Blood and Tears: Silence of the Lambs and Daughters of Darkness 🩸
As Halloween approaches, we celebrate one of the most unsettling films of all time with a new poem by Adriana Beltrano. And T.O. REP REC speaks with Designing the Movies programmer Nathalie Atkinson.
Save the Date: Issue 11 launch 🕰️
November 28 ◦ Bampot House (201 Harbord St, Toronto)
Join us for an evening of readings and games to celebrate the launch of Issue 11: Out of the Past!
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for the lineup reveal 👀
What to Say in Place of “I’m So Sorry”
by Adriana Beltrano
I am Clarice Starling,
applying Vicks VapoRub
to the bridged fold of flesh
right under her nose before
going in to see the sliced-up
dead girl and the room
smells like vanilla pods
because actually I’m
applying beeswax chapstick
to my bleeding lips before
putting on my mask.
The flesh fold still drips,
though my orifices remain
shrouded with vanilla bean,
and there are dual benefits to
rock drainage, a cleft can be
a ravine for cried-snot, and
as rainwater tastes of bitter
mineral, a mask can be a
hammock for salt.
If there’s one thing
you know about me,
let it be this:
I, too, would kill
to impress Jodie Foster:
I am somewhat woman second,
Jodie Foster fan first:
and do you think
she likes me back
through the moth on my wall?
I do not know what to say
instead of the obvious, would
not know how to be Clarice
with the creators of the girl
with diamond-shaped skin
stripped from her back, and
isn’t it fucked up to ask me to grieve?
In Clarice:
the blood betraying her through
torn wool, heavy patent heel steps,
her ‘90s hair, skin cream,
badge of honor brandished
in manicured hand.
To you with sadness,
I say, “I’m so sorry,” and
awkwardly pat your back,
tell you, “Don’t cry.”
To an immobile stone,
I say, “Get up.”
I say, “What am I to do
with all this grief?”
Adriana Beltrano is a Floridian poet living in Baltimore and pursuing her MFA in poetry at Johns Hopkins University.
T.O. REP REC: Designing the Movies presents Daughters of Darkness (1971)
In the Mood’s monthly recommendation of what to see in Toronto’s repertory venues.
by Anders Gatten
Toronto has exported its fair share of great directors, writers, and producers throughout the years. It even managed to keep a couple in that time. But I’ve always thought this city’s on-screen identity was best defined by its craftspeople—a place where above-the-line creatives come to use the finest below-the-line talent north of the Hollywood sign.
Thousands of Torontonians make their career in the filmic trades, whether that be turning Jacob Elordi into Frankenstein’s monster or finding something for Pennywise the Clown to wear. It was considering these contributions that spurned Nathalie Atkinson to create her series Designing the Movies at the Revue back in 2016: “I chose to shape a series around art direction, set, and costume design (and its integral role in storytelling) because it was fresh territory at the time,” she explains, “those essential contributions remain misunderstood and/or under-appreciated.”
Now entering its ninth year, Designing the Movies continues to host an eclectic range of cinema connected by a diligent attention to art in craft. “I’ve presented about eighty movies dating back to the earliest 1930s talkies, and the only unifying element is really that there’s some notable aspect of design to explore,” says Nathalie. The series has showcased the style of films ranging from the vintage charm of The Philadelphia Story to the MTV-infused Reality Bites. Every year a committed audience—myself included—heads to Roncy for their annual screening of Withnail and I, a Designing the Movies staple. “[It] comes across differently every single time, depending on how it interacts with the energy of the audience”.
Before each screening Nathalie sets the stage with a visual introduction diving into the context around the film, framing it in a way you might not have considered before. “I deeply research the design influences and cultural phenomena around each movie to better appreciate them myself and [share] that design context in an accessible, easily digestible, and entertaining way.” It’s this appreciation for the finer details that has built a strong following for the series, one that Nathalie recalls bursting into applause at the making of a cocktail in Morton DaCosta’s Auntie Mame: “You gotta love a crowd that appreciates the correct way to make a dry martini…”
Halloween, our most stylish holiday, is just a few weeks away. If you’re looking to get into the spooky mood, look no further than Designing the Movies’ screening of the new 4K restoration of Harry Kümel’s Daughters of Darkness. An all-time queer vampire classic, the film follows a newlywed couple as they fall under the spell of a mysterious countess and her beautiful secretary, modelled on Marlene Dietrich and Louise Brooks respectively, as they honeymoon on the off-season Belgian coast. “I wanted something lush, decadent, and Eurocore for the Revue’s Halloween theme month and queer vampires with a flair for the dramatic and a bottomless closet of sparkly gowns is a no-brainer.” Surrounded by the fading European decadence of the film’s hotel setting, the quartet of characters’ descent into lust for body and blood proves to be a delicious watch.
Designing the Movies presents Daughters of Darkness on October 24th, 6:45pm at the Revue. Get tickets here!
Follow Designing the Movies on Instagram 🎥
Anders Gatten is a Toronto-based programmer.
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