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| Marilyn |
 Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 4:26 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| Facets is the only theatre in the world that gave Vera a commercial run because I bugged Charles Coleman, the programming director, to show it. He liked it so much, he struck a deal for Facets Video, their own "label", to issue it on DVD. Now, the film that had no distributor is readily available to anyone who wants to see it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| It certainly is. Marilyn, I'm adding my congratulations. That is really something. |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:12 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| Thanks. I'm most grateful that tonight I had my first chance in nearly 3 years to thank John Petrakis, who previewed the film and gave it a 3-star review in the Chicago Tribune. I tried to e-mail him my thanks, but I couldn't get his address. He's teaching a class on European cinema at the Siskel Center, so I went to his class this evening (and saw The Conformist in an uncut 35-mm print, a real treat considering it is not available on DVD due to legal problems). He had to read the review to remember the film--he was seeing about 350 a year at that point--but he did remember it and was pleased to champion it and a lot of other small films that slip through the cracks if nobody writes about them. He's a very cool guy. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:07 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| VERA? Gee, I seem to remember that film. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:17 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Its odd that Marilyn should take credit for the DVD release of VERA when it was me that brought the the film and its director to this country for it's North American theatrical premier. Marilyn saw the film because I brought it to Taos
when she was here. Marilyn, if you weren't so busy patting yourself on the back, you might have given me some credit for your "discovery". |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:28 pm |
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I fought hard to bring the director, Francisco Athie, and the film to Taos. Of the festival programmers, I was the only one who championed the film. I actually called the director and told him I would bring VERA to Taos with or without the festival's blessing. My fellow programmers didn't understand the film, but they were so intimidated by my passion for it that they finally agreed to let me bring the film to Taos. It was the hit of the festival.
I became very good friends with Francisco Athie and continue to correspond with him.
Here are my program notes for the 2003 TAOS TALKING PICTURE FESTIVAL.
"Vera is a visionary tour de force that evokes the exhilarating cinematic madness of surrealist mindbenders like Jean Cocteau, David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Andrei Tarkovsky. While possessing its own psychedelic loopiness, Vera definitely takes its place among classic "head movies" as El Topo, Viva La Muerte and Eraserhead.
Vera, while having a profound inner intelligence, follows the seemingly random flow and rhythm of dreams. Whether it posseeses meaning or not (it does), Vera needs no justification. Like all great art, the act of seeing is enough. Vera 's plot is minimal: an old man is trapped in a cave, the walls and ceiling of which have collapsed. The man may or may not have been killed. What follows could be a dream, a shaman's ayahuasca vision, a death trip, let your imagination take you where it may. What we see is a blue-skinned extraterrestrial/ally/guide, the Virgin Mary, hot Aztec sex, a dancing skeleton, a severed penis, a digitized Jesus and a myriad of tryptamine-like hallucinations, visions and symbols. Vera might be interpreted as a passage through death - a Bardo experience that kaleidoscopically spins out images of the afterlife, including those of the Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead, Mayan myth, the binary code and Catholic purgatory. Director Athie's cosmic point of view exists in the same realm as Carlos Castaneda's peyote trips, Artaud's yage meta-mindf*cks and shroom guru Terence McKenna's dmt-fueled riffs on the links between Mayan symbolism and visitors from outer space. On the visual tip, Athie has made magical use of natural locations: awe-inspiring scenes of the mountains of Yucatan and some fantastic underground caverns. Brilliant cinematography and seamless computer-generated imagery add to the overall lysergic intensity of Athie's vsion. If you're interested in seeing what kind of movie Spielberg or Lucas might create after eating a few dozen psilocybin mushrooms, seek out Vera. It is a cult classic just waiting to be discovered.
Vera features a stunning performance by Urara Kusanigi, a world renowned butoh dancer. Her otherwordly beauty and ethereal grace is reminiscent of the female ghosts in Kwaidan. She got her weight down to 57 pounds for her role as the blue-skinned guide. The film was shot by Ramon Saurez, the cinematographer of such classics as Alea's Memeories Of The Underdevelopement, Arrabel's Guernica and Ruiz's Darkness At Noon."
Marc Campbell |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:10 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Marc, come on.
Where in your posts do you give credit for whoever brought the movie to your attention?
Does Marilyn not mentioning you take away from her having gotten the movie its only commercial run? Or from the fact that it was this run is what has lead to a video/DVD release?
***
On the other hand, I like your review of the movie. It makes me wish you'd take the time to write pieces like this for our site. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Have to agree with Joe on this one. It's not Marilyn's duty to thank you, Marc, especially when the blood hasn't been that good between you anyway. No one here is a saint, nor should they be required to become one. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:53 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: the blood hasn't been that good between you anyway.
thanks billy. You've explained exactly the reason that Marilyn did not thank me. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:57 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Joe,
The film bureau of Mexico, Cinemateca, brought VERA to my attention. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:58 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: No one here is a saint, nor should they be required to become one.
what the fuck does any of this have to do with sainthood? talk about hyperbole. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:05 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: Does Marilyn not mentioning you take away from her having gotten the movie its only commercial run?
No. But, my introducing her to the film is not inconsequential. If she had any class she might have given me some props for turning her on to Vera, despite bad blood. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:13 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I'm not going to continue this. I said my piece, I'm ready to move on. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:16 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: I'm not going to continue this. I said my piece, I'm ready to move on.
How good of you. |
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