Live Wire (1992)

A bomb-defusing expert working for the FBI is in a case involving terrorist attacks where the detonating device is nowhere to be found (it's actually a liquid which, if ingested, will blow up). Concurrently to that, his wife has left him for a senator.

Entertaining thriller the plot of which has several inconsistencies and fuzzy spots and is structured according to age-old patterns. It won't add much to the viewer's spiritual advancement.

Rating: 43

César et Rosalie (1972)

English title: César and Rosalie.

Rosalie is married to César, who is an expansive guy and older than she. When young David, with whom she had a love affair years ago, returns to Paris, her old feelings revive.

The theme of one woman and two men seems to be a French favorite (cf. Jules et Jim). The reverse was also tackled (Le bonheur, haven't seen it). But whereas those were sixties movies with a libertarian flair, César et Rosalie is very much a seventies film, that is, a plead to reason, so to speak. I will not speak ill of it, it is a well-written psychological study. A bit on the banal side, I'd say. Sami Frey is an earlier version of Willem Dafoe. Sort of.

Rating: 59

The Assignment (1997)

A Naval officer is a lookalike of a feared terrorist. He is proposed the task of impersonating said terrorist. The plan is having the Soviets believe said terrorist has betrayed them.

Awful thriller, with a screenplay which follows a very clichéd path. A formal quibble: practically every other sequence begins with a plongée, for some reason; it is very unsettling.

Rating: 13

Miramar (1997)

The first act concerns a family composed of man, wife and son. The second act concerns the son who aspires to be a filmmaker.

The first act has a decent level of articulation. The second act is mostly uninspired (pretensely) modernistic shit, with a couple of interesting verbal utterances.

Rating: 35

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

A semi-retired lawyer decides to act for the defense of a military who killed a bar owner who allegedly raped the military's wife.

This is my second viewing of this film, and I can safely say (although it has been a long time since I watched it for the first time) that I didn't understand it the first time. I will not make a deep analysis here because this film is an established classic and I am sure analyses abound by better men than me. I will only make a few remarks, mostly for myself.
Reading the "hated it" section of the IMDB user comments, I notice that some people had the same problems I had upon my first viewing. This film is not like most other courtroom movies. There is no hero in it. It is not going for the viewer's empathy. It is a movie about Justice as an institution, and it implicitly says two things about it: one, that it is not perfect; two, that, even with its imperfections, it is a necessary institution. On a deeper level perhaps, the movie is an analysis of strategy, conveying the insight, perhaps above all others, that one way to win a case that seems lost in advance is to use your adversary's perfidy against him. We see the prosecution try to, so to speak, kill a fly with an atom bom, and it blows in their face. To close, a few words on the movie's title. In the past, I was a bit aggravated at what seemed to me a completely inappropriate title. I took it to mean that the film was intended as the "anatomy" of a murder, and of course I was disappointed. However, there is no evidence that the title refers to the movie. It seems to fit better as a reference to the trial itself. And then it is necessarily an ironic title, since it is quite evident that this would be a very poor and inconclusive anatomy. This irony seems quite in place when directed against an event within the movie, as opposed to against the movie itself.

Rating: 79 (up from 50)

Barão Olavo, o Horrível (1970)

A barely narrative collage of scenes involving the title character, who is fond of corpses, two young women who live with him and are sexually involved with each other, another woman who seems to be the Baron's wife, and two men who seem to be religious preachers or priests.

I guess alienation can produce the kind of cinema displayed here. It oscillates between pastiche (of a very primitive type) and pornography (of a very shy type) and performatic ludicity (of a very uninspired type). Almost completely unfunny.

Rating: 5

Silent Rage (1982)

A psychopath kills some people and is locked in an institution where they give him an experimental drug. It makes him nearly indestructible, for the excitement of an unethical scientist. The monster escapes, and a tough sheriff gives him pursuit.

A cheap rip-off of The Terminal Man (1974), not badly directed.

