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criterioncorner:

HUGO and The First Movie Magicians

with Martin Scorsese’s Hugo primed to lose the best picture Oscar this sunday, it’s important to fan the rare flames of interest in early cinema that the film has ignited for audiences of all ages and passions (it’s very strange to me that people are lumping The Artist in with Hugo as if “early cinema” were merely a relative term. also, fuck The Artist). Scorsese’s film provided a stirring glimpse at how the practice of stage magic directly informed the cinema, almost as if it were answering the wistful resignation of Sylvain Chomet’s equally beautiful 2010 film, The Illusionist.

this neat new Fandor video further explores that idea, providing a brief look at some of the other pivotal figures who first incanted movie magic.  

criterioncorner:

THE LEGACY OF EIKO ISHIOKA

long-time readers of the blog and / or column are probably well aware that i absolutely revere Paul Schrader’s MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS (here’s an essay i wrote on the film for Film School Rejects). Mishma was a man who believed that his life was the ultimate expression of his art, an idea Schrader’s film reflects and explores by animating some of Mishima’s key texts in order to illustrate the extent to which they were a purified extension of their author. Given that Mishima was also obsessed with beauty and the determination of aesthetics, it stands to reason that his biopic is as grand and spectacular a vision as the cinema has ever known. likewise, it’s no coincidence that Criterion’s DVD of the film is arguably (read; definitely) the most beautiful package that the company has ever created. 

primarily responsible for the film’s pivotal look was production & costume designer Eiko Ishioka, who died on January 23rd at the age of 73. Incredibly, Mishima was the first film on which she had ever worked (she would later go on to lend her talents to a number of big productions, and even direct Björk’s video for “Cocoon”). Criterion recently posted these Mishima production photos on their site, and i just wanted to saturate them as widely across the internet as i could. 

if you haven’t seen Mishima, you should probably go ahead and change that as soon as possible. if you have seen Mishima, you probably haven’t seen Mishima *today,* and you should probably go ahead and change that as soon as possible. 

UPDATE: here’s the NYT obit.

thefluffingtonpost:

Maddie the Coonhound Will Stand on Just About Anything

Meet Maddie. She likes to stand on things. Pretty much anything you can think of.

Go ahead. Name a thing. Maddie probably stood on it.

Via Maddie On Things.

criterioncorner:

Short Film: GREED (dir. Roman Polanski) 2008

in honor of Roman Polanski’s 78th birthday (and Criterion’s recent release of his CUL-DE-SAC), here’s a brief short film he directed in the form of a comically exaggerated perfume ad, conceived and commissioned by Milanese artist Vezzoli as a jab at the ridiculous ways in which luxury products are marketed.

or, if you prefer, it’s roman polanski directing natalie portman and michelle williams as they tackle each other onto the ground and wrestle for a little while.