Makkal Osai

Publication of a Malaysian newspaper, Makkal Osai, has been suspended for one month after it printed a drawing of Jesus holding a can of beer and a cigarette. The image, sourced from the internet, was printed on 21st August; it also appeared in another newspaper, Tamil Nesan, on the following day.

11th Thai Short Film and Video Festival

The 11th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้นครั้งที่ 11) opened on 17th August with The Anthem by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and closed today. Screenings took place at the EGV Grand Discovery cinema in Bangkok. The highlight was yesterday’s Spoken Silence, a themed evening of films about the repressive social and cultural environment following last year’s coup, followed by a Q&A with the directors. There were twelve films in the Spoken Silence programme:

• Bangkok Tanks (a transcript of a superficial Windows Live chat, accompanied by off-air coup footage from CNN; directed by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit)
• Silence in D Minor (filmed through a green tarpaulin which acted as a filter, ending with a CNS announcement inviting youth participation; directed by Chalida Uabumrungjit)
• The Duck Empire Strike Back [sic] (Thaksin’s ousting through the metaphor of a rubber duck; directed by Nutthorn Kangwanklai)
• Letter from the Silence (shots of a letter about a taxi driver who crashed his cab into a tank; directed by Prap Boonpan)
• The Love Culprit (a story told in voice-over followed by a melodramatic karaoke video featuring tribal dancers; directed by Sanchai Chotirosseranee)
• 3-0 (intercutting between a woman trying to cross the road, another woman exercising, and a boy's physiotherapy, and ending with a peaceful anti-coup demonstration; directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong)
• Fake World (actors filming TV commercials, featuring the over-acting and ridiculous sound effects common to Thai TV; directed by Tanwarin Sukhapisit)
• งานเฝ้าระวังความฝันของบุคคลที่น่าเชื่อว่าฝักใฝ่การทำลายศีลธรรมอันดีของประชาชน (‘the dream of a person believed to be intent on destroying the morality of the people’, static shots continually going in and out of focus; directed by Manutsak Dokmai)
• When The Movie Listens (a man sitting and looking into the camera, as if waiting for someone to speak; directed by Tulapop Saenjaroen)
• Man with a Video Camera (a montage of scenes from daily life, including a pro-Thaksin rally, inspired by Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera; directed by Jakrawal Nilthamrong)
• หนีนรกโพธิ์พระยา 2526 (‘fleeing hell in Pho Phraya’, a young girl answering unheard questions, and boys playing with toy guns; directed by Paisit Punpruksachart)
• Middle-Earth (a male couple sleeping next to each other, naked; directed by Thunska Pansittivorakul)

28 Days

House Rama cinema (RCA, Bangkok) is currently in the middle of its 28 Days festival, screening over 200 films throughout August. The festival includes 28+1, a daily screening introduced by a Thai filmmaker. The highlights are: Wisit Sasanatieng introducing Pan's Labyrinth on 21st August, Pen-ek Ratanaruang introducing Paradise Now on 24th August, and Nonzee Nimibutr introducing Audition on 25th August.

The Simpsons Movie

I've seen every episode of The Simpsons, and was eagerly awaiting The Simpsons Movie (directed by David Silverman). In pre-production for over a decade, they kept telling us; the script tweaked right up to the last minute, to make absolutely every line as funny as possible; a creative team composed of the very best writer-producers from the show's entire history.

OK, so we should know better than to believe all the publicity, but the build-up The Simpsons Movie had led us to expect a comedy masterpiece on a par with the greatest Simspons TV episodes. Well, it's entertaining and funny, but not quite laugh-out-loud funny. There are a few great jokes, such as the Fox ticker and Bart's "doodle", but overall the result is average rather than awesome.

Zelig

Woody Allen's Zelig is one of his most technically accomplished films. It's structured as a 'mockumentary', purporting to examine the case of Leonard Zelig, whose personality disorder is so severe that he automatically assumes the physical characteristics of those around him in order to fit in. This provides opportunities for commentary on individualism, social acceptance, and self-expression.

Allen recreates 1930s film footage with impressive accuracy. His 'documentary' clips are convincingly grainy, scratched, and age-worn. The costumes and acting styles are also authentic-looking, making this one of the most successful fake documentary attempts since the March Of Time sequence in Citizen Kane. Only occasionally was real period footage utilised, for example when Zelig is inserted into the background during an Adolf Hitler speech; this technique predates Forrest Gump.

Zelig is, above all, a great comedy. The advanced college course, the disagreement with Freud, and the $600 Hebrew lessons are all classic Allen jokes.

Festival Of Classic Movies

Over the next few days, the Lido cinema in Siam Square, Bangkok, will present a Festival Of Classic Movies, to coincide with this year's Bangkok International Film Festival. Here are the highlights: Casablanca (Sunday); North By Northwest (Monday); Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ (Monday); The Maltese Falcon (Tuesday); Gone With The Wind (Tuesday); The Adventures Of Robin Hood (Wednesday); and The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (Wednesday).

Love & Money

TCDC's new exhibition, Love & Money (20th July to 16th September) features twenty examples of modern and contemporary British design, including the Berliner redesign of The Guardian and Channel 4 TV's new corporate identity.

"VOTE NO"

There is to be a referendum in Thailand on 19th August, in which the public will have the opportunity to vote for or against a new constitution. The proposed constitution has been drafted by committees appointed by the Council for National Security, after they abrogated the previous 1997 constitution.

A 'yes' majority would lead to the adoption of the new constitution, though what would happen in the eventuality of a 'no' vote has not been made clear. There have been hints that, if the new constitution were rejected, the 1997 version would be reinstated, but Sonthi Boonyaratglin refuses to confirm exactly which previous constitution would be resurrected if the new one were rejected.

