Thracian dawg's reviews

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Page contents: Not here to be loved (2005) / Manhunter (1986) / Drunken Angel (1948) /Please Please me (2009) / Cartagena (2009) / The woman I loved (2009) / Freedom (2009) / Please Give (2010) / The Secret in their eyes (2009) / Secret beyond the door (1947) / The Cry of the Owl (2009) / Mademoiselle Chambon (2009) / Knight and Day (2010) / Wild Grass (2009) / Winter's Bone (2010)


Not here to be loved / je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (2005) Brizé



Good things come in small packages.

An unassuming character study that slowly twirls into a delicate romance. With only two main characters---the canvas isn't going to be overtly large. But both Patrick Chesnais (Jean-Claude) and Anne Consigny (Françoise) fill their roles to the brim. Françoise is a guidance counselor; she has a radiant disposition. Jean-Claude is a Bailiff, so he's used to being unemotional in very emotionally taxing situations.

The people he's going to evict with the court's approval all seem to live on the top floors of elevator-less buildings. It's during one of these trudges to the top that he experiences heart palpitations. As part of his prescription he needs to take some exercise. And upon reflection he settles on a dance class, specifically the dreaded tango that will make his heart go pitty-pat for a medicinal reasons but nothing more. Boy, is he in for a surprise.

Nice things? During a group outing when the class takes in a dance recital together, during the performance Jean-Claude looks over at her in the audience, and she looks over at him. There's more desire contained in that glance then the two professional tango dancers sweating it out up on the stage before them. There's also a telling scene when he buys her a present. He's inside a perfume boutique. After trying out samples for a couple of minutes:

Jean-Claude: Wow. that's perfect. what is it?
Saleslady: Intense passion.
Jean-Claude: Intense passion !?! ... Uh, would you have the exact same fragrance under a different name?

That scene highlights some of the themes of the movie. On can imagine his face reddening as Francoise looks at the label on the perfume bottle. Jean-Claude's on the cusp of 50, she's on the cusp of 40; intense passion isn't something either of them planned for or even expected at this point of their lives.

Jean-Claude's Father has gotten extremely crotchety in his old age. All the nurses in his old folk's home feel he's the bane of their existence. His other Brother and Sister have long since given up on him and no longer visit. These visits consist of mostly his Father sniping and grumbling at him while they play Monopoly. Though, when the weekly visit is over, his Dad goes to the window to steal a peek at him as he drives away. This suggests His Dad belongs to that era when Father's were stoic disciplinarians and not allowed to show emotion. So his anger, is born more of frustration that he can't communicate with his son and the people around him. This same pattern repeats with his own son, who of course has zero interest and has been shoehorned into the family business the same way Jean-Claude was. I liked a scene near the end, when he himself repeats this same gesture and goes to his office window, peeking through the curtains at the building across the street, where Françoise takes her Tango lessons.

Not here to be loved ~ 8/10



Manhunter (1986) Mann

Reflections, mirrors and images

Rather than working the evidence and making minute connections in the life-sized jigsaw puzzle; FBI Profiler Will Graham (William Petersen) makes intuitive leaps in logic by empathizing with the Unsub, then anticipates his moves and motives.

Right off the bat, I prefer this version to the remake. I prefer Brian Cox's vicious meat and potatoes Lektor (he has only two scenes in the film) over Anthony Hopkins' sissified interpretation. He's so narcissistic he even Americanized the spelling of his name. Joan Allen has a nice part as a frisky co-worker. Tom Noonan is also a rather sympathetic monster.

In the novel. Dollarhyde was born hideously disfigured with a hole in the middle of his face and had extensive reconstructive surgery to make him appear normal. All that remains of that, is his telling gesture of always hiding his face with his hand and Reba McClane's immediate notice of all the voice therapy he's already underwent.

I think Manhunter hints that Graham is an empath. Since he spends his days living the dreams and nightmares of serial killers, and logistically, he supposed to be shuffling papers in the rear with the gear. But always ends up close and and personal with these monsters. I'd like to go a little bit further and make a case for Graham being a highly functioning sociopath for two reasons.

First of all, there is definitely something wonky going on with Graham's reflections. If you watch his arrival at the first crime scene, his reflected image is fragmented but at the sound of Mrs Leed's voice on the answering machine the shock (or the thrill?) of hearing her voice quickly solidifies his image in the mirror.

There's a wonderful shot in the airport lounge before heading to Atlanta for his final physic transformation when he'll let the killer inside him have full possession of his faculties. He talks to this living and breathing entity just on the other side of the glass.

During the final confrontation; Dollarhyde goes to his kitchen window and sees a man running towards the house. His full realized Doppelgänger explodes from the world of darkness into the real world. Notice how Graham also punishes Dollarhyde with several blasts before dropping him with the head shot.

When he visits Lektor in his cell for the first time, this scene includes a reverse shot through the bars from Lektor's point of view, implying that in addition to getting the "scent" back, he's also reacquainting himself with the consequences of overindulging himself. The double cell idea intimates that Graham's ability to step outside himself is the only real difference between him and the monsters he hunts.

And lastly; the film buries the Tooth Fairy's Modus operandi which involves his first killing or maiming the family pet as to announce his presence and stroll in unharassed into their lives. Although this detail is missed by Tattler's tail wagging reporter (Freddy Lounds) and the quiet army of technicians working and interpreting the evidence. Will pats him on the head and quietly tethers Lounds on a grassy knoll at nightfall. This essential pattern is not lost on Graham. Lektor is the only other person clever enough to pick up on this, and out of professional courtesy between killers only mentions that little bit of nastiness in passing ---- Prison decorum also prevents him from attempting a fist bump with Graham.

