Crash (2004)

I fully expected to hate this film but was more than pleasantly surprised by it.  There was a huge outcry when it won Best Picture at the last Oscars over "Brokeback Mountain" (which I have not yet seen) with accusations of homophobia and the like, but I think it was in fact probably a worthy winner.  Writer and first-time director Paul Haggis has created a mosaic of Los Angeles life with all facets of racial prejudice on display and has coaxed memorable performances from most of his large cast.  While possibly some of the situations were contrived for solely dramatic ends, this in no way detracted from the overall force of the film.  Standout performances from Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard were particularly strong in contributing to the multi-layered story, and even a lightweight actor like Ryan Phillippe had something to add to the mix.  Only Brendan Fraser seemed somehow out of his depth.  It is not possible to outline the complex and inter-relating story lines here, but they were woven with brilliant dexterity making this a movie well worth seeing.  Some of the tale may be considered sad and depressing, but so too is real life occasionally.

For Your Consideration (2006)

A bit of light relief in the London Film Festival stakes with the latest movie from Christopher Guest.  Although I understand that he dislikes the term "mockumentary" which is normally applied to all of his earlier films, this one was really more of a conventionally-scripted comedy, rather than a largely improvised trifle, written with his usual co-writer, actor Eugene Levy.  However all of his ever-growing stock company of actors were on view in this not-so-affectionate take on Hollywood paranoia.  Two veteran but faded actors, played by Catherine O'Hara and Harry Shearer, are starring in an Indie period piece called "Home for Purim" with rising actors, played by Parker Posey and John Michael Higgins.  When a rumour of potential Oscar nominations reaches the cast, three of the four become monstrous media personalities in pursuit of that elusive goal.  "For Your Consideration" is the tag line normally used in Variety ads to promote award hopefuls.  Onto the scene comes one of the money men, played by Ricky Gervais (did Guest really need to add him to the cast?), suggesting that the film is "too Jewish".  It is finally released as "Home for Thanksgiving" without making the expected flash.  Whereas Guest's earlier work finds a certain sweetness in his obsessed characters, this film left something of a bitter taste.  Still it was sharply scripted with some cutting insider jokes and it is always good to welcome back most of Guest's friends and familiar faces.

Princess (2006)

In comparison to my previous entry, this London Film Festival choice by Danish director Anders Morgenthaler was a fascinating film, but one that is difficult to describe.  Combining anime-like storytelling with some unfocused live action, the Princess of the title was a porn star killed in a car crash, leaving her worldly-wise five-year daughter alone.  Her brother returns from his missionary work abroad to claim responsibility for the child, but they do not bond easily since he is far too uptight to understand the debauched life the girl has witnessed.  In addition he feels guilty for his sister's fate, since it was his videotaping her making love some years before that sealed her career choice.  He determines to rid the world of her legacy by destroying all of the porn films she has made and the men responsible for exploiting her. There is a lot of bloodshed and not quite the hoped-for resolution, but rather a poetic one that is in its own way satisfying.  Interestingly only the Princess is never depicted in cartoon form, perhaps because it was her real tragedy which created the story.  A truly original film and a truly unusual vision.

Lights in the Dusk (2006)

What a major disappointment!  My fourth London Film Festival choice was one of the most miserable, minimalist films I have ever watched.  The Finnish writer-director Aki Kaurismaki has always veered to the downbeat (it must be all those dark Northern nights), but he has hit rock bottom here.  Intended as the third part of a loose trilogy which focussed on unemployment ("Drifting Clouds) and homelessness ("The Man without a Past"), this film was meant to emphasise loneliness.  However where the previous two movies were leavened with humour and a large measure of love and hope, this one only offers the viewer the merest glimmer of a better tomorrow.  It's the sorry tale of an alienated night watchman who is deceived by a femme fatale into unwittingly allowing a major burglary on his watch for which only he receives any punishment.  He spends most of the film being beaten up and generally abused or ignored, and is unable to accept the friendship of an equally lonely, but plain, young woman.  I kept waiting for some kind of sweet revenge or redemption, but alas my wait was in vain. 

