Who the Hell is Juliet?

documentary(?) Cuba

Aggressively transgressive film about a wildly exuberant 16 year old girl intertwined with the life story of a faintly lookalike Mexican model. All zoom-pans, talking to the camera, rapid-fire cutting, idiotic stories, attempts at humor, sexual content, scenes of Havana, Mexican pyramids, NYC, etc. It looked like the filmmaker was as immature as Juliet or, perhaps, was trying to capture her spirit with film tricks.

I normally dislike these techniques but this girl was so compelling in her emotional nakedness that I couldn't turn it off. Her mother burned herself to death after father abandoned them to go to the US...this kid was raised by a toothless grandma and was streetwise but vulnerable in the extreme...and so likable I was riveted and hated to see the last of her when the credits began rolling.

The girl reminded me of Angelo in R. Duvall's film...but more so.

An unforgettable character.

6

Bluebeard

France d/ Catherine Breillat

Carefully staged but lifeless treatment of the classic French fairy tale by Charles Perreault. The film was faithful to the source...using fine locations/sets, costumes. The titular character was a strangely amorphous large man who projected nothing to the camera.

I was willing to go along with the film until the final scenes which were outrageously amateurish...did she run out of money? Time? I also didn't see the usefulness of the modern-day little girls as a framing device...the story spoke for itself and cutting sporadically to them merely distracted.

Overall a miss...not terrible but not good enough either.

4

Whoever says the Truth Shall Die

documentary

Well done doc on the life and times of Pier Paulo Pasolini...poet, filmmaker, communist, homosexual.

His was a tumultuous life...along the way he made many enemies. He was murdered in 1975 but by whom? At this point it doesn't really matter. He left behind some first-rate books of poetry and several groundbreaking films.

6

Blind Spot

documentary

Peak everything laid out for all to see. This will only be seen by those who already know these things and are powerless to stop it. We're on a collision course with reality and my hope is that I'm dead before the shit hits the fan. It will be ugly.

Repent...the end is nigh...

6

Five Wives, Three Secretaries and Me

documentary

This was essentially a home movie...done by a rich heiress as a tribute/remembrance for her father. He had been married five times, inherited great wealth and nourished it throughout his life.

He was a strutting little peacock of a man, very full of himself and proud of his prowess with women. A rich Texan, an overt racist...to my mind the kind of arrogant ass capitalism has a knack of producing and inflicting on the rest of us. It was quite a while into the film before she revealed this guy's true nature which I thought was smart because if I had picked this up early I'd have turned it off and flung it across the room.

2

Reel Paradise

documentary

Indie film producer buys a theater in Fiji...spends a year there with his family and provides free movies to the natives. Sounds like a dream gig...adventures in paradise.

The problems were many. John Pierson stepped all over the sensibilities of the local forces who undermined him at every step. His stuff was stolen over and over. His staff showed up when they chose to. But the biggest problem for me with this film was his two children...a boy 8 and a girl 16...who were insolent, rude, foul-mouthed brats...which both parents seemed unable to see, understand or deal with.

This couple presented themselves on this film as self-absorbed fools...arrogant jackasses who had no idea why things went so bad. They saw themselves as benevolent secular saints and were baffled and angry when people loathed them. A word folks...humility...try it.

I lasted an hour and a half...testimony to my devotion to this medium.

2

And Baby Makes Two

documentary

Interesting and provocative film on single women in their late 30's taking on the burdens of parenthood without a partner. All the women featured are thoughtful and articulate, their families' feelings are aired, ditto friends, medical professionals, etc. Different methods are used by the women...artificial insemination, friend donors, adoption...

This is an extremely complex issue which the film handles well. The thing that raises it above an ordinary doc is that they interview these women ten years later...after the intense emotionalism of new motherhood has passed and they have had to deal with their children by themselves for that time. All say they hadn't appreciated how difficult it would be raising a child alone. None in these follow-up interviews voiced the glowing idealization of parenting that has seeped into our culture. None voiced regret but they weren't asked if they would do it again either.

The overall impression is that the women were sad, tired, wiser than they had been earlier in the film. The children seemed fine...the women had clearly been able to cope with their demands/needs. But I got the impression that they saw their "success" as less satisfying than anticipated.

This one will stick with me. The film touched on something profound...about desire, responsibility, social expectations...what it takes to have a satisfying life and even if such a concept is legitimate...or realistic. When I was young "old maid aunts" were common. Now, with economic liberation, women can create their own lives, without men. But solving one problem creates others.

