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Patterns (1956)
Patterns
When "Staples" (Van Heflin) arrives at the "Ramsey" building to take up his new executive job, he meets his boss "Briggs" (Ed Begley) then the guy with his name on the door (Everett Sloane), and is welcomed with open arms. Pretty quickly, though, he realises that "Briggs" - who has recently return from illness is in the firing line - and that he is to be the principal weapon used to replace him. The problem here is though "Staples" is fiercely ambitious, and his wife "Nancy" (Beatrice Straight) isn't so very far behind on that front, he actually quite likes "Briggs" and his more human approach to doing business. Indeed, when that man's secretary is arbitrarily attached to the newcomer, it would appear that the writing is on the wall so just how complicit will his scruples allow him to be? I found this to be one of Heflin's better parts, and he portrays his conflicted character really quite effectively. Begley is also on good form as a man maybe just a little past his use-by date and Sloane epitomises the family business obsessed mogul who cares only about power - and for it's own sake. What choices can "Staples" make? What choices does he want to make? This is a quickly paced look at humanity - warts and all, and for double the salary and an unlimited expense account, what might any of us do?
Day of the Dead (1985)
Day of the Dead
We learn pretty quickly that the world has been zombified and that scientist "Sarah" (Lori Cardille) might be part of the last dozen or so people left in the world who still prefer their food cooked! They use an helicopter to get about the place then take refuge deep underground in a military bunker run by the slightly maniacal "Rhodes" (Joseph Pilato). It's fair to say that there's quite a degree of tension amongst these survivors. The military element is asserting itself over the folks who are trying to find a cause for and solution to the plague on the surface. Things come to an head with "Prof Logan" (Richard Liberty) takes his experiments trying to re-humanise these creatures just one step too far for the heavily armed soldiers, and a deadly split occurs that could spell doom for everyone! Now the acting here is pretty terrible, and the writing does little to help with that but George Romero does well to create an increasing sense of claustrophobic menace as tempers fray and the human beings factionalise into groups more dangerous to each other than their topside terrors. It's the last half hour than enlivens this, though, as the civilian conclude that they need to get airborne and head for a quiet Caribbean beach. The plot is a little more sophisticated, there is the semblance of science here, but essentially it's all about hordes of marauding corpses - I'm sure I saw a tutu-clad ballet dancer amongst them - bent of a bit of gobbling. Even when the odds are stacked against people, they can still find reasons not to trust each other!
The Fall Guy (2024)
The Fall Guy
This does suffer a bit from having been trailed to death in the cinema, and the story is really pretty thin - but there's some engaging chemistry on display between the two stars as their adventures hot up. "Colt" (Ryan Gosling) is the stunt double for the all action hero "Tom Ryder" (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) whilst sort of dating aspiring director "Jody" (Emily Blunt). An accident on set drives "Colt" away from the business altogether until a random call from producer "Gail" (Hannah Waddingham) informs him that "Jody" is to direct her first film in Australia and he has been especially requested! Of course he hadn't, and when he turns up - much to the surprise of the production, they sort of settle for a truce as he gets back into the swing of rolling cars and jumping from burning wreckage. Where's the star though? Well it transpires that's what "Gail" has really brought him to establish. He's gone AWOL. Not for the first time, "Ryder" is a bit flaky - but all "Colt" need do is track down their wayward pretty boy and then he can escape this embarrassing scenario and go back home. Needless to say, his investigations soon immerse him in a dangerous world of drugs, unicorns and even more car chasing and pyrotechnics. Can he find his charge and maybe even restore his romance? There's precisely no jeopardy with any of that, even if there is quite a daft twist in the tale at the end, but that doesn't matter. This is an excuse for some good looking people to have fun celebrating the life of the movie stuntman. It's good fun to watch with Gosling oozing charisma as we go along on a trip that reveals just a little of the smoke and mirrors that is routinely used to convince us that what we see on screen is real - and that nobody usually dies! Sydney harbour is used to good effect, though I maybe wouldn't have wanted to be the general manager of the opera house when their film crew turned up, and the dialogue is quite a witty mix of hackneyed metaphor, old lines from famous movies and plenty of corn and cheese. ATJ doesn't really feature so much, but when he does he's clearly taking a pop at all things vain and superficial about the cult of image, and Blunt looks like she is enjoying herself as she tries to get her film in the can despite her missing frontman, the wrong kind of sand on the beach and her clearly having the hots for her ex. A good soundtrack helps it all along and though I doubt I'll recall much about this in three months, it's a lively poke at the characters that make movies and I quite enjoyed it.