Rating: 31

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

A man known as The Bandit and his fellow trucker are hired to transport a mysterious package from Miami to Dallas by a governor candidate. The package in question turns out to be an elephant that is supposed to be delivered to the Republican Party in Dallas (the elephant, so I hear, is the symbol of said party).

Pretty tepid sequel, with some wit in the dialogue and a bunch of reasonable action sequences.

Rating: 32

Stroker Ace (1983)

A stock car racer has some problems with his sponsor, a fried chicken restaurant chain owner.

Low-brow humor and car races. And, if you will, a reflection on how difficult it is to have a "pure" human endeavor, not only sportsmanlike as is the case depicted in the movie but any other you can think of, under capitalism.

Rating: 31

Murphy's Law (1986)

A cop is framed for the murder of his ex-wife by a recently released woman whom he had arrested ten years before. He manages to escape and takes a young car thief woman along with him in his quest to find out who framed him.

It fulfills basic entertainment criteria, namely a plot that has a lot of action and light humor. The idea of an ex-con who seeks revenge on policemen and judges is something I see often on films but I do not know of any similar real-life cases. Not a very memorable movie.

Rating: 40

O Homem que Copiava (2003)

This is my second viewing. 

On Monday, May 22, 2006, I posted the following on this blog: 

-quote- 

O Homem que Copiava (2003) 

English Title: The Man Who Copied. 

Synopsis: A guy that works as a photocopier operator is in search of a way to improve his humble condition. 

Appraisal: This is a painful film to watch. I really couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters. The storytelling is flooded by voiceover, which means the filmmaker either can't say what he wants through the action and dialogue, or that he considers the viewers to be morons that need constant explaining. The script is fairly convoluted, but to no avail: it all amounts to an elaborate piece of crap with zero empathy. The performances are pretty decent, which is a feat considering the material the actors had to work with. Give yourself a break. 

Rating: 31

-unquote- 

I stick with my previous opinion and rating. This film's flimsy moral justification rests on plot contrivances. Aesthetically and morally, it is antithetical to L'argent (1983).

Visage (2009)

English title: Face.

A Taiwanese filmmaker is making a film which is set in the Louvre. The shooting is filled with problems.

The above plot is just hinted at in the movie, as there is no real coherent plot. It is a sort of postmodern 8 1/2, with touches of La nuit américaine, and at least one visual quoting of Il deserto rosso. However, references to old movies and bizarre camera angles do not a film make.

Rating: 0

Tamara Drewe (2010)

A young newspaper columnist moves to the English countryside when she inherits a farm house. She gets romantically involved with three men: a drummer of a famous pop band, a middle-aged married writer, and a farm worker who had been her flame in their teens.

Amusing little comedy, based on a graphic novel which in turn was loosely based on Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd. The little rural town where it is set is a writers' refuge, and the film satirizes writers of all kinds.

Rating: 70

Câncer (1972)

A series of variations on a basic configuration of three main characters, a black thief-beggar, a white thief, and a white actress.

The film's author has summarized well what it is about: violence, moral and physical. It is not particularly insightful or deep, and at times not even very articulate. But it succeeds moderately in conveying its theme, and the improvisational aesthetics produces occasional good results. The film, at the very least, works as a snapshot of an especially difficult period in Brazilian history, with many social and political issues.

Rating: 40

Barbe bleue (2009)

English title: Bluebeard.

Two sisters are living in misery after their father dies. A rich nobleman seeks a wife. Most are afraid of him because of his appearance and because his former wives have died.

This is an unimaginative and a little idiotic retelling of a fairy tale. A poor excuse to put actors into old costumes.

Rating: 20

Cidadão Boilesen (2009)

Documentary. The subject is a Danish-born man who moved to Brazil and was a high executive during the military dictatorship in the 60s and early 70s. He was very proactive in the financing of the repression to groups of resistance against the regime. He was murdered by one these groups in 1971 (hope the date is correct).

Interesting documentary about the connection of capital and a rightwing regime. The psychological angle is also tackled (sadism is mentioned). It is superficial both in the political and the psychological angle. There is a tangential thematic affinity to Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma. One of the interviewees bears a physical and ideological resemblance to Richard Nixon.

