THE DOMINO EFFECT:
getting to the heart of the matter
in the twilit and allegorical film art
of Sofia Coppola
by Gary W. Wright
Significantly, and unlike most film artists, long before she began creating complex and subtle film art, Sofia Carmina (SCC) Coppola already had a complex relationship to film art, life, a life devoted to film art and the film art of life. For SCC was the first of three children and only daughter of the first couple of New Hollywood, Francis and Eleanor Coppola; the elder sister of Roman and Giancarlo Coppola; the granddaughter of musician and composer, Carmine Coppola, and actor Italia Pennino; the niece of actor Talia Shire; the cousin of actors Marc and Nicolas Coppola and Jason and Robert Schwartzman; the aunt in time of Gia Coppola; the lover and wife of film artist Spike Jonze and musician Thomas Mars and mother with the latter of daughters Romy and Cosima; and the “niece” of family friend and honourary “uncle”, George Lucas, a link to “Uncle” Lucas helped by the curious fact that George and Sofia were both born on May 14th-1944 to her 1971. Fittingly, complexity also surrounded her debut in film art when her father teamed up with Carmine, Lucas and Shire on the ominousy twilit and allegorical Coppola docufeature film MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER (1972), which premiered in New York on March 14, 1972.
“I believe in America…
And I raised my daughter
in the American fashion.
I gave her freedom,
but I taught her
never to dishonor
her family.”
A significant beginning, indeed, for Coppola implicitly warned Steven Spielberg that he would have to resign himself to doing whatever it took to leave behind commercial television and succeed as a film artist like his idol, Alfred Hitchcock, like the implicitly Spielberg linked Michael Corleone-played by Al Pacino-had to resign himself to doing whatever it took to succeed as the head of the New York Corleone mafia family after the death of his father, the implicitly Hitchcock linked Vito Corleone-played by Marlon Brando. Indeed, the sight and sound of Michael ordering a series of hits that killed implicitly film artist linked rivals to the Corleone family and established Michael as its head made that implicit point clear at the end of the film. Significantly, these mob hits were ironically intercut with the sight and sound of the newborn SCC being used as the latest addition to the Corleone clan, Michael Francis Rizzi, the son of Constanza ‘Connie’ and Carlo Rizzi-played by Shire and Gianni Russo, respectively-and being baptized in a Catholic church in New York. Thus, SCC was implicitly linked not just to the film art of Coppola, the birth of New Hollywood and the implicit use of allegorical film art to roast and toast other film artists right from the start, but also to the anticipated film art of Spielberg.
An ominous beginning for SCC, indeed, given that a little over a decade after the release of MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER, Spielberg was linked forever to the real deaths of three people on the set of a film that he chose, developed and oversaw with Warner Brothers. For a fateful helicopter crash killed actor/director/writer Vic Morrow and illegally hired and used child extras Renee Chen and Myca Le around 2:20 am in the early morning of July 23, 1982 on the Vietnamese village set of the George Folsey jr. produced John Landis episode of the twilit, allegorical, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall produced and Landis and Spielberg executive produced Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, George Miller film TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983), a shocking and righteously infuriating disaster that outraged audiences and film artists and implicitly set off a dread allegorical Zone War that has never ended.
Significantly, while not linked to the TZ disaster in any way, the Coppola clan were nonetheless still dragged into it given that “Uncle” George shocked and infuriated young audiences when he announced soon after the TZ disaster that he was sticking with his decision to work with Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg on the twilit, allegorical, computer generated imagery (CGI) enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Landis and William Friedkin addressing indie docufeature film INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984), a sequel to their ominously twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Friedkin addressing indie docufeature film RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981). For, given that Lucas had preached throughout the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy that the Good Force must be with you in order to succeed in life, this infuriating decision to work with Kennedy and Marshall, two of the four people most responsible for the disaster and Spielberg, who oversaw the production of the entire film, convinced the young J.D. Jedi fans of Lucas that he was an insidious Sith Lord hiding in lawful Jedi robes-Lord Stinkious!-who was not only indifferent to the still suspicious deaths of Chen, Le and Morrow but obsessed with blockbuster profits regardless of the cost in human lives.
Thus, it was no surprise that SCC chose the nom d’art of “Domino” to hide her identity in a number of small roles in her father’s post-1982 films that linked her forever to the outbreak of the dread allegorical Zone Wars, as if she wanted to distance herself from her family’s friendship with “Uncle” George, and as if she was worried that that friendship could lead to trouble given how angry and disappointed young audiences were with Folsey jr., Kennedy, Landis, Lucas, Marshall and Spielberg-indeed, as if implying that she was just as shocked, outraged and disappointed that her “Uncle” George would work with Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg on INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM as anyone else, as this collaboration allowed Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg to flee to London to make the second Indy film and escape questioning, and time in the witness box at the TZ trial, back in L.A. At any rate, how fitting that on top of being a black rectangular game piece, a domino was also a loose Venetian cloak with a small mask that covered the upper part of the face, as this was the perfect nom d’art for a film artist who went on to mask her true intent in her own twilit and allegorical film art.
Humourously, the first appearance of Domino in the Temple Theatre was as a skinny, gangling, slant eyed, buck toothed and irritatingly persistent Little Girl in a blue dress with her brown hair pulled into two side ponytails and with what appeared to be one of her younger brothers-Giancarlo?-in tow begging for fifteen whole cents!-worth more in the Sixties than now-from the implicitly Landis linked greaser, Dallas “Dally” Winston-the “Lantis” hidden within his given names affirming his implicit link to Landis, and played by Matt Dillon-in a Dairy Queen parking lot when she collaborated with Carmine, Francis, Giancarlo and Roman on the twilit, allegorical and CGI free Coppola indie docufeature film THE OUTSIDERS (1983), a film released on March 25, 1983 and inspired by the allegorical S.E. Hinton novel The Outsiders (1967).
“Hey, Mister!
Do you have fifteen cents?”
Not surprisingly, the film implicitly linked despised Sixties greasers battling for respect from mainstream society-the Socs-to the equally despised film artists of New Hollywood battling mainstream society for respect after the TZ disaster. Later that same year Domino returned to the Temple Theatre with Francis, Roman, Dillon and Diane Lane, William Smith and Tom Waits-who played Sherry “Cherry” Valance, a store clerk and a bar owner named Buck Merrill, respectively, in THE OUTSIDERS-and her cousin, Nicolas Coppola-who also chose to hide his famous surname with the nom d’art of Nicolas Cage-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI free Coppola indie docufeature film RUMBLE FISH (1983), released on October 9, 1983 and inspired by the allegorical Hinton novel Rumble Fish (1975).
“I get the picture.”
Indeed, Domino had a larger role as Donna, the cute, skinny, gangly and nosey younger sister of Lane’s gorgeous Patty in the film. A black and white film which implied that eccentric indie moving painter, David Lynch, would fail to succeed the following year with his massive, full colour, twilit, allegorical and CGI free indie moving painting DUNE (1984) after years of creating only black and white moving paintings like Mickey Rourke’s colour blind and equally eccentric, indie and implicitly Lynch linked Motorcycle Boy failed to cope with a full colour world, in the end. Indeed, the film’s allusions to such allegorical black and white Lynch moving paintings as ERASERHEAD (1977) and THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) affirmed the film’s implicit Lynch addressing intent. The fact that the one sheet or film poster for the film was a painting instead of the usual photograph or collage of photos also affirmed the film’s implicit Lynch addressing intent, reminding us that Lynch was a wild painter at heart before he got into moving paintings.
Significantly, while small, these two roles were still a momentous and memorable beginning for Domino, increased by the fact that they linked her forever to the first official year of the dread allegorical Zone Wars-and to the year of the release of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE. The two small roles also allowed her to work with Carmine, Francis, Roman and also with sound designer Richard Beggs, producer Fred Roos and production designer Dean Tavoularis for the first time, all six of whom went on to collaborate with her on her own twilit and allegorical docufeature indie film art.
Curiously, the following year was a year of ironic contrasts for Domino. First, she was implicitly linked to the death of the New Hollywood film art era as a result of the TZ disaster when the unnamed and Chen evoking girl she played was accidentally gunned down in the street while out selling apples by mobsters working for the aspiring, homicidal and implicitly Landis linked hood, Vincent Dwyer-his “VD” initials summing up his sick disease, and played by Cage-when she helped Francis, Lane, Puzo, Roos and Waits out on the twilit, allegorical, CGI free and implicitly Landis and Spielberg bashing Coppola indie docufeature film THE COTTON CLUB (1984), released like DUNE on December 14th, 1984. Curiously, however, on the same day that she was implicitly linked to the death of the New Hollywood era, Domino was also implicitly linked to the hoped for post-TZ disaster revival of film art in her first non-Coppola production, the twilit, allegorical and CGI free Tim Burton animaction short film FRANKENWEENIE (1984), also released on December 14th, 1984.
“I saw a monster!”
Indeed, Domino’s unusually blonde and Goldilocks evoking character, Ann Chambers, was implicitly linked to the revival of post-TZ disaster allegorical film art in general and that of Spielberg in particular in the implicit form of her next door neighbour’s revived from the dead bull terrier, Sparky-played to perfection by Sparky-beloved family dog of the implicitly Spielberg linked DIY boy mad scientist, Victor Frankenstein-played by Barret Oliver-in the film. Unless, of course, the presence of actor/director/writer Paul Bartel as elementary school teacher, Mr. Walsh, was meant to remind us that he directed the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film DEATH RACE 2000 (1975), a film that implicitly linked the cinematic competition between Coppola and Lucas to the hard driving competition of the infamous and implicitly Coppola and Lucas linked Death Racers, “Machine Gun” Joe Viterbo and Frankenstein-played by Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine, respectively-in which case young Victor Frankenstein was linked to Lucas, an implication affirmed by the presence of SCC, who was there to remind us that Lucas was her “Uncle” George and by the fact that young Frankenstein’s friend, Frank Dale-played by Jason Hervey-looked more like Spielberg. If so, the short film was actually implicitly rooting for the revival of the hi-tech CGI enhanced post-TZ disaster film art of Lucas. Curiously, as Ann’s father-played by Joseph Maher-resembled and was implicitly linked to Walt Disney, Ann and Domino were also implicitly linked to the revival of Disney film art in the post-TZ disaster era in another level of the short film, making it fitting that Burton was an ex-employee of Disney and that the film was made with the help of the Walt Disney studio.
Significantly, two years later, Domino teamed up again with Shelley Duvall-who played Mrs. Susan Frankenstein in FRANKENWEENIE-and returned on the small screen playing a fun loving girl named Gwendolyn who was implicitly linked to herself, given that she was the younger sister of an older brother named “Wienerhead” Waldo-played by Howie Mandel-who was perhaps linked to Lucas given that Gwendolyn and Waldo had an even older brother named Lionel-played by Michael Tucci-who resembled and was implicitly linked to Francis, and that all of the children had a father named Silas-played by Severn Darden-who resembled and was implicitly linked to Carmine in the twilit and allegorical Mark Cullingham telefilm THE PRINCESS WHO HAD NEVER LAUGHED (1986), fateful episode 23 of SHELLEY DUVALL’S FAERIE TALE THEATRE, telecast on August 11, 1986. Significantly, the same year SCC dropped the Domino Affect and openly came out from behind the Venetian cape and mask as Sofia Coppola when she teamed up again with Francis, Cage and Tavoularis and returned to the big screen in the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and CGI free Coppola indie docufeature film PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED (1986), released on October 7, 1986.
“Why, I oughtta…”
Indeed, SCC returned to the Temple Theatre skinnier and ganglier than ever as another cutely annoying and perhaps Sandy Wilson linked kid sister, Nancy Kelcher-albeit this time a confidently baton twirling and piano playing one-who was the younger sibling of the implicitly Dorothy linked Peggy Sue Kelcher-Bodell-played by Kathleen Turner-whose Hollywood cadenced first names also implicitly linked her to Hollywood film art. Thus, the sight and sound of the implicitly Hollywood linked Peggy Sue travelling back in time to her small town with the equally Hollywood cadenced name of Buchanan in 1960 like a time travelling Dorothy after falling and hitting her head at her 25th anniversary Buchanan High School reunion dance in the Eighties and then helping and inspiring her implicitly film artist linked colleagues to follow the life paths that would lead them to adult success, particularly her future ex-husband, the implicitly James Cameron and Cowardly Lion linked Charles “Charlie” Bodell-played by Cage-her fantasy lover, the implicitly Burton and Scarecrow linked Michael Fitzsimmons-played by Kevin J. O’Connor-and her geeky friend, the implicitly Lucas and Tin Man linked Richard Norvik-played by Barry Miller-implied the hope of Francis that the outlook on the current state of film art and success of Burton, Cameron and Lucas would improve over the course of the rest of the Eighties. And that film art in general would leave behind its twilit doom and gloom, given that Peggy Sue successfully left behind entrapment in 1960 with the help of her kindly, loving, elementally healing, Ozian harmonizing and implicitly Great Oz linked grandfather, Grandpa Barney-played by Leon Ames-with the help of his mystic Lodge pals-including one fittingly played by the legendary Al Nalbandian, a fearless and naturally mystic time traveller-in the end.
At any rate, an implicit interest in Cameron and Lucas was affirmed by the fact that the film alluded to the equally allegorical, nostalgic, Ozian themed and implicitly Ralph Bakshi roasting Lucas indie docufeature film AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973), and implicitly replied to the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and time travelling Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster THE TERMINATOR (1984), the twilit, allegorical, CGI free, AMERICAN GRAFFITI evoking and implicitly Lucas roasting Wilson indie docufeature film MY AMERICAN COUSIN (1985), and the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed, time travelling and Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg produced Robert Zemeckis film BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985). Significantly, Peggy Sue’s interest in helping others returned when SCC teamed up again with Carmine, Francis, Roos, Shire, Tavoularis and her new niece Gia on her first work of film art as co-writer and opening titles/costume designer of the twilit, allegorical and CGI free Coppola indie docufeature short film LIFE WITHOUT ZOE (1989), a short film that evoked the allegorical and implicitly Canada film art roasting Coppola indie docufeature film YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966), and that was the middle cinepanel of a triptych of short, twilit and allegorical films that began with a cinepanel by Martin Scorsese and ended with a cinepanel by Woody Allen that was collectively entitled NEW YORK STORIES (1989), released on March 1, 1989.
“I am the daughter
and you are the mother.”
Curiously, the short film began with the sound of a flute playing on a black screen before the sight of a solitary twelve year old girl who turned out to be Zoe Montez-the “Zone” noticeably hidden in her two names an ominous contrast to the “life” that was the meaning of Zoe, and played by Heather McComb-slowly appeared out of the blackness painting a colourful watercolor of her parents, author/photographer, Charlotte and celebrated flautist, Claudio Montez-played by Shire and Giancarlo Giannini, respectively-in her room at the Sherry Netherlands Hotel in New York. After a short, colourful, hand drawn and slightly animated opening titles sequence to the sound of the allegorical and August Darnell written Kid Creole and the Coconuts tune “Zoe” (1989), Zoe was woken up and hectored out of her hotel room and off to school by her loving and loyal butler, Hector-played by Don Novello.
Here at the Fieldston private school, Zoe hooked back up with her girl pals, gal pals who were implicitly linked to film artists, particularly New York film artists, given that one, ironically tall, girl resembled Allen. Even more significantly, one resembled and was implicitly linked to Coppola, implying that Zoe was not linked to Sofia and that Claudio and Charlotte were not linked to Francis and Eleanor. Indeed, to support that implication, here at school Zoe also met the “…new kid on the block”, Abu-played by Selim Tlilli-a ridiculously wealthy kid who resembled and was implicitly linked to Michael Eisner, the new head of Disney. To support this implicit link, it was noticeable that when Zoe and her girlfriends were interviewing Abu in Central Park for their school newspaper, DINGBAT NEWS, the Belvedere Castle was seen behind Abu, a whimsical castle that evoked the famous castle seen on the Walt Disney logo. The fact that Claudio resembled and was implicitly linked to Disney-complete with a six letter two syllable surname like Disney- that the opening title sequence featured colourful and hand drawn animation and that NEW YORK STORIES was released by Touchstone Pictures, a production company of Disney and the same film studio that released FRANKENWEENIE, reaffirmed the implicit Disney and Eisner addressing intent of LIFE WITHOUT ZOE.
Curiously, Abu helped Zoe bring life and harmony back to the potentially divorcing universe of Claudio and Charlotte. For after finding out that Zoe had found one of the fabled Tears of Sharaz earrings, Abu helped her return it to its rightful owner, his aunt Princess Soroya-played by Carole Bouquet. Thus, given the implicit links of Abu to Eisner and Claudio to Uncle Walt, Coppola and SCC implied their hope that Eisner would bring life back to and restore the high quality of Disney film art and the reputation of the studio in the Nineties with the help of supportive audience members like Zoe.
At any rate, despite being directed by her father, SCC implicitly had an influence on its direction, as the short film was a significant stylistic departure from the work of her father, with an unusually and assertively female spirit, mind and gaze, a loose and impressionistic docufeature style with a fondness for natural lighting and an emphasis on art, colour, dance, fashion and pop music, characteristics that were not emphasized as much overall in the films of Coppola but became the hallmarks of the docufeature indie film art of SCC. Peter Cowie agreed, noting in Coppola: a biography that “…Francis’s seventeen-year old daughter Sofia assumed much of the creative responsibility on this sketch…Zoe, like Sofia Coppola in real life, must cope with the confusing burden of wealth as well as a famous father…[and Sofia] shows that she is already alert to the dangers and potential of having a famous artist for a father”…and an “uncle” (Cowie 230-1).
Alas for this first production from Francis and Sofia, audiences disliked NEW YORK STORIES, particularly LIFE WITHOUT ZOE. No doubt many audience members-particularly younger Gen X members-were offended by Zoe’s wealthy and carefree existence at a time of few and mostly low paying part-time deadend jobs. Significantly, however, despite this rejection, the implicit hope in LIFE WITHOUT ZOE that Eisner would lead Disney back to glory came true, resulting in the towering titan that the Mouse House was today. In addition, despite the failure of LIFE WITHOUT ZOE, at least one observer still held out hope that year that SCC would go on to be a pivotal film artist. Indeed, Michael Moorcock implicitly hoped that SCC would be the One to lead the world of film art from the TZ disaster and back into the daylight in the implicit form of Varadia, the Holy Girl, daughter of the implicitly Francis linked Raik Na Seem in the twilit and allegorical novel The Fortress Of The Pearl (1989).
