Ten Recent Views

Wild in the Streets (dir. Barry Shear, 1968) -
From the director of Across 110th Street comes this look at the youth movement of 1968, something viewed with a total fear and cynicism from its adult filmmakers. In it, a pop idol (who encourages racial and gender equality and is homo-friendly) creates a wave of political change across the nation by encouraging his youthful following to overthrow the adult authority ruling the country by pairing with an ambitious senator who helps pass legislation lowering the voting age to 14. Naturally, the film finds that once it happens and the youth begin altering national policy, their choices are foolish, quickly lowering things to a totalitarian state. Its contempt for youth is constantly highlighted by how shallow, selfish and stupid they're made to appear, while most of its adults seem similarly ridiculous and idiotic. A time capsule of reactionary forces speaking out in a progressive time.

The Tale of Despereaux (dir. Sam Fell/Robert Stevenhagen, 2008) -
I'm not sure if the pacing and structure is ingenious or unknowing. I think that a lot of the bad reviews for this films stem from the fact that you have a film about a cute little mouse in a swell hat and yet it doesn't kowtow to Disney-fied cuteness, doesn't pander to the audience and offer the adorable little hero they expected. That said, I think its ambitions outstrip its reality, taking on several subplots that don't entwine together, just sort of co-exist. It reminds me in this way of Bergman's Persona, which never seems to be able to make up its mind if it wants to be a heavy psycho-drama or an avant-garde experiment and ends up treading a somewhat unsuccessful line between the two, just as Tale of Despereaux still comes on charming and interesting without engaging as fully as it could (or should). It's never cloying and cutesy, so I appreciate that for sure, but it also never goes a step beyond and turns its bounty of ideas into something better.

Patrick (dir. Richard Franklin, 1978) -
Everything you need to know about this film is on the outer packaging. An Australian film about a telekinetically endowed young man in a coma, in which a nurse begins to suspect that he's not the vegetable that everyone else believes. Also important on the outer packaging is its rating - PG - which tells you about how intense they're going to allow it to get. Given that it's my namesake, I really hoped for more - I've actually had this movie in the back of my head since I first heard of it 31 years ago - and it just didn't deliver, despite a few interesting ideas and pieces. Good concept, but it builds endlessly toward a very anti-climactic climax. Ho-hum. Even Spielberg did more with a suspenseful idea and a PG rating.

Tropic Thunder (dir. Ben Stiller, 2008) -
When Stiller is the main creative force behind the characters and the story, he's approximately 6000 times funnier than when he's hired on as actor for someone else's film. Though he'll never be as artsy or experimental he reminds me of John Cassavetes, taking on mainstream work to make money to fund his more esoteric ventures that are always more interesting. This one's no exception, making character the central idea over plot - no surprise to me that Downey got a nod from the Academy for his work here even if I didn't think it was as great as they did; he took an idea and ran with it. But Stiller's brand of humor is all over this, starting with the great opening sequence of clips setting up each of the main characters and then developing them over the film, rather than just having one-note characters who have some change late in the film, as in so many so-so comedies out of Hollywood. And when it starts getting less funny and winding you up in the lives of the characters they've invested the time to make, it works there too. I prefer the goofy stuff of course - when Stiller is on stage in a drug lord's prison camp recreating a role his captors know from their only video tape they have for entertainment, you know they've made something special - but the fact that they don't only do pratfalls and kick-in-the-balls type of humor makes this different from most Hollywood fare.

The Last Wave (dir. Peter Weir, 1977) -
Probably the best of Weir's early films, beating out the L'Avventura Redux of Picnic at Hanging Rock for my tastes and way more coherent and thought through than The Cars That Ate Paris. Richard Chamberlain plays a lawyer hired to defend an Aboriginal accused of murder. As he gets deeper into the case things start to get weird, finding an apocalyptic prophecy and possible evidence of magic that seem tied into things - and into his own life. I like that it remains ambiguous, like the overall feel of the film, there's some great imagery - and I still think it's an interesting view without loving the film. But I'm sure I'll watch it again, for all the reasons listed above.

Milk (dir. Gus Van Sant, 2008) -
I should love it as a film and I don't - it's a little too obvious in spots - but as a social document I have to give it major props. It's a fairly uncompromised view of the gay world that's making major inroads to all kinds of viewers, not just a ghettoized version that stays within a gay (and gay-friendly) viewership. Like a lot of Gus Van Sant's films, especially recent ones, there's an underlying (implied) motif of the violence resulting from repressed homosexuality - in this case, that of Dan White, who murdered both Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk. Van Sant's been more effective recently, but I guess his reigned in/more audience friendly version of the stories that have been fascinating him lately - less experimental than Elephant and Last Days and Gerry for sure, even if it's related - still tells a story worth telling (and seeing, of course), and the fact that it's gotten such a great reception is gratifying and encouraging. Not my favorite Van Sant, but if you don't know the Harvey Milk story, this is a good dramatic representation of it. Proceed directly from here to the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk. And as a last note, Sean Penn deserves major props for his representation of Milk here - there was not a moment of the film that I thought of it as Penn playing a character, he simply vanishes into the role.

