|
December
2009, issue 50 |
"It's not
the years, honey. It's the mileage."
Indiana Jones
(Harrison Ford), Raiders
of the Lost Ark (1981)
A Very
Special Episode of the BCLMC:
The
Fiftieth Issue Extravaganza!
Well, what do you know about
that? Fifty issues, and the engine's still purring like a
kitten. Break out the champagne. I started this thing back
in May of 2005, with a couple little features about Ossie Davis and
Memorable Movie Moms [May, Mother's Day, get it?], and here we are as 2009
rolls to a close and I am still amusing myself and attempting to amuse and
enlighten others with bits of the trivial and profound about our
collection, written just about every month or so. I'm not too proud
to admit that I'm kind of proud of that.
If you dig around the
past issues a little bit, you'll start to get an idea of where my
movie and entertainment interests lie, no matter how impartial I try to
be, and while my enthusiasms are definitely wide-ranging, I thought that
for this big five-oh ish that I'd invite my Library colleagues, one and
all, to contribute. I invited, cajoled, bullied, threatened,
pleaded, bargained, and tap danced, and I got the following contributions,
which both illustrate the range and depth of our collections and
illuminate the mix of personalities that help make the Library such an
important part of campus life.
I asked everyone to
recommend a favorite of theirs in our collection, and to give a reason or
two for their pick, or picks, as the case may be. I give them to you
in the order they were given to me, with as little editing as possible,
and I hope you find a little something that's new to you, or a new path
worth exploring. And so, without further ado, here they are, your
Fiftieth Issue Library Staff
Recommendations....
Emily
Drabinski,
Electronic Resources and Instruction Librarian:
I still
think Herbert Biberman's Salt
of the Earth is one of the best accounts of union struggles
and the indignities of immigrant labor that I have ever seen, read, or
heard. Watching the women picket because that is the most strategic way to
deploy those bodies in the fight captures so much of what it means to be
in solidarity. That the filmmakers were blacklisted at the height of this
country's witch hunt for Communists gives the struggle on screen a
compelling off-screen dimension, one that is well-documented in the
special features on the DVD.
Cristina
Muia,
Acquisitions Assistant:
The
Up Series has to be up there on the documentary list of
greats. These films are made every seven years. They began by
following the lives of a group of British school
children at age seven. Although, some have passed on, the majority are
still alive. Today, these children are 49 years old! Maybe it
is because I m in their age range that I can relate to their lives.
Overall, it s truly a step up from how some reality tv shows portray
people.
Jane
Suda,
Reference and Instruction Adjunct Librarian:
Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers - Michael Kidd
was an amazing choreographer. This film is his best
work.
Rachel
Gleiberman,
Library Business Manager:
Grizzly
Man
Alien
Pride
& Prejudice (the 1995 version)
Bridget
Jones Diary
Pretty
in Pink
The
Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Shadow
of the Vampire
Gone
With the Wind
The
Sure Thing
Lisa
Rivera,
Media
Center:
Well,
it was very hard to narrow my list down...I love so many of them.
I
choose The
Heiress
starring Olivia De Havilland and Montgomery Clift. Revenge is both sweet
and bitter &once done it can change your whole
life.
My
other choice would be Rebecca
starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. True love withstands all
adversities &even the past.
My
other choice is Jane Austen s Pride
and Prejudice.
The contentious and eventually respectful and loving relationship between
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy is intriguing &do we really know what we
want?
Lisa
Burwell,
Interlibrary Loan:
These movies
I can see over and over and laugh like it s the first time seeing
them.
Cooley
High
Foxy
Brown
Shaft
The
Mack
Edward
Keane,
Reference/Instruction Librarian and Acting Periodicals Librarian:
A real go-go
boot kick in the head...I am nominating Faster, Pussycat! Kill!
