For this week, we have a Russian double feature.
Tarkovsky’s The Mirror (1975)
From Wiki”
The film’s plot focuses on the Nazi German occupation of Belarus, and the events as witnessed by a young teenager named Flyora, who joins the Belarusian partisans, and thereafter depicts the Nazi atrocities and human suffering inflicted upon the populace. The film mixes hyper-realism with an underlying surrealism, and philosophical existentialism with poetical, psychological, political and apocalyptic themes.
Bruster’s millions
https://m.ok.ru/video/2469015456283
Sorry, I don’t have the embed for this but this is the entire movie and it shows pretty good. Are you interested in Richard Pryor? Are you interested in black comedy? Are you interested in a piece of great entertainment with enough lessons to teach us all about greed and the misery of being a wealthy celebrity in a starving world.
Brewster’s Millions is a 1985 American comedy film directed by Walter Hill. The film stars Richard Pryor, John Candy, Lonette McKee, Stephen Collins, and Hume Cronyn with supporting roles by Jerry Orbach, Pat Hingle, and Tovah Feldshuh. The screenplay by Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris was based on the 1902 novel of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon. It is the seventh film based on the story, focusing on a Minor League Baseball pitcher who accepts a challenge to spend $30 million in 30 days in order to inherit $300 million from his great-uncle. Wiki
Now playing
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings is a 1976 American sports comedy film about a team of enterprising ex-Negro league baseball players in the era of racial segregation. Loosely based upon William Brashler’s 1973 novel of the same name, it starred Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor. Directed by John Badham, the movie was produced by Berry Gordy for Motown Productions and Rob Cohen for Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on July 16, 1976.
The film was a box office success, grossing $33 million on a $9 million budget.
Mrs Doubtfire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP3l0onPpPI&ab_channel=PhoenixHopesRobin Williams. San Francisco. We have a young father with three children and a wife who is now making more money than him living in San Francisco. Pop is not a bad guy. He’s not particularly an alcoholic or a drug addict. He’s just a little bit feisty and headstrong. He is an actor trying to make his way in the world and unfortunately, being a young actor does not always pay very well. It’s especially true for guys with personalities that like to throw punches now and again.
Well, the chips go on the table and the wife decides she has had enough of the fun and anarchy of his child life. Some people had to work and become adults and some people just wanted to stay children and his children should not be around a man living like a child. This was the reasoning. It’s open to suggestion at what level we deal with this question. But in any case, the guy was literally trying to be a good dad to his kids. No drinking. No narcotics. Just the inconsistent rather difficult life of trying to be an actor and make a living at it. And he loves his kids with all of his heart and never does anything to harm them.
Well, here comes the voice of the woman saying that this is this and that is that and she has this and doesn’t have that and about herself it’s not important what is important is only this and so on and so forth. Everything must go with her and he is left trying to figure out how to stay with his kids.
You can look it up but I think that’s kind of the beginning of the plot summary. It’s great entertainment. Robin Williams. For ESL people, try and stay with Robin Williams. Interestingly, he was quite universal. There were no particular local idioms to worry about. Everyone could understand despite the speed.
Eminant Domain (1990)
The film is based on the true story of a senior member of the Polish Politburo (played by Donald Sutherland) and his wife (played by Anne Archer) who are both abruptly banished from the party. While they struggle to figure out why, having unusual encounters with people they do not know in the process, things start to take a darker turn when the wife is sent to a mental asylum and their 15-year-old daughter is kidnapped.
What I like about this film is how accurately it displays Poland and Polish politics. I agree that my sojourn in Poland was somewhat later than this one and theoretically under a different system but it was so much the same but I almost feel nostalgic watching this film. To me however the genuine question is whether we believe in the life of the bureaucrats as it is. I’m not exactly sure this is what people actually want with their public funds. Also, Donald Sutherland passed away recently. He has always been one of my favorite actors.
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Six String Samurai (1998)
In a post-apocalyptic world where the Russians have taken over a nuked USA and Elvis is king of Lost Vegas, “Six-String Samurai” chronicles the tale of Buddy, a hero who’s a ’50s rocker and wandering warrior rolled into one, too-cool package. Armed with his six-string in one hand and his sword in the other, Buddy is on his way to Vegas to succeed Elvis as King. Along the way, he saves an orphan who decides to play tag-along to his rescuer. What follows is the road trip from hell.
A boy and his dog (1975) – a post-apocalyptic dystopian story of exploitation set in the future year of 2024.
