Cool News
Africa-AICN: Cannibal Holocaust; A WALK IN THE NIGHT; The Mummy Returns; FOREIGNER; Portrait of a Young Man Drowning
Everybody seems to be in transit to Cannes but Moriarty and me. Yeah, ol' Father Geek here is holding down the fort over here at Geek Headquarters, Austin branch, annnnnd turning into construction laborer lad at the same time, discovering muscles I thought I'd lost 25 years ago... Here's SOTHA, his nurses, and Rigobert Song with this weeks Africa-AICN column...
Four Hours to departure to the South of France; time is sifting away rapidly. Nice, Cannes,
nudists, showboats, croissants, exhibitionists, secret Tarantino film, Coen
Brother's 'The Man Who Wasn't There', Apocalypse Then, Hal Hartley's
'Monster', Moulon Rouge (hoo haa), LOTR, and DR.SOTHA groupies loom on the
horizon.
Hey there palookas, DR.SOTHA here to quickly fire this Africa-AICN off
before I take off for 'zee French Riiviierra'. I'll beee meeetiiing wiit
Harryee iin a few houuurs'. And they say French is a difficult language. If
you got a film you want me to see there, e-mail me now at
africaaicn@hotmail.com I'll see you at Cannes.
Nurse Hollis, I believe that's the first time in your life you used a pun -
so thank you I will have a 'Nice' day..
SOUTH AFRICA
Taken from www.screenafrica.com
nudists, showboats, croissants, exhibitionists, secret Tarantino film, Coen
Brother's 'The Man Who Wasn't There', Apocalypse Then, Hal Hartley's
'Monster', Moulon Rouge (hoo haa), LOTR, and DR.SOTHA groupies loom on the
horizon.
Hey there palookas, DR.SOTHA here to quickly fire this Africa-AICN off
before I take off for 'zee French Riiviierra'. I'll beee meeetiiing wiit
Harryee iin a few houuurs'. And they say French is a difficult language. If
you got a film you want me to see there, e-mail me now at
africaaicn@hotmail.com I'll see you at Cannes.
Nurse Hollis, I believe that's the first time in your life you used a pun -
so thank you I will have a 'Nice' day..
SOUTH AFRICA
Taken from www.screenafrica.com
so thank you I will have a 'Nice' day..
SOUTH AFRICA
Taken from www.screenafrica.com
* The Film and Publication Board has decided not to allow the distribution
or public exhibition of the extremely violent 1979 exploitation film
"Cannibal Holocaust" (directed by Italian filmmaker Ruggero Deodata).
"Cannibal Holocaust" has long been cited as one of the most extreme films
ever made and features scenes of utter cruelty towards both humans and
animals. Besides scenes in which various people are ripped apart,
dismembered, tortured and castrated, the film includes the depiction of
violent rape, including an horrific sequence in which a woman is sexually
violated by means of "ritualistic" rape with an oversized stone phallus. The
examiners who had to endure the screening of the gruelling video all agreed
that this was undoubtedly the most disturbing film they had yet encountered.
It was felt that, although the film carries a brutal message about the
West's rape of tribal cultures, this message is unlikely to penetrate
through the gory layers of intense sadism, bloodlust and perverse sexual
violence. The examiners were particularly concerned that much of the
violence in the film is heavily sexualised and that the combination of sex,
violence and explicit nudity made it difficult to establish exactly what
message the filmmakers were attempting to convey. The way in which the film
has already been advertised by its intended distributor further alarmed the
Board. It is clear that the distributor had intended on exploiting the
violence and carnage that pervade the film. After lengthy discussion, the
committee responsible for examining the video gave it an "XX" in accordance
with Schedule 6 of the Films and Publications Act, which states that "A film
shall be classified as XX if, judged within context, it contains a scene or
scenes, simulated or real, of any of the following: ".(4) explicit sexual
conduct which degrades a person and which constitutes incitement to cause
harm; or (5) the explicit infliction of extreme violence or the explicit
effects of extreme violence which constitutes incitement to cause harm".
