The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950) Dir. Felix E. Feist - US
Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. How Awful About Allan (1970) Dir. Curtis Harrington - US
Astounding Cinema:
6. Beyond Rangoon (1995) Dir. John Boorman - US
5. Therese Raquin (1953) Dir. Marcel Carne - France
4. The Stepfather (1987) Dir. Joseph Ruben - US
3. Pretty Poison (1968) Dir. Noel Black - US
2. Born To Kill (1947) Dir. Robert Wise - US
1. Before the Fall (2008) Dir. F. Javier Gutierrez - Spain
Theatrical Releases:
4. The Fourth Kind (2009) Dir. Olatunde Osunsanmi - US 5/10
3. New York, I Love You (2009) Dir. Various - US 6/10
2. The Box (2009) Dir. Richard Kelly - US 10/10
1. Thirst (2009) Dir. Park Chan-wook - South Korea 10/10
Oh, poor Felix E. Feist, I’m not sure he could direct an interesting film if his life depended on it. After the dismal (though momentarily entertaining) This Woman Is Dangerous (1952), I caught this film, The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950), a B-noir of some minor acclaim. The plot’s pure noir, concerning a cop (Lee J. Cobb), dating a rich dame (Jane Wyatt) who kills her husband (kind of accidentally, in a hysterical and bizarre way) but their plot to cover up the murder is thwarted by the cop’s newly hired kid brother (John Dall). Except at every turn, at every frame of film, I felt like strangling John Dall, playing the bright and shiny kid bro with the heart of gold admiration for his older, crooked brother to the proverbial hilt. Dall, no stranger to noir (his similar performance in Gun Crazy, 1950, works quite well) sinks this film. Cobb’s a bit of a dull lead here, though he’s quite the celebrated character actor in classics like On the Waterfront (1954), 12 Angry Men (1958), and The Brothers Karamazov (1958). No, the biggest mistake is neglecting our femme fatale, Jane Wyatt, who Fritz Lang puts to good use in House By the River (1950).
The first part of an Anthony Perkins ‘double-bill’ I sat down to watch with my mother and sister was the 1970 TV film, How Awful About Allan, directed by a personal favorite of mine, Curtis Harrington. The film opens with Perkin’s father burning to death in his room, an event it seems that may have been avoided if Perkins had sprung to action. Instead, Pa dies and his sister (Julie Harris) gets badly burned. Perkins has a sort of guilt breakdown, suffers from hysterical blindness and is treated to an eight month stay in a mental institution. After his release, still blind, he goes to live with his sister again, who now has what appears to be a large chicken breast attached to her face (the prosthetic skin used to cover up her scars). Enter Joan Hackett, the girl next door and the once almost fiancée of the Perkin’s character---don’t ask, they don’t elaborate. The movie then tends to be a bit bland in its obvious plot that someone is either trying to drive Allan completely insane or he is insane. While the production’s a bit wooden, when the plot’s not being bland, it’s all a bit campy, and hence worthy of being a slice of guilty pleasure cinema. I recommend for fans of the three leads or any Harrington nuts out there, though this is far from his best directorial effort.
I do quite like Patricia Arquette, who seemed to get a plethora of intriguing and exceptional roles in the 90’s, working with directors like Scorsese, David Lynch, Ole Bornedal, Tim Burton, and Tony Scott. Here she’s paired with John Boorman for the historical action adventure, Beyond Rangoon (1995), a tale “inspired” by true events (meaning our lead heroine white lady is most likely entirely fictional) of an American tourist caught up in the democratic uprising against the dictatorship in late 80’s Burma (which is now Myanmar), an event that was not being documented by the US media at the time. Arquette’s character is used to such a degree that it’s obvious she’s simply an entry or diving board into more important subject matters, a foil for identification purposes, if you will. But no matter, she’s still a fierce little cookie. Frances McDormand pops up in the beginning as Arquette’s sister, the reason for their “vacation” in Burma, while Spalding Gray is a tour guide. Directed by John Boorman of Deliverance (1972) and Excalibur (1981) fame.
There have been few actresses worldwide that have been as luminous, as beautiful, and as striking and talented as that of Simone Signoret. I was highly intrigued that Chan Park-wook’s latest film, the excellent Thirst (2009) uses Emile Zola’s tale Therese Raquin as a basic template, namely the tale of a repressed and lonely housewife married to a simpering weakling attached to a domineering mother in a fabric shop. Though I’d always meant to read the novel, I finally sat down to watch Marcel Carne’s (Children of Paradise, 1945) film noir-ish adaptation of Zola’s novel, filmed in 1953 starring Signoret in the signature role. Carne, a master filmmaker, weaves the spellbinding melodrama into noir territory, but the tale never becomes about a woman leading a man astray. Italian actor Raf Vallone stars as the truck driver Signoret falls for, the man who kills her awful husband, an irritating performance by Jacques Duby. While the definitive cinematic adaptation of Zola’s masterpiece seems to be the UK 1980 mini series starring Kate Nelligan, Carne’s version is worthy of attention. See it for Simone.
