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Expend4bles (2023)
DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT...!
The latest & hopefully last entry in this lousy series (am I being too subtle?) starring Sylvester Stallone & Jason Statham. Reuniting what team they can (reuniting faves Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, & Andy Garcia w/newcomers 50 Cent (?), Megan Fox (?), Jacob Scipio & Levy Tran) to track down a bad guy, Iko Uwais, who has made off w/some nuclear warheads from Libya w/Stallone biting the dust as his plane is shot down. Garcia orders Statham to stand down while the team infiltrate a cargo ship where the hardware is presumably being held but Statham disobeys orders & shadows the team turning the tide of the mission when it looks like our heroes might meet their match w/Tony Jaa coming along, he was a friend of Stallone's, to lend a hand. Feeling overblown & supremely cheap (a process shot in a doorway, you kidding me?), this ponzi scheme of entertainment which I guess was made for the stars' grandchildren's future trust funds is an anathema to bygone entertainment which at least had a shred of decency to be fun but here, all the noise & pseudo one-liners can't end enough so real films can come in & do the right thing.
Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
DINOSAURS UNDONE BY A POOR SCRIPT...!
The latest, the sixth by count, in the series which began way back in 1993. Following up on the events of Fallen Kingdom where the large & scaly ones now roam the Earth w/o abandon, we find our heroes, Dallas Bryce Howard & Chris Pratt, together w/their new clone of a charge, Isabella Sermon, as they try to corral the beastly creatures & shuffle them off to safer climes while a new billionaire, Campbell Scott (modeled after Apple's Tim Cook my viewing partner remarked), who has a preserve in Europe where he's also doing the Lord's work keeping the Jurassics in check but no sooner does the appearance of all this philanthropic activity rear its head, evil shenanigans begin w/the appearance of oversized locusts attacking a farm in spitting view of one of Scott's factories where no harm has come to it. Lo & behold the revelation that the beneficial conglomerate has something to do w/it comes as no surprise to no one except the people on screen who by film's end have to right the wrongs & let the wild ones roam. W/the supposed added benefit of having the original Jurassic Park stars back in action (Sam Neill, Laura Dern & Jeff Goldbloom), the film is clock a block full of action & dino mayhem but what it lacks is a coherent script & an unjustified need to have all these returning players when they could've used the newer characters (DeWanda Wise, Dichen Lachman & Mamoudou Athie) to craft something maybe different (especially since the notion of human DNA manipulation tied to dinosaurs has been introduced). Billed the last in the series (I bet!), I wonder if they'll try something truly new when the inevitable follow up comes a calling in a few years.
Cuando acecha la maldad (2023)
GOOD SHOCKS...NO STORY...!
A 2023 horror flick from South of the Border. In Argentina a pair of brothers, Ezequiel Rodriguez & Demian Salomon, are having a hell of a day when a neighbor informs them their patriarch is sick in bed & the family at large feels his sickness is feeding a malaise which infects their small village. W/another neighbor, the bros carry the sick man, who's begging to be killed, & dump him by the side of the road. Soon enough this simple act of idiocy births more bizarre acts; a pet dog carries the family daughter by her head into the woods, a husband runs over his wife w/the family car & after the dog is killed by the father for its infraction, his wife kills him w/an axe then turns the axe on herself (see poster). Being more a pastiche of 'f'd moments than a cogent narrative, this so-called shocker, which reminded me of a 1984 movie called Impulse (where the cause of the town's malady is a chemical spill nearby, if memory holds) which even back then, other than an interesting trailer which I just peeped, didn't stay in the consciousness much longer than its theatrical run which is something I predict a few years from now will be the same fate of this here non-starter.
Mean Girls (2024)
NOT AS BAD OR GOOD AS IT COULD'VE BEEN...!