Here’s the wiki:
A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 American black comedy science fiction film directed by actor L. Q. Jones, from a screenplay by Jones based on the 1969 novella of the same title by fantasy author Harlan Ellison. The film stars Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Alvy Moore, and Jason Robards. It was independently produced and distributed by Jones’ company LQ/Jaf Productions. The film’s storyline concerns a teenage boy, Vic, and his telepathic dog, Blood, who work together as a team in order to survive in the dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Southwestern United States.
Plot
In the post-nuclear war United States of 2024, Vic is an 18-year-old boy, born in and scavenging throughout the wasteland of the former southwestern United States. Vic is most concerned with food and sex; having lost his parents, he has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. He is accompanied by a well-read, misanthropic, telepathic dog named Blood, who helps him find women to rape, in exchange for which Vic finds food for the dog. Blood cannot forage for himself due to the same genetic engineering that granted him telepathy. The two steal for a living, evading bands of raiders, berserk military androids and mutants. Blood and Vic have an occasionally antagonistic relationship (Blood frequently annoys Vic by calling him “Albert,” after the wholesome writer about dogs Albert Payson Terhune), though they realize that they need each other to survive. Blood wishes to find the legendary promised land of “Over the Hill” where above-ground utopias are said to exist, though Vic believes that they must make the best of what they have.
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New for this week, we have a double feature. Two romantic comedies featuring Cary Grant in the leading role both of which with ridiculously snappy dialogue. If you are a language fan, or a fan of late spring early summer romances, both of these will bring a lot of pleasure to you.
Film Number 1: Bringing Up Baby
Here is the blurb from Wiki:
Bringing Up Baby is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predicaments involving a scatterbrained heiress and a leopard named Baby. The screenplay was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a short story by Wilde which originally appeared in Collier’s Weekly magazine on April 10, 1937.
The script was written specifically for Hepburn, and tailored to her personality. Filming began in September 1937 and wrapped in January 1938, over schedule and over budget. Production was frequently delayed by Hepburn and Grant’s uncontrollable laughing fits. Hepburn struggled with her comedic performance and was coached by another cast member, vaudeville veteran Walter Catlett. A tame leopard was used during the shooting; its trainer stood off-screen with a whip for all of its scenes.
Apparently the movie was a bomb. This doesn’t mean it was successful, just the opposite. I can’t understand why. I think this film is just awesome.
For literature freaks and other normal people that still have the capacity to read, I have a couple of scripts available. The first is a photographed version of the original text
And the second is a retyped version that is easier to run through a translator if that’s what you think you need to do.
And if that is not enough slapstick comedy for you, check out His Girl Friday in a special colorized version.
His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The plot centers on a newspaper editor named Walter Burns who is about to lose his ace reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, newly engaged to another man. Burns suggests they cover one more story together, getting themselves entangled in the case of murderer Earl Williams as Burns desperately tries to win back his wife. The screenplay was adapted from the 1928 play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. This was the second time the play had been adapted for the screen, the first occasion being the 1931 film which kept the original title The Front Page.
The script for His Girl Friday was written by Charles Lederer and Ben Hecht, the latter of whom is not credited for his contributions. The major change in this version, introduced by Hawks, is that the role of Hildy Johnson is a woman. Filming began in September 1939 and finished in November, seven days behind schedule. Production was delayed because the frequent improvisation and numerous ensemble scenes required many retakes. Hawks encouraged his actors to be aggressive and spontaneous. His Girl Friday has been noted for its surprises, comedy, and rapid, overlapping dialogue. Hawks was determined to break the record for the fastest film dialogue, at the time held by The Front Page. He used a sound mixer on the set to increase the speed of dialogue and held a showing of the two films next to each other to prove how fast his film was.
And for the readers,
and more translatable
My best current popcorn recipe calls for a little bit of super hot pepper and a touch of curry. Enjoy.
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And still playing: 1984
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
For those of you who prefer to read, here is the original text which is in the public domain.
Here is the lowdown from wiki
Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984) is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell’s ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, it centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society. Orwell, a staunch believer in democratic socialism and member of the anti-Stalinist Left, modelled the Britain under authoritarian socialism in the novel on the Soviet Union in the era of Stalinism and on the very similar practices of both censorship and propaganda in Nazi Germany. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated.
One unfortunately ironic thing about this is that it’s so well predicted the future that when the year 1984 actually came around, it was sort of a dirty joke how accurate things were. Now we were literally 40 years after the original writing and yet it seemed that we have never learned anything.
Even now, 77 years after the original writing, we don’t seem to be anywhere near getting over this.
Enjoy the film or the text and please let me know what you think.