Movie #196 The 39 Steps *1935*

Alfred Hitchcock (Director)

My last blog about Hitchcock was over The Lady Vanishes.  The 39 Steps continues in his tradition of suspenseful thrillers.  This film is about a man who meets a woman that is carrying a secret of the state that will eventually be the death of her.  This is not a spoiler.  This happens with in the first 15 minutes and it actually launches the entire plot forward. 

Both Hitchcock's movie that I have reviewed have absolutely amazing action set pieces in them.  In The Lady Vanishes it was the train shoot out near the end.  Here is takes place during a chase sequence that takes up the better part of the second act.  Both film have brilliant camera and lighting work.  I noticed a lot more of the camera moving in this movie.  At one point out protagonist, now burdened with the information the female was carrying, gets off of a train when he learns that he is being sought after for the murder of the woman.  As he walks forward at the train station the camera dollys in front of him while zooming in on him.  It creates the effect as if his entire world is collapsing in on him.  I have never noticed that type of camera work in a film from this era. 

This was an interesting film from the love interest angle too.  Of course in Hitchcock fashion there is the blonde bombshell with something on her mind.   Much like my last review, The Lady Eve, the implication of sex is sexier than sex its self.  I hope that this is the case and that I haven't been locked up in house house alone watching movies alone for too long.  There is a scene where the protagonist and the antagonist are hand cuffed together, much to her disapproval.  She has gotten soaked from the rain and he must help her take her stockings off.  I have seen more subtly in porno's. 

I found this to be a very progressive film for it's time.  It is broad in it's settings.  We travel from the UK to Scotland all the while discussions of Canada and the USA.  As I mentioned before the camera work can be seen in many of the films (good films) of today.  The lighting palys a major role in this film also.  I detected a hint of noir or at least some German influence. 

While I liked The Lady Vanishes a little better, this would go on to become the final film Hitch did in Europe before coming to America and making films for Selznick.  It was also his biggest success in the UK.  Or at least in it's time and theatrical run.  I give The 39 Steps ★★★1/2.

Movie #195 The Lady Eve *1941*

Barbara Stanwyck - Jean (Eve)
Henry Fonda - Charles
Preston Sturges (Director)

As far as slapstick comedies go I think this is one of the better ones.  That is probably because it doesn't get to slap-sticky.  The few times that is does get into physical humor it kind of lost me a little.  Physical comedy is an art and can be performed wonderfully, but I have generally found to fall short (pardon the pun) on film.  I think it is best kept to live performances.

The Lady Eve is about a rich man returning from the Amazon.  He catches the eye of every young lady / gold digger on his cruise ship.  Including that of a con artist (Stanwyck) and her father.  She seduces him in an attempt to lure him into a card game with her father where he will take him for everything they can get.  But there is only one problem.  She falls in love with him.  And he with her too.  That is until he is made aware that not everything is as it seems.  In which place he leaves her behind.

As chance would have it she manages a way to reunite with him.  This time though she plays a European socialite that happens to have a "black-sheep of the family" sister.  She pretends to be a totally different woman again in an attempt of wooing him.  And again it works.  This time they get married and on the honeymoon she reveals to him that Eve (the socialite character she is masquerading as) has a past filled with ex-lover.  This is done in a great montage.  He then gets off the train at the next stop.  This was supposed to be her big revenge for breaking her heart, but it has left both of them only feeling disheartened. 

In a final go-at-it she finds out that Charles is going to be hopping on a boat out of the country and she reappears again as Jean.  Much in the same manner she caught his attention the first time they met.  This time He whisks her off her feet and into his cabin where he confesses he has always loved her and her to him.

This movie was made under the umbrella of the Hayes Code.  This is the studio driven moral law that prevented movies from showing sex or nudity or cursing or undeserved violence or violence without consequence.  One of the first things that I noticed about this movie is how sex charged it is.  I feel like the innuendo and overt sexual references made this a much more "dirty" film than it would have been if the character were just allowed to hop into bed together.  Most of the time talking about sex and playfully hinting about sex is really sexier that sex its self.

Preston Sturges's next film would be Sullivan's Travels. A movie that I adore with an actress that everyone should adore, Veronica Lake.  This is not to say that Barbara Stanwyck is anything to sneeze at.  She is sharp and seductive with a touch of child like innocence in the role.  She would later go on to define the Hollywood femme fatale in movies like Double Indemnity and Forty Guns.  Henry Fonda didn't do much after this movie except Fort Apache, 12 Angry Men, How the West was Won, Once Upon a Time in the West and nearly countless others.

The Lady Eve is a touching and engrossing movie.  I found it easy to become invested in and while being clearly set in a time gone by the movie was easy to relate to.  I give The Lady Eve ★★★1/2.

