The Magnificent Cake
Echo in the Canyon
Laurel Canyon was a mecca for musicians in the late ’60s, with its short drive to the Sunset Strip from the wooded hillsides. Jakob Dylan is this documentary’s host and proves to be an astute interviewer as well as interpreter. He leads tribute concerts honoring The Byrds, whose influence permeated ’60s L.A., and a living-room session with Cat Power and Regina Spektor. Tom Petty, David Crosby and Roger McGuinn are among the all-star interviewees.
This Magnificent Cake!
The “cake” refers to a remark by Belgium’s King Leopold II: He wanted a slice of Africa and received it at an 1884 international conference where the continent was carved up. This Magnificent Cake! (2018) is an interesting accomplishment in stop-motion animation, visually commanding with a sure sense of characterization. A quiet indictment of colonialism, This Magnificent Cake! is an elliptical set of stories set amidst the peculiar brutality of Leopold’s regime in the Belgian Congo.
In the Aftermath
Anime by Mamoru Oshii is cleverly juxtaposed against Carl Colpaert’s live action in this post-apocalyptic hybrid from Roger Corman’s studio. In the Aftermath imagines a devastated world whose survivors, wearing oxygen masks, will kill for some fresh air. The animation depicts a steampunkish angelic realm, where entities of limited scope determine who to help and who to let hang. The Blu-ray marks the emergence of a forgotten film that went straight to video in 1988.
Who Saw Her Die?
The twisted alleys of Venice, lined with gilded decay, are characters as prominent as the human denizens of Who Saw Her Die? (1972). George Lazenby, briefly of James Bond fame, stars as an artist whose daughter is murdered—one in a string of red-headed girls killed by a mysterious figure in black. Shot by Italy’s Aldo Lado, this descendent of Psycho is two parts brilliant, one part stilted, with striking scenes elevated by Ennio Morricone’s chilling score.
