NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER (Kino Lorber)

Night of the Juggler

Kino Classics
June 6, 1980
Written by William W. Norton, Rick Natkin, based on a novel by William P. McGivern
Directed by Robert Butler, Sidney J. Furie (uncredited)
Starring James Brolin, Cliff Gorman, Julie Carmen, Abby Bluestone, Dan Hedaya
Language English

Buy it HERE from Kino Lorber, or HERE from Diabolik

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie: Excellent

Holy Toledo, gang! I originally saw this restoration in July as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival--at least, I think so. It was AN restoration, I'm not 100% certain it was THIS restoration--and I was jaw-on-the-floor riveted the whole time. Full of style that was for the time quite revolutionary, and awash in tension, Night of the Juggler hits the ground running and never really lets up.

Sean Boyd (James Brolin) is an ex-NYPD cop turned trucker who's on the outs with his wife but is still trying to show up in a meaningful way for his daughter Kathy (Abby Bluestone). When a local loon, Cliff Gorman as Gus Soltic the titular Juggler, mistakes Abby for a higher-profile child and kidnaps her, he sets off an exhaustive chase across the city of New York that takes Sean and other interested parties from high society brownstones to the actual sewers and everywhere in between.

A few things set this apart from the myriad of films and television involving a parent unrelentingly chasing down a kidnapper, and only some of them are obvious on a first viewing, while the rest were made clear after checking out the special features. First of all, the pacing. While I absolutely responded to it, as mentioned above, I wasn't conscious of how completely the film emphasized it until Julie Carmen mentioned in an interview how she felt the presence of jogging early on mirrors the unrelenting forward motion of the rest of the film. Relatedly, original director Sidney J. Furie's pioneering use of long lenses to add a claustrophobia to all shots, interior or exterior, by cramming the frames full of foreground and background detail. The result is a film that actively feels like desperately trying to push your way through a crowd going the other direction.

Brolin sells all of it. He has an easygoing but no-nonsense quality that tells the audience from the jump that the Juggler absolutely grabbed the wrong guy's kid (and not just because he actually did think she was a different kid). Once Sean is on the move, he pretty much never slows down and certainly not of his own accord, even though in real life, Brolin broke his foot filming an early chase scene and production had to halt temporarily, but more on that later.

I'd be remiss not to mention the rest of the cast, because they're all fantastic. Richard S. Castellano and Dan Hedaya as cops, with Hedaya becoming an especially dangerous thorn in Sean's side; Cliff Gorman giving a truly unhinged and dangerous performance as the Juggler; Julie Carmen as the sweet Maria who takes pity on Sean and helps him out; and a pre-breakout Mandy Patinkin doing a version of the accent that he would use in The Princess Bride as Allesandro the cab driver. And then there's New York itself. We're all well familiar with the old "the city is a character" adage, but I'd say that here NYC is almost a performer. Sidney Furie allegedly said that in New York, even the extras are great actors, and I'm inclined to agree with him. They add a level of reality to the film that makes the world feel so much more real and visceral.

The Packaging: Good

Talk about the type of case, if there’s a booklet, essays, etc. Talk about what stood out to you as someone who values owning physical media!

This comes in a standard Kino Lorber black 4K/Ultra HD case, which looks sharp, but the real one-two punch for me is the slip and the reversible cover art. One side offers the more colorful of the two illustrations which depicts a visibly shaken Sean in high contrast blue lighting above an image of the Juggler dragging Kathy through a sewer tunnel with the tagline "Somewhere out there his little girl is crying for help." This one is also the image on the slipcover, and it's a great one. The deep blue and teal green of the tunnel below work really well with the stark black background and white-and-blue title.

But, the reverse side, while less colorful, is my favorite. Above a narrow collage of imagery from the film is a depiction of a wild-eyed Sean tearing an image of New York City apart with his bare hands! It's all in black and white with the tagline "In the heart of every victim is a hero and he'll tear apart a city to prove it." at the top. The effect reminds me a little of the pop art collage work I first encountered in comic books from the 1960s and '70s and it's just an incredibly arresting image. I have limited wall-space, but I'm seriously considering tracking down a full-size poster.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I love the look of this film. As I mentioned above, Sidney J. Furie's concept for using the long lenses is fantastic. It crowds the frame with visual obstacles--fences, subterranean pipes, the people of the city--in a way that makes you almost desperate to keep your eyes on the action. After production halted due to James Brolin's broken foot, producers wanted Furie to make changes to the script that would see his character Sean spend less time being active onscreen. Seeing as how Furie had constructed the whole film to feel like a desperate chase, he disagreed which led to his being replaced by credited director Robert Butler. Luckily Butler and cinematographer Victor J. Kemper kept the long lenses, ensuring a cohesive vision for the film as a whole--and one that Butler would adapt to the Hill Street Blues pilot the next year, helping to establish a look for street-level crime stories that persists to this day.

The transfer really works incredibly well with this style of filmmaking. Taken from a 4k scan of the original camera negative, there's film grain present, but the images themselves are very sharp, which you really need with the cluttered depth of frame achieved by the long lenses. On a lesser transfer, Sean and Sgt. Barnes (Hedaya) having a conversation with a chainlink fence between them and the camera could easily be muddy, or the third act descent into sewers and subterranean utility corridors, with all their pipes, steam, and other visual obstacles, could be a dark mess of blurry shapes. Here, everything feels tactile and real, which adds to the immersion. I felt like I had to actively keep my eyes on what was happening, lest the movie get away from me.

The audio mix adds to that effect as well. As I type this, I can't think of any score, though I know there had to be some. All I can recall is the sounds of the city swallowing everything at every turn. Obviously, you can't run down a busy street in New York without drawing the ire and car horns of numerous drivers, but also people passing on the street and general atmospheric sounds were all mixed very well in my three-channel soundbar.

