Reviews

I have always seen silent films as comedies such as those of Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd. I had not seen the more serious works. Having seen "The Unknown" on television, I never imagined that I would have been moved by a silent film. Lon Chaney's expressions are so clear and jump out of the screen at you. He conveys a mixture of anger, sadness, and seething hatred hiding underneath a forced smile. It is all in his eyes. Also, you see a young, fresh faced Joan Crawford, as the beautiful assistant to Chaney's supposedly armless knife thrower. The lovely assistant has issues where she is afraid of men's arms which is why she is so at ease around Chaney who has a shady past and keeps some strange secrets to himself, including his desire to "own" his lovely assistant. The lengths that he goes to are unbelievable and disturbing. Who would expect less from Tod Browning. This was a fascinating, effective film work.

French director, Louis Malle's "Lacombe, Lucien" is an honest film about one young man's journey into accidentally becoming a Nazi collaborator during occupied France in the 1940s. Pierre Blaise was not an experienced actor when selected to portray the titular character. This could have been disastrous in most instances but Malle's instincts pay off. Blaise's boyish looks and blank stare are the perfect mix in pulling off the tabula rasa that is capable of evil if the circumstances are right. Lucien works as an orderly and helps out at a farm where his mother is shacking up with the owner while his father is in a German prison camp. He goes through life doing chores and farm work taking delight in killing animals whether it is for food or just for something to do (as in the scene where he kills a song bird out of boredom). This rugged, survivalist approach to life is ideal for a life on the farm in the country, however; the world has changed and after being rejected by his teacher to join the Resistance, Lucien seeks to find his place and purpose. By accident, he has a tire puncture on his bike and finds himself at the collaborator headquarters after curfew. Lucien is accepted by them and given drinks, prestige, money, and fine clothes especially after inadvertently turning in the school teacher who had previously rejected him. Taking to this newfound prestige, Lucien uses his power over a Jewish tailor and his family to court the tailor's beautiful daughter, France, and holds the fact that he can turn them in anytime he likes to force them to accept him and to woo France. Lucien is such a misfit that he has no concept of family and thinks bullying his way into their lives will make them accept them. In a strange way, they begin to grow on each other. The tailor even says, "No matter how hard I try, I find it difficult to dislike you." to him. Even in his very limited way, Lucien grows to care about them but can only go so far as he is completely devoid of emotion when consoling France and forces her into sex after she becomes hysterical about her father being sent away. This film conveyed what is the most troubling about this period of history which is that the people who collaborated were regular people who only cared about getting prestige even though it was temporary and it was hollow and devoid of any integrity. They dance, drink, laugh it up and listen to both the German and English news and "split the difference" in order to get a semblance of the truth. One aspect of these scenes was the Great Dane. The way the dog is filmed it was as though he is subtly performing. Sitting quietly, leading Lucien up the stairway and offering a consoling paw to an upset France. The other intriguing character is that of the hotel maid. A homely looking woman whose face shows a life of hardship, reveals upon initiating Lucien into losing his virginity that she is biding her time until the Americans win which is a certainty, only to hurl anti-semitic insults at France upon seeing her with Lucien. This hatred was not borne of any nazi sympathies but rather her frustration at the fact that France has beauty, youth and is treated as an equal for the party and most of all she has Lucien's affections. Despite the maid's strong feelings for Lucien, he has no feelings for her or most people. His show of affection is throwing money at them whether it is his concerned mother or the Tailor's family after being hurt by him. Up to a tragic conclusion that is merely mentioned in text on the screen, the film is powerful in its' simplicity whether it is in the main character or the seemingly peaceful scenery. The most powerful scenes are between Lucien who is a brute with clout and the tailor who tries to cling to his civilized, bourgeoisie ways despite having lost all prestige and status and is very trepiditious around this boy brandishing this power over him and his family that could destroy them so that he can be accepted by them. I am still thinking about this movie 2 days after watching it, very chilling indeed especially since the young actor, Pierre Blaise would die in a car accident with two companions (Time Magazine, Sept. 1975) a year after the film's release.

"Audition" is really the first Takashi Mikke film that I have seen. After hearing a lot about the new wave of Asian films that bring extreme violence and sexuality to shocking effect, I was not sure what to expect. I was aware that it had been a horror film and that something disturbingly horrific was going to happen by the film's end but it still managed to catch me off guard. The film starts off innocently enough with a widower encouraged by his teenage son to put himself on the market and find himself a new wife since he is not getting any younger. He goes about it in a novel way, having a friend in the film business who puts on a bogus casting call to help him find a woman who will be good "marriage material." At this point, this film could be a light romantic comedy. The man becomes bewitched by one of the women, Asami, who is very quiet and seems to be more than meets the eye. The two start to date and see each other more and the man slowly learns little by little about Asami and a tortured past. When the man undertakes his own investigation into her past and it is learned by her that the audition was merely a pretense for him to ask her out, he finds himself in nightmare he would never have dreamed. Many will say that the film is too slow and does not give any indication to being a horror film in the early part of the film. I think this makes the final 20 minutes of the film all the more effective. We are in this man's daily life of solitude and sadness and are with him when he becomes rejuvenated after finding Asami and just as shocked and surprised by what she really is capable of doing. The performances are very good, especially that of the actress who portrays Asami, she brings a mix of vulnerability and danger that is perfect. I found myself going back and forth between feeling sympathy and loathing towards her character. There are definitely disturbing imagery and brutal scenes of torture which are graphic and not for the feint of heart. As far as an initiation into the work of Takashi Miike, this film will be good barometer for whether or not you are ready for some of his other work.

