Jerry-Kurjian Reviews

Da wu shi yu xiao piao ke (1977)

Unlikely movie for Pink Floyd music

[6/10 · 13 May 2009]

I don't really have anything to say about Hero of the Wild other than, about 46 minutes into it, we cut to a scene of someone dropping down into a cave to break free the hero and suddenly, like catching the glint of Sparticus' wrist-watch, we hear the distinctive metallic pulse of Pink Floyd's Echoes. The snippet last just long enough for Gilmour's undulating lead and Wright's patter of organ notes to become audible, and then it's gone. It's an oddity. One wonders if the band knew their music had been linked, however fleetingly, to the doomed rebel struggle to return the Ming to power. How the world would have been different had they succeeded.

Cartesius (1974 TV Movie)

High quality history

[8/10 · 16 February 2009]

Extremely good value for folks interested in the history of science, history of rationalism, or mid-renaissance thinkers and culture. Rossellini's very sober Cartesius is a chronicle of Descartes' life and times, following him through Europe as he develops his ideas about science and existence. Rossellini shows us the genius Descartes, but also shows us quietly that he could get things wrong and that he was a product of his times.

The production has some weaknesses as well as some strengths. The music, as another reviewer has mentioned, is odd and over-used. The acting is adequate but never more than that. There is a tableau quality to scenes throughout the film – the people are stiff and come across as conduits of the dialogue rather than actually speaking. There are some real pluses too. During the entirety of one scene in which Descartes is describing his philosophy to a printer, two men work a printing press – one placing the blank pages on the type set that he has daubed with ink, and the other turning the screw a half turn, then back. There are several other scenes that show craftspeople engaged in their work. Finally, I found it refreshing that everyone, French, Dutch, and English, spoke Italian - leaving me to figure out nationality by clothing styles and names.

If Cartesius turns out to be your cup of tea, you may like Potop (The Deluge), directed by Jerzy Hoffman, set in Poland around the time of Descartes (and Gustav Adolph). While a very different approach to filmed history, it is a colourful and interesting story.

A Murder of Quality (1991 TV Movie)

Muddle of Quality

[5/10 · 8 February 2009]

A disappointing film – neither fish nor fowl. Although it's a Le Carre story with George Smiley in the leading role, it's not a spy story. Instead, it's a conventional detective story set in a stuffy English public school. The characters and their motivations are not complex or shadowy. Nor is there anything original about the plot. If you extracted Smiley and inserted Poirot you'd hardly notice the difference, except maybe for the vagueness of the period – is MoQ set in the 1940s, 50s, 60s? If you're expecting a film on par with Spy who Came in from the Cold or Looking Glass War, you'll likely be disappointed. I was.

Godspell (1973)

Stands the test of time

[10/10 · 20 February 2008]

I just watched Godspell after many years' hiatus. I first saw it in the early '70s and listened to the album through my teens. Both this and Jesus Christ Superstar had a special place in my heart. So I felt some reservations about renting it – what if it has aged badly (or I have)? Would I ruin a pleasant childhood memory? Often that seems to be the bitter harvest of middle age.

But not this time! Godspell remains a true pleasure to watch and listen to. More so now, in fact, because I can pore over the scenes and enjoy what the director, actors, and music was doing. If there had been a cast interview, I'd be in 7th heaven. Lots of long camera shots, lots of little quirky things going, lots of NY sights to see.

A movie that stands the test of time is one that is multidimensional. A well-intentioned movie with nothing else to give won't last long (neither will one that is simply nihilistic and ironic, e.g. Hair (the movie, not the play). Godspell, while earnest and emotive, still has a good dose of humor and self-deprecation. And who can hear the song "All for the Best" and not sort of wonder if Stephen Schwartz wasn't being a bit wicked, a la Candide?

Chef! (1993–1996)

The antipode of AbFab

[10/10 · 11 October 2007]

Chef! is wonderful . . . at least the first season. And the second season, as several others have also said, is fine though the supporting cast changes (and lose charm as they become more central to the stories) and the stories are less fun. The last season, with its love triangles, harsh, brassy lighting, and general feeling of angst is a real disappointment. But the first season is a joy. It is such catharsis when Gareth chews people out - we can only dream to attain to such heights of belittlement. And, like Oedipus who discovers his errors too late, Gareth pays for his rashness. Unlike another great bbc series' main character Gordon Brittas (bbc's Brittas Empire) who never susses to his foibles, Gareth knows his sins, just as we do. When the moment comes that he reaps his bitter harvest, we're there with him because we've said and done things that we've lived to regret. It makes it cool.

