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A few reviews . . (film or TV) — Page 64

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Time

Love, Life And Goldfish - 2021 - 7/10
AKA - Sukutte Goran // すくってごら

Losing his cool at work, Kashiba is exiled to a branch office, in a tiny village.
This is career ending.
Entering the village in early evening, he is bewitched by the girl in front of him.
Walking amidst a sea of fans, dancers, and lanterns.
And he realizes there is something highly unusual about this village.

Barely a romance, themes of regret, rejection and loneliness predominate.
There are also goldfish throughout, which I will not elaborate on. And triangles.
Much as Kashiba is smitten, another female is love struck by him.

This is also a musical, with a dozen songs. Catchy, hook laden J-pop.
Hollywood or Broadway would likely apply a formula and have a hit with this.
This is Japanese, however. This is quirky and will be should delight fans of such.

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Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace - 1962 - 6/10
AKA - Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes

Necklace being the one originally possessed by Cleopatra.
Holmes is involved because Professor Moriarty has extended his murderous hands.
Christopher Lee is a stolid, forceful Holmes, but this tale is far from canon.
No, this is a Krimi, a German production similar to the films based on Edgar Wallace novels.
There is less action than viewers might have anticipated, and Moriarty seems to bear as much screen time as Holmes.
Though well-staged, the plot stumbles and there is little tension.
This is a misfire. Lee would have another crack at Sherlock in 1991.

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The Lineup - 1958 - 6/10

Lean film spinoff from old (lost?) 50’s TV show called San Francisco Beat.
Don Siegel directs retrieval caper of twin hoods fetching merchandise smuggled in by innocent tourists.
Eli Wallach terrific as barely restrained, borderline psychotic killer.
Narrative sorta ho-hum, with cops a step behind bad guys. Good use of Bay locations.

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Hunting The Gauleiter - 2012 - 6/10
AKA - Okhota na Gaulyaytera // Охота Hа Rауляйтера

Nazi occupied Minsk during the early days of WWII.
The Wehrmacht overwhelms the territory causing the populace to flee to the wilderness (where they are never found!) or stay in the city to work as labor.

The plot is cynical and wise.
The regional commander, the gauleiter, is at odds with the SS commander.
The latter wants to kill as much of the population as he can, the former wants them alive as forced labor.
Likewise with the Soviet resistance, under orders to assassinate the gauleiter.
They would prefer to destroy a supply train (more damage, less reprisals), but one does not disobey Moscow.
Nice production values in this ten parter offset by hammy, melodramatic acting.
Specifically from the women, who were apparently directed this way, which I cannot fathom.
They gush, swoon, over-emote.
Or they can-can to entertain German officers.

In Russian and German, though the German is hideously overdubbed in monotone Russian.
Generally useful to view another take on history.

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Music For Misfits: The Story Of Indie - 2015 - 7/10

Exhilarating three part series tracks the rise of UK indie music from the 70’s into mainstream acceptance by 2000.
Tiny labels, obscure groups with new sounds, naive yet enthusiastic entrepreneurs.
And fans. Fans who were tired of Corporate Rock and glossy, talentless pretenders foisted upon them.
Interviews with band members, label reps, journalists, shop owners, all older and wiser.
The whole, do-it-yourself, seat of your pants struggles. Stories are funny and often telling.
Most try to avoid rosy eyed nostalgia, the trap of only recalling the sunshine.
Terrific soundtrack, to be sure, with dozens of concert clips.
Essential for music fanatics.

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American Hustle - 2013 - 6/10

Man, I was looking forward to this. Thinking it would be like Boogie Nights.
Nope.
Odd interpretation of the AbScam sting, where politicos took bribes for influence.
FBI coerces low level hustlers to run the scam.
Main FBI handler displays less intelligence than my cat, other agents little more than career chasers.

Fashion seemed right. There weren’t enough drugs, music was incorrect.
Noticing crap like that kept yanking me out of the flow.
Plus, having heard and read so much ballyhoo, my expectations were unreasonable.

