Vultural

Pride & Prejudice: Having A Ball - 2013 - 7/10

Irresistible documentary for hardcore Janeites and casual Austen fans alike.
This focuses on that key element of the Regency world for the young, the ball.
Dance steps were actually fiendishly complicated, and physically demanding.
Status could be seen in choice of candles, desserts served, as well as clothes.
Speaking of clothes, female knickers were crotchless. Male clothing was very form fitting, to display . . . mmm . . . simply to display.
Casually mentioned was how increasingly modern, and wrong-headed, modern adaptations of P&P have become.
If you have reread Austen numerous times, if you have multiple film versions of P&P, S&S, as well as Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion, not to mention Lost In Austen (w/ Downtown intact), then this documentary is for you.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν. If you are a Janeite, rate this much higher.

Altes Geld - 2015 - 8/10
AKA - Old Money

Gleeful, diabolical entertainment here!
A delicious Udo Kier plays the wealthy patriarch, dying of liver disease. He makes a proposal.
Whoever delivers a healthy organ will inherit the family “business.”
Relatives, advisors, employees, wolves in suits, sharks in gowns, rip into each other.
Treachery, incest, kidnapping, backstabbing, more incest, murder, blackmail, torture.
Moreover, despite my comments about German comedy, this is laugh out loud funny.
Mean spirited, midnight humor aimed for cynical adults. Eight parts, Austria.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Tea With The Dames - 2018 - 6/10

Entertaining, enjoyable eavesdrop on four grand dames of British theatre.
For West End goers, the comments are delicious and rare clips make this a must see.
This is feel-good material, however, meaning uncomfortable topics often result in silences.
Therein is the, not problem, but lack of substance with this documentary.
Despite the wine and laughter, one can sense their guardedness.
Also, I cannot help but wonder if questions were given ahead of time and spontaneous answers were prepared.
Don’t want to sound churlish, because this is gregarious history, and the sharp exchanges are frequently laugh out loud funny.

Exam - 2009 - 6/10

Eight job candidates are seated in a featureless room.
Simple rules are given. Such as, if you leave the room, you are disqualified. If you speak with the guard, you are disqualified. Then they are given 80 minutes to solve an enigmatic question.
After a few elections, the remaining realize there are rules, yet outside the rules, anything goes.
Treachery, deception, violence. Personalities unleash. Mind games yield to mob rules.
Taut little suspenser, though feels a wee bit stagebound.

Blind Love - 2004 - 6/10
AKA - Waisetsu sutêji: Nando mo Tsukkonde // わいせつステージ　何度もつっこんで

Blind girl is attracted to a short statured ventriloquist.
Only thing, she mistakes the taller, younger apprentice for the original.
The apprentice, a ne’er do well, exploits her handicap.
Written differently, this could be farce. This is a wistful, poignant tale, however.
Lonely people, beaten souls, individuals who have no place in modern Japan.
Be warned, this is a pinku eiga (sexual rompings abound), many participants are not fitness buffs.

Punk In London - 1977 - 7/10

On the scene documentary showcasing the early movement at its rawest.
Mixed performances by the Killjoys, X-Ray Spex, Adverts, Clash, Chelsea, Jam, and others I could not recognize.
Top venues and hangouts, the Marquee, Roxy, Rough Trade, mentioned.
Big problem with this is groups were not identified, the audio ranged from OK to murky, and this was a German production.
Aside from interviews, all narration was in German.
Still, the energy was electric, on fire performances.
Arguably Punk at its creative, freewheeling peak, before the money, the deals, and the compromises.
Terrific doc for many, will leave others baffled.

Compartiment Tueurs - 1965 - 7/10
AKA - The Sleeping Car Murder

Tight French thriller. The locked room mystery, or here, murder in the train compartment.
Sleeper car. Six berths, one mysterious death. Strangulation.
The victim seems to have been innocent, and no one seems to have noticed.
Passengers scatter to their lives, police remain baffled.
Until those uninvolved passengers begin to meet the Reaper.
Film starts at a decent pace (ie; 1965), though momentum builds and by the finale is breakneck.
Script adroitly keeps viewers guessing throughout.

The Man With The Glass Eye - 1969 - 6/10
AKA - Der Mann mit dem Glasauge

After the show ends, a chorus line girl is chauffeured to posh hotel for business hijinks.
Before sordid naughtiness climaxes, an assassin in trenchcoat kills the john with a hurled knife.
Scotland Yard swings into action and begins hunting for the female –
– who is poisoned the next day backstage at the variety theater!
Peppy, late-in-the-cycle, Krimi features a vivid, late 60’s look, as well as a campy late 60’s plotline.
“Based” on Edgar Wallace writings (much as the later Bond films were “based” on Ian Fleming novels).
Racketeers elude the police, while the assassin eludes all.
Noisy, rattling diversion, but essentially a guilty pleasure for Krimi fans.
Alert! - Despite Scotland Yard, English names, this is a German language production.

