girls on film

Asia Argento scares the shit out of us

For some reason, Asia Argento has always sent a slight shiver down our spine. We could never put our finger on it, and the trailer for her new movie Boarding Gate does nothing to dispel the vague sense of dread and disquiet we get when staring into her ginormous eyes. And yet we are drawn to her, whether she be playing the batshit crazy Mom from Hell in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, or the batshit crazy concubine of Rip Torn’s Louis XV in Marie Antoinette.

We really want to see Boarding Gate, but if we’re to be perfectly honest, the main component driving our desire is Michael Mardsen, who despite looking like a piece of furniture left out in the sun too long, is the answer to each and everyone of our unspoken prayers.

Marianne Faithfull: lotion and Kleenex and handjobs, oh my!

Every night, after a bubble bath and our daily viewing of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, we pay our respects to the Goddess of Everything and kneel before our Marianne Faithfull shrine. Like Jane Birkin, our other favorite ’60s starlet-cum-gracious lady, The Faith can do no wrong in our eyes. Which is why we’re beyond excited for Irina Palm, her new film that was released in limited US theaters yesterday. In it, Marianne plays Maggie, a middle-aged widow who has to save her dying grandson by taking a job anonymously, um, “relieving” men in a London sex shop. We know, what more is there to say, really. New York Magazine’s Vulture blog had a quick chat with Marianne about the film.

Marianne Faithfull on Irina Palm [via Vulture]

The trailer is also all sorts of OMG. Remember, this woman has had sex with Mick Jagger.

Dazed and Confused chat feminist booze hounds with Tilda Swinton

Obviously, Tilda Swinton has been the hotness since she landed her paws on a Oscar, and now she’s been cast in a new film inspired by our favorite kind-of-good-girl-on-the-run-from-the-mob movie, John Cassavetes’ Gloria (originally starring fucking Gena Rowlands—incredible). The more astute of you may remember that there’s already a pretty horrible 1999 remake of the film starring Sharon Stone and directed by Sidney Lumet (is it totally fucked up that, despite it all, despite the fur and the rat’s foot and Basic Instinct 2, we still kind of like Sharon Stone? Maybe it’s just this), but let’s not go there. The Tilda movie is called Julia and takes place in Mexico, so we’re sure there will be plenty of car chases and gunshot wounds to go around. Bonus: the new quasi-adaptation is directed by Erick Zonca, who directed La Vie Rêvée des Anges, the 1998 French drama that brought Elodie Bouchez and Natasha Régnier onto our radars (and, coincidentally, the movie that John Cusack goes to see with his ex-girlfriend in High Fidelity, but we digress). Dazed and Confused interviewed Tilda about Julia recently, and it makes for quite an interesting read, if your interests include alcoholism and British actresses—we know ours do!

A Conversation with Tilda Swinton Part One and Two [via Dazed Digital]

We've found a new old British superactress to fawn over

Last night we watched The Lost Language of Cranes, a film based on the 1986 novel by Daniel Leavitt, and it may just be the gayest, most melodramatic psychodrama we have ever seen. Which is saying a lot (if our Netflix queue was humanized and had a big enough dick, it would totally suck itself off). The movie is about a closeted middle-aged married man (played by Brian Cox) whose son (Angus MacFayden’s introducing role) comes out to him, sending his world into turmoil etc. It was decent but that’s not the reason we’re here, is it? The reason we’re here, readers, is this woman:



…who is obviously Eileen Atkins, who plays the wife and mother Rose, who throughout the entire movie is totally repressed British, yet bitchy and snide and kind of an awful person. The final showdown between her and Brian Cox’s character is totally intense. We’ve seen Eileen in Gosford Park (opposite La Mirren, how much do you love that movie), Cold Mountain, The Hours, and a whole bunch of other stuff, but for some reason never really got into her on a Dench or Mirren level—until now. Lost Language of Cranes isn’t flawless, but her performance just might be, because even when she’s being something of a bigoted harlot, you never really hate her as much as you feel you should.

We’ll be keeping an eye on you, Eiles. OMG, can we call you Eiles?

My Blueberry Nights may be/might not be the best thing that's ever happened to us

First off:

Angie is not pleased.

So it seems that, as the April 4th US release date of Wong Kar Wai’s first English-speaking film, My Blueberry Nights, looms near, all of our friends who have seen the the movie (in either an advanced screening or, you know, everywhere else in the goddamn world) have made the following remarks:

1. It is super obvious that Mr. Wong has substituted his typical actors, locales and elements for ones that will appease a Western audience (Jude Law = Tony Leung, Rachel Weisz = Maggie Chung, Norah Jones = Xiyi Xhang, blueberry pie = crispy wontons, etc). While it kind of seems like, duh, that’s the point of the movie, you’re kind of left longing for Tony to make out with Xiyi while secretly fawning over Maggie the ice queen at a dumpling shop in a deserted Hong Kong alley way.

Or so we are told. Anyway this theory is pretty much supported by J. Hoberman’s review of My Blueberry Nights from May (MAY!) 2007 (2007!). Get a fucking move on, for true.

2. It is super obvious that Norah Jones has no fucking clue what she is doing in the entirety of the movie, and it’s almost unfair to make her carry the entire weight of the film from beginning to end in an introducing role. We say whatever, girlfriend knew what she was getting into and good on her for at least trying. And she looks pretty in the movie, as does Rachel, Natalie Portman and Chan Marshall (!!!!):

Wonderful.