Back in the day, when Manhunter was released originally, the idea of a licensed psychopath roaming the gentle countryside was a way too creepy to be variously enjoyed. However, with the intervening years and years of slab work and forensic science programs; A solid foundation has been built up for our favorite blood spatter expert---the likeable sociopath who only kills the wicked. Of course, I may be reading way too much into the material but I like Micheal Mann's Manhunter because the character of Will Graham is part empath and early prototype for the Dexter character.

Manhunter ~ 9/10



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Nice review, but I'm commenting because the rating is so high. In general, I like Mann, at least up to a point, but when he goes on... with his synth score and elongated "TV commercial"-type visuals, I can appreciate his "skills" better than his storytelling. It just starts to get to me, but I understand that's why others love him.

Public Enemies should be burned. Oh, no. I don't believe in denying freedom of expression. I was just trying to save some people from wasting their lives but we all do that everyday at some point, don't we?
__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



Nice review, but I'm commenting because the rating is so high. In general, I like Mann, at least up to a point, but when he goes on... with his synth score and elongated "TV commercial"-type visuals, I can appreciate his "skills" better than his storytelling. It just starts to get to me, but I understand that's why others love him.
I can understand this completely, but not with this film. For me, that film is Heat which, for the life of me, I don't really know why I like so much but I do love the way it looks. I've spoken briefly with LBJ about this and he's pretty much convinced me that must be the reason. I just have no other explaination.



I'm commenting because the rating is so high.
This month, more than usual I've been revisiting a lot of old favorites.

Kasdan's The Accidental Tourist ~ meh
Fellini's Amarcord ~ meh
Oshima's Taboo ~ meh

Maybe I'm a bit jazzed that I still liked Manhunter. As for Public Enemies, I haven't seen it. The trailer was so underwhelming, I didn't bother.


Drunken Angel (1948) — Kurosawa

Yakuza Kamakaze

The studio offered Kurosawa a film if he could make something from a large standing set left over from a previous production and the Humph Sanada story; my life as a doctor in a Tokyo slum (aka Drunken Angel) is what he came up with, an alcoholic GP tries to convince a young man to abandon the delusions destroying his life. Although this is something the gangster may have already guessed. Matsunaga is full of silky swagger but he seems keenly aware of the limits of his power. After his operation notice he always keeps his ailing paw hidden in his jacket pocket. When Humph shows up at the no. 1 cabaret,(Mats)unaga immediately suggests another venue, he doesn't want anyone there knowing his health problems. Mats seems aware showing any weakness in front of his concubine will have immediate repercussions. He also blusters with rage when Humph suggests he might actually be afraid of death or dying.

The happy town quarter seems to be a zero sum world, each lucky turn of the dice comes directly from the stash of the poor slob sitting next to you. No one is standing on terra firma; all relationships are transactional. The best example is Humph's nurse; she may have pulled herself up by her own bootstraps and clawed her way out of the gutter, but she can be returned to a life of despair with a snap of a gangster’s fingers.

The character declensions and ascensions in the story are marked by song. His first night out of prison, the convict Okada marks his territory when he borrows/wrests the guitar from the night troubadour and imposes his own musical coda. After a good night's rest at the doctor's office, Mats strolls towards the office the next morning; above him Okada's visual juggernaut (the commuter train: a symbol of his implacable cruelty) roars past him down the railway tracks.After Mats and Okada reunite later that day and spend the day celebrating his return, they end up at the no. 1 cabaret. The shot begins with Mats being held up by two floozies then picks up Okada in a pan as he rakes in three consecutive pots (the winning poker hands are painted on the wall behind him) as he strolls to his table. It's all over but the counting. By the end of the night Mats has lost everything to Okada and is up to his eyeballs in debt; Matsfall from grace has taken a single day.

Just has the Imperial Japanese army censors were merciless about ideological conformity, just as many things were forbidden under the American censors. For example, what does any occupying army need? An army of prostitutes to keep them happy. In reality, the happy town quarter would have turned into a post-war version of Sodom and Gomorrah at nightfall with American soldiers stumbling in and out of the 'dance' clubs (later in the film, Mats lets it drop the no. 1 cabaret is only a front for the whore house upstairs) but showing the American occupation or a single inebriated American soldier stumbling in the streets would have gotten the film banned. There are no Americans in Japan, ergo there are no signs angling for their bulging pockets. So what you are watching for is another open restriction: advertising for the Americans; when you spot the discreet English signage the viewer should always think . . . the Tomcat, the Randy Gunner, or God forbid, the Seaman's dinghy.

Given the advanced age of the film (some 73 years young) some of the elements, such as the epic tussles and impotent rages between Mats and Humph are beginning to register as comedy; the sparring continues between them until they find a tiny foot hold of common ground for their relationship to work. In the Bolero bar scene, passersby press their noses up against to the windows outside (which is a deliberate comedic set-up) to catch some poor huckleberry get a knuckle sandwich. Sure enough, Humph is quickly expelled and goes flying ass over tea cup in the dirt outside (one of the many times he does so in the film) but the humor is always deliberately suppressed. After an embarrassing accident with the ailing Mats, a couple of two foot soldiers are dispatched to fetch Humph; he blusters and stamps his foot: I'm not going. I'm not going to help that blackguard! . . . while his nurse quietly lays out his suit for him in the background. Cut to a close-up of a serious Humph then pulling back to reveal he was working on Mats would have gotten a serious chuckle from the audience. Kurosawa uses a high master shot here to tamp down the humor. Even the swatting of mosquitoes (the sump is an open breeding ground for Typhus) and desperate knife right at the end have slapstick connotations.

When Mats ventures to plead the nurse's case in front of the big boss (who natch, lives comfortably in the suburbs). He learns that on his death bed he will be sent out on a suicide mission to die a blaze of vain glory; a meaningless death at the end of a meaningless life. His vaulted code of honor is a complete sham. Unknowingly Mats emancipates himself when he refuses to pick up the sweaty handful of lucre the boss has thrown at his feet (although something not lost on the big boss) by refusing his respect, with a snap of his mah-jong fingers his Yakuza rank and reputation are lost.

