Fabulous footage of London, 1966; and fabulous footage of Johnny Halliday adapting the new sound emanating from London: From the new Netflix documentary.
José Arroyo
Monthly Archives: March 2022
Thinking Aloud About Film with Pamela Hutchinson on Hippfest
Hippfest is how fans and admirers endearingly refer to the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival that takes place annually at Scotland’s oldest cinema – The Hippodrome, built in 1912, in Bo’ness. Under Alison Strauss’ guidance, the festival has become a force internationally, bringing to the UK newly discovered or newly restored silent classics, and presented in a varied and imaginative programme under the best conditions: with programme notes by leading scholars (Dina Iordanova, Charles Musser, David Cairns) with accompaniment by leading musicians (Neil Brand), sometimes with scores especially composed for the film (by the likes of John Sweeney and Dr. Chris Letcher), with introductions by specialists (Victor Fan), with an inclusive programme (this year including a strand on amateur filmmaking with a discussion lead by Melanie Selfe and Keith M. Johnston); guest speakers (Bryony Dixon, Lawrence Napper, Donald Smith); performers (Chris Letcher, Paul McGann, Meg Morley) and special events (Mark Kermode in Conversation with Neil Brand and Mike Hammond).
José has always wanted to go. This year was Richard’s second year at the event. We wanted to find out more; and who better to tell us than Ms. Silent London herself, Pamela Hutchinson, critic, curator, programmer, and also author of, amongst other gems, the BFI classic on Pandora’s Box.
The podcast may be listened to below:
Lead-in and Lead-out music in the podcast from the score to The Patsy by The Sprockets –
The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT
and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546
The Catalan short Richard refers to in the podcast may be seen below:
Madrid, 1980 as seen in El Crack (José Luis Garci, 1981)
Madrid after Franco and before Colonel Tejero’s attempted coup in 1981. Filmed for a noir, El Crack (1981) so the bleakness is expected. Still, the decrepitude of the buildings, the dirt, speak of a certain legacy of the dictatorship, now overcome and at the risk of being forgotten. The run-down-ness of it all is evident in other — lighter, comedic — works of the era such as Almodóvar’s What Have I Done to Deserve This or Trailer for Lovers of the Forbidden. This is just a supercut, which I hope to do more with at some point, but here just as a record.
A friend of mine commented that what he saw in the film didn’t look that bad to him. But the film shows us the grandest parts of the city and still one sees about 30 years of grime on all the official building. Then there’s the cars, the garbage on the streets, the relative lack of traffic, etc. It’s the sight of a once imperial city reduced to ‘second world’ status. It’s all glossier now. See for example below in the background the Cine Doré on left side of the street near the centre of the frame:
..and see how it is today (and how it appears in Almodóvar’s Talk To Her. It’s where Benigno goes to see The Incredible Shrinking Lover:
José Arroyo
Eavesdropping at the Movies: 346 – The Batman
Listen on the players above, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.
The latest in a long line of Batman reboots, The Batman claims the definite article for itself – and deserves to. Richly shot, dark, romantic expressiveness spilling from every frame, The Batman leans in hard on bringing the noir of the source material to the screen with unabashed sincerity. It’s the best Batman film of them all.
Deleted scene of Barry Keoghan’s character meeting Batman giving a clearer view of the Conrad Veidt makeup job
#TheBatman Deleted Scene – Watch Barry Keoghan’s Joker meet Robert Pattinson's Batman in Arkham Asylum. pic.twitter.com/E6vnNDokMq
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) March 24, 2022
With José Arroyo of First Impressions and Michael Glass of Writing About Film.
Merlí: Sapere Aude (Netflix)
Those of you looking for a new glossy, sexy, teen drama to sink into might want to take a look at Merlí: Sapere Aude on Netflix. It’s set in Barcelona, much of it filmed in real locations visitors to the city will recognise (the university, Las Ramblas, the beach, el Barrio Gótic, etc). What’s slightly different about it, aside from it being filmed in Castilian and Catalan — so that characters are constantly moving between one language and another, the way people in Quebec do, though I’m not sure there’s a Catalan equivalent of franglais — is that it’s about philosophy students. Each episode not only explores whatever drama or character arc the main characters are given but frames them within (a very traditional) philosophical paradigm (Plato, Socrates, Hume, Spinoza, etc), i,e students making sense of their life through their Introduction to Philosophy Course. The relationship between Pol (Carlos Cuevas) and Bruno (David Solans), led to the Brunol phenomenon, which developed from a previous series with the same characters set in a High School (Merlí) and which I’m keen to explore further. I don’t think one can make very great claims for it — clichés abound — but I liked it very much.
José Arroyo