Rushes

Scary toys

Movies and toys go together like pigs and ... mud, but it's only been in the past twenty years or so that it's been a socially acceptable activity for adults to collect 'em. Toymakers are happy to oblige, with tons of movie- and comic book-related toys coming out every year. However, they're getting creepier and creepier — last week Mattel announced a bizarro new Barbie that recalls the iconic scene in The Birds where Tippi Hedren gets pecked to death. It's appropriately called Alfred Hitchcock The Birds Barbie Doll, with an editors note that proclaims, "Alfred Hitchcock + Barbie = Awesome." That probably depends on what your idea of awesome is, but okay, sure.

But if you're really hankering for a freaky new toy to add to your collection, might we suggest the Exorcist Regan Spider Walk figure? Because nothing says "collectible heirloom" like an action figure depicting a young girl being tortured by invisible demons!

NYAFF 2008: 'Dainipponjin'

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's just some really big Japanese dude.

As the New York Asian Film Festival's recent screening of Dainipponjin (aka Big Man Japan) showed, the whole superhero genre is going through some changes lately. They may have super powers, but at the end of the day, they're just schlubs like the rest of us.

Japanese comedian and Dainipponjin director Hitoshi Matsumoto stars as Dai-Sato, the last in line in a family of giant warriors. Filmed in a mockumentary style, the film crew follows Dai-Sato around as we observe his daily activities. He looks like your average neighborhood eccentric with long hair and funky clothes, living in a rundown house that's riddled with graffiti. He's separated from his wife and daughter, and his only companions are stray cats. His grandfather has dementia and resides in a pensioner's home. Dai-Sato also has a TV show, but its ratings are in the tank. His own manager sees him as a liability, and his ex-wife thinks of him as an embarrassment.

Waiting for the Meat Train

I am a big fan of horror writer and Hellraiser director Clive Barker. I had the pleasure of interviewing him several years ago about the video game Cliver Barker's Undying, and he couldn't have been nicer; he even signed my copy of Books of Blood 1 — 3 and drew a cool monster on the front page. When the interview was over, I blurted out that I almost didn't move to New York City because of his short story The Midnight Meat Train. It's a nasty little tale about a guy who falls asleep on the subway and finds a horrible world waiting for him in the bowels of the city. It just so happened that I picked it up the summer before I left for college in NYC. Terror-fying!

Pussyfootin' Around

Dušan Sekulović is at the Cannes Film Festival to accompany his short film, Pussyfoot, to the screening room. An abbreviated version his feature with the same title, Pussyfoot is a comedy about a bristly faced resident alien living out his version of the American dream in New York. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Sekulović on a 7.5 hour flight over to France, during he shared many fascinating bits of information, including how he raised most of the money to finance his film. Sekulović set up a website allowing people to buy themselves credits in Pussyfoot. The price was based on the size and font of each credit, starting at $35 for a 24 point font to $900 for a 400 point Hummer of a credit. Sales totaled nearly $40,000, and the credits may end up being longer than those for Lord of The Rings.

Sekulović also shared another more immediately useful nugget of knowledge. In order to avoid lousy airplane meals with microwaved meats and gooey breakfast buns that seem baked in the plastic they arrive in, Sekulović suggests ordering the Hindu meal. He particularly enjoys seeing stewardesses walk past him 3 or 4 times while attempting to deliver his special request because they are looking for an Indian person. Of a mixed German, Yugoslavian, and Italian upbringing himself, Sekulović enjoys comedically playing up but also challenging cultural stereotypes. These themes will be revisited in his next feature, a drama about a mute boy in a very conservative town of Southern Italy. 

Here's the official Pussyfoot website.

— Roseann M. Lake

Characters on the Croisette

Characters on the Croisette Part I

36-year-old Christophe Didillon of a small village in Germany has put on his Spider-Man costume and made the pilgrimage to Cannes in a test of his undying love for Kirsten Dunst. His dream is to meet her, illustrate a painting with her, and eventually donate the proceeds of its sale to children with cancer.

He strolls the Croisette holding a small fishing net full of "KirstenDollars" or $1 U.S. dollar bills with her face superimposed on them. He credits his strategic choice of dollars over euros to the fact that Kristen's hair is similar to George Washington's, although he is well aware that greenback's value is pecuniary compared to that of its European counterpart.

Didillon has already made a walk from San Francsico to L.A. in the name of Spider-Man's sweetheart. He has also participated in the Camino de Santiago, collecting donations for Amnesty International against female genital mutilation.

Didillon first noticed Dunst in "Juuu - mon - gee." It remains his favorite movie.