Films which are classified XX may not be screened or distributed to the
South African public, although the private possession thereof is not
illegal. The possession of child pornography, however, which is also
classified XX, is illegal (Wheeww, intense issue indeed - DR.SOTHA.)
* Good news for lovers of European films! The European Union and Cinema
Nouveau have joined forces to present the 2001 European Film Festival to
audiences in Pretoria (Brooklyn Mall) and in Cape Town (Cavendish Square).
The festival will feature one entry from each of the fourteen European Union
member states represented in South Africa, and will showcase some of the
boldest and best new works to emerge from contemporary European Cinema.
Cinema Nouveau executive, Nico van der Merwe said, "The festival is bound to
be both an entertaining and enriching experience for South African
audiences. Local audiences are more and more interested in non-American
films and this festival will give them the opportunity to see some of the
best films from Europe." European Union representative at the Swedish
Embassy, Ulrika Soneson said that a festival of this nature is a great
opportunity to highlight European culture in South Africa. "This is a
wonderful opportunity for the EU and South Africa to merge and encourage
cultural exchange between Europe and South Africa". Countries participating
will be Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Italy,
Austria, Ireland, Netherlands, France, Greece, Germany and Spain. FRU's
contribution will also extend to the inclusion of a fine selection of short
African Films to this year's event. Zola Maseko's "Foreigner" and a
selection of short films from the 'Short and Curlies' series will add a
defined African flavor to this year's film festival program. FRU will
arrange for both Mr. Masco and Mr.Teabag Mahlatsi (producer of 'Portrait of
a Young Man Drowning' - part of the 'Short and Curly' short film series to
introduce their films to cinema audiences.
Entrance is FREE and the festival will open in Pretoria on 11 May 2001 at
Brooklyn Nouveau and in Cape Town at Cavendish Nouveau on 1 June 2001.
NORTH AFRICA
* A tidbit on the Mummy shoot in MOROCCO: The Mummy Returns stars Brendan
Fraser, Rachel Weisz and Patricia Velazquez were forced to endure bad
weather and multiple injuries during filming of their new movie. The cast
had to contend with blinding sandstorms and torrential rains during the
seven-week shoot in the Sahara Desert. It got so bad that 90 crew members
were airlifted to safety in a Moroccan army helicopter. Director Stephen
Sommers says, "It was like something biblical. It was a quarter-mile-high
wall of brownness. Then it rained, and a river opened up." Luckily nobody
was seriously hurt, and some of the Moroccan soldiers and horses got to be
extras in battle scenes. But Sommers admits he was a far from good host for
Fraser. He continues, "I blew up Brendan's knee, broke one of his ribs, and
tore a disc in his back. Every once in a while, when you see a pained look
on Brendan's face, he ain't faking it." He adds, "Rachel and Patricia will
never be hand models. Their fingers are all scarred up from the film's spear
fights."
* As always another wonderful review from Rigobert Song:
Hi there readers, I hope DR.SOTHA remembers at Cannes that it's not just
about the parties and the girls and the drinks (Yes it - yes it is - yes it
is!! - DR.SOTHA), but also about the range of films on showcase (Yeah okay,
but it's also about the parties and the girls and the drinks - DR.SOTHA). If
he finds anything like 'A Walk in the Night' he won't soon forget it. It's a
gut churning film with powerful themes woven around its taught narrative,
but before I go on with this review remember to e-mail me at
rigobertsong@hotmail.com and talk about African Film. Also like to wish my
compatriot Sotha a great time at Cannes - enjoy.
A WALK IN THE NIGHT - Directed by Mickey Madoda Dube -- South Africa -- 78
minutes In English and Afrikaans with English subtitles
"A Walk in the Night" is one of the first films from a new generation of
talented young black South African filmmakers who have become active since
the overthrow of apartheid in 1994. Mickey Madoda Dube's debut feature
adapts Alex La Guma's celebrated 1962 novella of the same name into a
fast-paced crime thriller set in present day Johannesburg. The fact that
this story could be so convincingly updated to the present indicates how
little racial power dynamics in South Africa have changed.. The fact that
this program was produced and broadcast by the government owned South
African Broadcasting Corporation shows how much they have.
