Like Andrew Beard!, I was watching a few filums over the weekend

Saw Chicago as well, 3 or 4 great numbers in it, the rest drag a little, Renee Zwelleger (??) does a good snarling pout. On the smallest screen in the Savoy but maybe it has been out for ages. How long do films remain in a cinema these days? I thought a month would be normal for a big smash hit but for instance 8 Mile isn't on anymore.

Relaxing vousing in front of the tv yesterday. Hitchcock's Rebecca at first seems dated - it's nearly too painful watching (the very charming) Joan Fontaine try to adapt to her new life in the big house (which I assummed was the main theme) but then the whole thing changes and it's actually about a murder! The film looks great, there are some fantastic shots such as the opening one. There was something in the newspaper about the declining standards of written English and I am reminded of that when reading over my own ramblings.

I got Herzog's Aguirre - Wrath of God on video, which is an amazing film, screenplay in 2 1/2 days, shot in 5 weeks for 300 K in 1972. Epsodic plot, Spainish conquitadore party head down the river looking for El Dorado encountering hostile Indians, mutiny, hunger and madness. The whole thing is elevated into classic status by the camera work (opening and final scenes are especially fantastic, make you weep for the arrogance of fragile humanity) and Klaus Kiniski's hypnostising performance. He doesn't do or say a whole lot, just stares off into the distance mostly. But it's one moody, smouldering, non blinking stare. All sorts of great stories about the making of it, Kiniski and Herzog (who made 3 or 4 other features together) were 2 personalities ranged against each other. Herzog allegedly directed Kinski from behind the camera with a rifle (unfortunately this story probably isn't true but he did threaten Kiniski with guns quite a bit- mind you Kniski was quite mad as well and threatened to fire bomb Herzog's house). When we get a DVD player this would be a film worth owning. There is also a good accompanying score performed by some German kraut-synth band. Sound like a human choir.

There was also a completely separate documentary on the video called Land of Silence and Darkness, about those who are deaf and blind. It's main subject is Fini, an elderly woman who has been deaf-blind since her teens and has managed to surmount her challenges (her mother kept her in bed for 30 years) to help others. It's very touching - when they go up on a plane there is a lot of joy, as they are signed (using a painfully slow system called the tactile system where every letter is signed onto the palm of the deaf-blind, some can speak reasonably well, others have lost that power) descriptions of the flight. The camera is unflinching remainging on one person for minutes at a time, at first you are full of pity, then uncomfortable as you want to move away from this person's tragedy and sometimes you see a chink of hope in their behaviour. For those born deaf-blind it is a huge stuggle to learn the basics of communication with the world.

An interesting beginning to the week.