A remake from last year of the Lindsay Lohan 2004 starrer (where she makes a cameo here as an announcer) which follows the original pretty faithfully but now (like the other drama remake The Color Purple from last year) is a musical. Angourie Rice now stars as the transplant new to a school who's only known the world as her mother's companion in Africa but coming into a universe where teen cliques are the thing, she wonders if the wilds of the dark continent were an easier locale. Picked by a trio of 'it' girls (Renee Rapp, Avantika Vandanapu & Bebe Wood), Rice becomes their new project who's given a crash course on the do's & don't's of their world which egged on by a pair of misfits, Jaquel Spivey & Auli'I Cravalho, hopes to upend their rule & even things out for the rest of the student body. Knowing about the musical in passing (I think Jimmy Fallon showcased a number during a broadcast when the show just opened), the musical stylings for me were the only question mark (since I wholeheartedly believe a musical is only as strong as their songs). The film is definitely for fans of the show & seeing the new recruits in place of who they remember loving may be a draw (Rapp reprised her Broadway turn) but since I only know it primarily as the winning Lohan vehicle it was I still found myself smiling although the sheen was off as to what was going to happen.
Terrifier (2016)
A 21st CENTURY BOGEYMAN...?
A horror film from 2016. A pair of girlfriends are heading home from a night out drinking but before getting behind the wheel they decide to get a bite to brush the buzz away. In a pizzeria during their meal, a man dressed up as a clown comes in & locks eyes w/the girls & no matter the amount of questions, the clown says nothing. After fouling up the establishment's bathroom, the clown is kicked out but the girls are on edge as the night becomes progressively worse as the clown soon stalks them, killing anyone who become obstacles to his cause. Exceedingly well done in all aspects considering the minuscule budget ($35,000 from what I found) but the subject matter (& extreme gore) may turn off all but the gorehound faithful since it's a rinse & repeat affair where the victims have no agency & only exist to be slaughtered.
Atlas (2024)
TOO LATE FOR THE SHOW...!
Currently streaming on Netflix is this Jennifer Lopez sci-fi actioner. A sentient android, played by Shang Chi's Simu Liu, is ravaging humanity since he & his kind have achieved sentience killing 3 million individuals. Mounting an imminent attack from a nearby planet, Lopez, whose mother had a hand in creating the roboids, is brought in to lead the attack which immediately goes sideways sending her & her AI laden mech-suit to regroup before trying to infiltrate the enemy lair. Lopez who has no faith & trust in artificial intelligence, struggles along to make headway w/the suit (in a flashback we find out why, of course!) which comes to a head during the final assault & Lopez has no choice to rethink her methodology. I give Lopez credit for mounting this piece but unfortunately when we've just had the far superior The Creator come out less than a year ago, this film definitely feels like a late comer to dinner w/journeyman director Brad Peyton (San Andreas/Rampage) getting the job done but it's such a 'by the numbers' exercise in labor one could argue who directed this, the mech-suit? Also starring Mark Strong as a military leader & Oscar nominee Sterling K. Brown as one of Lopez's colleagues.
Il gatto a nove code (1971)
ARGENTO GETS HIS HITCHCOCK ON...!
A thriller from director Dario Argento from 1971 which has a couple of newspapermen (one currently working, the other, blind & retired, raising his niece) trying to track down the purveyor of industrial espionage who graduates to murder. Coming home one night, the elder newspaperman, played by Hollywood royalty Karl Malden, hears a couple of men sitting in a car outside a laboratory. The next morning a murder has occurred & a journalist, James Franciscus, comes upon the scene to begin his investigation. He bumps into Malden & soon develops a friendship predicated on the mystery which has fallen into their lap which yields a bevy of suspects & when they get too close, Malden's niece is kidnapped culminating in a suspenseful search for her in the lab w/the desperate killer willing to do whatever it takes to get away w/his crimes. Argento scores a bunch of points w/what is essentially a Hitchcockian thriller told through his particular aesthetic w/gore to a minimum & a thoughtful Ennio Morricone score painting the proceedings.
Redacted (2007)
NOT OF ONE HIS BEST, BUT DESERVES A LOOK...!
