Friday 30 November 2018

GFT NOV 93, Cinema 2


In cinemas now! After a period mired in development hell - and quite honestly suffering as a result of an unforeseen 'writer's strike' - Agent Rob's second GFT blog finally, er, explodes onto your screens, um.... Of course, this list is by no means definitive in any way (nor exhaustive, given the heap of tickets waded through and the welter of films obviously missed). Rob has (and you your good selves have surely) seen plenty of great films elsewhere in our respective times.... but all come highly recommended regardless! Readers may expect a certain level of George Lucas-esque retroactive tinkering with the text too, so although the packaging won't necessarily change perceptibly over time the contents just might (but, in this case, only as a Force for good). To avoid any further "nailing of one's colours to the coffin" these favourite fillums are listed by year of release....

Bank Holiday (1938)

The earliest Sketch Sundays were drawn from the book Best of British: A Celebration of Rank Film Classics, which featured Box Office draws of yesteryear such as Patricia RocPhyllis CalvertVirginia - "still alive and acting!" - McKenna and Margaret Lockwood. Naturally Rob has some(thing of an accidental) knowledge of that era, having gently absorbed the text and photos over the years. The opportunity to see Bank Holiday a wonderful slice of vanished pre-War British life at the GFT being simply too good to miss. Notable for a (then controversial) early scene where Margaret Lockwood sticks her head in a gas oven as she contemplates suicide...


(With forthcoming Sketch Sundays culled from the similarly themed The Big Book of British Films, 1939-1970 there's definitely a maker/scheduler to thank for the arrival of the Talking Pictures TV channel....)

M. Hulot's Holiday (1958)

Rob's first exposure to Jacques Tati was a scrappy (and incomplete) VHS of (the somewhat overlooked in his oeuvre) Trafic, but the above languid classic - the warmest, sunniest black and white film ever made? - is just perfect up on the BIG screen. Tati's later curio Parade was also an (unexpected if uneven) pleasure when it happened to stop by the GFT....


Dracula (1958)

A well worn - or should that be wearing well? - Hammer Films classic and, quite simply, one of those films that ought to be seen in the cinema for the sheer bygone "Technicolor Treat" of the experience. Also notable for James Bernard's menacing and unsettling score....

Yojimbo (1961)

A film certainly videotaped when screened on Moviedrome (at some ungodly hour) and finally caught on the BIG screen at last year's Glasgow Film Festival. The fact that they screened the (unknown to Rob) sequel, Sanjuro, the same week made this black and white treat doubly sweet....

From Russia With Love (1963)

Again, whether you (from Russia with) love them or loathe them, there's no denying the early, Sean Connery, Bond films pop off the BIG screen like no other, the dazzling Technicolor print, the exotic locations - easily accessible by plane to the many now but surely beyond the wildest dreams of Joe and Joanna Public back then - and John Barry's sizzling scores made Rob "pay attention" when these 60's classics rolled into town for their 40th anniversary screenings....


JAWS (1975)

Making it's 1975 summer debut shortly before Agent Rob emerged from the amniotic depths, JAWS is, of course, another BIG screen essential. Hitting their 30th birthdays at roughly the same time the occasion was duly marked as the pair met up at the GFT to celebrate. And, yep, the audience (still) all shat their pants at the scene when they find Ben Gardner's semi-sunken boat and Hooper takes to the water to investigate....


(If anyone missed it, Rob's visit to "Amity Island" was blogged here....)

Taxi Driver (1976)

The ultimate '70's film (with Mean Streets running it a close second)? Certainly this was probably the ultimate student film for us back in the day, Robert De Niro being the ultimate student's actor and Travis Bickle the ultimate (anti-social) student's anti-hero. Without question a truly powerful piece of filmmaking enhanced tenfold by the terrific and evocative score from Bernard Herrmann....


Apocalypse Now! (1979)

Another no-brainer to be seen on the BIG screen, Apocalypse Now drew an (apocalypse) "Wow!" from Rob when he finally had the opportunity to travel up the cinematic river, losing himself in the jungle with Captain Willard and crew. (Not to be confused with the uneven, overlong and frankly messy REDUX version - if it proved one thing it's that the editor of the '79 version brought the original safely back from 'nam in one (untouchable) piece.)...

