Slog - Comments on This Weekend at the Movies

Comment by rogerebertdotcom

rogerebertdotcom — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:40:58 -0800

"[Beineix] has made a film that is about many things, but I think the real subject of DIVA is the director's joy in making it. The movie is filled with so many small character touches, so many perfectly observed intimacies, so many visual inventions-from the sly to the grand-that the thriller plot is just a bonus. In a way, it doesn't really matter what this movie is about; Pauline Kael has compared Beineix to Orson Welles and, as Welles so often did, he has made a movie that is a feast to look at, regardless of its subject."

Comment by annie

annie — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:03:19 -0800

Do you want to eat a feast from 1981? Seriously, dude, get me Ebert on DIVA in the last five years (that piece is from 82) and then we'll talk.

Comment by Josh Feit

Josh Feit — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:11:24 -0800

True: I made a Diva rip-off movie on Super 8. It was called Murder in Moon City Plaza.

Comment by Donovan

Donovan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:23:22 -0800

And yet... Five Easy Pieces was written by a woman (Carole Eastman). She used a male pseudonym. Can a movie written by a woman still be judged as sexist to women? Or is there another word for it?

Comment by gnossos

gnossos — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:53:46 -0800

What is up with Pac Place? Saw Charlie Wilson's War there on Monday and kept my coat on for the entire film. Seems more like Arctic Place.

Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball

Jubilation T. Cornball — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:35:06 -0800

I haven't seen Diva in a coon's age, but I'll be damned if I don't still rollerblade in my own house because of that scene with the girl on her skates...

Comment by Alan

Alan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:05:32 -0800

it's an ice pick, not an awl, and Cur� is one of the best bad guys ever ("J'aime pas les parking")

plus it's an unforgettable soundscape. close your eyes for the stupid parts and just listen.

I watched this movie hundreds of times while painstakingly transcribing every line of it (don't ask why) and never got tired of it

Comment by tomasyalba

tomasyalba — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:42:36 -0800

Q: Quien a vol� la robe de la diva?
A: La Wally!

Comment by tomasyalba

tomasyalba — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:55:12 -0800

Shit. "Qui," not "quien." Spoiled my best joke ever.

Comment by calvin

calvin — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:30:18 -0800

Fernandez was quite the accomplished opera singer in those days. I saw her sing Tosca for the Oakland Opera in the late 80s and she was outstanding. Lately, nothing, sadly. So "holy shit," she is more than just an odd name.

Comment by Muscato

Muscato — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:31:48 -0800

The buzz when I worked in music in NYC was that Miss Wiggins Fernandez had, in the beginning, a lovely, light small voice that she essentially blew out more or less completely in the wake of Diva, which, in combination with a bad habit of taking herself even more seriously than Your Average Soprano, meant a quick end to her career. She did make one nice disk of spirituals, though, in addition to her appearance on the movie soundtrack.

"Qui a vol� la robe de la diva?" - best fake movie headline ever, and a great thing to declaim in high dudgeon when slightly tipsy...

Comment by Gabriel

Gabriel — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:16:49 -0800

I understand you all enjoy being eccentric. And really, thats okay. But when it comes down to representing a paper that thumbs-up porn reviews AND God of War 2, you'd think one of you jackasses would have a good time with another Alien or Predator flick that wasn't Resurrection or didn't star Danny Glover. You obviously saw the wrong movie, Wright... AVP:R took place in Colorado, not Canada. And it wasn't directed by Paul W. Anderson. Thank your lucky stars for that.