Black + White Friday: Chicago

I took inspiration today from this weeks entry of "Best Pictures from the Outside In", a weekly series co-run by The Film Experience, Nick's Flick Picks and Goatdog. This week they discussed Calvacade and Chicago, which got me wondering what the latter would look like if it were actually filmed in the 1930s when it is set and if it were, ya know, black and white (that being the whole gist of this series). However, upon popping the disc into the player I realised I had made a terrible mistake. You see, I find it incredibly hard to just flick through Chicago to find screengrabs. No, I start by watching "All That Jazz" and then I must watch "When You're Good to Mama" and "Cell Block Tango" and then definitely "Roxie" and... well, needless the say, this entry took a bit longer to compile that it normally does.


Well I had to choose this image. Black and white is all about shadows and I love this one from the opening "All That Jazz" number.


Perhaps a bit risque for the 1930s, no? I love that Catherine Zeta-Jones is still smack bang in the centre, even though it's an ensemble musical sequence.


As they say, "she's the spittin' image" of an old MGM movie star, and I actually think Renee Zellweger looks better in black and white in this movie. It helps distract from her shiny skin and way-too-lithe frame. Alas, it is moments like this that make me lean on the side of "she gives a great performance!" than on the side of "she can't sing! etc".


Now it looks like some sort of surreal Lynchian experience. Which makes me think about what it would be like if David Lynch directed a full on out-and-out musical. We throws musical numbers into pretty much all of his films (think "Llorando" from Mulholland Drive, "In Dreams" from Blue Velvet, "The Locomotion" from INLAND EMPIRE, the many Julee Cruise moments from Twin Peaks, etc) so what if he took the next step and just made a musical. I think I'd officially die.


Is it just me or does Renee looks freakishly like Marilyn Monroe in this shot? I guess considering, at times, she's doing a bit of a Monroe act that it fits, however it is only this scene in the movie that I think the comparison actually works.


Yeah, from a purely visual point of view "Roxie" is my favourite musical number in the film. I love the visuals (obviously, I've taken three shots from it alone) and the setups and I think it's Zellweger's best work in the movie. Plus the song is pretty catchy to boot, no? This one shot feels like something out of a Lloyd Bacon (42nd Street, Footlight Parade) though and that's why I took it.


Wow, that red neon sort of looks crap, doesn't it? Nevertheless, I still really like the shot. Reminds me of the videoclip for Madonna's "Vogue".


If there's one scene in particular that definitely does not benefit from black and white it is "I Can't Do It Alone". All those deep reds and blues are what make the scene pop outside of Catherine Zeta-Jones' immaculate one woman show.


I chose this shot simply because there just hasn't been enough of Zeta-Jones and she looks so good here.


One of my biggest pet peeves with movies is when there's a performance scene like this one that is supposed to be happening in real life (on Broadway in this instance) and it is not based in reality. Like when character change costumes by moving out of frame (I'm looking at you Centre Stage) or they do things that may work for the movie, but they forget that there are supposedly people sitting in the audience watching it and they'd have no clue what the hell is going on (I'm looking at you Staying Alive). I do, however, thoroughly believe that this finale - even if it is oddly short, where's the rest? - would "thrill!" the audience watching it. I think they made the right decision to end the movie this way, and as an extra bonus for this series it looks great in black and white.

Black + White Friday: The Others

Alejandro Amenábar's 2001 suspense tale The Others is already pretty monochromatic, so I thought for this week's edition for Black+White Friday I'd take it one step further and turn it into a two shade flick, the movie that I have a sneaking suspicion that Amenábar wanted to make, but didn't have the chance (thanks Harvey Weinstein!)


Already it has the authentic feel of a black and white film. A time when blacks weren't exactly always "BLACK", but a murky grey. Also, why does Kidman seem more convincing in this one screenshot as Samantha from Bewitched than she did in the entire film version of that series? Bizarre...


I love the look of these moors, clouded in mist. No matter what the film - think Hitchcock's The 39 Steps or Frankenstein - they always look superb on camera. Don't you agree?


I'm not sure how many times I paused my VLC player on moments like these of Nicole Kidman looking frightened, but I did it a lot because there are a lot of them and she always looks so good in them. I can't help but be transfixed.


I always found it slightly weird, but intriguing, that Alakina Mann who was cast as Kidman's daughter looks, at times, eerily similar to Linda Blair from The Exorcist. Seriously. Next time you watch The Others keep an eye out for it.


This was a stunning little scene wasn't it? From the music cues, to the red herrings, to the voice, to this moment where a previously closed door appears to be closing again by itself. I love this movie.


I feel traumatised Nicole - something she has gotten down to a fine art - is scarily fascinating to watch. No wonder Lars Von Trier wanted to torture her and make her suffer in Dogville, huh?


I think that Javier Aguirresarobe's photography is, perhaps, the best framing of Nicole Kidman... ever? Even moreso than Birth or Moulin Rouge!, there are moments in The Others - like this scene, which feels like a lost outtake from Jacques Tourneur's Cat People - that are so beautiful and you can't do anything but stare are Nicole. Gorgeous.


