The War Zone is being released September 19th on DVD. The entire time I have been working on the images, I have been trying to figure out how to express how powerful this film is. Perhaps the short message I sent to Scoopy moments after I watched it will do. "I just finished watching The War Zone. It is easily the most devastating film I have ever scene, and is brilliant." We are introduced to a family that has moved from London to the dreary outskirts of Devon. Mum is 11 months pregnant from the look of her, Dad is a caring father and easy-going, good-natured person. The daughter is 18, and has a body to incite lust in a stone. The brother is 16, missing his friends in London, and beginning to have strong sexual feelings. His sister's shape is not lost on him. Mom goes into labor, and the whole family drives her to the hospital. On the way, they roll the car. This intro presents a close family unit.

As the film progresses, we discover that what appears to be a happy family is actually a "War Zone." I don't want to write a spoiler, but I will say the real topic in this film is incest, and what it really does to the family unit. For a more thorough plot description, and a great review that I agree with 100%, read the one by James Berardinelli. For another opinion with fewer spoilers, Roger Ebert also wrote a great review on this one.

It has been two hours since I finished this film, and I am still emotionally shattered, as much from the way the story is told as the content. Incest is not a new subject in film, but you generally see an evil ogre and a sweet innocent. That makes the subject easy to understand, and gives us clear heroes and villains. In this film, there are no easy answers. First time director Tim Roth presents the story as something we experience. There is not one flat note in the entire film. The two leads are played brilliantly by first time actor Freddie Cunliffe and actress Lara Belmont. Each and every performance in the film is Oscar material. What a shame that the subject is too difficult for the Academy to consider. I usually advise you to rent or not rent a film. This time, the hot tip is buy. DVD info from Amazon

Demarchelier was once chosen by Princess Diana to do some official portraits. I think this is a pretty good indication of his status, since it's safe to say that Di could have gotten pretty much any photographer in the world to do it willingly.

As far as I can see, the book is only available in a monstrous (15 by 11) hardcover edition. Here is the info, if you are interested.

This is one of the more interesting chapters in cinema history. A Black Vampire movie with no biting, this art film is a long way from Blacula.

Ganja and Hess, in the 110 minute version available on the DVD, stayed in theaters less than a week, and only played in the New York City area.

This happened because of a combination of bad reviews, lack of audience support, and the financial woes of the distributors.

The distributors got the film chopped by a third, and re-released it as a second feature on the blaxploitation circuit, using a different name, a different score, cutting many scenes and adding in some others which were not used in the "Ganja" version. This was an attempt to salvage some of the investment, and it was largely unsuccessful.

Yet, the original film had been screened at the 1973 Cannes festival, received an ecstatic standing ovation, and was much praised by the critics and celebrities who viewed it there.

The only known print was kept at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where it was dragged out for an occasional screening. It was retired some time ago because of the deterioration of the print, so virtually no one had seen this version before the DVD was made from a heretofore undiscovered 35mm print.

Here is a site with very detailed information on the entire story.

Is it a good movie? In many ways, yes. It is an extraordinary compilation of excellent visuals, supported by an unforgettable score with roots in both Africa and Black America. I thought the score was really interesting and added a great deal of power and authority to the film.

Having said that, let me add that the film is amateurish in many ways. The balance between talk and action is swung way over on the talk side. The editing is quite choppy. The performing is uneven, often poor. The store is densely symbolic, and the direction tends toward the arty, so that one is not really sure what's going on. In short, the entertainment value of the film is very limited, and the narrative form is not at all straightforward. It just isn't regular old storytelling. It's allegorical. Think of it as a poem in movie form. A lot of people simply don't like poetry, and if you are one of them, this sure won't be your cup of tea.

Think about the kinds of movies that are admired at Cannes. If those are your kind of filmmaking, this may be for you. If not, skip it.

But whether you see the movie or not, I really recommend reading some of the articles featured in that link above. The film may not be as interesting as people would contend, but the story behind it sure is! Bill Gunn, the auteur and one of the performers in the film, was a novelist, playwright, stage actor, and one of the first Black Americans ever to direct a studio film. (In his later years, he was one of Bill Cosby's recurring poker buddies on The Cosby Show)

IMDB summary: 6.2 out of 10.

DVD info from Amazon

On to the pics....
#1 features the Dutch actress from the French film "The Pirate". Naturally, being a French film, there is a lot of nudity, including full frontal.
#2 is from "The Mambo Kings", starring not one, but two overrated actors...Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas! (although I will give credit to Assante for "Fatal Instinct") These 'caps feature Antonio and Maruschka gettin' it on.

On a side note, according to the IMDb Tim Meadows is the SNL performer with the most seniority. Since '91 and still going. (Followed by Phil Hartman with 8 years, and Dana Carvey with 7)