Recently Watched Films 2019

[Dan Warburton]

Julien Duvivier, Panique, 1946

Along with Clouzot's Le corbeau, this is one of the truly great French noirs. Spaak and Duvivier's adaptation of the Simenon novel on which the film is based is less accurate than the later (and also very good) film adaptation directed by Patrice Lecomte (see reviews passim), choosing merely to hint obliquely at Monsieur Hire's Jewish origins - audiences in 1946 wouldn't have missed the clues, though - and not depicting him as the petty criminal who frequents les maisons closes. Ironically, the actor who plays Hire here, the mighty Michel Simon - this is one of his greatest performances - was well-known for his patronage of such establishments, but never mind. The disgraceful cowardly hypocrisy of the locals and the lynch mob dénouement is vicious - and the fact that the whole film takes place while a fun fair pipes out its trashy music makes it even more chilling. Fucking great movie. Don't take my word for it: https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/juli ... ay-review/

[henriq]

Julien Duvivier, Panique, 1946

Along with Clouzot's Le corbeau, this is one of the truly great French noirs. Spaak and Duvivier's adaptation of the Simenon novel on which the film is based is less accurate than the later (and also very good) film adaptation directed by Patrice Lecomte (see reviews passim), choosing merely to hint obliquely at Monsieur Hire's Jewish origins - audiences in 1946 wouldn't have missed the clues, though - and not depicting him as the petty criminal who frequents les maisons closes. Ironically, the actor who plays Hire here, the mighty Michel Simon - this is one of his greatest performances - was well-known for his patronage of such establishments, but never mind. The disgraceful cowardly hypocrisy of the locals and the lynch mob dénouement is vicious - and the fact that the whole film takes place while a fun fair pipes out its trashy music makes it even more chilling. Fucking great movie. Don't take my word for it: https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/juli ... ay-review/

Ah yes, gorgeous, just gorgeous.

[henriq]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEzX4Dc4oBA

A little hard to make a case for it being a film, but I've been watching this for a solid week and can't really stop. A very recent discovery for me, this gang: I had no real concept of UK Garage before now, and these guys were probably a little bit of an anomaly. Rising at the tail end of the balmy nineties - debut full length released in 2001, before the attacks - this was garage transistorised with dancehall, bass, calypso, rap, lean and seductive on the one hand and streetwise and hard as fuck on the other. Garage disjointed and retooled, pointing to what was gathering shape and momentum with grime and any number of UK rap templates to come. What astounds and seduces completely with a show like this is the pure goddamn FUN of it, the crew gathering for a twenty year celebration of UK Garage at London's Boiler Room in 2017. Not too far away to talk about possession: a performative momentum gathering density and energy in equal measure, spilling over and touching everything, pushing into ecstasy and bliss. For a bit of framework, a few of the things that came to mind when I started to write this -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o6HT-Gwa9k

Or:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwkacrln26o

Performance as a charged frame, graphing and giving shape to social, sexual, religious, musical energies, as the case will be.

These are rather unformed thoughts, I realise, but I wanted to step outside the reservation just this once. For the unconvinced, maybe watch the first fifteen minutes and see if I make sense. Watch star and diva Harvey - "PLAYA HATERS, UNDERSTAND - I DON'T, I DON'T, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!!!" - coming a bit late, in parka and hoodie, both of which are taken off in the course of the evening, getting into it and then really getting into it. Or the awesome Face, standing back a bit and then tearing into it with crushing energy at around the twelve minute mark. (The guy with the sunglasses and the '77' shirt on - "RED IS MY BEST COLOUR!!!") Or watch all of it, do yourself a favor.

[Dan Warburton]

I suppose you should have put this in the existing YouTube thread http://ihatemusic.noquam.com/viewtopic. ... &start=800, but thanks for the link - just had a brief zap through, looks good. Thanks

[henriq]

I suppose you should have put this in the existing YouTube thread http://ihatemusic.noquam.com/viewtopic. ... &start=800, but thanks for the link - just had a brief zap through, looks good. Thanks

Damn, this place has everything! Will have a look.

