I’m not long back from the first ICO Essentials: The Secret Masterpieces of Cinema at VIVID. The theme for this one was Play, with lots of ‘visual games and playful imagery’ – from strange Dada, through 60′s sexuality (or one hapless sod’s lack of it in Hold Me While I’m Naked) to bloody funny postmodernism with Dinos and Jake Chapman’s Sacrificial Mutilation and Death in Modern Art. If, like me, you’re not quite clued up on how the artistic greats bought it, this is the film for you.
By far James Lawrence Slattery’s favourite, and one of mine, was Martin Arnold’s Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy – a re-editing of old Andy Hardy scenes to make a weird, warbling, oedipal head trip. I farmed Youtube and the end scene is what I found – Mikey Rooney escapes his mother from hell to snarl at girlfriend Judy Garland.
The ICO Essentials series continues next Weds 15th Oct with Pop and concludes Weds 22nd Oct with Modernity.
