Movie #169 Knife in the Water *1962*

Leon Niemczyk - Andrzej
Jolanta Umecka - Krystyna
Zygmunt Malanowicz - "Young Boy"
Roman Polanski (Director)

I try to list the main actors and there character names at the begin of my blogs.  That is only sort of the case here.  These three actors listed here are the only three people in the entire film.  This was Roman Polanski's first film.  It is shot in black and white and in his native Polish language. 

The story is a simple one.  A married couple picks up a hitchhiker on the way to go sailing.  They invite him to sail with them.  Chaos reigns.

I liked this movie, but I didn't love it.  I liked the way Roman used his camera to invoke or heighten the mood.  I like the way that the jazz soundtrack didn't really fit in with the film, but it did add an extra sense of sexuality to the picture.  There is a tension in the air when watching this film.  I felt at any moment that something was bound to go wrong.  It reminded me of the movie Funny Games a lot in that way.

It is official.  I have a thing for Polish girls.  Krystyna is so sexy in this role.  First off she looks like a bit of an old bitty with her cats eyes glasses, but once they are on the boat and she emerges from below in her bikini, forget about it.  There are sexual innuendos and symbols laced throughout this movie.

It is difficult to declare who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in the film.  The young man is clearly been added to the story to shake things up.  And shake things up he does.  There are power struggles between he and the husband throughout.  It is as if both of them are trying to prove their worth to Krystyna.  Then at time she teams up with either the boy or her husband to poke fun at the other.  This is a slippery story.

I was expecting a thriller and in doing so I was a little disappointed.  There is not much action, just the potential for action which in the end can be better then the actual action its self.  Here I felt like it sort of became much ado about nothing.  I was surprised by the end, but still unsatisfied. 

It is a bold first film and a great window into the talents and perversions of Mr Polanski.  I give Knife in the water ★★★★.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Movie #168 The Red Shoes *1948*

Oops.  I saw this film in October and forgot to post about it.  That might be because I wouldn't shut up about how wonderful it is long enough to type anything.  So I am going to cheat and give you my 3 Reasons.

Reason 1.  The greatest dance sequence ever filmed.  Hands down.  No question.

Reason 2.  Amazing Technicolor!

Reason 3.  Anton Walbrook as Boris Lermontov (the ballet director).  He is masterful.

Rating:  ★★★★★. 

Movie #167 Peeping Tom *1960*

Carl Boehm - Mark Lewis
Moira Shearer - Vivian
Michael Powell (Director)

Powell and Pressberger were famous British directors from the 1950's.  They were behind the camera for films like The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus (Movie #22).  For this film Powell set out on his own and he paid the price for independence.  The film was considered to be near filth based on it's subject matter and Powell was basically blacklisted for it.

The film centers around a man who is obsessed with his movie camera.  He is also a bit of a voyeur.  And to make the perfect trio he is driven by a compulsion to capture the ultimate fear on woman's faces on his camera.  He does this by filming them as he murders them.  We find out through the course of the film that Mark's father was a biologist and he conducted some bizarre and disgusting experiments on Mark as a young boy.  Clearly this is a delicate web to weave for a film maker.  Peeping Tom contains not a drop of blood, nor does it have any nudity.  But it feel like one of the more graphically violent films in recent memory. 

Moria Shearer plays Vivian.  The lovely woman downstairs with the blind mother.  Marks falls in love with Vivian and he has to protect her.  Even from himself.  His mother is safe from Marks attacks because she can not see what is coming from her, her face shows no fear.

This film is an ode to snuff films in a way and I think that is why this film was banned and ruined Powell's carrer.  It is not what is shown, but what is suggested.  I can see where audiences of the late 50's would think that only a sick man could make a film as perverse as this one.  One film fan felt differently though.  Martin Scorsese saw this film when it opened and fell in love with it.  Now he is one of the major reasons that the film is getting the re-release and praise it deserves.  You can see it's influence in Scorsese's work.  Taxi Driver in particular.

I enjoyed the film, but not quite as much as the other Archers films.  I give Peeping Tom ★★★1/2.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Movie #166 Big Time *1988*

And now for something completely different.

I have never understood what is so great about Tom Waits.  He has a very distinctive voice.  Deep and gravely.  He sounds like Buster Poindexter with throat cancer to me.  Big Time is a rock-doc of sorts.  It is really an amalgamation of many things.  Part concert footage, part sketch comedy, part non-narrative / avant guard / 1980's 3:00am MTV programing.

Tom plays many roles in this picture.  Musician is one of them.  Like an anorexic Ron Perlman he lumbers around on stage stomping and hunched over as if he was channeling Daniel Plainview from the coda of There Will be Blood.  The concert its self is an odd mix of music genres.  There is rock-a-billy, free form jazz, different world music types, and traditional ballads.  Due to the style and nature of the film I am not sure if Waits is paying tribute to these varying musical tropes or mocking them.  During the concert and largely through the film there is an overpowering use of the color red.  That singular color was very off putting to me.

At other times during the film Waits acts like a stand up comic and a Spalding Gray like raconteur.  I was surprised at Waits comedic timing.  He was quite funny.  I can see where someone like Jim Jarmusch could harvest the acting and comedic talents from within Waits.

Overall I found the novelty of this film to wear off very quick though.  It reminded me of the doc within a doc that Mr. Brainwash made in Exit Through the gift Shop.  To the point that Big Time used a cut of a static TV to segway to the next random scene. 

