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

Celluloid #57

In Theaters

District 9 (2009) Blomkamp - An alien ship stops over Johannesburg, and once evacuated, the aliens are placed in refugee-style camps segregated from other South Africans. The first half of the movie sets up characters, history, and intersperses documentary-style footage with more traditional scenes. The second half gets a bit boring for me when the relentless gunfire and explosions take the forefront, but without much plot advancement. Many critics have tried to find an allegory regarding apartheid...a notion that makes sense given the setting, but a problematic correlation--the aliens don't outnumber the South Africans, they don't want to be in South Africa, and they are destructive to the point that it even makes sense for their segregation. I can go along with the idea that this film is smarter than your average blockbuster, but overall I found it lacking. 3/5

Inglourious Basterds (2009) Tarantino - A fictional tale about a group of misfit and Jewish soldiers and their plot the kill the most notorious Nazis. The "Basterds" are presented as an ultraviolent arm of the secret service. Brad Pitt is funny and the Nazi Exploitation is so over the top, that you can't help getting a little pumped. There are a few elements that seem really out of place (Mike Myers, I'm looking at you) but in general a really fun, silly, gory movie. 4/5

In Home

Beau Travail (1999) Denis - Stylish film about French legionaires stationed in North Africa. One soldier, Sentain, is a particular favorite of the troop and the senior officer, but not his immediate supervisor. Interesting use if the soundtrack, beautiful scenes, and a worthwhile climax after so much tension...plus any movie featuring a crazy dance scene brightens my day. 4/5

the Boys of Baraka (2005) Ewing - This is a documentary about a group of middle school boys from Baltimore chosen to participate in a program in Kenya. It's fun to see the boys act like boys (picking up lizards) rather than junior thugs. Unfortunately, the program was supposed to last two years, but the school closed after the first year due to security issues. This makes the documentary much less interesting and made me upset for the boys...adding one more disappointment to their lives. 3.5./5

the Brave One (2007) Jordan - A revenge vigilante film, much in the vein of Ms. 45, but takes itself way too seriously. Erica and her boyfriend are beaten up--she ends up in a coma for a few weeks, but he dies. She gets herself a gun, and instantly a ton of bad things begin to happen around her. Erica also intentionally places herself in dangerous situations where she inevitably ends up killing a bunch of criminals. 3/5

Kikujiro (1999) Kitano - A little kid wants to see his mother during his summer break. His retired gangster neighbor agrees to take him, but with plenty of detours along the way. The music is cheesy, and the movie most resembles a Disney live-action picture. A very disappointing and out-of-character movie for Kitano. 2/5

Manderlay (2005) von Trier - First off, this is basically the sequel to Dogville...and if you hated that, you probably won't like this either. It's filmed in the same basic style (no real set, houses marked by lines on the floor, looks like a play, etc.). The story this time deals with a slave colony in the Deep South in the 1930s. Grace, a young woman, decides to emancipate the slaves and write up deeds to the land. She thinks she knows best and is being helpful, but turns preachy about "democracy" and "liberation." Throw in a dose of fetishism on her part, and ultimately she proves to cause more problems than good. 3/5

Sweet and Lowdown (1999) Allen - Emmett Ray is a fictional character known as "the second best guitarist in the world." The film is set during the Depression and plays out like a biopic. Lots of oranges, browns, and reds, and a great couple of supporting actresses (Samantha Morton & Uma Thurman). 3.5/5

Year in Film Retrospective: the 1990s

So, I've realized that I can't really play along any more with Filmspotting's "Top Films of such-and-such year" because before the year 2000, I wasn't even 18, and was barely watching enough current movies to fill up a Top 5, let alone a Top 10. However, I do have a certain appreciation for the '90s as they comprise my formative years (age 7 at the start of 1990 and barely 17 by the end of 1999, all though my first viewing of many of these films occurred years later)...so to finish up this feature, I present my top 50 for the entire decade...