Curiously, Francis was not as hopeful as Moorcock, for the following year with the help of Carmine, Novello, Puzo, Roos, Shire and Tavoularis, he implied that the death of Mary Corleone-played by a SCC who in only four short years had transformed from the geeky and gangly girl of PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED into a beautiful, curvaceous, confident, graceful and intelligent young woman with flowing dark brown hair, her once humourously slanted eyes now giving her face an alluring and exotic cast that accentuated her natural beauty-symbolized the end of the New Hollywood film art era in general and his own indie American Zoetrope film art dreams in particular as much as it did the end of the dreams of the implicitly Spielberg linked Michael Corleone-played again by Pacino-at the end of the twilit, allegorical and CGI free Coppola docufeature film MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER: PART III (1990), released on December 20, 1990.
Curiously, Landis became one of the first if not the first person to implicitly roast SCC in a film in the implicit form of Lisa Provolone-played by Marisa Tomei-the bored and frustrated daughter of the implicitly Coppola linked Dirty Thirties mobster, Angelo “Snaps” Provolone-played by Sylvester Stallone-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced film OSCAR (1991), a film released on April 26, 1991 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to LIFE WITHOUT ZOE, MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER PART III, THE COTTON CLUB, the eerily prescient and twilit Coppola indie docufeature film DEMENTIA 13 (1963), and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Lucas executive produced Coppola indie docufeature film TUCKER (1988), in which SCC had a brief cameo. The appearance of Vincent Spano as lovestruck “Little” Anthony Rossano affirmed the implicit Coppola and SCC roasting intent, as he played the implicitly David Cronenberg linked Steve in RUMBLE FISH.
For his part, Cameron also implicitly toasted Francis, Eleanor and Sofia Coppola in the implicit forms of Harry, Helen, and Dana Tasker-played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis and Eliza Dushku, respectively-and implicitly roasted Spielberg in the implicit form of Crimson Jihad terrorist leader Salim Abu Aziz-played by Art Malik-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster TRUE LIES (1994), released on July 14, 1994. Making it fitting that “…the incredible Sofia” appeared on the scene with Francis and Roman for three whole episodes as co-creator/co-producer/and co-host with her friend and fellow co-director/co-producer Zoe Cassavetes aka “…the mind blowing Zoe” of the bad ass, eclectic, daring, dynamic, shocking, supercharged, in ya face and fuel injected Comedy Central series HI OCTANE (July 1994), which kind of came across as an acerbic and sneery reply to Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and THE SIMPLE LIFE and which in episode one saw SCC and Zoe driving the Terminator III monster struck, a pit stop at a Paris fashion show with Karl Lagerfeld and super model and enthusiastic mechanic, Jenny Shimizu, caustic cameos with Beck and Cage and a visit with film artist Gus Van Sant whose observation that soon small indie films would be made with small video cameras and a mike as in HI OCTANE because film making “…doesn’t necessarily have to be as organized as we tend to make it in a bigger movie” presciently presaged the approach to digital film art of SCC; in episode two featured “legendary” stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker, an X-Girl fashion show on the street in NYC, SCC showing off her bass skills with Sonic Youth and a visit with Martin Scorsese; and in ep three featured cameos by Cage, Flea, Robert Williams, Debbie Harry, and fashion designer Anna Sui.
Significantly, luckily for audiences, the allegorical Force of art did not die inside Sofia Coppola with the death of Mary Corleone or HI OCTANE. Indeed, her artistic powers continued to grow and develop inside her, and when they emerged her film art displayed an intuitive understanding of the creative interrelation of acting, colour, costumes, film, makeup, music and words, and a shrewd, knowing and seasoned sophistication and world weariness unusual in someone so young, but definitely befitting a daughter who grew up in the first family of New Hollywood. The film art of SCC also implied that she was so moved and sobered by the rise and fall of New Hollywood and by the TZ disaster that she had no interest in taking over the system like her father, but was instead satisfied with being an indie outsider who would continue the film conversation with film art in the docufeature style that New Hollywood was famous for without the new emphasis on CGI enhancement.
Last but not least, the film art of SCC also displayed a brash, distinctive, rebellious and refreshingly feminine and feminist body, gaze, heart, mind and soul that satirized and served as an effective counterpoint to the predominantly male body, gaze, heart, mind and soul of film art, evoking the film art of fellow actors turned directors like Nell Shipman-who died shortly before the birth of SCC on January 23, 1970-and Ida Lupino-memorably linked to the Twilight Zone herself via her allegorical, Rod Serling written and implicitly Hitchcock and family roasting telefilm “The Masks” (1964) from the fifth season of the original TWILIGHT ZONE telefilm series. Idiosyncratic qualities on display after SCC affirmed her fondness for indie rock and punk which became another hallmark of her film art and had some fun directing the indie music video for the allegorical and Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Michael Ivins and Ronald Jones written Flaming Lips tune “This Here Giraffe” (1996) when she returned to the implicitly film artist linked elementary school setting of FRANKENWEENIE and LIFE WITHOUT ZOE with Beggs and Roman-as second unit director-and Cassavetes to implicitly reply to Bigelow and the Cameron aided implicit roasting she gave Coppola in the form of rapist/murderer Max Peltier-played by Tom Sizemore-in the fearless, twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature artbuster STRANGE DAYS (1995), with her twilit, allegorical and CGI free indie docufeature short film LICK THE STAR (1998), released on October 1, 1998 at the Austin Film Festival.
“the tables turn
life goes on”
Significantly, the black and white film stock of LICK THE STAR was a stark contrast to the vibrant, exuberant and colourful LIFE WITHOUT ZOE, immediately implying that SSC was no longer as happy and as optimistic as she was in 1989. And bummed out about the dread Zone Wars, for the black and white film situated LICK THE STAR in the same suburban Twilight Zone midway between Light and Dark and town and city that the original TWILIGHT ZONE telefilm series found itself trapped in. Significantly, the black and white film also evoked the black and white film stock of DEMENTIA 13 and FRANKENWEENIE, linking SCC’s film art to the horror genre from the outset like the film art of her father (the horror, the horror of everyday embattled and apocalyptic life)! A fitting link, for LICK THE STAR quickly revealed an equally twilit, demented and horrific DEMENTIA 12 intent.
For after initially focusing on Christina Turley’s perhaps SCC linked Kate, the film’s voiceover (VO) narrator, as she returned on crutches to the insular, gossipy, studiously bored and increasingly self-conscious and sexually aware world of Grade 7-the grade featured in FRANKENWEENIE-at R.L.S. Junior High after being briefly knocked out of the game for a week with a damaged foot, the focus of the film soon shifted to Audrey Heaven’s beautiful, beguiling, bored, exotic, fashion and makeup savvy, gothy, horror novel loving, mysterious, sensual, assertive, tall, commanding and Bigelow resembling and implicitly linked seventh grade Queen Mean Girl, Chloe-or was that Princess Mean Girl, given that she was wearing a tiara-first seen striding from somewhere towards the camera and into the school in slow motion in a blast of punky pop music courtesy of the allegorical and Kim Deal written Amps tune “Tipp City” (1995), an open link to ’95 that affirmed the implicit link of Chloe to Bigelow and the implication that Coppola was replying to STRANGE DAYS with LICK THE STAR. Indeed, the sound of the allegorical and Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin written Go-Go’s tune “This Town” (1981), soon openly linked Chloe to the Last Good Year of film and the year that Bigelow appeared on the scene with the presciently twilit and allegorical Lafayette “Monty” Montgomery co-written and co-directed indie docufeature film THE LOVELESS (1981), reaffirming the implicit link of Chloe to Bigelow.
Significantly, Chloe soon revealed a demented and completely un-Zoe-like plot codenamed “lick the star”-which sort of spelled kill the rats backwards-to poison all the boys like the pesky panty peeking and implicitly Landis linked Greg-played by Robert Schwartzman-that she and the other girls in her group did not like, like a less vengeful and telepathic Carrie White in the allegorical Screamin’ Stephen King novel Carrie (1974), or Sissy Spacek’s Carrie White in the allegorical, righteously furious and implicitly Spielberg bashing Brian De Palma film CARRIE (1976), which implicitly and furiously roasted Spielberg and his eerily twilit and allegorical docufeature film JAWS (1975), which had returned the money lusting blockbuster beast to the Temple Theatre. However, Chloe’s rude and bossy manner and abrasive comments caused her girl gang-which included not only Kate but the implicitly Amy Irving linked Rebecca aka Becca, played by Julia Vanderham-and Greg to turn against and ostracize her, causing her to attempt suicide by drowning herself in the family bathtub. And so LICK THE STAR ended with a pensive, philosophical and poetry writing Chloe striding away from the camera and off into nowhere with her copy of the allegorical and Jean Stein and George Plimpton book Edie: an american biography (1982)-a biography published in the twilit and disastrous year of ’82 about the tragicomic rise and fall of Andy Warhol Factory girl Edith “Edie” Sedgwick that reminded us that Bigelow also ran with Warhol in New York in her high art days before turning to indie film art-to the mocking sounds of the allegorical and Alan Sutherland written Land Of The Loops tune “Heidi Cakes” (1996), the first implicitly film artist linked main character to progress from somewhere to nowhere over the course of a SCC film.
Thus, given Chloe’s link to Bigelow, SCC implied her dislike of the fearless film artist and her hope that the commanding Bigelow would soon fade away, a hope that did not come true as Bigelow went on to great success in the new millennium and became the first women to win the Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture for the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Lynch addressing artbuster THE HURT LOCKER (2008). The presence of Cassavetes as a gym teacher and writer/director Peter Bogdanovich as the school Principal underlined that implication, as they openly linked the elementary school and its students to film art and film artists and evoked the appearance of Bartel as the droll and ironic Grade 7 teacher, Mr. Walsh, in FRANKENWEENIE. And so SCC implicitly affirmed that the gently satirical film artist of LIFE WITHOUT ZOE was gone and had been replaced by a steely eyed, subtle and ambiguous allegorical assassin, stepping out of the shadows in her favourite domino and black cape and implicitly thrusting the knife into Bigelow with the confident, seasoned, knowing and sympathetic hand of a person who had spent her life soaking up insight into allegorical film art like a human sponge and was now implicitly releasing that accumulated knowledge with shrewd and sure confidence on Bigelow, just like the geyser of blood that was implicitly released from Bigelow as SCC pulled the knife knowingly free and Bigs fell to the ground screaming in agony in a spreading pool of her own blood as the fearless film artist became the first to feel the Domino Effect.
Ironically, the following year Lana and Lilly Wachowski implicitly Cameron and SCC to Choi and Dujour-played by Marc A. Gray and Ada Nicodemou, respectively-a cool young couple who disturbed the brooding solitude of the implicitly Lucas linked Thomas A. Anderson-played by Keanu Reeves, who had a cameo in episode one of HI OCTANE-at the beginning of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting indie docufeature film THE MATRIX (1999), released on March 24, 1999. An ironic implication, indeed, for soon after the release of THE MATRIX, SCC implicitly roasted Lucas when she left behind black and white and one despondent and suicidal Grade 7 girl and embraced five despondent and suicidal teenage high school girls in full colour and implicitly roasted Bigelow again and also implicitly began roasting male film artists when she literally followed in the footsteps of Shipman by headin’ up to Canada with Francis, Roman, Beggs, Roos, Schwartzman, Turner, Anthony DeSimone-who played a school snack bar clerk in LICK THE STAR-and Leslie Hayman-who had a bit part as a giraffe lover in “This Here Giraffe” and was also a set dresser on LICK THE STAR-to fuse the everyday and DEMENTIA 13 evoking horror of LICK THE STAR with the art, colour, fashion, dance and pop music of LIFE WITHOUT ZOE in her first twilit, allegorical and CGI free indie docufeature film THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (1999), inspired by the allegorical Jeffrey Eugenides novel The Virgin Suicides (1993), and first screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 1999, the same release day as the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Cameron and Spielberg roasting Lucas film STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999), in which SCC had an unspeaking cameo role as Sache, a handmaiden to Natalie Portman’s Queen Padme Amidala of the taboo planet of Naboo.
“We knew
that they knew
everything about us,
and that we
couldn’t fathom them
at all.”
Curiously, the film began with the ghostly and haunting sight of a blonde, beautiful and bewitching teenage girl who turned out to be the mysterious and unobtainable Lux “Luxy” Lisbon-played by Kirsten Dunst-standing on a sunny tree lined summer suburban street somewhere in Michigan that evoked the suburbs already seen in FRANKENWEENIE and LICK THE STAR and looking at the camera and sucking suggestively on a popsicle like an unobtainable new Lolita before turning to her sinister left and wandering off the right of the frame to nowhere or somewhere, all to the wistful, swelling and haunting sound of the allegorical and Thomas Croquet, Jean B. Dunckel and Nicolas Godin written Air tune “Playground Love” (1999). Of course, this somewhere to nowhere transition and the beautiful and unobtainable mystery of Luxy recalled the equally beautiful and unobtainable Chloe and her journey from somewhere to nowhere in LICK THE STAR, linking the beautiful, mysterious and distant Chloe to the equally beautiful, mysterious and distant Lux and setting us up for Luxy’s own journey from bewitching popularity to limbo over the course of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. A journey that was implicitly linked to film, as Lux was a classic beautiful Hollywood blonde with a Christian name that was once a stock name for a cinema, like Bijou. In addition, her Lisbon surname evoked the longed for and liberating flight to Lisbon in the allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Jack Warner bashing Michael Curtiz film CASABLANCA (1942).
After Luxy exited stage leftright, a montage of shots were seen of the sleepy, sunny and tree lined summer suburban streets of ‘74 to the continued sound of “Playground Love”, shots that evoked the montage of shots of sleepy and idyllic Lumberton at the beginning of the twilit, allegorical, CGI free and Ozian themed Lynch moving painting BLUE VELVET (1986), and of the sleepy and idyllic small Pacific Northwest town of Twin Peaks at the beginning of the equally twilit, allegorical and CGI free Lynch telemoving painting series TWIN PEAKS (1990-91), and which included a quick shot of what appeared to be SCC walking and talking down a sidewalk with another young woman who was walking a dog. Suddenly a siren began to sound, and the film cut from the sleepy, sunlit and musically enhanced suburban exterior to the gloomy, grim and silent interior of the main bathroom of a home that turned out to be the Lisbon house in the first of many jarring cuts from an idyllic and musically enhanced moment to another scene in a feature length SCC film.
Here we discovered Luxy’s youngest sister, Cecilia Lisbon-who resembled a young Irving, and was played by Hannah Hall-lying in the full bathtub with her blood draining out of her after slitting her wrists, evoking but outdoing Chloe’s attempt to drown herself in her family’s bathtub after swallowing a bunch of pills in LICK THE STAR and bringing the horror of everyday life back to a SCC film. While Cecilia was saved in time by paramedics, the depressed teenage girl soon succeeded with her second demented 13 year old attempt, leaping from her second story bedroom window and impaling herself on the gothic and medieval spikes of the black iron fence bordering the front garden below, dying like the Wicked Witch of the East to open wide the gates of the unhealing spiritworld dream.
Significantly, as her anguished and Cronenberg resembling and implicitly linked father, Ronald Lisbon-fittingly played by James Woods, who linked the film openly to Cronenberg and 1982 via his role as Max Renn in the presciently twilit and allegorical Cronenberg indie docufeature film VIDEODROME (1982)-a math teacher at the Catholic high school the sisters attended-actually Monarch Park Collegiate Institute in Toronto-cradled her horizontal body despairingly in her arms like a despairing magician holding his beautiful female assistant after a floating magic trick gone horribly wrong, we saw that the Lisbon house number was 2037. This linked Cecilia’s death to the July 23, 1982 date of the TZ disaster-a link to the fateful ’82 disaster reaffirmed by the Lisbon family’s 727-8221 phone number and by the “Landis” hidden in the name of Ronald Lisbon-a link to ’82 that reminded us that everything went downhill for the film artists of New Hollywood, including Francis, after the TZ disaster. The arrival of the John Carpenter resembling and implicitly linked Father Moody-played by Scott Glenn-at the Lisbon house to soothe the family after the death of Cecilia also affirmed the link of her death to the TZ disaster, for the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Carpenter docufeature film THE THING (1982) was in theatres in late July of ’82 at the time of the TZ disaster.
Thus, the fact that everything also went downhill for Ronald and Luxy and the rest of the Lisbon family after the tragic fall of Cecilia implied that Coppola was addressing the fall of New Hollywood and its film artists after 1982 in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. Particularly in the implicit form of the four frustrated and virginal school boys-DeSimone’s implicitly Dante or Martin Scorsese and Cowardly Lion linked Chase Buell, Noah Shebib aka FourTee’s implicitly Lucas and Great Oz linked Parkie Denton, Lee Kagan’s implicitly Lynch and Tin Man linked David Barker and Jonathan Tucker’s implicitly Scarecrow linked Tim Weiner, respectively-who attended the same Catholic high school as the Lisbon girls and their father taught at, and after the suicide of Cecilia pined throughout the film for Lux and the other three Lisbon sisters-Therese, Bonaventure aka Bonnie and Mary Lisbon, played by Hayman, Chelse Swain and A.J. Cook, respectively, all beautiful and bewitching Hollywood blondes as fond of the arts as Chloe and Zoe and as frustrated by the strict and stifling religious faith of their mother (played by Turner) as Carrie was by the insanely strict and stifling Christianity of her mother (played by Piper Laurie) in CARRIE.
Significantly, no one longed for Luxy from afar quite like the frustrated foursome’s friend and fellow student, the tall, lean and handsome Trip Fontaine-played by Josh Hartnett-whose sadolescent saga dominated Act Two of the film. Curiously, his height, hair colour and eyebrows evoked and implicitly linked him to Bigelow, reminding us of Bigelow’s fondness for implicitly linking male film artists to female characters in her film art such as the equally fearless, twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting and Lynch roasting indie docufeature artbuster POINT BREAK (1991), which was alluded to in the film. Indeed, the fact that Fontaine arrived on the scene like the implicitly Bigelow linked Chloe in LICK THE STAR in a white long sleeved dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck walking down a school hallway in slow motion to the sounds of another rockin’ pop tune, in his case the allegorical and Ann and Nancy Wilson written Heart tune “Magic Man” (1975) rather than “Tipp City”, affirmed the implicit link of Fontaine to Bigelow and also gleefully inverted the traditional entrance of the attractive and scantily clad babe to the raunchy accompaniment of rockin’ roll in most male directed and oriented films. The sound of “Magic Man” also reminded us that ex-LAPD officer and SQUID playback peddler Leonard “Lenny” Nero-played by Ralph Fiennes-described himself as a “…magic man” as he tried to woo over a potential and implicitly Kubrick linked customer named Keith-played by Joe Urla-to the dubious delights of playback in STRANGE DAYS, reaffirming the implicit link of Fontaine to Bigelow.
