Pull Yourself Together! You're a disgrace!

A brief post to say thanks to ADF and Martin for encouraging me to pull my finger out and get back to blogging again. I shan't bore you with the minutiae of my life over the past few months (frankly, it's pretty dull stuff), but needless to say I'm going to at least attempt to update this more often. I'm sure there's friends of mine who're going to groan and say, "Oh no, you're not doing that fucking blog again are you? Blogging's for losers, you loser!". All I can say is, well, call me Mr Loser.

Thank you for your attention, and normal service will (unfortunately) be resumed.

Things that have impressed me greatly over the past months: Whitehouse's "Racket" album (ausgezeichnet), Godzilla Black playing live, the Broken Flag boxset thing, Ramleh live in London, Wolf Eyes/Consumer Electronics, the fabulous Gallhammer, a CD of Vietnamese street music, and whole bunch of other crap I won't bore you with at the moment.

A Dog's Life....

A few weeks ago, I picked up "The Mondo Cane Collection", an 8-DVD set of the collected works of Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi. Messrs Jacopetti and Prosperi pretty much invented the template for the "Mondo" shock-documentary style of film-making, made (in)famous by their "Mondo Cane" (1962). Much imitated and influential, their style of cinema initially worked on a travelogue-like run through of various customs, rituals and events, and gained notice for their usage of often explicit and cruel imagery. Their look at the state of a recently post-colonial Africa in "Africa Addio" upped the violence stakes considerably, and got the film-makers in a lot of legal trouble over accusations that they encouraged mercenaries to execute prisoners for the sake of the camera. The final collaboration between Jacopetti and Prosperi was the slavery drama "Farewell Uncle Tom" (Adios Zio Tom), which set a benchmark in the treatment of then-taboo subject matter on film.

It was funny for me to view once more "Mondo Cane" and "Africa Addio", in that I could remember once again what I found alternately interesting, irritating and disturbing about these films, when I first viewed them in the late 90's. I don't feel that "Mondo Cane" holds up particularly well overall, and the shock value of this film really hasn't lasted. "Africa Addio" is a different matter - very challenging and often brutal, the piece nonetheless has a rather unpleasant racist streak about it (a facet which also appeared in "Mondo Cane"). Despite the protestations of Jacopetti and Prosperi, there is something very patronising and almost nasty about the way Africans are portrayed in "Africa Addio". In addition, whilst the film is ready to criticise British, French and Belgian colonialists, it remains completely silent about Italian colonialism in Ethiopia and Libya. The animal slaughter scenes are genuinely unpleasant, but easily the most horrifying moments are the exposure of child slavery. For once, even the narrator holds a sombre tone.

I've checked out "Mondo Cane 2", which is essentially a retread of the original, but with more obviously staged scenes, including the self-immolation of a Buddhist priest in Vietnam (admitted by Jacopetti in the included "The Godfathers Of Mondo" DVD). The staging/faking of scenes in these productions is something I will consider coming back to in a future post, as it has for me interesting questions regarding the "truth" that cinema often wishes to display.

I've not seen "Women Of the World" yet (another "Mondo Cane" spin-off), but I have seen "Farewell Uncle Tom", a film I've been wanting to see for years. I will definitely be doing a piece on this in the future; all I can say now is that this film doesn't just flirt with the barriers of taste, it drives over them with a steamroller. It is certainly not a film for the merely curious or easily offended, put it that way.

In spite of my caveats, I must say that Blue Underground have done a fantastic job in putting this package together. The film transfers are uniformally superb, the documentary is excellent, and there's even never-seen-before uncut versions of "Africa Addio" and "Farewell Uncle Tom" too. This is an essential and highly-recommended collection for those interested in the work of these directors.

Xpressway in Minehead

Have just found a couple of Dead C photos I took at last December's ATP, in the rare moments that I wasn't totally mesmerized by their 90-minute set. The bouncers loathed every "note" that our heroes played, but since they're probably all into generic funky house (as sponsored by Ministry Of Sound), they can go funk themselves in the ear. My photo skills leave a lot to be desired, but I like these two, so here they are for your delectation. The Surgery is considering opening up a Flikr account, so that all visitors can check out future photos from me at the click of a button.

I was fortunate enough to see the Dead C perform again at London's Lumiere club a couple of days later, where they were if anything even better. Seeing Messrs Russell, Morley & Yeats wrench out an excellent rock/noise/improv racket was a treat to the ears, and to finally get to see them in the flesh was a small dream fulfilled. I do believe they have a forthcoming album release this year, which I'll be looking out for. "Bang fucking bang, the mighty Dead C..."

