Halloween 2009

Scream, if you want to.

Sure, if a guy is going to make a Halloween grocery list, he may want to publish it far enough ahead of the night in question — that's how recommendations work. That being said, I hardly think those who would concern themselves with a list of scarelicious movies (honestly, spooktacular is a bit overused) will be well versed as to not need another, let alone handcuff themselves by leaving scant days to track one down.

Be that as it may, and to put the brakes on this donnish de trop, here are a few titles I've enjoyed that aren't high on the depth chart but might just make your blood run cold, send a shiver down your spine, or maybe even spark a laugh:

Obvious Pick: Pumpkinhead
80's Slasher Pick: April Fool's Day
Wacky but Solid Mock Slasher Pick: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Subbed & Sinister Pick: Les Diaboliques
90's Slasher Pick: Scream
Tour de Force Period Piece Pick: Le Pacte des loups
Aught Slasher Pick: Friday the 13th
Good Clean Fun Pick: Trick 'r Treat
King of the Hill Pick: [REC]

Enjoy!

Late night — Double feature — Picture show:

Well, I had an entire review of Something Weird Video's crazy double feature release "Common Law Wife/Jennie, Wife/Child" but I left the room to whip up some food only to return to see my program crashed; all was lost.

In any event, "Jennie, Wife/Child" plays like it was pulled from a dusty stack of rejected 1950s social studies reel-to-reels made to discourage growing up too fast (read: gold-digging — in this case), as it portrays an ever so cute but stir crazy twenty-year-old Jennie (Beverly Lunsford) married to a middle–aged farm owner (Jack Lester). But the studly hired hand, Mario (Jim Reader), catches the lovely Jennie's eye, which leads to all sorts of hilarious tension. What's more, little Jennie becomes a tad possessive of Mario after he spends a drunken night in town with the "town tramp" Lulu (Virginia Wood), a bubbly blonde whose morals are a smidgen loose — to be kind. But the grizzled and somewhat bitter Mr. Peckingpaw is growing weary of Jennie's exploits. He has a plan. For an underground film made on a dirt cheap budget, there's a glimpse of some real substance to these characters. Intended or not.

The second movie, "Common Law Wife", isn't so educational-based in feel. It goes far beyond with a truer thriller plot. An old oil-rich skinflint named Shugfoot (George Edgely) suddenly realizes his live-in girlfriend, Linda, is far too old for him. Old Shug hatches a plan to bring his "blood niece" Jonelle (whom he calls Baby Doll) into town as a live-in caregiver — his ultimate goal of making her his lover. Yes, you read that correctly. Things become (even more) complicated for ol' Shug when Linda is informed there is something known as Common–law marriage; she now assumes the upper hand, as it were. But what's that saying about assuming stuff? Baby Doll is now back in town and she has an agenda all her own. This feature has a surprisingly solid ending.

Now — the disc has a hidden third feature entitled "Moonshine Love" (at one time known as Sod Sisters), which employs the thinnest and inanest of plots wrapped around two "sisters" who come to harbor an amnesiac, who unknown to them, was involved in a recent robbery. The two live in a mountain cabin with an older fellow who could be any or all degrees of relation — the three come to relish their visitor's presence until his accomplices finally track him to the area. This film features copious full-on nudity. To wit, a several minute scene where one sister gratifies herself in various ways with a large, irregular yam/potato! Believe it or not! I hope I didn't spoil it for anyone...

Common Law Wife is the only one really worth a watch if you're afforded the opportunity, but don't let the fact a couple of scenes in Jennie, Wife/Child (which supposedly shed more light on the "Baby Doll" character) didn't make the leap from video to disc — since it is a double feature DVD it's worth checking out.

Cookers (2001)

Hipster by half.

So I saw the 2001 nil-budget horror/thriller "Cookers" this past Tuesday on recommendation from Teresa Nieman over at Cult Iconic, and since I pretty much agree with what she has written, here's what she wrote.

I think the opening credit sequence perfectly sets a tempo for the movie; the distorted music gets our heads in the right place, director Dan Mintz's camerawork moves in measured fits around the vehicle and scenery, and the fish-eyed lens (somewhat comical in and of itself if you ask me) further distorts our introduction. The "Merle" character (coolly played by Patrick McGaw) steals the show. He's both barometer to the cloistered couple and rural raconteur whose half-ass ghost story essentially kicks-starts the movie in earnest.

Whether or not Cookers languishes in places or cops out of its horror theme is debatable, I guess, but it certainly is a gem in the genre and a must to rent, even against most of this year's major horror releases.

