The perks of having an online video renting membership is finding movies that I’ve never heard of before and discovering that I’ve been missing out on so much and learning that I have so much more to take in. If that makes any sense. I’m really bad with run-ons.

Julian Schnabel’s Before Night Falls is an example of this. I had no expectations of it and after watching it, I’m completely flustered as to why Schnabel hasn’t made more films. He’s so good.The film chronicles the life of the Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. It’s also a portrait of an intolerant country whose hypocritical political agendas severely affected it’s people. There is a luminous quality to the way Schnabel uses light that makes the movie less gritty to look at. It’s a great cinematography feat he has come to perfect in The Diving Bell and Butterfly. For me, the  incorporation of daylight so aesthetically pleasing to the eye gives off a sense of hope to an already devastating subject matter. Anyway. Check it out on your own time. Bonus points if you can spot Spicoli and Johnny Depp’s ass.

{Translation}
Passing through the exploding streets,
since the pipes are ready to give out passing around the buildings,
we need to dodge,since they are falling onto us,
between the hostile faces scrutinizing and sentencing us,
between the closed establishments,closed markets,closed movie theaters,closed parks,closed cafés.
Exhibiting already dusty signs (justifications) occasionally,
CLOSED FOR REFORMS,CLOSED FOR REPARATION.
What kind of reparation?
When will this alleged reform end?
When at least will it begin?..
Closed… closed… closed…everything closed…
I arrive and open the innumerable locks,run up the improvised stairwell.
There she is waiting for me.
I discover her,remove the canvas and contemplate her dusty and cold dimensions.
I get rid of the dust and caress her.
With the slightest brushes from my palms,I clean her back,her base,her sides.
I feel desperate, happy,at her side,before her,I run my hands over her keys,and rapidly,everything is set in motion.
The ta ta, the jingling,the music start…

film still from Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas

Two great movies in one sitting. I had to rent this movie after I saw this scene on TV when we used to have all those fancy cable channels. The quiet dialogue between Nastassja Kinski and Harry Dean Stanton’s characters is really powerfully emotional on a personal level. You don’t know anything about Travis and Jane’s history yet. You don’t know how they met or why they’re not together anymore. The film itself, is an hour and fort-five minutes of desolate cinematography and loneliness. But Stanton and Kinski are so immersed into their characters that when they finally recognize each other in that room, even though separated by a one-way mirror, that conversation is understood only between the two of them and the act of watching them  is like a voyeuristic interruption during their intimate moment.

Orlando directed by Sally Potter

I had not heard anything about this movie before, but I always saw it lingering on the shelves at Hollywood. The cover for the DVD is just horrible.  I always thought it was one of those sleazy romance movies, but after checking it out on my Netflix, I have to say, it is a very very good movie. The film is about an androgynous hero/heroine who lives for over 400 years, both as a male and a female. Yeah, it sounds really quirky and a lot to soak in, but Sally Potter does a terrific job and Tilda Swinton plays the title role, and her performance is nothing short of amazing.

This is a great climatic scene from the movie. (Watch and listen to the amazing soundtrack and you can really tell Sofia Coppola took a few tips from Sally Potter for her Marie Antoinette) The Lady Orlando discovers she no longer has rights to her estate because 1. assuming she has lived for over 200 years, she is deemed dead, and 2. she is now a woman and has no rights to claims to  her house unless she bears a male heir or marries. When she exclaims, “Nature, Nature, take me. I am your bride.” It reminds me of that pivotal scene at the end of Elizabeth in which Cate Blanchett declares her marriage to England.