Nanny McPhee (2005)

This was nearly a good film.  All of the elements were there for a charming tale, but somehow the whole slightly misfired.  Widower Colin Firth has seven adorable but horrible kiddies who have sent every nanny fleeing in terror.  Onto the scene comes Emma Thompson (who also wrote the screenplay) as the hideous but magical eponymous nanny.  As she gradually reforms her charges, her ugliness -- literally warts and all -- begins to disappear; and when she knows that she is no longer needed, so does she.  So far, so good, but an embarrassing role for Angela Lansbury as great-aunt Moneybags in a stupid false nose, and some screechy parts for Imelda Staunton as the ex-army cook and Celia Imrie as a proposed bride for Firth detract horribly.  The scene where the kids try to scare off Imrie with worms and toads and various booby traps, causing Firth to fall all over her in perceived amorous mode is just not funny.  Still, the nice bright colours, a sweet performance from Kelly MacDonald as the gentrified scullery maid, and the on-balance appeal of the children all help to make this a pleasant family film -- just not a great one.

Black Book (2006)

Before he "went Hollywood", Netherlands-born director Paul Verhoeven made some remarkable films, mainly starring the young Rutger Hauer.  After making something of a splash Stateside, his career there seems to have petered out, largely through some misguided projects -- although I personally find "Showgirls" a guilty pleasure and also think "Starship Troopers" is a hoot.  Anyhow, after 20 years, he is now back in Holland where he started and has directed this well-made World War II saga.  Carice van Houten plays a Jewish singer still in hiding in 1944.  When the farm where she has been holed up is bombed, she joins other fugitives, including her parents and brother whom she has not seen for years, on a barge headed for freedom only to see all of them slaughtered by a Nazi patrol.  Suspecting a set-up, she joins the resistance under new identity and a new appearance and agrees to become the mistress of a gestapo officer to help the cause.  The actual story with its ins and outs is far more complicated, as one would expect from a 135-minute movie, but it is all very competently presented and even suspenseful.  Van Houten, who is on-screen non-stop, is magnetic and the balance of the cast excellent.  The film is something of a throwback to the director's earlier works, in particular "Soldier of Orange" from 1977, although Verhoeven can't resist the occasional unnecessary vulgarities and gratuitous nudity that marked his Hollywood years.  Still the movie is a definite return to form, albeit occasionally potboiler-ish, but on balance certainly recommendable.

The Longest Yard (2005)

This vehicle for acquired taste Adam Sandler is a remake of the Burt Reynolds movie of the same name from 1974.  We can safely ignore the other recent remake called "The Mean Machine" starring that thespian great, Vinnie Jones.  All three films concern themselves with an ex-pro footballer, jailed for a minor offense, who is forced by the venal prison warden to form a football team to showcase against his crack team of prison officers.  Apart from the difficulty of picturing Sandler as any sort of football star, the film probably has enough funny bits to please both fans of Sandler and sports fans.  He gradually puts together a team of misfits who are attracted by the premise of being able to bash their sadistic guards.  When sidekick Chris Rock is murdered by the prison authorities, they try to frame Sandler to get him to make his team throw the big game.  You can guess which team wins in the end, and Sandler emerges as a better person, even with the threat of a longer prison sentence hanging over his head.  And it comes as no surprise that aging actor Reynolds has taken on a meaty role to prolong his now definitely defunct film career.  I think the word "mindless" best describes this farrago.

The High and the Mighty (1954)

This early cinerama film directed by William Wellman and starring John Wayne was one of the earliest airline disaster movies and is highly rated in retrospect by most critics.  I stress "in retrospect" since the film has not been available until recently on DVD (and was never on VHS) and according to records that I have been keeping since the early '80s, it has not been shown on terrestrial television either.  Therefore when Sky Cinema screened a copy a few days ago, I was delighted to catch up with this missing "treasure".

However sorry to say the film has dated very badly and the back stories of the 22 passengers on the flight from Honolulu to San Francisco (scheduled to take 12 hours and 16 minutes!) and the five crew members was not really involving stuff.  Wayne, as always, strides through the procedings as an over the hill pilot who has lost his family in a previous crash, goaded by the younger crew.  However, naturally when disaster threatens, it is the old warhorse who saves the day.  The cast is a watchable assortment of actors from the 40s and 50s, but of B ranking, who only make Wayne look all the more starry in comparison.  The most memorable part of the film is the Dmitri Tiomkin score and theme tune which won Oscars and which became so associated with Wayne that, I understand, the music was played at his funeral.  I'm pleased to have seen the film since it always worries me when mainstream productions remain unavailable for one reason or another, but having seen it, I won't be watching it again.