Paranormal Activity (2009, by way of 2007)

“I figured, well, sleeping at home is something you can’t really avoid. So if I can make people scared of being at home, Paranormal Activity might do something.”
– writer/director Oren Peli


Roughly a week after Paranormal Activity lit up screens in a handful of "college" markets, writer and director Oren Peli's preternatural horror film hit the road for its next leg of midnight showings. In my market, Minneapolis/St. Paul, you got two shots and out. Quite needless to mention, both screenings were sold out well in advance, as I discovered after a ticket snafu before Friday's show. Luckily, I had tickets good for Saturday to fall back on! This is one you want to see, and see early on in its run, preferably during its witching hour tour, as auds will be wholly receptive to both the film's brand of measured humor and its punishing dose of frustration and distress.

As far as the film itself, and without going into great detail, twenty-something (maybe early thirty-something) couple Micah & Katie are in the midst of investigating some bothersome happenings that have been intruding on their sleep, and for Katie, her mental well-being. Micah employs a phalanx of technology, consisting mainly of a stationary camera positioned in their bedroom to "catch" whatever it may be that's causing the rift. All of this is rather benign for the present. For Micah, it's a chance to flex his technological muscle, and for Katie it's hopefully a means to an end, and, well, let's face it, it's charmingly intrusive. Still, when sound sleep continues to evade them, she starts tolerating both the camera and Micah's increasingly flippant attitude toward their situation less and less. They soon resign to collecting their circumstances into a pitch of sorts should they employ outside help, namely a psychic, but even this becomes exhausting due to Micah's bravado and his dismissive-cum-menacing curiosity in the events. Which is what the couple does not need at the moment. And yes, it will turn very bad. But terrific for us.

Continuing to watching movies and write about them.

"F" is for ...

To continue to catching up, I moved on to Lars von Trier and on this film, namely Europa (orig. Zentropa), I refer you to an earlier post.

As far as the next selection, I.O.U.S.A. goes, it's a documentary (or exposé of sorts) that follows a couple of guys — one, a former executive at the Federal Budget Office, and another who currently runs a political awareness group which focuses on governmental budget issues. In this case the rampant over-obligating the United States has done over the past 60+ years. The F.B.O. guy was appointed by Bill Clinton and was fairly successful in that office, and the other guy is apolitical in the sense that he's just some joe who is understandably concerned that the U.S. financial system is not only headed for trouble, but has been heading toward said hurt for some time — regardless of how often and how emphatically some have pointed this out. It's really a non-bias doc and generally sticks to just the numbers, skewering most every administration going back to Abe Lincoln (or there abouts). I definitely recommended it and it also should probably be required viewing in public schools.

Now I finally saw the other two Michael Haneke films I had on my To See list — those being his adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Castle, and the equally enigmatic (or somewhat so) Le Temps du Loup, or Time of the Wolf. The Castle is expertly performed as Haneke films are wont to be, but it's ever so dry; devoid of almost all real drama or distress (usually attributable to his films) until the very ending. If you've read the book, skip the next couple sentences. In The Castle, a nondescript man wanders into a bureaucratic Wonderland while trying to escape the blistering winter's cold. He discovers, through no effort on his part, that the more inflexible and demanding he is the more people seemingly strive to help him out! But all is not what it seems for our dear wanderer as he becomes a pawn in a game of his own making. Haneke film number second concerns a family of four fleeing to a vacation home amidst an unexplored disaster which forces people out of their respective cities. The family in question arrives at their cabin but finds another family has taken up residence and are unwilling to relent. A confrontation erupts which leaves the family with little choice but to flee.

A theatrical viewing from the past two weeks was Saw contributor Marcus Dunstan's The Collector, and there isn't a hell of a lot to say about it besides to note that I haven't been so bored at a movie since 30 Days of Night. Pass — on both screens.

Now onto something I patiently waited to arrive in Region 1 format; the simply incredible 5 Centimeters Per Second or, 5 Centimeters Per Second: a chain of short stories about their distance. It's actually three stories anastomose (thank you Langenscheidt Thesaurus!) revolving around childhood friends Takaki and Akari, who eventually move away from each other yet wind up going to great lengths to see each other again. The second and third acts are hinged on the continued travels of Takaki, his family moving from town to town, school to school, and how he eventually meets another girl later in life. Only he becomes introverted, wayward, and a bit despondent into adulthood over his idyllic memories. It's fairly moody from afar, for a semi-romantic drama, but it is entirely approachable as the movie moves on. The animation alone is worth a viewing.

And I'm just about caught up. The last title here is Orson Welles' F is for Fake. A genre-less doc (unless one wanted to tag it as mockumentary), Welles spins a story of an art counterfeiter named Elmyr who isn't a counterfeiter but actually is, and his immediate circle of friends and fellow confidence men (and by this I mean they hardly lack confidence) celebrate Elmyr to no end, that is, again, when he is not celebrating himself. The group waxes nostalgic over their varying triumphs; from expertly duping (or not) Howard Hughes and Pablo Picasso (or not) and countless unnamed art patrons — all the while living spectacularly simple yet indulgent lives. Welles is a righteous storyteller and most expert narrator as he travels between continents putting on his show not only for us, the audience, but for anyone who seems willing to imbibe, nosh, or contribute to Orson's grandiose tale. Highly recommended.