Special Features: Excellent

What I always want most from special features is context. I like to know the clime and conditions in which the film I've watched was made. The features on this Kino release are dynamite for context! There are the two interviews, the Pandemonium Reflex inquest segment, and a very informative commentary track, all of which added to my understanding of this film as an object. Even the trailers help give me an idea of similar films of the era (though as always, I think trailers need a 'Play All' option).

The inquest feature especially, really stands out for me. In addition to elucidating a lot of the information about the filmmaking style that I've mentioned above--which I appreciated because I didn't even realize I was responding to it until it was brought to my attention!--it also really brought Sidney J. Furie into sharper focus for me and added a bunch of his (to me) lesser-known films to my watchlist.

• Commentary from film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Summer of '78, an interview with James Brolin (13:51)
• The Sweet Maria, an interview with Julie Carmen (14:22)
• Pandemonium Reflex: An Inquest into Sidney J. Furie’s Night of the Juggler (14:02)
• Trailers
• Night of the Juggler (1980) (1:53)
• Hardcore (1979) (1:23)
• Vice Squad (1982) (0:59)
• The Hunter (1980) (3:15)
• Stick (1985) (1:22)
• Death Wish 3 (1985) (1:41)

In Summary: Must Own

There's a certain relentless determination in a film that audiences respond to. It's part of what made the John Wick series pop for so many people. Few films really support that tone as well as Night of the Juggler. From the moment Kathy is taken, the film rarely loses momentum, and even when it does it more than makes up for it when the pace picks back up. The densely packed frames add a desperation and anxiety to the chase that, as I mentioned, was adopted shortly after this and remains part of the genre's visual DNA. It's because it works.

Thrillers are called thrillers for a reason. You want your audience tense, and excited, and Night of the Juggler delivers, as a film, hugely. On top of that, this release allows for a tremendously satisfying, high quality viewing experience with plenty of satellite materials for deep-divers to explore. 

A CONFUCIAN CONFUSION / MAHJONG: Two films by Edward Yang (Criterion)

A Confucian Confusion / Mahjong:
Two films by Edward Yang
Criterion
1994 / 1996
Written by Edward Yang
Directed by Edward Yang\
Starring Shiang-chyi Chen, Bosen Wang, Shu-Chun Ni, Tsung Sheng Tang, Virginie Ledoyen,
Chinese / English with subtitles available in English

Buy it HERE from Criterion

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movies: Good

Edward Yang is a fascinating figure with an equally interesting story. Originally an architect, he was inspired by the work of Werner Herzog to instead become a filmmaker, directing a handful of features over roughly twenty years before breaking into wider prominence with what turned out to be his final film. The critical appreciation for 2000's Yi Yi then triggered an examination of Yang's back catalogue of films. Criterion have previously released Yang's A Brighter Summer Day (1991), and they have plans to release Yi Yi in January of 2026, but this release concerns the two features that came in between those films, Yang's two comedies: A Confucian Confusion (1994) and Mahjong (1996). Yang seems fascinated with the ways in which groups of people interact, whether it be a family (Yi Yi), schoolmates (A Brighter Summer Day) or, in the case of both A Confucian Confusion and Mahjong, the young people in and around Taipei in an era of great financial growth. As much an examination of the city itself as the characters, both films are awash with nuance, motion, light, and tension.

A Confucian Confusion follows a handful of young professionals working in and around an entertainment company. Their clients and projects include a weekly TV show, an author, and a play being put on by an eccentric auteur. An additional dimension to things is the interpersonal relationships behind these business relationships: Molly (Shu-Chun Ni) has been put in charge by her wealthy husband Akeem (Bosen Wang). She might not be our main character (there might not even be one), but she's inarguably the lynchpin. Her sister (Li-Mei Chen) hosts the TV show, her friend from school is the auteur director (Ye-Ming Wang), who it turns out "borrowed" the plot from an old novel written by the author (Hung Hung), who happens to be Molly's brother-in-law, which will require him to sign a release. Akeem also wants to take his relationship with Molly from one largely of convenience to one involving actual love, but believes she has been having an affair.

Mahjong, while also concerned with Taipei as a financial mecca and with family, romantic, and friendship dynamics, introduces crime elements to the mix. Red Fish (Tsung Sheng Tang)'s father has gone into hiding. Though the family is quite wealthy, he owes a tremendous amount to local criminals, who plan to get it back by taking Red Fish hostage. He's part of a gang of low-level hustlers whose main scam is having Little Buddha (Chi-tsan Wang) make strange predictions which the other members make come true, "proving" Little Buddha's value to wealthy marks who then pay handsomely to secure his services. Intertwined around these schemes are a sought-after hairdresser (De Zhao), a British actor (Nick Erickson), and his French ex-girlfriend (Virginie Ledoyen) who came all the way there seeking closure, among others.

To say that Edward Yang's films are complex would be a bit misleading. They're actually quite simple, and elegant, they're just very detailed. Their comedy comes from situations, and the ways in which ostensibly normal characters react to them, and to each other. But the same goes for the drama present in both films: relationships are strained, fractured, changed, broken, or repaired and Yang's extremely empathetic viewpoint shines through. There are very few irredeemably "bad" people, just people who want different things. These films are about learning that there's more to the world than just what you get out of it, and about crossing the threshold from trying to change the world to allowing it to change you.

The Packaging: Excellent

This double feature comes packaged in the standard Criterion case: sturdy and handsome, like me. Unlike me, this release features art by Tori Huynh. A minimal black, white, and red color scheme and simple, clean lines depict most of the important characters from both films on both sides of the cover--there are 22 on the front, I believe--, the booklet, and both discs.

