bwana devil is a 1952 u.s. adventure film based on the true story of the tsavo maneaters and filmed with the natural vision 3-d system .

the film is notable for sparking the first 3-d film craze in the motion picture industry , as well as for being the first feature-length 3-d film in color and the first 3-d sound feature in english .

the advertising tagline was : the miracle of the age !!! a lion in your lap !

a lover in your arms !

bwana devil

tsavo man - eaters : bwana devil ( pt . 2 of 5 ) - youtube
scene from the movie ,
bwana devil .
( reg hartt / via youtube )
variety , january 1 . bwana devil ( 1 . 95 . bwana devil ^ . eyerman ' s iconic photo of a bespectacled 3 - d audience at the hollywood premiere of bwana devil . ^ thomas y . levin dismantling the spectacle : the cinema of guy debord ^ eyerman original version later used by debord .
a 1952 screening of arch oboler’s “bwana devil , ” the first commercial 3 - d feature in color .
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from ' bwana devil ' to ' avatar ' : 3 - d film’s evolution | 90 . 1 fm wabe
' bwana devil ' is currently available to rent , purchase , or stream via subscription on amazon . com , and epix .
bwana devil - wikipedia . bwana devil is a 1 . u . s . the film is notable for sparking the first 3 - d film craze in the motion picture industry , as well as for being the first 3 - d film in color and the first 3 - d sound feature in english .
bwana devil was written , directed and produced by arch oboler and stars robert stack , barbara britton and nigel bruce . ! a lover in your arms !
with the headline : the screen in review ; ' bwana devil , ' feature - length film in three dimensions , has bow at loew ' s state .
devil , ” which many assume is the first 3 - d feature film .
get nerdy with it at drunken devil ' s bawdy , monthly burlesque brunch .
we ' ve listed a number of streaming and cable services - including rental , purchase , and subscription alternatives - along with the availability of ' bwana devil ' on each platform . now , before we get into the fundamentals of how you can watch ' bwana devil ' right now , here are some particulars about the adventure flick .
drunken devil ' s third annual summer soirée transported guests to a sleazy grindhouse theater .
formally - attired audience sporting 3 - d glasses during opening night screening of movie bwana devil . ( j . r . eyerman / time & life pictures / getty image )
bwana devil played at the second world 3 - d film expo on september 13 , 2006 in two strip polarized 3 - d at the egyptian theater in hollywood , ca .
the first full - length 3 - d color film was “bwana devil , ” the one whose premiere was photographed in 1952 . the film , however , was not very good .
drunken devil parties live somewhere between the debauchery of studio 54 and the aesthetic of halloween .
“the most common complaint about bwana devil at the time of its release , from audiences & critics alike , echoed ebert’s exact concerns : that the process rendered the film too dark when viewed through the specialty glasses required to created the 3d effect . bwana devil’s advertising famously promised ‘a lion in your lap ! a lover in your arms ! ’ , but the most visually striking image the film produced was the look of its 1950s audience watching it in the theaters . consider the iconic life magazine image of the bwana devil audience donning their 3d glasses & enjoying the film’s novelty . there’s far more historical significance & interesting visual composition in that single still image than there is in the entirety of bwana devil ‘s entire 79 minute runtime . ”
i felt no eye strain while viewing
bwana devil
through the polaroid lenses , but i was conscious of having to make a visual adjustment whenever the scene shifted on the screen .
as the popularity of television skyrocketed after world war ii , 3 - d movies made a brief splash in 1952 with the wildly successful movies
bwana devil
and
the house of wax .
philadelphia , dallas , houston and san antonio on december 2 . new york on february 1 . gunzburg presents 3 - d , a short film produced by bob clampett and featuring beany and cecil , was screened preceding the film . long thought lost , the short rejoined bwana devil for screenings at the egyptian theater in 2 . united artists bought the rights to bwana devil from arch oboler productions for $ 5 .
most of the action of
bwana devil
was produced in hollywood , but the background scenes were photographed , under oboler ' s direction , in the heart of the belgian congo and in british east africa .
bwana devil ( 1952 ) — british railway workers in kenya are becoming the favorite snack of two man - eating lions . head engineer bob hayward becomes obsessed with trying to kill the beasts before they maul everyone on his crew .
bwana devil dvd is available as a deluxe edition with custom cover and dvd case . important : this title is manufactured - on - demand from the best - quality video master currently available and has not been remastered or restored .
1952 sees the beginning of the three - year period referred to as the
golden era
of 3 - d cinema . bwana devil , the first colour stereoscopic feature , produced , written and directed by arch oboler , is released .
3 - d movie viewers . formally - attired audience sporting 3 - d ( 3d ) glasses during opening night screening of movie bwana devil - 1st full length color 3 - d ( aka natural vision ) motion picture , at paramount theater .
more than a decade later , he wrote , directed and produced the first three - dimensional movie , ' ' bwana devil , ' ' which had moviegoers in special eyeglasses ducking when african spears and lions appeared to be flying off the screen directly at them .
crowds streamed into loew ' s state theatre yesterday to get their first sight of arch oboler ' s united artists ' production of
bwana devil ,
which had been heralded as the first full length feature picture to be photographed in a three - dimensional process known as natural vision .
unless indicated otherwise , the text in this article is either based on wikipedia article
bwana devil
or another language wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the gnu free documentation license ; or on original research by jahsonic and friends . see art and popular culture ' s copyright notice .
the paramount ranch , now located in the santa monica mountains national recreation area , sat in for an african savanna . there is a now a hiking trail in the area named
the bwana trail
to denote the locations used in bwana devil . authentic african footage previously lensed by arch oboler in 1948 ( in 2 - d ) was incorporated into the film . ansco color film was used instead of the more expensive and cumbersome technicolor process .
caption from life : formally attired audience sporting 3 - d glasses during opening night screening of film “bwana devil , ” the 1st full length , color 3 - d ( aka “natural vision” ) motion picture , at paramount theater , hollywood , ca . photo by j . r . eyerman , 1952
actor keefe brasselle and his wife , norma , wear 3 - d glasses at the 1952 premiere of
bwana devil
in hollywood , california . discomfort associated with the glasses has been a problem throughout the history of 3 - d entertainment , but the technology is finally going glasses - free .
the 3d process was first brought to the big screen in the 1920s , but it wasn ' t until the 1950s that the ' golden era ' of 3d began . the film that started the craze was bwana devil , the story of man - eating lions disrupting the building of the uganda railroad . the 3d polarising system used in the creation of bwana devil was different than the one used in the 1920s and it was the first full colour 3d feature . this contributed greatly to the success of the film . it became an overnight sensation and the film industry jumped to embrace the new technology .
the natural vision 3 - d camera system was used to shoot a number of 1950s 3 - d movies , including bwana devil , house of wax , and september storm . the only surviving natural vision rig is in the 3 - d space museum collection . support our kickstarter campaign to # saveseptemberstorm urltoken
☛ life : “full frame of movie audience wearing special 3d glasses to view film bwana devil which was shot with new “natural vision” 3 dimensional technology . ” photo by j . r . eyerman , paramount theater , hollywood , california , november 26 , 1952 . the same image is availbale at getty images .
the first 3 - d film in natural vision was bwana devil ( 1952 ) , which was followed by several hastily shot action films . it is generally believed that the popularity of 3 - d in the united states subsided after about a year because of the low quality of the films presented . filmmakers in italy , …
caption from life : formally attired audience sporting 3 - d ( 3d ) glasses during opening night screening of film “bwana devil , ” the 1st full length color 3 - d ( aka “natural vision” ) motion picture , seated in balcony under projection rm . , at paramount theater . photo by j . r . eyerman , 1952
in 1952 , bwana devil , a film about two man - eating lions , became the first 3d feature film to hit theaters . how far we ' ve come : improved technology , wider availability , and avatar have ignited a 3d revolution . how far we ' ve not come : those glasses are still mostly hideous and uncomfortable .
invaders from mars began filming on september 25 , 1952 . there is no mention in the trades for 3 - d treatment on this film . bwana devil had completed principal photography on july 12 , 1952 . if producer edward l . alperson had wanted 3 - d lensing for ifm , the natural vision camera rig would have been available .
bwana devil ,
an adventure film about colonial settlers battling man - eating lions in africa , became the first color 3 - d movie . after success at preliminary screenings , the film was released to the public in 1953 by united artists . two projectors were required to merge images onscreen and help create the 3 - d effect .
caption from life : 3 - d movie viewers . formally attired audience sporting 3 - d ( 3d ) glasses during opening night screening of movie “bwana devil , ” the 1st full length , color 3 - d ( aka “natural vision” ) motion picture , at paramount theater , hollywood , ca . photo by j . r . eyerman , 1952
kameme is back - click here . click here for iko nini bwana seed archive . nation tv click here for ken tv = = = = = sokoni business investment club .
the photo was originally taken by life photographer j . r . eyerman ( 1906 - 1985 ) at “the premiere screening of film bwana devil , directed by arch oboler , the 1st full - length , color 3d ( aka “natural vision” ) motion picture” . it first appeared in the december 15 , 1952 issue of life magazine with the following commentary :
the iconic life magazine photo of elegantly - dressed moviegoers wearing 3 - d glasses depicts the audience watching this film at the world premiere of bwana devil in los angeles on november 27 , 1952 . five months later , this short became the first 3 - d film ever shown on television ( april 29 , 1953 ) during a test broadcast on keca in los angeles .
