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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 8, 2022 23:25:21 GMT -5
Saw a piece on NPR.com about this. Inspired by the 1996 Oliver Assayas film, from France, starring Maggie Cheung. The film details a modern remake of the classic 1915 silent serial, by Louis Feuillade, Les Vampires, about a criminal gang and the mysterious female member, Irma Vep (played by actress Musidora). Aassayas' film finds a washed up director, who once knew critical acclaim, but has taken the job for the money and a certain appreciation for Feuillade's original. Maggie Cheung is the real Hong Kong film star brought in to play Irma Vep, the lead. She is our point of view into the surreal world of filmmaking, where fantasy and reality are blurred. Cheung becomes infatuated with the character, who prowls rooftops in a black bodystocking, in the original, now modernized as fetish pvc wear. She starts to prowl around her hotel and its roof, in costume and mask. We also see the ups and downs of the production.
Assayas is behind this production, adapting his earlier work, but with more detail surrounding things. Also, it appears, this time, it is a period remake, rather than a modernized version, which is what happens in the film....
The original serial is renowned for both its pioneering film techniques; but also the somewhat chocking (for the time) subject matter: a female super-criminal. Like Fantomas and Arsene Lupin, it spawned numerous imitators around the world and influenced many characters that followed (as did Feuillades serial Judex, about a cloaked avenger, seeking justice against the corrupt, who destroyed his family).
I look forward to seeing the mini-series; but, I would really love to see someone adapt this stuff, with modern versions of Fantomas, Judex, Les Vampires, the Nyctalope, Arsene Lupin (he's been done, twice, in the last couple of decades) and others from French pulp literature (as well as the great American pulp characters, and those from the UK and elsewhere). Love to see the fun of the Tales of the Shadowmen anthologies brought to life, in a tv series or film franchise.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 9, 2022 6:59:01 GMT -5
The recent Lupin Netflix series was great  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 9, 2022 21:31:47 GMT -5
Never understood why someone hasn't tried Judex, again. The original serial is great, the 1963 film, with a magician-turned-actor (Channing Pollock) is bizarre, to say the least, though it adheres to the main plot. Judex is a cloaked avenger, who uses disguises, agents and trickery to get at the corrupt person behind the disgrace of his family. The original serial debuted in 1916 (with Rene Crest) and pre-dated the Shadow by nearly 20 years. It's not wholly original, as it borrows heavily from Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo; but, it sets the template for characters like The Shadow, the Spider, The Sandman and similar.
Fantomas was also hugely popular, in the silent era, with the original, with Rene Navarre, and sequels, plus the American version, in 1920 (Called Diablos, elsewhere). Feuillade directed 5 films, in the Teens, there were two, in the 30s, two in the 40s (post-War), and the 3 film series in the 60s, with Jean Marais as both the villain, Fantomas, and the hero, the journalist Fandor, and Luis de Funes as the hapless Inspector Juve (treated more seriously in the original Fantomas stories). Marais was great in the 60s films (I have all 3) and they are a lot of fun, mixing in some James Bond stuff with the traditional super-criminal stuff.
I have the 2004 Lupin film, with Romain Duris and Kirsten Scott Thomas (as Josephine Balsamo), which is pretty good; but kind of lacks the cleverness of the crimes of the stories, where Lupin often targets those who have wronged others. Lupin was a massive influence on the Saint and then inspired the Japanese manga and anime hero of Lupin III, who is supposed to be the grandson of the original Lupin (which led to legal issues with the estate of Maurice LeBlanc, the creator). The 2004 film also makes great use of savate, which is one of the few films that ever did. I point to the sparring scenes, early on, when I have argued that Batroc should be a badass in Marvel's comics, long before George St Pierre played him.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 14, 2022 14:29:25 GMT -5
Just watched the first episode of this (i.e., the new HBO series) last night. It was - pretty solid, but nothing that knocked my socks off. Honestly, at this point my favorite aspect - which will more than anything induce me to watch future installments - is the really messed-up interactions between the main character, Mira (played by Alicia Vikander), and her former assistant and former lover, Laurie (played by Adria Arjona).
By the way, shouldn't this thread be in the 'Community Discussion' section? I don't think any of this stuff (the original Les Vampires, the Irma Vep movie and now series) is "comic-related."
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 15, 2022 4:48:36 GMT -5
And now I've watched the second episode as well. As a whole, I liked it better than the first one (i.e., I was more interested in all of the characters and intertwining plots).