Amici per la pelle (1955)
Amici per la pelle
"Franco" (Andrea Sciré) is the son of a diplomat and is quite well educated and worldly when he arrives at his new school where he quickly befriends "Mario" (Geronimo Meynier). The fact that he lives in an exclusive hotel causes a little consternation with his new friend's family at the beginning, but pretty soon the two boys are inseparable and getting up to all sorts of mischief. Then they hit an unexpected bump in the road that sees them both in the same running competition - and of course, only one of them can win. What now ensures is something that I think we can all relate to. The complexities of maintaining an intensive friendship - it's almost like an addiction, and the two young actors here really do immerse themselves in the roles and offer us an amiably engaging look at a friendship tempered with some stupidity and soft-headedness. Fortunately the adult characters are pretty much on board here, and are also adept at leaving their sons to solve their own problems whilst offering a shoulder and some words of wisdom as required. It also shines a light on the behaviour of classmates who, with varying degrees of nastiness, are envious of something they aren't part of. They see the boy's relationship as something to be torn down rather than celebrated when the first sign of a crack emerges. It can be quite funny and is really an enjoyably paced and jauntily scored celebration of a simple friendship that we all hope endures in the end.
Manon des sources (1986)
Manon des sources
Continuing on from the story of "Jeanne de Florette", we have advanced many years to find "Ugolin" (Daniel Auteuil) and his uncle "Papet" (Yves Montand) running a thriving carnation business perfectly watered by their own spring. Indeed it's quite a feet of irrigation that has enabled them to enhance the family fortune by at least 50,000 Francs. As ever, though, "Papet" is looking to the future of his dynasty and so continues to pressurise "Ugolin" to marry. He's quite happy with the odd visit to the local whorehouse until he discovers "Manon". She (Emmanuelle Béart) is the daughter of the previous owners of the property and after her father's untimely death is now reduced to goat-herding in the hills. A chance encounter with new teacher "Bernard" (Hippolyte Girardot) seems to offer her the prospect of some joy, but it annoys the clearly infatuated "Ugolin" who declares his undying love for her - all to no avail. Gradually, village gossip about her father and his fate reaches her ears and thanks to a wayward goat, she finds herself in the position to wreak a little revenge on the "Soubeyran" clan and their complicit supporters. What will assuage her wrath? I didn't enjoy this so much as the first part of the story. Though it effectively deals with retribution and, to a certain extent, the superstitious nature of religiosity, it doesn't really develop the character of "Manon" as much as I'd have liked and it is a little as what can so often be said of the second act of a play - slightly rushed. It also, thanks to village elder "Delphine" (Yvonne Gamy), introduces a further degree of tragedy into this already sad story that seems odd to have been such a long-kept secret in a place where everyone knew just about everything about everyone else. Auteuil is again effective, though, as is a Montand whose character starts to lose a bit of his confident smugness as tables begin to turn and he faces his own, life-altering catastrophe. Béart brings a naive innocence to her character - but that's not to say she's meek, far from it - and by the denouement I felt that maybe things were concluding fittingly. It looks great and the score from Jean-Claude Petit sets the whole thing off nicely. Both films together offer us quite a poignant look at human nature - warts and all, and are really well worth watching. Just what do they do with the thrushes?
