Cruella De Vil at 60: A spotty villain who still sears the screen

By Valerie Kalfrin Cruella De Vil takes a back seat to no one. This frightening fashionista burst onscreen sixty years ago in 1961’s “One Hundred and One Dalmatians,” a blare from her Bugatti-like roadster — and her own theme song — heralding her arrival. Who else would have such nerve but this woman with black and white hair as stark as her plans for those … Continue reading Cruella De Vil at 60: A spotty villain who still sears the screen

The Exploitation of Mental Illness in Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction

If the purpose of film, like literature and other narrative-driven art forms, is, in part, to examine and portray under-explored or overlooked aspects of the human condition, then it is the perfect medium with which to explore mental illness and the impact it has on those effected by it. If, however, the purpose of film is simply to entertain and titillate, it is the least appropriate medium to use as an exposé on mental health. Some will argue that genre film, like genre fiction, is a “lower” form of the art and not meant to achieve much more than excitement or amusement. Continue reading The Exploitation of Mental Illness in Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction