ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[southendmd]

How would you celebrate the end of the world?  Cast includes Roberta Maxwell!

[oilgun]

How would you celebrate the end of the world?  Cast includes Roberta Maxwell!

One of the characters makes a list of all his sexual fantasies and proceeds to make them happen one after another.  One includes having sex with his highschool French teacher, played by Genevieve Bujold (she obliges), and another is to have sex with a guy, so he asks his best friend (who doesn't oblige him unfortunately).  A very good Canadian movie!  David Cronenberg is in it too.  I don't remember which character Roberta plays, maybe Sarah Polley's mother?

[southendmd]

One of the characters makes a list of all his sexual fantasies and proceeds to make them happen one after another.  One includes having sex with his highschool French teacher, played by Genevieve Bujold (she obliges), and another is to have sex with a guy, so he asks his best friend (who doesn't oblige him unfortunately).  A very good Canadian movie!  David Cronenberg is in it too.  I don't remember which character Roberta plays, maybe Sarah Polley's mother?

I believe it's Patrick's (Don McKellar) mother.  Always the mother.

[Fran]

[oilgun]

This really is a gem from Paul Mazurski.  A tribute to, and a celebration of a wonderful neighbourhood.  (Also features several 'rent-party' scenes.)

Excerpt from an IMDb comment:
In the Greenwich Village of the 1950's, racial integration had been in place for well over two decades. But far more important, forbidden talk of sexual liberation, interracial sex, homosexuality, along with political, artistic and literary freedom at all levels were openly discussed, flouted and displayed for all to see; performed to a background mixture of new age Jazz, early Rock and Roll and Folk Music. Virtually nothing was excluded from the social or musical menu this incredible place had to offer.
[...]
Joyfully, director Paul Mazursky has managed to capture on film, a moving snapshot of the social life and time of a remarkable neighborhood, in what was probably the last fifteen to twenty years of it's legitimate life. And I do remember it so well. The rent parties for starving (sometimes talented) artists, the ubiquitous book shops, the coffee houses featuring impromptu poetry readings, the fashion statements (or blatant lack thereof), the mixing and making of all sorts of colorful characters who, even in their farcical attempts to parody themselves, were more alive and real then those who would put them down. This was the Greenwich Village of the 1950's and of legend.

This magical place was for me and many others (as was for the director who produced this film as an ode to his time there), our first real awakening and taste of adult life. And far more important, a fortuitous preparation for the new social order that was, in time, to come.

The place, as it was, is truly deserving of this wonderful little gem of a film.

[southendmd]

IMDb user comment:

Cousins Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins battle each other and the elements as they struggle to find happiness during the second half of the 19th Century. It's one of those films that rests on the shoulders of the main actors. Since Davis and Hopkins are so good, the result is a passionate film with many stirring dramatic sequences. Many film revisionists now claim this film contains Davis' best performance, and while I disagree, Davis is indeed brilliant in one of her most difficult roles; her transformation from radiant debutante to embittered old maid is something to be seen. Hopkins is not far behind, and this movie reminds me of what a good actress she was; Hopkins almost manages to steal the show from Davis. However, despite two powerhouse performances, this is not your typical star vehicle; this is an extremely well-written, well-directed Civil War melodrama. It could also be considered as one of the best studies (on film) of women living under the shadow of a male-dominated society.

[MaineWriter]

I think it is pretty common knowledge that I took the bus to Boston on December 27, 2005 with my daughter. I put her on the train to NYC and I went off and saw Brokeback Mountain at the Loew's Multiplex (near Boston Common) for the 11:10 am show. I got the 3:30 pm bus back to Portland and this was the movie they were showing on the bus. I remember being a little bit in shock but coming on the heels of BBM, I also remember finding it rather insensitive (maybe even offensive?).

It probably didn't help that I had seen The Producers the day before.

Ai yi yi as they say...

L

[MaineWriter]

This really is a gem from Paul Mazurski.  A tribute to, and a celebration of a wonderful neighbourhood.  (Also features several 'rent-party' scenes.)

I saw this movie back in 1976, in the theater, but I was too young. I didn't get it and I have never seen it since. Maybe it is time to revisit it?

L

[MaineWriter]

The entire movie is a celebration: a celebration of life, love, and a rebel with his bike. I always believed that Paul Reubens was screwed by "the establishment" the way he was treated/charged with the whole sex in the movie theater thing. What I didn't know (until this minute) is that Tim Burton directed this movie! No wonder I loved it...and I saw this one in the theater (sans children, I might add!).

[Fran]

From Rotten Tomatoes:

This coming-of-age tale is about three beautiful young Mexican women who are the daughters of prominent socialites and are excited to soon be celebrated at the upcoming debutante's ball.  The only aspect that can spoil the whole event is the competition for position by their very own parents.