In this week’s installment of “I Vant To Vatch Your Feelm!”, we’ve got a movie that’s got a certain level of Fame. Starring Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon, and once again never using the “V” word, this movie follows two Scary Monsters, two real Diamond Dogs, if you will and their struggles with immortality, or lack thereof. Catherine Deneuve is a Queen Bitch and has set her sights on a real Jean Genie, Susan Sarandon. Susan, one of the Young Americans, can’t tell if Catherine is just a Space Oddity or something more sinister. Perhaps Catherine is running out of Golden Years and just wants Susan to answer the question: Is There Life on Mars? Catherine’s current lover, the Man Who Sold the World is going through some Changes that may lead him from Ashes to Ashes, and is no longer a Sweet Thing. But Susan is a true Rebel Rebel and will not go quietly. What is the ultimate fate of these characters? The answer can be found in this episode’s Sound and Vision. By the way, did I mention David Bowie is in this movie? Huh. Must have slipped my mind. Oh well, doesn’t matter. Let’s Dance!
Poll question: Are you a fan of vampires in movies? Why or why not?
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I was shocked neither of you had seen the Hunger before. It’s one of those movies I assume everyone has seen, as I forget it wasn’t exactly a smash hit. It’s Tony Scot’s only good movie, in my opinion. I saw it first at a preview showing with my friend Jeannette and we loved it after seeing Bauhaus and Ann Magnuson right from the start of the film. Mike might be surprised that there is a Million Year Picnic connection. I had read Whitley Strieber’s book “Wolfen” and seen the film and had just finished his new book “the Hunger” when our friend Craig brought him into the store. Apparently, they were friends from a writing group they were both part of and Whitley asked me what I thought of the 2 books. I liked them a lot. The Hunger book goes into detail about Miriam’s past, and how vampires are a parallel race they look (mostly” human as a disguise to make it easier to prey on them. They have striking eyes, pale skin and wispy hair that they hide under a wig when wigs are invented. They were almost hunted to death and Miriam is one of, if not, the last. I also told him I thought his ideas in Wolfen and the Hunger were so intriguing and new that I didn’t mind that the characters and dialog were not very good. Craig told me later, “I don’t think he will ever talk to you again” if memory serves me.
I agree about the weak ending but it looks so good and everyone is just so amazing in it. I think Bowie and Deneuve in the shower might also count as a lesbian scene, as some people in the audience thought it was. Bowie was still able to rock the androgyny thing at the time. Famous homosexual Quentin Crisp had his own take on the movie. His whole review is pretty funny but this is a sample.
The plot of “The Hunger” such there be concerns a rich woman who spends her life giving strangely lethargic music lessons to or bickering wanly with Mr. Bowie as though they were two touring actors filling in a Sunday afternoon in a provincial town. In flagrant defiance of the Trade Descriptions Act, she offers her victims eternal life.
Dang, I knew Strieber only from “Communion,” that book about alien abduction. I remember enjoying the movie of “Wolfen” with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer, though. Good to know you found it so memorable. I had no idea Quentin Crisp wrote a review of it! “In flagrant defiance of the Trade Descriptions Act, she offers her victims eternal life.” Hee hee . . . the man had flair and a way with words.
I got carried away away and forgot to answer the actual poll question.
Yes, I like vampire movies, though less than I used to as they are less gothic and more fashion model lately.
I wasn’t going to mention that, so thanks for getting back to us about the poll question. I agree, they keep trying to make vampires more fabulous than eerie and I wish they’d cut down on that, at least. Thanks, Vince!
Wolfen starred Albert Finney! In it homeless people are disappearing and when a rich guy decides to revitalize a run down neighbourhood and destroy what is there he is attacked and torn apart. Is it wolves? Werewolves? Skinwalkers? Strieber never says werewolves or gives a final answer to what or who is doing the killings. max please tell you don’t like the Nicholson werewolf movie!