Monday, February 13, 2023

Keep Rollin, Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin (The Iron Rose clip)
Dima Ballin & Kat Ellinger, 2022
 

Feeling entirely vindicated right about now over my completely shallow appreciation for Jean Rollin's The Iron Rose. Haven't done a dedicated review on it, nor any of Rollin's other films for that matter, but I left some honest thoughts on it in a post from last year. Imagine my surprise when I watched a clip of the new documentary on Rollin and my simpleton thoughts were completely echoed by whoever that scholarly person was they interviewed. Desperately want to see this documentary, but signing up to any subscription service to stream it is an immediate turn off.

Jean-Denis Bonan's lost French New Wave / genre mash-up made its worldwide debut on blu this month. Imagine if Jean Luc Godard had helmed Dressed to Kill during the Paris '68 protests and that might give you some idea what the film might be like. It features Rollin in an early cameo as a policeman. Mixed feelings over the film, but it gets the honour of being part of La Nouvelle Vague where it didn't make me want to throw a brick at my TV (even though the tuneless, French folk singing that serves as part of its soundtrack is utterly horrendous). Worth it for the extras, since I learnt about crusty, French activists almost driven to rioting after a screening of The Rape of the Vampire (1968), one of Rollin's earlier films. Très bon, Jean!

A Woman Kills (Trailer)
Jean-Denis Bonan, 1968
 
 
February seems to be the month of all things Jean Rollin, since the folks over at Indicator revealed the first of their Rollin home releases last week and I'm seriously tempted to cop both of them.

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