cult films

a young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. then he meets hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.

dir.: spencer susser
drama 
2010

joseph gordon-levitt as hesher
devin brochu as t.j.
rainn wilson as paul forney
piper laurie as grandma
natalie portman as nicole

some facts:

- elephants make several appearances in the film. rainn wilson’s character is watching a tv show about elephants and we hear them in the background, the car dealership has a large pink elephant on the roof and beside t.j’s bed there is a figurine of another elephant. 
- in the pool scene, hesher asks r2 to shut down all the trash compactors. this refers to r2-d2 from star wars. director spencer susser also directed a tv special short, r2-d2: beneath the dome (1992). 
- all of hesher’s “persona”, according to joseph gordon-levitt, is inspired by late bass player from metallica, cliff burton. not only that, but the movie features a significant amount of music from the “burton” era, including the solo that hesher plays in the garage (anesthesia, from the kill ‘em all album) and, of course, the hesher lettering. 
- most of the songs on the film’s soundtrack are tracks from american heavy metal band metallica and british hard rockers motorhead.
- hesher (slang/noun): a person who is a fan of, and displays the appearance of heavy metal or hard rock music. a male enthusiast of heavy metal music, particularly one who adopts the hair style and dress of his idols. the female equivalent is a hesher-chick. 

the story of venezuelan revolutionary ilich ramírez sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 opec meeting.

dir.: olivier assayas
biography / crime / drama
2010

edgar ramírez as ílich ramírez sánchez (aka ‘carlos the jackal’)
alexander scheer as johannes weinrich
nora von waldstätten as magdalena kopp
ahmad kaabour as wadie haddad
christoph bach as hans-joachim klein ‘angie’
julia hummer as gabriele kröcher-tiedemann ‘nada’

some facts:
- it is a 3-part french television drama mini-series, first broadcast on canal+ in 2010. the 5½ hour version of carlos was screened out of competition at the 2010 cannes film festival on may 19, 2010.
- carlos is never once referred to as ‘the jackal’ in the entire five-and-a-half hour running time. 
- in “carlos”, édgar ramírez plays the titular character, carlos the jackal. in the movie, the bourne ultimatum, ramírez plays an assassin trying to kill the titular character, jason bourne. in the jason bourne book series, of which the movie series is based on, jason bourne’s nemesis is none other than carlos the jackal. 
- carlos the jackal, the infamous terrorist and murderer. after several bungled bombings, he achieves notoriety for a 1975 raid on opec headquarters in vienna, resulting in the deaths of 3 people. for many years he was among the most wanted international fugitives.
- initially, assayas planned to use several songs by the feelies on the soundtrack but shortly before post-production was completed he was informed that members of the band did not want their music associated with terrorism. the director remembers, “we ended up managing to keep one song for a scene that did not involve any kind of terroristic activity. but i had to completely reinvent the whole score”. he ended up using several songs by wire. the soundtrack includes:

- loveless love by the feelies
- dreams never end by new order
- terebellum by fripp & eno
- all night party by a certain ratio
- ahead by wire
- forces at work by the feelies
- sonic reducer by the dead boys
- dot dash by wire
- drill by wire
- the 15th by wire
- sharing by satisfaction
- pure by the lightning seeds
- la pistola y el corazon by los lobos
- el sueño americano by la portuaria

+: imdb / wikipedia

in a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled mirrormask in order to save the kingdom and get home.

dir.: dave mckean
writers: neil gaiman & dave mckean
adventure / fantasy / drama
2005

facts:
-during the circus montage at the beginning of the film, there is a brief shot of a hand balancing and twirling a set of four crystal balls. this art is called contact juggling, created by performance artist michael moschen and originally debuted in the jim henson film labyrinth, which in part inspired this film.
-according to an interview with neil gaiman, the original computers used to do all of the cg were named after the beatles (john, paul, ringo, george). later a fifth computer was required, so it was named yoko. soon after the fifth computer was introduced, the network crashed and could not be restored properly (“the computers refused to talk to each other”). a new server and computers were purchased and named after the ramones (joey, jonny, deedee and tommy). gaiman said “i wish i knew more about the history of the ramones; the computers performed brilliantly, vibrantly and died in an untimely and early death”
-there were 70 masks within the film.
-total number of digital fish in the film: 42.