Alex La Guma (1925-1986), the son of a leading early anti-apartheid
activist, was himself imprisoned twice for his political activities - in
1956 as part of the Treason Trials and in 1962 for progressive journalism.
He wrote "A Walk in the Night" while banned (under house arrest) and it was
originally published outside the country in Nigeria. In 1967 he fled South
Africa for Britain, dying in exile in 1986 while the ANC's representative in
Cuba. The filmmaker, Mickey Madoda Dube, was born in Soweto in 1960 and
studied drama at the University of Witswatersrand and film on a Fulbright at
the University of Southern California. Since returning to South Africa, he
has collaborated in a series of short story adaptations as well as produced
eight dramas and a five part series on the Truth and Justice Commission for
the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
Dube's film adaptation shifts the emphasis of La Guma's story in several
significant ways. For example, by moving the location from Capetown's
vibrant District 6 in the 1950s to a drab, working class Johannesburg
neighborhood today, the original story's Coloured flavor has become more
generic, non-white South Africans. In fact, the milieu of police brutality,
frustrated young men and omnipresent crime which Dube so powerfully evokes,
will be immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with our own inner
cities. Dube's script also tightens the personal ties between the major
characters, condensing the drama and heightening the ultimate sense of
tragedy. In so doing, he is perhaps suggesting that the fate of all South
Africans has become more closely intertwined than ever before.
Dube frames his film with references to the ghost-walking scene in Act 1 of
Shakespeare's Hamlet . In La Guma's original, the bard is quoted only once,
although, significantly, the novella takes its title from this passage: "I
am thy father's spirit doomed for a certain term to walk the night." The
central character, Mikey, is clearly intended to have parallels with Hamlet.
His patrimony has also been unjustly usurped, in this case, by South
Africa's white supremacist regime. Mikey's "Uncle" Doughty, like Hamlet's
uncle Claudius, has had an affair with his mother and Mikey ends up killing
him, though this brings not resolution but further tragedy. The sordid
nightscape of Johannesburg and the flashing sparks of the steel mill where
Mikey worked evoke the Hell from which the ghost seeks release through his
son's revenge.
"A Walk in the Night" recounts a single terrible night when the fragile
world of Mikey Adonis, a young Coloured steel worker, disintegrates. As the
pressures on Mikey build, we see a decent man driven to an act of brutality
by a racist society which humiliates him at every turn. The parallels with
Richard Wright's seminal portrait of black rage in Native Son are
unavoidable. Mikey has just been fired from his job because he objected when
his foreman called him "kaffir," a racial epithet. Coming out of the
factory, he runs into his girlfriend's brother Joey, an "at risk" youth
dabbling in male prostitution and drug running in response to South Africa's
40% black unemployment rate. Mikey, a respected father figure for the boy,
tries to save him from the gangster life-style but realizes that his own
recent work experience doesn't offer a very promising alternative. Next his
girlfriend, Zelda, tells him she is pregnant, the day he has lost the job he
would need to support a family. Finally, on his way home, a racist cop
harasses him for no other reason than to force Mikey to call him "baas,"
stripping away whatever dignity Mikey might have left.
Mikey begins a drinking binge with his Uncle Doughty, a harmless
neighborhood drunk and broken down Irish actor who was close to his mother
and him as a child. As the evening wears on, Mikey becomes more offended by
Uncle Doughty's presumptions of intimacy, telling him he doesn't have a
white uncle. Like many well-meaning white people Uncle Doughty fails to
recognize the radical gap between what they experience and the disrespect a
black man encounters every day. When Uncle Doughty persists in calling him,
"Mikey, my boy," saying that, "It's just a manner of speech," Mikey explodes
and in a rage kills him. The film has shown how words can build up
incrementally with an almost physical force until the most casual social
encounter can seem to encapsulate an entire oppressive social system with
devastating consequences.
