Osama (2003)

What a disturbing film although it is a little comforting to realise that the way of life depicted is now something of the past, as the film and its story could not have been made when the Taliban were in control in Afghanistan.  It concerns three generations of females, all of the males in the family have been killed, who can not support themselves as women are forbidden to work.  They decide to disguise the youngest as a boy so that someone can bring home the bread, as it were, but this ruse is short-lived when she is forced to study and bathe with other boys, and the infidel is "suitably" punished by being married off to an old goat rather than stoned to death.  The impossible situation in which these women found themselves was unfortunately the norm, and the film clearly portrays the paranoia of living in Kabul at that point of the country's history.  Obviously things are somewhat improved now as this film could never have been shot on location otherwise, but I do recall reading recently that the lead young actress and her family are not a lot better off today.

I am off again to New York, so there will be no updates for nine or ten days, but do come back then.  Take care....

The Hills have Eyes (1977)

With the remake of this movie now attracting surprisingly good reviews in the States, I thought I would revisit the original before the new one comes to town.  Written and directed by Wes Craven (he was never so good again as he was in his early films), this is a raw and generally disturbing movie.  Like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", it concerns a family group in their trailer, here taking a detour, enroute to California, and what happens when they run into a family of mutant cannibals.  The concept is pretty much old hat now, but back in the seventies there was a certain raw strength and genuine malaise to the story, and I do wonder how the new film can improve upon this.  It is hardly brilliant film-making, but the horrible things that can happen to good people (rather than sexually promiscuous teens) remains disquieting.  And in the misshapen face of the actor Michael Berryman who plays one of the mutants, there is an iconic image that continues to haunt.  A thoroughly nasty film, but classic in its way.

La Machine (1994)

Talking about subtitles, this French film only appears to be available in a dubbed version, which is a little unusual nowadays.  I thought I had possibly seen it before (and I had), but I didn't quite recall where the plot went.  Gerard Depardieu plays a doctor who wishes to understand the mind of a serial murderer, so exchanges personalities with him via his (existing only in movies) machine; unfortunately he gets stuck in the body of the killer who stops the process reversing -- and the killer, now in Depardieu's body, goes home to make love to "his" wife, Nathalie Baye.  (If this all sounds a bit familiar, think of John Woo's "Face/Off", which has a similar theme).  However when the killer finds that Depardieu's body is not as healthy as he would wish, he moves his personality into the couple's young son.  The film certainly had its share of shocks, but ultimately was something of a pot-boiler, and I just couldn't get used to the fact that Depardieu's voice sounded nothing at all like him!

Untold Scandal (2003)

If you are familiar with any of the many versions of "Dangerous Liaisons", then you know the story of this Korean film which is based on the same material.  You might therefore ask 'Why remake it?' to which the answer is 'Why not!'.  The story is set in 18th Century Korea with lavish sets and costuming and a surprising amount of fairly strong sex.  However the exotic setting manages to add depth to the procedings to give the story an almost Shakespearian feeling of tragedy, aided by a group of charismatic actors who bring their strengths to the roles.  I found that I cared far more for the final fate of the various characters than I did in the earlier versions -- and if only one of the movies could survive, I would choose this one.  Mind you, anyone with subtitle-phobia, which includes a tragic share of the viewing public, would disagree with me.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)

Received information has it that Sean Penn is the greatest actor of his generation.  What does that mean and where does his generation start and finish?  I'm not sure that I agree (if in fact the terms were spelled out), but his roles often turn into a master-class of angst.  However for a film to move me, I need to find some level of identification which is so often lacking in Penn's showy roles.  Here he brilliantly portrays a complete loser, estranged from his wife (a hard to recognize dark-haired Naomi Watts) and family, unsuccessful at his current job, frustrated by the obstacles in trying to start his own business, and generally ready to blame the rest of the world for his failures.  Purportedly based on a true story, he confides his frustrations in tapes which he mails to Leonard Bernstein and decides that killing President Nixon by hijacking an airplane and having it crash into the White House (the film is set way before 9/11) will make the world a better place.  Needless to say his plan, like the rest of his life, was doomed to fail.  Mr. Penn keeps threatening to retire from films; I wonder what would happen if he lightened up. 