Taxidermia (2006)

Even the excesses of "A Zed and Two Noughts" below could not have prepared me for the body horror of my first London Film Festival screening.  I chose this movie since I was very taken with the Hungarian director, Gyorgy Palfi, and his first feature length film "Hukkle", a virtually silent effort with only ambient noise -- mainly hiccups -- and the hint of murder in an idyllic community.  This film is his sophomore effort and one that will undoubtedly gain cult status, but only among those cinema-goers with very strong stomachs.  The opening shot of a penis shooting out flames set the tone for the explicit sex, regurgitation, and mutilation to follow.  The film covers three generations of Hungarian men.  The first is a lowly soldier who after various hysterical attempts at masturbation manages to impregnate his superior's wife.  She gives birth to a baby with a pig's tail who grows up to be a competitive eater, a sport for which he craves Olympic status.  The scenes here of gross men stuffing their faces and then vomiting are frankly sick-making, albeit hilarious.  He and his equally obese wife produce a sickly child who grows up to be a taxidermist; that is he stuffs animals rather than himself with food.  However he craves his own form of recognition, which he achieves by turning his body into a work of art (in the Damien Hurst sense) which will stand forever as proof of the taxidermist's artistry.  Only the stout-hearted need apply...

A Zed and Two Noughts (1985)

I should by rights at the moment be sitting in the Odeon West End watching "The King and the Clown", the first of my London Film Festival selections, but when I got there I found that the screening had been cancelled.  Great, what a way to start the fortnight!  Grrr.  So I'll write instead about this earlyish Peter Greenaway film which I have seen before but which, together with "Drowning by Numbers", I have never quite reckoned sufficiently to consider owning a copy.  So I gave it another go yesterday evening and have not really revised my feelings.  The visuals are brilliant, if often disturbing, but the storyline is so off the wall that it takes a great deal of acceptance.  The film is also hampered by a rather mixed bunch of actors, in particular the French actress Andrea Ferreol in one of the main roles speaking fairly unintelligible English and for some reason Jim Davidson (cor blimey) as a zookeeper.

If you've never seen this movie, be advised that it touches on detached Siamese twins, amputations, and the graphic decaying of flesh.  Brothers Brian and Eric Deacon (not actually twins but growing more alike as the film progresses) take the lead as husbands mourning the death of their wives when the car in which they were being driven is wrecked by a falling swan.  As can happen from time to time!  They are involved with courtesan Frances Barber, the aforementioned frenchwoman who was driving the car, a mysterious double amputee German, and a woman in a red hat straight out of a Vermeer painting.  Much of the film is gorgeous to look at, but other images of rotting animals and snails crawling across bodies does take the edge off any lasting enjoyment.

Feet First (1930)

Silent comedian Harold Lloyd made an easy transistion to the talkies, even if these films do not consistently reach the heights of brilliance to be found in his earlier ones.  This one is a good case in point.  He plays his usual nebbish but eager to better himself at the shoe store where he works as a stock boy, especially after he meets the girl of his dreams.  He takes a six-month "personality" course and has worked his way up to salesman when he meets her again and believes her to be the daughter of a shoe magnate.  When they sail to the States (the movie opens in Honolulu) he finds himself as a stowaway on their liner and tries to maintain his pose as a "leather mogul" while avoiding capture by the ship's crew.  All of this is episodic with some great bits of business tucked into the so far predictable story line.  The real kicker is when he brags that he will get an important letter that the magnate has dictated to San Francisco before the ship docks and after hiding in a mailbag he is air-mailed ahead of the ship.  There then follows a hanging-on -the-facade-of-a-tall-office-building sequence, reminiscent of his famous "Safety First", which probably goes on a tad too long, but which includes some breathtaking stunts and duels with disaster.  For all its longeurs, still better entertainment than so many of our modern so-called comedies.

Zhou Yu's Train (2002)

I knew virtually nothing about this Chinese film in advance and I am not all that much the wiser having seen it.  It is unusual among the Chinese films that reach the West insofar as it is a fairly simple love story, albeit a confusing one.  Gong Li now past the first flush of beauty evident in her earlier films, but still a fine actress, plays a porcelain painter.  On a train journey she meets poet Tony Leung (not the Hong Kong superstar of the same name, but the one out of "The Lovers") and indeed begins a passionate romance with him which requires her to make the long train journey twice weekly to the far-off city where he lives.  On one of these trips she also meets a cheeky vet (who doubts her lover's existence), and when the poet's day job moves him to Tibet, she begins a tentative relationship with the vet as well.  On the train we periodically see another woman with different hair, but also played by Gong Li, whose role is something of a mystery.  The film addresses love, both genuine and imagined, longing, and quite possibly reality in an elliptical way, but I found it hard to get a grip on the themes.  The one thing that did leave a wonderful impression was the cinematographer's love affair with the changing scenery along the train's route.

