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Ask FlickChick: Selling Sicko, Rocky Horror and more
Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show courtesy 20th Century Fox
The cult of Rocky Horror, the selling of Sicko, a remake of 13 Tzameti and more movie questions answered.
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
See Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this week's new flicks in Movie Talk!
Hear Maitland on the weekly TVGuide Talk podcast.
Question: Do you think The Rocky Horror Picture Show would still be considered a classic if the midnight screenings with audience participation had never occurred? Lisa
FlickChick: I'm not sure that anyone considers The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) a classic now, but it's a major league cult item and I don't think that would be the case had it not been for the audience participation factor. I can tell you from my own experience that I saw it when it opened and thought it was simultneously dull and camp, and that some of the voices – especially Susan Sarandon's – were so unsuited to the music that they were hard to listen to. Granted, I saw the original Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Show and that definitely colored my take on the movie: It was an electrifying show.
I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show for the second tome at the Waverly Theater in New York sometime in the late 1970s, and it was an entirely different experience: The energy from the audience made the film play 1000 times better.
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Question: Have you seen the lastest print and TV ads for "Sicko?" Why in the heck are they marketing it as the comedy of the summer!?! People dying due to lack of health care -- now that's a knee-slapper! How does Michael Moore feel about this? Or is it a ploy to get people into theaters? KM
FlickChick: All movie advertising is a ploy to get people into theaters. Advertising Sicko as "the documentary that will make you alternately mad and depressed about the state of American healthcare, especially the insurance industry" is not the way to put asses in seats, as they like to say in the industry. Quoting Leah Rozen of People calling it "Hilarious" – much better. And that's not a deceptive pull quote – she loved the movie.
I don't know for a fact how Michael Moore feels about the ad campaign, but I feel perfectly confident saying that someone who's made a career of playing the court jester knows the wisdom of the old showbiz advice "you gotta have a gimmick." The gadfly who makes you laugh stands a better chance of making himself heard than the gadfly who wallpos people with just the facts -- that's why people were so stunned when An Inconvenient Truth (2006) did the business it did. But the fact that it starred Al Gore did wonders for the film's profile, and with movies -- especially documentaries -- having people know you're out there is half the battle. And again, that's where Moore's sly buffon act is so brilliant: Even people who despise him are aware of his films.
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Question: I saw a foreign film that I think was made in the 1970s or '80s It was mainly set in a movie theatre where a western was playing, and a man in the audience is shot. The police investigate and eventually they realize that anyone who sits in a particular seat gets killed by the cowboy actor on screen. Everyone I describe this movie to tells me I'm out of my mind, but I swear I remember seeing it! Help! Eric
FlickChick: People are mean and you're not crazy. Although I've never seen it, it's pretty clear to me that you're describing a made-for-TV Italian movie called Circuito Chiuso (1978) – the tile means "closed circuit." It's been described as a "metaphysical giallo" and the plot seems to be as you describe it: A man is shot and killed while watching a spaghetti Western in a Rome cinema, and as the police investigate, the only answer that makes sense is that the victims were shot by the character onscreen. Believe me, if I ever see a copy anywhere I'm going to snap it up!
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Question: I've heard there's going to be an American remake of 13 Tzameti, a movie you recommended in your DVD Tuesday column. My question is, of it was so good in the first place, why would someone want to remake it so soon? It's not the same as remaking an old movie that a lot of people haven't seen or that looks dated because of censorship in the old days. -- Curious
FlickChick: There is an American remake of 13 Tzameti in the works, called simply 13. Which is actually the original title: "tzameti" means "13" in Georgian, so "13 tzameti" actually meats "13 13." But I digress.
The why is pretty straightforward: Americans are allergic to foreign films. I wish it weren't so, but it is. There are American producers who've carved a solid career out of finding and purchasing remake rights to foreign films whose stories they think would play well for US audiences if only they didn't have those pesky subtitles. French comedies have proved fertile ground, though the remakes rarely live up to the originals – 3 Men and a Baby(1987), a remake of 3 hommes et un couffin (1985) is a rare exception – as have Japanese horror movies.
