Thracian dawg's reviews

Page contents: Il Divo: the extraordinary life of Giulio Andreotti - (2008) - / L'Eclisse - (1962) / The trip - (2010) / Crazy, stupid, love. (2011) / Poetry (2010) / What's up, Doc? (1972) / Terror's Advocate (2007) / Birth (2004) / The Driver (1978) /Higher Ground (2011) / Le Doulos (1962) / Margaret (2011) / Roberto Succo (2001) / The Insect woman (1963) / Trees Lounge (1996) - Buscemi

Il Divo: the extraordinary life of Giulio Andreotti - (2008) - Sorrentino

What a beautiful day *

Despite not knowing a lick about Italian politics--except they love their coalition governments. This portrait of seven time Italian prime minister, Giulio Andreotti is a hoot. The prologue at the start of the film is basic and universal enough---there's two or three factions of power camped out near at the highest levels of government. Duh.

The lead actor, Toni Servillo has blended his portrayal from diverse sources; from Max Schreck's Nosferatu, all the way to the ambulatory movements of penguins. Working long hours hunched over at his desk, even when Andreotti stands he's still slumped over. As a politician he's proud to say he's been blamed for everything under the sun--- except the Punic wars (circa. 264 to 146 B.C.) which was only slightly before his time. His great stone face never betrays an emotion in public, but up close and personal, he's always cracking wise to his inner circle.

"I recognize my limits but when I look around I realise I am not living exactly in a world of giants"

The film subtlety suggests that Andreotti, instead of being gifted with great intelligence and cunning, has simply understood, in his own way, how power works. Andreotti knows in his blood that forces hurtful to his political aspirations, will be positively toxic to others. And with the big guys, the loss of a single penny (of even hypothetical earnings) will be dealt with brutally. And any and all enemies will be dispatched with cool efficiency.

This is definitely not for people who need neat little bows tied off on everything. The essential unbroken covenant of the film is that of a confessor and confessee. Notice how many times, someone leans in to whisper something into Andreotti's ear. Or the secret meetings where at most, a handful of people are privy---and even fewer still are allowed in the room. I think you have be comfortable with the idea bad guys pass away peacefully in their bed all the time, cloyed from lifetime of whoring and thievery.

There's the tiniest hint of collusion when the Capo di tutti capi (the boss of all bosses--surprisingly earthy) denies everything during the monster trial ... then turns to a guard and asks to be given a glass of carbonated mineral water. Andreotti's been knocking back similar conconctions for the whole movie. This is as close as you're going to get to an admission of guilt. The truth will never be, unearthed. So what remains is a portrait of a frowning sphinx.

The film is a glorious riot of cinematic winks; nods to gangster films and westerns and a few visual jokes. The double backs---whether thematically or the steady cam will literally track in a circle and begin again. The film is a nice reminder that politics is only true bloodsport.

Il Divo ~

* When a character makes this observation, that is usually a foreshadow of his imminent demise.

L'Eclisse - (1962) - Antonioni
　
Afflictions
　
The set-up? There isn't much of story. A young translator and her boss end their engagement after a long night of talking it all out, then she quickly begins doomed summer romance.

If the story happens at all, it "happens" in the camera work---and in glorious black and white. I was immediately hooked by the Antonioni's placement of the actors. The framing of the shots. Their posing. The reverse angles. Vittoria's (Monica Vitti) gently teased and tousled hair. The only sound, the whirring of the oscillating table fan. In this first scene, there's a kind of commodification going on. Rich and successful, the man furnishes his home well. But this terrible clutter, is clearly his life. He is, in the parlance of our day, an alpha consumer. A man is clearly defined by what he buys. And not wanting to become just another object she gently retreats from him. Although she herself admits to sharing these same convictions.
　
Her new lover is also rich and successful. As a commodities trader, Piero (Alain Delon), is also man of his times. But since everything can be bought or replaced in the blink on an eye, nothing has any real value in his world. After a minor market "correction". Vittoria asks him where did all those millions of dollars go after the stock market tanked? He shrugs his shoulders.
　
Although both her love interests propose marriage, Vittoria is skittish around relationships, with the former she's fallen out of love and with the latter, she never quite fell into it. She's stumbling towards something genuine, something real. And I have to confess I enjoy Vitti's arty dishevelment and brooding alienation.
　
There's a wonderful strangeness to the film. A feeling that the grasp of these people no longer includes the natural world. They live somewhat beyond it. Although great on paper, these man made structures aren't quite conducive for fostering human interactions. The walls and the tastefully decorated rooms conspire to limit and restrict them.
　
There's a lot of subtle humor in the film. The opening scene felt like darkest night, then she throws open the curtains to reveal it's actually morning. Several times during the film, someone is framed by a window from the outside ... then a real person will walk by, reversing what we thought was real.
　
Imagery? For the number of apartment blocks in this development, the streets are almost barren. The boulevards are so empty, any other presence is almost immediately symbolic.
　
The moment of silence where the stock exchange becomes a Mausoleum.
　
Near the end, Vittoria and Piero steal a tryst together in his office. In parting, they pledge eternal love and plan to meet later that night and tomorrow and the next day after that. To rangle a quiet moment with her, Piero's disconnected all the office phones, unplugging from his world to be with her. Yet as the Camera follows their parting. Upstairs, he walks around the office, replacing the receivers. Vittoria's progress down the stairwell slows, and she lingers near the front entrance. Piero appears lost in thought at his desk. She hears the phones begin to come to life, then she steps outside, revealing they have in fact called it quits and will never see each other again.

