Vultural

Juha - 1999 - 6/10

Black and white, Silent movie from Finland. And yes, this predates The Artist by a good decade.
Married Juha and Marja live quietly and simply on the farm. Social activities include friends, or the club.
Into their life, however, comes a sleek, if ailing, Corvette. Driven by the city soul, Shemeikka.
While Juha repairs the visitor’s sports car, the driver immediately woos Marja.
She’s too nice for this life, she deserves better.
The contest between flash and stable usually has one outcome.
And into the darkness of the city the wayward wife plunges.

Bleak tale, though surprisingly funny at times.
Broad acting at points, subtle nuance during other moments.
A very modern soundtrack - added immensely and jarred inappropriately.
Well cast with interesting faces.

The Leisure Seeker - 2018 - 6/10

Aged couple embark on a road trip, probably their final one.
The husband is clearly succumbing to Alzheimer’s while his wife pops meds like candy.
He had been a college professor in Boston, their trip is to Key West, home of his touchstone, Hemingway.
Yes, there are small adventures, encounters, revelations along the way.
The story itself is of how they react to the presence of the final curtain.
Sutherland’s character lingers in a fogged world, Mirren resents that the man she fell in love with has been stolen away by the disease.
Darkness tinges the proceedings, but one recognizes the feel-good tone of the whole.
^

I had relatives who did this, traveled huge swathes of the globe in their pickup camper.
Time passed, however. They grew old, and destinations remote and nearby, became more challenging.
They stored decades of memories in boxes and boxes of slides.
Gone now. The traveling pair, the slides, their possessions, a lifetime of memory.

^

Tante Zita - 1968 - 6/10

Aunt Zita is a survivor of the Spanish Civil War, giving piano lessons in Paris.
She collapses from a stroke, and family and nurses soon watch her struggle.
One who is especially anxious is the niece, Annie, earnest college student, with limited Life experience.
This gradually becomes her story, and the wondrous night she has when she leaves to clear her head.
Snapshot of late 60’s Paris nightlife fuels the film from here on.
Nightclubs, music, various men, romance - the promise of romance, a stray goat, police, fashion models.
Her world slides into dream territory, tugging viewers along with her.

Yellow Fever: The Rise And Fall Of The Giallo - 2016 - 7/10

From those lurid yellow books and the tropes of Krimi.
Add the high fashion and opulent interiors, along with those deadly, shiny knives.
Nicely done documentary will have people wanting more (read a book, folks), but there is plenty here.
Clips from keys films, analysis of innovations. Key players such a Argento, Fulci, Bava …
Critics predominate among the talking heads, with director Argento and actress Barbara Bouchet recollecting.
Missing many people, but there is a more recent documentary out there, All The Colors Of Giallo.
Those who have several Giallos under their viewing belt will enjoy this more.

The Case Of The Krimi - 2018 - 6/10

Brief documentary, presented by Marcus Stiglegger.
Charts the genesis, heyday, and collapse of Krimi films.
The look originated in Expressionism, the stories from 1920’s crime novels by Edgar Wallace.
Fast paced crime yarns, set in London (Hamburg), often with Klaus Kinski as villain.
As the era progressed, films grew sillier and spawned spoofs.
Breezy overview of the Krimi subgenre, which became an important influence on Giallo.

Agatha And The Curse Of Ishtar - 2019 - 6/10

Soured by that Miss Fisher misfire? Try this.
Miss Christie, newly divorced, dwells on the mystery at hand. Mysteries, actually.
She is in Iraq, visiting archeological sites, and wanders into a murder.
And then another.
Not only is she embroiled in murders, and deepening mysteries, she meets one Max Mallowan.
Fans of Agatha Christie, this is an entertaining homage, cleverly scripted by someone who knows her work.
There are in-jokes, classic setups, and a touch of romance.
On the downside, dialogue has been extensively, and poorly, looped.
Sync is noticeably off, and it sounds as if it had been recorded in a particularly resonant chamber.