There's so much that's cool about the first season - the quirky cooks who say nearly nothing but have lots of personality, Janice, Gareth's wife, who you'd kind of like not to like but who's strong, shares Gareth's dream, and is a foody, the rich feeling of high culture when the shenanigans of the kitchen are left behind, and so much more. The first season's last episode, finishing on Christmas, makes me all melancholy.

And there is a racial element that gives Chef! additional depth. Like Dave Lister in the bbc Red Dwarf series, Gareth is the minority who makes it to the top (though in Dave's case it's by default since he's the last living human in the universe).

It's a shame that the series couldn't have lasted longer – but going in the direction it was, it's best it died quick.

Strangers and Brothers (1984)

Very, very satisfying

[9/10 · 22 July 2007]

I found this series immensely satisfying - like a slice of Finnish black bread. Strangers and Brothers is an intellectual drama full of men and women who are strong and articulate. CP Snow's goal was certainly not to mirror mundane reality but to reflect through his characters British power in the world, its deflation, reorientation, and resilience, from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, and to illustrate by way of one character the transition from socialist to establishment.

The characters are witty, complex, and intellectual; they struggle with history and conscience while they strive to navigate a nation through the first stages of the cold war.

I'm a great fan of Yes Minister, which treats politicians and civil servants with an equal dose of withering cynicism. Strangers and Brothers is a wonderful tonic to such appalling, effete politics. Here we find the caliber of people we'd like to believe are in government and other positions of power and policy-making.

Finally, central to Strangers and Brothers are the contrasting themes of existential aloneness and concern for one's fellow man and woman. This wonderful series is stimulating and mature, and makes me yearn for more movies of this quality.

Fay Grim (2006)

Attractive but under-inflated

[6/10 · 20 May 2007]

I heard a review of Fay Grim on my local pbs radio station, which prompted me to go see it a couple of weeks later. I haven't seen other films by the director, and I wasn't expecting much. Overall Fay Grim is basically entertaining and smart, but no masterpiece, no gem. The plot has been covered in other reviews, so I'm just adding my two cents here.

FG has a sort of Harry Lime/The Third Man feeling. The main character, Fay Grim, is drawn into a murky world of intrigue, finds that people and things aren't who and what they seem, and is forced to re-evaluate her beliefs.

Tongue in cheek humor abounds in FG. The guy behind me couldn't stop chuckling. And it's left to the audience to catch on or not – there is little of the 'okay, I'm setting up a joke here.' But the humor can get a bit thick, particularly at the beginning of the movie.

I like long movies, and I'm happy if a movie takes its time to develop. But FG gets a bit boring at times. Either there's choppy scenes of explication or we're getting in or out or going around in various vehicles or . . . I don't know. There was a lot of time spent on structure without much content. The key to the story is a set of notebooks that contain something - rantings or coded secrets - that a lot of people are interested in, so it seems. Had the director done more with this, life would have been splendid. But too soon we're told what's in the notebooks and then we're told why. This choice basically guts the mystery and motivation in the plot.

There is a nice international flavour, though it is hijacked by the post-9/11 myopia. Oddly, I don't think we ever hear anyone speak a language other than English, even though there are characters who are Swedish, French, Israeli, Arab, Afghani, Turk, and maybe German and Russian, and the action takes place in various non-English speaking places. This suggests rather lazy film making.

The movie finishes on a minor chord. This would be a plus if not for the nagging suspicion that this rawness is merely a bridge to a sequel. I mentioned above that Fay Grim has a number of similarities to The Third Man. If you haven't seen Carol Reed's noir thriller, then you may be in for a treat.

Inspector Lavardin (1986)

Predictably flaccid

[1/10 · 31 December 2006]

I don't understand people's affection for Chabrol's films. I've watched a handful of them and they are fungibly torpid.