Jean de Florette (1986)
Jean de Florette
"Ugolin" (Daniel Auteuil) returns from the war to his wealthy uncle "Papet" (Yves Montant) with some inspiration. He doesn't divulge his cunning plan until he is ready, and then presents the man with some perfectly cultivated carnations. It turns out there's money in flowers, but they also need a great deal of water. Gallons and gallons of the stuff. It occurs to "Papet" that their curmudgeonly neighbour might be willing to sell his land, upon which there is a clogged-up spring. No such luck there but an accident shortly afterwards fills them with hope. Sadly for them, their plans are further frustrated by the arrival of the hunch-backed and enthusiastic city boy "Jean" (Gérard Depardieu) and his wife and child who move onto the farm. They are decent and hard-working relatives of the dead man and are determined to use science to make a go of things. Whilst feigning friendship with the family, "Ugolin" and "Papet" cement over their water supply and leave them at the mercy of the unpredictable weather and a rather ropey cistern system. Their farming days would appear to be doomed unless God intervenes. What now ensues sees the family "Cadoret" increasingly struggle to make money breeding rabbits and growing fruit and vegetables - amidst the mother of all heatwaves, as their cognisant neighbours look on unwilling to point out that their salvation is buried but yards away. Will the cynical ploy of the "Soubeyran" clan prevail? There's a great cast doing the work here, with Auteuil especially effective as the slightly conflicted nephew who doesn't always come across as the full shilling; Montand as the calculating, dynastically motivated, manipulator and finally a great effort from Depardieu who manages to portray a man plumbing the depths of despair - whilst always seemingly open to a degree of optimism and hope, really compellingly. The drama is peppered with loads of earthy humour and the small town setting provides for many of the usual characterisations of village life that is sceptical of, if not downright hostile to, new arrivals. It's also quite a potent look at just how crucial running water is, too. It continues through into "Manon de Source"...
Things to Come (1936)
Things to Come
This is a rather fanciful adaptation of the HG Wells tale. Mankind is all but obliterated by war; reduced to tribal existences - under the overly theatrical leadership of Ralph Richardson and Margaretta Scott - fighting plague, tyranny and the elements. Then they encounter Daniel Massey ("John Cabal") who helps reconcile and rebuild society to an almost Utopian level. It manages to intertwine megalomania with human aspiration; an overpoweringly rousing score and some truly Shakesperian style soliloquy. It comes to force a future upon us that is eerily portentous of an Orwellian style dictatorship; of interstellar exploration to spread our plague of self-destructive ambition to other worlds - and all, broadly speaking with the consent of the masses. Sadly, i saw a colourised version which robbed this film of almost every element of potency; indeed it rendered it little better than a very poor cartoon. It's still just about worth watching; but Massey is no Olivier and I found it all rather preposterous.
Le monde du silence (1956)
The Silent World
As he travels aboard his floating laboratory "Calypso", we follow the exploration of renowned marine adventurer Jacques Cousteau as he and his crew travel the world exploring the depths of the sea. He takes his kit to the deepest part of the water where neither man nor camera have ever been before, nowhere near the bottom but still as black as pitch and only slightly illuminated by their bright lamps. The photography would have offered many their first glimpse of whales, porpoises, giant turtles, sharks - and many in a natural environment that isn't always so easy to watch. Neither, it has to be said, are some of his methods. "In the name of science" would have been a defence for dynamiting fish so they can count the species, or leaving many on the beach to suffocate to death before they are photographed or dissected for the specimen jar. Whilst there can be no doubting this team had a respect and admiration for the natural world, they still had that superiority complex of mankind towards it and at times I simply didn't like the man nor his approach. That said, it was made at a time when the quest for knowledge was more along the lines of the end justifying the means and doubtless some of his astonishing discoveries will have informed a more enlightened touch to investigation in later years. Cousteau was a ground-breaker, no doubt, and his adaptation of technology to take us deeper and deeper in safer ways delivers us an fascinating look at what has long existed without the intervention of man. By no means how Sir David Attenborough would make it now, but of it's time it is an interesting and cleverly photographed look into the unknown.