Poetry - 2010 - 7/10
AKA - 시

Bitter Korean film of the spirit vs the flesh.
66 year old grandmother went to clinic for hurt arm, after testing was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s.
She is raising her teenage grandson during the peak rebellion years.
You want to hate the kid, but he is only a teenager.
He is making bad friends, bad decisions, and on the brink of learning the definition of consequences.
The story is the grandmother Mija’s, however, trying to protect her grandson, going to class to learn how to write poetry, all while the light of understanding is flickering out.
Well done, not for the ostrich.

The Seventh Victim - 1943 - 7/10

When funding for her private school stops, young Mary embarks to Greenwich Village, searching for older sister Jacqueline.
There, however, shadows gather.
She discovers Jacqueline had sold her prospering business and vanished.
Marked as Horror, this is more Gothic Noir, with creative lighting throughout.
Tension is more suggestion and implied, rather than crimson lashed.
Peculiar resolution, though, and Beaumont’s wishy character is uneasy to modern eyes.

I generally work with smaller sized files, using free applications.
Pazera Free Converter may work, as should Wondershare Video Converter free.
Results often vary, and I don’t know how “professional” they will be.
Either may be useful for evaluating projects.

Swamp Shark - 2011 - 4/10

I wonder if this was where recent shark spoofs began.
Big ole shark is dumped into Louisiana swamp and proceeds to munch on gators and humans.
Not enough of either, I’m afraid. Language, violence and nudity is PG.
With the Gator Festival in full swing, irate owners of the Gator Shed Restaurant sail off to deep six their fishy freeloader.
Pace is backwater slow. Most in the cast were big in the 80’s, working for a paycheck nowadays.
Neither fun nor over the top, straight across the board.
Formula crap.

The Hollies: Look Through Any Window - 2011 - 6/10

Breezy, labor of love biopic of one of the best British Invasion bands.
Interviews Graham, Allan, Tony, and Bobby. (Neither bassist)
Focus is squarely on the Invasion era (that lets out Terry), though the 70’s hits are covered.
Hits - heck yeah. Live footage, Abbey Road rehearsals, TV appearances (no US lip syncing).
Accuracy? Well, conflicts and unpleasantness are completely avoided.
Still nice to hear everyone reminisce and catch footage of the Hollies during their prime.

Happy End - 2017 - 6/10

Isabelle Huppert, I’m in! Ditto any film directed by Haneke.
Together? Outstanding!
Unfortunately, this is disappointing, especially for a Haneke film.
Various members of family deal with setbacks and their troubled lives.
Aside from Huppert’s character, each is unhappy, passive aggressive, dissatisfied.
Haneke uses long shots frequently, so one cannot exactly grasp what is going on.
Likewise muffled or unheard dialogue.
Those techniques of silence were used to memorable effect in 2005’s Caché or 2000’s Code Inconnu.
Both of those also bore mystery elements, perhaps sinister.
Happy End seems more melodrama, with characters who are banal, lack bite.

Assassination - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - Amsal // 암살

High voltage S Korean escapism with sumptuous production values.
Circa 1933, a Korean hit team is assigned to take out a fatcat appeaser and occupied Seoul’s Japanese military commander.
Rival Korean factions squabble with each other and informers are omnipresent.
Similar in look and feel to The Good, The Bad, The Weird (1998), though more grounded in reality.
Like the K-drama Bridal Mask, these are non-historical characters (though Korean resistance to occupation was real, especially in the north).
Excellent cat and mouse thriller with superb action sequences.

In A Day - 2006 - 6/10

The cafe is closed for emergency so the boss gives Ashley the day off.
Waiting for the bus, she is approached by a suit who propositions her, insults her, hurls coffee on her.
Two minutes later she meets one of the cafe regulars who goes all out being nice to her.
Breakfast - clothes shopping - posh lunch, each time with a “tiny little confession.”
Her chick radar is wailing full bore. Who is this guy and how does he know so much?
Most peculiar meet-cute type of film, with strange turns and odd tangents.
Indie romance, possibly acceptable date fare – if you can chase it down.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story - 2017 - 6/10

Near sighted documentary beckons like a siren, delivers strays.
An MGM player, renowned for her beauty, like Clara Bow her face is more remembered than her films.
Her filmography is barely sketched, likewise her six marriages.
A Wikipedia search will yield more substance on the woman herself.
Lamarr, the inventor, is the chief thrust of this documentary, other aspects are shortchanged.
Few of her inventions are actually shown, the main declaration is that she invented encrypted radio.
In essence, Wifi.
Her patent expired and she lacked the wherewithal to get research funding.
Happens. There are untold thousands whose idea or invention got picked up and/or credited to others.
A good percentage of those were probably women. Forgotten. Then again, they were not film stars.
The writer-editor-director-producer (one in the same) delivers a one trick pony.
Disappointing,

