Spring Breakers

Harmony Korine / 2012 / Written: March 23, 2013

Let the Harmony Korine revisionism begin. I had unfairly dismissed him as a cheap P.T. Barnum hawking phony-baloney freakshow exploitation based on a long ago viewing of Gummo (1997) but am totally jazzed on the smarmy skeezemeister’s latest. Spring Breakers is culturally intelligent, subversive and bratty, and most importantly was shown on the big screen in American multiplexes, making it a heartening and encouraging release for the state of domestic movies. My esteemed fellow movie nut pal ML had misgivings in finding lost lamb Faith’s Christianity an all too convenient excuse for lazy storytelling, but viewed in a broader societal and media context, this character, played by still squeaky-clean pop star Selena Gomez, requires an escape hatch as opposed to partner in crime Vanessa Hudgens, whose public image is already that of disgraced former Disney Princess. James Franco goofing off as Korine’s substitute is a cheesy riff on hip-hop culture but also highlights the weird and fascinating situation within the music genre’s full co-option into pop culture. Casting real-deal trap artist Gucci Mane as the underworld antagonist gloriously muddies the message in creating conflict between authenticity and artifice. But politics and big ideas aside, the picture is a pure joy to watch and is genuinely the most fun I’ve had at a theater in recent memory.

Trailer

Our Hospitality

John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton / 1923 / Written: September 5, 2007

Chaplin’s never been a favorite of mine and I’m still on the fence with Buster Keaton. Give me a Marx Bros or a W.C. Fields over either of them any day. Our Hospitality does benefit from a blue-chip Hatfield/McCoy comedic premise wherein a hapless Keaton is forced to remain under the enemy’s roof as the absurd dictates of genteel manners state that he may not be shot dead while a guest in his antagonist’s household. Most apparent is the emphasis on spectacle-intense stunts, even over physical comedy or traditional gags. A notably gross and backwards domestic violence bit arises in all its olde-timey horror when Keaton intervenes as a man beats his wife only to have the wife start beating on Keaton for the rude interruption. It’s awful but also feels more in line with that W.C. Fields absurdism than syrupy Chaplin romanticism. I’m not totally sold on Keaton yet, but this piques my interest.

Update:

I’m still a Marx Bros. and sound-era W.C. Fields guy, with silent comedy never fully getting its hooks into me, but almost twenty years since this writing Buster Keaton is my current go-to for the genre. Harold Lloyd is worth a spin too.

Full movie

Naked

Mike Leigh / 1993 / Written: July 8, 2005

It’s amazing that a director who did a wonderfully solemn, nuanced, and humanely touching portrait like Vera Drake (2004) can also make something so heavily scripted and overwrought as this, with its characters, scenarios, and stylized dialogue humming at a high pitch of artifice. It’s a world of seedy, gritty, sub-working-class folk who all manage to be intellectual geniuses, street philosophers, ridiculous caricatures, or saintly mother figures. While by all rights this rogues’ gallery should be a smattering of humanity’s forlorn base and ugly, Leigh repurposes them as quirky and special. “Naked” exudes a great deal of charm and inspires fascination in its finely crafted take on storytelling via meandering conversations in encounters with its fantastically baroque characters. Hal Hartley comes to mind. Though, whereas Leigh’s film seems to have an internal conflict between its mannered language alongside gritty aesthetic, Hartley’s linguistic cadence and staging makes for a dramatic world so far off the deep-end as to feel effortlessly constructed.

Update:

I had seen very few Leigh movies at this point and wasn’t aware that his well-known working method involving highly rehearsed actor improvisation went beyond little realist dramas about everyday Thatcherite folk. The diversity of genres and styles he’s worked in makes his approach all the more compelling.

Trailer

Possessor

Brandon Cronenberg / 2020 / Written: November 20, 2020

It would have been great to see this picture get a wider release had Covid-19 lockdown not interfered. It’s a good example of well-trod territory made to feel fresh and viable, and is composed with the necessary conviction to go hard with today’s most common sci-fi assassin trope: lay out in some sort of doctor’s chair, strap on a VR headset, and body swap. This may also be the first time a movie’s concept reminds me more of a videogame’s narrative than anything else, namely the Assassin’s Creed franchise. B. Cronenberg maintains a high degree of quality in filmmaking with solid acting, an appealing aesthetic, notable camerawork, and an excellent sense of mise en scene. I purchased a digital copy of the ‘unrated’ version and am wondering if the theatrical cut isn’t better in its restraint. I’m all for extremity in expression, but the flashes of hardcore pornography are distracting, and all the knifings are well and good until you’ve reached the 17^th stroke when what should be a serious flick pushes itself into camp through a mere 15 extra seconds of special effects. Cronenberg-the-younger lands a clever semi-twist ending and feels eminently at home with the fantastically natured subject material.