Curiously, however, and despite his intense longing for Luxy that had him successfully court her and her family and persuade them all to allow him to take her to the school’s Homecoming dance, Fontaine abandoned Lux after making love to her in the darkness on the Catholic high school’s football field after the dance, a dance that recalled equally memorable high school dances in CARRIE and PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED. This abandonment implied that SCC felt that Bigelow had violated and abandoned the film art for film art’s sake philosophy of all true film artists with STRANGE DAYS. Indeed, hearing the older Fontaine-played by Michael Pare-wistfully say, “…that was the last time I saw her” after he left her on the football field that night as he reminisced about Luxy years later paraphrased a line-“…that was the last we ever saw of him”-spoken by Harold Baigent’s older and wistful once Feral Kid and narrator about Mel Gibson’s implicitly Clint Eastwood linked “Mad” Max Rockatansky at the end of the presciently twilit, allegorical and Ozian themed Miller indie docufeature film THE ROAD WARRIOR (1982), reminding us that Bigelow was a fan of the film art of Miller to reaffirm the implicit link of Fontaine to Bigelow.
Alas, and tragicomically, the four wistful and lustful boys were never able to fully understand or connect with Bonnie, Luxy, Mary and Therese like Fontaine, despite the fact that the girls were ironically revealed to not be particularly mysterious or more intelligent but just as lost, confused, shallow and superficial as the boys. An inability to truly connect with Bonnie, Luxy, Mary and Therese or prevent their suicides at the end of Act Three that implied that SCC felt that Lucas, Lynch and Scorsese had failed to succeed after 1982 due to an inability to truly connect with their film art, as well. Indeed, the setting of the film in Michigan around 1975 at the height of the fame and fortune of New Hollywood, and the many nostalgic Seventies pop tunes on the soundtrack and the fact that THE VIRGIN SUICIDES was released on the same day as STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE reaffirmed the implicit New Hollywood roasting intent of the film. The implicit link of Bonnie to Faye Dunaway’s Bonnie Parker in the allegorical Arthur Penn indie docufeature film BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), and Mary to Susan George’s Mary in the allegorical John Hough indie docufeature film DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY (1974), also affirmed the link of the Lisbon sisters to the New Hollywood film art of the Skyrocking 1967-82 era.
In addition, on top of the implicit link of Mr. Lisbon to Cronenberg, the use of Shebib/FourTee as Denton also implicitly affirmed Coppola’s interest in film artists in general and in Canadian film artists in particular, as Shebib/FourTee was the son of Canadian and Toronto film artist, Donald “Don” Shebib, best known for his allegorical and implicitly Coppola and Lucas roasting indie docufeature film GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD (1970). Of course, the fact that THE VIRGIN SUICIDES was mostly filmed in Toronto and featured the allegorical and Patrick Pentland and Sloan written Sloan tune “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” (1996) on the soundtrack reaffirmed Coppola’s interest in Canadian and Toronto film art, film artists, music and musicians. This implicit interest in Canadian film art and film artists was reaffirmed by the implicit link of the intrepid, Gremlin driving and Patricia Rozema resembling and implicitly linked television News 8 reporter, Lydia Perl-played by Suki Kaiser-who investigated the Lisbon suicides throughout the film-her first name Lydia also implicitly linking her to L.A. and Hollywood.
And so Fontaine and the four Ozian boys-Schwartzman’s implicitly Landis linked Paul Baldino and Chris Hale’s implicitly Bogdanovich linked Peter Sisten-were unable to fly to Lisbon, one might say, unlike Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo-played by Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, respectively-at the end of CASABLANCA, in an implicit confirmation of the importance of the Lisbon surname. And so Barker, Buell, Denton and Weiner stood on the sidewalk in black tuxedoes staring uncomprehendingly across the street at the abandoned Lisbon house at the end of film to the swelling and wistful sound of “Playground Love”, openly evoking Humphrey Bogart’s white tuxedoed Richard ‘Rick’ Blaine in CASABLANCA and preparing us for more allusions to CASABLANCA in Coppola’s second feature film.
And so SCC reaffirmed that she was indeed a shrewd and knowing allegorical assassin, hitting her targets so well that they were almost grateful for the sympathetic and understanding knife that slipped between their ribs and into their hearts, as it saved them from despondent suicides and eternal damnations for their roles in the dread allegorical Zone Wars, and mortal damnations and lingering deaths in depressing retirement homes forgotten by all, until the knife was pulled out, and the pain began as the blood gushed out of the wound, and they fell to the ground screaming in agony in a spreading pool of their own blood as their young, beautiful, slim and dark skinned killer slipped back into the shadows in her favourite domino and cape. And so SCC also implied that, like all true artists, she used her film art to come to grips with and release her experiences in life. And so SCC kicked off a new millennium of film art on a despondent and deadly serious note, reminding audiences that she had kicked off the Nineties by being the implicitly embodied symbol of the death of New Hollywood film art on one level at the end of MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER III.
Not surprisingly, despite the high quality of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and the fact that the low budget indie film was better received than the uber expensive STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, some observers were implicitly disturbed by the mixed messages SCC gave by directing edgy and satirical twilit and allegorical indie films like LICK THE STAR and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES while appearing as Sache in STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE. Particularly since her appearance in the latter film also openly linked her to the twilit machinations that had outraged fans and damaged the reputation of Lucas since he had reached out to and worked with Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg on INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM after the TZ disaster and which she had implicitly distanced herself from as a child actor by assuming the nom d’art of Domino. As some audience members-particularly and implicitly Spike Lee in his tragicomically twilit, allegorical and Lucas roasting indie docufeature film BAMBOOZLED (2000), released on September 18, 2000!-believed that the goofy and implicitly Landis and Cowardly Lion linked CGI Gungan character, Jar Jar Binks-played by Ahmed Best-not only singlehandedly destroyed STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE but was an implicitly racist caricature of American citizens of African descent, apparently because Binks was played by Best-despite the fact that the rest of the CGI Gungans were played by Caucasian Brits-some observers may also have felt that SCC’s appearance as Sache made it look as if she condoned “racist” tombinkery.
At any rate, the mixed messages that SCC was giving at this time implicitly caused Toronto film artist John Fawcett and company to implicitly warn SCC to stick to the low budget indie art film path and not to get too close to Lucas and the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced blockbuster beast lest she turn into a twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced blockbuster beast herself in their twilit, allegorical and fittingly Greater Toronto Area (GTA) created indie docufeature film GINGER SNAPS (2000), which first screened on August 1, 2000 at the Munchen Fantasy Filmfest.
“The beast of Bailey Downs
strikes again!”
Indeed, the film’s prologue, which featured a boy-played by Stephen Taylor-with the trademark big Lucas ears playing in the sandbox of a backyard of a lookalike house in the dreary, lifeless and Hollywood cadenced Toronto suburb of Bailey Downs implicitly affirmed that Fawcett was blasting Lucas and STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE right from the outset. The grisly discovery of the shredded corpse of Baxter, the boy’s family’s dog, soon after we met the boy also implicitly affirmed Fawcett’s fear that a twilit and slathering new blockbuster beast that threatened the body, hearts, minds and souls of children had indeed returned to theatres with the arrival of the first film of the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy.
The horrorshow high school photography project created by the boy’s exuberantly ghoulish and gothic neighbours, the SCC resembling and implicitly linked Brigitte Fitzgerald and her older and implicitly Lucas linked sister, Ginger-their names evoking Brigitte Bardot and Ginger Rogers in an open affirmation of their link to film art, and played by Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle, respectively-that followed the gruesome prologue also affirmed Fawcett’s implicit interest in SCC. For the fake but grisly murder and suicide photographs featuring Brigitte and Ginger evoked the five different suicides of the Lisbon sisters in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, an implicit link to SCC supported by allusions to FRANKENWEENIE and LICK THE STAR. In addition, the attack of the ravening blockbuster werewolf beast on the two girls soon after we met them, an attack that led to Ginge being badly mauled and then having to deal with the horror of lyncanthropy on top of the horror of everyday sadolescent life, also affirmed the implicit concern of Fawcett that SCC was too close to Lucas in GINGER SNAPS.
Indeed, this opening werewolf attack and the slow transformation of Ginge into a werewolf over the course of the film evoked the werewolf attacks and transformations in the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Lucas bashing Dante indie docufeature film THE HOWLING (1981). An allusion that reminded us that Ginger’s name sounded like Jar Jar, the character who best affirmed that the Farce had returned to the new STAR WARS trilogy, while her nickname “Ginge” evoked George, implicitly reaffirming her link to Lucas and his film art. The fact that Ginger was the older sister also reaffirmed the link of Ginge to George, reminding us that Lucas was older than SCC. The appearance of Kris Lemche’s supportive Sam after the opening attack also reaffirmed the film’s interest in Lucas, as he looked, talked and acted like a young version of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo in the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy. The solution of monk’s hood herb that was used to treat lycanthropy in the film reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lucas and his STAR WARS films, for the monk’s hood evoked the monk hoods and robes of the J.D. Jedi.
Thus, the full transformation of Ginge into a werewolf and her death at the end of the film implied the fear of Fawcett that Lucas had not just unleashed a CGI enhanced blockbuster beast on the world with STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENANCE, but had lost his vital humanity and transformed into a CGI enhanced blockbuster beast. The fact that Brigitte was bitten and infected with lycanthropy by Ginge and in danger of turning into a twilit blockbuster beast as well by the end of the film also implicitly affirmed Fawcett’s fear that by appearing as Sache in STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, SCC had been infected with beastly blockbuster disease and was also in danger of turning into a ravening and CGI enhanced blockbuster beast.
Curiously, Cameron and SCC then implicitly did become a cool couple when he and co-creator/co-producer Charles Eglee also implicitly responded to the emergence of SCC as a confidently potent but indomitably feminine indie film artist in her own right by implicitly linking her to the equally confidently potent but indomitably feminine and genetically created and enhanced and Replicant evoking and implicitly Dorothy linked Jam Pony X-Press indie bike courier, extracurricular cat burglar and X5 series Terminator “Mad” Max Guevara-played as a child by Geneva Locke, and as a young woman by Jessica Alba, respectively-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature Zonebuster telefilm series DARK ANGEL (2000-02), whose first David Nutter telefilm appeared on the small screen on October 3, 2000 and whose implicit SCC toasting intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to LICK THE STAR, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and TRUE LIES, the implicit link of indie laundromat owner/private investigator Dan Vogelsang-played by Stephen Lee-to Francis in the first Fourceful four episodes of the series, the implicit link to Cassavetes and Glinda the Good of Guevara’s friend and apartment mate Kendra Maibaum-played by Jennifer Blanc-Biehn-and the implicit link to Jonze and the Scarecrow of fellow Manticore creation Evil Ben aka X5/493 in Season One and Good Alec aka X5/494 in Season Two-both played by Jensen Ackles.
For her gloomy part, Lea Pool kicked off the next film year by implying in the tragicomic sight and sound of the implicitly SCC linked indie lesbian teen rebel, Pauline “Paulie” Oster-played by Piper Perabo-committing suicide by throwing herself off the roof of her boarding school, in the melodramatic end, after losing her one time lover and roommate, Victoria aka “Tori”-played by Jessica Pare-to an implicitly Lucas linked teen boyfriend named Jake-played by the fittingly named Luke Kirby-whose name evoked that of Jake Lloyd, who played the implicitly Cameron linked kid Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, in STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE to affirm the implicit link of Jake to Lucas, that SCC would also bring about her downfall trying to wrest film art from the beastly CGI enhanced blockbuster grip of film artists like Lucas in the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film LOST AND DELIRIOUS (2001), which first screened on January 21, 2001 at the Sundance Film Festival and whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to LICK THE STAR and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. As for Sam Raimi, he implicitly linked SCC to Mary Jane Watson-played by Dunst-dream girl of the implicitly Cronenberg linked and radioactive spider powered high school student Peter “Spider-Man” Parker-played by Toby Maguire-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction film SPIDER-MAN (2002), a film released on April 30, 2002 whose implicit SCC addressing intent on one level was affirmed by allusions to THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. For their part, the Wachowski Sisters implied that they were fond of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, for they had the implicitly SCC linked Niobe-played by Jada Pinkett-Smith-team up with the implicitly Francis linked Morpheus-played by Laurence Fishburne-and the implicitly Lucas linked Neo-played again by Reeves-to take on and take out the the beastly all CGI blockbuster machine world in order to preserve a vital humanity in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed animaction film THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003), released on May 7, 2003.
Then SCC implicitly replied to Fawcett, Lucas and Pool when she added co-producer to her director/writer duties as in LICK THE STAR and teamed up again with Francis, Roman, Air, Beggs, Lance Acord-director of photography of LICK THE STAR-Giovanni Ribisi and Nancy Steiner-wryly wistful VO narrator and costume designer, respectively, for THE VIRGIN SUICIDES-to thrust the knife shrewdly and sympathetically in again on her second twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and CASABLANCA and Ozian themed indie docufeature film LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003), which first screened on August 29, 2003 at the Telluride Film Festival.
“Maybe she likes the movies
you were making in the Seventies
when you were still making movies.”
Significantly, the film began with a close-up of the firm, smooth, round and candy pink panty clad bottom of a young woman who turned out to be the implicitly Dorothy, Ilsa and Pool linked newlywed American tourist and Yale philosophy major, Charlotte-her name evoking Zoe’s mother, Charlotte, in LIFE WITHOUT ZOE and Brigitte in GINGER SNAPS, and played by Scarlett Johansson-slowly appearing out of the darkness of somewhere like Lux at the beginning of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, lying horizontal on top of what turned out to be a Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel bed to the slowly swelling accompaniment of the allegorical Kevin Shields tune “City Girl” (2003), another wistful tune that evoked Air’s equally wistful “Playground Love” that opened and closed THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. This cheeky closeup immediately affirmed that SCC was replying to GINGER SNAPS, for the sight evoked the beastly and often panty clad Ginger Fitzgerald in GINGER SNAPS. A cheeky closeup, indeed, for the words LOST IN TRANSLATION were soon slowly superimposed one by one over the supine bum of Charlotte in a noticeable “kiss my ass” cadence, implicitly affirming only too well what SCC thought of Fawcett and GINGER SNAPS and implicitly affirming the film’s interest in Toronto and its film art and film artists. Then this cheeky vision slowly faded off into nowhere, leaving only the title of the film, before it too slowly faded into black.
Curiously, out of the darkness of the screen came a female Japanese voice announcing the arrival of a plane at New Tokyo International Airport Narita. Then the sleeping and rumpled face of an older man who had implicitly arrived by plane at Narita and who turned out to be the tragicomic and implicitly Lucas and Great Oz linked and Blaine evoking American film star, Robert “Bob” Harris-played by Bill Murray, who linked another Coppola film to 1982 via his role as Jeff Slater in the allegorical Sydney Pollack docufeature film TOOTSIE (1982)-suddenly appeared in the back seat of a car from somewhere out of the black screen that Charlotte and the film’s title had faded into, implicitly linking him to Charlotte and implying that he was dreaming about her as he slumped over asleep-indeed, the fact that the scene was supported by the sound of the allegorical Death In Vegas tune “Girls” (2002), affirmed that Harris was dreaming of a beautiful young woman like Charlotte.
Soon Harris woke up to find himself in the back of that taxi being driven through the neon lit Tokyo night, a vibrantly multi-coloured neon lit night that evoked the neon lit streets of the hellish and polluted post-apocalyptic future L.A. in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas addressing Sir Ridley Scott indie docufeature artbuster BLADE RUNNER (1982), in another link of the film to 1982. The neon lit night streets also evoked the equally neon lit and grimy streets of the planet city of Coruscant in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Cameron and Spielberg roasting Lucas film STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002), affirming the film’s implicit interest in Lucas. Curiously, the neon lit and crowded main street of the Emerald City evoking Tokyo also evoked the equally bright and neon lit and crowded nightscape of Yonge and Dundas in Toronto, an evocation helped by a huge neon sign that evoked the once famous Sam the Record Man store sign that could always be seen in GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD and by the red and white national colours of Canada and Nippon on the awnings of one of the stores, reaffirming the film’s implicit interest in Toronto and its film artists like Fawcett.
Soon Harris arrived at the Park Hyatt Tokyo where the rumpled fellow was welcomed as a guest of honour by a small entourage of handlers that included a man in glasses named Mr. Tanaka-played by either Kazuyoshi Minamimayoe, Kazuko Shibata or Take-who evoked Piers Handling, then CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), again affirming the film’s implicit interest in Toronto and its film artists like Fawcett. Then Harris was off to his lonely room, whose loneliness led him up to the hotel’s NY bar with two Japanese patrons who resembled Landis and Spielberg and a spectacular view of the implicitly Toronto linked Tokyo-Tokonto?-at night, then back to bed and a sleepless night. Curiously, as Harris lay unable to sleep, we cut to a shot of the equally sleepless and Ginger resembling Charlotte sitting on the inner ledge of the panoramic window with its spectacular view of the room she shared with her implicitly Fawcett and Tin Man linked husband, John-played by Ribisi. And so Charlotte and Harris were united in lonely sleeplessness, and the screen faded to black.
