O Lamparina (1964)

A wandering family of peasants dress in cangaceiro clothes (cangaceiros were rural bandits of Northeastern Brazil in the 19th and early 20th century) and are mistaken for bandits. They join a gang of said outlaws, and after a while decide to turn them in to the police.

Poor comedy, cashing in on the Brazilian fad of cangaceiro movies which started with O Cangaceiro. People call it a parody of those movies, but it fits that category only in a very loose way. The film may be roughly divided into two parts. The first part is where cangaceiros feature more prominently; that is when the central comedian has an ampler room to display his histrionic abilities. The second part is set at a small village after the main character goes missing and is thought dead. I could not find much of interest in either part of the movie. The script is borderline moronic and the humor is mostly infantile. As a curiosity, the actress who plays the chief cangaceiro's wife is three days younger than the actor who plays her son, a reluctant cangaceiro who wants to go straight and marry the title character's daughter.

Rating: 19

O puritano da rua Augusta (1965)

Man becomes obsessed with a perceived lack of morals of the younger generation, and joins a group of fanatics. His young wife is annoyed by his behavior. So are his two sons and daughter, all from a previous marriage. 

Comedy which has an interesting first section and becomes progressively worse as it goes along. Best sequence of the film: the ciprianites, a group of fanatical moralistic preachers, are gathered at a public park and a guy on a bus teases them, to which they answer in chant. Another sequence which is worth watching, especially if you are a fan of Brazilian music, is a delightful number with young Elza Soares. But the film lacks a more consistent script, one with a minimally decent plot. It becomes repetitive after a while, and then the central character goes through a poorly explained change, and then the film really loses it, descending into an unbearable mess.

Rating: 31

Brilliantovaya ruka (1969)

English title: The Diamond Arm

A common guy goes out on a vacation trip and unwittingly becomes a bearer of smuggled jewels, which were placed on him under an arm cast after he suffers an accident. After he becomes aware of his misfortune, he makes contact with the police, who use him as an undercover agent to catch the smugglers.

Comedy of errors, with plenty of action and good actors. It is frequently said that much of its humor is lost in translation, so I am not confident I will be able to assess it reliably. On the other hand, there is not a lot I did not understand about the plot and the dialogue, what there was of them in the subtitles anyway. All that being said, I was not overly fond of this film. It qualifies as a passable time waster, with a few mild laughs every once in a while, and that is all.

Rating: 39

Meu Japão brasileiro (1964)

In an agricultural community in Brazil, the farmers, who are mostly of Japanese descent, are explored by a monopolistic middleman, who is also the local police chief. The owner of a boarding house tries to mobilize the community so as to start an agricultural cooperative which would set them free from the middleman.

*spoilers below*
There are interesting aspects to this film's plot. It starts out as a drama about poor landowners who are exploited by a greedy tradesman, who is the villain of the film. The fact that the latter is also a police chief makes the film also a denunciation of power abuse. Later in the film, the racial question goes to the forefront of the plot. The villain frames a Japanese man in a murder attempt so as to instill racial hatred in the non-Japanese people. And the villain's younger son marries a Japanese woman -- a further complication. So, the film is not completely without merit. On the other hand, it is not an exceedingly well made film, and the middle section flirts with farce in a way which is in complete dissonance with the gravity established in the beginning of the film. Also, there are a few plot points which are plainly absurd. The villain kidnaps the hero's wife and claims she was killed in a road accident. The motive for such behavior is obscure, to say the least. How he initially gets away with not showing the body is another implausibility. Then, after the hero finds his wife alive, his decision to hide her from view is also incomprehensible on any grounds other than plot convenience.

Rating: 31

Space Jam (1996)

Comedy which mixes animation with live-action. In the animation realm, a greedy carnival owner decides to kidnap some famous cartoon characters and turn them into carnival attractions. The cartoon characters talk their kidnappers into a contest the result of which will decide their fate. They choose basketball as the form of dispute, and then invite a great player, now retired, to play on their team.

This is an exercise on technique, and no more than that. The script is really unfunny, and the plot does not even make sense. I mean, what kidnapper would agree to a contest with his victims? Even the cartoon characters' design were ugly, to my taste. At any rate, this movie makes us think: what made the 50s so superior to the 90s? I don't know the answer to that. Nevertheless, perhaps more a symptom than a cause, in the 50s there were no "tributes" to art made half a century earlier.

Rating: 13

O corintiano (1967)

The story is set in Brazil. A fanatical football fan is a nuisance to his family. Every social interaction in which he engages is tainted by his adherence to one football team. His authoritarian personality becomes too much for his son and daughter to withstand, and they decide to leave their parents' house.

Mostly unremarkable dramatic comedy, which was aimed at the central comedian's low-brow audience. It is not devoid of social observation and some basic storytelling skill. Perhaps I am inevitably less critical of it than a non-Brazilian viewer would be, since I am more familiar with the social context it depicts. The film works as a mild critique of bigotry and authoritarianism, but is miles away from being provocative or status quo defying.

Rating: 33

Up (2009)

An elderly widower attaches a huge number of balloons to his house and flies away to a South American waterfall he and his late wife had vowed to visit. Unknowingly to him a boy scout was on the front porch when the house lifted off.

Overrated animated movie. It is all very pretty but they just didn't have a solid story to make a movie on. They clearly were forced to introduce some excitement into their material and in the process some very unreasonable character behavior was inserted. Also, all the visual beauty and all the action could not disguise the depressing undertones that pervade the plot (one commenter on IMDB has suggested that the title should be Down).

Rating: 40

Elephant Walk (1954)

Woman meets man, falls in love with him and marries him. He lives in Ceylon where he has a tea plantation. He brings her to live with him in Ceylon. His dead father is revered by him and by the community living there. This reverence, and the sort of behavior it entails, is a source of discomfort to the wife. She feels connected to one of his husband's employees, who falls in love with her. He is quitting the plantation and wants to take her with him.

This is a variation on Rebecca, and brings the story closer to the ultimate source of both stories, the folktale Bluebeard. Another very similar movie to Elephant Walk is The Naked Jungle, released in the same year. Very few people seem to have enjoyed Elephant Walk much, and I am no different from the majority here. The lavish production, partial location shooting, and interesting cast give the film a modicum of watchability, but it feels at once contrived and short on thrills, except for the final section, which comes too late to save the movie.

Rating: 47

Wings (1927)

In 1917, the U.S.A. entered World War I. The film follows the exploits of two young men from the same town, Jack and David, who fought in the war as combat pilots. Mary, who loves Jack but is not loved back, also enlists as an ambulance driver. Jack and David love Sylvia, who loves Richard and doesn't join the war effort.

This is a mediocre movie in every aspect except the technical one. For me, an extra factor of interest was to see for the first time a performance by Clara Bow. She has extraordinary acting capabilities, but, alas, her character seems to be on the border of mental retardation. The actor who plays Jack -- a nice performance -- has a slight resemblance, in physiognomy and mannerisms, to Robert Downey, Jr. Jack's pal David, on the other hand, is played as a zombie. The last act is based on the same narrative concept as Oedipus Rex: someone frantically tries to correct some evil and that is exactly what brings it about. This is a depressingly pro-war movie, in the very opposite end of the ideological spectrum from All Quiet in the Western Front, released three years later. The most interesting thing about the film is its reception, especially among IMDB users. You will not find a single unkind word in them. It is not uncommon to find viewers who thought this is an anti-war movie.

Rating: 40

The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)

Partial rendering of the book of Genesis, comprising the Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, and the story of Abraham (including Sodom and Gomorrah).

Arguably imperfect at parts, yet mostly successful as an adaptation. According to Wikipedia, Variety wrote that it had "skill, taste and reverence". This is, I think, correct for about 90% of the film. Here and there, one perhaps might notice a little awkwardness in the dialogue which certainly stemmed from the difficulty of the adaptation task at hand. And it is equally certain that irreverence was not what they were aiming for, but whenever a dramatization occurs it is inevitable that a certain amount of ambivalence or downright critique will find its way into the work, and that is not a bad thing. Thus, the dictatorial nature of the monotheistic cult surfaces in the dialogue on occasion. Noah was portrayed with daft mannerisms, which was also an interesting authorial touch. The musical score was one of the most attractive features of the film. Now, if I am allowed to, I would like to wander off the review itself to insert a musing of mine. The name "Babel" is phonetically identical to the word "babble", and the most surprising thing for me is that both words' respective meanings are closely related too. Apparently there is no evidence that this is more than a coincidence.

Rating: 64

Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)

A pilot who has just lost his job as an airline pilot returns to his homeland and invites his long-time friend to be his partner in a new venture, namely, a helicopter charter company. However, his womanizing tendencies jeopardize the future of their business.

It is a mere trifle, but the dialogue has some wit to it, and the landscapes are gorgeous. It is mostly a sex comedy (and musical), with the sex confined mostly in the suggestive dialogue and in the semi-clad women, in order to secure a G rating. The central idea of the plot seems to be that entrepreneurship demands a low aversion to risk, and a certain amount of irresponsibility. Thus, there is a paradox in capitalism by which the very thing that makes it possible is the one that makes it doomed. But I am not Karl Marx, so I will stop right here.

Rating: 31

My Cousin Rachel (1952)

Philip is an English man who lost both his parents when he was a child and was raised by his benevolent cousin. The latter, while living abroad, falls in love with Rachel, a young widow, and marries her. His health deteriorates and he eventually dies. His letters to Philip threw suspicion on Rachel. She comes to visit Philip and the latter, who had vowed to avenge his cousin, gradually begins to have second thoughts on his feelings about her.

