FANTÔMAS (Louis Feuillade, 1913-14)

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(Directed by Louis Feuillade from a script by Feuillade, Marcel Allain, and Pierre Souvestre; starring René Navarre, Edmond Bréon, George Melechior, and Renée Carl. Released 09 May 1913 -> 1914; watched 2023w36 ->2023w39 via Kino Blu-Ray)

As is the case with all of Feuillade's (600+!) pictures, there's a buoyancy to every shot in this five-film cycle, even though – as per the inchoate cinematic language of the time – the films (FANTÔMAS, JUVE VS. FANTÔMAS, THE MURDEROUS CORPSE, FANTÔMAS VS. FANTÔMAS, THE FALSE MAGISTRATE) are told in long static wides (a notable exception being a fantastic and effective horizontal to vertical shift near the end) and an over-reliance on narrative intertitles: they just MOVE, a breathless propulsion from one unlikely and deliciously pulpy scenario – silent executioner! spiked pajamas! bell-ringing blood! skin gloves! wine bottle snorkels! murder! faked death! fake identities! narrow escapes! explosions! blackmail! (implied) sex! Tom Bob! bodies in steamer trunks! – to the next, rolling, tumbling, until the requisite cliffhanger ending (even in the final film) in which Fantômas – René Navarre's mold-building portrayal being evident in everything from Lang's DR MABUSE, THE GAMBLER (down to the opening transformation from disguise to disguise) to the masked Republic serial villains to the Universal Monsters (though Fantômas is an utter shit, lacking in even a scintilla of the UMs' sympathy-inspiring humanity) through Christopher Lee's Dracula and into Hannibal Lecter (both Hopkins and Mikkelsen) and Ledger's Joker – escapes Juve's clutches, leaving us with the promise that their cat and mouse will be as immortal not only as the pursuers and the pursued, but as the generations of dyads they've so clearly inspired.

These foundational treasures are a reminder of the joy of simply letting loose and having a good time, thrillrides as exciting and watchable now as they were 110 years ago. French Blu of JUDEX, Feuillade's "heroic" 1916 serial (and inspiration for The Shadow) is on its way and I've got a rewatch (first in +/-25 years) of LES VAMPIRES in the offing too, FeuilladeFest in tandem with FritzFest, it would seem...

Tom Bob forever.

THE MENU (Mark Mylod, 2022)

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(Directed by Mark Mylod from a script by Seth Rice and Will Tracy; starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Hong Chau, Nicholas Holt, John Leguizamo, Judith Light, Janet McTeer, Reed Birney, Paul Adelstein, and Aimee Carrero. Released 18 November 2022; watched 2023w35 via Max)

A deliciously horrific (dark, dark dark) comedy-of-manners (think Renoir's RULES OF THE GAME if Octave went all Count Zarnoff ) meets excoriation of a CHEF'S TABLE culture that takes the love out of that most primal of arts – though it could be applied to any art, really – and in whose gut, as Ralph Fiennes's executive-chef-cum-cult-leader Julian so aptly puts it, that art becomes shit.

With the exception of the (apparent? I'm not discounting that I may have misread the final scene and relish the chance to revisit at some point) turn in the remaining diners' attitudes at the final course – I couldn't tell if it was acceptance or resignation or conversion or all (or none) of the above – feeling more than a bit like a switch flipped (had it been seeded throughout, perhaps that would have worked better; as it was, the totality of "The Menu" and its attendant punishments didn't feel as complete as it could have had total conversion to Julian's perspective been achieved – in my eyes, it didn't go far enough (which probably says more about me than the film itself)), THE MENU ranks among my favorite recent releases – so much so that It's now the second film (the first being PARASITE) that I purchased on Blu-Ray midway through my first viewing.

Indeed: as PARASITE did for peaches, THE MENU does for s'mores.

physical media FTW (always and forever)

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Excellent piece on the virtues of physical media AKA why I will continue to collect, adore, and hoard my beloved Blu-Rays like a squirrel with acorns.

A collection of physical media is a bulwark against fear—the fear that rights holders may take works out of circulation, whether because of a mere contractual lapse or a calculated market-making and desire-stoking scarcity... The shutdown or lockdown of a single site may eliminate all access to the only extant source for a major movie. Thus, physical media take on an essentially political role as the basis for samizdat, for the preservation in private of what’s neglected or suppressed or destroyed in the public realm, be it through mercantile vandalism, doctrinaire censorship, or technological apocalypse.

DR MABUSE, THE GAMBLER (Fritz Lang, 1922)

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(Directed by Fritz Lang from a script by Lang and Thea Von Harbou based on the original novel by Norbert Jaques. Starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel, Bernard Goetzke, and Paul Richter. Released 27 April 1922 (part one) and 26 May 1922 (part two); watched 2023w34 via Kino Blu-Ray)

FritzFest thus begins: this first viewing of DR MABUSE, THE GAMBLER being the start (to be followed by a first of DIE NIBELUNGEN, a rewatch of METROPOLIS, a first of SPIES, a rewatch of M, and an inaugural of TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE – on Criterion Channel not, unfortunately, as with the others, on Blu - yet - though it might be if I have a region-free Blu player. Do I? Mem: check).

Happy that I was able to watch MABUSE not only as a 270-minute, two-film historical document, as a template for pretty much every great villain since – Ledger's Joker, among many others – but as the compulsively watchable, exhilarating tapestry of fascinating – and devastating, especially the Tolds and Carozza – characters at the mercy of the ruthless, titular force of nature played with mad-scientist-mold-defining aplomb by the great Rudolf Klein-Rogge, whose capture at the conclusion of Lang's four and a half hour epic is an epic in and of itself, a firefight wrapped in gunsmoke and sewer escape devolving into entrapped madness, a template for all great action denouements to come: THE THIRD MAN, HEAT and countless others, off the top of my head.

MABUSE’s true power is, like all of Lang's films, that it remains – in spite of being the century-old mold-forming work that it is – first and foremost a ripping yarn, a rare feat that exemplifies one of Lang's great hallmarks: his works always feel as though they were released yesterday – though some, like MABUSE, were released more than a century of yesterdays ago.

Highly, highly recommended.

THE VILLAINESS (Jung Byung-gil, 2017)

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(Directed by Jung Byung-gil from a script by Jung and Jung Byeong-sik; starring Kim Ok-vin, Shin Ha-kyun, Sung Joon, Kim Seo-hyung, Jo Eun-jil, and Kim Yeon-woo. Released 21 May 2017; watched 2023w31 via Prime.)

A treasure unearthed (and consumed with urgency) thanks to the most recent Polygon end-of-the-month, "catch them before they leave streaming" piece and, in the best tradition of South Korean genre cinema, one hell of a revenge story that's so very, very much more: led by brilliant performances from stars Kim Ok-vin, Shin Ha-Kyun, and Sung Joon and by turns exhilarating (those action sequences, JFC), pastoral, horrific, comedic, hopeful, and heart-wrenching (I refuse to apply the overused "heartbreaking," thanks CBR), THE VILLAINESS is truly something special. Blu purchased as soon as credits rolled (with three hours and some change to spare before it exited Prime), Jawan Koo's score the soundtrack to today’s work.

Haven't been this excited / inspired / enthralled by a film in awhile; hopeful it will bring with it an ability to be excited by other films again... I've missed the ability to recharge through cinema for far too long.