Genbaku no ko (1952)
Children of Hiroshima
It's been six years since teacher "Takako Ishiwaka" (Nobuko Otowa) lost her parents in the Hiroshima blast and she is now planning on returning to the city to visit friends and to remember her family. On arrival, she stays with "Natsue Morikawa" (Miwa Saitô) who has been rendered infertile by the toxic after-effects of the explosion. The is where this emotionally heart-rending story starts. She explores what's left of the city only to discover that in many areas, a remarkable regeneration has occurred. In others, though, people are living an hand-to-mouth existence and that includes her father's former colleague "Iwakichi" (Osamu Takizawa) who is all but blind and living amongst the ruins whilst his grandchild lives in a nearby orphanage. She is informed that a few of her own fellow school pupils have also survived and so visits them - providing director Kaneto Shindô with an opportunity to present us with three different examples of post-war life and of the resignation, stoicism and maybe even slight optimism of those starting to rebuild - whilst they all turn nervously to the sky when they hear an aircraft overhead. Accompanied by some flashbacks to happier times, this tells a touching story of people whose lives, and in many cases beliefs, have been utterly destroyed. Their infrastructure is gone - physically and phsochologically, yet she epitomises a decency and the imagery cannot help but engender a sense of pity from anyone watching. Not, it doesn't put this into any form of context with the abhorrent behaviour of the troops who fought in their name elsewhere, so no real attempt is made to politicise the situation. It's more a series of personal tales that do quite succinctly bring home the true horrors of the original weapon of mass destruction and of human resilience.
Smiley (1956)
Smiley
"Smiley" (Colin Petersen) is a young lad who lives a pretty basic existence with his mum (Margaret Christensen) whilst his dad is off on the drover's trail. He's a lively young man with a streak of decency a mile wide - except when he's being used as a "beast of burden". It's to the vicar "Lambeth" (Sir Ralph Richardson) that he owes this expression and it's him that donates a sixpence to start off the boy's quest to raise a massive £4 to buy a bike. That's the story, really. How can he earn enough money to get mobile? Along the way he is constantly "flabbergasted" by the goodwill of his neighbours as they find him odd jobs to do - even a bit of pub singing - to raise his cash. Meantime, the local police sergeant "Flaxman", another contributor to the cause, is concerned that someone is smuggling opium into the nearby Aboriginal camp - and he's suspicious of landlord "Rankin" (John McCallum), especially when he begins to pay "Smiley" well over the odds to deliver packages across the river. Things come to quite a comical head when his dad returns and the police hone in on the criminal. It's maybe a little long, this, but there's an engaging effort from the young Petersen and Bruce Archer as his best pal "Joey". Some of the language might not sit so well seventy years later, but essentially it's a story of mischief and spirit from a boy who manages to cheer up just about everyone he meets - especially their characterful cleric.
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
The Smiling Lieutenant
How many films are you ever going to watch that have songs rhyming "liver" with "quiver" - or that quote Emperor Napoleon's last words before entering exile on Elbe - "so long!"? "Niki" (Maurice Chevalier) is a happy-go-lucky military officer in love with "Franzi" (Claudette Colbert) and all is set fair with their lives until a state visit to the Emperor by the princess "Anna" (Miriam Hopkins) lands him in hot water. He smiled at her as the carriage carrying her and her father, the King (George Barbier) passed by. His Majesty is outraged at such a diabolical liberty and si "Niki" is duly summoned. Luckily, he can think on his feet and he can also spell, so is spared death and becomes the apple of the princess's eye! Next thing, wedding bells are being readied and he is swept back to their home land of Flausenthurm a married man. "Franzi" follows and they try to keep something illicit going, but "Anna" is no fool and soon we have a sort of reverse love triangle as the two woman and their hapless hero try to work things out in quite an unusual fashion. Oscar Straus and Clifford Grey provide the musical numbers and though they are pretty unremarkable by themselves, they give the charismatic Chevalier a chance to grin quite a lot, wink now and again and for Colbert and Hopkins to shine. The humour is gently paced, and the whole thing looks like it was shot on the sound stage of the "Prisoner of Zenda". Sure, the story is a bit old hat but it has plenty of charisma to keep it going and is worth a watch.
