise vehicle VanillaSky (also starring PenlopeCruz) in 2001, AlejandroAmenbars Open Your Eyes isthe tragic story of rich youngman and terrible womanizer,Csar (Eduardo Noriega),whose face is severelydisgured in a car accidentinvolving an ex-lover. Theaccident, and events that

caused it, are recounted byCsar wearing a curiousmask to hide his face to hispsychiatrist in the form ofashbacks, through whichwe learn the horrifying truthbehind the mask.

The young titular characterof Julio Medems Sex andLucia (played by Paz Vega)is working as a waitress inMadrid when she hears aboutthe death of her boyfriend,Lorenzo (Tristn Ulloa).Devastated by this loss, andhoping to ee the troubles ofher own life, she decides tovisit the mysterious Balearic

Islands, a place her late loverspoke of often. There, shemakes friends with Carlos(Daniel Freire) and Elena(Najwa Nimri), later learningshe may have more in commonwith them than rst expected.

Undoubtedly the most successful and inuential lmmakerof his generation, Pedro Almodvar is a name that has, overthe past few decades, become synonymous with not onlythe cinema of Spain but also that of Madrid. AlmodvarsBad Education (2004), starring Gael Garca Bernal and FeleMartnez, stretches even further back than the directors career,portraying the relationship between two young men. It beginsin Madrid in the 1980s before moving back to detail the mensexperiences with love, school and cinema in the 1960s.

aB oS ojoS/ oPn o S (1997)Dir. Alejandro AmenbarSpain, 117 minutesStarring Eduardo Noriega,Penlope Cruz, Fele Martnez

a Sxo/ Sxand a (2001)Dir. Julio MedemSpain, 128 minutesStarring Paz Vega, NajwaNimri, Tristn Ulloa

a Maa dan/ad daTon (2004)r. Pedro Almodvarain, 106 minutesarring Gael Garca Bernal,le Martnez, Danielmnez Cacho

The Lovers of the arctic ircle (1998) / Wht Hve I Done to Deserve This? (1984)lso see...

Maddcockwise from beowboys wi be boyspenope cruzpaz vega



20/25

more screengems? mil us your ides for screengem to: [email protected]

At cert Ain t im es in lif eall you need is someone tolisten. Alone, scared anddescending into madnesson a desolate island, ChuckNoland (Tom Hanks)turns instead to something.Featureless and unobtrusive,a humble Wilson brandvolleyball becomes Chucksonly friend and condanteas the years of monotonoussolitude drift by.

Wilson quickly outgrowshis raison dtre as a simplepiece of sporting equipment,and even inherits facialfeatures by means ofChucks bloody hand (aninjury sustained during a

disastrous attempt at re-building). Starting withsimple exchanges (Chuckoffering round roasted eelchips, Wilson politely andsilently declining), theirrelationship soon blossomsinto a comfortable buddy-buddy bond. Wilson defusestensions between Chucksincreasingly schizophrenicalter egos (wordlessly, asever) and Chuck seeks solacein the volleyballs resolute,uninching outlook on life.

Though this characterobviously generated a greatdeal of cult value (Wilsoneven manufactured ahandprint covered replica),Chucks spherical companionis a hugely effective dramatic

device. Opinions differwildly on the schmaltz-ladenopening and closing acts ofRobert Zemeckis shipwrecktale, but the strength of thelms island narrative cannotbe denied. Wilsons placein Chucks life gives Hanksthe chance to portray aloveable madman: someoneconscious of his lunacy,barely keeping it at bay, andcraving attention to keep himfrom doing the unthinkable.Wilson unquestionablyprovides a source of comedy,but he is also a saviour aninanimate, inatable lifelinefor a man at the end of theworld. [tbp]

Counsellor, philosopher and negotiator,this innocuous leather ball transorms romlowly leisure gear into one mans personalsalvation. d a n i e l s t e a d m a n takes a look.

evocative objects onscreen

screengem

Volleyball

Wilson

th eY

wilsons placein chucks life

gives hanksthe chance to

portraya loveable

madman.

opposite tom hanks forges an unusua friendship in cast away



21/25

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may/june 2010 4

t h e s c u t t l i n g a n d s om e h owsentient severed hand disturbsus for numerous reasons.Most obviously, it resemblesan arachnid: fear of spidersis perhaps the worlds mostcommon phobia. Moresignicantly, though, thesevered hand represents thatpart of the human body thatinicts most pain, with aconsciousness entirely (andterrifyingly) separate from thehead and the heart.

Probably inspired by thecharacter Thing in CharlesAddams acclaimed cartoonThe Addams Family, such a

hand starred in Warner BrosPictures shocker The Beastwith Five Fingers (1946).That lms plot was reworkedin the infamously execrableThe Crawling Hand(1963)(notable nowadays primarilyfor its inclusion in BrandonChristophers 2004 DVDdocumentary The 50 Worst

Movies Ever Made). Theprevious year an inexplicablyliving hand had appeared in acrucial scene in a lm that is,in contrast, one of cinemasmost celebrated: Luis BuuelsEl ngel exterminador/ The

Exterminating Angel. (Buuelclaimed, incidentally, to havewritten the original story ideafor The Beast With Five Fingerswhilst working at Warner Bros20 years earlier.)

