Buff's Choice

The Age

Friday April 11, 2008

Mark Nicholls

The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

The real sin in this film lies not in the dissolute Hollywood ways of the actress mother (Ellen Burstyn) but in the fact that the archaeologist, played by Max von Sydow, has to supplement his income by performing the occasional exorcism. Were his researches properly funded, the Roman Catholic Church would have paid a full-time, professional exorcist or acknowledge Linda Blair's devil possession for the pubertal onset anxiety that it really is. Remembering von Sydow as Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), however, suggests that he is probably the best man for the job.

The Astor, April 13, 9.15pm

Day For Night (Francois Truffaut, 1973), with The Bride Wore Black (1968)

The Melbourne Cinematheque begins its three-week season of films by the great French New Wave director with this delightful film-within-a-film reflection on the chaotic endeavour that is often grandly misnamed "the creative process". Truffaut's film concentrates on the particular concerns of the people (cast and crew) who work on film sets (one of its stars, Jacqueline Bisset, is pictured left). Insecure, fragile and unsophisticated, these characters show an emotional honesty that may be disastrous in their private lives but is genuine and highly refreshing in the workplace.

ACMI, April 16, 7pm.