Curiously, the next morning, after the tall Harris struggled through an awkward and tragicomic morning wash in a shower designed for a much shorter Japanese citizen, Harris and Charlotte were united in tired wakefulness in the hotel elevator goin’ down the chute. Soon the reason for Harris at least being in Tokonto was revealed when we found him at an equally tragicomic albeit more lucrative television commercial shoot for Suntory whisky, wearing a black tux and trying to understand and channel Blaine for an impatient and increasingly frustrated commercial artist played by Yutaka Tadokoro, openly linking Harris to Bogie and the film to CASABLANCA. Indeed, after the purely commercial rather than artistic photo shoot, Harris was seen pining from a distance for Charlotte up in the NY bar of the Park Hyatt Tokyo like the black tuxedoed Blaine pined for Ilsa from a distance in Rick’s Café Americain in CASABLANCA, openly affirming Bob’s implicit link to Rick. The sight and sound of the pining Harris also evoked the sight and sound of Lon Chaney’s implicitly Adolf Hitler linked Phantom longing for Mary Philbin’s implicitly free world linked Christine Daae from afar in the allegorical Rupert Julian film THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925), a return of the horror of everyday life theme in the film art of Coppola reaffirmed by Mr. Kazu’s black clad and implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked “Premium Fantasy Woman” aka Japanese prostitute-played by Nao Asuka-who asked for permission to enter the hotel room of Harris at one tragicomic point in the film like all good blood sucking vampires and Hollywood film studio executives.
Alas for Harris, his longing for a romance with Charlotte was likely to be just as unsuccessful as Rick’s longing for a renewal of his romance with Ilsa. For his excursions around Tokonto kept Harris carefully removed from the everyday life of the city in his celebrity fantasy world like Lucas in his celebrity film artist fantasy world and implicitly linked to film art for commercialism’s sake, while Charlotte’s puzzled trip through the labyrinthine Tokonto subway system, walking excursions on the crowded sidewalks and streets, visits to temples-including a brief side trip to visit the temples of Kyoto-and attempt to learn the art of flower arranging not only kept her grounded in the everyday life of Tokonto but also evoked the equally grounded and allegorical Lucas indie docufeature student films like 1:42:08 (1966) and his first equally allegorical and docufeature indie feature films like AMERICAN GRAFFITI and the CGI enhanced THX 1138 (1971), linking her to film art for film art’s sake.
Significantly, Tokyo continued to be implicitly linked to Toronto during the excursions of Harris and Charlotte outside the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Indeed, Tokonto cityscape shots-which included shots of a tall and solitary CN Tower evoking building seen from the window of the room of Charlotte and Canadian Life-like buildings-and subway shots with Charlotte that evoked the subway of Toronto reaffirmed the implicit interest in Toronto and its film art and film artists in LOST IN TRANSLATION. In fact, the use of the allegorical and Merrill Nisker written Peaches song “Fuck The Pain Away” (2000) and the Sebastien Tellier instrumental piece “Fantino” (2001) openly linked the film to Toronto, its film art and film artists, music art and music artists and the year of the release of GINGER SNAPS, reaffirming Coppola’s implicit interest in GINGER SNAPS in LOST IN TRANSLATION.
A TIFF-style film premiere press conference for the spoof twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Irving Forbush indie docufeature film MIDNIGHT VELOCITY (200?), starring the implicitly Glinda linked and Judy Garland resembling and archetypical bimbo Hollywood blonde, Kelly-the sort of ahuman automaton manfactured by the Hollywood android factory that Philip K. Dick roasted with righteous satirical fury in his allegorical and BLADE RUNNER inspiring novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep (1968) and played by Anna Faris-also affirmed the film’s implicit interest in Toronto and its film art and film artists. In fact, Kelly’s missing but name dropped co-star Keanu Reeves openly linked the film to Canada and its film art and film artists. And so lonesome insomnia suffering Harris pined from afar for Charlotte in his hotel room, a platonic relationship that evoked Zoe’s equally platonic but less sexually tinged relationship with her father, Claudio, in LIFE WITHOUT ZOE. Significantly, at one point Harris watched the allegorical Akira Kurosawa film SANJURO (1962) on tv, evoking the Lucas fondness for the oeuvre of Kurosawa in another affirmation of the implicit link of Harris to Lucas, an implicit link to Lucas reaffirmed by the film’s many allusions to the twilit and allegorical Wim Wenders indie docufeature film NOTEBOOK ON CITIES & CLOTHES (1989).
For on the surface the Wenders documentary purported to ponder Paris loving Tokyo fashion designer, Yohji Yamamoto. However, on the interior, the film implicitly pondered Lucas, given that the slight and bearded Yamamoto evoked the equally slight and bearded Lucas as a young man. Indeed, the neonlit nighttime arrival of the Great Harris in the Emerald Tokonto also evoked a similar scene in NOTEBOOK ON CITIES & CLOTHES, affirming the implicit interest in the Wenders film. In fact, SCC alluded so often in LOST IN TOKONTO to NOTEBOOK ON CITIES & CLOTHES-and to the twilit, allegorical and mostly set in Tokyo Chris Marker indie docufeature film SANS SOLEIL (1983)-her film seemed like an exuberant fictional fused remake of the Marker and Wenders documentaries-that is, when it wasn’t seeming like a remake of the equally claustrophobic THX 1138, whose endless subterranean labyrinth of hallways and rooms returned in the endless interior labyrinth of rooms and hallways that trapped and stifled Bob and Charlotte in the Park Hyatt Tokonto.
Significantly, while implicitly addressing Lucas, NOTEBOOK ON CITIES & CLOTHES was also one of the first thoughtful cinematic meditations on the arrival of a new-in this case video-electronic media age, a brave new age in which imagery became copies rather than originals as in the age of celluloid film art. Thus, allusions to the Wenders film implied that SCC was using LOST IN TOKONTO to meditate on Lucas and the arrival of the digital media age that was sweeping both the celluloid film and videotape ages away, while retaining the copycat nature of the latter. A new digital film art era that some audience members and critics believed was leaving film artists like Lucas and his new STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy lost and adrift in the translation of celluloid film into binary digital code, given the critical and popular scorn heaped on STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE and STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, the latter film like the former also linked to SCC given that Hayden Christensen, who played the implicitly Cameron linked Jake H. Conley in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, returned as the also implicitly Cameron linked young Jedi, Anakin Skywalker. Thus, given all of the allusions to NOTEBOOK ON CITIES AND CLOTHES, SCC implied that she shared the opinion of most people at the time that Lucas was lost in the translation of the celluloid film art era to the digital “film” art era. This lost implication was reaffirmed by the trouble Harris had throughout the film in understanding or being understood by Tokyo citizens, even when sympathetic locals acted as translators for him.
This implicit Lucas roasting intent was reaffirmed by the name of Bob Harris, for it evoked that of Ford’s implicitly Bakshi linked Bob Falfa in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. This implicit link to AMERICAN GRAFFITI was also affirmed by the flaming tressed, and perhaps Rozema and implicitly Ozma linked Aussie singer-played by Catherine Lambert-in the Rick’s Café Americain evoking nightclub located high up in the Park Hyatt Tokyo when she sang the allegorical and David Nichtern written Maria Muldaur tune “Midnight At The Oasis” (1973), for she openly linked herself and Harris to the year of the release of AMERICAN GRAFFITI. The sight and sound of Ozma singing the allegorical and Arthur Garfunkel and Paul Simon written Simon and Garfunkel tune “Scarborough Fair” (1966) reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lucas, for “Scarborough Fair” was released the year Lucas graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) film school. The sight and sound of Harris, the possibly Spielberg linked Charlie Brown-played by Fumihiro Hayashi-and another young Japanese man saving Charlotte from an angry ray gun firing bartender at a party and racing through the cramped streets and pachinko parlours of Tokonto to elude pursuit also affirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lucas, for it evoked the sight of Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker-played by Peter Mayhew and Mark Hamill, respectively-teaming up with Solo to liberate Fisher’s Princess Leia from her jail cell on the Death Star and eluding impious and ray gun firing pursuit in the labyrinth of Death Star hallways in the allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg roasting Lucas film STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE (1977).
The sight and sound of Brown singing the allegorical and Paul T. Cook, Glen Matlock, Stephen P. Jones and Johnny Rotten written Sex Pistols tune “God Save The Queen” (1977), at a karaoke joint soon after the great escape also affirmed the film’s implicit Lucas roasting intent and reaffirmed the film’s interest in Canada and its film art and film artists, for the song was released the year the life of Lucas was changed forever by the Skyrocking success of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE. An implicit link to Lucas and the Skyrocking year of 1977 reaffirmed by bimbot Kelly when late one night at Bob’s Park Hyatt Café Americain she sang the allegorical Marvin Hamlisch and Carole B. Sage written Carly Simon song “Nobody Does It Better”, the theme song of the allegorical and implicitly Lucas addressing Lewis Gilbert docufeature film THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977).
Even the sight and sound of Harris trying and failing to reboot his boring older life by striking up a relationship with Charlotte affirmed the implicit interest of the film in Lucas, for the failed attempt evoked the failure of Lucas to reboot his career with Portman in the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy, an implication affirmed by the implicit link of Tokonto to Coruscant. Thus, it was fitting that the film ended as it began by fading to black as Harris was driven in the backseat of another cab through the darkening early evening streets of Tokonto back to Narita and a flight back to the U.S. and his “luvving” and nagging wife, Lydia-her name evoking intrepid TV reporter Lydia Perl in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, and voiced by Steiner-to the swelling and wistful sound of the allegorical and Jim and William Reid written the Jesus & Mary Chain tune “Just Like Honey” (1985)-a tune that wryly and fittingly referenced plastic toys, evoking the plethora of action figures and other plastic toys sold by the two STAR WARS trilogies-for the sight and sound evoked the sight and sound of the Wicked Witch of the West melting away at the end of THE WIZARD OF OZ and the Ozian themed STAR WARS films of Lucas.
Thus, while implying that she did not think that her ‘Uncle’ George had died a beastly CGI enhanced blockbuster death with the release of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE as Fawcett implied in GINGER SNAPS, SCC still implied with the tragicomic inability of either Charlotte, Harris or John to truly and fully connect with each other that neither Fawcett, Lucas or Pool were truly connecting or succeeding with their film art, evoking the same implicit inability of the implicitly Lucas linked Denton and the rest of the teenage boys implicitly linked to the film artists of New Hollywood to implicitly understand and connect with their film art in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. And so SCC implicitly, confidently, knowingly and sympathetically slid the knife between the ribs of Fawcett and Lucas, and her targets were perhaps pleased with the thrust, given how well it was done, until the knife was pulled out just as smoothly and expertly and knowingly and the blood gushed out like a river and the pain exploded and the victims fell to the sidewalk howling in agony in a spreading pool of their blood as their assassin slipped back into the shadows in her favourite domino and black cape.
Curiously, not long after the release of LOST IN TRANSLATION, the Wachowski Sisters wrapped up the Matrix Trilogy by having the implicitly SCC linked Niobe-played again by Pinkett-Smith-team up again with the implicitly Francis and Lucas linked Morpheus and Neo-played again by Fishburne and Reeves, respectively-to achieve a truce with the beastly CGI enhanced blockbuster machine world, implying the hope of the Wachowskis that the neo eon of film art would not be resolutely CGI free or ahumanly all CGI but balanced between CGI and a vital humanity at the end of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed animaction film THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003), released on October 27, 2003. The following year, the implication that SCC replied to Fawcett on one level in LOST IN TRANSLATION, the success of the film and the Best Screenplay Oscar won by SCC-a win that proved the gloomy Pool wrong, given that films directed or produced by Lucas had only ever won technical Academy awards-implicitly inspired Fawcett and friends, for they responded with not one but two implicitly SCC roasting GINGER SNAPS sequels, starting with the twilit and allegorical Brett Sullivan indie docufeature film GINGER SNAPS II: UNLEASHED (2004), released on January 30, 2004.
“You’re not alone.
He’s found you again.”
Indeed, Sullivan soon affirmed his implicit interest in LOST IN TRANSLATION. For not long after we reacquainted ourselves with the implicitly SCC linked Brigitte Fitzgerald-played again by Perkins-we found her lying on her side on a motel bed after an injection of an herbal solution of the lycanthropy delaying and STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy evoking monk’s hood. Seeing Brigitte lying on her side in bed reminded us that the first time that we saw Charlotte in LOST IN TOKONTO, she too was lying on her side on a hotel bed in a room at the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Significantly, however, Sullivan also soon implied that he was concerned about a CGI enhanced blockbuster beast linked to Spielberg rather than Lucas. For the ghost of the implicitly Lucas linked Ginger-played again by Isabelle-appeared in a Hoth evoking winter snowscape like the ghost of Jedi Master Ben Obi- Wan Kenobi-played by Sir Alec Guinness-in the Lucas executive produced, presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg roasting Irvin Kershner docufeature film STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980), implicitly reaffirming the link of Ginge to George and warning Brigitte that an implicitly Spielberg linked blockbuster werewolf beast was stalking her.
This warning reminded us that Spielberg had infuriatingly and ominously implied in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced docufeature film HOOK (1991) that he had had foreknowledge of the illegal use of Chen and Le but had not stopped their use on the Landis set the fateful and fatal night of the TZ disaster. This implication that Sullivan was now more interested in Spielberg than Lucas was reaffirmed after a werewolf did indeed attack Brigitte and a lonely librarian named Jeremy-played by Brendan Fletcher. For Jeremy’s assessment of $23.97 in overdue fines for Brigitte shortly before the attack openly linked the werewolf to the 237 date of the TZ disaster, implicitly linking the werewolf to Spielberg as Lucas had never been linked to the day of the TZ disaster as he did not oversee the creation of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE like Spielberg.
Placed in an asylum for troubled young women after the attack and unable to inject herself with healing solutions of monk’s hood, Brigitte slowly transformed into a werewolf over the course of the film. Significantly, while Brigitte faced down and killed the implicitly Spielberg linked blockbuster werewolf, in the end, the film ended with her beastly self under the control of the asylum’s youngest female member, a blonde and constantly fantasizing girl-played by Tatiana Maslany-who evoked Domino’s Ann in FRANKENWEENIE and who was fittingly named Ghost given that Brigitte was haunted by the J.D. Jedi-like “Force” ghost of Ginge throughout the film. As Ghost was obsessed with indie art for art’s sake above all else, Sullivan implied that SCC had successfully fought off offers to churn out beastly blockbuster dreck for Hollywood only to be taken over and controlled by her equally beastly film art for art’s sake side-in short, he implied that he found LOST IN TRANSLATION “…too artsy” for his persnickety tastes.
Significantly, Raimi again implicitly linked SCC to Mary Jane Watson-played again by Dunst-who was still the dream girl of the implicitly Cronenberg linked and radioactive spider powered teen Peter “Spider-Man” Parker-played again by Maguire-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction film SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004), a film released on June 25, 2004 whose implicit SCC addressing intent on one level was affirmed by allusions to LOST IN TRANSLATION. Then the downer ending of GINGER SNAPS II: UNLEASHED was absent from the twilit and allegorical Grant Harvey indie docufeature “prequel” trimax GINGER SNAPS BACK: THE BEGINNING (2004), released on July 10, 2004.
“The Other will come!”
For earlier incarnations of the implicitly SCC and Lucas linked Brigitte and Ginger-played again by Perkins and Isabelle, respectively-triumphed over a group of twilit and implicitly film artist linked Northern Legion Trading Company employees at Fort Bailey-including the implicitly Spielberg linked Doc Murphy, played by Matthew Walker-at the gory end of this curious trimax set in northern Canada in 1815, implying the hope of Harvey that SCC and Lucas would triumph over their film artist foes, in the end. Indeed, the arrival of Brigitte and Ginge at and entrance into the fort evoked the arrival at and entrance into the fortress lair of Jabba the Hutt by C3P0 and R2D2-played by Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker, respectively-at the Tatooine beginning of the Lucas executive produced, presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg roasting Richard Marquand trimax STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983). This linked all three GINGER SNAPS films to all three films of the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, implicitly reaffirming that the Ginger Snaps Trilogy was just as interested in Lucas as SCC.
The isolated and snowbound northern fort and its personnel also evoked the isolated American Antarctic research station in THE THING, openly linking the film to the twilit and disastrous year of 1982. A fitting link, for the blockbuster beast linked extraterrestrial monster that slowly killed the implicitly New Hollywood film artist linked personnel of the Antarctic station of THE THING or caused them to kill themselves returned as a pack of beastly blockbuster werewolves that slowly killed the twilit fort personnel of GINGER SNAPS BACK: THE BEGINNING or caused them to kill themselves. Significantly, Brigitte and Ginger avoided the fate of the doomed men when the banished Ginger returned to the fort in a hooded cape like young Skyrocker at Jabba’s palace at the beginning of STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI and saved Brigitte from twilit blockbuster beasts and beastly men, in the end.
Incidentally, this curious early nineteenth century prequel to the first two GINGER SNAPS films came across as another wild daydream in the mind of the indomitably fantasizing Ghost or a response to the twilit and allegorical Michael Punke novel The Revenant (2002). For on top of a character named Murphy, the novel featured two Brigitte Fitzgerald evoking characters named Bridger and Fitzgerald who abandoned the implicitly Lucas linked frontier scout Hugh Glass to his fate in the winter wilderness, implying that Punke was replying to GINGER SNAPS in The Revenant. Curiously, the implicit support given to SCC in GINGER SNAPS BACK: THE BEGINNING was also implicitly given to her the following year by Tony Scott when he implicitly and enthusiastically toasted Coppola in his twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and DARK ANGEL, LICK THE STAR and LOST IN TRANSLATION evoking indie docufeature film DOMINO (2005), a film that first screened at the Montreal Film Festival on September 25, 2005.
“To the woman who has brought beauty
and grace to this profession,
Domino Harvey!”
Indeed, Scott likened Coppola’s courage in taking on the male film artists of Hollywood and her unflinchingly tough but uncompromisingly feminine and feminist style of film art to a real life and equally tough and Guevara evoking but uncompromisingly feminine, feminist and implicitly Dorothy and SCC linked bounty hunter, Domino Harvey-played by Keira Knightley-in DOMINO. This implication was affirmed by the name of Domino, and by Domino’s famous film and telefilm actor father, Laurence Harvey-played by Jesse Pate-who evoked Francis. Indeed, the appearance of Rourke as Domino’s implicitly Lucas and Scarecrow linked boss, Ed Moseby, head of the reality tv bounty hunter A-Team, the Bounty Squad, openly affirmed the implicit link of Harvey father and daughter to Coppola father and daughter via Rourke’s role as Motorcycle Boy in RUMBLE FISH.
