The second issue of Electric Sheep is now ready and we have some rich pickings for you to graze on. First we take a magnifying glass to the weird and wonderful world of visionary animators The Brothers Quay with an interview and a review of their DVD of dazzlingly inventive shorts.

Next we rave about David Lynch’s vertiginous Inland Empire, which sees the eccentric director at his unhinged best. Also out this month is The Family Friend, Paolo Sorrentino’s provocative follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Consequences of Love. And we take a look at Samurai 7, a futuristic anime version of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, showing at the Barbican as part of their Japanimation series.

To kick off our new ‘Rock’n’Roll Movies’ series we have a review of Performance, Nicolas Roeg’s classic study of sixties rock decadence, newly released on DVD. We mark the release of a Guillermo del Toro boxset we have a feature on the Mexican enfant terrible while elsewhere we go all right-on with counterculture documentary Berkeley in the Sixties. And the DVD re-release of Michael Powell’s haunting thriller Peeping Tom is the occasion for an essay exploring the film’s connections with the mythological figure of Medusa.

Last but not least, we’re very excited to have all-girl London band The Schla-la-las launch our brand new Film Jukebox – every month we’ll ask a band to pick their ten all-time favourite films. Take a look at the Schlas’ exuberantly eclectic selection here!

Don’t forget that every month we’ll give you the chance to get your cinephile hands on a film prize – all you have to do to win is spin the Film Roulette! We’re pleased to announce that our February winner is Anna Smith. Well done Anna, you’ve won a DVD of 13 (Tzameti), courtesy of Revolver Entertainment. This month we have a truly special, beautifully packaged DVD of The Brothers Quay Shorts, courtesy of the BFI. So get spinning!.

The Electric Sheep Magazine team

Features:
Blixa Bargeld

Reviews:
Bamako

Los Olvidados

Satan

Female Convict Scorpion

Branded to Kill

Red Road

In a recent edition of BBC2’s Culture Show film critic Mark Kermode interviewed Paul Verhoeven about his new film Black Book. We’ve all heard of Verhoeven – he’s the man who gave us the mindlessly crude Basic Instinct and Showgirls. Well, according to Kermode, usually one of the more reliable and discerning critics, Verhoeven is an ‘auteur’ whose entire oeuvre is concerned with the theme of identity. To prove his point Kermode selected a clip from Total Recall – yes, you are reading correctly – in which Arnold Shwarzenegger is being addressed by his double from a TV screen. The TV double makes some mind-blowing revelation about how he really is his own self talking from the past, which Arnie greets with a resounding ‘No shit!’ We’ll give you a minute to ponder this remarkable insight… Either Kermode is the most brilliantly subversive TV commentator around or this is just another example of what mainstream media does to intelligent critics – turn them into robotic clones who spout out the same toothless, consensual platitudes.

Well, this is exactly the kind of thing you won’t get on the virtual pages of Electric Sheep. Hell no. Every month we’ll be bringing you uncompromising reviews of the best new films and DVDs, reappraisals of obscure past works, interviews with provocative directors as well as incisive essays. So for our very first issue we have reviews of Bamako, a spirited indictment of globalisation from Mali, the outré French horror film Satan and Los Olvidados, Luís Buñuel’s ferocious portrayal of Mexico City street kids, showing in a new print at the NFT.

On the DVD front we can’t wait to tell you about Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 – a wild gem from Japan featuring one of the meanest, baddest girls in movie history. There is more unhinged Japanese cinema as we review the stylishly delirious Branded to Kill, whose hero gets off on the smell of boiling rice. Elsewhere we have the compelling revenge drama Red Road while we also take a look back at 13 (Tzameti), a startlingly distinctive debut that did not get the attention it deserved when it came out last year.

Occasionally we will discuss arts or music events that we find particularly exciting. This month we’re proud to present a very special interview with Blixa Bargeld, lead singer of German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. In the UK the band is particularly famous for the riot-inducing concert that they played at the ICA in 1984. On February 20th a group of artists led by Jo Mitchell will stage a faithful re-enactment of that concert – read what Bargeld has to say about it here.

All that and every month we’ll also give you the chance to get your cinephile hands on a mystery DVD – all you have to do to win is spin the Film Roulette!.

The Electric Sheep Magazine team