Vultural

The Snake Girl And The Silver-Haired Witch - 1968 - 6/10
AKA - Hebi Musume to Hakuhatsuma // 蛇娘と白髪魔

Sayuri is being adopted. By her own parents!
Owing to a mix-up at birth, another child was switched in her place.
No matter, now she has a big sister.
Who is completely alarmed about being displaced by the blood child.
Sayuri cannot help but notice the mask her sister wears, and – wait – is her back covered in scales?
She soon realizes her sister is a snake, in league with a murderous witch.

Horror gem boasts frightful costumes, wild optical effects, and hundreds of snakes.
Locked rooms, experiments in the basement, a mother losing her mind add to a complicated plot.
A bit campy now, though I wonder if children saw this during its run.
I can imagine it unsettling them.

The Devil’s Double - 2011 - 7/10

A soldier gets coerced into becoming Uday Hussein’s (Saddam’s eldest son) body double.
Bit of cosmetic surgery, teeth implant, behavior training and voilà!
Soon the poor sap is viewing torture, rapes and dodging assassination attempts.
Dominic Cooper quite good as both flamboyant, maniacal Uday, and the more subdued Latif.
Filmmakers wisely chose to craft this as a full bore gangster saga.
Shootings, a gory evisceration, substance abuse, rampant sex, all during the tine of Gulf War 1991.
Opulent looking production, though docs reveal many of the visual tricks used.

To The Lake - 2019 - 6/10
AKA - Epidemiya // Эпидемия

Apocalypse fans!
A lethal virus blazes through Moscow. Fleeing citizens spread the plague across Russia.
Where’d this come from? Is the spread planetwide?
The opening episodes are furious, and a template on how to render chaos and violence.
Deadlier than the virus are military and paramilitary suppressor units.
Only then the story settles into following two families as they drive into rural oblivion for lake property.
Along the way, this becomes an adventure each week. Threats, obstacles, enduring each other.
Personality clashes border on melodrama.
In later episodes pace is definitely steadier and the conclusion is somewhat hazy.
Second season is out there, of which I am indifferent. If the story concludes, then maybe.

The Lonedale Operator - 1911 - 6/10

Father ailing, his daughter (15 year old Blanche Sweet) takes over the whistle stop telegraph office.
And receives the payroll, from the weight of the bag, in gold.
Never noticing two shiftless vagabonds rolling out from under the train.
Trapped young girl, bag of gold, desperadoes!
Within a minute, I recognized this as an earlier version of The Girl And Her Trust (1912).

Watching this solved an enduring childhood mystery for me.
From age 3 to 12, I was always shipped off to my grandparents for a month in the summer.
This was the old C&O line and the trip took about 5 hours.
(Yes, I cannot imagine current parents sending unaccompanied tots off on trains or planes.)
The train platform had baggage wagons. Huge steel wheels, the bed three feet off the ground.
Why so high, I always wondered.
In this short, one saw trunks and boxes being shoved off freight cars onto “same height” baggage wagons.

Secrets Of China - 2015 - 5/10

Maddening three part BBC doc ought to be called “Billie Takes Selfies In China”.
Presenter Billie JD Porter whines, complains, pouts, acts disrespectful, and helps us understand China.
Evidently, she did no homework before filming began. Not even a few Mandarin words.
In one episode, she visits a boot camp for kids failing in school because of attitude problems or games addiction.
Billie encourages one of the girls to fight on, resist!
Yet Billie will return to her posh life soon enough, and her advice could be disastrous if any students follow it.
Another episode focuses on marriage mania, and the insane money involved.
Third show displays the widening gap between poor and ultra rich. Hey, didn’t Mao lead a revolution?
Billie pretends to embrace and commiserate with common folk, but she is obviously drawn to glitz and wealth.
Interesting points are made throughout, though the self absorbed host is distracting and culturally clueless.

Girl Groups: The Story Of A Sound - 1983 - 6/10

Brief overview of what was, probably, a brief moment in musical history.
The rise and demise of the “girl groups,” focusing on the US groups.
Yes, there had been girl singers before. In Big Bands, they were called canaries.
This does an adequate job interviewing composers and performers.
From Brill Building roots to Spector and the Wrecking Crew.
Leiber and Stoller speak, as does Ellie Greenwich. Missing are Carole King and Mann & Weil.
Shirelles, Shangri Las, Martha & Vandellas, Angels, Marvelettes, Ronettes, shown amidst a dozen examples.
Missing names include Lesley Gore, Chiffons, Cookies, etc …

At barely an hour, twenty minutes are provided to the Supremes. Way too much, and this unbalances the doc.
Also, the ending proposes the usual blather that the British Invasion killed the girl groups.
Untrue. In 1966, the Supremes were still charting, as were the Marvelettes and Chiffons.
The Ronettes were the Beatles opening act for their final tour.
Public tastes change. The British Invasion, surf sound, girl groups would all be swept away in 1967 by flower power, psychedelia and protest songs. By 1970, things would change again … then again …
This doc is breezy and enjoyable, although the Alan Betrock book, upon which it is based, has more substance.
(Confession: I have a sizeable portion of “girl groups” in my collection. In my record store days, I was the go-to employee for questions about girl singers – along with Heavy Metal, Disco, and Classical. Go figure.)

