Joe Dante

Joseph James “Joe” Dante (born November 28, 1946) is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and scifi content.

His films include Piranha (1978) and The Howling (1981), both from scripts by John Sayles; Segment 3 of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983); Gremlins (1984), his first major hit, and its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990); Explorers (1985), Innerspace (1987), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987); The ‘Burbs (1989), Matinee (1993), Runaway Daughters (1994), The Second Civil War (1997), The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy (1998), Small Soldiers (1998), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), and Homecoming (2005). In 1995-1996, Dante worked on The Phantom, and when he was removed from the film, he chose screen credit (as executive producer) rather than pay.  He was creative consultant on Eerie, Indiana (1991-1992) and directed five episodes. He played himself in the series finale.

Always casts Dick Miller in a cameo or supporting role.

Frequently has films/TV shows with themes similar to the movie in various scenes.

Always includes a reference to the Warner Bros. cartoons somewhere in each of his works.

Frequently casts Robert Picardo in supporting roles or cameos.

Frequently casts William Schallert in supporting roles or cameos.

Frequently hired composer Jerry Goldsmith.

Frequently casts Kevin McCarthy.

Frequently casts Ron Perlman in supporting roles or cameos.

Trivia

Former Roger Corman protégé. Also helped by Steven Spielberg.

Directors he has cited as his principal influences include Chuck Jones, Frank Tashlin, James Whale, Roger Corman, and Jean Cocteau.

Was interested in directing Batman (1989).

Was scheduled to direct a Jaws (1975) parody (under the National Lampoon banner) in the early 1980s called “Jaws 3 People 0″. Universal Pictures dropped this concept in favor of a “straight” film (which became the critical and financial flop Jaws 3-D (1983)).

When one talks of “Safar”, I am reminded of a 1970 movie by this name starring Rajesh Khanna. But there was another movie by this name that was released in 1946. Not much is known about this movie, at least to me, but it seems that this movie had actors called Kanu Roy, S L Puri,V H Desai, Shobha etc. Naseem Akhtar (never heard of him) was a singer in this movie.

Rafi had made his debut as a plaback singer in Bollywood movies in 1946.He had only sung one song and that too in chorus in the movie “Shahjahaan” (1946). But in this movie viz “Safar” (1946), Rafi got a chance to sing solo songs. And he was also given the opportunity to sing more than one song in this movie. That way, this movie is a very important movie for Rafi’s career.

Here is a rare song from this movie which is sung by Rafi. Gopal Singh Nepali, who is regarded as one of the important poets of Hindi literature, wrote this song. C Ramchandra is the music director.

Song-Ab wo hamaare ho gaye (Safar) (1946) Singer-Rafi,Lyrics- G S Nepali, MD-C Ramchandra

Lyrics

aaa aaa
ab wo hamaare ho gaye
haan
ab wo hamaare ho gaye
ikraar karen yaa na karen
ab wo hamaare ho gaye
ikraar karen yaa na karen
hamko unhi se pyaar hai
wo pyaar karen ya na karen

hamko muhabbat aap se
hamko zaroorat aap ki
aaa
hamaari zindagi
gulzaar karen ya
gulzaar karen ya na karen
aaa
hamaari zindagi
gulzaar karen ya na karen

ham sochte hain
pyaar ka badla milegaa pyaar se
wo sochte hain
pyaar se
inkaar karen ya
inkaar karen ya na karen
wo sochte hain pyaar se
inkaar karen ya na karen

aaa aaa
dil to diya hai
jaan bhi unpe nichhaawar kar chuke
arre jaan bhi unpe nichhaawar kar chuke
aaa
hamaari baat ka
aitbaar karen ya
aitbaar karen ya na karen
aaa
hamaari baat ka
aitbaar karen ya na karen
ab wo hamaare ho gaye
ikraar karen ya naa karen

wash time preshowos caras tanamoreal deal infinityvagabounds pero no muchoagora sim eu sei o que é motocicleta de almao mago…

Melomanos a partir de hoy tendremos un Nuevo formato en nuestra pagina  y es el mitico disco de 78 REVOLUCIONES POR MINUTO un disco de menor tamaño con una sola cancion por lado y que se escuchaba en las VICTROLAS,  son frágiles y muchas grabaciones son únicas, esto fue HOY  gracias a mi TIA JOCELYNE  que no sabia que los tenia guardados y me dio la idea de volverlos a sacarlos a la luz luego de mas de 45 años sin ser escuchados!!! , estos discos eran de mi TIO ABUELO RAUL  ZULOAGA  quien falleció en los años 70 y que poseía una colección de discos la cual en parte poseo ahora y son discos unicos.