The booklet, in addition to a wonderful essay by Dennis Lim and a Director's Note from Edward Yang himself that originally accompanied A Confucian Confusion's press notes in 1994--both of which provided me with tons of valuable cultural context--also features several wonderful images from the films. But. My personal favorite bit of the included ephemera is a reproduction of a drawing Yang himself did of the main cast of characters in A Confucian Confusion, to help keep all the interpersonal relationships clear. It was mentioned in the bonus features, and I was pleased to find it included.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I found nothing about either the audio or video presentations to take issue with. These films are small in scale and somewhat intimate in the way they are captured, and the audio mix makes them feel very grounded and real. One of the producers owned a TGI Fridays in the city, leading to many scenes in both films being set there, perhaps as a commentary on the commercial encroachment of western culture, perhaps as a convenience, or perhaps both. Mahjong also features the Hard Rock Cafe as a hub of interaction for what it's worth, though as far as I could find, that was entirely an aesthetic choice. Regardless, the constant hum of pop music in both locations while the characters are trying to have important conversations felt incredibly relatable and familiar in a way that added a lot of emotional texture to scenes.

The down-to-earth focus of Yang's lens likewise conveys an almost voyeuristic intimacy, like we are stumbling across these people in the moments, while out in the world, but it doesn't limit the everyday beauty he could capture. There's a certain modern loveliness to things like a series of neon lights in the darkness that Yang was obviously aware of. One especially lovely shot, allegedly inspired by Shadows and Fog (1991), at one point in A Confucian Confusion features two characters in a high rise office beautifully backlit by the dawn skyline. I'm hard pressed to think of a director with more of a grasp of the quiet beauty of the everyday.

Special Features: Good

I think this release has all its bases covered. Personally, what I look for in supplemental features is context: unless I'm already deeply familiar with a film personally, there's nothing I like more than better understanding the environment in which an artist has created their art. It's why I loved movie hosts growing up, and why I enjoy things like the Blank Check podcast now. The Q&A with Yang on Disc One is nothing but straight-from-the-horse's-mouth information about A Confucian Confusion from conception to execution. Similarly, the discussion on Yang's works between Chinese cultural studies scholar Michael Berry and film critic Justin Chang was incredibly enlightening. 

But if you're someone interested in "the process",  here's an interview with editor Chen Po-Wen who worked on every one of Yang's films from A Brighter Summer Day onward. There's also a filmed performance of an entire play by Yang for those folks who like finding some freebies in their bonus features. The various sources paint a picture of Edward Yang as an incredibly considerate artist in all senses of the word.

• Disc One:
• Edward Yang Q&A (53:27) - recorded after a screening of A Confucian Confusion in 1994
• Likely Consequence (45:20) - recording of a 1992 performance of a play by Edward Yang
• Disc Two:
• Michael Berry & Justin Chang (44:12)
• Interview with editor Chen Po-Wen (25:49)

In Summary: Buy It On Sale

Of the two films featured here, Mahjong works slightly better for me. While both films are insightful and delicate examinations of humanity and the ways we interact with each other and the great big world, the addition of a crime element allowed both the comedy and drama aspects of Mahjong to sing a bit more. That said, both films are just fantastic. Beautiful, elegant, and occasionally unexpectedly funny.

If you are looking for gentle, well-drawn examinations of characters, some of whom are just slightly larger than life, I would bump this up to a Must Own, but for some filmgoers, these movies might be just a little too mellow; too low-stakes. Even the threats I mentioned in Mahjong never really feel life-or-death, even if they're presented that way. They're just a different prism to examine these characters through, and in my case, a much appreciated one.

DAN DA DAN s.1 Collector's Edition (GKids)

Dan Da Dan
Season 1
(GKids)

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

Dan Da Dan, season 1, comes to Blu-ray from GKids. Directed by five-year animation veteran director Fûga Yamashiro and based on the phenomenon manga of the same name, the first season is presented here on two discs, in all its chaotic, colorful, and extremely creative glory. This GKids release features a generous amount of extras offering insight into the making of the series, as well as some physical goodies for fans and collectors.

The Movie: 4.5 stars

When nerdy, somewhat isolated schoolboy Okarun--who believes in UFOs and the like, but not ghosts--and his more independent, somewhat standoffish schoolmate Momo--who lives with her occultist Granny, but thinks UFOs are nonsense--make a bet on which one is more real, they set off a series of events that will lead to Momo becoming possessed and Okarun being abducted by aliens who want to collect his "banana". Barely escaping those first encounters, the duo repeatedly find themselves caught in the crosshairs of outside forces both supernatural and science fictional, while also developing their relationship (whatever that may be).

When viewed as a whole, Dan Da Dan (alternately written as Dandadan) is unlike most things you're likely to encounter, but almost none of its parts is totally unique. Manga creator Yukinobu Tatsu threw together a disparate mix of ideas, concepts, and interests that he'd compiled in a series of notebooks and what came out was Dan Da Dan. Part supernatural / magical ghost hunting, part science fictional / high concept alien investigation, part angsty, hormonal teen drama, Dan Da Dan must be seen to be believed.

And honestly, you'll be doing yourself a favor. The animation in Dan Da Dan is incredible. Highly kinetic, but--as the special features elucidated--never without a basis in filmmaking fundamentals, it just looks cool. Pure and simple. I could talk about something like how Okarun's first run-in with Turbo-Granny in the abandoned tunnel evokes nightmare imagery, and it does, but dozens of films and television also evoke nightmare imagery without looking as cool and stylish as this does.

Reviewing something in a language that you don't speak is always an interesting line to walk (though this does offer an English sub option). I tend to default to a work's native language as long as the subtitles seem on point) because it gives me a better understanding of the emotional weight of what's being said. This is a personal call, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me, I just wanted to give anyone reading this an understanding of my barometer for the performances.

