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Reviews
Ted Bundy (2002)
Bloody awful, absolute trash
This film is among the most pointless on which I have ever had the misfortune of wasting my time. It is a gruesome and gratuitous catalogue of Bundy's rapes and killings with little or no attempt at providing background, psychological insight or theory.
As the end approached I drew a sigh of relief, only to be confronted with the worst scrap of acting in history (Boti Bliss musing, "Who is Ted Bundy?") followed one-by-one by no fewer than four children unidentified children, one of them gleefully holding up a dead cat, all of whom say, "I'm Ted Bundy." Even if Spike Lee hadn't done it first, using the "I'm Malcolm X" shots to such brilliant effect, this would be beyond corny. As pastiche (homage?), it's unforgivable.
Spare yourself the torture. Rent Silence of the Lambs again instead.
The Angel, the Bicycle and the Chinaman's Finger (1992)
A South African gem that deserves more attention
A gentle, hilarious South African gem that deserves more attention. On the brink of the country's transformation (from an Apartheid dictatorship to a democracy), South Africa's economy hangs in the balance. An overseas conglomerate wishes to invest a great deal of cash in the country, but the executives demand evidence of the country's willingness to integrate its racially diverse population and move forward. A tiny backwater village is selected at random and the local post office's staff commanded to produce a play - with multiracial cast and crew - in time for the foreigners' visit. Only one single, solitary play script is to be found in the local library... Can the townsfolk of the mythical Karoo village resolve their differences and present a workable production of The Nativity in time to save their country? Starring the inimitable Ellis Pearson and Greg Melville-Smith and written by Theatre For Africa's Nicholas Ellenbogen, this film is a rare treat see it if you can get your sticky paws on a copy.
The Castle (1997)
An authentic, charming film... the serenity
There are some films that stand out as gentle, original and authentically moving without being sickeningly sentimental. Offhand I can think of only a handful - Alan Parker's The Commitments (1991) leaps to mind, Nicholas Ellenbogen and Koos Roets's The Angel, The Bicycle and the Chinaman's Finger (1991) and Gene Saks's Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986) - and like these films, Rob Stitch's The Castle is eminently quotable, improves with repeated watchings and stands the test of time. It is exemplary of that brand of subtly humorous writing that leads one to recall gags years later and become hysterical entirely out of context. It is the triumph of the little guy, the power of collaboration, the impact of affectionate satire, the art of a simple performance and the beauty of a really terrific gag. See this film.