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Establishing Shot Indiana University

Monthly Movie Round-Up: November

Posted on by Establishing Shot

Every month, A Place for Film brings you a selection of films from our group of regular bloggers. Even though these films aren’t currently being screened at the IU Cinema, this series reflects the varied programming that can be found at the Cinema and demonstrates the eclectic tastes of the bloggers. Each contributor has picked one film that they saw this month that they couldn’t wait to share with others. Keep reading to find out what discoveries these cinephiles have made, as well as some of the old friends they’ve revisited.

And be sure to join us for December’s round-up, which will be presented LIVE as a virtual event on December 15. Register now!

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100 Years of Gene Tierney

Posted on by Michaela Owens

Gene Tierney in a publicity portrait for Dragonwyck
Gene Tierney in a publicity portrait for Dragonwyck

I shall never forget the day I saw The Ghost and Mrs. Muir in Paris. With a pounding headache and an overwhelming sense of loneliness after two weeks of studying in a strange city, I convinced myself to go stare in awe at Notre Dame before settling in at La Filmothèque du Quartier Latin, a small repertory theater that offered me salvation throughout my stay. As I sat in the dark swooning over the ghostly romance between Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, I felt comforted in exactly the way I needed — and I owed much of that to Tierney.

A New York debutante whose poise, drive, and stunning good looks turned her into one of the biggest stars of the ’40s and ’50s, Gene Tierney has long been a favorite of mine, which makes today, her 100th birthday, something I wanted to commemorate. (more…)

Physical Media Isn’t Dead, It Just Smells Funny: Blu-ray Reviews for November 2020

Posted on by Aja Essex

A collection of various Blu-rays

Full transparency: all Blu-rays reviewed were provided by Kino Lorber and Criterion.

I miss going to the movie theater so much. I would battle God atop a hilltop to even just sit and watch something in a darkened room and crowd full of enthusiastic and virus-free film lovers. Sadly, I cannot “Stone Cold Stunner” the creator of all things into letting me watch Timothée Chalamet ride a giant worm this year, so I and many others have settled into the home-viewing groove. While I know most people will opt to sit and scroll through the annoyingly expanding roster of streaming services, I hold firm that the most surefire way to discover new films and to ensure that a favorite film of yours is easily accessible is to support physical media in the best way you can. I’ve lamented the state of film accessibility in the past, but instead of being in my feelings and staring at the wall in despair (that’s an activity that should be saved for politics), I wanted to do my best to give people a place they can read up on new physical film releases they may have otherwise overlooked, or could maybe nudge people into buying films they care about on a meaningful level. Theaters aren’t gonna open in any safe capacity for a while, so let’s make the best of it, shall we? (more…)

Luminescent Poison: Bringing the ‘Radium Girls’ to Life

Posted on by Laura Ivins

A blonde woman wearing a work smock puts a thin paintbrush to her mouth
Still from Radium Girls

Radium Girls (Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler, 2018) takes its inspiration from the infuriating history of watch-dial painters of the 1910s-1930s who were poisoned and then abandoned by the radium industry.

Discovered in 1898 by the Curies, radium was all the rage in the early decades of the 20th century. Thought to be a magical cure-all, you could find it in tonics and pills sold widely to people looking for renewed vitality. Radium also had a luminescent quality, making it popular for glow-in-the-dark consumer goods like watches and clocks. (more…)

Words are Worth Fighting For

Posted on by Establishing Shot

Melissa Padilla, one of Change the Subject's producers, outside of the Baker-Berry Library
Melissa Padilla, one of Change the Subject‘s producers, outside of the Baker-Berry Library

Guest post by Scott Libson.

It’s May 2016. Donald Trump is turning his attention from the primaries to the general election. You won’t be surprised to hear Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) describe something as “Orwellian” and “misguided” or Representative Diane Black (R-TN) saying it’s “political correctness run amok.” You might be surprised at the target of this vitriol: a proposed change to a Library of Congress Subject Heading. Not your typical victim of partisan debate.

Subject headings are meant to lead library users to information on similar topics. They strive to be accurate and logical. By creating these headings, librarians can limit the terms used to describe something, which makes it easier to find information. If you want to call subject headings boring, I’ll forgive you (though I may send an army of librarians to change your mind). In any case, subject headings are hardly the stuff of Orwell’s Newspeak or something that might “run amok.” (more…)

Magnificent Bricolage: Works by Joseph Cornell

Posted on by Jack Miller

Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall) by Joseph Cornell, c. 1945-46
Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall) by Joseph Cornell, c. 1945-46

Since its inception in 2011, the Art and a Movie series, a partnership between IU Cinema and the Eskenazi Museum of Art, has done an excellent job of celebrating artists who worked in both cinema and other forms of visual art and design, among them Marcel Duchamp and Charles & Ray Eames. A fine candidate for some kind of inclusion in this series would be the great Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), a pioneering American avant-garde filmmaker who also happens to have produced some of this country’s finest works of collage art, most of which take the form of enigmatic shadow boxes assembled from found objects. (more…)

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