Miss Fisher & The Crypt Of Tears - 2020 - 5/10

Resistance is futile.
My outlook when I was first told this series was crowd-funding shekels for a film version.
(Yeah, and I’ve seen every episode of the series. I live with females.)
Miss Fisher heads to the Mideast to free an innocent, dispel a curse.
Fisher’s character is now written as Emma Peel doing an Indiana Jones reboot.
Her Steed, Inspector Jack, trails after her like a mopey discarded suitor.
To be blunt, Detective Jack ought to be given the ole heave ho from the “guy club.”
Story is unoriginal, it looks cheap, and the charm (and cast) of the series is absent.
For fashion devotees, Phyrne’s wardrobe is limited.

The Forbidden Room - 2015 - 7/10

Wow, I have seen some truly bizarre films in my time, this one hits my top 2% in out-there!
Collision of arthouse, experimental, Silent cinema, demonstration shorts …
A submarine crew is trapped undersea with a cargo of explosive jelly.
Because they are running out of air, they gobble down hotcakes since those are filled with air pockets.
A sopping wet woodsman (Sapling Jack) enters their midst via a door / duct.
He shares his story of fighting the Red Wolves who had captured the lovely Margot.
Margot in turn, remembers when she had over a hundred broken bones set by the doctor who fell in love with her, only he was kidnapped in the sensuous embrace of skeleton women.

That’s maybe the first twenty minutes of an almost two hour visual kaleidoscope.
Visual dissolves, inter-titles, musique concrète, a powerhouse cast, in a film confusing, funny, and thoughtful.
Oh, one of the woman’s boyfriends turns into a banana. How could I forget that?
Unwary - beware.

Innocente - 2016 - 5/10

Roxane wakes up on the floor, half naked. Near her, is a half naked man, only he’s dead!
Does she phone the police? No. She slaps on some clothes, grabs her things, and runs.
Police come calling, her explanations are absurd, and into the slammer she goes.
After an eight year stretch, she’s out, desperate to find out who framed her and why.
And then she steps in it. Again. And again.

Sad sack Roxane drove me nuts. She is impulsive, heedless, and often downright stupid.
Moreover, she does not learn from mistakes, so she keeps repeating them.
I started rooting for any potential baddie to whack her.
French series grows preposterous, but is mercifully brief.

Satan’s Slaves - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - Pengabdi Setan

Mawarni has been ill for three years, exhausting the family’s financial resources.
Finally she dies. Or … does she?
While the father goes to find work, the children realize there was an incredibly dark side to their mother.
And a bargain, a pact if you will, that demands payment.
Decent Indonesian horror outing benefits from several unique perspectives on a genre film.
Conflict of Islamic faith and surviving paganists is another nice wrinkle.
One sequence is laughably over the top, though others are fairly creepy.

One Child Nation - 2019 - 7/10

Difficult to rate this because it omitted an angle I wanted to see explored.
China, circa 1980, saw their population soar past 1 billion. Starvation loomed on the horizon.
Families were ordered / coerced / forced to limit children to one.
Noncompliance led to abortion, then sterilization.
Documentary interviews families, village party leaders, midwives.
Many are surprisingly forthcoming with guilt, or with pride.
The main consequence pursued was the abandonment or adopting out of unwanted infants.
Girls.
The concept of “little emperors” was not explored, nor the generation of males who can never marry owing to the missing females.

Railroaded! - 1947 - 6/10

The masked goon, cocksure and aggressive, shoves the muzzle into the terrified doll’s face.
She shrieks, a nearby cop on the beat rushes over, and the robbery skids into chaos.
Hot lead spits across the room, leaving one dead policeman and a critically wounded thug.
For what, Junior? Knocking off a beauty salon.
The other robber, the one who gets clean away, is a calculating block of ice.
He sets up a patsy, an innocent schmuck, a rube, because he is wise and cynical about lawmen.
He knows cops will embrace the frame, knows they are under pressure, knows they will railroad an innocent man in a breath.
Then, while police push the stooge towards the gas chamber, he makes a play for the rube’s sister.

Middling Noir starts strong and the finish is a tour de force. In between, it shuffles indecisively.
Mystery, police procedural, romance, thriller. Blame the script, which cannot make up its mind.
Best is John Ireland as the dead eyed villain, more interested in his gun than men or women.
Much of this Anthony Mann film is quite dark (though later work would be darker), so view in a dimly lit room.