Before seeing what looked like a direct-to-DVD remake of The Stepfather, I sat down to watch the 1987 original and was blown away at the production value, that not only includes a well written script, somewhat believable characters and a lead performance that elevates this film above the ludicrous. Terry O’Quinn (who contemporary viewers will associate only with the television series, “Lost” or “Alias”) stars as Jerry Blake, a man determined to have an old fashioned family that relies heavily on traditional, American Pie family values---except that when anything subversive hints at ripples in the heteronormative epidermis, he goes apeshit crazy and kills his family, thus having to move to another town and start up again. I don’t know what to examine first---the obvious implications the movie points to about what really happens under surfaces of domestic bliss in the American household, or the fact that there’s so many single mothers raising children desperate for a father figure. What must be every single female suburbanite’s nightmare ensues (though if I was a single well-to-do soccer mom trapped in the burbs I’d mostly be concerned with whether or not I actually looked as simple and ridiculous as Shelley Hack). All in all, a must see for horror fans---especially if you like well made entries in the genre.
The second half of my Anthony Perkin’s double bill is an excellent little late 60’s feature called Pretty Poison (1968), which also stars a luminous Tuesday Weld and Beverly Garland as her mother. The film begins with Perkins leaving a mental asylum (boy, don’t they all start that way!) and upon finding work in a factory, he spies the beautiful Weld in cheerleader practice one day and becomes enamored with her. Approaching her, he convinces her that he is a CIA agent and he needs her help in a mission---and she responds, all too willingly. Perkins initially instigates an innocent game for flirtation purposes, but when Weld starts killing people in cold blood (all for the agency) Perkins realizes he somehow released a monster. Tuesday Weld gives an amazing and exceptional performance in this film (though her only Oscar nod was for playing Diane Keaton’s sister in Looking For Mr. Goodbar, 1978). Directed by Noel Black, the cinematography for the film is gorgeous, lending the film a timeless, modern look that somehow takes it out of the late 60’s---it looks like it could have been filmed recently. And then there’s the tagline for the film: “She’s such a sweet girl. He’s such a nice boy. They’ll scare the hell out of you.” Indeed.
Speaking of scary performers, there haven’t been many like Lawrence Tierney (not a relation to Gene) whose menacing on screen performances are outmatched by the real life persona. Robert Wise (a favorite director of mine) cast Tierney as his lead in Born To Kill (1947), a man who fits the title. Tierney was known for his shocking, violent bar brawls at the time, seemingly unable to go anywhere without causing a fight (as a grizzled old man, he showed no signs of letting up, enraging all the cast members and Tarantino on the set of Reservoir Dogs, 1992, and frightening the entire cast of “Seinfeld” as an appearance as Elaine’s dad so much so that he was never asked to return). If you could make Ben Affleck look mean and menacing, that’s how Tierney looks in Born To Kill, playing a man that murders his girl and her paramour and falling in love with the equally insidious woman who discovers their bodies and says nothing, played by one of the most wicked femme fatales I’ve yet to see, the strangely beautiful Claire Trevor. While Tierney’s attracted to Trevor, she has no money, her large income dependent on her rich step-sister who own the San Francisco newspaper. Seducing her sister in order to be close to her, Trevor is also involved with a rich playboy for his money, that soon abandons her when it becomes obvious that she’s infatuated with the, err, extreme assholishness of Tierney. If you like a hard and dirty little noir, this is a not to miss film.
And the number one film this week is a little pre-apocalyptic Spanish film that seems to have fallen under the radar, Before the Fall (2008). In something like 72 hours, an asteroid is going to hit the earth and most likely obliterate the human race. Victor Clavijo stars as Ale, a down and out loser that’s always lived in the shadow of his successful brother, a heroic figure from his youth, who happened to have caught a serial killer of children. Well, since pandemonium grips the world, prisoners everywhere are revolting and escaping, causing Ale’s mother (who he lives with) to conclude that said serial killer, who vowed vengeance, will most likely be attempting to wreak it on the brother’s children. Fleeing to her older son’s house with Ale, they discover that his children have been left alone while their parents are on a trip somewhere, and unaware of the turn of world events. Attempting to placate and protect the children, Ale and his mother say nothing of the impending meteor. Director F. Javier Gutierrez hatchets up the intensity when night falls, grandma disappears, and a menacing stranger appears like a wolf at the door, while Ale is too young to remember what really happened in his youth. An excellent, and intense little film, it seems that pure genre fans didn’t embrace the ending, which I found fitting, tragic, and particularly moving. Excellent cinema.
