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.


July 2006 activity

Total Log Entries: 71

Total Comments: 23


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The Harder They Come / Jamaica / 1972

Most every mention of this film is devoted, at least in part, to describing its magnificent soundtrack. Many of the reggae tunes are sung and performed by Jimmy Cliff, who also stars as Ivanhoe Martin, a poor but determined man who moves to Kingston, seeking some publicity or opportunity to perform his music. He manages to cut a record, but the obnoxious persistence he’s relayed to do so inhibits him; annoyed, the studio producer who gave him a break insists, to local radio djs, to bury the record after it recoups its meager costs. Ivan now exemplifies a by any means necessary agenda in participating in the nation’s profitable ganja trade, in which he successively ascends the hierarchy by threatening (and even killing) those who would naturally inhibit him. He becomes notorious, and his record immensely popular. However, Ivan shouldn’t be perceived for the criminal his actions attend, but as a reactionary who has refused his prior life of fruitless religious and occupational responsibility. This thought is verified in the final scene in which he faces off against a team of policemen, the conflict interspersed with footage of a Jamaican audience applauding not his capture but his bravery.

by Rumsey Taylor | Source: The Criterion Collection DVD
03 Jul 2006 10:36 AM | Submit Comment


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