We hear a lot of talk about authoritarianism being on the march out there, so Channel Zero thought it instructive to screen an authentic example of film propaganda from the 20th Century's First True Totalitarian Regime, Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Here the regime seeks to hype a skeptical population on the need for "Fascist Solidarity" with Franco's Dictatorship in Spain, depicting the seventy day defense of the Alcazar Arsenal in Toledo by Nationalist Troops against the "Republican Hordes".
Director Augusto Genina's style could be summed up as "documentary fiction", he seamlessly dresses up a real event in the early days of the Spanish Civil War with real & amateur actors, facts are interwoven with pure dramatic invention, plain people are very much in the historic spotlight, the earliest flicker of the neorealist school can be discerned. Roberto Rossellini made a close study of "L'Assedio dell'Alcazar" in the lead up to his own directorial efforts on behalf of the Fascist regime, Michelangelo Antonioni LOVED "The Siege of the Alcazar", praising it's innovative technique to the high heavens in "Cinema" magazine (a film journal that was a veritable neorealist "petri dish" under the overt patronage of Vittorio Mussolini, the Duce's semi barbarous oldest son).
It can therefore be inferred that that there was a certain amount of cinematic experimentation going on in Italy in the 1937 thru 1943 period. This was ongoing, even as the Regime started investing in "positive propaganda films" designed to persuade an already war-weary Italy on the vast territorial gains to be wrung from an aggressive European conquest at Hitler's side.
The film experimenters of the 1937 - 1943 period in Italy one and all shed their fascist regalia and became some of the biggest names in Italian Cinema after the war...almost none were proscribed or disbarred from filmmaking after the war.
"The Siege of the Alcazar " remains an interesting testimonial to the contradictions of the time, a stylistic advancement in many ways, but also a film itself dedicated celebrating fascist violence, grievance politics & the Cult of the Leader. Jacques Ellul teaches us that propaganda has many functions, implantation and perpetuation of certain ideas, cost effective attitude policing, both persuasion & dissuasion, "L'Assedio dell'Alcazar" is an example of an "idea replicator"summarizing the regime's own restrictive view of the Spanish Civil War (where Mussolini would ultimately commit seventy five thousand troops to fight for Franco)and the vision for a future that could be won only thru aggression & violence.
The Somerville Theatre (micro cinema)
Friday February 23rd
8pm (sharp!)
55 Davis Square
Somerville Ma
617 625 5700
Admission: $7.50 (cash only)
Tickets go in sale thirty minutes before showtime in front of the micro-cinema.
Monday, January 29, 2018
"The Siege of the Alcazar " (1940)
a seminal work of Italian Fascist Propaganda is Channel Zero's inaugural screening for 2018 Next Month, Friday February 23rd....
We hear a lot of talk about authoritarianism being on the march out there, so Channel Zero thought it instructive to screen an authentic example of film propaganda from the 20th Century's First True Totalitarian Regime, Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Here the regime seeks to hype a skeptical population on the need for "Fascist Solidarity" with Franco's Dictatorship in Spain, depicting the seventy day defense of the Alcazar Arsenal in Toledo by Nationalist Troops against the "Republican Hordes".
Director Augusto Genina's style could be summed up as "documentary fiction", he seamlessly dresses up a real event in the early days of the Spanish Civil War with real & amateur actors, facts are interwoven with pure dramatic invention, plain people are very much in the historic spotlight, the earliest flicker of the neorealist school can be discerned. Roberto Rossellini made a close study of "L'Assedio dell'Alcazar" in the lead up to his own directorial efforts on behalf of the Fascist regime, Michelangelo Antonioni LOVED "The Siege of the Alcazar", praising it's innovative technique to the high heavens in "Cinema" magazine (a film journal that was a veritable neorealist "petri dish" under the overt patronage of Vittorio Mussolini, the Duce's semi barbarous oldest son).
It can therefore be inferred that that there was a certain amount of cinematic experimentation going on in Italy in the 1937 thru 1943 period. This was ongoing, even as the Regime started investing in "positive propaganda films" designed to persuade an already war-weary Italy on the vast territorial gains to be wrung from an aggressive European conquest at Hitler's side.