Movie #194 Carlos *2010*

Originally released as a TV mini series for the BBC, Carlos is the story of a Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting.

I am counting this as a film mostly because it was on every critics best of 2010 list and it's running time of 6 hours as well as it's cursing, violence and nudity. You would not be able to show Carlos on network TV and not even on cable.

The first installment is a origin story for both the terrorist that would later go on to be called Carlos and the situation of South America and the Middle East and Central Europe.  Carlos was born into meager beginnings.  He was a communist and felt a need to help the underprivileged fight against their oppressors.  His dislike for capitalism drove his actions.  Working his way up to a middle man in the Middle Eastern terrorist circles he and a few crew members were awarded a job.  Raiding the 1975 OPEC meeting.  This way an act that had serious ramifications for everyone involved it was a bit of a disaster for Carlos and would be held over his head for the rest of his life.

The raid it's self launches the second portion of the story.  This is where Carols separates from other alliances and forms his own organization.  A group that would bounce around Europe bombing and murdering all in an attempt to achieve global equivalency.

The third chapter in his story is the inevitable demise of Carlos and his organization.  He had burned a lot of bridges in his career and made a lot of enemies.  His health began to fail him as his wife was leaving him.  The one thing about being on the run is that you always have to run faster than those chasing you.  Once your health gives out, it provides those after you a leg up.

I loved this story.  I knew very little of Carlos and his actions before this film.  I feel like the six hours wasn't even close enough to really delve into the life of such a man.  First off, Carlos was a playboy.  Even when married he never slowed down with the ladies.  A fact that may have weighted heavily on his health in his later years while he was suffering from what seemed to be testicle cancer.

In a scary way my political opinions often times ran close to Carlos's.  I wouldn't call myself a communist, but Marxism is a profound philosophy.  And I believe heavily in the equality of man for the betterment of society.  However Carlos's methods is where we began to differ.    Another thing I like about this film is that it is not afraid to show the unglamorous.  Not all of the terrorist attacks were successes and the film portrays it that way.  Sometimes Carols looks like a king or an unstoppable czar.  Other times he is fat and buffoonish.  He lets his emotions and ego get in the way of rational thought and he and his organization pays the ultimate price for that.  

I'll speak for a moment about the performances. Edgar Ramirez was perfect in the role.  If I had seen this in time I would have placed it as the best performance of 2010.  The woman who plays his wife is amazing also.  There are a lot of really great performances worked in the story as well.  Over the course of 6 hours (representing the better part of a lifetime) everyone's characters change and grow so much.  It must have been a daunting task to keep everything straight.

This movie reminds me of a lot of other feature films.  Of course there is Che from 2009, it has a Scarface like story outline without the ridiculous over-the-top ending, and I could go on and on.  That is about all I care to blog about such a sweeping docu-drama.  I give Carlos ★★★★.

Movie #193 Taste of Cherry *1997*

Homayoun Ershadi - Mr. Badii
Abbas Kiarostami (Director)

This is my 2nd Kiarostami film that I have watched during this project.  The first being Ten (Movie #133).  This is also the 2nd film of his that is shot predominantly within the confines of a car.  This is my 2nd film of his that has long scenes of dull, pointless dialogue.  I will say that at least Ten have some conflict.  The boy that played the lead actresses son was an absolute brat.  He alone generated more dramatic tension than the entire film Taste of Cherry has.

This movie opens on Badii driving around the streets of Terheran looking at laborers.  He eventually (and by eventually I mean after 15 minutes of aimlessly driving around) convinces a young soldier to get in the car by offering him a ride.  As the conversation between the men begins Badii offers to pay the soldier to do a job.  At this point the homosexual undertones are brought to the forefront.  Badii really sounded like a pervert.  he did everything but ask this scared young man if he was clean.  By this heavy handed, forced conversation I though I was in for a lesson on the taboo of being gay in a Islamic, Middle Eastern country.  Instead what we find out is that Badii plans to kill himself on that night and he is looking for someone to cover his grave in dirt.  Freaked out the soldier bolts off into the mountains of Iran.

Taste of Cherry is a film that I think is more fun to discuss than it is to watch.  It is an award wining film, but in my opinion it committed the biggest possible cinematic sin.  It was boring.  I will set through a poorly made or "bad" movie if I can be kept interested.  I find it difficult and unnecessary to watch a film that is boring regardless of the production value.

