Screening Log

This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.


February 2006 activity

Total Log Entries: 47

Total Comments: 35


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Over The Edge / USA / 1979

Over The Edge is a film I wish I’d seen at 15, but it was held back for 5 years from UK cinemas, branded dangerous, before disappearing onto home video. And dangerous it is- an unapologetic celebration of teenage frustration and delinquency, a direct appeal to the hoodlum in us all, more likeable and heartfelt than Suburbia, harder hitting and more contemporary than the pasttime fantasies of Rumble Fish, The Outsiders and Stand By Me.

And despite the rough edges, as a film Over The Edge is practically flawless- precise characterisation from Tim River’s Edge Hunter’s script, co-written with Charlie Haas. Jonathan Kaplan inspires uniformly excellent performances from an almost exclusively amateur cast, and as a director draws not only from the obvious touchstones of teen drama- Rebel Without A Cause, East Of Eden, The Wild One- but from a broad range of unexpected influences- there are references here to Ford, Hitchcock, Truffaut, a surprising level of cinematic sophistication from an otherwise patchy filmmaker; widescreen vistas depict in raw detail the blank desolation of pre- packaged middle America, simultaneously empty and suffocating. And to top it off, the film boasts one of the finest soundtracks in ‘70’s cinema- Sol Kaplan’s memorable, eclectic score covers all bases from Bernard Hermann to John Cameron (Kes), punctuated with pounding blasts of the very finest late- period classic rock.

by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
12 Feb 2006 7:18 AM | Submit Comment


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