A 2007 film written & directed by Brian DiPalma (The Untouchables/Sisters) dealing w/a rape & murder perpetrated by an American army unit serving in the Middle East. Utilizing footage shot by the resident who fancies himself a director in the making (he hopes his footage will enable a berth in a film school), the grunt catches the usual ebb & flow of life for soldiers in combat in a hostile zone (we see the drudgery of manning a checkpoint station where tragically, due to breakdown in communication, a pregnant woman is shot being rushed to the hospital) interspersed w/local footage (by an Al Jazeera facsimile) detailing the increasing resentment of the populace. During a raid into the city (under the suspicion weapons are being stored at a particular location), our soldiers, after interacting w/the residents, formulate a plan to come back & sexually assault the oldest daughter (thought up by a pair of rednecks, the clear alpha males of the bunch) which they do under protest from their own embedded superior (maligned as a college graduate who knows nothing of the world by his men) & reluctantly our hero director goes along w/the vicious crime. When the assault escalates to murder, the various alibis they have for each other (sans their commander who turns them in) soon prove to be their undoing w/the filmmaker killed by insurgents in a grisly fashion, videotaped for the world at large to witness. A companion piece to Casualties of War from 1988 which was based on real life events, DiPalma doesn't strike gold this time out (I remember the film was savaged in critical circles) but being one of few enfant terrible of the 60's still working today, the film deserves another look for reevaluation.
The Greatest Hits (2024)
HOKEY FOR HOKE'S SAKE...!
A brain dead romcom from this year currently streaming on Hulu. Lucy Boynton (from Bohemian Rhapsody & Sing Street) stars as a music aficionado (w/delusions of music producer grandeur) who goes through the day suffering from memories of her loved one's demise, newly cast Superman David Corenswet (who ironically looks like a shabby Henry Cavill here), in a car accident which now has affected Boynton perpetually wearing a set of cans on to curtail her incipient PTSD. The additional side effect of this audio stoppage has her travelling back in time (or maybe spurring long dormant memories she had w/Corenswet) which makes things tough after an encounter group for survivors, run by Retta, she meets a new guy, Justin H. Min, who may shake her out of her funk. When it's revealed her time travel is real (I kid you the 'f' not), I was so checked out that the filmmaker would actually embrace such a plot contrivance, I had to keep observing as if I was looking at firefighters using the jaws of life at a car accident. Watch at your own peril. Real life rock stars Bryan Ferry (maybe from a distance w/members of Roxy Music) & Nelly Furtado show up trying to give this music yarn some cred.
The River (1951)
COMPELLING TRAVELOGUE ONLY HAMPERED BY SOME SIDELINING...!
Jean Renoir's (Beauty & the Beast/Grand Illusion) 1951 story of a family of British expats living in India. Heard throughout the film via voice over is the younger daughter, Patricia Walters, who chronicles her family's jute farm as an injured soldier, Thomas E. Breen, comes to stay w/them which raises her amorous antenna as well of those of her sisters. Meanwhile the daughter of a servant, Melanie Burnier, has come to visit as well expanding Breen's prospects. Languid, lush & beautifully shot this film looks like a series of postcards come to life w/my only niggling complaint is the whitewashing of the affair where the indigenous people are kept at a distance limiting the scope of the universality of the tale.
Strange Bargain (1949)
NOIR MADE ON THE CHEAP...!
A tidy film noir (running 68 minutes) from 1949. An assistant bookmaker, Jeffrey Lynn, is trying to make ends meet so instead of getting the raise he just asked for from his boss, Richard Gaines, he instead gets let go due to the poor performance of the company but there may be an opportunity to make some dough if he comes to see him later tonight at his home. Flash forward to the meeting & Gaines has laid out a plan to off himself & w/the insurance money take care of his wife, Katherine Emery & son, Raymond Roe & all Lynn has to do is fire the shot from outside the window & get paid 10K for his troubles. Of course best laid plans never come to pass as the night in question Lynn finds Gaines dead in his den already so he has to think as fast as he can to rectify things as the police, led by Henry Morgan, come into the picture setting off an investigation & Lynn is in the crosshairs. Even Lynn's wife, Martha Scott, fears the worst when she finds his 10K hidden away in a closet but the real poop hits the fan as the true reveal of the killer comes about w/poor Lynn about to get his at gunpoint. The briskness of the exercise works wonders but the detriment in the acting & the lackluster lensing leaves this firmly on the sidelines w/better known noir fare like Double Indemnity stealing the spotlight in a similar told tale.