All of which is to say: I really enjoy the performances. I did click onto the English dub for an episode once I had a feel for the characters and the world, just for a taste, and that also seemed to be pretty solid. But the Japanese dub is where it's at for me. The characters are ...almost excessively dynamic (which is a feature, not a bug, to be clear) and the voice actors in both languages captured those kinds of wild emotional swings without anything feeling bewildering.

One last detail that I'd be remiss not to mention is the character designs, which are just incredibly interesting, unique, and above all: fun. None of the aliens, ghosts, or other creatures encountered by the small but growing group of oddballs looks the way you've seen them depicted before. The aliens are all different as are the ways in which the spirits and their abilities manifest. It's a shot in the arm and breath of fresh air to all involved genres.

The Packaging: 5 stars

Aside from two discs with numerous bonus features for fans, this release includes postcard-sized character prints, a 4'' sticker of Turbo-Granny in her Lucky Cat form, and a booklet filled with even more info: an episode guide, character bios, interviews with the main cast, transcribed conversations--one between series director Fûga Yamashiro and creator Yukinobu Tatsu and another with three of the visual directors--and an art gallery.

It's a wealth of fun information for deep-divers, all contained in a very sturdy cardboard slip.

The Video: 5 stars

Series director Fûga Yamashiro knows what he's doing. Aside from orchestrating an incredibly dynamic, wildly colorful series, all involved seem to feel he's perfectly captured what makes the Dan Da Dan manga so special. Having never read any of it, I'm inclined to agree with the experts, including the manga's creator Yukinobu Tatsu--who is hilariously depicted in the special features with a sunny-side-up egg character obscuring his identity. In adapting the various arcs that compose the first season, he paired them with specific thematic colors that appear more frequently for that story than the others. But at any given moment, Dan Da Dan just looks incredible.

Visually, this release is sharp, the colors are bright and deep with a lot of variance when applicable (for instance, Yamashiro wanted Turbo-Granny's eyes to appear to be glowing from within, which is realized with subtle coloring and lighting effects). The textures, whether based in reality like fog or dirt and grit, or entirely stylistic like pigment dots, come through fantastically, and it just looks incredible.

The Audio: 4.5 stars

I talked a bit about the audio performances above, but in addition to those, Dan Da Dan has incredible music. In one of the included bonus features, composer Kensuke Ushio talks about trying to match the somewhat, let's say, eclectic tone of Dan Da Dan. He equates the variety of genres contained in the main story with sampling.

Most interesting to me was his decision to record the score using vintage speakers for the natural distortion they provide, as he explains: "...like listening to something on an old TV". I didn't initially notice, but after hearing him say this, I went back to listen more closely. A lot of the score utilizes eerie tones and noises, with lots of echo and room in the mix, so it's hard to tell for certain, but I believe that like the visuals, there's a nice variety of texture to the score (and frankly, it's just super cool).

If I were wishing for anything from this release that I didn't get, it would be a disc or download code for the soundtrack. The closest I can approximate is being able to play the opening or closing sequences as bonus features on the first disc. Beyond that, I spent a little time this morning just listening to the mix, without the distraction of the visuals and it's extremely dynamic through my three-channel soundbar. Incredibly well-balanced and nuanced as well.

The Bonus Features: 4 stars

Both discs feature bonus features, which is nice for starters. The features themselves offer quite a bit of context and insight into not just how this specific series gets made, but the hurdles of adapting any previously existing work. The scene breakdown with series director Fûga Yamashiro was especially fascinating, as it shows just how much consideration and thought goes into any given aspect.

• Disc One:
• Interview with the Filmmakers (director Fûga Yamashiro and producer Kôhei Sakita) (HD, 10:16)
• Director Scene Breakdown (with director Fûga Yamashiro) (HD, 11:13)
• Opening Credits (HD, 1:33)
• Closing Credits (HD, 1:32)
• Disc Two:
• Interview with (composer) Kensuke Ushio (HD, 5:16)
• Commemorative Interviews (HD, 18:19)
• Teasers & Trailers (HD, 9:11)

Final Thoughts: 

For fans of anime specifically or animation in general, or enjoyers of weird, off-kilter stories, I cannot recommend Dan Da Dan enough. With an extremely varied assortment of influences sure to appeal to a wide swath of people, equally creative audio and visual approaches supporting excellently realized performances, what's not to enjoy?

As an added bonus the included subtitle tracks are quite expansive. There's an English for deaf & hard of hearing track, and traditional subs in English, Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese. I didn't check these out, and wouldn't know enough about French or Portuguese to be much use if I did, but I really appreciated the variety. Film (and in this case, animation) is a global community, and it's nice to see that acknowledged. Highly Recommended

THE VISITOR (Circle Collective)

The Visitor (2024)

Circle Collective / Vinegar Syndrome

By "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn podcast director, host of the HWGW Podcast

The Visitor comes to Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome partner label Circle Collective. Directed by artist and provocateur Bruce Labruce, The Visitor reimagines Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema (1968) for a modern landscape. Circle Collective's release boasts a vibrant video and audio package, and a reasonable assortment of bonus features. However, the film's subject matter might make this a tough one to justify purchasing.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

I've covered auteur director Bruce Labruce before. His film Saint-Narcisse (2020) has some similarities with The Visitor, namely overt sexuality and layers of meaning, but also some differences: The Visitor is much less a narrative feature than it is a work of art. With a narrative that's light on dialogue, heavy on symbolism, and heavier on explicit sexual content, The Visitor also has slogans appearing briefly but unmistakably on screen in bold text, making this feel like the video that would play as part of a larger art installation.

