I’M NOT THAT SICK: A LITTLE RED SHOES OR TAXI DRIVER MIGHT HELP, ALTHOUGH UFF COULD MAKE THINGS WORSE

Thanks to everyone who seemed to think I was deathly ill on Wednesday. That wasn’t exactly the case. I was actually fine by the time I wrote that post in the afternoon … at least physically. Yesterday, on the other hand was a different matter, which is why I’m only now getting around to mentioning the three very important programming notes of the week: an unfortunately timed screening of The Red Shoes, Taxi Driver at Film Forum, and the return of Ultimate Film Fanatic on IFC.

My Wednesday morning sickness was more bizarre than long-lasting. I was just trying to draw some likely non-existent connection to the fact that I was walking through the day in a bit of a fog. That’s better then yesterday though when, for some still unknown reason, I managed to wake up at 4 AM to discover my hands were swollen and would hurt whenever I tried to close them into a fist. Oh yeah, that freaked me out a little bit. Allergic reaction? Could be, but to what, I don’t know. Neither does my doctor. The good news is that the freakish swelling was about 90% gone by 11:30 AM, and the weird tingling has finally almost disappeared this morning. Yay.

The only major effect either of these two weird ailments have really had on me is that I didn’t post yesterday, and on Wednesday, I missed my last opportunity to see Playtime at the Walter Reade. I did make last night’s Young Friend of Films screening of Takeshi Kitano’s Brother, which I had never seen. Sadly, there’s no way I’ll be able to get back to Lincoln Center today at 3 PM to see The Red Shoes, one of my all-time favorite movies, and one of the few in that category that I have never seen projected on a big screen. If you’re in New York and you have any opportunity to get to this screening, I highly encourage you to do so. Michael Powell’s and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 film is simply one of the all time great cinematic experiences in history. A visually breathtaking movie with a riveting story and magnificent performances, this is one of the few films that makes me want to say, “If you don’t love it, you can’t love movies.” The third act ballet sequence alone leaves me in wide-eyed, open-mouthed awe whenever I see it. Seriously, if you’re free, and especially if you’ve never seen it, get your ass to the Walter Reade at 3 PM. If you can’t get there, you should seriously consider renting the magnificent Criterion disc.)

You have a little more flexibility to see another one of my favorite films. Film Forum was supposed to be screening the brilliant Raging Bull, but for reasons not detailed, they’re unable to screen that film and have replaced it with Martin Scorsese’s earlier masterpiece, Taxi Driver. In fact, as much as I love Raging Bull (and to all you Million Dollar Baby haters, in comparison to this film, it certainly does fail miserably), Taxi Driver is my all-time favorite Scorsese film. It’s strange to realize that Taxi Driver is now almost 30 years old. It’s scary, and somewhat upsetting, to notice how late ’70s New York, especially the now cleaned-up 42nd Street, looks like a completely different place. But the character of Travis Bickle and his ongoing internal monologue is one which I think most people can relate to on some level, a person sickened by the darker elements of our world, who only wants to do good but doesn’t know how. A person who always feels like an outside, but his lack of social graces stop him whenever he tries to become “normal.” Granted, we hopefully won’t go to his extremes, but just because we might on the surface call him crazy, we’re better off realizing the Travis Bickle who exists in all of us than discarding him so easily. Taxi Driver will play at Film Forum only through this coming Tuesday 1/11, so hurry down there.

And finally, tonight is the premiere of the second series of Ultimate Film Fanatic (10:30 PM on IFC). If you’ve been reading this blog for a little bit, you may remember that at the end of the summer, I kept writing very detailed, and highly critical, reviews/recaps of IFC’s little game show. (Here is my post on the finals, from within which you can find links to the individual episode posts.) I thought the show was a gigantic missed-opportunity: great idea for IFC, a game show that people who watch the channel and love movies could really get into, but just terribly produced and written. In its attempts to be “indie” and cool, it was just lame. Happily, I received a lot of great response in comments and via email from several of the show’s contestants as well as host Chris Gore, who wrote me that some of the elements frustrated him and he hoped to have more input into the creative elements of the show (which I would consider a good thing). The format of the finals was better than any episode, and hopefully the producers have learned from their first season mistakes, and this go around will be less frustrating. IFC aired a “casting special” last night (which I have yet to watch), but IFC should know that while I may not spend hours detailing every last element of the show, I will be watching. Oh yes I will. Here’s hoping we see some a better show; I’ll try to contain myself a wee bit if we don’t, but no guarantees.