News: Dastardly Criminal Cinema

CineCult are feeling a bit criminal at how long it has taken to get the details out for this month, so why not go with it and delve deep into the heart of strange crime! Breaking into the cinematic jailhouse, they offer these two jailbirds lurking in the darkness, forgotten and ignored. So here they are, paroled and ready to steal your attention!


Love is Colder Than Death
Dir: Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1969. 88mins.

Love Is Colder Than Death is the debut feature from the truly astonishing auteur and one-man film industry Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a career spanning only thirteen years with 35 feature films and two television series. It’s only now, more than 25 years after his untimely death, that critics and buffs alike are beginning to catch up with the dizzying breadth and extraordinary artistry of Fassbinder’s oeuvre. Starring Fassbinder himself, as well as regulars Ulli Lommel, Hanna Schygulla and Ingrid Caven, Love Is Colder Than Death is a fine, rarely seen example of the German wunderkind’s early fascination with the nouvelle vague, as well as a great starting point for an introduction into the work of one of last century’s finest, most prolific and sadly underrated film artists. A gangster film, of sorts, a comedy, a drama, a typically Fassbinder-like sex romp. Imagine if Godard, in a parallel universe, had somehow become the guardian of the Carry-On film franchise, and you might have some idea of Love Is Colder Than Death’s exceptional power.


Judex
Dir: Georges Franju. 1963. 94mins.

A masquerade ball attended by bird people; sexy slinking cat burglars creeping through the night; bumbling inspectors and carrier pigeons; and master plans that will keep you guessing! Judex, Georges Franju's (Eyes Without A Face) remake of Feuillade's epic serial, resurrects the surrealism and flamboyance of the French silent period, where criminals were the heroes and the plot would turn on a dime. Franju's remake was largely ignored at the time of it's release as audiences could not understand why an arthouse film maker was tackling costumed vigilantes and villains. After the recent spate of intelligent comic book films it is far easier to appreciate beauty of this black and white classic.

As usual it's $5 on the door for both movies. Feel free to come for one or both. The first film will kick off at about 7pm, the second film at approximately 8.45. There will be a 15 minute intermission between films.

CineCult@303
17 March 2009, 7:00pm
Bar 303, 303 High St, Northcote

Source: Tony Mcmahon