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 15, 2022 17:39:35 GMT -5
Just watched the first episode of this (i.e., the new HBO series) last night. It was - pretty solid, but nothing that knocked my socks off. Honestly, at this point my favorite aspect - which will more than anything induce me to watch future installments - is the really messed-up interactions between the main character, Mira (played by Alicia Vikander), and her former assistant and former lover, Laurie (played by Adria Arjona). By the way, shouldn't this thread be in the 'Community Discussion' section? I don't think any of this stuff (the original Les Vampires, the Irma Vep movie and now series) is "comic-related." It's as comic related as something like Prey is; and, this has been as much a repository of upcoming movies as Community. I would still call anything that is related to the Pulps as just as related to comics, as the pulps set the framework for most comic features, from the basic adventure strips, to horror, to, especially, the superheroes. Les Vampires and Irma Vep informs so many literary femme fatale/adventuresses, from Terry & the Pirates' Dragon Lady, to Catwoman to even characters like The Black Widow. It also sets a precedent for the images of costumed adventurers prowling rooftops, even before such things as The Mark of Zorro (the Douglas Fairbanks silent film). It's all the same family tree. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 16, 2022 20:59:14 GMT -5
I finished the first two episodes, last night. Mostly in keeping with what I remember of the movie, apart from the relationship between the lead actress and her past assistant. In the original Assayas film, the part about the costumer being infatuated with the star was there (though the costumer was a younger woman and Maggie Cheung was heterosexual, in that version). The film director was similarly on a decline; but, was offered the film because of his past and hoped to be able to use the commercial appeal to lead to some more personal stuff; and, was a student of Feuillade. Here, the director is more enamored of Feuillade and his career issues are related to mental health problems, rather than the whims of the audience.
This definitely expands the filmmaking aspect, including the subplot about the male lead trying to get a romantic scene with his ex-girlfriend, who is playing the hero's fiancee. Also, the German actor with the drug problem.
I find the character dynamics and manipulations to be quite entertaining, and the recreations of the original serial scenes as intriguing enough to wish they were really doing a direct adaptation of Feuillade. The added time allows this to explore that aspect more than the film, which only recreated a very select few scenes.
I really enjoy the scenes that show Mira taking on more of the persona of Irma/Musidora and seeing her confidence grow with it. The first episode, particularly the rather F-ed up relationship with her ex-lover/assistant, shows her to be rather self-doubting and easily manipulated; but, watching her when she first tries on the costume and she goes skulking around the building in it, plus the scene of her learning the dance steps and then shooting the music hall scene of Irma singing to an audience, as well as Irma and the Vampires stealing the red codebook, shows her kind of blossoming in power. The original film showed Maggie Cheung becoming absorbed in the Irma character and she puts on the costume and mask and goes skulking around the corridors and roof of her hotel.
I'm really enjoying the director character, as it is both a great character study and wickedly funny, in parts. Loved the scenes of him talking to the doctor, for the second opinion for the insurance company, and his session with his therapist, where he admits to a fetish for leather catsuits and an infatuation with Emma Peel.
Looking forward to more of Lars Eidinger, as Gottfried, the German actor. He was one of my favorites from Babylon Berlin, as the industrialist Alfred Nyssen, who has a relationship with Svetlana Sorokina and is involved with the Black Reichswehr.
Gonna have to get my Tales of the Shadowmen out, again, after I get finished re-reading Kim Newman. There is a tale in there where Irma Vep tangles with Fantomas that was really good. It was also where Newman launched his Angels of Musick, before expanding it into a novel. His stuff and Xavier Maumejean's were my favorites. Maumejean has a great piece where Jeeves, of the PG Wodehouse stories, is pitted against Agatha Christie's Poirot, in a holiday mystery, at Bertie Wooster's Aunt Dahlia's home.
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Post by berkley on Jun 19, 2022 1:17:33 GMT -5
I really liked the Assayas Irma Vep: Maggie Cheung was amazing and the film as a whole made me a fan of Assayas, so that I've tried to see his movies whenever a new one has played at the local cinema. I think his track record is quite good: no real disappointments and several really top-notch movies. The bits I've seen of the original French serial look intriguing - I plan to watch the whole thing one of these days. The new series sounds interesting, might give it a shot. I'll have to decide whether I want to see the original first, something I've been putting off for years.
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Post by berkley on Jun 19, 2022 1:26:33 GMT -5
Just watched the first episode of this (i.e., the new HBO series) last night. It was - pretty solid, but nothing that knocked my socks off. Honestly, at this point my favorite aspect - which will more than anything induce me to watch future installments - is the really messed-up interactions between the main character, Mira (played by Alicia Vikander), and her former assistant and former lover, Laurie (played by Adria Arjona). By the way, shouldn't this thread be in the 'Community Discussion' section? I don't think any of this stuff (the original Les Vampires, the Irma Vep movie and now series) is "comic-related." It's as comic related as something like Prey is; and, this has been as much a repository of upcoming movies as Community. I would still call anything that is related to the Pulps as just as related to comics, as the pulps set the framework for most comic features, from the basic adventure strips, to horror, to, especially, the superheroes. Les Vampires and Irma Vep informs so many literary femme fatale/adventuresses, from Terry & the Pirates' Dragon Lady, to Catwoman to even characters like The Black Widow. It also sets a precedent for the images of costumed adventurers prowling rooftops, even before such things as The Mark of Zorro (the Douglas Fairbanks silent film). It's all the same family tree. All very true, but I side with EdoBosnar on the question: it isn't directly related to comics, and if you start allowing degrees of separation, where do you draw the line?
