Holocaust

Inglourious Basterds

(2009)

OK, now I know why the love interest in the upcoming Beginners, for which I've seen the trailer a gazillion times now, looks familiar: it's Mélanie Laurent, Shosanna here. Had to watch this just-purchased video right away to make sure that even though it was mailed from Quebec and packaged mostly in French (contrary to what I was told when I bought it on Amazon Marketplace), it was Region 1-able. No problem, I'm sure you'll be relieved to know.

I see that the first time I fixed on the Bowie-Theme-from-Cat People sequence, and I do so again this time. It plays when Shosanna is preparing for the incendiary assassination, and the most obvious allusion, in keeping with the Native American warrior theme that runs throughout the film, is her swipe of rouge across each cheek, which stays there undisturbed for a moment as battle paint (like so). But this time her preparation struck me more as Homeric: she's Ajax donning her armor and hefting her weapons (in this case the Derringer that just fits in her tiny clutch purse)--and I guess the anachronism of that reading balances the anachronism in the other direction of the Bowie song.

Anyway, I doubt I'll ever tire of watching Jews kicking Nazi ass.