Saving Face ~ A. Wu (2004) Wil is a surgical resident constantly being set-up with members of her Chinese-American community in NY, except she's a lesbian. She meets a dancer and starts a relationship, but also finds her widowed mother moving into her apartment after causing scandal by being pregnant at 48 and unwed. She struggles to help her mother deal with her "scandal" while also being wary of creating her own by coming out. This is a very well-done romcom. It hits a lot of typical romcom beats, but layers on Wil's intersectionality as gay and Chinese-American nicely to create some unexpected moments. The cast is quite good including Joan Chen as the pregnant mother, but Michelle Krusiec was terrific as Wil blending her put-upon yet loving daughter with an anxious but not naive girlfriend. It's a main character that isn't cliche despite the romcom tropes the film runs through.
Shakespeare in the Park #8: Hamlet The Bad Sleep Well ~ Kurosawa A. The press crash a wedding banquet for Nishi and his boss's daughter Yoshiko. They're expecting an arrest of a high ranking official and watch from the wings pointing out the key players in a potential corruption suit between Public Corp. and Dairyu Construction. A cake of a building with an ominous rose sticking out of one window puts many on edge. We soon learn that Nishi isn't who they think he is, and he's out for revenge. As a condemnation of corporate greed and corruption, this film works pretty well. The opening scene is beautifully crafted as a thriller and a lot of the revenge plot early on is great. It's been a while since I've seen Hamlet, though, and I'm not sure this is drawing that much from the play. The second half of the film isn't as good. There are a lot of drab scenes in a ruined factory that kind of spin their wheels with the scheming and plotting told and not shown until we get a fitting but unsatisfying end.
The Maltese Falcon (1931) If you've been a private dick as long as Sam Spade and Miles Archer, then you're no sap. And they knew Ruth Wonderly was feeding them a line about looking for her runaway sister who's taken in with a sinister man. But two hundred dollars is two hundred dollars, and you have to roll with it until you know the score. Besides, she's a doll and it wouldn't hurt to be around her a while longer. But Archer is bumped off, and now Spade gets visits from gun-toting torpedoes looking for what Ruth has. Spade has to thread the needle of killers who might want to deal, all while keeping the bulls at arm's length. The 1941 Maltese Falcon is perennial benchmark in quality of acting, directed with the style that made it an icon in its genre of films. A celebrated classic, and I agree with the accolades placed on it. The 1931 version had the theatrical style acting of its age, pedestrian filming, and as a shorter, cheaper movie it frequently exposited events we actually saw in the later film. But you know what - I had more fun watching this version. Here Sam Spade is an absolute bastard and complete cad, and it made the actions and motivations of the character more consistent. Ruth Wonderly gains some layers, both better using feigned helplessness and adding the ability to more directly use her physicality in ways that couldn't be done post-Code. I burst out in a big smile more than once at the little touches that explain the characters. It also contains the cheekiest symbolic sexual euphemism I've seen in film. Can't say it uses its San Francisco setting in any particularly interesting way.
Pressure [2026] A very solid cast and a very interesting movie from historical perspective, but just landed flat for me. Fraser and Lewis were all wrong for their roles.
Dead Calm (1989) Dir. Phillip Noyce Rae and John Ingram are a married couple having to deal with a bereavement, as their young child died in a traffic accident in which Rae was also seriously injured. Some time later, the pair are taking a trip across the South-Pacific in their yacht the Saracen, with John especially hoping that it will aid in Rae's grieving process. After weeks of not encountering many other vessels, they come across a schooner that seems in trouble. This is confirmed when a panicked man rows to their boat from the schooner in a dingy. The man in question, Hughie, comes aboard the Saracen with a story about how he is the sole survivor on his ship, with the other five passengers having succumb to botulism caused by eating spoiled canned salmon. Both Hughie's story and manner seem suspect to John, an experienced naval officer. Whilst Hughie is resting in one of the cabins on board the Saracen, he uses the dingy to go investigate the scuttled schooner. And he finds various bodies on board, though none that have died from an illness. Instead all of them wear the marks of violence. Only before he can return to the Saracen, Hughie has figured out his deception has failed, has overpowered Rae and fled with the Saracen. It is left to John to save his wife, with only a damaged boat at his disposal to do so. With the sad news of Sam Neill's passing, I had wanted to revisit one of his movies. I had seen this one multiple times in my high school years, though probably not in 25 or more years at this point. It's a tidy little thriller that helped get Nicole Kidman noticed stateside. Sam Neill is great, especially if you consider that he has to act alone on a boat for much of the middle section of the film. Though it was actually seeing the young Kidman that left the stronger impression. I am not a huge fan of her more recent work, mostly because she has reached a point of her career where I struggle to see past her performance, somewhat experiencing all of her roles as Nicole Kidman. But in her on-screen aura and energy here, it is quite obvious how she was meant for superstardom. Of the three principals, Billy Zane is the weakest, not really elevating his sardonic psychopath above genre cliches. Famously, Orson Welles at one point had the rights to the book of the same name, and was working on his own adaptation, The Deep, for several years, though it was never released.