Joey visits Mikey soon after Uncle Doughty's murder and is mistakenly
accused of the crime; he flees into the night pursued by the police. Mikey
chases after him, appalled at what he has done to Uncle Doughty and Joey.
But he is too late to prevent the same rogue cop who harassed him earlier
from shooting Joey at point blank range. The policeman then turns his gun on
Mikey but, in a radical departure from the original novella, he is shot by
his white partner before he can shoot Mikey. However improbable this may
seem, it suggests that, although racism is still rampant in post-apartheid
South Africa, it is now possible for some to see things in terms of basic
human rights instead of ethnic loyalty. An angry crowd has gathered around
Joey's shooting and, in the film's last scene, they march into the dawn out
of the long night of apartheid with somber determination.
Mikey is no Hamlet; rather than a dead tragic hero, he is a man living with
his deeply flawed actions. In the last scenes, there is little sense of
vindication yet a catharsis of sorts has occurred, at least for the viewer,
a resolution to stop this tragedy from repeating itself. By updating an
apartheid era story into the post-apartheid period, Mickey Dube has squarely
confronted the central issue facing South Africa and its cinema: how both to
reveal the pentimento of the past persistent in the present and at the same
time show that new, non-racialist scenarios are available for the future.
AFRICAN AMERICAN
* Former James Bond star Roger Moore will venture into comedy as he is in
negotiations to join the cast of the indie feature "Boat Trip" for
first-time director Mort Nathan. Shooting begins at the end of the month in
Germany, with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Horatio Sanz ( Saturday Night Live) in
lead roles. In addition, Roselyn Sanchez has been cast as the female lead in
the film, which is a joint venture between Brad Krevoy's Motion Picture
Corporation of America and Germany-based International West Pictures.
Co-written by Nathan and William Bigelow, the story centers on two straight
men (Gooding and Sanz) who embark on a Caribbean cruise on the USS Calypso
in search of love and romance only to realize that they are on a gay cruise.
Moore would play Lloyd, an elegantly dressed gay man who served for 30 years
in the Army. Sanchez plays Britt, the ship's only female crew member, who
befriends Gooding thinking he is gay yet finds herself falling in love with
him. (This explains why he was touting Gooding Jnr as the first black Bond -
because the dude has a crush on him in the film - DR.SOTHA)
* Jamie Foxx has signed a feature film development deal with Paramount-based
Nickelodeon Movies to co-write, executive produce and star in a family
comedy tentatively titled "We Do." "Bentley Kyle Evans, a writer on Foxx's
WB Network series, will co-write the film with Foxx. The two sold it as a
pitch to Nickelodeon. The story is told through the eyes of a 12-year-old
who is the nephew-in-law to a commitment-shy bachelor (Foxx) who marries a
woman with a large extended family.
* And now something for the dreamer in all of us: Cindy Crawford has had an
affair with basketball giant Shaquille O'Neal - according to the athlete
himself. The 7 foot 1 inch star claimed on a Los Angeles radio show that he
slept with the beauty. Friends say that the pair enjoyed a passionate night
together while they were both single in the mid '90s. A source says, "Shaq
wasn't an L.A. Laker yet and he had hopes of moving to L.A. and becoming a
movie star. Cindy was still licking her wounds from her July 1994 split with
Richard Gere and they simply fell into each other's arms." Cindy's
representatives deny the claim and one insider adds, "Cindy is deeply
embarrassed that Shaq opened his big mouth. And Rande is furious too. She
has a lot on her plate with marriage motherhood and her career. It was
something that happened in the past when she was single, but she resents
having it thrown in her husband Rande Gerber's face in public." (Ouch -
DR.SOTHA)
* Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network has removed 12 cartoons from a Bugs
Bunny Marathon set for next month because they include racial and ethnic
stereotypes, the Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper said that
although the 12 cartoons were originally going to be accompanied by
prominent disclaimers ("Cartoon Network does not endorse the use of racial
slurs. These vintage cartoons are presented as representative of the time in
which they were created and are presented for their historical value."),
executives of the network decided to yank them after receiving messages from
executives of corporate sibling Warner Bros. expressing their displeasure.
