Sweet Movie (1974)

Since Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" was my first official review here, I now go to the opposite extreme and bring you "Sweet Movie." These two films can not be any farther apart from each other, in fact any movie review from now on will probably fall somewhere between the innocence of "Sleeping Beauty" and shear taboo pushing anarchy of this film.

I had never heard of "Sweet Movie" before, and would assume most of you haven't either. It came to me by way of one of the most important words to a film junkie, "Criterion." There are very few words that will cause me to see a film without knowing anything about it, a few directors names come to mind; Hitchcock, Speilberg, etc., maybe an actor or two; Jimmy Stewart, but it is the word Criterion that does it all of the time. For those who don't know Criterion, and are truly serious about film, you need to start looking for them right away. The Criterion Collection is a privately owned company that distributes the highest quality versions of important international classic and contemporary films. They pioneered many innovations in the way movies were presented on video that are now standard features such as letterboxing, commentary tracks and the release of multi-disc sets, special editions and definitive versions. And unlike the Oscars, they know what is important when it comes to film, with only a few exceptions. Their releases are usually priced much higher than a normal DVD, but this money is usually going into restoration and the highest quality of extras that can be had for each individual picture. If you can afford it, it's worth the money.

With that in mind, I found myself one weekend pulling into one of my usual video stores to browse what's new only to see a big sign reading, "Going out of business, all videos must go." All DVD's were $7, I immediately began to salivate. Upon entering, I realized the store had been picked through quite well already. But I knew that the "normal" movie going audience would go to the New Release shelf to get the fourth sequel to a really bad movie, a DVD they could probably pick up new for a few dollars more, I would search for that special word Criterion. I ended up finding 5 and purchased them all for what the price of one would have been. And in that pack was "Sweet Movie."

The film created a huge controversy upon its release in 1974, with most critics outraged. It would be banned or severely edited and continues to be banned in many countries to this day. It was nearly impossible to find since its initial run until this release by Criterion in 2007. Directed by Dušan Makavejev, who had been exiled from Yugoslavia after his previous film "WR: Mysteries of the Organism," it pushes the boundaries of societal norms touching on any number of taboo topics. Believe me when I say there is something to repulse and disturb all but the most jaded sensibilities in this cinematic mind bomb: urination, defecation, vomiting, seduction of children, senseless murder, communal idiocy, abuse of all kinds, and actual footage of the aftermath of the Soviet Katyn Massacre of 21,000+ Polish citizens in 1940. This just begins to touch what you'll experience, and although I consider myself a very open minded individual, I must admit I just had to turn away from the screen on a few occasions.

The film also contains some dark humor and opens on what could have easily been a skit from Monty Python. A beauty contest is being held to find “the most desirable, prominent, and well-preserved virgin.” Miss Canada (Carole Laure) claims the prize which is to marry Mr. Kapital, the milk tycoon, played by John Vernon (Animal House’s Dean Vernon Wormer). That night, as their honeymoon begins, he goes through an elborate cleansing process before urinating on her with his golden penis. She tries to escape and is helped by a black servant, who abuses her before he smuggles her away to Paris, by literally stuffing her in a suitcase. She meets El Macho (Sami Frey), a Latin pop star, and are instantly attracted to one another. They become locked together while having intercourse on the Eiffel Tower and must be carted away in tandem by the medics. Later Miss Canada falls in with an anarchist commune. The commune practices some liberating sessions, where a member, with the assistance of the others, goes through a (re)birth experience, cries, urinates and defecates like a baby, while the others are cleaning and pampering him or her. When last we see Miss Canada, she is seen acting for an obscene advertisement, where she masturbates covered in liquid chocolate, the culmination of the comingling of sex and capital in her life.

This story is interspersed with another involving Anna Planeta (Anna Prucnal) piloting the candy-boat Survival through Amsterdam’s canals, with a papier-mache head of Karl Marx on the prow. After taking a sailor on as passenger, Planeta seduces him and then stabs him through the heart as they frolic in a bin filled with sugar. Later, she woos children on board and they meet a similar fate. We later see their tiny bodies, wrapped in plastic by the police, but they experience an unexplained resurrection and wander off from their bodies.

Looking back on the movie, I can't help to notice all of the fairy tale/myth motives and themes that run throughout the story, (ironic coming after my review of Disney's "Sleeping Beauty".) Isn't the "most desirable and pure virgin" contest that begins the film just symbolic of all the fairest of the fair princesses that star in any children's tale. The "princess" is then handed over to the "evil prince/king" which she must flee from and find her own happiness. While on her journey she'll encounter strange people or creatures that may bring their own horrors. Even the secondary story reminds me of Hansel and Gretel. In this case the "witch" entices boys/men to board her boat filled with sugar, candy and sex only to kill them for her own pleasure. But this is a fairy tale for adults, with mature imaginary and horrors. It's difficult to fully comprehend everything that is going on, and I feel there is much more happening than I understand. There seems to be a major political undercurrent, with symbols always present in the background of scenes, or in some cases (Karl Marx's head on the boat) right in front of us. But without a complete knowledge of European Political History is lost on me.

