It’s the end of another week here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest hot spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us for a while. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked if the Cubs should pick up Colin Rea’s $7.5 million option for 2027 or buy him out for $1 million. A clear majority of 59 percent of you said that the Cubs should thank Rea for his services and mozzarella sticks and let him leave through free agency. Or re-sign for a lesser amount.
I guess the Dodgers are done now?
Here’s the part with the music and the movies. You’re free to stick around for that. Or not.
Tonight we have more Halloween jazz for your October celebrations. Canadian vocalist Holly Cole joins us to perform the Tom Waits tune, “Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard.”
This is from 2012.
A little while ago when I reviewed director David Cronenberg’s 2024 film The Shrouds, I mentioned that Cronenberg was a major black hole in my cinematic knowledge. I knew Cronenberg was a great director and an auteur with a unique voice, but he is also the master of body horror, which is a genre that can give me the heebie-jeebies. But in my quest for horror movies worth watching, I checked out Cronenberg’s 1988 work Dead Ringers, which starred Jeremy Irons in a dual role as identical twin gynocologists.
I’m going to get two things out of the way. First off, Dead Ringers is excellent. Irons should have gotten an Oscar nomination for his performance as co-dependent twins. Genviève Bujolds is also very good as the actress caught in a sick kind of love triangle with the two. But I will say that despite Dead Ringers being listed under the “horror” category in the Criterion Channel, it’s not a horror movie. It’s a psychological drama/thriller that leaves most of the body horror off-stage and to our own imaginations.
Irons plays Elliot and Beverly Mantle, two identical twins who have an unhealthy codependency and a lifetime of sharing everything. They also developed a disturbing interest in the female reproductive system at an early age, which leads them to become gynecologists. Even as medical students, their brilliance stands out as they push the envelope into developing new instruments that allow them to better examine—well, you know what a gynecologist examines.
Despite looking identical (although the older Elliot likes to brag that he’s one centimeter taller than Beverly), the two have very different personalities. Elliot is more confident, more egotistical and more ambitious. He’s the salesman between the two. Beverly is shy and insecure, but he’s also the genius of the two. Most of their medical breakthroughs come from Beverly.
Elliot and Beverly share everything. They live together and they share a renowned medical practice together. They also use the fact that no one can tell them apart to swap patients and girlfriends. It’s regular practice for Elliot to seduce a girlfriend and once he grows tired of her, hand her off to Beverly rather than breaking up with her.
This habit of sharing comes to a head when famous actress Claire Niveau (Bujold) comes to them to find out why she can’t get pregnant. Elliot examines her first and when he can’t believe what he sees, switches with Beverly for him to examine. (Without telling Claire that they switched, of course.) As it turns out, Claire has a mutant “trifurcated cervix” which leaves her sterile.
Since Claire is a beautiful actress, Elliot seduces her and because the two twins share everything, hands her off to Beverly when she’s done. What they didn’t expect is that Claire and Beverly would fall in love, all the while not knowing that she was alternating between sleeping with Elliot and Beverly.
Got it?
Without giving away the plot, sensitive Beverly’s love for Claire sends him on an emotional collapse that leads him to drugs and other weird behavior. Because Elliot’s relationship with Beverly is so symbiotic, he feels he has no choice but to go downhill with him.
Irons’ performance as the two twins is the number one reason to watch Dead Ringers. He’s simply fantastic. He manages to give each twin a different personality and mannerism, while at the same time convincingly arguing through his performance that each twin is only half of one complete personality. The tagline on the poster reads “Two bodies. Two minds. One Soul” and that pretty much sums up the Mantle brothers relationship. Neither one can properly function without the other. The film argues that their emotional connection makes them Siamese twins just as much as if they were physically joined at the hip.
Dead Ringers is creepy without being scary. Obviously identical twin gynecologists who like to switch bodies would be someone you might want to avoid socially, but there really isn’t much blood and gore in the film beyond than a couple of surgical scenes.
I should mention that Elliot and Beverly are based on a pair of real identical twin gynecologists, even if the actual story differs greatly from the true story. No mutant cervix as far as I know. So Dead Ringers more “inspired” by rather than based on their lives.
Dead Ringers is a movie for people who love great acting and won’t be put off by the kind of creepy (but not scary!) storytelling that Cronenberg uses. It’s honestly a great movie. I’ve probably missed out on a lot by not watching more Cronenberg films before.
Here’s the trailer for Dead Ringers. You can see just from this the way that Irons manages to make Elliot and Beverly just carry themselves differently. The only problem with that is that you’d think that other people would pick up on that.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and the movies.
The most intriguing free agent on the market this winter is Teruaki Sato, of NPB’s Hanshin Tigers. Sato just won the Triple Crown in Japan, hitting .306 with 39 home runs and 106 RBI. He’s a 6’2, 209 pound left-handed third baseman, although he has played a lot of right field in his career, including during the World Baseball Classic earlier this year.
I should say that he’s a “potential” free agent since he would be subject to the posting system. But the general belief right now is that Hanshin is ready to cash in on Sato now as he comes off a Triple Crown season.
Sato has a similar profile to the White Sox Munetaka Murakami, although he doesn’t strike out or walk quite as much as Murakami did in Japan. There are also the same concerns that scouts had about Murakami in relationship to being able to handle MLB velocity, although he did hit a double off of Ranger Suarez in the WBC in March. His defense is considered iffy at best and some scouts think he’d be best off moving to first base. However, he has played third and right field in the past.
Here are some highlights for Sato against major league pitching, which includes a home run off of Blake Snell in an exhibition game.
So should the Cubs consider signing Sato? On the one hand, the Cubs are potentially losing two corner outfielders and Sato could potentially be someone who could add 30 to 40 home runs a year from the left side. On the other hand, is he any better than Seiya Suzuki? Sure, Suzuki is older and will probably command more money on the free agent market. But when you add in the posting fee, will Suzuki be that much more?
Of course, the Cubs could re-sign Suzuki AND sign Sato and put Sato in left field, replacing Ian Happ. If his defense proves too poor to handle left field, the Cubs could look to move him (assuming he hits) or look to trade Michael Busch.
As I mentioned above, the general consensus is that Sato will hit like Murakami. Maybe a little higher batting average but the same on-base percentage. Of course, the consensus could be quite wrong, either good or bad. You really can’t predict how NPB players will do coming over to MLB. But the recent track record of hitting stars coming across the Pacific has been good. Suzuki, Murakami, Okamoto and of course that Ohtani guy have all been great in MLB. Only Masataka Yoshido has been a disappointment, and he wasn’t a power hitter in Japan like the other four.
So should the Cubs try to sign Teruaki Sato?
Thank you for stopping by tonight. We were so glad to see you. Please tell your friends about us. Get home safely. Don’t forget any personal items. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.