Badii's next victim/co-pilot is a Muslim priest in training.  He again drives around for what felt like hours having a meaningless conversation and avoiding the point of the ride all together.  This is what I call an "Idiot Plot".  This is where the solution to a problem in the script can be solved by the characters just speaking about what is going on or what is needed.  Instead the story needs them to be aloof and vague in order to movie the plot along.  The TV show Heroes was famous for this.  Badii rambles as he drives along all the while the priest is trying to help him so that he doesn't kill himself.  But Kiarostami decides not to have Badii go into what is weighing so heavily on him and instead he becomes mute like.  He stops talking all together like an angry child. 

Despite my negative review there are a few things worth seeing in the film.  First off the scenery is beautiful at first.  The orange/brown color pallet is visually stimulating for a while, but after an hour or so I wanted something more.  There is a scene at a construction site where we can see Badii's shadow and there is a dirt mover pouring dirt on his shadow.  This was a cool effect.

In a very strange edit we jump cut to a Turk in the car with Badii and they have apparently had the typical conversation and the Turk agrees to cover the grave in the morning.  Prior to the conversation confirming the burial, we have never met the Turk.  The Turk then goes on to blather for days (or so it felt by now) without really saying anything profound.  He tries to make an allegory about mulberries saving his life, but it falls on deaf ears.  Both Badii's and mine. Once the agreement is made Badii drops the Turk off and begins to have 2nd thoughts.  I was praying for a meaningful existential conversation, but all we are given is nervous small talk.  I think a person could watch this film in slow motion and not really miss anything.  Come to think of it, It would still be boring. 

Once we make it towards the end of the film (again with the driving?) Badii has taken a handful of sleeping pills and he lays down in his will-be grave.  There is a thunderstorm rolling in and the lightening on his face is stunning as it illuminates an otherwise black screen.  Then we fade up on very cheap looking digital video camera footage.  What had been a brownish orange desert landscape is now lush with greenery.  We are then "treated" to about 5 minutes of behind the scenes footage of Kiarostami and his cast and crew working.

I like a film that challenges me, but not one that seems odd for the sake of being odd.  I really have no idea what was trying to be said with that ending.  If the director was trying to remind his audience that they are watching a movie, then this is the biggest cinematic masturbation I have ever seen.  If is something else then I needed a little more insight.

I wouldn't say that Taste of Cherry is a "bad movie".  It is very well made.  Its structure is unique and its premise is simple and eloquent.  But somewhere along the way the train went off the rails and we ended up with a train wreak of a movie.  I give Taste of Cherry ★★.

Movie #192 Bloody Sunday *2002*

James Nesbitt - Ivan Cooper
Kathy Kiera Clarke - Frances
Paul Greengrass (Director)

Bloody Sunday is about the events that took place on January 30, 1972 in Northern Ireland.  A day where the Catholic majority marched down their streets in a display of sovereignty in regards to civil rights.   A peaceful marched turned ugly when protesters within the march began throwing rocks at the British Army who had outlawed marches and parades.  The British Army retaliated by firing on the protesters and killing 17.  9 of whom were just teenagers.

I knew very little of Bloody Sunday before watching it.  I knew the U2 song and I knew that the IRA was involved in some way, but that was about it.  This film does an excellent job of maintaining a neutral position.  This isn't an Irish movie, nor is it a Catholic or Protestant movie.  It is an exciting, reflective, challenging movie.  Challenging in that it was shot entirely with hand held cameras that put you right in the middle of the march or the military meetings and even the gun fire. 

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched either of the last 2 Borne movies.  Both of those were made by Greengrass.  Both of those movies placed the action right up front and all around you.

One thing that I didn't like about Black Sunday is an editing technique that was used.  In order to get from one point to another the director used a quick fade to black, a small pause, then a fade up.  I thought at first this was a post modern Nouvelle Vague method.  Later I learned that sometimes they would shoot a single take for up to 30 minutes from several different cameras.  My guess is that this technique was born out of necessity.  I found it interesting at first, but it soon began to bother me and take me out of a story that all the other film making was drawing me into. 

I said that the film makers did a great of riding the fence and not taking political or religious sides.  That is until the gun fire takes place.  Perhaps the director tried to stay neutral, but it is hard to do when a military presence has opened fire on unarmed, largely peaceful people marching.  One thing that I think the movie gets right, but I might have drawn more attention to is the rock/brick throwing.  I found it to me more dangerous and threatening than the movie lets on.

The lead performance is fantastic by James Nesbitt.  He really seemed to capture the spirit of Ireland's MLK.  I also wanted to point out a supporting character.  Kathy Kiera Clarke played Frances, she seemed to be Cooper's love interest.  She is only in a couple of scenes, but I thought she had great screen presence.