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
NEITHER DRAMA OR COMEDY DOES THIS WORK...!
An uneasy mix of politics & satire from 1945 starring Claude Rains & Vivian Leigh. Julius Caesar is about to set up camp in Egypt, he stands on the dunes surveying his new conquests w/the Sphinx looming in the background when a voice startles him from the darkness. Cleopatra reveals herself & she, not knowing who he is, engage in a conversation about the impending conquering army which will soon engulf the region. Once he introduces himself, their relationship soon becomes that of teacher & pupil, much like the writer's, the revered George Bernard Shaw's other screenplay Pygmalion (the basis for My Fair Lady). The bulk of the film is spent seeing Cleopatra, played by Leigh as a spoiled woman/child deferring any decisions to her nurse humorously named Fatatteeta (a running joke throughout the film is how the character's name is mispronounced) but who soon, much to Rains' chagrin, become the ruthless leader who will govern Egypt under Roman occupation. Neither working as drama or mirthful political comedy, the film, running over 2 hours wears out its welcome by its aimless narrative. Co-starring Stewart Granger as a merchant enlisted into Caesar's ranks & Michael Rennie (from The Day the Earth Stood Still) as one of the Roman centruions under Caesar's command.
Sanma no aji (1962)
OZU'S LAST FORAY INTO FILM...!
Yasujiro Ozu's last feature from 1962 finds him mining his usual ore of the older generation hoping to fix up the younger (marrying their daughters off) as modern Japan leaves traditions behind as the new modern world engulfs their world. Focusing on a group of old men who are more akin to a women's sewing circle than patriarchs, marriage is the topic of the day even though our lead, played by Chishu Ryu (who's played his share of fathers for Ozu), hopes during his meetings w/his old school buddies (who reminisce about their old teachers) to gain some clarity in his dilemma. One of their own turns out to not have been as successful as they are (he runs a noodle shop w/his daughter who missed her opportunity to marry) which further puts Ryu to contemplate the status of his unwed daughters. Bottom line, more of the same from the master who's preoccupation may infuriate some & charm others but being it is of a piece of all his work (my only niggling complaint is the absence of Setsuko Hara who usually is the bow on top of Ozu's cinematic presents), why mess w/perfection.
De slag om de Schelde (2020)
A GOOD WAR FLICK...!
A 2020 Netflix WWII drama which takes place in the European theater specifically in Netherlands & the Battle of the Scheldt. Focusing on a small group of characters; a family whose son causes an accident where a couple of Nazi troops are run over prompting his doctor father to intervene to plead his case to the German commandant when he's arrested while his sister finds her brother's camera which contains photos of key attack sites which she needs to get to the Canadian invasion force while some British soldiers in a glider unit crash land in country & have to get to safety before they're discovered. All of this gripping drama plays against the backdrop of the Germans, who are in the midst of retreat, trying to hold on before the inevitable. For me more interesting than last year's All Quiet on the Western Front remake, which also has a host of unknowns actors (except for Tom Felton of Harry Potter fame who plays the glider commander), forcing the audience to focus on what's going on in a particular skirmish most Americans would not have heard of.
Abigail (2024)
VAMPIRE FLICK LACKING BITE...!
A horror comedy currently in release. When a gang of kidnappers get a gig to snatch up a child ballerina, Alisha Weir, for some cash they get more than they bargained for when the tables are turned. Holding up at a cavernous locale, the bad guys which include Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand (currently in the new Apes movie), William Catlett, Kathryn Newton, the late, great Angus Cloud, Melissa Barrera (working w/the directors for the third time after appearing in the last 2 Scream flicks) who all answer to Giancarlo Esposito, settle in for the update where they'll find out if the job will bear fruit but then (& we have the film's trailer to thank) it's revealed Weir is a vampire she starts offing her captors one by one, even turning Newton into a night dwelling puppet to do her bidding as the dwindling survivors have to survive the night. I guess if I had not seen the trailer I may've had a better time w/this but even the outrageous blood splatter & outre humor never really filled my particular tank making this a diverting, for the cast, exercise in excess.