Shakespeare in the Park #9: Henriad, Merry Wives of Windsor Chimes at Midnight ~ O. Welles (1965) Orson Welles plays Falstaff, disreputable friend and father-figure for Prince Hal. Sure he will be in the Prince's good favor once he becomes king, Falstaff drunkenly lies, cheats, and steal through life. A well-shot adaptation with solid acting and delivery throughout. The black and white photography is striking and Welles's visage is full of depth and shadow. Welles clearly loves embodying the character of Falstaff. He had apparently been working on a combination play of these works for 30+ years. The film works as a solid story from Falstaff's perspective. You can see how My Own Private Idaho was influenced by this work, and I appreciate that adaptation the more for it.
Merry Wives of Windsor has become my favorite Shakespeare comedy as Falstaff, deprived of Hal's patronage, has to find for himself. Only the titular wives see his schemes coming and turn the tables on him, twice. Hilarity ensues. The legend is that Queen Elizabeth loved Falstaff and ordered Shakespeare to write another play, this time with Falstaff as the lead. Only she gave him just two weeks to write the play. Shakespeare "retaliated" with Windsor and making Falstaff the butt of the jokes.
Shakespeare in the Park #10: Henry V (preview France vs. England) The King ~ D. Michod (2019) Strip the language from Shakespeare's Henry V and turn it into a well-made but standard period piece. Instead of Welles's mooch Falstaff, Joel Edgerton imagines Falstaff as a war veteran and military tactician who is Hal's only friend in a court full of doubters. I think the parts between Edgerton's Falstaff and Chalamet's Henry are pretty good. Some of the minor characters, particularly Pattinson's ridiculous Dauphin are less good.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence ~ Oshima N (1983) Lawrence is a British POW in Japanese-occupied Java. Able to speak Japanese, he tries to keep the peace between the POWs and captors. The arrival of new POW, Celliers (David Bowie), causes trouble as the camp leader Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto Ryuichi) becomes infatuated with him. Kind of a grim war story, focusing on the loss of humanity between captor and captive with only brief reprieves when they recognize each other.
Star Blazers season 3 (1984) [25 episodes, based on Uchū Senkan Yamato III (1980)] The Argo has been repaired after the events of season 2, and not a moment too soon. A fierce galactic-level war is taking place, and Earth has become an unwitting victim. A proton missile launched as part of a battle a dozen light years away has hit the Sun, causing an imbalance in its nuclear reactions. Due to its expansion, in about a year the Earth will be too hot for life to exist. The Space Force is tasked with finding a new planet for humanity. But Derek Wildstar and crew have to navigate the two sides of the war - one very familiar, and one totally unknown. And the have to learn the secret of the one thing both sides fear - the spreading pacifist religion of Queen Guardiana. Star Blazers is a redub of the original Japanese Space Cruiser Yamato TV show and while done for the purpose of making a kids program kept the translation surprisingly straight. They censored references to alcohol, but kept in the very large number of images of people getting shot and blown apart. The first two seasons of Star Blazers is probably the most defining TV show of my youth, and I was lucky to be in the one place in America it was shown first. But season 3 wasn't produced until years later, and never given real distribution. This is my first time seeing it. And of course my nostalgia fogged brain loved it. I will never never stop smiling when I hear the theme song. I really enjoyed the middle where they were trying to figure out the mystery of the Bolar Federation. The Bolar are a pretty clear reference to the Soviets given some rather sophisticated lines about the tactics of their expansion, and the producers helpfully and amusingly gave them Russian accents. While nothing can come close to the emotion of the extended climax of season 2, the season 3 ending had a good amount of tension, surprise, sacrifice, and bittersweet comeuppances. And I appreciate that we get a different take on the deus ex mulier magica ending that is a trademark of the show.
Shakespeare in the Park #11: Richard III Richard III ~ L. Olivier (1955) Laurence Olivier stars, directs, and produces. Richard III is a great showpiece for a villain, but this production is not it. While I didn't care for voice-over narration of internal monologues in Polanski's Macbeth, I also find Olivier's 4th-wall breaking monologues to the camera equally unengaging. There are a few moments after each monologue where the camera will move to follow a shadow and remember the medium rewards visual story-telling, but these moments are brief afterthoughts following long shots lacking any dynamism. If the blocking made it an interesting stage experiment, that would be an excuse, but that wasn't noteworthy. Olivier's Richard is also just cartoonishly evil ala Snidely Whiplash. It's all surface-level without any real feeling of deep maliciousness the portrayal deserves.
