By Linda Johnson
James Ivory in Conversation: How Merchant Ivory Makes Its Movies. By Robert Emmet Long. (PN 1998.3 .I89 A3 2005).
This engaging series of interviews briefly describes Ivory’s Oregon childhood and his early documentaries including one on Indian miniature painting. Much more time is devoted to the many Merchant Ivory films such as Bombay Talkie, Heat and Dust, A Room with a View, and Surviving Picasso. Reminiscences include Andy Warhol as a dinner guest, trips to stately estates to scout out locations, unfavorable critics and hassles with movie studios, and fascinating stories on the selection of the actors and the actors not selected for each of the films.
Summer….time to watch a good movie!
By Jake Viebrock
Five Movies in our collection that you may have missed, never heard of, and might still not want to see even after I warmly recommend them.
The Gleaners and I:
A quirky and very rewarding documentary from the French filmmaker Agnes Varda. It examines how and why people ‘glean’ in contemporary French society. It is a fascinating look at how people find value and utility in the mundane objects that we so readily dispose and dismiss. (Held at Manchester)
The Spirit of the Beehive:
A Spanish movie from the 70s. It’s a magical chronicle of, among other things, the imagination of children, the power of cinema, and how history and politics intersect with the everyday. This is the rare movie that captures childhood without drenching it in syrup.
Flirting:
An Australian movie from the late 80s. The second part of a trilogy following the coming of age of its goofy, nonconformist hero and his budding romance with a girl from a neighboring girl’s school. It’s simultaneously a delightful school comedy and engaging romantic comedy. (Held at Manchester)
Long Goodbye:
Robert Altman’s 1973 offbeat take on Raymond Chandler’s novel. Elliott Gould is a shaggy dog Philip Marlowe probing the underside of the not so bright and shiny beautiful people of Southern California. If you like this you may want to try Arthur Penn’s Night Moves from 1975 set in much the same milieu which also touches upon some of the same themes.
L'Atalante:
Somewhat overlooked now, but this Jean Vigo film is one of the greatest movies in the history of cinema. It is a simple love story of a bargeman and his new bride. It follows their life on their barge and the ups and downs of their relationship. Mundane sounding it is, yet it is filled with some of the most breathtaking beautiful and simple sequences ever filmed. It’s the only feature made by Vigo who died young in 1934, but if you like this, you may want to look at his short film ‘Zero for Conduct.’
Here are the latest films available at Manchester:
Vera Drake
