Ursula (1961)

Directed by:

Lloyd Michael Williams

Director Lloyd Michael Williams spent his youth working at Cinema 16 in New York City, where he was influenced by the 16mm experimental films frequently shown there, and began shooting his own short 16mm short films as early as age 13. After high school, he enrolled in New York University to study Film, Television & Radio, and continued making films. One of his film; 1959's Lewis Carroll-inspired Jabberwock ended up winning the Silver Medallion at the Cannes Film Festival. Two years later he made the nightmarish Ursula, which would take home a Bronze Medallion at Cannes and also won a major award at the Boston International Film Festival. Despite these accomplishments (as well as making many other award winning short films), Williams himself isn't very well known and information on most of his films is hard to come by on the internet.

Ursula (based on the story "Miss Gentilbelle" by Charles Beaumont) involves the mental decay of a small child at the hands of her domineering and cruel mother. The fact the child is presented to us as a young girl but is actually played by a little boy (Calvin Waters) really opens this up to multiple interpretations, whether that was intended or not. Taking the casting at face value, it could be a case of a young mind becoming unglued because of mental abuse and forced transvestism. If you ignore the casting (no real issue is made of the child's gender and the boy playing the part could easily pass for a girl), then this could be seen as trauma caused by a child being forced into a gender role. The mother (Dorothea Griffin) chastises her child for ripping her dress and doesn't think she should be playing outside or getting dirty, and goes as far as killing her daughter / son's pet bird. The child eventually either murders her mother or just fantasizes about doing so. Throughout, experimental techniques are used to illustrate the child's inner turmoil; overlapping shots of trees, the house, the moon and water, as well as distorted or echoing voices. The stabbing scene instantly brought to mind the cellar stabbing scene of Mrs. Cooper in Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) because of the murderous child and distorted screams.

Other Cinema offers this short and five others on the compilation Experiments in Terror, which was released on DVD in 2003. Beaumont's story would later be re-filmed in 1970 (as an episode of the "Journey to the Unknown" TV series) and again in 2000 by director Tara Miele.

★★★

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1974)

Directed by:
Peter Weir

Haunting, extremely atmospheric (also slow, even maddeningly ambiguous) tale of a teacher and three students who disappear one fine sunny day never to be found again. In 1998, Weir re-edited this film, trimming off about 7 minutes of the running time. Based on the novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay. A full review coming soon.

Score: 8 out of 10

Vase de noces (1974)

...aka: One Man and His Pig

...aka: Pig Fucking Movie, The

...aka: Wedding Trough

Directed by:

Thierry Zéno

Sometimes found on the must-see lists of shock cinema buffs, this grainy, obscure, black-and-white Belgian "art" flick isn't likely to find its way into the VCR or DVD player of many. It has never been officially released in the United States, or most other countries for that matter. And even if it had been, I doubt it would have ever lined the shelves of your local Blockbuster. Well, granted Blockbuster still stocked movies made before 2000. It is an extremely slow-moving and offbeat story of love shared between a disturbed young farmer and his prized pet piggy; a "love" that's a little unrequited for the porcine member of the couple, obviously. Though audacious in premise, it's rather monotonous in execution and suffers from padding and overlong "arty" scenes of the lone character (played by Dominique Garny, who also wrote it) doing silly and/or disturbing things around the farm. He rolls around a metal tube and wooden tub for minutes at a time. He wallows in manure for minutes at a time. He stuffs mason jars full of flowers, feathers and, uh, other stuff, for minutes at a time. He runs around in a field flying a kite for minutes at a time. One thing this movie does manage to nail is the overall feeling of alienation, isolation and loneliness. It feels even more oppressive and removed from conventional society (almost post apocalyptic) in the fact there's no dialogue. The only interactions in the film are between man and beast. Though he desperately tries, the farmer (who is first seen trying to put a baby doll head over the head of a bird) never manages to really connect or find kinship with any of the beasts he's surrounded by. In place of written word we get amplified moaning, all manner of animal sounds and a soundtrack featuring weird electronic bleeps mixed with disquieting noises found in nature.