The Prodigal Daughter - 2020 - 6/10
AKA - Die Verlorene Tochter

During the last high school dance, the richest girl in town disappears.
Ten years later, memory gone, Isa suddenly returns.
Conveniently, as the family begins to squabble over the inheritances.
Multiple mysteries are explored in this 6 ep series.
Was she kidnapped originally? If so, by whom? And why?
Where has she been? Why did she return? At this precarious moment.
As the narrative unfolds, personalities and backstories surface in an ugly light.
Does not stitch neatly for meticulous viewers, yet this is a fine, if unpleasant, slow boil thriller.

Some People - 1962 - 6/10

Bored in Bristol. England, just on the cusp a cultural explosion.
Three lads mill about, toil odd jobs, race motorbikes, pick up birds, yell in the dark.
Late adolescents, venting steam, childhood behind them, the adult world not exactly enticing.
They swagger in leather jackets (pretty much what the Beatles donned in Hamburg at this time).
Adults suffice to discipline or channel their energy.
While not an earthshaker by any means, this is a keen observation of a life, a look, a time, a year before it was utterly swept away.

Der Gorilla von Soho - 1968 - 5/10
AKA - Gorilla Gang

Visiting rich foreigners are murdered, then made to appear to be drowning victims.
Inspectors, following clues, soon wonder if an old gang has resurfaced.
Krimi mixes sexual innuendo, authoritarian silliness, and stretches of nudity.
For the latter, there is an underground camera club boasting dozens of unclad models.

The humor is not especially funny, running gags wear thin.
This seems like a color remake of Dead Eyes Of London, an earlier, and better Krimi.

Toten Augen von London (Dead Eyes Of London) - 1961 - W Germany

My Maddin go-to is The Forbidden Room (2015), which I must confess has poorer ratings than Brand Upon The Brain!
(I’m sure I have a review for the former. Will try to post in a day or two.)
Maddin is one of those guys I always want to see what he is doing.
Jarmusch is another, although I generally do not care for his films.
Hmmm, better not get too off-topic here, in case Spuffure returns.

moviefreakedmind said:

Is Intolerance good? I want to watch it since it was such an important film in the history of cinema, but at the same time I don’t want to subject myself to a horribly boring 3.5 hours.

Intolerance is good, though you might need to overlay historical perspective.
Meaning, what was jaw-dropping 100 years ago is creaky now.
The sections about the Huguenots seem to contribute little and I wish Griffith had cut them.
Intolerance also does not have the uncomfortable baggage that Birth Of A Nation does.
I prefer Griffith’s Biograph shorts, and try to watch several every year.

Spuffure said:

What do you think is the worst silent film ever …

Not the worst, but I really struggled with Brand Upon The Brain! (2006) by Maddin.
His fanbase goes gaga over this one, but I found it tedious.
When I watched, it was well after midnight, perhaps I was tired.
I have enjoyed / appreciated some of his other works.
I first heard of Maddin after a review of his “Dracula,”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrnSrhKG-XU

nightstalkerpoet said:

I’m planning on releasing these in m4a format, using NERO AAC at quality 1.0

Why m4a and not flac?

Verónica - 2017 - 7/10

School basement. Ninth grade Verónica and two friends lay out the Ouija board and conjure.
Oh, and there is a solar eclipse occurring at the same time.
Events propitious for a successful contact.
Only thing is, they forget about closing the dimensional door on the spirit.
Horror / thriller from Spain puts Verónica and her three younger siblings in peril.
Verónica is in over her head and only has a creepy, blind nun for advice.
Set in 1991, pre Internet, and based on real events.

The Ouija board, by the way, is generally marketed and sold to children, usually girls.
Opinions regarding the Ouija board range from scoffing to worry to alarm.

The Salesman - 2016 - 7/10
AKA - Forushande

Married actors must relocate after their apartment begins to physically collapse.
A fellow actor owns property and has an apartment that seems ideal.
The previous tenant departed earlier, though she has not taken her things.
The couple move in, deposit the woman’s belongings in the street.
Meanwhile, the actors try to mount Death Of A Salesman, deal with Tehran censors.
To further complicate things, the previous woman had many visitors - who are unaware she no longer lives there.
Stress mounts in this layered film, making the experience uncomfortable for characters and viewers.
As in earlier films, such as About Elly, director Farhadi explores how people react to tension.
Hardly fun, but a riveting watch.

