To Live And Die in L.A. (1985)

March 31 2012

To Live and Die in L.A. is one of these movies that is highly illustrative of the movie conventions in the 80′s and this is one of the better ones. Recently it has been getting a lot more of attention because director Nicholas Wending Refn stated he took a lot of inspiration from this movie for his latest acclaimed picture Drive. Especially the atmosphere present throughout To Live and Die in L.A. and some of its shocking violence was really well captured by Refn.

One of the most poignant aspects here and a true trademark of the 80′s are, besides the bright pink font titling, the tight fitted and short in length blue washed out Levi’s 501 jeans. William Petersen sports these all the time here, playing the Dirty Harry type of Secret Service agent, whilst the antagonist is played by nobody less than the still young and smooth-faced Willem Dafoe. Petersen’s character is this highly arrogant type that acts very tough with his aviator sunglasses, though his American military M65 field jacket is pretty nice. Dafoe’s character, who supplies the criminal circuit of L.A. as a counterfeiter, is really fond of black; a tight fitting black t-shirt, a black leather jacket and drives a black Ferrari 308 QV. Some last details include the white/eggplant coloured letterman jacket, the Red Wing moc toe’s and all the other tough looking guys.

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Blow-Up (1966)

March 17 2012

The first English spoken picture by Michelangelo Antonioni resolves around the photographer Thomas, a character subtly inspired on the photographer David Bailey. He was part of the ‘Swinging London’ scene in the 60′s, an avant-gardist scene that was very much about fashion and being modern in the time and was closely related to the Mod subculture.

The plot seems to be about the mystery of a murder Thomas accidentally stumbles upon, although his lifestyle and profession as a photographer in the London environment of the 60′s appealed way more to me. Photography, fashion, modern art all relate to the hedonism spirit of the scene and this goes hand in hand with portraying the cool. Thomas is kind of Ivy dressed in his green velour blazer with a striped blue/white shirt underneath and his white cotton twill pants. Other than that he drives around in his elitist Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III with very nice taillights. Another car that deserves attention is the Landrover 1955 Series I driven by the revolting youth. And I really liked some of the artworks seen in the movie. Have a look.

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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

March 14 2012

Thought it was time to cover another film by the gifted set designer and director Wes Anderson. The attention and care he directs to the set, the decors and the fashion of the characters are repeatedly as fascinating as the films themselves. Take a random movie by Anderson and every single view of it another detail will become apparent, and then still there’s always hundreds of details left unnoticed.

In his fourth picture the adventures of the sea-life explorer Jacques Cousteau were used as inspiration and turned into a parody. Most noticeable of course are the uniforms of Team Zissou, with the remarkable red beanies. A funny note here is that each member of the team wears a different kind of beanie, either folded with reach just above the ears, with a plum on top and so forts. Noteworthy of course are all the small details that only appear for a few seconds in motion, like the Zissou Society ring, the tattoo, the signed documentary posters and so on. Best item though in Steve Zissou are the Team Zissou embroidered navy knits (worn by Murray and Wilson) with a narrow shawl collar. The sunglasses worn by the same two seem to be American Optical, at least I’m pretty sure the one Murray wears is the Original Pilot model. Then there rests the Arctic parka’s worn on one of the poles. It’s just incredible what effort Anderson takes for all these little details, but they are the elements that make the film.

P.S. don’t forget to check out the beautiful soundtrack by Seu Jorge, acoustic adaptations of David Bowie songs in Portuguese :)

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The Golden Age of Rap (1992-1996)

February 25 2012

Sometimes I wish I was born ten years earlier so I had experienced the early 90s more vivid. A period when hiphop played on the radio was still all about the rhythm and the verbal skills and when the music videos were just straight up raw and grimy pictures shot in the streets of the New York housing projects. The golden years of rap music; a time when jazz samples and drum breaks from soul records made up the beat, instead of todays Euro-house samples and auto-tune effects.

I often spend hours and hours on youtube browsing these old videos in order to discover new tracks and in combination with discogs I’m often amazed how many rap music was released during these times. My friend Abel always tries to convince me to cover some of these videos for Stillstile, well now finally I decided to follow up his advice. Nubuck Timberlands boots, jeans and army-green camouflage parkas was the trend of the days. And man.. these outfits rocked. The quality of the stills might not be the best, anyhow it should be clear that it’s a dedication to these cold NY streets, at a time when the Darwinian term “survival of the fittest” still made up the rap industry.

In pictorial order: Smif-n-Wessun – Wreckonize (1995); Mobb Deep – Survival of the Fittest (1995); PMD feat. Das EFX – Leave Your Style Cramped (1996); Show & A.G. – Fat Pockets (1992); Dysfunkshunal Familee – New Ruff Flava (1994); Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M. (1993).

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Agents Secrets (2004)

February 17 2012

Just like Gaspar Noé dedicated Irréversible – perhaps the best movie ever – to Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, I’d like to dedicate this post to them as well. Ever since I first watched La Haine back in high school I became a fan of Cassel’s and soon he was to be my favorite actor. From the hilarious short films with his Kourtrajmé friends, to his capoeira tricks in Ocean’s Twelve, he has it all. Yes all, he’s married to probably the most beautiful of all actresses, namely Monica Bellucci.

I’ve tried to select stills from films with Cassel’s appearance before, like in Crimson Rivers where he rocks a pair of Jordan IV’s or from the recent Notre Jour Viendra by acclaimed director Romain Gavras, but never managed to get a good selection. Now finally when I stumbled upon the fact that Cassel is wearing a Rolex Submariner in Agents Secrets, one of his worst movies, I immediately took the dvd from the shelve to see if it was worth it. And yes it is, I present to you Cassel and Bellucci. For me Bellucci even steals the show here with her humble appearance in a black duffle and a beige trench coat, although it could be I’m just deceived by her beauty.

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