Despues de que el disco fuera inventado por THOMAS EDISON en 1870 un formato  reemplaza a las grabaciones de cilindros  usados por EDISON. En 1900 los discos de 78 aparecieron en escena, estos discos de 10 pulgadas eran mas fácil de almacenar y tenían surcos mas grandes que los discos de 45 y 33 rpm y esto hacia que solo almacenaran canciones de 3 minutos, ahora es difícil de imaginárselo pero estos discos no usaron ninguna ecualización. Este formato desapareció en 1960 por ser pesados y no permitían almacenar suficiente material, ahora valen miles de dolares porque las grabaciones a veces no aparecen las cintas matrices o los prensados originales porque se dañaron con el tiempo.

Volviendo al disco los temas son:

YA DON RAFAEL HABLO- DE ÑICO SAQUITO

EL BAILE DEL PINGÜINO- DE ERNESTO DUARTE

Las dos cantadas por MANOLO MONTERREY, el tema de YA DON RAFAEL HABLO tiene una historia curiosa ya que se hizo a raíz de la creación de la novela EL DERECHO DE NACER de FELIX B. CAIGNET, que al principio se escucho en la radio y tuvo tanto éxito que en varios países incluso en CUBA de donde es su creador, se paralizaba todo para oír la novela, en un capitulo el personaje de DON RAFAEL confiesa en su lecho de muerte que ALBERTICO LIMONTA es su nieto, se creía que ese secreto se lo iba a llevar a la tumba.

Algunos datos de MANOLO MONTERREY:

• Hijo de Urbano Alemán y Evangelina Monterrey de Alemán; pronto demostró su interés por la interpretación musical y se dedicó al aprendizaje de la guitarra y a la vocalización.

• Actuó en su país siendo integrante del Trío Torres-Monterrey, durante un período relativamente breve, para luego buscar nuevos caminos. Se radicó en Caracas, Venezuela en 1938, y, pronto pudo incursionar en programas de radio, junto al locutor Víctor Saume alternando sones, décimas y guajiras de su tierra, con acompañamiento de guitarra, y efectuaba comentarios picarescos de la cotidianidad.

• LUIS ALFONZO LARRAIN lo incorpora en 1942 a su orquesta de bailes, como guarachero solista, esto implicaba que dicho solista no se limitaba a cantar solo el género guaracha, sino también, guaguancós, sones y toda clase de ritmos afroantillanos, incluso merengues dominicanos.

• De este modo, tuvo la oportunidad de alternar con otros cantantes que para el momento estaban ya consolidados; Ada Alba, Elio Rubio, Graciela Naranjo, Francisco “Kiko” Mendive; al igual que Marco Tulio Maristani y Mario Suárez.

• En 1946, consolidado ante el público, es contratado por Billo Frómeta para que forme parte de su orquesta, en la que permanecería mas de una década de éxitos. En este período surgieron temas de gran aceptación,como la candente guaracha “Se murió Camilo”, original del propio Manolo, “Cosa linda”, de Avelino Muñoz; “Maria Cristina”, y, “Ni hablar del peluquín”, guarachas de “Ñico”Saquito; “Ariel”, original de José Carbó Menéndez; “Radragaz”, guaracha de Willy Gamboa; “Mi saxofón”, “Swing con son”, el merengue “Compadre Pedro Juan” y el porro “San Fernando”. Otros temas de la misma época son “Que me la den entera”, “Embuste embuste” y “Mamá yo quiero un cadete”, guarachas de Billo Frómeta; “Necesito una mujer”, “Cuando florezcan las amapolas”, “Ya don Rafael habló”, y, “Apretaíto”, merengue de Luis Kalaff.