A 'yes' vote is also being promoted by the Constitution Drafting Assembly as a vote for a quick election. However, Sonthi promised to hold elections this year anyway, regardless of the referendum result. While the CDA is distributing propaganda, "VOTE NO" campaign posters (with illustrations by Pracha Suveeranont) have been seized and taxi drivers are being fined ฿1,000 for displaying anti-constitution stickers.

The proposed new constitution includes an amnesty for the coup leaders. This alone is reason enough to reject it.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Introverted Joel (Jim Carrey) and his kooky girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) break up, and she impulsively visits Lacuna Inc., a memory-removal company. All her memories of Joel are deleted, so that, when they next meet, she has no idea who he is and he is puzzled at her ignoring him. Feeling rejected, Joel also visits Lacuna, to remove his memories of Clementine. However, during the process, he realises how important memories are, and mentally resists the erasure procedure.

Much of the film takes place inside Joel's head, as he fights to preserve the memory of Clementine before Lacuna can wipe it. The script, by Charlie Kaufman is, in this respect, similar to Kaufman's script for Being John Malkovich, which takes place largely inside Malkovich's head. Memory deletion is a science-fiction concept, though Eternal Sunshine could not really be described as a sci-fi film. The concept was used to disturbing effect at the end of OldBoy, though it was pioneered by novelist Philip K Dick.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (directed by Michel Gondry) is one of a small group of films (alongside Memento, Fight Club, and others) singled out by David Bordwell for their narrative complexity. It shares with Pulp Fiction a non-linear narrative structure in which the time-frame jumps back-and-forth and key sequences are repeated. (Babel and The Fountain also employ these devices, though less successfully.)

Although Joel and Clementine both delete their memories of each other, they cannot control fate, so they are destined to meet each other again and fall back in love. Kaufman originally intended the film's ending to imply that the characters were locked in a cycle of meeting, separating, erasing, and meeting again. To me, though, it feels more optimistic, because although they recognise each other's faults (listening to Lacuna session tapes, recalling 'the list' in Friends), they are meant to be together.

2007 Bangkok International Film Festival

This year’s Bangkok International Film Festival finishes today. (It opened on 19th July at CentralWorld’s SF World cinema.) Today’s screenings include the graphic Shortbus (which would surely be cut if it was shown outside the festival) and Luis Buñuel’s scandalous Un chien andalou (showing as part of a Buñuel’s retrospective).

The festival was originally scheduled for February, and then postponed. The entire management team has been replaced, following extensive criticism of last year’s expensive follies (star guests who left as quickly as they arrived; corporate events that were abandoned after the first day), though it is still organised by the Tourism Authority, which is not an ideal situation. The only serious mistake this year was to withdraw the proposed opening film, Persepolis, after pressure from the Iranian government. The highlight was an uncut screening of Ploy (a cut version of which went on general release in Thailand earlier this year).

El Jueves

Yesterday's issue of El Jueves, the satirical Spanish magazine, featured a cartoon of Prince Felipe and his wife having sex, with Felipe telling her: "if you get pregnant this will be the closest thing I've done to work in my whole life". The magazine has consequently been banned by the Spanish High Court.

Zoolander

Zoolander is the first Frat Pack comedy that I really laughed at. The film's main strength is the presence of Ben Stiller as actor, co-writer, and director. Stiller is arguably the most talented of the Frat Pack group. His co-star, Luke Wilson, is one of the rare Frat Packers capable of emotional performances rather than simply broad comedy. (Stiller and Wilson also appeared in Meet The Parents, a quasi-Frat film.) Yes, Will Ferrell has a large role in Zoolander, and I'm not the world's biggest Will Ferrell fan, but at least his Zoolander role is so exaggerated that Ferrell's inability to play realistic characters goes un-noticed.

There is an extended homage to Kubrick's 2001, with Stiller's dim-witted search for files accompanied by Also Sprach Zarathrustra. Also, the list of cameo appearances is very impressive: David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Trump, Claudia Schiffer...

Live Earth

Madonna performed yesterday at Wembley Stadium, London, as part of Al Gore's consciousness-raising Live Earth concert. She sang La Isla Bonita, Ray Of Light, Hung Up, and a new song, Hey You.

Babel

Babel, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, is a cross-cultural account of miscommunication, with a quartet of loosely inter-related narratives set in Morocco, Japan, and Mexico. Its structure, in which each strand revolves around a single event, is similar to Inarritu's earlier film Amores Perros.

It was Jean-Luc Godard who said that a film should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, though not necessarily in that order. Kubrick demonstrated the concept with The Killing, and Quentin Tarantino copied it from Kubrick with Reservoir Dogs and from Godard with Pulp Fiction. While the narrative fragmentation of Amores Perros was masterful, the technique doesn't quite work in Babel, as it effectively removes any suspense or surprise. When scenes are replayed from different perspectives, the technique is little more than a gimmick (in contrast to Tarantino's use of the technique in Pulp Fiction or Jackie Brown, in which each replay reveals new meanings).

Also, it's hard to feel much sympathy for the majority of Babel's characters. Rinko Kikuchi's mixed-up, deaf-mute Japanese teenager is perhaps the only truly sympathetic character, while the others (a frustrated American tourist, a Mexican maid staggering around the desert in high heels, and two amoral Moroccan children) deserve all they get. The naturalistic Gael Garcia Bernal is wasted in a small role, his character simply disappearing and never returning.

Finally, the exposition is extremely distracting. Characters mention things like virginity, cot-death, and suicide in un-natural ways, filling us in on their back-stories. This happens in many films, but in Babel it seems so frequent and unrealistic as to distance us from the characters and events.

1,000 Films To See Before You Die

From Monday to Friday last week, The Guardian printed an alphabetical list of 1,000 essential films chosen by a "panel of experts". Being 1,000 titles, there aren't a great number of important omissions, though as with many such lists some very recent films (such as Borat and Pan's Labyrinth) are included already, before they've had time to mature. Also, there are a few frankly bizarre choices, like Pumping Iron. But, of course, watching most of these 1,000 films would be time well spent.