after being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, oh dae-su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in 5 days.

dir.: chan-wook park
drama / mystery / thriller
2003

min-sik choi as dae-su oh
ji-tae yu as woo-jin lee
hye-jeong kang as mi-do

some facts:

- based on japanese manga “oldboy” by nobuaki minegishi and garon tsuchiya.
- 4 live octopodes were eaten for the scene with dae-su in the sushi bar, a scene which provoked some controversy abroad. eating live octopus in korea is commonplace although it is usually sliced first. when the film won the grand prix at cannes, the director thanked the octopodes along with the cast and crew.
- min-sik choi trained for 6 weeks and lost 20 pounds to get in shape for the role of dae-su, and did most of his own stunt work.
- the telephone number (08-6600330) which is supposed to go to oh dae-su’s daughter’s foster parents home in sweden, actually has been “shut down requested by the owner of the number” (that’s what the voice says when you call the number). but you are referred to another number (08-54589400) which goes to “the embassy of the republic of korea” in stockholm, sweden.
- the anthem of oh dae su’s and lee woo-jin’s school is that of choi min sik’s school.
- the flashback sequence when oh dae su visits his former school was color corrected in post-production to a predominately brown color scheme.
- scenes at the police station with drunken and disorderly dae-su oh were the very last scenes the director scheduled to film. min-sik choi (dae-su oh) ad-libbed most of these “drunken” scenes, including the scene of him playing with toy wings that he bought for his daughter. he also ad-libbed many of his lines during the penthouse scene, including the anthem of his school.
- dae-su oh bangs his head right after stopping mi-do from reading his diary. this “head banging” was not a scripted action. however hye-jeong kang (mi-do) kept her cool and continued on with her lines. the director, in an interview, said that he kept and used this supposedly ng scene for its comical and emotional value.
- the last scenes of the movie (with snow and footsteps) were filmed in new zealand. after the ending credit completely rolls over, audiences can hear sound of the wind. it was actual sound of the wind recorded in nz location. the director revealed in an interview that he was impressed by the scenary of nz so much he saved the sound there for the (korean) audience.
- this is the 2nd one of director chan-wook park’s “revenge trilogy”. the 1st is boksuneun naui geot. the 3rd is chinjeolhan geumjassi. incidentally, the very first speaking character in this film, who commits suicide with his dog and whose story we never hear, is played by kwang-rok oh. in the 1st of the revenge trilogy he played an anarchist who appears at the very end of the film. he is the only credited character who appears in both movies.
- chan-wook park wanted a documentary feel during the police station scene by using jump cutting. as a result, most of min-sik choi’s ad libbed lines were trimmed. the full ad libbed scenes are found on the uk tartan dvd.
- according to the cast commentary, min-sik choi wanted the cameraman to follow his legs when playing with the toy wings. he was trying to do a “moonwalk” originally done by michael jackson.
- the restaurant that mido works in is called “mediterranean”, which is the name of the restaurant in real life, but the director originally intended for it to be called “akira” - not as a reference to the popular manga, but to the japanese director akira kurosawa.
- min-sik choi is a buddhist and had to pray after eating the octopuses.
- during the scene in the cyber cafe, the extras in the background are playing the popular first person shooter half-life: counter-strike. this is apparent when watching screens and when listening to background noise. you can faintly hear the famous awp weapon being fired from time to time. you can also notice sounds from starcraft in the background.
- the line on the painting of dae su’s cell reads “laugh and the world laughs with you. weep and you weep alone.” these are the first lines of ella wheeler wilcox’s famous poem, “solitude”.
- when talking about sleeping gas used by russian special forces, oh dae-su refers to 2002 moscow ‘nord-ost’ theater hostage crisis.

