Redacting Redacted
October 9th, 2007
Brian De Palma’s Redacted, the devastating reconstruction of the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl by American soldiers, has been one of the most divisive films at the New York Film Festival and it came as no surprise when tempers flared at a NYFF press conference with De Palma yesterday. “Did you intend to make a horror film for hipsters?” one incensed journalist asked. Answer: “No.”
When selection committee member J. Hoberman asked about the black bars that now cover some of the photographs at the conclusion of the film, Palma didn’t pull any punches, either: Redacted is now itself redacted,” he said. “My cut was violated.” No sooner had he fingered producer Mark Cuban for the changes in the film that a lone voice spoke up from the back of the Walter Reade Theater: “That’s not true!”
Eamonn Bowles from Magnolia Pictures went on to contradict De Palma, and after the conference, co-producer Jason Kliot took to the stage to explain that he saw the problem not as a “Cuban vs. De Palma type silly debate” but an issue of Fair Use laws, which he considered completely unfair: “they set it up so we cannot use images of our own culture to tell the truth about our own culture.”
De Palma also spoke about desensitization, voyeurism, and whether it’s easier to be labeled a misogynist or a traitor. At Spoutblog, Karina Longworth gets a statement from Cuban, and Bowles comments at Movie City Indie. My review of Redacted is up on About.com. The redacted version of the film will screen for the public on October 9 and 10. Magnolia will release the film in November.
Redacted
September 28th, 2007
More than with any film I’ve seen at the New York Film Festival so far, I’ve been struggling to find a way to talk about Brian De Palma’s Redacted, a movie that attempts to recreate the appalling images which have been systematically removed from the “news” about Iraq. The devastating reconstruction of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Iraqi girl by American soldiers in Samarra in 2006, told entirely through “found” footage, the film felt like a well-aimed punch to the gut — or perhaps a stab in the heart. Whether blunt or sharp, the film’s impact is impossible to dismiss. Even though I thought I was handling the brutalities on screen well (usually by leaning over to scribble something in my notebook), I found myself unable to get up once the final credits started to roll; it had become physically impossible to move. Redacted sent me reeling.
Redacted. Brian De Palma, 2007. ****
The Black Dahlia
January 21st, 2007
Atrocious. If we’d seen it in time, this movie would have been assured one of the top spots on the list of worst movies of 2006. It’s not just that Scarlett Johannson and Josh Hartnett are fatally miscast–nobody here is pulling off the 40s tough guy/dame thing. Hillary Swank does a mediocre Kate Hepburn impersonation, Aaron Eckhard flounders, and Scarlett certainly ain’t Lauren Bacall. It’s like watching Brick–or Bugsy Malone–except that nobody bothered to clue in the actors. The only scenes that aren’t flat-out laughable are the black-and-white bits with Mia Kirshner.
The Black Dahlia. Brian De Palma, 2006. *
- Rotten Tomatoes: 36%
- Matt Zoller Seitz finds plenty to admire
[tags]noir, thriller, murder, brian de palma, prostitution, cops, los angeles, film, 1 star, hillary swank, katherine hepburn, aaron eckhard, scarlett johannson, lauren bacall, josh hartnett, james ellroy, mia kirshner[/tags]
Body Double
April 10th, 2006
Jurgen: what should I blog about body double
tell me
how many stars?
Marcy: two and a half
Jurgen: ok
and what do I say
Marcy: it’s your blog
Jurgen: that the last shot has blood spilling on some tits?
Marcy: you can do it
but don’t talk to much about naked girls you already did that in bettie page
Jurgen: right right
but it was lurid
melanie griffith and frankie goes to hollywood
it doesn’t get much more lurid than that
Marcy: lurid
yes
i am tired
i want to go to sleep
Jurgen: just one pithy line please
Marcy: so the plot kept me watching even if jake skully was such a putzy looking guy he was painful to look at.
they would never make a mainstream movie with this much titty action anymore
Jurgen: thx!
