Film Reviews by sb

FILM & REVIEW Oh dear - Argento’s take on the much filmed Laroux novel has high production values and sets but lousy acting, atrocious dubbing, laughable dialogue and even the obligatory impalings , beheadings and disimbowlings all seem rather lacklustre. Sands looks like he’s from a gothic Spinal Tap tribute band and Argento’s daughter Asia once again proves that nepotism is very rarely a good idea. Compared to the glory of his earlier films this is another on the run of films from the early 90’s onward that would probably have been better off unmade - 2/5

FILM & REVIEW In the Naked City Jules Dassin took his cameras out of the studio and shot the whole thing on the streets of New York - Don Siegel used the same trick using San Francisco as his canvas. Heroin is being smuggled in using unwitting tourists as carriers but the cops become aware when one robbery/pickup goes wrong and a local cop gets killed. To clean up two very strange bagmen are sent to sort out the mess. They are Julian (Keith) and Dancer (Wallach) who have this very odd relationship- Julian is the senior man whose job seems to be to keep Dancer in check as it’s soon apparent the latter is a stone cold psycho. They go round the city collecting the drugs from the various Oriental gifts but soon things to unravel and the body count rises. It’s a very cold and cynical film for it’s time and Wallach is just superb is the hitman always bordering on boiling point as the Police net closes in……the use of the cities locations are terrifically used and the final showdown is a master class in tension. Cracking stuff from one of the finest directors of his generation. - 4/5

FILM & REVIEW During his Hollywood exile Joseph Losey made a series of films in England where he dissected the mores of the English Upper Class with a chilly remote eye. His most famous film is The Servant and here he again re-unites with writer Harold Pinter and actor Dirk Bogarde. Bogarde plays Stephen a austere fastidious Oxford Don living with his wife who is expecting their third child. The film opens with a late night crash where William (York) is killed and his girlfriend Anna (Sassard) survives and who may or not have been driving. The rest of the film takes us up to this point and adds in Charley (Baker) who is a fellow Don with a disintegrating marriage. It’s obvious that Stephen is falling in love in Anna but over a very boozy Sunday ( the amount sunk is colossal) it’s revealed that Charley and Anna are having a long term affair…..that William may or may not know about. Add in Stephen reigniting with an old flame as events become more complicated. It’s very well acted and written - as always with Pinter the dialogue can be elliptical with glacial pauses and quite often it’s not clear that what you are watching is in fact really what is going on. It proves once again that Bogarde was one of the finest actors of his generation and says more in a glance or a tight smile that others would need a lot more dialogue to convey - very good indeed - 4/5

FILM & REVIEW Fascinating documentary about Maurice and Katia Krafft - a couple of volcanologists who travelled the world documenting and filming active volcanic eruptions. The film sets its stall out early telling us they were both killed by a pyroclastic flow in Japan in 1991 so every adventure they go on has that knowledge built in. The footage is astounding - a lot if it is hair-raising as they stand so close to vast lakes of exploding lava but as they point out the “red” volcanoes are relatively safe as the lava flows does follow preset channels - it’s the “grey” ones which can explode without warning causing huge devastation. This type was at Mt St Helen’s and also destroyed Pompeii - and was the type in Japan that ended their lives. Their work is also very useful - in 1985 in Columbia the authorities ignored their warnings and 25,000 villagers were swept away -subsequent evacuations based on their studies saved thousands of lives. It’s uses an effective ambient soundtrack but does have a ponderous, breathless, clunky voice-over narration that does become annoying - fortunately the couple themselves and the extraordinary images make up for this - on the Disney channel - 4/5

FILM & WATCHED The trio from In Bruges re-unite but anyone expecting the hoot a minute like that is in for a surprise. This is a much more somber piece dealing with the far reaching fall out of two mens friendship when one decides he doesn’t like the other any more. It’s very well written with superb acting from both leads (and a fantastic supporting performance from Condon as Farrells long suffering sister). Yes it can be wryly amusing at times with a nice sense of the absurd but the thing you take away is a sense of almost unbearable sadness. Beautifully shot off the coast of Ireland with a haunting score by Carter Burrell it is one of the years finest although it’s more a film to admire than enjoy and at times can be quite uncomfortable - 4/5

