Who would have thought that the cultural threshold could be so high in Athy? Another great night in Athy Film Club, 3 films in and no adverse effects so far (fingers crossed). We have a lovely membership who want to see something a bit different and are not afraid of subtitles. I must have been in my teens when I was first captivated by a subtitled film. This was THE WAGES OF FEAR by GEORGE CLUZOT, made in the early fifties this was a great thriller about a bunch of men transporting a lorryload of nitro glycerine without adequate safety equipment.I have had a few of these vaguely recalled (imagined?) epiphanies in my life as a film fan.I remember a film in the late 60's or early 70's starring BURT LANCASTER called VALDEZ IS COMING a revisionist revenge western which changed my attitude to that genre.In the mid 70's CHINATOWN starring JACK NICHOLSON and directed by ROMAN POLANSKI was a turning point in my cinematic education likewise BLOOD SIMPLE, DOWN BY LAW, I could go on and on.
The whole subtitle thing brings me to INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS ( did I spell that right or wrong or wrong or right I dunno which) by QUENTIN TARANTINO half the film was subtitled but this was not brought to the attention of the film's intended audience. Brilliant move.I love films that confound an audience.I remember seeing LOST IN TRANSLATION in the early 2000's in Carlow. While leaving the cinema I over heard behind me a guy with a thick Carlow accent asking his girlfriend "what was that all about?".I'm inclined to say this myself sometimes on leaving the cinema as a (rather tired) joke much to my wife's annoyance.
Now I must talk about my film of the year so far SEX AND THE CITY 2 ............ha only kidding and no I'm not going to write about it see H.A.V.O.C. #1 for details. The CHAIRMAN and others (you know who you are) are putting me under increased pressure to keep up this blog, all I'm promising is you will see one probably every week maybe Monday maybe Friday , no set day. Do I have to do one when I'm on holiday,will I get holiday pay?
Seriously, a good film I saw earlier this year was UP IN THE AIR .Its on my list of Films of the Year so far. It stars GEORGE CLOONEY whom I really admire as an actor. To be honest I couldn't stand him in E.R. , at the time I thought he was just another pretty boy actor who would not be able to make the break from television to film.Well he sure proved me wrong. He not only proved to be be a great film star but also a good director and producer. He has worked with some fine directors ROBERT RODRIGUEZ (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN), STEVEN SODERBERG (OUT OF SIGHT;OCEAN'S 11;SOLARIS) ,TERENCE MALICK (THE THIN RED LINE) and WES ANDERSON (THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX) to name a few.This reads like a who's who of contemporary American film makers.He has produced over 20 and directed 3 films.
Our last screening at Athy Film Club was EVERLASTING MOMENTS which I found very entertaining.I knew very little about the film because I had made a conscious decision not to read up on it.This I did with great difficulty considering my natural filmic curiosity.Its nice to see a film that way.I subscribe to a D.V.D. website and sometimes I forget what I ordered or even why. Anyway the weather is too nice to be writing this inside so I'm off .
Hugh Hyland