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Cowards Bend The Knee - 2003 - 6/10

Hold tight, pilgrim.
After Guy leads the hockey team to a win, his girlfriends informs him she is pregnant.
He immediately takes her to the beauty salon.
Well, it’s a beauty shop by day. By night, it is a brothel. And in the rear is an abortion room.
While the girlfriend suffers a hideous procedure, Guy catches the eye of the brothel madam’s daughter, Meta.

And Meta, man, she is something else. This becomes her tale of obsession, as Guy is a classic fool.
Silent film, in and out of focus, repeated sequences, fragmented music score.
There is a narrative, though this leans heavily toward experimental cinema.
Challenging Guy Maddin film, aimed at hardcore arthouse cineastes.

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Bastards - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - Les Salauds

Existential French Noir, grim and fatalistic.
Seaman summoned home after brother-in-law commits suicide.
Niece has been raped to the point of requiring repair surgery.
Sister shoves him toward vengeance.
Filmed mostly in gloomy interiors or at night.
Minimal dialogue, unusual for a French flick.
Physical similarity between sister and “villain’s” wife add to confusion.
Limited exposition, viewer on his/her own to grasp roles and backstory.
Typical of Noir, the deeper the seaman digs, the filthier and uglier the truth.

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Doll House - 2014 - 5/10
AKA - Inhyeong-ui Jib // 인형의 집

Jeez Louise, did it really take me eighteen months to watch this 12 episode K-drama?
Shows how involved I was.
Young 20ish girl answers ad for light duty job at residence.
She has to wear schoolgirl uniform, pigtail her hair, and pretend to be a daughter.
What happened to the daughter in question?
Then she discovers there have been impersonators before her! What happened to them?
Mystery with enough suspense to unsettle teenage viewers. Maybe.

For the curious, you could easily watch the whole series in barely over an hour…
Each installment runs 6-8 minutes, including opening & closing credits and a preview of next week.

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The Color Of Lies - 1999 - 7/10
AKA - Au Coeur du Mensonge (The Heart of the Lie)

Ten year old Eloise finishes her art lesson and walks home.
Next scene, two other children find her dead in the woods,
Police subsequently discover she had been molested.
The last person to see her had been her art teacher, a respected painter suffering a career impasse.
Marital problems are suggested and a celebrity writer pursues the wife.
Parallel with the murder investigation, the police tackle a string of robberies.

While locals never voice inflamed accusations, the new inspector clearly eyes the artist.
Claude Chabrol film is a clinical study of lies, secrets, and the confined village.
Not a nail biter thriller, but a psychological mystery, filled with clues and deceptive individuals.

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All The Devils Are Here - 2021 - 7/10

Sly villains come and huddle round. Thou blackest voices art here granted sound.
Patrick Page gives an absorbing one-man play, check listing the scoundrels of Shakespeare.
From the early, smiling treachery of Richard III to the conflicted, emotionally fraught Macbeth.
Part acting masterclass, part history lesson.
Page enacts and explains how Shakespeare progressively gave his fiends more complexity, sympathy, humanity.
All the players fade with time. Statesman, soldier, peasant, meek or sublime. Bombast and prattle fade into naught.
Theatre junkies, forgather!

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300: Rise Of An Empire - 2013 - 5/10

Not quite as good as 300, but good enough, I suppose.
Narrative runs parallel to the Spartans, finally shifting to the big battle at Salamis.
Beware, if you are watching this for Greek history class.
Hordes of attractive, bare chested males (mostly the CG breed) scream and slash in a bluish world.
Other than some female warriors, nothing new for this sequel.
Not a bad film, merely the over reliance on action.
Enjoyed it for what it was - midnight popcorn.