• Timbre y dicción excelentes y métrica precisa en la vocalización, unidos a su histrionismo y buen humor en la interpretación de sones y guarachas, indujeron tal vez, al maestro Billo, a calificar a Manolo Monterrey como “El ciclón antillano”. En la década de los ’50, fueron lanzados nuevos temas, “La burrita de Petare” y “Caminito de Guarenas”, de Billo Frómeta; “Cuando yo diga”, “La esquina ‘e Las Gradillas”, “El Enamorao” y “Guarachona”, original de Fidelina Hernández. Otros temas como “Abaniquito de a real”, “El baile del pingüino”, “Esto sí que está gracioso”, y “Papapapaya”. Se alternaban las presentaciones en público, ya fuese amenizando fiestas bailables, como en programas radiales, y, en años posteriores, en la televisión.

• Por desavenencias de tipo gremial la orquesta es disuelta por Billo en 1957; Manolo Monterrey reagrupa la mayoría de los integrantes con la denominación de “Manolo Monterrey y su orquesta”; logran así efectuar algunas presentaciones, y hasta graban dos temas en un acetato de 45 r.p.m. “A mí eso qué”, un calipso de César Acosta, y, “Los viejitos si soplan”, original de Manolo; ambos temas cantados por él mismo. El éxito es efímero y la agrupación queda disuelta. Queda un tiempo a la deriva, pero, no tarda en ser contratado por Jesús “Chucho” Sanoja para integrar su orquesta al lado de “Chico” Salas, “Alci” Sánchez y Víctor Piñeiro. De este período son los temas “Plena Española”, de Juan Ramírez, y, “Los estudiantes”.

• Falleció en Caracas, Venezuela, el 25 de agosto de 1997.

A DISFRUTARLO!!

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 With a bit more money coming in, we could now afford to go to the public baths once a week. This was far more convenient than having to heat all the hot water for our weekly bath. On the outside Bethnal Green baths looked a good solid building, but inside it was quite grim. Everywhere was painted dark green, and a miserable brown colour. The walls were tiled halfway in dark green tiles. Inside there were rows of cubicles all with a bath, and a hook on the wall for your towel. You had to pay at the door, and as you entered a lady gave you a small bar of soap and a towel. Then we had to wait until someone came out, before the attendant would shout: “Next.” The lady attendants always seemed very formidable to me. They would turn the water on from the outside, and whoever was taking a bath would have to shout out if they wanted anymore hot or cold water. At first I did not like to shout, and so my bath was either burning hot or cold. After a few visits I learnt to make my voice heard, and could enjoy my bath more. Many were the times someone would bang on the door and shout: “Hurry up in there, people are waiting.” Then it was a case of getting dressed as quickly as you could.

With Christmas approaching, Mum began to make the Christmas puddings, and all the family would have a stir of the mixture, which smelt lovely. While they were cooking, us girls would have to stay up half the night to make sure the water did not boil dry – the kitchen was full of steam, and everything had a layer of moisture. When they were cooked they were left to cool, and then stored in the cupboard. Nearer Christmas, the mince pies were made, and the kitchen looked like a bakers shop as Mum made dozens for our large family. Christmas passed quietly, and we were now into the new year.

The year 1946 started very cold, and although the war was over everything was in short supply. People had to queue for most food, and any household items the shops managed to obtain.  

Mum met her new friend in one of these queues, and without a doubt she was one of the dirtiest friends she had ever made. What my Dad would have made of Mrs Holten I dread to think. I can only remember her as a large lady, always dressed in black. I could never make out how many children she had, as there was a continuous trail of boys and girls of all ages traipsing in and out of her house. There was one daughter called Rosie who tried to keep some order, but she was fighting a losing battle. The kitchen where they mainly lived was like a tip. Everywhere were piles of dirty washing, and all sorts of opened food packets, dirty cups and plates. Once we went with Mum to visit, and there were even live chickens in the kitchen, one sitting on a chair. Rosie just brushed the chicken off to give our Mum somewhere to sit. 

Amongst all this chaos sat Mr Holten, dressed in a smart dark suit and white shirt, with a starched collar. He was a tall, good-looking man, and I never heard him talk much to his family. He seemed to have a soft spot for Rosie, who would have a bath ready for him, and clean clothes when he returned from his work as a builder. The few times I saw him he always looked smart and appeared oblivious to all the mess.