Chungking Express Year: 1994 Platform: Criterion Summary: Two people give their perspective on love while also navigating daily life Rating: 8/10 I have a thing for pre-CCP Hong Kong. Have since I was a teenager. So these movies are a great window into that world, even if it's fiction. But this was a vibe type of movie. I will say though that when Faye Wong (Who is a great musician and has a wonderful cover of a Cranberries song) appears, she has a presence. Something I rarely say about musicians or actors. Fun movie though.
In most productions of Henry V the Dauphin and the French in general are shown to be completely ludicrous. I saw one production where the French were in platform shoe (think a good six inches) rollerskates. Ludicrous. It really is the only word I can think of for them.
incidentally, Flastaff got his name from Sir John Fastolfe, who was a pretty capable general and soldier, not at all a figure of fun... He is sort of the inventor of armored vehicle tactics, albeit with supply wagons, which was what he had to work with, back in Jeanne D'Arc's time..
Shakespeare in the Park #12 ~ Hamlet Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead ~ T. Stoppard (1990) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are stuck off-stage in an existential quandary questioning why they are there as the events of Hamlet unfold around them. Shakespeare meets Beckett in Tom Stoppard's film based on his play, and I loved this so much. The word play is terrific, and Tim Roth and Gary Oldman the perfect odd couple to bicker, spar, and commiserate. The direction is very good as well, using the set to make the castle a maze (or prison). It's comedy at its darkest as the pair move towards their preordained end. That wraps up my Shakespeare adaptation challenge: https://boxd.it/VgPp8. Even if I didn't love all of them, I enjoyed the variety and considering what I found effective and not in the different approaches. Thankfully, there are plenty more adaptations to go again next year. No theme for August, but Sci-Fi September, Macabre October, Noirvember, and Family Holiday Action Movie Fest Part Deux are all queued up.
Violent Road (1958) Dir. Howard W. Koch After a deadly accident at a rocket plant causes multiple fatalities in a nearby town, the production facility needs to be moved. For the town itself, with many of its inhabitants working for the plant, it's an economical devastation. For the plant owner, Mr. Nelson, it means he has limited time to move his production to the new location, or lose the government contract if the delay is too substantial. His primary problem is finding truckers willing to move the components used in their rocket fuel within the deadline. The job is considered too risky to be taken up by any respectable and semi-respectable trucking company. Mitch Barton, recently let go from one of the less respectable ones, sees an opportunity: he offers his services to Nelson, in exchange for 30K at the other side of the job, as well as getting to keep the three trucks with which the chemicals will be moved. Barton finds five other men equally desperate for the opportunity: one of the plant scientists who lost his family in the recent disaster. An alcoholic old soldier who is looking for a new purpose in life. A young mechanic with dreams of studying engineering. A compulsive gambler who wants to use the 5K he is looking to make to move to Las Vegas. And a hotshot young driver, who wants to use the money to help his burned out, former college football star older brother. The first American remake of Le Salaire de la Peur. Unfortunately Howard W. Koch does not show himself to be a Clouzot here. Or a Friedkin, for that matter. Brian Keith is not a terrible lead, but he is no Yves Montand. The movie lacks much of the suspense of the original. The most noticeable difference to the French classic however is what fuels the original: the desperation of the men involved in the suicide mission. In the Clouzot film this is palpable in almost every frame. It is the beating heart of the movie. Here, not only is that aspect lacking, the movie fails to properly convey the dangers of the operation. Or why they would even agree to do this (in the original the men have no other good or even bad options whereas here most of the participants could just find another job). And somehow it manages to end on a whimper. Outside of Keith, also features Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as the most tragic among the doomed men. A man who members of my generation will probably primarily know from his voice work on Batman: The Animated Series. He voiced Alfred Pennyworth on that.
Dead Man's Wire [2025] Never heard about this story, so glad I got to at least learn about it. Now what Al Pacino was doing in this movie I have no idea.