Yes, it's been a year since the last London Film Festival which starts tomorrow night.  I have only pre-booked eight movies this year, mainly ones which are unlikely to get a wide cinema release, and I shall be reporting accordingly over the next fortnight.  If any of you are in the London area, there is still plenty of availability to indulge any curiosity you may have. 

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

There have been several very popular television versions of this story, so it is hard to remember that this is only the second big screen version, the first being the charming 1940 black and white classic (if you ignore the recent "Bride and Prejudice" which is nothing to do with things).  I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism of this outing -- well conceived, well acted and nicely photographed.  I have not seen the Colin Firth in a wet shirt and breeches TV effort, so I can't make any comparisons, except to note that being longer, it was probably more inclusive and more faithful to the novel.   Keira Knightley comes into her own as the most sensible of the five unmarried Bennet sisters; it's the first time I really felt that she was a talent to watch.  Her Darcy, Matthew Macfadyen, was previously a television actor, but deserves to break out to bigger things.  All of the cast were enchanting, with the possible exception of Brenda Blethyn as the girls' hysterical mother, but special praise must be reserved for two of the smaller roles: Donald Sutherland as the girls' father and Judi Dench as Lady Catherine.  All in all, something to restore one's faith in British films and talent.

The Island (2005)

Michael Bay's first directorial outing without producer Jerry Bruckheimer is as much a flashy production as one has come to expect from the pair of them -- but this one is all flash, without much substance.  We meet our main protagonists Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson when they are living in a controlled environment, the remnants -- we are led to believe -- of a society devastated by war.  The only hope these people have is to someday go to The Island where a better life awaits them.  McGregor starts to question the status quo and when Johansson's name is drawn, he fears the worst and they escape to a very real outside world of which they knew nothing.  Turns out they are all clones, grown for their spare parts by their "sponsors" who hope to live forever.  So they start the search for their counterparts and McGregor meets the real McGregor (who obviously looks exactly the same but who has a stronger Scots accent).  The latter is horrified and says, "People who eat burgers don't want to meet the cow".  Quite!  Of course our heroes and all the other doomed clones revolt and live happily ever after.  If you can believe that, you can believe anything, but it is probably not worth thinking about -- just more disposable so-called entertainment.

Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991)

This DVD was given away by one of the Sundays a while back and I was convinced that I must have seen it previously, since it has certainly been shown on terrestrial television.  But I hadn't.  Based on E.M. Forster's first novel and with Helena Bonham Carter in the cast you can bet that it was yet another "Heritage" drama like so many of the Merchant-Ivory's (not that it was one of theirs), but it was not without interest.  Held together by a small but perfect cast which included Rupert Graves, Helen Mirren, and Judy Davis, a tragedy unravels as unthinking Edwardian characters unleash their various hang-ups on a romanticised Italian world.  Davis in particular is brilliant as the priggish spinster looking down her nose on any sort of joie de vivre who is responsible for the final disastrous turn of events.  As the first half of the film's title would have it: "Fools rush in".  My only criticism is that the movie peters out rather sharply and I half expected 'to be continued...' to pop up on the screen. 

Rick (2003)

Having been a little dismissive of the Hallmark Channel recently, I was surprised to find this oddity tucked away in its middle-of-the-night schedules and not even listed as a premiere; I'm not even convinced that it was a cable movie like most of their film offerings, since the strong language and sexual scenes are not the channel's usual bag.  However it was a very strange and provocative black comedy/drama, based on Verdi's Rigoletto in modern dress, written by the author of the Lemony Snicket books, and starring Bill Pullman as a completely unsympathetic company high-flyer who finds himself working for a man half his age.  All of the men in the tale are called names like Rick and Buck and Duke and Nick (words ending in a K are funny as Matthau might have said in "The Sunshine Boys") and each of them is obnoxious in their own special way.  When Pullman gets all snitty with interviewee Sandra Oh and later causes her to lose her cocktail waitress job, she puts a curse on his 'evil soul'.  All of a suddent taxis won't stop for him, he discovers that his nubile teenaged daughter is involved in on-line sex chat with his boss, and a plan to rid himself of the latter goes disastrously wrong.  All this with tinkly (and sometimes too loud) Christmas music in the background resulted in a surreal and disturbing film.  Not Hallmark's bag at all.

