MEDIA AFFILIATION
Ferdy on Films
LOCATION
Chicago, IL
ABOUT MARILYN
After spending my youth consuming as much theatre and opera as I could stand, when I turned 40, I suddenly, and much to my surprise, became utterly obsessed with cinema. This is both a blessing and a curse in a city like Chicago, where the film resources are so plentiful, it can drive a film buff to bankruptcy and despair at trying to keep up with it all. Starting my blog was my way of sharing my cornucopia of film opportunities with people from other places whose choices were more limited. Partnering up with Australian writer Rod Heath gives Ferdy on Films the benefit of our varied film interests and points of view. I tend to be an activist who favors documentaries, particularly those with social relevance; “offroad” films from emerging national cinemas (I cover film festivals regularly); silent films; experimental films; and works by female directors. I often look at films from a feminist and political point of view.
FAVORITES
• Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County, U.S.A., the greatest American documentary ever made
• Joseph H. Lewis’ Gun Crazy, my favorite noir (Peggy Cummins is my avatar on Ferdy on Films)
• Valley Girl, because Martha Coolidge really knows that teenage girls fantasize about being in a Romeo and Juliet romance, with a happier outcome
• Luis Buñuel and Stanley Kubrick, the latter for the grand scale of his style and preoccupations, the former for just the opposite—his concentration on the pettiness of humanity and its inner obsessions
• Ken Russell, for his extravagance of vision and fearlessness
• Melvin Van Peebles, for his individuality, pride, freshness, and influence
• Balkan cinema, whose perverse black humor and sad history appeal to me greatly
• Czech cinema, which is not only extremely witty, but also the most visually beautiful in the world