Warner's, the newspaper said, "stopped short of a veto."
Approximately 3 and a half hours to go and I'll be off to Cannes, (about the same time it takes Nurse
Hollis to wheel a gurney around the wards.)
DR.SOTHA REVO & OUT
-
+ Expand All
-
this movie will rokc
-
Zombie Holocaust hasn't got man 'good' bits but if you're British then the version you are watchings 'good' (i.e. gory) bits are in fact uncut - it just aint very extreme. Good to see South Africa has progressed and not gotten 20 years behind on the censorship issue then ! I find it hard to believe a country with that my innate violent history find something like Cannibal Holocaust that disturbing. Guinea Pig yes, Bunman yes, Cannibal Holocaust nope. It's a good film dont get me wrong just (like say Last House on the Left) not quite deserving of the reputation that precedes it.
-
Most disgusting film I have ever seen in my life ... and yes, this includes 'Batman and Robin'.
-
Flippant bastards - have you seen it - Nope? Yes? Did you get the subtext or did you fall into the explointation-tag trap. Title is literal translation of italian holocausto ('wholesale sacrifice' etymology fans) and cannibale (a species that consumes it's own) Honestly, if these themes were put in a Kurosawa or Kubrick movie you kids would be chomping at the bit. But no - we're just gonna get samall minded invective from piss takers. Film fans. That means fans of all types of film. Not just ones that your peer perceive to be cool. You're a disgrace. Really.
-
This one is always good for a laugh, and we're having the same argument over on the "American Psycho Too" board. I appreciate your serious attitude, Straxboy, but I think the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST-as-exploitative-shit discussion can be fairly easily put to rest as follows: 1.) It's no secret that the film was made in an attempt to make some buck. I doubt Ruggero Deodato - the balance of whose entire oeveure features not a single other sociopolitical commentary of any kind, but plenty of exploitation flicks - would deny this. The atmosphere in the European genre film scene in the 70's was one of "can you top this?", particularly in regards to the cannibal subgenre, a genre designed to EXPLOIT, not "explore" or "examine", Western perceptions of Third World native civilizations. A MAN CALLED HORSE made a load a' dough in the early seventies, and that inspired an Italian film called MAN FROM DEEP RIVER, a cannibal film which aped the "Richard Harris hung from hooks" scene from the previous movie, and THAT movie made a modest sum, so Ruggero Deodato made a film called JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, AKA CANNIBAL, AKA LAST CANNIBAL WORLD. (Let me add that mondo films like MONDO CANE and ADDIO AFRICA also added fuel to the fire.) JUNGLE HOLOCAUST was a fairly gruesome straight-on exploitation film that gave the audience what Deodato thought they want - dirty gibberish-spouting natives ripping white people apart. It had no pretense whatsoever to art or social commentary. It made a lot of money, so Deodato followed it up a few years later with CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. Although admittedly effective (at least at making me feel bad about being human), CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is structured purely in the interest of exploiting its subject matter for tittilation of the kind of folks who dig freak shows, right from its "Blair Witch"-style "recovering the lost footage" set-up. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST paid off for Deodato, at least in Europe, and so even more (and stupider) cannibal films followed. 2.) CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is shot-through with wall-to-wall animal cruelty. While the violence against the human characters is simulated, all of the violence against animals is REAL, and yes these animals are killed, and yes the deaths are CRUEL. I don't care what point a filmmaker is trying to make, this is NEVER acceptable or defensible for any reason. Why was it done? Because Deodato thought geek-show audiences would eat it up, and because it was cheaper to kill real animals than to create dead animal effects (as Lucio Fulci did in the earlier LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN). This is just deplorable! 3.) This is really "1 pt. 2", but just LOOK at Deodato's other non-cannibal films... PARANOIA, HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE PARK, CUT AND RUN, even WASHING MACHINE... this guy's not genius or artist. He just likes to make people squirm. If the guy ever had a worthwhile thought in his head, he didn't put it on film. I challenge anyone to debate me on these points. Bring it on.