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Polina - 2016 - 7/10
AKA - Polina, Danser sa Vie

Young Polina (I’d guess eight or nine) passes the enrollment tryouts for prestigious training school.
Her home life mixes with rigorous teachings until she auditions with the Bolshoi.
At this point, the story, which was following a predictable path, takes the unforeseen turn.
Polina starts a “personal” journey into unknown territory which puts her into conflicts.
For dance enthusiasts, this goes beyond the typical suffering for art reruns.
Great dance sequences, a broad display of styles, and a rich range of influences.
Juliette Binoche, with no formal dance training, does an impressive turn as choreographer / dancer.

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Stucco - 2019 - 6/10

More and more, day by day, she becomes a recluse, shut-in.
Talking via phone or internet, deliveries to her locked door.
Agoraphobia poster child.
Then she tries to hang a painting and punches a hole in the sheetrock.

Soon thereafter, slitherings emerge.
Visually arresting short resembles a drugged out bad trip.
Much of this is dreamlike and may appeal to the cult of Ligotti.
I think Covid lockdown sufferers will relate, as well.

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 (Edited)

Cold Eyes - 2013 - 5/10
AKA - Gamshijadeul // 감시자들

Shameless, scene for scene Korean remake of Eye In The Sky (HK - 2007).
Tightly synchronized gang executes daring daylight robberies, foiling hundreds of surveillance cameras.
Special security branch gets involved, and begins sifting the slimmest of clues.
Straight faced, high tech glossy, slick as all can be, but not necessarily better than the Hong Kong original.
Lacks any sense of humour, and the characters are little more than faces.
Watch for nice cameo by Simon Yam near the end.

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Marrowbone - 2017 - 6/10

Family flees England for the States under mysterious circumstances.
They spend a memorable summer, but Mom, already ill, succumbs with the fall.
Ever so gradually, the mystery is teased out until you wonder if the children actually escaped.
As you realize the dilapidated house may well be haunted, or their pursuer has caught them.
While this has a timeless look, the time seems 1950’s (judging from cars and clothes).
Film is overlong and feels it. Acting is fine, characters are not compelling, however.

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Desperate Moment - 1953 - 6/10

Postwar Germany, a Dutch man falsely confesses to killing a British soldier.
Once sentenced and locked away, he realizes he may have been set up.
During a security lapse, he escapes and begins searching for the real killer.
Authorities pursue, and his face is brandished about.
He can only rely on his girl, and hope she does not betray him.

A few years earlier, there was an essay in Noir City Annual on “rubble Noir.”
This definitely qualifies, as most of the exteriors are in bombed out Berlin.
Cat and mouse angle is done well, if somewhat predictable.

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Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? - 1966 - 6/10
AKA - Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?

Brittle satire of haute couture of the mid 60’s.
The poses, impossible materials, sniffy (snippy) reviewers.
By turns laugh out loud funny, then maddeningly tedious.
Trendy fashion model Polly is interviewed, then her banal life fact-checked.
Truth to tell, she is neither compelling nor thoughtful.
Vacuous character, example where God placed all her gifts on the outside, nothing within.
Will not be for all tastes.
I watched with fashion hounds who provided a running commentary throughout.

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The Mysterians - 1957 - 6/10
AKA - Chikyū Bōeigun // 地球防衛軍

Vintage invasion film from Toho!
Earth (Japan) gets invaded by denizens from Mysteroid, planet five, between Mars and Jupiter.
Give yourself a gold star if you’re going, “Wait a minute, there ain’t no …”
Thanks to war between themselves, Mysteroid blew itself up and only Asteroid Belt rubble remains.
First inkling of the invasion occurs when Moguera, a clumsy, giant robot, lumbers from the woods and starts wrecking neighboring villages and then troops.

Then the big ole white dome erupts out of the landscape near Mr Fuji and the Mysterians start making demands.
They want two square miles of land for themselves.
And women.
Leaders can shrug off the land grab, but seizing womenfolk?
War!
Big budget SciFi with impressive effects (for 1957), mattes, miniatures, interiors, and great score.