That's neither a compliment nor a criticism, it's just a fact. The Visitor breaks the reality of what little narrative it has--a stranger comes to a wealthy family, seducing them all and upending their previously sedate lives of privilege--to boldly underline its themes as much at the audience as for them. These text-heavy moments all come, no pun intended, during hardcore sex scenes, so my reading was that these slogans were representative of the titular visitor (Bishop Black) passing the seeds of revolution and social change to whomever he was passing his non-symbolic seed to at that moment.

In one of the special features, Bruce LaBruce talks about his views on pornography as art, and for the most part, I get where he's coming from (again, no entendre intended). There are, of course, exceptions to everything, but pornography is a particular art form and regardless, that is the direction Labruce is approaching this film from: blurring the lines between what is considered pornography and what is considered art.

Ultimately The Visitor is a lot. Deliberately provocative and shocking, but never for its own sake, the film asks its audience to consider: What if it was this easy to affect social change? What if emotional intelligence, empathy for others, and a desire for a better world were transmissible through great, satisfying, goopy, alien, sex? Could we actually just fuck our troubles away? I don't know about you, but I'm willing to try.

The Video: 4 stars

Bruce Labruce is a visual artist as much and as aggressively as he is a sociopolitical one. As a result, The Visitor looks incredible. The shot compositions are well-considered and add a certain artificiality to the world of the film that actually helps it. This is a heightened reality to start with, so when the fourth wall is, well not broken exactly, more like graffitied upon, it doesn't throw you as much as it might otherwise.

The colors are equally as impactful. The establishing shot of the family's home is overlayed with four quadrants of bold colors: brown, yellow, red, and white. Red and yellow especially are used to grab and hold your attention throughout, sometimes in costuming or lighting, sometimes as the aforementioned text.

I should mention that there's quite a bit of strobing, especially where the text on screen is concerned, so if you're particularly sensitive to such things, you'll want to avoid this release.

The Audio: 4 stars

The Visitor is actually pretty light on dialogue (relatedly, I don't believe there was an option for subtitles? unless I entirely missed it) and the dialogue that is present sounds like it was recorded on set. I'm not sure if this is purely a cost-saving measure, a nod to the production of pornography, or maybe some combination of the two? Regardless, the audio, while clear, mostly serves the score.

That score, by Hannah Holland, is fittingly unique. In addition to thumping EDM-style beats, what I would describe as "sci-fi video game sounds" come and go, adding a Halloween spooky-house vibe to the events that are weirdly appropriate. The Visitor, while explicit, and bluntly addressing the issues Labruce has in his sights, is also made with tongue firmly planted in cheek (I will not be making any jokes about that phrasing at this time). Art, especially in Labruce's hands, is more than just one thing. One need not be entirely serious to be taken seriously. All of this, even telling truth to power, can--and should--be fun.

The Supplements: 4 stars

I'm not sure what most people look for in bonus features, but what I'm most often looking for is context, and the features on this release give it in droves. Porn is Political is Labruce discussing his view on pornography as it relates to art. Samm Deighan's video essay goes into greater detail on some of these points, including the influence and inspiration of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema (1968). Both are fascinating, especially seeing how directly some scenes in The Visitor echo Pasolini's earlier film.

The essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas also gives some very specifically British context for the film, citing the origins of some of the anti-immigrant soundbites that compose the opening sequence of The Visitor, which was much appreciated. If recent events are anything to go by, being able to provide receipts for the awful things said by almost anyone given even a modicum of power is incredibly useful so that we all know the character of those we're talking about. The essay also provides numerous other cinematic parallels--perhaps intentional, perhaps not--scattered throughout the film.

• Porn is Political - introduction by Bruce Labruce (10:09) (HD)
• The Sexual Revolution of the Proletariat from Pasolini to Bruce Labruce - video essay by Samm Deighan (14:22) (HD/SD)
• Behind the Scenes featurette (34:44) (HD/SD)
• X-rated trailer (2:00) (HD)
• Theatrical trailer (2:00) (HD)
• Stills gallery
• Booklet with essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

There is a slipcover edition, which may still be available, featuring appropriately attention-grabbing imagery from Adam Maida:

Final Thoughts: Recommended

I hadn't even experienced the works of Bruce Labruce before this year, but now--with just two of over a dozen features under my belt--I've become something of a fan. I like the messaging in Labruce's films, I like the abundance of style with which they're made, I like the sense of humor in them and how it balances the sensuality and sexuality.

Certainly, The Visitor is a much more niche film; more confrontational, more unflinching, than something like Saint-Narcisse--which, don't get me wrong, is still not for everyone--but it is no less well-made, no less enjoyable. I wholeheartedly recommend The Visitor for most audiences, but fully acknowledge that some, perhaps a large percentage, will likely write it off instead of engaging with it.

THE DISH & THE SPOON (Music Box Selects)

The Dish & the Spoon (2011)
Music Box Selects / Vinegar Syndrome

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn podcast director, host of the HWGW Podcast

The Dish & the Spoon comes to Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome partner label Music Box Selects. Written and directed by Allison Bagnall, this film is an honest and chaotic look at a woman in the middle of great distress. Anchored by quietly dynamite performances from Greta Gerwig and Olly Alexander. Music Box Selects' release offers some slight additional materials, but the movie is the real prize here.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

Rose (Greta Gerwig) is in, as they say, a bad state. When the film opens, she's crying and driving; never the best situation to be in. Turns out her husband has had an affair with a local dancer / yoga instructor and Rose found out and took off in a flurry of hurt and anger. She's obviously at a low point: she doesn't quite have enough money for all six donuts and all six beers from the convenience store, so she leaves one bottle on the counter amidst fistfuls of loose change, the clerk takes pity on her and lets her go. Her next stop, a lighthouse overlooking the sea (as they generally do), is where she finds her counterpart for this picture, the spoon to her dish: Olly Alexander as an unnamed boy.