Borderline (1980)
REMARKABLY UNREMARKABLE BRONSON VEHICLE...!
A 1980 Charles Bronson vehicle. Bronson is a border guard in charge of one sector. He complains that traffic is up & his crew is at their breaking point even though a new recruit, played by the late, great Bruno Kirby has joined the ranks. One night a truck full of 'wets' is pulled over w/one of the coyotes, played by Ed Harris in his debut role, sits in the back of the truck armed, ready for the worst. The deputy, played by the late, great Wilford Brimley, gets the driver's papers but as is his way, he needs to see what he's hauling which ends up w/him being shotgunned to death by Harris who also kills a young migrant pulled from the cab along w/the driver. At first wanting to punt the deaths to the Feds or Narcos, Bronson is reticent to cede the case since Brimley was his friend. Bronson tracks down the boy's mother & brings her along to see if they can nab the coyote from the Mexico side (the original driver has since been killed w/drugs planted in his truck amplifying the drug angle) but after this gambit doesn't payoff, Bronson turns his attention to the head importer of labor in the area, played by Bert Remsen (who in turn works w/a white collar type played by Michael Lerner) who denies any wrongdoing but Bronson finds a boot print (the same print found at the murder site) so Bronson knows he's got his man so all he needs to do is to get all his ducks in a row (on Christmas day no less where the smugglers are being ambitious hoping to bring at least 2000 people across) coordinating his staff as they pick off all the returning trucks back to base w/Harris' capture a surety. Atypically methodical & slow moving for a Bronson vehicle on the cusp of the decade which would catapult him into action star infamy, the film's pace affords low dividends but dividends none the less. If you're in for a cool slow burn which doesn't resort to action movie tropes & at times quite thoughtful about the immigration issue, this film may tick off some boxes. Also starring John Ashton (from Beverly Hills Cop & its sequel) as one of Bronson's men, Kenneth McMillan (from the original Dune) as Bronson's boss & genre vet Charles Cyphers (from the original Halloween) as another of Bronson's men.
Lone Star (1952)
ENTERTAINING BUT DON'T THINK ON IT MUCH...!
Clark Gable stars in this 1952 Western which deals w/Texas's road to statehood. Boiling down to two different factions for & against annexation of Texas w/Andrew Jackson, the president at the time, played by Lionel Barrymore, getting Cable's help for the pro while Broderick Crawford stands against the action. Meeting during an Indian skirmish, Gable & Crawford actually manage to be civil to each other (no kidding!) but Cable doesn't divulge who he is & his agenda. Meeting Crawford's squeeze, Ava Gardner, Cable becomes enamored w/her but then Gable goes into motion on his plans which culminates in a tense standoff where Texas politicians, which includes Ed Begley, deliberate Texas's fate, as opposing forces are in the midst of battle. Entertaining to be sure but doesn't make a lick of sense when it comes down to the actual politics which took place at the time but the stars' charm make all of this nonsense go down handily like warm soup on a cold afternoon.
Mickey One (1965)
BEATTY FUNNY, WHO KNEW...?
Before reaching critical & commercial stardom w/Bonnie & Clyde, Warren Beatty & director Arthur Penn tested the waters w/this study of a lost entertainer trying to find himself in this 1965 feature. Beatty is a successful emcee/comedian but his enormous gambling debts have forced him to flee town. Arriving in Chicago, he manages to get his hands on a social security card which he parlays into a new identity gaining a job at a kitchen clearing out garbage but the smell of the limelight beckons him & he manages to get a booking agent & a berth at a club. When his agent gets ambitious & decides to get him a gig at a more prestigious joint, Beatty's fears start to return so he resists the position even though the owner of the establishment descends from on high to personally offer Beatty the slot. Shot on black & white, Penn elevates the material by using interesting shot compositions (Beatty gives a set on stage which is then intercut w/him doing the same material at a steam-bath) & quirky jump cuts giving the seedier environs of the Windy City a time gone by quality. You wouldn't think of Beatty as a comic (since up to that point in his career his looks afforded him some choice yet standard dramatic parts) but he comes into his own here leading to his meteoric stardom in a couple of years time. Co-starring Franchot Tone (once a star in his heyday in the 1940's) as Beatty's former boss & Jeff Corey as a booking agent at a club.
