Showing posts with label wigs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wigs. Show all posts

Monday, August 3, 2009

I Cayyyyn't Stand It

... that Jean Hagen didn't win the Oscar for Singin' in the Rain.

Lina Lamont: Gee, this wig weighs a ton! What dope'd wear a thing like this?
Rosco: Everybody used to wear them, Lina.

Lina Lamont: Well, then everybody was a dope
Hagen would've been 86 today. She never got the big film career she deserved after her Lina Lamont triumph and soon transferred over to television. Ironically, the actress who gifted us one of the cinema's all time funniest vocal characterizations died of throat cancer when she was only 54.

I'd love to watch Singin' in the Rain back-to-back with Bullets Over Broadway to see Lina's closest modern equivalent, Jennifer Tilly as "Olive Neal", in direct succession. What is it about fine actresses playing bad actresses that thrills so?
Lina Lamont: 'People'? I ain't 'people.' I am a - 'a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament.' It says so right here.
More Lina? Try this Film Experience Classic: JA watches Singin' In the Rain for the first time while guest blogging in March 2008

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Losing It In Style



Adam of Club Silencio here going off the deep end. This week saw the release of Roman Polanski's Repulsion on glorious Criterion DVD and Blu-ray. As per usual we're given a beautiful print of the film with a scattering of insightful extras. And the film itself has lost none of its power; a razor-sharp story of a manicurist whose foundation is cracking alongside her confining London flat. The film has become such an essential horror film throughout the years that it becomes quite simple to see echoes of a pert and psychotic Catherine Deneuve in the many films that have adopted Repulsion's structure and style -- usually in an attempt to peruse the psyches of their damaged protagonists. It begs the questions: do male directors somehow break the misogynist critique by having these women undone by dastardly, dirty men? And do blondes really have more fun?


Repulsion (1965)
dir: Roman Polanski

The final eerie frame lingers on a photo of Carol (Catherine Deneuve) as a child staring ambiguously into space, or possibly in the direction of her father. Repulsion never makes explicit whether Carol was a victim of sexual abuse and yet we're constantly faced with Carol's... repulsion... toward men. Their voices, their touch, their smell -- Carol's infinitely more at ease with the beheaded rabbit that's decaying in her living room. Even her apartment building takes part in a full on assault on her physical body. If these walls could talk... they'd say something smutty and grab your breasts. Carol's mind becomes a crumbling facade; a soft-spoken and elegant blonde woman is destroyed by some abstract primal fear. The question "why" really doesn't matter to Polanski, but much of the film's unnerving pleasure comes in the speculation of what could turn this lost little girl into an adult woman losing it with a straight-razor.


Images (1972)
dir: Robert Altman

Altman's film knowingly owes Polanski a great dept as we fall into the dark recesses of Cathryn's (Susannah York) broken mind. A children's author and her dull, hobbyist husband venture to their fantastical country home where we experience Cathryn's triple assault by her lovers (both living and dead), and witness doppelgangers of Cathryn at varying stages of her life... possibly. Her madness accelerates, but much like Repulsion, we're never sure where nightmare and reality meet, or if we've been behind Cathryn's corrupted gaze all along.


The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)
dir: Dario Argento

Undercover at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, inspector Anna Manni (Asia Argento) experiences the Stendhal Syndrome (a psychological fatigue caused by great works of art) and quite literally falls into the arms of the sadistic serial rapist she was trying to capture. Much like Repulsion, Argento places the narrative directly in sync with Anna's dissolving mental state. Unlike Carol however, Anna's initial response to her sexual revulsion at the hands of maniacal men has her adopting her very own masculine side in order to inflict harm on the men closest to her -- also she simplifies by just using a razor blade. Eventually Anna dons a blonde wig in an attempt to regain her femininity, but it becomes more evident that it's just a simpler disguise for her continual descent into madness.


Inland Empire (2006)
dir: David Lynch

Lynch's film unravels similarly with doppelgangers and ambiguously fractured mental states. Actress Nikki Grace's (Laura Dern) latest role has her transforming into a woman spurned by manipulative men, and transforming into another woman entirely. Susan Blue (Laura Dern), a prostitute worn by the streets and an abusive carny boyfriend, is confined to her dank apartment where we see her madness manifest in the form of strobe-lit screams and a theatre showing Nikki/Susan's life as it's happening -- to which Susan herself can only describe as a "mind f**k." Typical of Lynch, all of this is best left to the audience that is now left with their minds in comparable disarray.


All I can conclude is that this would make a wonderful movie marathon for anyone (man-hater or otherwise) holed up inside their apartment for questionable lengths of time. Ultimately these fine films are a reminder of the very fragile, unknowable state of the human mind. And a solid reminder to get out more.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

If Alison Lohman Must Be Dragged to Hell This Weekend


...may I kindly request that she take all those bad wigs from White Oleander with her to the fiery pits?


They distract me when I'm trying to look at Michelle Pfeiffer!

Please and thanks.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Hair Hell

Hey Suits,
What's up you guys? So... Ummmm, wow, you're weird. First you fire the director of a movie that made $190 million and then you make me beg (wolf howl!) for the role I already played in Twilight for its sequel. Okay, okay, that's history. So two hours in the gym every day. I show up on set with 26 lbs of new muscle and a 6 pack (abs not beer -- I'm 17!!!).


$190 million and you still can't up the wig budget? No you didn't!

