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February 15, 2019

Film for a Friday: The Tale of the Fox (1930)

Le Roman De Renard is a wonderful stop-motion animated feature made by Iréne and Ladislas Starevich [Władysław Starewicz] and scripted by her as well. The Reynard stories were exceedingly popular across Europe in the Middle Ages and continue to be so (you may see some Reynard references in a Fox Spirit release later this year!). When they ran out of funding for the film in France, Germany came through with funding, so the first version premiered in Berlin. It was only the third animated film to have sound.

The animation is amazing and inventive. Reynard is accused of all kinds of mischief (including eating chickens, of course!). Here’s the corpus delecti. But Reynard is too clever even in the face of such evidence — and with the help of the Badger Barrister.

The poor little chick! There are so many wonderful animated animals — from the troubadour cat to the terribly nervous rabbit who tries to get Reynard punished but quickly loses his nerve. The fox has no shame!

Eventually the king has had enough of the trickster and lays siege to Reynard’s Castle.

But the fox is ready for him and defends his home with the help of his family and a host of very Home Alone-like tricks for the would-be invaders, who end up with bumps on the head or face down in the moat.

Best of all it’s out of copyright and available online for your amusement.

It will leave you with a sunny feeling. Celebrate the Fox Spirit!

December 23, 2016

Five on Friday: Alternative Xmas

Put the X in Xmas! Tired of the kid friendly films? And you’ve already watched Hans Gruber fall this season? Here’s five holiday films that won’t overload the saccharine and might just give you a reason to smile.

THE THIN MAN: Thinly veiled portrait of Hammett and Hellman’s own hijinks. If you don’t love Myrna Loy and William Powell after this you have no soul!

THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER: Speaking of thinly veiled, allegedly a portrait of the cantankerous Alexander Woolcott with the fabulous Bette Davis and a great cast.

THE APARTMENT: Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine, romance without schmaltz.

BRAZIL: We’re all in this together. You might want to get used to the world of this film; we’re hurtling toward it.

IN BRUGES: Maybe you like to go on holiday abroad (while you still can). Martin McDonogh and the boys want you to have a real good time. If you like darkness, guilt and violence, this is the film for you, assuming you’ve already enjoyed THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT which I said I wasn’t going to bring up this time because I always mention it.

P.S. Buy our books.

June 19, 2015July 28, 2016

Foxy Friday: Finnish Edition

It’s Juhannuspäivä in Finland — midsummer, that is. The whole long weekend where a lot of Finns head out to their little cottages for fun in the water and woods, saunas (of course) and a bonfire under the midnight sun. Yes, there is drinking and sausages, too. Traditionally it was a time for spells to increase fertility on your farm including finding a spouse.

If you’re far from Finland this weekend (sob and shout out to my cousins in Kemi!) you could do worse than enjoy some great Finnish films. Not quite as well known as its Scandinavian neighbours to the west nor Russia to its east, the Baltic nation offers a uniquely rich national cinema that stands out in a homogenous filmmaking landscape.

I have to start with Aki Kaurismäki because well, you have to do so. Legendarily elusive of serious discussion and dismissive of any praise, he nonetheless reigns supreme because he’s at least had some fame outside Finland though not quite on the level of Renny Harlin. Harlin, despite sneaking in references to Finland in every single film, really remains a Hollywood director who comes from Finland. Kaurismäki captures the black humour and hopeful melancholy that permeate so much Finnish creativity (Angry Birds aside). I chose Ariel because it’s the first of his films I saw and it made me laugh so hard even though it’s also very dark (as this clip demonstrates). But see all of them! Seriously: all.

Chances are if you know anything about Finland and you’re a skulk member, you may know the wonderful Moomins. I considered putting one of the Moomin films here — Comet in Moominland is just wonderful and really captures the books! — but even more fascinating to me is this documentary on the artist who created them. Haru, The Island of the Solitary shows the rough little island where Tove Jansson spent much of her summers with her partner ‘Tooti’ (Tuulikki Pietilä). There are a couple of wonderful biographies of the artist that show her amazing work beyond the Moomins and the swirl of a life she had, but somehow the brutal simplicity of this island life stands out.