Contrived melodrama which becomes exceedingly silly as the plot unfolds. The central theme is the interference of love on suspicion, and vice-versa. There is a bit of psychological insight in making Philip hasteful to condemn and then equally hasteful to trust. Unfortunately, there are very implausible turns taken by the plot which dim the interest considerably. All in all, a watchable yet minor film.

Rating: 45

What a Way to Go! (1964)

A woman goes through a succession of marriages which end with her husbands' deaths. She begins to think she is jinxed.

*spoilers below*

This is a highly sophisticated production which somehow falls short of greatness. The sense of humor is a little stiff, and that may have had a detrimental effect on my enjoyment of it. Nevertheless, it still is a respectable spectacle, and one with a nicely thought out script encapsulating an interesting thesis. That thesis says that people are predestined to a certain station in life, and any attempt to change it is bound to fail, and possibly even lead to one's death. Curiously enough, there is one character who never strays from that truth -- namely, the female protagonist. However, her happiness is delayed due to her difficulty in finding her right male match. The film examines the cases of five men -- besides, of course, the aforementioned female protagonist. The cases examined are: two store owners, a painter, a business tycoon, and a sing-and-dance performer. She marries them all, and all but one die. Three of them die because they follow an illusory way out of the mediocrity which in fact was their natural state. One of them -- the tycoon -- does the inverse: he settles for a mediocre life which was impossible for him. The last one, although born into wealth, is not really deserving of it, and only finds happiness when circumstances strip him of his wealth. As I said, the film is not particularly funny, and, as critic Nathan Rabin noticed, seems to make fun of itself when it features a parody of Hollywood's extravagant productions. There are several different parodies throughout the movie, one for each unsuccessful marriage, and aiming at a specific movie genre. Critic Michael Barrett has a funny joke about this film's director: "The latter part of his career was mostly spent on Charles Bronson movies. What a way to go." I could not help but laugh, even though I, being an ardent Bronson fan, could not disagree more. The links to the reviews I cited are below:

Nathan Rabin's review

Michael Barrett's review

As a final caveat, I would like to remark that the film is very well made, and, although I am never really sure about a director's actual contribution to the end result of a movie, I can say for sure that this director did not goof up in any way.

Rating: 51

GoldenEye (1995)

A Russian base in Siberia is attacked and two satellite weapons are "stolen" (meaning the software that controls them is). An MI-6 agent is assigned to investigate the event, and he finds out that a rogue Russian general is one of the persons behind the attack and theft.

The formula still shows some vigor (though some critics at the time decreed its exhaustion). The film is comprised of well-done action set-pieces. The screenplay tries to add a little self-consciousness to its proceedings by inserting the concept of sexism into them. The erotic bits are over-the-top savage at their best and ridiculously mellow at their worst. The political background has not found echo in real events past or future: the Soviet backlash has only existed in the fantasies of screenwriters. Not a particularly remarkable movie, except for one sequence where the protagonist freefalls into boarding a plane.

Rating: 51

Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997)

Preferred (and quite absurd) wording of the title: The Lost Word: Jurassic Park

Dinosaurs resulting from a genetic engineering experiment are living freely on a Pacific island. The company responsible for said experiment is intent on using the dinosaurs for financial profit on a park in San Diego. The former head of the company tries to avoid this by sending his own group of men there. After some dinosaurs destroy much of the equipment brought on the island, the rival teams unite for their survival.

While the title and basic premise directly evoke Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, the plot is closer to King Kong. There is a more curious parallel, however, with Schindler's List, of which this film is a cinematic anagram, or distorted mirror image, of sorts. Whereas Schindler's List, released on the same year as the first Jurassic Park, was a defense of greed over fanaticism, in Jurassic Park: The Lost World the good guys are its science fanatics fighting irresponsible capitalists whose greed is a threat not only to science but to humankind as a whole. There is a structural correspondence between the two films, with the Nazi Party being replaced by a paleontologist sponsored by a repentant capitalist, Schindler being replaced by a new CEO who wants to milk the dinosaurs for their entertainment value, Göth being replaced by a big-game hunter who wants a Tyrannosaurus Rex among his trophies, Jews being replaced by dinosaurs, and Itzhak Stern of the Jewish Council being replaced by a chaos mathematician. As is recurrent in this filmmaker's work, persecution sets the tone, with carefully elaborated sequences devised for maximizing the tension. Also present is an identification and even empathy with what is, in many ways, alien, another persistent theme in his oeuvre. An analysis of this -- I think I can call it -- ideology, is certainly a task worth taking. It is an ideology from which I am personally quite distant, and for which I could muster an intrigued interest at best.

Rating: 43

11 minut (2015)

English title: 11 Minutes

Several characters' lives are depicted during the same 11-second period. The longest-lasting plotline is that of an actress who goes to an audition with a director, and his jealous husband who follows her. Others include a hot dog vendor, a couple in a hotel room, a thief, a sketch artist, a motorcycle courier, a young woman with a dog, some nuns, a woman in labor, a team of paramedics, and maybe others I forget.

It has a type of film structure which was somewhat in fashion in the nineties and early aughts, that of multiples plots which intersect. Critics correctly pointed out the structural similarity with a related genre, that of the fatal synchronicity -- of the Fatal Destination franchise. Here, however, it's not done in a thriller style. There is no steadily mounting tension; instead, there is an ominous feel which derives from the stories themselves and is accentuated by a celestial phenomenon which goes unexplained. It is not a particularly remarkable movie, but I found the situations and dialogue mildly interesting. I still do not fathom why a character who is described by reviewers as a window cleaner uses a blowtorch to perform his job.

Rating: 50

Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964)

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, a former Confederate soldier returns to his hometown to find that his property has been confiscated and his former girlfriend is now married to another man who fought for the North. He accidentally kills the new owner of his former house. The townspeople agree to send for a gunfighter to kill him.

It seems that this film eschews realism in a deliberate way for characters and situations which put in evidence some historical themes which in turn have lingering social repercussions in America to the days in which the film was released. The result is not especially insightful or entertaining, but has some degree of dramatic density which makes it watchable.

Rating: 40

Antoine et Colette (1962)

English title: Antoine and Colette (originally a segment of Love at Twenty)

Young man is lovestruck by a young woman he spots at a concert. He moves across the street from her to be nearer her.

Fairly good short, which was shown on the cable channel I subscribe to without the remaining segments which comprise L'amour à vingt ans. The author remarked on an interview that its moral lesson is that wanting too much may cause one to lose even the little one has, but viewers are free to think differently about life, and still enjoy the movie.

I could not decide to rate this movie, because of its short length, and also because it was originally part of a multi-segment movie.

In Harm's Way (1965)

The film follows the military developments in the Pacific during and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The central character is a ship captain who, after a suspension, is reinstated and leads an operation to take back some islands who were controlled by the Japanese. Concurrently with the military action, we follow the private lives of some of the characters. The protagonist gets involved with a nurse, and meets his son, from whom he had been estranged. There is also the ship's executive officer, who has problems with alcohol, and an unfaithful wife. He later gets involved with a younger woman.

Entertaining war drama, which manages a nice balance between military action and personal drama. It is interesting also that the operations are all fictitious, but reportedly give a good idea of what the Pacific war was like in that period and region. While not a groundbreaking or impacting work, it is not as bad as some reviewers have said it is. One of the critics of the time put it in her worst-of-year list, ranked second.

Rating: 57

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

In a small town, a woman whose daughter was raped and murdered puts billboards on the roadside near the town, questioning the police chief about the unsolved crime.

Drama with touches of humor. The dialogue at times lacks a more serious consideration of psychology or social context. There is a distinctly sophomoric quality to the script in general. The low point is possibly when a character's letter teaches an ex-policeman to cast aside hate, and embrace love instead. High philosophy indeed. The plot does not seem to be interested in exciting developments or surprises, and the film is poor also as a mere social chronicle.

Rating: 33

Sayonara (1957)

A U.S. Air Force pilot who is fighting in the Korean war gets assigned to a desk job in Japan, where his girlfriend is living with her parents. He takes another sentimental turn, however, courting, and then having a relationship with a Japanese theatrical performer.

It is difficult for me to decide what was more aggravating: this film or the recent reception it got. As a matter of fact, whenever I read the word 'racism' I know I am in for some serious stomach discomfort. We are definitely living in the planet of the Parrobots -- a word of my own coinage that designates a blend of a parrot and a robot. I honestly do not think there is any racism in the historical events which provide the context of this film's plot. But, of course, racism is a word that is used more and more loosely with each passing day. And, I am forced to say, that trend began around the time this film was made. Another interesting aspect is how 'love' is such a useful concept when people want to tell lies, and how those same people tear that concept apart when they want to tell a different sort of lies. Getting back to the film, part of it is a legitimate dramatization of the real problem of loneliness that afflicted many soldiers. and how some post-war regulations put some of them in a rather sad situation. Unfortunately, this is merely an instrument to highlight the drama of a war hero who has a beautiful American girlfriend and, implausibly enough, ditches her for a Japanese woman. To compound the implausibility, this prompts the American girlfriend to befriend a Japanese male performer and delve into Japanese culture. In short, it is a feast of international exchange, with a tragedy thrown in for good measure. Anyway, movies are prisoners of history, albeit in dissimulated ways, and it is never too much to remind one that the Civil Rights Movement was gathering steam in 1957 and there was the Voting Act that same year. People like to be preached at, as long they are entertained in the process. And if you still think the main character is incomprehensible, there is always Poe's The Imp of the Perverse to provide some clarification.

Rating: 38

Westward Ho the Wagons! (1956)

In 19th-century America, a group of settlers crosses Indian territory bound for Oregon. They first meet the fierce Pawnee, who attack them; after fleeing them, they encounter the somewhat friendlier Sioux. The main character is a self-taught physician who saves the day when the Sioux chief's son falls ill.