Seven Swords (2005)

I went to the cinema to see this film, mainly because it was on and because, as I wrote previously, I am something of a sucker for Hong Kong action flicks.  However I wish I had checked the length beforehand, since two and a half hours (after the ads) is a long time for these old bones to sit.  And it's not as if it was anything terribly original -- think "Seven Samurai" or "The Magnificent Seven" (Hong Kong has an long history of ripping off other films -- although nowadays they too get ripped off by Hollywood).  Anyhow in its favour, I thought, was the fact that it was directed by Tsui Hark, one of the old-time directors, and the action was well staged and, at times, brilliantly photographed with good use of colour.  However the tale of seven nearly undefeatable swordsman defeating the marauding hordes seemed to go on forever -- and there was a long and inexcusable set-up for the sequel at the end!

Kitchen Stories (2003)

There was an ever so surreal quality to this Swedish-Norwegian production that the word "quirky" doesn't even begin to encompass.  Picture the scene: it is sometime after World War II and a Swedish research body decides to observe the pattern of behaviour of single Norwegian farmers in their kitchens.  Keep in mind that the Swedes were also "observers" during the war, unlike Norway and Denmark who were invaded. The idea is for one team member to perch on a high seat in the host farmers' kitchens and plot their movements, but not to interact with them in any way.  Of the two characters central to our story, the relationship starts as one of distrust, but eventually segues to a warmer friendship -- which is strictly against the rules.  There is so much in this film which seems to move to a different drummer and while one wished for a happy ending, the movie finishes -- if my reading was correct -- in a totally unexpected and not equally satisfactory way for the protagonists.  I was a little disappointed that the feel-good denouement never came in its expected shape.

One day FrightFest

The first of the day's five films was so very, very good, that it would be tempting to write that the day went downhill from there.  However this would be untrue since the nadir was the middle movie with the last two showing some improvement on that low point.  Anyhow, here's the report:

Death Trance (2005);  What a knock-out this Japanese film was although don't ask me to explain exactly what was going on.  It was more of a fantasy than a horror film which concerned stealing a sacred coffin which purportely would grant wishes, but which actually would unleash the end of the world if opened.  There were various characters in pursuit of the coffin and the non-stop action switched among them like a whirlwind.  Definitely one for the collection when it comes out on DVD.

The Wicker Man (1973):  A sparkling new print for this British cult classic which of course I've viewed serveral many times before.  However it is always worth seeing yet again, especially before Hollywood unleashes its remake (with Nic Cage in the lead -- God help us) later this year.

Mortuary (2005): A really crappy and derivative so-called horror movie by Tobe Hooper, the director of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" who has made a lot of really awful films in the intervening years.  This one was trying ever so hard to follow the fate of a family who purchased a mortuary over a swamp of evil (or some such).  It was without frights, thrills. humour or logic.

Reeker (2005):  Yet another film following the inevitable fate of a bunch of young people sharing a ride en route to a pop concert in the desert and coming up against a figure of unstoppable mayhem.  When just about everyone had been killed off, we were presented with the so-called twist which was, granted, unexpected, but no different from that of at least one other film that I have seen recently.  I've seen worse (like the movie in front of it), but I've certainly seen scarier ones.  This one is being released here in July, but I don't know if it will get a theatrical release or whether it will go straight to disc which is probably what it deserves.

Hostel (2005):  And this one gets a theatrical release within the week.  It's the sophomore effort from writer-director Eli Roth whose first film, "Cabin Fever", showed a love of the horror genre, even if I thought it was badly made.  This one was a big hit at the US box office which will probably add to Roth's bigheadedness (Yes, I have heard him speak at length at the British premiere of his first picture).  The first half plays like a teenage road trip movie as college students travel in Europe looking for a lot of cheap lays with abundant female nudity on display.  It is suggested that they try a certain student hostel in Slovakia with hot, running females, and it is here that the horror eventually begins some 45 minutes into the movie.  It concerns torture and there is plenty of grue, but it is more horrible than scary.  The saving grace, I thought, was that the one surviving character is able to effect some satisfying and bloody revenge.  The audience cheered at this point and I could understand why. 