Trailer

Dr. No

Terence Young / Previously viewed / 1962 / Written: May 15, 2010

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the first installment of the mammoth James Bond franchise and was surprised at how many of the series’ cornerstones are laid out right in the beginning: 007’s quickness with saucy quips, a villain’s funky futuristic lair, and an exoticized sidekick (John Kitzmiller playing Jamaican here). Joseph Wiseman as the titular baddie fails to properly threaten but his fire-spewing dragon tank does a lot to make up for it, nuking hapless Kitzmiller in the process. Most Bond films are at least watchable (excepting the joyless Daniel Craig-helmed present variety), and this viewing reminded me of how the earliest Connery installments purport a more realistic sense of gritty danger in fantasy espionage. The assassination scene that kicks off the picture is introduced semi-comically but with real brutality too. Much more so than any of the cartoonish violence of say, Golden Eye (1995).

Trailer

I’m currently editing the third installment which I’ll make available for paid subscribers. Enjoy!

Bonnie and Clyde

Arthur Penn / 1967 / Second viewing / Written: August 23, 2012

May contain spoilers.

At the high school I attended there were a couple books you were gonna read no matter what classes you chose. It was a wonderful hippie-dippy private school which meant that the required novels for say 9^th grade English weren’t standard year to year. Regardless, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was going to be assigned. Most of my fellow students had to read it twice. Bonnie and Clyde is the early aughts NYU film school undergrad version of this and there was no way of avoiding it. But it makes sense. It’s historically piquant as a harbinger to the death knell of the fatally bloated 60’s studio system that gave way to the wild and wooly glory of 70’s New Hollywood. On this viewing I was struck by how Loony Tunes it gets; straight up manic and madcap. Our freewheeling gang of criminals are a bunch of chucklehead trigger-happy yokels that are only a sniff above a gentler version of Peckinpah. The sexual angle is significant with ambiguously gay Clyde finally consummating his romance with Bonnie and being cosmically fated to die as such. The comedic elements work part of the time but are often tiresome and only palatable through the oppressive possibility of hair-trigger violence at every turn. The appropriately famous finale is truly grizzly and grimly predicts the national division and political violence that would occur a year later. This is a movie where context becomes more engaging than the filmmaking itself. It’s historically significant, but also ‘trashy’ in the Pauline Kael sense of the term, which is its greatest worth and accomplishment.

Audition

Takashi Miike / 1999 / Second Viewing / Written: February 8, 2017

May contain spoilers.

I had noticed this one on a bunch of ‘best horror movies’ lists and was compelled to catch it again as my memory was generally positive but vague beyond that. This reviewing inspires mixed feelings. Some foundational elements are quite strong with Aoyama being an appealing and identifiable hero even if the audience sides with his pal Yoshikawa in knowing something’s not quite right with Aoyama’s new love interest, Asami. That Asami is secretly a man-mutilating sadistic psychopath is good too, though I remember the ultimate torture being gnarlier as opposed to some anti-therapeutic acupuncture and a severed foot. Less effective is the drug induced dream sequence that explains red herrings and motivations. The picture is best in dealing with the immediate external present and not trying to psychoanalyze what makes Asami tick – ambiguity and mystery are more satisfying in this case than a neatly ribboned present, though Aoyama slowly unraveling Asami’s bogus backstory is rewardingly suspenseful. The aftermath is powerful too with a dying Asami crooning to the man who still loves her. It’s a sturdy premise and the inclusion of the ‘man in the bag’ is truly awful and grotesque (in a good way!). Overall, its iconic status is mostly deserved despite some indulgent and overly artsy elements that dilute its powerful, visceral punch.