Yours (contractually), Taylor Lautner

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Tuesday Top Ten: Wigs

tuesday top ten: a weekly series for the list lover in you and the list maker in me

Time for the Tuesday countdown. In celebration of Halloween, this week's list focuses on a subject that's been on my mind since screening the notably "wiggy" Elizabeth: The Golden Age in which Cate Blanchett emoted beneath a parade of hair pieces. Thus, I give you:


Top Ten Movie Wigs

10 "Hedwig" in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
John Cameron Mitchell's German rocker grabbed that "Wig in a Box," helping to kick-off the return of the movie musical with style. The Farrah Fawcett hairdo, with an edge.

09 "Amadeus" in Amadeus (1984)
I'd like to consider Tom Hulce's Mozart a distant relation to Hedwig. They certainly share a certain flair when it comes to wigging out.

08 "Ron Burgundy" in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Will Ferrell has made his career through kitschy bad hair. In the case of this smug portrayal of a 1970s news anchor, his hairpiece (it is a rug, right?) is frighteningly similar to one my father used to wear.

07 "Bernadette," "Mitzi" and "Felicia" in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert(1994) The costumes took the prize at the Oscars, but each of these lovely drag queens (brilliantly embodied by Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce, respectively) topped their sparkly duds off with fantastic and outrageous faux hair.

06 Owen Wilson as himself in anything. Yes, I know he's not wearing a wig, but he makes the list because he's got the kind of hair I'd most like to see copied by others hoping for that perfect crown of California sunshine. Farrah, eat your heart out.

05 "Hobbits, Elves, Wizards and Men" in The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003)
Whether it was the eighties-like curly mullets sported by the Hobbits, the "never had a bad hair day, EVER" tresses of the Elves, the unruly locks of "Galdalf the Grey" (replaced by the sleek style of "Gandalf the White," who apparently discovered conditioner when he made his return), or the greasy rocker look of "Aragorn," nearly every character in the trilogy was be-wigged.

04 "Elizabeth" in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
Immediately after a screening of this film, I declared that the film should have been called "Elizabeth: A Wig for all Seasons." My personal favorite was her long and luxurious look for battle. It went so well with that shiny armour.

03 "Marie Antoinette" in Marie Antoinette (2006) Living the decadent lifestyle as the doomed French queen, Kirsten Dunst and her royal gal pals wear wigs that are as tasty looking as a beautifully layered cake.

02 "Velma Von Tussle" in Hairspray (1988)
No disrespect to Michelle Pfeiffer's '07 incarnation, but Debbie Harry's Velma has one of the most gloriously loopy wigs in movie history.

01 "Mia Wallace" in Pulp Fiction (1994)
While there are certainly more outrageous movie wigs, Uma Thurman's black-haired bob (an update of the stunning look made famous by silent star Louise Brooks) is the most iconic. I think I have a special affinity for the 'do, since it turned into my lazy Halloween costume option during the mid 1990s.

Which fake hairdo is most inspiring to you? What movie-themed wigs have you sported on Halloween in the past and which one will it be this year?

Friday, October 27, 2006

What's That On Your Head? A Wig!

Marie-Antoinette Week
Sofia Coppola's new biopic of the queen of deficit, Marie-Antoinette, has a killer soundtrack which happened to be the top selling one this past week at iTunes. So gobble it up like a delicious pastry. The CD is loaded with great 80s tunes and other aural wonders. But sadly, no B-52s. But they're there in spirit I'm sure.



What's that on your head?
A wig
Wig. Wig. Wig.


Molly's gotta wig
Asia's gotta wig
Judy's gotta wig
Jason's gotta wig
Rip's gotta cheap toupee
Kiki's gotta big bouffant on
We all got wigs, so let's go!

To the powdered, powdered side of town
in multi colored gorgeous gowns


Beyoncé's gotta wig
Dreamgirls all got wig
Johnny had a wig
Tried to fix Storm's wig
(still looks like hell)
Travolta's gotta big bouffant on
They'll all have wigs, so...let's go!


To the powdered, powdered side of town
in multi colored gorgeous gowns


What's that on Kiki's head?

A wig

Wig. Wig. Wig.

Wig's on fire!'s on fire!'s on...fire!
It's 1775 and we've got the most wigs alive!Wig's on fire!'s on fire! Take it higher!
It's 1775 and we've got the hottest do's alive!


Tags:
Kirsten Dunst, movies, wigs, film, hair, Marie Antoinette, cinema, Sofia Coppola

What's That On Your Head? A Wig!

Marie-Antoinette Week
Sofia Coppola's new biopic of the queen of deficit, Marie-Antoinette, has a killer soundtrack which happened to be the top selling one this past week at iTunes. So gobble it up like a delicious pastry. The CD is loaded with great 80s tunes and other aural wonders. But sadly, no B-52s. But they're there in spirit I'm sure.



What's that on your head?
A wig
Wig. Wig. Wig.


Molly's gotta wig
Asia's gotta wig
Judy's gotta wig
Jason's gotta wig
Rip's gotta cheap toupee
Kiki's gotta big bouffant on
We all got wigs, so let's go!

To the powdered, powdered side of town
in multi colored gorgeous gowns


Beyoncé's gotta wig
Dreamgirls all got wig
Johnny had a wig
Tried to fix Storm's wig
(still looks like hell)
Travolta's gotta big bouffant on
They'll all have wigs, so...let's go!


To the powdered, powdered side of town
in multi colored gorgeous gowns


What's that on Kiki's head?

A wig

Wig. Wig. Wig.

Wig's on fire!'s on fire!'s on...fire!
It's 1775 and we've got the most wigs alive!Wig's on fire!'s on fire! Take it higher!
It's 1775 and we've got the hottest do's alive!


Tags:
Kirsten Dunst, movies, wigs, film, hair, Marie Antoinette, cinema, Sofia Coppola