5 things to watch this weekend – 18 to 20 August
Provocation, perversity and all-round trouble-making: a handful of weekend viewing recommendations.
Stay updated with breaking news from Missing Switchboard Operator. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Provocation, perversity and all-round trouble-making: a handful of weekend viewing recommendations.
A Yugoslavian pulp classic from 1967, this tale of a young woman’s erotic misadventures more than matches the French new wave for black humour
I am driven to desperation by attempts to describe the films of Yugoslavian director Dusan Makavejev. You've never heard of him, but never mind; neither have I. He has hardly any reputation. His "Innocence Unprotected" won this year's Chicago International Film Festival, and now comes "Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator," an earlier film but unmistakably the work of the same bizarre, anarchist imagination.
Dusan Makavejev's "Sweet Movie" begins with what looks like a garden-variety National Lampoon function (an oil millionaire named Mr. Kapital is holding a global beauty contest to select himself a virgin bride) and develops into one of the most challenging, shocking and provocative films of recent years. Especially in its final 45 minutes, the movie presents almost pure experience. Makavejev shows us a commune where the members collectively immerse themselves in the fundamental processes of the body: eating, drinking, suckling, sex, vomiting, urinating, defecating, touching, screa...