Sights and Sounds is your weekly guide the Bay Area arts scene through the eyes and ears of local artists. During shelter-in-place, instead of recommending in-person events, we're offering suggestions for ways to experience art and culture from home. This week, host Jenee Darden speaks with writer Jerry Thompson, co-editor of Berkeley Noir.
https://youtu.be/17VvRVTbvu4">The Last Seduction
This 1994 film is a noir, erotic thriller about a wife who is unhappily married and works as a telemarketing manager in New York City. Her husband is training to be a doctor and he owes a lot of money to a loan shark. She convinces him to sell stolen pharmaceuticals to drug dealers pay the loan shark. She steals the profits instead.
Sur mes lévres or Read My Lips
In this 2001 French film, we meet Carla. She's a secretary who is nearly deaf, bullied at her job and overworked. She hires an assistant named Paul. He's an ex-con on parole. Carla is drawn to his rebellious spirit and Paul convinces her to help him rob a nightclub.
https://youtu.be/zfnxzMBIlGc">Choose Me
This comedy/drama takes us back to 1980's Los Angeles. After Mickey is released from a mental hospital, he falls in love with a bar owner and former call girl named Eve. Eve is sleeping with a bar tender and having an affair with a wealthy married man. She calls radio host Dr. Nancy Love for advice. Later, Dr. Love love answers Eve's ad for a roommate but doesn’t reveal her true identity and watches Eve go through her love drama. Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass provided some of the music for the film.
*You may be able to find some of these films for free on the website Kanopyif you have a library card.
Jerry Thompson is the co-editor of Berkeley Noir. Watch the writers from the anthology read their stories on Facebook.