The DVD backlog

Now that Sky in its wisdom has decided that two or three new films a week is sufficient and Film4 is replaying its back catalogue for its new Freeview audience, most nights when I'm in there is little to watch on the box that I've not seen previously -- I have even seen all of the "new" Korean premieres on Film4 this month.  And there is a limit to the number of television movies shown on Hallmark and their sister channel that I can tolerate at any one time.  So most nights, we fall back on our DVD backlog -- which I hate to admit is quite substantial -- in the search for new thrills.  Poor, poor Patty!  Some evenings are more successful than others, and yesterday's was a typical mixture:

Rider on the Rain (1969):  We remembered seeing this on a transatlantic flight many moons ago, but could remember nothing about it other than that it was French-made and starred Charles Bronson (whose granite-like masculinity I like just fine).  It is also fairly well rated by the critics, so I was not prepared for the disappointment in store.  Firstly it was one of the worst prints I ever seen on a DVD transfer, nearly black and white when it wasn't meant to be.  Also I found Bronson's co-star Marlene Jobert something of a disappointment, especially since she was on screen nearly non-stop.  Part of the problem is that the film which was set in France was probably originally shot in French with a dubbed Bronson, which might or might not have been an improvement.  Bronson was as usual just dandy and there was even a small part for his beloved wife, Jill Ireland.  Mind you in the olden days they probably could get away with showing an in-flight film about a raped woman who murders her attacker -- not nowadays I bet.

Police Assassins/Yes Madam (1985):  This Hong Kong movie was a real mixed bag, but on balance more jolly than not.  Michelle Yeoh (billed early in her career as Michelle Khan) is now famous for her martial arts skills, but in this her third movie, she had to practice for months to try her hand (and feet) here for the first time.  She plays a cop searching for missing microfilm and paired with real-life champion fighter Cynthia Rothrock, who wasn't attractive enough for US movies but who made a big splash back then in Hong Kong.  The two of them really do kick some ass in flamboyant style by the film's end.  Unfortunately one also has to put up with some singularly low and unfunny Chinese humour by an array of familiar faces from Sammo Hung downwards during much of the exposition.  I was wondering why Yuen Biao wasn't fighting, until I worked out that the actor I thought was him was actually a ringer.  Even more weirdly prolific Hong Kong director Hark Tsui appears as one of the quasi-baddies -- he should stick with his day job. 

The Perfect Man (2005)

There's a thin line sometimes between stories that should have stayed as television movies and those that deserve to be blown up for the big screen; this film is fine for viewing at home and then forgetting, but to try to make something more meaningful out of this bit of fluff is hopeless, especially since two of the three leads -- Heather Locklear and Chris Noth -- are best known for their TV roles.  The third lead and presumably conceived as a vehicle for her is young Hilary Duff, one of the least offensive young comers.  Her mother moves her and her younger sister across the country on a regular basis every time that she is dumped by an unsuitable boyfriend.  When she lands up in Brooklyn (huh?) where there is the promise of a more stable life, Duff creates a fictitious beau to keep her mum happy and to forestall her relationship with a geeky baker.  This would-be lover is based on her friend's uncle (Noth) and initially Duff must keep him away from her mother to avoid being found-out; this includes some really dumb antics at the restaurant which he runs and at a wedding that he is catering.  In the end, mother and daughters learn the value of family, the strengths in being oneself, and of course the promise of real love all round.  Apart from there being no 'disease-of-the-week', perfect TV fare.

Le Combat dans l'Ile (1962)

Jean-Louis Trintignant is rapidly becoming something of a bete noir to me.  This busy French actor has appeared in dozens of films, some of them classics, but his vacantness is beginning to annoy me.  Having seen him recently in the pretentious "Trans-Europ Express", he was even less likeable in this political (not very thrilling) thriller.  He plays a right-wing conspirator framed by his mentor and on the run for a set-up, but unsuccessful, assassination attempt.  He is alienated from his wealthy family and from society at large, but his strained relationship with his wife, Romy Schneider, is really his only tenuous link with reality.  They take refuge with an old friend, Henri Serre, a socialist and pacifist.  When Trintignant tootles off to Buenos Aires to take revenge on his betrayer, Schneider and Serre begin a relationship which can only be resolved by Serre reluctantly adopting violence as well.  It may be something of a spoiler for me to write that by the end of the film I was rooting for Serre to "Kill the Bastard".