Bonanza: A Real Nice, Friendly Little Town (1966) (TV)

Little Joe is hit by a bullet (a ricochet, not a serious wound) fired by a man who was trying to steal a Ponderosa horse. Hoss is deputized and goes after the thief.

This is a lighter-in-tone episode, finely scripted. Vaughn Taylor is almost preternaturally resemblant of John Hurt in this.

La donation (2009)

English title: The Legacy.

A medical doctor responds to a job offer at a remote Canadian region; she must fill in for the old general clinician during some time off that he is taking, and after that decide whether she will take the position permanently.

A scene in the movie describes it more than anything I could say. The new doctor is shown a landscape of mostly grass and finds it beautiful; her interlocutor replies that some find it austere. Analogously, I found the film austere; this is not a bad thing, and this is not a bad movie, but to say it is beautiful would require a taste different than mine.

Rating: 52

The Garden of Earthly Delights (2004)

A man films his relationship with a terminally ill woman.

Just boring. Some parts of it bear some similarities with The Pillow Book (1996), another negligible film.

Rating: 20

Hængbok (2007)

English title: Happiness.

A man develops cirrhosis of the liver because of too much drinking and goes to a sanatorium. There he meets a young woman who has a lung problem.

The story is believable but a little tedious; the character of the ex-girlfriend is badly developed and unconvincing.

Rating: 37

Carrie (1976)

A telekinetic girl is abused by her colleagues and by her fanatic mother. A colleague arranges for her to have a prom date, but a plan is underway to undermine Carrie's moment of happiness.

A strong film, which warrants some textual analysis (formal analyses exist, and excellent ones, so I will just abstain from going in that direction). I will attempt a very brief sketch of some analytical points. Irony is present in at least two central plot points. Irony: Carrie's mother is mad, but her predictions are confirmed, in a way which is a little more than simple self-fulfilling prophecy. Irony: the attempt to help Carrie ends up by causing her death as well as many others. The film is generally thought of as being cruel, but that is perhaps an undecidable claim. It is not certain that the film responds in a complete way to the social phenomenon of high school as it exists in the U.S. As most Hollywood, it covers the scope of drama at an individual level. The construal of the final tragedy as an indictment of American society is not easily arguable. There is a vague hint of a critique of the ideology that conditions Carrie's shift from obscurantist isolation to conformist integration; perhaps her tragedy is that she was never given a third choice. A second layer of drama concerns the character of Sue; there is a very able play with spectator's reaction by keeping her inner motivations ambiguous until very late in the movie. The pathos inherent in her situation derives from the ultimate insufficiency of "love thy neighbor" as a motto; Christianism in its primitive form is critiqued for its want of a broader knowledge of the complexities of the world.

Rating: 74 (second viewing; former rating was 66)

Hwioribaram (2009)

English title: Eighteen.

A teenager takes his girlfriend to the beach and neither's parents are communicated. A crisis ensues and they are not allowed to see each other until they enter college.

An interesting, intelligent, realistic film, which sometimes abuses of commonplace images and ideas.

Rating: 57

Les portes de la nuit (1946)

English title: Gates of the Night.

Post-Liberation Paris. A man who has survived torture by the Nazis is visited by his wartime buddy who thought he was dead. In that same apartment building lives a former collaborator and his son, and also a poor street merchant and his big family.

The only thing this film should be remembered for is its lighting, the dramatic effect of which was pointed out in "The Cinema as Art" (by Ralph Stephenson and Jean R. Debrix). Otherwise, it is "poetic realism" (a misguided denomination if there ever was one) gone awry, and no doubt best viewed with an eye for involuntary comedy. Say, for comical enhancement, one imagines the parts played by lookalikes: Montand would be replaced by Benigni, Vilar by Englund in full 'Freddy Kruger' attire, Carette by Celestino just as he looked like in O Ébrio, and so on as your imagination should dictate. Should one take the film seriously, one would have a hard time coping with the sordid manipulation of characters' fates in order for them to fit the one-sided moral standard assumed by the film, which makes a cartoon villain out of a Gestapo informer and a hero out of a Stalinist conspirator. The demands posed by this fictional framework go as far as making the 'heroes' abstain from denouncing the Gestapo informer "so as not to be his equals". Really, one cannot get more laughable than that.