The penultimate sequence in the film began with a deliberate double dissolve from Mats standing in an Elysian field of flowers as a forgotten gangster; his memory quickly fading into the festering sump, then the sump dissolves to Okada emerging out of it happily plucking away on his killer's anthem. For the first time in the film the amorphous source of evil in this world has been given a name and face; the Yakuza criminality. Although the film doesn't quite pull off its time line (the story supposedly began in the hot humid days of summer and ended in the dead of winter) but when the story began, Mats was the boss of happy town. He was the source of evil in this world. By confronting Okada but refusing to kill him, Mats is deliberately taking his bitter medicine for being a thug; he pays for his crimes just as Okada will be forced to pay for his.

Although it's suggested Mats trades his life for Sanada's nurse, Miyo. I think its something smaller, Mats is actually fighting over a bloom. When Mats patrolled his territory he was aware the throng would stand back in envy and stare at him in open awe; a prince of the city, the guy doesn't seem to work,yet wants for nothing. The cruelest cut of all, the last indignity, is when he plucks a flower from the florist and the daughter hot foots it after him and tells him that he must now pay for his boutonnières, This enrages him to the point where he has to challenge Okada.

Watch how Kurosawa develops Mats' character arc. Before stitching up his bullet wound, Humph calls out to the housekeeper to bring some splash to repel the mosquitoes but she has already gone to bed. The door to his cabinet closes behind him. Humph notices it and pushes it back open. It closes. He opens it. It swings shut. Finally he makes the door stay open. In addition to a bullet hole and the big T, the patient is also spiritually sick; and he is going to need a metaphorical exit if he is going to get well. During his tentative efforts to coax the gangster into treatment, Mats is always placed before an open doorway through which he can refuse and return to work or he can exit metaphorically to a better life. The title suggests a spiritual struggle and the climax of the film really brings that out as Mats finally throws open that last door in the film and staggers through it into a world of blinding light. Mats has actually made a great spiritual journey.

Its interesting that the first collaboration with the mercurial Toshiro Mifune also bears a striking resemblance to their last one. In Red Beard, the situations are reversed, Mifune plays an older GP trying to convince a young doctor to establish his practice (for the deeper spiritual bonds) among the poor and the forsaken. After Red Beard, Kurosawa makes the definite break from commercial entertainments to deliberate (sermonic?) works of art which could explain his dwindling popular appeal from that point onwards.

Drunken Angel ★ ★ ½



Please please me / Fais-moi plaisir (2009) Mouret

Yeah, seduce me and make me laugh!

Jean-Jacques (Writer-Director Emmanuel Mouret) is out strolling with one of his friends and they bump into an acquaintance who's recently divorced. They head into a cafe to continue their conversation. Their acquaintance rather than being down in the dumps is currently wallowing in hog heaven, since he's stumbled upon an infallible technique for picking up women.

Which consists of:
a) Passing a note (the perfect incantation of longing and desire) to some beauty.
b) Going to the prescribed meeting place a stone's throw away.
c) The lady in question reads said note and immediately rushes to him and melts in his arms.
d) Rinse and repeat.

His two acquaintances leave the café, forgetting the note on the counter (clever lad--he's had it photocopied by the thousands, so he's never for want of a copy). Jean-Jacques looks around the room and spots a blonde sitting alone in a corner hiding behind some dark sunglasses. Curiosity gets the better of him. He hands it over to a waiter to deliver it. Then steps quickly to the telephone alcove to see if she'll meet him there.

It's now early Saturday morning of the next day and she rings his apartment trying to fix a dinner date with him. He explains all this matter-of-factly to his girlfriend---since Jean-Jacques has spent the last hour trying to get her in the mood for an early morning romp; he uses this phone call to guilt her into it. His girlfriend is still not interested and surprisingly decides that if he's fantasizing about this woman, he should go through with it. He should seduce her for the good of their relationship, since then they would become delightfully modern and sophisticated couple. And so he calls her ... if he must.

Nice things? The never ending bevy of French beauties. This is a great departure from Mouret's last film "Shall we kiss?" While the film is still verbose and the humour incredibly dead pan and lethargic, he's added visual gags to his arsensal. Which will make this film more accessible with foreign audiences. During the elegant soirée amongst the glitterati, Mouret actually succeeds in channeling Peter Sellars from The Party during this scene. Even the poster gives off a 60's Blake Edwards vibe.

Fais-moi plaiser ~ 7/10





Cartagena / l'homme de chevet (2009) Monne

The Bedside Man

Christophe Lambert and Sophie Marceau (currently dating) square off against one another in Colombia. Both Expatriates live lives hit by catastrophic failure. She plays Muriel; a crippling injury has left her snappish and with more that a little residual anger at world, but she's well off so she can buy whatever and whomever she wants, she goes through nurses like toilet paper. Maybe female care givers are oversensitive, so the next applicant is going to be male. So, in walks Leo, an alcoholic ex-boxer desperately searching for something to anchor him. Leo needs this job more than life itself. The confidence that a regular pay check brings allows him to train an up coming boxer.

Although Marceau is confined to a bed; It works, since it focuses all the attention on her face, one that you don't mind staring at 92 minutes. *Sigh* She's still quite breath-taking Some nice sensual images like, Marceau being rolled in the grass---not figuratively---literally. Some over sized fronds brushing against her face. Nice progression as Lambert starts as pasty faced street drunk to reclaim his matinee idol good looks near the end. I loved the hot Colombian sun and those little droplets of sweat slowly pooling those cotton shirts around their bodies. It's not quite a love story, but it's more about two angry people (come to think of it, everyone in this film is on a slow boil) getting to that special place where they leave their anger behind and learn to accept life. This is Director Alain Moone's first film.