bwana devil is a 1952 drama based on the true story of the tsavo maneaters . it was written , directed , and produced by arch oboler , and is considered the first color , american 3 - d feature . it started the 3 - d boom in the us film making industry from 1952 to 1954 . it stars robert stack , barbara britton and nigel bruce .
bwana - significados en espa dreniknet , internet service provider - dreniknet , internet provajder . adam friza je multimedijalni umetnik ; slika , pravi kola . jambo bwana ( swahili ) in 1982 , the kenyan hotel band them mushrooms released the song ' jambo bwana ' ( ' hello mister ' ) . the song , written by band leader teddy . this page was last modified on 21 july 2016 , at 20 : 00 . text is available under the creative commons attribution - sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site , you agree to the terms of use and .
the true story of man - eating lions that was remade in the 90s ( the ghost and the darkness ) . bwana devil was the first color 3 - d film ever released , and i wish i had gotten to see it that way . low production values sink this but the story is decent and i ' m becoming a big fan of robert stack outside of unsolved mysteries .
milton lowell gunzburg , president of natural vision corporation , supervised prominent 3 - d productions , including bwana devil , house of wax and the charge at feather river . made as a prologue to arch oboler’s bwana devil , this short explains how natural vision 3 - d works and is “healthy and beneficial” for your eyes . lloyd nolan ( a tree grows in brooklyn ) serves as our guide , introducing us to beany and cecil ( voiced by daws butler and stan freberg , respectively ) , stars of bob clampett’s time for beany television show , and miss u . s . a of 1949 shirley tegge , newly - christened “miss third dimension . ” according to natural vision cameraman lothrop worth , this footage was shot in the library of the berch estate , a beverly hills mansion .
not true . the publicity for bwana devil stated : the world’s first feature in natural vision 3 - dimension . this statement is true ; the key being the words “natural vision , ” the trade name of the 3 - d equipment used to shoot the film . in later years , the film’s writer / producer / director arch oboler was surprised to learn it was not first . he really believed it . the first feature 3 - d motion picture was the power of love ( sept 1922 ) . however , bwana was the first 3 - d feature film to have international exhibition .
the stereopticon effect is quite remarkable and i think oboler chose his experimental material well . considered by itself , the story of
bwana devil
is no great shakes , but oboler , who wrote the screenplay from an african legend , directed and produced the picture himself , has proved to his and the public ' s satisfaction that a story may very well be adapted to any 3 - d process .
generally , i don’t bother with old - school jungle adventure movies . the genre as a whole just doesn’t interest me . i’m going to make an exception , though , in the case of bwana devil because of the tremendous significance of this all - but - forgotten film in the history of exploitation cinema as a whole . bwana devil , as the more erudite of you may already know , was the first feature - length movie ever shot in 3 - d . given the great importance of idiotic gimmicks in the marketing of exploitation movies of all genres over the years , i think it ought to be pretty obvious what a milestone this movie becomes on the strength of that pioneer status . and so , just this once , i’m setting aside my prejudice against jungle movies to bring it to your attention .
bwana devil is a 1952 drama based on the true story of the tsavo maneaters . it was written , directed , and produced by arch oboler and is considered to be the first american feature - length 3 - d film in color . it is notable for sparking the first 3 - d boom in the u . s . motion picture industry . it stars robert stack , barbara britton and nigel bruce .
bwana devil is a 1952 drama based on the true story of the tsavo maneaters . it was written , directed , and produced by arch oboler and is considered to be the first american feature - length 3 - d film in color . it is notable for sparking the first 3 - d boom in the u . s . motion picture industry . it stars robert stack , barbara britton and nigel bruce .
outside of the novel sensation of seeing movie images appear as though they are being looked at through a large - size stereoscope - - an illusion that fluctuates greatly and is crudely and artlessly used - - there is little or no stimulation of a pictorial or dramatic sort to be had from arch oboler ' s
bwana devil ,
which came to loew ' s state yesterday . view full article in timesmachine »
wherever it has been shown ,
bwana devil
has attracted much interest , has brought gold to the box office and has caused practically every major producer in hollywood to announce plans for 3 - d film . oboler will go down in the annals of hollywood as the man who pioneered in 3 - d films , since he is the first producer to use the gunzburg natural vision process on a feature - length film .
some features ( creature from the black lagoon , it came from outer space , the maze , robot monster , the mad magician ) were converted to anaglyphic 3 - d in the 1970 ' s for re - issue . others ( miss sadie thompson , bwana devil , gorilla at large , revenge of the creature , hondo ) were converted in the 1980 ' s for television broadcast . all were originally shown theatrically in polarized 3 - d .
1961 bwana don in jungle - la aired on wjbk from 1960 to 1963 . with his chimp bongo bailey , don hunt hosted cartoons while teaching detroit’s small fry about the wonders of the animal kingdom . in the summer of 1961 hunt took a .
george pal was assigned to the war of the worlds project in july of 1951 . pre - production continued throughout the rest of the year and filming commenced in mid - january 1952 . arch oboler announced plans to produce the first 3 - d feature film on february 4 , 1952 but production on lions of gulu ( bwana devil ) did not begin until june 18 . had george pal desired 3 - d for war of the worlds , the natural vision camera would have certainly been available during january and february of 1952 .
united artists bought the rights to bwana devil from
arch oboler productions
for $ 500 , 000 and a share of the profits and began a wide release of the film in march as a
united artists
film . a lawsuit followed , in which producer edward l . alperson jr . claimed that he was part owner in the film after purchasing a part of it for $ 1 , 000 , 000 usd . the courts decided in oboler ' s favor , as alperson ' s claim was unsubstantiated and
under the table
.
the drunken devil presented sin - a - rama , a grindhouse - themed soirée and immersive theater experience on saturday , june 23 . held at a private location , the night offered exploitation - inspired burlesque performances by olivia bellafontaine , miss ashley hayward , brynn route and kristina nekyia , as w . . .
this weekend , you can celebrate some of the longest days of the year in the southern california sun — from arroyo seco weekend in pasadena and ciclavia in the valley to a mass meditation in an open field and a massive bounce house . for those who prefer the nighttime , drunken devil holds an imm . . .
these megalopic creatures are the first paying audience for the latest cinematic novelty , natural vision . this process gets a three - dimensional effect by using two projectors with polaroid filters and giving the spectators polaroid spectacles to wear . the movie at the premiere , called bwana devil , did achieve some striking three - dimensional sequences . but members of the audience reported that the glasses were uncomfortable , the film itself — dealing with two scholarly looking lions who ate up quantities of humans in africa — was dull , and it was generally agreed that the audience itself looked more startling than anything on the screen . ( life : “life at the movies : when 3d was new” by ben cosgrove )
3 - d movie viewers . formally - attired audience sporting 3 - d ( 3d ) glasses during . . .
filmmaker jean - jacques annaud , ex - basketball star magic johnson & sony of amer . ceo michael schulhof sporting 3 - d headsets .
filmmaker jean - jacques annaud , ex - basketball star magic johnson & sony of amer . ceo . . .
soldier being training using virtual reality - simulated 3 - d shootout at army facilty .
soldier being training using virtual reality - simulated 3 - d shootout at army . . .
model christie brinkley fooling around w . a groucho marx impersonator at the opening of sony ' s 3 - d imax theatre .
model christie brinkley fooling around w . a groucho marx impersonator at the . . .
cyberman , 3 - d computer mouse / joystick controller by logitech , for use w . cyberman compatible virtual reality games .
cyberman , 3 - d computer mouse / joystick controller by logitech , for use w . cyberman . . .
people watching tv demonstrating the use of 3 - d glasses which will be worn by viewers during halftime show of the superbowl . ; 1989
people watching tv demonstrating the use of 3 - d glasses which will be worn by . . .
stereophogrammetry , 3 - d photos taken with special camera to measure physical body differences & development .
stereophogrammetry , 3 - d photos taken with special camera to measure physical body . . .
prof . at michigan university , emmett leith , demonstrating attribute of holography , creation of a realistic image in three dimensions using laser beam .
prof . at michigan university , emmett leith , demonstrating attribute of holography , . . .
two perspectives of hologram projected on screens when laser passes through hologram at different places . hologram made by juris upatnieks .