Bad Girl (1931)
Bad Girl
I don't know that honesty is always the best policy, but I think that this melodrama might have gone much more smoothly for the married "Dorothy" (Sally Eilers) and "Eddie" (James Dunn) if they, especially the latter, had just been a little more upfront with the other. She basically thinks all men are predatory wastrels; he that women just want to shop their way trough life. Despite these obvious misgivings, and because he treats her with almost as much disinterest as she does him, the pair start to quite like each other. She's got a brother who is a controlling pain in the neck, so they come up with a plan to get her married so she's out of his ambit. Swiftly, with a baby looming, he loses his job and desperate times call for desperate measures - all against a tapestry of mistrust and scepticism! There are times when I just wanted to bang their heads together and I took that as a sign that they were all doing their jobs properly. Dunn delivers quite engagingly, especially as the film progresses and his character's inability to simply be honest and less priggish just worsens his problems. It takes a while to get going, but once the dynamic is laid out for us, then this is quite an amiably presented look at the stupidity of human nature and of the breadwinning custom and is well worth ninety minutes - though maybe not if you're headed to a maternity ward anytime soon.
A Town Like Alice (1956)
A Town Like Alice
Virginia McKenna takes on the role as a dispossessed British colonial secretary forced into captivity/slavery and to fight for her very survival by the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1941 and who is, together with a group of similarly forsaken women, shunted around from camp to camp before finally being pretty much abandoned to the wilderness by the Japanese Army. Unusually, for many films made immediately after the war, it tries to offer some semblance of balance between conquerors and conquered. In no way does it attempt to deny or ameliorate the atrocities perpetrated on the prisoners but it does indicate that there was a certain element of "chivalry" offered to the women by their captors - and in some cases these soldiers were treated just as harshly by their own side as collaborators as were many of the women. The story itself develops into a gentle love story as she encounters Australian POW Peter Finch who helps them procure food, and who is "crucified" for his troubles. The film is, at times, too simplistic - but that adds to the poignancy. The relentlessness and horror of their existence - contrasted against their upper/middle class, servant supported, previous lives is writ large. Marie Lohr and a wonderful Jean Anderson (whom you might remember reprised some of her role in the excellent BBC serial "Tenko" from the early 1980s) deliver strongly too.
Shake Hands with the Devil (1959)
Shake Hands with the Devil
I wonder whether an appreciation of this film depends on whether you are British or Irish? What it depicts, for me anyway, is the old adage that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" and James Cagney ("Lenihan") manages to encapsulate that succinctly. His character, a respected professor with republican leanings, recruits "O'Shea" (Don Murray) after one of his friends is shot by one of the infamous "Black 'n Tans" and the film tracks his ensuing involvement with the 1921 revolution. The story follows a simplified line as regards to the actual nature of historical fact, but it does touch on the complications and perils faced by people on both sides of the argument well. Cagney is convincing, as - oddly enough, is Michael Redgrave as the "General" (AKA Michael Collins) - far removed from his Barnes Wallis patriot-style role. There is also decent support from Dana Wynter and the inimitable Dame Sybil Thorndike to broaden the range of the scenarios and demonstrate that this wasn't just a small scale, militaristic, uprising - but a general dissatisfaction amongst all strata of Irish society. Michael Anderson keeps the pace lively, and the dialogue does enough to make it's point without throttling us with it. He has captured some beautiful scenery too and it's well worth a watch.
Night Train to Munich (1940)
Night Train to Munich
There are shades of the "Lady Vanishes" in Carol Reed's intriguing tale of a complex mission to re-rescue a top Czech scientist from the Nazis. Having already been safely in Britain, he was kidnapped from under the very noses of British intelligence and so now they have to devise a plan to get him back. Rex Harrison - who has at least three identities in this thriller is charged with leading the attempt; aided by the scientist's daughter - Margaret Lockwood, and pursued by the duplicitous Paul Henreid as "Marsen". The adventure element is nothing particularly different, indeed I constantly expected Harrison to break into his King Mongkut impression - he made for a very unconvincing Nazi. The real stars, for me, were Messrs. Radford and Wayne as "Charters & Caldicott". Given much more on-screen time than usual they exemplified, I thought by humour and crass ineptitude, much of the mindset of the British establishment in the run up to the Nazi invasions of the late 1930s that probably only Churchill had the foresight to anticipate. To be honest, there's very little suspense in this film - but it is a good team effort with some delightful Haydn accompaniment.
