A man buys a horse skull on the black market. CONTENT WARNING: Language.
POD 366, EP. 193: WHEN THE SUN STANDS STILL FOR JAMES NEWTON
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Discussed in this episode:
When the Sun Stands Still (2024): When Kenneth’s step-daughter disappears in the woods, detectives and a paranormal investigator try to decode increasingly mysterious events.
- Read Giles Edwards’ review.
- When the Sun Stands Still on Fawesome (ads).
- James Newton YouTube page (trailers, shorts, experiments)
(trailer age restricted for brief near-nudity)
Harold and Maude (1971): Read the reader recommendation. A suicidal teen finds meaning in the arms of an elderly holocaust survivor. Buy Harold and Maude.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
We have no guest scheduled for next week’s Pod 366, but Greg and Giles will return with Pete to discuss the week’s weird news and releases (if any). In written content, Michael Diamades sails off to Raoul Ruiz‘ City of Pirates (1983), Shane Wilson plans to Kill the Jockey (2024) (again), and Gregory J. Smalley is will hang with The Weird Kidz (2022). Onward and weirdward!
CAPSULE: WICKER (2026)
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DIRECTED BY: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson
FEATURING: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Elizabeth Debicki, Peter Dinklage,
PLOT: A medieval spinster Fisherwoman asks the local Basketweaver to build her a husband out of wicker.
COMMENTS: Tired of being mocked and sick of living alone, a smelly Fisherwoman (all Wicker‘s characters are referred to by their occupations) commissions the local magical Basketweaver to make her a husband. The intrigued Basketweaver accepts the challenge, tells her to be at the chapel in a month. Surprisingly, the local priest doesn’t object to officiating at this unholy wedding, and the villagers barely raise an eyebrow when the new woody construct strides into town and takes a seat at the tavern bar. In fact, the women are more intrigued than horrified by the macabre woven consort, who not only demolishes the bed with his aggressive lovemaking, but dutifully mends it afterwards. Soon, the village is consumed by envy: the women wish they had sturdier lovers, the men resent the women’s roving eyes, and the Tailor’s Wife takes it upon herself to sow doubt about the happy but unnatural union.
Wicker is minor in impact, but nearly perfect in its way. The story structure is solid and classical, providing a happy ending for the virtuous and ironic comeuppance for the wicked. Colman ably handles the unglamorous but dignified lead; Skarsgård takes a stoic approach, adopting what sounds like a Native American accent. Dinklage is delightful as the impish magical weaver, and the rest of the cast supplies ample comic relief as the hamlet of horny bumpkins. Technical aspects are all marvelous: the bucolic cinematography is fine, editing is professional, and the score provides proper period flavor. The imposing bronzed Wicker Husband himself is an amazing collaboration between the makeup and costuming departments. Sound design is also a standout; you hear every crackle of the Husband’s stiffening erection. If there’s any criticism to be made, its that the pacing occasionally lags—and some may find the Basketweaver’s habit of indulging in Shakespearean monologues distracting and pretentious, although others will see it as a mere quirky ornament.
We live in an age where humans are lured into romantic relationships with AI chatbots and full-service sexbots are mere decades away, but Wicker doesn’t reference that simmering controversy. Nor does it seriously delve into the ethical and philosophical questions about whether its automaton has free will, or whether its love is merely a simulation. Heck, it’s not even concerned whether the Fisherwoman might get splinters. Despite it’s ribaldry, Wicker is steadfastly sweet and pure in its fairy tale romanticism. Although some will find an embedded attack on the patriarchy (local wedding ceremonies involve placing a collar on the bride, which may be as kinky as it is misogynist), the film stays true to its light romcom aspirations. The satirical elements mainly focus on a simple human foible (jealousy); the same tale could have been comfortably told by Chaucer or Boccaccio. The fantastical premise is a little out there for the average moviegoer, sure, but any weirdness is only a light accent in this pleasant peasant stew.
