Waylon Flowers and his infamous Madame, who describes herself as an “alcoholic sex fiend,” are our escorts on an unforgettable, often risque tour of the Big Apple. Madame, dressed in a lavishly decadent gown and sequined headdress, sings, cackles and hoots her way through and is surpirsed by a number of guest stars, including the master of one liners, Henny Youngman. A talented puppeteer and comedian from Georgia, Waylon Flowers and his Madame have won an Emmy Award, a Jimmy Award (the best of Las Vegas) and a Georgia Award for Best Specialty Act from Acva.
rarefilmm | The Cave of Forgotten Films Posts
Allegedly based on a true story, this film follows the life of Toshi, a Japanese man living in America and working with the New York City police. After being recommended for undercover work, Toshi decides to go after a gang lead by Hawk. Hawk and Toshi soon become friends, although Hawk’s second-in-command, Tito, is suspicious of the newcomer. Will Toshi be able to bring the gang down, or will his cover be blown before he can finish the assignment?
Perfectly Frank is a delightful stroll through the tunes of Frank Loesser, composer of songs for stage and screen. Cloris Leachman does a marvelous job here, as does Jonelle Allen and the rest of the cast, but be prepared also to be stunned by the smoldering and smart Vicki Frederick doing a fantastic take on The Boys in the Back Room, the tune made famous by Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again. A must see for musical theatre fans!
The tension arising between the demands of AIDS activism and Gregg Bordowitz’s increasing desire to explore aspects of his own life outside the framework of AIDS resulted in the appropriation of a work from the Soviet avant-garde: Nikolai Erdman’s play The Suicide. The protagonist, Semyon, as he tries to unyoke himself from the enforced optimism of a bureaucratic order that prohibits any discussion of disappointment and despair following the revolution.
Filmed on location at La Plata, Castro’s former guerrilla headquarters- the first time any foreign film crew had been permitted there – the documentary examines the origins of Castro’s revolution, and its ultimate successes and failures. It places U.S.-Cuban relations within the context of history, dating back to the Spanish-American War in 1898. The documentary goes on to paint a canvas of everyday Cuban life. It contrasts the successes of Cuba – medical care, education and housing – with the often repressive political measures implemented by the Castro government. We hear from Cuban artists, State Department officials, exiled writers, and Fidel Castro himself.
Demontage IX shows a body dangling between two metal walls. A human being as a clapper? The viewer’s anxiety increases with the length of the scene. A film about violence without moralizing. Romuald Karmakar sets the scene – the audience has to think about the images further.
When Kirk, a top roller-blader, discovers that he has bone cancer in his leg, his pleasant affluent life is shattered. Even though amputation provides the best chance for survival; to him, losing skating means the end of life. His friends cannot cope with his condition, but his hospital isolation is relieved by Marty – a street kid survivor who was found dying of leukemia. Marty bullies, taunts, and challenges Kirk, until he begins to climb out of his depression. Marty seems afraid of nothing and, knowing she will die, wants to experience everything.
Two cosmonauts arrive on a barren world and begin a clean-up operation. In the course of their duties, they revive the planet’s civilisation and discover the real reason for its devastation- thermonuclear war. Produced after the peak of tensions in the late Cold War, this animated short from Armenfilm reflects a muted optimism that humanity might- just- avoid total destruction. It also demonstrates the strength of animation under the Soviet system, where even the smaller state studios were capable of inventive but technically polished work.