Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Celluloid #81


In Theaters

Mother (2010) Bong - This mother will do anything to protect her idiot son. Their relationship is already inappropriately close and he is basically the focus of her entire life. When the son is accused of murdering a local girl, Mom heads up her own investigation. I love the dancing scenes and Bong Joon-ho's characteristically awesome visual style. 4.5/5

A Prophet (2010) Audiard - Malik is sentenced to six years in prison. Without any friends or family, he finds himself in a predicament when the Corsicans force him into doing a favor for them. Malik is constantly straddling the fence between the Arabs (his own ethnicity) and the Corsicans who provide him with protection. Gritty, often bloody. 4/5

In Home

Fitzcarraldo (1982) Herzog - Klaus Kinski plays a crazy idealist who has a dream of building an opera house in the middle of the Amazon. This film is remarkable in that it took four years to film and the famous scene of a steamboat being pulled over a mountain does not involve special effects, but actual hard work on the part of the locals and Herzog's film crew. As far as Herzog's crazy jungle movies go, I would always opt for Aguirre, Wrath of God, but I am super interested in watching the documentary about the making of this film called Burden of Dreams. 4/5

Good Hair (2009) Stilson - Chris Rock hosts and narrates this documentary about the black hair industry. He interviews celebrities, barbers and barbershop dudes, scientists, and platform hairstylist performers about relaxers, weaves, and black womens' hair in general. Rock also travels to India where the most desirable hair comes from. This documentary is very entertaining, much in part to the platform show, but also just because it is really funny and informative. 4/5

Heart of Glass (1976) Herzog - The legend surrounding this film is that most of the actors were hypnotized for the duration of the shoot. Whether that is true or not, the film does have a strange trance-like tone. The setting is a small Bavarian town, famous for its ruby-colored glass. When the keeper of how to make the glass dies, the town experiences a variety of odd happenings. One man babbles about prophesies (perhaps pertaining to future events in Germany) and there are some really cool scenes of glassblowing. The whole thing is capped off with an epilogue that is difficult to explain or interpret (involving people on the beach and birds and the killing of an imaginary bear). 4/5

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) Resnais - A couple in bed discuss the horrors of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. He is Japanese, but did not witness the tragedy firsthand. She is white/French and has her own baggage from suffering through France's occupation as  young woman. Very artsy. 3.5/5

Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1998) Herzog - This is the documentary about Dieter Dengler, a guy who just wanted to be a pilot and got shot down early in his enlisted tour of Vietnam. Dieter is a charismatic eccentric, much in line with the characters that Herzog is attracted to. The film is strange because Herzog basically forces Dieter to reenact his time as a POW--probably the most traumatic time in his life. 3.5/5

Motorcycle Diaries (2004) Salles - A buddy roadtrip movie about Che Guevara and his friend Alberto--years before his infamy as a revolutionary, and this film remains mostly apolitical with small hints to his ideologies. This is the Che who still goes by Ernesto and is a semester away from becoming a doctor. The film is full of beautiful landscapes from around South America. This is my second time viewing this film, and while I was largely dismissive the first time, this time I found the scenes of the leper colony quite touching. 3.5/5

Raising Victor Vargas (2002) Sollett - An indie film about a Dominican family living in New York. Victor sees himself as a ladies' man, but his reputation is damaged when word gets out that he slept with a fat girl. Judy is the neighborhood hottie, tired of guys hitting on/harassing her. Victor pursues Judy and she agrees to let him hang around to keep the other guys at bay. Meanwhile Victor and his siblings have to appease their grandmother before she kicks Victor out of the house. 4/5

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Celluloid #80


In Home

Jeanne Dielman (1975) Akerman - This is the type of film that requires a fair amount of patience, but if you can calm down, it is ultimately worth watching. Featuring very little dialogue and clocking in over three hours, we basically follow around a housewife as she completes her multitude of chores and tasks over the course of approximately three days. Jeanne lives an extremely regimented life, occasionally interspersed with some light home-based prostitution for extra cash. While her routine might put you asleep, it's the breakdown of this routine that leads to much bigger consequences. 4/5

Melies the Magician (1896-1912) Melies - I recommend you skip the documentary and just watch the shorts on this DVD. Melies' films are funny and really cool to look at, but the format they are presented here (as a screening with an audience and narration by his granddaughter) gets pretty annoying. Besides the iconic "A Trip to the Moon," I loved the dancing in "The Infernal Cakewalk." 3/5

Mysterious Skin (2004) Araki - Odd but ultimately worthwhile film about sexual abuse. Our dual protagonists are two boys from small town Kansas. On the surface, they seem almost polar opposites. Brian is quiet, nerdy, and obsessed with alien abductions. Neil is gay and confident and wields his good looks around town as the local male hustler. Definitely makes me want to seek out more Araki. 4/5

Pickup on South Street (1953) Fuller - A man steals some film from a lady's purse. Somehow this film is linked with Communist plots. The woman is a former hooker and the man an active pickpocket, but despite their shady tendencies both characters are portrayed in a far more favorable light than the Communists. Fun noir showcasing the attitudes of the Red Scare. 4/5

Polyester (1981) Waters - Fairly mild Waters featuring the drag queen Divine. Her daughter is a slut who wants an abortion. Her son has a foot fetish that causes him so much anxiety that he stomps on ladies' toes. At some point the children become reformed and Francine (Divine) meets a "nice" guy, but you know that this happiness can only be short-lived. 3.5/5

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Celluloid #79


In Home

the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) Wiene - Sleepwalkers are the worst! Always walking around stabbing people and sometimes resembling contemporary goth/emo kids. This silent film is pretty creepy and surprisingly stylish. 4/5

Diabolique (1954) Clouzot - Crime thriller where a wife and her husband's jilted mistress team up to kill the husband. At some point, the corpse goes missing, causing a great deal of stress to the two ladies--especially when certain clues emerge that suggest he might not actually be dead. I thought the quaint "reminder" at the end, asking viewers not to be "devils" about spoiling the ending was pretty cute. 4/5

Fools Rush In (1996) Tennant - Romantic comedy where WASP and Latino cultures collide! Salma Hayek plays a fiery Latina who teaches Matthew Perry about the importance of family and faith. This films includes most stereotypes that one could think of about Latinos, and basically comes off as total bubblegum. 2/5

In the Loop (2009) Iannucci - British political comedy full of creative swearing. The whole story alludes to the situation with Bush and the beginning of the Iraq War, but really just about politicians and their ability or requirement to bullshit. My Girl's Anna Chlumsky returns!4/5

Red Riding: 1974 (2009) Jarrold - The first part of a trilogy about the "Yorkshire Ripper." The audience is dropped into the middle of a situation. Three girls have already been killed, and another murder occurs during the course of the film. We also have a journalist as our protagonist (who gets laid an inordinate amount of times), and he gets sucked into some of the seedier scenes in town. It's difficult to know what characters are important, and really even what is going on sometimes (why is he getting tortured? Why do we care that some character that was onscreen 3 minutes is now dead? etc). However, despite all of the confusion, I'm willing to continue along to the next installment, because I'm still holding out hope that in the next 4 hours, some questions will receive answers. 3/5

Selena (1997) Nava - This had my class in tears! Maybe I'm just too cynical, or maybe it helps that you go into this film knowing the ending, but really I think I wasn't emotionally moved because the acting is so bad...Also, biopics are not my favorite, even if Jennifer Lopez has a winning smile. 3/5