Full transparency: all Blu-rays reviewed were provided by Criterion Collection, Kino Lorber, and Arrow Video.
Welcome to the second half of this month’s reviews for “Physical Media Isn’t Dead…” Generally I try to find a throughline to tie these films together in some way, but honestly the only throughline I can find this time is that all of these films whip tuchus in their own special way. Criterion has finally re-released one of my last two remaining formerly out-of-print “white whales” (the other being The Third Man) in the form of a beautiful HD disc of Powell and Pressburger’s sumptuous The Tales of Hoffmann. Kino Lorber blesses us with a film I never knew I wanted so badly called quite simply Stunt Rock. And in an unexpected turn of events, Arrow Video delivers my pick of the month with the absolutely buckwild 1998 erotic neo-noir Wild Things.
Usually I say “take a read and take a chance” or some such variation, but no chances to be taken here — only sure shots in the back end of June.
In a recent virtual event for the IU Cinema, I gushed about my love of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death, a movie that is, by my estimation, their most phantasmagorical and extravagant in its design… if you don’t count their 1951 film The Tales of Hoffmann. A filmic translation of Jacques Offenbach’s final opera (which he never got to see performed, having died with the manuscript in his hand four months before it opened), The Tales of Hoffmann is a whimsical and somewhat melancholy story of Hoffmann — played here by Robert Rounseville, Hoffmann is based on the author of the titular tales, E.T.A. Hoffmann — and his boozy and lovelorn recounting to a tavern full of eager listeners of the three tragic trysts he had in his travels. Before he begins spinning yarn, a prima ballerina (played by the magnificently talented Moira Shearer) sends a note to Hoffmann asking him to join her after her performance, only to have the note intercepted by the evil Councilor Lindorf. Each tale of Hoffmann’s contains some theme of love lost due to interference and naivete. Also, one of the tales straight-up has a robot, dawg. How could you not want to watch this?!?
Powell and Pressburger, notable for their extravagant but measured cinematography and set design, have constructed what has to be their most lavishly dressed movie. Each tale has its own thematic color palette, tone, and texture. It’s such a simple but well-executed visual device that I dare to say that if you are one of those people who have trouble understanding the lyrics to songs sung in operatic style (which the film is 100% sung-through), you actually wouldn’t need that much context to understand how the characters are feeling and what the stakes are based purely on the visual information being conveyed. Even barring that, it’s such a beautiful-sounding and -looking work of art that no one could blame you if you chose to simply sit and vibe to the images onscreen. Excellently performed and creatively adapted to screen, The Tales of Hoffmann remains my favorite piece of opera translated to film.
A gorgeous restoration with newly rediscovered footage from the BFI National Archive and the Film Foundation, The Tales of Hoffmann comes packaged with an audio commentary from 1992 by filmmaker (and Moon Knight defender) Martin Scorsese and critic Bruce Eder; an interview with filmmaker George A. Romero from 2005; The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1956), a short musical film based on the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe story and directed by Michael Powell; a collection of production designer Hein Heckroth’s design sketches and paintings; a gallery of production and publicity photographs; and an essay by film historian Ian Christie.
You can pick up The Tales of Hoffmann from the Criterion Collection.
A little over 10 years ago, a good friend and fellow cinephile rented a documentary called Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild and Untold Story of Ozploitation! and, along with some other buds, we proceeded to have our little minds blown by what was happening in the world of film on the other side of the equator. Besides getting a crash course (featuring many car crashes) in the early careers of giants such as George Miller and Peter Weir, we also got to see footage from some WAY off-the-beaten-path Ozploitation films, Ozploitation being a subgenre of low-budget but incredibly thrilling and inventive exploitation films coming out of Australia in the ’70s and ’80s. One that stood out in the cavalcade of chaos was a film simply and beautifully titled Stunt Rock.
Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, Stunt Rock is a musical-mockumentary-stunt-spectacular starring real-life stuntman Grant Page as himself as well as the real-life band Sorcery. The film’s very loose narrative centers around Page and his life as a stuntman accepting a job in Los Angeles, where he meets up with his cousin Curtis Hyde, one of the members of Sorcery. I will now post the Wikipedia description of what Curtis’s role in Stunt Rock is because I can’t really do it justice: “…playing the part of The Prince of Darkness who is locked in cosmic combat with the King of the Wizards.” From there, Page catches the eye of a reporter (played by Monique van de Ven) who is amused by his devil-may-care shenanigans and… honestly folks, it’s called Stunt Rock and it delivers on that title.