Iron Man (dir. Jon Favreau, 2008) -
Self-deprecating humor throughout, and Downey is great in the title role. It's "just" entertainment of course, nothing loftier but if you wanna see A) shit blowin' up real good and B) and enjoyable couple hours of well made popcorn movie, you've got a fine pick on your hands here. Comic book reading is not a pre-requisite, either, you can walk into this without knowing the name Tony Stark and still have fun with it - if fun's what you're looking for. I think you'd be stretching things beyond their substance to try to read anything about a political situation into this, other than a generalized set of ideas about current concepts of war and the role of industrialized warfare in the U.S.

Kung Fu Panda (dir. Mark Osborne/John Stevenson, 2008) -
Not bad, I guess for an animated set of watered down eastern-isms. I just wish that they'd made it funnier than it was, or more serious, or maybe just less predictable. Fluffy, and if I had kids it might be the way i'd introduce them to concepts that I'd be forcing on them more and more later. But I don't have kids, so the likelihood of me watching again is pretty damn slim.

Onibaba (dir. Kaneto Shindô, 1964) -
A strange little story of evil and demons and human desperation that probably has a lot more resonance with people who might've grown up with a background that included the folk tale(s) that formed part of the story - or at least studied them first - than it did with me. That said, it's a great visual story and a really engrossing - albeit grim - tale of people living in dire straits, carving out their survival by any means they can in a surprisingly brutal and frank manner (especially for the time). There's a lot going on here that I feel went over my head on the first viewing and it's definitely a film I'll be going back to.

Big House, U.S.A. (dir. Howard W. Koch, 1955) -
Lots of nice Colorado footage here - always a plus for me - but the story's really the thing that powers this. Ralph Meeker plays an opportunistic sociopath who kidnaps a lost boy when he finds out the kid's family has money and ultimately is tracked down and ends up in jail, denying his involvement all the while. He's pretty great as the absolutely cold-blooded criminal, perfectly illuminating the character he's given - nicknamed "Ice Man" for his cool demeanor and refusal to crack under pressure from the feds once he's inside - but Broderick Crawford is given a great role here and steals the show as a crime kingpin. He's planning a jailbreak and Meeker's Ice Man being dropped into things only means his plans need to be altered slightly, with or without Ice Man's acquiescence. The breakout and subsequent action are where it's at though, even if the lead-up feels nicely gritty and intense. Lots of fun, even if nothing incredibly special.

Ten Recent Reviews

I Was Born, But... -
Ozu in a comic mode often reminiscent of the Little Rascals, but serious stuff is never far away. The brilliant cross cutting scene between the kids bored in class and the grinding routine of the adult work world tells the kids exactly what is in store for them once they become an adult like their father. Which, even though they don't know it yet, is at the heart of why the kids are so disappointed in their father as he sucks up to his boss. Cinematography is stellar, absolutely gorgeous, with a common trait of Ozu's - contrasting domestic life with the industrialized wires, posts and towers that surround us. This could be from a relatively rural area of today, both in look and in theme. Absolutely brilliant. (And as a side note, the score took a little getting used to, but once I did I think it fit perfectly.)




Stuck -
Stuart Gordon has been better, but this one's still pretty good - if you share his cynicism and sense of humor about humankind, anyway. I kind of do and so I kind of liked it. I expected some garish, over-the-top stuff, but he actually reigned in the excesses that might have sent it up into Grand Guignol territory and kept focus on the story. Which is great, because the (fact-based) story is worth it; an implausible situation made believable by both script and acting. Of course, it does delve into the sort of pessimism that's a mainstay of Gordon's films from Re-Animator onward. Rea and Suvari in particular are good and (along with Gordon's understated direction) bring some weight and emotion to what in other hands might have been a trashy spectacle. Good stuff.




The Honeymoon Killers -
Grim little film touched with trashiness that's surely a huge influence on John Waters - I can't watch Shirley Stoler's performance and not think that Divine aped her move for move in the early Dreamland films. Between low budget and sound, gritty script and documentary-influenced shooting, it packs a real punch and again makes me think of Waters throughout. Starts out like it could get all campy on you and by the time the pair have become seasoned killers and knock off an old lady who's been natteringly annoying up until the moment of her doom when you really feel for her, you're inexorably drawn in to the world they've made here. A shame that director Leonard Kastle never made another film, because he's got the skills for sure.










Duel in the Sun -
Listen, I'm a sucker for a good Shakespeare adaptation, especially when the source is King Lear, so I was pretty much destined to like this from the beginning. But what's all this crap I read about it being some sort of overheated, cheap romance? Where's the real dramatic tension in the film? Sure, the plotline about Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones is central but the competition of the brothers for not just Jones, but for their father's affection and attention takes an equal part on the stage they've set, and that's Lear to the core. Peck is great as the scumbag Lewt and Jones fine as the "overheated" mixed-race Pearl, but for me the real deal lies in the familial relations and especially in Lionel Barrymore's Senator McCanles, an arrogant, racist windbag right up until the moment that everything falls apart for him and you find that you actually have some sympathy. If this didn't have the Lear connection and was only about Jennifer Jones choosing between the good and bad brothers, I'd probably agree more with the review on IMDB that calls it a "bawdy, overacted sexual western." But it does have the Lear connection. And I don't think it's "overacted" (whatever that means).