Julieta

Pedro Almodovar / 2016 / Written: April 2, 2017

Like with Olivier Assayas there is something so satisfying in watching a new offering by beloved veteran director even if it’s a minor work. The visual consistency Almodovar’s managed to cultivate over decades is a regular reminder that in my world of modernist all-black garishly bright colors have value too. This is no more apparent than in the use of a wallpaper so horrid that it should be locked up. The story takes unexpected turns than anticipated and is ultimately a little disappointing in its focus on the tale of a long-suffering mother as opposed to the idiosyncrasies of a daughter’s heart. Conceptually, it makes for a more conventual picture than many a previous Almodovar film, though that doesn’t preclude it from being sexed up with secrets, tragedy, a notably nosey maid, and a suggested lesbian affair resulting in life changing guilt. Of particular interest is the illness and infidelity plotline involving Julieta’s parents which could have been a wonderful picture in and of itself. Beyond the use of color, the visuals are sumptuous and beautiful, crisp yet comforting in a way that speaks to the director’s blending of modernism and the classic Hollywood weepie.

Update:

Almodovar is a dragon worth chasing. He’s prolific to the degree that I’ve seen a ton of his films over the last 2 and a half decades but have yet to see a ton from every chronological phase of his career. Also, many of his films (like this one) don’t indelibly stand out in memory, begging for pleasant future reviewing. He’s one of those unicorn caliber directors that always feels like an old family friend.

The Birds

Alfred Hitchcock / 1963 / Previously viewed / Written: November 9, 2010

Nothing wrong with revisiting one of my favorite latter-career Hitchcock films. I’ve long appreciated how The Birds has a more distinctive horror vibe than the more thriller-oriented nature of much of the ‘master of suspense’s’ offerings. Beyond the wonderfully paranoid revenge-of-nature premise this is an absolute feast for fans of pre-CG special effects. The slow airborne shot of gulls descending onto Bodega Bay is an underappreciated masterstroke that doesn’t come up enough in roundups of iconic Hitchcock moments. Dig that crazy gas station fire! Dig all the people barricaded in a diner, zombie-flick style, trying to make sense of the reckoning at hand! I had more appreciation this viewing for dopey leading man Rod Taylor as a mamma’s boy and less for Tippi Hedren with her chartreuse dress being as notable as any of her character traits. Poor Suzanne Pleshette comes off appropriately haggard and dumpy in her role as long suffering lover, but it feels like a low blow in the context of pervasive Hollywood glitter and sheen.

In the Cut

Jane Campion / 2003 / Written: September 6, 2005

I came to this with zero expectations after having missed it in the theater due to negative reviews. Issues of authenticity arise with what is intended to be a strongly New York picture unconvincingly evoked by its Australian director, Mark Ruffalo’s inability to pull off a believable blue collar detective with an accent, swagger, and whiff of danger that is difficult to take seriously, and the dialogue, though brilliantly scripted, failing to mesh with the Manhattan milieu. Meg Ryan’s performance, nudity included, is notably brave and Campion does manage to imbue the picture with some of her distinct style with a suspenseful slow dance finale and a thoroughly bedraggled Ryan making her way home on foot. Once again, Campion explores an unorthodox sexual relationship between a man and woman. There’s a good film somewhere in here with significant anxiety mounting via the murder mystery and an effective use of graphic violence, but the dedication to highlighting NYC as a major character has a ‘let’s play pretend’ quality. More New York-New York, Las Vegas than early aughts East Village. Of course, the most important note is that the exterior of Meg Ryan’s apartment is the same building my partner and future wife Katie lived in senior year of college.

They Saved Hitler’s Brain!

David Bradley / 1963 / Viewed 3/24/2005

Pure schlocksville from the word ‘go.’ Nazis are amazing no-brainer villains, but this proves a tedious made-for-TV snoozefest. It’s a shame too, since the premise isn’t all that bad with the representation of Hitler’s head in a jar being pure gold. Even a slightly higher budget and more lines written for the Fuhrer’s decapitated noggin would have gone a long way to making this a serviceable b-picture. One highlight is the mustachioed agent (Larry Burrell) who bears a striking resemblance to the Beastie Boys cops in the Spike Jonze directed Sabotage (1994) music video. It’s unfortunate that he’s left halfway through the picture and never returns, as the picture is mostly dreadful without him.

Update:

This review is in the very first journal I started writing these in I might still have a copy of it on a double-feature disc with the marginally better, if less fun, The Frozen Dead (1966) where Nazi war criminals are cryogenically frozen in a mad science lab’s walk-in freezer.