Ketel One

An advert by Ketel One, the vodka company, features an alphabetical list of "the 50 best films of all time", as follows:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
  
• A Clockwork Orange
  
• American Graffiti
  
• Annie Hall
  
• Apocalypse Now
  
• Battleship Potemkin
  
• Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ
  
• The Bridge On The River Kwai
  
• Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
  
• Casablanca
  
• Chinatown
  
• Citizen Kane
  
• Dances With Wolves
  
• The Deer Hunter
  
• Dr Zhivago
  
• Dr Strangelove
  
• ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
  
• Easy Rider
  
• The French Connection
  
• Giant
  
• The Godfather II
  
• Gone With The Wind
  
• GoodFellas
  
• The Graduate
  
• High Noon
  
• It's A Wonderful Life
  
• Jaws
  
• Lawrence Of Arabia
  
• Midnight Cowboy
  
• My Fair Lady
  
• On The Waterfront
  
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
  
• Platoon
  
• Psycho
  
• Pulp Fiction
  
• Raging Bull
  
• Raiders Of The Lost Ark
  
• Rocky
  
• Schindler's List
  
• The Searchers
  
• The Silence Of The Lambs
  
• Singin' In The Rain
  
• Some Like It Hot
  
• Star Wars IV: A New Hope
  
• The Sound Of Music
  
• Taxi Driver
  
• To Kill A Mockingbird
  
• Vertigo
  
• West Side Story
  
• The Wizard Of Oz

It's populist and weighted towards Hollywood classics, so a few more foreign-language films would be nice (The Seventh Seal and Seven Samurai, at least), but otherwise this is quite a decent list. Note that Ben-Hur is the William Wyler remake rather than the Fred Niblo version. Also, Some Like It Hot is the 1959 comic masterpiece, not the obscure 1939 comedy.

Coincidence

Coincidence is a small exhibition of observational photographs by Thai director Pen-ek Rattanarueng, taken while he was filming on location in various countries. Many of the images capture incongruous advertising images, such as a poster for the film Mr Bean's Holiday. The exhibition is running from 16th May until 17th June at Siam Paragon.

The Hollywood Studio System

Douglas Gomery's book The Hollywood Studio System was first published over twenty years ago, and has been republished in an expanded version. The first edition dealt only with the golden age of the Hollywood studio system (the 1930s and 1940s), though Gomery has now supplemented this with sections on the system's origins (1915-1930) and its death and rebirth (1950 onwards).

The Genius Of The System, by Thomas Schatz, also presents a studio-by-studio history of Hollywood. Gomery's book is drier than Schatz's, though; reading all the economic and corporate detail, you sometimes forget that the studios produced entertainment and art. Gomery takes the 'show' out of 'show business', though Schatz strikes a better balance. However, Schatz discusses only the major studios whereas Gomery finds room for them all.

“Not a genuine party...”

The Constitutional Tribunal, a body established after the coup as a substitute for the Constitutional Court, has ruled that Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai party must be dissolved. TRT executives were found to have paid smaller parties to contest last year’s general election, and to falsify the party registration forms of some party candidates. (If a party campaigns unopposed, a higher threshold of votes is required to win, and candidates must have been party members for at least ninety days before they can stand for parliament. TRT colluded to ensure that minor parties had enough candidates to stand against them, paradoxically making it easier for TRT to win.)

111 TRT executives, including Thaksin, have been banned from active politics for the next five years, and no candidates can contest any future election under the TRT banner. The Democrats, on the other hand, have been acquitted of all charges. The judges’ verdict reads: “The Thai Rak Thai Party acted to advance the personal fortune of its leader and tampered with the electoral process in order to grab and cling to power—this not a genuine party with any ideology”.

The Way Hollywood Tells It

The Way Hollywood Tells It, by David Bordwell, analyses the continuation of the narrative and stylistic trends established by classical Hollywood. It rejects the notion of a post-classical cinema, arguing that the new distribution techniques of blockbuster films (Star Wars, etc.) do not affect the classical construction of the films themselves, that post-modern self-referentiality (in Toy Story, etc.) has precedents from the studio era, and that narrative experimentation (Memento, etc.) is accompanied by classical principles to avoid alienating the audience.

Bordwell, one of the most respected American film writers (whose Film Art is perhaps the most popular film studies textbook), has written this as a sequel to The Classical Hollywood Cinema, his groundbreaking analysis of Hollywood modes of production from 1917-1960. Contemporary American Cinema, the only other book devoted to post-1960 American cinema, goes into more depth than Bordwell's, though its analysis is less impressive.

What Is Design?

Thailand Creative & Design Center's permanent exhibition, What Is Design?, features a VW Beetle and other modern icons, a great opportunity to see 20th century industrial design in Bangkok. It's only a small exhibition, though it's the kind of permanent showcase for design classics that's missing from London's Design Museum.

"The memo is explosive..."

Two men were jailed today for leaking a classified memo detailing a conversation between UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush that took place on 16th April 2004. Civil servant David Keogh, who copied the memo, was sentenced to six months in jail. Keogh had given the memo to Leo O'Connor, who received a three-month sentence for passing it on to MP Anthony Clarke. Keogh and O'Connor were arrested in 2004, when Clarke called the police after finding the memo in his office.

Details of the memo were first revealed by the Daily Mirror on 22nd November 2005, under the front-page headline "BUSH PLOT TO BOMB HIS ARAB ALLY". The report began: "Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals. But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash." The newspaper quoted a source saying: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush."

After the story was published, the Attorney General threatened the UK media with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act if any further details of the memo were revealed. This marked the first and only time that the Act - rather than a conventional injunction - had been used to censor the media. Also, Keogh and O'Connor's trial was held in camera, and the judge ruled that it would be a contempt of court to report Keogh's three-word response when he was asked about his initial reaction to the memo.