Then one of the weirdness endings I've seen in a while. Incredibly, as if the camera had felt the spark of their brief connection---it keeps their appointment later than night. The camera goes to their special place, the unfinished building beside the striped cross walk where they first kissed. The camera also visits other places they've been hoping to see them, then patiently returns, waiting over several days and nights for these two lost lovers to reappear.

Early Summer - (1951) - Ozu

Life in the suburbs

The set-up? A family portrait of the close knit Mamiya family in the quiet Tokyo suburb of Kita-Kamakura. A husband is proposed to the still unmarried Noriko (Setsuko Hara)---by her boss no less, which then sets in motion a lengthy of match making process with it's innumerable checks and balances and the inevitable changes it will have not just for her but her entire family.

At the beginning of every Ozu film there's always a period of character exposition. Since he used the same actors over and over---and the actors were allowed to play a wide range of different characters from film to film, he carefully sets in place the relationships of who is playing who and what.

The family consists of 28 year old Noriko; an executive secretary. She lives with her brother Koichi (a successful physician) with his wife Fumiko and their two boys, Minoru and Isamu (the younger terror) Their elderly parents, Shukichi and Shige also live with them. Noriko's best friend is Aya(ko); her mother runs a prosperous hotel/restaurant complex.

There's good characterization of the various members of the family. Particularly Noriko's brother, Koichi. He's kind of strict disciplinarian and distant father. He quietly chafes about the newly found independence of women who can freely express their opinions without difference to his. He hides out at his friend's who has a private practice, because his two boys makes his own home too noisy.

I liked the jumps in time in the story. It's up to the viewer to figger out whether a minute, a day, or a couple of weeks have passed from scene to scene.

Another big ellipsis in the film is the war and the American occupation of the country. In 1951, the effects were still being felt. There's a subtle guilt about store bought cakes, fizzy pops and dinners in the Ginza, since they know exactly what that would have cost in rations, only a couple of years ago. Real deprivation and hardship is not a distant memory.

"A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"



There's lots of little details in the film. The two young boys echo the elderly pair of brothers. The ribbon on the dresser; is this the one Noriko wore in her hair as a young girl? The dark horse suitor. Although he appears to have strolled in out of left field. If you were paying attention; his family still remains close to theirs He was best friends with her MIA brother and they've been around one another most of their lives. The toy trains are a wonderful echo to the commuter trains speeding people towards other destinations and distant places but mostly away from home.

The only sour note is the subtitles. There's a few careless mistakes in the translation. She returns to the office to "design", instead of resign. The proposed suitor is referred to ironically, as "not" being a player. She has a scrapbook of Katherine Hepburn photos and not "Audrey" Hepburn.

This is one of Ozu's better efforts, sprinkled with little bittersweet moments of moving on. One of Noriko's friends suggests they get together on the weekend. Noriko prepares the party, but all her married friends bail at the last minute. Her group of friends from high school are quickly growing apart. In her last meeting with her boss, he confesses his secret regret; maybe he should have thrown his hat into the ring while he had the chance. Or when they pose for the idyllic family portrait of happiness at the end. That moment is already a distant memory.

Here is a link to my thoughts on L'Eclisse. I liked Early Summer better.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

The trip - (2010) - Winterbottom

Merrily merrily merrily

The set-up? Steve is a British actor just one good role away from American stardom. He wrangled a series of posh restaurant reviews in the north country for his journalist girlfriend, to which they quietly retooled into a week long smooch fest. Unfortunately on the eve of their get-away, their romance fizzles and she high tails it back to New York. Leaving Steve to find a last minute replacement. He slowly exhausts his rolodex until he comes upon a second rate comedic actor he's known for a few years. We get the distinct feeling that this is going to be the road trip to hell.

Fortunately, both of them are quietly competitive, combative and enjoy needling the hell out one another. They soon settle into a week long game of one-upmanship and easy banter. Steve quickly zeros in on Rob's pathological insecurity to always be charming and entertaining for complete strangers ... but also for close friends. Steve has some heat and renown to his acting career---is the more commercially successful of the two, but there's an awful lot of extra sturm and drang involved in being semi-famous. Rob merely comments it must be exhausting to live that way.

