Cakebug Tranch

It might have been tough to spot, but in the scene when Mat arrives in the city and his cousin doesn't pick him up, I actually exchanged several letters through a magical time travelling mailbox. The scene was cut for time, but it was central to my psychological approach to the role.

The same way Cam Bert watched 'The Lake House'.

Totally off topic, but Cameron and tomspanks have been very encouraging so I thought why not share something in this, the least-visited of forums of only friendly people (trademark pending). I used to be an actor, and before I stopped doing that, I was the lead in a small Australian film that features a few big Australian names. It's a bit of fun. So, watch if you like - just don't review it on letterboxd by saying 'the guy playing Mat is the greatest actor since Olivier' (that goes without saying) or referring to Mat as 'baby CakeBug' as tomspanks did in an email. Enjoy! PS to mods: this is freely shared on vimeo by the filmmaker himself, so there's no issues with copyright.

EVERYTHING is that.

Here's a reboot of the same song, same message...

It's all that after-hours serial killing. And basketball-court softshoe.

Okay, Brian does have those turning points going for him, granted. But the whole point of the final number is that Sally is sinking in to embrace the place that she has resisted through the whole movie. I don't see her as desperate for her big shot anymore so much as saying 'life is a cabaret and I'm a rockstar here'. I'm not sure I buy that she hasn't grown at all: after all she's been through I think she's much more honest with herself about what she can do with her life, and while she's dying inside, she's a consummate professional on that stage. I think her bravery, hidden under that thin veneer of sass, is palpable. She could have clung to Brian but she let him go. She could have not stepped back on the stage but she did. I think Sally is stronger here than that. She promises in the final song that when she goes, she'll 'go like Elsie'. She's here, and she's accepted who she is. I think she's grown plenty.

Oh, me too (example B ) but the dead giveaway for me is how frightened Brian is of Sally when she kisses him. That's not a man with a well-explored sense of his attraction to women, which can be very much present in bisexual men. He doesn't seem very interested in men, either: I think I will stick to my guns about him being gay, but I would say that this character isn't destined to figure that out and embrace it until years later.

Well, technically it would be Brian's, but he enters and leaves the world after the Kit Kat club is established. If you ask ANYONE who has seen the stage play, you would without any doubt say it's the Emcee's show. No doubt. Sally isn't supposed to be very talented, and she gets fired from the Kit Kat Club in the first act: yet she still believes in her own talent. The movie's another thing altogether. Liza is featured, she's the only woman who sings solo, she gets the big torch solos and the five-to-eleven number. Any viewer of this movie will remember Liza first, not Basil Exposition/Tybalt. So, even if it is Brian's movie (although I would argue that he doesn't grow as much as Sally does) I think she steals it right out from under him.

Don't forget that the source for the play and movie came the writings of Christopher Isherwood, who was as gay as the day is long. He lived in Berlin in the 30's and saw the rise of the Nazi party first hand, needing to hide his sexuality while at the same time maintaining a presence in the gay cabaret scene of the time. Later, gay people under the Nazi regime would have to wear pink triangles, and many went to extermination camps. Check out Martin Sherman's play 'Bent' for an even more harrowing take on this. I think 100%, without any doubt, Brian is gay (being the Isherwood surrogate), although his relationship with Sally is definitely one of co-dependent love. The energy between Brian and Max is clear but isn't exploited or even illustrated - all we hear later is that he's been screwing him, but we don't see them together aside from in social scenarios. The whole 'wrong three girls' thing for me pointed to the fact that Brian's a gay man in denial - his rejection of Sally is clearly showing just how arousing he finds women - and when they finally consummate the relationship it is far more to do with his need for human contact and the fact that Sally loves him. He definitely loves her too, but he's closeted the same way that Josh Charles is in 'Threesome' - not attracted to women, not sure enough about men, so he's asexual - so their relationship becomes easy and convenient. I think the fact that 'Cabaret' doesn't really explore sexuality speaks more to the fact that this is Sally's movie, not Brian's. Hence the treatment of the trans/drag Kit Kat girl: sexuality just isn't the central issue, even though readers of Isherwood would likely raise an eyebrow at how it'd been swept away.