Wicker was based on “The Wicker Husband,” an Ursula Wills short story later adapted into a stage musical. It’s heartening to see Wills stumble into a big payday for a tale that was originally published on the Internet for free.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
I think this movie is weirder than average
I think this movie is better than average
IT CAME FROM THE READER-SUGGESTED QUEUE: THE FLOOD (1985)
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“The Flood” has been posted by the director on Vimeo, where it is available to watch for free.
DIRECTED BY: Jaap Drupsteen
FEATURING: Pauline Daniels, Julian Beusker, Sylvia Millecam, Rudi Van Vlaanderen, and the voices of Laurence Harvey, Sebastian Cabot, Elsa Lanchester
PLOT: Adam and Eve betray God by eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge, learning shame and being cast out of Eden; later, Noah builds an ark for his family as well as the animals of the Earth to survive the coming deluge.
COMMENTS: In relatively recent memory, opera was not only broadcast on American television, but was commissioned specifically to be shared with the masses. The most famous example is probably Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1951 holiday offering for NBC, Amahl and the Night Visitors, but other notable composers of note have been enlisted to tackle the medium, including Benjamin Britten, Norman Dello Joio, and Duke Ellington. Igor Stravinsky, the musical mind behind “The Rite of Spring,” a work so avant-garde it nearly sparked riots, is possibly the greatest composer to be tasked with bringing opera to TV. The commission for the opera we attend today came at a time when Stravinsky was looking forward and backward simultaneously: he was adopting 12-tone serial techniques in his composition while pursuing spiritual and scriptural themes in his subject matter. The piece he crafted for CBS Television’s Breck Golden Showcase was right in the sweet spot, a blend of opera, ballet (choreographed by George Balanchine), and spoken word narration and dialogue that tells two of the most familiar tales from the book of Genesis. In these days of traitors and real housewives, we should probably not expect this mindset to return anytime soon.
“The Flood” has not endured as one of the landmarks in Stravinsky’s catalogue, which makes it interesting that Dutch video artist Jaap Drupsteen excavated it some two decades later. One account suggests that he was inspired by the rising waters threatening his homeland (an interesting parallel to Stravinsky himself, who said that the idea for the piece came to him on a visit to Venice), but there’s not really an environmental or political message in his production of “The Flood.” This is a fairly straightforward retelling of the two parables, re-envisioned using the video tools then seen throughout the day on MTV. In fact, “The Flood” evokes the video art of Zbigniew Rybczynski, whose work was in regular rotation on the channel, and who further developed his vision in films such as “Imagine” and “Orchestra” piling layer upon layer of green-screened action like a funhouse mirror that stretches into infinity with only the slightest variation. The sound is Stravinsky; the look is The Art of Noise.
In some respects, “The Flood” is a bit of a stunt, repurposing old audio with new imagery like an episode of “Drunk History.” The modern cast lip-syncs to the original 1962 recording of the opera, particularly the spoken word segments, which means, for example, that the older gentleman in the neat black suit is mouthing the voice of Mr. French from “Family Affair.” The visuals, however, are so 1980s as to thoroughly redefine the work. Adam and Eve appear on a Tron-like grid, as though they had been generated in a computer, and their knowledge compels them to cover their nakedness with shiny party frocks that would have been at home at a happening nightclub (presaging their ultimate walk of shame). The city to be wiped out in the coming cataclysm is a Dali-esque keepsake box that vanishes into the horizon. Lucifer is an androgynous Ziggy Stardust-type figure who slinks around in spangled bodysuits and barely-there dance belts. Most notably, God spins overhead as a trio of baritones inside the finest spinning triangle a video toaster could generate.
There’s irony in the realization that the showiness and the high-tech-for-its-time trappings make “The Flood” more like its source material, the York and Chester miracle plays. These staged scriptures brought the tales of the Bible to the illiterate medieval masses, dramatizing the most compelling tales with pageantry and potency. So too does Drupsteen’s take on Stravinsky’s take on Genesis. What was prestige becomes fancifully odd, and the passage of time has made it even more charmingly peculiar. With this kind of approach, maybe opera could find its way to the small screen once more.
(This movie was nominated for review by Tyler. Suggest a weird movie of your own here.)
