Come and See

In Belarus in the heart of World War II and the German occupation, a teenager fights with the Russian Resistance, sees his family slaughtered, and bears witness to the unspeakable Nazi atrocities all around him. Harrowing,  nightmarish and occasionally consuming, Elem Klimov's Come and See is dense and murky, made with an impressively fluid camerawork though muddled photography, and contains the feel of an even more unrelentingly bleak Tarkovsky film with an ending that, depending how you interpret it, I'm not sure how useful it is.

*** out of ****

A View to a Kill

007 (Roger Moore) is sent on the trail of psychotic billionaire and horse race cheat (Christopher Walken) who seeks to corner the microchip market by causing massive earthquakes to destroy Silicon Valley. Moore's last appearance, although he settled into the role over time, is one of the weakest entries in the series in spite of some good action sequences some good action sequences. Walken is a surprisingly bland villain, Tanya Roberts a feeble bond girl, and Grace Jones is just bizarre as the femme fatale.

** out of ****

Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters

As celebrated Japanese author Yukio Mishima (Ken Ogata) summons his own private army to meet one of the Emperor's Generals, take him hostage, and address the crowds before committing suppuku, we are shown flashbacks of his early life with the aid of three dramatizations of his own stories for insight. Paul Schrader's Mishima, which he wrote with his brother Leonard and his wife Chieko, is a bizarre, completely unique biopic with an unforgettable central performance by Ogata.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Prizzi's Honor

A slow-minded hitman (Jack Nicholson), adopted into the powerful Prizzi New York crime family, catches a glimpse of a beautiful WASP (Catherine Turner) at a wedding and goes to extreme lengths to acquaint himself and start an affair, at the expense of his ill-reputed, longtime girlfriend (Anjelica Huston). The truth about the occupation and intentions of the mystery woman will, however, jeopardize the long-held standing of the family and put the hitman's life in imminent danger. Watching John Huston's Prizzi's Honor a second time through, it didn't seem to play as well in this post-Sopranos era and felt more like timeworn ganster comedy material. Still Robert Loggia and John Randolph  are really good in support and Jack is excellent playing a man who is completely sharp and capable when his brain finally catches up.

*** ou of ****

Selected Shorts by Werner Herzog

Just as he has been drawn to epic, quixotic projects, in his extended career Werner Herzog has also favored short form storytelling, the results of which have been no less outlandishly idiosyncratic. Here is a random sampling of these films, all of which can be found readily online or as part of DVD extras:

Precautions Against Fanatics, 1969

One of Herzog's first film attempts is a very short (and very unfunny) look at people involved in horse training.

**

The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, 1974

Presents the story of a ski jumper who was so veritable that he began to flagrantly and dangerously overshoot the course. Plays like an episode Wide World of Sports, but not without great footage and central Herzogian themes.

***

Ballad of the Little Soldier, 1984

Intriguing footage of child soldiers from an impoverished Nicuraguan village preparing for combat against the Sandinistas.

*** 1/2

The Dark Glow of the Mountains, 1985

The director and his German speaking subjects are disappointingly dubbed over by an American narrator in this no less compelling documentary of a pair of mountain climbers who discuss their trade and the perils involved.

***

The Purple Rose of Cairo

A bored waitress, trapped in a loveless marriage to a no good drunken lout (Danny Aiello) in Depression era Brooklyn, seeks daily escape at her local cinema when one day the star (Jeff Daniels) of the latest trivial adventure romance walks right off the screen to sweep her off her feet while throwing the studios, the media, and her personal life into complete chaos. Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo is charming, whimsical, creative, and modestly funny. Farrow is lovely, Daniels excellent in dual role (also playing the actor trying to track down his rogue character), and Aiello is strong in support.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Shoah

Claude Lanzmann’s lionized nine plus hour Holocaust documentary, famously crafted without a frame of historical stock footage, is haunting and powerful in select moments, though more numbing than anything overall and ultimately exhausting and repetitious. It also serves as a show of self-aggrandizement for its filmmaker who interjects himself often, whether he's prodding a survivor to reveal a painfully suppressed memory, bickering with party functionaries over semantics, cajoling a group of Poles to admit to anti-Semitism, or casting blame and attempting to induce guilt on anyone and everyone for the horrors that took place at Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Sobibor among other sites of unparalleled barbarism which are revisited with mesmerizing tracking shots.

