Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

I was much higher on DE-LOVELY than you were and am still baffled by the opprobrium heaped on that one by the critics. I gave BEYOND THE SEA a wide berth when it came out and don't have any desire to see that one.

Like you, Mark F., I love Claude Chabrol. His two films from the 1980s featuring the "Inspector Lavardin" character finally made it to DVD this year. Those two films, INSPECTOR LAVARDIN and COP AU VIN, are well worth checking out. You are two films behind regarding the prolific Chabrol, though. THE BRIDESMAID was released theatrically this year and COMEDY OF POWER, with Isabelle Huppert, played at the Tribeca Film Festival and hasn't been released commercially in the U.S. yet. One other Chabrol film, out on DVD, is THE COLOR OF LIES, which was made right before or right after FLOWER OF EVIL. Unfortunately, it was not picked up for distribution in the U.S., but fortunately it is available on DVD and is well worth watching.

I enjoyed A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY. It was made during Woody's "Bergman phase" and is a loose remake/homage to Bergman's SMILES ON A SUMMER'S NIGHT.

WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF is a terrific little sleeper film, but I imagine that title would turn a lot of people off.

Meanwhile, I made it to my local multi-plex yesterday for:

THE PRESTIGE: I had a terrific time w/ this film, which treads on some of the same ground as THE ILLUSIONIST, which was released earlier this year. Both films are period pieces set in the 19th century and both focus on the world of magic. THE PRESTIGE was directed by Christopher Nolan who directed the terrific MEMENTO and the not-so-terrific BATMAN RETURNS, but he no doubt picked up a fat paycheck for the latter film. THE PRESTIGE focuses on two rival magicians, Hugh Jackman & Christian Bale, who go to extreme lengths to one up the other. As you would expect for the director of MEMENTO, this one plays around with time, using multiple flashbacks, which make the film difficult to follow at times. Michael Caine, always good, is in the supporting cast as is the lovely and ubiquitous SCARLETT JOHANSSON, who isn't give all that much to do. She, once again, was teamed with Jackman to much better effect in this film than she was in Woody Allen's SCOOP. Rating: B+

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Frankie and Johnny Are Married (Michael Pressman, 2004, Grade: B-)

This is a pretty funny comedy, even though it's just so close to being a tragedy. I've watched five of the six Pressman feature films before this one. I've also seen his wife act before (mostly as a high-brow extra.) But unfortunately, the way things are set up in Hollywood, they were both given their chances in the '70s and early '80s.

This is a satire on Hollywood and egotistical actors, yet it's also a very sweet love letter between the two leads, showing how much they trust each other. The fact they could get some other close friends to go along with it means it's a really cool idea and movie.

Hey, you guys, come up with a sequel or another homage. You seemed stressed out, but I know that after all the countries buy your rights, you"re OK!

Excuse me please because I respect you.

I'd been looking for a '70s exploitation film called Girls on the Road for a few years after I read that Kathy Cody of the "Dark Shadows" tv show starred in it. The film's a lot tamer than the descriptions I'd read about it but still Cody was in it much of the time. Cody and Diane Hull play two chicks out for some fun in the summertime, heading up the California coast. They pick up a hitchhiking Vietnam vet (Michael Ontkean of "Twin Peaks" fame) and head off to a hippee commune at Big Sur, run by "The Waltons"' Ralph Waite. There's a killer on the loose and viewers are lead to believe it's Ontkean by his behaviour and war flashbacks. Overall a dumb, dumb flick but I like it anyway.

When I found Girls on the Road, it was part of a double vhs pack called "The Golden Age of Leather Vol.2". The other video in the pack is Werewolves On Wheels from 1971, which is so bad it makes Girls on the Road Oscar material in comparison. A cycle gang, The Devil's Advocates, ride around the southwest getting drunk, beating up locals and whatever. When they camp out near a Satanist colony, the girlfriend of the gang leader is singled out to become the devil's bride by the Satanists. After the cyclists rescue the girl and beat up the cultists, they become victims of a werewolf curse. Only at the end do we see a werewolf on wheels and that's a laugh riot. Thank goodness for the fast forward button getting me through this sorry flick.