Palindromes (2004)

The writer-director Todd Solondz makes disquietening movies and this one is among his weirdest.  It opens with the funeral of the dysfunctional teenager from his first movie, "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and then shifts to a 13-year old neighbour named Aviva (in itself a palindrome).  She decides that the girl committed suicide because she was lonely and that the answer to loneliness is to have lots of babies.  When she becomes pregnant (deliberately, NOT a rape), her horrified mother forces her to have an abortion.  She then runs away from home and only returns to wreak revenge on the doctor who "killed" her child.  What makes this film a knockout is that the role is filled by a series of actresses (and even one boy) who are plain or pretty, thin or fat, young or old, and black or white -- although not in that order.  The logic of this is explained, I think, when Aviva, now played by the 40+ Jennifer Jason Leigh, has a conversation with the dead girl's brother who states that no one ever really changes --  what you are today, you will be tomorrow.  The strangest section of this movie follows Aviva, now played by a grossly overweight black young lady, when she is temporarily adopted by Mother Sunshine who has taken on a rainbow collection of Jesus-freak, singing youngsters of various disabilities.  It all makes you want to take a shower.

I'm off to a one-day FrightFest later today: five back-to-back horror films (there are actually six, but I won't stay for the latest).  I'll report back after I uncreep myself.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

No, not the television series of which I may have seen the very odd episode, but the original movie on which the series was based, written by Joss Weedon and presumably the start of his current cult-god status.  Now this is hardly a great film, but approached from the right perspective, it is a good deal of fun.  Buffy is played by the slightly chubby and very athletic (or she had a good stunt double) Kristy Swanson who was probably considered too old by the time the series rolled 'round; she is still making films but not the sort that you would write home about.  As you all probably now know, she was the hereditary vampire hunter of her generation as advised by her mentor, Donald Sutherland.  Her main nemesis is the big chief of the undead, played by the ever-watchable Rutger Hauer beginning his downward spiral but amusingly fey here. And another part of the movie's appeal is seeing actors in small parts who have become subsequently better known, for example two-time best actress winner Hilary Swank playing a teenaged ditz.  Great stuff!

Ray (2004)

I finally caught up with this film yesterday which won a best actor Oscar for Jamie Foxx and was about to post my reaction afterwards, when I realised that I didn't really have much to say.  So I decided to sleep on it and see how I felt today, but frankly my reaction is not much clearer.  Perhaps the simple answer is that I have reached satiation point in seeing actors rewarded for impersonating real people, however well they do it, when the people in question are sufficiently recent to remain in memory.  I've not seen "Capote" yet but suspect that however spot-on Hoffman's recreation is that I will still react with a "so what".   Yes, Foxx does a wonderful rendering of Ray Charles to the extent of sealing his eyes to really appear blind; he apparently plays the piano himself but lip-syncs to Charles's voice.  However I still wonder at the director's persistence in bringing the performer's story to the screen.  What we have is the usual overcoming of obstacles -- not just his blindness -- on the road to becoming an icon; but we are also presented with a not particularly nice person whose saving grace remains his talent.  After some two and a half hours, the viewer is exhausted and feels that he has travelled this road many times before.

Becky Sharp (1935)

After somewhat badmouthing the recent version of "Vanity Fair", I decided to have a look at the so-called "classic" version above which I have in my collection but which I've not seen for many years, and I now feel I should have been more charitable to the remake.  While the 1935 movie is of historic importance insofar as it was the first full-length film in three-strip colour, it has little to recommend it as a well-made film.  Even more eclectic in its approach to the source material, its main fault is that nearly all of the actors are far too old for the roles they are playing.  The lead, Miriam Hopkins, was 32 at the time and just never seemed the right age for Becky at any stage of the proceedings; she was however Oscar-nominated, however strange that seems now, and  the movie even got a best-picture nod.  Moreover all of the male leads were well over forty which is ludicrous for the early story lines.  For once having a number of well-known character actors  in evidence did little to salvage this prestige but empty production.  As I've said before, not all oldies are goodies.

As a postscript let me say that I went to see "Mirrormask" again since my partner had not seen it and it is finally on (unfortunately extremely limited) release.  It's a shame that it is unlikely to find its audience in cinemas, but it is such a brilliantly conceived creation that I hope it will achieve cult status on DVD and beyond.