Western intended for family audiences. A few songs are thrown in, for good measure, or bad, depending on one's taste. It is nothing to write home about, but I found it both credible and exciting, to a moderate degree. Anyway, it is good to still have the opportunity to watch a movie which is not ashamed to depict whites as smart and proficient (though not all of them). It was also amusing to learn that the actor who played the Sioux medicine man was actually of Southern Italian ethnicity. The film was shot in 2.35 CinemaScope, but I watched a 1.33 version. To be frank, the frame did not look crammed or incomplete in the least. Maybe the shots were conceived having the Disneyland version which would air a few years later in mind.

Rating: 51

The Robe (1953)

A Roman tribune is assigned to Palestine, where he is put in charge of the crucifixion of Jesus. The contact with Jesus' robe has some debilitating effects on the tribune.

This is a very ridiculous film, with some interesting location work (in Spain, apparently, among other places in the U.S.). It, and of course its source novel before it, seems to be a variation on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and also on The Cloak, a short story by Robert Bloch about a man who unwittingly buys Count Dracula's cloak. Conrad's novel is about colonialism and madness, and The Robe is what a humorous version of that story would be, if there was any voluntary humor in it. As it turns out, this is a work of involuntary comicity, not without some residual entertainment value. According to the Internet Movie Database, two versions were made, with aspect ratios 1.33 and 2.55, respectively, but the version I saw fitted exactly a 1.78 aspect ratio television set.

Rating: 33

White Christmas (1954)

Two ex-comrades-in-arms team up as a song and dance duo. They meet two sisters who are also performers and become romantically entangled with them. The sisters have an assignment at a hotel, and are followed by the guys, who find out the hotel owner happens to be their former commanding general.

The script is absolutely dreadful. We are supposed to believe retired generals have a harder time than the discharged rank and file. As for the central romantic misunderstanding, it is very contrived and implausible, and the male protagonist never even gets to know what happened, and doesn't seem to care either. The film looks gorgeous in every aspect -- cinematography, costumes, dances, you name it. If you think you can focus on its aesthetics and not care too much about what is going on with the characters, you may enjoy this film quite a bit. I found I could not.

Rating: 34

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Second viewing; first viewed between 1983 and 1986.

Couple with children moves to a house where a man killed his family. Strange occurrences inside the house disturb the newly moved family.

I decided to revisit this film because I had given it such a low rating and afterwards saw some favorable comments about it. Indeed, it is not as bad as I had considered it to be. But it is not much better, either. It displays enough technical proficiency as to be watchable, I have to give it that. But somehow I did not get overly excited by its tricks. I was, on the other hand, intrigued by its reception. Some people have converged, according to Wikipedia, on an interpretation of the troubles of the protagonist as being of a financial kind. Well, that is funny, because one could point one's hermeneutical compass on several different directions other than this. The fact is that the film has no concern over consistency or even logic, and ends up being a cinematical Rorschach test. It is better enjoyed as a merely mechanical device for atmosphere and shocks, and the characters' predicaments turn out to be more annoying than frightening from a viewer's perspective. Brolin's performance stands out among the fine cast.

Rating: 32 (up from 15)

Lifeboat (1944)

During World War II, several British and American passengers of a ship get stranded on a lifeboat in the ocean after their ship is torpedoed by a German submarine, which was also destroyed in the process. One of the survivors of the U-Boat is rescued by them.

 You can read the story of this film's reception on Wikipedia (here's the link). In short, critics Bosley Crowther and Dorothy Thompson, and others who go unnamed, pointed out that the film was actually pro-Nazi propaganda. The film's director gave a half-assed defense statement, which was followed by a moronic one by his lead actress. In the context of the plot, the German character is the one with a solid reasoning, and without him the allies would all perish were it not for a deus ex machina event. The argument saying that this is supposed to awaken the allies to their disunion is ridiculous. How is that cohesion to be achieved? The film does not say. The point that one should not trust a Nazi is such a trivial one -- considering you are a war enemy of the Nazis -- that it is hard to believe they would make a movie to demonstrate that. The film has an ambiguous take on democracy: the Nazis were bad because they were not democratic (never mind the fact that Hitler came to power by popular vote), but this is also depicted as a strength. From a factual perspective this is even more problematic, since England and America did not win the war by themselves. There was a hugely significant contribution by the USSR, which was never democratic in the commonly accepted sense of the word (and, in my opinion, in any sense one could imagine). Anyway, in the scope of the film's allegory, there is no room for discussing the spaces and subspaces of democracy. A military environment is not supposed to be democratic; any person of minimal intelligence should know that. It is the military organization as a whole who is or is not subordinated to a democratic power. But the major point perhaps is that the proposed allegory is a problematic one to begin with. People in general are not confined with their enemies in a restricted location in a real war.

Rating: 38

Le souffle au coeur (1971)

Second viewing; first viewed, with cuts, on November 12, 1989.

English title: Murmur of the Heart

A few days (or is it months?) in the life of a 14-year-old boy. His somewhat brutish older brothers, his somewhat distant, unloving, father, his warm, but somewhat irresponsible mother, a health problem, books, a younger boy who seems to be a kindred spirit, a visit to the brothel, some days at a camp, some days at a hotel convalescing. His parents have steady lovers. Sex with his mother.

I had to watch this because I was curious about what I had missed on my first viewing -- it had cuts imposed by the Brazilian governmental censorship (censorship was no longer active in 1989, but the copy was from that earlier period). As it turns out, I don't quite remember what the cuts were, and in fact very little of the film as a whole stuck on my memory. But I remember having liked it more upon my previous viewing than I liked it now. It's a succession of quite banal events, wrapped up by a shocking last section. It is all played up in a light tone, however, and I guess that makes it a comedy of sorts. It is an odd combination of true-to-life chronicle and more, say, imaginative, elements. Perhaps it says more about 1971, the year in which  it was released, than about 1954, the year in which it is set.

Rating: 52 (down from 65)

A New Kind of Love (1963)

A newspaper columnist meets a fashion designer in a plane to Paris. In that city, he mistakes her for a prostitute.

The two main characters are a man who devotes too much time to women, and a woman who devotes too little time to men. It's sort of a romantic comedy, but with the mellowness which is usual in this genre being replaced by comicity. Perhaps I should write that as 'attempted comicity', as it is not sure to make one laugh. It is not a very likeable movie, because the screenplay poses problems to itself which are not easy to solve in an elegant manner, but at the very least it sustains a coherent line of analysis of two types of characters: the womanizer and the masculine woman. In real life, these types tend to go on being like that all their lives and usually find, each of them, a niche of their own. In the movie, however, they fall in love with each other and reform their characters. It is a new kind of moralism.

Rating: 42

Morituri (1965)

World War II, 1942. A German engineer living in India is blackmailed into assuming the identity of an SS officer and embarking on a German ship which is transporting rubber from Japan to France. The allies plan to intercept that ship and the engineer's mission is to prevent it from being scuttled by the ship's captain when that interception occurs.

This is a very tense film which adopts the point of view of an impostor. His efforts at not being unmasked and simultaneously accomplishing a difficult task are at the center of the movie. The situation in the ship is unstable even without his presence, and he must use that instability in his favor. There is a fascinating power play amongst the various persons in the ship that makes it a metonimic model of a larger community -- say, a nation. The film puts in evidence how a foreign entity -- in this case, the protagonist -- with a blending capability and a survival agenda may be dangerous to the existence and goals of a community. The author or authors seem to have taken into their hands a mission that is, in itself, just as challenging as that of the protagonist: to rebuke Adolf Hitler's considerations on the question "Is this a German?". They even have added a Jewish woman into the narrative, perhaps for illustrative purposes. The initial dialogue held in an Indian house is essential for the full understanding of the film: the protagonist has evaded war, loves "art" and considers himself a pacifist. As it turns out, he becomes an example of the famous saying by Trotsky: "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." Of course, a fictional narrative is necessarily a partial view of any problem, but the effort is commendable anyway.

Rating: 60

Armed and Dangerous (1986)

A policeman and a lawyer, both expelled from their respective professions, apply at a private security company and become partners. They uncover a ring of thieves led by the union bosses and with the complicity of the security company manager himself.

Modest comedy with little originality and few laughs. There is a lot of car action, which includes chases, explosions, and collisions.

Rating: 35

The Carpetbaggers (1964)

The son of a wealthy industrialist inherits his father's businesses and works relentlessly to expand them. He has a secret childhood trauma which may be behind his incessant drive. With no concern for friendship, love, or ethics, he becomes one of the most powerful men in America. His understanding wife eventually divorces him. When he enters the film business, he turns his stepmother, with whom he has a love-hate relationship, into the star of his movie.

The hero (or anti-hero) is a fictionalized version of Howard Hughes, but they didn't include OCD among his traits as did the later, more faithful rendering of The Aviator. The (anti)-heroine Marlowe is based on screen legend Harlow. The film is interesting for its genetically themed plot, which manifests itself in the protagonist's fear of having a son who will display his twin brother's traits; also, he eventually becomes psychologically very alike his own father, whom he hated. This film was a huge box-office success because it embodies with perfection the ideology of the average middle-class filmgoer.

Rating: 38

Izgnanie (2007)

English title: The Banishment

Inspired by the novel The Laughing Matter, by William Saroyan, first published in 1953

A woman tells his husband that the child she is expecting is not his. He convinces her to make an abortion.

