The Belly of an Architect

Oh, wow.

OK, I’m continuing my Festival of 80s Cinematheque Favourites… but I’m not sure I ever saw this one at the time?

It’s very Greenaway… I guessing this is before The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Etc? That was his first … well, not exactly mainstream success, but that movie definitely made a splash, and I see people still referencing it on the Twitters.

And looking at his movies:

That movie also marked the end of his run of movies that were notable, really? I guess Prospero’s Books was also notable… Oh, and I’ve heard people mentioning The Pillow Book, too. So perhaps that’s just me. The Cook etc was the final movie of his I’ve seen. Perhaps I should fix that, even if I have been slightly disappointed wen rewatching his 80s movies.

I wonder what that German Twitter account (i.e., @dieworkwear) would say of this suit… I mean, both buttons are er buttoned.

*gasp* COLLAR GAP

I was going to do a joke about “you can clearly see this is science fiction, because he got the copier to do what he wanted immediately”, but then I noticed that the original image wasn’t even facing the scanner in the snap above the above one.

I”M SUBMITTING THIS TO THE IMDB “GOOFS” PAGE NOW

As you’d expect with a Greenaway movie, this looks really good. But there’s the extra distancing thing going on here with many scenes being filmed without sound and then the dialogue is flown in afterwards (presumably because they’re using an Italian film crew?)…

I guess Brian Dennehy isn’t bad, really? He’s much better than I’d expect an American character actor to be in an European art movie.

Greenaway has the best set designers.

This is what I want my living room to look like.

Ah, so that’s how all those statues lost their noses…

Eh… I’m not really feeling this movie. I keep getting distracted because I’m not really interested in what’s happening? And like I said, Dennehy isn’t bad, but he isn’t fascinating, either. And he had to carry a lot of this movie.

The movie feels a bit flabby, which I don’t think you could say about Greenaway’s previous movies, really.

OK, I’m not quite sure what’s happening now, because I zoned out.

Heh.

OK, nice roll to those lapels… and no collar gap OH NO @dieworkwear HAS RUINED ME

Anyway, I was rather shocked by the totally hackneyed birth/death scene at the end? C’mon, Greenaway. You could do better.

The Belly of an Architect. Peter Greenaway. 1987.

Paris, Texas

Fuuuck! This bluray has been cut down to 16:9?

Well, that’s weird, but it’s not 16:9 in any case.

Boo!

Criterion! What the actual fuck!

Greatest actor ever.

Oh yeah… he wrote a number of things around this time that were all pretty spiffy, if I remember correctly? Or I might be.

I was pretty sure that I saw this at the time, but nothing here seems familiar… weird…

Heh heh. So meta.

Look at those colours. That lighting.

Just look at this.

This movie made a million European film nerds want to visit Texas.

Everything here looks just amazing — you can almost see the nine assistants standing just off camera with reflectors and stuff just to get this perfect light for this tiny shot. No modern movie looks like, what with the desaturation and digital cameras and GET OFF MY LAWN

Claire Denis worked on this, and I wonder how much input she had. Because some of these shots look quite Denis-ey.

I hope the Texas Tourist Board chipped in.

Bizarre.

Only Europeans make the US look this good.

That’s John Lurie!!!

That’s Nastassja Kinski!!!

Oh my god. Movies were so much prettier before digital colour grading.

This is such a gorgeous movie. And it’s kinda perfect until the final bits? But when we get to the monologue in the booth, it starts to feel as it’s flailing a bit?

But still. It’s a great movie.

Paris, Texas. Wim Wenders. 1984.

George’s Room

Oops. The other Alun Owen 30 minute dramas have mostly been kinda awkward. But this is even earlier than the others?

This is excruciating.

I think it might be the worst one of these, and hopefully it’s the last one on this box set?

It’s like a parody of one of these things.

George’s Room. Alan Clarke. 1967.