In Inspecteur Lavardin we have a set of smarmy characters - all utterly amused with themselves and their problems - and a story that, despite what other reviewers claim, reflects very conventional values and mores. I can't complain too much about the structure of the story. It is akin to the British variety - there's a murder, a set of suspects, all of whom seem to have something to hide, and a detective who ping-pongs among them matching secrets to the subjects, and the one left over is the murderer. However, one gets the feeling that Chabrol never in his life read a detective novel or watched a police TV show or movie (or just couldn't be bothered with the pesky details) since he, through his characters, seems blissfully unaware that there might be a tradition of procedures for homicide investigation and evidence collection. Or maybe in France they just don't care about fingerprints or cataloging evidence for trial. The problem isn't that the inspector is immoral or amoral, but that he is uber-moral (forgive my neologism, if it is one); that is, he is presented as knowing what's best despite what's legal. Stories about cops taking the law into their own hands is nothing new. But Chabrol does the least with it by having the well-coiffed inspecteur uphold middle class values and condemn those who would prey on the young and the weak. Great, if you happen to be a 13 year old girl, but otherwise insipid.

As I said, I can't fathom the charm Chabrol and his leaky films have over reviewers. Give me a Holmes or Marlowe any day.

Hair (1979)

More of a toupee

[1/10 · 26 November 2006]

I don't usually comment on movies that already have lots of reviews. But when I read through the reviews written by viewers who didn't like Hair I felt that my disenchantment with the film was a bit different from that expressed by other people. I saw the original stage production when I was very young, and grew up listening to the lp, from age 5 to 15. I loved Hair, both the music and the story. And when the movie first came out I saw it.

I didn't like it.

Now, 25 years later I have tried to watch it again, thinking that with the passage of time, Hair the Movie might have qualities I didn't notice then. No. That is not the case. If you like The Wiz then Hair the Movie might be up your alley. But if you are expecting it to let the spirit of the songs and story emerge, forget it. Watch the original Jesus Christ Superstar or watch a movie made in the 60s or early 70s, like a Cassavettes or Jodorowksy movie (or anything). But I'll try to tell you why Hair the Movie is such a disappointment.

Several reviewers have complained that the movie is dated. I agree - but it is dated, not because it is about the 60s, but because it is about the late-70s. Watch Micheal Jackson's Thriller and you'll have pretty much seen the "authentic" 60s dance sequences. Tharp or no Tharp. Make-up, coifs, clothes, jewelry, all remind me of the cheesy late disco/early New Wave style.

The producers went out of their way to flatten the significance of the songs. We can still hear the taboo words, but gone is their force, and gone are the dark insinuations the writers made about a society torn apart by racial hatred, economic inequality, and confusion over a war we were fighting for murky reasons. Hair the Play asked questions like: what does it mean to die for your country? what does it mean to be free? what does it mean to be hated? what does it mean to love? Hair the Movie doesn't ask anything. It shows us some stock characters, with easily identifiable clichéd qualities, and runs them through a predictable story.

At least one reviewer complained that Hair is about a bunch of drug taking hippies, etc. etc. Sadly, that is exactly what this movie is about - cheerful, vacuous, stereotyped characters. Hair the Movie is not about humans struggling with hate, death, love; struggling with their own values and those of their families, friends, and people who they may never know but who they are told to hate.

In fifty years, film critics may look back on Hair the Movie and be able to say something interesting about the fetish of the 60s, the shallowness of the late-70s, or something. For now, this movie sucks.

Zhifu (2003)

Authentic contemporary China, though a bit dour

[6/10 · 12 October 2006]

Zhifu is a gritty film that explores the plight of people who have few skills and little education in a China shifting from a command to a market economy. It is also about the disconnect between the "common folk" and the authorities who ride herd over them. Having spent most of the 90s in China, I can say that Zhifu captures a lot of what daily life in urban China is like - family life, attitudes towards authority, the sense of aesthetic, and the contradictions of loyalty.

If I had a criticism of Zhifu, it would not be the lowish production value, which I think makes the film more authentic and fresh. Rather, I would take issue with the near utter lack of humor or happiness. The director may be trying too hard to depict a difficult situation. Chinese people are not typically morose or grim, and often express a sense of humor that is somehow cheerfully sardonic. The film would have been lifted to something more had we been shown this resilience, in addition to the hardships the characters endure.