Due to the reporting ban, and the closed trial, there has been some confusion surrounding the charges against Keogh and O'Connor. Their arrest was not reported until they were formally charged on 17th November 2005, more than a year after the event. The case was originally linked to another leaked memo, titled Iraq: The Medium Term, published by The Sunday Times on 23rd May 2004, though subsequent media reports have linked the case only to the "BUSH PLOT" memo.

1,000 Films To Change Your Life

1,000 Films To Change Your Life, edited by Simon Cropper, is a book of film recommendations categorised not chronologically but (a la Tate Modern) by emotional impact. There are chapters on Joy, Anger, Food For Thought (i.e. contemplation), Desire, Fear, Sadness, Exhilaration, Regret, Contempt, and Wonder. As a guide to films you might enjoy depending on your mood, it won't really teach you anything new, but it does give useful viewing suggestions.

An appendix titled 100 To Watch lists "100 reviews of key titles mentioned in this book", arranged alphabetically:

• After Life
  
• L'Age d'Or
  
• Aguirre: The Wrath Of God
  
• Alphaville
  
• L'Atalante
  
• An Autumn Afternoon
  
• L'Avventura
  
• Beau Travail
  
• Berlin Alexanderplatz
  
• La Bete Humaine
  
• Bicycle Thieves
  
• Branded To Kill
  
• Cat People
  
• Le Cercle Rouge
  
• Chinatown
  
• Citizen Kane
  
• Come & See
  
• The Conversation
  
• Crimes & Misdemeanors
  
• Le jour se leve
  
• Days Of Being Wild
  
• The Deer Hunter
  
• Dr Strangelove
  
• Dog Day Afternoon
  
• Double Indemnity
  
• Dracula
  
• The Elephant Man
  
• Eraserhead
  
• Far From Heaven
  
• The Five Obstructions
  
• Frankenstein
  
• The General
  
• Gloria
  
• The Godfather
  
• Godzilla
  
• Grand Illusion
  
• The Green Ray
  
• La Haine
  
• Hana-Bi
  
• Heat
  
• Imitation Of Life
  
• In A Lonely Place
  
• In Praise Of Love
  
• Insignificance
  
• In The Company Of Men
  
• In The Mood For Love
  
• Irma Vep
  
• The Killers
  
• Kind Hearts & Coronets
  
• King Kong
  
• Kiss Me Deadly
  
• Knife In The Water
  
• Land & Freedom
  
• Letter From An Unknown Woman
  
• The Limey
  
• The Magnificent Seven
  
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  
• The Man Without A Past
  
• A Matter Of Life & Death
  
• Metropolis
  
• Mon Oncle D'Amerique
  
• My Neighbour Totoro
  
• Night & Fog
  
• The Night Of The Hunter
  
• Ninotchka
  
• North By Northwest
  
• Once Upon A Time In America
  
• A One & A Two
  
• Ordet
  
• Pickpocket
  
• The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes
  
• Rashomon
  
• Ratcatcher
  
• Read My Lips
  
• Sans Soleil
  
• The Scent Of Green Papaya
  
• The Searchers
  
• Seven Samurai
  
• Sherlock Jr
  
• Short Cuts
  
• Singin' In The Rain
  
• Some Like It Hot
  
• The Son
  
• Sonatine
  
• The Story Of The Late Chrysanthemums
  
• Sullivan's Travels
  
• Taboo
  
• Taxi Driver
  
• Things To Come
  
• Time Out
  
• Touch Of Evil
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
  
• 2046
  
• The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg
  
• Vertigo
  
• The Wild Bunch
  
• The Wind Will Carry Us
  
• Witchfinder General
  
• Woman Of The Dunes
  
• Z

The book also has many short essays, including Emilie Bickerton on films that "chastise the viewer for daring to enter the auditorium", Christopher Frayling on "how films can scare us", and Jonathan Rosenbaum on films that generate "open-mouthed awe". In the second of his essays, Geoff Andrews suggests that the best film directors have surnames starting with 'K', and I heartily agree. Speaking of which, there's also a brief analysis of Kubrick's oeuvre by Ben Walters. Note that Frankenstein is the 1931 James Whale version, not the silent Thomas Edison film. Also, Some Like It Hot is the 1959 comic masterpiece, not the obscure 1939 comedy.

Hello!

OK! magazine has partially won its appeal against rival Hello! magazine over publication of the wedding photographs of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. The long-running case dates from the couple's marriage seven years ago, when they signed an exclusive deal with OK! for pictures of the wedding ceremony. Hello! magazine published unauthorised photos of the wedding (on 28th November 2000), resulting in a breach-of-confidentiality lawsuit.

OK! was awarded damages by the High Court in 2003, though the verdict was overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2005. OK! appealed that decision to the House of Lords, which ruled today that Hello! had breached OK!'s confidentiality by publishing the surreptitious photographs, though the Lords did not find that Hello!'s actions had been commercially damaging.

100 Years Of Magazine Covers

Steve Taylor's 100 Years Of Magazine Covers is an international survey of a century of magazine covers, from the first issue of Punch to the latest issue of Modern Toss. The book is divided into five thematic chapters.

The first chapter discusses the magazine cover as celebrity portraiture. An Andy Warhol self-portrait for his own magazine Interview is included, alongside Annie Leibovitz's iconic image of John Lennon and Yoko Ono for Rolling Stone.

Chapter two covers reportage and politics, from the reverential (Picture Post's dignified image of Winston Churchill) to the satirical (a savage Richard Nixon caricature by Ralph Steadman for Rolling Stone, and Harold Wilson on the cover of Private Eye). The scope of this chapter is far too large, though, and although it covers (American) politics quite well, there is very little room for war reportage.