The Dish & the Spoon is an almost hypnotic doomed-romance story with a decided New England flavor to it. As the emotionally lost Rose drinks away her feelings, occasionally attempting to incite violence against the other woman, she finds the Boy to be, maybe not so much a kindred spirit as a safe harbor. He, for his part, is affable and nearly as lost as she is, but for entirely different reasons.

Writer/director Allison Bagnall allows a certain improvisational looseness to the film that only enhances the barely contained chaos of this whirlwind not-quite romance. Amidst a nearly continuously storming Northeastern coastal town, Rose interrogates who she is and what she wants by playing dress-up--sometimes literally--with a gracious, quiet, increasingly lovestruck young man whose name we never learn.

Almost from minute one, I was left quietly reeling. Both Gerwig and Alexander deliver muted performances that are devastating in their raw vulnerability. Every emotion is on display without ever announcing themselves. The film is simultaneously a whirlwind of activity and emotions--the whole thing takes place over just a few days--and a slow burn romance that there's no clean and easy resolution to. The Dish and the Spoon is by no means a flashy film, but it's a subtly stunning one.

The Video: 3 stars

Being set in a seaside beach town in the cold, wet off-season, everything in the film has that northeastern United States cold, wet, washed out cast to it. Outside are bright grey skies over muted golden beaches, the skeletal black branches of nearly bare trees and carpets of brown fallen leaves. The interiors are warm, but occasionally dark, as Rose and the boy navigate her parents' summer house by kerosene lanterns as there is no electricity or heat in the off-season. 

The transfer is fabulous, but like the movie itself, not flashy. The exteriors are never washed out, the interiors, no matter how dramatically lit, are never too obscured to see what's happening. Facial expressions are always readable, no matter how subtle. The whole visual aesthetic projects intimacy in a way that reinforces the film's subject matter perfectly.

The Audio: 3 stars

As with everything thus far, the audio mix isn't showy, but it's well-balanced for how dynamic it is. There's roughly as much screaming as there is whispered dialogue in the beginning of the film and my three-channel soundbar handled it all very well without me having to adjust the volume levels at all. As Rose and the boy develop their little faux domestic routine, and begin to have fun, there is singing, piano music, and non-diegetic songs on the soundtrack that are all handled equally well.

The mixing also makes use of the environments of any given scene to add a real world dynamism to the events. When Rose drives to the other woman's home and stands out in the driveway, shouting, you can hear the distance and the space of the outdoors versus when she and the boy spend an evening asking each other about their lives. The first third of the film, it always seems to be storming outside, and when they're in the summer house, the whistling wind and the rhythm of the rain is occasionally present but never overwhelming. It ends up reinforcing the coziness of the scenes as much as it underlines their friendship as a calm in the eye of Rose's emotional storm.

The Supplements: 3 stars

The additional features aren't amazing, but they were very enlightening. The 2011 South By Southwest interview by Ann Thompson with Gerwig and Alexander underlines the looseness on-set and what they describe as the sense of play they felt in being able to build their characters. This is reinforced by the deleted scenes which aside from being largely aimless silliness--Rose and the boy spitting beer at each other, or spending an afternoon in the woods playing with branches and other natural detritus--it really highlights Allison Bagnall's non-restrictive approach.

Interestingly, Bagnall clearly had some of the movie locked in mentally before production began. The Location Scouting feature is composed of footage filmed during these scouting sessions contrasted with how they appear in the finished film and it's remarkably similar. I feel that her having some firm ideas for how she wanted the film to look, yet being able to allow for improvisation and creativity at the same time to be a really fascinating and admirable quality in a filmmaker.

• Deleted Scene and Outtakes (7:00) (HD)
• SXSW Interview from Ann Thompson, 2011 (20:06) (SD)
• Location Scouting featurette (4:08) (SD/HD)
• "The Whale" performed by Olly Alexander (2:25) (audio only)

There's also a slipcover that I believe is still available, featuring collage-style minimalist art designed by Beth Morris, featuring imagery from the film:

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended

The Dish and the Spoon comes highly recommended if you're looking for a melancholy time. It's bittersweet, but both the bitter and the sweet are wonderfully realized and performed. This is an independent film in all the ways that I grew up loving: small (both in budget and scale), intimate, honest and never simple. Being a person is hard, complicated work, especially when you add emotions into the mix. With The Dish and the Spoon, Allison Bagnall (as well as Greta Gerwig and Olly Alexander) share something that makes it feel okay to acknowledge that things can be messy, and temporary, but still worthwhile.

"Beast of Burden, Chapter 8: Try Walking a Mile with My Paws"

The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming memoir "BEAST OF BURDEN".
Available from Babylon Zoo Publishing in Q3 2025.

Rin Tin Tin pretends to answer his own fan mail.

Chapter 8 : "TRY WALKING A MILE WITH MY PAWS"

After getting everyone's souls back in the correct bodies I gave up my treasure hunting career, packed up my metaphorical bindle, and headed west to Hollywood to seek my fortune. Not the first, not the last, as I say. Seeking your fortune isn't exactly shooting fish in a barrel, of course. I needed to take the bull by the horns and find work to make ends meet. That's how I ended up behind the bar four nights a week at a dive called The Cat's Pajamas that had a reputation for being "where the real animals went". I thought this meant rowdy crowds and tough customers, and while there were those too, I learned that in this case "real animals" frequently meant real animals.

The Pajamas was an unassuming little place in the shadows of the major studio lots, and, in addition to handfuls of your average oddballs, all the animal actors--anyone who was anyone, as they say--came there to wet their beaks. In the first couple of weeks, I learned the ropes: the good and bad tippers, who gets a tab and who doesn't, but most of all to keep quiet as a mouse about what went on there. It was nothing illegal, mostly, but any gossip could be the straw that broke the camel's back for our clientele's careers.