Mister 880 (1950)
GWENN STEALS THE SHOW...!
A comedy from 1950 starring Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire & Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn. Gwenn is a counterfeiter currently flooding his neighborhood w/fake dollar bills & apparently has been doing it for so long, at least 10 years, the treasury department has dubbed him w/the titular moniker. In comes Lancaster, an agent who has a rep for always getting his man, assigned to the case & w/a few men manages to make some headway when he catches Maguire, a translator who works for the UN, using one of the tainted bills which he hopes by wining & dining her will get him closer to Gwenn since Lancaster figures the bill was passed in her neighborhood which gets confirmation when some kids in McGuire's area unearth Gwenn's printer buried in a backlot. Billed as a comedy, the film is a bit more serious minded, maybe due to Lancaster's perf where he comes off as diligent minded in his task, but still Gwenn's affable little minter is still a winner w/the ambience of 50's New York always great to see in black & white.
The Big Caper (1957)
THE LONG CON...!
A film noir from 1957. Rory Calhoun is a master heist man but after hitting a brick wall because of some gambling losses he goes to his partner & money man, Barney Miller's James Gregory, w/his plight & concocts a long off job where they'll steal money from a military bank in a sleepy town whose windfall intrigues Gregory so he agrees. Calhoun, along w/Gregory's moll, Mary Costa, set up shop as it were posing as a married couple w/Calhoun buying a garage in town as cover. Time passes & various members of the crew begin to come together, especially a lush of a demolition expert, Robert H. Harris, posing as the couple's sickly uncle who stays w/them but his penchant for the sauce becomes an issue. Once the day arrives for the score to go down, Calhoun & Costa start to have feelings for each & more importantly want to get out of the game & go straight which prompts them to want to stop the theft. Will it work though? Calhoun packs a punch as his criminal everyman wants to keep pulling jobs but an aching sense of the norm starts creeping in coupled w/the actual extended set up of the caper makes this flick quite engaging as we know what will happen but it coming off w/o a hitch is a sight to see.
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
HARRYHAUSEN IS THE REAL STAR HERE...!
A sci-fi monster mash from 1957 featuring a star making turn by Ray Harryhausen's rampaging creature from Venus. A space craft crash lands near an Italian fishing village w/a couple of the astronauts saved before the ship sinks into the ocean. Unbeknownst to the surviving space explorer, a vial containing a Venusian embryo has been saved from the wreckage by the young son of one of the fishermen who sells the find to a visiting zoologist & daughter. That the beast feeds on sulfur & seems to grow at will brings the US military into the fray to contain the behemoth as it runs rampant through Rome culminating in a showdown on the Colosseum. Harryhausen's inventive creation is a feast for lovers of stop motion animation w/the brisk story-line running so fast one forgives the lack of nuance & dramatic heft.
Querelle (1982)
A BIT MUCH BUT THAT MAY BE THE POINT...!
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's last film (he would die of an overdose) from 1982 which involves an unsavory minded sailor on leave confronting his own homosexuality. Querelle goes to a brothel which has the unusual practice of having the johns gamble to see who they will eventually bed for the night (if the john wins, he'll sleep w/the madame of the house (played by the late, great Jeanne Moreau or if the client loses, he'll have to bed down w/her husband). Complicating matters is Querelle's strained reunion w/his brother & the various criminal schemes he has underway (a heroin deal, a theft involving his commanding officer played by original Django, Franco Nero) which only puts his eventual sexual liaison in perspective. Shot stylishly on a soundstage w/Fassbinder's usual penchant of having his actors perform his material w/the enthusiasm of a broken mannequin, the film (probably because it was a posthumous effort & his surviving partner had to fight producers to cut 30 minutes from the final release) still is an affecting treatise on the condition of our notions of sexual identity in a world (even today!) where it is still a much fraught over issue. Brad Davis, a particular favorite of mine since he starred & was nominated for Best Actor for the seminal Midnight Express, is this side of beefcake w/a chip on his shoulder giving the film its ambiguous heart in a landscape of artifice & expected masculinity.