It blows my mind that in such a civilized country like Ireland that there were people marching and being killed for the right to vote and speak their mind within my lifetime.  Bloody Sunday is a wonderful document of these events made all the more meaningful by the fact that it was made by a British film maker.  I give Bloody Sunday ★★★★.

Movie #191 Drop Dead Gorgeous *1999*

Kirsten Dunst
Ellen Barkin
Kirstie Alley
Allison Janney
Denise Richards
Brittney Murphy
Amy Adams
Michael Patrick Jann (Director)

Drop Dead Gorgeous is a mockumentary about a beauty pageant in Minnesota.  This pageant is being ran by one of the contestants mothers played by Kirstie Alley.  The mother had won this pageant years ago and she is going to make sure that her daughter wins now.  Even if it means hurting or even killing off the other contestants.

A good friend of mine turned me on to this film about 8 years ago on DVD.  I rented it and laughed my ass off.  First off there is the fun natured jabbing at the Minnesota natives and their Lutheran ways.  I had the pleasure this weekend of watching this movie with a good friend and his family.  All Minnesota transplants with a strong Lutheran up bringing.  They thought it was hilarious as well. 

Then the jokes move towards the darker side as Alley's daughters (played with restraint by Denise Richards) biggest competitors start getting bumped off.  The one girl who manages to avoid all these deathly pitfalls is played by a young Kirsten Dunst.

She is a trailer raised girl with aspirations of following in Diane Sawyers shoes.  As we get to know Dunst's character we meet her mother and intrusive neighbor, played respectively by Barking and Janney.  The trailer trash jokes then begin to layer in with the black comedy.  At this point we begin to meet the other contestants, judges, and other towns folk.  It is a rich mixture of high and low brow comedy.

As the story progresses we are treated to the comedic laced pageantry.  I thought every word and music cue was right on the nose.  For a mockumentary, the film makers must have had a good deal of inside information and been to a few too many pageants to get the details down like this.  This film is Spinal Tap for teen beauty contestants. 

Comedy is the most subjective genre of film.  I loved the movie, it's format, it's performances and it's heart.  It also has a very strange ending with a great (all be it an un-needed) coda.  With this much talent attached to a project you are bound to be able to latch on to something.  I give Drop Dead Gorgeous ★★★1/2.

Movie #190 Hearts of Darkness *1991*

It wasn't until right now that I realized this movie was released in 1991.  I would have bet it was an early 80's documentary.  Hearts of Darkness is a documentary about the making of Francis Ford Coppla's 1979 Vietnam movie Apocalypse Now.

Before I get into Hearts of Darkness allow me to comment on Apocalypse Now.  This is my second favorite Vietnam film behind Platoon.  It is a trippy telling of a soldiers mission to travel up river to disarm and bring back a Captain who has gone rouge and by all reports totally insane.  The movie is epic in both scope and pretension.

Hearts of Darkness is a solid doc shot and directed by Coppla's wife.  It explores the tremendous amounts of obstacles that had to be overcome in order just to get the film in the can.

The movie was shot in the Philippines with permission and assistance from the Filipino government.  That is to say when they weren't busy fighting insurgents from the south.  Then three weeks into principal photography Coppla decided that his leading man, Harvey Keitel wasn't working out and the film had to be postponed while a replacement was found.  This would be a common event in the making of the movie.  Martin Sheen was finally selected and filming resumed.  Just in time for a monsoon that ravaged the landscape destroying much of the country and most of the elaborate sets that were constructed.

Where in most films there is a studio backing up a film (at least financially), Coppla was spending his own money in an attempt to be independent from the studios.  A  philosophy he abides to even today.  He had millions of dollars invested, so his neck was really on the line.  

Then there was the problems with the script.  Coppla didn't like the ending of the original script written by John Milius.  He figured he would absorb the jungle and become inspired to write the ending while on location.  But he couldn't get it and all that did was delay things even more.  Then came Brando.  Playing the insane Kurtz he was as stubborn if not more stubborn than ever.  He was notorious for being a pain in the neck.  All the way to the point that Coppla had to threaten to walk away from The Godfather because the studio was so again casting Marlon in the title role.

This movie was shot in the late 70's about a war that was fought in the late 60's.  Almost needless to say drugs were rampant.  Both in the script and in the blood stream of many of the actors and crew of the film.  acid, pot, speed, uppers, downers, booze you name it.  All these of course played a part in the direction of the movie.

Hearts of Darkness did a good job of taking you to the jungle and understanding everything that was riding on the production.  For my money I prefer the documentary "Burden of Dreams" (Movie #39).  There are similarities abound between these two films.  This would make a great double feature.  Maybe even better than either doc and the movie they are documenting.


I give Hearts of Darkness ★★★.