Every February, Spectacle throws a bone to the lonesome and heartsick to combat the nauseating pink and red onslaught of Cupid’s holiday season. This year we’re adding a sub(human)-series under the Anti-Valentines umbrella to highlight a couple films where the male protagonists’ behavior is so egregious and intertwined with their clinical depression that it goes far beyond toxic to exclusion zone levels of radiation. To be frank, these dudes suck. But at the same time, we can’t help but empathize with them on maybe a couple points…
BAJO EN NICOTINA
(LOW IN NICOTINE)
Dir. Raúl Artigot, 1984.
Spain. 79 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23 – 7:30 PM
After Spectacle’s 2023 screenings of the ethereal Spanish folk horror classic EL MONTE DE LAS BRUJAS (THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN), we are pleased to present the return of Raúl Artigot to the goth bodega with the filmmaker’s final work: BAJO EN NICOTINA.
Based on the novel El ángel triste (The Sad Angel) by Spanish author, screenwriter, and film critic/academic Carlos Pérez Merinero, the film follows the life of Carlos, a cinephile whose ambition in life is limited to sitting in front of his television. With no other concerns than eating, shaving, and fornication. Happy to lead an insignificant life, and eager to watch his movies in peace. His addiction to laziness and non-commitment is complicated by a clingy girlfriend and the annoyingly loud tenants next door. What extreme measure will Carlos take to achieve tranquility with his TV set?
Special thanks to Alfred Giancarli for subtitle translation, and to Benjamin Pequet for technical assistance.
NATURAL ENEMIES
Dir. Jeff Kanew, 1979.
United States. 100 min.
In English.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26 – 7:30 PM
Hal Holbrook (ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, RITUALS, FLETCH LIVES) stars as Paul Stewart, a husband, a father, and editor of a science magazine living in West Redding, CT. Stewart is beyond depressed, stuck in a loveless marriage, unable to even recognize the three children he despises, and going through the motions at a job in the city he no longer has any interest in. Full of anger, and feeling ripped off by life, he finds a new obsession in a possible way out of his doldrums. What avenue of recourse does he have to get his failed life back on track? Easy, just murder-suiciding the whole family.
Unrelentingly bleak, nihilistic, and cynical, NATURAL ENEMIES is based on the 1975 book of the same name penned by Julius Horwitz, and directed by Jeff Kanew, who would go on to commit further nonconsensual sexual assaults to screen in 1984’s REVENGE OF THE NERDS. Paul’s wife Mirriam is played by Louise Fletcher, who takes a turn on the other side of the mental health caretaker coin (Nurse Ratched in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST) as a diagnosed manic depressant, and victim of shock treatment.
Shot on location in Connecticut and New York City, NATURAL ENEMIES pulls no punches in its vision of the upper-middle class depression inherent to the bridge and tunnel commuter. Unlike Kubrick’s sexier portrayal of an upper class NYC marriage falling apart, there are no flashy metaphorical secret societies here. Just your normal everyday malice, discontent, and mental illness. But like Kubrick’s, there’s still some group sex to be had.