-
But I'm a hypocrite and I'll be the first one to admit it. Jean Renoir's LA REGLE DE JEU, aka THE RULES OF THE GAME, is absolutely one of the finest motion pictures ever made, but it does feature that brief scene of the hunting party bringing down a rabbit. As this is 1939 we're talking about, I doubt Renoir had the SFX department rig up a fake bunny. I wish he didn't think this was necessary... but anyone who has seen THE RULES OF THE GAME at least will agree that the potency of the film's climax hinges on the idea of defenseless "game" being preyed upon by well-armed predators being established early in the film. We might also debate extremity: is shooting a rabbit the same as slowly and methodically dismembering, skinning, burning, gouging, etc., a rabbit? One thing is certain: I will never forgive John Waters for letting that creepy hick fuck the chicken to death in PINK FLAMINGOS.
-
...even if his justification for animal cruelty is a little shaky.
We met him a few years ago at a film festival in London. A great guy who has been pretty much shafted by the movie world for trying to depict the savagery of the human race.
We also caught a rare big-screen showing of Cannibal Holocaust, which was screened in German, no subtitles and with all the fake human-2-human violence removed, but the all-too-real animal snuff intact. We do not know what this says about the sensibilities of the German people...
By the way, if you haven't seen the movie and you really want to, please be aware that the slaughtering of the giant turtle is one of the most nauseating things you are ever likely to see...
Watch it and realise that there was nothing original about the bloody Blair Witch Project at all. -
I had heard alot about this film,some bad ,some good.So i bought it on dvd on an online auction.Having grown up on a steady diet of horror i approached this film with a "i can't be shocked,nothing can shock ME!"attitude.
It starts out nicely enough.The opening music is strangley unfitting yet suits the mood perfectly if you know what i mean (probably not).But then along comes one of the most brutal rape scenes,in fact THE most brutal rape scene i have ever witnessed.Then we have ourselves a nice bit of animal killing,a jungle rat is sliced from the belly up to its neck screaming as its bleeding to death and then eaten and we haven't even met the cannibals yet.But the scene that stays in everyone's memory is the turtle death.Without doubt the most vile peice of film i have ever seen.
Cannibal Holocaust is not a bad film by any means.The fake human to human effects are so damn good they had the director arrested for making a snuff film.The "lost footage"done some 20 odd years before blair witch is more authentic.
The film as it stands is one with many good ideas.The thing that lets the whole film down are the animal killings.Films are for entertainment.Death is not. -
Sing it, my brother.
-
Deodato has often said that he doesn't understand why people make so much fuzz about the animal killings. Fact is that the turtle was to be slaughtered by the native people anyway, wether there were was a camera around or not. I admit that when i saw the scene for the first time it was pretty shocking but common'... if you are a meateater don't be hypocrite. The steak you consume everyday is from a cow that has been electrocuted, killed, butchered in a blood drenched slaughterhouse and I don't see many people complain about that.
Deodato is at least an honest filmmaker. He understands the link between sex, lust, aggression and violence which most of us don't dare to recognize. We are nothing more than a bunch of 'animals' that acts by very old basic instincts and protected by a very, very, thin layer of vulnerable civilization.
I wish i could discuss this in a much deeper way but as english is not my mother tongue i rest my case.
PS: "No animals were harmed during the making of this post"
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 439 total posts 159 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 144 total posts 142 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 155 total posts 140 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 55 total posts 45 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 196 total posts 45 posts
- I am The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day! No, I’m the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! -- 35 total posts 35 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 60 total posts 34 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 127 total posts 32 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 513 total posts 29 posts
- The Sensorties Revisit The Friday Docback (And Still Smell)!! DOCTOR WHO Story #7 Again, The Coming Of Season/Series 7, And More!! -- 118 total posts 27 posts