-
-
Shōgun (2024) I was looking forward to watching Cosmo Jarvis in a lead role but probably will not make it past the first episode, because Jarvis, who once made a defiant music video called “Gay Pirates” in which he sang a love song to a bloke named Sebastian, is now playing a pointedly anti-gay pirate (or some kind of seaman, it is not really clear yet) who yells out homophobic insults during a fit of anger. Is this a repudiation of his previous work? The bitter irony was not lost on me; the homophobia was unnecessary, offensive and deeply disappointing. And then there is also infanticide, depicted as a noble or honorable 1600s Japanese practice, as a punishment for the father speaking out of order. Did I mention that there is also an execution by boiling a man to death? When it is over, the man who ordered the execution demands somebody write a poem about it. Umm, no thanks. And no thanks to you, Mr. Jarvis, and to the filmmakers for putting those hateful words in your mouth. SKIP IT
ReplyCopy URL
Thunder on the Hill (1951)
ReplyCopy URL
My “Douglas Sirk” film festival continues apace with this different kind of murder mystery set in a French convent. What might have been cloying and saccharine and frankly unwatchable in other hands is redeemed by Claudette Colbert’s assured and likable performance as the nun who sets out to exonerate an unjustly convicted prisoner headed for the gallows but trapped at the convent by stormy weather and flooding. I do wish the film had played up the gothic elements of the story and mise-en-scene more, but there are a number of gorgeous, atmospheric scenes that may remind you of the classic B&W expressionistic style of the Universal Monsters movies. The convent’s Mother Superior is played by the redoubtable Gladys Cooper, who was also very good as a nun in The Song of Bernadette (1943). RECOMMENDED
The Odessa File (1974)
ReplyCopy URL
This thriller based on a true story about former Nazi SS agents hiding in plain sight in post-war Germany and elsewhere is shockingly all too topical once again, in light of the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party, with its ties to and echoes of Neo-Nazi ideology, in Germany today. I have seen the film several times before and this time was struck by the rather implausible transformation of crusading but sometimes bumbling journalist (played by Jon Voight) into a sort of secret-agent hunter of Nazis. (Giving the hero inexplicable martial skills and prowess is often the fault of many a screenplay, which was adapted from a novel by one of the all-time masters of “page-turner” pulp fiction, Frederick Forsyth.) Still, there are a number of thrilling scenes, including a master set piece that takes place in and around an atmospheric Munich printing shop that features the German actor Klaus Löwitsch, so memorable in a number of Fassbinder’s classic films and TV series, as a vicious assassin. Derek Jacobi also stands out as a master passport and ID forger devoted to his ailing mother, and Maximilian Schell as a brutal concentration camp commandant. I guess it would be naive to think Nazis will ever be truly gone forever. Excellent direction by Ronald Neame, cinematography by Oswald Morris (his work here deserving of a 4k restoration, please), and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. RECOMMENDED
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
ReplyCopy URL
Prison escape movies are a genre of its own, with many fine examples, including A Man Escaped (1956), directed by the great Robert Bresson, and The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which used to be one of the highest-rated films on IMDb until they changed their rankings in a way that elevates the latest crap releases to the top of the list (“Madame X” anyone?). This film, directed by Don Siegel, is based on a true story but is not really a character study — we never learn much about lead protagonist Frank Morris (played by Clint Eastwood) other than he had a “short” childhood and had previously escaped from another prison. But we do see prison life through the eyes of Frank — the injustices, the brutalities, the cruelties, and the dangers. Like Bresson’s film, Siegel’s film details the painstaking and furtive preparations the inmate(s) must take to escape. It is a film of unexpected tender moments, and I loved the symbolism of the mouse and the flowers. It is ironic that Alcatraz was shut down about a year after the escape, not because of evolving, more enlightened standards of incarceration and rehabilitation, but because it was deemed too expensive to operate and maintain. RECOMMENDED
Goodbye Charlie (1964)
ReplyCopy URL
This is possibly a film to rediscover during Pride Month, although it is really both gay and not-gay at the same time, with a twist of gender switch thrown in for good measure. I can’t say how it is subversively gay or bisexual-ish without spoiling the plot, which is both typical of Sixties sex farces, with a touch of romance and fantasy, and atypical in the amount of bizarre sexual ambiguity and confusion, a product both of its time and ahead of its time. Directed by Vincente Minnelli who was allegedly bisexual, which makes sense in how deftly he handles the material and its subtexts. Featuring Walter Matthau, who gets off some good lines, and Ellen Burstyn; I am not sure what to make of the Pat Boone character, other than to wonder at if Boone even realized he was appearing in a sex farce full of innuendos and double entendres. The New York Times called out the stars Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds for being “distasteful” and the movie for being both vulgar and curiously “dull,” which sounds like and indeed is a contradiction, but Reynolds has never looked this stunning, and even Curtis looks like a very pretty boy in some closeups. This movie could possibly be remade and updated, but it wasn’t a hit in the Sixties, and the sex/gender subject matter could be too polarizing for our Neo-Puritanical times. I suppose the romantic, straight ending may be viewed as something of a copout, but RECOMMENDED anyway.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
ReplyCopy URL
I’ve been thinking lately about the purpose of art, and one thing I want and need to get from art is a connection with other human beings. This film — about a lonely gay man who finds love — serves that purpose for me. I have loved two of director Andrew Haigh’s earlier films — Weekend (2011) and 45 Years (2015), both with stellar acting and direction — and I am furious that this one, which was critically acclaimed and received a rating of 90 from Metacritic, was totally shut out by the Academy Awards (although it did receive six nominations at the BAFTA awards). Other romantic fantasies have garnered Oscar attention and wins, but this one is perhaps weirder (and queerer) than most. I do not think the Academy is homophobic but they certainly prefer their overrated boys with bombs movies to this kind of movie. Anyway, this is just what I needed tonight given this country’s existential crisis and political nightmare. It’s a better remedy for despair than drugs (but there’s actually a K-hole scene for those who can’t do without). Phenomenal direction, screenplay, sound track, score, cinematography, film editing, sound editing, and especially acting. My favorite film of 2023 — heartbreaking and beautiful. Bravo! HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION
Primal Fear (1996)
ReplyCopy URL
Slick courtroom dramas were a thing and practically a genre of its own in the 1990s. This one, which features a VHS tape as a plot point, as well as a depiction of Catholic priest sexual abuse, is so evocative of the 1980s it probably could have been made a decade earlier, and stars Richard Gere (who else?) as an Armani-wearing, Mercedes-driving defense attorney of the slickest kind. I felt like I really needed a long, cleansing shower after watching this one. On the plus side, the casting is excellent (including Laura Linney, Frances McDormand, Alfre Woodard, and Edward Norton in what I believe is referred to as his memorable “breakout role”), and the final twist is a doozy. RECOMMENDED
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