The Cold Light of Day (1995)

I've said before, but I'll say it again, I do wonder how certain films come to be made.  This one is a good case in point, since it is a remake in English by a Dutch director of an obscure German movie from 1958.  What makes it even weirder is that it is set somewhere in Eastern Europe, some time after the fall of Communism with a mainly English cast speaking in pukka tones.  Richard E. Grant plays a cop who has quit the force when his superior (in search of political glory) has framed a known offender for the murder of three young girls.  Grant wants to find the real killer in his own way, even if this in fact means placing a youngster and her mother in harm's way.  No suspense is involved since the viewer knows from about ten minutes in that the perp is Simon Cadell, a seemingly respected doctor (but one in the Patch Adams vein).  Yes, that Simon Cadell out of "Hi-de-hi" playing one very creepy paedophile, but thinking about it, his character was pretty creepy in the sitcom as well (in a different way).  He manages to ingratiate himself to Grant's young bait, but disaster is of course averted in the nick of time.  To add to the peculiarities of this film, the story is based on a fairly elderly Durrenmatt novel, written well before the end of the communist era; this updating adds nothing to the story itself.  So why did they bother?

Brain Damage (1988)

Many thanks to those of you who left birthday greetings, although thinking about it, I can't explain what made me announce this in the first place!  Sky last night had nothing new to help me celebrate, showing an interminable TV movie called "Category 7 - The End of the World" about severe weather conditions (unexplained) wreaking havoc on various landmarks and adding a totally unnecessary subplot about a religious fanatic planning the slaughter of the first-born.  Forget about it.

Instead I'll tell you about this weirdie which I rewatched a few days ago.  The second horror film from low-budget auteur Frank Henenlotter (who? you ask) who went on to make the Basket Case series and "Frankenhooker", it is really a lot of fun if you have no cultural hang-ups.  A puppet-like mobile spinal cord escapes from its elderly owners and ends up through the water system in an adjoining flat where it attaches itself to the neck of a young man.  In exchange for providing him with hallucinatory images, the boy's mobility allows the thingy to find new victims whose brains it can suck for sustenance.  What, you now ask, am I doing watching this sort of rubbish?  Well, it's all a matter of perspective and there are times when a dose of lowbrow amusement does set me up for more serious viewing.  So there!

Fantastic Four (2005)

Ho hum!  Another day, another set of super-heroes -- but don't expect me to remember these next week.  Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis are exposed to radiation which affects their DNA (or something) and they can stretch, go invisible, become a fireball, or be a human Rocky (literally) respectively.  Big deal.  Neither terribly well done nor particularly interesting, I can see youngish men panting over the delectable Ms. Alba, but otherwise, forget it.  I now know -- yet again -- why I do not rely on current blockbusters for my entertainment, not that I suppose this one made much of an impact at the box office.  I don't suppose that this will prevent our being lumbered with a sequel in due course, more's the pity.

Princess Tam Tam (1935)

As you may have gathered by now, I will go out of my way to view rareties, hence my visit to the NFT to see this French flick starring the incredible Josephine Baker.  If ever a performer was in the right place at the right time, it was this Black American who was the toast of Paris in the 20s and 30s, mainly for her wild dance routines and her somewhat operatic voice.  However the films that she made, while they form a record of her singular talent -- such as it was -- come from Planet Weird.  In this one which was banned Stateside since it implies a multi-racial romance, she plays a Tunisian goatherd (would you believe) who is tutored by a vacationing author to make his feckless wife jealous.  The fact that Baker was 31 at the time with a sophisticate's make-up did not stop the film-makers here trying to portray her as some sort of street urchin.  This Pygmalian-like tale has its moments but as a showcase for Miss Baker, it leaves a great deal to be desired.  Since it was conceived and written by her husband of the time, she can't really blame anyone else for some of the idiocies inflicted upon her.  One has a long wait before seeing her dance routines, but there are compensations, particularly with an elaborately-staged production number that wouldn't have shamed Busby Berkeley (not that she was in this one).  I'm happy to have seen this film, but wouldn't break my neck to see another of her vehicles. 