Something in the Air

Olivier Assayas / 2012 / Viewed: 5/9/2012

You’d be hard pressed to find anybody who’d call me a hippie, and outside of the more radical elements like the Black Panthers, my interest in the 60’s counterculture movement is limited. The past ideals of boomers morphing into selfishness, entitlement, and greed as currently lived in the U.S.A. is uncomfortable to address, let alone celebrate. It’s a different story in France though. While that country eventually experienced its own deflate and disillusion following May ‘68, their more recognizable non-poli sci countercultural elements in personal exploration and fashion were a thing of the 70’s, which is where Olivier Assayas places Something in the Air. Like the previous Carlos (2010) the proceedings are played straight, but with a subtle and affectionate mocking quality aimed at the naivety and bluster of loudly brayed political rhetoric. Meanwhile, the autobiographical elements are coated in a sheen of fond nostalgia lending the picture its buoyancy. Different currents of the era are represented through various character types; the holdover leftist, the artiste filmmaker, and the hapless youth swallowed up by drugs. Assayas directs with confidence and continues to be one of contemporary film’s best directors.

Yannick

Quentin Dupieux / 2023 / Viewed: 4/13/2024

Dupieux’s got a few more movies under his belt than I was aware of. Rubber (2010) is a brilliantly singular experience, Deerskin (2019) is quite good, and while not as ambitious still plays in the same ballpark, while Mandibles (2020) was merely passable. There’s an element of schtick in all these films, but also an endearing commitment to the bit. His latest, Yannick, is unfortunately a one note stunt. The passing fancy or intrusive thought to interrupt a theatrical production had by every audience member at one time or another is played out at gunpoint here for absurdist humor, which proves a very tired and unnecessary exercise. The exorcism of this meta fantasy is neither cute nor subversive, and the attempted statement involving state-sanctioned violence by riot police to stop ‘one man’s brave act’ is shallow provocation. It’s notable to see actor Rahael Quenard in the lead as he was also in another of this year’s stinkers Junkyard Dog. He’s good, though maybe too keyed into a familiar vein of Gallic machismo, with gripping screen presence and charisma. Here’s hoping Dupieux bounces back and that Quenard snags better roles.

Update:

After this, Dupieux mostly dropped off my radar with his prolific output only furthering my skepticism. I’d love to hear about any Dupieux flicks not mentioned here that you dig.

Thieves Like Us

Robert Altman / 1974 / Viewed: 5/19/2008

Altman’s take on the novel previously directed by Nicholas Ray as They Live by Night (1948) is expectedly more nuanced and humorous than his predecessor’s (very good) noir. Here, Altman tries to trot out every move from the 70’s New Hollywood style sheet, with ironic commentary on consumer culture (distinctly displayed Coca-Cola logos abound), casual nudity, and the inevitability of some major players’ deaths at the end, all sweetened with Altman’s signature use of layered multitrack audio recording. Much like Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967), a now hoary old cinematic textbook if there ever was one, Thieves Like Us poses that you can root for a multifaceted criminal and that questioning society’s penal code is a valid endeavor. Also, like Penn’s movie this takes place in a similar time/space where rural America is unwilling to give up its cowboys vs. Indians legacy. Once again, Shelly Duvall puts in an amazing performance in an Altman picture, here as a girl about to become a woman who fluctuates between naïve puppy love and a surprising depth of maturity in addressing her unorthodox outlaw situation. It’s a role worth mentioning alongside the ultra-triumph she would go on to create in Altman’s 3 Women (1977). Set to a rollicking tone, these three bank robbers are more lovable than loathsome which makes the inevitable unraveling genuinely sting. I love the character names from the source material: Keechie, Bowie, Chicamaw, and T-Dub are memorable handles.

The Conjuring

James Wan / 2013 / Viewed: 9/9/2023

This second half of a date night double feature with the wife bucked expectations, but also suffered from the same sort of shitty politics that plagued, but were more understandable, in a film like The Craft in the 90’s. Namely that anything under the purview of the supernatural or demonic is rightfully the sole domain of the Catholic church to fix. Bogus. The church’s representatives come in the form of real-life grifters Ed and Lorraine Warren who in their career, as in this fiction, used religion as a shield to get away with financial murder and statutory rape. But despite all the distasteful elements, James Wan is a notable talent in horror cinema, and whether cynically or genuinely drinking the Warrens’ Kool-Aid he makes an engaging go of it. Beyond his Saw (2004) credentials Wan’s specialty has become subtlety, tone, and mood, but in this outing the overtly heavier stuff is amped up in an expert way, hurtling towards unexpected extremes. Katie made a joke about ‘poor Lili Taylor,’ but the sentiment is hard to ignore with the great character actor puking blood and screaming while tightly restrained in bedsheets. Still, the unquestioned, unironic premise that Christianity is the light and the weapon against all that is uncannily evil is a plainly dumb approach. It’s been a loooong time since The Exorcist (1973).