this month i didn't watch too many movies from netflix. i guess that shows how busy i've been after work and on the weekends although i can't really point out all the reasons why i was occupied with stuff other than netflix! anyway, here's my monthly summary.

"cat people / the curse of the cat people" - after reading "kiss of the spider woman" by manuel puig, i wanted to watch "cat people" because it's described in the book. did i even blog about reading this book? no, i didn't. anyway, so to prepare for my south america trip i wanted to read famous authors from each country so i would know something about their literary heritage. my local library however isn't so keen on south american authors. i checked out more than i could read of course. the other book i read was by another argentine author, "shadows" by osvaldo soriano. they were both ok, just light-hearted stuff even though they deal with bigger issues. as for the "cat people" movie, well of course i saw the 80s remake but i don't think i had seen the 40s original. the sequel, forget about it. don't waste your time. the original though, it's worth it if you are into that sort of thing just to say you've seen it.

"saudade do futuro" - shake your forro! as a documentary, this isn't the greatest. but as a document of nordestinos in são paulo and showing the music as gorgeous, this film is a definite winner. i had a forro cd before and i didn't like it. it was called "music for maids and taxi drivers" and i really didn't understand why even though it explained it in the liner notes. watching this film, it really puts it together for me. the music was incredible. the dancing was intense due to the quick tempo at which they shake their butts. i don't know how they do it. they must be part rabbit down there.

"tetsuo: the iron man" - utter crap. so this is the kind of shit gaijin like. goddamn.

"4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days" - romanian abortion. this is a really good movie if you can get into it. in fact, i shouldn't even have mentioned romanian abortion. just watch it and let the characters develop.

"rififi" - amazing jewel heist that will wow you. seriously, i'm slapping myself over how is it that i've never seen this before. how could i have taken so many film classes and never seen this movie!??!!?

"frances" - lobotomy! i wanted to learn about frances farmer, especially after the nirvana song, so there i went and watched this movie and read online the differences between her life and the film. it's a bit long and drawn out but not so bad.

"slammed" - sports bloopers, ow! i was watching a different netflix disc and this was in the previews and it was so freakin' intense that i immediately added it to my queue and put it at the very top because damn, this is just intense! to watch surfers, skaters, snowboarders, bmx and those type of guys go for the tricks and make it is amazing but when they mess up you feel their pain. watch it and get slammed.

"orwell rolls in his grave" - honestly, this was so ho-hum that i don't remember it to write about it. i think i just felt it's stuff we may already know or new things entirely but told in an uninteresting way that it brings down the level of enjoyment and usefulness.

"malice" - this is a kinda cheesy baldwin/kidman movie that you should only bother with if you're at home and bored and it comes on tv.