Orangey the cat--who would go on to some acclaim with my help--spent some of their time as Minerva, their drag persona that performed at clandestine burlesque houses in the area. Morris--the 9Lives cat food spokescat, and not to be confused with Morris the alligator--were in a relationship, but no one could know about it. Rin Tin Tin--German shepherd immigrant turned bonafide movie star--had hired Jimmy the Crow--star of over a hundred films, and actually a raven--to help him respond to his mountains of fan mail, which at first I thought was a kindness, before learning he was working Jimmy like a dog, ironically, and for peanuts. I won't name names, but let's say a little bird told me that Rinty couldn't get his paws to stop shaking long enough to sign correspondence without at least a bottle of schnapps.

But it wasn't all monkey business. The lion's share of regulars were sweethearts. Terry--Toto from The Wizard of Oz--introduced himself to me on my first day to reassure me that any little people who came in and dropped his name could drink on his tab. He'd been paid three times what they were on that picture, knew that wasn't right, and was trying to pay it forward. Frances the Talking Mule did what made him famous: talking. A lot. Told me his whole story; about how he came over from Mexico and took the talkies by storm before being priced out by the competition at rival studios--like Mr. Ed, that scumbag (¹). Regardless, Francis and I became close and he invited me to a poker game with many of the aforementioned patrons and they came to like me too; I laughed easily, lost more than I won, kept the drinks flowing, and kept my mouth shut.

(¹) - My lawyers have advised me that I am to make it abundantly clear that Mr. Ed is only a scumbag in my own humble, personal opinion, and that I do not have, and I quote, "tons of dirt on him, enough to bury him deeper than a groundhog’s graveyard."

My brush with the silver screen came one day when some gopher from Paramount poked his head in saying Blake Edwards needed Orangey back on set for reshoots. Problem was, Orangey was well into their cups for the evening and in no condition to perform. Next thing I knew, I'm on the set of a big Hollywood production, hundreds of gallons of movie magic raining cats and dogs on me, soaking me to my skin. That's right, in the climactic rain scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's, any time Cat isn't in close-up? That's me.

Thus began my career standing-in and stunt-doubling for some of the most famous critters in Hollywood. I was busy as a beaver; very quickly in demand. Union rules limited the hours an animal performer could work in a given day, but as a human, they could work me like a rented mule. The Lone Ranger rode me off a bridge into a river; I pointed to that damnable well Timmy had fallen into; I shared the big screen with Johnny Weissmüller and Rex Harrison; I was riding high on the hog.

It couldn't last however. I blew out my hip which put me on the shelf for 8 months and limited what I was able to do, physically, thereafter. Worse, during my convalescence, Variety did a profile on me called "Beast of Burden" which unfortunately painted me as the leader of the pack for a wave of human actors bent on replacing animals in all films. I returned to The Pajamas as a black sheep. Most of my former poker buddies and more recently co-workers assumed I'd been a snake in the grass the whole time and they turned their backs on me.

I was heartbroken. With the benefit of hindsight, I'm ashamed to admit that instead of addressing the elephant in the room, I tucked my tail between my legs and headed back east like a bat out of Hell. I'll always think of those times, and those people, fondly, but clearly the cows had come home and that chapter of my life was finished.

Hunter is an author of some renown.
Just because you may not reknow who he is doesn't change that.
Facts is facts.

This piece originally ran in the MovieJawn Summer 2025 print zine, under the title Stunt Animal.
It is all 100% true. Like, so true that you don't even need to check. Why waste your time?

WATCHLIST - October 2025

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome, to all my spooky boos and autumn aficionados! The season approaches on cloven hooves, so I'm putting together another Spooky Watchlist. I've been making these for a few years, originally just for myself and the folks I live with, but other pals kept asking to be included, so here we are. This year marks my second collab with MovieJawn, and you can and should read the first one HERE, because it was written to help folks who might otherwise feel overwhelmed by too many choices feel more at ease, and to make building their own month-long movie marathon less intimidating. So go read that one, then come back. I'll wait.

I will, however, reiterate my three main rules because they bear repeating:

Rule 1: Start with the easiest prompts first. Don't get hung up on one you're having trouble with, just come back to it.
Rule 2: There are no wrong answers. Make your selections however you want, and if you're "wrong" about a movie: who cares, as long as you had fun watching it.
Rule 3: The search bar is your friend. First, I hope we've all turned A.I. responses off (it's easy to do), but if you're having trouble coming up with a title, Letterboxd and to a lesser extent IMDb have plenty of themed lists for you to peruse for inspiration.

Now let's dive in. I've shared the image so you can copy it or print one out if you want to. Now I'm going to walk you through the prompts with some suggestions. We'll start with the ones that are extremely YOU-specific:

Free Streamies
    Tubi, Plex, and PlutoTV are all excellent and importantly FREE resources for films great and small,
    and I'm trying to reinforce the idea that you don't necessarily need to pay for all your entertainments,
    even if you're big into streaming. So fire up your free streamer of choice and find something that looks
    fun!
Physical Media
    Choose a film you currently own, or owned at one time, or want to own on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray or
    some other format.
Birth Year
    A movie released in your birth year, or the birth year of a loved one who'll be watching with you.
Studio Specific
    Pick a flick from a favorite studio if you have one - TriStar Pictures, Cannon Films, or Full Moon
    Entertainment leap readily to mind for me.
Homegrown
    A film made or set in or near your hometown, or wherever you might live now.
First Time Watch
    Select a movie you, or someone watching with you, has never seen.

For the rest of these prompts, I'll try to make at least one suggestion family friendly in case you've got kids who'll be watching with you or maybe you just don't love the scarier side of the season. Also, in light of the country's recent bout of xenophobic inhospitality, I'll be suggesting at least one film of non-American origin, if for no other reason than to better appreciate the global arts community.

