"We honor you, Queen Carlotta!"

 

It's not often when you get a chance to write about one of the greats. So, for the AV Club's series on over-the-top villains, I had to lay some laurels at the feet of Desperate Living's Queen Carlotta. Edith Massey was one of the greats, and society is worse off without her.

A note, though. While the version currently available to rent via Amazon and the usual VoD sources is HD (which is something I never thought I'd see), it's presented in an aspect ratio that seems a little tight. Your mileage may vary.

At the movies: Salo.

You know what's an interesting challenge? Finding an image from Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom, that doesn't trigger about a thousand different NetWatch alerts. 

So I wrote about the late, great Pier Paolo Pasolini's epic of defilement online at The Scene this week, and I hope you might find it an intriguing experience. I have only seen the film once, at a special double feature (with Seul Contre Tous/I Stand Alone) curated and hosted by Gaspar Noe at New York's IFC Center several years back. I share this tidbit not to namedrop, but rather to get at how the film can stay with you long after you see it.

So, Vanderbilt's International Lens series is showing the film, for free, on campus, which is gutsy and admirable. I do not welcome the eStorm of controversy and distraught underclassmen they may encounter, but I'd love to read the eMails after the fact. 

At the movies: The September Issue.

In the worlds of fashion and publishing, few words strike as much fear into the hearts of humanity than “Anna Wintour.” Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief for twenty-one years, the grande dame of American fashion is perhaps best known in mainstream culture for the character she inspired, Miranda Priestly in the novel/film The Devil Wears Prada. But here, in preparation for its September 2007 issue (September being the biggest issue in the magazine’s year), Wintour lets a camera crew document the whole process.

Early word pegged The September Issue as a delicious treat for giving insider access, exploring the various conflicts and power plays at an international publication, and for serving up a grand portrait of the last hurrah of print publishing.

In the intervening two years, much has changed in the world and in the world of Vogue, and The September Issue feels more and more like a valuable historical document with each day that passes.

Don’t come to this film expecting to see anything like Meryl Streep’s take on the twice-removed ersatz Wintour. The real Wintour seems to have contractually required she be photographed like Anna Karina, though she just comes off looking like Lucille Bluth.

Instead, prepare to be dazzled by Grace Coddington, the magazine’s chief stylist, a visual artist, and the true hero of the film. The passive-aggressive pas de deux between Wintour and Coddington that structures the documentary is as riveting and entertaining a conflict as one could hope for this fall. Also, I'm not 100% sure what exactly Andre Leon Talley does, but nobody else could do it...

Simply not to be missed.