The next chapter is devoted to fashion magazines, including Elle, Vogue, i-D, and Dazed & Confused. Fashion magazines from the 1960s dominate this chapter, alongside a survey of contemporary style titles such as Another Magazine. There are only a few Vogue covers represented, though the magazine deserves much more extensive coverage.

The penultimate chapter concerns cultural movements (such as feminism, civil rights, and gay rights) and youth subcultures (including punks and hippies). This chapter's main focus is underground and fanzine titles like Oz and Sniffin' Glue.

Finally, the last chapter looks at magazine covers as graphic design objects, including some wonderful 1980s typography from The Face and bold 1970s covers from Time Out. Four pages devoted to eleven cover reproductions of Fast Company in this chapter seems highly excessive.

The only previous book to present a history of magazine covers is David Crowley's Magazine Covers. Crowley's book has 100 fewer pages than Taylor's, though it does have an index whereas Taylor's doesn't. Crowley presents double-page spreads on each magazine, organised into the same chapter themes as Taylor. Taylor has more of a pedigree (he has worked for The Face and Arena; his book is introduced by The Face's art director, Neville Brody), though Crowley's book has more historical scope. Both books are dominated by superb illustrations, with minimal text, though Crowley's writing is more detailed.

Flesh For Frankenstein (2D)

Flesh For Frankenstein was filmed back-to-back with Blood For Dracula, and both were directed by Paul Morrissey, who made all of Andy Warhol's Factory films from Chelsea Girls onwards. Morrissey steadily increased the production values, narrative conventions, and cinematic techniques of the Factory films, gradually shedding the 'underground' aesthetic Warhol had initially established.

Warhol's Factory star Joe Dallesandro appears in Flesh For Frankenstein, and, although he is the film's most naturalistic performer (because he was one of the few native English speakers in the cast), he is also the most out of place. He has the attitude of a New York hustler, which, although perfect for his earlier roles in Morrissey's Lonesome Cowboys, Flesh, Trash, and Heat, seems incongruous in the European Gothic context of Frankenstein. The other cast-members, led by Udo Kier as Baron Frankenstein, speak with thick German accents, consequently appearing stilted and artificial.

The film was made in 3D, so there are numerous shots of organs and implements thrust at the camera. I've seen only the 'flat' version, which loses the stereoscopic effects though adds more nudity from Dallesandro. There are decapitations and disembowelings aplenty, though the campy atmosphere removes any vestige of real horror. The tone is set by the film's most famous line, though it's been quoted so often in reviews that repeating it here is hardly necessary.

There is some dispute regarding directorial credit, as, in the film's Italian prints, Morrissey is listed only as a supervising director. It was filmed in Italy (using the same sets as Blood For Dracula), with uncredited second-unit direction by Italian horror director Antonio Margheriti, though rumour has it that Margheriti actually directed the whole film. This rumour has been convincingly denied by Morrissey and the leading actors, though the nature of Margheriti's contribution remains unclear.

Free Thai Cinema Movement

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, one of the leading New Thai Cinema directors, has withdrawn his film Syndromes and a Century from distribution in Thailand. Thai censors had asked him to cut innocuous scenes such as a monk playing guitar and doctors drinking liquor.

Apichatpong refused to censor the film and he has now started a Free Thai Cinema Movement, calling for drastic changes in the Thai censorship system. The campaign will be officially launched at a press conference at the House Rama cinema in Bangkok on 23rd April, which will be attended by Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Nonzee Nimibutr, and other prominent directors.

The Fountain

The Fountain is Darren Aronofsky's third film. His previous works, Pi and Requiem For A Dream, were both staggeringly original, hallucinogenic pieces of cinema.

The film, starring Hugh Jackman and Aronofsky's partner Rachel Weisz, is an exploration of the eternal pursuit of love, death, and immortality, in the past, present, and future. But it's impossible to put all this into a film lasting barely ninety minutes, especially as the short running time includes numerous repetitions of key scenes.

It begins with a quote from Genesis, though its narrative is explicitly derived from Mayan creation mythology and its future sequences seem inspired by Buddhism. The result is a conventional tragic love story with added 2001-style cosmic exploration and narrative ambiguity.

100 Greatest Movies Of All Time

The current issue of Empire magazine's Australian edition has published the results of their reader survey of the 100 greatest films ever made:

1. Star Wars IV: A New Hope
2. Pulp Fiction
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Aliens
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. Donnie Darko
7. The Lord Of The Rings III: The Return Of The King
8. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
9. Amelie
10. GoodFellas
11. The Matrix
12. American Beauty
13. Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
14. The Lord Of The Rings I: The Fellowship Of The Ring
15. The Godfather
16. Grease
17. Braveheart
18. A Nightmare On Elm Street
19. Fight Club
20. Back To The Future
21. Alien
22. Apocalypse Now
23. Gone With The Wind
24. Titanic
25. Forrest Gump
26. Raiders of the Lost Ark
27. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
28. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
29. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
30. Schindler's List
31. Kill Bill I
32. Scarface
33. The Princess Bride
34. Top Gun
35. Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery
36. Rocky
37. Casino Royale
38. An American Werewolf In London
39. The Wizard Of Oz
40. Casablanca
41. Zoolander
42. Gallipoli
43. The Lord Of The Rings II: The Two Towers
44. 2001: A Space Odyssey
45. Heat
46. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
47. Gladiator
48. Terminator II: Judgment Day
49. The Sound Of Music
50. Seven
51. Die Hard
52. Star Wars VI: Return Of The Jedi
53. Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan
54. The Usual Suspects
55. Jaws
56. Memento
57. The Godfather II
58. The Big Lebowski
59. Taxi Driver
60. The Shining
61. Stand By Me
62. Clerks
63. The Silence Of The Lambs
64. Spider-Man
65. The Lion King
66. Chopper
67. Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ
68. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
69. Superman
70. Picnic At Hanging Rock
71. Batman
72. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
73. Platoon
74. To Kill A Mockingbird
75. Blade Runner
76. Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
77. Mad Max
78. Brokeback Mountain
79. Chicago
80. Psycho
81. Moulin Rouge!
82. The Breakfast Club
83. Citizen Kane
84. Reservoir Dogs
85. The Crow
86. Mad Max II
87. Babel
88. Annie Hall
89. All About Eve
90. Animal House
91. Rear Window
92. Crocodile Dundee
93. Seven Samurai
94. The Blues Brothers
95. Romeo & Juliet
96. Monty Python's Life Of Brian
97. Flying High
98. X-Men
99. The Terminator
100. It's A Wonderful Life

Empire Australia's previous poll was in 2002, and was also won by Star Wars IV.

Some people still need to realise that 'greatest film of all time' is not the same as 'movie you saw recently that you liked'; what other explanation can there be for Casino Royale (the Martin Campbell remake) and Borat on the new list? Also, Scarface is the Brian de Palma remake rather than the superior Howard Hawks original, Ben-Hur is the William Wyler remake, Romeo & Juliet is the Baz Luhrmann version, Titanic is the James Cameron version, and Psycho is the original version.

Taxidermia

Taxidermia, directed by Gyorgy Palfi, is visually and thematically grotesque. It's full of startling, transgressive images. (Even the poster had to be censored.) It has the potential to be a midnight movie classic in the tradition of the similarly surreal Eraserhead and the equally transgressive/grotesque Pink Flamingos.

There are three sections, about three generations of men from the same family. Vendel is a soldier during World War II, a compulsive voyeur and fantasist. Vendel's son Kalman, an obese professional speed-eater, is the subject of the middle segment. Kalman's son Lajoska, the taxidermist of the film's title, is the final subject.

The initial segment, concerning Vendel, is sensational. The tone is dark and unsettling, and the concepts (Vendel's unique pyromania in the film's opening scene, his corruption of the Little Matchstick Girl, and his lust for a dead pig) are original and provocative. This segment also begins with a diatribe on the phonology and usage of my favourite word (or rather, its Hungarian equivalent), and contains the film's most transgressive images (real sex and death, and ingenious frontal nudity, though the latter is CGI).

Unfortunately, the disturbingly surreal atmosphere of the opening section is not sustained in the second section. The story of Kalman relies too much on pure abjection, with copious vomiting and mastication during eating competitions.

In the final section, Kalman has become a man-mountain resembling Jabba the Hutt (Star Wars) or Mr Creosote (Life Of Brian). Like the speed-eaters of the middle segment, Kalman is ultimately more comical than shocking. However, at the very end, in the film's most disturbing scene, Lajoska disembowels himself with surgical precision and constructs a self-decapitation machine.

The Departed

Martin Scorsese's latest film, The Departed, won 'best picture' at this year's Oscars (and Scorsese finally won 'best director'). Leonardo DiCaprio plays Costigan, an undercover cop who infiltrates the crew of gangster Frank Costello (played with enormous relish by Jack Nicholson). Matt Damon is Sullivan, Costello's protege, a mole in the Boston police department. The film is a remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs.

Scorsese has directed some of the most acclaimed (Taxi Driver and Raging Bull), and most controversial (The Last Temptation Of Christ) films of the past thirty years. He is primarily associated with gangster films such as Mean Streets, GoodFellas, and Casino. His Hollywood biopic The Aviator was unusually glamorous for a Scorsese film, though The Departed takes him back to gritty crime territory.

There are parallels with GoodFellas - both films begin with a young boy initiated into gangsterhood, then cut to him as a man (Ray Liotta in GoodFellas, and Matt Damon in The Departed). There are also references to the classic Warner gangster film Scarface, with an 'X' appearing as a backdrop whenever a character dies. The Third Man is also referenced, by the shadows on the wall as Costigan is chasing Sullivan and when Sullivan's girlfriend walks past him after a funeral.

The Departed is DiCaprio's third Scorsese film, after Gangs Of New York and The Aviator. This is his best performance for Scorsese thus far, certainly better than his cherubic, unconvincing role as Howard Hughes in The Aviator. In The Departed, DiCaprio's character has the widest emotional range, from psycho violence to paranoia to vulnerability, all of which he pulls off successfully. In contrast, Damon's character is simply required to look smug most of the time.

Scorsese was apparently happy to indulge Nicholson's wild improvisations. So, Costello grins that trademark Nicholson grin and takes coke by the handful. (Nicholson's most famous addition, a rubber prosthesis, was censored in Thai cinema prints.) This performance, in which, at one point, he is up to his elbows in blood, is the direct opposite of About Schmidt.

The supporting cast is equally impressive. Martin Sheen is totally convincing as middle-aged detective Queenan. Mark Wahlberg is Queenan's abrasive deputy, Dignam. Costello and Dignam both swear more explicitly, more profusely, and more inventively, than characters in any other American studio film.

Dial M For Murder (2D)

Dial M For Murder is a fascinating, though not premiere league, Alfred Hitchcock film. It was adapted from a play of the same name, and is classic Hitchcock material: the suave villain (played by Ray Milland) has hints of Charlie in Shadow Of A Doubt and Vandamm in North By Northwest, and the plot, involving a pact to murder a man's wife, is similar to Strangers On A Train.

The wife in question is Grace Kelly, the archetypal 'Hitchcock blonde'. Kelly worked with Hitchcock three times, on Dial M For Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch A Thief, and, of these, only Rear Window is truly outstanding, yet she has since become synonymous with the director's preferred female character: a blonde woman with a cool exterior and passion beneath the surface. It could be argued that, with his subsequent moulding of actresses (such as his total control over Tippi Hedren), he was attempting to recreate the Grace Kelly look (in the manner of Scottie in the quasi-autobiographical Vertigo).