SCANDAL: I had long wanted to take another look at this 1989 British film that I caught on original theatrical release, but not since. It plays on IFC so I finally (after about three tries) successfully recorded it on DVD and liked it probably better the second time around than I did the first time. Based on a true story, it focused on one of those scandals that regularly seem to involve British government officials. This one was known as the "Profumo Affair" and involved the eponymously named British Defense Minister (Ian McKellon) -- and possible future prime minister -- who got caught up in a scandal where he was having an affair with a "party girl" Christine Keeler played by Joanna Whalley-Kilmer, who also had a thing with a Soviet official (Jeroen Krabbe), who was possibly a KGB agent. Since this was at the height of the Cold War, circa 1963 or so, the shit hit the fan and Profumo resigned in disgrace, Keeler ended up in prison and Osteopath Stephen Ward played by John Hurt, who was the go-between, offed himself. I've recently rewatched several British films from the late 80's/early 90's that I was underwhelmed with on original release -- SCANDAL, LET HIM HAVE IT, DANCE WITH A STRANGER & THE KRAYS -- that I liked better the second time around. Rating: B+

SAMURAI REBELLION: This is a Japanese film directed by Masaki Kobayashi from 1967 that is flat out terrific. Some real deep characterizations that and some great insights into the human condition. A woman, who is engaged, works serving tea to the Lord. The Lord, whose wife has died, takes a shine to the woman and takes her as his mistress, ruining the relationship she has with her boyfriend. She gets pregnant and has a kid by the Lord and resigns herself to her life with the Lord. But when she recovers after having her kid, she meets the Lord's new mistress. She attacks the Lord and mistress and is banished and is assigned to be the wife of one of the Lord's vassals, a househeld headed by the formidable Toshiro Mifune. It is Mifune's son who will marry the Lord's now former mistress. Over the family's reluctance, the son marries her and they fall in love, have a kid and begin to form a life together. Meanwhile, the first son of the Lord has died and the only heir is the child he had with the now-married mistress. The Lord decides that he wants the mistress back, but Mifune and son object and a battle ensues with Mifune as a uber-Samurai. Mifune, who has never loved his wife, sees how in love his son & wife are, and takes his son's side in the dispute. Extremely well-done. Rating: B+.

BABEL. The new film, just released Friday in a handful of theatres, by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu who gave us the terrific AMORES PERROS & the good, if not great, 21 GRAMS. Structured in three parts like his previous two films, this film is flat out terrific and focuses on shome shepards in Morocco, a family in Tokyo and a family and their Mexican housekeeper in San Diego. Somehow he ties the stories together. Rating: A.

SUMMER IN BERLIN. A German film that I think has been picked up for U.S. Distribution by Warner Brothers, this film focuses on working poor woman and their trials and tribulations. One, a forty-ish single mom, can't find a job and has an alcohol problem. The other works as a home-health aide and meets a guy, who is married, is kind of happy go lucky. Real well done. The film focuses on the women's friendship. Rating: A.

FOUR MINUTES. Another German film, this one sans U.S. commercial distribution, focuses on the relationship between a Lesbian 80-year-old piano teacher and her pupil, a wild child. The teacher teaches in a prison and the wild child is a prisoner and piano prodigy. Another winner. Rating. B+

WHO AM I THIS TIME? A made for TV film from 1982 by Jonathan Demme, the film stars Susan Sarandon & Christopher Walken. Only 52 minutes, the film was originally made for the American Playhouse series that was funded by PBS. Set in a small town, the film, written by Kurt Vonnegut, focuses on a community theatre group. Sarandon is new in town and Walken is a dynamo actor, but nebbish off the stage. They fall in love. Rating: B.

KIDS. I haven't seen this film since its original commercial run 10 years ago or so and it holds up pretty well. I like the director Larry Clark, who focuses -- some say fetishizes -- young people, particularly young men. Basically the story of decadent and unsupervised kids who run amok around Manhattan, it caused quite a scandal on its original theatrical release, causing the Weinstein Brothers to set up their own, independent distribution company to release the film because Disney, Miramax's parent which the Weinstein Brother founded and then ran, wanted no part of the film. Rating: B.

