New Movies for the New Year: An Alternate January Calendar

A new year brings with it new resolutions (watch more movies), new challenges (only so much time in the day to watch movies), new opportunities (to watch more movies), and, of course, new screenings from your favorite Austin-local film club. January had it all: queer independent cinema straight from the heart of Texas, a rare opportunity to delight in the inimitable works of Neil Breen, and a young Kyle MacLachlan hunting a hedonistic alien. If you found your whistle wetted and your appetite whetted, our lovely Hyperreal Film Club contributors have recommended some other movies you might enjoy.

Erica’s First Holy Shit—Pink Narcissus

As “the movies” (Vin Diesel voice) continue to trot further on down the precession of simulacra, deploying ever more resources and exponentially explosive technology to create fantasy worlds that can keep up with our fantasy lives, the pleasures of a deeply talented bootstrapped hard-work cardboard-miniatures-and-love production grow ever more pronounced. Erica’s First Holy Shit is one of those movies to the extreme, and so is Pink Narcissus.

Filmed over a 7-year period almost entirely inside of filmmaker James Bidgood’s New York City apartment, Pink Narcissus pulls off the cinematic magic trick of feeling like it exists instead inside of an infinitely expansive imagination space. You can’t see the seams or the corners of the tiny room, just gauze and pastel washes and the dream landscape of someone with a big vision and the creativity/stubbornness to imprint it on a celluloid canvas.

There’s something else here about filmmakers who have a point-of-view and make something that shows you what it is. Watch movies sometime with that in mind, and I think you’ll be shocked at how much of what’s out there is just spurious products for sale rather than a genuine attempt to put your heart, brain, and ass out there in the picnic basket for people to snack on. Is it wantonly naive to desire exclusively vulnerable and beautiful things?? Well, spank me for it, I don’t mind.

Excited for next month’s re-screening of Erica’s First Holy Shit? Check out James Scott’s review here.

The Hidden—King of New York

What first might come to mind when pairing the proverbial “hidden” gem of 1980’s popcorn flick that is The Hidden (1987, Jack Sholder, Dir.) with its double-feature counterpart is another action-packed alien movie. But, what sticks with you after watching The Hidden is not its extraterrestrial plotline, and just so happens to be what King of New York (1990, Abel Ferrara, Dir.) has in spades: unflinching, stylish violence. Both stories underscore the hallmark decadence and greed of the 1980s while featuring some of the best car chases and action sequences the decade had to offer. And if you think King of New York doesn’t embody enough of the sci-fi/horror that had you drooling over The Hidden, then consider its protagonist, Frank White (Christopher Walken), who roams the streets of New York City (in a limo, not a Ferrari, but still…) destroying anything and everything that compromises his psychopathic strive for power and influence. Furthermore, directors of both films cite the tremendous success of The Terminator (1984, James Cameron, Dir.) as the precipice to reach for in the making and marketing of their films. So, if you find your engine still humming after a viewing of The Hidden, kick your senses into overdrive with King of New York!

Need more convincing? Check out Kat Brinkley’s spoiler-y exultation of The Hidden here.

Fateful Findings—Shirkers

“I want to be honest with all of you. I’ve been hacking into government and corporate systems all over the country. All over the world. I have discovered more information than any hacker ever has. Ever.”

And I have yet to figure out what a Neil Breen film is really about.

Fateful Findings was my introduction to the filmmaker and it led me down the rabbit hole. I tried my best to research the Las Vegas architect-turned-filmmaker with little luck. In watching Double Down and Twisted Pair (the only two films he has streaming though you can buy DVDs though his website), I have only been able to deduce that Neil Breen just wants to be seen. A simple desire that he luckily has the means to achieve (like so many “so-bad-they’re-good” directors) through the medium of independent cinema.

Across the world and decades earlier, three Singaporian filmmakers had the same desire. 2018’s Shirkers is an exploration into what happens when you have the opportunity to be seen and it is taken away from you. Sandi Tan’s documentary takes a look at her and her friends' effort to complete their first independent feature and the shady director, Georges Cardona, who stole their movie—over 70 film canisters and production notes.

Like Shirkers, Neil Breen’s films could have never been seen—many independent films never are. But Fateful Findings and Shirkers exist. They’re films about alienation, representation, and conspiracy that offer a peek behind the curtain at madness. In watching both films, we get a glimpse at why people make movies in the first place.

Need an intro into the weird and wild mind of Neil Breen? Hyperreal co-founder Jenni Kaye has your guide to the Breen-iverse right here.

The Cat—The Seventh Curse

The opening credits of The Cat starts with “1000 years cat the” which pretty well prepares you for the off-kilter vibe of the movie (and the charmingly terrible subtitles). Considering that the film features a cat vs. dog extended fight scene that, frankly, is like a better Batman vs. Superman fight than we got from the actual movie Batman v. Superman and a Terminator-esque fungal alien that looks like an optional Final Fantasy boss, you’d be well forgiven for not noticing the novelist at the center of the film. He’s Mr. Wisely, an Indiana Jones/Sherlock Holmes figure who experiences weird supernatural occurrences and writes about them. They’re a fairly successful book series with, if Wikipedia is to be believed, over 150 installments. So, is it a bit of a cheat to recommend another Dr. Wisely adaptation? Perhaps. But you should see The Seventh Curse anyway. Starring Chow Yun-fat as Wisely, it’s the kind of film that needs to be seen to be believed. Actors are covered in actual maggots following a scene where they fight some of the fakest bats ever captured on camera; Maggie Cheung beats up an entire encampment of soldiers; there’s an extended fight scene against a skeleton and then a second transformation scene that I refuse to spoil. And, much in the way that The Cat is made even more charming by subtitles that refuse to cohere for an English-only speaking audience, I could only find the dub of The Seventh Curse available to watch (though I’m sure there’s Very Probably Nicer ways to experience the movie). But that’s part of the fun—you’re here for a good time, not a well-understood time.

-The cat in The Cat might not really be evil, but it wouldn’t be the first feline on film to turn mean. Check out some other famous film cats here.