The Stars Look Down (1940)
The Stars Look Down
Michael Redgrave is the local boy done good, when he wins a scholarship to go to university to train to be a teacher. Unfortunately, he has fallen in love with the rather fickle "Jenny" (Margaret Lockwood) who has a bit of a venal streak. Curtailing his studies, he returns to live with her in his boyhood town intent on improving the lot of his community - but he is soon disillusioned when he sees his wife still keen on her flashy old flame "Joe" (Emlyn Williams) and that his elderly father looks set to have to work the mines for years to come... He accidentally discovers that the mine is unsafe, and determines to bring this to the attention of the council to avert disaster, but will they listen? Carol Reed allows this story plenty of room to breathe. Though not complex, we can see the characterisations develop as the story seems to head, unstoppably, towards disaster in quite a compelling fashion. Redgrave, Williams and Allan Jeayes as mine owner "Barras" work well to create a solid, if a bit dryly told, story of greed and exploitation with some superbly claustrophobic mining photography to add authenticity.
Operation Amsterdam (1959)
Operation Amsterdam
Peter Finch ("Smit") and Tony Britton ("Maj. Dillon") are charged with trying to relocate a considerable supply of Dutch diamonds to Britain after the Nazis invade the Netherlands during World War II. It's a treacherous operation as the occupying forces are keen to get hold of these gems for themselves and are closing in on them, and on their local allies - not least "Anna" (Eva Bartok). It's quite well put together, this film. There is quite a sense of menace, nobody is ever entirely sure whom they can trust and a strong supporting cast from the likes of Alexander Knox help keep it interesting, if not exactly enthralling. The score is a bit overpowering at times, and the pace dawdles a bit after about an hour - but it does pick up well towards the end. Finch is fine, as is Bartok. Tony Britton was never the most versatile of actors, but he does well enough here to keep this differently themed wartime film worth a watch.
Accattone (1961)
Accatone
The eponymous creature (Franco Citti) is a bit of a malevolent sponge. Hs has deserted his wife and child so he can sit with his mates carousing and playing cards whilst he pimps out "Maddalena" (Silvana Corsini) and lives off her ill-gotten gains. He's quite content with this arrangement until she has an altercation with a Vespa and then finds herself rather unjustly locked up for a year. With his income dried up, he has to make some changes. He's ill equipped to get himself a job, and isn't really motivated either. Until, that is, he meets the wandering "Stella" (Franca Pasut). There are certain similarities between her and his incarcerated meal ticket, but she's no hooker nor anywhere near as green as he'd initially thought. He gradually starts to fall for her but can he sort himself out and jettison the worst elements of his past before she tells him to take a run and jump? Though it's hardly a jolly affair, I found this first of his movies to be one of Pasolini's merrier affairs that allows some humour to pepper a narrative of exploitation and manipulation. There's little doubt that the "Accattone" is a pretty odious man, but as the film moves along there's a sense that begins to creep in that he's not beyond redemption - and both the intimate photography and the engaging talent of the boyish Citti help bring that out slowly but surely. Pasut and Corsini both play well with parts that are gritty, earthy and devoid of anything that might really offer them any hope, and on the sidelines his young son "Iaio" (Danilo Alleva) often serves as the most of unlikely of anchors for his selfish father. There's always space for a comment on the place of the church in society, and here there's a distinct parody being drawn between sainthood and, well you decide... Hardly ever seen these days but well worth a couple of hours to see a Rome that Nero might well have been proud of.