Rating: 31

Zhantai (2000)

English title: Platform.

The lives of several members of a troupe of performers in China, as the country shifts from strict communism to privatization and capitalism.

The idea behind this film is similar, if memory serves me right, and this is a highly problematic assumption as a rule, to that of Bye Bye Brazil. Namely, to document, so to speak, the changes a country experiences, from the vantage points of the lives of traveling players. Normally I favor drama and action, two elements which are absent from Platform, or satire and humor, which are absent from it as well; that being said, the film worked pretty well for me. It hits the right note of realism almost invariably, and conveys the right amount of sadness which China, or certain aspects of it anyway, somehow have come to embody.

Rating: 67

Puss in Boots (2011)

I will provide no synopsis for this movie.

It seems that at least one person got this right, a IMDb user who has the identifying username darklillyflower. I quote her:

*beginning of quote*
It's the first cartoon I've seen where a character (Humpty) KILLS HIMSELF. In an effort to redeem his past screw-ups. And, as the icing on the cake, gets transformed into gold and is flown up to the skies.

Also, Puss has no conscience problems whatsoever to KIDNAP A CHILD (a baby goose) from her home, only because she could make everyone he likes rich. He IS an animal who talks, why didn't he wonder if the goose also had a conscience?

Plus, he is only considering giving up the goose to her mother only AFTER the mum threatens to destroy an entire city.

Is this a kids' movie or an advocate to soldiering?
*end of quote*

I do not have anything to add to that.

Rating: 20

Tout est pardonné (2007)

English title: All Is Forgiven.

Couple with 6-year-old girl child separates because of problems related to the man's drug habit. Eleven years later the girl's father reunites with his daughter.

Watchable drama of family matters.

Rating: 40

Wesh wesh, qu'est-ce qui se passe? (2001)

Kamel returns illegally to France after having been extradited to Algeria (the events of this film occur after the ones in Bled Number One (2006)). He witnesses the problems which afflict the Arab community in France.

Like Bled Number One, a well-directed low budget film, which nevertheless suffers from a poor script. The subject matter of the film is devoid of surprises: police violence, small-time drug trafficking, inter-ethnicity relationships, etc.

Rating: 34

Crashing (2007)

A writer in crisis is dumped by his wife. Two beautiful women majoring in Creative Writing invite him to stay with them and, though he initially declines, he finishes by accepting the invitation.

Silly exploration of the theme of literary creation.

Rating: 33

Vibrator (2003)

A young woman, while in a convenience store, sees a guy and feels attracted to him. He invites her to hop in his truck and away they go.

A 31-year-old woman with an adolescent's mind. The only reason I can think of for not having an adolescent as this story's protagonist is that it was easier to get it done with an older actress. Because this is a teenage story. And not very interesting at that.

Rating: 30

Japón (2002)

*SPOILERS*

A man travels to a remote mountain village in order to kill himself. He first gives himself some time in the village before the intended final act. He stays at the house of an elderly woman.

The kind of film which tells more about the artist than about his subject (whatever the latter may be). People have wondered about the title, and it appears there is an explanation by the filmmaker himself, that it refers to the rising sun and its metaphorical meaning (as in "the sun also rises", title of a Hemingway novel). This makes sense, as this is, apart from its aesthetics, the conventional story of a suicidal man who has a change of heart after getting in contact with a more elemental reality. It's open to discussion whether this change really happens, and whether it happens before or after the final tragedy. Anyway, there is another dimension to the experience of the film which is dictated by its whimsical aesthetics, and here I would like to point out the possible relevance of the fact that the main character is a painter and is shown to possess a book about Picasso. There are several elements which point to cubism in this film's aesthetics. To consider the parallel between Picasso's use of deformation in depicting women and the unusual eroticism depicted in the movie might be indicted by some as prejudicial, but I personally do not see how it can be avoided. Also, if cubism is thought of as a series of recombinations, one can think of this as a recombination of several structural patterns found in other movies (Ikiru (To Live), Narayama Bushiko (Ballad of Narayama)) so as to render them nearly unrecognizable. But none of this leads to a satisfactory work of art. The film is poorly conceived and aesthetically self-indulgent.

