Deep Focus

Bite-size journal of filmic exotica

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YOUNG AND HEALTHY AS A ROSE - Jovan Jovanović - Yugoslavia - 1971 A key film of the "Yugoslav Black Wave" - and Jovanović's first narrative feature - wherein a cocky, womanizing street tough effortlessly ascends to the top of Belgrade's criminal class by way of indiscriminate violence and unwavering self-assuredness. I'm not sure that it's a "good" film, per-se, but it's certainly a grim prediction of the social climate of post-Balkanized Eastern Europe. ............................ #youngandhealthyasarose #mladizdravkaoruza #mladizdravkaoruža #jovanjovanović #jovanjovanovic #dragannikolić #dragannikolic #yugoslavia #yugoslavianfilm #serbia #serbianfilm #belgrade #beograd #balkancinema #balkans #easterneuropeanfilm #easterneuropeancinema #yugoslavblackwave

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Starring the recently departed Dragan Nikolić, who would soon become a household name in the region. In the late 00's he even hosted the Serbian edition of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? ............................ #youngandhealthyasarose #mladizdravkaoruza #mladizdravkaoruža #jovanjovanović #jovanjovanovic #dragannikolić #dragannikolic #yugoslavia #yugoslavianfilm #serbia #serbianfilm #belgrade #beograd #balkancinema #balkans #easterneuropeanfilm #easterneuropeancinema #yugoslavblackwave

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I'm giving endings away again, but this one was too good not to share. Nikolić as Stevan, signing off with summary of the ending and a warning for the future... ............................ #youngandhealthyasarose #mladizdravkaoruza #mladizdravkaoruža #jovanjovanović #jovanjovanovic #dragannikolić #dragannikolic #yugoslavia #yugoslavianfilm #serbia #serbianfilm #belgrade #beograd #balkancinema #balkans #easterneuropeanfilm #easterneuropeancinema #yugoslavblackwave

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IDAHO TRANSFER - Peter Fonda - USA - 1973 Though not fondly remembered (if remembered at all), there's just something about Idaho Transfer that resonates with me. I think the hate usually comes from viewers who come to it by way of Fonda's namesake, rather than a proclivity for zonked-out science fiction. Here, a group of teenagers is sent to the future (because if you're older than 20 time travel makes your kidneys explode) to repopulate the planet after a catastrophic ecological event. They find survivors, but only after the government shuts down the project, leaving all of them stranded. The film's outcome is as bleak as it's desolate desert locale. ........................ #idahotransfer #peterfonda #keithcarradine #apocalypse #apocalyptic #scifi #sciencefiction #endoftheworld #thehiredhand #wandanevada #teenfilm #timetravel #overtheedge #larryclark

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There's always this lingering topic of adolescent sexuality - bolstered, I suppose, buy the apparent scientific necessity to be mostly naked when traveling through time. Conversations about "making it" and fertility are as much a survival imperative as they are the de rigueur teenage preoccupation. Like OVER THE EDGE or the films of Larry Clark, it's a depiction of teenage resistance against the infringements of adulthood - delivered with candor by a mostly unprofessional cast (save Keith Carradine). Even the devolved apocalypse survivors are under 30. ........................ #idahotransfer #peterfonda #keithcarradine #apocalypse #apocalyptic #scifi #sciencefiction #endoftheworld #thehiredhand #wandanevada #teenfilm #timetravel #overtheedge #larryclark

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The strangest of Fonda's three directorial credits, including THE HIRED HAND and WANDA NEVADA - all made in the 70s. Though Fonda doesn't really posses any distinctive talents as a director, all three are well worth a look. ........................ #idahotransfer #peterfonda #keithcarradine #apocalypse #apocalyptic #scifi #sciencefiction #endoftheworld #thehiredhand #wandanevada #teenfilm #timetravel #overtheedge #larryclark

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CHUMLUM - Ron Rice - USA - 1964 Take an acid-drenched journey forwards and backwards in time, guided by a cadre of ecstatic travelers from Warhol's Factory and the burgeoning realms of avant-garde music and cinema. ............ #chumlum #ronrice #jacksmith #normallove #andywarhol #warholfactory #warholsuperstars #flamingcreatures #theflowerthief #angusmaclise #velvetunderground #tonyconrad #outsidethedreamsyndicate #mariomontez #beverlygrant #newamericancinema #psychedelic

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Forms and figures emerge and disappear from a lightshow of churning torsos, substance-malaised visages, and patterned gauze. See the flaming creature himself, Jack Smith - along with the cast of his Normal Love, writhing in hedonistic astral ecstasy. Soundtrack by future Velvet Underground exile Angus MacLise with the assistance of Tony Conrad. ............ #chumlum #ronrice #jacksmith #normallove #andywarhol #warholfactory #warholsuperstars #flamingcreatures #theflowerthief #angusmaclise #velvetunderground #tonyconrad #outsidethedreamsyndicate #mariomontez #beverlygrant #newamericancinema #psychedelic

