M.W.B.'s 11th Favorite Movie: La Grande Bouffe

“La Grande Bouffe” is trademark French cinema at its very best… or worst, depending on your viewpoint and/or gag reflex. To give you a general idea of what I mean by this, I am going to have to venture into its grotesque and frivolous plot. This I do only to warn and recommend respectively.

We begin with four friends, all upper class, middle-aged Frenchmen who gather in an extravagant home, inherited but not inhabited by one of the quartet. It is to be a retreat from the trials of aristocratic life. Awaiting them are multiple truckloads of fish, cheese, wine, vegetables, and morosely alabaster animal bits. Though not immediately evident, the gathering is a surreal suicide pact. They intend to eat themselves to death- literally.

Before they even reach the second course of their gloomy gluttony, several young ladies take their place at the table and soon the getaway becomes a feast of food and fornication, each equally emotionless. Despite the over-abundance of luxury, nobody appears to be enjoying themselves. Things that are generally considered pleasurable to humans are conducted with an air of desperation and stoicism. Lavish items are disposed of without ceremony. A monstrously elaborate cake serves only as ammunition in a bizarre food fight and a shipment of meat is strewn about the garden before it gets refrigerated.

This is not a movie that most Americans (and even some French) find appetizing in any way. When a movie is explicit and disturbing, we tend to take it at face value. In America, if a movie contains a plethora of “graphic content” it rarely bothers to venture beyond its subject matter. The French cinematic tradition, however, tends to regard the risqué with a slightly more nonchalant attitude; and movies that bear the seal of a filmmaker’s politics or philosophical ideals are certainly not hard to come by.

I like to think of “La Grande Bouffe” as a hybrid of the minds of Louis Bunel and the Marquis De Sade. The characters and their obscure hedonistic actions are merely a foil for a larger idea. It is an allegory and a biting satire on the piggyness of the Bourgeoisie and their blind intent to devour as much extravagance as is physically possible. Their downfall, whether it be by violence or indigestion always comes about as a result of a blind consumption of luxury. “La Grande Bouffe” is tasteless because it wants to express the tastelessness of its subject.

Aristocracy and decadence are a favorite theme of French satirists- and why not? When extravagance is the norm, what is extravagant? When you have the best, what can you do but want more? When something is untouchable, what is left to do but make fun of it?

M.W.B.'s 12th Favorite Movie: O Brother Where Art Thou?

Just to keep things interesting, I am going to start up a monthly post series on a topic absolutely essential to the betterment of the world- my favorite movies. So without further ado (and since it is the last day of January), I give you a review I wrote when I was fourteen years old. I would polish it up a bit to bring it up to par with your extremely high standards, but in case you have forgotten, it’s the last day of January.

Rarely does a movie come along that is not only laugh out loud funny, but also exceedingly intelligent. What the Cohen brothers have created in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” is something like a cross between the “Three Stooges” and Homer’s “Odyssey” played against the backdrop of the Great Depression.

Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) and two other convicts, Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) escape from prison to retrieve a 1.2 million dollar treasure that Everett claims to have stolen and buried. However, they have only four days to recover it, before its burial place is flooded as part of a new hydroelectric project. Coincidentally, this is also the day when Everett’s wife, Penny (Holly Hunter) is planning to marry another man.

The parallels in the movie, to Homer’s “Odyssey” are unmistakable for a well-rounded intellect such as myself. From a one-eyed giant (played by John Goodman) to three beautiful women who seduce the travelers, the Cohen brothers have made the classic tale their own by adding their characteristic wry humor.

The melodic aspect of this movie had been a much discussed topic. Some have even categorized it as a musical. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but music does play a major role in the film. Almost every scene is set to the tune of an old-timey bluegrass song, I doubt you’ll be able to keep your foot from tapping along to the Soggy Bottom Boys version of “Man of Constant Sorrow”.

The makers of the film have produced a brilliant ensemble cast. I can’t imagine any of the characters being played by anybody else. Who better than George Clooney to play the hilarious know-it-all, Everett, or John Goodman as the temperamental one eyed Bible salesman?

Everything about this movie is absolutely spot on, from the washed out color tones, to the signature humor that clearly identifies this movie as a Cohen brothers creation. It has an old-fashioned and welcoming feel, and isn’t quite like any other movie I’ve ever seen.

The Time Of Year That Makes Us Shiver With Antici...

Once a year people across the country go to the movies in their underwear. Once a year mothers, fathers, teenagers, people of all ages and walks of life head to the local theater with toast, water pistols, glow sticks, rubber gloves, confetti, and toilet paper in tow. Once a year thousands of people don fishnets and heels, corsets and lab coats to see the movie that has been thrilling, chilling, and fulfilling audiences since 1975.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is pure campy satire at its very best (or worst). The plot is perhaps one of the most bizarre ever to grace the screen, chronicling the plight of Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), a young couple who find themselves stranded at a mysterious castle when their car breaks down on a dark and stormy night.

It is created in the template of a mad-scientist horror flick of sorts, wrapped in the guise of science fiction, dipped in musical comedy. “Rocky Horror” is the baddest of the bad, taking the worst elements of the corniest B-genres, and turning them on their head in a plot so disjointed and immature it would make Ed Wood weep. It was designed to be snubbed by serious movie critics, such as myself.

But it is by being so intentionally inane that “Rocky Horror” shows its brilliance. By using elements of movies that are rejected by mainstream society, it reaches out to audiences who are just as misunderstood. Beneath the kinky overtones, “Rocky Horror” hides a biblically inspired allegorical subplot. People feeling stranded, tempted by something forbidden and exciting, end up facing the perils of decadence, sound familiar? Contrary to the thought that “Rocky Horror” is parodying the Bible, it is merely implicating the idea that what may appear to be absurd can actually harbor a great deal of intellect. In other words, it doesn’t want you to take it, or yourself, at face value.

Perhaps it’s because of its overt seditiousness that “Rocky Horror” has become such a cultural phenomenon. Everyone remembers that feeling of excitement and revolt they had doing the “Time Warp” in a crowded theater on Halloween when their parents thought they were trick-or-treating. But, as any die-hard Frankie Fan will tell you, “Rocky” isn’t about rebellion, it’s about acceptance.

“Rocky Horror” is a satire, but not in the most obvious respect. It doesn’t mock B-movies, or the Bible, or even society itself. It makes fun of the ideal that our culture has developed in thinking that it can play almighty and denounce the individual for the sake of mainstream approval. It may take one night a year, when we dress up as characters, act goofy, and throw movie theater etiquette to the wind, to remind ourselves that if we can dream it, we can be it. And why should anyone tell us otherwise when it’s the independent thinkers who are having all the fun?