Rating: 29

Animal Kingdom (2010)

A boy loses his mother and goes to live with his grandmother and uncles, who are into crime.

Really well-made (except for the cinematography for which I did not care much) and really badly written. It would be tedious to list the implausibilities and incongruencies, behavioral and otherwise, of this movie, so one is advised to go to the "Hated It" section on IMDb's user comments.

Rating: 50

Une vieille maîtresse (2007)

Based on the novel by Barbey d'Aurevilly (1st ed. 1851).

English title: The Last Mistress
English translation of the French title: An Old Mistress

A man who has had a 10-year-long relationship is about to get married to another woman. He vows to abandon his former lover but she is not letting go of him easily.

I was a little bored, but it is reasonably well made and the storyline is not devoid of interest. This is the only time I have seen cigar chain-smoking in a movie (or out of one, for that matter), and by a woman, to boot.

Rating: 51

Bonanza: A Knight to Remember (1964) (TV)

Adam is riding back in a stagecoach after having concluded a business deal when the stagecoach is attacked by thieves. After they knock the driver unconscious, a man dressed as a medieval knight appears and scares them off. Adam is surprised by the sheriff's deputy at the side of the unconscious driver and the open safe, and is accused of trying to rob the stagecoach.

Part of the premise is exactly Don Quijote. Also, it is an ingenious tale whose bottom line is that being the sole witness of madness makes you mad as well.

Bonanza: The Legacy (1963) (TV)

A poacher is detected in the Ponderosa by Ben and Little Joe. Ben wants to go after him alone. When he doesn't return home (because he has been shot by the poacher, one of three men who have just been released from Huntsville prison), Ben's sons go after the ex-convicts with vengeance on their minds. In the meantime, a passing merchant helps Ben and the two discuss what Ben's sons might do.

Gorori no koto (2008)

English title: All Around Us.

Depiction of several years in the life of a couple. Husband and wife's professional day-to-day, their interactions as a couple, their relatives, etc.

Rather conventional as a drama. The structure is sprawling, showing aspects of these characters' lives which lead nowhere plotwise - for instance, the courtroom scenes. But I guess this is what gives meaning to the film's title. The general tone is soothing, not unlike a soap-opera. The mise-en-scene is carefully done, like a symphony really.

Rating: 40

Una semana solos (2007)

English title: A Week Alone.

A group of children and adolescents during school break are without their parents at home. María, 14, is sort of "the person in charge", plus the maid. They all live in a rich condo. When the maid's brother is allowed to stay with them during that period, some discomfort is generated.

A very well-made film which has a sociological agenda which may work well for some and less so for others. Apparently the film's theme is put forward in the words of the song that little Sofía sings: "Invisible: I am invisible to you". They establish an inevitable reference to the social barrier which makes the lower classes invisible to the higher ones, and, why not, to other barriers as well. I myself tried not to question too much the plausibility of the characters' actions (particularly in the last act) and observe the stream of interactions with which the filmmaker built her fictional world. It is not without interest to compare certain aspects of this film's social fiction with certain aspects of the social fiction in Spanglish, and see that fiction admits wildly varying world configurations. As for so-called reality, each viewer will have her own experiences and ideological constraints.

Rating: 57

Stellet Licht (2007)

English title: Silent Light.

In a Mexican Mennonite community, a married man has an extraconjugal affair with a woman also in that community.

This is simply bad.

Rating: 12

Tian bian yi duo yun (2005)

English title: The Wayward Cloud.

In Taiwan, a drought obliges people to ingest large amounts of watermelon (or so I figured out). A young woman encounters her ex-boyfriend, who is now an actor in sex films.

The musical numbers are kind of cute. Otherwise this is not articulate enough to deserve comment.

Rating: 2