The film takes us on an emotional roller coaster ride...we share their joy and their disillusionment. And at the end, like Alfie I wonder what it's all about.

8

The Lost World

This was an adaptation of A. Conan Doyle's novel...previously done as one of the great silents in the 20's. I was hoping for a more modern treatment of the story with up-to-date special effects.

Instead what we had here was a juvenile dumbing down with no-budget effects. It was roughly on a level with the Tarzan movies from the 30's. This may have been done with ten year olds in mind. For me it was an embarrassment which made me regret wasting my time.

3

Videograms of a Revolution

documentary

A compilation of raw footage of the events surrounding the overthrow of the Ceaucescu regime in Romania in 1989.

It was sad to watch the enthusiasm of the people caught up in the excitement of that moment knowing that for the vast majority of them very little has improved since them. "Freedom" meant changing one apparachik for another.

Perhaps this is just the nature of things...

5

Lifting The Veil

documentary

Hard-hitting up-to-date piece on the extent of the current rot in the system that runs the country. Lots of good testimony, thoughts and observations and even an attempt at rallying the people but there's no way to fix this without a major convulsion(s) so this film mostly serves to keep us all abreast on the state of our decline into...what???

Of course it won't be seen by those who need to the most...they're watching Oprah...so it goes.

Nice job though.

7

The Valley of the Bees

Czech w/d F. Vlacil

This was something of a disappointment. Medieval story beautifully lit, composed and shot, the plot and its resolution eventually turned on religious idiocy.

I had followed the story about personal enlightenment and freeing oneself from the tight strictures and hypocrisy of the ruling religious class but felt dismay when the protagonist returned to it after a trauma. Did he not see any alternatives? Didn't anyone during that time think for themselves? If not, why should we watch a story about one of them when the end is predetermined?

A waste of good talent.

4

Rango

anime

CGI parody of American-style westerns...especially the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone.

At first this seemed pretty juvenile but once the story kicked in it continually tickled me with references no child would ever understand. The visuals were wonderfully imaginative, characters so silly the sight of them made me chuckle, the scenario simply a twisted version of all those cliches that eventually buried the genre.

This was like an up-to-date Lemonade Joe...done by world-class talent. For me...pure entertainment.

7

The Year of the Pig

documentary

Well done doc from 1968 by Emile de Antonio about the post-WW2 history of western involvement in Vietnam. Lots of period footage, interviews and a genuine sense of anger and outrage made this film ring with the injustice of what we did to that tortured land.

To date there has been no accountability for all that. So it goes...

6

All Good Things

Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst

Sad, creepy film, taken from a true story, of a real estate heir who murders his wife and several other people and gets away with it.

Both leads were excellent, as always. The script and direction were well done although there were a couple of tidbits that the writer threw in that couldn't be known unless you were the guilty party.

Overall a solid production but one likely to fade from memory over time.

6

Orlando

Tilda Swinton w/d Sally Potter

One of a kind. SP interpreted a gender-bending novel published in 1928 by Virginia Woolf.

Outstanding set and art design, locations and costumes. As ravishing and sumptuous as any film ever made on such a low budget.

TS was very impressive in this, her first performance that made it to a world audience. She radiated intelligence, beauty and a calm knowingness that acted as the glue that held the film together through its wild machinations. The lines she directed to the camera...us...made us complicit in what we, and she, knew was all a bit silly.

This was one of the great idiosyncratic, independent film productions made...a special treat for the film-jaded.

7

Ip Man

China

This was the best kung fu film I've ever seen. Within the limits of the genre this was outstanding filmmaking at all levels.

Great central character, scenario, choreography, set design, sound design and amazingly...message. Set during the Japanese occupation which was unspeakably cruel this (real life) man fought to re-instill a sense of pride in Chinese men.

The lead actor's quiet dignity, presence, body control made it work. His lack of flamboyance or flashiness gave the film a gravitas so few of this type have. He came across as a humble man who embodied the ideals of the discipline.

Very satisfying film.

7

Notting Hill

Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts

This was almost a perfect romantic comedy. The set-up rivaled Roman Holiday in its delightfulness. The two leads were perfect. Grant's friends and family were the kinds of people we all wish we had in our lives. Notting Hill, as presented here, became one of those dream habitats like the village in Local Hero or Amelie's Paris that seemed (and are) too good to be true but we wish they were anyway.

It was obvious from the opening credits how the story would resolve but the script was so well written that it didn't matter. Lots of wit, great pacing to the story. I particularly liked the press conference finale...tickled at the RH reference.