As far as disturbing content and grim imagery goes, this does have a few scenes that will probably raise eyebrows. Naturally, the plot itself and bestiality content are going to disturb many right out of the gate. There are long takes of the farmer lovingly stroking the pig, lots of intimate close-ups of various pig body parts and even a (thankfully) soft-core man-pig sex scene. Said sex scene eventually results in the pig becoming pregnant and giving birth to three piglets. We get to see a close shot of an actual pig birth. There are also a couple of amusing scenes of the man trying to make his piglet offspring more civilized. He tries to make them wear clothes and even tries to teach them table manners, but to no avail. All this results in pigs being killed. The actual pigs are killed off-screen, but seeing cute little dead piglets hanging from nooses isn't going to sit well with some people. And then there's the consuming of certain things best left unsaid by me. And a bit of puking. The shocks may even be a little mild to the jaded sick movie freaks in the audience who are probably the only ones out there who are going to seek out this particular film.

The films also has this strange fascination with birds. The farm is crawling with chickens and ducks and geese and other birds. I'm sure this is supposed to represent this, and this is supposed to represent that, etc., but it's one of those movies where metaphor is frequently overshadowed by monotony. They certainly found a great crumbling farm (reflection of the diseased mind) to set all the action in, though. All in all, it's probably worth a look for fans of bizarre fringe cinema.

★★

Valerie a týden divu (1970)

...aka: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

...aka: Valerie a týden divů

Directed by:

Jaromil Jires

Working solely inside the surreal anything-goes "dream/nightmare" realm of its pubescent protagonist, this avant-garde Czech film meshes classic (i.e. not whitewashed) fairy tale with Gothic horror and dark fantasy elements to intoxicating effect. It's not going to be for every viewer out there, especially those wanting a clean, linear storyline, but for everyone else who can appreciate an elegant, heavily symbolic, visually sumptuous European art film, this certainly does the trick. It's the type of unique, individualized vision, from director Jaromil Jires, which he co-scripted from a novel by Czech Surrealist Group founder Vitezslav Nezval, I can appreciate for being the sheer fact that it's uncompromising, even when I find myself feeling lost part of the time. But it's that good kind of lost where the film is so beautifully made you actually want to watch it again to try to decipher the bizarre things going on in this bizarre world. You're bombarded with so much imagery, you know it all somehow ties into the whole. In this case, the whole being the coming-of-age/sexual awakening of a 13-year-old girl. This is her dream and her own confusion about burgeoning womanhood, men, religion, family and authority figures, which sometimes take on disturbing and horrifying faces. Wide-eyed Valerie, played by the ideally cast Jaroslava Schallerová (who was the same age as the character she's playing), awakens in an immaculate bright white room in an immaculate white dress in a home she shares with her very strict grandmother (Helena Anýzová). It's Springtime, a time for birth and discovery, as the bees are buzzing, the fruit is ripening, the sun is glistening in pools of water and the virginal blood is dripping on daisies. Valerie informs her granny that she's not a little girl anymore. A troupe of actors stroll into town, among them a scary, white-faced, bat-eared, fanged, fan-waving, chicken-blood-drinking NOSFERATU-like figure (memorably played by Jirí Prymek) who takes on many shapes throughout the film. He's the "Weasel," he's a priest, he's a constable, and he's somehow connected to the grandmother. Valerie's protector and ostensible suitor is a charming young man named Orlik (or "Eagle"). He (Petr Kopriva) helps her keep tabs on a pair of special earrings that may have magical powers and gives her a pearl she can use to ward off evil. Granny trades her home to The Weasel (who she knew as Richard five years ago when they were lovers) to regain her beauty and becomes a lascivious vampire in the process. By the time all is said and done, and the coming of age confusions starting to work themselves out, it's Autumn. Just like in a dream, character identity is constantly shifting throughout. Granny claims to be Valerie's second cousin once she regains her youth, but may also actually be Valerie's mother. Richard/The Weasel takes on may be her father. Orlik/Eagle may be her brother. There are other smaller characters, such as an amoral priest to represent the untrustworthy male archetype who lust after innocent beauty regardless of their stature in the community, and a young woman married off to a much older man she doesn't love, which is probably a fear of many young ladies in certain countries. For the general movie fan, the costumes, sets, cinematography and art direction are exquisite and the score is beautiful and elegant. For the horror fan, you get death, vampirism, nightmarish imagery, some awesome cryptic set designs and that memorably ghoulish cat in the long black cloak lurking about. It's all better seen than described by me.

★★★