Broken Flowers (2005)

Bill Murray strikes me as one of those actors that you really dig or wonder what he is all about and how he managed to have a career.  As you have probably guessed, I fall in the latter category.  In his early roles I found him slightly too sour to appreciate and in his later roles he has adopted a kind of Zen stillness which is mystifying.  Put him together with the director, Jim Jarmusch, whose films specialise in stillness (although I must admit a real liking for his "Dead Man" with Johnny Depp and "Ghost Dog..." with Forest Whitaker), and you get a movie like this one where at the end, you wonder why you bothered watching it in the first place.

Murray receives an anonymous letter on pink stationery announcing that he is the father of a now 19-year old son.  His next door neighbour, Jeffrey Wright -- speaking with a weird Jamaican accent -- encourages him to seek out his ex-flames from twenty years previous to find the truth.  So he reluctantly begins a road trip which has him visiting Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, and an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton.  That the film ends with his being none the wiser nor being any better a man comes as no surprise.

Monte Cristo (1928/29)

I don't know how many versions of Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo" I have seen -- certainly a fair number -- but this silent French version was not one I'd viewed previously.  Apart from its antiquity -- and it is not even the oldest version by any means -- there was frankly little to commend it.  At over 220 minutes the director, Henri Fescourt, apparently wanted to film the novel word for word as it were, but the result was a pedestrian and overstuffed movie.  The fact that the lead was taken by a fairly uncharismatic actor called Jean Angelo did not help, and even having a famous silent beauty, Lil Dagover, as the female lead was of little avail.  Still, because it joins my list of obscurities on disc, this 2006 restoration could become yet another movie that I probably will not look at again -- but it's there should I wish to.

The Fantastic Planet (1973)

This Czech-French animated classic is now available on DVD and really deserves to be better known as it was one of the first films with a SciFi slant intended for an adult audience.  Nowadays we look to anime for this, but this movie is an important forerunner.  Set in a world dominated by huge blue creatures called Draags who keep tiny human-like beings called Oms as pets, the wild oms in the surrounding parkland are considered vermin to be periodically culled.  We follow once such om, Terr, who is treated like a doll but who manages to learn (by transfer direct to the brain) as his mistress learns.  When she loses interest in him as a teenager, he escapes dragging a learning device with him.  With this he manages to educate the wild oms and to lead them, initially into rebellion, but then into a fragile peace.

The animation is very much of its period and has a psychodelic feel like "The Yellow Submarine" and the Gilliam cartoons for Monty Python, creating fabulous landscapes and creatures in a fantastic world.  Seek out the DVD which I am sure you will find of unusual interest; it also contains two rather super shorts which are more than worth your time.

High School Musical (2006)

I don't make a habit of watching Disney made-for-cable movies (although I have seen a few), but I made a point of viewing this one since it has been something of a phenomenon, selling millions of DVDs and CDs and even being licensed for school performances.  There has also been a dance track video and the sequel is in the works.  Wow!

The most I can say is that it is harmless fun with no drugs, sex or rock 'n roll to offend anyone.  The score is derivative but pleasant and the storyline unsurprising.  Basketball jock Zac Efron (a pretty boy in the Rob Lowe mold) meets latina Vanessa Anne Hudgens at a resort New Year's Eve party and is delighted when she transfers to his high school.  Meanwhile brother and sister Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel (a Disney alumnus) are the star musical performers of the school drama club.  (She is in fact the most experienced of the cast, but did come across as something of a clunker).  Anyhow when the first pair decide to audition for the leads in the new production much to the second pair's horror, everyone tries to put obstacles in their way.  Oddly enough Efron's voice which was partly dubbed was certainly a whole lot weaker than Grabeel's.  But, as expected, the diva loses out when the rest of the school supports the underdogs -- and everyone ends up as good friends regardless, a wholesome rainbow world where even the fat kids are popular.

I'm sure that the main audience for this movie must be pre-teen girls, since I can't believe that older teens would buy into it, unless they are pretty uncomplicated indeed.  And for once in a teenie flick the cast looked too young.  Normally the reverse is true with the actors seeming nearly elderly (think of "Grease" -- incidentally the working title for this movie was "Grease 3".)  In this film even the star basketball team seemed to be made up of midgets -- well at least not the l7-l8 year-old giants one expects.  Yet in this era of bad-taste movies, the film had an old-fashioned morality which must go down a treat with many.

