Vultural

Fire Of Love - 2022 - 7/10

Ofttimes puzzling documentary of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft.
Much of their career was working as close as possible to eruptions and flows.
Both come across, at times, as reckless, chancing their luck, their lives.
At one point you see shoes melting, another time one canoes a lake of sulphuric acid.

Murkier is where they met, how they fund their expensive passion.
They describe themselves as freelancers, but jet-setting to fresh outbreaks must have been costly.
Commentary is sprinkled with speculations and assumptions, out of place in a doc.
Nevertheless, one watches this for the photography, which is top rate.

Le Fanu, Sheridan - A Little Fuchsia Book Of Fears

“Little” book makes a good sampler, a nice introduction to Le Fanu. Also fine for the veteran fan desiring a quick freshener.

“The Drunkard’s Dream” is a warning about the evils of drink. Reading this, I wondered – then as now – whether a souse would read this one, let alone heed.

Another cautionary tale, “Laura Silver Bell”, finds our heroine warned about handsome strangers. Or the modern equivalent, what I tell young girls, “don’t trust boys.”

So, would you make a deal with the devil? Under what circumstances? For what terms?
Luck has turned her face away from the young lord. Wealth squandered, forced to sell off assets, including the dogs, including some of the prize racehorses!
Nevertheless, he is offered a proposal that will turn misfortune around in a flash. “Sir Dominick’s Bargain” unrolls the tribulations, the coaxing temptation, as well as the contract.

Blue Jean - 2020 - 7/10

Jean is a young P.E. teacher, also a closeted lesbian in Thatcher Britain.
Section 28 is coming to the fore, and if outed, she could lose her job, possibly any job.
A new student arrives, unsettling the classroom and gymnasium dynamics.
Film excellent in showing the pettiness of school (no rosy nostalgia here), as well as the camaraderie of the women in what one supposes are private clubs.
Jean makes mistakes, has errors of judgment, trying to straddle two worlds in a high stakes era.
The women’s characters seem spot on (I worked with several for years, and I recognized a couple “types”).
Good film, neither sugar-coated nor preachy.

Budapest - 2018 - 6/10

Two junior execs, stymied on the Corporate ladder (they are not our kind, understand), launch a travel agency.
High end bachelor parties, stag night.
Attendees get a coked out guide, mass quantities of booze and drugs, strippers, playmates, access to military weapons.
What could go wrong? What do you think, Clyde?
Disasters on a colossal scale, and their business soars.
Uneven comedy skewers the foolishness of guys.

Jailbait - 1954 - 5/10

I suppose I’ve seen worse.
Don, son of a prominent – and wealthy – surgeon, gets busted for packing a gun.
He is also warned by the police, his sister, his father, not to associate with cheap thug Brady.
So, before you know it, Don and Brady commit armed robbery.
Shoddy film by auteur Ed Wood grinds to a periodic halt, yet he keeps tossing in scenes and ideas.
One being a black-faced minstrel smack in the middle of the story.
Lyle Talbot and Herbert Rawlinson shore up weaker players, outshine non-existent sets.
Very early film of a clean shaven Steve Reeves, pre-Hercules.

Cause For Alarm! - 1951 - 5/10

“Is your head bothering you?”
“Terribly, both of them.”
“Doctor, I made an absolute idiot of myself rubbing his head, both of them!”
For a brief moment, I wonder how this one sailed past the Code board.
That was the lone double entendre, and the whole story downshifts into a plod.
Fighter pilot George is now laid up at home, in physical and mental decline.
Wife Ellen intends to murder him, or so he imagines.
Loretta Young flutters effectively in cozy suburban thriller that strikes me as pure melodrama.

Murder In Castellane - 2020 - 6/10
AKA - Les Mystères de la Chorale

Returning home on her bicycle, a young woman is run over, then stabbed.
The police pair investigating the murder are a young, female captain, and a much older, seasoned commander.
It is her case, but he is showing her “the ropes.” When to lean on suspects, when to let them stew.
When to intrude on the bereaved for details, when to leave them alone.
This how-to is a plus for the mystery.
The victim is Turkish, Muslim, and quite early I theorized (correctly) what type of killing it had been.
Midway, with evidence, I realized the motive.
That is a minus, if I can work matters out like that.

Nightwalking - 2019 - 7/10

The office drone, living a hollow life, walks the city by night.
Commenting throughout on the emptiness of existence, with the oasis of color here and there.
He is a natural observer. Faceless. Almost invisible, thus tolerated, or ignored.