Sorry, but you can clearly tell that I got a bit obsessed while collating this entry. How could I not? I love that this screenshot feels like 'Merchant Ivory Does Hitchcock'!


Remember earlier up there I mentioned Frankenstein?


I chose to include this moment because it's probably the film's biggest jump moment. Even seeing it in pictures though you may not be able to fully remember how much your bones jumped out of their skin with this appeared as if from nowhere. Those eyeballs are creep no matter what colour scale they're in!

I think we can all agree that The Others looks sublime in black and white. It reminds me of a mix between Robert Wise's The Haunting, Bryan Forbes' Seance on a Wet Afternoon and the Val Lewton RKO horror films of the 1940s, which I think is a mighty fine combination. But, if nothing else, it's an absolutely gorgeous reminder of how amazing Nicole Kidman is. This film, and Kidman's performance, is actually far far better than I remember (and I liked it immensely before now), which is more than I can ask for, really.

Black + White Friday: Mulholland Drive

David Lynch has worked with black and white before on two of his earliest films, Eraserhead and The Elephant Man so I thought for this weeks instalment we'd test drive his magnum opus Mulholland Drive and see how it holds when given the black and white treatment.


Yup, still scary in black and white.


I must point out that the little... what you call it? Is it an apartment complex? Not really. I don't know. Anyway, whatever it is, this little enclave of sorts is absolutely stunning in colour. In black and white it reminds me so much of Sunset Boulevard, which I am quite certain was Lynch and production designer Jack Fisk's intention all along. Do these sort of places even exist anymore? I want to live there if they do.


Aaah, Gilda. One of my favourite black and white films. One of yours, too?


I chose this screenshot because it's my absolute favourite shot in the entire movie. Not exactly sure why, but it is. Doesn't Naomi Watts' skin kind of glow like it does in silent movies?


Like a Hitchcock heroine.


Jeepers creepers! Something about this amuses me so much. It's like Doris Day or Dusty Springfield. Now that's a Lynch collaboration that would've bear bizarre fruit.


Oddly, one of the film's most obvious '50s moments is this musical sequence to Connie Francis' "Sixteen Reasons", doesn't look that classic. Hmmm.


One of the best things Lynch does throughout the entirety of Mulholland Drive is mix with the identities of Betty and Rita. Constantly framing them so that their bodies and their faces have the lines blurred. Who is who and so forth. This shot was my favourite example of it. It's also quite ABBA, teehee.


The Lady in the Radiator returns! And she's singing Roy Orbison in SPANISH!!!!


Interestingly, the film's final act where everybody switches up proves less forthcoming with interesting stills, even though it is just as beautiful as the rest of the film. I chose this moment, however, because it reminded me of an old horror movie. Like The House of Usher or something, ya know? Dusty old mansions and the like.

Black + White Friday: Showgirls

Spurred on by the encouraging results that we experienced two weeks back when we turned Lust, Caution into a black and white heaven, I thought I’d start up a regular series going by the wildly elaborate name of “Black+White Friday". Each Friday I will take a movie and we’ll see what it would have looked like if it had been filmed in glorious black and white. I actually meant to start this last week, but the computer I had access to wasn't co-operating.

Today I thought I’d take a look at that oft-maligned comedy classic, Showgirls. Will it turn into a mysterious film-noir about the seedy underground of Las Vegas' showgirl scene? Will it become a Russ Meyer epic? Or will it remain just the same? Considering a big swag of Showgirls plotting takes it's cue from black and white classic All About Eve, I actually think it's entire appropriate to experiment with this title. Let's take a peak. (Warning: Some of these images may be a smidgen NSFW)


What an epic first image, no? :P


Can you imagine All About Eve if Eve's first sighting of Margo Channing was like this? "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night" would get a whole different meaning, no? ("bumpy" meaning "full of tits", see?)


If it weren't for that silly lollipop ring then this might (read: MIGHT) look like a film about two badass undercover female cops on the mean streets of Vegas who pretend to be prostitutes so they can weasel their way into the life of Pimp McGee. Unfortunately, the black chick becomes addicted to the drugs and the emotion-free sex and the poor white chick must turn on her in order to catch McGee and his coke dealing empire. Alas, that damn lollipop ring ruins it all!


It's like a scene out of some long lost Fellini movie!


He's the private dick trying to find evidence against Pimp McGee, without realising that she's undercover and is doing the exact same thing. You know these two are doomed though, right?


It's like Ziegfeld Follies! Just... ya know, not!


This bit just makes me giggle uncontrollably whether it's in black and white or colour.


Nope, not even black and white can make this bit classy.


I just happened to pause on this frame when a camera flash bathed Elizabeth Berkeley and thought it looked kinda of creepy. It looks like an underground fetish movie filmed on dingy 8mm. Or perhaps Beyond the Valley of the Dolls in Las Vegas?


I don't remember All About Eve having a "steamy" lesbian kiss, so I'm glad Paul Verhoeven thought it wise to throw one in for people who thought that 1950 Oscar winner was just too gosh darn prudish.

So, basically, in conclusion it turns into some weird mishmash of All About Eve, a lesbian version of 48 Hrs, whatever movie Fred and Ginger you enjoy the most and the Audrey Horne storyline from Twin Peaks! Sounds about right...