Fast Cheap and Out of Control -
Philosophy 101. Maybe Philosophy 201. Instead of wacko theories flying around like in Waking Life this tells how four people in wildly disparate professions find that their work ultimately boils down to their desire to understand the purpose of man, man's social organizations, and/or man's place in the world and relation to nature. Of course it's not laid out as schematically as all that, which is a big part of the charm of the film. Just a few guys telling their stories that somehow connect across to each other and create a slowly increasing web of ideas about the aformentioned topics. Lots of food for thought and if none of these guys call themselves philosphers within the film, they're treading the same ground as philosophers - and Morris knows it. I still don't think I've seen quite how deep this film goes on two viewings.




Ninotchka -
Writing, acting and direction all top notch - presumably the famous "Lubitsch touch" that I've read about but not really experienced enough yet to understand it. But I'm enamored enough of this sparklingly enjoyable film to want to find out fully what it means. Garbo in particular is great as deadpan Russian investigator and also great as she turns into the comic-romantic lead. This is exactly the kind of film people are talking about when the talk about the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Mother of Tears -

It's tough for me to say much about this film without starting an endless tirade of picking apart every sad detail - it's a total non-entity in my mind. Unlike Argento's best films which have the non-sensical, illogical qualities of a nightmare, this one spells out a story that makes perfect sense (within its own parameters, of course) but has no drive, no build, no set piece that holds you, no anything to recommend it. If this didn't have Argento's name plastered across the film, it would be utterly dismissed as the work of some lazy amateur who'd probably be likely to carve out a career of tired, straight-to-video sequels of moderate box-office successes like the Leprechaun franchise. While he assembles a number of ideas that could've been worked into a plausibly scary or affecting film, he just never does anything to develop them and we're left with lazy scene after scene of half-baked ideas that a couple rewrites, a little more time spent in pre-production - just anything - might have helped. It's sad that the great Suspiria, already suspect for being tied to the disastrous Inferno, will now be sullied further by yet another lame partner.

Wall-E -

A love story set in a mildly anti-corporate eco-disaster, not anything more political than that, so don't believe the hype about its message, which is really that adorable little robots can fall in love too. That said, I loved it - absolutely loved it. Imagery is gorgeous throughout - brilliant work again by the Pixar folks. And it's funny, sad, ultimately a totally poignant work of art told mostly through the visuals and not through dialogue, just like the best of Chaplin, Keaton, Tati - all of whom have been name-dropped in interviews and rightfully so. It also occupies a place in my head right near the fantastic Babe: Pig in the City, which I also absolutely loved. I've recommended it to everyone I know so far, even if they've expressed distaste for animated "children's" films and I'm dying to go see it again in the theater. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it - that's a really good sign.

Across 110th Street -

Interesting - where I expected either a gritty on-the-streets take on sticking it to the man via crime or a cop-buddy-Blaxploitation pic, I got neither and ended up with something more class-conscious than I expected. Starts out as the first thing - three guys rob some Mob cats working in tandem with Harlem gangsters, kill the roomful of thugs and hide out with 300K. A hardened white cop (Anthony Quinn) and a young, local, black cop (Yaphet Kotto) are assigned find the killers/thieves, as is a Mob underling (Antony Franciosa) and the staff of the Harlem boss (Richard Ward) on whose watch the crime took place (though obviously for different reasons). So as the gangsters work through the underworld and the streets to find who ripped them off, the cops work their way through a public that refuses to aid them, thereby checking off the on-the-streets crime pic and the hateful-slowly-turning-to-respectful partnership cop film I expected. What I didn't expect was the film's third act, when our sympathies switch to the plight of the three robbers - what got them to the desperate point of choosing to rip off gangsters and how they individually try to get away. It's strange the way the film plays with expectations and moves our sympathies around without making a big deal of it. Like many films in the style it's mostly a blunt, straightforward telling of events with no artsy pretense of something as lofty as "class-consciousness" or anything like it. Which for me makes it all the more appealing. It's not great, but it's way better than a lot of the cheap cop and spy thriller knockoffs that populate the genre.

Sorcerer -

Again we're cast adrift in a world of desperate criminals on the lam in this fine remake of Clouzout's classic Wages of Fear, but this time out we're actively aware almost from the get-go that we'll be watching their trials and tribulations and probably rooting for them. It doesn't vary much from the original story, but adds enough of its own touches to mark it out as something different (most notably the trip over the rotting bridge) and the brutal, often shocking physicality common to Friedkin's films is all over this one, beginning to end - its PG rating is surprising to me; I doubt it'd get even a PG-13 today. Scheider is great, as usual, while the other men fleshing out the doomed crew are equally strong. Some of the understated ideas of Clouzout's film are brought to the surface - there's little doubt as to whether Nilo killed someone to get the job - and the same grim pessimism about what men will do for money (especially if they're desperate) overrides this film. I liked it quite a bit -doesn't exactly replace Wages of Fear, but it's a strong addition to Friedkin's ouevre.