Jean Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy

by Donna on February 15th, 2006

The Blood of a Poet
A factory chimney starts to collapse. A young poet in a room sketching a series of faces is shocked when the mouth of one of the faces comes alive. The poet rubs off the mouth on to his hand. After an erotic interlude with the transplanted mouth, the young poet wipes the mouth on to a statue, which then comes to life and forces the poet to walk within a mirror in the room, which leads to the corridor of a mysterious hotel. After witnessing a number of shocking scenes in the hotel, the poet is forced to commit ritual suicide. Crowned in laurel leaves, the now resurrected poet flees the mirror, destroys the statue, and becomes a statue himself. In a courtyard, a group of schoolboys stage a snowball fight. One of the boys is killed with a snowball which has a rock hidden in its center. The poet, now a society cardsharp, plays a game of cards in which he cheats and loses. In disgrace, he again shoots himself in the head. A glittering group of celebrities watch these events, and applaud the suicide. The woman with whom he had been playing tears up the cards, leaves the courtyard, and is finally seen in an improvised coffin, residing in the state of the “mortal tedium of immortality.” The factory chimney collapses entirely; the entire film has thus taken place in an instant.

Testament of Orpheus
Outside time and reality, the experiences of a poet. The judgement of the young poet by Heurtebise and the Princess, the Gypsies, the palace of Pallas Athena, the spear of the Goddess which pierces the poet’s heart, the temptation of the Sphinx, the flight of Oedipus and the final Assumption.

Netflix Throttling Heavy Renters

by Donna on February 11th, 2006

“Netflix has begun using a ‘fairness algorithm’ that slows shipments of movies to heavy users to protect profits, according to an MSNBC article. Netflix revised its terms of use in January 2005 to read, ‘In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service’. Since revising this policy last year, more and more users are realizing ‘heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices’ according to the article.”
via slashdot

I can attest to this— it seems the more movies Lisa and I watch, the slower the movies take to arrive. Lisa has been fighting a losing battle to keep Queer As Folk at the top her queue. The episode disks keep falling to the end. It’s very frustrating since she is trying to watch a season’s worth and NetFlix refuses to send them in any type of order. It took me ages to get A Man and A Woman. Regardless, I love the service but I can’t wait for VOD.

Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)

by Donna on February 10th, 2006

La Motocyclette

The uncensored, European version of this cult classic. A newlywed is bored and leaves her husband for her ex-lover. She rides her Harley across the scenic countryside and experiences passionate erotic fantasies involving her lover.

Starring: Alain Delon, Marianne Faithfull
Director: Jack Cardiff

Next up

by Donna on February 10th, 2006

I think it was beginning of autumn when Lisa allowed me 1 movie from our 3 movies per month plan on NetFlix. Just in case anyone is wondering, I pay for the subscription. Since I have only one movie, it takes forever to work my way through my queue. The other day I noticed there is a 4 movie plan for 7.00 more. I spoke to Lisa about it and she said that I should subscribe to it so we can each get two movies a month AND she would half the subscription fee with me! That is a much better deal even though Lisa insists that the old way was fair. Fair for her. I signed up for it this morning.

Are there any other Netflix users out there? Have you also noticed the strange coincidence that your Netflix queue always hovers around the same number as your weight is in pounds? No matter how many movies I watch, the number of movies in my queue is always pretty much equal to what my scale reads in the mornings. Lisa has also noticed this phenomenon.

A Man and a Woman (1966)

by Donna on February 7th, 2006

Un Homme et Une Femme

French new-wave filmmaker Claude Lelouch weighs in with a jumpy, impressionistic take on the expectations of romance. Starring Anouk Aimée as a widowed “script girl” and Jean-Louis Trintignant as a racer who lost his wife to suicide, the film is a study of moments between the time the two characters meet and the point at which they begin to read each other intuitively. Très cool!

City of Women (1980)

by Donna on January 30th, 2006

(La Città Delle Donne)

One of Federico Fellini’s last masterpieces, City of Women makes no secret of the director’s obsession with women. Cast again as Fellini’s alter-ego, Marcello Mastroianni is brilliant as a Don Juan trapped in a world of modern women..