The biggest plus is the actors obviously know one another in real life and are comfortable around each other. Certain scenes are complete improvisations between the two. And Kudos to the film editor, who like one of the proverbial chefs in the film sliced away all the extraneous moments from the original six part TV mini series to trim this into a feature film.

Plus, this looks like bloody good fun. A scenic morning drive down the road to the next hotel and restaurant. Spending the afternoon sight seeing or hiking, then a gourmet supper. Rinse and repeat five more times. Despite themselves, they genuinely seem to enjoy themselves.

"The Trip" should pop up at the end of the year on several best of the 2011 lists. Although it appears slight and ethereal, there are several layers to this. Drama-wise the film isn't filled with any big moments, but quiet observations about Steve's character. There's something poignant about him standing alone in cow pastures holding his cell phone to the heavens and waiting for Zeus to throw down his technology thunderbolt so he can with connect to his "important" people.

There's also a feeling of time passing and being carried along by life. Rob of course, relaxes in the rhythm, finding great happiness with his wife and young son. Steve is more career obsessed and extremely conscious of every failed and missed opportunity. If he paddled just a little harder, he could get out of that place and be a movie star.
　

Crazy, stupid, love. (2011) - Ficarra & Requa

Love Stinks

The Set-up? At their weekly restaurant date Cal (Steve Carell) asks his wife of 25 years, Emiliy (Julianne Moore) what she feels like having. She goes off menu ... way off.

I assumed this was going to be a flat-out romance between a couple or two, but it turned out to be a fine ensemble affair, with the heavy lifting evenly distributed amongst all the actors. The bit players are well cast, and they get a chance to develop their own story.

And, for once, there was an absence of gross-out and raunchy humor that has sadly become to be the norm for all comedies lately. But this is not to say there aren't some outlandish moments in the film. The characters are hesitant and gawky only because they lead so openly with their hearts.

There's good dialogue with snappy one liners. For instance, Cal is in his new home away from home ... the singles bar. Getting slowly hammered, unaware the entire club has overheard his little expository riff on; "She hath made a cuckold out of me!" There's also some nice details: The midnight rambler Jacob (Ryan Gosling) was probably motivated to help Cal with a make-over out of sheer boredom.

Plus there's another reason to watch foreign films. You can rip them off and no one is the wiser. Jacob's big move is borrowed from a set piece from the French film "L'Arnacoeur" from last year. The film is just slightly self-conscious about the movie making process. Emma Stone makes sly jibes at the movie's rating. And after, a particularly brutal evening with the women in his life, Cal is left standing alone in the parking lot and it begins to rain. He looks up: "Are you kidding me?"

There's a wonderfully hopeful and sweet ending---but if you care to reflect upon the final moments of the film afterwards, you can discover the bitter sweet after-taste is clearly there. "Crazy stupid love" is a cut above the normal rom com fare simply because some thought and craftsmanship was allowed to remain.



Product placement: AMC theatres. Macy's. Brookstone pillows. And Ryan Gosling as a virile sex god.

Poetry (2010) - Chang-dong

Discomfort

The set-up? 66 year old Mija takes care of her grandson while her daughter works in a distant city. She's retired but has a part time job as a cleaner to help make ends meet. She schedules an appointment at the clinic because she's feeling just a little strange. She signs up for a poetry course on a whim---remembering she once was told as a young girl she had great promise. Life is drifting along, pretty much as usual.

In her poetry class, Mija is at a loss for inspiration. Her poetry teacher explains that poetry has nothing to do with inspiration and is merely the moment of perception: seeing something for the first time.

Likes? Her classmates are real. Adults, from all walks of life wanting to improve their quality of life by learning how to write poetry. There's a nice foreshadow when the students address to the class about their reasons for joining up, most of them end up blubbering about some personal tragedy.

The various echoes in the film: the stroke victim's extravagant secret tip for being such a good girl. Of course when Mija goes downstairs to receive her wages, she mentions this to his daughter and they share a laugh---his "big" tip is only a handful of pennies. Which in turn, echoes in her "big" tip to the grieving mother. There's also the parallel between the stroke victim and herself; his wealth; her poverty; although locked inside his body, his miser's mind is razor sharp, contrasting delicately with Mija's situation.

The most interesting thing is the pacing of the film. And there could be several reasons for this. The slowness may be a kind of poetic enunciation, that kind of slowed down reflection that allows one to make connections to dissimilar things. It also could be Mija is struggling not just financially with her burden but wrestling also with moral ramifications of her actions. And lastly, it could just be her own forgetfulness. Her initial trip the doctor is spurred on by the fact, she forgetting some of her nouns, she'll remember the transfer center for the bus routes, but forget what it's called. She may be losing her way in the gently enveloping fog of dementia.

