cult films

a collection of twentysomethings try to cope with relationships, loneliness, desire and their individual neuroses.

dir.: risa bramon garcia

comedy / drama
1999

cameo by elvis costello

soundtrack:
- “cruel to be kind” by nick lowe
- “in the flesh” by blondie
- “just what i needed” by the cars
- “our lips are sealed” by the go-go’s
- “i want candy” by bow wow wow
- “i don’t care” by the ramones
- “boogie wonderland” by girls against boys
- “ladies night” by kool & the gang
- “it’s different for girls” by joe jackson
- “nowhere girl” by b. movie
- “more than this” by roxy music
- “romeo and juliet” by dire straits
- “peace, love and understanding” by elvis costello
- “medley: rapture/maria/no exit” by blondie

amongst other shots of famous 80’s music

+: imdb

“if you only remember one thing I’ve said, remember this; james brown is the baddest motherfucker in show business.”

a poet falls in love with an art student who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle, and his love of heroin. hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.

director: neil armfield
drama / romance 
2006

abbie cornish as candy
heath ledger as dan
geoffrey rush as casper

luke davies (one of the writers) based the novel largely on his own life and experience; ledger’s character dan being a semi-autobiograpical creation.

+: imdb

“when you can stop, you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t.”

marion and jack try to rekindle their relationship with a visit to paris, home of marion’s parents — and several of her ex-boyfriends.

dir.: julie delpy
comedy / drama / romance
2007

adam goldberg as jack
julie delpy as marion

some facts:

- the characters of marion’s parents are played by delpy’s real life parents, albert delpy and marie pillet.
- marie pillet, julie’s mother, was actually one of the ‘343 salopes’ back in 1971. 
- because of his commitment to the film deja vu (2006), julie delpy was unsure if adam goldberg would be available to be in her film. she was forced to push back shooting to accommodate his schedule but he eventually arrived on set, twelve hours late. 
- the book that the american tourist show to jack is “the da vinci code” by dan brown. 
- while working on the movie, julie delpy claims she didn’t watch any romantic comedies for inspiration. she did, however, watch jaws (1975) several times. the arguments between jake and marion, she said, resembled a shark lurking in the water. 
- when asked why she edited the film herself julie delpy said that, because of budget constraints, it was a choice between either hiring an editor or an editing bay. since an editing bay was the more essential item, she took on the role of editor out of necessity.

+: imdb

this is not a love story. this is a story about love

dir.: marc webb
comedy / drama / romance
2009

joseph gordon-levitt as tom hansen
zooey deschanel as summer finn

some facts:

- the film’s blue-centric color scheme was done to bring out zooey deschanel’s eyes.
- stars zooey deschanel and joseph gordon-levitt have already worked together in the film manic (2001). 
- joseph gordon-levitt wears t-shirts for joy division’s “love will tear us apart” and “unknown pleasures”, and the clash’s “london calling” albums.
- one thing that both tom and summer have in common is their love for “bananafish.” this may be a reference to the band bananafish which gained national prominence for a brief period in the 80’s or it may refer to one of j.d. salinger’s “nine stories” (the first of the nine being “a perfect day for bananafish”). actress zooey deschanel who portrays summer is herself named after another story by j.d. salinger, “franny & zooey”.
- in the scene where tom first enters summer’s apartment, the camera focuses on a bowler hat with a green apple on top of it. this is a reference to the famous painting “the son of man” by rené magritte who is said earlier in the film to be one of summer’s favorite artists.
- the cover of morrissey’s debut album, ‘viva hate,’ can be seen in both tom and summer’s childhood rooms. 
- in summer’s apartment there’s a copy of cezanne’s famous “blue vase” which is an important part of cezanne’s influence to cubism.
- the film marks director marc webb’s first full length feature film. he has previously directed numerous music videos. 
- the smiths’ ‘louder than bombs’, the jesus & mary chain’s ‘psychocandy’ and public image ltd.’s ‘album’ can been seen in tom’s childhood room.
- the film is set in 2006-2007. (the narrator says at the end of the film that may 23 was a wednesday. the last time may 23 was a wednesday was 2007.) 
- around the time of the movie’s release, director marc webb shot a short video for the internet, which featured zooey deschanel as sid vicious and joseph gordon-levitt as nancy spungen, in reference to a conversation in this movie. 
- zooey deschanel chose her own song for the karaoke scene, the sugartown song. 
- the sounds from a game that tom’s friends are playing in two different scenes is from a version of “donkey kong” for the original game boy. 
- paul says “humjob” instead of “blowjob” to avoid an ‘r’ rating.
- the studio never intended to include the documentary about love in the film, even going so far as to tell the director to not bother filming it. the audience reaction during the first test screening convinced them otherwise. 
- ian reed kesler, who gets in a fight with tom at the bar, is credited as ‘douche’. 
* spoiler: the narrator states that tom meets summer on january 8th. since it is 500 days, tom lets go of summer (and meets autumn) on may 23rd of the next year.