In Dial M, Kelly wears pure white with her husband and bright red with her lover - a literal scarlet woman. As the film progresses and her plight increases, her clothes become increasingly plain. This choice of symbolic costumes was later echoed in Psycho, as Marion first appears in a white bra, though after she steals $40,000 she is seen in a black bra representing her loss of innocence.

Like Rope and Rear Window, Dial M's action is confined almost exclusively to a single apartment. It is one of Hitchcock's most theatrical films, with little attempt at innovative camera movement or montage. This style was dictated by the cumbersome 3D cameras used for the film. Hitchcock had no interest in 3D, though after the success of Bwana Devil, and with TV reducing cinema audiences, the studio requested that Dial M be a 3D film. Perhaps they wanted to lend credibility to the gimmicky format, which had previously been utilised only for cheap exploitation films.

Certainly, Dial M was one of the few prestige 3D productions. (I have only seen the 2D version, however.) Hitchcock framed the actors behind props such as lampshades and railings, to give a stereoscopic illusion of depth, and, during the murder scene, Kelly's hand reaches out into the audience in a dramatic 3D shock effect.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Kirby Dick's documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated is a critical examination of the MPAA, the organisation that controls America's film rating system. Ironically, it was submitted to the MPAA and rated 'NC-17', though the version in current circulation is longer than the original (with additional material concerning the director's reaction to his 'NC-17' rating), and is unrated

The MPAA (previously MPPDAA, whose founding president Will Hays instigated the prohibitive Hays Code in the 1930s) classifies films both at the cinema and on video (VHS, DVD, etc.). The organisation was established by the major Hollywood studios to self-regulate the film industry. Its current rating system dates from 1968, when increasing realism in studio films rendered the old Production Code obsolete.

MPAA film ratings are not a legal requirement, though in practice it is almost impossible for an unrated film to attract advertising or theatrical distribution. On video, unrated titles are not stocked by the largest chain stores, Blockbuster and Wal-Mart, as a matter of policy. So an MPAA rating is a commercial necessity.

The documentary concentrates almost exclusively on the 'NC-17' rating, which was introduced in 1990 as an alternative to the previous porn-tainted 'X' certificate. The problem with 'NC-17' films is the same as that of unrated films: mainstream media will not advertise them, and retailers will not sell them. Thus, 'NC-17' is a substantial commercial liability.

In the documentary, several filmmakers recount their frustrating experiences of receiving 'NC-17' ratings, unsuccessfully appealing against the decision, and cutting their films to reduce the rating from 'NC-17' to 'R'. (This was also the case with Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, and brief clips from the film are included in this documentary.) They contend that the MPAA operates a series of double standards regarding independent versus studio films and 'normal' versus 'unusual' sex scenes.

Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park, discusses his involvement with the MPAA both inside and outside the studio system. He submitted the independent film Team America and received an 'NC-17', and when he asked why, he was told that specific details could not be provided. However, when he later submitted South Park as a studio production, and again received an 'NC-17', he was given a specific list of cuts required to achieve an 'R'. This kind of preferential treatment for studio films has always been (unconvincingly) denied by the MPAA.

Less persuasive is a series of juxtaposed gay and straight sex scenes of roughly equal explicitness, the gay scenes being rated 'NC-17' and the straight scenes 'R'. The MPAA may well be homophobic and sexist, as the juxtaposition suggests, though the sex scenes included in the documentary are decontextualised, so we have no idea what specifically necessitated the 'NC-17' ratings. (Partly, of course, this is because the MPAA does not disclose specific rating criteria.)

Generally, the MPAA tolerates graphic violence yet forbids sex and nudity. In contrast, the BBFC (Britain's classification board) takes the opposite approach. The MPAA is also more secretive than the BBFC. Jack Valenti, MPAA president from 1966-2004, was the public face of the organisation, defending its decisions though refusing to open it up to scrutiny. James Ferman, BBFC president from 1975-1999, similarly personally courted the media yet maintained the privacy of the BBFC itself. Now, however, the BBFC is a much more open organisation, while the MPAA still refuses to let down its guard.

Kirby Dick challenges the secrecy of the MPAA by hiring a private investigator to uncover the names of the raters who decide each film's classification. The investigator stakes out the MPAA headquarters, following raters and filming them surreptitiously, even going through their rubbish bins in the middle of the night. No laws are broken during the investigation, though when the same tactics were used by the Daily Mail on the BBFC in 1996 (after Crash was passed for UK exhibition), they were strongly condemned.

An 'NC-17' is box-office poison in America, though the reason for this (as A Dirty Shame director John Waters points out in the documentary) is not the rating itself but the stigma attached to the rating (the same stigma associated with the previous 'X' rating), with distributors bowing to conservative/religious pressure-groups. If retailers stocked 'NC-17' films, the rating would be largely unproblematic. The alternative, to rate every adult film 'R', is unsatisfactory, as children can see 'R'-rated films if accompanied by adult guardians. Adding an extra classification, to denote explicit art films, is un-necessary, as that was the purpose of the 'NC-17' classification in the first place.

Jerry Maguire

Tom Cruise is Jerry Maguire, a ruthless sports agent who has an epiphany. He writes a long "mission statement", accusing his company of chasing profits at the expense of quality service. Naturally, he's fired soon after, and sets himself up as an independent agent. After his dismissal, he calls his old clients to reassure them that he is still in business, though only Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Gooding Jnr) sticks with him. (This is the scene with "Show me the money!", one of the most famous lines in contemporary cinema.)

With a single client (Tidwell) and a single assistant (Dorothy Boyd, played by Renee Zellweger), Maguire seems washed up, but all 3 of them are determined to make it work. And, of course, they do. But this is more than the usual love-against-the-odds, anti-corporate-greed story. Renee Zellweger is genuinely moving as Dorothy, Jonathan Lipnicki is great (and never annoying, unlike many child actors) as her young son, and Cruise's familiar cocky smiles are at least in keeping with his character. (He has plenty to be cocky about, of course, being the world's most popular actor. But generally he's better in serious films like Magnolia.)

