One Bleak Moment

French cinema detractors usually say that there are 4 rules in a french movie:

1 A train scene

2 A love scene

3 Gratuitous nudity

4 A sad ending.

You got it all here with L'Enfant de l'Hiver (The Winter Child), a depressing story of a young father-to-be who can't live anymore with his wife, and runs into a dead end love story with a young comedian. You can't help the feeling of wanting to cut your wrists after seeing this. The director, Olivier "Demonlover" Assayas, is a former film critic. And it shows here. Better stick with what you know, buddy.

The very sad & short score was composed by Jorge Arriagada,  whose work I actually like a lot, though it remains very hard to find. The OOP OST was an 8 tracks one, with some dialogues chosen for the mood, and especially put before and after some music. A 4-strings piece of work, very delicate, atmospheric, that will help you commit suicide.

Jorge, here you go.

http://www.mediafire.com/?a4dezjnx2xm

Tracklist :

1 Même si je veux partir 0:35

2 L'Enfant de l'Hiver (introduction) 2:00

3 Sabine et Bruno 4:53

4 Je ne sais plus rien de toi 0:17

5 Mouvement 0:34

6 Le Rêve 3:27

7 L'Enfant de l'Hiver (fin) 2:30

8 Ca fait dix jours que je suis à Paris 0:55

BTW, if someone has the OST he made for Blancs Cassés (also made in 1989), I'd love to hear from you.

Christopher Calling

There are a lot of horrible things I heard about Christopher Lambert. His career choices are... how can I put it... weird. Doing Greystoke, moving to Highlander to land on... Fortress 2, the awful Druids and the appaling recent Metamorphosis, one keeps wandering... why? But when you listen to the guy, he just enjoys shooting whatever he likes. That's... rare, even though the quality is not always there.

He made a few movies in France that are, on the contrary, extremely interesting. His best work to date is the 1992 bleak thriller MAX & JEREMIE which, strangely enough, gave the opportunity to Philippe Sarde to compose a master score. Pulsating (track 1 & 4), atmospheric with a few strings (track 6) and sometimes eerie, it really sets the mood. The movie is a kinda black and white thriller shot in color, both riveting and disenchanted. And btw, the solists are Jack Nimitz & Didier Lockwood. Told you : the best.

Let's hear it for Max & Jeremie :

http://www.mediafire.com/?ajl9etbbbjk

Ghostly Bright Lights

What's that light over there in the sky? Could it be... a spaceship? 

Yeah, and a good one, too. It's from Hyperspace, that incredible flick made by Todd Durham in 1985. Unbelievable. Really. And a superb score by Don Davis, in a full orchestral speed. 

How could that happen? How come this sci-fi spoof, waaaay much better than Spaceballs or Morons from outer space (ain't that an esay one?), never came to DVD. Can't even think of Blu-Ray, HD DVD or any brand new thing we'll have to buy to watch movies in the future. There's a crappy DVD version in the UK, released under the name of Gremloids. Gremloids? WTF?

Hyperspace has everything you could wish in a movie-even more. A flying shopping cart battle in a middle of a ravaged supermarket. Laserbeams from walking black gnomes-like aliens. Blossoming romance between an insect exterminator and a garage employee (a very young and sporty Paula Poundtsone). Explosive finale earthings vs aliens - with a death ray malfunction. References to -obviously- Star Wars, War of The Worlds, E.T... it's a riot. And when you thought it was safe to go back to your seat, the movie has been shot in Stereovision. Which means... 3D? I mean, 3D?! i've always been a huge 3D lover and i never knew this one was.

But oh, hell, no widescreen edition on sight, no 3D version ahead et, yawn, no OST available. Anyone?

I could chop my fingers off for not founding anything at all. Except that horrible, pan and scan, man-eating, flesh-crawling, Flashdance-what a feeling UK DVD. (sigh)

Turbulence Ahead

After a few years of resistance, i decided to blog myself til i drop.

Just a few lines to share some of my passions around here, from OST to movies, until the beyond gets me. After all, aren't we all ghosts in reverse?

Anyhoo... being sick as hell for these first days of 2008, i decided to throw myself a bunch of airplane movies. To shake up the ghost tree. 

Starting with Turbulence, my favorite Lauren Holly-impersonating-Karen-Black-in-full-Shirley-Walker-rocking-mood. the way ray liotta gets punched all the 96-mn of this Robert Butler is beyond me. I loved every minute of it.

Then came Red Eye. Great Marco Beltrami score. Rachel McAdams is full scream ahead (am I too Stephen Sommers here?), Cillian Murphy intoxicatingly beautiful and deadly. Wes Craven did a fantastic B-movie gem, retooling the Neve Campbell/Skeet Ulrich duo in Scream for the mainstream audience. Full of airplanes errors. but I love the tension. And the score helps a lot.

To stay in fog mood, i threw some images of Airport. Also a great score. And a-throw-everything-in-your-face-70's-dilemna : abortion, adultery, and more! Jean Seberg's hairdo is great : looks like she's been attacked by the Poodle Avenger. Romantic interest is Burt Lancaster, going on 56. The movie should have been called From here to Maternity, it couldn't have been better. Great suspense though. Great SFX for that matter, though i would have loved to see that 707 crashing during landing. Can't have it all.

Then came Flightplan. Poor Jodie. This Bunny lake is missing rip off is full of void. Nothingness as an art. The Vertigo of what's-my-daughter-doing-in-the-machine-room movies.

The day came to a glorious end. It was dark and way past bedtime. I left my body and went away. Lauren Holly was in a mini-skirt, chased by a vengeful George Kennedy and trying to escape a second Airport 79. I just love those ghost days.