The fact that Scott also implicitly roasted Toronto in the film as much as Coppola implicitly did in LOST IN TOKONTO reaffirmed his implicit support for Coppola in DOMINO. Indeed, the presence of Stanley Kamel as the Moses Znaimer resembling gangster, Anthony Cigliotti, implicitly affirmed the interest of Scott in Toronto. In fact, Scott one upped Coppola in LOST IN TRANSLATION by symbolically blowing up the CN Tower observation deck in a CGI aided explosion that blew up the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino tower observation deck and the film’s implicitly film artist linked bad guys in the implicitly Emerald City linked Las Vegas at the end of the film, for the stratospheric tower not only resembled the CN Tower but, at 350 m, was the tallest building in Las Vegas, Nevada and the United States, second in height in North America only to the 553 m of the CN Tower. Indeed, the fact that the CN Tower evoking hotel and casino was owned by Dabney Coleman’s implicitly Great Oz linked Drake Bishop affirmed the implicit interest in Toronto in DOMINO, for Bishop’s name evoked Toronto pop star Drake and the Billy Bishop Airport across Toronto Harbour from the CN Tower on Toronto Island.
Significantly, Bishop’s name also evoked the Colonial Marine Private Drake-played by Mark Rolston-and Bishop the android-played by Lance Henriksen-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and mostly Dante roasting Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster ALIENS (1986), linking Bishop to Cameron. This implicit link of Bishop to Cameron was reaffirmed by the raging gun battle that preceded the towering explosion, a raging gun battle and explosion to the tune of the 1999 Tom Jones cover of the allegorical and Randy Newman written Three Dog Night tune “Mama Told Me Not To Come” (1970) for the ferocious gun battle evoked the equally ferocious and explosive gun fight at the Cyberdyne headquarters at the end of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lynch roasting Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991).
As Bishop and Moseby-and Moseby’s Chewie and Cowardly Lion evoking partner, Choco (played by Edgar Ramirez)-died in the closing gun battle, Scott also implied his hope that the indie film art for film art’s sake docufeature films of Coppola would triumph over the beastly CGI enhanced blockbusters of Cameron and Lucas-if not top them both by finally succeeding in breaking film art free from the TZ disaster, ending the dread Zone Wars, bringing health and harmony back to audiences, film art, film artists and the Temple Theatre and freeing Chen, Le and Morrow from the Zone…forever. While over the top and as about as subtle as a bull in a china shoppe, the film at least acknowledged that a confident, able, fearless, shrewd and knowing female cinematic assassin had arrived in the Temple Theatre.
For his part, For his part, Sir Peter Jackson implied his hope that the Coppola clan would help exorcise Stanley Kubrick from the Temple Theatre by having the impecunious, vainglorious, and implicitly Francis linked film producer Carl Denham-played by Jack Black-team up with the aspiring and implicitly SCC linked film actress Ann Darrow-played by Naomi Watts-to literally bring about the downfall of the implicitly Kubrick linked blockbuster CGI enhanced ape Kong-played by Andy Serkis-from atop the Empire State Building in Dirty Thirties New York at the eucatastrophic end of the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced animaction film KING KONG (2005), released on December 5, 2005. Soon after, the Wachowski Sisters implied that they remained devoted fans of Lucas, for they donned the writer/co-producer hats and teamed up with Portman and James McTeigue to implicitly link Lucas to the valorous, virtuous and victorious V-played by Hugo Weaving-and implicitly link SCC to spunky Evey Hammond-played by Portman-and have them unite to triumph over the Evil and implicitly Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg linked Doctor Diana Stanton aka Dr. Delia Surridge, Bishop Anthony Lilliman and High Chancellor Adam Sutler-played by Sinead Cusack, John Standing and John Hurt, respectively-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature film V FOR VENDETTA (2005), a film released on December 11, 2005 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to the Matrix Trilogy, the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy and THX 1138.
Soon after, Terry Zwigoff implicitly roasted the friendship of Cassavetes and SCC in the form of the friendship of beautiful blonde Strathmore Institute art school model Audrey Baumgarten-played by the ironically but fittingly named Sophia Myles-and the desperately in luv and desperate to succeed young Strathmore student Jerome Platz-played by Max Minghella-in the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (2006), a film released at Sundance on January 23, 2006 that affirmed its implicit SCC addressing intent on one level with allusions to THE VIRGIN SUICIDES.
"Does [an artist] think all day
of fine wines?"
Curiously, the film ended with Jerome failing to succeed as a “great artist” with his own art, thrown into prison for a series of murders that he did not commit that were possibly committed by embittered and possibly Terry Gilliam linked ex-Strathmore student Jimmy-played by Jim Broadbent-where he endlessly painted Audrey while failing to truly succeed as the luver of Audrey, implying that Zwigoff believed that SCC would not truly succeed as a film artist. Indeed, the film ended with Jerome coming close but failing to kiss Audrey, Jerome's embodiment of art, due to the glass window that separated them when she came to visit him in prison, affirming the implication that Zwigoff believed that it would be SCC who would come close but never truly succeed with her film art, not the film artists she implicitly roasted in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. In addition, Zwigoff also implicitly roasted Bigelow in the form of an unnamed art teacher-played by Anjelica Huston-Cameron in the implicit form of Jerome’s fellow art student and friend Bardo-played by Joel D. Moore-De Palma in the form of aspiring film artist and dorm mate Vince-whose APOCALYPSE NOW poster openly linked the film to the film art of the Coppola clan, and played by Ethan Suplee-Richard Kelly to brash and successful artist and ex-Strathmore grad Marvin Bushmiller-played by Adam Scott-
and Ford Solo in the form of undercover cop and wistful student artist Jonah-played by Matt Keeslar.
As for SCC, she easily defied the implicitly gloomy prediction of Zwigoff when she donned the director/producer/writer hats once again and implicitly, confidently, fearless, shrewdly and knowingly thrust the knife into Lucas again in a fine film that fused art film with blockbuster to create an artbuster with the help of Francis, Roman, Acord, Air, Beggs, Dunst, Roos and co-production designer K.K. Barrett, film editor Sarah Flack, co-producer Ross Katz and music producer Brian Reitzell-all from LOST IN TOKONTO-and Squarepusher-who contributed the allegorical instrumental “Tommib” (2001) to the soundtrack of LOST IN TOKONTO-in her next twilit, allegorical, slightly CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature pop artbuster MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006), a film fittingly released on the Lucasian day of May 24, 2006 and inspired by the allegorical Antonia Fraser book Marie Antoinette: the journey (2001).
“Once upon a time.”
Tragicomically, the film began with the allegorical and Dave Allen, Hugo H. Burnham, Andrew Gill and Jon King written Gang Of Four tune “Natural’s Not In It” (1979), rocking the short opening titles, which were done in a bubble gum pink that set the candy coloured tone for the film and featured Dunst pointedly first, the title and then the rest of the major stars, bubble gum titles that were interspersed by a stereotypical pose of a young, beautiful, blonde and implicitly Dorothy linked Queen Marie Antoinette-played by Dunst-stretched back in a chair looking like a cross between her regal self and Elsa Lanchester’s Bride of Frankenstein in the allegorical James Whale docufeature film THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) and langorously eating cake with one right forefinger before looking smugly at the camera as a long suffering handmaid-played by either Io Bottoms or Celine Sallette, respectively-fitted a pink high heeled shoe onto her right foot, evoking the sight of Luxy staring into the camera as she ate a popsicle at the beginning of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. Then this indolent vision seemed like a dream or a nightmare as the opening titles ended, like the supine and panty clad bum of Charlotte at the equally dreamy beginning of LOST IN TRANSLATION, and then after a short fade to black a more natural but no less beautiful fifteen year old Marie Antoinette was woken up by a servant in her room in the Schonbrunn Palace in Austria May 1768, evoking the sight of Harris waking up from sleep to find himself in the back of a Tokyo cab at the beginning of LOST IN TRANSLATION.
Soon she was dressed and off to her final talk with her mother, the Empress Maria Terese-played by Marianne Faithfull-before being taken to France to be married to the eldest heir to the French throne to preserve the Alliance between France and Austria. Curiously, the Empress resembled and was implicitly linked to Hitchcock, like the haunted Lady Haloran-played by Ethne Dunn-in DEMENTIA 13. Just as curiously, Ambassador Mercy-played by Steve Coogan-the advisor that Empress Maria Terese assigned to watch over and guide Marie Antoinette in France resembled and was implicitly linked to Joe Dante. These two implicit links reminded us that Hitch was an idol of Spielberg, and that Spielberg was a mentor of Dante. Thus, these links implied that Marie Antoinette was linked to Spielberg.
Then Marie Antoinette was taken by horse drawn Cinderella coach to the border of Austria and France to be handed over to French authorities, again evoking Harris in his cab at the beginning of LOST IN TRANSLATION. A fitting and timely reminder of the implicitly Lucas linked Harris, for soon after Marie Antoinette was handed over to the dimunitive, diffident, socially awkward and psychologically impotent prince who became the implicitly Tin Man, and, in time, tinny Great Oz linked King Louis XVI-played by Jason Schwartzman-the royal party in their Cinderella carriages and their accompanying guards on horseback crossed the screen from right to sinister left while Versailles hovered over them in the background. This scene evoked similar screen crossing scenes in the film art of Lucas, implicitly linking the future King and the secluded confines of Versailles to the equally dimunitive, diffident, socially awkward and psychologically impotent Lucas and the secluded confines of Skywallker Ranch. Thus, it was fitting that a black and ominous crow suddenly appeared out of the Lucasian screen on the sinister left and flew over the royal entourage to vanish on the right of the screen. For the ominous black crow not only evoked the allegorical and implicitly Stanley Kubrick roasting Hitchcock docufeature film THE BIRDS (1963), affirming that young Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were implicitly linked to Lucas and Spielberg. This ominous sight also reminded us that everything went downhill for Lucas after he reached out to Spielberg, Kennedy and Marshall after the TZ disaster, preparing us for the deaths of the King and Queen at the end of the film.
The colourful and expensively clad aristocrats waiting in two lines to greet young Louis and Antoinette outside the beautiful and imposing castle of Versailles reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lucas and Spielberg, for in the two lines were two aristocratic extras who resembled and were implicitly linked to their cinematic rivals, Bogdanovich and Cameron. Life in Versailles reaffirmed the implicit interest in the film artist rivals of Lucas and Spielberg, for the castle was filled with aristocratic extras who resembled and were implicitly linked to Bigelow, Lynch, Francois Truffaut, Roger Vadim, and a young and spunky Comte de Provence with some speaking parts-played by Sebastian Armesto-who resembled and was implicitly linked to Quentin Tarantino. The huge chandeliers pondered by Marie Antoinette after her arrival in Versailles as she wandered through the chambers reserved for the young royal couple reaffirmed her implicit link to Spielberg, for they evoked a similar chandelier seen in the presciently twilit and allegorical Spielberg telefilm “Eyes” (1969), one of three segments of the pilot of Serling’s NIGHT GALLERY.
The resemblance to and implicit link of the King’s sister, the Comtesse de Provence-played by Clementine Poidatz-to Princess Leia in the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy also affirmed the implicit Lucas roasting intent of the film. The implicit link to Kennedy of Marie Antoinette’s friend, the Duchesse de Polignac-played by Rose Byrne-and the implicit link to Marshall of her other good friend, the Princesse de Lamballe-played by Mary Nighy-reaffirmed the implicit Lucas and Spielberg roasting intent of the film. The King’s support of the Thirteen Colonial rebels in the American Revolution also evoked the Rebels of the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, reaffirming the film’s implicit roast of Lucas. Even the film’s sumptuous cinematography that made every frame of the film a memorable painting rather than a memorable photograph as in the earlier films, a moving painting style helped by the film’s stunning locations and costumes, affirmed the film’s implicit Lucas and Spielberg roasting intent, for it wryly and ironically evoked the equally sumptuous cover and interior photos shot by Annie Liebovitz for the February 2005 STAR WARS edition of VANITY FAIR.
In addition, the sight and sound of the sweet, pleasant, beautiful and blonde Marie Antoinette-another beautifuly young blonde whose daily life was as dull, lifeless, listless, repetitious, stifled by rules and as lonely and cut off from the world as that of the Lisbon sisters in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, a repetitious monotony enhanced by repeated playing of the allegorical Antonio Vivaldi “Concerto in G” (172?) as the young Queen began her proscribed morning routine-turning in bored frustration to the dashing and Ewan McGregor resembling and implicitly linked Swedish soldier, Count Fersen-played by Jamie Dornan-for a lively affair due to a cold and passionless marriage-as cold and listless as that between John and Charlotte in LOST IN TRANSLATION, a link to that film affirmed by the return of the Squarepusher instrumental “Tommib”-also affirmed the implicit Lucas addressing intent of MARIE ANTOINETTE. For the extramarital affair reminded us that after a cold and childless marriage, Marcia, the first wife of Lucas, also turned in bored frustration to an extramarital affair with Tom Rodriguez, leading to the Great Divorce of 1983, and that McGregor played Jedi Knight and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy. Last but not least, the docufeature shots of Antoinette exploring the grounds of Versailles with her first born girl, Marie Therese-played by Lauriane Mascaro at two years old and Florrie Betts at six years old, respectively-while Louis XVI remained in his regal fantasy world inside the castle evoked the grounded docufeature scenes of Charlotte exploring Tokyo while Bob was trapped in his depressing celebrity fantasy world in LOST IN TRANSLATION, reaffirming the implication that Lucas was being roasted again in MARIE ANTOINETTE.
Thus, the rise and fall of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette after they were married for pragmatic political reasons to preserve the Austro-Franco Alliance and their refusal to part from each other thereafter ‘till death did them part no matter what the world threw at them and despite the fact that they never truly connected with other curiously and implicitly symbolized the rise and fall of Lucas and Spielberg after they worked together on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in ’81 and their refusal to part with each other thereafter ‘till death did them part no matter what TZ disaster and audience uprising the world threw at them despite the fact that they were as odd a couple as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Indeed, the fact that the 1982 Bow Wow Wow cover of the allegorical and Bert Berns, Robert Feldman, Gerald Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer written and exuberantly lascivious Strangeloves tune “I Want Candy” (1965) accompanied the reckless shopping and partay spree of a bored and frustrated Marie Antoinette and her gal pals midway through the film before the downward spiral of Louis XVI and herself began reaffirmed the film’s implicit Lucas and Spielberg roasting intent, for ’82 was the fateful, twilit and disastrous year when everything went wrong for Lucas and Spielberg, and the year the two decided to work with Kennedy and Marshall on INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, causing audiences to rise up against them between 82-4 and then again against Lucas and his STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy between 1999-2005. As such, it was fitting that Dunst played Marie Antoinette, given that she had already implicitly symbolized a film art that a film artist was unable to truly connect with in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES.
Of course, the angrily shouting mob with the torches, sickles and pitch forks who arrived at Versailles for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, in the end-fittingly, at chapter 23 on the DVD-evoked the same angry mobs that often arrived to face down and kill the monster at the end of horror films, including FRANKENWEENIE and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. This reminded us that Marie Antoinette, with her blonde hair often piled up into elaborate dos and her even bigger blonde wigs, often evoked the Bride of Frankenstein. Particularly when we suddenly found ourselves looking at an even more nightmarish vision of Marie Antoinette than that which had opened the film and that had been built up in the minds of the angry and bitter French people, a truly Bride of Frankenstein-like nightmare that saw the Queen lying insolently in a bathtub with her blonde hair combed straight up from her head and her pale face accentuated by dark black lipstick and saying, with dismissive and amused contempt, the immortal and possibly apocryphal words “…let them eat cake”. Thus, it was a shock to the revolutionary and howling citizens when they arrived with their torches and pitchforks outside Versailles to be greeted by a humble, contrite, human and very ordinary Queen Marie Antoinette when she stepped out on to a balcony to acknowledge them and place herself and her family at their mercy. Alas, that mercy was not given, as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were cut down with the same unsympathetic fury that audiences heaped on Lucas, Portman and the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy-and, curiously, on MARIE ANTOINETTE, despite being a fine and complex artbuster.
Curiously, Marie Antoinette and Prince Louis XVI first met each other in a French forest on May 14, 1770 as she travelled by coach to Versailles from Austria (Weber 37). Thus, there was a link between young Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Lucas and SCC, for May 14th was the shared birthday of SCC and Lucas. Just as curiously, MARIE ANTOINETTE was the third film openly linked to 1982 by an older male actor, in this case Rip Torn, who played the rakish and implicitly Great Oz linked King Louis XV of France, an older ruler who was probably linked to Kubrick given that the film evoked the allegorical Kubrick artbuster BARRY LYNDON (1974), which was also set in the Eighteenth Century and which also strove to turn every frame into a painting lit by natural light, and the twilit, allegorical and CGI free Kubrick artbuster EYES WIDE SHUT (1999). For Torn-who was also linked to Francis by way of his role as I.H. Chanticleer, “Curator of Incunabula”, in YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW-played the implicitly Terry Gilliam linked and truly “Mad” Maax, High Priest of Aaaarrrggh! in the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Don Coscarelli indie docufeature film THE BEASTMASTER (1982).
And so SCC skillfully, expertly and implicitly slid the knife again into Lucas and Spielberg, who no doubt fell screaming into that spreading pool of their blood, before the knowing and nimble ninja fled into the shadows again in her favourite domino and cape. And so Cassavetes implied that it was time for SCC to leave behind her obsession with Lucas and head off in her own direction in the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film BROKEN ENGLISH (2007), released in January 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival. And so Raimi again implicitly linked SCC to MJ Watson-played again by Dunst-who remained the dream girl of the implicitly Cronenberg linked and radioactive spider powered Peter “Spider-Man” Parker-played again by Maguire-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction film SPIDER-MAN 3 (2007), a film released on April 3, 2007 whose implicit SCC addressing intent on one level was affirmed by allusions to MARIE ANTOINETTE. And so Jason Reitman also implicitly roasted SCC and her obsession with older men that year in the form of the implicitly SCC linked and older male obsessed teen, Leah-played by Olivia Thirlby-in the twilit, allegorical and slightly CGI enhanced indie docufeature film JUNO (2007), a film released on September 1, 2007 whose implicit interest in SCC on one level was affirmed by the film’s allusions to Sonic Youth and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. And so SCC’s implicit interest in Lucas was also implicitly satirized by Anne Fletcher in the twilit, allegorical and LIFE WITHOUT ZOE and MARIE ANTOINETTE evoking indie docufeature film 27 DRESSES (2008), released on January 9, 2008.
