Saturn at the Movies

J.M. Vargas
sjvargas@concentric.net

"BLOODY VISIBLE"

Spotting Saturn-related sightings in movies and TV shows is harder than PSX and N64 sightings, since those two platforms have the more hype and installed user base; Sega's planet is relegated to the "Sailor Moon"-caliber of cult-like following. I recently went to see the movie "Career Girls" (October Films), starring Katrin Cartlidge and Lynda Steadman; its the story of two British college roommates that haven't seen each other for six years, and how their reunion triggers back a lot of repressed memories (triggered via well-photographed flashbacks) of their rebellious youth.

Toward the movie's end, Cartlidge and Steadman visit the apartment building where they roomed together six years earlier, only to find it sealed and with new tenants residing there. For about half-a-minute, clearly visible as the characters mingle about how the place has changed, there's a poster on the wall with a Saturn logo and the tag line from the UK promotional campaign "IT'S OUT THERE". The poster just couldn't be there by accident, since that same building is used for the flashback scenes that are set six years earlier in which the poster is not there. Maybe Academy Award-nominated director Mike Leigh is a Sega man; maybe the art director or someone from the crew likes Saturn and made sure the poster would be there for the scenes set in the present. This is noteworthy because Sega is taking a severe beating in Europe, where the PSX has pretty much conquered the market and the N64 is on its way.

"Career Girls" is currently in release on a few hundred art-house theaters across the country; I just thought some of you, Saturn freaks, would like to know that this Mike Leigh aficionado keeps the Saturn in mind even when using the grey matter (no "Dark Falcon", not THAT grey matter!) to its fullest when attempting to unravel working-class British dialects. Great flick (but nowhere near as good as "Secrets & Lies").