What classics did you see last week? (9/14-9/20)
Please tell us what classics you saw last week. Modern films are welcome, as well.
If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.
The Gangster (Gordon Wiles, 1947) - Good film noir starring Barry Sullivan, a gangster with the very fun to say name of Chubunka who runs a numbers racket along with a soda shop owner (Akim Tamiroff) on the Neptune Beach waterfront in NYC. His love for the beautiful nightclub singer Belita becomes a weakness as other gangsters try to horn in on his racket. I can't say I followed the plot of this one that well (more likely because of a headache than because of the film itself), but it had a nice, fatalistic mood, some good dialogue, and good performances throughout. I also really liked John Ireland as a down-on-his-luck accountant and Harry Morgan as Tamiroff's soda jerk. 7/10. yes.
Les cousins (Claude Chabrol, 1959) - Chabrol's second feature. I haven't seen his first, Le beau Serge, but this is the most French New Wave film I've seen from Chabrol. As such, it's by far my favorite. I like several of his films, but I do find even my favorites a little dry. This one is just gorgeous and it's quite a lot of fun throughout. Gerard Blain plays a provincial who is moving to Paris to go to college. He moves in with his cousin (Jean-Claude Brialy), who is himself a student. Brialy is a total party animal, spending all his free time drinking with friends and none of it studying. The two get along at first, but then a woman (Juliette Mayniel) comes between them. The film is kind of a precursor to Jules et Jim. 9/10. YES.
India: Matri Bhumi (Roberto Rossellini, 1959) - Rossellini's ethnography of India is a combination of documentary and fiction. It's pretty and definitely of some interest. I wouldn't call it great, but it was worth checking out. 7/10. yes.
1990: The Bronx Warriors (Enzo G. Castellari, 1982) - Cheap Italian-produced rip-off of The Warriors, with a little bit of Escape from New York thrown in for good measure. I often find stuff like this quite a lot of fun, but this was fairly boring. Not awful, mind you. It has its moments. Fred Williamson co-stars as the villain-who's-not-really-a-villain (Vic Morrow turns out to be the real villain), and whenever he and his kitten-with-a-whip girlfriend are on screen, it's pretty fun. The protagonist, whose name is Trash (Mark Gregory), has a look that made me laugh, but he's pretty dull. His girlfriend (Stefania Girolami) gets kidnapped and he has to fight through a bunch of rival gangs to get her back. 5/10. no.
Hands of Steel (Sergio Martino, 1986) - Another Italian-produced, sci-fi cheapie. If The Bronx Warriors was The Warriors + Escape from New York, this one is Terminator + Over the Top (which actually didn't come out until the next year, but whatever). Daniel Greene plays a cyborg (the film is also called Atomic Cyborg) who is sent to assassinate a scientist. When he fails, he runs away and hides at an out-of-the-way motel/diner in Arizona, which is crowded at night by rowdy, arm wrestling-obsessed truck drivers (led by George Eastman, who also co-starred in The Bronx Warriors). Janet Agren plays the love interest, the owner of the motel. Eastman and his trucker cronies as well as Greene's creators are all after him. I felt much the same way about this one as I did The Bronx Warriors: while it built to some decent, B-movie action scenes near the end, the set-up took far too long and I had lost interest in the picture by the time it got any good. 5/10. no.
Re-watches
Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959) (second viewing) - Pretty simple as a narrative. Its value is in its lovely visuals and music. And, boy, is it lovely. 9/10. YES.
Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967) (multiple viewings) - Such a staggering accomplishment. There's so much going on that it almost gives me a headache trying to keep up with everything. Without a doubt one of the best films ever made. 10/10. YES YES YES.
Trafic (Jacques Tati, 1971) (third viewing) - While it doesn't hit the heights of his first four films, Tati's Trafic is quite a charming film itself. I particularly love Maria Kimberly, who is a wonderful mime herself. She can wear a costume, too. She must wear eight different outfits in the two or three days this film takes place over. 9/10. YES.
Parade (Jacques Tati, 1974) (third viewing) - Easily Tati's slightest film, but warm and endearing all the same. It was a TV movie made in Sweden. Tati plays ringleader to the Stokholm Circus. He does several of his famous sports pantomimes, which nicely connects the beginning of his career to the end. A lot of the other performers are even more impressive, particularly the jugglers. I could have done without the mule act, which seems unpleasant for both the mule and the people (that could easily have ended up very badly if the mule had kicked anyone in the face). I do have to admit I love the fat middle-aged man who participates, though. 9/10. YES.
Careful (Guy Maddin, 1992) (fourth viewing, maybe) - I go back and forth on whether this or Archangel is my favorite Guy Maddin feature. This was his third and his first feature in color. The use of color is bizarre. Sometimes it's meant to look like some ancient Technicolor movie which has faded into blurs. At other times it looks like a tinted silent film (several shots bring The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to mind). The plot is ludicrous, Freudian melodrama, pitched at an almost dreamlike degree (I sure have some great dreams after I watch a Maddin film and then go to bed!). The mountain city of Tolzbad is forever on the verge of being destroyed by avalanches, so they must remain as quiet as possible. Thus they live their lives as devoutly as possible, to keep any possible passion from noisily erupting and killing them all. The repression starts to bring out some foul, incestuous desires among a few of its citizens. One of my absolute favorite films. 10/10. YES YES YES.
Keyhole (Guy Maddin, 2011) - Perhaps not a good film for those who are unfamiliar with Guy Maddin, but, as a superfan, I love it. The black and white cinematography in particular is gorgeous (I bought this on Blu Ray right after I watched the DVD from Netflix several years back - man it looks great). Jason Patrick plays a gangster who holes himself in his old home, which is basically a purgatory-like place haunted by the ghosts of the past. Featuring Isabella Rossellini, Kevin McDonald, Udo Kier and a very naked Lou Negin. It's not said of his character, but the line from the film "No one has ever been this naked" is well applied to him here. 9/10. YES.
If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.