Henry Rosenthal Movies

If you've ever flipped through a supermarket tabloid, vintage comic book, or various sorts of pulp magazines, it's not unlikely you've seen ads in which a "record company" or "song publisher" claims to be looking for new, fresh material. This is the most public face of what is known to music buffs as "the song-poem industry," in which small companies will take the lyrics of amateurs of all stripes, set them to music, and produce rudimentary recordings of the results -- all for a price to the novice writer, of course. While literally hundreds of thousands of songs have been recorded and released in some form through the song-poem business, only a tiny handful have reached any sort of audience beyond the lyricist himself (and perhaps their family and friends), and most of those people who follow the work of the song-poets view them as folk art at best, and examples of the outer limits of low-grade musicianship at worst. Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story is a documentary which looks at this curious sidestreet of the music business, examining its history, the musicians who set the work of rank amateurs to music, and the lyricists who are willing to pay to have tunes like "Non-Violent Tae Kwon do Troopers," "Rip Off Fear," "Chicken Insurrection," and "The Human Breakdown of Absurdity" committed to plastic. Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story was produced and aired by PBS as part of the documentary series Independent Lens. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In 1980 the U.S. Department of Defense named the Ada programming language in honor of Lord Byron's daughter, the mathematician Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), credited as the "first computer programmer" because of her plan for calculating Bernoulli numbers. Lady Ada was 18 when she met Charles Babbage and learned about his Analytical Engine. She expanded his concepts into an 1843 article on the subject, and she also predicted the sound and graphics possibilities of computers. This science-fiction film features Ada Byron King as the central figure. Directed by video artist Lynn Hershman Leeson, the co-director of Shooting Script: A Transatlantic Love Story (1992), it also includes a few cast members known for cyber-communications, such as Timothy Leary (filmed nine days before his death) and John Perry Barlow (Grateful Dead lyricist and Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder), plus "electronic Victorian" music by The Residents (who moved from pure sonic explorations to CD-ROM virtual experiences).

Artificial intelligence researcher Amy Coer (Francesca Faridany) uses cybertechnology tactics to probe the past in hopes of locating Ada Byron King (Tilda Swinton), her spiritual mentor. Receiving input, time-tracking tips, and guidance from cyber-guru Sims (Timothy Leary), Amy is successful, and the two women communicate over the centuries, although Ada is initially puzzled. Comparing notes, they find gender is a setback, since Charles Babbage (John O'Keefe) receives recognition while Ada's ideas are forgotten. Amy's research encounters roadblocks set up by her boyfriend Nicholas Clayton (J.D. Wolfe). Amy is pregnant and plans to name her child Ada, hoping that she can overcome the long-standing gender barriers. Shown at 1997 film festivals (Sundance, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Made on short ends of film left over from The Bed You Sleep In, Frameup is a freewheeling road comedy about a pair of dimwitted lovers on the run. Ricky-Lee (Howard Swain), a two-bit criminal prone to spouting lengthy, obscenity-laced soliloquies, meets Beth-Ann (Nancy Carlin), an airheaded waitress with a weakness for romance novels, at the diner where she slings coffee. Immediately smitten, she joins him on a meandering journey across the Pacific Northwest -- punctuated by the occasional robbery -- and on into California, where the couple dream of heading to the sunny beaches of Los Angeles. Ricky-Lee's ineptitude catches up with him eventually, however, and their trip is cut short when a convenience store robbery goes awry. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide

A gentle film critic hooks up with a violent drifter in this HIV-positive road movie, which marked the emergence of writer/director Gregg Araki into the art house mainstream. Jon (Craig Gilmore) has just learned he has the virus that causes AIDS. Still in a state of shock, he stumbles through his usual routine -- until he meets Luke (Mike Dytri), a hunky, gun-toting hitchhiker who has just stolen a car from a pair of homicidal lesbians and shot a trio of would-be gay bashers. Against his better judgment, Jon lets Luke stay at his place and soon finds himself drawn into the nihilistic stranger's world; it doesn't hurt that Luke is also HIV-positive and hot to get inside Jon's pants. Things take a Bonnie and Clyde turn when Luke kills a policeman. The pair go on the lam, first to San Francisco, then all over the western United States. Jon keeps his best friend, Darcy (Darcy Marta), apprised of his situation via a series of ever more infrequent collect calls. But as the road trip continues, Jon becomes increasingly disillusioned with Luke's belief that since they're doomed to die, they should lead consequence-free lives. Like Araki's later movies, The Living End is peppered with pop culture detritus and features a soundtrack heavy on industrial and alternative music -- in this case Psychic TV, Coil, and Fred Gianelli. Marta is a veteran of Araki's earlier Three Bewildered People in the Night, while several other cast members, including Gilmore, would go on to appear in the director's Totally F***ed Up. The Living End's many cameos include performance artist Johanna Went, Eating Raoul director Paul Bartel, Warhol associate Mary Woronov, and Peter Grame, star of the obscure European film Das Gluck Beim Haendewaschen. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

From experimental filmmaker Jon Jost comes this romantic drama comprised of mostly improvised scenes. Emmanuelle Chaulet plays Anna, a struggling French actress in New York who meets an overworked financial broker named Mark in the Vermeer Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anna resembles one of Mark's favorite paintings, so he asks he out for coffee. From there, the two struggle to overcome their personal baggage and attempt to allow themselves to fall in love. Director Jost was awarded the Caligari Film Award at the 1991 Berlin International Film Festival for this film and Sure Fire. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide