Dogs Bark

I Can’t Help It - - Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice (2019, USA, Color, 95 min) - - 28 September 2019

Recommended - - On July 15^th, Linda Ronstadt of San Francisco celebrated her 73^rd birthday and here  - - back in Tucson - - I did, too. We have the same birthday. And this is not the only connection. In 1967, 52 years ago, she was my first rockstar crush. She was singing about a feckless boy making unrequited eyes at her and somehow . . . I found this encouraging. I was still in love in 1977 when her governor/boyfriend signed my college diploma and in 2004 when, backstage at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, I stood next to her . . . as close as this keyboard . . . so close that I was actually warmed by her body heat. When she sang ‘Desperado’ most people assumed she was singing it to Bill Clinton (also present) but we know better. Anywho . . . the point is that I can’t even begin to write an unbiased review of this very good documentary.

 

 

Virtual Surreality - - Bande À Part [Band of Outsiders] (1964, France, B/W, 95 min) - - 10 September 2019

An essential. If you’ve seen any of Bande À Part it’s probably the Parisian cafe scene where the three principal characters, apropos of nil, break into a popular line dance of the day called the Madison. If you don’t find French hipsters dancing to American R&B charming as culottes, you’re probably a Nazi. Watching Bande À Part again, I was struck by its similarity to Jules Et Jim. While the romantic triangle, along with the casual mortality, might suggest this resonance, Anna Karina (Une Femme Est Une Femme) and Jeanne Moreau (La Notte) are totally different objects of affection.  The similarity is more due to Godard’s favorite cameraman, Raoul Coutard (Jules Et Jim).  From Breathless on, Coutard - - as much as Godard and Truffaut- - composed the lawless “look and feel” of the Nouvelle Vague. The crime at the heart of Bande À Part is secondary to all this stylistic rule breaking.

Nevertheless, She Perambulated - - Wadjda (2013, Saudi Arabia, Color, 98 min) - - 31 August 2019

Strongly recommended. Wadjda was made fifty years after Lawrence Of Arabia for a tenth of the cost and at half the length. It’s also the first movie submitted by Saudi Arabia for an Oscar, and while David Lean’s epic featured no speaking women, Wadjda was directed by one . . . Haifaa Al-Mansour (Mary Shelley), to be specific. The story suggests that everyday Arab women still don’t have much voice in modern society. Waad Mohammed plays Wadjda, a politely subversive sprite who only wants to buy a bike and wins a Koran recitation contest to fund it. Unfortunately for Wadjda, that same Saudi religion forbids women to ride bikes. I won’t spoil the ending except to say that it will put a smile on your face. This is a movie about how to change minds. Great supporting performances by Saudi actresses Reem Abdullah as Wadjda’s mum and Ahd (Collateral) as her mean teacher.