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RUNNING WITH SCISSORS: I must say I had never heard of the Augusten Burroughs memoir this film was based on even though it was well reviewed & a best seller. It was turned into a movie and released two Fridays ago to mixed reviews, though the "Times" critic A.O. Scott gave it the thumb's up. I went to the screening yesterday with much trepidation because I didn't think it was my cup of tea. My instincts proved right for once in my life as the film was, quite frankly, a mess. The tone of the film was weird with it lurching between broad comedy and melodrama. Basically, a coming of age story, it focuses on this gay kid who has a mentally ill mother (Annette Bening showing her age) & alcoholic father (Alec Baldwin (his waistline continues to expand). The parents split up and the kid, who was too old for the role (the actor was 20 and was playing a character that aged from 13 to 16) gets dumped with his mother's psychiatrist (Brian Cox) and his eccentric family, which includes Jill Clayburgh, Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow & Evan Rachel Wood. Rating: D.

Here are the horror flicks I have watched so far:

The Exorcist-The power of Christ compels you...to watch this movie 99/100
Child's Play-Funny, but a little boring 70/100
Alien V Predator-The supreme court has deemed that custody of the mother Alien be given back to the Aliens. 65/100
Jeepers Creepers-This is just BAD! 30/100

TANGUY is a 2001 French film that did not get U.S. commercial distribution. Director Etienne Chatielez has had movies that have made their way into U.S. cinemas (TATIE DANIELLE & LIFE IS A LONG QUIET RIVER), but not TANGUY. Basically a broad comedy that had some dark undertones it focuses on a very well-to-do French family who has a 28-year-old son -- the Tanguy of the title -- who is a professional student who won't leave the nest. The parents do all sorts of nasty things to the son to get him to leave home and go out on his own. I found the film way too broad, silly and implausible to really like. Rating: C-.

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WINTER JOURNEY/WINTERREISE: This is a recent German film (made in '05) set in Bavaria. A man, played by Josef Bierbichler, who I had never heard of & who was very good, is a business owner who is going bankrupt and is showing signs of mental illness. His wife, played by Hanna Schygulla -- one of Fassbinder's favorite muses -- needs an operation to prevent her from going blind that health insurance won't pay for. Their son cashes in a pension plan to pay for the operation, but Bierbichler, to save his business, uses the money to involve himself in a scam where he receives a letter from a Kenyan who wants him to open a bank account in Germany so the Kenyan can transmit $15M into it. Bierbichler will get a 5% -- $750K -- fee for opening the bank account. As he is about to sign the contract, a clause is inserted at the 11th hour that requires Bierbichler to put $5OK of his own funds into the account "as a good faith effort." As you would expect, Bierbichler is scammed out of his money and then travels to Kenya to try to track down the people who ripped him off to get the money back. Not a bad film, though I found it implausible that Bierbichler's character would fall for that scam. But his performance was so good and it was such a good looking film, I'll give the film a B.

SLEEPING DOGS LIE: This is an indie film that is in its second week of release that is about to slip into oblivion or DVD land. It is playing in one theatre in Manhattan and is getting bounced tomorrow as Almodovar's VOLVER opens in its stead. Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait of all people, it is a static, poorly directed, cheap looking film. Basically the story of how people should keep their sexual histories -- with their past partners -- a secret. While I can't say I would recommend the film, I felt it did hold my interest and the lead actress gave a good performance and I felt the movie ended strongly. Despite its many flaws, the film is strangely watchable. Rating: C.

BEETHOVEN'S COPYIST. I went to an advanced screening of this film last night (it opens in a couple of weeks) and liked it quite a bit. I went to the screening cold, the best way to see a film. All I knew was the title and that Ed Harris was the star. I didn't even know who directed the flick, but I was delighted to see it was Agnieska Holland. She and Harris hooked up once before in the criminally underrated and overlooked THE THIRD MIRACLE. This film was somewhat formulaic as the crotchety Beethoven, well played by Harris, has a relationship with a virginal copyist, played by Lisa Krueger, an actress I am not familiar with. Of course, they bond as the movie moves along. A beautiful looking film and while I am not an aficionado of classical music, I must say if the music in this film doesn't hook one on classical music, nothing will. Rating: B+.

