Whisky- a Uruguayan film, actionless to a fault, really. One of the directors was saying, in the DVD interview, "I really like the work of people like," and I thought "He's gonna say Jarmusch," and the guy said, "Jim Jarmusch," and boy can you tell! I generally like Jarmusch, but I'd LOVE him if he put in more dialogue where it's appropriate, which, if you're making a movie, would be, say at least some of the scenes? Whisky is in Spanish, but it barely needs subtitles. I can sum up the entire movie for you pretty briefly:
That's pretty much 1 1/2 hours there.
Marriage Italian Style - thought I couldn't go wrong with Mastroanni and Loren. Ehm, this movie sugks. Also, the DVD looks absolutely terrible. I was watching (naturally) the English-subtitled portion. It was grainy as HELL, worst DVD I've ever seen, AND it was "letterboxed" via squashing the FULL-SCREEN picture into a letterbox shape, complete with fucked up top and bottom portions. Great. So I put on the Italian-only portion, and that was not grainy BUT all overly-bright and complete with digital pixilated glitches. Hnmm.
Lastly, I rented the 1971 Dick Cavett shows with John and Yoko on them. Interesting to see how close Lennon was to DEPORTATION by the US Government, for having a "drug record" from the time in 1968 when he was busted for pot. Apparently, this one English vice cop went around planting pot on several musicians- George Harrison, Keith Richards, Donovan. Pot-users all, sure, but deportation based on pot-planted-arrests? Also, at the time Yoko's ex-husband was running around the US with their daughter, hiding out from her. Quite weirdly, they were trying to fight for her custody in some Caribbean island court, and the husband was filing claims in a Texan court... it was a long, odd story.
Odder still- the artist who comes out best on the shows is, in my mind, without a doubt, Yoko. She did a song, "Mrs. Lennon," which I'd never heard before, plus a film/video to go with it, and frankly the song is pretty damned good (sounds partially like a funereal version of 
"Mrs Vandebilt" a song by 
Paul McCartney from 
two years later) and the film is gorgeous. I really want to see the Imagine film now! And as for the side-by-side live performances they do, I'll take Yoko's "What's the Difference" (complete with goofy rave-out screaming and off-key belting) over Lennon's "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" (too much like previous Lennon stuff, and didactic as hell. I think he had a bit of a subtlety problem sometimes, although Plastic Ono Band is a great record).
also, I have a new best internet friend! 1clementine
