TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday September 27 2011 through Monday October 3 2011
By John Seal
September 26, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Wednesday 9/28/11
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Heroes of Telemark (1966 GB): Remember last week’s column, which featured my ruminations concerning Operation Crossbow, an action-adventure story about Allied heroes sabotaging Axis plans to develop long-range missiles? Well, here’s the same story, only this time it’s heavy water - not missiles - that are the target (heavy water, as you probably know, being a key component in nuclear weapons development). Kirk Douglas plays lead hero Rolf, a Norwegian resistance fighter aiming to put the kibosh on the Nazi plans with the assistance of fellow Scandinavians Knut (Richard Harris) and Anna (Ulla Jacobson). Yumpin’ yiminy! Co-starring Michael Redgrave, Roy Dotrice, and Anton Diffring, The Heroes of Telemark was directed by action specialist Anthony Mann and airs in widescreen this morning.
11:00 AM Encore Love Stories
Nil by Mouth (1997 GB): Now here’s a film I never expected to see on Encore Love Stories. One of the most depressing films ever made, Nil by Mouth stars Ray Winstone as Ray, the foul-mouthed, hard-drinking patriarch of a working-class South London family. In addition to contending with a drug-addled brother-in-law (Charlie Creed-Miles), Ray has anger management issues of his own to deal with, and not infrequently gives wife Val (Kathy Burke) a good kicking - sometimes with force sufficient to send her to the hospital (hence the title). Written and directed by actor Gary Oldman, this grim slice of life drama features more profanity than you can shake a Scarface at. Maybe Encore needs to start a Kitchen Sink Stories channel.
5:00 PM HBO 2
Position Among the Stars (2011 GER): The third film in director Leonard Retel Helmrich’s trilogy recording the lives and times of an average Indonesian family, Position Among the Stars makes its American television debut this evening. Helmrich’s subjects are the Shamsuddins, a tight-knit family just getting by in the slums of Jakarta, and the film follows their efforts to assist niece Tari achieve her dream of a higher education - including, if need be, pawning the family home to help pay for it. Think of Position Among the Stars as a really, really good South Asian version of PBS’s An American Family. Also airs at 8:00 PM.
5:00 PM Sundance
Rain (2008 ARG): I’m used to HBO Signature being the only premium channel airing Argentine movies, but this week we get one on Sundance, too. It’s Rain, a character study about two folks who meet not-so-cute during a torrential and apparently endless winter storm. Alma (A Boyfriend for my Wife’s Valeria Bertuccelli) is homeless and alone - she’s recently broken up with her boyfriend - whilst Roberto (Ernesto Alterio) is a newly returned émigré who needs a place to stay dry. Where better than in Alma’s car? Written and directed by Paula Hernandez, this talky but never boring feature won the Main Prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival. For those in the mood this evening for more foreign language features, Rain is followed at 7:00 PM by Night and Day (2008), a stranger in a strange land tale of Parisian alienation, and at 9:30 PM by Secret Sunshine (2007), a Korean drama about a woman coming to terms with her husband’s death.
8:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Two Heads on a Pillow (1934 USA): Dapper Neil Hamilton stars in this frothy, independently produced romantic comedy about the difficulties a man faces when living with a professional woman. Neil is attorney Jack Smith, whose former wife Evelyn (Miriam Jordan) is also a practicing lawyer. Years after their separation, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the same high-profile divorce case. Can someone else’s unhappiness bring the couple back together again? Look for Henry Armetta in one of his trademark working-class ethnic roles.
Thursday 9/29/11
2:40 AM Starz
The Illusionist (2010 FRA): Directed by Sylvain Chomet, whose delightful The Triplets of Belleville was an art-house hit and multiple Academy Award nominee in 2004, The Illusionist tells the story of Tatischeff, an aging French magician plying his trade in the disappearing world of vaudeville circa the early 1960s. It’s a world of decaying theatres, drafty dressing rooms, and audiences more interested in the big beat sounds of Billy Boy and the Britoons than in a man who can pull a rabbit out of a hat.
Finding work in Paris increasingly hard to come by, Tatischeff eagerly accepts a sozzled Scotsman’s invitation to entertain at his Highland local. While there, our hero meets Alice, a poor young scullery maid in whom he takes a fatherly interest and, after his pub engagement ends, the unlikely couple depart for Edinburgh, where they share lodgings in a hotel populated by other down-and-out music hall entertainers, including a suicidal clown and an alcoholic ventriloquist.
Chomet lived in Edinburgh during the film’s long gestation period, and the final product is as much a love song to his adopted home as it is to the genius of chief inspiration Jacques Tati. Using hand-drawn flat animation (and less reliant on the Bakshi-style grotesqueries of Belleville), The Illusionist captures the essence of that chilly, hilly city. It also features the most memorable bunny to hit the big screen since Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a fish and chip shop that serves both deep-fried chocolate bars and Lobster Thermidor, and even Tati himself: when Tatischeff briefly ducks into the appropriately named Cameo Cinema, the great man’s Mon Oncle is playing on the big screen. Melancholic and droll in equal measure, this is a film that will be treasured by anyone who loves classic animation, Jacques Tati, or men in kilts.
4:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
...One Third of a Nation... (1939 USA): In its time a shocking expose of the horrors of early 20th century tenement life, One Third of a Nation also marked the film debut of a 15-year old lad named Sidney Lumet. Young Sidney has a talking role as Joey Rogers, a New Yorker who takes a tumble from a faulty fire escape and suffers serious injuries as a consequence. Advised to take legal action against the building’s owners for negligence, Joey discovers that the fire-trap is part-owned by his sister’s boyfriend Pete (Leif Erikson) - and to make matters worse, learns that the building’s pre-20th century provenance precludes it from modern building codes and safety laws. Produced by the Federal Theater at a time when government was considered not the root of all evil but a force for good, this little picture was shot on Manhattan and Long Island with the avid support of progressive Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and the New York City Fire Department.
Friday 9/30/11
Midnight HBO Signature
La Nana (2009 CHI-MEX): I haven’t seen this Chilean-Mexican co-production yet, but it looks promising. Catalina Saavedra stars as a maid trying to hold on to her long-time gig during hard times. The film was a huge hit on the festival circuit and even earned a Golden Globe ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ nomination in 2010.
7:30 AM The Movie Channel
The Romantic Englishwoman (1975 GB): Here’s a highbrow drama where you can really feel the quality. Based on a novel by Thomas Wiseman and adapted for the screen by Tom Stoppard, The Romantic Englishwoman stars Michael Caine as Lewis Fielding, a novelist hoping to overcome his writer’s block by penning a film script. Recently returned from abroad wife Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson) introduces him to holiday fling Thomas (Helmut Berger), and Lewis decides to work Thomas and Elizabeth’s infidelity into his screenplay. Perfect post-modern material for Stoppard, The Romantic Englishwoman co-stars Michael Lonsdale and Kate Nelligan, and is one of the best of director Joseph Losey’s "late period" features.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Switchboard Operator (1967 YUG): TCM offers a brief salute to absurdist Yugoslav filmmaker Dusan Makavejev this evening, commencing with this very odd story of a young phone company employee who falls in love with a rat-catcher. Much of the film is played straight, but Makavejev spices things up with anti-Soviet political commentary (remember, Tito’s Yugoslavia was aligned with the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War), old newsreels, songs and poetry about rodent extermination, and a lot more. It’s definitely not what you’d expect from a Communist director. The Switchboard Operator is followed at 12:15 AM by Man Is Not a Bird (1965), Makavejev’s comparatively doctrinaire dissection of life in a Serbian mining town.
Saturday 10/1/11
8:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Zorro Rides Again (1937 USA): Zorro Rides Again concludes this morning with its final chapter, followed at 8:30 by the first episode of its inferior but still enjoyable 1939 sequel, Zorro’s Fighting Legion.
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959 USA): While I’m not sure I’d concur with this film being the T-man’s greatest adventure, I would suggest it’s definitely one of the highlights of the series. Gordon Scott returns as the Jungle Lord, this time out for revenge against some murderous British diamond miners, including Anthony Quayle, Niall McGinniss, and the young Sean Connery. The film benefits from an African location shoot - no, it’s not all stock footage this time - and Ted Scaife’s widescreen photography looks great. It’s definitely one to watch if you’re amongst the pickier of Tarzan fans.
9:30 PM Sundance
Enter the Void (2009 FRA): Well, what can I say about Gaspar Noe’s paean to drug abuse, free love, and urban alienation? The story is both boring and repulsive, as are the main characters, a western drug dealer living in Tokyo, and his assorted hangers-on and lovers. On the other hand, Enter the Void looks amazing: from its rapid-fire opening credits to several lengthy "trip" sequences, it’s one of the most visually impressive and daring films of recent vintage. If you grew up dropping acid to 2001: A Space Odyssey, you may get some similar vibes here - but be warned: this is definitely a very bad trip. There’s also a grueling abortion sequence that will test the stamina of all but the hardiest of viewers.
Sunday 10/2/11
7:00 AM Showtime
The Thin Blue Line (1988 USA): I’m not the biggest fan of Errol Morris’ "docudrama" style of filmmaking, but there’s no denying the power of The Thin Blue Line. Morris’ documentary recreates a Texas murder case and the shady circumstantial evidence that led to the conviction of a drifter who probably didn’t pull the trigger. The victim, however, was a police officer, so the Dallas P.D. and local prosecutors felt compelled to cobble together a case and get a swift conviction. The film features a Philip Glass score which viewers will either find mesmerizing or annoying as Hell. Also airs at 10:00 AM.
Monday 10/311
11:00 PM HBO Signature
Tropico de Sangre (2010 DOM): After nine years of writing this column I’m starting to lose track of things. Is this the first time I’ve written about a film from the Dominican Republic? I’m not sure, but even if it isn’t, Tropico de Sangre is worth a recommendation. It’s a historical drama about Minerva Mirabal, a political dissident who fought against the Republic’s Trujillo dictatorship during the 1940s and ‘50s. Mirabal is played with gusto by Texas-born Michelle Rodriguez, whilst the not-so-great dictator is portrayed to perfection by Abel Ferrara veteran Juan Fernandez. I don’t know enough about the period in question to comment on the historical accuracy of the film, but as entertainment, it’s first rate.