l'Engloutie (2025) Dir. Louise Hémon The turn of the 19th century, Hautes-Alpes. In the Winter before the new century arrives, Aimée Lazare arrives in a small village, Soudain, high up in the Alps, to become the new school teacher to the small number of children in the community. As many of the able-bodied women are spending the Winter months working as servants for some of the wealthy families in the valley, Aimée is one of the few women in the community, not counting a handful of old women and some female children she is charged with in her classroom. Aimée struggles to adapt to the isolated community's own ways in terms of superstitions, rituals and even dialect. Though she eventually does integrate herself somewhat in their community. Her hidden sexual desires add another dynamic to her solitude. Then strange things start occurring in the community, that disturb the peace and put extra strain on Aimée as the outsider and newcomer. On a surface level, this was set up to be movie in the vein of The Wicker Man, or more recently movies like Midsommar, The Ritual or Apostle. All movies about an outsider or outsiders settling in or being confronted with an insular and isolated community, discovering its strange habits and rituals and ultimately realizing the danger they are in. With The Wicker Man, this movie also has in common that the protagonist represents modernity and rational authority entering a community governed by a completely different set of rules. Only director Louise Hémon cleverly puts the trope on its head somewhere around the midpoint of the movie. A film-maker reared in documentary features, her camera has something of a vérité style here too, with occasionally very beautiful nighttime photography, much of what goes on on screen is left up to the audience's interpretation. So much so that one's estimation of the events in the film can range from the supernatural to the extremely mundane. Extremely good lead performance from Galatéa Bellugi. Many of the minor parts are played by locals of the area instead or professional actors, adding to the raw realism of the piece. Very enjoyable bit of film-making.
Love Letter ~ Tanaka K. (1953) A veteran, Reikichi, struggles in post-war Japan pining over a pre-war romance. He runs into a friend who invites him to work at his shop translating and writing letters to American GIs from the women they've left behind. One day Reikichi hears a familiar voice in the shop belonging to Michiko, the woman he'd searched for all this time, sending a letter to a GI. Criterion released an Eclipse set of Kinuyo Tanaka's directorial collection, and I picked it up during the 50% sale this month. Tanaka was a famous actress, but pivoted to add directing during a time when female directors were non-existent in Japan. This film is her debut, and it's quite good. There are interesting shots and framing, not wholly consistent, but frequent enough to appreciate. The story has some great beats and social commentary. Reikichi is hung up on Michiko's past, but his friend gives him a great smackdown for being a jerk. There's a message of hope that people can forgive and move forward. Also, I enjoyed the brother's book-selling hustle which is kind of a light-hearted side story throughout, but also shows an optimistic post-war life that can have joy in it in contrast to Reikichi's melancholy.
The Retreat (2021) The blurb on GayB&B said it was an oasis from the city, which was enough for Valarie to drag her girlfriend Renee to meet her gay college friend Gavin and his fiancé for a getaway. But when they get there they don't see the guys. After a walk in the woods, they come back to see their car missing. Worse, the camera keeps pointing at things and playing ominous music. Oh crap. They are in a horror movie. Once more finding out that the word "hunt" in a movie synopsis does not promise a Most Dangerous Game movie, I instead sat through this slasher of the most linear variety. The ominous music thing was the worst part - I felt like I was watching a bloody version of Blue's Clues. I would like to assure directors it would be a heck of a lot more unnerving for the viewer to catch the little weird things on their own without the blatant signposts. There is zero subtext, zero characters, and very little clever in this film so it isn't my bag, but it's competently acted and directed and filmed (if you have a quality screen that can handle a large number of near-black scenes) and if you like seeing people repeatedly blubber before dying or not dying you could do a heck of a lot worse. Some gore, but not at a level where I had to hide my eyes.
The Girl in Black Stocking (1957) Dir. Howard W. Koch The body of a badly mutilated young woman, identified as local playgirl Marsha Morgan, unsettles a small Utah town and its Sheriff. Sheriff Holmes quickly zeroes in on the staff and guests at a nearby lodge, owned and managed by brother and sister Edmund and Julia Parry. Edmund is a cynical, embittered wheelchair bound man who can be casually cruel to the people around him. His sister Julia is tasked with his care. Sheriff Holmes starts to investigate some of the men staying at the lodge, as well as those men with romantic interests in Marsha. Holmes knows he is on a short deadline, quite literally, as it is the estimation of the pathologist who investigated the body that the kind of killer capable of such savagery will almost certainly kill again. Among Holmes' suspects are attorney David Hewson, there on vacation, who whilst having been coveted romantically by the murder victim has more interest in Beth, an attractive member of staff at the lodge. As well as Frankie, a local lumber mill worker who also had a romantic entanglement with Marsha. And then there is a mysterious new arrival at the lodge, a Joseph Felton, who checked in on the morning after the murder and immediately attracts the Sheriff's attention. Noirish B-movie murder mystery, primarily interesting for the female cast, which includes among others Anne Bancroft, Marie Windsor (legend of 1950s noir) and Mamie Van Doren. John Dehner is decent as Sheriff Holmes, Ron Randall appropriately unpleasant as the the lodge proprietor. Shot on location in Kanab Utah, where the Parry lodge is a real-life location that exists to this day. A pre-Bonanza Dan Blocker has a small part as the lodge's barman.
I had brunch at the Party last October. Kanab is a cute little town with lots of film history, and one of my best friends runs the Buckskin Tavern just across the Arizona state line from there less than a 10min drive away. I will have to track down this film.