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»the only interesting undertaking is the liberation of everyday life , not only within a historical perspective but for us and right away . this entails the withering away of alienated forms of communication . the cinema , too , has to be destroyed . « [ 1 ]
»it is society and not technology that has made cinema what it is . the cinema could have been historical examination , theory , essay , memories . it could have been the film which i am making at this moment . « [ 2 ]
general , [ which ] as the concrete inversion of life , is the autonomous movement of the non - living . » although this distinction itself merits a close and careful reading , for the present investigation it must suffice to say that the latter use of the expression is allegorical : «the spectacle , as the present social organization of the paralysis of history and memory , of the abandonment of history built on the foundation of historical time , is the false consciousness of time» ( sos , thesis 158 ) . the conflation in turn stems from debord´s rhetorical employment of the notion of spectacles qua images or representation to concretize his reading of «spectacle» as the allegory of late capital .
here film functions not as the cause but as an illustration , an ‹evocation»›or figure—albeit a privileged one—for a socio - political and epistemological shift that has taken place under late capitalism . an attitude toward the production of spectacle ( home movies ) is taken as a symptom of a «spectacular economy» ( the temporality of an alienated social condition ) . as debord
the interest in film on the part of the si must be understood in light of the significance in its genealogy of the artistic avant - garde : an important dimension of what could be called the «situationist project» involved the production of ( art ) works . it was essential , however , that such works be critiques of the current historical moment and contain their own negation—that is , they should be in a sense antiworks . as raoul vaneigem phrased it in a statement put forth at the fifth si conference in göteborg , sweden ( august 1961 ) : «it is a question not of elaborating the spectacle of refusal , but rather of refusing the spectacle . in order for their elaboration to be artistic in the new
the first official articulation of the si position on cinema occurs in a subsection of one of the first articles in the first issue of is in 1958 entitled , indicatively , «for and against the cinema« [ 15 ] «cinema is the central art of our society , » the editorial begins , and the formal and anecdotal expression in the cinema as well as it material infrastructure are «the best representation of an epoch of anarchically juxtaposed inventions ( not articulated but simply combined ) . « [ 16 ] but rather than making use of the extraordinary capacities opened up by its technical innovations , so the argument continues , the cinema offers a passive substitute to unitary artistic activity , an exponential
increase in the reactionary power of nonparticipatory spectacle . the text makes it clear , however , that this could be otherwise : « [ … ] those that want to construct this [ new ] world must simultaneously fight the tendency of cinema to constitute the anti - construction of situations ( the construction of a slave atmosphere , the succession of the cathedrals ) while recognizing the significance of the new technological developments ( stereo sound , odorama ) which are valuable in and of themselves . » [ 17 ]
the opposite of a knee - jerk rejection of cinematic technology as such , the editorial attributes the reactionary state of the medium ( the absence of avant - garde developments manifest in the plastic arts and in literature—see «the two avant gardes» by peter wollen ) to economic and ideological constraints , but also to the social importance of the medium . it is this importance , in turn , that makes it necessary that the medium remain in the control of the hegemonic class . instead of abandoning film as hopelessly contaminated , the article closes instead with a call for its appropriation . cinema is likened to architecture ( another major si concern ) in terms of its significancewithin daily life , the difficulties facing any attempt at its renovation , and the imperative for just such a transformation . this leads to the following conclusion : «one must therefore struggle to appropriate a truly experimental sector within the cinema . we can envisage two distinct ways of using cinema : first , its employment as a form of propaganda in the pre - situationist transition period ; then its direct employment as a constitutive element of an actual situation . » [ 18 ] one could read this as the first , rough outline of a manifesto for an ( anti ) situationist film practice .
to gain a more detailed understanding of the motivations behind the si espousal of film as a revolutionary weapon , one must examine remarks scattered throughout their publications . in one of the more programmatic of these statements , the concluding section of the article «the situationists and the new forms of action against politics and art , » rené viénet argues that the si must make use of the cinema—»the newest and without doubt most useful means of expression of our epoch«—as a didactic , analytic , and critical tool : «among other possibilities ,
the cinema lends itself particularly well to studying the present as an historical problem , to dismantling processes of reification . historical reality can , of course , be apprehended , known and filmed only in the course of a complicated process of mediations [ … ] this mediation would be difficult if the empirical existence of facts themselves was not already a mediated existence , which only takes on an appearance of immediateness because of and to the extent that , on the one hand , consciousness of the mediation is lacking and , on the other hand , the facts have been uprooted from the network of their determinations , placed in an artificial isolation and poorly linked together again by the montage of classical cinema . it is precisely this mediation , which has been lacking , and inevitably so , in pre - situationist cinema , which has limited itself to so called objective forms or representation of politico - moral concepts , whenever it has not been a merely academic type of narrative with all its hypocrisies . » [ 19 ]
viénet´s conception of an si film practice enlists thespecific capacities of the medium ( above all , photographic documentation , voice - over , and analytic montage ) to expose the always already mediated status of the seemingly immediate and «natural» world constructed in classical , or pre - situationist , cinema . the present is studied as a historical problem , history is recast as a problem of representation , and , above all , the practice of representation itself is continuously subjected to critical interrogation . this staging of mediation takes the form of a work on other mediations , primarily by means of cinema´s elective affinity to the important strategy of citation and reinscription referred to as détournement . indeed , in a programmatic essay , the editorial collective of is goes so far as to say that «the signature of the movement , the trace of its presence and its contestation in contemporary cultural reality…is first and foremost the employment of détournement . » [ 20 ]
it is in this capacity for visual - acoustic détournement that cinema finds its single most important justification as an instrument of si activity . as debord and gil j wolman confirm in their user´s guide to this hallmark si activity , among the various
vehicles for détournement such as posters , records , radio broadcasts , and comic strips , none lends itself better than cinema : «it is obviously in the framework of the cinema that détournement can attain its greatest efficacity , and undoubtedly , for those concerned with this aspect , its greatest beauty . » [ 21 ] as will become evident below , such détournement can take a number of forms . on the one hand , in he double movement of this «powerful cultural weapon» the context and meaning of both insignificant phenomena ( newspaper clippings , advertisements , quotidian phrases ) and significant elements ( citations from marx or saint - just , a sequence from an eisenstein film ) can be displaced and estranged before being subsequently reinscribed and transformed through radical juxtaposition .
unavailable since debord published detailed scenarios of his film works in both journals and books on a number of occasions . the first three scenarios appeared in a volume entitled ( indicatively ) contre le cinema ( against the cinema ) [ fig . 6 . 4 ] published by the scandinavian institute for comparative vandalism in 1964 , [ 37 ] and in 1978 the scenarios of all six of debord´s films were made available in the collection oeuvres cinématographiques completes , 1952–1978 ( complete cinematographic works ) . [ 38 ] with only one exception , which will be articulated below , the study of debord´s anti - spectacular cinema is forced to take recourse to the only available traces , the appropriately nonspectacular textual scenarios .
given debord’s deep suspicion of the televisual , why then would his films suddenly reappear after his death on tv ? in his letter to me in 1987 he had explained that one of the reasons why he felt he could no longer risk having his films in circulation was due to «structural changes» in the film industry having to do with the pressures of television . unwilling to risk having his films simply inserted into the banalizing continuum of what raymond williams called the televisual «flow , » by withdrawing his films he effectively guaranteed for himself the ability to control their rigorous refusal of the televisual dispositif , at least until that time when
he could both provide them with the necessary frame ( his first and only work for tv ) and , as he had effectively told me in our correspondence in 1987 , when he was no longer alive . in so doing , i . e . in insisting on his own death as a precondition for the work of the ciné - fils to appear in the televisual dispositif that was effectively synonymous with at least one of the deaths of cinema , debord revealed the history of his engagement with cinema as a critical performative reflection on the cultural politics of the cinema across the complex history ( before , with and after ) of its multiple dispositifs .
[ 1 ] ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , p . 33 . ( where published translations are employed within the body of the text , the original language citations are provided following the translated reference . where no english - language - source is given , the translation is mine . ) guy debord , «sur le passage de quelques persones à travers une assez courte unite de temps , » in oeuvres cinématographiques complètes , 1952–1978 , paris : editions champ libre , 1978 , p . 31 .
[ 2 ] guy debord , «in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni , » in oeuvres cinématographiques complètes , 1952–1978 , paris : editions champ libre , 1978 , pp . 207–208 .
[ 4 ] it is entirely appropriate that these illustrations appear only in the unauthorized translation of society of the spectacle published in america , the country in many ways paradigmatic for the culture of consumption and alienation that is the focus of the study . in the first edition of la societé du spectacle ( paris : buchet - chastel 1967 , the pirate german edition of die gesellschaft des spektakels ( düsseldorf , projektgruppe gegengesellschaft , 1971 ) , and the «authorized [ german ] translation» by jean - jacques raspaud ( hamburg , edition nautilus , 1978 ) there are no illustrations whatsoever . only the current french reprint ( paris : editions champ libre , 1971 ) has an image on its cover , a reproduction of a turn - of - thecentury world map whose colors indicate the current and projected state of global commercial development . debord´s account of the choice of this map can be found in his small book , considérations sur l´assassinat de gérard lebovici , paris : editions gérard lebovici , 1985 , pp . 33–34 .
[ 5 ] the first 34 theses of la sociéte du spectacle were first published under the title «la separation achevée» in the si journal internationale situationniste 11 ( october 1967 ) , pp . 43–48 ( hereafter is ) .
[ 6 ] the translation of détournement , one of the key terms of situationist aesthetic practice , poses a number of problems . its rendition as «diversion» in the american edition of society of spectacle ( see , for example , thesis 208 ) is unacceptable because it is burdened with the connotation of «distraction« . in french , détournement—deflection , turning in a different direction - is also employed to signal detours and to refer to embezzlement , swindle , abduction , and hijacking . the criminal and violent quality of the latter four connotations are closer to the si practice of illicitly appropriating the products of culture and abducting or hijacking them to other destinations . nevertheless , these terms are also too marked to be employed . instead , i have followed the practice adopted by ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 ( cf his footnote on this subject on p . 371 ) and have simply anglicized the term .