3 Steps to the Gallows (1953)
White Fire
Certainly one of John Gilling's better efforts, this enjoyable crime drama. An American merchant sailor (Scott Brady) arrives in London to look for his brother, only to discover that he has been convicted of murder and is just three days away from the hangmen's noose. Together with Mary Castle, a night-club singer he encounters they both decide to get to the truth - despite the risks from an unscrupulous gang of diamond smugglers. The plot is a little more complex that we'd expect from a B-movie like this, and much of it is shot out of the studio - lending it quite a bit of authenticity. The script isn't great; and the fisticuffs (and there are plenty) are just way too theatrical but it's a good all-round effort.
Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
Love Lies Bleeding
"Lou" (Kristen Stewart) runs a gym on the basis of being as obnoxious to the customers (mostly brain-dead males) as she can until one night she espies a new visitor. She assumes that "Jackie" (Katy O'Brian) has gone off with the boys for a beer, but a chance encounter afterwards in the car park makes it clear they are both on the same team. We (the audience) have met "Jackie" already and know she's looking for work. That comes via "JJ" (Dave Franco) who takes her to the shooting range owned by the long haired and hippy looking Ed Harris who gives her a job as a waitress. Quickly we discover that "JJ" is married to "Beth" (Jena Malone) who is the sister of "Lou" and both are the daughters of Ed Harris. "Lou", though, is a bit estranged from him and as the plot thickens we discover why. Also, we discover that "JJ" is a bit of a thug and prone to beating up his wife. A trip to the hospital for her causes tempers to flare, and pumped full of steroids, it's the increasingly unstable "Jackie" who sets things in motion that are going to bring to an head a decade of family tensions, put lives at risk and even drag in the FBI. Aside from the same sex angle, there is nothing new at all to this half-hearted relationship drama that contrives to introduce just about everything to go wrong that can and in the end seems to be trying more to parody "The Incredible Hulk" than make headway with anything different. The denouement is weak and surreal on just about every level, too. Just because Rose Glass decides to feature loads of turbulent female bonding and making out doesn't make this worth watching. It just looks like a self indulgent and proud statement of sexuality for the sake of it, regardless of the strength or brutality of the story. People have been making characterful lesbian films in Europe for a century or more, this isn't remotely revelatory. Dark humour? Hmmm - must have missed that bit.
Kynodontas (2009)
Dogtooth
Unnamed parents (Christos Stergioglou and Michele Valley) are so obsessed with their children that they have, over the years, created an walled environment in which they see nobody but each other and never leave their substantial rural home. There is one exception, and this is "Christina" (Anna Kalaitzidou) who is brought in from time to time as the paid sex pal of their son (Christos Passalis). Father drives to work each day whilst the remainder of the family live what can only be described as a surreal existence where even words mean different things. Did you know that a zombie was really a buttercup in disguise? Things start to get a bit out of hand, though, when "Christina" starts a friendship with their younger daughter (Mary Tsoni) and the dynamic of indoctrination and intimidation starts to unravel a little. The children (all in their late teens or older) start to question the reliability of their parental information and to become restless for new information and freedom. The parents are having none of this, though, and this leads to some drastic action from the father and some even more from their younger daughter who devises a cunning plan to break free from this silken yoke. There's something spookily controlling about the way Yorgos Lanthimos presents this story to us. It's a bit of ignorance is bliss married to you don't miss what you never had and the result is a naiveté borne of three siblings who take on blind faith a scenario that they simply can't envisage being different. The performances from Stergioglu as the sometimes quite brutal father and from Kalaitzidou, their visitor, evoke some serious feelings of discomfort and the sight on the son parading around the garden as though he were a boy fifteen years younger is distinctly disconcerting. Is it plausible? You'd like to think not.
