The Projectors

House of Gucci (2021)

We’re closing down January’s 5th week of it’s directors event with “SIR RIDLEY SCOTT’S LAST FOUR” and it’s a lot of historical but we go more into the more recent fashion history / true crime territory. The kids love their fashion. Gucci is practically an institution with how successfully it has sold its version of class and wealth to the middle classes and under. Maybe some over the top character cartoonery can be expected. It both hinders and boosts it depending on the scene but Ridley Scott’s 2021 film “HOUSE OF GUCCI” did do well enough. It stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto as a messy Jeffrey Tambor as well as Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Maybe we should pay more attention to these fashion lords because they keep getting shot out there. Sometimes by their wives. They didn’t “Galooley” it completely but they did get caught. You probably know if you like this. Gaga was pretty dime and there’s plenty to revel in and also groan about but that Selma Hayek doesn’t age. God bless.
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The Last Duel (2021)

What a fun month it’s been exploring some directors so for the final week we’re hitting up someone who is easily our most prolific, is very well known and has some beloved works under his belt. We’re talking about Tony Scott’s brother, Sir Ridley for week 5’s sub-theme “SIR RIDLEY SCOTT’S LAST FOUR”. The first of Ridley’s last four did not light up the box office and he was pretty sore about it. He blamed an entire generation and, yeah, it would be nice if millennials would move away from the franchise shlock a little more but Sir Ridley might have been suffering of a bit of a sore booty hole about it. Not enough people went to go see his historical account of a duel in medieval France following a fairly rare occurrence of a noblewoman’s claims of rape. Told in three perspectives and the men seem to tell on themselves a bit. Did the braggart fuckboy, Jacque le Gris, sexually assault Marguerite, the daughter of a traitor and wife to the terminally unlikable Jean de Carrouges? Truth or no, it all comes down to violence in Ridley’s 2021 film “THE LAST DUEL” starring Jodie Comer, Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck. Looking back, 2021 was kind of a fucked year for most anybody alive right now so maybe Ridley should calm down a little bit? His next one did much better and it came out the same year. People love that fashion stuff. 
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Household Saints (1993)

We’re at the end of week four this January and that means the last discussion in what we’ve dubbed “NANCY SAVOCA’S ITALIAN HEARTS TRILOGY”. We’re discussing a film that got a 4K re-release in independent theaters last year and is available on DVD over at Kino-Lorber if you’re interested in such things. Nancy Savoca’s first three films didn’t incinerate the box office but it’s with great pleasure that we watch a reflect on some pretty detailed character pieces after all these years and they deserve to be seen and discussed. Today we talk “HOUSEHOLD SAINTS” from 1993, a soft-psychedelic tale that ranges from feelings of folklore and loops back into modern trappings before it cracks the folklore wall once again. It stars Tracy Ullman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lily Taylor, Judith Molina, Michael Rispoli & Michael Imperioli. The legend of how the sausage maker won his wife in a card game is just the beginning. Perhaps in every family, every neighborhood, every street in Little Italy is the story of a local legend achieving sainthood. It might be nothing much more than a tragic case of psychosis, but these are probably the first sausages that cure gout instead of causing it. Hear us tale the tale as we say goodbye to Nancy Savoca’s Italian hearts.
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Dogfight (1991)

Week four of January’s theme of “5 DIRECTORS” is very heartfelt because we’re analyzing Nancy Savoca’s first three feature films in this week’s sub-theme that we’ve dubbed “NANCY SAVOCA’S ITALIAN HEARTS TRILOGY”. Criminally underrated in their time but film fans are re-evaluating Savoca’s movies today thanks to re-releases by Criterion and Kino-Lorber and are finding that their vibrant tenderness is holding up very nicely. Today we discuss the second of her films that, once again, showcases what a devastating loss to the film world it was when River Phoenix tragically passed away those many years ago. We’re discussing the 1991 60s romance “DOGFIGHT” starring River Phoenix & Lily Taylor. Some young Marines are to be shipped to far eastern lands from 1963 San Francisco but first they must play a game by seeing who can bring the ugliest girl to a party to win a prize. Lance Corporal Eddie Birdlace plays along but feels rather bad because plain and quiet Rose Fenny probably doesn’t deserve this treatment much less anybody else. She’s rightfully pissed when she figures out the game but Eddie wants to make it up to her and that night he discovers a young woman who is more sure of what she wants than he may ever be. It’s a night to remember. Beyond that he just has to survive going to places his government has no place sending him. Another tender piece from Savoca so hear us tell of it. 
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True Love (1989)