[ 8 ] is 11 ( october 1967 ) , p . 57 ; first emphasis in translation is mine .
[ 9 ] guy debord , «in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni , » in oeuvres cinématographiques complètes , 1952–1978 , paris : editions champ libre , 1978 , p . 190 .
[ 10 ] ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , p . 33 ; cf . the epigraph that opens this essay .
[ 11 ] martin heidegger , «die zeit des weltbildes» in holzwege , ed . friedrich - wilhelm von herrmann ( frankfurt / m . , 1977 [ 1938 ] ) , pp . 73–110 ; translated as «the age of the world picture , »in heidegger , the question concerning technology and other essays , trans . william lowitt , new york , 1977 , pp . 115–154 , esp . pp . 128–130 ; jean - louis baudry , l´effet cinema , paris , 1978 , and «the apparatus metaphysical approaches to the impression of reality in the cinema , »in phil rosen , ed . , narrative , apparatus , ideology : a film theory reader , new york , 1986 , pp . 299–318 ; jean - louis comolli , «machines of visible» in teresa de lauretis and stephen heath , eds . , the cinematic apparatus , new york , 1980 , pp . 121–142 .
[ 12 ] guy debord , «in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni , » in oeuvres cinématographiques complètes , 1952–1978 , paris : editions champ libre , 1978 , pp . 207–208 ; cf . the second epigraph that opens this essay .
[ 13 ] ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , p . 88 ; «la cinquième conference de l´i . s . à göteborg , »is 7 ( april 1962 ) , pp . 26–27 . compare also «le sens du déperissement de l´art , »is 3 ( december 1959 ) , pp . 4 and 7 . 14 debord , society of the spectacle , thesis 210 .
[ 15 ] ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , p . 111 , translation modified ; «l´opération contresituationniste dans divers pays , »is 8 ( january 1963 ) , p . 24 .
[ 16 ] «avec et contre le cinema , »is 1 ( june 1958 ) , pp . 8–9 .
[ 17 ] «avec et contre le cinema , »is 1 ( june 1958 ) , p . 8 .
[ 18 ] «avec et contre le cinema , »is 1 ( june 1958 ) , p . 9 .
[ 19 ] «avec et contre le cinema , »is 1 ( june 1958 ) , p . 9 .
[ 20 ] ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , p . 215 ; rené viénet , «les situationistes et les nouvelles formes d´action contre la politique et l´art , »is 11 ( october 1967 ) , p . 35 .
[ 21 ] ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , pp . 55–56 , «le détournement comme negation et comme prelude , »is 3 ( december 1959 ) , p . 11 .
[ 23 ] ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , p . 12 ; gérard berreby , documents relatifs à la fondation de l´internationale situationniste , paris , 1985 , p . 306 .
[ 25 ] «panorama intelligent de l´avant - garde à la fin de 1955 , » potlatch 24 ( november 1955 ) ; all issues of the journal have been reprinted in a single volume with an introduction by guy debord , potlatch , 1954–1957 , paris : editions gérard lebovici , 1985 , p . 186 ; the journal can also be found in gérard berreby , documents relatifs à la fondation de l´internationale situationniste , paris , 1985 , pp . 161–261 , p . 231 .
[ 26 ] rené viénet , «the situationists and the new forms of action against politics and art , »in ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , pp . 215–216 ; «les situationistes et les nouvelles formes d´action contre la politique et l´art , »is 11 ( october 1967 ) , 35 .
[ 27 ] guy debord , «pour le debat d´orientation du printemps 1970 : note sur la première serie de textes , »in his textes rares : 1957 - 1970 , paris : n . , 1981 , pp . 34–36 .
[ 28 ] «chaque film pourrait donner à un ou deux situs travaillant comme assistants l´occasion the maîtriser leur propre style dans ce language ; et l´immanquable succès de nos œuvres apporterait aussi la base économique de la production future de ces camarades . l´élargissement de notre audience serait décisif» ( textes rares : 1957 - 1970 , paris : n . , 1981 , p . 36 ) .
[ 29 ] guy debord «cinema and revolution , »in ken knabb , ed . and trans . , situationist international anthology , berkeley : bureau of public secrets , 1981 , pp . 297–298 ( translation modified ) ; «le cinema et la revolution , »is 12 ( september 1969 ) , 105 .
[ 30 ] this description as well as the label for godard further on stem from the «list of insulted names» included in the very useful index volume by jean - jacques raspaud and jean - pierre voyer , l´internationale situationniste : chronologie / bibliographie / protagonistes ( paris : editions champ libre , 1972 ) , 25 - 65 .
[ 32 ] françois dufrêne , tambours du jugement premier , ion 1 ( april 1952 ) , numéro spécial sur le cinéma , marc - gilbert guillaumin [ marc , o ] , general editor , p . 195 ( footnote 1 ) .
[ 33 ] beneath a full page photograph of debord on the second page of the catalogue destruktion af rsg - 6 : en kollektvi manifestation af situationistisk internationale ( odense , denmark ; galerie exi , 1963 ) , for example , one reads the following caption : «guy debord : filmstruktør og redaktør – film director and editor – cinéaste et directeur de revue , c / o ‘internationale situationniste’ , b . p . 75 - 06 paris« . similarly , the description of the author of la societé du spectacle on the back cover of the editions champ libre reprint ( paris , 1971 ) begins : «se disant cinéaste» ( calls himself a filmmaker ) .
[ 35 ] one of the few exceptions is an intelligent article in a rather obscure austrian art journal by roberto ohrt , «wäre ich nicht alexander , wäre ich gern diogenes , » durch 3 / 4 ( november 1987 ) , pp . 27–48 , translated by ian brunskill in the same issue as «if i wasn´t alexander , i would like to be diogenes , »161 - 75 . ohrt has also published an interesting piece on the spur group and the german side of the si story : «die spur von der kunst zur situationistischen internationale , »in veit loers , ed . , gruppe spur , 1958–1965 , regensburg : städtische galerie , 1986 , pp . 33–44 .
[ 36 ] guy debord , considérations sur l´assassinat , p . 48 . debord´s most recent book , commentaires sur la societé du spectacle , paris : editions gérard lebovici , 1988 , is also dedicated to lebovici : «à la mémoire de gérard lebovici , assassiné a paris , le 5 mars 1984 , dans un guet - apens resté mystérieux . »
[ 37 ] in response to a query as to whether the films could ever be seen outside france , debord explained to me in a letter of 29 may 1987 that his emphasis on france was in response to the particular injustice perpetrated by the french press . «naturally i should have said : never again anywhere . » in the remainder of the missive debord goes on to articulate why , in light of the recent restructuration of the film industry , he was concerned about the manner in which his films might be exploited and thus decided to disavow in advance any and all screenings of his work . however , as he notes in conclusion : «it goes without saying that i do not disavow a single word or even a single image of my entire cinematographic work« .
[ 38 ] guy debord , contre le cinéma ( aarhus , denmark : l´institut scandinave de vandalisme comparé / bibliothèque d´alexandrie , 1964 ) . this volume , now out of print , includes the complete scenarios and selected images from debord´s first three films ( « hurlements en faveur de sade , » «sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unite de temps , » and «critique de la séparation» ) along with a prefatory essay by asger jorn entitled «guy debord et le problème du maudit» ( 3 - 8 ) . the german translation by pierre gallissaires and hanna mittelstädt entitled gegen den film : filmskripte , hamburg : edition nautilus , 1978 , drops three of the four explanatory notes that follow the scenario of «hurlements , » but provides the full text of «grande fête de la nuit» under the title «eine große nachtfete« .
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british railway workers in kenya are becoming the favorite snack of two man - eating lions . head engineer bob hayward becomes obsessed with trying to kill the beasts before they maul everyone on his crew .
jermaine fowler and omari hardwick of sorry to bother you take us back in time to the worst jobs of their careers .
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raju lives a poor lifestyle in rural india along with his parents . he meets with a wealthy city girl , both fall in love , and get married much to the chagrin of her father who decides to . . . see full summary »
tweedy college professor discovers his new tv set is animate , apparently possessed by something from the future , and militantly intent on regulating his daily life .
a bridge engineer and an experienced old hunter begin a hunt for two lions after they start attacking local construction workers .
in the 19th century , during the german colonial rule , railway engineer robert adamson arrives in the kilimanjaro region to finish building a railroad through hostile territory .
the world is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust . only five americans survive , including a pregnant woman , a neo - nazi , a black man and a bank clerk .
when the construction of the east african railway comes to a grinding halt bob hayward , the chief engineer , undertakes to kill the lion that is terrifying the construction crews and preventing them from working . hayward isn ' t very happy in his job . he ' s been away from his home and his wife for 8 months and has taken to drinking and carousing . as the lion continues to attack the laborers , hayward seeks the help of the local masai tribesmen but they too have little success . despite the arrival of several hunters to assist him - and his wife who unexpectedly arrives from england - the killer beast remains elusive , killing them one by one . it ' s left to hayward to overcome his self - doubts and go up against the lion .