Cameron Crowe, who hasn't directed anything else this good since, has produced a long (but not over-long) and emotionally rich romantic comedy.

About Schmidt

About Schmidt (directed by Alexander Payne) stars Jack Nicholson as Walter Schmidt, an insurance actuary who reassesses his life following his retirement and the death of his wife.

Nicholson is almost unrecognisable as Schmidt. His trademark grin and wild mannerisms are gone, and his body language is totally transformed. If The Departed showed how manically excessive he can be, About Schmidt demonstrates that he can also be subtle and subdued. It must be one of his best performances since Chinatown and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. (When he orders a drink, the framing is the same as Nicholson's hotel bar scene in The Shining.)

Schmidt is a man who keeps his feelings to himself. It's a completely believeable against-type performance, capturing the frustration, bewilderment, and loneliness of late-middle-age. Only at the very end of the film is Schmidt given an emotional release, making this final scene incredibly moving.

The bland suburban locations (Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska) and slow pacing add to the film's realism, as do the naturalistic performances of the supporting cast. Numerous tiny observations (such as Schmidt's wife holding his hand at his retirement party, and the answerphone cutting out before he can finish recording a message) combine to create a wonderful, sad, funny, character-driven film.

Scoop

Scoop is Woody Allen's second film set and filmed in London, after Match Point. Both films star Scarlett Johansson; in Scoop, she plays Sondra Pransky, a slightly nerdy journalism student.

Pransky volunteers to take part in a magic act and, when she is alone in the magician's cabinet, the ghost of a dead journalist (Joe Strombel, played by Ian McShane) appears to her. Strombel passes on a scoop that he was unable to follow up before he died: that aristocrat Peter Lyman (played by Hugh Jackman) may be the 'tarot card killer'.

With the magician (Splendini, played by Allen) in tow, Pransky tracks Lyman down and ingratiates herself with him, searching for clues to prove his guilt. There is, of course, incriminating circumstantial evidence, though as Pransky and Lyman fall for each other she becomes convinced that he is actually innocent.

Scoop is much lighter than Match Point, and this helps the film enormously. Whereas Match Point tried and failed to make serious moral observations, Scoop is content with one-liners and a Manhattan Murder Mystery-style plot. Also, the Londoners of Scoop are more authentic than those of Match Point - there are no unintentional laughs here, unlike the earlier film (though there are still a couple of clunky lines).

Magic has been a regular motif in Allen's films. In Oedipus Wrecks (part of New York Stories), a magician makes Allen's mother-in-law disappear, only for her to reappear as a vision in the sky. In The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, a fraudulent magician hypnotises Allen and Helen Hunt. In his interview with Stig Bjorkman (Woody Allen On Woody Allen), Allen discusses his childhood interest in magic tricks and cites But We Need The Eggs, a book by Diane Jacobs about the magic in his films.

The Grim Reaper, who appeared in Allen's earlier Love & Death and his acerbic Deconstructing Harry, turns up again here, though this time in a silent role. As the Reaper carries the dead along the River Styx, Strombel swims away to warn Pransky and Splendini. McShane gives a great performance in this bit-part. It's a shame that several excellent actors, such as McShane and Anthony Head (as a police inspector at the end of the film), have such small roles.

The film is generally a lot of fun. There are some great one-liners: Allen says "I was born of the Hebrew persuasion, but I converted to narcissism". Allen's character at times seems like a mouthpiece for Allen himself (as in many of his other films): Splendini explains how much he likes staying in London, and how nice Londoners are, but how he couldn't live there permanently.

The only problem comes at the end, when a series of implausible events takes place: Allen's character dies in almost the same (ridiculous) manner as Bela Lugosi's character in Plan Nine From Outer Space, and it transpires (unconvincingly) that Lyman is a killer but isn't the tarot card killer.

The Aviator

The Aviator is one of Martin Scorsese's most unashamedly mainstream films. (Luckily, his long-awaited Oscar was for a grittier production, The Departed.) It's not traditional Scorsese territory, though neither were Kundun or The Age Of Innocence. Leonardo DiCaprio (who also starred in Scorsese's The Departed and Gangs Of New York) plays Howard Hughes in this biopic of the aviator/filmmaker.

Scorsese recreates the glitz of 1930s Hollywood, just as he did for 1970s Las Vegas in Casino. DiCaprio captures Hughes's determination and frustration, though you never quite forget that it's DiCaprio. Cate Blanchett is better, as the tomboyish, headstrong Katharine Hepburn.

The Last Temptation Of Christ

Director Martin Scorsese's film The Last Temptation Of Christ begins with a written disclaimer that it is based on the fictional events in Nikos Kazantzakis's novel, and not on the Gospels.

The last temptation of the title refers to the devil's temptation of Jesus on the cross, offering him the chance to live a normal life with a wife and children, renouncing the burden of redeption. Jesus is deceived by Satan, and we see him having sex with Mary Magdalene. This image caused fierce protests around the world when the film was originally released, though the film makes clear that it's only a dream.

Jesus has been represented as sexually active in a 19th Century illustration of a naked Theresa embracing Christ on the cross by Felicien Rops, the engraving Nuptials Of God (the church symbolised by a naked bride, kissing Christ on the cross; 1923) by Eric Gill, the novel The Escaped Cock (describing Christ's sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene, 1929) by DH Lawrence, and the film Jesus Vender Tilbage by Jens Jorgen Thorsen (1992). Bill Zebub's films Into Thy Hands (advertised as Jesus Christ: Serial Rapist, 2004) and The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made (2005) both feature Jesus as a rapist.