The Color Purple

Impregnated by her father as a child before having the child stripped from her and being sold into a loveless marriage to a cruel and buffoonish husband on a turn of the Twentieth Century Southern plantation, The Color Purple tells the story of one woman's decade's long crawl into education, self-respect, and happiness. Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of Alice Walker's novel is beautifully composed and aims for an old timey, Gone with the Wind feel. At its center Goldberg is a wonder, tenderly and impressively conveying much largely without the use of words. The story however meanders, is overwrought and melodramatic, and is not at the same level when focusing on other characters. Also its middle section really plods as the  film becomes more and more confused. When it finally arrives at a  climactic dinner sequence that should have been the highlight of film, is instead embarrassingly handled and would been more at home in some Eddie Murphy comedy. As for the rest of the cast, Oprah is pretty hard to stomach and Danny Glover is a caricature who doesn't know how to inhabit his character.

** 1/2 out of ****

Ran

An aged, powerful warrior in feudal Japan plans to retire and divide his kingdom equally among his three sons. When the youngest of the three questions his proposal, he finds himself banished and his doubts soon proving prophetic as a rift develops between the two elder siblings who prepare for battle and witness the toppling of the vast kingdom their father strived so hard to secure. Made in his mid-70s, legendary master Akira Kurosawa's Ran is an epic, full-blooded, dynamic take on King Lear filled with fantastic cinematography, incredible battle sequences, and gripping subplots. Tatsuya Nakadi is mesmerizing as the old warlord.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Always

I recently read Peter Biskind's My Lunches with Orson which is a transcription of taped conversations held between Orson Welles and confidant and fellow filmmaker Henry Jaglom in the final years of the legendary director's life. After getting to know both Welles and Jaglom through these exchanges, I felt I owed it to the lesser known of the pair to check out one of his films. In one particular passage, Jaglom relays his plans for a project which he intends to star in about a separated couple deciding to spend a final night together before finalizing their divorce and Welles responds with merciless discouragement. For some reason, that is the picture I decided to watch. Always is a pretentious, barely watchable, and horrendously acted picture that grows messier as it progresses, one which Jaglom should have heeded Welles' advice in not making and whose instincts I should have trusted by avoiding the film entirely. 

After Hours

A office drone (Griffin Dunne) heads to lower Manhattan to meet up with a woman (Rosanna Arquette) he became acquainted with earlier that evening, thus beginning a mericless, Kafkaesque trial of the will where he will be dogged by everyone and everything, from neighborhood watch people to subway workers and cab drivers to various art crowd weirdos and local thiefs. After Hours is a brilliantly constructed and immensely entertaining black comedy from Martin Scorsese, an unlikely candidate to make this kind of picture who delivers with his usual aplomb. It also provides a fine lead vehicle for Griffin Dunne, whose part is a lot trickier than may appear at first glance. While finding myself laughing aloud consistently while revisiting this little gem, I lamented the current state of comedies, where comedic moviemakers take the easy road out with witless, gross-out efforts, and once again marveled at the abilities of one of our finest filmmakers, succeeding admirably in a genre where most directors today fail.

Pale Rider

Clint Eastwood stars as a brooding, enigmatic transient (playing against type, right?) who rides into a small town and defends its villagers against an evil mining company. Pale Rider is an overly simple, painfully obvious not to mention boring Western that doesn't hold a candle to any of the great films Eastwood has starred in or directed in the genre. Otherwise, I did enjoy some of the supporting performances, including Michael Moriarty, a young Chris Penn, and Richard 'Jaws' Kiel.