In the 1970s the so-calledAmicus hand became apivotal prop in a number ofthat studios sensationalisthorror lms includingAsylum(1972) andAnd Now TheScreaming Starts!(1973). In the1980s, Oliver Stone's remakeofThe Beast with Five Fingers,which was given the simple anddirect title The Hand, ensuredve ngers of living deathremained prominent on the bigscreen. By far the most famousversion of an animate detachedhand, however, came, ttingly,in Barry-Men-In-Black-Sonnenfelds adaptation ofThe

Addams Family (1991). [tbp]

Jump-Suits

gofurther The Hnd (1981) / The addms Fmily (1991)

HandsOff

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

parting shotThe severe hrepresets thtprt f the humby tht iictsmst pi, with csciusessetirely (terrifyigly)seprte frm thehe the hert.

Whether crawling around the Addams Familysmansion or clutching at the throats o victims in

hammy horror movies, the severed but living hand isa recurrent image onscreen. s c o t t j o r d a n h a r r i s

tries not to get strangled.

cockwise from oppositethe beast with five fingersand now the screaming starts!asyum



23/25

Go Furtherwww.thebigpicturemagazine.com

Getting involved with...

rwould you like to contributeto The Big Picture mgzine?

Were always on the lookout or

enthusiastic flm-lovers with a

passion and air or the written

word. So, i this sounds like

you, then simply send us a ew

examples o your writing along

with a short personal bio to:

Gabriel Solomons, Senior Editor

[email protected]

a complete bck issue rchive

Print issues o The Big Picture

get snapped up pretty ast, so i

you missed out - simply visit the

downloads section o the website

to catch up on all content rom

past issues.

Bckpge

The writings on the wll

Read some o the fnest

writing on flm by our growing

team o ridiculously talented

contributors, with regular posts

satiating even the most avid o

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visit: www.thebigpicturemgzine.com

join

the bipictufi

PictureThis

onoiue youy hve

ie

eou tet

tice

competition

what?Y

when?Y

emai l answ er s to :

i nfo @ th ebi gpi ctur emagazi ne.co m

DADL FOR RS: 21 j, 2010

Name both lead actors and the flm or achance to win a copy o an intellect flm booko your choice. o see whats available, visitthe intellect website to view all recent and

past titles: www.intellectbooks.com

4 www.thebigpicturemagazine .com may/june2010 4


24/25

Bck in inems

Bckpges

ossrods (1986)r. Wlter Hill

see page 4/5

ndor nd the Flying Dutchmn951)r. albert Lewin

see page 6/7

e xterminting angel (1967)r. Luis Buuel

see page 8

d of Night (1945)rs. a. vlcnti, . richton,

Derden, .Hmmersee page 9

oundhog Dy (1993)r. Hrold mis

see page 10

08 (2007)r. Mikel Hfstrm

see page 11

xit (1962)r. Td Dnielewski

see page 12/13

lloween (1978)r. John rpenter

see page 30

eping Tom (1960)r. Michel Powell

see page 31

ycho (1960)r. alfred Hitchcock

see page 31

a Nightmre on lm Street (1984)Dirs. Wes rven

gsee page 32

The Lst House on the Left (1972)Dir. Wes rven

gsee page 33

Deth of a yclist (1955) Dir. Jun antonio Brdem

gsee page 34/35

Bd duction (2004)Dir. Pedro almodvr

gsee page 36

Open Your yes (1997)Dir. alejndro amenbr

gsee page 37

Sex nd Luci (2001)Dir. Julio Medem

gsee page 37

st awy (2000)Dir. obert Zemeckis

gsee page 39

The Best with Five Fingers (1946) Dir. obert Florey

gsee page 42

and Now The Screming Strts!(1973)Dir. oy Wrd Bker

gsee page 43

asylum (1972)Dir. oy Wrd Bker

gsee page 43

Putting the movies back where they belong...

Film Index


o youve read about the lms, now go watch em!

This edition o The Big Picture has been

produced in partnership with Park Circus,

who are committed to bringing classic

flms back to the big screen.

A lushly romantic love story with asupernatural twist, Pandora and theFlying Dutchman will be back in cinemasthis spring.

Starring Ava Gardner one o Hollywood's

most glamourous actresses and

charismatic screen legend James Mason,

this rare cinematic gem has undergone

a painstaking restoration, resulting in a

sparkling new version o the flm.

Unavailable theatrically or many years,

Pandora and the Flying Dutchmanwill be re-released rom 14 May at BFI

Southbank, Filmhouse Edinburgh, Irish

Film Institute and selected cinemas.

thebig pictue

iue 9vibe

10 juy2010

he Big Picture explores the Road Movie...

r dslamr

The views and opinions o all texts, including

editorial and regular columns, are those o the

authors and do not necessarily represent or

reect those o the editors or publishers.

More details o cinema screenings o these

and other classic movies rom the Par k Circuscatalogue can be accessed via:

www.bckincinems.com

coingoon

coingoon

coingoon


25/25

Documents

The Big Picture magazine issue 8