The good news here is that as things stand now, writer-director Gela Babluani would be remaking his own film, which means it stands a chance of not being homogenized for American audiences. Babluani has also said that if he does remake 13 Tzameti, he's going to tinker with the story – which is good, because it's hard to imagine a filmmaker managing to keep up his or her initial enthusiasm when making the exact same movie for the second time. I think that was part of the problem with The Vanishing (1993) Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer's remake of his own Spoorlos (1988) and Nightwatch (1998), Danish director Ole Bornedal's remake of his own Nattevagten (1996) – I also think the ending of The Vanishing had to be altered because of pressure from studio executives who found the original too hopelessly downbeat.
And I think one of the reasons Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge (2004) turned out so well is that Shimizu picked and chose choice bits from all the Ju-On films: The pieces were the same, but they were recombined. And he reworked the story slightly to accommodate the American remake cast; having the film revolve around Americans in Tokyo, with all the cultural dislocation implicit in the situation, put a slightly different spin on the story.
The bad news, at least from my perspective, is that Babluani has talked about doing the remake in color. I think the stark B&W of the original film is part of what makes it so icily disturbing. And rumor has it that a lot of A-list American actors are interested in playing the lead, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Joaquin Phoenix, Tobey Maguire and Heath Ledger. That would, of course, be good for box office, but I think the fact that the lead in the original is played by an unknown -- George Babluani, Gela's brother – lends his situation a more chilling "it-could-happen-to-anyone" air.
Fingers crossed.
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
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Jul 5, 2007 6:51 PM
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I have never been able to experience "Rocky" live. When I was a kid it played on the weekends. I had no clue then what it was, so I wasn't interested. I wound up seeing it on videotape when I was 20. I LOVE it! We were stationed in Germany, so no midnight shows. By the time I got back home they no longer had it playing. Twice in the last year I've missed my local theater doing a production of it. Money was just too tight to go. I am hoping to eventually see it big. Both of my daughters love it too! We play the soundtrack constantly, and of course I had to have the S.E. DVD.
Let's do the timewarp again!!!!!!
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Jul 5, 2007 7:56 PM
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felinefan55, I guess most major cities still have live showings. I know they do here in L.A.... maybe it's worth a trip to ya!
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Jul 5, 2007 8:16 PM
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I suppose I agree with Tzameti's visual gambit.
While keeping with the eeriness of its disposition, Tzameti has its fair share of distinctive accentuations in the countryside locale, with intimidating faces and a creepy overlay of sounds to go along with Babluani’s smoothly desolate, encompassing cinematography, which was only heightened by his choice of stark visuals.
So by using the black-and-white canvas throughout its proceedings, the film recalled an intensely grim, conscious nightmare that plasters over the hyper-realism of its brutality. Thankfully it never failed to mask the impact of the viciousness that comes with humanity’s venal nature.
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Jul 5, 2007 9:12 PM
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Even people who despise him are aware of his films. That'd be me.
Didn't the guy who made the ring also make the american remake? And I thought I read something about the grudge, too.
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Jul 6, 2007 2:10 PM
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Well, I halfway knew what I was talking about.
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Jul 6, 2007 2:33 PM
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I used to be apart of the Atlanta Live cast for the midnight show at Northlake back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was a crazy, fun time! The movie is definitely more exciting with a live audience and cast.
I've lived all over the US since then and I know that most cities still have a live showing somewhere close. In the very least someone should be showing it near Halloween.
We Want Lips!
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Jul 6, 2007 3:23 PM
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Thanks for Answering my question, FC! Personally I don't like Michael Moore--he has good causes, but if he were a little more "honest" with his footage I think he could do more good. He says that the current pic "Sicko" is not partisan, yet his ads specifically make fun of Bush--his message on this flick would get accross much better if he were REALLY bi-partisan.
PS--I think the Q has been asked before, but where do you get you movie memory?!
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Jul 7, 2007 6:02 PM
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IMDB probably.
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Jul 8, 2007 8:58 AM
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She also uses IMDB and Google.
Geez.
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Jul 9, 2007 7:34 AM
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And would that be some sort of crime? Besides, she never said she didn't or wouldn't. She only talked about the type of memory she does have. Which is what she was asked about!
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Jul 9, 2007 12:00 PM
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Some of the "clues" given in the questions asked (mine included) actually do not give enough info for even IMDB to be helpful, so give some credit where it is due!
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Jul 9, 2007 1:26 PM
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Absolutely. Before there was IMDB there were books and critical essays. And actually going to the movies 'n stuff!
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Jul 9, 2007 1:38 PM
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