When did these filmmakers look into my dreams? I am, perhaps, one of a small number who form the ideal audience for this film that spins together Finnish mythology and wu xia action, but I’m sure its magic will appeal to a wide audience—if they can get over the strangeness of the concept.

Admittedly Jade Warrior sounds a bit esoteric: a mixture of the ancient Finnish story collection, The Kalevala, and the sword and sorcery of early China—with a little modern Helsinki life thrown in, too. It’s wu xia and urban fantasy and a whole lot more (see my long review here) but it’s a real fun film that has a lot to recommend it.

When’s the last time you saw a good sledgehammer fight anyway?

Härmä — In the plainlands of Ostrobothnia, Western Finland, a tradition prevails, according to which the first-born son inherits everything and the remaining offspring must fend for themselves. The law has been cast aside in many areas and groups of men, knife-wielding thugs, nicknamed ‘toughs’, control the fields. The blade rules the land. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE NORTH, directed by Jukka-Pekka Siili, had its international market premiere in Cannes 2012.

When I saw there was a Finnish ‘Western’ you know I had to have it. Ignore the attempts to market it as Once Upon a Time in the North. It’s based on a very real phenomenon of the knife-gangs who strong-armed folks in the sparsely inhabited west in the late 19th century. When you’re accustomed to the hail of bullets in modern Westerns, it’s a bit disconcerting to see someone whip out a knife with menace (and impossible not to think of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid). But the knife fights are well done — in fact all the action is nicely done. (See my long review here).

Of course I can’t skip over Rare Exports. What a wonderful film! And filmed in beautiful Lapland. Love that tagline: “This Christmas EVERYONE will believe in Santa!” Be warned: Santa may not be quite what you were expecting! I think the less I tell you about this, the better. Just see the movie. Even Hollywood was sufficiently impressed to team this crew up with Samuel L. Jackson for Big Game.

February 13, 2015June 16, 2015

Foxy Friday: Kathryn ‘Kit’ Marlowe

Top Five Medieval(ish) Movies

The Lion in Winter

What’s not to love? Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole, Nigel Terry, Timothy Dalton, and the debut of Anthony Hopkins, a real medieval castle and a whole lot of family drama – and not just any family! Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most powerful women to ever live, going toe-to-toe with her second husband Henry II over which of their sons will become king. Bonus: the poignant evocation of the overlooked middle child, Geoffrey (sob!).

Anchoress

A gorgeous film that shows exactly why a medieval teen girl might decide to become an anchoress, which means being walled into the side of a church. Sounds mad, right? But to know that you wouldn’t be forced to work in the fields or to marry a man much older than you – plus everyone suddenly thinks your important and holy. Bonus: Christopher Eccleston is the priest.

Hrafninn Flygur/The Raven Flies

This is an Icelandic film; director Hrafn Gunnlaugsson wanted to use the Viking sagas to create a set of films that had the appeal of a spaghetti western. The film succeeds in the same fun sense of adventure. It doesn’t borrow directly from any one saga but uses familiar tropes of revenge, masculine one-upsmanship, the conflict between the Norse gods followers and Christians, and the divided loyalties of former slaves who become wives. Bonus: Icelandic horses are awesome albeit tiny and who knew there were Vatican ninjas?

Kristen Lavransdatter

Directed by the legendary Liv Ullman, this sumptuous film captures a good sense of how disruptive modern notions of love would be in the Middle Ages. Kristen’s mother offers a realistic picture of the reality of marriage as something one grew into when there were no other options. The film shows how the convent was really just as much a girls school as any modern one, with the same furtive conversations about sex and religion. Bonus: it’s so beautiful!

The Wife of Bath

This is a bit of a cheat: it’s a modernisation of Chaucer’s tale but it’s just so good (all the films in this BBC series range from good to extraordinary). Julie Walters plays the wife as an aging soap star who falls for a younger man after he joins the show. She’s larger than life and bawdy as they come, just like the original. The main story is the Prologue and her many marriages, while the plot of the soap borrows from the Tale (which is quite clever! Well done, Sally Wainwright). Bonus: Bill Nighy!

I could name a lot more but these will get you started.

Kathryn ‘Kit’ Marlowe is a writer of historical fiction, often with a good bit of humour. There are those who say she’s secretly an English professor who writes under other names. You can find her on Facebook, too. Her lovely author portrait was created by the fabulous artist S. L. Johnson.