Kill! Like Rock n Roll itself, this
film, or even just the anticipation of seeing it, puts me in
a Friday Night mood. The memory of seeing it in a drive-in is
one of the few good things about getting old. I also like how
Martin Short and the gang from Arrested Development paid homage to the Old
Man and his muscle bound assistant who carries him around like a weird
child.
Diana
J. Mitrano, Cataloging Librarian:
Not
One Less by Zhang Yimou--heartwarming storytelling without
the fancy cinematography and not one big name star. Plus it
has a reassuring message that stubbornness is sometimes a
virtue.
Suzie
Remilien,
Reference and Instruction Librarian:
The
Robert Graves series I,
Claudius combines intrigue and superb acting. I watch it at
least once a year!
Peter
J. Salber, Coordinator of User Services:
While
1971 was a brilliant year for American film in general (think The
French Connection, Klute,
Summer of 42, and The
Last Picture Show), it was dismal for the Western genre
(think Big Jake, Catlow, Hannie
Caulder, and the acid-infused Zachariah); with one exception:
McCabe
& Mrs.
Miller.
Robert Altman s turn-of the-century vision of a (north)western mining
town and its denizens is at once painterly, elegiac, poetic, and
subversive. Warren Beatty is McCabe, a doomed yet doughty small-time
card sharp, and Julie Christie is the whorehouse madam with a heart of
opium, who learn to work together in the emerging town of
Presbyterian
Church. After
achieving a sort of success in their bawd-and-bathhouse business
partnership, they are made an offer they shouldn t refuse by a large
corporation, from which emerges the tragedy. The film runs against what
might be considered the conventions of the western
movie.
There s no high-noon brightness to it, only a dark, sometimes even fuzzy
cinematography. No arid desert and butte-iful backgrounds, but evergreen
forest and intermittent snowstorms. No showdown in the main street, but
rather a gunfight played out by opponents slinking through backyards and
alleys. The ultimate mutually-suicidal meeting is witnessed by only the
camera, as the townspeople are all off trying to extinguish their burning
church. Beatty s McCabe is the quintessential antihero, bleeding to
death in the snow, while Mrs. Miller lies in a deepening drug-induced
stupor.
Not
cheerful enough? Then consider the music, mostly by Leonard Cohen, with
three songs from his debut album. The Stranger Song and Sisters
of Mercy seem to have been written for the film, although they precede it
by more than three years. Written in Cohen s literate and desolate
style, the two songs (about a gambler and a house of prostitution,
respectively) match the slow and deliberate mood of the film. They also
rank among the best examples of 20th-century poetry in
English.
Lyrics take on a meta-importance as Cohen s song Winter Lady plays over
McCabe s death scene: Well I lived with a child of snow / when I
was a soldier, / and I fought every man for her / until the nights grew
colder. This points to the film s subtext: that just as we have
lost the western myth, we have lost the Johnson/Nixon war in
Vietnam.
To a nation battered and torn by the war, such a movie was almost too much
to bear. A critical success, though a box-office flop, it has become
an enduring icon of the era and of Altman s artistic and political
vision. In his book The Great
Movies, Roger Ebert wrote that Altman has made a dozen films
that can be called great, but one of them is perfect and that one is
McCabe & Mrs.
Miller." Try it and see if you agree.
Janet
Marks,
Archivist:
At the
risk of appearing hopelessly old fashioned, I'll nominate one of my
favorites: A
Tree Grows In Brooklyn. It is not a gritty, "slice of
life" film but rather a sensitively framed portrait of a poor family
living in a tenement in Brooklyn at the turn
of the century. Father, a singing waiter given to drink; mother, who
scrubs floors to make ends meet; Neely, the scrappy young son and Francie,
the sister on the brink of growing up. There are no stereotypes here; each
family member is portrayed with shades of anger, resentment,
yearning, love, flaws and triumphs. Central to the story is Francie,
whose favorite reading and dreaming spot is the fire escape
overlooking the shared tiny courtyard where a tree (The Tree of
Heaven) grows stubbornly and valiantly out of a space in the
cement. It is clear but never heavy handed what this
represents. I may be hopelessly old fashioned but, actually, I don't
think the film is.
