This is partly a reminder that not all auteurs are directors. I would argue Tom Cruise is an auteur. He makes movies that fit his personal brand and he has a strong vision of how to present himself on the screen. Sure, he has at times moved away from this, but everyone knows he has a very specific way of approaching the movies he stars in.
I did not know of the existence of this streaming service until a few weeks ago, but there is something to be said for a service that has movies like Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek, The Return of Superman (Turkish Superman) and Wrasslin′ She-Babes Vol 07 right there on the front page. They also have a section of movies you can watch for free (you do have to register) and they seem to be pretty representative of what the service looks like on the whole, so you could actually try the service out first before paying (and the service is much cheaper than most streaming services).
I don’t know much about de la Iglesia. Maybe I should as I have seen quite a few of his movies (well, just over half of his features, but still there aren’t that many directors I’ve seen nine movies from) and he has had a prolific career with some international success despite being very Spanish in his output. Or at least I would assume many of the references in his movies are very obscure anywhere outside of Spain.
Let’s start with this again: This is one of those situations where I need to remind myself and anyone reading this that I am indeed white cishet male born and living in Finland with decent income and a good education. I do not want to try to push my point of view over that of any minority regarding any topic that affects them. Gladly, I did find a black voice that does uphold my views and, obviously, is more nuanced than what I have to say about that specifically. You can find that here: One Fetish After Another by Brooke Obie.
Okay, admittedly this is a pretty useless list for anyone who doesn’t know me…
Maybe I should have worked up to him instead of putting him this early in the series.
First off, I had the opportunity to see a screening with Anna Eriksson, the director, introducing the film and having a Q&A session afterwards. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I did struggle through a horrific need to piss to hear her out, because she knew her shit. Also, I have been to such events previously and what was (gladly) missing from this one was the ego some of those people have regarding their work.
I think I might be emphasizing directors here a little too much, but they are an easy place to start.
Who the fuck is Ken Russell? I know the name and I’ve seen some of his huge filmography, but he has also always remained an elusive figure to me. I have never seen that many of his films and there doesn’t seem to be a real throughline in the ones that I have seen. Except that they are all weird.