Recently Watched Films 2019

[Dan Warburton]

Marcel Bluwal, Carombalages, 1963

We were talking about Louis de Funès above, and here his hysterical delivery is perfect, and a perfect foil for Michel Serrault's hilariously brutal police inspector in the second half of the film. Dialoguist Michel Audiard delivers some of his best lines in this wacky black comedy about an ambitious young executive (Jean-Claude Brialy) determined to make his way to the top floor of the Champs Elysées office block, by hook or by crook. Nice surprise at the end when you see the face of the new employee determined to follow in his footsteps

[Dan Warburton]

George Miller, Mad Max, 1979

Miller's weird dystopian western-in-all-but-name has aged very well - much better than its sequels - and those guerrilla shoot car chases and smashes still look great. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/m ... lain-weird

[Dan Warburton]

Jack Gold, The Medusa Touch, 1978

I was tempted to grab this looking forward to a direct face-to-face encounter between Richard Burton and Lino Ventura, but there isn't one, alas. That's because Burton's character, a novelist called John Morlar who "has telekineticpowers that Carrie White would blench at" (cf http://parallax-view.org/2010/02/16/rev ... usa-touch/), has been bludgeoned into a coma before Brunel (Ventura), a French detective apparently on some kind of exchange programme, shows up. But they both have plenty of scenes with psychotherapist Lee Remick, whose steely blue glare is almost as distressing as Burton's, though it doesn't have the ability to cause a jumbo jet to fly into the side of a skyscraper (yes, 23 years before 9/11..). Based on a novel by Peter Van Greenaway (NOT Peter Greenaway the director btw), it's a rather bleak affair, but not without its charms, especially when Bristol Cathedral collapses on everyone inside it, narrowly (unfortunately) missing Her Britannic Majesty.

[Dan Warburton]

Roman Polanski, Bitter Moon, 1992

Wikipedia isn't the be all and end all of online culture as we all know, but it is a bit dispiriting to see that there is no Wiki page for Pascal Bruckner's novel Lunes de fiel, while there are dozens of links to Polanski's film based on it. Like Jonathan Rosenbaum, whose fine article on the movie piqued my curiosity https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1994/04/sex-games/ I haven't read Bruckner's novel, but my wife has, and I'm somewhat tempted to give it a try, for the simple reason that Polanski's adaptation deviates from it in several respects (much as I like Hugh Grant's awfully English toodle-oo character, there's no Nigel Dobson in the book - he and his wife are French). No spoilers, but the book's better - and more disturbing. One review online compares this to Mary Harron's airbrushed American Pyscho, and I can see the point. Some things are better just read about rather than shown, not that Polanski's film is very explicit regarding the detail of Oscar and Mimi's sexual adventures. Perhaps a director more used to working with such themes (Breillat, Brisseau..) could have brought it off, or someone adopting a more radical fractured approach to narrative (Ruiz?). Polanski is after all a very conventional director, in that he likes to tell a good story and tell it well, and the four lead actors here do a splendid job, especially Peter Coyote.

[Dan Warburton]

Zhangke Jia, Ash is Purest White, 2018

As I'm more than 99% certain I'll never set foot in China in my life - and certainly wont be going to Datong, where our heroine Qiao and her small-town gangster boyfriend Bin hail from - I look forward to every new film from Zhangke Jia with great interest. Apart from a fleeting flypast by a UFO (yes, really - but of course you could say Qiao dreamt it), it's a valuable glimpse into another world and mindset. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/movi ... eview.html

[Dan Warburton]

Jean-Claude Brisseau, Chose secrètes, 2002

It was apparently while auditioning girls for his erotic thriller that the director requested his budding actresses to masturbate for him, eventually culminating in the affaire Brisseau, French art cinema's not-as-well-known equivalent of the Harvey Weinstein saga. But as the two leading ladies in the movie do indeed have to do that, perhaps there was some method to Brisseau's madness. Shame he couldn't have come up with two slightly better actresses than Coralie Revel and Sabine Seyvecou (but perhaps he wasn't paying too much attention to their acting skills ). The story is a bit like that great old Stanwyck Pre-Code when she sleeps her way up the company to become the boss, the difference being that when Sandrine finally beds Christophe (after destroying the life and career of his right-hand man) she gets much more than she bargained for, in the form of an authentically sadistic libertine (Fabrice Deville, scary), and then only to find that her pal Nathalie beat her to it. Not that Christophe is all that interested - her prefers his sister. All ends up in an orgy. You've never heard Handel's "Zadok The Priest" used like this, I'll bet.