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( originally published by the daily news on feb . 19 , 1953 . this story was written by kate cameron . )
with polaroid glasses furnished by the theatre , loew ' s state patrons are able to see a story enacted on a screen that seems to have depth as well as height and breadth . in the case of oboler ' s film , the story is , for once , not the most important thing about it . rather , the manner in which it is presented becomes of prime interest .
the new york daily news published this in feb . 19 , 1953 . ( new york daily news )
when the producers at 20th century - fox get their cinemascope perfected , and their theaters properly polaroid glasses will not be necessary to get an illusion of depth on the screen . this may be the answer to cinerama , but i do not believe that any process that requires glasses to get the full effect will seriously affect cinerama .
the plot has to do with a couple of man - eating lions ( bwanas to the natives ) who killed so many workers on a railroad project in africa that work stopped and the line was never finished . a young english engineer , jock howard , played by robert stack , is determined to kill the beasts and put an end to the natives ' belief that the lions are supernatural devils . he kills them , but not before much blood has been spilled .
stack is supported by barbara britton , as his wife , by nigel bruce , as the doctor of the expedition , ramsay hill , paul mcvey , john dodsworth and pat o ' moore .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75 % or higher after a set amount of reviews ( 80 for wide - release movies , 40 for limited - release movies , 20 for tv shows ) , including 5 reviews from top critics .
in the case of oboler ' s film , the story is , for once , not the most important thing about it . rather , the manner in which it is presented becomes of prime interest .
will be remembered as the first full - length film in 3 - d , otherwise deserves to be forgotten .
tsavo man - eaters : killers of kilimanjaro ( pt . 3 of 5 )
le duel . ( et pour quelques dollars de plus - scène finale ) .
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love strange love ( portuguese : amor estranho amor ) is a 1982 brazilian erotic drama film written and directed by walter hugo khouri .

the film stars vera fischer , tarcísio meira and xuxa meneghel .

fischer won the best actress award at the 15th festival de brasília as well as the air france award .

love strange love

love is strange , but the r rating slapped onto
love is strange
is a lot stranger .
natasha mendonca strange love 2016 , film still . courtesy the artist and transient films
strange love airs wednesdays ( 10 p . m . et ) on tlc .
' love is strange ' takes something so right and leaves it hanging all wrong .
love is strange
is a testament to love , not in an overly sentimental way , but in a realistic way .
getting by … john lithgow in love is strange . photograph : allstar / sony picture classics
after watching love is strange , one would hope that it would look like george and ben’s .
love is strange
boasts an abundance of patience and kindness - but not much of a pulse .
love is strange is drab - looking and has its longueurs , but it ' s emotionally very full .
“love is strange” is rated r ( under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian ) . frank talk .
strange love : episodes is a serialized , multi - media performance that explores courtship , intimacy and love , amidst the music of john coltrane & miles davis .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing love is strange near you .
sachs rarely overstates his themes .
love is strange
is largely a restrained drama about the loss of comfort .
alfred molina ( left ) and john lithgow in a scene from love is strange . photograph : jeong park / ap
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing the strange love of martha ivers near you .
few film love stories are as profound , rich , and devastating as alfred molina and john lithgow’s in ‘love is strange . ’ it just happens that their characters are gay , too .
it almost feels sacrilegious—and maybe even a little bit gross—to call love is strange profound , or important , or a painfully necessary film .
“ strange love is organic and emotionally rich with an intense physicality that describes the human experience . ” – dalia ratnikas of the brooklyn rail
sit in those moments instead of underlining them or hurrying past them , hoping we get the shorthand .
love is strange
is a
yes , love is strange , but thank the heavens for that . in a world where lives are increasingly swayed by mortgages and job security , the nonsensical weirdness of love may be our only salvation .
in 1982 , at age 19 , she was in a soft - porn film called
love strange love
in which she played a prostitute who tries to seduce a 13 - year - old boy .
according to the latest watch and listen magazine poll just out yesterday ( sunday , july 8 ) , walter hugo khouri 1982 ' s masterpiece love strange love is now considered to be the greatest film in the history of cinema .
love is strange is an extraordinary achievement in the purest sense of the word extraordinary , for it transcends the ordinary by luxuriating in it with wonderfully oddball rhythms .
pivoting on a loving couple growing older , not having finances in place , needing to rely on others to get by , love is strange has universal poignancy .
if it is , and it should be , well , that wouldn’t be strange at all .
s about many things : growing old , new york real estate , family , work , friendships . . . but what it is really about is love . love is not strange at all . it is what we do , if we are lucky .
i can’t understand one day from another [ verse 1 : buffalo madonna ] i can’t understand one day from another one night stand with an off - hand lover drug parade . 48 hours now there’s two blood types on these off - white covers pills , powder , going under the world’s a whore and i’ll always love her still i wonder , was she clean ? did see needles beneath the sink think i need to slow it down a bit i’m always drunk and out of it plus the recent batch i’ve hit have been bat shit psychotic neurotic , nympho - erotic , exotic , robotic , chaotic , quixotic , hypnotic , narcotic , sex objects i lay the body in the shape of a cross beneath the neon sign at the old church yard the night grows like electrical plants and i am dancing the soul dance while the short term lover gathers up her things we don’t say a thing we don’t say a thing coming closer to not feeling at all i go through more , life goes through all [ hook ] this is strange love in a strange world i make strangle love to a strange girl all my lovers are strangers who get stranger and stranger the more we make love , the more we make love , love , love the more we make love , the more we make strange love [ verse 2 : terry radjaw ] i gave you roses , roses , and roses you posed and i noticed , i noticed , i took the time to notice you make me lose my focus romantically so hopeless exposé exposes with a plus one on the dope list just bleed right through those noses and no more overdoses cause baby you so gorgeous and i know you can’t afford this need you to support this hold me with the closeness wake up to the grossness and roll with these guys that i roll with roll up all my dro hits and you and me can smoke this no need for hocus pocus see , i know you like i knows this and i’ll still be here gloating this love that i am boasting here’s your bubbly—toast this girl , you are my lotus— flower i can grow old with and i don’t care who knows this listen to these proses or i overdose my dosage this is our life— hold it hand in hand til we mold it the structure of our hearts , we could float into the ocean strange , strange love ( x4 ) [ hook ] this is strange love in a strange world i make strangle love to a strange girl all my lovers are strangers who get stranger and stranger the more we make love , the more we make love , love , love the more we make love , the more we make strange love
a heartbreaking , inspiring and timely depiction of family , love and relationships in myriad forms . understated but powerful performances , delivered with dignity and all the failings humankind is subject to , reflecting the often unforeseen human costs of injustice . a superb family drama . this film shows that love is not as strange as the the people who love - - or as beautiful .
boiled down to a simple review , love is strange may be cinema’s love story of the year . but after you’ve had time for the film to settle with you—all of the hope it portrays about love in a modern world along with all the hopelessness of things that are beyond our control—it becomes clear that this could be the human story of the year , too .
( 2007 ) . this is his best work yet : a wonderfully acted study in intimacy and the mystery of how much of our identity is invested in coupledom , especially in the long haul of marriage . love is strange , says the title . perhaps it gets stranger the longer you stay in love .
‘‘what do you mean , in love ? ’’ p . asked , the color draining from her face .
love is strange
received a
15
rating from the british board of film classification , though even that seems off to me ; 12 or 13 is more like it . in canada , sachs ' film has a pg rating .
alec is in love with magnus . magnus needs alec to be his fake boyfriend . what could possibly go wrong ?
after being friends for more than 20 years , john lithgow and alfred molina are finally sharing the screen , and a bed . the actors play longtime lovers in
love is strange ,
a film directed and co - written by ira sachs opening august 22nd .
on race and gender , “doctor strange” is not nearly as daring . rachel mcadams is hamstrung as strange’s gal friday at the hospital , while the kathmandu lair has only one speaking asian character , wong ( benedict wong ) , whose main characteristic is that he refuses to laugh . chiwetel ejiofor , at least , gets a decently meaty role as mordo , right - hand man to the ancient one , tasked with keeping her overachieving student strange in line .
what could be more beautiful than a young boy ' s discovery of adult love from those who knew it best . seeing it from an old man ' s eyes looking back on his childhood . experiencing it from the childs awe and discovery of a world where beauty and sex were valued in a special way . then , to have his mother , who loved him so very much , take him the final step into manhood . while some may cringe at the subject matter , i believe it was treated with sensitivity and respect . would only that my initiation into adulthood was with such love . i am thankful i have been able to pass on the wonder and amazement of discovering love , strange love to some . being the first love of another is a special gift .
and while , as said before , we’re cautious to label a film that deals with its characters’ gayness so matter - of - factly as “remarkable , ” so as to not betray that very achievement , it’s in those more intimate scenes that love is strange may be at its most astounding .
we could at least admire the mpaa’s honesty if it admitted that love is strange has been guilty of “excessive normalising of a loving homosexual relationship with no punishment or prolonged unhappiness for either party” . mainstream cinema has tended to like its gay characters either tormented ( brokeback mountain ) , comical ( the birdcage ) , dead ( milk ) or dying ( philadelphia ) . the couple in love is strange fall into none of those categories . except for an instance of homophobia that forces one of them into unemployment , their sexuality passes without mention . it is only the mpaa that has made it an issue . the bbfc has gone for the slightly softer option of a 15 rating , again because of a few instances of strong language , though this also feels a tad harsh . i don’t recall the air turning blue when i saw love is strange at the berlin film festival back in february .
near the end of love is strange , george and ben exit a bar drunk and drunk on affection for each other and walk down the street side by side , but , like the couple from jackson heights , never make physical contact with each other as they stroll . they don’t hold hands .