The film experimenters of the 1937 - 1943 period in Italy one and all shed their fascist regalia and became some of the biggest names in Italian Cinema after the war...almost none were proscribed or disbarred from filmmaking after the war.
"The Siege of the Alcazar " remains an interesting testimonial to the contradictions of the time, a stylistic advancement in many ways, but also a film itself dedicated celebrating fascist violence, grievance politics & the Cult of the Leader. Jacques Ellul teaches us that propaganda has many functions, implantation and perpetuation of certain ideas, cost effective attitude policing, both persuasion & dissuasion, "L'Assedio dell'Alcazar" is an example of an "idea replicator"summarizing the regime's own restrictive view of the Spanish Civil War (where Mussolini would ultimately commit seventy five thousand troops to fight for Franco)and the vision for a future that could be won only thru aggression & violence.
The Somerville Theatre (micro cinema)
Friday February 23rd
8pm (sharp!)
55 Davis Square
Somerville Ma
617 625 5700
Admission: $7.50 (cash only)
Tickets go in sale thirty minutes before showtime in front of the micro-cinema.
We hear a lot of talk about authoritarianism being on the march out there, so Channel Zero thought it instructive to screen an authentic example of film propaganda from the 20th Century's First True Totalitarian Regime, Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Here the regime seeks to hype a skeptical population on the need for "Fascist Solidarity" with Franco's Dictatorship in Spain, depicting the seventy day defense of the Alcazar Arsenal in Toledo by Nationalist Troops against the "Republican Hordes".
Director Augusto Genina's style could be summed up as "documentary fiction", he seamlessly dresses up a real event in the early days of the Spanish Civil War with real & amateur actors, facts are interwoven with pure dramatic invention, plain people are very much in the historic spotlight, the earliest flicker of the neorealist school can be discerned. Roberto Rossellini made a close study of "L'Assedio dell'Alcazar" in the lead up to his own directorial efforts on behalf of the Fascist regime, Michelangelo Antonioni LOVED "The Siege of the Alcazar", praising it's innovative technique to the high heavens in "Cinema" magazine (a film journal that was a veritable neorealist "petri dish" under the overt patronage of Vittorio Mussolini, the Duce's semi barbarous oldest son).
It can therefore be inferred that that there was a certain amount of cinematic experimentation going on in Italy in the 1937 thru 1943 period. This was ongoing, even as the Regime started investing in "positive propaganda films" designed to persuade an already war-weary Italy on the vast territorial gains to be wrung from an aggressive European conquest at Hitler's side.
The film experimenters of the 1937 - 1943 period in Italy one and all shed their fascist regalia and became some of the biggest names in Italian Cinema after the war...almost none were proscribed or disbarred from filmmaking after the war.
"The Siege of the Alcazar " remains an interesting testimonial to the contradictions of the time, a stylistic advancement in many ways, but also a film itself dedicated celebrating fascist violence, grievance politics & the Cult of the Leader. Jacques Ellul teaches us that propaganda has many functions, implantation and perpetuation of certain ideas, cost effective attitude policing, both persuasion & dissuasion, "L'Assedio dell'Alcazar" is an example of an "idea replicator"summarizing the regime's own restrictive view of the Spanish Civil War (where Mussolini would ultimately commit seventy five thousand troops to fight for Franco)and the vision for a future that could be won only thru aggression & violence.
The Somerville Theatre (micro cinema)
Friday February 23rd
8pm (sharp!)
55 Davis Square
Somerville Ma
617 625 5700
Admission: $7.50 (cash only)
Tickets go in sale thirty minutes before showtime in front of the micro-cinema.
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Top Twelve Movies for 2017
(Apologies for the delay to one and all....)
Tower (2017) Keith Maitland's documentary on Charle Whitman reign of terror as the Texas Tower Sniper does something no other film has ever quite done, made animation the servant of journalism. It is a conceit that Wellesian in it's implications.
Get Out (2017) A film that conclusively demonstrates that there are worse fates to be suffered than mere race based genocide. Director Jordan Peele did something pretty amazing here, he turned perky suburban nonentity Allison Williams into a mortal threat to the survival of the human race so....respect!