+: imdb

the egyptian vampire lady miriam subsists upon the blood of her lovers. in return the guys or girls don’t age… until miriam has enough of them. unfortunately that’s currently the case with john, so his life expectancy is below 24 hours. desperately he seeks help from the famous dr. sarah roberts. she doesn’t really belive his story, but becomes curious and contacts miriam … and gets caught in her ban, too.

dir.: tony scott
horror / romance / thriller / vampire
1983

catherine deneuve as miriam blaylock
susan sarandon as sarah roberts
david bowie as john

some facts:

- david bowie said that, in order to make his voice suitably hoarse for when he aged so drastically in the movie, he stood on the george washington bridge every night and screamed all the punk rock songs he knew. 

- david bowie actually learned to play the cello for his music scenes. 

- tony scott sighted the photography of irving penn as a major influence on the visual style of the film. 

- one day during filming, costume designer milena canonero, who is famously dedicated to her craft, disappeared and was nowhere to be found. it was discovered eventually that she had flown to rome to purchase fabric for a handkerchief david bowie is supposed to wear. unable to find fabric she liked in london, canonero had flown to rome at her own expense to find the fabric she needed instead.

- makeup artist antony clavet, who was famous within the fashion world for his work in italian vogue, was brought onto the project after he was introduced to the director by milena canonero.  

+: imdb

life isn’t measured in minutes, but in moments

tells the story of benjamin button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences.

dir.: david fincher
drama / fantasy / mystery / romance
2008

facts:
- early development of the film began in 1994.
- it took 5 hours each day to complete the make-up required for the role of benjamin button.
- david fincher’s first pg-13 rated film.
- principal photography was targeted to last a total of 150 days, excluding the time it would take to create the visual effects for the metamorphosis of brad pitt’s character to the infant stage.
- the short story based on a remark by author mark twain, who famously remarked that ‘the best part of life was from the beginning and the worst part was the end’
- the hummingbird is the only bird in the world that can fly backwards. all hurricanes spin counter-clockwise. these, among other “backward” motifs involving clocks and so on, tie in with the major thematic elements related to benjamin button living life in reverse.

a couple undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship turns sour, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.

drama / romance
dir. michel gondry
2004

jim carrey as joel barish
kate winslet as clementine kruczynski
tom wilkinson as dr. howard mierzwiak
kirsten dunst as mary
elijah wood as patrick
mark ruffalo as stan

facts:

- the title is quoted from the poem “eloisa to abelard” by alexander pope (1688-1744): “how happy is the blameless vestal’s lot! the world forgetting, by the world forgot. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d.” this poem was used in kaufman’s earlier project being john malkovich (1999).
- before carrey expressed interest in playing joel, nicolas cage was considered for the role.
- the idea was brought to m. gondry by his friend the artist pierre bismuth who suggested, “you get a card in the mail that says: someone you know has just erased you from their memory…”
- lacuna inc.: transfiguratively, lacuna comes to mean a gap, deficiency, or loss. the term “lacunar infarct” refers to a stroke that involves a small area of the brain responsible for a specific function, or ever a specific memory.
- when clementine and joel are in the montauk beach house, clementine finds an envelope that says david and ruth laskin. david and ruth are the first names of winslet and carrey’s assistants.
- all of the train shots were shot onboard a real, moving, train.
- the opening credits appear 18 minutes into the film, at the end of the first reel.
- features kate winslet’s own favorite performance.
- a sex scene with mark ruffalo and kirsten dunst was shot but was cut due to length.
- initially throughout the train scene, the music was supposed to fill up the gap during the silence between joel and clem until writer charlie kaufman suggested to do the opposite. music was then played when joel and clem talked and paused when they paused.
- when the stan (mark ruffalo) scares mary (kirsten dunst), director m. gondry asked mark to hide at a different spot each take to actually scare her.
- reporters tried to interview jim carrey as the unplanned scene with joel and clementine at the street parade was being filmed. if you listen closely, you can hear somebody shout “speak to me!” at jim carrey.

+: click en la foto

i already forget how I used to feel about you.

“george orwell’s novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.”

drama/romance/sci-fi/thriller
dir.: michael radford
1984

john hurt as winston smith
richard burton as o’brien

some facts:

- scenes were shot on the actual days noted in winston smith’s diary (the scene where smith writes in his diary, dating the entry april 4, 1984, was shot on april 4, 1984).
- richard burton was 4th choice for his role. paul scofield, sean connery and anthony hopkins were also considered.
- this film was dedicated to the memory of richard burton.
- virgin films, the production company bankrolling the movie, had wanted a commercially viable pop act to compose the music for the film to increase its market potential. originally they approached david bowie, who had used orwell’s novel as inspiration for some songs on his 1974 album, “diamond dogs”, but he demanded too much money for the job. they opted instead for eurhytmics, who had initially turned down the offer but later accepted.
- the film features a salute which never was used in the novel. it is done by holding one’s arms up and making the wrists cross each other in the shape of a small v. a similar salute is seen in the film, pink floyd the wall (1982).
- the oceanian soldiers in the film are wearing soviet red army helmets, painted black.
- in the film adaptation of v for vendetta (2005), john hurt played the high chancellor adam sutler, who appeared big-brother-like on a massive television screen in several scenes.
- in the film, inner and outer party members call each other “brother” or “sister” instead of “comrade” like in the novel.
- mrs. orwell appalled when david bowie proposed turning “nineteen eighty-four” into a rock musical in the mid-1970s.