Dogtooth

I don't get to the cinema as often as I'd like these days and when I do it often seems to be to see a revival (admittedly these are always pretty wonderful though they often feel like the "safe" option) or to squint in disbelief at the colossally empty and exceptionally loud spectacle of "Avatar."  Then I see a film like "Dogtooth" and my faith that magical films are still being made is reaffirmed.  This Greek film is easily the best film made in recent years that I've seen.  It is potent and disturbing matter; four people walked out of the screening my friends and I attended.  But I think great art does divide people into strong camps.  I'd recommend this film to anyone old enough to see it, but with the caveat that it is not for the faint of heart or the delicate of sensibility.  It is a strange, surreal meditation on family life with echoes of Bunuel and Tarkovsky in its sun-infused tension and hushed intensity. This is a family that we would like to view from a distance, to judge, but, remarkably, the director, Yorgos Lanthimos, and his ensemble of extraordinary performers allow us to draw close to the characters. They win us with their innocence. It is a playful film that depicts a terrifying form of familial fascism.  It operates on so many levels of meaning it dizzies analysis.  The awe and wonder of childhood are perverted and distorted in this odd remaking of the outside world.  It is the sweetest nightmare and I don't think I will ever forget it.

The goddess returns

PJ's back and she's looking outside herself, reinventing herself artistically yet again. The clip of her performing has her being watched by none other than Gordon Brown. The song? "Let England shake." Perfect.

It's happening again

Terror returns to Moscow. As do conspiracy theories.

The Animal Who Cannot Sleep

Another excellent post from what is swiftly becoming a favourite blog of mine. I'd never heard of this Cioran fellow before, but any friend of Beckett is likely worth attending to.

"Kick" Reinvented

Record Club: INXS "Guns In The Sky" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

This promises to be wonderful from this footage ...

Sleep violence

I've been fascinated by this phenomenon for some time. Another wonderful posting on The New York Times's All-Nighters blog. The bit about the guy accidentally killing his mother-in-law seems a little suspicious.

Philippe Jusforgues

I came across this guy's work in ROOMS magazine. His images are creepy, surprising, and devilishly funny. Check out his website here.

Why we need REM

Insomnia may allow me to get more done, but, according to this fascinating New York Times blog post, those dreams I'm missing could prove very useful creatively ... I dream of sleep.

"Preacher Warns" by Charles Simic

This peaceful world of ours is ready for destruction—

And still the sun shines, the sparrows come

Each morning to the bakery for crumbs.

Next door, two men deliver a bed for a pair of newlyweds

And stop to admire a bicycle chained to a parking meter.

Its owner is making lunch for his ailing grandmother.

He heats the soup and serves it to her in a bowl.

The windows are open, there’s a warm breeze.

The young trees on our street are delirious to have leaves.

Italian opera is on the radio, the volume too high.

Brevi e tristi giorni visse, a baritone sings.

Everyone up and down our block can hear him.

Something about the days that remain for us to enjoy

Being few and sad. Not today, Maestro Verdi!

At the hairdresser’s a girl leaps out of a chair,

Her blond hair bouncing off her bare shoulders

As she runs out the door in her high heels.

“I must be off,” says the handsome boy to his grandmother.

His bicycle is where he left it.

He rides it casually through the heavy traffic

His white shirttails fluttering behind him

Long after everyone else has come to a sudden stop.

Gorbachev on Perestroika 25 years later

Fascinating Op-Ed in the NYT.

A Celebration of Light

We have to remember something very important about what theatre and opera are about: a celebration of light, that's what it is. The only plays in Greece, when there was a lot of light in the middle of the night, were when they would burn these big pieces of wood in pyres so they could illuminate the theatre. People would gather around these bonfires - you know how hypnotic fires are - and there was a communal, collective connection ... In Japan, the first Noh plays were the opportunity to put light in the middle of a night. The idea of theatre is first of all to bring people in a dark room and do the festival of light. Of course the fire of these theatres was replaced by technology, by electricity, but people still come to the theatre to sit around the fire.

--- Robert Lepage

Kathryn Bigelow

I thought "Near Dark" and "Strange Days" were fantastic when I saw them. Now, clearly, it's time I saw "The Hurt Locker." Manohla Dargis here writes about the incredible scarcity of female directors and the bias implicit in the films that women are expected to make and like.

Composers on education

A fascinating look at composers leading workshops and reflecting on their craft and the impact of music in education. Featuring a friend and collaborator of mine, Simon Katan.

Engaging with Sound from Sound and Music on Vimeo.

Corey Haim

I think it's pretty safe to say that "Lost Boys" would be a hard film to sit through for me these days. To put it mildly, the work of Joel Schumacher has not aged well as I've grown older. But I fondly remember Haim's performance. It was so insouciant, electric, and cocky. I can't believe he's gone, but then it's sad to admit that for the longest time I didn't know where he was.

The Guardian has put together a little tribute for him here.

Beck Recruits St. Vincent, Liars, and Os Mutantes for Next Record Club

This is exciting ...

Beck Recruits St. Vincent, Liars, and Os Mutantes for Next Record Club

Good review of a great album

The Quietus take on Liars' "Sisterworld."

ODing with the AC

This looks promising.

Tron is back!

Check out the trailer. Music by Daft Punk! Jeff Bridges! Finally putting CGI to good use! Nostalgia in 3D! I can taste it.

Tanztheater Wuppertal's "Kontakthof"

Got tickets to see this. Pina Bausch's company at The Barbican.

Can't wait.

Liars interview

Liars