Smiley's People (1982)

A detective movie, not a spy flick

[7/10 · 8 October 2006]

While still a watchable and intelligent story, Smiley's People is a distinctly different animal from its companion Tinker Tailor. Each time I've watched Smiley's People I've found myself yearning for the kinds of complexities and subtleties movies based on LeCarre''s other stories are usually rich with - alas, the yearning goes unrequited. Whereas I can watch Tinker Tailor yet again and discover an uncaught double entendre or an unnoticed directorial adumbration, I find little new after repeated viewings of Smiley's People. What makes Smiley's People so disappointing?

First, the complexity of supporting characters in SP is woeful. Sometimes there are explicit claims that this or that person is a bit checkered, other times there is a hint that a person is running under false colors, but in every case what we are presented with are affable, earnest, innocuous people, and any potentially complicating factors are forgotten.

Another disappointment is the generally threadbare plot. I haven't read the book so I have no idea if there is more to it than is captured in the movie, but the story strikes me as pretty under-inflated for its momentous outcome. Perhaps, in addition to an intricate plot, it is the play of dark and light across the landscape that fascinates us. But this kind of interference pattern is largely lacking in Smiley's People.

Perhaps most disappointing is that Smiley's People is really not a spy movie at all. Sadly, George Smiley has been reduced to little more than another bbc shire detective. One intriguing characteristic of the spy genre is that of the minions, which each side keeps, and the perverse way these underlings are manipulated by their controllers who are always ready to gambit. In The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, for example, the spy Leamus is passed up the chain of eastern bloc dog's bodys, and each in turn is treated with contempt by his better. In Smiley's People, rather ironically, it is not his people, but Smiley who does most of the trotting around searching for clues.

There is one scene, late in the movie, that reminds me of the 'old' circus and its culture. When we meet Saul Enderby and are treated to his brand of pompous asininity - a sure sign of some serious deception - I finally feel a waking interest. But alas it is too little and too late.

The Looking Glass War (1970)

A wistful, intelligent tale

[9/10 · 30 September 2006]

'The Looking Glass War' is the most wistful member of LeCarre''s gritty spy genre that I'm aware of. Unlike the spies in most other stories, spies who are professionals, jaded by years of lies and deception, the main character in LGW is simply a young man, a Pole who has jumped ship, who allows himself to be recruited by the British because it gives him a chance to stay in England where he has a pregnant girlfriend. His motives, while not entirely chivalric, are honest. This is in stark contrast to the convoluted game that swirls around him. In 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold', we learn that Control has marked the innocent Leamus from the beginning for sacrifice. But in 'Looking Glass War' none of the characters seems in control. They believe they are caught up in a perilous deluge, compelled to do whatever they can to keep themselves and their nation from being drowned.

The juxtaposition of innocence, beauty, and youth against anxiety, iciness, and sacrifice throughout the film does not act to declare the future dead, as Orwell seems to do in his '1984', but to offer some hope that, despite ideological machinations, there still exist exuberance and room for dreams. To quote the Who, 'the kids are alright.'

A Perfect Spy (1987)

Like a moth to the candle

[9/10 · 24 September 2006]

This is my second time through for A Perfect Spy. I watched it 2 or 3 years ago and liked it. I like it still. It's natural that it gets compared to the beeb's other big Le Carre' series, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Tinker Tailor focuses on the "game" spies play; Perfect Spy gives us the other axis - what kind of person a spy is. There are a number of themes that these movies share, along with others in the genre.

Ambiguity - moral, sexual, interpersonal - which creates a multidimensional space of true vs. false, inside vs. outside, love vs. responsibility. In a way, these characters are happiest when they are being treated the most shabbily by those they love and respect - "backstabbed" in its various nuances.

The theme of fathers and father-figures is also important. One of the most intriguing characters in A Perfect Spy is Rick, the main character Magnus' perhaps ersatz father. Throughout the story he betrays and is betrayed. A rogue who always manages to climb back up the ladder when he's been toppled, who seems impervious to what others think of him, asks Magnus each time they meet, "Do you love your old man?" and never, "Do you love me?" Maybe it says this somewhere else, but A Perfect Spy is a love story.

Another theme is that of malignancy. The nature of the business is to turn others - turn them against their government, against their friends and associates, turn them against their values and beliefs. In each of the Le Carre' movies I have seen, The Spy who Came in From the Cold, Looking Glass War, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People, and A Perfect Spy, turning and being turned is the foundation of the tragedy.