Primes for the film? The color red. The color white. The color yellow. Flowers. Chang-dong also at times, places props in the foreground and background which adds a little portent to the scenes. Like, there's a shot when Mija crosses a road ... something has spilled and left a dark blood like stain splattered across the pavement... does that indicate the squalor or the violence of the district?

Yun Jeong-hie (Mija) was a legendary south Korean actress in her prime and she came out of retirement just for this film. There's a lot of social commentary and some subtle feminism that comes through in the film ... it's definitely a man's world in South Korea. And as for the title, yeah, there are quiet moments of poetry in the film.

What's up, Doc? (1972) - Bogdanovich

Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride

The set-up? Four identical suitcases arrive in San Francisco and end up staying at the same ritzy hotel; one of them is brimming with diamonds; another contains top secret documents and one of them is literally packed with rocks.

A deliciously low brow and rather dopey comedy. A great period piece when Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neil when they were at the tippy top of the Hollywood pile with impossibly youthful looking bit players like M Emmet Walsh, Randy Quaid, Austin Pendelton and Liam Dunn contributing to the mix. Everyone's got their hair. Plus a classic chase scene through the streets of San Francisco on a grocery store delivery bike.

There's a lot of seamless set-ups. When the spotter at the airport points out his man with top secret documents. The "tail" grabs a set of golf clubs to blend in as a tourist and begins following him, up and down (mostly up) the hilly streets. Streisand crosses a street causing multiple traffic accidents without nary a scratch to her person. She takes one look at look at bookish scholar from Ohio (O'Neil) in a hotel lobby, and enters his life like the proverbial bull in a china shop. When Kahn and O'Neil first appear together, it's obvious that she's merely managing his career; so the audience immediately accepts that Streisand could steal him away with not much fuss or bloodletting.
　
Lots of gags and funny lines:
"Must you stand so close?"
"I'm near-sighted"

"Use your charm on her"

"Love is never having to say your sorry"
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard"
(Of course, O'Neil starred in that movie two years earlier)

Absurd details. Like O'Neil's bow tie and his cummerbund are color coordinated to match the suitcases. Despite both characters coming from the mid-west, they both have deep golden Californian tans.

I'll also single out Madeline Kahn (in her first screen role?) She makes a perfect foil for both Streisand and O'Neil. That great kooky hairdo. Her bee stung lips. The scuff marks her heels leave when she is dragged from the ballroom, all the while slinging her purse at everyone in sight.

To be honest it's been a quite a while since I"ve seen a Steisand movie, but this definitely whets my whistle for more. She's funny and endearing. And when she starts to sing, you can't help thinking: Omigod, what a voice! But I can't help cringing, when I imagine someone starting out with Streisand's talent and face today. What with the prevailing nip and tuck culture of our time, the poor kid would be cut up to look like bulging Barbie doll faster than you could say "What's up, Doc?"

Whats up Doc is one of my favourites

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Terror's Advocate (2007) - Schroeder
　
Speak to my lawyers

There's an old joke. What do you call 500 lawyers at the bottom of a lake?

An excellent beginning!

As young lawyer, Jacques Vergès was brimming with moral outrage and idealism. His first case was the show trial of the Algerian terrorist, Djamila Bouhireb, her rendez-vous with the guillotine was a done deal. So Vergès started an international campaign to pressure the powers to be (not in Algeria) but back in France to commute her sentence to life imprisonment. She was of course, released from prison and resurrected as a great Algerian patriot the moment they finally kicked the French imperialists out.

Depending on your point of view, Vergès is either a kind of bon vivant, or a pompous ass puffing on one of his Cuban cigars. The biography is rather slim. His most famous clients are only mentioned in passing. He's also rather closed mouthed about sensitive questions; client confidentiality, self incrimination and all that rot. I knew going in---this being a biography of lawyer, I wasn't going to be impressed with his moral flexibility.

So what's to recommend about this documentary? Not much. The only interesting thing of course, is the heady days of national struggles for independence fell into decline, and opened up more free lance and have gun--will travel opportunities, which parallels Vergès own trajectory down the primrose path. It's more than a little disheartening that Vergès ended up defending polar opposites from the defendants of his early career---but what the hell, that's where the money lies.

In the not so distant past, torture and assassination by civilized nations was frowned upon. There's one or two outlaw nations that still regularity sent out black op teams to murder anyone who could oppose them in deed or even word, but quite correctly, disavow any knowledge of these criminal acts.

I think all the bang from the film comes from an ability to extrapolate this question of violence as a whole. How can one condemn someone for wanton acts of lawless violence and cruelty, that we ourselves perpetrate? Is there a difference between a soldier and military man---in the noble fight against terrorism---is or was empowered to torture detainees? Does shipping targets for information retrieval to independent contractors, remove one's culpability? Is a fighter in the revolutionary (and outlaw) army placing a bomb against an invading and occupying army guilty of a crime? Which one is unlawful? What about a lawyer (or more accurately the gang of lawyers) who defend a corporation---in an early cost cutting effort, simply dumped barrels of toxic sludge into the local lake, which years later have caused an epidemic rise in horrific cancers in the local population and killed a significant portion of them?