The film itself is just an excuse to feature footage from Page’s career as a stuntman. You see finished footage from actual movies as well as the behind-the-scenes footage of stunts gone right… and wrong. Much like watching the credits of a mid ’80s-to-’90s Jackie Chan flick or one of the more physical Jackass stunts, there’s a bit of a “dangerous thrill” element to the movie knowing that Page is okay in the end but still watching him toe the line the entire time (despite, like all stunt people, knowing the ends and outs of whatever they are performing to a meticulous degree, it makes the ones that go wrong that much scarier). In that regard, Stunt Rock sits up there with another great — albeit slightly more story-driven and introspective — film about a stunt performer, Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham’s Hooper. But I cannot stress enough that there is also the element of a band called Sorcery that has full stage theatrics and narratives with songs that makes Led Zeppelin’s catalog sound like jock jams in comparison. The film is, quite frankly, a hoot.
Featuring an audio commentary by director Brian Trenchard-Smith with actors Grant Page and Margaret Trenchard-Smith; two excerpts of interviews from Not Quite Hollywood with Brian Trenchard-Smith and lead actor Grant Page; The Ultimate Rush: Conversation with Brian and Margaret Trenchard-Smith; a 2009 interview with Brian Trenchard-Smith, Sorcery lead guitarist Smokey Huff and producer Marty Fink; and select songs from the soundtrack.
In addition to this film’s 4K restoration playing across the states currently, you can pick up your own copy of Stunt Rock from Kino Lorber.
For my pick of the month, and honestly a standout recent first watch for this humble reviewer, we have the John McNaughton-directed 1998 neo-noir starring Matt Dillon, Denise Richards, Neve Campbell, and Kevin Bacon: Wild Things. Set in a swanky suburb in Miami (but using the backdrop of the Florida Everglades as a thick texture), the film centers around the scandal of guidance counselor and lothario Sam Lombardo (Dillon), who is accused by affluent and popular student Kelly Van Ryan (Richards) of rape with the significantly less affluent student and sex worker Suzie Toller backing up her claims. Dillon turns to attorney Kenneth Bowden (played unsurprisingly well by Bill Murray) to help him fight the allegation.
And reader, I quite simply cannot continue forward with this synopsis for those who have not seen the film because from this point onward, the film becomes a somewhat unhinged masterpiece of salacious cinema. This movie is filled with multiple reveals, even as the credits roll, that will most definitely make your head spin if you only know its reputation as one of the seminal late-era erotic thrillers, featuring moist and musty scenes of amorousness between the three leads. I also had a contemporary once tell me that if I loved the band Morphine, I was going to love George S. Clinton’s score for the film and my contemporary was right! There is exactly one Morphine song on the soundtrack but the entire score sounds like Mark Sandman and the boys were heavy inspiration.
I do not praise Wild Things as “trash cinema.” In my opinion, this movie succeeds at exactly what it is trying to do: stimulate and shock you with the help of star power and some very solid and alluring mise-en-scene courtesy of DP Jeffery L. Kimball. It’s not any more outlandish than any of the old Hollywood noir films it owes a great debt to (Double Indemnity and Cast a Dark Shadow come to mind), just amplified for the then so-called “MTV Generation.” It’s so unimaginable at this point that anyone would brave the choppy seas of discourse and make anything this lurid and capital “P” problematic in the third decade of the 21st century with a cast this stacked, but at the same time I’m happy Arrow has released something so lovingly put together during a time we get into constant debates about the role of sex in film. Wild Things bravely answers that question by simply being unapologetic in its exploitative aims.
Arrow was kind enough to send me the 4K special edition of the film (truly can’t overstate how great this restoration looks — that late ’90s film stock and lighting look great in 4K), which includes a cavalcade of special features and accoutrements you can find on Arrow Video’s website, including a very informative new audio commentary from director John McNaughton and producer Steve A. Jones.
You can pick up Wild Things from Arrow Video.
That’s gonna do it for June for “Physical Media Isn’t Dead, It Just Smells Funny.” Join me in July for more discoveries and — you asked for it and you are getting it — MORE SHAW BROTHERS!
Aja Essex is a film lover and a menace. She plays jazz from time to time but asks you not to hold that against her. Her taste in movies bounces from Speed Racer to The Holy Mountain and everything in between.