FILM & REVIEW AKA The Violent Professionals - Effective if overly complicated Italian Cop Thriller. Meranda plays a Dirty Harry type cop who when 2 violent inmates break out of a train taking them to prison and then hijack a car killing the passengers he sneaks behind them during a stand-off and kills them both just as they are surrendering. This gets him suspended - meanwhile a senior detective that he looked up to gets assassinated and Meranda goes undercover. He gets himself hired by a bank robbing gang led by Conte but it soon becomes apparent that Conte is only the front man for a shadowy neo-fascist conspiracy that intends to restore order to Italy. It has shoot-outs and car chases and Meranda is very good in the lead but the plot is very muddled at times…..he takes up with a hooker for reasons that are never explained plus a posh hippy girl but again that never seems to go anywhere and the reveal at the end is less than convincing so 3/5

FILM & REVIEW Almodovar’s 30 minute single handed film based on a Cocteau play. Set in an open plan apartment Swinton waits 3 days for her lover to arrive and collect his belongings as the 4 year relationship is over. She becomes more and more neurotic as time passes with only his dog for company..then the phone rings. It’s him… The remainder of the film is the one sided conversation as she initially tells him she is fine - been seeing friends and getting a publishing deal but both we and he know it’s all a lie. She finally breaks down and explains how bad things have been as she waits….then as the call ends comes to a decision. The apartment is open plan as mentioned and sometimes she ventures onto the sound stage it’s built on so it kinda breaks the 4th wall and as always with Pedro the use of bright primary colours is glorious off setting her despair. Swinton is electric in the role….small looks and gestures conveying so much…..it’s really quite something - 4/5

FILM & REVIEW The Naked City - Jules Dassin’s seminal Cop drama - a voice over that runs through the film introduces us to New York City at 1am on a hot summers night. We see the city winding down for some while the night will be the last for a young girl murdered in her apartment . Her cleaner discovers the body and the Homocide Squad are soon on it. Led by experienced twinkly Irish cop Muldoon (Fitzgerald) with his rookie cop Halloran (Taylor) they soon trace a possible suspect Niles (Duff) but this is a guy who changes his story more often than he changes his underwear and it’s to up to NYPD’s finest unravel the case. Soon we are up to our ears in jewellery thieves, blackmail and harmonica playing wrestlers while the cops do all the legwork all over Manhattan. What makes it so superb is that it’s all shot on the streets of the City with NYC as much an intergal part of the story as the plot itself. The voice over morphs into a kinda Greek chorus even advising the characters on a course of action. The use of locations is just fantastic and you can see how much an influence it has on things like The French Connection all accompanied by a thunderous score by Miklos Rosa and a superb finale atop the Brooklyn Bridge. There are 8 million stories in this City…..this is just one of them - 5/5

FILM & REVIEW Cracking Michael Powell film ( and his first collaboration with Emeric Pressburger) has Veidt as Captain Hart a WW1 U-boat commander tasked with a top secret mission. He gets dropped off in the Orkney’s where the British Fleet are anchored and contacts a German Spy (Hobson) masquerading as a school teacher. She puts him in touch with disgraced Naval Officer Shaw who betrays the sailing plans of the fleet in revenge. Hart communicates the plans to his submarine and the plan to sink the British navy is in place.. Except things are not what they seem…… Viedt is excellent as the proud German with a sense of honour ( he himself fled Nazi Germany a few years earlier as his wife was Jewish) and Hobson has the much more ambiguous role - (she would go on to marry John Perfumo) and the film has a more than ironic twist in its tail. As mentioned it’s the first of more than 20 films Powell and Pressburger made together among them some of the British films ever made - 4/5

FILM & REVIEW Director Parolini had made the first Sartana movie passing the baton for the rest. He made this which is an a similar vein. Van Cleef plays the titular black clad gunfighter who returns a stolen safe for the reward money but having unmasked the real villains behind the robbery blackmails them for ever increasing amounts. He is supported by Spalla as the comic relief with Berger as the much more ambivalent Banjo who may or any may not have his own agenda . The chief villain is played by Tesell the most effeminate gunfighter in the West with multiple betrayals as Sabata’s price increases. Chuck in multiple gun battles and mega massacres with a really spectacular finale with Van Cleef playing the whole thing wryly amused and it’s a fine addition to the genre - 4/5

FILM & REVIEW Aka Code Unknown Hanake’s detached study of life in Paris at the turn of the Millennium. We meet Anne (Binoche) an actress whose boyfriend George is a war photographer currently in Kosovo. She encounters Jean , George’s younger brother who has left their Father a solemn taciturn Farmer. Anne buys him lunch and he throws the empty wrapper at a bag lady Maria who is begging. A passing African Amadou berates him for his contempt and a fight breaks out and the Police are called. The rest of the film follows the seperate lives these characters lead - Maria has no papers and gets deported back to Romania , Anne gets reunited with George although things are a little testy and Amadou spends time with his family trying to adapt to life in Paris. There is no overarching narrative - some scenes follow on while others are complete stand alone with each scene made up of a single continuous long take with a fade to signify the next piece. Some of the scenes are Anne at work and it’s only at the end does it becomes apparent that they are scenes from the film she is working on…so you are never sure where you stand. There is no conclusion and although it could be quite a frustrating watch each seperate piece becomes part of the overall mosaic as the characters lives continue on their paths….4/5