Midway, there is door, triggering curiosity and primal anxiety.
As with the dark itself, frightening yet tempting.
This has a good feel for what I often refer to as Past 2:00 AM.
For night owls, for the Cult of Ligotti, find this short.
Film = https://vimeo.com/504934006/ee093bec9d
Subs = https://www.mediafire.com/file/odqo6m4nplee4ez/Nightwalking-2019.srt/file

The Critic (1700) - 1982 - 7/10

Goodness, hang with this one, folks.
Slow to catch fire Restoration comedy by Sheridan.
Sharp, if dated, satire on playwrights.
First section mocks a turgid craftsman, scribe of overlong, boring plays.
Still, once Mr. Puff arrives, fasten your belts.
He writes the crowd-pleasers. The tentpoles of his day, akin to our absurd superheroes in pajamas.
Puff invites an investor and critic to a performance, and us along with them.
The finale piles numbers, effects, music, to astonishing, over-the-top effect!

Rohmer, Sax - Satin And Sand

Dick Cartaret slows his vehicle to a crawl, so thick is the London fog that night. Without warning, a girl throws herself into his car; she is the most beautiful, most exquisite girl Dick has ever seen. “Hurry!” she begs, “Don’t let them catch me!”

At that point, Dick is drawn into the inescapable web of Sumuru.

Sumuru is Rohmer’s femme fatale version of Fu Manchu. She is seemingly all powerful, unstoppable, the control behind wide ranging organization.

She is hardly an original, however. A decade earlier, L. T. Meade hurled Madame Koluchy, than Madame Sara against decent society. Each was more wicked, and more human. A decade before those two was Ayesha, H, Rider Haggard’s ageless queen. Peer further, Cleopatra, Asherah, Lilith.

Satin And Sand is a fun read, brisk page turner, although Sumuru, in comparison with the earlier females, strikes me as omnipotent. Resistance is futile.

Io Island - 1977 - 7/10
AKA - Iodo // 이어도

The steamship is ferrying capitalists and investors to Ieoda Island.
Fabled isle where drowned fisherman, claimed by the Water Demon, live in paradise.
The money-men plan to build a luxury hotel there, until one of the passengers disappears or is murdered.

Events and stories now migrate to nearby Chengu Island.
Fishermen and female divers. The women desire men for children, then try to persuade them to move to the mainland before being killed by the Water Demon.
Chengu is an island of lust, jealousy, superstition.
The narrative is a baffling jumble of flashbacks and backstories.
Despite that, the film is mesmerizing and a rich showcase of early Korean cinema.

The Company Of Wolves - 1984 - 6/10

Although listed among Horror, this anthology holds fairy tales revolving around wolves.
Werewolves, Red Riding Hood, transformations.
One even includes the chance encounter with the Devil.

Interior sets predominate, although that seems in keeping with the fantasy element.
Angela Lansbury reliable as Granny, a classic ”wise woman”.
The real gem is 12 year old Sarah Patterson. She is in almost every scene and is bewitching.
Early Neil Jordan work.

Confessions Of A Police Captain - 1971 - 7/10
AKA - Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica

Our cynical police captain is not crooked, but he is definitely bent.
Not above trying to arrange the murder of an untouchable crime lord.
Enter the newly appointed, idealistic District Attorney.

All he needs is evidence, and the Law will take care of the rest.
Martin Balsam is spot-on as the captain, and both he and Franco Nero work well together.
Very good Euro-Crime thriller, though for fans of this sub-genre this reinforces their worldview.

The Other Me - 2016 - 7/10
AKA - Eteros Ego // Έτερος εγώ

College criminology professor is asked to help with an investigation.
As one murder leads to another, a serial killer is revealed.
Except there is no killer, and no motive, save that all victims were corrupt.
Well plotted mystery with some chronological swings from time to time.
No scenes are arbitrary inserts, everything will piece together.
For fans of Pythagoras, the assassin leaves quotes at each scene of the crime.

Infiniti - 2022 - 7/10

Superior SciFi / Mystery / Espionage, though not for the casual EFX seeker.
While a crash occurs at the orbiting ISS (International Space Station), the body of a cosmonaut is found in Kazakhstan.
Missing the head, torso covered in wax. And, as we find out, this is the second body.
International series delves into science, parallel concepts, detective inquiry, cover-ups, Zoroastrianism.
Yes, you read correct, Zarathustra.
Souls needing this or that point, everything explained please, may be frustrated.
Multiple layers, mostly satisfying (I never bought the love angle), should satisfy hardcore SciFi fans.

Note: While this is mostly in English, I strongly advise getting full subs. Characters speak in English, Russian, French, Kazakhstan.
Even when they speak in English, accents are pronounced.

Red - 2018 - 7/10

Painter Mark Rothko takes on an assistant, an employee.
A new commission awaits: a series of murals for the Four Seasons Restaurant inside the Seagram Building.
Rothko recollects gone contemporaries (Jackson Pollock), the functions of Art, the journey of an Artist.
His is Modern art, Abstract, and his resentment toward rising Pop Art is palpable.
Heady theatre, exploring numerous ideas.
Real tour de force by Alfred Molina, Alfred Enoch as earnest assistance is fine.