CLIMATES. A Turkish film in current release that played at the New York Film Festival, this film was directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylon, whose previous film, DISTANT, I enjoyed. In this film a college instructor played by Ceylon has a relationship with a younger woman, Ceylon's real life wife, who is an art director for a television show. The film opens with the characters on vacation in a sunny, balmy spot on the seashore. The couple then breaks up and we move to act II where the films moves back to Istanbul where the now single Ceylon works and plays. Act III he flies to a snowy, cold part of Turkey and tries to get back with his girlfriend. Ceylon likes to hold his takes more than most directors, but does it with great effectiveness. Just a quiet, insightful film about some Turkish bobos. I read the reviews after the film and Ceylon was compared to Antonioni, which I think is an apposite comparison. Rating: B+.

HEAD OVER HEELS. Made in 1920 and released in 1922, HOH is one of silent film siren Mabel Normand's few surviving feature length films. A real interesting story of how this film was found (more interesting than the movie unfortunately) that I won't get into here, but Normand is a French actress/acrobat who signs a deal with an American agent, played by Adolph Menjou, and comes to America. She meets and falls in love with Menjou's business partner. So the film is a rom-com. They meet, fall for each other, separate and given the formulaic nature of rom coms inevitably get back together. So they say they get back together because the last five minutes of the film are lost and a title card comes on to let us know how it all turns out. I didn't find the film all that interesting. Rating: D.

WILD BLUE YONDER. The latest doc. from Werner Herzog, who last year gave us the terrific GRIZZLY MAN. This doc. isn't nearly as compelling as that doc., but has its charms. Much like GM, Herzog uses footage he (I assume) didn't shoot from a NASA expedition and from under the polar ice caps. Herzog crafts a story about an alien, played by actor Brad Dourif, who travels to earth and narrates the action, which consists of earthlings traveling back to where Dourif came from, using the space and sea footage. I felt the doc. was interesting in a soothing fashion for an hour or so, but started to get bored. Thankfully, the doc. is only 80 minutes. A great mix of image and sound, though. Rating: C+.

THE PROUD ONES. Via Netflix, an oater from 1956 from the Fox sausage factory this is really just a routine, formulaic oater, elevated by the presence of the always interesting (and underrated) Robert Ryan. Ryan plays the sheriff and Robert Middleton is the baddie saloon owner. Ryan and Middleton have a history from a previous town where they clashed and Ryan was ousted as sheriff. He wants to keep the town clean and Middleton comes in to corrupt the locals. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Hunter, in town as part of a cattle drive, crosses paths with Ryan, who had killed Hunter's father in the previous town. Hunter thinks Ryan murdered his father in cold blood, but Ryan assures Hunter Hunter's father drew on him and he had no choice. Hunter gets shot in Middleton's saloon and Ryan's gal, Virginia Mayo, nurses him back to health. Ryan, feeling guilty, tries to help Hunter and offers him a job as his deputy. Hunter accepts, but still has doubts about Ryan and his story. Eventually Hunter sides with Ryan and they both kill Middletown and his henchman and clean up Dodge. The fascinating part of the film is the homo-erotic subtext with Walter Brennan, who should have a patent on playing old coots, playing one of Ryan's deputies. Every time Ryan and Hunter leave together, Brennan cocks his gun to unnerve Ryan. At one point Ryan and Hunter go shooting together. Brennan is like Ryan's old lover and Hunter is like the new one that Ryan has brought in to replace him. Just a standard oater, though. Rating: C.

SWEETLAND: That is what is wrong with this story -- it is way too sweet. I gagged on the treacle. A period piece set in the early part of th 20th century it is a love story between a German mail order bride who travels to Minnesota where her husband is a farmer of Norwegian descent. Since there is tension because of WWI and the Norwegians don't cotton to a German, the couple face discrimination and hostility. The film was interesting enough, but kind of fell apart when the story went all soft. Rating: C-.