[Dan Warburton]

Alexandre Astruc, Les mauvaises rencontres, 1955

Anouk Aimée went on to do brighter and better things, of course - she's a bit mousy and unconvincing here as a young journalist arriving in Paris from the provinces who ends up having to see a certain doctor about a particular problem. Heck, don't know why I'm trotting out the euphemisms, the abortion story is mentioned at the outset in a caption before we even see the heroine. I'm sure, addicted cinéphile (four or more movies a day, all his life) Jacques Rivette knew this one very well when he cast Giani Esposito in his feature debut Paris nous appartient five years later. With his elegant and often surprising camerawork, Astruc was certainly setting the stage for the nouvelle vague to come, but the script and cast still seem stuck in the past. Not his greatest work, imo - but I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it again, in a better quality version.

[Dan Warburton]

Miguel Llansó, Crumbs, 2015

Only at Karagarga can you find - totally free FT - an Ethopian dystopian science-fiction film about a hunchback dwarf sporting a Superman tee shirt in search of Santa Claus with a copy of Michael Jackson's Dangerous by way of barterable currency.. amazing landscapes, totally out there. As the title sez, crumbs! Check it out
https://filmmakermagazine.com/95985-som ... QKNAI9S-i8

[Dan Warburton]

Andrea Arnold, Red Road, 2006

Excellent - and another good reason for never setting foot in Glasgow, though I'm happy to report that the blocks of flats on the road in question have since been demolished. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/o ... ilipfrench

[walto]

an Ethopian dystopian science-fiction film about a hunchback dwarf sporting a Superman tee shirt in search of Santa Claus with a copy of Michael Jackson's Dangerous by way of barterable currency.. amazing landscapes, totally out there.

Wow.

[Steve Minkin]

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944) – Bogie and Bacall, novel by Hemingway and screenplay by Faulkner (making it the only film script to involve two Nobel laureates, although that wasn't really enough to make it work), Walter Brennan, Hoagie Charmichael, and a deliciously evil Dan Seymour (Abdul in Casablanca). Directed by Howard Hawks, who told his buddy Hemingway that he could make a great movie out of his worst book. Bogie and Bacall started their real-life romance during the filming and the chemistry crackles on the screen. "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and ... blow ..."

Here's Bacall's duet with Hoagy on Am I Blue. Bacall's husky voice is frequently attributed to a dubbed Andy Williams (!?), but the truth is stranger. Hawks had planned to have Williams sing her lines, but when he heard Bacall sing during rehearsals he liked her voice better and decided to go with her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bdR14dJu38


Lots of memorable scenes, shots, wisecracks, faces, but the story never really clicks for me, lacks the crisp, involving drama of the similar but earlier Casablanca. Bacall is stunning, vulnerable and invincible.

[Steve Minkin]

D.O.A. (1949) – Edmond O'Brien, Ralph Mate directing. Clearly a B-movie at heart (how else to explain the plastic wolf-whistles?), an unassuming noir second-feature which does what it does so well it becomes a classic. A gripping opening followed by a too leisurely build-up and finishing with taut and thrilling crime drama. O'Brien is perfect as a wishy-washy, passive accountant from the boonies transformed into a 'what-have-I-got-to-lose' super-hero by the realization that he's been murdered. Beautiful shots of old San Francisco. Terrific concept.

[Steve Minkin]

West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein/ Stephen Sondheim) is being remade with Steven Spielberg directing and screenplay by Tony Kushner, due out December 2020. The film stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler, and features Rita Moreno(!) returning to play in the second version, too, in the role formerly known as 'Doc.' the store owner.

Filming starts this summer.