When it's all over, what remains is the silence of the marble palaces. People like Vergès, during a break in the court proceedings, strolling through the opulent gardens. smoking his cigar, contemplating not the decline of morality, but the utter absence of it. Big Nations have pretty much always behaved like scum simply because they have the power of the legal system to intimidate and kill anyone they want, then dress it up in the rags of fundamental decency.

There's a moment in the film when the interviewer asks: "Would you defend Hitler?" Vergès replies "I'd even defend Bush! But only if he agrees to plead guilty." Given that the tenth anniversary of his unilateral declaration of war on terrorism has just passed; one could ask the ex-prez about the moral minutiae of his actions, but we all ready know his response...

Birth (2004) - Glazer

Careless whisper

The set-up? Anna is about to remarry after a decade of widowhood. As her future husband admits it's been a long road for the both of them. When they announce the actual date at a birthday party, a stranger---a boy who almost seems to have materialized like a ghost out of the darkness begs her not to remarry.
　
The character of Anna (Nicole Kidman) is front and center in the film. She's not unlike one of those expensive porcelain statues lining her spacious upper class apartment. She's rather delicate and vulnerable in this refined world of good manners and proper breeding. Her fiancé (Danny Huston) gets comments like "Well done, old chap" and "Jolly good", like he had made a ripping good play at croquet on the grassy knoll of some private members club instead of getting her to openly declare her love to him.
　
Before leaving for the opera one night. This silliness has gone on long enough. Joseph and Anna go downstairs to confront Sean and warn him to end his silly game; before entering the elevator, she glances back, catching Sean collapsing in the hallway. The next scene, has them dashing down the theatre aisle rushing to their seats, the orchestra plays a foreboding riff that the play is about to begin. Then the camera moves in and holds on her face, as if she had just dropped a stone down a bottomless pit and she's listening for it to touch bottom. Then somewhere deep in the fathoms, it lands faintly. What if the boy is not lying? What if her dead husband was really reincarnated?
　
We can easily surmise why Anna fell in love with her first husband. Passion. Looking around her world of privilege, that's just not something in abundant supply. Watch as she leaves her husband's grave marker early in the film, she stumbles slightly. After so much time, that was still a difficult decision. Did she ask for his permission?
　
Likes? The curious title, given the film is basically a study in grief. What does that refer to? The birth of what? The set decoration; the flower arrangements with merely a hint of a bouquet. The strange symmetry of their faces which draws them together. The waiting areas with marble benches and the alcoves with couches where people sit and wait to be received. In a scene where Anna brings Sean back to his family, they are driven through the night in an esprit (spirit) taxi cab.
　
Alexandre's Desplat's slightly orchestral score gets numerous opportunities to shine. The opening movement returns a couple times in the film with slight variations. During the climax scenes, I particularly liked the faint sound of a life support machine discreetly trying to pump oxygen into the dying relationship.
　
Although the director has clearly stumbled badly by trying to wrap everything up with a neat and tidy bow---explaining away the mystery. Despite his efforts, some of it remains. How long is grief? What about the dooms of love? How long do they last? Is it possible one could still hopelessly love someone 10 years after their death? In the last scene of the film, over the laughter and music of her wedding reception, Anna has clearly heard her dead husband calling to her from the ocean.
　
Some people really love Glazer's first film, "Sexy beast". And after reading the synopsis for his unreleased third film, "Under the Skin" where alien cannibals kidnap unsuspecting hitchhikers and ship them to off world restaurants specializing in human dishes. (Good Gawd! ) I think his second effort, "Birth" will still be his best film to date.

P.S. Although not quite the low hanging fruit I once imagined, I assumed most of the audience with a little effort (and tippy toes) would reach up and grasp the thematic what if? contained within the film. For instance, if you change the sex of the two main characters: what if a 37 year old man was falling desperately in love with a 10 year girl, the same movie becomes unfilmable and unwatchable; and may even gotten the director arrested for public indecency. Ten years later (and the third time I’ve seen this gorgeous movie) I realize this film now has a conceptual degree of difficulty which is simply beyond the reach of the typical popcorn and bubble gum crowd.

Birth— ★★★★

The Driver (1978) - Hill

100 MPH to nowhere

The set-up? Ryan O'Neill is the best wheel man in Los Angeles, circa 1976. He's got a waiting list of clients as long as his arm. So many heists, so little time.