Cartagena ~ 7/10

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fAopbGUUKYo/Szn0qt5GARI/AAAAAAAAA3k/RFyMsICjf38/s1600-h/L-homme-de-chevet-Poster.jpg



The woman I loved / Je l'aimais (2009) Breitman



Persistence of memory

A cautionary tale. In order to ease his daughter-in-law's shock after his son suddenly pulls the plug on their marriage. Her father-in-law immediately drives her and his two grand-daughters to the Family chalet in the middle of the night. She spends her days in a stupor; the children watch cartoons, and play off their sugar rushes from McDonald's. Until one night, to ease her pain, he tells her about the great love of his life. Which---surprise, Surprise! T'is not his wife.

Since Pierre's (Daniel Auteuil) telling the story, it focuses entirely on him and we never get any idea what his lady Love's motivations were. Although the considerable lengths in which she went to maintain their relationship was almost heroic. The girl was definitely waiting for him to commit so that they could begin their real life together.

Separated by entire continents---Pierre lived in Paris and Mathilde's (Marie-Josée Croze) her home base was Hong Kong. The mere thought of her light's him up. Even at the meeting when they first meet, it was love at first sight, everyone in the board room saw Pierre's fall head of heels in love with Mathilde. He couldn't stop smiling but he couldn't stop denying it also.

When the moment of truth comes, Pierre actually blurts it out--it's convenience. He can't divorce his wife because then he's have to change dry cleaners, and change his butcher and make new friends, he might lose his favorite lazy boy chair in the divorce settlement, his comfort zone would be completely blown to bits, etc, etc. O Brother! Dr. Zhivago was separated by an entire country in the middle of a revolution (during inclement weather no less), and he never gave up searching for Laura. Pierrot! You ridiculous old fool. Mathilde wants to go apartment hunting with you! Mathilde wants to make babies with you! Mathilde wants to marry you!

But then again, on the other hand, all that remains of Mathilde is a 20 year old photograph hidden in a shoe box. An image that never gains a wrinkle, her hair never gets a stitch of white. Her crooked smile is forever young and haunting. With every passing year she grows more graceful in stature; what might have been remains an open book with endless pages.

My only caveat of the film, is when film returns in the past to tell this story, the filmmakers choose to imply this return 20 years back in time by simply having Pierre comb his hair differently. So I was kind of lost for a couple of minutes before I realized the story was now in the deep past. Marie-Josée Croze finally breaks out of her girlfriend roles with something a little more substantial.

The woman I loved ~ 8/10



Freedom / Korkoro (2009) Galif

The call of the road

With a bad ass title like Freedom, Director Tony Gatlif is setting the bar really high. Gypsies are wanderers, but wanderers with a purpose. They probably have a circuit; a summer hunting ground and winter resting place. When they arrive back in a french village at the beginning of harvest time circa 1943. They discover their gallivanting life style has been outlawed since they were there last. So, they're forced to take up permanent residence in this small french village for the duration of the war.

When Pierre Pentecôte shows up at their camp, they are immediately suspicious (In the past, they've worked as musicians in his cabaret) but Pentecôte has gotten a serious upgrade as the local administrator for the Nazis. The gypsies correctly assume some thing's up. When he returns he returns a couple of days later to steal, ur, I mean to confiscate their horses. Their assumptions were correct. But stealing their horses will only be the beginning.

The Vichy collaborators are merely implementing the nazi reforms. When the letter of the law is enforced, it's enforced by French citizens. The Nazi's are still only in the background at this point in time.

There's a stunning lack of tension and menace in the villains; which I haven't quite decided to chalk this up to ineptitude or a deliberate stylistic choice by the Director.

Nothing implies supreme evil incarnate like that. But of course, that's a totally revisionist view garnered from tons of WW2 movies and an unhealthy dose of holocaust films. But at that point in time, explaining the impending holocaust to the future victims would literally be dismissed as the ravings of a mad man. A human being could not descend to that level of depravity--that's impossible. The world would have to go insane.

But the gypsies do have two idealized protectors who try to help them: the mayor /veterinarian as the lonely voice of reason and Miss Monday, the one room school teacher and city hall administrator who helps out the resistance in her spare hours. It's only after the Nazis begin closing the net around any and all resistance in this tiny hamlet that the gypsies decide to take to the road a final time.

Nice things? James Thiérrée (Charlie Chaplin's grandson), as the volatile and light headed Taloche---yet willfully passionate against any kind of shackle. He's a force of nature. You could actually critique the film in a scene near the end when Taloche tries to escape, everything that is right and wrong in this film is contained there. It's at once slapstick, symbolic and pathetically horrid.

There's some subtle and sublime sound work. Some poetic scenes like when they are hired to serenade a chicken coop that's been laying off egg production; or the crunchy cookie break during a school lesson. One thing is certain, Korkoro isn't a war film, and it isn't quite a holocaust film. But rather an hymn to freedom as embodied by a family of traveling gypsies in year nine of the thousand year Reich.

Freedom ~ 7/10



Please Give (2010) Holofcener

No homeless people were harmed during the filming of this movie

The film begins with a typically New York City phenomena, the apartment watch. Kate and Alex (Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt) with their teen aged daughter, in addition to their humble abode, also own the apartment next door to them. They'd like to expand their living space into that other apartment. Unfortunately for them, the current tenant is holding onto her lifetime lease. Fortunately for them, her 91st birthday is just around the corner. Over the years, this unspoken wait for her to kick the bucket has caused a little friction and strain in the relationship between them and her two granddaughters. However, Kate notices a mild hostility has recently crept into their both ends of the equation. To this end, she decides to invite Grammy and her two granddaughters over to celebrate her birthday. Which sets off all kinds of new interactions between them.

