Shorts, 8/5.

Like Robert Bresson, whose films have also been slow coming to DVD, Yasujiro Ozu needs, to a certain extent, to be rescued from his admirers. It's common to praise Ozu, like Bresson, for his austerity and minimalism, and he's frequently labeled "the most Japanese of Japanese filmmakers," as opposed to the supposedly more Westernized films of Akira Kurosawa. Such a claim ignores Kurosawa's communal storytelling, as well as the fact that the young Ozu preferred American films to Japanese ones, but it's a handy way of propping up cultural stereotypes while pretending to demolish them.

"His best-known picture, Detour, was shot in less than a week for under $20,000 and yet boasts production design and lighting as inventive as anything found in the huge budget German silent era classics, on which he served his apprenticeship."Geoffrey Macnab preps Guardian readers for the Edgar G Ulmer season at the National Film Theatre in London. Also: Kirsty Scott: "[M]athematicians have come up with a formula for the best kind of scary movie." Not a joke, evidently.

"At a certain point - maybe because I stopped expecting anything from [Tom] Cruise - he stopped seeming so annoying," writes Charles Taylor in Salon. "But lately, it's been harder to take Cruise in stride, perhaps because he's decided, understandably, that the days of youthful roles are coming to a close and the time has come to demonstrate his authority. And this is a problem."

In the forums at the main site, it's practically a running joke that any discussion of any movie stands a very good chance of evolving into a discussion of food. If you share a predilection for the film-food combo, Mick Vann's got a long and tasty Austin Chronicle cover story for you, a profile of two local caterers.

Assembly line cult: Siran Babayan witnesses MGM's attempt to turn Showgirls into a midnight movie event. Also in the LA Weekly: Scott Foundas on Code 46 and Ella Taylor on Collateral.

Andréa R Vaucher reports in the New York Times on the sticky politics of runaway production.

Cinemocracy introduces a new feature, "The Movers," a comic strip "in which two everyday guys discuss motion pictures off the back of their moving truck." First up: The Manchurian Candidate.

So you're a movie buff. You're youngish, say, between the ages of 18 and 22 or thereabouts. Isn't it about time you hosted a TV show? MTV is sending out a casting call, you know.

Online viewing tip. The trailer for The Yes Men.

Posted by dwhudson at August 5, 2004 4:23 AM