"The Driver" is existential theatre at it's best, disguised as an action film. You've heard of the man with no name, how about an entire movie cast without any names? No one has an identity beyond vague generalities. The Detective. The Driver. The Player. Glasses. Fingers. Frizzy.
The three detectives never put one foot in the precinct. They do all their business either in Torchy's lounge, or in the garage downstairs. They cruise around the city in a surveillance van, cherry picking their cases. The Detective (Bruce Dern) comes right out and says early in the film that his vocation is his avocation. All the joy in his life comes from playing cops and robbers. Since being the good guy, all the risks and danger is removed for him. If he doesn't catch the bad guys tonight, he'll catch them tomorrow and he never loses ... to the point of bending the rules when he has to.

In this (mostly nighttime) world, there's no such thing as loyalty, you're merely renting someone for the length of the transaction. Watch the player disappear in a heartbeat, the moment there's nothing in it for her. A few of the characters openly admit, they'll rat you out in a heartbeat if anyone puts a hard question to them. This is a world where double crosses are a foregone conclusion---and yet everyone is totally shocked when they happen. There's no emotional warmth or connection in this world. It's filled with spaces of functional emptiness: abandoned buildings; warehouses; rooftops; back alleyways; parking lots; hotel rooms; brief cases and the ultimate stationary and solitary location, the driver's seat.

Subtleties? The brooding darkness of the film deliberately obscures the humor, which in any other film would be laugh out loud funny. In particular, some of Dern's zingers and acting bits. Or the driver already knows who the orange bimmer belongs to when it shows up, so he deliberately kicks the **** out of it. Although the driver's stature and nobility grows in contrast with the opportunism of the people around him, he never manages to rise above what he is, the criminal outlaw.

The best thing about this film is the absurdity of it. At the start of the film, the cops are already on him like white on rice. If the criminals get away, he was the one driving. As the best driver in the business, his going rate is $10,000 or 15% of the take. Like a Greek tragedy, he's trapped in a vicious circle of working exclusively for low lives and creeps; but the Driver feels nothing but total disgust for those who employ him. And O'Neil does look a suitably fatootsed throughout the film. He also knows, as the bad guy; the game is rigged, but he accepts it completely.

And the ultimate absurdity is the Driver and the Detective seem to be a mirror images of one another. The detective explains his dislike for the driver for being some sort of cowboy who can pick and choose his assignments, but he could be referring to himself. And indeed, one feels, there's an unstated, begrudging friendship between them---they would have had a couple of beers together, at the end of the film, had not the train station been lousy with cops.

Likes? The great symbolic opening, the Driver literally emerges out of a hole in the ground, and that's about as much as much biographical information we're ever going to get from him. The amount of vanishing point shots in film. The jagged little score that's used sparingly. And instead of one kick ass car sequence, there's three.

Higher Ground (2011) - Farmiga

True believer

The set-up? From a young girl watching the disintegration of her parent's marriage to her own several decades later; this is Corinne's (Vera Farmiga) spiritual biography.

This is not about fundamentalism, but one woman's struggle for faith---and it's not that she's lacking any love for Heavy G (the original gangsta of love); it's just that she treasures, above all else, that righteous, old testament, let me be your flaming sword, kind of faith. She feels God's presence in her life is somewhat lacking. Unfortunately, the differences between: somewhat remiss; adequate; great; or freakoid Jesus eyes that never blink piety are impossible to chart---unless you count superficial differences. Conformity in devotion and community is everything in her world, and it manifests itself chiefly in the "moral" corrections of others.

First of all, kudos to Ms Farmiga---instead of hiding in her trailer like a little diva during all those movie shoots, she's actually walked among the unwashed and picked up more than a few chops along the way. If I had one criticism for her first film: it's too keenly observed and her touch---too light.

Examples of this great subtlety? When the teen-aged Corinne is at her boyfriend's rock concert. She's watching him on stage, and the crowd adoring him. On the surface, this is a falling in love scene, what's actually happening is, she is being validated---after all, he's mouthing the words she penned. Her best friend becoming, for want of a better phrase, the perfect church mouse. Although her fantasy moments in the film appear overlarge and jarring, they are in fact, tiny pin pricks of protest and anger that barely register on her consciousness. I doubt whether Corinne, even has a working knowledge of feminism. And in instances of divorce, it's the women who are cast out of the community.

Likes? Farmiga's impish and slightly ribald sense of humor. And ultimately, Corinne's spiritual "fit" in that community isn't wrong or right, it's just wrong for her. Her spirituality will have to take into account her own uniqueness, with all it's complexity. Her reluctance to cast even a single soul into the lake of the fire---denotes a great reverence for life. The world can be a wild and woolly place and the presence of doubt is not necessarily a negative thing; for there are more things in heaven and earth that we can merely finger and touch without understanding.