49 UP. The seventh in the "7 Up" documentary series directed by Michael Apted, this is flat out compelling viewing. Starting in 1964 when the subjects were 7, Apted returns every 7 years to film the participants from the first doc., charting their lives. Just fascinating to watch. I picked up the series in the 1980s when 28 UP was made, I find the series riveting. A real indictment of the British class system that just illustrates how difficult upward social mobility actually is. As you would expect, the kids from the upper crust background do well in life, while the working class/poor kids do a lot less well. Rating A+.

THE RING: An interesting curio from the early 1950s that focuses on the Mexican community, one family in particular, in Los Angeles. The father gets laid off -- too old -- so the son takes up boxing to support the family, over the objections of the father. While the film is very low budget, the acting amateurish at best and the film static, it has a certain charm and gives a picture of a community and characters not often portrayed on film, particularly in the 1950s. A very sympathic portrait of of Latinos, the filmshows the blatant discrimination -- not getting served in a Beverly Hills diner, the protagonist walking up to a movie theatre and getting turned away when the cashier says "it is not Thursday" and the camera pulls back and see signs at the box office that say "Tuesday Night Negroes Night" and "Thursday Night Latinos Night." Not surprisingly, the film was made outside of the sausage factories, the film was an independent production made by the King Brothers, but distributed by United Artists. In any event, not a great film, but worth viewing. Rating: C+.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue(Sam Peckinpah, 1970, Grade: B+)

This is almost impossible to believe that Peckinpah made this beautiful, idyllic poem in between making the ultra-violent The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs. It is my fave Peckinpah. Jason Robards plays my fave Peckinpah chararcter. He's honest and loving and probably the most lovable character in almost any film. The ironic ending might upset you, but I think it adds to the beauty of this totally-unique film, which almost seems like a musical fairy tale much of the time.

Of Mice and Men (Lewis Milestone, 1939, Grade: B)

The first, very wonderful adaptation of Steinbeck's awesome allegory, remains the best; I like Sinise's version just about as much, but this one just has so many primitive allusions, plus it's got Aaron Copland's original score. Highly recommended for all.

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I plan on seeing VOLVER on Saturday, God willing.

WALL STREET: I haven't seen this one in a theatre since its original theatrical run 20 years ago, though 10 years ago I watched in on laser disc. MoMA screened it last night and I must say it holds up very, very well. Ollie Stone really had the zeitgeist by the tail in the 1980s and this film is like a slice of mid 1980s New York captured in amber. A little bit too black and white and earnest -- a characteristic of many of Stone's films -- Ollie was really on the top of his game here. In fact, Michael Douglas bagged the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of the unctuous wall street trader, Gordon Gekko. Charlie Sheen, an absolutely terrible actor in anything not directed by Stone, was also good as the Gekko wannabe. Stone really knew his material since his father was a stock broker and he nailed this film, the clothes, the look, the whole greed is good ethos of Reagan era America. Rating: A.

quote:

Originally posted by ChrisFromAstoria:
Charlie Sheen, an absolutely terrible actor in anything not directed by Stone, was also good as the Gekko wannabe.

Great line. I disagree to a small extent, but not enough to make any hay. I agree with you about Wall Street capturing a genuine slice of the fast money 80's. I dare say nobody plays rich better than Michael Douglas.

TIME STANDS STILL: A Hungarian movie from 1983, this film was named Best Foreign Film by the New York Film Critics Circle. I hadn't even heard of the film (it is not listed in "Maltin") so I don't even know if it received a commercial run in the U.S. The film is a period piece set in the early 1960s and is a character study of two Hungarian brothers, one a high school student, the other trying to get into medical school. Lots of use of vintage rock 'n roll -- Elvis, early Beatles, et al -- but I had an awful lot of trouble following the film, no doubt due to my ignorance of Hungarian society and the 1956 uprising. Rating: C-.

