First Impressions: Thinking Aloud About Film

• Shanghai Blues (Tsui Hark, 1984)

  Tsui Hark’s SHANGHAI BLUES (1984), starring Kenny Bee, Sylvia Chang and Sally Yeh, is currently playing on MUBI. A commercial romantic comedy with musical numbers galore and lots of screwball and slapstick, the film is easy to like. We discuss the pleasures in the performers, the interwar Shanghai setting, the beauty of its look and design, the inventiveness of its shot design and composition. We note how rare it is to see a look designed purely to please instead of to evoke, convey and signify in contemporary cinema. Might this also be a limitation? The film feels like a quickly executed trifle. It’s very broad and the execution feels a bit clunky. We were nonetheless both charmed by it though Richard rated it a bit higher than I did. Where we intersect and where we diverge is the subject of the podcast.

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• Thinking Aloud About Film: Bellissima (Luchino Visconti, 1951)

  We didn’t manage to get to much of the recent Luchino Visconti retrospective at BFI South Bank but we somehow wanted to mark the moment, and how better than a discussion of BELLISSIMA (1951), particularly through the great Eureka/ Masters of Cinema blu-ray. We discuss its themes of obsession, mother love, fantasy, cinema, the effects of media on private and collective aspirations; how it’s a film that announces its fluency from the opening shots; its relation to neo-realism through on-location shooting and the use of non-professional actors; Anna Magnani’s tour de force performance, drawing particular attention to the scene where she gets the neighbours involved in the beating by her husband; we note how it’s an unusual film for Visconti in that it’s central role is a woman’s role, a vehicle for Magnani; we discuss the elements of camp, something not usually associated with Visconti; a very entertaining film of great depth; a critique of cinema by one of its greatest exponents; a film one can’t imagine bettered; a film worth seeing

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• José Arroyo in Conversation with Dr. Ben Lamb on THE WIRE

  Wonderful to have an opportunity to discuss THE WIRE (David Simon, showrunner: 2002-2008) -- a show which got mixed reviews and diminishing audiences but nonetheless survived to become a cultural touchstone -- with Dr. Ben Lamb. Ben is the author of You’re Nicked: Investigating British Television Police Series, for Manchester University Press as well as the producer of award winning films such as Rewinding the Welfare State: A Social History of the North East on Film and In the Veins: Coalming Communities In his new book on the series – THE WIRE -- Ben Lamb discusses the history of the production, how and why it was made, and he also provides vital context to each season to better understand what happened as well as to enhance the appreciation of the show. We talk on all of this as well as how it was groundbreaking, why its influence persists, how it laid the groundwork for the rise of a whole generation of black stars, how it can be seen to have predicted the rise of populism….and much more.

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• José Arroyo In Conversation With Fiona Cox On Wicked (Jon M. Chu, 2024)

  Fiona Cox, PhD in Film Studies by day, and, under the name of Kitty Mazinksy, chanteuse extraordinaire by night, is the ideal person to talk to about WICKED (Jon M. Chu, 2024). She’s read the book, seen the musical four times and has even performed in it. She now talks to me about musicals, the politics of the film, the dancing, the singing, the numbers, the length. Are critics right about tonal problems in the film? About finding fault with the way it looks? What about the casting and the songs? What does the film convey about race, queerness, female solidarity? How does it speak to the current moment? We compare it to the stage version, find it an improvement, and look forward to part II. Like Fiona herself, this is an ebullient, enthusiastic conversation, full of smarts and laughter.

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• POFCRIT PODCAST 2024: Dylan Day on Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996)

  https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/11/29/pofcrit-podcast-2024-dylan-day-on-trainspotting-danny-boyle-1996/ Adapted from the 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh, Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting is as whimsical as it is putrid. One of the most iconic and provocative films of the 1990s, it serves to examine the life of heroin addict Mark Renton and his addict friends as they endlessly search for the next hit. With an unrivalled energy and an unforgettable soundtrack, we seek to dig deeper into this film’s messages and influences of the film, its context within the “Britpop” movement, its allusions to Thatcher’s Britian, its representations of addiction beyond heroin and so on. We take a look at how effective the audio-visual style of Trainspotting is at conveying the visceral experience of drug addiction and how it is unique in its representation of addiction. Join us as we talk about all this and more.

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