Film&Fashion Fridays : Brian de Palma's Phantom of Paradise

We all know Brian de Palma as a stylized, excessive filmmaker who likes to borrow and rehash left and right - just think of Blow Out (the sound engineer's Blow Up), Obsession (father/daughter Vertigo) or um...Scarface.

If you thought his love of pastiche, collage and general eccentricity were showcased in these films, Phantom of Paradise takes all of his quirks and mannerisms to the next level.

Released one year before Rocky Horror, Phantom of Paradise is a mesmerizing shape-shifting rollercoaster of music styles, cinema tropes and emotion.

Probably the best way to describe it would be as a melodrama-horror-thriller-comedy-musical.

Blending both musical and literary myths from Faust and the Picture of Dorian Gray to the obvious Phantom of the Opera, this explosive blend is a highly entertaining (and disturbing) commentary on the music industry and the obsession of fame and youth in general, spiced up with epic glam rock numbers and insane costume/production design.

I mean Winslow aka The Phantom goes from uber-geek to what basically looks like a black leather straight jacket (ok, we would call it a bondage leather jumpsuit today) complete with black lipstick and Eyes Wide Shut-worthy silver bird mask. To me this completely explains Marilyn Manson- you can not not see the connection here!

Jessica Harper (you may remember her from Stardust Memories) playing Phoenix the corrupt innocent singer pretty much rocks the 70s boho look that's making a comeback right now- kimonos, long long dresses and probably one of the best use of sequins in evening wear.

The music changes from rock'n'roll revivals to folk, hair metal and simply grandiose 70s rock operas. ''From grease to glitter. And beyond".

Just check out the trailer.

Pretty much neglected at the time of its original release in 1974, the film has been recently rediscovered and even restored and re-released in a few lucky places. Go see it in theaters if you get the chance!

Film&Fashion Fridays : Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End

As you may have noticed already, I tend to choose films that are not only fashion relevant, but pretty darn amazing flicks to begin with.

Deep End is no exception; maybe inspired by my new swimming pool trespassing hobby, I've been thinking about movies about swimming lately. Of course, there's the amazing The Swimmer, based on the even more amazing John Cheever story. But that one's a classic.

Of course there's Altman's 3 Women that comes to mind, but that's another classic.

Deep End is more of a recently ressurected gem and that probably totally contributes to the amazingness factor. OK, I am saying amazing too much, but I promise this is the only kind od term you can use for these films.

  Jerzy Skolimowski has a relatively unusual career, to say the least; first of all, he's this Polish guy who made his first 5 movies in 3 different languages. Then he took an almost 20 year hiatus and made his comeback with Essential Killing, a thriller starring Vincent Gallo as an escaped terrorist from Afganistan we're supposed to be rooting for.

He also did Le depart, a relatively surreal comedy featuring the French 60s male youth icon Jean-Pierre Leaud and probably the most fun use of a mirror in a movie.

Then he did Deep End, this dark British coming of age drama set in a public swimming pool/bathing house, a weird cross between 3 Women, La ragazza con la valigia, Closely Watched Trains, A Clockwork Orange and The Graduate.

I wouldn't want to give too much away, but basically there's a cute 15 year old who falls head over heels the prettiest young redhead (with the most envy-worthy 70s bangs) and somehow gets sucked into the dirty underbelly of the business because of her.

There's porn, night clubs, sexual favors and tons of hormonal turmoil.

And, of course, the sexiest robes/lab coats (or at least the actors/director make them feel that way), extremely cute 60s and 70s minis, sharp suits...oh and did I mention the colors??

In a way it's the exact opposite of a teen drama (well, unless you consider Larry Clarks's Kids as definitory fo teh genre) and at th same time exactly what the term teen drama should represent (as in a dramatic movie about adolescence, not a stupid flick targeted at adolescents).

Truly unique and worth checking out. Cinephile's honor.