Nice reviews Dawgie Thanks

Le Doulos (1962) - Melville

Find the rat

The set-up? Maurice Faugel (Serge Reggiani---he looks like a sullen Rowan Atkinson) is back in streets after a five year stint in the big house, he's looking to jump start his life.

The titled prologue explains that a "Doulos" is the cool, wide brimmed Borsalino favored by the criminal underworld---by merely dipping your head forward a little, your face disappears in shadow. It's also police slang for a C.I. The prologue---combined with Faugel's first existential thoughts that equate truth with death, thus life is an endless series of lies and deceit; suggesting his time in prison may have been cut short by a deal he made with the authorities ... maybe we don't have far to go to find our "finger man" or stool pigeon.

Likes? Melville's love of American gangster films is obvious, when the characters pull up their collars and duck down their heads, it's hard not to smile. There's a great mix of studio and street locations. The friendships in this world are rock solid and unshakeable and at the same time, paper thin, particularly when it comes to betrayal. Retribution is swift and brutal.
　
Small details? When Faugel talks about his great friendship with Silien to his girlfriend Thérèse; the film cuts to Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo) in the living room. It's a two shot (him and his shadow on the wall) eyeing his girlfriend's picture like a wolf, a subtle foreshadow suggesting maybe his great trust in his friend a little misplaced. The sneakers when the thieves are on the job. The woman's portrait in Thérèse's apartment is placed so it looks in on both the living room and kitchen. The ceramic vase at the heist that rocks back and forth and spins, but never falls from the table. Silien is best friends with both Faugel, the thief and the cop, Salignari.

There's some nice word play---some of which translates into English. "Y'know, when you got out of prison---because you were so weak and anemic, so I recommended iron supplements (extracts bullet from his shoulder) ... I meant spinach". Or when the cops pick up Silien, They're investigating a case involving Salignari; the cops use the diminutive form of his name: Sali (dirty or corrupt in French) Silien objects and always uses his friend's full name.

The film makes great use of a revelation motif in this film. Which manifests itself visually in shots where the characters momentarily hold in stark shadow, then step into the light. Or the exposition scenes which function to bring the befuddled audience up to snuff in the story ... but then again, no one really knows how truthful they are in a world where lying is the way of life.

The film also has a nice layer that points beyond its fictional world. France's colonial present omnipresent in the background details; the African art; the street graffiti, and the daily dispatch from Algeria emblazoned on the front pages of the newspapers. In fact, Faugel's first thought: It's either deceit or death places their national dilemma front and center. They can keep their colonies through continued violence and systemic, official lies becoming not unlike the petty criminals trapped in this underworld, who dream of that one last job, and retiring from the racket once and for all, but never do.

Margaret (2011) - Lonergan

The New York moment

The set-up? Lisa (Anna Paquin) is a typical adolescent with a privileged JAP life. The story begins with her about to be pinched for cheating on a math test. She's known for being a bit of a drama queen; but 17 year old Lisa has a growing awareness she can manipulate---when she wants to, the boys and the men in her life.

Okay, First question: Will the back stage soap opera surrounding this film overwhelm the actual movie? Unquestionably. It's a huge red flag for any movie to sit in the can longer than 12 months, so a 6 year interval is unheard of. This is usually the sign of a colossal stinker, though with this film, this is not the case. Scorsese called one of the versions of this film, a masterpiece. And ultimately this question will only be resolved if the future DVD release of this film, contains both the theatrical version and the director's cut.

Okay, Second question. Why was the Margaret character cut from the film? She wasn't. The title comes from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem they read during an English Lit class entitled: Spring and Fall, about a young girl crying over a pile of dead leaves.

Some nice things from the film? In one class, the Olivia Thirlby character begins sitting beside her as her friend, but gravitates to the opposite side of the room---due to the fact, in this class, Lisa is also known as Ilsa, she-wolf of the SS (Social Sciences) The sky line shots, which are immediately diminished for native New Yorkers, whose glances alway stray to familiar landmarks that are no longer there. Lisa's world of rank and privilege; where the first call is always to a lawyer to find out their judicial options and liabilities. And from one of the scenes in the film, it's prophetic that Kenneth Lonergan (who plays her Malibu dad) is clearly not a multitasker.

The Downside? The film is extremely internal. Lisa's growing frustration with herself, is projected outwards onto the world around her, leading her to act out her anger in a number of quests---most noticeably to underscore her growing alienation with her mother. The best parts of the film are when you can clearly trace this cause and effect in her actions. What shines, is Lisa's adolescent need to have her feelings validated, though hers pale in comparison to the actual suffering of other characters in the story, which she always fails to notice. What remains is a character study and a painful coming of age story.

Roberto Succo (2001) - Kahn

Psycho killer

The set-up? While on vacation in the south of France 16 year old Léa meets 19 year old Kurt one summer night on the boardwalk---to the dulcet tones of the Culture Club no less. He's also "vacationing". He's impetuous, bit of a bad boy, but clearly ca-ca-razy about her. A typical summer romance with an Italian dream boat with feverous blue eyes turns into something a little deeper when he unexpectedly shows up at her home several months later.