All About My Mother - Almodovar (1999)

Audition - Miike (1999)

Babe - Noonan (1995)

Barton Fink - Coen (1991)

Beauty and the Beast - Trousdale (1991)

Being John Malkovich - Jonze (1999)

the Big Lebowski - Coen (1998)

Blue - Kielslowski (1993)

Bottle Rocket - Anderson (1994)

Boyz N the Hood - Singleton (1991)

Breaking the Waves - von Trier (1996)

Buffalo '66 - Gallo (1998) 

the Celebration - Vinterberg (1998)

the City of Lost Children - Jeunet (1995)

Clueless - Heckerling (1995)

Dark City - Proyas (1998)

Dead Man - Jarmusch (1995)

Delicatessen - Jeunet (1991)

Fargo - Coen (1996)

Fight Club - Fincher (1999)

Funny Games - Haneke (1997)

Gattaca - Niccol (1997)

Ghost Dog - Jarmusch (1999)

Glengarry Glen Ross - Foley (1992)

la Haine - Kassovitz (1995)

Hoop Dreams - James (1994)

the Iron Giant - Bird (1999)

Jackie Brown - Tarantino (1997)

Jurassic Park - Spielberg (1993)

Live Flesh - Almodovar (1997)

Magnolia - Anderson (1999)

the Matrix - Wachowski (1999)

Night on Earth - Jarmusch (1991)

Pi - Aronofsky (1998)

the Piano - Campion (1993)

Pulp Fiction - Tarantino (1994)

Red - Kielslowski (1994)

Reservoir Dogs - Tarantino (1992)

Rushmore - Anderson (1998)

the Sandlot - Evans (1993)

the Shawshank Redemption - Darabont (1994)

Slacker - Linklater (1991)

Total Recall - Verhoeven (1990)

Toy Story - Lasseter (1995)

12 Monkeys - Gilliam (1995)

Underground - Kusturica (1995)

the Virgin Suicides - Coppola (1999)

White - Kielslowski (1994)

Wild at Heart - Lynch (1990)

Honorable Mentions to Kids (1995) and Gummo (1997)...both of which I find to be memorable, and to be appreciated on some level. However, both films also make me want to vomit.

Celluloid #56

In Theaters

Thirst (2009) Park - This film was a bit of a disappointment for me, considering how great Chan Wook Park's films are normally. A priest volunteers to get infected with a deadly disease in order to help people. He survives because his blood transfusion contains "vampire cells." Unfortunately for Park, this film suffers a bit just because of its timing; I'm already getting burnt out on vampires due to their increased exposure since last year's Let the Right One In, Twilight (which I haven't seen, but still permeates pop culture), and HBO's True Blood. Despite the possibly of oversaturation, I was interested in Park's Korean take on vampire mythology. What really turned me off about this film was its repetitive nature. The sex scenes are awkward (which was fine with me) but too numerous, and I lost count of how many times we see the priest noisily suck someone's blood. I get the point...I don't need to see variations on the same image twenty times. Lastly, this film is on the long side- somewhere around 2 hours and 15 minutes, only frustrating because the movie felt like it could have ended at two distinct times before it actually does. Aesthetically, it still looks great, and possibly I would enjoy it better at a time when vampires aren't the latest trend, but for now I think it's only okay. 3/5

In Home

la Commare Secca (1962) Bertolucci - A woman is killed and the various suspects are interviewed by the authorities. Each version of the story is played out on screen in an effort to discover the real murderer. 3.5/5

the Iron Giant (1999) Bird - In 1950s Maine, a boy makes friends with a giant robot of unknown origin. The late 50s were a time where Sputnik and the Bomb were part of the general zeitgeist. The government wants to destroy the robot for no reason other than the belief that the robot could not have originated in the United States, and therefore poses a threat. Strong humanistic themes of anti-gun, anti-violence, and anti-revenge. One of the best animated films I have seen. 4.5/5

the Reader (2008) Daldry - A 15 year-old boy has an affair with an older woman who turns out to have been an illiterate Nazi guard. He initially meets her years after the end of the Holocaust and doesn't discover her secret until he's in law school and she's on trial for her role in killing Jews. Supposed to be an emotionally charged film, but ultimately falls very flat. 3/5

Superfly (1972) Parks - I love Curtis Mayfield, but "Superfly" isn't even my favorite of his albums. Super low budget movie about a coke dealer trying to make one last score so he can quit for good. However, this is perhaps the slowest moving exploitation movie I have ever seen. 2/5

the Way of the Gun (2000) MacQuarrie - Two inexperienced criminals kidnap a pregnant woman believed to be a surrogate for a rich family. Very violent film that seems like it's trying to make some kind of point, but ultimately doesn't amount to much of anything. 2.5/5

Year in Film Retrospective: 2000

10.) Little Otik (Jan Svankmajer)
9.) the Day I Became a Woman (Marzieh Meshkini)
8.) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel Coen)
7.) Memento (Christopher Nolan)
6.) Amores Perros (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
5.) Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaki) & Wild Zero (Tetsuro Takeuchi)
4.) Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer)
3.) Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr)
2.) In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai)
1.) Devils on the Doorstep (Jiang Wen)