Indeed, in the sight and sound of the obsession of Katherine Heigl’s implicitly SCC linked Jane Nichols with her older and implicitly Lucas linked boss, George-played by Edward Burns-and with planning the weddings of other people but not developing her relationship with the younger Kevin Doyle-played by James Marsden-Fletcher implicitly and gently mocked SCC’s continued obsession with the older Lucas and the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy and her refusal to not explore her own themes in her film art. Thus, by having Nichols drop the older George, stop planning other weddings, and marry Doyle instead, Fletcher implied that she felt that SCC should drop Lucas and head off in her own idiosyncratic indie film art direction. For his part, Frolickin’ Frank Miller ended the film year by implicitly linking SCC to the infamous but beautiful and beguiling criminal mastermind Sand Saref-played by Seychelle Gabriel as a teen and Eva Mendes as an adult, respectively-the bewitchin' Bad girl who troubled and haunted the mind of the indomitable Good hero Dennis “Denny” Colt aka “the Spirit”-played by Jonny Simmons as a teen and Gabriel Macht as an adult, respectively-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical indie moving comic THE SPIRIT (2008), released on December 25, 2008. Significantly, the following year Cameron implied his approval of the Lucas Trilogy by implicitly linking SCC to the fearless and all CGI Nav’i warrioress Neytiri te Ckaha Mo’at’ite-played by Zoe Saldana-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie animaction Zonebuster AVATAR (2009), released on December 10, 2009.
Curiously, Stan “the Man” Lee and Marvel Studios were implicitly inspired by SCC’s subtle assassinations to allegorically address her, as well. Alas, they were also implicitly inspired by the over the top DOMINO, with the tragicomic result that they too decided that the silent and stealthy SCC would be best linked to a boffo blockbuster Dominatrix in the implicit form of the Guevara and Harvey evoking ex-Russian assassin, Tokyo fashion model and SHIELD secret agent, Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff-created by Lee, Don Rico and Don Heck for Marvel Comics and played by an unwary Johansson, swallowed up alas by the blockbuster beast like Dunst-and would be also best teamed up with the implicitly Reitman linked Tony “Iron Man” Stark-played by Robert Downey jr.-Stark’s indomitable and long suffering girl Friday and potential sweetie, Pepper Potts-implicitly linked to JUNO screenwriter Diablo Cody, and played by Gwyneth Paltrow-the implicitly Clement Virgo linked James “War Machine” Rhodes-played by Don Cheadle-and the implicitly Spike Lee linked SHIELD Director Nicholas J. “Nick” Fury-played by Samuel L. Jackson-against the implicitly Sir Scott linked Evildoer, Ivan “Black Tsar” Vanko-played by Rourke-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Jon Favreau super satirical animaction film IRON MAN 2 (2010), released on April 26, 2010 and whose implicit SCC addressing intent on one level was affirmed by the film’s allusions to DOMINO, LOST IN TRANSLATION and MARIE ANTOINETTE and the appearance of Rourke as Black Tsar.
Curiously, soon after the release of IRON MAN 2, Jean-Luc Godard implicitly roasted SCC and urged her to tackle bigger ideas in her films given the emphasis on them and on the course of human history in the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film FILM SOCIALISME (2010), released on May 17, 2010 and an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to LOST IN TRANSLATION and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. For her part, Julie Bertuccelli implicitly agreed with Fletcher that SCC should drop Uncle Lucas and move on in the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film THE TREE (2010), released on May 23, 2010. As for SCC, she ignored this implicitly and gently satirical concern when she donned the director/producer/writer hats and teamed up again with Francis, Gia, Roman, Beggs, Bottoms, Flack and Roos and returned to the Temple Theatre to implicitly roast Lucas once again and, thus, implicitly complete a fitting Lucas Trilogy in superbly subtle style in her first American made and next twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature film SOMEWHERE (2010), released on September 3, 2010.
“What’s wrong?”
Indeed, SCC immediately and implicitly affirmed that she was wrapping up a Lucas Trilogy with SOMEWHERE. For the HI OCTANE opening prologue saw a classic Lucas stationary camera capture a Wicked black Ferrari driving three times around a short circular desert race track, the only sound being the rising and falling sound of the car’s roaring engine as it approached or raced away from the camera. Significantly, this circular rat racing recalled another rocketing racer driving round and round on a small track in 1:42:08. Thus, when the Wicked black Ferrari stopped after the third lap, and a youngish male driver got out and stared silently off into somewhere, the implication was that he was linked to Lucas and was stuck in a tragicomic gerbil wheel of a life that spinned haplessly in impotent circles.
The fact that after a short opening titles sequence the action switched to a nighttime streetscape outside the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood reaffirmed the implicit Lucas addressing intent of the film. For the apartment building turned hotel that evoked creepy Castle Haloran in DEMENTIA 13 was inspired by a Gothic French castle in the Loire valley called the Chateau d’Amboise, evoking Versailles in MARIE ANTOINETTE to openly link SOMEWHERE to that film and remind us of the implicit Lucas roasting intent of that latter film (Levy 17). This implicit Lucas roasting intent was also affirmed when the POV switched inside the Chateau and we found the same young man who had got out of the Wicked black Ferrari and who turned out to be the bored, lost, lonely, frustrated, recently divorced and implicitly Lucas and Scarecrow/Tin Man/Cowardly Lion and Great Oz linked film star, John “Johnny” Marco-who also evoked Moseby in DOMINO, and was played by Stephen Dorff-now implicitly inebriated and walking down a flight of stairs to what appeared to be the ground floor of the Chateau with his right arm around a young woman who resembled Portman and another behind him to his ironic right who resembled Fisher-played by either Nathalie Fay, Erin Wasson or Alexandra Williams, respectively-and some male friends, one of whom resembled McGregor, and his brother or cousin Sammy, played by Chris Pontius. For the sight of Marco suddenly tripping and falling down the stairs after the entourage passed a painting straight out of Versailles on a wall overlooking a landing reminded us that the wistful attempt to Skyrock to success again with McGregor and Portman and the Ozian themed STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy was an equally disastrous misstep for Lucas.
Significantly, the fall down the stairs also implicitly knocked Marco into Oz like the debris that sent Dorothy down into the healing Ozian dreamworld at the beginning of THE WIZARD OF OZ. For after a short period of darkness we found Marco with a swollen left cheek and his left forearm in a cast recovering from his injury all alone in his bed in lonely room 59 at the Chateau watching the beautiful, tanned, Sarah M. Gellar resembling, Hilton heiress anticipating and peroxide blonde twin “Premium Fantasy Sisters”, Bambi and Cindy-played by Kristina and Karissa Shannon, respectively-performing a burlesque pole dance for him while wearing pink nurse tops and ruby red panties and high heels like two Wicked Glinda the Goods or two Wicked Witches to the ironic sound of the allegorical and Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear written Foo Fighters tune “My Hero” (1995). Humourously, this tragicomic sight also affirmed his implicit link to Lucas. For Bambi and Cindy not only evoked the two failed and double trouble obsessed STAR WARS Trilogies with its twin Skywalkers, but also evoked the Afro holo-dancers that Robert Duvall’s THX 1138 watched on holo-tv in his equally lonely and solitary subterranean apartment in THX 1138.
Fittingly, seeing Marco all alone in his bed watching the Wicked Glindas reminded us that the lonely, despondent and THX 1138 evoking existence of Marco in the labyrinthine rooms and hallways of the Chateau Marmont evoked the equally lonely, despondent and THX 1138 evoking existence of Harris in the labyrinthine hallways and rooms of the Park Hyatt Tokyo in LOST IN TRANSLATION, linking Harris to Lucas to yet again implicitly reaffirm that SCC was bringing her Lucas Trilogy full haplessly spinning circle in SOMEWHERE. Indeed, two scenes in the film that saw Marco awkwardly showering with his left arm in the air so as to not to get the cast wet evoked the equally awkward scene where the tall Harris tried to wash himself in a shower designed for a much shorter Japanese citizen, reaffirming the link of Marco to Harris. The sight and sound of Marco being driven around L.A. to film related duties, pondering irritating texts on his phone and his strained phone calls with his ex-, and implicitly L.A. and either Glinda the Good or Wicked Witch of the Marmont linked wife, Layla-played by Lala Sloatman-also evoked the sight and sound of Harris being driven around Tokonto to his tv commercial and photo session for Suntory whisky, pondering irritating faxes from his wife, Lydia, and his strained phone conversations with her in LOST IN TRANSLATION, reaffirming the implicit link of the two characters.
The sight and sound of Marco driving around L.A. in his Wicked black Ferrari the morning after the first double trouble pole dance also reaffirmed his implicit link to Lucas, for this driving sequence evoked the sight and sound of the implicitly Great Oz and Walt Disney linked John Milner-played by Paul Le Mat-driving his Yellow Brick Road coloured ’32 Deuce Coupe around Modesto, the hometown of Lucas, one magical Ozian night at the end of the summer of ’62 in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. The latter film also tied in with Marco’s film long obsession with beautiful Hollywood blondes-including a beautiful blonde in a top down Mercedes played by Angela Lindvall that Marco tailed for a while in this first drive around L.A.-for this blonde ambition recalled the obsession of the Cowardly Curt Henderson-played by Richard Dreyfuss-with the mysterious and implicitly Glinda the Good linked blonde in her ‘56 white T-bird-played by Suzanne Somers-in AMERICAN GRAFFITI, as much as the obsession of the teenage nerds with the equally beautiful and mysterious blonde Lisbon sisters of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, reaffirming the implicit link of Marco to Lucas. Wistful blonde obsessions that continued back at the Chateau after the drive, with another double trouble burlesque pole dance by the Wicked Glinda sisters, this time sportily attired in skimpy tennis outfits with short white skirts and green and white tops and equipped with bum spanking racquets, to the sound of the allegorical and Amerie M. M. Rogers, Rich Harrison and Stanley Walden written Amerie tune “1 Thing” (2005).
Significantly, the morning after the second double trouble burlesque dance-double trouble dances that again evoked Bob’s equally double trouble tv commercial and photo shoot for Suntory Whisky in LOST IN TRANSLATION-Marco was awakened in his room by his sweet young and Charlotte, Dorothy and Zoe evoking daughter, Cleo-played by Elle Fanning-a daughter who luvved him unconditionally despite his many faults and the divorce of her parents, instead of pretended to luv him like the Wicked Glindas. Soon Marco drove Cleo to the Pickwick, a local ice rink, where she ironically performed a more artistic and graceful figure skating dance in an equally skimpy but more tasteful candy blue outfit with a short blue skirt to the sound of the allegorical, fittingly entitled, familiarly wistful, Gwen Stefani and Dallas Austin written Stefani tune “Cool” (2004), an art for figure skating art sake’s routine that shared some of the moves but was in complete innocent contrast to the lewd dancing and gyrating for money’s sake routine of the double trouble twins and evoked a figure skater also wearing baby blue-played by Jo Jo Starbuck-seen in LIFE WITHOUT ZOE.
Not surprisingly, the tragicomic sight and sound of Marco driving Cleo to and from the ice rink and on some other automotive excursions in the Wicked black Ferrari reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lucas, for these drives recalled the even more tragicomic sight and sound of Milner driving the irritating Carol-played by Mackenzie Phillips-down the Yellow Lined Road in the bitchin’ ’32 Deuce Coupe in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. In addition, the sight and sound of Marco and Cleo taking an even more tragicomic and quick trip to the implicitly Emerald City linked Milan where they shared an opulent room complete with a fittingly emerald green and gold colour scheme at the Hotel Principe De Savoia and a Great Oz evoking handler named Pupi-played by Nunzio A. "Pupi" D'Angieri-who resembled the older Lucas better than Marco did so that Marco could pick up an award or two reaffirmed the implicit Ozian theme of SOMEWHERE and Marco’s curiously implicit link to the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and the Great Oz at different stages of the film.
Significantly, the sight and sound of Marco fleeing his dead end hotel labyrinth world and his failed relationships with Cleo and Layla-a failure to connect with Cleo or Layla that evoked the failure of Harris to connect with Charlotte or Lydia in LOST IN TRANSLATION and the failure of Lucas to connect with audiences with both STAR WARS Tragic Trilogies-and driving out of L.A. into the arid countryside in his Wicked black Ferrari-its licence 5ZUO782 evoking the Lucas fondness for Ozian themed film art and linking the film to the fateful month and year of the TZ disaster when everything began to go wrong for Lucas in lieu of an actor linked by a film role to 1982 as in previous SCC docufeature indie films-evoked the similar beginning of the allegorical and implicitly Lucas addressing Spielberg film DUEL (1971), reaffirming the implicit Lucas roasting intent of the film. Last but not least, the stretch of semi-desert road that Marco was last seen striding irresolutely down to somewhere or nowhere to the swelling and familiarly wistful and haunting sound of the allegorical Mars, Deck D’Arcy, Laurent Brancowitz and Christian Mazzalai written Phoenix tune “Love Like A Sunset Part 2” (2009), after abandoning his Wicked black Ferrari, in the end, not only evoked the sight and sound of Marco parking and getting out of his car at the circular racetrack at the beginning of the film, bringing the film full circle, but also recalled the similar Paradise Road at the end of AMERICAN GRAFFITI, a final link to that film openly affirmed by the inclusion in the closing titles of Bryan Ferry’s cover of the allegorical and Otto Harbach and Jerome Kern written Platters tune “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1974), the love theme of AMERICAN GRAFFITI.
Thus, and in the end, SCC gently but firmly and implicitly chided Lucas for abandoning the artistry of AMERICAN GRAFFITI and THX 1138 for the uber commercialism of the two double trouble STAR WARS trilogies and perhaps reminded him that it was not too late to make one of the small art films that he had been threatening to make-in his garage, no less!-since the success of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE. Indeed, the sight and sound of SCC chatting with Marco at a partay in his lonely room 59 at the Marmont openly affirmed the personal nature of this implicit roast of Lucas. And so SCC implicitly and expertly and confidently thrust the knife in between the ribs of Lucas again, an implication enhanced by a scene where the camera slowly but expertly and confidently zoomed in on Marco as he sat in a chair at a press conference for the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Buck Frobisher film DEADLY AGENDA (200?), and then again as he sat in another chair waiting for a Phantom of the Opera special effects face mask cast to dry, zooming in on both occasions like a knife being slowly slid into an unsuspecting victim, and the implicit target was pleased again because the implicit roast was so good, until the knife was tugged out and the pain began and the blood gushed out and Lucas implicitly fell to the ground again screaming in agony in a spreading pool of his blood as the short and slim female assassin in her favourite domino and cape slipped silently into the Venetian shadows again-how fitting that the film won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.
Curiously, in the sight and sound of the quirky, struggling and implicitly SCC linked elementary school math teacher Mona Gray-played by Alba-humanizing numbers with her students, gently but firmly releasing her mentally troubled and implicitly Burton linked mathematician Dad-played by John Shea-and embracing the equally quirky, indie and implicitly Sir Jackson linked elementary school science teacher Ben Smith-played by Chris Messina-in the end, Marilyn Agrelo implied her hope that SCC and Sir Jackson would avoid becoming unhealthily obsessed with blockbuster profit numbers like Burton and stick to the quirky and vital humanity of their indie film art paths in the gently satirical, twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film AN INVISIBLE SIGN (2010), released on October 7, 2010. The following year, Sarah Polley implicitly and more sympathetically addressed SCC in the form of Margot-played by Michelle Williams-and urged her not to give up on Lucas in the daylit and allegorical indie docufeature film TAKE THIS WALTZ (2011), a film released on September 10, 2011 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to LOST IN TRANSLATION, MARIE ANTOINETTE and SOMEWHERE. The next day, Francis implicitly struck back at IRON MAN 2 and did his best to free SCC from the implicit madcap machinations of Disney and Marvel by freeing the lonely and implicitly SCC linked ghost girl Victoria aka “V”-played by Fanning-from the gruesome grips of the implicitly Disney CEO Bob Iger linked mass murderer Pastor Allan Floyd-played by Anthony Fusco-and the shamelessly self promoting and implicitly Lee linked Swann Valley Sheriff Bobby LaGrange-played by Bruce Dern-with the help of the despondent, haunted, struggling and implicitly Terry Gilliam linked writer Hall Baltimore-played by Val Kilmer-the mysterious and implicitly Sir Jackson linked young rebel indie biker Flamingo-played by Alden Ehrenreich-and the ghost of the implicitly Walt Disney linked Edgar A. Poe-played by Ben Chaplin-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film TWIXT (2011), a film released on the equally haunted day of September 11, 2011, the fateful 10th anniversary of 911, whose implicit SCC addressing intent on one level was affirmed by allusions to LOST IN TRANSLATION.
As for Lucas and Anthony Hemingway, they implied that they did not share SCC’s implicit assessment of Lucas and the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy in her Lucas Trilogy, finding time in between a gripping account of the Tuskegee airman in Italia in the Second World War to petulantly and implicitly roast her in the form of the lovestruck Italian girl Sofia-played by Daniela Ruah-who lost her courageous, rebellious and implicitly Murray linked ace U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) 332nd Fighter Squadron lover Joseph “Lightning” Little-played by David Oyelowo-to aerial combat before the two could marry at the end of the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film RED TAILS (2012), released on January 20, 2012. For his part, Sir Scott implicitly warned SCC in the implicit form of Doctor Elizabeth “Ellie” Shaw-played by Noomi Rapace-to stick to her indie film art and avoid the alienated and CGI enhanced blockbuster beast lest she give birth to an alienated and CGI enhanced blockbuster beast like Shaw-a beast that almost killed the good doctor-in his twilit, allegorical and ironically CGI enhanced Scott Free indie docufeature artbuster PROMETHEUS (2012), released on April 11, 2012.
Thus, SCC was no doubt grimly amused and pleased that the implicitly SCC linked SHIELD Agent Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff-played again by Johansson-beat the implicitly Sir Scott linked Clint “Hawkeye” Barton-played by Jeremy Renner-so badly he woke him up from the Evil spell placed on him by the implicitly Spielberg linked Loki-played by Tom Hiddleston-towards the end of the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Joss Whedon super satirical animaction film MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS (2012), a film also released on April 11, 2012 that saw Agent Romanoff persuade the implicitly Lucas linked Doctor Bruce “the Incredible Hulk” Banner-played by the Murray resembling Mark Ruffalo-to join the assemblin’ Avengers to defeat Loki to affirm the implicit link of Romanoff to SCC. Christopher Nolan also more fittingly and implicitly linked SCC to the Guevara evoking Selina “Catwoman” Kyle-created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane for DC Comics, and played by Anne Hathaway-and had her first battle and then team up with the Cameron resembling and implicitly linked Bruce “Batman” Wayne-played by Christian Bale-to defeat the baneful Bane-played by Tom Hardy-and Miranda Tate aka Talia al Ghul-played by Marion Cotillard-and prevent CGI enhanced blockbuster bombs from being detonated in Gotham City and, by implication, in the Temple Theatre in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical docufeature film THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012), a film released on July 16, 2012 that finally implicitly linked SCC to a more appropriate silent, subtle, smart, cool and confident character and affirmed that implication by alluding to DARK ANGEL, MARIE ANTOINETTE and TRUE LIES.