One day, sometime after Mum had met her new friend, Rosie knocked on our door looking very upset. She told Mum that her Dad had been involved in an accident at work. Mum put her coat on and rushed back with her to see if she could help. Our Mum was gone such a long time that we decided to go and meet her. When we arrived at Mrs Holten’s house there was a sound of crying, and when Rosie opened the door to us, tears were running down her face. We knew at once what had happened – her Dad had died. Poor Mr Holten had fallen off the scaffold at work and broken his neck, and he had died before anyone could help him. Mum was upstairs with her friend, and Rosie said she was just taking them some tea up. I offered to take it for her as she seemed to have such a lot to do. 

One of her sisters was moaning that she had to go out, and could not find her skirt. I was amazed to see Rosie pull a skirt out of a pile of clothes on the floor, and the young girl wrap it around her and fasten it with a pin. I was even more surprised when I went upstairs to the bedrooms. 

There were beds everywhere, but not one had any sheets or blankets, as all they had to keep them warm was a pile of old coats. It looked like a jumble sale. As poor as we were, our beds had always had clean sheets and quilts on. Our Mum was sitting on the bed holding her friend’s hand and gratefully took the tea. I for one could not have drunk anything in that house, but it never seemed to worry Mum. Later in the evening we all left to go home, and felt very sad for the family we were leaving, as we knew what it was like to lose your Dad.

We’re in the midst of a jam-packed weekend of sport. David Haye slayed the giant Nikolai Valuev, which I may well blog about in the next couple of days, Australia beat England in the rugby (boo), and there’s been fun and games in the football, particularly the Manchester City/Burnley 3-3 draw, and a fair few upsets in the first round of the FA Cup.

And there’s still the circus of Chelsea/Manchester United to come!

But here’s what I’ve enjoyed perusing the rest of this week…

The Yankees won the World Series this week, in no small part because of the strength of their closing pitcher, Mariano Rivera. The New York Times has produced a funky graphic to illustrate just how good he is in the post-season.

Meanwhile Matt at BaseballGB has written a comprehensive breakdown of performances in this year’s World Series.

And it’s not all about the winners, you know, as The Daily Something decides on the ten best performances by World Series losers.

In football, meanwhile, The Political Economy of Football looked at Rangers’ financial woes and twohundredpercent looked at the 1946 FA Cup.

So, what have you enjoyed reading this week?

Una de las piezas más cotizadas de las acuñadas en el periodo franquista es la peseta de 1946 con estrellas 19-48. Esta moneda tiene el sobrenombre de “Peseta de Benlliure” o “Peseta con busto de Benlliure”, por haber sido diseñada por el escultor valenciano Mariano Benlliure y Gil, el tipo que se ve en la foto de abajo.

Según Vives de la Cortada, sólo se tiene constancia de 149 ejemplares de esta moneda (y sólo uno en calidad sin circular), los cuales son poquísimos si los comparamos con las decenas de miles de coleccionistas de la numismática franquista. Evidentemente, no es una pieza barata.

Lo bueno de esta pieza es que el busto es diferente al de las pesetas de 1947, lo cual hace que sea muy difícil falsificarlas. Lo que suelen hacer la gente que las falsifica es coger una moneda de 1947 (19-48), vaciar la el “7″ de la fecha de y poner en su lugar un “6″. Después envejecen la fecha para darle una tonalidad más oscura y que no cante tanto con respecto al resto de la moneda. Pero si sólo hacen eso se les escapa un detalle mucho más difícil de falsificar, y es que el cogote de Franco está más hundido en la peseta de 1946 que en la de 1947. Se puede ver fácilmente la diferencia en la moneda de arriba (la buena) y la de abajo (la falsa). No obstante, debido a su precio yo no recomendaría a nadie comprar la moneda si no se tiene la certeza asegurada de su autenticidad.

En cuanto a su cotización, para una moneda en MBC, en el catálogo de los Hermanos Guerra de 2005 la estiman en 4200 euros, en el de Cayón de ese mismo año en 1800 euros. En la Subasta de Aureo y Calicó del 2 de abril de 2008 se vendió en 4200 euros, aunque había sido estimada en 3500 euros por la misma casa de subastas.

