Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1941 Porky's Snooze Reel starring Porky Pig , directed by Bob Clampett and Norman McCabe.
This was the one of two cartoons that credited both Bob Clampett and Norman McCabe as directors (the other one being The Timid Toreador a year before). Norm finished both cartoons while Bob was ill during production.
We have a great waste of time here The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour = we love to put clips of the British quiz show QI on the background while we work. It's a fun show and we actually learn something ever now and then. One of our favorite guest from the show is Gyles Brandreth We came upon this show where is is a guest and we thought you'd like to watch it with us -
Mr. Brandreth is funny as hell and he can barely be contained
We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1995 dark comedy, Underground, directed by Emir Kusturica and starring Miki Manojlovi, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Jokovi, and Slavko Štimac.
The plot concerns two Serbian rapscallions, Marko and Blacky, who run guns through Belgrade to fight the occupying Nazis but seem more interested in spending their profits on debauchery. When a love triangle threatens their friendship, however, the slippery Marko hatches a plot that tricks Blacky and a large portion of their friends into hiding in a large underground bunker for years, long after the war has ended. Meanwhile, Marko maintains a charade that they are still fighting Nazis above ground.
Emir Kusturica’s original cut ran for 320 minutes, about the same length as the six part serialized television version released later. Kusturica stated in interviews that his co-producers forced edits on the theatrical release.
Underground won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.The film was selected as the Serbian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 68th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Despite its international success, Underground was controversial nearer to home. Kusturica was accused of taking money from the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, which would have been a violation of sanctions against the Serbian government. (The director countered that he had only accepted non-financial assistance, and won a lawsuit for libel against a playwright who accused him of taking money from the Serbs.) The film was also criticized for being too conciliatory by not blaming Serbia and Slobodan Miloševi’s regime directly for the Bosnian conflict. (Kusturica himself is ethnically Bosnian).
Please find a very comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this absurd political comedy: Underground.
Director Emir Kusturica revealed that making the film had a profound psychological impact on him. He became severely depressed and even contemplated suicide after becoming too deeply immersed in "the substance of the story and the humanity."
Si per infernum pergis, perge!
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