I think this movie is weirder than average
I think this movie is better than average
CAPSULE: MORBO (1972)
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DIRECTED BY: Gonzalo Suarez
FEATURING: Ana Belen, Victor Manuel, Michael J. Pollard, Maria Vica
PLOT: Their honeymoon goes awry when newlyweds unwittingly park their camper at the edge of a haunted forest.
COMMENTS: Morbo is a ghost story without ghosts. The English title, Morbidness, pretty much sums it up. A honeymooning couple find themselves engulfed in a sinister atmosphere that they’re at a loss to explain. Moments of violence erupt out of the tension, but this nontraditional horror film mostly traffics in mood.
A pre-credits introduction sets the scene. As the camera floats through a deserted, crumbling mansion, disembodied voices recount their misfortunes: the devastating forest fire that tore through the landscape, wrecking their livelihood, leaving them old before their time, ruined by injury, illness, and poverty. The empty rooms echo with plaintive laments. Amid the decaying furnishings, a reporduction of the Mona Lisa sits on the floor, symbol of their former prosperity and a hint of the mystery to come.
The opening credits then roll over a static shot of a church interior. We meet Alicia and Diego as they drive off to their honeymoon, a camping expedition designed to provide them with peace and quiet. They choose a secluded forest glade on their campsite, failing to notice the “No Trespassing” sign at the side of the road. When they set out to explore the area, Diego comes across the rotting, headless carcass of a dead animal without a head. He doesn’t mention it to Alicia.
Despite this disturbing discovery, they settle in, unpacking their wedding gifts from the camper and decorating the clearing with inflatable furniture. At first they are content to be together, sharing confidences and increasing their intimacy. They open the wedding gifts and immediately start mocking both the contents and the people who gifted them. “A real Leonardo,” Alicia sarcastically declares when she opens a package to reveal a Mona Lisa print.
Her disdain aside, the image triggers a vivid memory for Alicia. She recounts a dream she once had of inhabiting a summer house where a copy of the Mona Lisa hung on the chimney. The detailed vision includes gardens surrounding the house, a picturesque old mill, and a well.
Made in Spain during the tail end of the Franco regime, Morbo pushes the limits of state-imposed censorship. Through its irreverent attitude towards marriage and the sanctity of the nuclear family, it challenges prevailing Catholic beliefs and the encroaching consumerism of lavish wedding and honeymoon practices.
Along with the societal critique, director Suarez toys with the conventions of the Western horror film. The couple make a classic gas station stop along their journey, during which Alicia peels off her wedding dress to display a white crocheted bikini underneath. She unceremoniously tosses the dress into the back seat, and there it will remain, a casually discarded symbol of tradition.
It isn’t long before bizarre events begin taking place, leading to arguments between Alicia and Diego. An old house nearby becomes a point of contention. Diego sees it first, but he’s evasive when describing it to Alicia. Since it has a well, she’s confident the residents will allow them to replenish their water supply, but whenever Diego goes to ask, he’s says no one’s home. They find a river nearby, but Alicia refuses to drink or use the water out of fear of insects.
More alarming to the couple is evidence that someone may be spying on them. The invisible antagonist tampers with their car, as well as their water canisters. The theft of Alicia’s wedding dress proves to be the last straw. Determined to find the thief, she runs off to the old house on her own. Despite the prevailing aura of obfuscation, Morbo concludes with a satisfyingly bloody denouement for viewers who manage to make it to the end. The plot loops back to the introduction, connecting various narrative threads, although it can never entirely account for the strange workings of Fate.
Belen and Manuel, the two leads, were popular celebrities known for their left-wing sympathies, and a couple at the time. Their casting was a coup for Suarez, who remained somewhat outside the mainstream. He had begun his career in film as a scriptwriter before deciding to direct his own films. He was affiliated with the Barcelona School, a group of intellectuals, artists, film makers, and musicians who frequented the newly flourishing night club scene in the city. But Suarez always stayed true to his unique vision. Many of his films similarly deal with unseen forces that catch his protagonists in their inexorable grip.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
I think this movie is weirder than average
I think this movie is better than average