In closing I will say that it is clear that Mr Waits is passionate and dedicated to his art and I commend him for that.  I can't help but wonder though if his fans aren't confusing originality and uniqueness for genius.  There was not much for me to grab a hold of in this film.  I give it ★★.  But I would recommend this film for his fans and I welcome anyone to explain to me how Tom Waits is brilliant.  He is my Dario Argento of music.  Check out the Trailer Park to see a clip from the film.  This film is available on Netflix Watch Instant.  It is not even available on DVD!

Big Time [VHS]

Movie #165 The Sweet Smell of Success *1957*

I reviewed this film already.  Yesterday my mother visited my house and I put this in.  She is a big Tony Curtis fan and I wanted to show her this little gem.  Instead of writing another review, here are my 3 Reasons.

Reason 1.  Lines like "The Cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river" and "I'd hate to take a bite out of you.  You're a cookie full of arsenic".

Reason 2.  Tony Curtis is the sleaziest thing ever captured on film.  He aspires to be pond scum.

Reason 3.  The Chico Hamilton Quintet music.

Rating: ★★★★1/2

Movie #164 Army of Shadows *1969*

Jean-Pierre Melville (Director)

Reading "Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville" is alone enough reason for me to want to see a film.  He is my favorite French film maker of all time.  And that is truly saying something.  2nd only to the United States in both quality and quantity of films made, the French understand cinema.  It has been said that the art of cinema started in France (mostly is it said by Frenchmen).

Melville is considered "The Father of the French New Wave".  This is not to say that he worked within that style nor was he bound to the manifesto of the La Nouvelle Vague.  He was however a major influence.  Similar to Hitchcock in those regards. 

Army of Shadows is about a group of French Resistance fighters who's job it is to disrupt the Greman occupation of Frnace during the 2nd World War.  These men and women are not soldiers, they are average Joe's who do not have access to guns and knives.  Instead they fight the forces of evil with their cunning, daring and courage.  This is exemplified in a scene where they have to kill a traitor.  The house they are in is too close to the neighbors so they can't shoot him.  They then try to decide which method of execution is the quietest.  All the while their prisoner stands there listening.  It is a brutal, unflintching scene in which Melville just lets the camera roll.

Patience is a virtue.  Melville's films often require patience to watch.  He uses long takes and limited dialogue.  He lets his stories breath and reveal themselves in real time.  Which often times is lengthy.  But I promise you will always be rewarded.  Rare is the film maker that doesn't feel the need to force feed their viewers exposition or narration.  Rare is the film maker that trusts his/her audience enough to introduce as many as 5-6 characters without providing explanation as to who they are, how they got here and what is their purpose.  Melville is that rare film maker.  I definitively feel the need to watch Army of Shadows again now that I have learned about this world and its inhabitants. 

This film is presented in a dark, quiet, desolate France.  Army of Shadows mantra is "How far are you will to go"? or "How much are you willing to sacrifice"?  At one point one of the fighters seems to abandon the resistance and gets himself thrown in jail.  We later see that the reason is that possibly he wanted to comfort and help a different fighter that had been captured.  We also see the beating and inevitable conclusion that he will face because of his actions.  On top of that he is now considered a coward and possible traitor by the people that he is giving up his life to protect.   Because in order to protect them he could not explain his plan.  They would not have allowed him to go through with it.

Army of Shadows is a bleak and depressing picture.  But so was France in 1942.  Melville manages to capture the mood perfectly.  I can't wait to see this film again.  I give Army of Shadows ★★★★1/2.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.  This film is available on Blu Ray through the Criterion Collection and on Netflix Watch Instantly.  Viva la France!

Movie #163 It's Kind of a Funny Story *2010*

Zach Galifiankis - Bobby
Keir Gilchrist - Craig
Emma Roberts - Noelle
Anna Boden / Ryan Fleck (Directors)

This film was a real treat.  I was expecting the same of schtich from Zach G. worked into another quirky indie comedy.  You know the type.  "I'm weird, but your weird so weird is the new norm" kinda thing.  This film did tap that well some, but not so much that it became a problem for me. 

The film is about a 16 year old boy who is mildly considering killing himself.  Instead he somewhat inadvertently checks into a mental institution where he is required to be there for 5 days minimum.  His trouble are the same that every teen faces.  Questions about the future, parents that don't understand them, feeling of inadequacy especially when dealing with the opposite sex.  We are all the lead character in the movie in our own heads.  While at the hospital he meets an interesting display of mentally challenged patients.

Where a grittier film would have made the patients more of a risk to him or them selves, and a quirkier film would have given each patient their own special characteristic, this movie seems to strike just the right tone.  The others in the ward have specific characteristics, but they are not one dimensional.  Everyone's problems seem real and it feel like they are being treated properly.

The star of the show is Keir Gilchrist.  He is clearly the next Justin Long.  But I was most suprised with Zach G.  He really added depth and feeling to this character.  He acted.  He wasn't just the zany, mad caped "You never know what this guy will say" dude.  He knocked this one out of the park. I have a totally new respect for Zach G.

There are a lot of cut aways of animation breaks, voice over 8mm footage, flash backs / flash forwards, Wes Anderson inspired montages.  I didn't care for these as a whole.  I think they were overused and they took me out of a story that I was invested in. 

It would be total hyperbole to compare this film to Catcher in the Rye (my favorite book) but the themes are there in both.  In my house every mental institution movie will undeniably be compared to One Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest.  Of course this film doesn't measure up, but neither does any other.  It is a strong compliment to say that Funny Story is Coo Coo "light".

I have always said that Catcher in the Rye should be required reading for anyone trying to get their first drivers license.  This film could be the new measure of that comment.  I give It's Kind of a Funny Story ★★★1/2. Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.