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“In the Streets” is the first edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture.Illustration by Lale Westvind.I started errantly watching live streams at work not long after the Sphere first blinked its enormous electric eye in September 2023. This was a vestige of a pandemic-era habit, lockdown having been a good time to virtually peer into places one could never go. Jellyfish floating in seemingly limitless blue suspension at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, some rural trail in South Dakota, the top of the Eiffel Tower. You could drop in to any of these streams and feel, reassuringly, that nothing consequential was happening. After spending some time letting these feeds unspool in the background, one begins to wonder who set these cameras up; who maintains the connection, checks on the equipment, wipes dirt off the lens; who decided this or that perspective was the best, the most representative,...

by Yann Benarrous

Is it really worthwhile for me to comment further? Just imagine throwing into a defective Thermomix in no particular order Bruce Lee's early classics, (not-the-best) Blaxploitation undercover stories, few OSS177 and other cheap cold war spy fictions with just a drop of Nunsploitation to spice it up. Tempting, isn't it? No surprise to see the B-movies undisputed ruler Quentin Tarantino resurrecting this underground piece for an interview to the Straight Times while promoting “Kill Bill”.

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Obviously, the name Cleopatra Wong is directly inspired form Jack Starrett's “Cleopatra Jones” (1973), just like the introductive “They call her… “ is a common pattern of the Exploitation scene, the most famous probably being the Spaghetti Western “They Call Me Trinity” (1970). Moreover seeing the coming-from-nowhere-soon-returning-to-nowhere leading actress Doris Young getting renamed Marrie Lee is certainly making her a sibling of King Bruce,...

Gian Maria Volonté has a big part in this prime quality Italo crime thriller blessed with a great score by Ennio Morricone. But the movie belongs to Robert Hoffman as the real-life public enemy who earned the alias 'The Machine Gun Soloist.' Director Carlo Lizzani's realistic treatment glamorizes nothing and implicates the police in shady policies as well. Award-winning co-star Lisa Gastoni is the woman who loves Hoffman, and is tempted to betray him. Wake Up and Kill Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video (UK) 1966 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 124 98 min / Svegliati e uccidi; Lutring; Wake Up and Die / Street Date November 24, 2015 / 29.95 Starring Robert Hoffmann, Lisa Gastoni, Gian Maria Volonté, Claudio Camaso, Renato Niccolai, Ottavio Fanfani, Pupo De Luca, Corrado Olmi. Cinematography Armando Nannuzzi Film Editing Franco Fraticelli Original Music Ennio Morricone Written by Ugo Pirro, Carlo Lizzani Produced by Jacques Bar, Joseph Fryd, Carlo Lizzani Directed by Carlo Lizzani  

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