Godard or not Godard?

Just ran across across this little note via WFMU:

French Singer Gigi Gaston's Jean-Luc Godard-Filmed Music Video
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Today at 9:20am

What words would you use to describe 1960s French pop sensation Gigi Gaston? With a growing cult discovering her through the dozens of photos, periodicals, songs and videos assembled by Josh Gosfield, some adjectives describing the chanteuse nicknamed the "Black Flower" include "sultry," "elusive," "scandalous," "murderous" and "misunderstood."

To that you must add the word "fictitious" — Gigi Gaston is wholly and entirely a creation of Gosfield, an artist and designer whose exhibition at the Steven Kasher Gallery in Manhattan closes on Wednesday, November 25th after a monthlong run. Not only did he cast Gigi, shoot the period-perfect photos and created the meticulously rendered versions of the covers of actual magazine of the era along with a staggering variety of her record sleeves, he's also responsible for the putative Jean-Luc Godard film short for Gigi's haunting song "Je Suis Perdue," which is presented here for your viewing pleasure.

Josh Gosfield will appear on this author's show on Sunday, November 22, 5-7 pm ET, during which he will expound upon his creation and dissemmination of the singer who put the "no-no" in yé-yé.

Out of the Way DVDs Coming Soon

If you keep tabs on our "New In Store Column" on our website, you can see a lot of the big name titles that are coming your way soon. But there's also a host of smaller stuff that will be making it to our shelves this month. A couple of the titles are by one of my favorite distributors Oscilloscope Laboratories. They include The Unmistaken Child and The Exiles. The Unmistaken Child follows a 4-year-search for the reincarnation of Lama Konchog, a world-renowned Tibetan master who passed away in 2001 at age 84. Tenzin Zopa, a disciple of the Dalai Lama, travels on foot, mule and even in helicopter to remote villages where he interviews children and eventually presents his chosen one to the Dalai Lama. The Exiles is a film from 1961 that has finally been released on dvd. A one of a kind film, THE EXILES chronicles one night in the lives of young Native American men and women living in the Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles. A formally wealthy neighborhood of decayed Victorian mansions and skid-row apartment buildings. Look for these titles on our shelves soon and keep on top of those titles that we work to unearth for you.

Laura Del Sol Kicks Gangster Butt in THE HIT

Just watched the Criterion release of Stephen Frear's THE HIT, a sly 80's gangster flick shot in Spain. The Criterion liner notes comment on the many future films and directors that borrowed from this little gem (most notably Sexy Beast, another great gangster flick shot in Spain but with some wonderful music video inspired moments by director Jonathon Glazer). However, being a female film watcher what impressed me about this flick was the unmentioned (at least in the liner notes) performance of Laura del Sol. Del Sol bites, scratches, and kicks her way out of gangster harm's way in a way that I haven't seen repeated on the screen except for Patricia Arquette's performance in True Romance (some of which was reportedly edited out of Hollywood Video's release of the dvd). Del Sol doesn't play the smartest study of the group, but she does play the fiercest. While Terence Stamp's character waxes philosophic about how he's ready for and accepting of his impending death (his gangster past has caught up with him), del Sol's character fights for her life with gumption. There are many other reasons to check out this film besides del Sol's performance. If you are searching for some solid filmmaking entertainment, this should be the next one on your list.