For their part, Disney and Sam Raimi implied their disappointment with SCC’s implicit Lucas Trilogy by having the implicitly Polley linked Glinda the Good and the implicitly Lucas linked Oscar “the Great Oz” Diggs-played by Williams and James Franco, respectively-triumph over the implicitly Bigelow linked Evanora, the first Wicked Witch of the West-played by Rachel Weisz-and scare off the implicitly SCC linked Theodora, the second Wicked Witch of the West-played by Mila Kunis-to free the wonderful land of Oz from their Wickedness at the end of the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced animaction film OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (2013), released on February 14, 2013. As for SCC, she eventually sighed resignedly and donned the writer/director/co-producer hats again and implicitly and confidently thrust her trusty knife into Cody and Reitman when she returned to the Temple Theatre with Francis, Roman, Beggs, Dunst, Flack, Reitzell, Roos and costume designer Stacey Battat, line producer Louree Henley, production designer Anne Ross, the musicians of Phoenix and director of photography Harris Savides-all appearing out of SOMEWHERE-with her most tragicomically fashion gaga film to date, the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and CGI enhanced docufeature indie film THE BLING RING (2013), released on May 16, 2013 and inspired by the allegorical VANITY FAIR article “The Suspects Wore Louboutins” (VANITY FAIR March 2010) by Nancy Jo Sales, who was reimagined in the film as intrepid VF reporter, Kate-played by Annie Fitzgerald.
“Yo, home skillet,
what’s going on?”
Indeed, the film began with a nighttime prologue that had a teenage boy and a group of teen girls in hoodies break into and eagerly fleece a small castle of a modern mansion of its luxury female clothing, jewellery, purses, shoes and sunglasses and any and all drugs and money to the tune of the allegorical and Will A. Hubbard, Sydney A. Krauss and Derek Miller written Sleigh Bells tune “Crown On The Ground” (2009), immediately affirming the fashion gaga theme of the film. Significantly, this robbery allowed the POV to tragicomically focus on all the luxury brand name and bright and shiny women’s clothing, hats, high heels, jewellery, purses, shoes and sunglasses in a short credit sequence that implicitly affirmed that on one level the film was also addressing and satirizing filmmercials designed to promote movie tie-in merchandise and placed products as in the super satirical films, implicit filmmercial satirizing insanity that was interspersed with one vista of a nighttime L.A. shot from the Hollywood Hills that evoked a similar vista pondered by Marco from the balcony of his hotel room on his last night at the Chateau at the end of SOMEWHERE, neatly linking the two films together, as well as unusually prophetic shots of some of the robbers after their arrests.
Then the POV drifted slowly to the sinister left down a daylit street in the L.A. suburb of Calabasas, evoking a similar slow POV shift to the right down a daylit Toronto suburban street at the beginning of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, thus linking the L.A. suburbs and its film art and film artists to the Toronto suburbs and its film art and film artists. Indeed, Dunst soon returned as herself in a scene at the flavourite raving night club of the wingy Bling Ringers, and Christensen was name dropped, openly linking the two films, cities, film arts and film artists, and reminding us of the link of Tokyo to Toronto in LOST IN TRANSLATION. Then presto magico, we were back on the same street in Canabasas one year earlier, eh, and then off to the Indian Hills High School for troubled teens, where we noticed that one troubled male teen dropped off by his mom, a naïve, insecure, curiously feminine, implicitly Dorothy linked and either latently homosexual or wistfully transgender teen celebrity wannabe named Marc Hall-his name evoking Marco in SOMEWHERE, and played by Israel Broussard-was the same lone guy involved in the madcap bad girl mansion robbery that kicked off the film. Significantly, as he left his first class, Hall was jostled in hallway by a younger blonde girl who resembled Avril Lavigne-played by Ralston Sage-implicitly linking Hall to Ontario and reaffirming the film’s implicit interest in the film art, film artists, music art and music artists of the GTA and the rest of Ontario.
Just as significantly, soon after the jostle in the hallway, Hall was befriended at Indian Hills by another equally insecure but more manipulative and implicitly Great Oz linked teen celebrity wannabe and Lindsay Lohan lionizer named Rebecca Ahn-played by Katie Chang-who was also seen amongst the madcap cat burglars at the beginning of the film. Indeed, Ahn came up with the idea, first leading Hall off to rob parked cars, and then driving Hall off to rob a house together in broad daylight, stealing the family Porsche, and then driving off with Marc through the idyllic palm tree lined streets of the greater L.A. area (the GLAA?)-a tragicomic sight that evoked the tragicomic sight of Johnny driving Cleo around the same streets in SOMEWHERE-before blowing some of the stolen money on a shopping spree for lux women’s fashions that the wistful Hall enjoyed as much as the Great Ahn. Alas, the robbery emboldened Ahn and Hall, and, with the help of social media insights that revealed when the celebrities that they admired were away from their houses, they soon broke into and robbed the ridiculously huge mega-mansion of the supernaturally wealthy, implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked and aptly named celebrity, Hilton, a modern tragicomic Marie Antoinette, with a flying monkey evoking pet monkey in a cage and room after room after room after room filled to the bling blang bursting me hearties with tops, dresses, shoes, purses, jewellery, hats and sunglasses. Oh, we’re off to rob the Hilton, the Wicked Hilton of Oz, we hear she is the richest of rich, of ever the rich there was…
Pleased by their success and the chance to briefly and vicariously live a celebrity life over the course of the robbery, Ahn and Hall were soon bragging about their exploits at their favourite pulsating night club to their equally insecure and celebrity wannabe friends, the frozen by booze and implicitly Tin Girl linked Chloe Tainer-played by Claire Julien-and the implicitly Scarecrow linked Nicolette “Nicki” Moore and her “sister”, the leopard print luvving and implicitly Cowardly Lioness linked Samantha “Sam” Moore-played by Emma Watson and Taissa Farmiga, respectively. Ahn and Hall soon had the awestruck and covetous Moore “sisters” and Tainer joining them on a year’s worth of break-ins, robberies and vicarious celebrity fantasy life at the mansion of Hilton and other celebrities like Rachel Bilson, Lindsay Lohan and Audrina Patridge, leading full disharmonious circle to the madcap break-in of what turned out to be the mansion of Orlando Bloom/Miranda Kerr that kicked off the film.
Significantly, Hall’s film industry linked father-played by Marc Coppola-resembled and was implicitly linked to Reitman’s film artist father Ivan Reitman, thus implicitly linking Hall to Reitman. Indeed, SCC reaffirmed Hall’s implicit link to Reitman by implicitly linking Ahn to Cody, screenwriter of JUNO and the twilit, allegorical, slightly CGI enhanced, Cody written and implicitly Wright roastin’ Reitman indie docufeature film YOUNG ADULT (2011). This implicit interest in Cody and Reitman was reaffirmed by the fact that Chloe Tainer resembled and was implicitly linked to the nasty, lonely, bitter, solitary, likably unlikable and implicitly Wright linked teen novelist Mavis Gary-played by Charlize Theron-in YOUNG ADULT, implicitly affirming an interest in Toronto film “scholars” as well as Toronto film art and film artists in THE BLING RING. In addition, Chloe’s name evoked not just mean girl Chloe in LICK THE STAR but also Amanda Seyfried’s implicitly Polley linked GTA escort Chloe in the twilit and allegorical Atom Egoyan indie docufeature film CHLOE (2009), reaffirming the film’s implicit interest in GTA film art, film artists and film “scholars” and perhaps even implicitly linking Chloe to Polley rather than Wright.
In addition, the name of Nicki evoked that of the exuberantly indie, BS shilling and likably unlikable Academy of Tobacco Studies (ATS) Vice President and Washington tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor-played by Aaron Eckhart-in the twilit, allegorical and slightly CGI enhanced Reitman indie docufeature film THANK YOU FOR SMOKING (2005), reaffirming the implicit Reitman addressing intent of THE BLING RING. Of course, the presence of Taissa Farmiga as Sam also affirmed the implicit interest in Cody and Reitman in THE BLING RING, as Taissa was the sister of Vera Farmiga, who played Alex in the twilit, allegorical and slightly CGI enhanced Reitman indie docufeature film UP IN THE AIR (2009). The fact that Nicki and Sam’s younger sister Emily-played by Georgia Rock-resembled and was implicitly linked to Ellen Page, who played the exuberantly indie and likably unlikable pregnant teen Juno MacGuff in JUNO, also affirmed the implicit interest in Cody and Reitman in THE BLING RING. The fact that the two police officers on security duty at the L.A. courthouse that tried and convicted the Bling Ringers, in the end-a trial that evoked the grilling that Naylor received from a Washington Senate sub-committee hearing at the end of THANK YOU FOR SMOKING-resembled and were implicitly linked to then TIFF CEO Piers Handling and TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey, respectively, reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Toronto film art, film artists and film “scholars”. Last but not least, the choice of the allegorical Deadmau5 tune “FML” (2009), on the fittingly lost and confused soundtrack openly affirmed SCC’s interest in the GTA and its cinematic and musical artists and “scholars”.
Thus, by having Rebecca lead Marc, Chloe, Nikki and Sam astray like an errant Zoe-errant indeed, as the film alluded to LIFE WITHOUT ZOE several times-on a madcap celebrity and film star targeting car and home robbery spree in the Hollywood Hills that evoked the shopping spree of Marie Antoinette and her aristocratic gal pals to the tune of Bow Wow Wow’s cover of “I Want Candy” in MARIE ANTOINETTE-a link to the latter film also affirmed by the appearance of Dunst in that lost and desperately carefree nightclub scene-and that produced a plethora of stolen brand name luxury women’s clothing, purses, hats, shoes and jewellery and even cars, men’s watches, booze, drugs and money-which allowed Marc to amass a collection of high heels, which evoked the ruby red high heel “slippers” of Dorothy to implicitly affirm his link to her, and SCC to satirically mock filmmercials that shamelessly promoted brand name luxury women’s and men’s clothing, purses, hats, shoes, jewellery, watches and cars as well as movie tie-in merchandise-so that the hilariously harebrained and desperate celebrity wannabees-who foolishly posted pix of their exploits on the internet which allowed the police to track them down-could vicariously share in the fortune and glory of their favourite stars-most of whom were just as clueless and lived lives as empty and meaningless as their own-only to wind up in the everyday nowhere horror of prison, SCC implied that Cody and Reitman were not just dumb and talentless wannabees, but on the road to nowhere, as well. And perhaps even Wright, given the film’s allusions to YOUNG ADULT and the fact that the film ended with the released from prison Nicki turning to the camera at the end of an interview with an E-interviewer-played by Michael Yo-and urging people to keep in touch with her at nickimooreforever.com, evoking www.zonewarsonfilm.com.
Curiously, while joining SOMEWHERE in lacking an actor who openly linked the film to 1982, the film’s implicit link to the disastrous year of 1982 was reaffirmed by the names of three of the main film stars and celebrities that were robbed by the wingy Bling Ring. For Orlando Bloom, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan all had names that could be almost, or fully, turned into anagrams for Landis. Heck, Hilton even lived at 2342 Briar Summit Circle at the time, openly linking her to the fateful and twilit number 23. A link to twilit disaster reinforced by the digifilm news coverage of the Bling Ring by TMZ.com, a “T-Z” coverage of their thefts and arrests that ironically gave the Bling Ring the fifteen minutes of fame they all so desperately craved. The curious fact that Rachel Lee, the real life Bling Ring leader who inspired the character of Ahn, had a name that evoked Myca Le, the boy killed in the TZ disaster, and Sean Young’s Rachael Tyrell in BLADE RUNNER, reaffirmed the implicit links of the Bling Ringers to 1982. In addition, Rachel Lee also had a stepfather named Phil whose name evoked Philip K. Dick, who not only wrote Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, the novel that inspired BLADE RUNNER, but also died in March of 1982, in yet more links of the Bling Ring to the twilit and disastrous year of 1982.
Curiously, the Sales companion volume The Bling Ring (2013) also revealed how fitting was SCC’s choice of film. For the tragicomic tome pointed out that Alexis Neiers and Tess Taylor, two of the real life Bling Ringers, had a bit part in a lesbian love scene in the twilit and allegorical Robert Bennett indie docufeature film FRAT PARTY (2009), a “film” that was another implicit allegorical meditation on the relationship of Coppola and Lucas. And so SCC implied that Diablo and Reitman and perhaps even Wright were the latest victims to feel that confident and knowing knife slowly slide deep between the ribs-indeed, the film had another scene where the camera focus slowly and silently zoomed in like a slow thrusting knife as the Great Ahn and Marothy frantically ran around and robbed Patridge’s two story mansion in the Hollywood Hills-with the implicit victims yet again perhaps pleased by the high quality of the hit, until the blade was pulled out and the pain exploded and the blood erupted and the screams began as their bodies collapsed to the pavement in a spreading pool of blood as the lithe and lean female assassin in her favourite domino and cape leaped silently back into the shadows.
Not surprisingly, SCC was implicitly given another super satirical roast in the form of Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff-played again by Johansson-when she rejoined the implicitly Jackson linked Fury to fight alongside the implicitly Eastwood linked Steve “Captain America” Rogers-played by Chris Evans-against the implicitly Gilliam linked James “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier”-played by Sebastian Stan-and the perfidious forces of HYDRA in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Anthony and Joe Russo super satirical animaction film CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014), released on March 13, 2014. For his part, Whedon had the implicitly SCC linked Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff-played again by Johansson-team up again with the rest of the dissemblin’ Avengers for more CGI enhanced and implicitly Lynch roasting super satirical mayhem in the twilit and allegorical animaction film THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015), released on April 13, 2015.
However, the high quality of THE BLING RING and the other film art of SCC was clearly appreciated by Nancy Meyers, for Meyers implicitly toasted SCC and her film art in her sympathetic, LOST IN TRANSLATION evoking, twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film THE INTERN (2015)-a somehow fitting support given that Meyers, like SCC, had recently addressed Lucas and his new STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy in her own twilit and allegorical Lucas Trilogy composed of SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE (2003), THE HOLIDAY (2006) and IT’S COMPLICATED (2009)-released on September 15, 2015.
“You do inspire, Jules.”
Indeed, the MARIE ANTOINETTE evoking Antoinette dress that Hathaway’s SCC resembling and implicitly linked Jules Ostin-with her Lux Lisbon evoking name-was seen contemplating at her internet fashion firm with its Antoinette and Lick The Star evoking name, About the Fit, early in the film affirmed the implicit interest in SCC in THE INTERN. In addition, the relationship that developed between Ostin and the implicitly Francis linked retiree intern, Ben Whittaker-played by Robert De Niro-not only evoked that between Charlotte and Harris in LOST IN TRANSLATION, but also implied that Meyers was symbolically meditating on the passing of the allegorical film torch from Francis to SCC at American Zoetrope in THE INTERN. Indeed, the fact that the film ended with Ostin deciding not to hire a promising San Francisco based CEO that she was advised to hire to help her head About the Fit reaffirmed the implicit Coppola addressing intent of THE INTERN, for San Francisco had been the physical, philosophical, intellectual, artistic, creative, emotional and spiritual home of American Zoetrope since the late Sixties.
Curiously, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu implied that he thought that GINGER SNAPS BACK: THE BEGINNING did indeed reply to The Revenant, for he alluded to both in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film THE REVENANT (2015), released on December 16, 2015. Indeed, to affirm that implication, he used Fletcher-who played Jeremy, the lonely librarian in GINGER SNAPS II: UNLEASHED and Finn in GINGER SNAPS BACK: THE BEGINNING-as Fryman in THE REVENANT. Thus, the sight and sound of the implicitly Lucas linked frontier scout, Hugh Glass-played by Leonardo DiCaprio-surviving a brutal and bloody mauling by a werewolf evoking and blockbuster CGI enhanced grizzly beast and being left for dead in the wilderness by his “pals” in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and returning from the “dead” to wreak bloody revenge on the worst of his “pals”, the Wicked Fitzgerald-played by Tom Hardy-for murdering his son Hawk-played by Forrest Goodluck-like the titular revenant implied that Inarritu was symbolically allowing Lucas to triumph over SCC for roasting him in the Lucas Trilogy-given that Hardy had a small role as Raumont in MARIE ANTOINETTE-or else allowing Lucas to triumph over the poor ol’ Wicked Gardevil for roasting Lucas in The Wizard Of Force.
Surprisingly, the Russo Brothers also implicitly linked SCC to Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff-played again by Johansson-and, perhaps due to the implicit interest SCC showed in GTA film art, film artists and film “scholars” in THE BLING RING and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and by the fact that THE VIRGIN SUICIDES was mostly filmed in Toronto, had her fight with a group of mostly and implicitly Canadian film artist and film “scholar” linked superheroes led by the implicitly Reitman linked Tony “Iron Man” Stark-played again by Downey jr.-and joined by the implicitly Gardevil linked Peter “Spider-Man” Parker-played by Tom Holland-against a group of implicitly American film artist linked superheroes led by the implicitly Eastwood linked Steve “Captain America” Rogers-played again by Evans-in their twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction film CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), released on April 12, 2016.
As for the ninjette herself, SCC headed off in a new direction and implicitly roasted young Reitman and his collaborations with Cody again in the form of the Reitman resembling and implicitly linked young nobleman Alfredo Germont-played by Antonio Poli-and his love for the implicitly Cody linked Violetta-played by Francesca Dotto-when SCC teamed up with conductor Jader Bignamini and fashion designer Valentino to direct the twilit and allegorical Guiseppe Verdi opera LA TRAVIATA (1853), first performed in the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in Roma on May 22, 2016. Soon after, Burton implicitly and gently roasted the super satirical films and SCC in the implicit form of the “peculiar” girl botanist, Fiona Frauenfeld-played by Georgia Pemberton-one of a small group of X-Men evoking peculiar kids in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced artbuster MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN (2016), released on September 25, 2016.