FILM & REVIEW Aka Love in the City - 6 seperate omnibus stories made by 6 different directors including Fellini and Antionio all set in Rome. But don’t let the title fool you - this a much darker tale on the aspect of love. We meet Streetwalkers with their sad lonely lives, people driven to attempt suicide by failed relationships, a very odd marriage bureau where desperate girls will agree to anything to escape poverty and a young abandoned Mother who is so desperate she leaves her child under a tree - hoping the authorities will find him. The only positive story is set in a dance hall where young couples meet and we overhear smatterings of their conversation but within the context of the film it’s implied that love on a Saturday night will lead to misery afterwards. It’s a key film in Italian realist cinema but not exactly designed to cheer you up….so worth watching if more than a little depressing - 3.5/5

FILM & REVIEW Hard to belive this is almost 30 years old and is still an astounding piece of cinema. Binoche plays Julie who loses her husband and daughter in a car crash and cuts herself off completely from life. He was a famous composer working on a symphony for the reunification of Europe (Its set in 1991) but she destroys all the manuscripts , moves out of the chateau and rents a chilly apartment in Paris. She has a brief fling with her husbands best friend Regent (Benoit) but tells him he will never see her again. She tries to move on but the music will not leave her in peace as fragments keep intruding as it’s implied that she was responsible for a lot of the work. She befriends a local hooker who she saves from eviction and visits her mother who has dementia and one night sees Regent on tv saying he will try and finish the final symphony as the publisher kept a copy. Julie makes contact with Regent and discovers her husband had a long term mistress who is carrying his child - he died without knowing and all these events begin to see Julie begin to re-engage with life. It’s one if the finest examples of loss, grief and redemption on screen - Binoche gives one of her finest performances underpaying all the emotion which is more profound used this way. Kieslowski uses a series of fades in each scene as the music soars acting as a counterpoint to the events and the final montage as the music is completed is just beautiful. As always with his films the score by Priesner is as important as the visuals……it’s really is a stunning film and as always you wonder if Kieslowski handn’t been taken at 54 just many more works like this he could have made - 5/5

FILM & REVIEW Aka Equinox Flowers - Ozu’s gentle comedy about generational conflict in particular between Fathers and Daughters. Watera (Suburo) is the father of two teenage daughters. - The eldest Satsuko (Arima) is of mariagable age but unlike her parents arranged marriage wants to make her own choice. One day a young man calls at her Fathers office asking for his consent to the wedding - Watera feels he has been ambushed and refuses leading to very wry mind games between him and the rest of the family. Satsuko’s friend Yukiko (Yamamoto) engages in a subterfuge and sets the old man up by getting him to agree to one thing when in fact he is agreeing to something else ie his consent. He takes this with ill grace but is slowly ground down by all the females. It takes a droll look at changes in Japanese society especially the balance of power between the sexes. There is a very funny scene where old school friends meet and agree that if they have sons then the husband has the upper hand but if it’s a daughter it’s the wife. - and look round at each other and realise they all have daughters…. As always with Uzo he gets great performances out of his cast and uses that static camera to great effect - but of a gem - 4/5

FILM & REVIEW Aka Red Ensign Cracking little early Michael Powell film set in the shipyards of Glasgow. The crash of ‘29 has decimated British trade and the merchant navy have most of their ships laid up. Visionary shipbuilder David Barr (Banks) has the idea of a new type of ship - cheaper and more efficient but needs the backing of the board. He over-reaches on his ambition and loses the support so puts up his own money but as this too runs out leaving the ship unfinished and the ship-workers up paid. He then embarks on an even riskier sceme with the support of heiress June (Goodner) using ever shiftier methods. Chuck in romance , industrial sabotage and forgery and cram all this into 66 minutes and a powerhouse performance from Banks obsessed with getting the ship built and it’s a real gem. The scenes of the shipbuilding look straight out of Pathe news and although at times his rousing patriotic speeches can sound a bit corny today overall it’s all rather rousing. On a personal note my Grandfather was a riveter on the Clyde at this time (he worked on the old Queen Mary) giving the film a historical note - 4/5