‘‘i wouldn’t have fallen in love with him if he wasn’t capable of consent , ’’ she would later say in court . ‘‘i wouldn’t have fallen in love with him if he wasn’t someone interested in reading books and talking about them . he was my best friend . ’’
the tricky balance struck between the starkness of george and ben’s situation and the emotional richness of their relationship has become a signature of sorts for love is strange ’s director ira sachs , who has made a name for himself with unflinching and unflinchingly romantic queer films , particularly the 2012 indie hit keep the lights on .
there is a famous saying , attributed to benjamin franklin , that guests are like fish : after three days they begin to stink . ira sachs ' new film , love is strange , underlines the truth in franklin ' s observation . this is a new york - set love story in which accommodation arrangements and rental prices play a very major part . beautifully observed and slow - burning , the film concentrates on aspects of relationships that other romantic dramas routinely ignore .
you sure do love your greenery . i respect that you’re very open about advocating the legalization of marijuana . what’s your favorite type of weed ? bubblegum…
an achingly beautiful chamber piece about an older gay couple whose lives are upended by financial downturn , love is strange is remarkable because of an insistence on not making its headline - grabbing and boundary - pushing elements—this is the story of a same - sex relationship set against the backdrop of the legalization of same - sex marriage—seem remarkable at all .
something wonderful happens in the final minutes of
love is strange .
a careful , humble examination of a marriage opens up emotionally , thanks in large part to co - writer and director ira sachs ' use of a gorgeous lullaby , chopin ' s berceuse op . 57 in d - flat major . from the moment a key supporting . . .
in 2011 , her short film jan villa won the tiger award for short film at international film festival rotterdam , the ken burns award for best of the festival at the ann arbor film festival and the adolfas mekas award for best film at experimenta india . her debut feature strange love received the hubert bals fund for production in 2011 at international film festival rotterdam .
about halfway through love is strange , george ( alfred molina ) is greeted at the door by his husband , ben ( john lithgow ) , and softly weeps on his shoulder . no explanation is given for his crying , but the moment is touching because by that point in this miraculously observant love story , we understand how well these two know each other — and how just the sight of the other’s face can trigger an emotional wellspring . it’s that secret language that exists between two people who’ve been together longer than they’ve been apart .
molina and lithgow are brilliant character actors who have given many very flamboyant performances on screen . think of molina , for example , in his tony hancock - like beret as joe orton ' s lover ( and eventual killer ) kenneth halliwell in prick up your ears or of lithgow in drag in the world according to garp . in love is strange , both men are very restrained .
wow , i never would have guessed . on the topic of favorites , what’s your favorite film that you’ve done ? kingpin . i love bill murray . he’s my brother .
here ' s the latest and perhaps the silliest of the examples . a new film ,
love is strange ,
opens this week in chicago and has already begun its limited release in los angeles and new york . director and co - writer ira sachs ' drama starring john lithgow and alfred molina has roughly as much on - screen sexuality as an episode of
modern family .
no matter how discreet and clothed its depictions ,
love is strange
is apparently just too gay for a pg - 13 . there isn ' t another way to read the mpaa ' s actions . the mpaa doesn ' t want to appear to be
soft
on potentially controversial content , though the film itself , a very good one , is about as controversial as cottage cheese .
the upcoming episode of the tlc show will also focus on an african - american albino named nathan hurd who makes a living as a comedian . but he remains unlucky with love !
as an artist , i am keen on gathering the living force within a community for the collective effort of cinema . this film entered people’s lives , as they entered the film in equal measure … boundaries blur , truth and fiction are intermingled . the introduction of fact does not necessarily make fiction more real , but possibly more strange . ajeeb aashiq / strange love asks viewers to embrace this formal and conceptual hybridism as a strategy meant not so much to dupe , mislead , or mock , but to offer an alternate lens and documenting tactic , one which may address the complex realities of identity , class and the politics of representation . natasha mendonca
in the end of the first indochina war , an open - minded teenage boy finds himself between the urge to discover love and the ever - present , dominating affection of his mother .
this debut feature from indian artist and curator natasha mendonca follows the intersecting lives of suman , a punk , jazz and slam poetry vocalist , and khush , a rickshaw driver in the process of transitioning to a male body . unrequited love , betrayal and friendship underlie a larger narrative of city hustle as suman explores what forms her artistic practice can take outside of the predominantly hetero - patriarchal bollywood industry and khush strives to make a working - class wage . through its intimate gaze , strange love investigates how attitudes toward sex and relationships are shaped by mainstream entertainment and how these longings cut across the class divide .
“he’s made several gay - themed films that are full of a lot of agony and torment , ” lithgow says . with love is strange and the relationship between ben and george , he had “literally set out to do a positive look at his own future . ” sachs had recently gotten married himself , lithgow says , and “wanted to project into the future what a long lasting , committed relationship would look like . ”
love is strange is an intermittently wonderful new film about an ageing manhattan couple who get hitched almost 40 years into their relationship , only for their suddenly straitened circumstances to force them to live apart for the first time . it’s a gentle and perceptive comedy - drama , so it’s rather a shock to find that the us ratings board , the motion picture association of america ( mpaa ) , has given it an r rating .
they have decreed that love is strange should have the same rating as saw iii ( “strong grisly violence and gore , sequences of terror and torture , nudity and language” ) , my bloody valentine ( “graphic brutal horror violence and grisly images throughout , some strong sexuality , graphic nudity and language” ) , and the new sin city film ( “strong brutal stylised violence throughout , sexual content , nudity , and brief drug use” ) .
‘‘yes , [ d . j . ] wanted to be physically involved with me , and i wanted to be physically involved with him , ’’ anna said . but , she continued , ‘‘our relationship is not just about or primarily about the sex part . we love each other very , very , very much , and i wouldn’t have sex with somebody that i didn’t love . ’’
in the week when a judge struck down florida’s ban on same - sex marriage , describing it as “unconstitutional” , the ratings board cannot pretend any longer to be holding a mirror up to society – unless it is a mirror of the funhouse variety . the mpaa’s behaviour has revealed once again that it considers violence to be hunky - dory and torture tip - top . it is love , the message seems to be , which is strange .
love is strange isn ' t intended as a polemical drama . it has the feel of an elliptical and enigmatic short story in which everything is implied rather than spelled out . sachs directs in an unfussy fashion that complements the performances . everything here is about subtext . casual conversations about moviegoing or schoolwork never mean quite what they seem . characters are terrified of saying directly what they feel . it ' s the silences and the pained expressions of their faces which reveal their true emotions .
perhaps if
love is strange
had three or four fewer uses of the f - word and variations , it would ' ve received a pg - 13 . as is , though , seeing this gentle , easygoing picture go out with an r — the same rating as
sin city : a dame to kill for
and a hundred other insistently brutal products on the market — suggests to sachs
an uncomfortable relationship between the mpaa and the subject of the film . it also seems like sloppy work . you watch the film , it ' s a story about family , about how people love as individuals but also as families , and what we teach our children about our values and beliefs .
the
love is strange
r rating is for language . the key offender is the word
mother - - - - - - ,
uttered three times in a brief exchange . also there are five
f ' s
heard elsewhere . total : eight . for comparison ' s sake , the film content evaluation site urltoken tallied
over 414 f - words and its derivatives
in last year ' s
the wolf of wall street ,
also rated r , for a lot of reasons .
eight triple - threat dancer / singer / actors and a jazz trio perform visual , audio , sensory , theatrical , renditions of john coltrane & miles davis’ music that episodically explore the interior structures to the external appearances of courtship , intimacy and love” . each episode employs a combination of themes ( stereotype , resistance , eroticism , terror , memory , violence and embarrassment ) to incite a multifaceted investigation into what makes up the layered worlds of courtship , intimacy and love . the result is a series of human exchanges — made up of cryptic movement monologues , emotional physical dance theater and music & vocal riffs — that become scenes in each episode , expressing very personal perspectives on courtship , intimacy and love .
the mpaa’s ratings website insists that several instances of profanity in love is strange have earned the film its rating . but a likelier reason must be that its main characters are both men . they are played by two seasoned performers , john lithgow and alfred molina . these actors are not required to enjoy anything more passionate on screen than a peck on the cheek and a cosy ( but fully clothed ) cuddle . but it is precisely the undemonstrative normality of their relationship that seems to have inflamed the notoriously prickly and conservative ratings board .
it’s an insult to anyone’s intelligence to find that love is strange received its r for nothing more than “some strong language” . what – not even a teensy - weensy bit of terror and torture ? no grisly images or graphic nudity ? i wonder if the director , ira sachs , feels a bit like the faithful spouse accused erroneously of adultery : if he is going to be pilloried anyway , maybe he should have committed the crime for which he is being punished and thrown in a few chainsaw murders just for the hell of it .
when love is strange begins , george and ben are waking up next to each other , as they have for 39 years . they shower , dress , bicker , chide each other about being late , tell the other where his glasses are , tie the other’s tie , and hurry each other out of their gorgeous new york city apartment , lest they be late . “the best compliment i received about the movie was that somebody said , ‘you and john look so fucking married , ’” molina laughs . and they do . they look so fucking married .
