Change Your Image
kermatio
Reviews
The Proposition (2005)
Managed to make it through
Well, I did manage to make it through to the contrived, unnecessarily unresolved, bitter end. Now, folks, I have seen a lot of movies. And I even been to college and got a couple of degrees in theatre--maybe relevant, maybe not. This film was lacking in two things, namely, a director and a writer. I know there are a couple of names in those credits, but they were certainly asleep at the switch during this project. There are some pretty pictures of sunsets and such, and a bunch of nasty, bloody, scenes, including dismemberment, beheading and disembowelment. But what does it all mean? There are some feeble attempts at Christ allegory with 39 lashes at a cross-shaped whipping post, and a spear through the heart and all that...... Come on! There is indeed something like a through-line to the plot. But there just isn't enough dialogue to carry it along, or to make it transcendent, or to convey anything of any real meaning or theme. The director, instead of creating an artistic whole, went for nothing but cinematography and "neat-o" violence. And I imagine that he must have deliberately crippled the performances of some very fine actors with something that he considered to be style. John Hurt, God bless him, makes the most of the crumbs of dialogue dropped his way. The designers may have been on to something, thematically, although at first I thought it was merely another monochromatic western. The new-age soundtrack is musically incoherent. Anyway, if you haven't understood anything of what I've written--or if you understood it and think I'm an academic stuffed shirt who doesn't understand anything about the real world of Independent/Aussie film-making--or if you just like gratuitous violence and gratuitous shaky-cam--this may be the movie for you.
Lo sceicco bianco (1952)
A brilliant and entertaining film
There is a curious "review" that begins the section of reviews for this film, in which one of the users of this website has written a scathing denouncement of this film. I don't quite know where this comes from (probably a prank) but it isn't relevant and it is the only such review. This is a brilliant film, Fellini's second opus, and bears many of the trademarks of Fellini: the sweeping shots of the streets of Rome, the Nino Rota score, the "decadence on the beach" sequence. It is also quite a clever parody of film genres and styles. And I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it contains a delightful scene with Giulietta Masina as Cabiria, the role which is expanded in the film Nights of Cabiria five years later.
BBC Play of the Month: Hedda Gabler (1972)
Ibsen's tragedy with flawless performances
This is a "made-for-TV" production of the Ibsen play which contains the finest performances imaginable for these characters, especially Hedda. Janet Suzman is brilliant in this role. To watch her interpretation is to understand the play. Ian McKellan and the rest of the cast are also superb. The film quality is definitely TV video, but all other production values are very high, including scenery and costumes. The director's understanding of the script is flawless and he works with the actors to bring out their very best. The only copy I have seen of this belonged to a friend and was taken from an episode of Masterpiece Theatre (I think). I would love to own a legit copy in any format if I could find one!