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

Back once more in the desolate, post-nuclear Australian wasteland, Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) finds himself pitted against the regent (Tina Turner) of a desert community and forced into a death match in an unforgiving cage against an imposing two person amalgam. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome is a silly, far out sequel which is not quite as much fun as its hypercharged predecessors (many would disagree with me), but is still highly imaginative featuring its patented, top of the line stuntwork and damned impressive chase sequences. Gibson is solid once more and Turner is a lot of fun in her over-the-top role.
** 1/2 out of ****

Lost in America

"You couldn't change you're life on $100,000?" So says an employment agent to a middle aged yuppie (Albert Brooks) who has just quit his job, dropped out of life, hit the road in an RV, and lost the entire sum total of his life savings when his wife (Julie Hagerty) compulsively gambles it all away on a quick detour to Vegas. Brooks' Lost in America, which he also cowrote and directed, is an observant and very funny film, containing only the necessary elements (including a very abrupt wrap-up) and featuring many memorable scenes. among them Brooks trying to talk the casino manager into returning his money.

Huey Long

Known as the Kingfish and beloved by the people, Huey Long was a populist Louisiana Governor and Senator who used bullied tactics and unscrupulous political methods but brought real change to his Depression stricken state. It is thought he would have seriously rivaled FDR for the presidential nomination had he not been gunned down on the steps of The State Capitol at Baton Rouge in 1932. "Huey Long" is another great early profile from Ken Burns which features the expected excellent stock footage and contains interviews with Robert Penn Warren, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the King's Men based on Long's life, colleagues and family members, and constituents who still look back fondly on the man who many say is the closest the U.S. ever had to a dictator.

The Statue of Liberty

Designed by the French as a gift for America's centennial celebration by Frederic Bartholdi, The Statue of Liberty held in wait for nearly ten years as U.S. officials struggled to secure funding for its base. Eventually erected in New York Harbor, it was dedicated in 1886, and has stood as a symbol of freedom ever since. Ken Burns' sophomore documentary features a phenomenal historical presentation for about two thirds of its hours long runnning time, but loses something when it concludes with lengthy expert interpretations (which include James Baldwin and Mario Cuomo) expressing their ideas of liberty.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

In a South American prison, a flamboyant transvestite (William Hurt) prances around his filthy cell reenacting an admired Nazi propaganda film for his cellmate, an impassioned political prisoner (Raul Julia). As the guards work to weaken the radical's resolve, his bunk mate reveals an ulterior motive, as their friendship begins to grow. "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is a fantastical adaptation of Manuel Puig's bizarre story by Hector Babenco, whose trajectory is self-evident, but is notable for it sumptuous film stock and incredible performances from Hurt, who won the Academy Award for his deeply felt performance, and Julia who is no less impressive as the fervent internee. 

The Up Series

Tony, a participant in "The Up Series", at various stages of his life

In 1964, a British documentary crew interviewed a group of seven year olds from various economic backgrounds and asked them about their hopes, fears, and lives in general. Every seven years since then, Michael Apted, a member of the original crew, has revisited each of these participants to catch up with them and discuss their lives. "The Up Series", as these programs have come to be collectively known, are an endlessly fascinating form of time lapse filmmaking, as we see each of the film's subjects age before our eyes, as Apted interweaves prior footage into each new film. Keeping things simple, each film is simply a sit down with each person and a catch up on their lives, as they discuss with candid honesty the turns their lives have taken. Apted resists the urge to jazz things up and is straightforward presentation only adds, rather then detracts, to overall impact of these powerful films. The stories that I enjoyed the most include Tony, a young boy who dreams of being a jockey and grows up to be a cab driver, still full of zeal; Suzy, an unhappy young woman who finds solace and happiness with her husband and children; Bruce, a boy with missionary aspiration who winds up teaching in the inner city; John, a boorish snob who remains a boorish snob but becomes involves in relief work in Eastern Europe; and then their is Neil, discontented young man who drops out of school and becomes a vagrant who well, I don't want to spoil that one. "The Up Series" is about as real and engaging a film can get and I eagerly await the next installment, due out soon, as these subjects approach the twilight of their lives.