Betsy
Crenshaw, Reference/Health Services Librarian:
To
Kill a Mockingbird, made in
1962, has long been a favorite of mine. In spite of the fact that it was
made in 1962 and is set during the Depression, it reminds me
- for reasons good and bad - of my own childhood. Growing
up in Texas and
Oklahoma in the
1960 s and 70 s, I witnessed the awful cruelty of societally sanctioned
racism and experienced the resultant early awareness of both injustice in
the world and the need to combat it. This film, with fine naturalistic
performances and a gentle touch for a harsh subject, continues to move me
each time I view it.
Rodney
James,
Circulation Assistant:
Let
The Right One In, 2008, is a new addition to the
collection. Directed by Thomas Alfredson, it's based on a novel with the
same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay for the
movie. Though it is in the genre of horror, it is a touchingly beautiful
retelling of the classic vampire tale, centering on the relationship
between a twelve year old bullied boy, and his new neighbor, a vampire
that has been twelve years old for hundreds of years. Don't get me wrong,
it definitely has its horrific moments, but overall, it is a movie about
friendship, loyalty, and can you believe it, love. I definitely recommend
it!
Paul
Tremblay,
Coordinator of Reference Services:
I can t
explain my fascination with Peter Watkins films. He is not the father of
docudrama or nonfiction re-enactment after all but he certainly is the one
who exploited the genre to perfection. His fake documentaries have
influenced a number of filmmakers and genres. Edvard
Munch (1976)
is shot as a documentary produced during the life and time of the
nineteenth-century Norwegian painter & years before the invention of motion
pictures. Actors were asked to behave as if they are documentary subjects,
looking awkwardly at the handheld camera, answering the interviewer s
questions, etc. Same with The War
Game
(1966) in which
Watkins pre-constructs the impact of a nuclear attack on
London. Amazingly
enough, the film won the Best Documentary Oscar!! More recently La
Commune (Paris 1871)
(2000) shows us, again documentary style, how French
experimented with provisionary government. Reality TV learned a lot from
Watkins, sometimes imitating (read: plagiarizing) his style of reality
make-believe. Today s bachelorettes or a bunch of survivors never looked
so real & except they re not!
Martin
Zimerman,
Electronic Services Librarian:
I like explosions and on-screen chaos (as long as nobody really gets
hurt). I loved the entire X-Men
series and the Transformers
films, as well as the entire Terminator
series. The movies don t have to be science-fiction. Bad Boys II was a great example of
how much damage can be done to property with the properly executed car
chase scenes.
Charles
Guarria, Acquisitions Librarian:
I recommend
Ghost
because everyone should have a Ditto moment.
Sheila
Tyler,
Acquisitions Assistant:
I
recommend Devil
in a Blue Dress, staring Denzel Washington. I like a
quote he said- A man once told me that you step out of your door in the
morning, and you are already in trouble. The only question is, are
you on top of that trouble or not?
Ingrid
Wang,
Coordinator of Technology and Information Services:
Check out
our Chinese movie collection! Start with the following:
Eat
Drink Man Woman
Lust,
Caution
Hua
Yang Nian Hua
Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Farewell
My Concubine
Raise
the Red Lantern
Thanks to all of you who
read the BCLMC. And thanks to my colleagues who've helped make this
issue special. Thanks to
Ingrid
Wang, who has been nothing but
supportive from day one as the person who posts the issues to the
Library's website. Thanks to my old boss, former LIU Media Librarian
Andrea
Slonosky, who was very generous and
encouraging in this pursuit while she was here. Finally,
thanks also to my fellow Media Center Staffer Lisa
Rivera, who is an absolute
pleasure to work with.
We'll
see you in the New Year with your regularly scheduled issue 51.
Happy and Healthy Holiday
Wishes to all!
"All you
need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."
My
Man Godfrey (1936) |