One of the worst films ever made, for sure. I guess very bad films have a purpose, just like all others. They serve to point out in what shape is the ages' sensibility. If people like it, it is evidence that it is in a really bad shape. Anyway, I like jokes, but I prefer good ones to bad ones, and I much prefer they are not on me. I will not give it a zero because of some nice-looking shots, both urban and rural.

Rating:8

Nastroyshchik (2004)

English title: The Tuner

Inspired by the memoirs of Arkady Franzevich Koshko (1867-1928), a Russian police detective.

Close friends Lyuba and Anna are middle-aged and well-off. Lyuba places ads in the paper looking for a husband, but she always meets the wrong kind of men, who take her money and disappear. Anna and Lyuba befriend Andrei, a piano tuner and con man. Andrei and his girlfriend see in widow Anna a potential target of their scams.

Meandering farce in black-and-white, occasionally amusing but overlong and eventually tiresome.

Rating: 42

Pranzo di ferragosto (2008)

English title: Mid-August Lunch

Middle-aged Gianni lives with his very old mother and is deep in debt. He is very fond of white wine and also cooks very well. His best friend goes by the nickname of Viking and is always sitting at the sidewalk in front of the liquor store. Gianni has a visitor with alarming news: it is his condo's administrator, who says Gianni will be evicted if he does not pay some of his debt. But he offers Gianni a deal: he will pay up part of Gianni's debt in exchange for Gianni taking care of his mother (and, as it later turns up, his aunt) during a few days. A short while later, his doctor asks him a similar favor. Gianni accepts, and for a few days has to manage a complicated domestic situation. But is it only for a few days or is it a financially profitable opportunity for Gianni?

It is quite incredible that this simple and relatively short film, which is little more than a sitcom episode of sorts, has met with such an enthusiastic reception. Are we this poor of cinematic offerings these days (this was ten years ago, but what has changed?). Apparently, yes. Anyway, there you have it, what can I say in the way of criticism? Nothing really.

Rating: 33

Shijie (2004)

English title: The World

The lives of several characters who work at a theme park near Beijing.

Lethargic chronicle of a few characters' lives. While hard to sit through, it has some informational interest for depicting the working class in China. A country which has gone through one major revolution and a few minor ones should not have the exploitative kind of economy one sees here -- in one scene, the overworked victim of a work accident  writes his last words in a piece of paper: it is the money he owes his colleagues and a food sales stand. It is too bad the film is otherwise tedious, and even occasionally cringeworthy, for example in the depiction of the friendship between the protagonist and a Russian émigrée. The ending tops it all in terms of absurdity, but I think very few people will be saddened by its arrival.

Rating: 33

Sharasôju (2003)

English title: Shara

*mild spoilers*
The plot is structured in two segments, occurring a few years apart. The first segment shows the events which led to the disappearance of a child while he was playing with his twin brother. The second segment occurs a few years later, when the remaining child is an adolescent. The plot chronicles the life of that boy's family during a small period of time. His mother is pregnant. They learn that their missing child is dead. There is an upcoming festival, the Basara, for which everyone is preparing. There is another family to which they are close friends consisting of a woman and an adolescent girl who, it is revealed, is not her biological daughter, but rather her niece. The festival, which consists in street dances, takes place. It all culminates with the boy's mother giving birth to another boy.
*end of spoilers*

It is hard for me to point out a single positive aspect of this film. Everything is filmed in an extremely elongated manner, and the little there is of plot is presented without any details, explanations, or follow-up. The acting is nothing remarkable, though this is hardly the actors' fault, since there is very little dramatic material in the movie. Anyway, it seems to have met with an overall positive reception, so I guess it is I who do not have the necessary spiritual maturity to profit from the movie. For what it is worth, the title refers to a tree whose scientific name is Shorea robusta.

Rating: 17

Jil-too-neun na-euh heem (2002)

English title: Jealousy Is My Middle Name
Literally translated title: Jealousy Is My Strength
Gender of the writer-director: female

*spoilers below*
Wonsang, a graduate student, gets a job at a literary magazine whose editor had an affair with his ex-girlfriend. Wonsang starts a relationship with Seongyeon, the magazine's newly hired photographer, who also sleeps with Yunsik, the rude and womanizing editor. At home, Wonsang is coveted by his landlord's daughter, who has family problems -- her father has dementia and her brother shows early signs of it. At work, Wonsang volunteers to do small favors to his boss Yunsik, and the latter starts relying more and more on Wonsang, and getting closer and closer to him on a personal level. Wonsang devotes so much time to Yunsik that this begins to harm his studies and he is unable to deliver his graduation work on time. Also, he is increasingly besieged by his landlord's daughter, who, after having slept with him, pressures him to marry her. His ex-girlfriend tries to reapproach him, but he rebuffs her attempts. He also eventually breaks up with Seongyeon and with his landlord's daughter. Yunsik decides to quit the magazine and start his own, and invites Wonsang to work with him. He also invites Wonsang to live as a guest in his house, where Yunsik's wife and pre-adolescent daughter live as well. In one of the last sequences of the film, Wonsang tries to engage in conversation with Yunsik's daughter, who does not respond; Wonsang eventually leaves the room saying that he hoped they would become good friends.
*end of spoilers*

People who read me must be getting tired of me saying this, but I must say I did not like this movie, although I must admit that it is well-made in regards to scene staging and acting. The overall purpose, to all appearances, is to build up an ominous atmosphere through the most banal of situations. The big problem is that the actions of the protagonist just do not make a whole lot of sense. He must have taken that "Revenge is a dish best served cold" saying in a manner a bit too extreme; also, the wrongdoings he suffered were a bit too mild, to say the least. Also, what does he intend to do? Does it involve his boss's daughter? Everything is very vague. There is even a hint that Yunsik has actually grown into a father, or maybe older-brother, figure to him. Who knows? And, as someone pointed out, who cares?

Rating: 38

Toutes ces belles promesses (2003)

English title: All the Fine Promises

*spoilers below*
Marianne is a cellist living in Paris. She is in a relationship with Étienne, a violinist who plays for the same orchestra as she does. Étienne dumps her for the orchestra's flautist, leaving her in a wretched emotional state. She decides to take a trip to the seaside, to look up her deceased father's mistress. She starts having vivid recollections, first of her dying mother, then of her childhood years. She retrospectively realizes her mother had a lover, who died in a car accident. Arriving at the seaside town, she  finds Béatrice, his father's love affair of many years, who takes her in as a guest in her house. Béatrice introduces Marianne to a local doctor and the two start dating. Béatrice takes Marianne to pay a visit to her childhood nanny Ghislaine, who still lives in that seaside town. When Marianne was a child, Ghislaine was in love with the lighthouse keeper, but now she is alone. Initially after Marianne and Étienne broke up, she called him incessantly, leaving him messages, since he wouldn't take up her calls. Later on, she stops calling. Around that time, Étienne breaks up with the flautist and starts calling Marianne, who does not take up his calls. On the train ride back to Paris, Marianne inadvertently answers a call from Étienne, who says he will wait for her at the station. Marianne asks a passenger to wear her hat in order to deceive Étienne and avoid him. Étienne is deceived by the ruse, but feels attracted to the woman disguised as Marianne and invites her for a cup of coffee, while Marianne watches everything from afar. While Marianne is walking home some young men who were passing by, seeing her in such a sad disposition, tease her and steal her bonnet, saying that they will only give it back if she smiles, which she does. They ask her to wear the bonnet, which she also does.
*end of spoilers*

Except for the initial sequence of an orchestra playing while members of it flirt, this is a terrible film, one of the worst I have seen lately. There is not much I can say as commentary; I have provided a detailed synopsis above, which may help one get an idea of it.

Rating: 25

Or (2004)

English title: Or (My Treasure)

*spoilers below*
Or is a woman in her late teens who lives with her mother Ruthie in a small rented apartment. Or's mother is a prostitute who is being kept away from the streets by her daughter. When the film begins, Ruthie has just checked out from a hospital, one does not know exactly on account of what health problem. Or works at a restaurant as a dish washer, and has a budding relationship with Ido, the owner's son. She is fond of casual sex with strangers, in her apartment or in the dark shadows under any staircase. Or finds a job for Ruthie as a cleaning woman, which is a kind of work she has never done and does not fit her temperament in the least. When Ruthie can she goes out at night to work as a street whore. One day she happens into the landlord and tries to settle her rental debt through sex, but, though he accepted that in the past, is no longer willing to do so. Or's promiscuous sexual behavior is well known in her neighborhood and, after she has sex with Ido, his mother Rachel pays a visit to Ruthie and tells her politely that Ido and Or should not continue their relationship. Or comes home when this talk is happening and they tell her about it. Or at first refuses to comply with Rachel's demand. One night, however, when she is supposed to meet Ido, she receives a visit of one of her earlier flings, and, although reluctant at first, agrees to have sex with him. When Ido approaches her at school, she avoids him and tells him that it's not going to work. Or pays a visit to her landlord and offers herself to him, successfully. She brags about it with her school mates. Or applies for a job at a call girl agency, and is set up on the spot with a client. Ruthie resumes her street prostitution activities, even though Or implores her not to do so. One night, Or comes home to find Ruthie covered with blood on her legs and genital area. She helps Ruthie cleanse herself.
*end of spoilers*

This is yet another film of the "women without men" genre. Everything is quite boring, although one cannot properly say it is badly made. Although not explicity stated, both this film and Gaichû, a film belonging to the same genre, hint at a genetic explanation for the protagonist's behavior. Gaichû deals with the subject of depression, whereas Or' s subject matter appears to be sex drive. Ruthie's motivation isn't only money; she seems to actually enjoy the lifestyle of a prostitute. And it is also apparent that Or has inherited her mother's sex drive, and eventually chooses the profession that fits her best, both psychologically and financially.