Not that it really matters, of course: I'm happy to talk about movies and tv shows anywhere, here or in the Community thread. Certainly we've talked about things like the James Bond movies here, and even though there was a long-running Bond news-strip, I don't think of Bond as a comics character, primarily. Also, I can understand the desire to get more activity here, if that was a factor, since it does seem like this msgboard has been a little neglected lately.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 26, 2022 19:21:57 GMT -5
Watched the latest, which references the original Oliver Assayas film, with Maggie Cheung. It sort of exists in this world, as the directors earlier, low budget remake of Feuillade, but as a direct adaptation, than a film about a group making a remake of Les Vampires and what goes on in the production and how the actress is affected, as she gets deeper in the role. It features footage from the actual film, of Maggie Cheung in the Irma Vep costume, running across roofs and in the rain, on the roof of her hotel. The actress is said to be Jade Lee, with whom the director had a relationship, which ended. This mirrors the reality of Assayas' relationship with and marriage to Maggie Cheung. It gets really meta, but also sets up that much of the director's personal issues revolve around the dissolution of his relationship with Jade.
Meanwhile, Gottfried gets some great scenes, where he is messed up at a party and gives an interview to a pair of internet reporters, where he says he used to be gay, but got bored with the "whole gay culture." He says he is a Republican and gays are all Communists, which the reporters find hilarious. He plays Moreno, a rival criminal who causes problems for The Vampires.
The actor playing the hero has problems with a scene with Moreno, until the director explains that he feeds false information to Moreno to manipulate him into fighting The Vampires. it feeds the actor's ego to believe he dupes Moreno.
Mira goes to a party with the costumer, which makes for some fun scenes, as she reveals she is carrying Gottfried's crack. They also set up that her current assistant is in love with her, too. She also meets up with her ex-boyfriend, an actor filming a sci-fi movie. The scenes of Mira and the costumer on a scooter mirror a scene in the film version, where Maggie Cheung accompanies the costumer to a dinner, with friends and family. That is also where you see that the costumer is infatuated with Maggie, just as the costumer here is infatuated with Mira.
The assistant just comes across as such a film school poser that I sometimes want to smack her upside her stupid-looking hairdo. The actress is great, delivering her dialogue in a kind of bored manner, always in a kind of monotone hipster pseudo-intellectual jibberish. Of course, she is using her position to try to advance her own career, as a director. Makes you wonder if anyone in Hollywood has genuine friends, with no hidden agendas.
The shooting of the fictional Les Vampires serial really makes you wish they would offer up at least a short film version of the whole thing.
Some really good character-derived comedy, interesting exchanges, a look at filmmaking as both art and commerce, and also the psychological issues of creative people.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2022 22:12:07 GMT -5
With one more episode to go, Irma Vep proves that there is a connection to superhero cinema. In Episode 6, Mira demonstrates super powers, while prowling around a hotel, in costume. She passes through walls, like ghost, spying on the residents and then finding her ex lover (and former assistant) with her husband (and Mira's ex director, with whom she also had a thing) and steals an emerald necklace he gifts the wife, taking it to get back at her for how she manipulated her. The latest episode, #7, finds her talking with Rene, the director and meeting Jade, the star of his previous indie film remake of Les Vampires (the in-universe version of Olivier Assayas' 1996 film, with Maggie Cheung, which inspired this series and expanded upon the concept of a filming of a remake). He says Irma Vep is a spirit that inhabits those who play her, in film, first with Musidora, then Jade and now Mira. The concept iss introduced by Mira's current assistant, who is an aspiring director, who talks to her about Kenneth Anger and the concept of film being a ritual that brings a form of magic to life. Thus, the ritual of filming the versions of Les Vampires brought Irma Vep to life, in Musidora, Jade and, now, Mira. Lars Eidinger's Gottfried kind of reinforces this at his farewell party, as he wraps his scenes as Moreno.
This is a very meta series, but, in the modernizaton of Assayas' previous work, he has added elements of the en vogue superhero films of Marvel and DC, both in Mira's previous film ( a superhero genre film, with a commercial twist) and the Vampires remake, with the emphasis on the criminals, as well as Mira being taken over by Irma Vep's spirit, through the ritual of filmmaking and the costume.
Things also get even more meta as the scenes where Mira visits Rene, sh spies on him watching an edit of his film, with weird graphics and effects, which mirror the final scenes of the 1996 film, where the production has fallen apart and a weird, avant garde version is put together, by the director, with scratches on the film, lightning coming from eyes (or lasers, if you prefer) and the rapid display of the remake scenes. This mirrors that element, with more footage.
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