Dulce Pontes; A brisa do coracao

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

The singer is the Portuguese Dulce Pontes, the music is by Ennio Morricone. Theme song for the 1998 Portuguese film Sostiene Pereira (Sostiene Maintains).



Recently discovered the film. In this household it currently rates as one of the most enjoyable viewed so far this year. More about it here: Sostiene Pereira (Sostiene Maintains)

Anna Karina: Amoureux? Qu'est-ce que c'est?

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Anna Karina explains it all in this clip from Jean-Luc Godard's film Alphaville...

Hackgate: The Movie

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Trailer for upcoming film about Rupert Murdoch, tabloid "journalism" and industrial-scale criminality. . .

Michel Legrand: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Opening credits of the 1964 Jacques Demy film. Yes, even more umbrellas . . .

Burial: In McDonald's

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Lowkey London dubstep meets the McDo scene in Wong Kar-wai's film Fallen Angels . . .

Charlie Chaplin: Modern Times

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Chaplin and Paulette Goddard set off down the road to Happy Destiny . . .

Jean-Luc Godard: Éloge de l'amour

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

In Praise of Love, a film by JLG with music by David Darling and Ketil Bjornstad (ECM Records) . . .

To torrent a film or not to torrent a film -- that is the question

An independent film maker writes:

In a nutshell, I believe the only films that are hurt by torrent sharing are mediocre and bad films. In contrast, the good films of any genre only benefit from file-sharing. Due to this, I feel the current file-sharing trend is a catalyst for a true evolution in filmmaking and attempt to explain my theory in this article.

To read the whole thing, go here: torrentfreak

Chungking Express / California Dreamin'

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

The scene in Wong Kar-wai's film Chungking Express of the first meeting of Tony Leung and Faye Wong at that kebab place in Lan Kwai Fong, Midnight Express.

The (loud ) music is, bien sûr, by The Mamas and Papas . . .

Renan Luce: Les Voisines

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

The visuals are from Hitchcock's film Rear Window. Ah, the neighbours . . .

Woody Allen: Play it again, Sam

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

The Jackson Pollock, what does it say to you?

Paolo Sorrentino: L'Amico de Famiglia (The Family Friend)

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

The loan shark comes to visit. . .



Five Reasons Why Paolo Sorrentino Will Save World Cinema: NY Magazine

Sorrentino's Il Divo: mister b

Shigeru Umebayashi: Yumeji's Theme

For the weekend, a guilty please.

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung pass each other by in Wong Kar-wai's gorgeous In The Mood For Love:

Grace Chang: Habanera

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

From the Hong Kong film Wild Wild Rose (1960), Ms Chang offers a spicy version of Habanera from Bizet's opera Carmen:

Reading mattters

Robert Glatzer writes::

The quintessential Foley artist story comes from the Brian DePalma film "The Untouchables," where we see Robert De Niro as Al Capone whack somebody on the head with a baseball bat. So how do you create a sound to match the visual, and make it believable, without actually doing someone bodily harm? After many experiments and many failures, the Foley artist found the right tools: a bowling pin hitting a raw turkey. You could try it yourself

Film credits 101: salon
Who is Alan Smithee: salon

Reading matters

Pretty crime: French gangster movies, by Joe Queenan: guardian

Let the Right One In

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Best Swedish adolescent vampire movie this century:

Marianne Faithfull: Who Will Take My Dreams Away?

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Clip from Patrice Leconte's film La Fille sur le Pont.

Professional knife-thrower Daniel Auteuil takes aim at the object of his desire, Vanessa Paradis:

Paolo Sorrentino: Il Divo

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Film of the year: Il Divo.

Sorrentino's visually stunning film covers the life and murderous times of the seemingly untouchable Giulio Andreotti.

Now retired, Italy's prime minister on seven separate occasions, Andreotti was the Machiavellian, quixotic, powerbroker and wheeler-dealer. In this clip, Andreotti's political inner circle arrive for a meeting:



UPDATE. Italian not up to scratch? Nessun problema:
"Apart from the Punic Wars, I’ve been blamed for everything that’s happened in Italy. They’ve honoured me with several nicknames: The Divine Julius (il Divo), The First Letter of the Alphabet, The Hunchback, The Fox, Moloch, The Salamander, The Black Pope, Eternity, Man of Darkness, Beelzebub. But I’ve never pressed charges for a simple reason: I have a sense of humour. I have something else, too: a vast archive in place of an imagination. Every time I mention it those who should shut up do so, as if by magic."

Vali Kerekes: Kész az egész

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Clip is from the Hungarian film Karhozat (Damnation) by Bela Tarr. The song Over & Done, composed by Mihály Víg and sung by Vali Kerekes, begins at 1"37".



Have a great weekend.