142

Left pane: Mister Lonely poster; Top Right: Scene from Mister Lonely; Bottom Right: Harmony Korine.

Afternoon Finger Lickers! Harmony Korine is back! Yes you heard right, after an eight-year hiatus from filmmaking the Indie legend has returned with a feature entitled Mister Lonely. Korine, known as the writer of Kids and director of the famed Gummo has produced a suitably off-the-wall premise for his comeback. Mister Lonely stars Samantha Morton and Diego Luna and follows a group of celebrity lookalikes who live together in a truly bizarre commune.

Unlike Gummo the film conforms much more to a mainstream narrative, which interests and troubles me in equally measure. I am extremely intrigued to find out what almost a decade out of the game has done to Korine’s style and unique storytelling abilities.

The clip below was posted on the Guardian’s film blog where the exclusive of this story can be found. After some trouble embedding the original I just decided to repost to the Finger Lickin’ YouTube account. Take a gander at the clip and drop me a comment with your thoughts! Mister Lonely opens this weekend at cinemas across the UK.

Check out the film’s official website for a trailer and more information.

That’s it from me for now,

K

Left pane: A real moustache on a real magician; Top right: Rocket crash lands in the eye of the moon; Bottom right: Méliès in his own film.

Morning Finger Lickers! Today I bring you news from the world of French film. No sighing at the back. French film is wonderful! No, no, really, if you’re moaning about subtitles you shouldn’t be on this site.

Parisian and 1900s filmmaker Georges Méliès is not only credited as the forefather of special effects but is also one of the first true independent filmmakers. He not only developed cinema technically but also narratologically, wowing audiences with such spectacles as Le Voyage dans la lune (1902), that’s A Trip to the Moon for all you linguistically challenged Finger Lickers. A Trip to the Moon also features the iconic image of a rocket crash landing in the man in the moon’s eye, a still which has become synonymous with filmmaking and is identifiable by film scholars worldwide. Méliès was a magician and owned the famed Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris, he built the first film studio and the likes of D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin credit him with a huge debt of gratitude.

This is man that was hugely powerful as both an entertainer and an innovator. His work is inspirational and magical. And now through the power of DVD you can see a huge number of his films restored, stablised and re-scored. The box set, entitled Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema, features 173 of Méliès films that have been collected from all over the world by Lobster Films in Paris and were found in the possession of the likes of the British Film Institute, the Academy Archives and private collectors. Really, truly, honestly if you care about film in any way at all you must see Georges Méliès work. The DVD, as usual, seems to be only available in North America at the moment but that shouldn’t stop us Finger Lickers. Lets face it folks, the US dollar is like Monopoly money these days, God bless George W. for helping us feed our DVD habit.

That’s it from me for now,

K

Check out A Trip to the Moon here, and remember folks, it’s 1902!

Buy yourself a copy of the DVD box set:

Georges Melies: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913)
Price: USD 80.99

18 used & new available from USD 66.91

(4 customer reviews)