I checked the fanedit thread at Reddit, no joy.

Stray Dog - 1949 - 7/10
AKA - Nora inu // 野良犬

Rookie detective Murakami has his pocket picked.
Not his wallet, either, but his Colt pistol!
Police procedural evolves into a buddy film as Murakami is paired with the more seasoned Sato, who is less emotional, less sympathetic than the younger partner.
Set during a sweltering heatwave, through back alleys and seedy underbelly.
Prostitutes, petty thieves, starving children inhabit a Tokyo still reeling from World War II.

Men - 2022 - 6/10

Harper, recovering from marital problems, breakup, trauma, holidays in the countryside.
Bucolic enough, and locals display rural friendliness, aloof reserve, or veiled contempt.
Do they actually? Or is Harper interpreting? After all, the men eerily resemble each other.
Wonderful film of haunting, is effectively “strange” most of the way.
Rory Kinnear superb in multi-faceted roles.
Jessie Buckley no slouch, either, as widow who observes, “sees” if you like, disturbances in normality.
The conclusion is a collapse, sadly. Typical of this writer who can construct stories, but cannot finish them.

The Killer Is Still Among Us - 1986 - 6/10
AKA - L’assassino è ancora tra noi

Half-assed Slasher film aspires.
An ugly killing of a “busy” couple in the woods. Then another killing (using the same footage!).
Our young student, planning to be a criminal investigator, starts to suspect everyone around her.
Including her boyfriend – including her professor.
What to do? Why, go to the Black Devil tavern, a hangout of the voyeur crowd.
Yes, blend in with peeping toms.
Deaths more cruel than imaginative.
By the fourth or fifth woodsy murder outside Roma, I wondered, “Don’t twenty year olds have apartments?”

The Children Of France During The War - 1918 - 6/10
AKA - Les Enfants de France et de la Guerre

Worthwhile viewing for historic images.
Nevertheless, this serves as propaganda, showing the youngest citizens doing their bit during the Great War.
Farmwork, cheering, meeting Clemenceau, staging mock battles, donning gas masks.
Saddest part comes near the end.
Orphanages, filling to overflowing.
Not mentioned, French casualties were between 1-2 million.

Silent Running - 1972 - 6/10

SciFi fantasy in 1972, predicts all green life will be extinct on Earth.
Perhaps less far fetched nowadays.
Vast spaceships, greenhouses, nurture the last fauna maintained by small robots and humans of sundry dedication.
Underlying themes of homesickness and isolation contest with the mission zeal.
Bruce Dern very good in this, although he is already wacko stereotyped which undercuts the story.
State of the art effects by Trumbull have not dated much.

Shout - 1991 - 5/10

Texas reform school hires new music teacher (please?).
This being the 50’s, in redneck US of A, does he teach ’em gospel.
Nope, rhythm and blues, what, back then, was termed race music.
Proto-Elvis, bizarre romance (dirty dancing on either side of the prison fence).
Heather Graham survived this, as did Linda Fiorentino.
As for John Travolta, his many comebacks stem from signing on to stinkers like this.
Avoid.

Kiernan, Caitlin - The Ammonite Violin And Others

Generous collection of stories that first appeared in Kiernan’s (still ongoing) Sirenia Digest. Most seem to have roots in fable, once upon a time, old wives tales. Deep roots, at that.

“Bridle” touches upon Irish myth. Not the Silkie, but the Kelpie. Harnessed to the obscure pond in the city park. Restraint leashes yearning. A trapped force, making promises and threats.

The Silkie takes stage in “For One Who Has Lost Herself.” She is downtown Manhattan, amidst chaos and rabble. She seeks, she has a claim, for a possession that has been stolen from her, something precious. This is a deeply satisfying work, encompassing quest and bitter life lessons.

“The Ammonite Violin” is conte cruel. The obsessive collector, ever hunting, raking, seizing if necessary. Repulsive, yet he does pay so handsomely. He has a unique violin constructed, then hires the abandoned musician. As with many stories here, loss is spliced with tear-stained discovery.

We eavesdrop in “Scene In The Museum (1896)”. The uncomfortable exchange between an old woman, curator, now blind, and a wharf prostitute, who sees more than she reveals, yet still permits herself to be exploited. Listening, overhearing, often incurs the same cost as observing, witnessing. Ask Odysseus, ask Orpheus.

With each issue, Kiernan tightened her lens, selecting works that would best serve Sirenia. Stories grow in strength and clarity, making this a choice ADULT collection to track down.

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