Watching movies and writing about them.

Uzumaki

If someone were to name a completely outlandish film that is very firmly contained in its own world, it would have to be Higuchinsky's Uzumaki. The spiral–fetish effort makes me think of cornball B-movies like Pychomania, House, and The Ice Cream Man which also play to the funny bone as much as they intend to frighten. Cue warped carnival tones. It's fantastic and ridiculous. Whatever pseudo–science which acted as a jumping off point will find no quarter in Higuchinsky's effort, although said point will no doubt be unaware it has been usurped.

As my first Ingmar Bergman film, Through A Glass Darkly was a pleasant surprise considering I had always considered Bergman as the height of pretension — to see a Bergman was to go, as it were, through the looking glass. But I made it through the film very much unscathed, so kudos to me, I guess. As I jumped right back on the horse with the aforementioned spiral-themed movie. Also very much a self-contained film, fans of other claustrophobic works like Glengarry Glen Ross, The Lifeboat (I think that's the title of the Hitchcock movie from his British days), this one may not be for you. It was alright.

Now this one I caught on television over the weekend... The Love Letter (1999). I have to preface by saying it was the only non-infomercial thing on television when I took a break from everything I was tackling around the home — but yeah, I watched it. The gist is, it revolves around a comedy of errors involving an unsigned love letter found, then read, by a woman who mistakes to be a declaration to her from a certain guy in her past. The guy in question then happens upon the letter and mistakes it to be from her! And continuing in this mold, a second woman does likewise, and in turn another guy in the small town reads into the letter, and so on, until wacky and awkward fumbling gives way to heavier issues towards film's end. A prototypical television movie. Possibly one of the titles to be featured on my upcoming, yet undefined, post on the subject of television movies. Surprisingly it's not a terrible movie. But at the same time, yes, it's terrible.  

District 9 has some pretty killer CGI and the premise is alright, if not a bit worn. The full extent of its premise was given away in the trailer so there's little mystery — the remainder is faux verite, small scale warring between humans and aliens; humans that want the aliens to be somewhere away from them, and aliens who either want to go nowhere or home. It's most definitely a big screen movie, which is unfortunate because it's not much more than rental worthy. If I were one or both of those insufferable At The Movies critics named "Ben", I say Skip It.

Lilya, left behind.

The last film for today is Lilya 4-Ever, the grim tale of degeneration and sadness. Set in Russia and closely based on the actual events of a girl named Lilya (characterized here by Oksana Akinshina). Lilya is pumped up to be moving to America with her mother and her mother's boyfriend and she shouts it to everyone who will listen; The few friends she has are rightly sad she is leaving, but happy all the same because she will be leave the quasi-wasteland they call a town behind. But it wasn't meant to be, it seems. In a shocking move, her mother abruptly tells Lilya that she and her boyfriend will be going on ahead without her, yet will send for her after they are settled — Lilya knows better, and this is the first hit her physiognomy (a favorite term of Dostoevsky btw). The first of many successive blows. In between drunken binges and bags of glue, she holds out hope that her mother's call will come. Alas, a letter does soon arrive but it doesn't contain the words Lilya had hoped to read. It's not a great film, but it is a powerful one that I'd put in the same arena as Irreversible, I Can't Sleep, and anything by Catherine Breillat.

Europa (1991)

"Two. Your hands and your fingers are getting warmer and heavier."

I finally get around to seeing the third and final installment in Lars von Trier's Europa Trilogy and I can't help but wish I had left it a duology. Sorry Lars. Brilliant through two. It's not that Europa is a terrible film or badly made, on the contrary, it's as well conceived as the first two and purposefully shot, if not a touch funny in places, and the opening (and sporadic) narration courtesy Max von Sydow's dulcet tone is pure von Trier, yet the plot is uninspired compared to Epidemic and Element of Crime, maybe that's the reason why it fell a little flat. That, and I've been extremely weary of WWII-related films for some time now. You hear that, Inglorious Basterds?