Finally, not so much a theme as an artistic touch - in each of these films there is usually only a single gun shot, or perhaps two shots bookending the story. Violence, torture, cruelty are always just beneath the surface. We see their results not as streams of blood or dank prison cells but in the the objects Le Carre''s characters cling to as they are ineluctably sucked down into the morass.

If you haven't seen the films above, and you enjoy A Perfect Spy, you are in for a treat. I'd also recommend The Sandbagger series (Yorkshire TV), the 2nd and 3rd seasons of which begin to reach the level of this kind of complexity. The IPCRESS File and Burial in Berlin are nice, though light weight. For political intrigue try A Very British Coup, House of Cards and Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister.

If only a brit would set his hand to making The Three Kingdoms - there would be a film with intrigue and complexity.

Young Törless (1966)

Well-intentioned but predictable and uni-dimensional

[5/10 · 24 September 2006]

Toerless was among the recommendations I got in my MovieLens account. When I finally decided to give it a go, I read the back of the DVD box and thought, "this looks dry and pedantic." My initial estimate was supported. Toerless is about dreary people who make dreary choices. Three students make it their job to judge a fourth whom they find to be a thief. The intellectualizing and discussions among the three are just rationalization for bullying. And the movie is really not much more ponderous or enlightening than this. None of the characters is one I'd have any respect for, Toerless included; they are all creatures of the author and director who wish to teach us something. Even a professor who at first is interested in Toerless' fascination with imaginary numbers is made to be whimpy and unsympathetic. Toerless is a humorless film that forces us to view this world through a lens of a single issue. I'd say it was tedious rather than edifying.

Journey to Western Xia Empire (1997)

Thoughtful and starkly beautiful

[8/10 · 22 May 2006]

Journey to the Western Xia Dynasty takes place in arid western China, probably what is now Gansu province, sometime during the Song dynasty (11th or 12th century) or perhaps while the Mongol invasion of Genghis Kahn is taking place. As other reviewers have noted, the natural scenery is beautiful and the locations appear authentic. The story focuses on an ill-fated raiding party whose job it is to steal male babies from other tribes and bring them back to the Xia homeland where they are brought up as Xia natives. I don't think it is ever made clear why the Xia lack off-spring, but we can guess that war and/or famine are the likely culprits. As they try to return home, the raiders are nearly all killed off – always trying to protect their most treasured possessions, their children. While the circumstances the movie portrays are brutal, the characters themselves act with humanity, even compassion. How sadly ironic that the raiders, who were themselves stolen children, must steal babies from other cultures to keep their own adopted culture alive. Journey to the Western Xia Dynasty is thoughtful historical fiction, and perhaps political critique. If you are looking for action and swashbuckling adventure, this is probably not going to satisfy you. But if you are interested in a movie that explores the meaning of friendship and society, you might very well enjoy Western Xia. Other movies that this movie makes me think of are Red Sorghum and The Saltmen of Tibet.

Bone (1972)

Groan

[3/10 · 9 April 2006]

In my opinion, this film was before its time – by about 5 years. If only it had been made in 1977, I wouldn't have bothered renting it and would have saved myself $3 and 90 minutes of tedious American culture bashing. 'Bone' attempts to be a vehicle for social commentary. White, upper-middle class people who have settled in Southern California from the east coast have become bored and shallow; their lives are as empty as their joint bank account. *yawn* An African American comes along to shake them out of their lethargy. Racial tensions, sex, and murder ensue. If the plot strikes you as cliché, superficial, or boring, then you're with me.

None of the characters is likable really. This is what happens when a director is determined to exploit rather than explore people. On top of it all, Bone, the interloper-rapist-lover main character, turns out to be a figment of . . . two people's imaginations? Reality not very apparently becomes fantasy at some point in the movie – you get to decide where – and then reasserts itself, I guess, at the end when murder is committed, although how, since it's been fantasy so far, is unclear. But when a director plays the exploitation/fantasy card, rationality goes out the window. Some folks might find this disclarity entertaining. Me, I think it's cheap.

