Celluloid #60

In Home

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) Kramer - While I certainly applaud the social message of this film--that's exactly what this feels like: "a social issue movie." Rather than being impressed by the actors or entertained by the story, I felt like I was being taught a lesson about interracial love, accompanied by cheesy music. Poitier and Katharine Hepburn are both good, I think this film just hasn't dated that well. 3.5/5

Maitresse (1973) Schroeder - A man starts dating a woman who works as a dominatrix. At first, he's kinda into it, but becomes increasingly jealous. Gerard Depardieu plays the lead and it's fun to see him young and handsome, yet still looking like a bruiser. Despite the potential kinkiness, this film had a hard time holding my attention. 3/5

Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) Gutierrez Alea - Sergio's wife and family leave Cuba for the United States. He stays behind for unknown reasons. He's an intellectual who finds Europe superior to Cuba which is stuck in "underdevelopment." Not only does he possess condescending sentiments towards his countrymen, but doubly so towards women. A Cuban film that looks and feels like a French New Wave feature. 4.5/5

Portrait of Teresa (1979) Vega - Another film from my Latino film class. Teresa works at a factory, choreographs the Union's cultural dance group, and takes care of her family. She and her husband fight often about her being too busy, but he holds many macho ideals of that era. This is a film that champions the need for sexual equality and revised gender roles. It's also stylish. 4/5

Purple Rain (1984) Magnoli - I don't really care if this movie is just a vehicle to see multiple performances by Prince. The "Kid" is a musician in the Minneapolis scene. His parents fight constantly, and his mom is often beat up. He possesses an intense anger streak, and is falling in love with Apollonia. However, Apollonia has musical desires of her own. Basically, the plot is mostly forgettable...You watch this movie because Prince is oddly sexy for a small hairy man, and these songs are great. 4/5

Celluloid #59

In Home

Diva (1981) Beineix - Very stylish French mystery thriller about a young man obsessed with an opera singer. He makes an illegal recording of her concert for his own listening pleasure, but that recording later gets mistaken by criminals and the police department as a tape made by an informant in a sex trafficking ring. Also, some Taiwanese gangsters are really trying to get a hold of his recording. 4/5

Kings and Queen (2004) Desplechin - Similar to Desplechin's latest offering A Christmas Tale, in that a group of intertwined people have to deal with their shit in the face of tragedy. This particular story centers around Nora and the men in her life. Her dying father, her son, her son's father, her ex-lover, and her fiance. 4/5

Lost Highway (1997) Lynch - Easily seen as the beginning of the latest David Lynch era that includes the films Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire, all though this film does make a little more sense and follows a somewhat cohesive story (only somewhat though...). A couple receives a videotape in the mail of themselves in their own house sleeping. The wife (a very attractive-looking Patricia Arquette) dies and her husband Fred is sentenced to death for her murder. In jail, Fred takes some drugs and physically changes into a different person. This new person is a young mechanic who also falls in love with someone who looks like Patricia Arquette. 4/5

Night of the Hunter (1955) Laughton - Movie that features the famed "Hate" and "Love" knuckles. A fake preacher gets locked up. While incarcerated, he overhears his cellmate talking about stashed money in his sleep. Upon his release, Powell attempts to find the location of the cash by courting his cellmate's wife and trying to get chummy with the kids. Little Johnny isn't having it though...4/5

Robocop (1987) Verhoeven - A cop gets killed on duty and his corpse is given a total body prosthetic. He becomes a robot with a human face and retains some mannerisms from his previous life. He is programmed to be a more effective means to control crime. Robocop realizes what happened to him while he was alive and seeks to get revenge on those who killed him. Unfortunately, some of the higher-ups responsible for his design are also implicated. 4/5

Salt of the Earth (1954) Biberman - A film made by one of the Hollywood Ten directors about a zinc miners' strike in New Mexico. The strikers are Mexican-American and eventually the women in the town have to take over the strike. Melodramatic in music and speeches, so a little cheesy at times. This film was banned upon release and only shown in extremely limited capacity in the early 1970s due to its perceived Communist agenda. 3/5

Taboo (1999) Oshima - Two young recruits enter into a samurai militia. One is quite effeminate and the two become lovers. Many senior officers also attempt to court Kano, but he rebuffs them all. 3.5/5

Celluloid #58

In Theaters

Away We Go (2009) Mendes - During my recent trip to Portland, friends and I decided to see a movie. Lack of decent fare, and indecision, led to a viewing of Away We Go. I already had doubts just watching the trailer, but it wasn't worth arguing about for the $3 admission. Anyway, a dumb movie featuring some of the most irritating supporting characters to grace the screen. Even the protagonists are not particularly likeable, suffering from dopeyness or blandness. The story is trite, cutesy, too forcefully trying to appeal to my demographic, and above all cheesy- not that one should expect differently from a Eggers/Mendes pairing of writer and director. 1.5/5

In Home

Adventureland (2009) Mottola - James comes home after college and needs to save up money for grad school. He has no real work experience so ends up at the local amusement park, Adventureland. He meets Em and promptly falls in love. She has a more troubled life than he realizes. Not a very deep film, but enjoyable enough, and features a great soundtrack. 3.5/5

the Child (2005) Dardenne - Bruno is immature and thinks only of himself. He makes money by stealing and selling things and says that jobs are for fuckers. It's telling that his main associates are kids. He hits an all-time low when he sells his 9 day-old son without his girlfriend's consent.  4/5

Element of Crime (1984) von Trier - A detective undergoes hypnosis in order to solve the case of Harry Gray. By retracing the serial killer's path, he ends up meeting a prostitute and the mother of Harry's child. Very dark--a little in the vein of Blade Runner, but also clearly influenced by film noir. 3.5/5

the Pornographers (1966) Imamura - Bizarre imagery permeates this story of a family whose dad and husband has recently died. The wife starts sleeping with a new man who makes his living producing pornography. Her children are selfish and terrible, but this is a film where no one walks away blameless. 3.5/5

the Princess and the Warrior (2001) Tykwer - A nurse falls in love with a troubled hoodlum after she gets run over by a semi. Bodo saves her life, and she cannot stop dreaming about him. Sissi's life has been smothered by working for an insane asylum, so she longs for a change. When she locates Bodo, he wants nothing to do with her, but she is quite persistent. 3.5/5

the Wind Will Carry Us (1999) Kiarostami - An engineer leaves for an isolated village. He befriends a young boy whose grandmother is dying. Meanwhile he gets to know some other people in the community. That's it. Really nothing happens. 2.5/5

Wolf Creek (2004) McLean - A group of friends decide to go backpacking in isolated Western Australia. After reaching their destination at Wolf Creek, their car battery dies and they are forced to accept help from a local man. He's a serial killer...obviously. Based on a true story, very simple plot, but well done for the genre. 3/5