Actualizo el 19 de noviembre de 2009 para decir que Mariano Benlliure y Gil tuvo el honor de aparecer en los billetes de 500 pesetas de 1951. Como veis no soy aficionado  a la notafilia, pero creo que este apunte era necesario.

Imagen tomada de numisbur

Rob stopped by as Sunday afternoon slid toward Sunday evening; he’d been raking leaves at the house where he grew up, a house now on the market. We sipped a few beers and watched the end of the Vikings game, then retired to the study to dig lightly into the history of African American music.

At his exurban high school this semester, he’s teaching an American Literature course that includes the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. That’s a book that is, of course, revered by many as a legitimate candidate for the accolade of The Great American Novel and reviled by maybe just as many for its non-standard English, its Nineteenth Century stereotypes and its frequent use of a word I won’t use here. These days, we call it the N-word, and it’s one of the two most incendiary words in the English language. (You likely know the other: It starts with a “c” and in an Old English spelling, it was used by Chaucer.)

Rob thought his students might be interested in the development of African American music from the time of the story into the late Twentieth Century, so we dug around in my audio files. Among the goodies we found were a work gang chant from a Texas prison farm, probably recorded around 1939 but most likely hearkening back in origin to the late 1800s and possibly as far back as the days of slavery. We also found “Linin’ Track,” an adaptation of a railroad work call that blues musician Taj Mahal included on his album De Ole Folks At Home in 1969.

He’d listened at home to the spiritually based blues of Son House (who sang and recorded plenty of earthy music, too) and Blind Willie Johnson, and he knew that, in a general sense, Robert Johnson came next. I cued up Sippie Wallace’s “Mighty Tight Woman,” a jazz-blues piece from 1929, illustrating what many urban African-Americans were listening to at about the same time as House and the two Johnsons were performing and recording their rural blues.

That’s a vast simplification, of course, but we were talking about squeezing more than a century of musical development into a brief class hour. I pointed out that, like many things that we try to analyze, the history of African American music turns back on itself over and over again, and the twists and turns are difficult to trace. I further pointed out that I am a fan, not a historian, so he – like my readers – needed to use my ramblings as a starting point, not a finishing point.

Rob’s head was spinning as we sampled a bit of post-World War II jump blues and R&B and then some of the Chicago blues developed by Delta refugees Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and others. We talked of Ray Charles and the development of soul music. Eventually, we got from the 1950s into the 1960s, stopping off at Fats Domino and Little Richard, looking at how they influenced the musicians who came along in the 1960s, using the Beatles as one of the main examples.

And then we doubled back to Elvis Presley, recalling the (possibly apocryphal) statement ascribed to producer Sam Phillips about hitting it big if he could find a white singer who sang black. And I played Elvis’ version of “That’s All Right,” released in 1954. To our ears these days, it’s a rockabilly sound, distant from blues and from rock ’n’ roll. I cued up the original version of “That’s All Right,” recorded in 1946 by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup. Much different than the blues that Crudup frequently recorded, the song contains vocal inflections that Presley had to have heard, as they show up eight years later in his recording of the classic tune.

Then, just for fun, I jumped ahead more than forty years, to a recording of “That’s All Right, Mama,” released by Paul McCartney on his 1988 album released in the Soviet Union, Снова в СССР. The echoes of Elvis and Arthur Crudup were clear. And echoes were what were listening for.

“That’s All Right” by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, Victor 20-2205 [1946]

“That’s All Right” by Elvis Presley, Sun 209 [1954]

“That’s All Right, Mama” by Paul McCartney from Снова в СССР [1988]

Note:
I’ve also seen the title of Crudup’s version of the song listed as “That’s All Right, Mama,” and I’ve seen the catalog number listed as RCA Victor 20-2205. My source for the title and catalog number is the notes to Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup: Rock Me Mamma, the seventh volume in a thirteen-volume collection issued between 2002 and 2004 by BMG on its RCA Victor and Bluebird labels. The CD series – released under the general title When The Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock & Roll – is a treasure trove of vintage recordings that paved the way to rock ’n’ roll. I got my set one at a time four years ago and had to scramble to find a couple of them. Anyone interested in the origins of the music we listen to and love would enjoy the set.

So, as you know, I went to the National Archives, where I looked at three main British Council files. The first one contained a general history of the organisation’s film making. The second had more specific information about the 1946 handover of its film-making capabilities to the newly formed Central Office of Information.