[Dan Warburton]

Brian G. Hutton, The First Deadly Sin, 1980

Watching Faye Dunaway die in a hospital bed is just about the most exciting thing in this strange outing, starring a geriatric Sinatra (what was Ebert thinking about when he described this as a great performance?) in search of a serial killer (David Dukes, as a kind of proto-Patrick Bateman fucked up yuppie with a penchant for smashing people's heads in with an ice hammer) whom we hardly ever see, let alone understand. If that sounds confusing, wait until you see the ending. On second thoughts, don't bother.

[Dan Warburton]

West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein/ Stephen Sondheim) is being remade with Steven Spielberg directing and screenplay by Tony Kushner, due out December 2020. The film stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler, and features Rita Moreno(!) returning to play in the second version, too, in the role formerly known as 'Doc.' the store owner.
Filming starts this summer.

We look forward to seeing Mr Elgort in thirty years' time in the remake of Twin Peaks He was cool in Baby Driver - hope he dances as well as he drives!

[Dan Warburton]

Joräm Lursen, Love Is All, 2007

Very enjoyable Santa Claus romcom from Amsterdam, interweaving several tales of (supposed) marital (hetero and gay) infidelity / divorce / confusion. It goes on a little too long, perhaps, but so does Christmas. And I do like Carice van Houten.

[Dan Warburton]

Lech Majewski, Garden of Earthly Delights, 2004

Saith Wiki: "Claudine is a British art scholar who has a terminal case of throat cancer. She is in Venice to give a lecture on the Bosch triptych from which the film gets its name. Claudine is accompanied in Venice by her lover, Chris, a nautical engineer. Together they explore the canals of Venice. Chris has brought his video camera, and the audience watches Claudine and Chris hang out, make love, swim, converse, rent an apartment, and recreate vignettes from the triptych." Some very arresting images, but if I was given a month or so to live and my partner spent every available moment filming me with a camcorder I'd probably throw it - and him - into the Grand Canal. Then again, as Hitch used to say, "it's only a movie."

[Dan Warburton]

Larry Cohen, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, 1977

Much as I admire King Cohen for digging Broderick Crawford out of obscurity and for his famous guerrilla filmmaking (he managed to shoot not only on the real FBI firing range but in Hoover's actual house), I have to admit a preference for his wilder outings (God Told Me To, Q, The Stuff..). One senses there would be enough material here for an entire series - cramming it into a normal feature length feels uncomfortable. Still, I would be happy watch it again if I could find a better quality rip.

[Dan Warburton]

Mathieu Amalric, Mange ta soupe, 1997

Described - rightly so - by Jean-Luc Godard as one of the best surprises of 1997, Amalric's first feature (originally a short, but extended to 70 minutes thanks to some extra funding) is a little jewel, thanks to the terrific performance of Italian actress Adriana Asti as the eccentric mother living in a house where every available square foot is filled with books. No subtitles on either the Cahiers du Cinéma DVD release or the rip available at KG alas, so don't be surprised if I send you to a French Wiki page. Bonne lecture https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mange_ta_soupe

[Dan Warburton]

Ken Russell, Dante's Inferno, 1967

Quoth Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante%27s ... 1967_film) : "Dante's Inferno has been described as 'bit of a mess' despite moments of 'inspired lunacy'. Russell's biographer Joseph Lanza takes the view that its moody black-and-white photography makes the locations in the English Lake District seem like Dracula's Transylvania. Joseph A. Gomez argues that its chaotic appearance hides a sophisticated structure: 'Perhaps on first viewing, the film may appear wildly episodic, strangely disorienting, self-indulgent, and extreme to the point of serious distortion. Yet with repeated viewings and research into Rossetti's life, the viewer soon realizes that Russell, like Hamlet, is but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, he, too. knows a hawk from a handsaw...Russell concentrates on what he sees as the central conflict of Rossetti's life – the discrepancy between his ideals of truth, chivalry, and beauty which form the basis of his exalted vision of womanhood and what simply might be called his highly sexed nature. This emphasis, in turn, reveals Rossetti's neurotic characteristics of repetitive, obsessional thoughts and feelings and further assists to justify the film's structure since the content, to some degree, dictates the form.'" I thought this was excellent myself, a typically mad Russell megamix of profundity and pottiness, set to a splendidly varied soundtrack featuring everything from barrel organs to Berg.