FANTÔMAS (Louis Feuillade, 1913-14)
(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)
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)
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.