I can understand why many people revile this film and its excesses, and it would be difficult for me to recommend this film to the majority of people. Understand that you are entering a nightmare and that you will be disturbed. With that said, I must also add that there are scenes from this movie that still haunt me to this day, for either its surreal beauty or tormented debauchery. "Despite the bitching and grousing, Sweet Movie is an important film that takes many measured risks. Watching it more than three decades after its release, one can only be reminded that today’s filmic efforts suffer from more repression and censorship than was the case in the 1970s." But you have been warned, enter at your own risk.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

I thought it rather appropriate to start my movie journey with a Disney film. It's where I, and probably most children, began watching movies. Some of the first films I remember seeing in a theater were through Disney, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "The Rescuers" are the first two that come to mind. This was pre-video days when the only way you could see a Disney film was when they would create a new one, re-release one of the older films which seemed to be in a 7 year rotation, or broadcast one on Sunday's "Wonderful World of Disney." But "Sleeping Beauty" never struck much of a chord with me. I truly don't remember seeing this film as a child, but that doesn't mean I didn't. I did eventually pick it up on video, but it was more to fill out my Disney collection. When I was in a "Disney" mood, it was never one I choose.

When it was released on DVD, a few times, I always passed it by. In 2008, it became the first "classic" Disney animated film to be released on Blu-Ray. A friend wanted me to pick up a DVD copy for her kids and I came across a great package deal that contained a Blu-Ray and DVD copy for just $10 more than the DVD copy alone. I decided it must be worth the extra $10, and off I went with my first Disney Blu-Ray.

My overall opinion was one of amazement. The story is still rather simple, but this truly is an absolutely beautiful film to watch. As close to an "art masterpiece" that I've seen. If drawings of daVinci's or Rapheal's could move, this might be what they would look like. From a technical standpoint, this was the first feature film released in Super Technirama 70. It was shot on a 35mm Technirama double-frame negative (the frame is as big as two regular Academy frames joined together) running horizontally through the stop motion camera, with each frame photographed three times (once with a red filter, once with a blue filter, and once with a green filter). This negative was then printed to both CinemaScope-compatible anamorphic film and Super Technirama 70mm film. Even with the Widescreen DVD release of this film, I don't believe the entire frame was shown until now. And with the precise clarity of the High Definition picture, this may be the best presentation of this film since it's first release in 1959.

Part of the splendor of this film is the art direction, especially in the backgrounds. For the first time on a Disney animated feature, one man was in charge of the color styling, background design, and the overall look of the film. Eyvind Earle, inspired by European medieval painting and architecture, created a bold and unique art style different from any Disney film up to this point. Although it is said that many of his colleagues did not care for his production methods and art style at the time. Eyvind actually painted the great majority of the production backgrounds for this film, which is an amazing feat when you think about all of the backgrounds used, along with the extreme width of the 70mm screen. So much detail was put into the backgrounds on this film that many of the character artists were worried it would take away from their work, and in some cases it does, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Your eyes just continue to take in so much, and you find new things with each viewing.

This was also the last Disney feature to have cels inked completely by hand. This process takes such a great amount of time and money. This particular film was in active production from 1951 until the end of 1958, making it one of the longest animated films to be produced. There was no way the Disney company could continue creating such high quality animated films in this same way.

Character design was also at its peak. Maleficent, the fairy/witch is one of the most prefectly created symbol of evil in all of motion picture history. Her metamorphosis into the dragon is also among the most memorable. Sleeping Beauty on the otherhand, is taken from the usual cookie-cutter princess design, but she really doesn't play a huge role in the film, and has very few lines of actual dialogue. The story is actually centered around the three fairies who protect her, not about the Sleeping Beauty herself. Rose/Aurora is only featured in a few scenes and hardly ever says a word. She doesn't utter a single word in the second half of the film, neither before or after she falls under the spell. Her first line comes 19 minutes into the film and her last line comes 39 minutes into the film. However, she does sing two songs during that time. The Prince of the story is one of the few Disney "men" that actually does something worthy of the princess. Risking his life battling the witch/dragon in the rousing climatic battle. Of course Disney changed the original story around to make it more "happy ever after", but you should expect that by now.

And let me not forget about the music. Much of the musical score is based on Peter Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty" ballet, a personal favorite composer of mine. The lovely melodies and drawings are so prefectly matched it truly seems as if the music was specifically written from this film. The Disney artists must have learned quite a bit from "Fantasia" when it comes to combining classical music with animation.

My final thoughts on the movie are that although the story still doesn't tug at my heart the way many of the other Disney films do, it truly is a beautiful film to look at and listen to. I also really enjoyed the film commentary and extras that the Blu-Ray offered. It is overloaded, with many of the usual fair, but the "making of" documentary was very good, as well as a look inside the Sleeping Beauty walk-through housed in the castle at Disneyland. An attraction that has been closed for decades. The overall presentation helped make me a believer in the HD format.

