Fred-Hubner Reviews

Vidocq (2001)

Vidocq - Kids will love it ... just as I did ...

[25 February 2005]

Vidocq was more than a real human being. A controversial individual ... Master criminologist, founder of the first modern detective agency and credit bureau (Le Bureau des Renseignements); known as a genius of surveillance and disguise, a criminal turned informer; turned police detective; turned the first chief of the Sûreté; inspirational for many great writers of world literature; creator of the card-index as a tool for criminal investigations, the first to use ballistics into police work; the first to officially 'plaster-cast' foot or shoe prints, creator and patent holder of indelible ink and unalterable bond paper ... and after he retired, he wrote his memoires in a book which became a best-seller and helped him stablish his own notoriety as the world's greatest real life detective. Quite amazing hmmm ...?!!! Nevertheless, what Monsieur Pitof presents us is a top of the line fictional action film with a well crafted and throughly detailed screenplay ... Kids will love it ... just as I did ...

The French have an ingrained passion for history ... not just the history of France ... and also a concern towards historic precision ... The film's story takes place when France was witnessing what became known as the 'Revolution of 1830' which would empower Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans, as a revolutionary "King of the French" ... the starting kick to 'The July Monarchy.' Yes, Paris in 19th century was a city in resurgent turmoil. And all this is tightly and seamless mentioned along the plot line. The French passion for precise details.

I loved the extremely detailed scenographic work ... to the point of getting lost in it every now and then. Great photography and adequately applied visual effects. It's a well balanced film aiming to entertain kids and adults alike. There is some graphic violence in it and, given its crisp vivid photographic scenery, I believe some of the very young children might feel uncomfortable having to watch it. Nonetheless, it's a nice thriller for the entire family.

It gets pretty lame close towards the end ... but if I were a kid, and still thrilled by all I had just watched, I wouldn't even notice it ...

Little Book of Love (1997)

Pequeno Dicionário Amoroso - a total waste of time and money ... rent something else

[25 February 2005]

I watched this film while in one of my stays in Brazil. The media trumpeting and hyping it as some kind of quintessential and good humoured human study of man and woman relationships. But it was nothing but hyping, the film is one of shallowest films I've ever seen. A few days ago, a Brazilian friend of mine allowed me to lend his DVD of the film ... so, very recently, I watched it twice.

I believe, for basic simple reasons, that the worst element in this film is the script itself.. Actually it's a collage of famous quotations (and who knows what else) concerning the relationship in between man and woman. So yes, my dear reader, the film's entire dialogue smells, and what a terrible stench I had to endure, of academic poseur intellectualism ... And, on top of that, the characters' lines are just unconvincing, to the point of being in need of a heavy language adaptation ... It's a film about love relationships amongst middle-class heterosexual couples ... and the Brazilian middle- class does not talk like that ... besides, the Brazilian middle-class only loves itself in a general mix of contempt and lavish attempts of instrumentation towards the lower classes ... in fact, the film presents a self-portrait of Brazil's middle-class ... better still, how it prefers to paint itself ... no matter how divorced from the way Brazilians really handle their love affairs ... and believe me, Brazilians in general are more creative (most specially the ladies) and sentimental than what the scriptwriter ever cared to even take notice.

Now the main actors. I'm a big fan of Andréa Beltrão ... one of Brazil's natural born funny ladies ... and she's an actress of great talent. The first time I took notice of her skills as a comedian, in a another previous stay in Brazil, she was working in a Brazilian sitcom (sort of) - Armação Ilimitada (which could roughly be translated to 'Scam Unlimited') - playing the role of a reporter working for a newspaper while switching her love preferences in between two adventurous surfers who were buddies and shared the same home. And she was the best thing in that sitcom. But in PDA she's just tied down by the dialogue's obvious artificiality ... in this film, her talents are nothing but a glimpse of her better performances. On the other side, Daniel Dantas has a long history of being a totally untalented actor in a never ending string of Brazilian soap-operas ... and in PDA there he is ... him and his absolute lack of talent. Like in all the soaps he ever worked in, he can't act, he just plays himself ... and does it bluntly I should add.