Vanity Fair (2004)

Much as I like Reese Witherspoon and as happy as I was with her recent Academy Award, I found this heritage flick a bit of a slog.  Exactly why the Indian-American female director chose her for Becky Sharp -- the only female player amongst an all British cast -- I really don't know, unless this was in the hope of improving box office -- not that it helped.  Reese made a reasonable fist of the role, but the film was overstuffed, overdressed, and slow with it as characters came and went over some thirty years.  It was almost as if the director wished to cram in every page of the novel; and being Indian, she also attempted a touch of the Bollywoods which definitely felt out of place.  Finally I would have been very happy to be spared the unnecessary sight of Eileen Atkins' bare buttocks.

And Then There Were None (1945)

As a palliative to yesterday's weird pairing, I chose another old favourite this afternoon.  I don't know how many times I have see this version of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" (to use the polite title), but it remains a viewing treat primarily because of the super cast -- even if they did get killed off one by one: Walter Huston (again), Roland Young, Barry Fitzgerald, Judith Anderson, Mischa Auer, Sir C. Aubrey Smith -- all familiar faces from so many other film favourites.  Even 'though I knew the twist, it was still exciting to watch, and director Rene Clair leavened the murders with some very black humour.  And there were no never-ending battles or teenie-bopper angst.

King Arthur vs. Sleepover (both 2004)

I watched both of these movies yesterday and as an adult semi-serious person, I guess I should have preferred the big budget "King Arthur".  Wrong!!  I guess I've had my fill of demythifying  (is that a word?) legends and replacing them with so-called gritty realism.  Two hours of bloody battles left me yawning for some light relief.  This wasn't helped by the fact that Clive Owen (twinned with Epping Forest) played Arthur and as his Guinivere, Keira Knightley looked like she'd rather be home polishing her toenails.  The balance of the cast were OK, but frankly it was hard to work up any enthusiasm for the Roman mercenaries defeating paganism.  Long live paganism I say.

As for the other movie, one really needed the mindset of a fourteen-year old girl to get into the swing of it and as you may have guessed, I am well past that; however, it was light and silly and extremely easy to take.  Alex Vega, out of the "Spykids" series which has never turned me on, was fine as the youngster on the verge of entering High School (even if she did look 35 in some shots) who was hosting a sleepover party for her equally unpopular friends; they get involved in a scavenger hunt challenge with the in-crowd, and you don't need much imagination to guess the winners.  With some amusing throwaway characters including her slacker brother and oblivious Dad it proved good fun.  Or maybe I was just in a strange mood yesterday....  Or maybe I'm just strange!

Murderball (2005)

At the recent Academy Awards, the best documentary went to the fluffy film "March of the Penguins" which did big box office Stateside, as it catered to the so-called family values of middle-America, but the above film would have been a far worthier winner.  I am usually able to resist the appeal of message movies, but the message here was life-affirming: sport is only the tip of the iceberg in coming to terms with disability.  The movie followed the fortunes of the US quadrilegic rugby team members as they prepared for the Special Olympics and as they faced their previous coach's defection to the Canadian team.  Played in specially-built and adapted wheelchairs, the game is sufficiently violent to deserve its original name of "murderball".  The documentary follows the fortunes of various team members and recently injured potential players without a shred of maudlin self-pity and the surprise is how involved the viewer feels and how one becomes intimate with the teams' hopes and dreams.  As a work of the highest calibre, this documentary wins hands down over penguins in my book. 

Rain (1932)

I was going to tell you about the Thai film "Tropical Malady" which I just finished watching, but between you, me and the lamp-post, I couldn't make head nor tail of it; there were two definite sections: in the first a soldier and an unemployed young man explore their mutual attraction -- and in the second a different soldier stalks a ghost tiger inhabited by a powerful shaman through the jungle -- or the tiger may have been stalking him.  Either way it was all just a wee bit tedious.  So I'll write about this old warhorse instead based on the Somerset Maugham story "Miss Sadie Thompson", all rather dated, but still great fun.  We have no-good girl, a young and trashy Joan Crawford, among a group of ship's passengers stranded in Pago Pago.  The group includes an uptight and puritanical missionary played by the great Walter Huston (father of John and grandfather of Anjelica).  On the surface he wants to save her soul but underneath, he lusts for her body.  And all the while it rains and rains.  You just know that there will be tears by bedtime.