I Married A Shadow - 1983 - 6/10
AKA - J’ai épousé une Ombre

Low life boyfriend kicks his pregnant Hélène out of the car and speeds into the horizon.
Dumped, dejected, she boards a train going elsewhere, anywhere.
In the dining car, another female, a pregnant bride, befriends her and allows her to sleep in her cabin while she and new husband have dinner.
After a catastrophe, Hélène is mistaken for the bride by the grieving family.
Part mystery, part character study, as personal ethics conflict with wanting what will be best for the new infant.
The wine growing family, is wealthy, by the way.
I recognized William Irish in the opening credits as a pseudonym for an old mystery writer (Cornell Woolrich).
15 minutes into the film, I recalled the story from a vintage Suspense (OTR) episode, “They Call Me Patrice.”

The Village - 1976 - 7/10
AKA - Harakara // ハラカラ

Theater rep arrives in small rural village, and asks local youth group if they would like her theatrical troupe to put on a play.
The show will not be free. The villagers must pay costs involved. The show will be expensive.
Many other villages have done this. Most eeked a profit (ticket sales) or broke even. A few wound up in debt.
Refreshingly lo-key film. No over the top characters. “Can we afford to do this?” vs “We have to strive. If not now, when?”
Two hours. Gorgeous photography. Small people making quiet journeys.

Passport To Pimlico - 1949 - 6/10

Work crews cordon off a crater with an unexploded Luftwaffe bomb.
They underestimate local boys, who accidentally detonate it – with no fatalities.
And yet, this unearths documents that reveal Pimlico is actually part of Brittany.
Ration starved locals are soon at odds with Whitehall.
White-gloved war ensues, with feigned resentment and light hearted conflicts.
Amusing, though this feels dated.
The Blitz generation, who would have identified with shortages and rationing are gone.
Younger viewers might recognize want, but they may lack the older group’s grace and humor.

Rouge - 1994 - 8/10
AKA - Red

Fashion model accidentally runs down a dog.
She locates the owner to return the injured pet.
He is not remotely interested, he is too busy illegally eavesdropping on phone calls all around him.
Superb film of fraternity and disassociation.
The model is fully engaged in Life, the older man is not.
Even the secondary, tertiary narratives explore rejection, betrayal and loneliness.
Rich colors and arranged visuals enhance the moods and themes.
Arthouse, to be sure, yet ultimately this is a story of redemption, and it is never boring.
Final film in Kieslowski’s trilogy and his penultimate film before his early death.

Blanc - 1994 - 7/10
AKA - White

The “equality” part of Kieslowski’s Trois Couleurs triptych.
In this instance, an unhappy and unequal marriage, as seen in opening divorce proceedings.
After several years, the French bride has had enough.
Or rather, has not had enough, as their union has not been consummated.
The husband, a Polish hairdresser, is outmaneuvered legally and is soon destitute.
Film tracks the ex husband and his struggle to rebuild his life and perhaps regain his wife.
A dour comedy, fatalistic throughout, stands on its own (you don’t have to see Bleu or Rouge).
While I prefer the other films, all three ought to be viewed fairly close together.
The trilogy is exceptional filmmaking.

Bleu - 1993 - 8/10
AKA - Blue

After her husband and daughter die in a car accident. the surviving wife shuts down.
She cuts off all emotional channels, begins to discard reminders.
Juliette Binoche amazing as the soul who bottles, sidesteps, and destroys.
An extremely cold film with well thought out set design and photography.
Second of Kieslowski’s “Couleurs” trilogy is perhaps the hardest to take.
Penetrating look at grief and loss.

John Cleese: The Alimony Tour - 2011 - 8/10

Aged 71, John Cleese hits the road after being mauled in an ugly and expensive divorce.
Lucky for us, his one man show is sidesplitting funny.
With brief clips from Monty Python, A Fish Called Wanda, The Frost Report, At Last The 1948 Show, Flowery Twats (Hey! That was how it was spelled in episode 11), and Monty Python & The Holy Grail.
Cleese skewers his recent divorce, talks about growing up in boring Weston-super-Mare, and the extraordinary luck that fell his way throughout his early career.
Entertaining as anything, live at the Theatre Royal in Bath.

Burning - 2018 - 6/10
AKA - Beoning // 버닝

Slow burn mystery / thriller has been getting Hitchcock comparisons.
Do not be misled. Hitchcock understood propulsive narration. This lags.
Village youth works as courier in the city.
He meets a girl from his village who asks if he could watch her cat while she goes on holiday.
She returns with new friend, Ben, wealthy, bit of a decadent wastrel.
Ben “adopts” her like a pet. When she disappears, he shrugs.
The village boy, who nursed a crush for her, wonders. Suspects.
Problem is, it is impossible to tell if his suspicions are well founded, or paranoia.
Again, this is very slow going. A character study, more than a clue laden mystery.