Paul Attinello

Category: Film

  • Hildes Reise

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in

    It is rather wearing to see all of these films about AIDS. (Have I perhaps mentioned that already?…) This one was well-made; coolly done – a lovely, simple ending. But the most disturbing part was the rich Swiss family, homophobic and controlling: ick – we may all be glad we’re not rich Swiss people. Of…

  • Jarman’s Garden

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in

    I’ve been watching Derek Jarman’s The Garden (1990) in order to write about it for the book. I wasn’t looking forward to this, because I’ve conceived such an annoyed dislike for such films as Sebastiane and War Requiem – the glacial pace, the stiff acting, the cheesy tech. But I was immediately enchanted by this…

  • Les nuits fauves

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in ,

    I’ll admit it: Savage Nights (Les nuits fauves), Cyril Collard’s famous 1992 film about being bisexual, HIV+, and careless – by which I mean: really fucking careless: having sex with someone without telling them – is at least as exasperating as it is impressive. Does that make me a fuddy-duddy?… Lots of drama about rebellion…

  • Jarman

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in ,

    In the midst of watching all these AIDS films, a left turn, sort of: before sitting through Derek Jarman’s Blue (I’ve never actually seen it with the blue screen throughout – which may hardly be necessary – but perhaps it’s a good idea to do it), I thought I would see something that didn’t require…

  • Framing the past

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in , ,

    Having finished watching Parting Glances, I can see – yes, it is a good movie; but I don’t think I missed so much, walking out on it twenty-odd years ago. An interesting and touching slice of a certain kind of life, and the party scene is indeed great fun; of course from my current point…

  • The tough stuff

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in ,

    I am watching AIDS films, while working on the book about music and AIDS: this may be the toughest material to pay attention to – most of the songs I will write about later are much shorter than the films, except of course the musicals, which are in their turn more artificial and therefore (mostly)…

  • Judgement

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in ,

    Encouragement that I can get work done. Discouragement that I can’t get work done. Discouraged that the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council, the rather incompetently run bottleneck that the British government employs to give lecturers and students funding, or actually mostly not to give it to them) did not give me additional research leave,…

  • Perfect fantasy

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in

    The Girl from Rio: an utter fantasy of a movie. London bank clerk fantasizes about the samba and a beautiful girl who appears on all the Carnival videotapes; when his wife goes away with his boss, he steals a fortune, goes to Rio and meets The Girl. A few pathetically simple, mildly amusing plot twists;…

  • Foolish scientists

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in ,

    Last month, when I was reading a lot of science fiction writer Greg Egan (in between visits to V. in the hospital), I was getting caught up in his characters – and not always agreeably: as Egan has a lot of interest in ‘hard’ science, his people tend to disdain the humanities, religion, emotion, and…

  • Red Shoes

    —

    by

    paulattinello
    in

    The Red Shoes is on television – a good way of recovering from an excellent but overwhelming long Christmas lunch. I know that there are many things in the film to focus on, but I’m always especially struck by the opening, where a bunch of frantically energetic, highly educated arts students (musicians and dancers) push…