[Dan Warburton]

Alain Cavalier - Martin et Léa (1979)

Je ne veux pas faire semblant.
Je m'habitue a toi.

A gem, an absolute, shining, brilliant, wonderful gem! Watch this space: competition is none - this is, twenty-six days into this new year, my film of the year for 2019. Or simply one of the greatest films I have ever seen. I'll have to be careful, or I'll make my monster post on Antonioni look like a Disney tagline. Real life couple Xavier Saint-Macary and Isabelle Ho play the two lovers Martin and Léa, him an aspiring classical singer, her a kept woman of sorts, bankrolled by Lucien (Richard Bohringer) and obliged to procure young prostitutes for him. A sharply angular and triangular setup: a deft staging of themes of power, jealousy, love and possession. Everything progresses through rooms, a few exteriors thrown in for rhythmic measure. These rooms become a sensuous embodiment of a philosophy, a framing of touch and affect, be it erotic, musical, political (lovely how the theme of the two lovers coming from opposing sides of the Indochina war is introduced and then downplayed). A very French tradition, that: think, for a partial roster of films working through this, of Godard's Le mepris, Alain Tanner's Le retour d'Afrique, Duras' India Song, Rohmer with Ma nuit chez Maud or La femme de l'aviateur, and on and on. But of all these, I actually think Cavalier takes the cake: I have never seen a more beautifully captured and textured space than the apartment in this film. Impeccably designed and shot, poignant and resonant, a varying agglomeration of pillows, sheets, flowers, lighting. I almost have to stop myself from writing more on the subject, it is that beautiful. Also interesting is how Richard Bohringer in the modulations of his character - ranging from sort of bemused eminence grise and legislator to violently possessive lover - recalls Richard Romanus in another gem, Matthew Chapman's Strangers Kiss. More on that, I hope, later. To sum up: why waste your time with middling crap when this magic is out there? Isn't life, and love, and fucking oxygen in too short a supply for that?

Yes indeedy. Finally got round to watching this, and it's magnificent. Nothing to add to your fine review, other than the rather melancholic note that both Isabelle Ho and Xavier Saint-Macary both died far too young. And that I hadn't realised that Bohringer was such a little bugger.

[Dan Warburton]

David Leaf & John Scheinfeld, The Unknown Marx Brothers, 1993

Good (for once) TV documentary, with much footage I hadn't seen - and I'm pretty good when it comes to collecting Marxist memorabilia. Worth it just to see Groucho destroying Cosby. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVLleMw9Tbg

[henriq]

Yes indeedy. Finally got round to watching this, and it's magnificent. Nothing to add to your fine review, other than the rather melancholic note that both Isabelle Ho and Xavier Saint-Macary both died far too young. And that I hadn't realised that Bohringer was such a little bugger.

One tiny, tiny quibble: when the girl is pulled out of the gas filled kitchen she is breathing so visibly I thought she had survived. Actors really should get better at dying

Must get back to the idea of writing about the Chapman film, it's been a while since I saw it. Another subterranean auteur, along with Michael Tolkin.

[Dan Warburton]

One tiny, tiny quibble: when the girl is pulled out of the gas filled kitchen she is breathing so visibly I thought she had survived. Actors really should get better at dying

I suppose you could argue she could have still been alive when he rescued her and died later. In any case, Xavier's horrendous rendition of Fauré's Libera Me would have killed her off later

[Dan Warburton]

Roland Klick, White Star, 1983

"Dennis Hopper stars as the washed-up, erratic, publicity-crazed manager of a clean-cut synth artist Moody he hopes will turn his career around. Reportedly the last film Hopper worked on before going to rehab." Yes, I can believe that one - there are some crazy Hopper performances out there as we all know, but I think this could be his wildest yet (I still have a few more to see though). Playing a kind of Malcolm McLaren figure (though even the diabolical McLaren didn't go as far as paying punks to shoot his star's adoring fans so he could cancel the forthcoming tour!) was right up Hopper's street, and if I didn't think he was literally blitzed out of his fucking skull and making up his lines as he went along, I'd nominate this as the greatest acting of all time bar none. From what I can glean, this was the only film Terrence Robay (who plays the ill-fated Moody) ever made, but he did a remarkably good job playing along with Dennis. Look out for the ugly mug of David "Last House On The Left" Hess as Frank the anarchopunk - and Klaus Voorman playing a sound engineer! Terrific stuff, strongly recommended for young children of a sensitive disposition.