Das Finstere Tal - 2014 - 7/10
AKA - The Dark Valley

Near great Western is flawless, until a self-inflicted error wrecks the ambiance.
After an unsettling, violent parting of two lovers, the tiny timber community returns to normal.
Then, years later, the stranger arrives.

He is a photographer, and pays in gold to overwinter there.
The community is sullen and unhappy, ruled by old man Brenner and his six thuggish sons.
Women are property, men are beaten down, even the photographer is taught an early lesson.
Until the dying begins.
The high lonesome landscape is jaw dropping. Sierra Nevada or the Canadian Rockies?
Nope. German/Austrian Alps. Whole movie is in German.
Fear not, this is a pitch perfect film that would thrill any Eastwood fan -
Until late …
… when the director stupidly, stupidly, stupidly, overdubs crucial action with pop music. Some whiny male wails “How dare you?” over and over and over. At this point, one senses the director has walked away. From that point on, the tight control ends, it gets talky, and there is a closing credits “song,” modern and inappropriate.
To my reckoning, the blundering song choices and last act possibly killed an Academy nod for best foreign film.
Definitely worth hunting for Western fans, or cold paced action fans. Beware the songs, though.

Creep - 2004 - 5/10

Leaving the party, Kate tells friends she is going to a more exclusive soiree, where she plans to mount and bounce VIP George Clooney.
When she can’t hail a cab, she heads down the tube, intending to catch the last train.
Instead she falls asleep, and wakes to find the Charing Cross Underground deserted.
Well, not quite.
Aside from homeless, maintenance and security, there are a legion of rats.
And a furtive, murderous soul with inhuman strength and a limited wardrobe.
Pale Slasher entry takes place in tunnels, dank corridors, closed sections, forgotten chambers.
Though the plot springs fresh elements late, this is cheap copycat of better genre films.
LIGHT SPOILER – The denizen has apparently been active for a long time.
By implication, he has never targeted anyone who would be missed, and attract investigators.
Such logical precautions are inexplicably omitted on this night.

Profit - 1996 - 8/10

Influential series, years ahead of its time, canceled after four episodes.
Jim Profit rises to junior VP with Gracen & Gracen Corporation.
Profit is the quintessential corporate shark, with no emotion whatsoever.
By the end of the pilot, viewers grasp that blackmail, betrayal and murder are his casual tools.
(No need to go into the incest angle which was revealed before the first commercial break.)
Jim frequently addresses the camera, and, with a smile, describes targets and methods.
Charm and social graces mask a sociopath.
The look of this is sleek, time capsule dated, but always fabulous.
I LOVED this show when it first aired and lamented when it was canceled, though not surprised.
The US Bible Belt loathed Profit, calling it Satan In A Suit. More reason to watch.
The DVD contains the pilot and series as shot (meaning the three episodes that never aired).
The final episode provides closure somewhat, so you are not left hanging.

The Killer Must Kill Again - 1975 - 6/10
AKA - L’Assassino è Costretto ad Uccidere Ancora // Il Ragno (The Spider)

The murderer shoves the body into a Volkswagen Beetle, then pushes the car into the river.
He is observed.
The onlooker is not exactly the low-abiding type.
Instead, he offers a proposition. He has a wife. He’d like her gone.

Simple yes?
Plans go awry when joyriders steal the assassin’s car.
The first 20” move briskly, as do the final 20”. Good music, wowza interiors, nice location shots.
In between, however, the pace plods and dialogue predominates, along with a long pursuit.
The whole 40” middle felt like padding and provides little to the proceedings.

The Phantom Ship - 1935 - 5/10

“Alright! Which one of you done it? I know it’s one of you!”
The captain questions the remaining crewmen.
Fictional yarn of the Mary Celeste, found adrift and abandoned in 1872.
Slow moving, despite corpses appearing at frequent intervals.
And whoever mustered the crew should have squinted and said,
“You look like Bela Lugosi.”