There's a lot of subtle humor in the film. His introductions to people are completely loopy. Depending on his whim, He's either a contraband smuggler, a spy, a secret agent or a terrorist. He'll tell someone he's Irish, yet speaks French with a heavy Italian accent.

Succo is clearly not a criminal master mind; most of the time, he's inept, if not completely hopeless. There's no rhyme or reason to his motivations. We can surmise the people who escaped his clutches and lived to tell about, did so only because they unknowingly made a connection to something in his fantasy world. In one scene, a policeman traces a series of unsolved crimes in his district on a map. which has him effectively going in circles---ruling out a single perpetrator. What kind of lunatic would kill a policeman, then return three days later to the same city to break into a house and steal a toaster?

Likes? The number of scenes beside still lakes, suggesting a symbolical echo of Succo, as something hidden in plain sight and ultimately unfathomable. I also liked the scene when Léa breaks it off with him: it's a repeat of the scene when he first showed up at her home after the summer vacation. She rushes down the stairwell of her apartment building into his waiting arms outside; her girlish delight is replaced the second time with a mad dash to save her school mates from being killed.

When the film first premiered at film festivals in France, it was picketed by the police who claimed the film glamourized the baby faced killer, who had became during his 1986-87 crime spree, one of France, Italy and Switzerland's most wanted criminals. It's more accurate to say, the whole film is kind of deglamorized. The local constabulary are always the picture of unemotional professionalism, workman-like in the collection of evidence, then methodically constructing their case.

The particularity of the film comes from a very specific POV that limits the scenes to hard evidence and eye witness accounts and the film divides along those lines. Which produces an interesting effect: Roberto Succo doesn't really "exist" at all in the strict sense. He's wraithlike. His essence molders in police files and in the memories of people who crossed paths with him; for these people, he will forever be "on the run" and he will always elude capture.

The Insect woman (1963) - Imamura
　
Tales of ordinary lust and cruelty

The film opens with an insect crawling in the dirt. The camera pulls back to reveal the glass walls of the insectarium, restricting this world and furthering the symbolism. If this is representative of our dirt poor heroine Tomé, then her lot in life is going to be preordained and unhappy.

The film follows one Japanese woman's life from her birth just after the first world war until she becomes a grandmother. There's several scenes of daughters repeating the mistakes of their mothers which of course, were the same mistakes as their grandmothers. The movie keys on historical dates of social strife in Japan, which mirrors the changes in her own life. She goes through her early life under valued and exploited. Unfortunately in the process, internalizing all that abuse and becomes, later on, a tormenter and coldy opportunistic in her own right.

Imamura's slightly lurid style might be better suited for the art house crowd. In this film, rape is such a common occurrence; all the women in her family crack wise about it before sending the young Tomé off to help out on neighboring farm. Since they are tenent farmers and the man in question, owns a small plot of land---and therefore of a slightly higher social standing than them, they think she's got a chance to score a husband out of it.

I'm assuming dialogue is an important component to understanding Imamura's films, since sub-titles can only supply a fraction of the meaning with none of the complexity of language: he's a stylish director from the Japanese new wave that leaves me delightfully baffled and wanting more. The English title to this film is "The Insect Woman" whereas the original Japanese title is "Entomological Chronicles of Japan"

Trees Lounge (1996) - Buscemi
　
The mechanic
　
The set-up? Steve Buscemi directed a movie?
　
This unassuming and assured character study works wonders if you stay with it. Buscemi plays the lead, Tommy, a recently unemployed mechanic, who like all decent alcoholics believes work is the curse of the drinking class. And he actually has a little directorial mojo, so I looked up his resume and was surprised this wasn't a one time deal. He's also directed TV episodes of Nurse Jacky and the Soprano's. As of this scribble, He's just cast his actors for his second feature. Which I will definitely be checking out because of this effort. His stature amongst other actors is pretty obvious, lots of familiar acting faces signed up for one scene roles and bit parts.
　
The story has got the form of a standard drama with a slightly relaxed pace due to the medicinal doses of brown ale, but oh, there's hidden kicks. The last scene makes it painfully clear when Tommy takes the place of another character---despite the drama of the last couple of weeks, his life has always been this way. He's always been on a slow boat to nowhere on the cusp of a turning it all around and making good since, well---forever. He'll always be a little bewildered about just how did things slip away from him so completely? And with each passing year, his "I coulda been a contender" impression becomes a little more poignant.

I havent had the chance to see Le Doulos. But it looks interesting. What do you think of Le Samourai, Army Of Shadows and Le Cercle Rouge? Of the 3 Melville films ive seen, i think Army of Shadows is his best.