Bleak Moments (1971)

Erik Satie as film

[10/10 · 2 April 2006]

a.k.a Loving Moments – and this seems the better title. The story is moving and full of quiet humor. Let's just say, from soup to nuts. Moreover, Sylvia, the sensitive bookish main character, is able to see the humor in the situations she encounters. Anne Rait, who plays Sylvia, is gorgeous. Her luminous smile, her sometimes furrowed brow, her tightly drawn-back black hair, her tentativeness, her quiet strength – no problems watching her for 100 minutes – and the director does his utmost to capture her charm and her latent emotions on film. For me, this film is not about people who fail to make relationships, but simply about people and relationships.

I Am Curious (Blue) (1968)

Blue - a look at Swedish values and norms

[9/10 · 2 April 2006]

"Jag är nyfiken – Blue" is a more contemplative and somewhat less vibrant film than "Jag är nyfiken – Yellow." Much of Blue takes place outside of Stockholm, along rural byways in the north of Sweden - the land of the midnight sun - as Lena undertakes a journey to find her mother. The frenetic exuberance of Yellow is replaced by a sense of foreboding and gloom. The themes of religion, violence, lesbianism, marriage, impotency, and scabies all intertwine to create Blue's dour fabric. Also less evident in Blue is the "documentary-ing" of Vilgot Sjöman and his crew - although they do make several stunning appearances, for example, just before and after Lena and Börje's reunion, and again, very poignantly, near the end of the film. Overall, Blue strikes me as an interesting but less unconventional film than its sunny other-half.

Having watched both Yellow and Blue now, I have an urge to sum up what I found and did not find in Sjöman's brilliant twins. In both films, Sjöman and Lena are unafraid to ask real people real questions. Their responses are presented to us without editorial remark or ridicule. This kind of authenticity never grows old. Sjöman and Lena, through hard work and improvisation, create scenes that are touching, funny, and dorky. Their work left me with feelings similar to those I had after watching Cassavetes' Shadows and Faces. At their best, Sjöman and Lena expose the contradictions that exist between people, between systems, between nations. However, although Sjöman has cast a wide net, there are many issues, read *contradictions*, that are noticeably missing from both Yellow and Blue. While lesbianism and female bisexuality is explored, male homosexuality is not. Neither alcohol, a substance that causes perennial anxiety among Swedes, nor drugs, another taboo, has a place in either film. Criticism of Franco and the US is prominent, while the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and the ongoing oppression in both the Soviet Union and China and their satellites go unanalyzed. I mention this not as a rebuke of the films, but rather as a way of putting them in some kind of perspective.

I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967)

As fresh today as it must have been 40 years ago!

[10/10 · 1 April 2006]

"Jag är nyfiken – Yellow" is a lot of fun. Like at least one other reviewer, I was, on numerous occasions, laughing out loud. Yellow is energetic, playful, self-aware, explorative. Don't expect Bergman here. This movie is about a youth in the early- to mid-60s in Sweden and about the issues, read *contradictions*, that the nation and the world were facing. At times Yellow appears to be an earnest social-political documentary, with Lena, the main character, and others interviewing both common people and politicians (e.g. Olaf Palme at home). At other times, Yellow seems to parody this kind of documentary. All the while, Yellow acts as a personal documentary exploring Lena's life - her home life, her loves, her political views, her view of herself. She is a complete person – complex, flawed, contradictory, happy, sad, curious. And placed over all of this is the wonderful additional dimension of the director, Sjöman, and his crew documenting themselves documenting Lena. It is this that, for me, really gives Yellow wings. Not only do they suddenly appear at some very funny times and in some funny ways, reminding the viewer that this is fiction and artifice, but their presence is itself another layer of the film; they are filming themselves filming themselves. I am reminded of a Bjork music video with this same quality – a music video about the making of a music video, ad infinitum, with each iteration getting weirder and more cartoonish. I think Sjöman may have had something similar in mind. While "Jag är nyfiken – Yellow" may not be everyone's cup of tea, it is certainly intelligent, witty, refreshing, ebullient, and authentic.

Ichiban utsukushî natsu (2001)

G-rated Visitor Q

[6/10 · 30 March 2006]

Firefly Dreams is basically a nice story about returning to traditional values in the face of the ugliness and shallowness of urban life. Packed off to relatives in the countryside by her parents, a young woman develops a variety of friendships - in particular one with an elderly woman who, it seems, has had an interesting past - and discovers herself in the process. What sets this film apart from others in the genre is the degree of understatement that pervades it. Events occur off camera and connections between events are made, but there is refreshingly little explication, leaving viewers to think for themselves. I would not call Firefly Dreams a masterpiece; the story is fairly predictable and simplistic, the characters are pretty generic, and the cinematography is unchallenging. But it is a nice film and leaves some tantalizing questions to mull over even as you return the DVD to the store.