1. The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950) Dir. Felix E. Feist - US
Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. How Awful About Allan (1970) Dir. Curtis Harrington - US
Astounding Cinema:
6. Beyond Rangoon (1995) Dir. John Boorman - US
5. Therese Raquin (1953) Dir. Marcel Carne - France
4. The Stepfather (1987) Dir. Joseph Ruben - US
3. Pretty Poison (1968) Dir. Noel Black - US
2. Born To Kill (1947) Dir. Robert Wise - US
1. Before the Fall (2008) Dir. F. Javier Gutierrez - Spain
Theatrical Releases:
4. The Fourth Kind (2009) Dir. Olatunde Osunsanmi - US 5/10
3. New York, I Love You (2009) Dir. Various - US 6/10
2. The Box (2009) Dir. Richard Kelly - US 10/10
1. Thirst (2009) Dir. Park Chan-wook - South Korea 10/10
Oh, poor Felix E. Feist, I’m not sure he could direct an interesting film if his life depended on it. After the dismal (though momentarily entertaining) This Woman Is Dangerous (1952), I caught this film, The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950), a B-noir of some minor acclaim. The plot’s pure noir, concerning a cop (Lee J. Cobb), dating a rich dame (Jane Wyatt) who kills her husband (kind of accidentally, in a hysterical and bizarre way) but their plot to cover up the murder is thwarted by the cop’s newly hired kid brother (John Dall). Except at every turn, at every frame of film, I felt like strangling John Dall, playing the bright and shiny kid bro with the heart of gold admiration for his older, crooked brother to the proverbial hilt. Dall, no stranger to noir (his similar performance in Gun Crazy, 1950, works quite well) sinks this film. Cobb’s a bit of a dull lead here, though he’s quite the celebrated character actor in classics like On the Waterfront (1954), 12 Angry Men (1958), and The Brothers Karamazov (1958). No, the biggest mistake is neglecting our femme fatale, Jane Wyatt, who Fritz Lang puts to good use in House By the River (1950).
The first part of an Anthony Perkins ‘double-bill’ I sat down to watch with my mother and sister was the 1970 TV film, How Awful About Allan, directed by a personal favorite of mine, Curtis Harrington. The film opens with Perkin’s father burning to death in his room, an event it seems that may have been avoided if Perkins had sprung to action. Instead, Pa dies and his sister (Julie Harris) gets badly burned. Perkins has a sort of guilt breakdown, suffers from hysterical blindness and is treated to an eight month stay in a mental institution. After his release, still blind, he goes to live with his sister again, who now has what appears to be a large chicken breast attached to her face (the prosthetic skin used to cover up her scars). Enter Joan Hackett, the girl next door and the once almost fiancée of the Perkin’s character---don’t ask, they don’t elaborate. The movie then tends to be a bit bland in its obvious plot that someone is either trying to drive Allan completely insane or he is insane. While the production’s a bit wooden, when the plot’s not being bland, it’s all a bit campy, and hence worthy of being a slice of guilty pleasure cinema. I recommend for fans of the three leads or any Harrington nuts out there, though this is far from his best directorial effort.
I do quite like Patricia Arquette, who seemed to get a plethora of intriguing and exceptional roles in the 90’s, working with directors like Scorsese, David Lynch, Ole Bornedal, Tim Burton, and Tony Scott. Here she’s paired with John Boorman for the historical action adventure, Beyond Rangoon (1995), a tale “inspired” by true events (meaning our lead heroine white lady is most likely entirely fictional) of an American tourist caught up in the democratic uprising against the dictatorship in late 80’s Burma (which is now Myanmar), an event that was not being documented by the US media at the time. Arquette’s character is used to such a degree that it’s obvious she’s simply an entry or diving board into more important subject matters, a foil for identification purposes, if you will. But no matter, she’s still a fierce little cookie. Frances McDormand pops up in the beginning as Arquette’s sister, the reason for their “vacation” in Burma, while Spalding Gray is a tour guide. Directed by John Boorman of Deliverance (1972) and Excalibur (1981) fame.
There have been few actresses worldwide that have been as luminous, as beautiful, and as striking and talented as that of Simone Signoret. I was highly intrigued that Chan Park-wook’s latest film, the excellent Thirst (2009) uses Emile Zola’s tale Therese Raquin as a basic template, namely the tale of a repressed and lonely housewife married to a simpering weakling attached to a domineering mother in a fabric shop. Though I’d always meant to read the novel, I finally sat down to watch Marcel Carne’s (Children of Paradise, 1945) film noir-ish adaptation of Zola’s novel, filmed in 1953 starring Signoret in the signature role. Carne, a master filmmaker, weaves the spellbinding melodrama into noir territory, but the tale never becomes about a woman leading a man astray. Italian actor Raf Vallone stars as the truck driver Signoret falls for, the man who kills her awful husband, an irritating performance by Jacques Duby. While the definitive cinematic adaptation of Zola’s masterpiece seems to be the UK 1980 mini series starring Kate Nelligan, Carne’s version is worthy of attention. See it for Simone.