Rating: 35

Elephant (2003)

A day in the life of the students at an American high school. That day will prove to be a fateful one as two of the students plan to do a mass shooting.

Most of this film is just below criticism, giving the appearance of being the product of laziness or cowardice (or maybe both). Here and there one finds some interesting bits, owing perhaps to successful improvisation on the part of actors.

Rating: 30

Gaichû (2001)

English title: Harmful Insect

*spoilers below*

Sachiko is a teenage girl who lives a lonely life. His father divorced her mother who goes from one fleeting relationship to the next, with suicide attempts in between. In Sachiko's recent past, when she was thirteen, she had a close friendship with a teacher from her school, who now lives in another town and works at a nuclear power plant. Her colleagues at school make innuendos about that relationship. She befriends a petty crook who lives in a shabby house with an older man with mental problems. Her friend gets into trouble with some hoodlums who beat him badly. After a time away from school, she returns and resumes a friendship with another girl. A boy from school starts courting her. Her school girlfriend gets jealous and tells the boy the gossips about the ex-teacher (this last detail I learned from a review and did not perceive on watching the movie). One day Sachiko returns home and her mother's boyfriend is inside, but her mother is away. He tries to rape Sachiko, but her mother arrives just in time. Sachiko's old outlaw friend dies (apparently). She meets his old housemate and together they set a house (hers?) on fire with molotov cocktails. She calls her  former teacher and sets up a date with him in a restaurant. She hitchhikes to the dating point, which apparently is near where he works. He has some car trouble on the way and tries to call the restaurant but the line is busy. By the time he arrives there, she has just left with a man whom she met at the restaurant. He recruits young girls into  prostitution.

*end of spoilers *

I do not enjoy this sort of movie, and the elliptical style does not make things easier. It is not badly made though, and has some urban sights of Japan which I find interesting. About the drama, I can only hazard a guess that the protagonist is genetically predisposed to depression (that harmful insect), same as her mother. There is a connection with Shônen (1969) through her young friend's dangerous way of making a living. I made a synopsis with more detail than my usual, to make up for my lack of insight into the movie's meaning and purpose.

Rating: 40

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

A man fancies himself a very special kind of prophet with some very important ideas. He goes about preaching and performing some wondrous feats. His criticism of some powerful people garners him dangerous enemies.

An ironically titled satire in which the unfortunate protagonist puts himself in the position of "light of the world", whose purpose is to awaken the same luminosity in everyone else. His plans go horribly wrong, however, as the majority of his followers seem to be aroused chiefly by an egotistical interest in cures for their physical ailments (and who can blame them?), failing to see the allegorical aspect of the miracles. The depiction of the religious and political elites is equally biting. The tone of the film is very somber and solemn, which adds to the turnaround ending's gaiety (our resurrected hero still preaches -- he never tires!).

Rating: 57

War and Peace (1956)

Based on the novel by Liev Tolstoy, first published, in evolving versions, from 1865 to 1869.

The lives of several persons from the Russian upper classes  in 19th century Russia, as Napoleon invades it and starts a war. A Russian general saves Russia by allowing Moscow to be destroyed. Here goes a very short summary of the plot. Pierre loves Natasha but she does not know it. He is probably too old and too intellectual to stir her romantic feelings. Natasha falls in love with Andrei, who is an older man too, and thus is reluctant in marrying Natasha. They postpone a decision to after Andrei returns from the battlefield, but in the meantime Natasha falls in love with Anatole, a cheap seducer. Anatole's plans are foiled by Pierre, who prevents Natasha from eloping with him. Andrei dies from a war wound. Pierre proposes to Natasha and she accepts.

Quite entertaining and photogenic succession of dramatic incidents. The film appears, on a superficial view, to have a very broad ranging dramatic and philosophical scope, but in reality it is mostly a treatise on Russia. The plot has a metaphorical structure in which military actions illustrate erotic ones. Pierre's defense of Natasha mirrors Andrei's defense of Russia. Furthermore, Tolstoy's choice of a French given name for his protagonist (and also for his first wife) points out how France's soft invasion was already happening before Napoleon's hard one. There was no resistance from Russia to soft seduction, but it would not tolerate hard rape. And it is only fair that Pierre gets Natasha in the end; he and the Russian general are masters in the deferment of pleasure, as they refrain from acting at a first moment in order to reap results later; Pierre could have declared his love for Natasha when she was very young, but estimated that his chances for success would be minimal; he lets Natasha get involved with (and scarred by) other men, and only after she ends up alone makes his move. In an analogous fashion, the Russian general lets Bonaparte take Moscow, and after the city is destroyed he makes his move, with the assistance of the Russian winter. Italians and Americans, who were war enemies a decade or so earlier, made this movie together as friends in peacetime.

Rating: 59

Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

Based on the books Darby O'Gill and the Good People (1st published as a series of stories in 1901 and 1902), and Ashes of Old Wishes and other Darby O'Gill Tales (1st published in 1926), by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh (born Herminie McGibney).

The plot revolves aroung an estate's caretaker who is being forcefully retired, his young daughter, and a man who has been hired as the new caretaker. There are also leprechauns who grant wishes.

This is a worthy film, which addresses important issues in a very entertaining fashion. The dominant theme is that of marrying a person from out of one's town. The underlying unspoken concern is that of inbreeding, which should be avoided. The local bachelors are depicted as either morally deficient or as weak. The ideal suitor comes from a big city, but the film makes clear the commonality of culture between him and the girl. This is the principle of the Nation State, which allows people of various places to mix, but with a very definite territorial delimitation. He is an outsider, but not a foreigner. There is also the question of the "little people", which hint strongly at an allegorical representation of Capitalism, what with pots of gold, and wish granting which is never realized. But this is a benign view of Capitalism, of which deception is a component, but destructiveness is not.

Rating: 63

Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre (1959)

Based on the novel 'L'affaire Saint-Fiacre' by Georges Simenon, first published in 1932.

An old woman dies of a provoked heart attack in a small town. Maigret, who happens to have been born and raised in that town, returns there to investigate the affair. He interviews the various persons associated with the deceased woman, amongst which are the local priest, the estate manager, the victim's secretary and lover, the victim's son, etc.

The story is absorbing, and the small town atmosphere is well captured. All details are very professionally carried out, except the ones concerning the plot resolution. Here, the rule that says that half-baked explanations are quite enough, given that viewers tend to overlook its flaws, applies. But an explanation that leaves unexplained things is no explanation at all. Anyway, it works, I guess.

Rating: 56

Short Cuts (1993)

Third viewing; previously viewed on April 20, 1994 and on June 1, 1995.

Several groups of characters in Los Angeles which inhabit different circles but whose trajectories intersect. A newscaster and his wife whose son is hit by a car. A doctor and his wife who have a conjugal crisis of sorts. A group of friends who go fishing. A womanizing cop and his wife. A phone sex worker who is married to a pool cleaner. A make up artist and his wife. A nightclub singer and her cellist daughter. A limo driver and his bartender wife.

It somehow failed to inspire the same amount of awe as it did in my previous viewings. I still like it, but for some reason I suspect in my previous viewings I was under some kind of spell which had little to do with the actual film qualities. The story about the injured kid may have drowned the other, less emotional segments somewhat, then. That didn't happen in this viewing, and what I got was a more balanced perception of the movie in its entirety. Its literariness stood out a little more flagrantly. I think this is more a situation-based film than a character-based one. There isn't an extreme concern about getting the psychology right. These are not necessarily real people. And the situations are more or less what most people expect from a city like Los Angeles. In those terms, it is a very good movie.

Rating: 75 (down from 97)

War Requiem (1989)

Second viewing; first viewed on October 31, 1989.

Based on the oratorio composed by Benjamin Britten, with words from traditional Latin texts and poems by Wilfred Owen; it was first performed on May 30, 1962.

The title says it all. The setting is World War I.

I was not so sure about this film on my first viewing, but I can say I am pretty sure now that I do not like it. I am most puzzled by the lack of affinity between the musical style and the visual style. The former's solemnity invites meditation and pause; the latter's collage frenzy invites only fatigue and nervousness.

Rating: 31 (unchanged)

David Copperfield (1969)

England, the nineteenth century. David Copperfield loses his father, and his mother remarries to a cruel man who places young David in a boarding school, and, when David's mother dies, makes him work for a living. He then flees to an aunt's house and many persons cross his path as he grows up to become a renowned novelist.

Although with several great performances (Moody and Richardson are excellent as, respectively, Heep and Micawber), I found this adaptation bland and unengaging. Perhaps the flash-back structure, which ellides the connection between the episodes, is guilty for this; perhaps some people will find it interesting and original.

Rating: 50

O pagador de promessas (1962)

Third viewing; previously viewed on January 5, 1987 and January 25, 1987.

U.S. title: The Given Word
More faithful title translation: The Keeper of Promises

A humble peasant has made a vow to Saint Barbara that he would ascend the stairs of the town church carrying a cross on his shoulders, if the saint interceded in favor of his donkey who was ill. The accomplishment of the task he has imposed on himself will prove harder than he anticipated, as the church's priest has some objections regarding the way in which the poor man's pledge was made.

This is a story which tackles a personal conflict which is, at bottom, about the maintenance of the power structure of society. Several instances of this power structure are put in evidence: Hegemonic Religion vs. Popular Religion, Husband vs. Wife, Bosses of the Press vs. Common Journalist, Pimp vs. Prostitute, Landowner vs. Rural Worker, City vs. Country, and perhaps others that I can't think of right now. Admittedly, there is a certain schematism about the whole procedure which seems a little forced. My perception is that the reality of Brazil was always slightly different from the Marxist-oriented analysis which is offered here, and has since departed even farther. Most conspicuous among the departures, the Catholic Church's worst enemy today is not Candomblé (the African-rooted religion which is mostly followed by the descendants of slaves), but Evangelical Christians. In short, I didn't find it as gripping now as I did on my previous viewings, but it still gave me a certain amount of pleasure.