Spite Marriage (1929)

I hope some of you have taken advantage of the Buster Keaton season at the NFT or the one on Sky Cinema (which is being repeated this week).  The above film was his last silent and unfortunately it marked the end of a brilliant career.  His subsequent talkies for MGM were patchy, as he lost creative control, and the balance of his life produced disappointments and a squandering of his talent.  It takes something very special to reduce a modern audience to helpless laughter nearly eighty years on, and this film has it in spades.  While there were a few dull patches, it also contained some of his most classic routines, especially trying to put his drunken wife to bed (special praise here for his female lead as well).  She has married him to spite her faithless lover and it takes any number of catastrophes to finally make love bloom between them.  On a completely different level, one can't help but love the great Buster.

Millionaire's Express (1987)

Considering how many I have watched over the last fifteen years or so, I don't think I've mentioned previously that I am something of a  Hong Kong movie aficionado; this is one that I've not seen before and it was rather a mixed bag.  Directed by and co-starring Sammo Hung (one of my favourites -- if you don't recognize the name, he is the very fat action hero out of the series "Martial Law"), it was like a rogue's gallery of familiar faces from previous movies -- rather like seeing old friends.  It was primarily a comedy, and Hong Kong humour can be very basic, relying on pratfalls and the like, of a group of bandits on a train, another group of bandits hoping to rob the train, and Sammo trying to divert the train to provide customers for his wholesome group of hookers.  Mixed in with this nonsense was some super fighting action and I have always marvelled how a man of Sammo's size can be so graceful and athletic.  But he was trained at the Peking Opera School alongside Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao who remained good friends and co-stars well into their respective careers.  Not one of his best films by any means, but one I'm happy to have finally viewed.

A Pure Formality (1994)

I knew virtually nothing about this film from "Cinema Paradiso" director, Giussepe Tornatore, before watching it and I'm still trying to come to grips with the sting in the tail (which I won't give away).  It's an oddity at any rate since although it is technically an Italian movie with an Italian director, crew and setting, the dialogue was in French by lead actors, Gerard Depardieu and Roman Polanski (who acts nearly as often as he directs); judging by the end credits, their voices were dubbed for the Italian release, but the copy I saw was in French with subtitles.  After Depardieu is arrested for wandering in heavy rain with no identification, he is taken to a police station where virtually all of the action takes place to be interrogated by Inspector Polanski.  Even when he is revealed to be a famous author, Polanski continues to hold him since his statements are contradictory and his behaviour erratic.  Besides there has been a recent murder nearby with which he may be involved.  Both actors give excellent performances and the dialogue is intelligent.  Depardieu at his chubbiest is not afraid to appear unattractive and unlikeable, and the denouement is unexpected, despite other movies with a similar twist.  I found the photography rather dark but it added to the claustrophobic atmosphere. The only negative: maybe it was a wee bit on the pretentious side.

 

Getting up to date

Much as I would like to review as I go, despite choosing not to review some of the more god-awful things I see, it just takes a day or so of houseguests to make me fall behind.  So here's another multiple entry of films that probably each warrant more space than I can find the time for at present:

La Cage aux Folles (1978):  It's been some years since I last watched this French farce, but it has held up well.  As probably everyone now knows from the abysmal Hollywood remake, it concerns two devoted gays pretending to be straight for the sake of their son and his fiancee's straight-laced family.  While not consistently hilarious, it has an underlying sweetness which makes the funny bits even funnier.

A New Leaf (1971):  This Walter Matthau movie has disappeared from view in recent years, but it deserves to be better-known.  He plays a jaded playboy on the verge of bankruptcy whose only chance is to marry a rich woman.  Then he meets Elaine May's botanist, a clumsy woman with no social graces, but stinking rich; May wrote and directed the film and is happy to play the fallguy as well.  Both actors are brilliant in their interpretation of two unlikely characters finding a way of life together despite themselves and certainly despite Matthau's initial intentions.

