A rather short Sunday reading this time, since in the past week I’ve been rather busy with…other things. First of all, for the release of Mother of Tears, Terrence Rafferty takes a look at Dario Argento’s career from the early giallo’s to the more recent efforts. I’ve actually never seen a single film by the Italian horror-master (I know, shame on me), but I found the article intriguing, and I’ve added quite a few titles he mentions to my “to-view queue”.
Then, I’ve been trying to defend my love for Marnie lately, but I can’t quite articulate what I love about it so much. Maybe it’s that it revolves around a woman who’s really, completely a mess psychologically, but not in a way that makes her weak. So often, women with psychological problems in movies are either hysterical or, well, totally ineffective. She’s screwed up, but her problems are hidden within, and on the outside she’s a smooth, tough-as-nails, always impeccably dressed thief. Until, of course, Mark Ruthledge comes along. And their relationship is one that Lauren Wissot thinks is perfectly described as an S&M one. I can’t help but agree.
Roger Ebert wrote a negative review of Sex and the City, and all he got in response was… e-mails about how female dogs masturbate. That probably says something, but I don’t quite know what. Personally, I’m conflicted about the dog: on the one hand, it’s refreshing that girls get crude humor in their films as well now, but on the other, really, a masturbating dog? I liked the movie ok, I’d recommend it to fans of the show (and only to them), but the fashion-porn was a bit much for me (it was always my least favorite part of the show. After Carrie voice-over, which is also very present here), and I didn’t think all the storylines made sense for the particular characters.
Or does even mentioning that there is a masturbating (female) dog a spoiler? I know that many of my reviews contain spoilers, and that I should probably put a permanent spoiler-warning in my banner – I usually write for people who’ve seen the film, and give more away than I maybe should. My friends sometimes get mad at me too, because they think you still shouldn’t spoil the ending to the Sixth Sense. But what exactly constitutes a spoiler? And what’s the appropriate etiquette? Jim Emerson over at Scanners considers exactly these questions (and don’t forget to check out the comments).
That was it for the week. Let me just conclude with something that I don’t usually think fits on my blog: I love my country, sometimes. Like yesterday, when I first had a Hollandse Nieuwe to celebrate vlaggetjesdag*. Then, I saw a parade of nekkid people riding bikes.
Finally, your viewing tip of the week: the most infamous scene from Marnie.
*a Hollandse Nieuwe, literally a “Dutch New One”, is a herring that’s been deemed fat and tasty enough to open the season. Which is done on “flag day”. Herring, eaten raw, is a Dutch delicacy most foreigners and a significant proportion of Dutch people find exceedingly disgusting, but I love it.