The Magic Machines (1969)
The Magic Machines
Sculptor Robert Gilbert narrates his own story as he trawls the scrapyard looking for his own pieces of abandoned engineering so that he can design and build some pretty innovative contraptions. He's based in the desert, and it's astonishing not just what he and his scrap-merchant pal manage to accrue from the sands, but also of his imagination in creating a sort of Meccano's user's wet dream. Some of these constructions are actually capable of self-propulsion! The production is a little on the dry side as we don't really see very much of the man actually at work, and his narrative is overly effusive at times - about both himself and his goals (though he does acknowledge that sex is better). I also found the soundtrack a bit annoying too, but that a man can create something from nothing quite this inventively makes this well worth quarter of an hour of your time.
Pane, amore e fantasia (1953)
Pane, amore e fantasia
With a grandeur typical of much of the rest of this light-hearted romance, the new police chief "Antonio" (Vittorio De Sica) arrives at his new, rural, command on the bus. He has hardly hung up his hat before he takes a bit of a shine to "Bersagliera" (Gina Lollobrigida) who's nickname "Frisky" clearly demonstrates how totally unsuitable any relationship between the two might be. Anyway, she has her eyes on his dashing young sergeant (Roberto Risso). His life is further complicated when the local midwife "Annarella" (Marisa Merlini) begins to fall in love with him, unaware that she has a few secrets of her own that might compromise everything. It's quite difficult to précis the plot without making it look like a predictable soap-style love triangle, but the characterisations here and the quick-fired dialogue pack quite a lot into ninety minutes with Lollobrigida at her most natural in front of the camera. Except, that is, when they are on the bikes in front of what is clearly a moving background of somewhere completely different! There's plenty of chemistry here, some fun and the practically minded "Frisky" seems ultimately more bothered about her mule than either of her men. It's a film that slightly exaggerates normal village life, and at times is just a wee bit contrived, but it's still entertaining to watch.
Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
Conduct Unbecoming
Despite the pretty stellar cast list, I struggled a bit with this rather dreary story. It centres around James Faulkner's "Lt. Millington" who is being court-martialled in British India for a serious assault on the widow of a fallen colleague - "Mrs. Scarlett" (Susannah York). He is to be defended by the inexperienced "Drake" (Michael York) before a committee chaired by the openly hostile "Capt. Harper" (Stacey Keach). On the face of it, he is doomed - but some tenacious investigative work from his counsel gradually gets to the bottom of what happened. The ending is more of a sort of guess which of the other famous actors - Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough or perhaps Christopher Plummer might have done it given we are pretty safe to assume that poor old "Millington" is being stitched up. Sadly, this moves at a glacial pace with none of the characters offering much by way of depth or interest. Colourful? Yes, that's true - and the costumes and settings all look great, but like so many of these latter-day tales of Empire, it is all faintly ridiculous and swings clumsily at the supposed honour of the "regiment" at all costs in quite a shallow fashion. I found the direction was much more suitable for a theatrical delivery, too. Disappointing.
Shashvi shashvi maq'vali (2023)
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
"Etero" (Eka Chavleishvili) runs a curious shop in a small town that only seems to sell soap powder and hair dyes! Anyway, one morning her delivery man "Murman" (Temiko Chichinadze) turns up with thirty boxes of a new washing formula and next thing, well it's taken her forty-eight years! He is married and lives a distance away, but he seems keen to take their new found friendship forward, even though he is to take on a lucrative trucking job in Turkey. She? Well she's always been an independent woman who looks after herself on her own terms - and she likes it that way. Or does she? Is it just what she is used to. As she continues to associate with her judgmental, opinionated and gossiping neighbours, she starts to consider just what her life is all about. Then something quite unexpected happens? That requires a trip to the bright lights of Tbilisi where she feels sure the next stage of her life will begin. It has the nature of a fly-on-the-wall documentary to it. We watch this woman whose life has been one of routine (and frequent thunderstorms) come to challenge a mundane existence that, aside from a perilous experience with some blackberry bushes atop a ravine, is the same from one day to the other. We learn a little of her backstory, of a traditional Georgian family dynamic and though the whole thing is inconclusive, the performance from Chavleishvili is nonetheless engaging and probably emblematic of many middle aged people who have sort of drifted into a limbo that is going nowhere fast. It's worth it all just for the look on her face near the end...