Where To Begin....Does Technology Matter?

As I try to decide which film to begin this space with, my mind keeps pondering how technology plays a key role in movies, or at least our viewing of them. The invention of film has been around from more than 100 years now, and although there has been changes and new technology created (sound, color, wider screens), and compeitition (T.V.), I feel that the last 20-30 years has really changed the way we experience film. The next 10 years might even have a greater impact on this.

Although there were major changes to movies, such as sound and color, the experience of watching a film hadn't changed much. You went to a large room, filled with strangers, the lights would be dimmed and the image was projected on a large screen or wall. Even with the invention of T.V., you would still go to the theater to see a "movie." When movies did start appearing on the small screen in the 60's and 70's they were edited for content and cut for commericals. It was not until the early 80's with the introductions of the VCR and cable that the movie experience began happening in an individual's home, even though it was on a small scale.

In the last 10 years, improvements have been made on the "home theater" front, as the T.V.'s have gotten clearer and bigger, and sound systems have matched those found in movie theaters. The way we receive and view film has also gotten smaller and more transportable as people begin to download movie files to laptops and even smaller hand held devices. How does this change the way we experience movies? It has to have an effect? I had never seen "Lawerence of Arabia" and a teacher told me to wait to see it on the big screen, "don't let your first viewing be on a television." I listened to his words and waited almost 10 years before I found a movie house showing it in all it's brillance. I couldn't imagine watching this on an ipod screen.

Now I don't consider myself a Tech Geek by any means, but I have progressed through the VCR-Laser Disc-DVD-HD-Blu Ray chain of machines. Which I guess is why this thought began forming in my head. Christmas 2008, will really be the big push for Blu Ray to go mainstream. It's the first holiday for it to have no competition and DVD players and discs are already being pushed to the back aisles of stores, if they appear there at all. Even the neighborhood video stores, and I don't mean the mom and pop shows, they were killed off years ago, but the large chains seem to be dieing a slow death. And next up will be uploading a HD movie file direct from the internet. But it's difficult for me to not have that hard object in my hands. I like the round disc I can slide into my machine. But maybe that's just progress. I'm sure there were people saying I want to feel the film strip in my hands, why would I want my movie on a round disc?

Which brings me to my Blu-Ray player. I've actually had it for about 6 months now and my HD player even longer. (I still like my HD player better, but alas, that era was very short lived). Although, both of these players along with the HD T.V. show an extremely clear and detailed picture, it wasn't until a recent viewing of a film, did it really blow me away! I have seen this movie before on T.V. and video, but never in a theater. When I viewed it on my Blu-Ray I feel as though I was expereincing it for the very first time. So what better way to begin my journey than with this film.....

Film Junkie

"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone; it bosses the enzymes; directs the pineal gland; plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to film is more film."-Frank Capra

What can I say, I am a junkie. Actually, I think we all are, it's just a question of what object, substance, or person, that we are addicted to. Mine just happens to be movies. I'm kind of happy about this. It's not as damaging on my body as say drugs or cigarettes, or as expensive as sports cars, designer clothes, or remodeling. Just give me my $15 fix, and I'm good to go.

I think my father was the first to get me hooked on film, not that he has any interest in them. He worked for an electronics company for a short time and one day brought home a new machine called a VCR. Someone had purchased it and something wasn't working right. They asked for a new one, and now the company was stuck with a machine they couldn't resell. So it was given to my dad. This was really at the early stages of the game, early 80's, when these machines were going for $500 or more. I began taping the Late Late Show at midnight. This was pre-cable and the only place to see older movies was on late night T.V. And so it began....

As mom and pop video stores starting going up on street corners, I would ride my bike and randomly rent films that I've heard of but had never seen. Then it happened, the day I rented Casablanca. This was the moment. Up to this point, I was still a novice, just dabbling in my "substance" of choice, my "recreation drug". I could have still been able to walk away. The lights went out, Max Steiner's music began and I was completely hooked. It's the only movie I've ever watched and as soon as it ended, I hit the rewind button, and immediately watched again. The addiction took hold and I realized I would either need to continue feeding my itch with "more film" or I would need some type of extensive 12 step program to ever be set free again.

There were other movie milestones in my life. I took a film studies class my senior year in high school, then a few more in college. If anything this just feed the addiction. Like with most addictions, your college experience is one of experimentation. So too was it for me. I was slowly led to the strong stuff, a semester of Hitchcock, a year with the Foreign Masters, and on and on.

Now, some 30 years later, I still find myself looking for another fix, another unknown moving story that will give me that cinema high. I know there are other junkies out there just like me. Hopefully we'll be able to chat some about our film addictions and pass along our celluiod "drug" of choice.