Can't knock the Hustle

In an attempt to cut down on my DVD backlog, I picked out "Kung Fu Hustle" (2004) this evening, and found it a most enjoyable Hong Kong romp. Ostensibly set as a 1930's gangster piece, Stephen Chow's film references spaghetti westerns, the mindless violence of the classic Warner Brothers cartoons, and I guess, "The Matrix" (itself somewhat influenced by the late-90's HK fave "A Man Called Hero"). The set pieces are often very funny and energetic, the wirework and fight choreography are top notch, and there's enough of an engaging story to prevent this becoming yet another standard-issue chop-socky fest. If you (like me) are a bit of a sucker for HK fare, then this would definitely be up your street.

Clearing the backlog part 1: The Brothers Quay.

Sometimes, my laziness really is quite embarrassing. I purchased a volume of the The Brothers Quay's work on video over 3 years ago, and only finally got round to watching it last night. Still, I soon forgot this idiocy and was totally taken with the 3 films on offer. All of them are influenced visually to some extent by the master animator Jan Švankmajer; indeed, one of the films, "The Cabinet Of Jan Švankmajer", is a tribute to his work ". However, the Brothers Quay's films are not mere flattering imitations, and their work here is steeped in the aura of Central European folk and fairy tales, exuding both a childlike wonder and a darker sensuality. One of their most famous pieces, "Street of Crocodiles" (Ulica Krokodyli) is a fantastic journey into a world in turns dreamlike, playful and cruel.

Technically, all of the films are flawless, with a spatial sense of movement and time conjured by stylish use of pans, slow fades and sudden jolts. In particular, the scores for each film have been put together with care, and sound fantastic in conjunction with the images. It was fun for me, when viewing "The Cabinet Of Jan Švankmajer", to spot pieces of music which have appeared in Švankmajer's own animations. However, this borrowed music works perfectly well in the Brothers Quay's effort, and in no way is added simply as a too-clever-by-half reference point.

These are films that I can see myself viewing again and again, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't check these out earlier. The Surgery highly recommends the Brothers Quay, and suggests that you please not make the same mistake as the Doktor. There's a good article about them at the Senses of Cinema site, which is here. I also found out today that the British Film Institute have also issued a new, far more up-to-date volume of their work, details of which are here.

Checking the Doktor's appointments

I've managed to find some time today to sit down and jot down some ideas of things to cover in the Surgery. As well as a music and film review list, I've also made a couple of notes on some German cinema pieces I'd like to put together, starting with a couple of the usual suspects in the form of Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Instead of doing a general overview of their work, I'd like to look at a specific theme that recur or appear in key films, which I feel tells us (the audience) at least a bit of how their feelings and desires come to life on the big (or small) screen.

I'm also going to kick myself out of my book-reading slump, and finally get to grips with "A Long Hard Look At 'Psycho'", written by the late Raymond Durgnat. Raymond's deceptively eccentric demeanour hid a demon intelligence, and from what I've heard of him, he was certainly one never to suffer fools. This Hitchcock masterpiece was somewhat of an obsession for him, and I've no doubt that his final book will at least touch on some of his admiration for the film and it's director.

As well as classic and arthouse cinema, I have a real weakness for exploitation and trash movies. Expect in due course to find pieces on these, which may or may not include personal reminiscences of the days when James Ferman ruled the BBFC with a rod of iron, and my dealings with various interesting characters in getting hold of uncut celluloid filth.

On a more general note, I've recently been mulling over the issues of downloading tracks for free. This is a somewhat controversial subject, to say the least, and I intend to look as objectively as I can from both sides (consumer vs producer), and well as offering some personal insights of my own.

I've decided that I will be offering NO MP3 tracks for download. There are plenty of sites offering such services (such as the one in my Links column), and besides, being an avid consumer of literature on music and film, I would like to use this blog to provide to me what I sometimes find missing from other publications. I will however include relevant links to other sites in posts where I feel it useful or worthwhile to the reader.

Well, that's about it for now. A pleasant Sunday to you all.

R.I.P. Mohammed "Jimmy" Mohammed

The Doktor's Surgery would like to pay tribute to the recently deceased blind Ethiopian singer Mohammed "Jimmy" Mohammed. I was fortunate enough to see this man perform in Paris last year as part of the 'Banlieues Bleues' festival. Mr Mohammed performed as part of a quartet, with two Ethiopian musicians and Han Bennink on drums. The songs performed by this man were deceptively simple yet full of emotion, joy and passion, and without the use of crowd-pleasing antics, Mohammed captivated the entire audience. Using traditional songs taught to him from childhood, Mohammed transcended obvious language barriers to put across his music and (cliche alert) made the songs his own. The musical backing was faultless too (I could kinda live without some of Bennink's showboating, though).

If you (like me) have an allergy to "world" music as perpetrated by the likes of the Real World label, then cast aside your doubts and prejudices and check this guy out. He has a CD available from the good people at Terp Records.