Sonatine (1993)

We now enter the "Holy Trinity" beginning with "Beat" Takeshi Kitano's excellent Sonatine. John Woo may have blown the cinema doors off with his stylish HK action films but it was Takeshi Kitano's offbeat yakuza gangsters who sure made sure they stayed that way... for film after film... until he lost his UK distribution - immediately after 2003's stirring Zatoichi, no less - and so limiting his rather fine late period Outrage trilogy, amongst other (admittedly more obscure) films, to hard to find/afford limited European DVD releases....


Chungking Express (1994)

Rob had no idea the treat that awaited him when he took a punt on this strange Hong Kong import.  (He even met a pal on the way to the cinema who reckoned it sounded pretty boring and didn't fancy seeing it). "Nae luck" as they say, for this film remains one of writer/director Wong Kar-wai's best, if not Rob's very favourite. Stylish, evocative, kooky, dreamy - it has it all (and Faye Wong)! (The following year's sequel/spin-off, Fallen Angels, which completely confounded Rob at the GFT, is actually pretty good too....)


(If anyone missed it, Rob's pilgrimage to Chungking Mansions was blogged here....)

La Haine (1995)

Completing this exciting world cinema triptych is La Haine, another incredible and evocative film that shone a brutal light on the stark reality of life in the housing projects of Paris. (Especially) notable for a memorable Dolly Zoom overlooking the city streets and, when first viewed, the fact that Asterix and Obelix were subtitled (by the American translators?) as Charlie Brown and Snoopy....


Battle Royale (2000)

Just mental....

Blue Gate Crossing (2002)

Rob can't recall much about this distinctly humid film other than, in an odd way, it's wistful and mannered approach to the subject of young people (falling in love and discovering themselves) stood in stark contrast to the sort of gritty/contrived "yoof" rubbish perpetually ground out to an audience of none by the British film industry, that curiously uneven mix of social realism and obvious lcd comedy - when he realised nothing this subtle, this perceptive could be crafted on these shores. This film and many like it may also succeed due to the fact that it's harder to tell if a young actor is poor when they're not speaking and emoting in your native language....

Ping Pong (2002)

One of those sincere and joyous world films about dreams, about friendship, about being yourself and never giving up. Some very fine moments and, as per just about every film on this list, at least one truly memorable and touching emotional peak....


Toni Erdmann (2016)

When GFT head honcho Allison Gardner stepped out in front of the audience to introduce (the actually much better than it looked) T2 Trainspotting she made a deliberate slip, accidentally welcoming everyone to a screening of Toni Erdmann. Agent Rob was certainly taking (mental) notes and saw this supremely bizarre film the following week. How best to describe this long, strange stroll through a life-affirming black and bleak comedy (like that, maybe)? Hmm, maybe best we all wait for the (then mooted) Jack Nicholson starring remake, er.... (Last year's The Square is quite similar in execution, the long running time allowing the characters and (clever comic) situations room to really breathe...)

Honourable mentions....

Before this epic completely runs out of steam Rob thought it better to cut to the chase and quickly showcase a further few film favourites that bubbled under the making of this list....

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)



Noi Albinoi (2003)

The Station Agent (2003)

Kontroll (2003)


Catch A Virgin Ghost (2004)

Is that it? Of course not! Everyone knows that franchises (and especially) trilogies are where it's at! So if this rough around the edges "assembly cut" of cinematic cult/ure has only served to whet your appetite then brace yourselves for more (of the same-ish) when we'll get to film documentaries, film flops, film discoveries, film fails and much more (as salvaged from this blog's cutting room floor), screening soon in Cinema 3....

Wednesday 21 November 2018

A Chronicle Of Doom....


'Showdown in Glasgog!' ....and show up he did, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Johnny heading through from Pester Wails to receive the (slightly faded and frayed around the edges) red carpet treatment at Hope Street Studios. Of course the point of this mission, which he chose to accept, was to duly deliver a copy of (a brand, spanking new) The Girl With The Flowery Trousers comic strip page fer inclusion in The Great Big ComicScene UK Annual 2019....


This comic connection dates all the way back through the mists of time - Agent Rob's comic dreams(/nightmares) but a distant twinkle in his skoolboy eyes - to the late 80's when Agent Johnny contributed to the Atomic, er, comic. Indeed, all 13 issues of this underground gem are available to view here courtesy of editor/artist/Johnny's old mucker Tony Foster (who is currently masterminding a truly impressive array of comics and comics related journalism here)....


