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Reviews
Confessions of a Queen (1925)
Contains spoilers for the middle- the end is lost to time
This film does indeed exist, or at least the first half did last night when it was projected at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. The last couple reels are presumed lost. This is probably not a tragedy of the magnitude of the missing 10(?) hours of GREED, or Ernst Lubitsch's lost THE PATRIOT, or the missing majority of Seastrom's lone Garbo film THE DIVINE WOMAN. Though this film begins with an astonishing scene where Lewis Stone's king brands his mistress with his insignia the night before his arranged marriage, it soon devolves into a pretty typical treatment of the foibles of royalty, and generally gets sillier and more obvious as it progresses. By the time Revolution strikes the nation and the king and his queen are forced together on the run, it's pretty clear that the end of the film would, if it still existed, give us another chance to witness a loveless marriage transform into wedded bliss, an ending more than one other late Seastrom film provides. Or maybe not- without the proof of the final 20 minutes or so, we're free to let our imaginations run in whichever directions we want.
Vietnam War Story: The Last Days (1989)
The best of intentions...
Vietnam War Story: the Last Days is an extremely well-meaning made-for-cable (HBO, to be specific) Vietnam war film that may hold interest to genre buffs (is there a whole "Vietnam War movie" genre by now? I think there must be!) but is not terribly noteworthy for anyone else.
The film is divided into three segments somewhat unsatisfactorily. The first two are a "Rashomon"-like attempt to portray a violent event from two different perspectives: that of the U.S. soldiers and that of the Viet Cong. Characters from the two sides meet in a hillside clash that is not nearly as significant to anyone as the internal conflicts each side must contend with. In "the Last Outpost", told from the American perspective, the clashes are over racism, drug use, and loyalty- themes we've seen covered better in other Vietnam War flicks. The late Haing S. Ngor (Oscar-winner for "the Killing Fields") puts in a good turn as an Asian officer working with the U.S. military. In "the Last Soldier" the focus is on a few Viet Cong guerrillas including California Xuan Tran as a kid who wants nothing more than to be, just like his grandfather (Chan Mao Doan), a great soldier. The old man, in turn, says he is no soldier but in truth a farmer, forced to fight only by forces beyond his control.
This second segment is certainly the most interesting of the three, since we rarely see the Vietnamese perspective in any depth in these films. Yet even it doesn't escape a few cliched lines of dialogue and forced moments, causing it to be more of a shiny rock than a gem amid the drabness of the rest of the film.
The third segment "Dirty Work" is suspiciously not related to the other two in almost any way- save that it shows us yet a third perspective of the war. This time it's CIA office staff clearing out of Saigon- for a while it looks like it may try to encapsule the womens' perspective of the war (for a truly amazing portrait of how the Vietnam War affected women try the Oscar-nominated 1998 documentary "Regret to Inform") but it really focuses more on the stormy relationship between a Nixon-worshipping director and his nobly defiant subordinate. The women on hand seem to be so only to provide the film with a semi-obligatory love scene. Kudos for doing this without using the tired soldier-prostitute tack we've seen so many times!
In fact kudos for the intentions on this project all around. It's too bad the execution isn't very good. The writing often seems to come from a rejected, unfunny "M.A.S.H." script The cast is okay at best. And I'm not sure this is a 90-minute film rather than a 60-minute one and a 30-minute one scotch-taped together.
Cable movies sure have gotten better since 1989.
American Experience: Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern (1995)
Oscar-nominated and deserving, too!
As out-of-step and controversial as the nominating committees for the Documentary branch of the Academy Awards are (failing to nominate notable documentaries like "Roger & Me", "Paris is Burning", and "Hoop Dreams" among countless others), they did good when they put "Troublesome Creek: a Midwestern" into the final five.
This is a heart-crushing, anger-inspiring, and all-too-real portrayal of the changing priorities in the United States, in regard to the role of family, farming, and small-town life. At the same time, it's an incredibly warm and even at times humorous film. At all times it's fascinating.
There is an incredible scene about a third through set at a livestock auction. If, like me, you've spent most of your life living in decidedly non-rural places you'll just be amazed to get a glimpse into a ritual that only decades ago would have been familiar to most Americans. Things have really changed, which is what this film is about. There is just a part of us that has an unwavering desire to fight to save a piece of earth, especially if we've got strong emotional attachments to the patch in question. At the same time, we're not merely fighting for a piece, we're fighting for our entire world as we know it.
The stark, folksy yet modern music of Sheldon Mirowitz is the perfect compliment to the direction, editing and cinematography of Jeanne Jordan and Stephen Ascher who, it should be noted, are not impartial documentarians; they're members of the family whose farm is threatened! The expansive Iowa landscapes are perfectly captured (I did live in that state for a few years myself), and if you thought the snowy frames added an extra sense of urgency to "Fargo", imagine how it could enhance the tension knowing the story's a true one! (For those of you fooled by the Coens' claim that their film was based on reality as well, consider that bubble bursted)
The only thing wrong with this movie is the fact that it's burdened by such an unwieldy, uncatchy, obscure title. But if you see the film you'll understand that its really the perfect title for this movie. Film buffs will be especially appreciative.