Category Archives: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee: The Parallax View

Posted on by
Reply

“The Parallax View” (1974) is a conspiracy thriller directed by Alan Pakula and written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Three Days of the Condor). The plot centers on reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) who, while investigating claims from an ex-girlfriend who witnessed a political assassination, uncovers a plot involving the mysterious Parallax Corporation run by a network of shadowy power elites. One of a number of films of the era (including Executive Action and Winter Kills) which conveyed political assassination theories through a fictional narrative.

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: Nothing

Posted on by
Reply

“Nothing” (2003) is an existential comedy and third feature film from director Vincenzo Natali (Cube). The plot follows two friends and roommates: Andrew, an antisocial travel agent who works from home, and Dave, a prototypical office drone. After experiencing the worst day of their lives, they somehow will the world outside of their house out of existence. While this creates a temporary respite it also leads to new problems mainly in the form of boredom and cabin fever.  Will the two protagonists manage to keep their sanity and find their way out of nothingness?

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: Cube

Posted on by
1

“Cube” (1997) is an existential Canadian sci-fi feature film debut from director and co-writer Vincenzo Natali. The minimalist plot focuses on a group of strangers forced to navigate and survive a series of cube-shaped rooms which are more often than not rigged with deadly surprises. Besides the variety of bizarre and unexpected traps, the film’s main source of tension lies in the question of whether the group’s diversity of backgrounds and personalities will lead to their salvation or mutual extinction.

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: Shadows of Liberty

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis from ShadowsofLiberty.org:

Shadows Of Liberty reveals the extraordinary money and power behind the news media dictating censorship, cover‐ups and corporate control.

Filmmaker Jean‐Philippe Tremblay takes an intrepid journey through the dark corridors of the American media landscape where global conglomerates call the shots. For decades their overwhelming influence has distorted journalism and compromised its values.

In highly revealing stories, renowned journalists, activists and academics give insider accounts of a broken media system. Controversial news reports are suppressed, people are censored for speaking out, and lives are shattered as the arena for public expression is turned into a private profit zone.

Tracing the story of media manipulation through the years, Shadows Of Liberty poses a crucial question: why have we let a handful of powerful private corporations write the news? We’re left in no doubt, ‘…what will save us is when we really know what’s going on, media not filtered through the lens or the microphone of a corporation.’

Saturday Matinee: Tokyo Blood

Posted on by
Reply

“Tokyo Blood” (1993) is an anthology film consisting of four experimental shorts directed by Gakuryû Ishii (formerly known as Sogo Ishii) thematically connected by the theme of entrapment in Tokyo’s urban landscape and desire to escape. The opening film, “Street Noise” is an impressionistic audio/visual collage depicting an anonymous salaryman’s state of mind as he breaks down from sensory overload. The second vignette, “Bicycle” follows the journey of two young strangers bonded by alienation who aimlessly explore the city by bike after a chance encounter. The third chapter begins as a parody of structuralist film theory (not unlike early works by Peter Greenaway) but soon descends into the hyper-kinetic chaos reminiscent of films by fellow Japanese avant-garde director Shinya Tsukamoto (The Tetsuo Trilogy). The concluding film, “Heart of Stone” is seemingly a transmission from a post-human feature combining the styles of Chris Marker’s essay films and Craig Baldwin’s found-footage narratives.

Saturday Matinee: BrainDead

Posted on by
Reply

309052-3

“BrainDead” (2016) is a political/sci fi satire created by Robert and Michelle King. It originally aired last Summer (on CBS!) in the midst of the heated presidential campaign and the story takes place in the same time-frame following aspiring filmmaker Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as she gradually uncovers a plot hatched by a parasitic alien species to divide and conquer the country via covert takeover of DC. The necessary tonal shifts of the plot are handled surprisingly well, balancing horror, comedy, romance, and conspiracy thriller. Instead of traditional plot recaps, episodes feature a clever musical synopsis by Jonathan Coulton. While enjoyable and provocative (for network TV at least), the writers missed an opportunity to incorporate the bizarre presidential campaign directly into the plot (though the connection is implied). While the plot serves as a satisfying allegory it fails to explain brain dead behavior of politicians and pundits before and after the alien invasion. Unfortunately this won’t be addressed in future episodes since the series wasn’t renewed.

You can watch the first and only season of BrainDead here.

(Note: due to spam ads it may take several clicks to get the videos to play. Pop-up windows or tabs should be immediately closed to prevent slowdowns).

Saturday Matinee: Industrial Symphony No. 1

Posted on by
Reply

mv5byjcznzfjotktzgrmns00yjc3ltgzngetmdqxzwy4mjuwmjkzxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvymzu0nzkwmdg-_v1_uy268_cr100182268_al_
“Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted” is a short theater production written and directed by David Lynch. It was originally performed at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of the New Music America Festival on November 10, 1989 and was released for home video in 1990. Created between his film “Wild at Heart” and TV series “Twin Peaks”, the piece combines elements of those and other David Lynch projects. The introduction features the two protagonists from Wild at Heart, the set design evokes the dark post-apocalyptic imagery of his early paintings (and the more nightmarish aspects of his filmography) and the soundtrack features a cross-section of collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise, most of which were from Cruise’s album “Floating Into the Night” (a couple songs were also featured on the Wild at Heart and Twin Peaks soundtracks).

Saturday Matinee: Battle Royale 2

Posted on by
Reply

“Battle Royale 2: Requiem” (2003) is an under-appreciated yet boldly provocative sequel taking place three years after the events of the first Battle Royale. The protagonists of the previous film have joined other survivors of past Battle Royales to form a terror cell known as Wild 7. After a major bomb attack, a new class of high-schoolers kidnapped by the government are forced to raid Wild 7’s island hideout and assassinate the group within 72 hours. Battle Royale 2 was director Kinji Fukasaku’s final project, who died of cancer shortly after filming began. The majority of the the film was directed by his son Kenta Fukasaku who wrote the screenplays for both films.

Watch the film with English subtitles here.