The Aviator (2004):  Everyone expected Martin Scorsese to finally win his long-denied directing Oscar for this film and surprise, surprise, he didn't.  Frankly he shouldn't have, as he has missed out with far better movies than this one.  While beautifully put together with a true period feel, the story of Howard Hughes' early years and his love affair with aviation (to say nothing about his other love affairs) is far too bloated with unnecessary touches that slow the action down.  (Who needs five minutes of Jude Law pretending to be Errol Flynn?)  And I could scream when I remember that Cate Blanchett, a normally fine actress, was given an Oscar for imitating Katharine Hepburn's voice.  Far more Oscar-worthy (but he didn't win) was Leonardo DiCaprio's interpretation of the title role; his gradual descent into madness was brilliantly intimated and his strength against the Senate investigating committee that sought to destroy him was masterly.  Definitely a parson's egg of a film.

Roseland (1977):  A Merchant-Ivory production  not seen for some time, but notas good as I remembered.  Basically a three-parter set in New York's Roseland Ballroom, it sets out to tell three poignant stories, but only half succeeds in reflecting the longing for happiness of its principle characters, particularly those in their twilight years.  Standouts in the cast are Teresa Wright as a widow craving the romance of her past and Christopher Walken as a very young gigolo.  Before you get the wrong idea, I should emphasise that they appear in different segments.

Ella Enchanted (2004): This will be the last for today but a very agreeable surprise, possibly not as clever as it hoped it would be and possibly trying too hard, but good fun regardless.  Set in a fairytale world and and a riff on the Cinderella story, Ella, played by Anne Hathaway -- one of the few Americans among a largely British cast -- has been given the gift of obedience at birth by a malicious fairy godmother.  She goes through life doing everything she is told even when this conspires against her own happiness, until, as in all good fairytales, the spell is broken at the last moment to give us the happy ending we need.  A cheeky little film and a pleasant note on which to end today.

 

 

Dear Frankie (2004)

I wasn't expecting too much from this one, as I usually have some trouble with dialect films -- this one was set in Glasgow -- but I was happily surprised by this poignant tale.  Emily Mortimer, her mum and her deaf son have been constantly moving about to avoid her ex-husband and his family.  One discovers that Frankie wasn't born deaf, but that this was the result of marital violence.  His mother has been telling him for years that his father is at sea and she has managed to arrange a totally fictional exchange of letters between the pair.  When the ship she's chosen is about to dock and a schoolmate challenges the lad that there is no father, Mortimer resorts to hiring a surrogate to play the part.  Her choice is played by Gerard Butler who gives a moving performance and who bonds with the boy, as the latter desperately needs a father-figure.  Frankie relishes their few days together before being told that his father has become ill and died -- but the boy is not as naive as those around him would have it.  A small film, but very satisfying in its way.

The Great Silence (1969)

FilmFour claimed that this was a UK television premiere, but I have a sneaking feeling that I had seen this spaghetti western before.  Unfortunately, like most of the movies in this genre, it was dubbed with only the black actress, Lonetta McKee, as a natural English-speaker, but I soon overlooked this fault given the film's other strengths.  For a start it was beautifully filmed in a completely snow-covered landscape -- in itself an unusual setting.  The Morricone music was, as always, outstanding.  However the film's high point was the selection of the lead antagonists playing rival gunmen -- Klaus Kinski as Loco (yes, the name is a giveaway), a merciless bounty hunter and Jean-Louis Trintignant as a mute hired killer seeking justice and revenge. The amazing thing about this movie which really sets it apart is that the bad guys win, and the brutal ending is one that will stick in the viewer's mind near enough forever.

Ma Mere (2004)

I seriously considered saying nothing about this film, since although I sat through it, I really disliked it -- not that it was bad film-making, but because the storyline was singularly annoying.  I can face the breaking of taboos in pictures, but I do need to feel some sympathy for the characters.  Isabelle Huppert adds to her catalogue of strange women playing a wealthy married woman who choses the life of a prostitute.  She also has a definite yen for sex with her teenaged son.  The son in question is played by Louis Garrel who I also thoroughly disliked in "The Dreamers" recently.  To avoid any further unnatural coupling, she attempts to lead him into a life of sexual depravity with others in her circle, but ultimately can not resist his very dubious allure and she pays the price for this.  The last scene of his masturbating next to her dead body is seriously yucky.  Now I've saved you the trouble of watching this one, unless unsexy bodies turn you on.