I gave it a 1 for the effort . And it's definitely a film a would never suggest ... not even for the sake a lightly humoured pastime. Brazil has produced some great films and watching Pequeno Dicionário Amoroso is a total waste of time and money ... rent something else.

The Advocate (1993)

The Hour Of The Pig - It's not a hamburger, take it with savoir vivre.

[13 February 2005]

This film masterly deals with a very specific moment in the history of Western Christianity. It's not just the Medieval Ages .. since, in a generally accepted timetable, it started circa 450 AD and lasted 'til the rise of the Absolute Monarchies ... it depicts a moment of transition. The already settled upsurging process in which feudal cities would develop as independent political entities under the rule of a central monarchy ... a moment in which France's bourgeoisie starts to position itself as a major political and economical partner/supporter of a highly centralized monarchy in opposition to the decentralized political organization championed by feudal lords. A struggle which would, eventually in future times, determine how law and order should be imposed to society and the consequential encroachment of a national state. So, this film's story happens in the waning of French feudalism as a source of political and economical power. You must never forget that what is shown in this film as the feudal lord's privileges were once, in a then very recent past, the rule ... the French Revolution is still centuries away ... and not a trace yet of the Thirteen Colonies ... but now, that's all history.

Yeah ... yeah, it's a fiction alright ... a fiction loosely based on real legal reports of the Middle Age ... so yes, the things you'll see not just could have happened ... but eventually, and quite oftenly I should add, did actually happen very much in the same fashion exposed in this great film. By now you must be asking yourself ... why in the world is this guy beating around the bush for ?! ... and in my usual high style manner I would answer: Simply because without the previous historical pinpointing you would miss all the possible readings this film has to offer and the much needed gap filling. ... Furthermore, in case you're; yes you my dear reader, a High School student, don't even try to argue or use the info contained in this review in a school debate or essay ... firstly, it might be too specific for the common knowledge of most High School teachers ... and secondly, you obviously lack a yielding background knowledge to support it.

Most reviewers, including high ranking pros, missed the point completely as to what concerns this film ... one of them pros took it has a comedy and simply compared it to Mounty Python And The Holy Grail ... oh c'mon, how unreal can you get ?!!! The Hour Of The Pig does have some 'laughable moments' ... so does Reservoir Dogs ... but most of such moments will be laughed at based on our 21st Century understanding of reality and common sense. In spite the 'laughable moments', it's not a comedy ... it's a thriller. Some other reviewers, pros included, preferred comparing it to The Name Of The Rose. Such comparison is pure fallacy in all senses. I've seen the film and I've read the book ... the great result of erudite and throughout historical research, most specifically as to what concerns past and then still ongoing theological debates and disputes. Jean-Jacques Annaud somehow managed to destroy Umberto Eco's story and turned it into an overrated and underscored whodunit. The Hour Of The Pig is more of a what-the-heck-is-happening-here kind of thriller story ... and as the film unfolds, you'll be shown a very detailed and carefully crafted epoch re-enactment of everyday life in those times.

Basically the plot spirals around the ongoing dispute for the exercise of power (fiefdom versus highly centralized monarchies) staged in the trial of a domestic animal ... ultimately, a struggle for the upper hand in controlling the means, resources and legitimacy to impose fear upon society in general. 'It is the curse of our times ... gentlemen ... not the black death ... but fear ' says Pincheon as if previewing Thomas Hobbes by quite a few years. The Renaissance has been going on for more than a century already. The world was changing but not changed yet ... and such clash would still go on for centuries ahead. Leslie Megahey's competent approach as a director and scriptwriter has acquired for this film a stand alone feature. It's not a hamburger, take it with savoir vivre.

Ace in the Hole (1951)

Ace In The Hole - It could only happen here ...

[11 February 2005]

There are two ideas that simply can not be applied to understand this film. First and most important, arguments claiming it's based on universal themes ... Well, this is a total non-sense ... it's Americana pantheon from start to finish. Loosely based on the Floyd Collins entrapment, back in 1925, also known as America's 'first true media spectacle' ... and believe me, it couldn't have happened anywhere but in the US of A. The monstrous drawbacks of America's culture. Walt Disney taught us that life can be made to look pretty ... Ace In The Hole will teach you that life just isn't as pretty as we paint; eventually some self-serving creeps will step in devising a variety of schemes which will allow them to explore and profit from the suffering of others.