We’re onto week four of January’s theme of “5 DIRECTORS” and we hit up another underrated filmmaker who has been getting more of her flowers in hindsight with some key film re-releases in the last few years but her first film we’re discussing did manage to beat our “Sex, Lies and Videotape” that year at Sundance. Today we’re discussing the first film of what we’re dubbing “NANCY SAVOCA’S ITALIAN HEARTS TRILOGY” (we’re really wanting that to take off) with her 1989 film “TRUE LOVE” starring Annabella Sciorra & Ron Eldard. Peeking into the lives of an engaged Italian couple in the Bronx almost feels like a violation considering how sincere and vivid even the briefest of lives that we encounter come off. Love isn’t easy though. Love can’t even guarantee happiness. You don’t doubt the connection but will this relationship truly work? A masterclass in representing rich characters on a low budget, watching “True Love” practically feels like being at an Italian wedding. You know I’d be acting a fool making moves on that cabbie lady. That dude isn’t good enough for her. This also happens to be Savoca’s biggest box office with $1.3 million on a $750k budget. Impressive but the true details of her work are still criminally under appreciated. Hear us tell of this tale of young love and also we say goodbye to one of our heroes, David Lynch.
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Remembering David Lynch

Thanks for everything, David.
(Note: This discussion is also a part of our upcoming "True Love" episode that drops January 20th)

Bigger Than Life (1956)

January’s theme is “5 DIRECTORS” in which we analyze films by a different director each week and we end Nicholas Ray week with a technical marvel that deals with something that isn’t often focused upon during the Hayes code. Addiction. James Mason produced and starred in this story based off of a true to life article from the New York Times in which a man is diagnosed with a fatal condition. Fortunately there’s a new miracle drug called Cortisone that can keep him alive so long as he doesn’t abuse it. Spoiler: He abuses it. Hide the bibles when dad’s on the junk. You don’t want to go where the psychosis takes him. We end “Nicholas Ray 1952 to 1956” with the film “BIGGER THAN LIFE” starring James Mason, Barbara Rush and Walter Matthau. Don’t think addiction is just in the purview of the streets. It can affect school teachers with transatlantic accents as well. Such a unique film for its time and crafted in such a way that you can’t imagine it handled in anybody else’s hands. Of course we found a link. Right here: https://archive.org/details/bigger-than-life-1956-nicholas-ray
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Hot Blood (1956)

It’s a loaded week of Nicholas Ray spanning the years 1952 to 1956. He actually made 6 films total at this time so we had to narrow out the fourth one between this deep cut film and a James Cagney western. We already discussed two genre bending Nicholas Ray Westerns this week so we turn our attention to what is easily the deepest cut film we will discuss all month. We couldn’t even find a trailer for it but this Gypsy romance goes its own way. We’re discussing Ray’s 1956 quasi-musical “HOT BLOOD” from 1956 starring Jane Russell, Cornel Wilde and Luther Adler. Gypsy King Marco has a secret, he’s dying, and he wants his little brother to walk away from the goucho/gorger ways and take his place as Gypsy King by marrying another gypsy. In comes Ann, played by Jane Russell who double crosses the gaucho living Stephano by making him think she won’t go through with the marriage, and then she does. Can these gypsy newlyweds contend with their fate or will Stephano’s stubbornness stand in the way of what his brother wants for him? Very deep cut but we found a link if you want to watch it: https://archive.org/details/hot-blood-1956-720p-movies
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Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

The third week of January is devoted to Nicholas Ray movies from 1952 to 1956 and we’ve arrived at what is easily his most iconic and infamous movie and it might have been like other Nicholas Ray movies, acclaimed and retroactively appreciated on a cult film level, but in less than a month of it’s release it’s lead perished in a fatal car crash. Fates collide to make Nicholas Ray’s 1955 film “REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE” a cornerstone in 50s cinema and would rocket the image of James Dean into the greater cultural zeitgeist of Americana. A much more tragic film when you consider the losses of co-stars Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo that would occur much later. James Dean was essential cool for an entire generation that probably was a lot more like Buzz Gunderson than most were ever like James Dean’s character of Jim Stark. The kids are not alright in 1955. They’re driving off of cliffs because what the hell else is there to do? Hear us discuss one of the most iconic films we’re reviewing all month. 
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Johnny Guitar (1954)

For January’s weekly director examinations we’re on week three with a loaded line up of Nicholas Ray Films spanning five years. Today it’s another standout western that stood out for being baffling to audiences when it initially released but history has grown kind to Ray’s 1954 film “JOHNNY GUITAR” for how unique it feels in any era. Joan Crawford owns the screen as Vienna, a hard nosed woman who just opened a casino saloon to nobody, but very soon the train tracks will be laid and she will live her life. She’s not the only woman in control. Her biggest rival is Mercedes McCambridge’s “Emma” a psychotic cattle baron who feels so burned by a past love’s history with Vienna that she’s willing to kill her for it and she’s got the law and the rest of the town behind her. In comes Johnny Guitar as played by Sterling Hayden. A mystery man hired by Vienna to entertain the saloon. Of course, they got history. She needs a body guard and he’s a secret gunfighter. She doesn’t want it to be this way but some people are gonna die. Will it be her? Will she lose everything? Can all the girl boss swag in the world save her? Joan Crawford lights it up in this film but Mercedes McCambridge more than holds her own and it’s convenient to us, the viewer, that they absolutely hated each other in real life. A worthy western melodrama that is worth seeing once. Hear us talk of it. Here’s a link to the film that we found: https://archive.org/details/johnny.-guitar.-1954.1080p.-blu-ray.x-264.-aac-yts.-mx
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