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The Belko Experiment - 2016 - 5/10

High rise office locks down and the omniscient voice orders employees to start killing.
Or else the chip in your neck will – Kabang!
Deadlines are given, as well as body count targets.
Fine characterizations with villains you loathe, ethical negotiators, faceless expendables.
Story itself is derivative and predictable.
As with countless other survivor films, There Can Be Only One.
These office drones never figure that out.

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Shinobi no Shu - 1970 - 7/10
AKA - Mission: Iron Castle // 忍びの衆

Quite late in the ninja cycle, and one of the best.
A small band of ninjas are told to kidnap a princess from the impregnable Iron Castle.
Not only is the castle fortified with 3000 soldiers, the princess is kept locked in a sealed iron room.
The action scenes are well choreographed, techniques mostly quiet.
Planning scenes illustrate later movements which are realistic and usually in a how-to style.
The small group are well drawn. Competitiveness, resentments, stifled longings.
Camerawork is imaginative, often from the observer’s point of view.

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Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex - 2008 - 7/10

After reading about the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army), and what a group of amateurs they were, I dug this out.

Baader Meinhof follows the genesis of the gang from 60’s student protesters, and their radicalization into the RAF (Red Army Faction) following brutal police crackdowns.

During the bloody 70’s, the RAF robbed banks to raise funds, bombed police stations and US military bases in Germany, assassinated prosecutors, bankers, ex Nazi businessmen, killing at least 34.

Film captures all that, including public sympathy for the RAF, political maneuvering to crush the members, the growth of second and third generation members after incarceration of the leaders, and continued terror into the 90’s.
Violent, gory history lesson, upsetting the delusion the 60’s was all peace, love and understanding.

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Seasons Of Love - 2012 - 6/10
AKA - Climats

Philippe meets Odile, falls in love, and impulsively marries her.
She is Parisian, he is more rural. She is artistic, he runs a paper manufacturer.
Odile is self-assured, on the surface. Philippe is insecure, and not steeped in culture.
Moreover, Philippe’s family, especially his mother, wants grandchildren, heirs.

Fairly timeless story, though this runs from 1934-1939. Historians know what looms on the horizon.
Detailed eye for costumes, interiors. Provincial attitudes, jealousy, implausible explanations.
Excellent supporting characters. Philippe’s world wise aunt, Odile’s “retired” father, as well as the two females who flit though the couple’s shadow, Misa and Isabelle.

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The Ritual - 2017 - 5/10

Five mates plan their annual travel excursion.
Oops, make that four following an early tragedy.
Soft city lads, they opt for a stiff hike through Sweden’s wilderness.
Photography is moody, stark, disorienting. The guys are equally moody, dense and confused.
Prime example: “If we take a shortcut through the woods we can save time.”
No no no! Do not take shortcuts, especially if your knowledge of outdoors is zilch.
Mistakes mount, compound, and you realize these unsympathetic louts are too dim to care about.
The plot staggers into lore territory, and that feels shoe-horned. Kitchen sink mentality.
Disappointing adaptation of Adam Nevill’s book.
Confession: I grew up in a mountain region and hiked backwoods all the time.
I have limited patience with these bozos who make blunders an eight year old would avoid.

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Confessions Of An Opium Eater - 1962 - 6/10
AKA - Souls For Sale

Strange, cult gem, set in 1902 San Francisco.
Gilbert De Quincey (Vincent Price) gets involved in Tong wars, slave trafficking, opium dens.
Price seems to work for one side, then the other, while beautiful girls hang suspended inside bamboo cages, waiting to be bartered for opium bricks.
Exteriors shrouded with fog to disguise minimal sets, though the entire film has a dreamy (drugged) quality.
Secret tunnels, subterranean waterways, trick doors add to the maze vibe.
Movie filled with fortune cookie dialogue:
“The more we approach our enemies the more they think of us as lambs.”
“The superior man blames himself, the inferior man blames others.”
“There is not poison in a green snake’s mouth, as in a woman’s heart.”
“The path of righteousness lies around us, for the eye that will see and the foot that will follow.”