Opening Shots - motion picture news

Film Comment, May, 2000

4. The AFI'S 100 Years ... 100 Laughs

5. Angelina Jolie

Coming soon to a decoder box near you

A selection of upcoming made-for-cable movies and films not available on video. The Name of This Film Is Dogme95 -- IFC, premieres June 5. A lighthearted yet informative look at the Dogme95 "movement" by Richard Kelly, featuring interviews with Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, as well as FC contributor Jonathan Romney.

June is AMC'S Film Preservation month, in conjunction with the Film Foundation, and this year's spotlighted director is Alfred Hitchcock. They'll be showing 32 films from June 16-18, including letterboxed versions of Marnie and Topaz.

Airing a number of times in May on AMC is "Movin' with Nancy," a 1967 TV special featuring Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazlewood, Papa Francis and some of the gang.

Also on AMC, Jacques Tourneur's last film, War Gods of the Deep, broadcast letterboxed on May 9th, and John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn, letterboxed on May 14th.

On Sundance Channel: Kieslowski's 10-part The Decalogue (May,22-28), Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (May 6 and 17), Jim Shedden's doc on Brakhage (May 15, 19, 24), Christopher Munch's Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (May 26, 31) and, for all you Melvil Poupaud fans, Graham Guit's Tarantinoesque Shooting Stars/Le Ciel est a nous (May 1, 4, 9, 13, 17, 21).

Showtime has two original films premiering in May. Rated X (fresh from its tepid premiere at Sundance) stars Emilio Estevez (who also directs) and brother Charlie Sheen as the Mitchell Brothers, the notorious San Francisco-based porno filmmakers and exhibitors. Also, Dirty Pictures, directed by Frank Pierson, tells the story of the infamous Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum of Art. James Woods and Craig T. Nelson star.

TCM will be showing their usual tantalizing fare. May/June highlights include Phil Karlson's 99 River Street (May 23), Vincente Minnelli's The Courtship of Eddie's Father (letterboxed, May 19), and on May 29, a series of WWII docs including John Huston's Battle of San Pietro, and John Ford's December 7th.

Guilty Plessure

American Psycho director Mary Harron on Dead Poets Society I don't know if tears count as a guilty pleasure, but the thing that most embarrasses me about my movie taste is the way I cry at sentimental middle-brow movies I despise. Not just a few tears, but great racking sobs that disturb the people next to me.

I once cried at a GE commercial, in which images of golden farm landscapes and family reunions were used to celebrate the benefits of a rapacious multinational corporation.

If I had to choose a film that illustrated the contradictions of my responses, I think it would be Dead Poets Society. It's not a bad film at all -- if you are going to have your emotions manipulated, there is no one more adept at it than Peter Weir. It's well cast, well paced and the dialogue is fine. But it is a Robin Williams movie, and not only that, it is Robin Williams Playing An Inspirational Prep School Teacher.