Here is a very brief description of each installment:

Seven Up! (1964)

A collection of British seven year olds, both female and male, from different socioeconomic backgrounds are introduced and interviewed as they talk about subjects such as school, money, race, and their futures. After meeting them all individually, the children all attend a party and we see how they interact.

7 Plus Seven (1970)

We revisit the subjects at age 14, midway between childhood and adulthood.

21 (1977)

Now 21 years old, the group of people we met at 7 and 14 now have clearer ideas on life and what they want their lives to be.

28 Up (1985)

Maybe its because I am now of the same age as the subjects here, but it is this installment that the series begins to take on resonance, as its subjects have largely settled down with family and careers.

35 Up (1991)

As the subjects move closer towards middle age most are firmly rooted in their lives with a few exceptions as they begin to deal with divorce and death of their parents, and other issues while the most fascinating member of the group continues to fascinate us.

42 Up (1998)

As the subjects have now reached the midpoint of their lives, most are firmly rooted with the exception of a few extraordinary examples, one involving an incredible intersection of two of the subject's lives.

49 Up (2005)

As the hairs have grayed, the hairlines receded, and the waistlines expanded, the subjects approach 50 mostly with contentment as they embrace grandchildren, their partners, careers, and life turns.

56 Up (2012)

The participants return, mostly contented with their lots as they face retirement and brace themselves for old age.

A Room with a View

While vacationing in Florence with her significantly older cousin Charlotte (Maggie Smith), Lucy ((Helena Bonham Carter) notices their window view of the city isn't all that the travel bureau made it out to be. At dinner with the other tenants later that night, another tourist (Denholm Elliot) travelling with his son George (Julian Sands) hears the cousin's gripes and offers to provide them the use of one of his unused rooms containing a magnificent view. This acquaintance leads to a countryside dalliance between Lucy and George and, thanks to cousin Charlotte's big mouth, creates a rift between Lucy and her fiance Cecil (Daniel Day-Lewis) back home in England, even more-so when George and his father come to stay at Cecil's estate! "A Room with a View" is a delightful adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel by the preeminent filmmaking team of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Amongst the beautiful backdrops of both the Italian and British countrysides, as well as the flourishes of Florence, the Merchant/Ivory brings the light, funny, touching, and offbeat story to life, thanks also to a wonderful British cast. Helena Bonham Carter is charming in an early role and a much different one than the ones we've come to known her in. The great Maggie Smith plays against type as well, and goes to town playing a gossipy, needy woman. Denholm Elliot is fine in support as the down to earth Mr. Emmerson, as is Judi Dench as a hack novelist, and Daniel Day-Lewis is absolutely hysterical playing an emasculated snob. "A Room with a View" is a magnificent and picturesque literary adaptation.

Fright Night

A young teen begins to suspect that his recently moved in next door neighbor is a vampire, much to the disbelief of his aloof mother, oddball best friend, and virginal girlfriend. When the neighbor becomes a formidable threat, the teen tries to enlist the help of a cowardly British host of a late night monster television program to put the foe down and save the lives of all those close to him. "Fright Night" is a moderately enjoyable 80s camp flick bolstered by the performances of two of its stars, Chris Sarandon as the hunky and menacing vampire and Roddy McDowall as the TV host, both of whom are humorously enjoyable in their roles. The film is not helped however by William Ragsdale in the lead playing the teen, whose performance is irritating borderlining on unwatchable. Additionally, the final showdown is clunky and unsatisfying, dominated by cheesy gross out effects, and terribly overlong. Still, "Fright Night" is somewhat fun campy fare and superior to the remake released earlier this year.