This Man Must Die (1969)

Low on substance

[6/10 · 28 March 2006]

First of all, let me say that I respect the views of those reviewers who have liked Que la bete Meure. I write this to folks who may share my taste in film.

Que la bete Meure, while not a bad film, is like many French films - more concerned with style and *appearing* thoughtful than with plot or production values. I would charge that Les Diabolique, Alphaville, and Les Revenants, to name but three movies, all suffer from this malaise. If you are expecting a gripping story, twists which don't seem contrived, or characters who are not stock, this may not be the film for you.

The Memory of a Killer (2003)

Purely TV Pilot material

[5/10 · 24 March 2006]

As other reviewers have pointed out, De Zaak Alzheimer is unremarkable. The movie feel like an episode of a BBC cop series, MI-5 or something of that kind. Not bad for what it is - just not particularly interesting - and a full 2 hours of it. The story is unoriginal and linear, the characters are standard, and the direction is strictly for TV (flashbacks galore and cops standing out in the rain). There's no mystery about who done what, and the whys were entirely predictable. The explication and use of the micturition gag was tiresome. Finally, what I found most irritating was the lighting - red or green bathing every wall and building in the movie, and every person smothered in blue. It just lacks imagination.

A couple of qualities I found refreshing. Hearing a variety of languages, none of them English, was cool; if I knew more about the interaction of Dutch, Flemish, and French, I might have found their varied use was a comment on the Belgian social structure. And the dark dance between politics, aristocracy, and morality was interesting but ultimately stillborn once the killing of "all the bad guys" was completed. I'd give this pic a 5 out of 10.

Swastika (1964)

Complex characters, thoughtful examination

[7/10 · 25 August 2005]

'Manji' is a film worth seeing. Written by Kaneto Shindô (of 'Onibaba' fame) and based on a novel by Tanizaki (of 'Some Prefer Nettles' fame), the story chronicles the decent/ascent of the unhappily married woman, Sonoko, into an obsessive/liberating relationship with another woman, Mitsuko, associated throughout the film with the goddess of mercy. While all of the main characters' emotions run high, placing 'Manji' firmly in the genre of melodrama, the emotional intensity is always tempered with an element of sly humor. Both Sonoko and Mitsuko have complex motivations, and each is keenly aware of the machinations of the other, ensuring that the story is about passion, weakness, and love, and not about unexamined emotions and victimization.

They Came Back (2004)

Zomnambulists - and you'll be one too if you watch this film

[2/10 · 30 July 2005]

This is what happens when silly sociology meets insipid film making. The dead don't rise so much as roll over, yawn, stretch, and, after turning off the clock radio, get up and head for a quick pee. These pinot thirsty ghouls shamble into town with their hair nicely coiffed (not stringy, or matted with leaves and dirt like the EC comics creepy creatures), their clothes clean and bright (how many funerals have people buried in colorful summer clothes?), and their bodies unperturbed by the embalming process. This pic is a testament to a certain parochial bourgeois view - the locals are not unnerved or surprised, just concerned about the social-economic ramifications of an influx of undead. How are we going to find them jobs? While one women can barely manage as a 'lunch lady,' another guy is re-installed in his former position as - huh? - an architect. This film is perversely un-gritty. It's too willing to overlook so many obvious questions while determined to doggedly 'probe' a set of issues that oddly don't seem very pressing, to wit, "what would we do if dead people came back to life, wouldn't eat our flesh but couldn't work either, were boring to be around, and wished they were dead?" Duh! Put 'em in prisons, institutions, and old folks homes.

The first date I ever had I took to see Dawn of the Dead. They Came Back, I might take my ex to see - then skip out after a couple minutes. This is one humorless melodrama. I think she'd like it.

PS: 'Grapes of Death,' which sounds like a title a francophobe humorist would come up with but is a real French zombie pic, is also available for your 'enjoyment.' Definitely more blood-n-gore, somewhat less philosophical (but only somewhat), but still a b-movie that is neither good enough nor bad enough to be good.