strange love : episodes is conceived , choreographed and directed by nathan trice , written by nathan trice and charles de veaux , music direction by nick jost , vocal coach maritri garrett , cinematography by filmmaker vanja srdic , projection designs by ed stone french , lighting design eddie stockton , photography by judith stuart & ernesto mancebo , and costume design by david shen & keiko voltaire . the cast of multi - talented dancer / singers are : nathan trice , tendayi kuumba , ryoji sasamoto , makiko tamura , tiffany mellard , damani pompey , jaquez a . sims and karina ikezoe .
one of the strengths of this wise and lovely film is that it declines fully to answer these and other questions . the story of george and ben seems to have been plucked from a meadow of narrative possibilities ; an interesting movie could have been made about everybody in this one . “love is strange” is mr . sachs’s fifth feature as a director , and its title would suit almost all of them . the strangeness here may have less to do with the affection that binds the central couple than with the ties of kinship and friendship between them and the rest of the characters .
in fact , played with all the lived - in heart , soul , affection , and hostility of a couple that’s been together for decades , the story of george ( alfred molina ) and ben ( john lithgow ) could very well be called love is normal .
in december 2012 , nathan and his company of multi - talented artist completed a six month exploratory residency at freecandy , an intimate sixty - seat warehouse art / performance space located in the clinton - hill / bed - stuy area of brooklyn , ny . freecandy’s graffitied walls , neon painted antique & contemporary furniture and fixtures , and candled decorated bar with concocted drinks became the perfect setting for strange love : episodes . the combination of space and layered content rooted in trice’s episodic structure created an intimate , urban , gritty mood where the audience and performers proximity invoked an immersive voyeurism between one another .
that was the moment anna knew she couldn’t keep her feelings to herself . ‘‘i wanted to put my arms around him and say : ‘you can have that . i love you , ’ ’’ she later testified . a week later , at his afternoon day program , anna finally told d . j . how she felt . ‘‘i love you , too , ’’ he typed . she said she had known that for a long time , and he said he had known it , too . and then he typed , ‘‘so now what ? ’’
so often when a film is made about a gay romance , the characters are young and promiscuous , or young and questioning , or young and in love , or young and trying to find themselves and their place in the world . mostly , though , they are young .
‘‘that broke my heart all over again , ’’ she said in court . ‘‘i said , ‘i’m in love with you the whole way . ’ then he said , ‘kiss me , ’ and i did . he said , ‘kiss me again . ’ i kissed him again . ’’
if you have seen leo mccarey ' s 1937
make way for tomorrow
( a film orson welles declared
the saddest movie i have ever seen
) then this set - up will sound familiar . in some respects
love is strange
could be considered an unofficial remake . it has the same bittersweet heart , and the same almost urgent desire or demand that older people be treated with more respect . the couple in
make way for tomorrow
are split up for similar real estate - related reasons , have to bunk with their busy adult children , and find themselves disoriented in a lonely world without their partner .
in its oblique way , love is strange is exposing homophobic attitudes that persist in a seemingly liberal new york community . for all their seemingly progressive attitudes , elliot and kate can ' t hide their dismay at the idea that their teenage son might be gay . ben and george become homeless partly because of their sexuality . if george had been heterosexual , he would never have lost his job . the irony is obvious . same - sex marriage became legal in new york in 2011 . ben and george are delighted finally to take advantage of what seems to be a new - found tolerance – but marrying is the cause of all their subsequent problems .
a man who had been said to have the mental capacity of a toddler was now on the conference circuit and taking college classes . at last the world could get to know d . j . and understand his mind . ‘‘he’s an extremely ethical person — it’s one of the things that impressed me about him , ’’ anna said in court . ‘‘you know how you can meet somebody who’s extremely physically attractive , and then when you get to know them , they have such a horrible personality that they don’t really look attractive to you ? it works the same way in reverse . if somebody has an interesting , engaging mind and good heart and a beautiful soul , that is transformative . it shows through , and you love the person . and so you love being close to them , and you love the body that they’re in , because that’s the body that they have . ’’
after many hours of discussion and several visits to the day program , anna finally convinced d . j . that she meant all that she had been saying . ‘‘o . k . , i believe you really do love me , ’’ he typed . ‘‘but are you physically attracted to me ? ’’
like christian bale’s bruce wayne in “batman begins , ” dr . stephen strange comes by his powers on a pilgrimage to the east . an arrogant , wealthy surgeon whose hands are mangled in a car accident , he seeks healing from the ancient one ( tilda swinton ) , leader of an order of martial - arts students as knowledgeable in string theory as swordsmanship . the initially snarky , tony stark - y strange becomes a believer when a . o . smacks his “astral form” out of his physical form , sending him barreling through a trippy , interdimensional rabbit hole whose visuals recall jodie foster’s space journey in “contact , ” improved with up - to - the - minute technology . this is the rare film that earns its 3 - d surcharge .
from the first moments we see them together — waking , washing and dressing in the manhattan apartment they have shared for decades — it is clear that ben ( john lithgow ) and george ( alfred molina ) are a walking illustration of the phrase “old married couple . ” they know each other so well and have adapted , graciously and sometimes a little fractiously , to each other’s peculiarities . state law , at long last , has caught up with the reality of their relationship : the first scenes in ira sachs’s “love is strange” take place on the morning of george and ben’s marriage , which is solemnized in an alfresco ceremony followed by a relaxed and lively party at home .
love is strange is the fifth feature by independent filmmaker ira sachs ( forty shades of blue , keep the lights on ) , who is among the most perceptive and civilized of american directors . his beautifully intuitive script ( written with mauricio zacharias ) is a collection of snapshots . george moves in with his party - hearty downstairs neighbors ( manny perez and cheyenne jackson ) , a gay cop couple dubbed ”the policewomen . ” ben , an artist who at 71 realizes that his paintings might never gain the acclaim he’s hoped for , shacks up with his nephew elliot ( darren burrows ) and elliot’s novelist wife ( marisa tomei , essaying another one of her complex brooklyn dames ) .
the story is elusive , with unexpected leaps in time comparable to boyhood . but like richard linklater’s masterpiece , love is strange is hardly plotless . the final act is punctuated by a major event , yet sachs is too smart a director to dwell on it . instead he aims away from the obvious and toward a poignant wordless denouement involving ben’s 15 - year - old great - nephew ( the revelatory charlie tahan of 2010’s charlie st . cloud ) . it’s one final nuanced decision in a movie loaded with them . sachs , molina , and lithgow have given adult moviegoers a perfect piece of summer counterprogramming — a warm , humane , resplendent romance to savor while our days are still long . a
with a mischievous , metaphysical flourish , “doctor strange” administers some much - needed cpr to the flagging superhero genre . it doesn’t reinvent the wheel — a power - hungry villain ( mads mikkelsen ) tries to unleash hell on earth , blah blah blah — but it’s a heck of a lot more fun than i’ve had at a marvel movie lately . plus , who could be more perfectly suited to the moniker than benedict cumberbatch , who’s always exuded strangeness ?
the xuxa invasion will hit mainstream america with a style and flair that seems light - years from mr . rogers ' neighborhood . xuxa ' s show is as latin american as tango and bossa nova with lots of hugging and kissing and talk about spiritual well - being . xuxa ' s style is to distribute kisses like candy and transmit a real
i love you
feel .
in syracuse , i met several people who started with f . c . and later learned to type without support , including jamie burke , a young man who once worked with rosemary crossley and now spelled out his words to me with no one touching him . his messages were somewhat cryptic : ‘‘law of fair and just , ’’ he wrote , and also , ‘‘i love challenging my correction . ’’
love is strange
is not showily directed , and yet there are touches throughout that help ground us in the characters ' inner lives . george coaches a young music student on her
interpretation
of chopin ( chopin ' s music fills the soundtrack ) , and as she tries the piece again , the music intensifies his personal drama , and he ' s so overcome that he has to turn away to hide his tears . joey stands on the landing of an apartment stairwell clutching a skateboard , crying by himself . beyond the window is the green of the courtyard . the camera does not move ; neither does the boy . he just stands there , crying for as long as he feels like crying , then getting himself together and continuing on down the stairs . it ' s a caesura , potent and powerful , unhurried and true . by that point in the story , we need it as badly as joey does .
a perfect summary ! i’d love to know more about these morally unjust decisions of his . what kind of dirt does he get into ? sex ? drugs ? parties ? enquiring minds want to know . all of the above ! there is actually a really good party scene in the film where i go to a rave . i get a little fucked up and end up stuffing my face with food until i puke .
before anna showed up at d . j . ’s house that memorial day in 2011 , she warned him that his mother and brother might be upset by their relationship . they might even ban her from seeing him , she said , and as his legal guardians , they had the right to do so . ‘‘they would never do that to me , ’’ d . j . typed back . ‘‘they love me too much . ’’
“it’s a story about a relationship and the fact that they’re gay men , in a way , is almost irrelevant , ” molina tells me , a sentiment that’s certainly echoed by his co - star . “it’s just a beautiful portrait of love , taking the sexual part out of it , ” lithgow says . that matter - of - factness is what makes the film so great—and the circumstances behind its bleak narrative so infuriating and timely .
anna and her husband married in june 1989 , when she was still a teenager in college and roger was 24 , a tuba player for the detroit symphony orchestra . they had a son six years later and a daughter a few years after that . in 2010 , when anna first began to fall in love with d . j . , she and her family were living in a modest house in west orange , n . j .