Secondly; some reviews concerning this film level it with Dogville, accusing Billy Wilder of shamefully dangling explicit misanthropy and nakedly exercising his America-hating. Such finger-pointing, as much as I disagree with it, can easily stick on that scornful and grumpy has-never-been-in-the-USA Danish (aka The Wicked Witch of the Northeast), Lars Von Trier ... but will never hold if hurled at Billy Wilder.

With this film, Wilder aims his fire basically at the American media and its innate tendency of turning personal dramas into a freak show in order to maximize profits. Nowadays, the hysteria is not so widely used by serious newspapers and TV news broadcasting ... unless our President decides to invade another country. Kirk Douglas is perfect and you'll finish the film felling total contempt towards the character he enacted. I have no idea of how many times I've seen this film ... but definitely, I'll never have enough of it.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Anatomy of a Murder - poetic justice for all

[8 February 2005]

Surrounded by Duke Ellington's musical magic, we are shown a story dealing with rape, small town characters, society's prejudice towards attractive and emotionally independent women, alcoholism, America's judicial proceedings, a minute mention of the Korean War, the general tendency in protecting our friends (even when they're wrong) ... all centered by a tense dispute in between a local lawyer antagonized by a 'big-city smart-alec' Assistant State Attorney General. There's a lot more to it, but then ... I would be telling the story instead of reviewing the film. The story per se appears to be quite predictable and as straight as a fairly acceptable high school essay should be. But don't let it fool you ... the story per se is not Preminger's main concern. The dialogue is filed with subtle insinuations ... meaning that you must pay close attention as to when, where, why, how and what is really being said. Turn on your 'significance-decoding machine' and enjoy a great movie. It's definitely a must see.

The film's slow pace allows its viewers to blend into the story and empathize with the characters ... so, for its own benefit, it's as slow as it should be. I recorded it somewhen around 1993 and since then ... I've seen it twenty times over; and in spite of this, I always laugh along with the trial's audience in reaction to the spirituous tirades thrown about by Jimmy Stewards' impeccably played character ... invariably I laugh along, as if I were sitting there with the people witnessing the trial. All actors did a great work in this film, including the supporting roles ... and this very trait impresses me for each new viewing ... as if I were watching it for first time ... every time.

Needless to say, of course it's a film I would suggest for all film lovers ... you would be surprised by the possible readings you'll get from it. It's as multi-layered as a film can be, but yet ... it's just a simple, very simple, story; crafted along a very straight story-line. Nevertheless, in many moments it touches deep common-sense everyday philosophical concerns ... Only our trash is left behind ... as human beings, we must 'keep on trucking' ...

The Big Shave (1967)

The Big Shave - Don't try to do it at home

[5 February 2005]

This film is closely related to my adolescence ... rather iconic. I've seen it only once a few months after completing fourteen years of age (1970). Back then, the UCSD had a very active cine-club ... and thanks to it I had access to films like La Jetée, Young Aphrodite, Midnight Cowboy, Catch-22, Deep Throat (in which I fell asleep after its first five minutes) and many others.

At first I found it rather boring and unappealing. A man shaving ... definitely isn't something a pubescent male teenager would care for, but since it's only six minutes long ... soon, the whole intended idea started to fall in place. The flowing and perfectly edited strong images left me totally assured that I was watching a powerful work of art and criticism. As the years passed by, the film's images were surely imprinted in my memory ... but the title simply vanished from all recall efforts. Once I got acquainted with IMDb's message boards, I posted a message asking about which could its title be ... promptly and correctly answered by an user signing as Weeping Prophet.

Usually The Big Shave is understood as a hyperbolic criticism towards America's engagement in the Vietnam war. While at a very shallow level it can be understood as so, the deeper message is very prophetic encompassing the whole future of America's mainstream film productions concerning the glorification of violence in itself. Well, in those happy days of open confrontation and anti-war rallies I understood it as a film about our everyday acts of self-destruction undertook as a matter of fact events ... including America's vaguely justified involvement in the civil war going on in Vietnam.

