company of wolves
Credit: ITC Entertainment
Director Neil Jordan’s brilliant Gothic fantasy horror is a sinister twist on “Little Red Riding Hood,” adapted from a short story in Angela Carter’s anthology of fairy-tale retellings. bloody chamberThe central narrative concerns a young girl named Rosaline (Sarah Patterson), who wears a knitted red cape and encounters a hunter/werewolf (Meecha Burgess) in the woods on the way to her grandmother’s (Angela Lansbury) house, There are also several underlying wolf-centric fairy tales, two of which are told by Rosaline and two by the grandmother,
Jordan describes this structure as “a story with very different movements”, all variations on a central theme, and “creating the fairy tale that everyone knows”. The production design and gorgeously sensual cinematography – all achieved on a limited $2 million budget – further enhance the dreamlike atmosphere. company of wolvesLike the fairy tale that inspired it, the novel is an unapologetically Freudian allegory for Rosaline’s romantic and sexual awakening, in which she discovers her own power, which both frightens and fascinates her. It’s rare to find a film of such a rich level, filled with symbolism and evocative imagery.
desperately searching for susan
In this quintessential 1980s screwball comedy about mistaken identity, Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) is a disaffected upper-class New Jersey housewife who is attracted to the local tabloid personal ads, particularly the messages between two free-spirited bohemian lovers, Susan (Madonna) and Jim (Robert Joy). She pursues Suzanne one day and gets hit on the head when a mob enforcer mistakes her for Suzanne, who had stolen a pair of valuable earrings from another lover, who in turn had them stolen from a mobster. Roberta develops amnesia and, pretending to be Susan, befriends Jim’s best friend, Dez (Aidan Quinn).
desperately searching for susan is director Susan Seidelman’s love letter to the 1980s counterculture of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, replete with cameo appearances from performance artists, musicians, comedians, actors, painters, and others from that time period. The script is full of witty one-liners and a stellar supporting cast, including John Turturro as a smarmy magic club owner, Laurie Metcalf as Roberta’s sister-in-law Leslie, and a deadpan Steven Wright as Leslie’s dentist boyfriend. It’s airy, infectious, frothy fun and easily Madonna’s best acting role, perhaps because she’s largely playing herself.
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