+: imdb

a traumatized vietnam war veteran finds out that his post-war life isn’t what he believes it to be when he’s attacked by horned creatures in the subway and his dead son comes to visit him.

dir.: adrian lyne
drama / horror
1990

tim robbins as jacob singer
elizabeth peña as jezzie

some facts:

- all sfx were filmed live, with no post-production. for example, to achieve the famous ‘shaking head’ effect, lyne simply filmed the actor waving his head around (and keeping his shoulders and the rest of his body completely still) at 4fps, resulting in an incredibly fast and deeply disturbing motion when played back at the normal frame-rate of 24fps.
- the bergen street station in the film was actually an abandoned, lower level portion of the station, which had to be re-tiled and fixed to look as if it was still in working condition.
- all ads in the subway and bergen street station are anti-drug ads.
- according to the original script, after jacob is nearly run over by the subway train, a sequence involving a man being raped in the subway station mens bathroom was supposed to occur. it was filmed but deleted from the final cut (parts of the scene can be seen in the making-of featurette building ‘jacob’s ladder’).
- lyne made sure jacob and his visions never appear together in the same shot.
- the closing legend of the film mentions the testing of a drug named bz in vietnam. bz is nato code for a hallucinogen called 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, which was rumored to have been administered to us troops during the vietnam war in an attempt to increase their combat abilities.
- for all of the chiropractor scenes, lyne ensured there was a real chiropractor on-set, who would work with actor danny aiello so as to ensure authenticity. according to lyne, chiropractors often approach him and thank him for going to the trouble of getting what they do exactly right.
- according to lyne, most of the dialogue in the opening scene between the soldiers was improvised on set by the actors themselves, especially the conversation between george (ving rhames) and jacob (tim robbins) about masturbation.
- lyne also heavily rewrote the scene involving the biblical jacob’s ladder at the end of the film. writer bruce joel rubin had written the scene to involve a massive staircase ascending into the clouds, with crowds of people lining it, towering columns, and huge gates at the summit. again however, lyne felt that such an image could come across as preposterous (he refers to rubin’s original conception as the liberace scene’ on the dvd commentary track). as such, lyne rewrote the scene to involve simply the staircase in jacob’s house, basing this on the principal that heaven is wherever you were happiest.
- in the original screenplay, writer bruce joel rubin had created a typical biblical hell, complete with winged demons, cloven hoofed devils with horns, people with beaks and strange objects lying randomly around (director adrian lyne likens rubin’s vision to the work of hieronymus bosch). as with rubin’s general depiction of demons however, lyne felt that such scenes could very easily make an audience laugh. as such, he decided to rewrite the scene of jacob’s descent into hell; ultimately coming up with the hospital sequence where jacob is wheeled on a gurney into a metaphorical hell which becomes more and more grotesque as he moves.
- in bruce joel rubin’s original screenplay, all of the demons who appear throughout the film were typical biblical demons with horns, wings, cloven hooves etc. lyne felt that this kind of imagery could very easily come across as comic, which would destroy the film. he felt that the fact that the imagery was so far from human lessened its impact, and as such, he decided he wanted the demons to be humanesque, but not quite human. during his research into this (which was when he discovered the photography of joel-peter witkin), lyne came across the thalidomide scandal. thalidomide was a drug made available for purchase from 1957 to 1961. ostensibly, it was designed to treat pregnant women; primarily as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness, and secondarily as a sleeping aid. however, prior to its release, inadequate clinical tests were carried out, leading to roughly 10,000 children in africa and europe being born with severe physical deformities because their mothers had taken thalidomide during their pregnancy. the most common defects were phocomelia, dysmelia, amelia and polymelia; all conditions which affect the appearance of the limbs. during his research, lyne studied the thalidomide case, and came to feel that the birth defects caused by the drug represented the perfect starting place for his redesign of rubin’s demons. the thalidomide scandal was also the inspiration for david cronenberg’s scanners.
- according to lyne, the drug aspect of the story was inspired by the martin lee and bruce shlain book, “acid dreams: the cia, lsd and sixties rebellion”.
- lyne used the art of painters william blake, h.r. giger, and francis bacon and photographers diane arbus and joel-peter witkin as his primary influences for the visual style of the film.
- in an ironic reversal, lyne turned down directorial duties on the bonfire of the vanities so he could direct jacob’s ladder. his first choice for the role of jacob singer was tom hanks, but hanks turned down the film so he could make the bonfire of the vanities.
- actors who were allegedly interested in playing the leading role of jacob singer included dustin hoffman, al pacino and richard gere. for the role of jezzie, director adrian lyne auditioned roughly 300 women, including julia roberts, andie macdowell, madonna and jennifer lopez. the role eventually went to the very first person who auditioned - elizabeth peña.
- the track “rabbit in your headlights” from UNKLE takes its title from a quote from the film; dialogue from the film is also one of many samples on the song.

