Craig Paull Movies
- 1995
- R
A lover, an ultimatum, a phone call, and a gun: these elements are found in each segment of Hal Hartley's Flirt, an experimental comedy-drama that essentially repeats the same story three times. But while the basic narrative remains the same -- a congenital flirt must decide whether or not to commit to a current lover, who otherwise will marry someone else -- the details differ greatly, from the location of the film to the gender of the participants. The initial segment, set in New York, tells the tale with a male flirt in turmoil over his relationship with a woman. The film then moves to Berlin, where the same drama is played out amongst a gay male couple, with an added touch of self-reflexive humor. The third and final episode takes place in Tokyo, with a female flirt and a more abstract cinematic approach, including several sequences in traditional Japanese pantomime. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Sage, Parker Posey, (more)
This avant garde film is based on two angry autobiographical books by David Wojnarowicz: Close to the Knives and Memories That Smell Like Gasoline. Wojnarowicz, a noted performance artist, died of AIDS . The film examines three sides of his life. The first looks at his suburban childhood and the abuse he suffered at his alcoholic father's violent hand. The second chronicles his experiences as an teen-age street hustler and criminal in New York, and the third section, which is highly abstract, follows the adult Dave as he wanders through a dangerous desert. Once these identities are established, chronology is scattered to the winds, and the three ages of David play up to and comment on each other. The work of Wojnarowicz is also represented in Knud Vesterkov's film, By The Dawn's Early Light. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Lyons, Michael Tighe, (more)
Tom Kalin directed this cool and aloof black-and-white study of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case, a case told before in two previous films -- Rope and Compulsion. In 1924, in Chicago, Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb, two 18-year-olds, kidnapped and murdered the 13-year-old Bobby Franks, immediately killing him and then stuffing his naked body up a culvert. The motive for the crime was simply that they wanted to prove to themselves that they were smart enough to get away with it. The previous film versions downplayed Leopold and Loeb's homosexuality, but Kalin's version plays it up into a psychosexual motif. Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) is the calculating intellectual, while Leopold (Craig Chester), the amateur ornithologist, is the emotional and weak one. In love with Loeb, Leopold is willing to do anything for him, and when Leob uses the withholding of sex as a prompt, Leopold is even willing to commit murder to have his sexual desires satisfied by Loeb. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Schlachet, Craig Chester, (more)