"Please Give" depicts a kind of, big city born and raised emotional landscape---what with it's requisite street smarts and urban loneliness, and an almost exclusive feminine world view at that. In the big city "The seasons" of course, are not lived in, but observed through commercial rituals, such as the annual music festival, the annual film festival or the weekend car trip up the Adirondacks to see the fiery turning of the leaves during autumn.

A clear step up from Holofcener's last film, "Friends with money" Where all the drama came from the lone working class gal amongst her circle of well-heeled friends. There was a kind of, by the numbers ending when the heroine gained a material happiness (she bagged a millionaire). At the end of that film, her disquiet was relieved by finally joining the group as a full member.

In this film, the heroine's unease is slightly more acute and internal. There is more dissonance between her feeling of well-being and the feeling of insecurity in the world around her. She and her husband own a used furniture store---but since it's in an upscale location, so it's used furniture with attitude. She fleeces a couple of yuppies with this line:

"We can't be totally certain of it's provenance"

Since their profit margin is directly proportional to the haste in which the heirs want to part with their dearly departed belongings. They just want to empty the living space, flip it then get on with their lives. At times, the sons and daughters throw the baby out with the bathe water, not noticing precious heirlooms accumulated during a lifetime. She questions her honesty in these situations and begins to feel a little guilty.

Nice things? The little observations when the characters interact react with one another. I loved the characters pettiness. Keener has a couple of wickedly funny scenes; she longs to implicate herself as a volunteer the lives of some misfortunates but finds the choices they're offering her, either aesthetically unappealing ---

"Wow, that old woman is really bent over"
"Yes, ma'am, Rheumatoid arthritis can do that"

--or too emotionally messy to invest any serious personal time with them. Although, in the grandmother's case, 91 autumns brings with it a close proximity to death, which tends to make her conversational barbs unvarnished and brutally honest. Grammy shows astonishing mental dexterity during a car ride when she beans two birds with the same stone.

Although, on the surface the plot points seem totally mundane; an apartment renovation or the purchase of a pair of stone washed jeans, Keener makes it appear there's been a deeper psychic kick and that we are seeing the wispy smolders of spiritual change, however slight. I also mention Rebecca Hall---She was quite good as her Grammy's selfless care giver.

I was definitely curious about her Kate's life afterwards, an epilogue would have been nice. My only caveat of the film is that it somehow equates involving yourself in your community or giving your time to others is akin to do it yourself brain surgery. Trust me, it's not that difficult to pay it forward.

"You've been blessed, now go be wise"

Please give ~ 8/10



The Secret in their eyes / El secreto de sus ojos (2009) Campanella

Dark Horse running

Last year's Oscar race for the Best foreign film was dominated by two front runners. "The White Ribbon" while dazzling to behold (all those silky whites and velvety blacks)---it was more than a little baffling. Another of Haneke's carefully composed mind bombs? Does Evil has to be confronted and exposed otherwise it flourishes in ignorance and secrecy? ... Duh! Does Corporal punishment induce a generation of goose stepping Nazi's? I'm not to sure about that one. But never underestimate the carefully administrated can of Whoop Ass when dealing with the little people. With "The Prophet" although I could appreciate the subtle remixing of genres; the prison drama + the gangster film with just a splash of social commentary. This was more enjoyable but still a little precious. However, right at the wire " The Secret in their eyes" came flying by like a bat out of hell to win. Easily the more accessible of the three.



The film is filled with little ideas and nice touches. The idea of passion; You can run for as long as you want to, but you'll never escape from your passion---it's what defines you. The idea of memory and the imperative of culling unhappy ones---since at the end, that's all that will remain, memories. Deliberately selecting them makes for a more brighter future down the road.

There's easy chemistry between the three main actors: Ricardo Darin (A Campanella regular in his Spanish language film work) as Benjamin Es ... Po ... Si ... To ... and his hard working co-worker in the desk beside him, Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella in a dramatic role, He's a comedian by trade) Soledad Villamil rounds out this trio as Irene, their no nonsense and seemingly inaccessible Boss.

The novel idea; in one of Esposito's many false starts as a newbie novelist, he tries out the first person, which places him in the apartment. So when he arrives on the crime scene, he's automatically implicated and obviously guilty in some way. Although his direct implication in the crime is quickly explained away, this guilt remains and will remain with him his entire life. Guilt for not having better fulfilled his obligations as a court investigator. Guilt for not having done more. Guilt for not having been a better man. Guilt for not having the courage to love.

The Romance? Benjamin and Irene would have been a mismatched couple. Esposito's always resisted openly declaring his love for Irene. But of course, it's always there in his eyes, the way he looks at her, and in her eyes looking back, and an open secret to everyone around them, for that matter. But Esposito's older than Irene, a working class stiff. She's the educated daughter from a prominent family. She's his superior. She's a little quicker on her feet than him. Take the interrogation scene or when Esposito and Pablo for a joke, dictate a fake resignation letter from a Judge declaring himself a mental defective and incompetent to hold office. She pops in and asks them to read back what they've already got. Then dictates a better one on the spot. When the Judge in question shows up moments later, she slips it seamlessly into a pile of letters needing his official signature. But all those things pale in comparison to the husband of the murdered woman. His relentless passion for his dead wife which never flags and never dies. Esposito confesses to him later in the film, He's never seen this level of love in anyone in his life, ever. Maybe Benjamin fears he could never love Irene well enough?

The office humour was a hoot. The personnel routinely give to one another with exalted ranks and titles that have nothing to do with the menial nature of their actual functions. Pablo also---not wanting to be bothered needlessly at work, answers the office phone pretending to be everywhere but the justice department. He gets off a few comic zingers.

The broken typewriter that gets passed around from office to office. A nice comment that even before the military coup d'état, the Argentinean justice system was already in a sorry state.

The life full of nothing that's reserved for the grieving husband of the murdered woman, he tried to pick up the pieces of his broken life but found he could never love again. Because since he reveres life, he's uncomfortable with capital punishment. But wants the man who did the crime put in a tiny prison cell; living days full of nothing for the rest of his life for what he did. But this nothingness also finds a faint echo in Esposito's judicial career.