Akibiyori (1960)
OZU AT HIS MOST GENTLE...!
Yasujiro Ozu's 1960 semi-sequel to his Late Spring (from 1949). Casting the same actress from his earlier effort, Setsuko Hara, where she played a woman whose father's machinations to marry her off become a nuisance since all she wants is to stay by his side, here she plays a widow w/a willful daughter whose friends of her late husband feel she's ready for marriage. As they gather one evening to preside over memorial rites for Hara's hubby, the businessmen suddenly decide her daughter is ripe for matrimony but the moment she hears this (especially when one of the tycoon's ambushes her w/one of his underlings who she just brushes off), she in no terms tells Hara for them to mind their business. As things keep getting prickly between the combatants, one of the men suggests one of their own court Hara (since he's a widower) in order to force the daughter to make a decision which backfires badly as the daughter's friend/co-worker gets fed up & tells her in no uncertain terms to grow up & pick a mate (or don't!) even though her prior brush off w/the underling comes around on his own. Finally exploding at Hara for all the romantic shenanigans, her daughter decides to leave the nest which doesn't last long as the film comes to an end & things work out for the best. Even when the daughter devolves into a shouting match at Hara, Hara is implacable, keeping whatever turmoil & anguish under lock & key, letting her innate decency rule the day. Not being very Ozu literate (this may be my fourth feature I've seen of his), it's refreshing to see how decent & low key his traits are even when decent people get caught up in their own forthrightness & w/simple straight forward compositions (the dialogue sequences are edited like the gentlest of tennis matches usually w/the speaker addressing the camera head on), the narratives tend to be easygoing & calming.
The Iron Claw (2023)
WATCH OUT FOR THE CURSE...!
A sobering drama from last year starring Zac Efron. Based on the tragic true story of the Von Erich brothers who under the rule of their paterfamilias, Holt McCallany, bought into his belief that were going to masters of the wrestling world sending each brother (Jeremy Allan White from the Bear, Harris Dickinson & Stanley Simons) into the ring even though the pressure was great due to the Von Erich curse. One brother had passed away when he was young & throughout the narrative a series of crushing physical & emotional defeats befall the family as their dream soon becomes so much taillights w/Efron the eye of the hurricane as he remains a witness to the going's-on w/McCallany's resolute blindness to success brushing aside his failures like so many bad choices. Playing out as the antithesis of the American dream where the attempt is made but something unseen & insidious takes hold of a family's psyche, the film which director Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) wisely lets play out as his camera remains planted as the tragedy unfolds like a modern day retelling of the story of Job. Also starring Maura Tierney as the mom of the family & Lily James as Efron's wife.
Eileen (2023)
A MISSED MARK...!
A pseudo-film noir from last year starring Thomasin McKenzie & Oscar winner Anne Hathaway. Taking place in a jail town in 1960's New England, McKenzie lives a lovely existence going to work as a check-in rep at jail for visitors, taking care of her drunkard ex-cop of a father, Shea Whigham & espying on the occasional couple in a sexual clutch at the local make-out spot where she gets off. Into this meager life comes Hathaway, newly hired as the prison shrink, which shakes her up since Hathaway is all glamor & dangling cigarettes where McKenzie is a perennial wallflower. Using the case of young murderer (who offed his dad) & his mom who wants nothing to do w/him as a point of interest both women comes to forge a friendship during the holidays which seems to be working out swimmingly until Hathaway imprisons the mother, Marin Ireland, in her basement which lures McKenzie in to handle things as the situation goes off the rails. Having all the building blocks in place, director William Oldroyd (who directed the excellent Lady MacBeth which put Oscar nominee Florence Pugh on the map) makes a mash of this story, adapted by Anthony Bregman from Ottessa Moshfegh's novel, never gelling the narrative in a satisfying manner w/some attempts at black humor w/running interludes of McKenzie offing Whigham (shades of Bud Cort's suicide attempts in Harold & Maude) which never work culminating in a ambiguous coda which had me smacking my forehead over.