Emma Stone & Jesse Plemons As Rita/Liz/Emily & Robert/Daniel/Andrew In:

Russell Crowe in the '90s:

Romper Stomper (1992) by Geoffrey Wright

The Quick and the Dead (1995) by Sam Raimi

L.A. Confidential (1997) by Curtis Hanson

The Insider (1999) by Michael Mann

The Newborn (Human/Xenomomorph hybrid) in:

Alien Resurrection (1997) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Screenplay by Joss Whedon

Cinematography by Darius Khondji

Special Animatronic Effects by Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated (ADI)

onceuponatimethecinema.blogspot.com

Alien Resurrection (1997) I mutanti Xenomorfi di Jean-Pierre Jeunet, un classico nei suoi generi

Alien Resurrection 1997 Alien la clonazione

Shelley Duvall & Woody Allen as Pam & Alvy Singer in:

Annie Hall (1977) by Woody Allen

Costumes by Ruth Morley

Cinematography by Gordon Willis

Sheryl Lee as Katrina in:

Vampires (1998) by John Carpenter

Costumes by Robin Michel Bush

Make-up by Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero & Howard Berger

Hair stylist: Enid Arias, Jill Crosby, & Laurel Van Dyke

onceuponatimethecinema.blogspot.com

Vampires (1998) Brutti, sporchi e vampiri pt.2 ovvero il vampirismo in salsa western di John Carpenter

Vampires (1998) Brutti, sporchi e vampiri ovvero il vampirismo in salsa western di John Carpenter con James Woods, Sheryl Lee e Thomas Ian G

Art by Alexander Chernobai

exotica/the before trilogy

exotica (1994)

exotica is another one i caught on '90s latenight canadian tv as a perhaps-too-young teen, and yet...

nothing could have prepared me for witnessing this hypnotic film as an adult. i couldn't get it out of my head. i watched it. i watched it again. i invited a friend over and we watched it together just so we could talk about it. though it takes place in a sexy setting, it's not a story about sex... or anything lurid at all, really. it's about pain, and it's about the strange rituals we create to help us endure our pain.

as he often could, ebert said it perfectly:

"some directors make movies like onions, peeling off one layer after another. [egoyan] works in the opposite way. his new movie, exotica reconstructs the onion, one layer at a time. it starts with small pearls of a story that seem mysterious and unconnected, and gradually the whole form becomes clear. it's a curiously satisfying experience."

i couldn't be prouder that canada had one of the best entries in the mid-'90s indie film explosion, and i love finding out all these years later that atom egoyan and arsinée khanjian were a canadian/armenian indie film power couple. i can't wait to dig into more of their work.

p.s. the criterion edition of this is an delight in film study, from the illuminating sarah polley/atom egoyan conversation and the archival egoyan film, to the audio commentary and the damn fine cover art.

* * * * * / 5

before sunrise (1995) before sunset (2004) before midnight (2013)

watching these three films being so close to the age of céline and jesse in midnight was a magical fucking experience. what utterly perfect, authentic writing, acting, and filmmaking.

if i had to pick favorites i might have to lean towards sunset just because i can say without hyperbole that there hasn't been a more perfect ending ever committed to celluloid. (and it has benefit of those delightful julie delpy songs bookending it!) but the honest truth is that all three of them are thoughtful and breathtaking and need to be seen.

the before series will stay in my heart forever. i'm happy i saw them now and not as they came out, because seeing them before i had the life experience to truly understand and feel every moment of all three of them would have been a much lesser experience.

...and yes, i'm happy i could see them after having met my jesse/céline, the person i felt that immediate spark with, that fire, that magic, that otherworldly feeling.

"i guess when you're young, you just believe there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. later in life, you realize it only happens a few times."

i hope we meet these two again, someday.

* * * * .8 / 5

Jürgen Prochnow as Sutter Cane in:

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) by John Carpenter

Screenplay by Michael De Luca

Visual Effects by Industrial Light & Magic

onceuponatimethecinema.blogspot.com

Cattivi preferiti: Sutter Cane

Sutter Cane

POOR THINGS

Yorgos Lanthimos & Atsushi Nishijima. 🎞: Kodak Portra 400

ginger snaps (dir. john fawcett) / eastern promises (dir. david cronenberg) / dexter (s6 ep9)

Denzel Washington as Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz) in:

Malcom X (1992) by Spike Lee

Costumes by Ruth E. Carter

Cinematography by Ernest Dickerson