+: imdb

“die or shup up”

dir.: bruce mcdonald
horror / mystery / suspense
2008 

stephen mchattie / lisa houle / georgina reilly

facts:
- the original conceptualization for the movie was to have tony burgess, the writer, read the script with the wavering line being the only visual. sydney’s voice would be heard and laurel-ann would only get a mention.
- pontypool was produced as both a motion picture, and as a radio play. both versions were influenced by orson welles’ infamous radio production of the war of the worlds. the radio play was broadcast on the bbc’s art & culture section of their world service website. it is approximately 58 minutes long, as opposed to the film’s running time of 95 minutes.
- one scene features neal stephenson’s novel snow crash, a book featuring an ear worm or memetic virus that transfers itself through verbal information.

+: imdb

do you really want to provide a genocide with elevator music?

the rise of a star…the fall of a legend

in 1984, british newspaper reporter arthur stuart is investigating the career of 1970s glam rock star brian slade, who was heavily influenced in his early years by american rock singer curt wild, whose show was quite crazy for his time.

dir.: todd haynes
drama / music
1998

ewan mcgregor as curt wild
jonathan rhys meyers as brian slade
christian bale as arthur stuart
toni collette as mandy slade

some facts:

- jonathan rhys meyers and ewan mcgregor sang their own songs in the movie. (some of rhys meyers’s songs were overdubbed by radiohead lead singer thom yorke.)
- much of the dialog comes from oscar wilde’s writings.
- osheen jones, who plays jack fairy as a little boy, is the son of howard jones, british pop star of the 1980s.
- when brian first sees mandy, he says “do you jive?” that’s what david bowie is supposed to have said when he first saw his first wife, angela bowie.
- the david bowie song “velvet goldmine,” though originally recorded for the “hunky dory” album, wasn’t officially released until 1975, being the b-side to the re-issue of the “space oddity” single.
- todd haynes originally wanted to cast british pop star jarvis cocker as jack fairy.
- the name of brian slade’s rock persona, “maxwell demon,” and that of his band, “the venus in furs”, are references to two of the key artists in the original glam rock movement: maxwell demon was the name of a band in which brian eno performed in england in the mid 60s, and “venus in furs” is the name of a song by lou reed and the velvet underground. songs by both artists are featured on the film’s soundtrack.
- during the festival sequence where brian sees curt perform for the first time, ewan mcgregor was only due to moon the disgruntled crowd. but inspired by the antics of iggy pop, he improvised, and ended up gesticulating wildly while flashing the audience, leaping about with his trousers around his ankles.
- when christian bale and ewan mcgregor were filming their sex scene, the director cut without letting them know, so the two continued to simulate the act until they realized the trick that had been played on them.
- the film was originally supposed to feature some of david bowie’s music, hence the title. however, when bowie learned that the script for the film was partially based on the unauthorized biographies “stardust: the david bowie story”, written by henry edwards and tony zanetta and “backstage passes” written by bowie’s ex-wife angela bowie, he threatened the producers with a lawsuit. hence, no bowie songs were used, and the script was partially re-written to avoid unnecessary resemblance between bowie and the bowie-style character brian slade.
- the curt wild character is mainly inspired by david bowie’s relationship with two american 1960’s underground rockers whose careers bowie resurrected, iggy pop and lou reed. iggy pop hailed from michigan and shared wild’s long blond locks, while reed underwent shock therapy for bisexuality as a teen and was rumored to have had an affair with bowie before their falling out after bowie produced reed’s album transformer. much central to the film is fictionalized such as the mythical, mysterious decade-long disappearance of “slade”, although he reincarnated himself as tommy stone, a blonde with a white suit (the ‘thin white duke’). bowie wasn’t as huge of a star as slade is depicted here and never withdrew for so long from the public-eye as did the film’s character. 