Monster By Name
    A movie with 'monster' in the title - Monsters (2010), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Monster Seafood Wars
    (2020, Japan).
Monster By Nature
    A movie where the "monster" doesn't look like one - Psycho (1960), Monster House (2006), Hausu
    (1977, Japan).
Monster By Nurture
    A movie about what it takes to make a monster. It could be trauma, an evil spirit, a potion, a curse,
    alienation, anything at all - Evil Dead II (1987), Gremlins (1984), The Loved Ones (2009, Australia).

Blockbuster
    A film that was such a smash that it inspired numerous imitators - Alien (1979), E.T. the Extra-
    Terrestrial (1982), Godzilla (1954, Japan).
Mockbuster
    A film that's clearly inspired by something else - Life (2017), Masters of the Universe (1987), Bloody
    Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995, Japan).

Horny
    Define this one however you're most comfortable: a film that's actively about being horny, or just one
    with a sexually-charged atmosphere, or perhaps one about The Devil or another famously horned
    character - Species (1995), Little Nicky (2000), Shivers (1975, Canada).
Costume Inspo
    Folks dress up as all kinds of non-spooky things from movies for Halloween, so watch a movie that's
    got good, non-spooky costume fodder - Police Academy (1984), Minions (2015), Ultraman (1966,
    Japan)
The Master of Suspense
    A film by or in the style of Alfred Hitchcock. On the plus side, a lot of Hitchcock is pretty all-ages
    friendly - What Lies Beneath (2000), The Birds (1963), Cobweb (2023, South Korea).
"Never D Your Own G"
    This phrase--coined the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast, Episode 131: Beneath the Darkness
    (2011)--means "Never dig your own grave", which is unquestionably good advice. Choose a movie
    with grave digging or a cemetery - Shallow Grave (1994), Army of Darkness (1992), Cemetery Man
    (1994, Italy).
Kid Favorites
    Could be a favorite from when you were a kid, or if you have kids it could one of their faves, or just a
    well-liked film made for kids - Teen Wolf (1985), The Addams Family (1991), Wallace and Gromit:
    The Curse of the Where Rabbit (2005, UK).
Summerween
    A good scare is an any time of year treat Jaws (1975), Tremors (1990), High Tension (2003, France).
Permission to Board
    Movies where someone uses an Ouija board or similar device - Ouija Shark (2020), 13 Ghosts (1960),
    Alison's Birthday (1981, Australia).
Season of the Witch
    Yes, there are a few films with this as a title and you could watch one of them, but this could be any
    witchy movie - Bell Book and Candle (1958), Supergirl (1984), Suspiria (1977, Italy).
A.I. Was Never a Good Idea
    "Artificial Intelligence" is heavy on the artificial part and extremely scarce on the intelligence. Always
    has been - 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021), Ghost in the Shell
    (1995, Japan).
Monster Mashup
    Choose any film where more than one type of monster appears - Freddy vs. Jason (2003), Scooby-
    Doo (2002), Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man (1973, Mexico).
Weapon of Choice
    Decide on a movie where a distinctive weapon is used - Planet Terror (2007), Krull (1983), Shaun of
    the Dead (2004, UK).
Clowning Around
    Step right up and choose a circus or clown-centric genre film - Freaks (1932), Something Wicked This
    Way Comes (1983), Santa Sangre (1989, Italy).

1950s
    Pick a genre film from the decade that brought us Snoopy - Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954),
    Them! (1954), Diabolique (1955, France).
1960s
    Choose a genre film from the Free Love era - X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963), Mad Monster
    Party? (1967), Black Sabbath (1963, Italy).
1970s
    Select a genre film from the decade of Pong - Phantom of the Paradise (1974), The Phantom
    Tollbooth (1970), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971, UK).
1980s
    Decide upon a genre film from the age when Tiffany ruled the malls - Return of the Living Dead 
    (1985), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Pin (1988, Canada).
1990s
    Opt for one genre film from the epoch of Crystal Pepsi - Anaconda (1997), Galaxy Quest (1999), I
    Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990, UK).
This Year
    Single out a genre film from 2025 - Sinners (2025), KPop Demon Hunters (2025), Bring Her Back
    (2025, Australia).

This penultimate prompt is designed to make things easier for you--think of it as a cheat code to help make your October viewing go even more smoothly.

Franchise Freebies!
    Basically, if you want to watch an entire franchise spread out over Oct., feel free to count some of the
    films in that series INSTEAD of any prompts you're having trouble with. Can't think of a Monster By
    Nurture film you wanna watch, or not that interested in a movie from the '70s? Watch some of the
    Saw films instead. But all your substitutes must be from the SAME franchise, and they must be
    watched IN ORDER.

This last prompt is the ONLY one I think is date-specific:

All Hallows Eve
    On the 31st, watch a really "Halloweenie" movie - Murder Party (2007), It's the Great Pumpkin
    Charlie Brown (1966), The Wicker Man (1973, UK).

Feel free to build your watchlist in whatever order you want, by the way, and remember: the spooky season isn't just for horror. There are plenty of other genres that fit right in: sci-fi, martial arts, super heroes, fantasy, whodunnit, kaiju, etc. Best of luck, I hope you have fun. 

I cohost the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast and we've covered some of the films mentioned above, if you're interested:

• Episode 11: Shaun of the Dead (2004)
• Episode 28: Hausu (1977)
• Episode 110: Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
• Episode 111: Cemetery Man (1994)
• Episode 118: Bell Book and Candle (1958)
• Episode 131: Beneath the Darkness (2011)
• Episode 140: Alison's Birthday (1981)
• Episode 155: Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
• Episode 159: Jaws (1975)
• Episode 168: Supergirl (1984)

Share your progress with #SpookyJawnList on your social media of choice, and as always - Long Live the Movies!