Celluloid #102

In Home

Dead Alive (1992) Jackson - An overbearing mother tries to prevent her adult son from dating, and in her nosy efforts, gets bitten by an evil rat-monkey that transforms her into a zombie-like creature. The special effects are over-the-top and totally silly. The horror is gross-out rather than scary and can easily be lumped into the same category of much of Sam Raimi's horror films. In my opinion, the film starts out as really fun, but towards the end as the body count rises and the bloodfest is unrelenting, I started getting pretty bored. 3/5

Happy Together (1997) Wong - A gay couple wants to start over, so they leave Hong Kong for Argentina, but promptly break up on a failed roadtrip to Iguazu Falls. Fai gets a job as a doorman, while Wing starts working as a prostitute. After Wing gets badly beaten up, Fai takes care of him opening another chapter in their tumultuous and often painful relationship. Strikingly beautiful, as one would expect from Wong Kar-wai. 4/5

House of the Devil (2009) West - Horror film done in throwback 80s style. Samantha needs money quick and decides to take a babysitting job. When she arrives, Samantha discovers that she won't actually be watching a kid, but rather the elderly mother-in-law. Needless to say, things get weird and scary as the night progresses. This film is actually really stylish, combining Argento and Hitchcock shots with the 1980s. The soundtrack is really great and overall the film is fun and not too jumpy. 4/5 

Celluloid #101

In Home

Blind Beast (1969) Masumura - An evil blind masseuse drugs an erotic photo model and brings her to his lair of oversized body parts. He's trying to pioneer "the art of touching" for the blind. The film wants to straddle the tricky boundary between rape and love as Aki begins to appreciate someone worshiping her body. Ultimately an unbridled male fantasy, but so absurd that it's still interesting to watch. 3.5/5

Chloe (2010) Egoyan - Catherine suspects that her husband is cheating on her, but to be sure she hires Chloe, an escort to seduce him. Catherine perhaps gets too close to Chloe and gets turned on by Chloe's description of the affair. Needless to say, some people fall off the handle. A fun, trashy thriller. 3.5/5

the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010) Oplev - An old man wants to solve the 40 year-old mystery of the disappearance of his niece. He hires disgraced journalist, Micke, to investigate before he has to serve a prison sentence. Meanwhile. Lisbeth is a talented hacker and researcher working on checking out Micke. She's pretty tough, but has to endure some evil woman-directed hatred in this film. She and Micke team up to work the case. I was intrigued and wary of the hype surrounding these stories, but I have to say this is really good for what it is: an engaging, slick, thriller. 4/5

Good Dick (2008) Palka - Really not as risqué as the title would have you believe. This is the story of a girl who likes to rent softcore from the local video store and the clerk that has deemed her the object of his affection. They both have their problems. She barely leaves the house and seems to have huge emotional walls. He lives in his car and apparently has a shady junkie past. However, he's actually really sweet and extremely persistent, and I liked their weird chemistry that often involves her verbally abusing him. 3.5/5

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Allen - Three sisters and their love lives. Hannah is the oldest and most stable, but accused of not really needing anyone else. Lee begins having an affair with Hannah's husband Elliott. Holly is the youngest and flails a bit trying to make it as an actress/caterer. Holly is also connected to Hannah's love life by getting involved with her ex-husband. Pretty typical Woody Allen themes of fear of death, and complicated relationships. 4/5

Schizopolis (1996) Soderbergh - Really, who knows what is going on in this film? (and you are warned in the intro that it is definitely your fault as viewer if you don't get it). Here are some things that happen: the main character sometimes works a boring office job where he is unfairly promoted and sometimes he plays a dentist/stalker. Sometimes characters speak in descriptions of the type of dialogue without any content (ex. "generic greeting" or "cheerful-sounding query"). There's also Elmo Oxygen, a pest controller, who seduces bored housewives by speaking nonsense phrases. The thing is, even though I don't know the point or meaning of most of this, I still actually enjoyed watching the film. 4/5

Celluloid #100!

In Home

Afterschool (2010) Campos - In a prep high school, everyone talks about sex much more than they are actually having it. Lots of porn is watched in the dorms and talk of blow jobs around the lunch table. The sexual "transgressions" are soon overshadowed by the fatal cocaine overdose of the popular twin girls on campus. Robert was filming them as part of a project for the Audio/Visual Club, but fails to get them any immediate help. This film is dark and instantly brings to mind many Haneke films, but Benny's Video in particular, especially in its examination of voyeurism. 4/5

Ajami (2010) Copti & Rihan - A neighbor boy gets mistakenly shot in a retaliation. In order to get a ceasefire, one Israeli family has to pay off a mob-like family. The sum is way beyond their means, which forces the son, Omar, to seek more illegal ways to pay their debt. His poor decisions regarding stealing cars, selling drugs, and falling in love with a Christian girl all have negative consequence for those around him. 3.5/5

Glen or Glenda (1953) Wood - A transvestite commits suicide, and what follows is a documentary-style segment that makes a case for dressing like a woman (more beautiful! more comfortable!). Surprising how much the film tries to encourage understanding and tolerance, for what I assume to be fairly deviant behavior in the '50s. The conflict lies in how Glen should let his fiancé, Barbara, know about his secret life as Glenda. 4/5

Prodigal Sons (2010) Reed - Paul grew up to become Kim, and returns to her hometown for a high school reunion. Kim has not been back to this small town in Montana since the transition. In addition, her brother Marc had a brain injury and desperately clings to a past that he is also incredibly bitter about...especially the popularity Paul received in high school. On top of all of that, it comes to light that Marc is actually the biological grandson of Orson Welles. Kim is the filmmaker and I appreciate that she doesn't come off looking like a saint as she is often incredibly selfish and impatient with Marc and his mental condition. Despite all of that randomness and drama, at its heart, this is a documentary about a broken family trying to find a way to reconcile, all though it sometimes feels like too much is trying to fit into the storyline. 3.5/5 

the Secret in Their Eyes (2009) Campanella - A retired lawyer decides to write a book about a case that has plagued him for 20 years. Liliana was raped and beaten to death, but it took detectives and the police a year to catch him. Unfortunately, he was quickly released by a crooked politician. All the main characters are haunted by their pasts and full of regret one way or another. 4/5 

Vincere (2010) Bellocchio - Mussolini was a player! He had a wife and a young daughter, but also impregnated his lover, who didn't know about his wife. Ida (the lover) gets insanely jealous, especially because she fronted the money to start his newspaper. They end up getting married, but later she is made out to be crazy and both her and her son are placed in institutions where nobody believes their connections to the dictator. A very stylish epic by a director who made an Italian film that I loved in the 1960s: Fists in the Pocket. Both deal with (perceived?) madness, but I prefer the manic style of the earlier film, and yet still appreciate that Bellocchio is still working. 3.5/5

The "Celluloid" portion of this blog has been going strong since May 2008. I try to blog weekly, but will usually skip it if I'm too busy or have seen less than three films in the previous week. Curiously, you can probably tell how depressed or hermitty I have been based on frequency of posting + quantity of films. For a little self-indulgence to celebrate 100, here's a list of probably my 20 favorite films of all time (in alphabetical order because I cannot choose to more certainty than this)

Badlands

Band of Outsiders

Breaking the Waves

Cache

Closely Watched Trains

Devils on the Doorstep

Down by Law

Fargo

Fight Club

Ivan's Childhood

Killer of Sheep

Killer's Kiss

Matador

the Proposition

Punch-Drunk Love

Royal Tenenbaums

le Samourai

Stroszek

Werckmeister Harmonies

Woman in the Dunes

Hopefully I can keep it together for another 100 more...