Rating: 67 (down from 88)

Rico ri à toa (1957)

A poor taxi driver receives the news that his brother died leaving him a fortune. His bossy wife is thrilled by the prospect of becoming part of "high society". But in reality this is all a plot concocted by a gang of bank robbers with the purpose of incriminating the poor man and thus deviating attention from them.

The poor worker who becomes rich without expecting it and comes to prefer the life of poverty to the new one is surely an allegory of Brazil, a country which shuns every opportunity to become a successful one by first world's standards. It would appear that we are happier as a complete mess where financial straits and out of control violence are permanent features of national life. The fact is, it is not everyone who can bear the responsibility which comes with affluence. It is a little amazing that so many films of the period have sudden riches as a plot point -- in the same year of 1957 there was A Baronesa Transviada, for example. Anyway, the bottom line is that this is a poor cinematic spectacle, with very obvious humor and songs which will not imprint indelible marks in one's memory. A somewhat more generous appraisal than mine may be found in this well-written review.

Rating: 31

Moby Dick (1956)

Second viewing; first viewed on December 25, 1990

The captain of a whaling ship is obsessed with killing the whale which ate his leg.

One of the marvels of re-watching certain movies is the recollection of one's previous admiration for them and the acknowledgement of how it contrasts with one's present, cooler appraisal. In the case of Moby Dick, there is further marvel as one cannot understand how certain books came to become such icons of culture -- true, one has not read them, but still, does one have to? The word which comes to mind when it comes to Moby Dick and its basic concept is 'juvenile'. This is a word which does not implie absolute negativity. There is much fun to be had with juvenile stuff. But it does pose a limitation to a work's scope and appeal. The best parts of this movie have to do with extra-plot elements, e.g. the depiction of whaling and the life of whalers, both at sea and ashore. And yet, I am sure that what I liked most at my first viewing was precisely what I now scoff at, especially Captain Ahab. I find it interesting to examine John Huston's inner motivation to make this movie in the light of his personality as depicted in the movie White Hunter, Black Heart.

Rating: 69 (down from 84)

The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

Second viewing; first viewing with original English audio. Colorized copy (not recommended). Previously viewed on May 1, 1996.

A writer of detective novels hears from a police officer about the death of an international crook named Dimitrios, and starts investigating his life for a book. Another man is also looking for Dimitrios and approaches the writer with a proposition.

An interesting film with very enduring themes. Christopher Mulrooney has departed from this world but his well written film notes are still there for everyone to read, and he has written a good one about this movie. He mentions, as related films, The Third Man and Mr. Arkadin. There is also The Usual Suspects, more recently, which he perhaps did not know about, or did not care for. He has noticed that betrayal is an important theme. I, on the other hand, have a slightly different take on this film. In my view, it is about place and mobility. The superficial aspects of the plot involve traveling, but this is not the central point, or perhaps is just a reflection of the central point, which for me is one's place in the world. As it turns out, most people are quite content with their place, and lead stable lives. A few individuals, however, seem to have been born out of place, and will do anything to achieve the place where they feel they would belong. In the case of this movie, only two characters seem to fit that description: Dimitrios, of course, and Anna Bulic, the beautiful wife of a petty official. The inevitable conclusion one arrives at is that, while there will always be those ambitious individuals, the world would turn into a destructive chaos if the majority of men were like them. In fact, human nature seems to favor conformism, as a rule, and that is not so bad. Jorge Luis Borges, the writer, had a special fondness for this movie, and it is possible to draw a parallel with some of his writings, for instance, Theme of the Traitor and the Hero, and Three Versions of Judas, not to mention his early collection of stories Universal History of Infamy. 

Rating: 66 (up from 59)

24 horas de sonho (1941)

A woman constantly tries to kill herself due to her alleged bad luck in life. In one of those occasions, she befriends a cab driver who thinks he will bring her good luck. She wins a radio contest and decides to live "24 dream hours" and then have another go at suicide. She checks in at a posh hotel full of rich refugees from Europe. She takes the identity of one Baroness of the High Towers. A hotel employee passing up as a millionaire tries to seduce her, and she falls in love with him. There is a jewel robber at the hotel, with whom she gets entangled. A relative of the real Baroness comes to visit her and says he will bequeath her a fortune. The radio station tries to locate her and hire her as a permanent attraction.

A sort of screwball comedy from Brazil, with touches of black humor. The style is very simple-minded, but not altogether devoid of charm. The actors are mostly good, which is something I am not used to when it comes to Brazilian films. Mostly watchable as a historical curiosity.

Rating: 33

Patate (1964)

U.S. title: Friend of the Family

*possible mild spoilers below*

A freelance toy designer and engineer lives with his wife and unruly daughter. He has an old schoolmate whom he resents for his success, and for calling him Potato (it was not clear to me the rationale behind this nickname), and from whom he asks for a loan in order to start his toy factory. He finds out his daughter is having an affair with said schoolmate, who is married.

A mediocre farce which I watched mostly because I learned that it was a huge success when it came out. The center of the film, if there is one, may be the notion of someone whose elation at the possibility of revenge seems to overshadow his moral indignation. But the film's implication does not appear to be moralistic, but rather a relativization of the moral standards at the root of the conflict, and a denunciation of hypocrisy. It is not a badly made film, and there is enough farcical action to keep a viewer entertained, provided his expectations are low.

Rating: 38

Tap (1989)

Ex-convict and child prodigy in tap dancing tries to make an artistic comeback, but must resist the lure of his former partners in crime.

Exceptionally conventional drama which has the dubious glory of introducing the concept of taptronics -- electronically enhanced tap dancing to rock music. Anyway, the main dramatic point is insurance fraud, which I think was specifically chosen for being considered by many to be a lesser offense from a moral perspective. This is a film made by a white (Jewish?) man about blacks in situations which would be, from what I gather from news and fiction, not foreign to blacks in America. It doesn't play the race card explicitly, though -- perhaps because it was made by a white, perhaps Jewish, man. And it has an ending which is supposed to be upbeat, but leaves one wondering.

Rating: 34

La La Land (2016)

A guy and a girl leave their respective hometowns for Los Angeles, where they hope to make it as, respectively, a jazz pianist and a film actress. They meet and fall in love, and then their respective projects force them to part ways.

Mediocre post-modern musical, with a banal plot and passable songs. Its few novel ideas are mostly negative and didn't work for me; for instance, actors that can't sing are a feature instead of a bug. The initial dance sequence on the bridge, on the other hand, is interesting, at least as mise-en-scène. In a story which is partly about jazz, it is odd that not one song has the slightest jazzy trace to it. The film is imbued with the ethos of Capitalism, which is an integral part of the U.S., and, through cultural colonialism, most of the rest of the world as well. It doesn't really question this ethos: it is its ideology. And yet, it lacks the energy that could make it contagious.

Rating: 37

Les soeurs Brontë (1979)

English title: The Bronte Sisters.

Biographical drama on the lives of the titular characters -- Emily who wrote Wuthering Heights, Charlotte who wrote Jane Eyre, and Anne who wrote Agnes Grey -- and their brother Branwell. Living in a small English village, they dream of literary stardom.

Quite superficial as a biography, but one must credit this partly to the length having been drastically cut. It's not only that, though. The director's sensibility is crude at times, which goes well with other kinds of movies, but not with this one. The only noteworthy performance to my taste is Greggory's Branwell, but this may have little or nothing to do with a lack of skill by the female players, but rather with their characters' rough composition. The story is in itself potentially interesting, and the film has some moments where its bleak dramaticity is well explored. Most of all it is a curious thing to see the English through a Frenchman's eye.

Rating: 50

Sai da frente (1952)

Second viewing; first viewed on April 21, 1992.

The owner of a transport truck is hired to move some furniture to another city. During the trip a series of comic incidents occur.

Enjoyable comedy, above the average Brazilian quality level in films. Abílio Pereira de Almeida, the co-author of the script who also directs, was a successful playwright who also left his mark in movies. His comicity is informed by an array of different styles, from social criticism to slapstick, and even a little bit of surrealism. The main actor would become enormously popular in this and in later films which he would go on to write and in some cases direct. His rural persona struck a cord with mass audiences in Brazil, but here it is somewhat in disaccord with the urban setting. All the same, his performance is amusing. For some reason I did not enjoy this film on my first viewing.

Rating: 52 (up from 30)

Hamlet (1969)

Based on the play by William Shakespeare, written between 1599 and 1602 and in turn based on a Danish legend, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum.

The prince of Denmark suspects his uncle killed his (the prince's) father in order to snatch the throne and marry the queen.

Excellent adaptation, in everything the opposite of the also excellent one by Olivier. While Olivier's was replete with symbology and displayed a style of acting not unlike they would on a theater stage, here they opted for naturalism, both in acting and in filming, with great artistic success. Hamlet is arguably the most annoying character ever to have been conceived by a literary mind. I am sorry if this seems callous of me, but that is how I feel about him. And he is also amusing, strange as this may seem. I suspect, based on another film I saw, named Prince of Jutland, that this is entirely Shakespeare's doing, as the original character from the legend, as supposedly depicted in that movie, is the exact opposite of its Shakespearean incarnation. That original Amleth was determined and, if I correctly recall it, successful, everything that Hamlet was not.

Rating: 72

True Romance (1993)

Second viewing; first viewed on May 14, 1995.