+: imdb

a man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

dir.: alex proyas
mystery / sci-fi / thriller
1998

rufus sewell as john murdoch
william hurt as inspector frank bumstead
kiefer sutherland as dr. daniel p. schreber
jennifer connelly as emma murdoch / anna 
richard o’brien as mr. hand

some facts:

- new line cinema forced alex proyas to include the opening narration by kiefer sutherland, which proyas objected to, saying it was unnecessary. the narration gives away several key plot twists and consequently many fans of the film prefer to watch it with the sound turned off during the narration until sutherland looks at his pocket watch. unsurprisingly, the director’s cut omits this opening narration.
- there were many deliberate anachronisms to give the viewer a feeling of confusion of the time of the film.
- has one of the shortest average shot lengths (asl) of any modern narrative production at 1.8 seconds. this means there is a cut almost every 2 seconds.
- alex proyas wrote the part of mr. hand especially for richard o’brien.
- an earlier draft of the script had dr. schreber (kiefer sutherland) being skinned alive during the finale.
- inspector bumstead is playing on his accordion in his very first scene in the movie is a soviet wwii era song “siniy platochek” (“blue scarf”).
- the main character, john murdoch, shares the name, and the quest, of a scottish liberal in the 1870s and 1880s. the scottish murdoch led a major campaign for scottish farmers to own their own land.
- the name of kiefer sutherland’s character, daniel schreber, is the same as that of a man who wrote a book titled “memoirs of my nervous illness” during the heights of a period in which he was institutionalized for schizophrenia. the book has become a standard reading for many psychiatrists and psychologists, and many of the theories of both sigmund freud and carl gustav jung were based on it (freud never actually met schreber, though). “dark city” borrows heavily from the concept of “fleetingly-improvised men” which are found within schreber’s “memoirs”.
- roger ebert called this movie the best film of 1998. he recorded a special audio commentary track for the dvd release of the movie.
- alex proyas got the idea for the buildings changing and growing while the crew was moving pieces of the set around during filming of the crow.
- mr. sleep is played by twins, a girl (satya gumbert) and her brother (noah gumbert). both were fond of the rocky horror picture show, and they (and the rest of the cast and crew) were frequently entertained by richard o’brien, who played mr. hand in this film and riff raff in “rocky horror”, with recitations from that film.
melissa george’s movie debut.
- all of the fish in neptune’s kingdom are oscars.
- this film deals with ‘last thursdayism’, a philosophy described in a satiric comment by 20th-century historian bertrand russell, referring to the “omphalos” papers (1857) of philip gosse. last thursdayism says that the world (with us and our own basic memories included) could have been created recently, even last thursday, but we cannot demonstrate such a thing because the world would have been created to look like an older world.

+: imdb