One day's viewing

To compensate for last week's deprivation, yesterday became Marathon Sunday -- but even I drew the line at four films.  And what a mixed bunch they were:

Two from 1951: That's 55 years ago says PPP proving she can still do arithmetic and two that I've not seen previously, although "The Steel Helmet" has been on my "must-see" list for a long time.  Written and directed by Samuel Fuller (and just about anything he has done is loaded with interest), I should have hated this war movie (my least favourite genre), but it was brilliantly conceived and held up very well after all these years.  Always a low-budget auteur, this Korean war tale was shot in a local L.A. park with a minor cast and starred Gene Evans, who is not exactly a well-known name.  He plays a sergeant, the only survivor of his regiment, who is rescued by a Korean youngster and who  meets up with the stragglers from other decimated platoons; these include a tough by-the-book officer played by Steve Brodie, a black medic, an Asian-American and various other oddballs.  Like all war movies, not everyone survives the attack on the Buddhist temple where they are holed up, but the dialogue and emotion felt very real and the total futility of war manifest.  The second 1951 flick was more of a potboiler, but at least I have now seen it.  Called "The Second Woman", it stars Robert Young in a late movie role as an architect with a secret.  His fiancee has been killed on the eve of their wedding, and after he meets new love interest Betsy Drake (once married to Cary Grant, but a strangely anaemic actress), bad things happen -- his horse goes lame, his dog and his rosebushes are poisoned, his house burns down, he loses the big contract he's been chasing.  We're meant to believe he is a "paranoiac" as claimed by the local doctor and that he is responsible for all of these things, but we the audience know that nice Mr. Young is incapable of bad behaviour.  The obvious villains turn out to be red herrings and the least likely culprit is eventually revealed.  But by then you will have ceased caring. 

Mean Creek (2004): This was a beautifully done coming of age film from writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes with an underlying sense of unease to keep the viewer on the edge of his seat.  Young Rory Culkin is being bullied at school by fat misfit Josh Peck; Culkin's elderbrother and his two mates decide that Peck must be taught a lesson and invite him to join them, Culkin and the latter's young girlfriend, Carly Schroeder, on a birthday outing on the river.  They plan to humiliate Peck to teach him a lesson, but young Millie (the moral voice of the group) dissuades them -- and indeed Peck does not appear to be as much a monster as he seemed; his agression stemming from his own insecurities, as is so often the case.  However a tragedy ensues and the youngsters do not know how to deal with it -- do they cover it up or face the music?  They are unable to agree unanimously and the film does in fact stop quite abruptly without spelling out the various results.  It could have done with a lot more closure.

Wedding Crashers (2005): It's not difficult to see why this was a big surprise hit at the box office since its likeable leads, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, are amusing company.  They're best friends and business partners, but their main downtime activity is crashing weddings (of all faiths and hues) where they are always remarkably popular and always manage to entice a female or two into bed -- which is the point of the exercise from their point of view.  They come unstuck when they crash the reception of Christopher Walken's eldest and become involved with his two younger daughters.  They are roped into a house party which includes a gay brother, a nymphomaniac wife (a real rotten part for Jane Seymour), and the swarmy yuppie fiance of the daughter that Wilson fancies.  It's by and large good-natured fun, although I could have lived without meeting Vaughn's original mentor played by an uncredited Will Ferrell who has now taken to crashing funerals.  That's really not funny.

 

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Without wishing to rain on anyone's parade, I must confide that I have never been a sucker for the Star Wars films.  I can understand why they have their fans (although not why some of them are obsessive) and I can admire the skills that George Lucas has brought to film-making technique, but I just can't bring myself to view the series as anything other than glorious hokum.  Maybe that is enough. 

Now that they have finally shown the third prequel on Sky, I have at last seen all six movies, since I never cared enough to view the above film at the cinema or on DVD.   The film is undoubtedly spectacular with its non-stop visual effects, but since one is never in doubt where the story is going (one knows all this from the original three movies), there is not much in the way of plot to involve the viewer, forcing one to focus on some very wooden acting and some very duff dialogue.  I guess I should be grateful that Lucas scrapped his original plan to do nine films in total -- although who knows what the future will bring.  In short, a feast for the eyes, if not for the brain.