[Dan Warburton]

I've stopped launching separate RIP threads, for reasons stated above, but by way of homage to the recently departed Jean-Pierre Marielle, here are a few choice quotes (my favourite being "les gens sont cons, faut en profiter", which could be the motto for today's generation) https://youtu.be/Pei_C88cxFo

[Polymorphia]

Past few movies I've watched:
Bi Gan - Kaili Blues
Edward Yang - The Terrorizers
Wong Kar-Wai - Fallen Angels
Masahiro Shinoda - Samurai Spy
Ingmar Bergman - The Virgin Spring

2nd films I've seen from Yang, Kar-Wai, and Shinoda (I'd seen Taipei Story, Chungking Express, and Pale Flower, respectively). I'd seen a handful from Bergman and this is my first Bi Gan film. All of these directors warrant further exploration based on the merits of the films above. Yang, in particular.

[Antoine]

Fyre (Chris Smith, 2019)
A documentary about Fyre, Festival, Failure and Fraud.
Kind of "Lost in La Mancha" in the influencers era. Pretty good.

[Dan Warburton]

Marek Kanievska, Another Country, 1984

Just about the only interesting thing I found out about this was that "Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, is an extra (with no dialogue) in three scenes." Not surprising, since many of the "interiors were shot in Althorp, seat of the Spencer family." Well, you didn't think Eton would allow them film there, did you? Maybe the original play was better, but, having encountered and been thoroughly bored by several ex-Etonians at university (not Soviet spies, I think, but certified raving queers) I don't know what on earth made me want to watch this soppy shite. Ah, now I remember.. it was my wife who recommended it. Well, she likes Colin Firth. Anyway, the film worth watching about English public schools is (Lindsay Anderson's) If...., because the fuckers get shot.

[Dan Warburton]

Carmelo Bene, Nostra Signora dei Turchi, 1968

Well, here's what Wiki says: "A man (Carmelo Bene) cannot bear to be part of the society he lives in. He considers himself a "jerk" and so invents his own philosophy, which involves the destruction of the ways of his native land of Apulia, where all residents are devoted to the Catholic religion. However, the man cannot destroy the belief of the pilgrims of Salento, because a woman prevents him. She is an unknown "Santa Margherita", who tries to turn the man away from what she considers his weird and impossible philosophy. Successive scenes of the film show various dreamlike situations in which the two protagonists try to best each other. After a blasphemous dialogue between monks, the man includes his whole philosophy in a Moorish building. In fact, this seems to have been the scene of the massacre of the famous 800 Martyrs of Otranto, who are considered by the sceptic to be the absolute death of Christianity.
The man, dressed as a medieval knight, tries to find pleasure in amorous adventures with a servant, but fails completely. In fact, it seems that a part of him is tied to something so holy that he cannot stand. The woman in the story has told him that she wants to save him from his own philosophy, but the man has always refused. Now that the man is determined to change and destroy his own philosophy, he discovers that it is too late. Santa Margherita, in the famous Moorish palace, is no longer willing to forgive and to convert the man who, struck down, dies without happiness."
But this gives you absolutely no idea of what you're in for. I'm tempted to quote John Gill's legendary Sounds review of the first Nurse With Wound LP: ????? Even trying to imagine a mutant cross between (Makavejev's) Sweet Movie, (Fellini's) Casanova and (Jarman's) The Last Of England won't get you very far. It's probably closer to Clementi or Brakhage. Whatever it is, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. Expect a lot of flowers, a lot of tomato sauce and a lot of opera. If I can sober up I might try and get through the 50-minute interview with the director and report back. Though I'm not promising anything. Holy shit!

