Thursday, January 14, 2010

Jason goes to Delirium Cinema and watches CAREFUL

My first time at Delirium Cinema, and they showed a Guy Maddin movie. I love Guy Maddin, and I had never seen CAREFUL, so this was perfect. I arrived and Busby Berkley musical numbers were on the screen, I was offered a beer, and I knew this is a place I will return.

Anyway, about the movies, which started with a few shorts:
SOBRA DOLOROSA: Guy Maddin's odd take on death, family, love, and Mexican wrestling.
SISSY BOY SLAP PARTY: Another Guy Maddin short, and it's exactly what you think.
INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME: Kenneth Anger's weird, colorful, exotic, uniquely drugged-out vision. I know nothing of what happened, but I loved it.

And then the feature, CAREFUL. In a remote mountain village of Tolzbad, everybody is taught from a young age how to be very careful. Partly because they seem to be a naturally timid bunch, but mostly because if they're too noisy the avalanches will cascade down the mountains and kill them all. So when nothing can be said, repressed emotions run wild, which means Guy Maddin gets to run wild. There is love, incest, oedipal complexes, murder, suicide, ghosts, cuckoo clocks (with a goose instead of a cuckoo), severed fingers, and a thrilling duel (with knives instead of guns, of course. Don't want to start an avalanche). Guy Maddin shoots it like an early German talkie from the 30's, with color tints and cracks on the soundtrack. And it's awesome. I'll say it again, I love Guy Maddin!

Total Running Time: 146 minutes
My Total Minutes (estimated): 165,862

[Addendum: This brings up an interesting point. Do Delirium Cinema screenings count as movies I should include in my total minutes? I've put forth the requirement that I only count movies I see "on the big screen, not on home video." That doesn't necessarily mean a traditional cinema screening. But Delirium Cinema is a guy's home, he's just set up a projector and screen in there. I count the Vortex Room, which is probably the closest comparison. My logic there is that it (at least sometimes) operates more or less akin to a traditional theater in that they charge admission, have a schedule (that they sometimes even stick to), have concessions (martinis instead of popcorn, but frankly that's an improvement), etc. Delirium Cinema isn't exactly invite-only, but you do have to be in the know. They didn't charge admission, and it's more low-key. In that way it's more like going to a friends house to watch something on home video. But I guess I count it because of the social event involved in going there. You leave the house to go to a predetermined location at a predetermined time, sit in the dark with strangers (and some people you know, but some strangers), watch the movie all the way through (no pausing to make a snack), and then react to the movie at the end. In those elements it's much more like going to a theater than watching a video at home. I guess it's a judgement call, but I'm counting it as "going to see a movie on the big screen." Of course, your opinion may vary. And if it does, you are cordially invited to go f*ck yourself]

1 comment:

RomanyX said...

And that was Billy Barty (age 9!) in the Busby Berkeley film.