Shorts, 5/7.

"If ever proof were needed that genre is what you make of it, then one only need look to Japan's 'pink' cinema of the 1970s, where the lowest of exploitation subgenres was being approached with the highest of artistic sensibilities, disinterring unexpectedly exquisite treasures from the trash." Anton Bitel on Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable. Also in Film International: Terry Hobgood on My Country, My Country.

"[O]nly the crudest reading would reduce the overwhelming force of [John] Wayne's persona to gung-ho cheerleading for American right and American might," argues Charles Taylor in Dissent. "To be true to the contradictions and moral ambiguities of Wayne's best performances - Stagecoach, Red River, The Searchers, True Grit, El Dorado - you'd have to say he stands not so much for American power as for the American experiment—and thus for the possibility that it could all go wrong." Via Bookforum.

AS Hamrah turns another film column into n+1.

"Perhaps the only actress who can claim to have worked with the Velvet Underground, the Ramones, Andy Warhol, Oliver Stone, Andy Kaufman and Dick Miller, the star of such cult classics as Death Race 2000, Rock 'n Roll High School and Eating Raoul talks about her highly eclectic career." Peter Sobczynski interviews Mary Woronov for Hollywood Bitchslap.

"While French cinema reflects the experience of the country's immigrant population with dramas that range from hard-hitting (Mathieu Kassovitz's La haine) to sweetly dysfunctional (Abdellatif Kechiche's L'esquive, La Graine et le mulet) and the Germans have the poignant dramas of Fatih Akin, Dutch cinema has taken the opposite route in recent years by talking to and about its immigrant population in all-inclusive blockbuster comedies. The genre also spawned several recognisable stars, including Mimoun Oaïssa and Maryam Hassouni, the Dutch Shooting Stars of 2006 and this year, respectively." European-films.net editor Boyd van Hoeij talks with Maryam Hassouni about Dunya & Desie.

"For me, New York's more of a painting town. I get fired up about painting." David Lynch also likes Moby and egg salad sandwiches. Joe Pompeo talks with him for the New York Observer.

Matt Riviera has a recommendation for Australians: "Currently on our screens is Cactus, an accessible and entertaining road movie by first time writer-director (but veteran camera op) Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan. Blink and you'll miss Cactus's theatrical run, but keep your eyes open and you may just catch a glimpse of something moving on the horizon: the hazy, undulating outline of an oasis in an otherwise barren desert."

Variety reports that Ellen Page has signed on to play Jane Eyre.

Jason Solomons profiles Keira Knightley for the Observer.

Tim Grierson in the Voice on Bloodline: "Faintly ridiculous but strangely watchable, director Bruce Burgess's documentary explores the controversial theory that powered Dan Brown's pulp juggernaut The Da Vinci Code."

"Cablevision's Rainbow Media, which already owns AMC and the Independent Film Channel, is adding yet another specialty film asset by acquiring the Sundance Channel for $496 million." Dade Hayes reports for Variety.

Online listening tips. George Reisch is the series editor for Open Court's Popular Culture and Philosophy series and, at the end of his piece in PopMatters on Ben Stein and why we tolerate bullshit, there's a link to the Open Court Books series of podcasts. Take a look; there's probably at least one you'll want to sample.

Posted by dwhudson at May 7, 2008 1:24 PM