And a nice dig at the ruling military junta during the 70's, that rapists and murders were held in such high esteem by that sterling organization.

Even the story, It's set in a dark period of Argentine history just a couple of years before the Dirty war, but concentrates on single crime, which could be merely the mcguffin in a mystery story or it could serve to represent that large moment in Argentinean history. It's easy to see why Academy voters fell for this film. Although one wouldn't suspect a such a story would be hopeful. "The Secret in their eyes" is hopelessly romantic.

N.B. One prime for the film, watch for the continuous take that begins miles above a soccer stadium.



Opps, The Secret in their eyes ~ 8/10


Secret beyond the door(1947) Lang

The Manchurian architect

Celia is a poor little rich girl unable to find a suitable mate within her social circle; this stable of eunuchs is great at managing stock portfolios and which wee fork to use at country club dinners but not much else. Her older brother who manages her fortune would like to see her married off before he kicks the bucket. He is beginning to despair and openly runs after any eligible, young male (which puts a tremendous strain on his ticker) who crosses his path each business day. With a healthy trust fund Celia is a designated tackling dummy for gold diggers and upper class twits; she is bored to tears by their fumbling.

Intriguingly, its suggested that Celia is a kind runaway bride who abandons (she dumps three men in the first 13 minutes of the film) all her future husbands at the altar for maximum emotional devastation. When Emily (her best friend) and Arthur Potter (her dipsomaniac husband) offer her a free vacation; her accountant RD tells her to take it, have a ball down south; get it out of your system and when you return we’ll get married. After a whirlwind three day romance she tells her Mexican fling she is packing her bags. He gets down on his knees on the spot and asks her to marry him. Cut to the wedding.

After they are married her new boy toy now seems to run hot and cold; one moment the doting lover; the next, an aloof and cruel bastard deliberately provoking her. For instance, when there was no hope of reconciliation with his previous wife (omigod! she’s married a previously-owned husband!?!) Mark moved out of their bedroom and took up a residence elsewhere in the mansion yet when he marries Celia, he doesn’t seem to think its necessary to change this estrangement/domestic arrangement. Missing from the tableau is that Celia is also playing this game and boy, she gives as good as she takes.

The film has two overlarge exaggerations; the first one is the constant prime that Mark is kind of male version of a black widow, although bagging her fortune doesn’t seem to be of any interest to him, he seems more attracted to the thrill of strangulation , I guess that would make him more of a Bluebeard. The second overload is Celia’s voice overs; she is always narrating her version of the events and openly squirming about the latest outrage. Mark keeps tripping alarm bells in her mind, but one by one she keeps flicking them off, that the ole boy might be severely disturbed . . . well, that’s the whole attraction.

There’s a lot of unresolved problems in the script. The film would have been stronger had the character of Miss Robey (Mark’s personal assistant and live-in secretary) been a little prominent in the mix. There is almost no humor in the film, apart from a hilarious echo to Mark’s design for living theory; He’s an architect who believes a carefully designed house will induce and foster happiness. At the remote Blaze Creek mansion, all the servants are as quick as dead jackrabbits, and everyone else is dishonest and quick to take offense, not from a weakness of character but the poorly lit corridors and cavernous rooms fester deceit. It never occurs to the master builder to put in a few sky lights. I also loved that there was not one, but two walls dividing the newlyweds; their bedrooms directly opposite the hallway, yet to talk to him face to face he makes Celia walk down the (past the shrine in front of where a door would be) long corridor to his office, a glance to either Miss Robey working in the office or the open door to her personal apartment on the left (she symbolically controls access to her husband) and turning right, walking through his office before traipsing into his dinky little bachelor pad.

The third act is a mess; the climax seems silly. Mark has expressly forbidden Celia from entering one locked room in the mansion, so of course, she sets off like a bloodhound after the key. One night after she has secured it, and when everyone should be in lullaby land (even the old mansion has even stopped creaking and groaning) she launches her expedition. In addition to the secret, she discovers everyone is up and about. At four in the morning, Mark is inspecting a room down the hall. Miss Robey is wandering the corridors on some errand. And incredibly, outside in the forest she stumbles upon her New York city accountant, who like little red riding hood has been lost in the woods for the last 10 hours.

Probably the biggest weakness of the film is the representational limits of the Hays code deliberately obscure the unsavory depths of the story. The period censorship really puts the kibosh on all the intrigue and most of the motivations remains incomprehensible; a lot of unpacking and assemblage is required here. Her new husband’s deepest childhood traumas stem from a maternal rejection which now has become a full blown neurotic phobia of locked doors (notice the doors to Celia’s living quarters have none) and flowers, in particular lilacs. The name of the town provocatively suggests the death of a relationship and all that is left is a dying bouquet, dropping withered brittle petals on the floor.

In Mark’s and Celia’s ”meet cute” she is out shopping in a Mexican tourist trap and a knife fight erupts between two men over a woman at a tavern nearby. Celia is not shocked by this, but kind of excited a man is going to get stabbed to death in front of her. But during the fight, her glistening eyes become aware of a Caucasian man in the crowd watching her drool in public. Celia has to forego the illicit pleasure of that afternoon’s chance entertainment; she sadly turns tail and returns to the safe confines of the hotel. Social decorum dictates, even in a foreign country, a lady’s attendance at cock fights and other blood sports is strictly forbidden.

It’s interesting that if this was remade 40 years later in color and in French; a wealthy reprobate hiding behind a mask of inherited respectability and social position wouldn’t be out of place in the Chabrol filmography. When the Mark first accosts Celia in the hotel bar, behind him on the wall is a painting of a matador being gored by a bull, that’s about the only indication in the entire film that their relationship is sadomasochistic. When Celia accepts Mark’s wedding proposal, she only agrees because he has been thoughtful enough to symbolically include a bloody corpse (an echo to the knife fight) at her feet.