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Without a doubt, an early benchmark of the American psychedelic era and one of the precious few works of Ron Rice, who'd die in Mexico of pneumonia the same year. ............ #chumlum #ronrice #jacksmith #normallove #andywarhol #warholfactory #warholsuperstars #flamingcreatures #theflowerthief #angusmaclise #velvetunderground #tonyconrad #outsidethedreamsyndicate #mariomontez #beverlygrant #newamericancinema #psychedelic

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PREFAB STORY (OR THE GENESIS OF A COMMUNITY) - Vera Chytilová - Czechoslovakia - 1980 Here in the West we know Chytilová best for #Daises (aka #Sedmikrásky ) or even #FruitOfParadise ( #OvoceStromuRajskýchJíme ), which saw a stateside DVD release via #Facets Video. For me though, her standout film is Prefab Story - a comic indictment of the failures of Czechoslovakia's social policies, set in an inhabited but unfinished public housing development (known in Czech as a #paneláky ) ...................... #panelstory #prefabstory #panelstoryanebjakserodísídliste #verachytilová #verachytilova #czechoslovakia #czechfilm #communisim #communistfilm #czechnewwave #womeninfilm #femaledirectors #sedmikrásky #sedmikrasky #facetsvideo #paneláky #panelaky #kinoeye

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Following multiple narrative threads through mostly hand-held photography and edited with whiplash pacing, the film is teeming with activity. Characters shuffle about the impersonal concrete facades and muddy terrain, attempting to negotiate existence inside of a living monument to bureaucratic inefficiency. Sometimes Prefab Story feels like a strange Eastern-European cousin to #JacquesTati 's #PlayTime - both satiric examples of human imperfection spoiling well-intentioned architecture. ...................... #panelstory #prefabstory #panelstoryanebjakserodísídliste #verachytilová #verachytilova #czechoslovakia #czechfilm #communisim #communistfilm #czechnewwave #womeninfilm #femaledirectors #sedmikrásky #sedmikrasky #facetsvideo #paneláky #panelaky #kinoeye

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Chytilová speaking about the film in April 2001, during her first retrospective in Britain: "What I wanted to say was that man creates something with one breath and with the second breath destroys it. I wanted the audience to be aware of how the behavior of man is contradictory. It's not a critical reaction to the regime; it's more actually a view of human moral behavior. I think every form of behavior has a moral aspect to it." (transcription via Andrew James Horton at kinoeye.org) ...................... #panelstory #prefabstory #panelstoryanebjakserodísídliste #verachytilová #verachytilova #czechoslovakia #czechfilm #communisim #communistfilm #czechnewwave #womeninfilm #femaledirectors #sedmikrásky #sedmikrasky #facetsvideo #paneláky #panelaky #kinoeye

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COMING APART - Milton Moses Ginsberg - USA - 1969 Certainly one of the great Rip Torn's most undiluted, visceral performances (which is saying quite a lot) - Milton Moses Ginsberg's conceptually daring, critically divisive statement on voyeurism and the male ego concerns a philandering psychiatrist who constructs a two-way-mirrored enclosure for a 16mm camera - passed off as a piece of sculpture - so that he can secretly film sexual liaisons with strangers and patients alike. One of Torn's first lead appearances, and also an early credit for Sally Kirkland. ................... #comingapart #riptorn #sallykirkland #miltonmosesginsberg #voyeurism

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Taking place entirely from the perspective of the hidden camera, the effect is claustrophobic - almost oppressive. Difficult though it is to watch Torn cycle through a kaleidoscope of manipulative scenarios, it's also impossible to look away...the viewer is implicated in his indiscretion. ................... #comingapart #riptorn #sallykirkland #miltonmosesginsberg #voyeurism

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Of course, what Torn actually documents is not his gift for conquest, but the disintegration of his sense of self. As he crumbles, we feel we are also witnessing the end of the flimsy free-love ethos of the 1960's - placing Coming Apart in the fine company of other end-of-idealism pics of the era like #MediumCool #EasyRider #TheMotherAndTheWhore etc ................... #comingapart #riptorn #sallykirkland #miltonmosesginsberg #voyeurism

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STARS OF THE ROLLER STATE DISCO - Alan Clarke - UK - 1979 Rare and highly unusual installment of the celebrated #PlayForToday series, to which Clarke regularly contributed. In an effort to manage youth unemployment, non-working juveniles become wards of the state, banished to a rollerrink-cum-borstal where they idle away, literally spinning in circles while waiting for job openings. Written by #MichaelHastings ............ #bbc #starsoftherollerstatedisco #teleplay #alanclarke

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Clarke's trademark use of #steadicam applies fittingly to this scenario of perpetually gliding, circular motion. ............ #bbc #starsoftherollerstatedisco #alanclarke #teleplay #playfortoday