Before seeing what looked like a direct-to-DVD remake of The Stepfather, I sat down to watch the 1987 original and was blown away at the production value, that not only includes a well written script, somewhat believable characters and a lead performance that elevates this film above the ludicrous. Terry O’Quinn (who contemporary viewers will associate only with the television series, “Lost” or “Alias”) stars as Jerry Blake, a man determined to have an old fashioned family that relies heavily on traditional, American Pie family values---except that when anything subversive hints at ripples in the heteronormative epidermis, he goes apeshit crazy and kills his family, thus having to move to another town and start up again. I don’t know what to examine first---the obvious implications the movie points to about what really happens under surfaces of domestic bliss in the American household, or the fact that there’s so many single mothers raising children desperate for a father figure. What must be every single female suburbanite’s nightmare ensues (though if I was a single well-to-do soccer mom trapped in the burbs I’d mostly be concerned with whether or not I actually looked as simple and ridiculous as Shelley Hack). All in all, a must see for horror fans---especially if you like well made entries in the genre.
The second half of my Anthony Perkin’s double bill is an excellent little late 60’s feature called Pretty Poison (1968), which also stars a luminous Tuesday Weld and Beverly Garland as her mother. The film begins with Perkins leaving a mental asylum (boy, don’t they all start that way!) and upon finding work in a factory, he spies the beautiful Weld in cheerleader practice one day and becomes enamored with her. Approaching her, he convinces her that he is a CIA agent and he needs her help in a mission---and she responds, all too willingly. Perkins initially instigates an innocent game for flirtation purposes, but when Weld starts killing people in cold blood (all for the agency) Perkins realizes he somehow released a monster. Tuesday Weld gives an amazing and exceptional performance in this film (though her only Oscar nod was for playing Diane Keaton’s sister in Looking For Mr. Goodbar, 1978). Directed by Noel Black, the cinematography for the film is gorgeous, lending the film a timeless, modern look that somehow takes it out of the late 60’s---it looks like it could have been filmed recently. And then there’s the tagline for the film: “She’s such a sweet girl. He’s such a nice boy. They’ll scare the hell out of you.” Indeed.
Speaking of scary performers, there haven’t been many like Lawrence Tierney (not a relation to Gene) whose menacing on screen performances are outmatched by the real life persona. Robert Wise (a favorite director of mine) cast Tierney as his lead in Born To Kill (1947), a man who fits the title. Tierney was known for his shocking, violent bar brawls at the time, seemingly unable to go anywhere without causing a fight (as a grizzled old man, he showed no signs of letting up, enraging all the cast members and Tarantino on the set of Reservoir Dogs, 1992, and frightening the entire cast of “Seinfeld” as an appearance as Elaine’s dad so much so that he was never asked to return). If you could make Ben Affleck look mean and menacing, that’s how Tierney looks in Born To Kill, playing a man that murders his girl and her paramour and falling in love with the equally insidious woman who discovers their bodies and says nothing, played by one of the most wicked femme fatales I’ve yet to see, the strangely beautiful Claire Trevor. While Tierney’s attracted to Trevor, she has no money, her large income dependent on her rich step-sister who own the San Francisco newspaper. Seducing her sister in order to be close to her, Trevor is also involved with a rich playboy for his money, that soon abandons her when it becomes obvious that she’s infatuated with the, err, extreme assholishness of Tierney. If you like a hard and dirty little noir, this is a not to miss film.
And the number one film this week is a little pre-apocalyptic Spanish film that seems to have fallen under the radar, Before the Fall (2008). In something like 72 hours, an asteroid is going to hit the earth and most likely obliterate the human race. Victor Clavijo stars as Ale, a down and out loser that’s always lived in the shadow of his successful brother, a heroic figure from his youth, who happened to have caught a serial killer of children. Well, since pandemonium grips the world, prisoners everywhere are revolting and escaping, causing Ale’s mother (who he lives with) to conclude that said serial killer, who vowed vengeance, will most likely be attempting to wreak it on the brother’s children. Fleeing to her older son’s house with Ale, they discover that his children have been left alone while their parents are on a trip somewhere, and unaware of the turn of world events. Attempting to placate and protect the children, Ale and his mother say nothing of the impending meteor. Director F. Javier Gutierrez hatchets up the intensity when night falls, grandma disappears, and a menacing stranger appears like a wolf at the door, while Ale is too young to remember what really happened in his youth. An excellent, and intense little film, it seems that pure genre fans didn’t embrace the ending, which I found fitting, tragic, and particularly moving. Excellent cinema.
No comments:
Post a Comment