It's a film everyone should watch and one of Scorsese's most powerful films.

Dogville (2003)

Dogville - innocence and good intentions are nothing but thin layers of face powder

[1 February 2005]

Would you relate to your real life events based in what is apparent, in what is visible and easily identifiable? Of course not, only child like minds would reason in such manner. So, with this premise in mind, if you're planning to watch Dogville, don't take what you'll see for its face value. It's a film in which everyone has their very own share of guilt in the EXERCISE OF ABSOLUTE POWER, including the 'innocent infant', the 'crippled, helpless girl' and the apparent victim (or 'martyr' as some preferred) ... in Dogville, innocence and good intentions are nothing but thin layers of face powder meant to hide your true self.

This is not a film with the slightest intention of being a study about human nature ... it's about the many levels related to the EXERCISE OF ABSOLUTE POWER ... be it personal, communal or encompassing an entire society, culture or mankind. According to the film, as to what concerns human nature ... given the right conditions, it's damn rotten (to which, in sight of personal previous and present experiences, I totally agree) - but don't get me wrong - I'm quite aware (also based in my personal life events), as Trier surely is, that human kind is capable of the most undeniable evil and greedy acts in the world ... just as it's gifted with a spirit of compassion, tolerance and general good will ... otherwise we would have undergone a self-destruction process thousands of years before our present times. For not so obvious reasons, such point of view has been understood either as misanthropy or as Lars' inherent 'early age acquired anti-Americanism'. I've never heard of an anti-American Dane ... but whatever, we are living in a very strange era ... and since we, as a nation, are above judgemental procedures, I hope his 'early age acquired anti-Americanism' is used as a valid argument to invade Denmark ... who knows, maybe he's keeping some of Saddam's WMDs hidden in his tailor made trailer ... maybe it's there where Osama has been hiding all the time ... we must check and see ... I'm volunteering.

Now I ask you, are we, American citizens, 'xenophobic, mobbish and brutal' ?!!! ... of course we are ... as most immigrants have painfully learned, the famous inscription in Elis Island has little more then face value ... we all know that this beautiful country of ours is filled with people from Poland, Germany, Africa, Russia, Ireland, Latin America, India, Middle East, China, Vietnam and who knows what else ... obviously, for all these nationalities, and many others, there is an offensive term to characterize them ... which have been avoided by this humble reviewer in conformance to IMDb's automatic censorship. According to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo we're 'idle and brutal' ... and according to some other war prisoner facility in Iraq, so are the British ... our 'vague wars' in the Middle East. And we must not forget that we, self-acclaimed liberators of the world in WW2, back in those old days of fame and glory were still allowing the KKK to do whatever it felt the need to be done. Must I remind you that this great country of ours, based on the First Amendment, condones racism and racial 'hate-mongering' ?!!! With Dogville, Trier forced us to take a good look at the mirror ... and none of us liked what we saw ... some of us preferred to fight against the mirror and took the easier way accusing the Danish director of being an anti-American ... some of us are still thinking about what they have seen. But hot-dogs, we are proud Americans ... that's how we are ... totally averse to criticism. We are almost perfect ... 'and there's so little to do'. Must I remind you that, instead of Italy, our country is where Mafia gangsters achieved cinematic glamor ?!!! In corroboration of this 'mirror theory' of mine I would like to highlight the strange contempt a certain reviewer felt in relation to Jacob's Holdt's photos shown at the end of the film ... I remember, in college, browsing his book, American Pictures ... the impoverished, the 'dirty-faced children' and 'drunkards' he photographed are the Americans we willingly have chosen to obliterate.

One more thing, Dogville has been misleadingly accused of being like 'televised theater of the 50s'or even of being something like 'a staged play' ... such claims are pure nonsense ... it's cinematic to the core ... Trier just undressed it.