The following year, David Leitch implicitly linked SCC to the Black Widow, Domino and Guevara evoking CIA/KGB/MI6 triple agent, Satchel aka Lorraine Broughton aka Elizabeth Lloyd-played by Theron-and had her triumph over the implicitly Cameron linked Aleksander Bremovych-played by Roland Moller-and the implicitly Tarantino linked David Percival-played by James McAvoy-amongst other implicitly male film artist linked characters in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced docufeature film ATOMIC BLONDE (2017), a film released on March 12, 2017 that was inspired by the allegorical Antony Johnston and Sam Hart narrative artwork The Coldest City (2012), and whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to the oeuvre of SCC, DEMENTIA 13, DOMINO, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) super satirical films featuring Black Widder, the allegorical and implicitly Richard Rush addressing Coppola indie docufeature film THE CONVERSATION (1974) and the twilit and allegorical Tarantino indie docufeature film INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009); the open link of the film to Toronto and its film art, film artists and film ‘scholars’ via Barbara Sukowa, who played the coroner in the film and the ghost in the cybermachine, Anna Kalmann, in the GTA created twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Robert Longo indie docufeature film JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995); and the implicit link to Francis of Broughton’s CIA supervisor, Emmett Kurzfeld-played by John Goodman-and the possible link of Gardevil to C-played by James Faulkner. Alas, the film was another tragicomically over the top implicit tribute to SCC like DOMINO that somehow managed to miss the point that the ultimate implicit tribute to SCC would focus on a silent and solitary female ninjette who carefully and cautiously killed her targets without them even realizing it until it was too late, and then slipped away unseen.
Curiously, that same year Rupert Sanders implicitly warned SCC not to allow herself to become a ghostly and intelligent human cog trapped in the beastly blockbuster CGI enhanced machine like the Guevara evoking and implicitly SCC linked Major Mira Killian-played by Johansson-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced animaction film GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017), a film released on March 16, 2017 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to LOST IN TRANSLATION and THE BLING RING. As for SCC, she eventually sighed resignedly again, dusted off and sharpened her favourite ninjette knife, donned the director/producer/writer hats and teamed up with Francis, Roman, Battat, Beggs, Dunst, Fanning, Flack, Henley, Phoenix, Roos and Ross to complete an American Trilogy of sorts and also to perhaps roast Reitman again in her most mysterious film yet, the twilit, allegorical and CGI free docufeature indie film THE BEGUILED (2017), released on May 24, 2017 and inspired by the allegorical Thomas Cullinan novel The Beguiled (1966) and by the allegorical Don Siegel docufeature film THE BEGUILED (1971).
“Bon appetit.”
Mysterious indeed, for the film began with the sight and sound of young Amelia “Amy” Dabney-played by Oona Lawrence-exploring and foraging in a dark, spooky, steamy and sultry Civil War forest in 1864 Virginia. Significantly, while Amy was implicitly linked to Bigelow, she resembled Fiona in MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN-a link to Fiona implicitly affirmed by the fact that we discovered that she was raised in Georgia, reminding us that Georgia Pemberton played Fiona-implying that SCC was replying to Burton in THE BEGUILED. However, Dabney soon came across the wounded and fugitive Union Army Corporal John Patrick McBurney-played by Colin Farrell-a fateful meeting that evoked the sight of young Henry “Hank” Wheeler-played by Gatlin Griffith-being approached by the equally fugitive and injured convict Frank Chambers-played by Brolin-at the beginning of LABOR DAY. Indeed, Amy’s pet frog, Henry, shared the first name of Henry Wheeler, implying that SCC was really and implicitly addressing Reitman again rather than Burton in THE BEGUILED, despite the fact that there was a “Burton” hidden within the names of Cpl. John Patrick McBurney.
However, seeing Amy help Cpl. McBurney back to where she was living out the Civil War, a nearby big and imposing white Southern Plantation mansion-actually, the Madewood Plantation in Napoleonville, Louisiana-that evoked the mansions of THE BLING RING and that was transformed into a girl’s school called the Farnsworth Seminary aka Miss Farnsworth’s Seminary For Young Ladies-young ladies who lived lives as sequestered and as stultifying as those of the Lisbon sisters and Marie Antoinette and her female entourage, an allusion helped by the return of Dunst as a teacher with the twilit name of Miss Edwina Morrow who fittingly taught French as well as English-so that the head of the school, Miss Martha Farnsworth-played by Nicole Kidman-could tend his injured left leg did not just evoke a character named Mrs. Farnsworth-played by Marceline Hugot-seen briefly in a drugstore at the end of LABOR DAY, reaffirming the implicit Reitman addressing intent of the film. For Miss Farnsworth and her seminary evoked the eccentric, pipe smoking, shapeshifting and implicitly Milla Jovovich linked Miss Alma Peregrine-played by Eva Green-and her Home For Peculiar Children again, implying again that SCC was really roasting Burton in THE BEGUILED, wasn’t she? Or, given that the implicitly Miss Peregrine evoking Miss Farnsworth triumphed in the end over the implicitly Chambers evoking McBurney, perhaps SCC was really hoping that Burton would triumph over Reitman with his next film.
One thing was implicitly clear, and that was that the sight and sound of Cpl. McBurney dying a painful death after eating poisoned mushrooms gathered by Amy at what proved to be his last supper, in the end, after Miss Farnsworth amputated his injured left leg after he was caught in the sack with the teen temptress, Alicia-played by Fanning-and after Cpl. McBurney smashed and shot up the school and then sexually assaulted Miss Morrow implied that SCC was very unhappy, indeed, with either Burton or Reitman. In fact, righteously furious, given that Cpl. McBurney died the first on screen death in a SCC film, an agonizing death that was the ultimate manifestation of the horror of everyday life and that implicitly affirmed that the films of SCC were indeed cinematic assassinations. And so the film ended with that slow knife thrust zoom in on the corpse of Cpl. McBurney sewn up in a white blanket and neatly laid outside the closed Hollywood studio evoking main gate of the Farnsworth Seminary for pickup, a slow knife thrust zoom in that implicitly affirmed that either Burton for the first time or Reitman again had suddenly smelt that heady scent of Chanel No. 5 and turned in puzzlement just in time to see a short and lean female assassin in her favourite domino and cape subtly and confidently thrust her favourite knife up in between the ribs to the heart, a shrewd and silent thrust that was not felt until the knife was slid out just as knowingly, and the pain began as the blood gushed out, and the victim fell to the ground screaming in agony in a spreading pool of their own blood.
At any rate, some film art related point was implicitly being made in THE BEGUILED, for the name of the Farnsworth school linked another SCC film to 1982 via actor/stuntman Richard Farnsworth and his role as gentleman train robber Bill Miner in the allegorical Phillip Borsos indie docufeature film THE GREY FOX (1982). The Southern Plantation mansion that housed the Farnsworth Seminary also evoked the old and decaying Southern Plantation mansion of the blockbuster loot lusting and Warner resembling and implicitly linked Senator “Billboard” Rawkins-played by Keenan Wynn-in the allegorical Coppola docufeature film FINIAN’S RAINBOW (1968).
Curiously, the following year Marvel Studios implicitly linked SCC again to Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff-strangely played again by Johansson-and had her fight alongside the implicitly Reitman and Wright linked Stark and Parker-played again by Downey jr. and Holland, respectively-and the rest of the dissemblin’ superheroes and superheroines in a titanic struggle against the implicitly Eisner linked mad Titan, Thanos-played by Brolin-to save the MCU in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Russo Brothers super satirical animaction film AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018), released on April 23, 2018. For his part, given the implication that the male protagonists of the OCEAN films were linked to male film artists, Gary Ross also no doubt implicitly linked SCC to one of the implicitly female film artist linked mischief makers-possibly Hathaway’s Daphne Kruger-of the all female gang, in his twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced docufeature film OCEAN’S 8 (2018), released on June 5, 2018.
For her part, Susanna Fogel implicitly linked SCC and Polley to Audrey and Morgan-played by Mila Kunis and Katie McKinnon, respectively-ordinary friends thrust into extraordinary spy jinks and had them take on and take out the fittingly creepy and implicitly Gardevil linked Russian assassin Nadedja-played by Ivanna Sakhno-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced docufeature film THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME (2018), released on July 25, 2018. Soon after, Sarah J. Maas implicitly linked SCC again to a teenaged Selina "Catwoman" Kyle in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction novel Catwoman: soulstealer (August 7, 2018).
"But she'd won.
Not by brute strength,
but because she'd been smarter".
Indeed, the novel's allusions to FRANKENWEENIE, LOST IN TRANSLATION, MARIE ANTOINETTE, SOMEWHERE, THE BLING RING and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and the fact that Kyle was lured away by Talia al Ghul from her embattled young life in Gotham City to train in the Dolomite Mountains in Italia to become a member of the League of Assassins affirmed the implicit link of Selina to Sofia, reminding us that SCC was part Italian and also had an aunt named Talia. The fact that Kyle killed her first League victim in Venice with her favourite knife while wearing a domino and also liked to wear a domino to get out from behind her catty Death Mask helmet reaffirmed the implicit link of SK to the domino luvin' SCC. Thus, the fact that Kyle left the League of Assassins and went off on her own indie path disguised as the wealthy and Chambers/Hilton evoking blonde socialite Holly Vanderhees despite the attempts by the League to kill her for her betrayal of their cause and despite the attempts of the implicitly Will Smith linked Luke "Batwing" Fox to stop her and succeeded with the help of the equally indie and perhaps Greta Thunberg linked Poison Ivy, in the end, implied the hope of Maas that SCC would stick to her own indie art film path, in the end. Significantly, the following month Mary Harron implicitly roasted SCC in the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film CHARLIE SAYS (2018), a film released on September 2, 2018 that was inspired by the allegorical Ed Sanders book The Family (1971) and the allegorical Karlene Faith book The Long Prison Journey Of Leslie Van Houten (2001).
“You got a knife for me?”
Indeed, the sight and sound of the implicitly SCC linked and deliriously lost and confused Manson family member, Leslie Van Houten aka Lulu-played by Hannah Murray-teaming up with the equally lost, confused and implicitly Lucas linked Manson family member, Tex Watson-played by Chace Crawford-to kill the wealthy and Eleanor and Francis evoking married couple, Rosemary and Leno LaBianca-played by Jackie Joyner and Dan Olivo, respectively-in the Hollywood Hills like an ultraviolent Bling Ring on the orders of the implicitly Spielberg linked and nutty failed pop star wannabe, Charles “Charlie” Manson-played by Matt Smith-implied that Harron believed that SCC had killed the profitability of her film art by implicitly obsessing over Lucas in her Lucas Trilogy as much as Lucas had killed the profitability of his film art by implicitly obsessing over Spielberg in his six STAR WARS films. Indeed, the film’s allusions to the entire oeuvre of SCC-particularly THE BLING RING-and to MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER PART III affirmed the implicit SCC roasting intent of the film. The Reitman resembling and implicitly linked Beach Boy, Dennis Wilson-played by James T. Brown-also implicitly affirmed that the film was striking back at SCC and her implicit roast of Reitman in THE BLING RING. The implicit link of music producer Terry Melcher-played by Bryan Adrian-to Stan “the Man” Lee, of Sharon Tate-played by Grace Van Dien-to Johansson and of sympathetic biker Steve Somewhere-played by Nathan Sutton-to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor reaffirmed the implicit SCC roasting intent of CHARLIE SAYS, reminding us of SCC’s implicit link to Black Widow in the MCU. A very nastily implicit SCC roasting intent, too, given that the film put the gore in allegory by ending with the nightmare of everyday life erupting with a vengeance and Lulu splattered with blood as she stabbed the Eleanor evoking Rosemary to death with her trusty knife in the most graphic implicit depiction of the confident killings that SCC liked to carry out with her own trusty and bloody allegorical knife.
The following year, SCC was also implicitly linked to the Guevara, Killian and Neytiri evoking CGI warrioress, Alita-played by Rosa Salazar-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Robert Rodriguez animaction film ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (2019), a film co-written and co-produced by Cameron and released on February 5, 2019. Fortunately, that same year SCC and Johansson were luckily liberated from the CGI enhanced blockbuster beast when the implicitly SCC linked ex-Russian assassin, Black Widow-played again by Johansson-gave her life by throwing herself off a precipice on the deadly planet of Vormir-a sight that evoked the sight of the implicitly SCC linked Paulie leaping to her doom off the roof of her boarding school at the end of LOST AND DELIRIOUS-to help save the Earth and the MCU with the rest of the super dupes in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Russo Brothers super satirical animaction film AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019), released on April 22, 2019.
For his part, Tarantino implicitly had the implicitly Brihard and Gardevil linked stuntman Cliff Booth and actor Rick Dalton-played by Brad Pitt and Leonardo Di Caprio, respectively-save the implicitly SCC linked Francesca Capucci-played by Lorenza Izzo-from being killed by the implicitly Cody, Harron and Reitman linked Manson family members, Sadie, Katie and Tex-played by Mikey Madison, Madisen Beaty and Austin Butler, respectively-at the end of the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (2019), a film released on May 21, 2019 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to CHARLIE SAYS, DEMENTIA 13 and THE BLING RING. Curiously, the following year SCC turned up briefly in a cameo as herself along with a larger supporting role for the “invulnerable” Cage also as himself alongside an angst ridden and CGI and extraterrestrial plagued Jim Carrey in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Jim Carrey and Dana Vachon novel Memoirs And Misinformation (July 2020) in a rare fictional appearance. A hilarious cameo that prepared the way for the reappearance of SCC when she brightened up the perilous pandemic era by donning the writer/director/co-producer hats and returning to the Temple Theatre with Roman, Battat, Beggs, Flack, Murray, Phoenix, Roos and Ross and the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film ON THE ROCKS (2020), a sweet and gentle film released on September 22, 2020.
“Bye Dad.”
Curiously, SCC implicitly addressed herself in the film, for ON THE ROCKS revolved around the SCC resembling and implicitly linked young mother and writer Laura Keane-played by Rashida Jones. Indeed, Laura’s two young daughters Maya and Theo-played by Liyanna Muscat and Alexandra M. and Anna C. Reimer, respectively-affirmed her implicit link to SCC, for they evoked SCC’s two young daughters Cosima and Romy. Just as curiously, Laura became worried that her young husband Dean-played by Marlon Wayans-was cheating on her with a colleague from work named Fiona-played by Jessica Henwick-a fear that was encouraged and stoked by her tragicomic, exuberantly womanizing and Cameron resembling and implicitly linked father Felix Keane-played by Murray.
And so the two followed Dean around in a desperate and quixotic quest to catch him in a compromising position with Fiona, a quixotic quest that evoked Harry’s worry that Helen was having a bored extra-marital fling with “super spy” Simon-played by Bill Paxton-in TRUE LIES. Significantly, this kooky quest turned up nothing but Dean’s sincere commitment to their marriage but did lead Felix to disappoint and exasperate Laura with all of his carefree womanizing and endless tragicomic observations on women. And so Laura finally gently but firmly reproved and released her dad and happily returned to her marriage, in the end, implying that SCC was gently but firmly reproving Cameron for all of his implicit support for her in his film and telefilm art, releasing him and hoping he would release her, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by allusions to STRANGE DAYS and TRUE LIES.
Then it was back to the superdupalooza when Cate Shortland teamed up with Johansson to again implicitly roast and toast SCC in the implicit form of Natasha Romanoff aka “Black Widow”-played again by Johansson-and Gia in the implicit form of Yelena Belova-played by Florence Pugh-and had them team up with the implicitly Eleanor linked Melina Vostokoff aka “Black Widow”-played by Rachel Weisz-and the implicitly Francis linked Alexei Shostakov aka “Red Guardian”-played by David Harbour-to battle a Wicked team of Black Widows created by the Evil, brainwashing and implicitly Martin Scorsese linked Dreyko-played by Ray Winstone-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction film BLACK WIDOW (2021), a film released on July 3, 2021 that took place between CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR and AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and whose implicit SCC addressing intent on one level was affirmed by allusions to the film art of SCC.
And so there went our real ninjette hero, we watched her as she ghosted silently by, always so extraordinary. And so was the laugh on Burton, Cameron, DC, Disney, Favreau, Johnston, Marvel Studios, Rodriguez, the Russo Brothers, Sanders, Shortland and Whedon, as better overall than their super satires was the scintillatingly allusive and elusive, insistently feminine and feminist and resignedly male film artist roasting docufeature indie film art of SCC, film art that was often trapped in hotel rooms, castles or hotels inspired by castles and done so well after a lifelong internship with Mama, Papa, Grandpa, Auntie, Beggs, Roos, Tavoularis and assorted cousins-and even poor ol’ “Uncle” George-that in good hands was the family craft and the family firm. Sensitive, strong, knowing and deadly hands that were not afraid of any implicit target, whether ordinary citizen, fellow film artists or even film “scholars”, a lack of fear that I might comprehend all too well on that fateful day when I was walking alone and along just up from Yonge and Dundas, an intersection SCC knew well from her days creating THE VIRGIN SUICIDES in the GTA and implicitly recreating in that similar intersection in LOST IN TOKONTO, and suddenly I would smell Chanel No. 5, and, knowing that if I could smell that famous perfume it was already much too late, I would turn smiling resignedly to face the attack, and would just have time to see the slim, short and beautiful and perennially young dark skinned ninjette wearing her favourite black domino and cape smiling knowingly and sympathetically as she emerged silently and surely and shrewdly and inevitably out of the nighttime shadows of Edward Street before the seasoned and knowing knife slipped between my ribs and deep into my heart in a quick and confident and certain and sympathetic thrust, and for a moment I too would be strangely thankful, for the thrust would also save me a despondent suicide and eternal damnation or the mortal damnation of a lonely and lingering death in an old folks home long after all who knew me had disappeared or an equally lonesome COVID19 death, and then the knife would be pulled out with the same shrewd strength that slid it in and SCC would become one with the Venetian shadows as the blood poured out of me like a sanguine Niagara and the pain dropped me to the sidewalk screaming in agony, and as I lay in a crumpled heap and groaned and gasped out the last breaths of my “life” in a spreading pool of blood, only then would I fully understand at last…the Domino Effect.
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