[Dan Warburton]

Haile Gerima, Bush Mama, 1975

What a magnificent film - along with Charles Burnett and Billy Woodberry, Gerima was one of the great, undersung (huh - go figure why..) L.A. Rebellion of black directors. Long before Spike Lee bungled his way to the top and halfway back down again. Wikiplotsez "Bush Mama is the story of Dorothy and her husband T.C. He is a discharged Vietnam veteran who thought he would return home to a "hero's welcome." Instead he is falsely arrested and imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Her life revolves around the welfare office and a community facing poverty and unemployment. As a result of the film's events, both the main characters become radicalized and Dorothy eventually turns to violence." Great Black Film Ancient To The Future. Fine Onaje Kareem Kenyatta soundtrack too.

[Dan Warburton]

Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, La gabbia ("The Trap"), 1985

Wow. I was expecting a rather cheesy softcore giallino, but this is an absolutely top-notch erotico-psycho(logical) thriller. Laura Antonelli is quite simply superb, but Florinda Balkan, Blanca Marsillach and poor old Tony Musante are on great form. I say "poor old" Tony Musante, but you might not think that way about him at the beginning of the movie.. But wait until he runs into the next door neighbour.. Add a very fine Morricone soundtrack, cool decor and I can't for the life of me figure out why it polled a measly 5.1 on IMDb. This is definitely up there with Fatal Attraction, Play Misty for Me and Basic Instinct. You like femmes fatales? Check this one out

[Dan Warburton]

László Benedek, The Night Visitor, 1971

Wiki plot summary: "An inmate named Salem (Max von Sydow) escapes from an insane asylum in the dead of winter. His destination is the house of his sister, Ester (Liv Ullmann) and her husband, Anton (Per Oscarsson). His quest is revenge as he sets about framing Anton because Salem feels he was set up for a horrendous axe murder two years previously. On the case is a police inspector (Trevor Howard) who must determine if Anton is really crazy for claiming he saw Salem outside of the asylum and discover if Salem was really framed." https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/08/see- ... underwear/ Yes, agree with much of this. Despite its flaws (Max's escape is implausible to say the least, and did the director really ask great actors like Ullmann and Howard to act badly?), it's very entertaining. But László Benedek's greatest claim to fame remains the Marlon Brando bikerfest The Wild One ("What are you rebelling against?" "What have you got?")

[Dan Warburton]

Bert Kennedy, The Killer Inside Me, 1976

Haven't yet seen the more recent adaptation with Casey Affleck as Lou directed by Michael Winterbottom, but it's got to be better than this. Despite a fine cast - Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrrell get solid backup from the likes of Don Stroud and Charles McGraw - the changes made to Jim Thompson's original novel (the real back story to Lou's "sickness", for those who know the story) fail to convince. The directing is clumsy - Kennedy should have stuck to comedy westerns - the music is hamfisted and instead of building to a convincing climax it falls to pieces. Not the first time a Jim Thompson novel has defeated the filmmakers. Why the hell did they move the action to Montana, too? What's wrong with Texas?

[Dan Warburton]

Carlo Croccolo, Black Killer, 1971

Ah, there's something so.. jouissif about watching a really lousy film. This is one where absolutely nothing is right - but unlike other Great Bad Spaghettis (Questi's Django Kill for example) this is not a question of "so bad it's good", more one of "so bad you won't believe it". Firstly, the title: there's not a single black killer in the picture. The very blond and atrociously dubbed Kinski skulks in a hotel room hiding guns in books. About a hundred people get shot but not a drop of blood is seen. The Indian squaw girl looks about as Indian as I do. The plot is so full of holes there are more holes than plot. The music is just awful, and used in all the wrong places to boot. And wait until you see the costumes (ooh, those tight-fitting red pants on the Mexican gangsters - called the O'Hara brothers btw ) and the make-up. Whooee, they don't come much worse than this.