In October 1963, the Brazilian movie writer, director, and actor José Mojica Marins was having trouble with a movie he was working on, and fell asleep at the dinner table.
He dreamed of being dragged to a cemetery by a creature in black, who showed Marins his own tomb stone, with the dates of his birth and death (YT: 9 min). That dream lead to the creation of
Zé do Caixão (anglicized as
Coffin Joe), the main character in Brazil's first horror movie, and Marins' first big movie success:
À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (YT: 1hr 22min w/English subs) (
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul). This was one of the up-ticks in a life of
some ups and lots of downs for the South American Roger Corman or Ed Wood (NYT), and the birth of a character who would become Marins public persona.
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posted by filthy light thief
on Oct 28, 2011 -
11 comments
Shin Sang-ok (1926 - 2006) was a Korean movie writer, director and producer, who studied film in Japan and returned to South Korea, where he gained fame and became the
uncontested leader of the film industry in the 1960s, in a time when regulations on the industry limited other studios. In the 1970s under the
Fourth Republic of South Korea, the film industry was even further limited, which lead to Shin's studio being closed. Things went from bad to worse, when
"the Orson Welles of South Korea" was kidnapped by request of Kim Jong Il, the son of North Korea's dictator, Kim Il Sung. The reason? Kim Jong Il wanted the nation's film industry to promote the virtues of the Korea Workers' Party to a world-wide audience. After being imprisoned for four years, Shin was reunited with his ex-wife (who was also a captive of North Korea) and the given relative freedom, producing seven films in North Korea. While setting up a distribution deal to share Kim Jong Il's vision with a broader audience for a Godzilla-like monster movie, Shin and his wife escaped and sought political asylum in the United States. Their freedom was possible because of that last film for Kim, entitled
Pulgasari. But Shin's life in movies was not over yet.
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posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 5, 2010 -
14 comments
Salo has been discussed
before here in the blue, but last week the
Australian Classification Review Board determined that the DVD release can be classified R18+ (available, but with sale restricted to adults), if it includes 3 hours of additional material proposed by the potential distributor,
Shock. In the decision, the Board notes that the additional material "facilitates wider consideration of the context of the film."
While this decision is a win for anti-censorship campaigners and film buffs, it may not be the final chapter. The film has had a
checkered history in Australia.
The Board's media release is
here (PDF).
posted by Artaud
on May 9, 2010 -
32 comments
'Ten years ago, while working on The South Bank Show, Melvyn Bragg and I had a heated discussion on the pros and cons of film censorship. Broadly speaking, Melvyn was against it, while I, much to his surprise, was absolutely for it. He then dared me to write a script that I thought should be banned. I accepted the challenge and a month or so later sent him a short subject entitled A Kitten for Hitler. “Ken,” he said, “if ever you make this film and it is shown, you will be lynched.'
That film has been made.
The story behind it.
posted by fearfulsymmetry
on Jan 25, 2009 -
69 comments
Birth of a Nation: one of the most
controversial films in american history.
The film "...was banned in more than a dozen localities (and furthermore has been the most banned film in American history) because of its white supremacist sympathies, racist stereotypes, and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan..."
Sex, Sin, and Blasphemy,
Marjorie Heins.
Given the recent controversy over Gibson's film, where do we draw the line between
freedom of expression and
censorship? when are these debates influenced by politcal agenda rather than sincere concern?
posted by poopy
on Feb 25, 2004 -
27 comments
Seen any St***n S***rb**gh films lately? CleanFlicks, a Utah (US) based company, is using digital editing to "clean up" popular films by removing the sex, nudity, profanity and extreme violence (for example, the edited natural born killers runs approx. 2.5 minutes, while the CF version of Resevoir Dogs is titles and credits only).
Recently the Colorado licensee of Cleanflicks got wind of a potential lawsuit by the Directors Guild of America. Deciding not to wait for this to even get off the ground, Cleanflicks has
decided to sue 16 of the directors that are apparently most offensive to them.
posted by i blame your mother
on Sep 17, 2002 -
116 comments
The movie censored in France opens in the US this week. Base-Moi is being translated by the newspapers as "Rape Me" but a better translation would be "Fuck Me," which better indicates that sexual power that the main female characters have. They use sex as a weapon, as the gateway firearm to murders and massacre. Violent, bloody, aggressively sexual, even pornographic, filled with "chic amoralism," as the
New York Times says, and perhaps difficult to redeem. Gratuitous everything.
posted by Mo Nickels
on Jul 6, 2001 -
18 comments