Simpan (Judgement, 1999)

After seeing Park Chan-wook’s third film Simpan, I asked myself “What am I to take from this?” I didn’t have an answer that satisfied me. Or more to the point: one that satisfied what I had just seen. So what can I point to or parse that will do the explaining for me? Well, the film is as dynamic a film as I’ve ever seen; what does a family do in the face of being let down by a communal promise, and to what lengths would or should they go to find security? What would one’s responsibility and/or duty be when confronted with an opportunity for security? When does one stand up regardless of consequence? Chan-wook asks all these questions and more during his 26-minute human drama in which a family is summoned to a morgue under the most horrible of circumstances. A couple is called upon to view and identify someone who has been determined to be a long since runaway child killed during a general state of societal unrest. As it happens, there isn’t foul play involved as far as one can tell, yet a media representative and his cameraman, who are presumably documenting the unrest, join the aforementioned couple and the mortician (played by veteran actor and R-Point player Gi Ju-bong) for the determination.

The general unrest outside the confines of the morgue soon finds its way inside as the nameless mortician becomes distressed that the dead woman may in fact be his own missing daughter; an official soon arrives to our new world in an attempt to clear the matter up, but sides are taken and tempers flare. I’ll refrain from detailing the remainder of the story, but suffice it to say, Chan-wook resolves the issue in stunning fashion; with a bizarre blow then a profound portrait of humanism.

Simpan's title screen and promotional poster.

In the end, Simpan (loosely, “Judgement” – quite possibly closer to “arbiter”) impressed upon me that this may have been born as a Chan-wook original play, made for stage, then adapted (obviously) because the movements are so precise, economy of motion so observed that most of the dialogue dissipated afterward. I recall thinking the same thing after seeing Park Chan-wook’s Three…Extremes segment “Cut”. An unusual thing to say, I know, then again I was one of the few who actually liked Cut.

Simpan / Judgement

Speaking of Park Chan-wook films, New York Magazine has made his 1999 short film Simpan (Judgement) available to watch for free. A giant Thank You to the fine folks at NYM —— and to 1–Minute Film Review [website] for directing me to it! Enjoy.

Letter from "Thirst" Director Park Chan-wook

Park Chan-wook's letter to Landmark Film Club members who will soon be seeing Thirst on the big screen in one of the following cities soon: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Washington DC. I suspect it's not so exclusive of a letter, a bit form letter-ish, but an interesting piece nonetheless. I also had the opportunity to win a Blu-ray player concurrent to the film's theatrical release! In any case, here's the letter:

I didn’t set out to make a vampire film. Having grown up in a Catholic family, I had a feeling that there would come a day when I would make a film with a priest as the main character. But what kind of priest would he be? What kind of things would happen to him?
One day, while watching old vampire films, a thought came to my mind. What would happen if vampire’s blood enters into the body of someone whose vocation has him living close to the cross? The thought developed like this: Why are priests only portrayed as the vampire hunters? What’s to say priests can’t be vampires?

Then I read the novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. It is a story in which a man falls in love with a friend’s wife, and together, they murder the friend. How hard-boiled it was! So much so that it made me think, if I ever became a novelist it would be exactly the novel that I would want to write. But that novel had already been written by Zola, so what should I do? Turn it into a film…

That’s how the story of Thirst came into being. A priest most noble and pious, because of his very faith, volunteers for a human experiment to develop a new medicine. As might be expected, he contracts a dangerous disease. He needs a blood transfusion. But the blood that gets transfused must have been vampire’s blood. Because he so loved mankind, he unwittingly ended up turning into an entity that cannot but take and drink the blood of others. Then he gets invited to a friend’s house. Of course, it’s a dinner invitation, since the priest can no longer traipse around during the daytime. Of course, at that house awaits a beautiful woman. And again of course, she is the friend’s wife…

                   - Park Chan-wook

Kim Ki-duk's "Time" (2006)

As a quick note, "Time" is the directorial convergence of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Charisma meets Miike's Detective Story meets Ki-duk's own Bad Guy — a certain amount of grit used to paint a beautiful and harrowing picture. Story-wise, the film is a confluence of relationship dualities (some quite literally), as well as employing a continuity/paradoxical question a la Song Il-gon! Watching the film in progress, it's hard to believe this is the same director that gave us the visually sumptuous 3-Iron, but there is no doubt that this is pure Kim Ki-duk. His lead characters are once again emotionally nude and fragile but courageous in practice and honest enough to admit it. In Time's case, these characters often put themselves in peril before they come to said realization. And this, of course, is why it hurts so.

Yella (2007)

Yella (Nina Hoss) trailed by her lout of a husband Ben (Schönemann).

Simply put, and in lieu of a full review; "Yella" might not be the most uniquely proposed or sunniest of films out there, but there is no doubt that it's an engaging little existential drama. Simone Bär's screenplay incorporates a strong mixture of contemplation and intuition to support its plot and thoroughly convince audiences, even in reflection. That being said, this film has drawn comparisons to several earlier films — none more than a certain 1962 film. I believe it stands up well and can be considered a genuine effort.

First film for me from Germany-centric director Christian Petzold. Recommended.