CATCH A FIRE. To show you how unforgiving the marketplace is for films that don't perform, this film opened wide two Fridays ago. By last Friday, its second week in release, all the ads had been pulled and it was screening once a day -- 9:20 at night -- at my local 14-plex. Basically another period piece -- circa early 1980s -- the film is set in Aparthied-era South Africa. The two protagonists are Derek Luke playing a foreman at a factory complex that converts coal to oil and Tim Robbins as the Afrikaaner colonel in the anti-terrorist unit of the South African police. Their paths cross when there is an explosion at the complex and Luke, who is innocent, and his wife are tortured. This pushes Luke over the edge and he joined the ANC and the rest of the film is a cat and mouse game as Luke tries to plant a bomb in the complex and Robbins tries to catch him. The film, though, is a mess. For one thing, the Robbins character is more of a caricature than a fully-drawn character and I suspect much of his backstory ended up on the editing room floor. There is ome sort of subplot, not developed, involving Robbins' daughter and her reluctance to use guns, who, of course, uses a gun to kill a burglar. Rating: C-.

HEART OF WINTER/UN COEUR EN HIVER: I missed this film when it had its brief theatrical run in '92 or '93 and had long wanted to see it because my favorite -- and for my money the most beautiful -- actress Emmanuelle Beart stars. A French film directed by Claude Sautet, the film focuses on that most French of subjects amour fou. And when amour fou is involved in a French film, well it gets complicated. Basically, Maxime (Andre Dussollier) and Stephane (Daniel Auteuil) are partners in a firm that sells and repairs expensive and rare violins. Dussollier is the outgoing frontman for the firm, while Auteuil is the emotionally repressed one who repairs the violins in the back. They are friends as well as business partners and are at lunch when Dussollier drops a bombshell and tells Auteuil he is thinking of leaving his wife for the lovely Ms. Beart, who plays a violinist. Auteuil is hurt because this is news to him; he didn't know about the relationship between the two so to get back at Maxime he woos Beart, gets Beart to fall in love with him and then blows off Beart. His motivation, whether it is homo-erotic or not is unclear, is to hurt Dussollier for what he perceives as his betrayal. This ends the partnership, but Dussollier forgives Beart and they end up together and eventually all reconcile. Only in France. Rating: B+.

TO LOVE THE DAMNED. The first film from Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana, this film mines some of the same territory as THE BIG CHILL and RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS 7. The film begins with the protagonist returning to Italy after spending 5 years in South America. He had been a left wing/communist and left the country under duress for his political activities. Now he is back trying to find his place in the Italy and hooking up with old colleagues/"comrades" who range from drug addicts to stock brokers. He doesn't seem to fit in anymore and the film closes when he commits suicide by cop. I no doubt missed quite a bit of the subtext of the film because it is a period piece -- set just after former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was murdered -- and I'm not all that schooled in Italian politics, particularly of the left- and right-wing variety. Rating: C-.

quote:

Originally posted by Pete311:
I was just wondering if anyone else has seen Death of a President. I saw it and thought it was interesting, but mediocre.

Considering all the pre-release attention the film received, it was on my radar screen, but when the reviews came out and it was roundly panned I decided the film -- and the surrounding controversy -- was much ado about nothing so I decided to take a pass. It may already be gone from theatres anyway.

Meanwhile, I did see another Italian film by Marco Tullio Giordana called ONCE YOU'RE BORN, YOU CAN NO LONGER HIDE. Giordana is best known, in this country anyway, for his BEST OF YOUTH, an Italian mini-series that did get a commercial run in U.S. art houses. In any event, I didn't can for ONCE at all. Basically, a story that neatly divides itself into three acts. The first an Italian kid, from a well-to-do family, falls off a boat and is saved by a ship that is carrying illegal immigrants into Italy. That is Act I. Act II begins on the boat trip as the kid bonds with a Romanian brother and sister he meets on the boat who take him under their wing and protect him. The Italian immigration people stop the boat and everyone is brought to a detention center. The kid is reunited with his parents. That ends Act II. Act III has the kid wanting his parents, who like the rest of Italy, had thought their son had drowned, to adopt or act as foster parents for the two Romanians. The parents try, but red tape prevents it. The two Romanians escape from the detention center, end up at the home of the kid, but rob the family and take off. The family then loses interest in helping the Romanians. The kid then gets a call from the Romanian girl, who is working as a teenage prostitute, and he travels to Milan to meet her as the two of them sit on a sidewalk and the film ends ambiguously. Will the girl stay with her brother or will she return with the kid? Who knows and at that point I didn't care. Rating: C-.