Colossal (2017) because ALL alcohol driven dysfunction in this world can be effectively summarized & illustrated thru Giant Kaiju Monsters AND Anne Hathaway.
Wonder Woman (2017) This makes the list simply because it took decades to upgrade the Amazing Amazon to Feature Films and DC Comics is notorious for screwing up two-car funerals, so I'm astonished that they got what they got right on this one, which is chiefly casting. If Gal Gadot keeps her health she can play Wonder Woman for another ten years easily....she played the part three times already and stolen every single scene she was in...she is a super heroic bargain at twice the price.
Baby Driver (2017) Because Hollywood has "Institutional Aphasia" genres that used to be no-brainers become increasingly impossible to execute, so its just bracing to see someone pull off a good "car chase/heist" movie with such brio.
Dunkirk (2017) This was likely the closest we'll ever get to a neorealist revival, a bunch of characters largely defined by their jobs and uniforms in on a ghastly historic battlefield at once expansive and claustrophobic.
Logan Lucky (2017) Channing Tatum should just camp out in front of Steve Soderbergh's door and wait for his next script to be completed, those two are made for one another, a dry screen presence and a director that knows what whats those kinds of actors funny and interesting. Plus...this is the first time I've ever laughed at anything Daniel Craig has done on the big screen....
The Battle of the Sexes (2017) I always give props to two things, winning historic impersonations (Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs & Emma Stone as Billy Jean King) and movies that remind us how cringeworthy we were, we are and likely always will be...
Mansfield 66/67 (2017) Jayne Mansfield!! The First Modern Celebrity who proved that complete non productivity and toxic fame were easily compatible...She is literally The Mother of All Kardashians! This was pulpy gruesome stuff and I loved every retrograde minute of it, one of the best documentaries I've seen all year...
The Darkest Hour (2017) Remember what I said about historic impersonations?? Is there anything more satisfying than Gary Oldman of all people playing the hell out of Winston Churchill??
I, Tonya (2017) Margot Robbie for Best Actress, Allison Janney for Best Supporting Actress and all from a Tonya Harding biopic with virtually no miscasting whatsoever!
The Shape of Water (2017)...or what would've happened in "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" had finally gotten the girl at the end of the movie...Guillermo Del Toro can do no wrong in my books, even his interspecies love stories are fascinating.
I liked all these movies, for a industry in decline Hollywood managed to punch way above it's weight this year, lotsa history lotsa fantasy...but those are genres I like what can I say?
Monday, January 15, 2018
Apropos of the Justice League Movie....
Not sure what Warner Brothers' plans are for their chronically underperforming DCU Movies, if I were them, I'd double down on Gal Gadot and hand the rest of it over to Bruce Timm and the WB's animation division they at least know how to make these here newfangled comic-book movies.
The Justice League had its strengths (generally a good cast from a technical viewpoint) but there is meta context here, they need the right actors, and the right mix of heroes, and this particular line up was three super strength users, a speedster and The Batman. So the team as given to us was a little too reliant on sheer brute force and that is abad mix when you consider the villain of the movie is a Darkseid henchmen nonentity I had to look up on Wikipedia after the show.
But I grow lyrical...
If they are gonna keep Henry Cavill on as Superman...and clearly they've got no choice at this point, then someone needs to sit down with The Big Lug and tell him to stop playing The Man of Steel as an homage to Douglas Rains' "Hal 9000" characterization.
No Joke, the JLA was a remarkably low affect performance from Cavill, he smirked once or twice and thats it...Ben Affleck pushed in way more chips by comparison, to say nothing of Gadot who has played Wonder Woman three times in two years and never not stolen every single scene.
Sadly I suspect Affleck is out the door he sounds like he's paid his dues and wants to go back to making heist movies on the South Shore, Gadot has got three more Wonder Woman movies in her easy assuming the scripts don't tank (and this is DC so they could very well) so that leaves Henry Cavill's Superman as the other main tentpole and right now, he needs to stop phoning it in!
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