Naturally things didn't quite go to (Rob's) plan, and the morning/early afternoon wiz spent quietly and diligently 'doctoring' the A4 artwork, adding those (unfinished) finishing touches (instead of the much anticipated swilling, chuntering and noshing of tasty grub). Though 'hard wurk' has its own rewards and page completed our two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. then took the train oot ter Anniesland 'fer to visit' 'Old Ma Miller' and 'wee sis', Our Man From Pester Wails enjoyin' a moment's peace reclined on the sofa, contentedly strokin' (the quite superbly and supremely aptly named) 'Luna' the cat....

Pink Floyd - Lucifer Sam

Thursday 8 November 2018

GFT NOV 93, Cinema 1


What better way to mark our 1000th(!) post than celebrating the 25(!) years (to the day and hour!) since Agent Rob first visited the Glasgow Film Theatre on Rose Street, forming a rewarding quarter of a century big screen relationship with "an independent public cinema"....


In that time a variety of refurbishments have seen foyers come and go, Cafe Cosmo go go, the butterfly staircase and Cinema 3 have come and the ever-revolving (not literally, at least, not yet!) Box Office has finally taken root next to the main entrance. So please take your seats and be sure to switch off your mobile phone as the previews conclude and the main feature is about to begin....


It's very likely all this patronage came about thanks to BBC2's enlightening Moviedrome series of films/programmes (about which more later) and the NME (RIP) - indeed, (it's hard to believe) there was a time when that paper comprehensively covered a whole host of genuinely alternative new music, book, comic and cinematic scenes in what was a weekly cover-to-cover read. Similarly, and presumably in what was also then the pre-internet age, things were helped along somewhat by checking out the cinema listings in either the Glasgow Herald or Evening Times newspapers (as well as those, er, 'free' afternoons (and generous concessions) that being a student often afforded)....



It all kicks off in epic fashion with John Woo's The Killer, his Hong Kong star no doubt rising abroad thanks to Quentin Tarantino's blessing off the back of the success of his very own heavily HK influenced Reservoir Dogs. And so it was that 'balletic', 'slow motion' and 'two-gun action' blew the bloody doors off ("selected", ahem) UK cinemas (and selected UK cinema goers, including this one) in an explosive 'John Woo Showcase'....



....and there's a nice juicy Psycho 'followed by' Taxi Driver double bill tucked away in the programme as well, one that I definitely attended, certainly seeing Psycho in all its glory for the very first time. (And and I have to confess I used to save every single one of the monthly GFT programmes.... as well as confess to recycling them all, save NOV 93, at some point several years ago. Quite a regret. Still, I'm sure my scanner's very grateful....)*


Another notable listing in NOV 93 are screenings of Mike Leigh's Naked - accompanied in the brochure by a photo that couldn't look less like lead actor David Thewlis if it tried - a film I'm sure I swithered over before I eventually decided to pass. It's a firm favourite these days, but I doubt it would have made much of an impression (the vivid poster aside) on my younger self, its searing lyrical subtleties surely soaring over my (eight)teenage head. Then again, can you blame me fer dodgin' it if this superficial fluff was the official trailer....




Interestingly NOV 93 also marked the moment the GFT joined Europa Cinemas - a relationship that continues to this day - and the arrival of Glasgay! "the first festival of its kind ever to be held in Scotland" (since rebranded/incorporated into Outspoken Arts Scotland). There's an excellent recent piece by Allison Gardner, Programme Director / GFF Co-Director, about the GFT cinema on the Europa Cinemas website here....


Although it started out with Alex Cox on hosting duties, my abiding memories of the excellent Moviedrome are from when Mark Cousins took over the reins - I would consider him the John Peel of my cinematic education, someone who is always seeking and who inspires the same - and I've always enjoyed his gentle, yet passionate and intense (and inclusive!) approach to film criticism. Aside from once passing him a flyer in the street at the 2000 Edinburgh Fringe Festival - I guess The Burning Orphanage Show didn't appeal - it was great to properly meet this influential figure, exchanging a few quick words (about which more later), after the screening of (the condensed version of his) The Story of Film at the GFT.... 

*I still have all my ticket stubs tho'!

Of course, Rob (also) loves his summer blockbusters, so it should come as no surprise that he's currently working on the inevitable sequel to this blog, one where he'll take a look at some of his biggest GFT big screen favourites and memorable moments. So duly dim the lights (and prepare for someone to arrive just a little late and sit in front of you, their head part blocking the subtitles) and prepare yourselves for Cinema 2, a forthcoming attraction....