“i remember thinking that , as a straight man , the thought of walking down the street with someone i love and not holding their hand or be able to link arms or feel easy about putting my arm around them — i can’t even imagine how that feels , ” molina says . “so to be able to live with that and still be able to make a relationship work and still have value and meaning is extraordinary to me . ”
given the strange tension in the room , i felt it necessary to break the ice and mention to him that i was a big fan and , in fact , a little nervous . he said , “don’t be” and jumped off the edge of the couch , placing himself on the seat , removing his slippers , and stretching his legs out across the table in front of me—gyrating and rubbing his socked feet mere centimeters from my knees as he glared . after a minute or two of fumbling with my iphone recorder , i finally managed to start the interview .
love is strange takes its tempo from the chopin and beethoven piano music that we hear unobtrusively on the soundtrack . there are very few big climactic moments . the most dramatic event in the movie isn ' t even shown on screen . instead , sachs concentrates on the everyday problems that his characters face . when they sell the apartment they can no longer afford , ben and george are forced to live separately while they look for somewhere else . george stays with neighbours while ben moves in with his nephew elliot ( darren burrows ) , elliot ' s kind - hearted novelist wife , kate ( marisa tomei ) , and their teenage son joey ( charlie tahan ) . it seems like the perfect arrangement… for about three days , until benjamin franklin ' s fish problem begins to apply . ben ' s presence in an already cramped apartment quickly irks his new hosts . he himself is uncomfortable . as he puts it ,
sometimes , when you live with people , you know them better than you care to .
poor richard
( aka ben franklin ) observed in his almanack centuries ago that
fish and visitors stink after three days .
the people in
love is strange
who take in ben and george experience that upsetting truth . ben crashes with his nephew elliott ( darren e . burrows ) , an busy video producer who is rarely home , and his wife , kate ( marisa tomei ) , a novelist struggling with her next book . they have an awkward teenage son named joey ( charlie tahan ) who only has one friend , a swaggering russian kid named vlad ( eric tabach ) . ben is removed from his familiar environment , his partner and his cherished routines , and starts to deteriorate . george has a little bit more emotional resilience , but he begins to fall apart too , staying with a much - younger gay couple ( cheyenne jackson and manny perez ) who both work for the nypd . george tries to sleep on the couch in a party house atmosphere , with
game of thrones
marathons and people coming and going .
american director ira sachs ' work is clearly a movie made for devotees of reflective film and not mainstream box office . sachs also co - produced and writes this account of disparate relationships . the fabricated arrangement gives way to some admittedly contrived situations manufactured in the interest of extracting a reaction . alfred molina and john lithgow are extraordinarily good as the displaced couple . they lend a gravity to their characters that raise this chronicle to a higher level . despite the narrative ' s handling of the hot button topic of same sex marriage , the real story exploits genuine emotion as it deals with the many - sided personalities in an extended family . this is a subtle production that has universal appeal . whether they ' re singing at a piano to guests at a party or reflecting on what has become of their lives in separate bunk beds , molina and lithgow give nuanced performances . yet the script accomplishes so much more . love is strange is a well written drama that beautifully handles the observational insights of a family tree and the way a simple crisis affects its many branches . urltoken
but when george climbs into bed with ben midway through the film and the two characters just hold each other , with all the comfort and feeling of men who have been in love for 40 years , it was a portrayal of a gay relationship that i don’t think i had ever seen before on screen . i can’t think of another example of older , settled gay film characters long into their lives that young gay people could look at and think , “one day i hope that my partner and i will be like that , like them . ”
later that afternoon , i met a 20 - year - old man named john who had a prominent underbite . john had been assessed as having the mental capacity of a 3 - year - old , but using f . c . he could write poetry . his father handed me some printouts of john’s writing ( ‘‘the place to discover the ember of love is worlds away but so close / in the land of the nonverbal autistic’’ ) , then grabbed john’s finger so we could have a direct exchange . ‘‘know that we are intelligent , ’’ john’s finger typed into the keyboard .
what is even more disquieting for each is the revelation that , agonising though the situation is , it can work – after a fashion . they can get by . their love is real enough , but they can function as individuals , as single people . it is as if they are young again – messy and troublesome kids living with their parents , meeting up for dates and illicit sex , yet what they are concealing is not their sexuality but the fear of disaster , the fear of ending their days in poverty and failure , with the relationship that they thought was the bedrock of their existence shattered , almost casually .
“you look at a couple like that and realize that they’d been together for maybe 40 or 50 years in a society that regards them as second - class citizens , ” lithgow says . “and in order for them to stay together , just be with the person they love , they’ve had to more or less live with that and accept it , and be grateful for what they get in return , which is intimacy with each other . ” lithgow’s next observation is one that had a shattering effect on both actors : “but , if they walk down the street with each other , they don’t touch . they don’t hold hands . ”
they went back and forth on this question . ‘‘he grilled me on how much i really loved him , how committed i was to him , how i felt about my husband , ’’ anna wrote in an account of their relationship that she compiled six months later at her lawyer’s request . d . j . wanted to know if she would someday marry him . ‘‘i said : ‘please , i love you very much , but please don’t ask me that just now . i need time to think through everything . ’ he said that he was sorry . he didn’t mean to push that hard . it was childish of him . ’’
when she arrived at the house on memorial day in 2011 , anna didn’t know what d . j . planned to do . his brother , wesley , was working in the garden , so she went straight inside to speak with d . j . and his mother , p . they chatted for a while at the dining table about d . j . ’s plans for school and for getting his own apartment . then there was a lull in the conversation after wesley came back in , and anna took hold of d . j . ’s hand . ‘‘we have something to tell you , ’’ they announced at last . ‘‘we’re in love . ’’
all the guests had themselves made a kind of commitment : to redouble their friendship and love for the happy couple . but no one could have imagined how soon they would be expected to redeem this pledge . george is fired from his job by church authorities who disapprove of the gay wedding , though they were happy enough with the deniable hypocrisy of his merely having a roommate . unable to meet their mortgage payments , these two men suffer an unthinkable catastrophe : in what they imagined to be the comfortable evening of their lives , they become homeless refugees , having to split up temporarily and live separately with two sets of friends who , with strained generosity , take them in .
anna has never wavered in her claim that she and d . j . fell in love and that his messages were his . even after she was indicted , she seemed more concerned about his fate than her own . ‘‘in the spring of 2011 , [ d . j . ’s ] access to his means of communication was taken from him , ’’ she wrote in a chapter for a recent academic book , which was published while the justice system creaked its way toward trial , ‘‘and he is once again treated as severely intellectually impaired by those who have control over his life . this chapter is dedicated to him , in hope that he will one day regain his voice and his freedom . ’’
love is strange should have been better than it is . interesting story and premise , but something was left out . don ' t know if scenes were cut out or maybe never even filmed , but it ' s quite disappointing and it could have been so good . acting is above par for the most part , especially marisa tomei . two two lead actors couldn ' t have been better , but they weren ' t given much to work with . fair cinematography and editing and the music score score was a nice touch and fit well with the malina character , him being a music instructor . what doesn ' t ring true is that they had to separate by living in different places . very phone in that respect . the two gay cops were not necessary and their parties they threw were more for college co - eds than grown adults . did not make sense . more annoying was the accent on the nephew . the whole ending centered around him which was ludicrous . a very serious mistake was when the nephew was waiting for ben to come home . he ' s waiting in front of the apartment with nothing but his skateboard in hand . once they get into the apartment and talk for a few minutes , the nephew hands him a large paper painting ! ! how in the hell did the painting get into the apartment as the kid only had his skateboard . didn ' t the writers , director , the camera people , the crew or even the actors question this huge mistake ? ? then again , the boy leaves and the camera stays on him a good couple of minutes as he cries ! ! fair first act and very poor second act and ending .
but the family had had enough . what at first struck them as a miracle — a voice for d . j . , his inner self revealed — now seemed a fraud . d . j . could not have given his consent to any love affair , they later told the authorities , because he suffers from profound mental disabilities , just as the psychologists had always told them . his ‘‘messages’’ must have been a sham . if anna pretended otherwise , it was only so she could use d . j . as a guinea pig for research , or to further her career , or because , as wesley would later say during the three - week trial for sexual assault that concluded this month in newark , ‘‘she was having some sick , twisted fantasy . ’’
in spite of being set largely in cramped city apartments and having little in the way of obvious dramatic action , the film never feels stilted or stagy . like the music pieces that george so admires , it strikes its own graceful and quietly insistent rhythm . sachs is dealing with pivotal moments in his characters ' lives : love , marriage , illness and enforced separation . it portrays new york in a double - edged fashion . at one stage , we see it from ben ' s point of view as he paints from a rooftop at dusk . it looks quite magical , a city for romance , but if you can ' t find a place with a controlled rent or you ' re a guest outstaying a welcome or your health is failing , it can be a very brutal place indeed .