Guy steals from his girl's pimp, and gets into deep trouble because of it.

The ultimate loser falls in love with a whore. That's a classic situation, dating back at least to Dostoevsky. In this instance, the interesting character is rather the guy's father, who is a vehicle for some funny notions about Sicilians and their sense of racial pride. As a part-Sicilian myself, I have to put in my two cents and say that, although I cannot vouch for the impossibility of such behavior and emotions by real-life Sicilians as depicted in this movie (namely, the guy gets very pissed off about the allegation that his female ancestors mixed with Sub-Saharan Africans), I find them silly. The fact that admixture may have occurred centuries ago does not detract from the fact that present-day Sicilians and Sub-Saharan Africans are very distinct races. Anyway, this is a very nerdy movie, or actually a stage play about movies disguising as a movie.

Rating: 50 (unchanged)

The Mummy (1932)

Second viewing; first viewed on October 27, 1991.

The mummy of a priest from ancient Egypt comes back to life and assumes a new identity. He becomes obsessed with a young woman whom he thinks is the reincarnation of his lover in his previous life.

I am still pondering whether the sheer absurdity of its plot is just out of stupidity or something else -- something akin to genius. I am not talking here about the film's premise, which is silly, of course, and which has had an enduring influence on popular culture. I am talking about the specific plot point that has a character find his reincarnated lover, and makes him go to the trouble of killing her so that she may be revived with an ancient spell. Really, this is too precious for words. Aside from script matters, the film as a whole is, to my judgment, exceedingly well made, and lets out no clue whatsoever as to the humorous potential of its plot in general or the point I raised in particular.

Rating: 57 (down from 70)

Fogo morto (1976)

English title: The Last Plantation.

Based on the novel by José Lins do Rego, first published in 1943.

Set at a decaying sugarcane plantation in Northeastern Brazil, the film has three main characters: a saddle-maker who lives in the plantation, the plantation owner who drives it to ruin and is obsessed with religion, and a man with political ambitions.

A flawed film, probably due to a deficient screenplay. Still, the subject matter and the characters are interesting, and some parts of it are reasonably well filmed.

Rating: 40

Adieu au langage (2014)

English title: Goodbye to Language.

There is only a faintly discernible semblance of a plot, which involves a young woman, her husband, and a new man she takes as a lover. There is also a dog who wanders by river banks and groves. The dialogue is mostly a series of repetitive slogans and scholarly or literary quotations. Political theory and human feces are some of the subjects of discussion. Some social turmoil is vaguely suggested in some scenes. Natural landscapes are filmed with color distorting filters. A big ship is recurringly shown as it docks at a harbor. A pun with the movie's title is shown in intertitles. There is an apparent segmentation into two sections named "Nature" and "Metaphor".

There is really little that can be said about this film. It seems to be a series of rough ideas for a movie which are shown "as is" instead of being elaborated further. I suspect that this is part of a strategy intended to conceal the probable badness of a hypothetical finished movie with another kind of badness which, somehow, poses as artistic attitude.

Rating: 17

Forushande (2016)

English title: The Salesman.

A couple has to move from their apartment because the building starts to fall apart. After a suggestion by a colleague of the husband, they move to a new one. A disagreeable incident occurs in there which provokes a crisis in their marriage.

Here is a film trying to be smart and failing in almost all counts. Although by the end of it what it is trying to say becomes reasonably clear, the paths it takes to say it are often puzzling. The most puzzling point for me was the whole subplot about the stuff the previous tenant left locked in their apartment. It is given an enormous emphasis which contrasts with the little to no bearing it has on what I perceived to be the main events of the movie. Maybe there is something here which is too subtle for my coarse sensibility. Aside from that, I am afraid that the film conveys a worldview which I do not espouse, and perhaps do not even understand. I call it defeatist, for lack of a better word. I was going to say weak, but I would be wrong, because I can sympathize with weakness, but never with defeatism. Looking back, I have the impression that this criticism might apply to The Separation as well, but I suspect the narrative there was fluid enough to trick me into liking it.

Rating: 40

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

Third viewing; previous viewings were on March 24, 1990 and March 6, 1991.

A worker at a small flower shop is growing a carnivore plant, and the shop's owner decides to take advantage of the exotic plant in order to attract customers.

Nice little comedy, with original ideas and a general atmosphere of irreverence. Nevertheless, I feel it doesn't quite deserve the high rating I had bestowed upon it. Its overall look and comic style is somewhat TV-like, and the humor is at times a bit facile.

Rating: 67 (down from 85)

Saint-Tropez Blues (1961)

Young man invites young woman to go to French beach town Saint-Tropez during school vacation, and asks her to take her father's car for the trip. Along the route they pick up another young man, and during their stay in that town they meet many beautiful people. There is a problem though: he wants her to be his girlfriend, but she refuses. Another complicating factor is that she is a virgin.

Not too densely plotted, as has been said by many, but as a chronicle of a place and a time it isn't bad. The locations are terrific, and there are some nice songs too.

Rating: 51

Meu destino é pecar (1952)

Woman moves to a farm after marrying a man she doesn't love. She must deal with the advances of his lecherous brother, the hostility of his sister, and the coldness of his mother. Above all this hangs the shadow of his former wife, whose death is wrapped in a cloud of mystery.

Atrocious rip-off of Carolina Nabuco's A Sucessora. There are however some minor niceties such as its locations, a lovely song number, and a well-choreographed dance with African motifs. An earlier rip-off of  A Sucessora was Rebecca.

Rating: 12

Les patates (1969)

English title: Potatoes.

During World War II, in the Ardennes, which was part of the zone interdite (forbidden zone), people are experiencing hunger due to strict regulations concerning the transportation of food items across its borders. One man decides to try to smuggle some potatoes from outside and use them to grow a new crop.

Comedy which makes for an interesting history lesson, and an entertaining one, too. Even though there is death and the overhanging shadow of starvation, humor sets the tone, in a very down-to-earth manner which never feels forced or improper.

Rating: 60

Witch Hunt (1994)

In the 1950s, magic becomes a common practice in Hollywood. A crooked senator opposes it vehemently. A private detective who refuses to use it is hired by a starlet to spy on her unfaithful producer husband. The two story threads intersect when the latter character is murdered.

Apparently, this is a silly movie. They have taken the titular figure of speech and de-figured it, that is, played it to its literal meaning in the same historical context. Christopher Mulrooney points to a second metaphor, namely, digital visual effects, of which this film gives abundant display.

Rating: 32

Cronos (1993)

A 16th-century alchemist builds a device for prolonging life indefinitely. Four centuries later, it is franticaly searched for, and accidentally found by an antiques dealer, who applies it to himself, with ghastly consequences.

Science-fiction with no real grip on science. Very tedious as storytelling, but people seem to have liked it. The main actor is good, anyway.

Rating: 21

Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)

Second viewing. I do not know the date of my first viewing; I estimate it to be around 1982.

An artistic photographer has visions of murders which actually take place involving her models or associates. A police detective takes on the case and gets into a romantic relationship with her.

American giallo with superior production values. People who have complained about the ending probably do not get the rules of the genre, amongst which is a disdain for psychological plausibility. Another rule is that the plot must be moderately to extremely tedious. I thought this to be on the side of moderately.

Ratio: 44 (unchanged)

True Believer (1989)

A lawyer with a background as a civil rights militant now specializes in drug cases; he hires a young assistant who persuades him to take the case of an unjustly imprisoned Korean immigrant.

The main character exemplifies Millôr Fernandes's adage: "Never trust an idealist who profits from his ideal". He eventually comes to terms with his conscience, with the unexpected bonus of discovering that the case he took was not really a departure from his specialization (civil rights violations as a result of drug repression). Criminal drama with a liberal slant, done with a modicum of intelligence and very professionally.

Rating: 51

Gabbeh (1996)

Set in rural Iran, this is about a young woman who encounters successive obstacles to her marriage with a man she fancies.

This could perhaps have been a better film if more resources were applied to its production. The actors here clearly cannot act, most of them anyway, and the script has a somewhat disjointed structure, with poorly written dialogue. But there are some good ideas and the premise has some potential; its main asset is the lovely display of color mainly on women's clothes.

Rating: 48

The Punisher (1989)

A vigilante had been wiping out several members of the mafia, but now the police believe him to be dead. When the head of that criminal organization returns to the U.S.A., there is speculation over the biological status and possible new actions by the aforementioned independent executioner. A headstrong policeman has his own ideas about the vigilante's identity, and has pursued a solitary investigation to find and apprehend him.

Mildly rewarding as a testosterone-fueled thriller, yet severely lacking in the dramatic department-- the subplot about the motivations of the cop for chasing the Punisher is borderline retarded. What is most problematic about this film, and also with the Batman films, is that they are based on a concept -- that of individual vigilantism -- which is, to the best of my knowledge, absent from reality.

Rating: 33

O despertar da besta (1969)

Alternate title: O ritual dos sádicos.

English title: Awakening of the Beast.

One or more gangs are kidnapping young women and administering drugs to them in order to make them perform sex acts for perverted men. Concurrently, an assembly of intellectuals debate the effects of drugs.

A blend of Reefer Madness and Corman's The Trip, this fits neatly in the exploitation category, wherein a theme is exploited for its shock appeal rather than being legitimately explored into its causes and consequences. Well, anyway, it was voted one of the best 100 Brazilian films, go figure. And, God knows, it might actually be, Brazilian films being so bad in their majority... This film marks a contrast with the earlier work of its diretor. The taste for shocking imagery is still present, and here there is the extra bonus of some impressive color cinematography in the hallucination sequences, but the raw power of those earlier works, which, perhaps unwittingly, dissected the very core of Brazilian machismo ideology, is gone, and the Coffin Joe character is replaced by its maker-as-character, now a celebrity of sorts.