The third – and most engaging – file contained reviews of individual films from British Council staff worldwide, written up in 1945 and 1946, and I’m going to begin by writing about that. Before going into detail, here’s a picture of one of the standardised review questionnaires that staff were asked to fill in:

A British Council film assessment questionnaire

Taken together, these questionnaires give very rich insight into what the films were intended to achieve, who watched them, and how they were received. I’m going to begin by pulling out some quotes which help illuminate that first point – just why were these films made and distributed?

The review questionnaires give us a very clear answer. In fact, the lead question, repeated on each, contains a very clear mission statement for British Council film making. It asks:

‘Does this film achieve its aim to promote a wider knowledge of Britain and her people overseas in your territory?’

For the most part, the various films reported on do achieve that main goal. What’s notable in particular is a strong sense of their very specific function as post-war propaganda. That comes through particularly well in these two quotes, which show the films working to correct both historic Nazi and (I suspect) more contemporary Communist propaganda:

London 1942: ‘The impression of London’s energy & vitality made a marked impression. The sight of the food available to the British People in 1942 interested some who remembered that Gt Britain was then supposed to be starving.’

E. A. S. Bullingworth, British Council Vienna, 9th May 1946

New Mine: ‘Good – valuable here (a mining country) showing progress does happen in the reactionary West.’

H Gardley-Wilmot, British Council Prague, 2nd November 1946

However, such propaganda could sometimes be too successful. Here’s an unknown British Council employee (he or she didn’t write their name on the form), who has had to deal with a rather disgruntled Greek audience:

Second Freedom: ‘Films of this type do more harm than good – presenting England as a Utopia where maternity homes, model schools, specialized training, employment under ideal conditions, are within everyone’s reach. Why not show food queues, the tiny meat and fat rations, housing shortage and other uncomfortable facts…The audience, believing the film gives a true condition of conditions in England, is dissatisfied with the absence of similar amenities in Cyprus.’

Respondent unknown, Nicosia Institute, 15th January 1946

And sometimes, of course, the films are either heartily disliked – Gardley Wilmot of Prague comments that Local Government ’seems meant for mental age 14′ – or bafflingly irrelevant. D. S. A. Adams, of the British Legation in Kabul, when asked whether Life Cycle of the Newt helped promote wider knowledge of Britain and its people, responded:

‘NO! My dear sir…’

R. Wye, Jerusalem’s 1945 Functional Officer, was similarly puzzled to be asked about the propagandistic effectiveness of King Penguins, quite reasonably pointing out that ‘penguins are not particularly British’. He had other problems too:

‘I am cutting a little of the love scene between two penguins. It just goes far enough to produce raucous guffaws.’

In general, however, the films do seem to have been very successful. They were thematically varied, and both reached and entertained very diverse international audiences. But who were those audiences? The questionnaires reveal much about them, too; too much, in fact, to share just now, so they will be the subject of my next post.

The aliens movie directorial debut of writer Joseph L. Mankeiwicz, Dragonwyck also marked. Joseph would go on to direct such other great films as Sleuth (1972)., All About Eve (1950), People Will Talk (1951), and many other great Dragonwyck like moviesMan

Indeed Vincent Price didn’t know it at the time, but Dragonwyck was kind of a warm-up for the gothic horror films for he would later to become synonymous with. While this good film is certainly a real step up from most of the much later movies,

Dragonwyck (1946)

will likely remind many of Price’s Edgar Allen Poe’s major adaptations with Roger Corman, particularly House of Usher (1960).

DragonWyck 1946 is an aliens movie involving Rebecca. Details: A young farm girl(Gene Tierney) has a cousin, distant (Vincent Price) who does invite her to live in the gothic mansion as a companion for his young daughter.

Classic film noir adapted from James M. Cain’s novel, details the relationship of a woman in a marriage of convenience and the aimless drifter she’s attracted to. Serpentine plot is riveting from start to finish, mostly due to the chemistry generated between Lana Turner and John Garfield. One might quibble over their first kiss which happens so abruptly it’s actually humorous. However, their mostly smoldering attraction and dialogue is the very definition of sexual tension. The film is a stunning reminder that an erotic thriller is often more potent for what it doesn’t show.