Finally, I would like to make a demand to IMDb's administrators and page editors. If you take a look at Lars Von Trier biography you'll notice the sentence 'Has never visited the US' ... so, based in this little piece of useless trivia, I demand either its removal or the addition of this very same sentence in the biography of all movie directors, actors and script writers who have never 'visited the US'.

Elephant (2003)

ELEPHANT - A fictional approach to a beastly real-life event.

[31 January 2005]

ELEPHANT

This is a really amazing film ... A fictional approach to a beastly real-life event. Apart from the violent few minutes nothing happens. People walking, driving, being drunk, gossiping, bullying and being bullied ... so, it's a very slow paced film ... but you won't notice it. Maybe the mystique surrounding that dreadful day helps in keeping your eyes glued to the screen. Nevertheless, Van Sant has made a powerful film which slowly flows to a shocking climax. Some reviewers have stated that Van Sant did not try to explain what happened and why it happened ... and I do not understand how they got such idea ... the truth is: the director does deliver his points of view and some of the reasons which he believes could have triggered the whole event ... he just doesn't scream it out loud ... it's subtle. Furthermore, at least in one small detail, his view concerning the relationship in between the characters, who planned and executed such plan of destruction and death, has no support in relation to what really happened.

I watched it three times and once my girlfriend watched it with me. After ten minutes she asked :'Where's the damn elephant ?!!!' ... to which I replied ... 'Don't worry ... soon you'll see a big elephant.' At the end of the film she didn't even care about the elephant

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

A bowling match of one player ... Michael Moore

[27 January 2005]

When I finally decided to watch Fahrenheit 9/11, I was already well informed about the events, including its present consequences on recent history, put forward and cleverly weaved by Michael Moore. I didn't take part of the frenzy debate about it ... but I read almost everything posted on these boards about it.

Having just seen the 'pome of discord', I felt as if I had seen a bowling match of one player ... Michael Moore. And I must reckon, he can knock those pins managing primal filming techniques with great ease and accuracy. Basically he steps forward, takes aim while planning the best path and force to achieve a strike. In fact, Michael Moore, by means of indisputable fact footage, personal testimonies and whatever else he lays his hands on, heavily bases his personal points of views on the very same video and film footage he uses on his work. So, what I'm saying is that his films, most specially Fahrenheit 9/11, give me the impression of having been built around the basic material being gathered ... and not the other way around as most Moore detractors liked to argue. Michael presents us the conclusions he achieved with the footage he painstakingly collected. Many of the things he inserted on his final work has never been seen by the American citizen. Yes, we knew about it ... but most have never seen it in its fullness ... including me. For some strange reason I also had the impression that his original project must've been a close glimpse of events from short-past to near-future consequences and the on going electoral process in the US of A 'til the Presidential Investiture. Apparently Moore preferred to politically engage Fahrenheit 9/11 as part of the electoral process. Linking it as part of the on going anti-Bush campaign he immobilized and dated his final work. But it was his decision ... and in spite of this, I strongly believe he should have waited for the poll results, the Presidential Investiture, pack it with recent events, include it in the final work and then release it as a two sided DVD ( F 1 and F 2). In my understanding, Moore ended up missing the on going historical process ... the re-election of GWB in spite of everything put forward during the last Presidential campaign. But maybe he achieved what left him with a sense of engagement and the belief that his work could really help shape and influence the public opinion ... during a long period of the electoral process, the debate about Fahrenheit 9/11 overshadowed the very elections. Some folks argue that Moore manipulates facts ... but such premise can't be sustained without falling under all kinds of philosophical fallacies devised by human kind.

Michael Moore is basically trying to show to the American public the Hamletish nature of recent events and our responsibility upon them ... apparently most of us don't even want to listen ... afraid of felling compelled to changing personal and ingrained political points of view. He sends a straight forward message to the American public that unfortunately is only being willingly heard by foreign hearts and minds.

One last thing I must say to anyone thinking on watching Fahrenheit 9/11. Every now and then the film 'per se' set me into bursts of spontaneous laughter ... which would quickly turn into sadness, despair and shame about the still pulsing events concerning internal affairs and the path of war taken by the USA. As the credits came up, a film came popping in my mind ... Woody Allen's BANANAS.