[lbo-talk] Do-It-Yourself Double Bill

[BklynMagus]

In NYC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles this weekend 
there is the opportunity to create a handmade double 
bill of William Friedkin's CRUISING (1980) and Eytan 
Fox's THE BUBBLE (2006): two films separated by 
more than two decades, each dealing with queerness, 
violence and authoritarian systems of sexual control.  

CRUISING is scheduled for just a week.  Friedkin 
has digitally retored the film so it should be a 
hoot.  (n.b.: I was there protesting the shooting 
back in 1979 and was not a fan of the finished 
product [even as a movie].  We will see if a quarter 
century makes a difference).  I have always thought 
it odd that two of the landmark queer films which 
bookend the 1970's (BOYS IN THE BAND [1970] and CRUISING) 
were both made by the heterosexual Friedkin.  Though 
his career has been in general decline since then, 
there is an appealing fucked-up/mismatched mise en 
scene in his best work.     

 
Some early comments:

http://www.sf360.org/features/2007/09/friedkin_cruisi.html

http://www.collider.com/dvd/news/article.asp/aid/5377/tcid/3

http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=4412&catid=85&volume_id=254&issue_id=313&volume_num=41&issue_num=49

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0736,lee,77663,20.html

An interview with Friedkin:

http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/pixel_vision/2007/09/whos_cruising_who_william_frie.html

THE BUBBLE is a mishmash in a different way from 
CRUISING, but there are odd affinties between the 
two.  Fox lacks Friedkin's visceral sense of cinema, 
but he sometimes interrupts the sweetness of his 
mise en scene with raw framings of despair.  

 
Early comments:

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/bubble2007

Brian