"Land of the Dead" marks the return of George A. Romero to the Zombie genre which he revolutionized with the 1968 "Night of the Living Dead," ten years later with "Dawn of the Dead" and 1985's "Day of the Dead." What sets apart Romero's films from other zombie/undead movies is that there is a sense of continuity, the element of the unknown(the audience like the characters in the film do not know what caused or started this epidemic), the psychological ramifications of being in a apocalyptic situation and the underlying social commentary reflecting the zeitgeist of the time that the film is released (although all 4 films are supposed to take place around the same time despite that being left ambiguous). "LOTD" shows a society that has learned to live with the dead taking over. There is the class struggle where the wealthy live in the heavily guarded, luxury fortress of Fiddler Green run by the corrupt Kaufmann played by Dennis Hopper. The lower class people live in squalor and some even take jobs of going outside of the complex and looting stores for luxury goods, food and supplies for the residences in the midst of the "stenches"/zombies. The zombies are able to be distracted by "sky flowers" or fireworks, giving the looters leeway. However, a zombie gas attendant, Big Daddy, seems to evolve to be able to communicate, learn and reason (to a degree since he cannot comprehend the jackhammer not being able to work unplugged) and this seems to create a new challenge for the living who view the zombies as stupid and target practice. Cholo (John Leguizamo) believes that if he is in collusion with Kauffmann then he will be guaranteed a spot amongst the upper class which juxtaposes with the protagonist, Riley, who only wants to leave to go up North because "there is nothing there." The film is full of gore and flesh eating but the scenes where you had the tourists having their pictures taken with safely restrained zombies and the zombie being used for paint gun target could be seen as George A. Romero's take on zombies being trivialized and turned into comedy. The class struggle is also obvious and there have been many posts on message boards about Dennis Hopper's character being reminiscent of the Bush Administration and Rumsfeld. Especially the scence where Kaufmann says to the invading zombies, "HOW DARE YOU!" "LOTD" is not Romero's best film but I did find it better than the "Dawn of the Dead" remake which skimped on the social commentary which made the original so effective. I hope that Romero is planning another opus in this genre.

Good to have you back, George!

I saw this film without having any idea of what it was really about. I assumed that it would be a light romantic comedy but I was very mistaken about that. (Possible spoilers ahead).

Audrey Tautou plays a young artist named Angelique who has become smitten with a cardiologist, Loic (Samuel Le Bihan). The film is divided into 2 parts. The first half is from Angelique's perspective and many things seem to occur offscreen or are left ambiguous. What is fascinating is how our expectations allow us to fill in the blanks ourselves and make assumptions about what is going on. It feels like a light romantic comedy but then it takes a strange turn when Loic, who is an upstanding, well respected Doctor with everything going for him (pregnant wife, successful practice, well respected by his colleagues) is arrested for assaulting one of his patients. It is then that the film switches to Loic's point of view and we see something more sinister and disturbing. What began as a simple act of kindness leads to destroying the Doctor's life. Audrey Tautou has that sweet, pixie look that you would not associate with an Erotomaniac (romantically obsessed person) who will do anything to eliminate anyone in the way of her happiness with the Doctor, who doesn't know who she is. This is what made the film so chilling and reminded me of Htichcock's "Psycho," playing on the audience's expectation and using it to ultimately shock them in the end. Very well made and effective thriller.

(Warning: Possible spoilers).

Eli Roth's "Cabin Fever" was a pleasant surprise, especially after seeing such unscary films like "Freddy Vs. Jason" that have passed as horror in recent years. "Cabin Fever" is the story of 5 young people going up to a cabin in the woods after graduation to celebrate by getting drunk, high and laid but all of this changes when they receive a visit from a stranger who is vomiting blood with his skin falling off.

There is a nice set up to the horror action when we are introduced to the characters and their personalities and how this will determine how they deal with the impending events that will await them later in the film. The introduction of the creepy hillbillies in the only general store for miles was also a nod to such early '70s shockers as "Deliverance" and "Last House on the Left," the easy listening ballad that plays in the early part of the film is from the latter film and performed by actor, David Hess who also starred in the 1972 Wes Craven film.

The suspense build up and the psychological way that the characters react rang true to me and this made it all the more terrifying especially when they easily shun even one of their own who they suspect being infected with the mysterious disease that eats one's flesh. It is also clever how the cause of infection is revealed to the audience making it all the more suspenseful to see the unwitting characters who are trying to avoid being infected so easily come across the contagion. Thrown in the mix is the isolation and a mad dog that comes around to terrify them every now and again. SPOILER BEGINS!!!!!!! The movie goes at a good pace but the only problem that I had was with the way that it concluded. Early in the film, we see the characters delighted by the kindly old man in the general store telling them stories and offering hospitality and when one of them points to a rifle, the old man says matter of factly, "That's for the n***ers." The shock of the characters and the audience is real since this was unsuspected and it nicely showed the dark side behind a seemingly quaint facade. However, this line is merely a set up to a punchline at the end of the movie when a trio of African American young people comes to the store and the old man says, "Here, it's all cleaned and like new for you, my n**ga." and they all shake hands and laugh and sing dixie while drinking tainted lemonade well after the main characters meet ugly demises. The film was an effective, suspenseful, gross out, horror film that created an atmosphere of dread and then goes the comic route at the end of the movie inexplicably. I don't know if the director was trying to be politically correct or trying to go for a relatively upbeat happy ending. It is a horror movie and one goes to to be scared and disturbed. At least it didn't take the self knowing, tongue in cheek route that countless horror films have taken since "Scream" came out. The film did manage to elicit some scares and squeamish moments from me and that is not an easy task either since I have watched so many horror films and thought that I had become desensitized. So with the exception of the last 20 minutes or so of the movie, I strongly reccomend this film.