Chabrol obviously liked this film. In Les Biches, the display of severed trophy heads in the Frédérique’s main foyer is a direct borrow from the great-grandfather’s collection of tribal masks which adorns the front entrance of the Blaze Creek mansion. In Merci pour le Chocolat, the Isabelle Huppert character gives her son in the film two DVD’s worth watching. Secret beyond the door was one of the films she thought were smackers. If you recall in that film, her character roofied anyone who drank her home-made hot chocolate, then sent them down the twisting, turning mountain road to fetch something in town . . .a typical Chabrolian recommend.


Secret beyond the door½



The Cry of the Owl (2009) Thraves

Unlucky Man

Psychological drama. Robert Forrester's marital break-up had put him in a serious tail spin; therapy, medication, a nagging suspicion that he invites this misery into his life. But he's on the rebound now and slowly rebuilding his life. He's still slightly off---his attempts at cracking wise, usually result in strained silence, which of course only exacerbates his isolation even more. Ole Bobby just wants a moment of peace, which he gets vicariously during some of his nightly cruises in the wooded countryside.

He's moved from a high profile job in the city to a less prestigious one in a small town. He's still smarting from the wounds from finalizing his divorce with his passive aggressive wife, Nickie Grace (Caroline Dhavernas)---who's got such a vivid smile that lights up her entire face; she's able to go from sullen and frosty to utterly irresistible in the bat of an eye lash. No wonder Robert feels like the proverbial deer caught in the head lights whenever she's around.

It's not really fair to talk about this film since the twists and turns is the heart of the matter. It is what it is---a low budget psychological drama, and it works quite admirably within those parameters. A typical Canadian film with it's "second tier" movie stars, shot in what looks like the Beaches district of Toronto. (Wait a minute, Paddy Considine and Julia Stiles are B listers?)

From what I can gather there's almost no money for advertising, and little fan fare. So this film is about to be punted into video obscurity very quickly. But apart from the story unfolding at a leisurely pace---which merely requires a little extra attention, I can't really find fault with it.

The Cry of the Owl ~ 7/10



Mademoiselle Chambon (2009) Brizé



I'm so ordinary

Character study of a love affair, or rather the stumbling, reluctant approach to a love affair. The thing of it is, Jean (Vincent Lindon) and Miss Chambon ( Woodstock---seriously doesn't Sandrine Kiberlain remind you of the Peanuts character, Woodstock? Well okay, Woodstock with freckles?) they both seem aware that a glance held a little too long can have serious consequences; that this thing between them would trouble their worlds too much so there's all this hesitancy between them. Which reminds us, big bad love is as fragile as fluttering butterfly wings. To this end, this is an actor's film. There's a delicate ballet of dropped gazes and stolen looks and unmet stares.

Nice things? Music is important in Brizé's movies (and actually silences also for that matter, but I digress). In a great sequence, after repairing her drafty window; Jean cajoles Miss Chambon into playing. There's several photos of her on her wall playing the violin. She refuses several times, embarrassed, then finally acquiesces. Afterwards, when he 's driving home, her music is playing in his head, a piano slowly begins to accompany her playing: a wonderful way of establishing the connection they've just made with each other. Also the gorgeous side to side pans after they park outside her apartment when he drives her home from his father's birthday party.

There's also this perfect alignment of fleeting moments, that aren't overstated the way they would be in a North American drama; life is just happening, time is passing. During the classroom exposé, these little cherubs are peppering Jean with questions about his work and are genuinely astonished by his answers. Of course, just a few years from now, these same little angels will be going through their "Lord of the flies" period and they would have mercilessly ridiculed a lowly construction worker who dared to share his life with them. His wife works in a factory, and their son's homework is just beginning to go slightly beyond their ken and becoming more than a little perplexing. So the days of sharing in his schoolwork, are quickly coming to a close. Jean's father, although still healthy and spry is nearing the end of his life.

The only negative I find is that Miss Chambon is bit of an enigma. She's a nomad in that she's posted all over France and fills in as a substitute teacher during sabbatical years. In the past she was a violinist. It's interesting the first time we see her, she's sitting on her desk in the classroom with her back to the audience, nursing her bowing arm. Did she have an accident? There's a hint her family is not all that supportive; during a phone call, her mother crows about something her successful sister has (again!) achieved which is also a backhanded way of putting her down. We can see why she would be attracted to Jean, who is openly affectionate with his aged father and young son. Also, she seems a little too shy for this to be her routine, to take a new lover in every port. The title "Miss Chambon" hints she'll never marry, so this intimates just how earth shattering and tragic this will be, if not for him, then at least for her.

The last shot of the film is of Jean's kitchen seen from the outside. Jean and his wife at a table, he's lost in thought. This shot recalls the almost the exact same windows he repaired in her Miss Chambon's apartment and her astonished observation when he's finished. "Wow, it tunes out all the noise of the outside world"

Mademoiselle Chambon ~ 7/10


P.S. I've been way too busy at work for the last month to see my normal quota of films and even less time to review; the summer rush should fizzle in the next couple of weeks. Ciao!



Knight and Day (2010) Mangold



Is it just my imagination or is that a freakishly bad poster?

The trailer promised a great popcorn movie and I think it delivers on the action, the romance, the thrills and spills. Although I doubt if you'll remember any of it the next day or night.

The upside? Clever construction of the plot points. Since June Havens (Cameron Diaz) is kind of a neophyte, things have to be explained to her. But because they took the time to belabour the point; they've become obvious and when they're revisited later in the movie with a slight spin, there's a nice sense of delight.