Was I the only one who felt like Max's dumb moustache looked like he just drank milk and didn't wipe his face? Blonde dudes with moustaches are just ASKING for people to say 'hey, you have something on your fa--- oh. Sorry.'

A useful article that sheds plenty of light on this question: http://www.flickchar...screen-cabaret/ The Fraulein Schneider/Herr Schultz relationship is hugely important in the stage play, and is cut completely for the film, along with several other major elements.

Undt I'm de oh-nlee man, ja!

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect with 'Cabaret'. I knew my mother and grandmother loved the movie when it came out (which was a good enough reason to assume it wouldn't be up my alley) and I knew Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey had won Oscars for it. I'd seen a stage production of the show years ago but had few memories of it aside from the decision to add makeup to the Kit Kat girls that resembled bruising, so that by the end of the show they were all covered in bruises reflective of the violence of the Nazi regime. I thought that was a cool touch. I never saw the Alan Cummings/Emma Stone/whoever else was stunt-cast in New York, so I came in to this remarkably fresh. What I loved was how assured the camera work was, and how fearlessly the movie departed from the stage play. In this film, the ONLY TWO CHARACTERS TO SING solos are Sally and the Emcee, aside from 'Tomorrow Belongs To Me' (totally agreed, Fister, the reveal of the Nazi armband in that scene is stunning): this isn't the case in the stage version. The use of the Kit-Kat Club as a microcosm for the rise of Nazism - from the rejection of socialism in the first scene to the nearly full audience of Nazis at the end, all refracted through the Emcee starting and ending by looking in the mirror? Brilliant. I thought the production design was spectacular, and authentically built the world of Weimar Germany without being heavy handed. The radios playing news reports in German with snippets of words jumping out to illustrate that it's historic events that are being reported but are played as background noise? Wonderful. The depiction of a proto-Kristallnacht scene with corpses in the street contrasted with Brian and Sally discussing how they'll picnic in the countryside? Incredible. And then flashing back to the Emcee's wise face, grinning with the knowledge of what we know but the Germans don't yet, often flashing so briefly that's almost subliminal? This is an intelligent, vital piece of filmmaking. I owe Bob Fosse an apology, because I always just figured he was nothing more than a gimmicky if innovative stage choreographer. I know 'All That Jazz' but never thought much of it: this, however, is thoughtful filmmaking, not the work of a choreographer moonlighting in a medium he's foreign to. I can see what you mean, Fister, in terms of some of the content - the drag performer at the urinal is a bit of a cheap laugh, I agree - but the bravery of a lot of the subject matter: bisexuality, abortions, anti-Semitism, depression, what have you, are not leered at but are rather presented as a factor in the world. The discussions of syphilis, for example, feels dated but then for the era that's fairly on the money about attitudes towards it. And the stunning transition of Liza moving from her depression over letting Brian leave to lighting up the stage for the titular song at the end? Holy shit. Finally - the choreo/double act of 'Money Makes the World Go Around' captivated me like no other single set piece in any movie musical I've ever seen. To watch consummate pros work is a staggering privilege. I bloody loved this movie.

SO FUCKING INTERESTING. Nailed it, Quasar. This film has so much more substance than I could have ever expected.

MY first exposure to this musical didn't set me up well for seeing this: in the stage version, Brian is named Cliff Bradshaw and is American; Sally is British. I get why they flipped it around (to get Liza) and to have a different nationality opposite her, but is Cliff Bradshaw really SO stereotypically American that they couldn't imagine a Brit with that name? At least we know where Basil Exposition got his mojo, baby.

Pretty sure a 95% fresh movie on RT won't make the cut for the podcast.

Seriously. I can't wait til Monday. Thanks for the pick Quasar. I can't believe I haven't seen it before tonight.

Guys. I fucking love this movie.

I've never seen it. Is it really good or bad good? I like Emmerich from 'Independence Day' but he lost me with 'Anonymous' and 'Independence Day 2'. And all the other ones.