Rating: 31

One Crazy Summer (1986)

Two high-school graduates go on a summer trip to an American island town, where they meet some weird friends of one of them. They also meet a teenage rock singer on the run from her former employers. One of the visiting boys feels attracted towards her, and tries to help her over troubles she's having with her father's mortgage.

Amiably wacky comedy, which is funnier on its first half and then gets somewhat draggy, though not as much as to become unpleasant.

Rating: 55

O rei do baralho (1973)

Nearly plotless. The titular "king of the card pack" is a gambler who has a stunningly sexy girlfriend.

Bressane's films (with very few exceptions) follow a certain pattern which has become a veritable formula. His doctrinary master is Brecht, and his fellow cinematic disciples are Bresson, Straub, and Godard. He seems to be very fond of film theory, and also of classical culture. In his early career, he displayed a certain attraction to the lower classes of society. Later on his career his films would abandon this fictive milieu in favor of a decidedly bourgeois one. I find most of his films awful, with few exceptions and only one which I can say I really like (Killed the Family and Went to the Movies). O Rei do Baralho is not one of his worse ones, probably because the director managed to assemble an interesting cast.

Rating: 31

Araya (1959)

Documentary about a semi-desertic region in the Venezuelan coast and the community of its inhabitants. The local economy is based on salt mining and fishing.

This is a splendid documentary, aesthetically pleasing in a visual sense, informative about its subject, and with a poetic voice narration.

Postcards from the Edge (1990)

Second viewing; first viewing with original audio; previously viewed dubbed on September 4, 2000.

After having a drug overdose, actress goes into rehab. She lands a part on a cheap action movie, but the insurance company requires that she lives with someone "responsible", which, in her case, means her mother, with whom she has a conflictuous relationship.

This is a very good movie, which I apparently didn't give its fair due when I first watched it. It's mostly brilliant sequence after brilliant sequence, even though the storyline and situations per se are not strictly original. The acting is good, especially MacLaine, which does a terrific job as the slightly self-centered mother. The film conveys well a relationship which, although far from healthy, has genuine love in it. The MacLaine character suffers from the same psychological illness which was the theme of the novel Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov.

Rating: 71 (up from 67)

In the Army Now (1994)

Two losers join the army as water purification agents, expecting an easy time and a generous monetary compensation. They are sent to Chad in the campaign against the Libyan invaders.

Poor comedy which offers little or no humorous rewards, but has reasonable production values and an overall not too unpleasant story flow. Christopher Mulrooney called it a "splendid satire of the New Army", and he possibly knew better than me.

Rating: 31

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

It is impossible to ascertain whether I have viewed this film on an earlier date. If I have, it was very long ago, in the seventies, or maybe even in the sixties.

Based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, published in 1812, and on its earlier version by Charles Perrault, published in 1697. According to Wikipedia, "This in turn was based on "Sun, Moon, and Talia" by Italian poet Giambattista Basile (published posthumously in 1634), which was in turn based on one or more folk tales. The earliest known version of the story is Perceforest, composed between 1330 and 1344 and first printed in 1528."

A resentful woman endowed with magical powers casts a deadly spell on a beautiful princess, which, after the intervention of a good fairy, will entail that the princess enters a dormant state on her sixteenth birthday, which can only be interrupted by an adequate kiss.

Graphically, this is an impressive accomplishment, superbly merging modern concepts with traditional ones. The weaker part is the script, which shows little flair for invention and has magic as an ubiquitous resource to solve all dramatic problems.

Rating: 64

Il gattopardo (1963)

Second viewing; first viewed between 1983 and 1986.

English title: The Leopard.

During the Italian unification wars in the nineteenth century, a Sicilian nobleman and his nephew devise strategies for preserving what they can of their position and way of life.

It's beautiful to look at, and at times provides a good glimpse at a small town and its little people during a period of turmoil. The character of Tancredi has little or no psychological consistency and exists chiefly to utter the famous sentence and lay out the basic thesis of the film. If you enjoy very extended sequences of balls, dinners, masses, etc., and very little in the way of plot, then this film is your very thing.

Rating: 65 (down from 66)

The World According to Garp (1982)

First decent viewing; previous viewing in 1983 was experienced without understanding much of the dialogue.

The life of Garp, an individual who was conceived with the help of an unconscious soldier, and raised by Garp's mother. He grows up to be a novelist, but is overshadowed by his mother, who is an instant success with her memoir. He marries and has children, while his mother founds a sort of refuge for abused individuals.

There is an expression in Portuguese for which I found no equivalent in English: "crônica de costumes", whose literal translation would be "customs chronicle". Maybe this film fits in that category. Some could argue against that, saying that this is a social chronicle, and no less. Well, whatever. To be extremely frank, I wondered while watching it what fun was to be found in the contemplation of these characters' lives. But, as usual, I reprimanded myself, pondering that it had an extremely well-structured and economic screenplay, that the impeccable mise-en-scène was especially visible in sequences like the one where Garp lets his manuscript's leaves get scattered about, and that the casting choices were a work of genius. The multi-incident narrative never quite conceals that the core of the film is the somewhat sad story of a fatherless man who strives to be the best father in the world.

Rating: 55

Ice Age (2002)

In the beginning of an ice age, a sloth joins a mammoth and a sabertooth tiger in the task of returning a stray infant to its father, who has left for warmer climates with his herd. The sabertooth has a hidden agenda, though.

Very poor in plot, unremarkable in graphics, and with gags which will cause a mild chuckle at best, this film's success is thus perfectly explainable.

Rating: 32

A madona de cedro (1994) (TV miniseries)

Based on the novel by Antônio Callado, first published in 1957.

Delfino, a modest sculptor living in the Brazilian historical city of Congonhas, receives the unexpected visit of Maneco, a childhood friend who has been living in Rio de Janeiro. Maneco works for an art thief and tries to coax Delfino into stealing the statue of the Virgin Mary from the local church.

The nineties were probably the prime of Brazilian TV channel Globo, whose average production is of mediocre quality, and has been decaying steadily into unwatchability since that decade. They made a few watchable miniseries, for example Agosto, and this one. It has a nice plot, and overall decent acting, the highlights of which are Paulo José as a blend of the hunchback of Notre Dame and the Phantom of the Opera, and Humberto Martins as Maneco.

Rating: 56

Foxcatcher (2014)

A weird billionaire offers sponsorship to a wrestling champion and his brother, who is also a wrestler. The offer is accepted by the former only, and he moves to the billionaire's estate. The relationship between the two becomes weirdly affectionate, but things go sour. Then the brother decides to come too.

I watched this at the end of last year, but could not bring myself to write these notes. It is an interesting movie, but abides by the current trend of lack of intelligence in certain scripting choices. Certain real-life events were omitted which would considerably clarify the movie. For example, before the fatal event near the end it is known that the real Dave Schultz was leaving Du Pont's team. This would provide a reasonable clue to the latter's feelings and thus to his gruesome act, and yet that fact was omitted in the film. Is it because the filmmaker thought insane people need no justification for their acts? If so, it's ridiculous. There is also the real-life accident which injured Du Pont in his youth, and which gets no mention in the movie. Perhaps it would bring light to some issues, but, again, omitted. Perhaps they were afraid that it would imply that every person with Du Pont's physical history would be prone to his personality and behavior. It seems nowadays everyone is afraid of being offensive, and as a result nothing but anodynous stuff gets said or done.

Rating: 60

Boys on the Side (1995)

Three young women with very different personalities are forced by circumstances to go on a trip together. One has a serious illness, another has some problems with the law, and the third, while not plagued by anything as menacing as her companions are, has some chronic problems of the social and romantic types.

Semi-romantic, semi-melodramatic and utterly unexciting chick flick. The behavior of the characters is not always understandable and seems on occasion to be motivated more by the need to make the "story" move through its "necessary" steps than by true psychological plausibility. The writer even resorts to introducing a "psychic" character which is rather outrageously out of place. On the other hand, the dialogue at times injects intelligent social commentary to the drama.

Rating: 32

Blue Velvet (1986)

Second viewing; first viewed on June 14, 1987.

A young man returning to his hometown during his father's illness gets entangled in a criminal case which he decides to investigate on his own, with some help from the police detective's daughter.

A much talked about movie which does not deliver as much as its reputation would make one expect.  I saw in it mostly a moderately amusing parody of adolescent films of the late fifties and early sixties. The one I can summon without much mental effort is The Blob, but I am sure there are others. It is uncertain whether a finer analysis of the film as a social critique (or as anything else, for that matter) would be a rewarding enterprise. I confess to not understanding exactly why I felt so averse to it on my first viewing. I could not find my earlier notes about it, but I remember being annoyed by what I considered to be the filmmaker's simple-mindedness. I was in error, perhaps, as now I see this simple-mindedness as rather the object of the filmmaker's critique. My present objection is to the film's inconsequentiality.

Rating: 47 (up from 30)

The Borgias (2011-2013) (TV series)

Historical drama. The show's last season was cancelled, leaving the story incomplete.

While the production values are first rate, and there is an overall good taste in the mise-en-scène, this series lacks a real punch. The most curious thing about it is that the actors who play Cesare Borgia and his henchman Micheletto physiognomically resemble respectively a wolf and a fox.

Le dos au mur (1958)

English title: Back to the Wall

A man finds out that his wife is cheating on him. He keeps this fact hidden from her, and proceeds to blackmail her under a false identity.

Ingenious thriller, with all the right plot twists and turns, and good performances from the cast.

Rating: 59