There's a nice scene at the Airport of Roy Miller (Cruise) searching for his unknowing accomplice. A gorgeous blond rides up the escalator, but she's a little too poised and confident, She's seen several mega-watt smiles in her lifetime---She's been to the rodeo before. Actual seduction would have to be involved, which Miller doesn't have the time. A couple of moments later, Havens enters the airport, a little late and flustered. Miller reads her correctly, he even manages to make her feel more awkward by pointing out she's got a smudge on her forehead after he bumps into her.

Also, during a moment of honest small talk, Miller goes down his list of the top moments he's never had in his life, which strangely foreshadows the exotic adventure about to befall them. Very judicious product placement. (the city fathers of Pamplona should be doing cartwheels.) A nice Macguffin: a double A battery, capable of powering up a small city, cleanly and eternally. The slightly autistic man boy inventor, extremely prideful about his wispy goatee. The "risky business" visual quote.

The downside? The cartoon villains, no one really separates from the pack, it's more about maintaining wall to wall close up's of Diaz and Cruise. Although Miller's nemesis accurately reads him, and sends Julie after him, knowing full well, he'll do the right thing, which in the end, may slow Miller down enough just long enough for him to take that fatal head shot. Diaz is always a hard sell for me and in ever role she has to convince me. Fine, I'll give her a pass for this role. Also, in the shirtless shots, Mangold correctly shots him from side, with a twist; however later in the film. he comes out of the water straight on, for a second, this reminds us Cruise will be celebrating his pudgy 50th birthday rather soon.

Knight and Day ~ 7/10




Wild Grass / Les herbes folles (2009) Resnais

http://www.impawards.com/intl/misc/2...es_folles.html

Living in the movies

Art Film. I took a huge clue from interpreting this film from the beginning; when a woman has her purse snatched. Marguerite Muir (Sabine Azéma looking like she stuck her finger in a light socket) doesn't yell out for help or scream at her skateboarding thief as he quickly disappears into the crowd. So she simply steps back into the shoe store, explains what happened outside the store and gets a full refund in order to return home. At Home, she takes a bath and decides to cancel all her credit cards on the morrow. That was a wee bit strange.

And the narration is totally upfront about the banality of the intrigue. If I had to describe the plot. A man finds a wallet next to his car. Georges Palet (André Dussoulier) takes in inordinate amount of time deciding what to do with it, which includes fantasies and day dreams, and several botched attempts to reach her on the phone. His initial interest is piqued in that He had a childhood interest in airplanes, and Madame Muir, he discovers is a pilot (when she's not reeking havoc in her dentist chair). That faint, inchoate beginning soon blossoms into full stalker mode. So Muir puts the kibosh on any further contact between them by going to the police. Then immediately afterwards, she turns the tables and becomes totally infatuated in him and repeats his exact same pattern. This is a filmed world where the inner life of these two characters confound any semblance to the real world logic.

Resnais celebrated his 88th birthday at the beginning of the month so He's surrounded himself with young lions in every department. Really gorgeous set designs of arty apartments and luxurious suburban homes. Careful lighting. Slightly theatrical situations. Precise framing of the action. The Camera 's movements, whether they be boom or tracking shots or simple pans have all been are carefully mapped out and choreographed. I Loved the narration and the internal monologues of the characters. Solid acting from the two principal actors; Palet's younger wife (Anne Consigny) seems to glide everywhere and she's gifted with a caressing maternal hand. There's a luscious saturation of primary colours with a prevalence of the color red. To really enjoy this film you have to kind of give up on the plot stuff and just admire all that talent so evidently on display up there on the screen.

Wild grass ~ 8/10



Winter's Bone (2010) Granik

Ozark Mountain Girl
 
Seventeen year old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) has dropped out of school to take care of her catatonic mother and her two younger siblings. It's a hard scrabble existence, and one that shouldn't be forced on one so young.

A cop shows up on her front porch to announce her Daddy got out of jail and has skipped bail. He put up the family property as collateral for his bond, and if he doesn't show up in court next week. They'll be foreclosing on their home and kicked out a short time later. And so begins Ree's heart breaking odyssey to save her mother from being locked away in a mental institution and her siblings cast into foster care. An arduous tramp through this tight lipped rural community, where the code of silence is more sacred than a scrap of meat on the kitchen table. And conversely, everyone knows every one's business. The cops tend to conduct open-aired interviews, so there's always someone listening in a stone's throw away.

This trek rightfully belongs to the eldest male in the family, but her uncle (A Charlie Manson look-a-like) believes in her Daddy's strong and inalienable right to privacy, so he's not going to help her stick her little girl nose in where it don't belong---and her younger brother is only twelve. So She puts this burden squarely on her girlish shoulders; and walks up to shotgun shacks time and time again with a simple question: Where's my Father?

The film has a way of glancing at details. EWD's (early warning devices) are chained in each front lawn. Hound dogs betray a stranger's approach minutes before they corner the bend in the road or round the grassy knoll. The automobile graveyards that litter their front lawns. In a telling scene when Ree visits her school, she looks in on a Home Ec class, then walks across the hall to the Army ROTC training class in the gym. Effectively underscoring the distance between the two options available not just her, but for all the young women in this community.

The same attributes that make one a successful drug dealer, aren't necessarily the same ones that make you a nurturing husband and father. So the women in this place are between a rock and a hard place; holding it together and making due with little or nothing. The biggest surprise is that when they have to be, they can be just as mean and ornery as the men folk.

Crystal Meth is the only thing keeping this rural community from complete economic collapse. Of course, being at the other end of the supply line, these people take the lion's share of the risks and none of the lucrative rewards. And since starvation is a great motivator, prison time or clashes with the law are no deterrent. This also infers there's corruption and collusion with law enforcement and the local governments.



This film is so solid; I'll even predict the nominations for best film; best Director for Debra Granik; and best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence during the awards season at the end of the year, and if the memory addled voters can remember way back through the sands of time to this summer ... maybe even a few wins.

Winter's Bone ~ 9/10