2004

I would kill to have a $3 theatre that shows art/foreign stuff. FYI: I have the DOGVILLE DVD, if you're interested in a collector-to-collector VHS dub; I already promised one to Steve & have to get on it when time permits.

Well, then, I'd be terribly surprised if you (or Matt, for that matter) like #2. I sincerely doubt it would allay any of your issues.

For AJDaGreat: The Secret of the Village Revealed!

Actually, it's not a scientific experiment. What happens is: some twenty years previous, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and the other "elders" were going to a counseling center because people they loved died from violence. William Hurt's father, who was shot to death, was a billionaire and owned a wildlife preserve. Hurt convinces everyone to create a utopia-style village in the middle of the preserve, where they can raise children and no one will ever find them. (There's a bit of throw-away dialogue at the end that explains that Hurt bought off the airlines, etc. so that no planes would fly across.) The Elders then tell the children (who were born in the village) that a mythical race of monsters lives in the woods outside the village, so they won't stray. (Hurt and others periodically dress up as a monster--which looks like a anthropomorphic porcupine--to scare the kids.)

Now, all of this is pretty interesting: the Elders use fear to control their children, much like their fear controlled them to set up the village, and try as they might, they can't keep violence from spoiling their utopia. But really, everything I said is all that you really learn in the movie. They never get any deeper than that. And although one of the children gets past the woods to the modern-day outside, she's blind and it's not really clear that she understands what she sees. Finally, it was pretty clear to me that MNS, ultimately, endorses what the Elders have done, which I found abhorrent, although I suppose my interpretation is debatable.

Here's one where I'm totally willing to take the leap and say go for it, even though you aren't into the martial arts thang. It's nothing like CTHD, I don't think; it's really a visual feast, and the time-jumping, Rashomon-esque plot kept me on my toes. I'd hope you see it, just so you can see my favorite scene of the year, the fight between Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi. It's like a gorgeous painting come to life. (Er, and then the people in it start hitting each other.)

Why yes, yes it did. Still might be playing, actually.

I'll take a big leap of faith and put it on the 2004 list. Seems to me there's a enough of a Maddin fan base here to warrant at least a week's worth of showings.