The only minus to me was Rhys Ifans' character...the flatmate from hell. He was badly overdone...so absurd that he broke through the possible reality barrier. When he came on screen I cringed...nothing he did or said was funny...just wildly asinine...not the same thing.

Still, this was a completely satisfying film. Richard Curtis scored prior to this project with Four Weddings but this surpassed that one and stands a high point for the genre until a better one comes along.

7

The Blackboard Jungle

Glenn Ford

Pretty dated film from 1955. The theme of new teacher/rough kids has been taken up many times since. At the time this must have been very powerful and even though the slang seems corny the menace of the kids still came across.

Ford was excellent...dedicated, a bit unsure of himself, strong sometimes, other times bewildered by the task in front of him. His one-on-one scenes with Sidney Poitier rang true...well-written and played.

Louis Calhern played a one-dimensional cynic, Anne Francis Ford's wife. Some of this slid into melodrama and because the code was still in effect the resolution was simple-minded and pat. The film has historical value only at this point.

5

Kinamand

Denmark

This was one of those sweet, quiet Baltic films about an oafish (reserved?) man whose wife moves out, he takes to eating Chinese every night, becomes involves with the restauranteur to the point of marrying his sister to get her a green card.

So it became a (very subdued) love story. The language barrier was used for comedic effect. It walked right on the line of believability. Everyone here was likable and pleasant. No fierce conflicts arose. The resolution worked...barely. Overall a pleasant, satisfying film.

The title means "chinaman" in Danish.

6

Noriko's Dinner Table

Japan

This was an extraordinary film...sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. Much too long...nearly three hours...but so rich in ideas that it might have been better if it had been even longer and broken up into watch-able segments.

The themes here were identity, alienation, prostitution, teen suicide, loneliness, role-playing, family dynamics and probably a few more. This film acted as back, side and fore story to the director's previous film Suicide Club. There was gore but it was so stylized and cartoonish it didn't offend me.

This guy - Shion Sono - is someone to watch. He needs discipline and focus and he needs to tone down his actors but his compositions, ideas and perspective are startling, disturbing, perhaps profound.

6

The Brothers Warner

documentary

Interesting but candy-coated history of the four brothers who created one of filmland's major studios. This film was done by one of their granddaughters and was for the most part warm and celebratory although Jack came off very badly. But she gave us no sense of how these uneducated guys were able to create something so successful when so many others failed.

The introduction of sound in 1927 was important to the company but this business like any other is composed of thousands of decisions made under pressure every day and when this was over I had no better sense of how these men thrived.

5

Indie Sex

documentary

Three one-hour docs on how sex has been treated in cinema from the beginning to the present. The first dealt with censorship, the second with teen sex, the third with what it called extreme sex...meaning S&M and other type practices.

Good project. Intelligent interviews and a generous selection of clips. They advocate for the idea of social progress and maturity. I'm not sure about that notion overall but in this limited field they had a pretty good case. The censorship battles of the past look particularly childish from today's perspective.

5

Lemonade Joe

Czech

Spoof of American westerns...done in 1964. Completely over-the-top approach worked...it reminded me of last year's animated A Town Called Panic...and made me laugh. This would've been a real hoot if I had seen it in 1964 but there was no way to see something like this back then.

6

Los Muertos

Argentina

Very unusual film. We follow a middle-aged man as he is released from prison. He makes his way back home and we go along with him every step of the way. Home is deep in the jungle and as he gets further away from civilization he sheds his clothes and reverts back to a more primitive state. At one point he sees a goat on the shore so he stops, kills it and dresses it...all on camera. No disclaimers here.

The journey he follows is mesmerizing...the sound of birds and insects fills the soundtrack, the outrageously garish greenery fills our eyes. There is almost no dialogue...just the polite, necessary exchanges he has. We don't know what he did, why, where he is going, what awaits him there...really anything.

Most of the takes were long and lingered after the actors had gone. This imparted a timeless quality to the film. Home, when he finally arrives is a primitive plastic tarpaulin in the jungle. Just as he connects with a grandson the film ends abruptly.

I'm not sure what the intent of the filmmaker was here...I enjoyed my immersion in his world while it lasted but don't see a wide audience for work like this.

6

The Gods Must Be Crazy

South Africa

Delightful revisiting of the Mack Sennett-like comedies of the 1920's. Slapstick, pratfalls, speeded-up car scenes (every one!). To this classic mix was added some funny/ironic voiceover giving us an idealized take on Kalahari Bushmen culture.

This film became a worldwide hit when it was released in the 80's and I was pleased to see that it had lost none of its charm.

6