Britannia Hospital - 1982 - 6/10

Savage comedy, skewering England’s National Health Service.
Young Mick (no longer a coffee salesman or popstar) is now a reporter.
Shady goings on at the hospital prove to be more sinister.
Where there are tiers of care, depending on one’s affluence.
Much of the humor is “English”, and outsiders may not understand views on the NHS.
(Disdained pre-Pandemic, adored during the height of the crisis, opinions of the NHS seem to be leveling again.)
Gallows humor serve to enhance the horrors, which border on slasher territory.
Jedi fans, keep your eye out!

Black Mirror - 2011 - 6/10

Well done, if uncomfortable near future series.
This delves into the increasing muddle of networked humanity.
People valuing “virtual” over actual through phones, computers, social sites.
The most seen episode, “White Christmas” with Jon Hamm, follows online voyeurs to sexing.
One of the more unsettling possibilities is in “The Entire History Of You,” where individuals can record and replay daily incidents over and over. They replay arguments, obsess over facial cues, have to surrender their recorders at security checks.
One that really stays with me is “The White Bear.”
A girl wakes up in an abandoned village. Outside, she is soon stalked by a masked, shotgun shooting assassin.

Wait! The village is not abandoned. The girl is soon circled by folks holding phones, capturing the moment.
No one, no one helps. Part slasher - part conspiracy - totally original.

The Lamp - 1959 - 6/10
AKA - Lampa

The doll-maker decides to modernize his dim interior.
Electricity replaces kerosene.
An early, early Roman Polanski short.
Presaging a talent that was not exactly team Disney, and one that would grow darker.
More illumination, more light, is perhaps undesirable here.

Futureworld - 1976 - 6/10

I imagine the surprise financial bonanza of Westworld triggered studio sequelitis.
This rush job, likely signed off with “good enough”, is what they peddled to moviegoers.
Two years after all the bugs have been fixed, Westworld reopens.
Among the initial guests, two suspicious reporters.
Not as original as the first film, though it has cloning and world domination to excite conspiracy mavens.
Robots, androids, Cylons? Not so much.

Best Of Enemies - 2015 - 7/10

Giving this 7/10 as a piece of theatre. Entertainment.
For accuracy, I am unsure. For “coulda - shoulda” this would score lower.
In 1968, third rate network ABC decided to have two debaters during the political conventions.
Conservative William F Buckley Jr and Liberal Gore Vidal.
Both could be considered privileged aristocrats.
The doc focused not so much on issues, not even on the debates, but on the personality clashes and dislike each had of the other.
Filmmakers high lit the cat fight, which makes for juicy watching, though empty of substance. Think FOX.
Ubiquitous talking heads contribute little information.
Much could have been shown about the subsequent path of each man. Buckley became more liberal, Gore more conservative. Show is about the debates, however. Since the full debates are not shown there is no context.
Refreshing to see articulate and intellectually sharp individuals.

Aside - I actually watched the 68 conventions, and watched later ones until 1984. They were unpredictable and royally entertaining. After 1984 they became micro-managed and boring.

Violent Cop - 1989 - 6/10
AKA - Sono Otoko, Kyōbō ni Tsuki // その男、凶暴につき

Detective Azuma gets the job done.
If he breaks rules, busts heads, threatens suspects with a gun, superiors chastise him, then look the other way.
He is the attack dog on the force, until one beating too many crosses the line.
Even suspended, he is a menacing vigilante.
Early Takeshi Kitano film, his directorial debut, this still startles.
The rhythm of tension exploding into violence is more staccato paced in this than in later works.
Definitely a grubby, giddy joyride.

Mau Mau Sex Sex - 2001 - 5/10

Promising title proves more come-on and tease instead of meat, or at least scented petals.
Documentary of exploitation filmmakers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney.
History is quickly sketched, with a fistful of obscure film clips.
Half the doc follows the then-retired gents, both in their 80’s.
Dining in the restaurant, puttering in the house, strolling the carnival.
Now RIP, they come across as likeable old farts (meant nicely).
I’ve probably watched a half dozen of their films; I recall as cheap and silly.
Nudie cuties, roughies, swept away as tastes shifted to raunchy XXX.

Sirens - 1994 - 6/10

Young missionary and his wife (Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald) are sent to Australia
Within his parish is Norman Lindsay, eminent artist of nudes and sacrilegious subject matter.
The minster seems to visit every time Lindsay’s three models are disrobed, and flirting.

Although tame today, the artist and his works were highly controversial in the 1920’s.
The narrative, if you are not too distracted by stretches of naked flesh, is soft temptation.
As well as liberation and emancipation, sexual and feminine.
Not a “great” film, still a personal favorite that I have watched numerous times.

Robin And Marian - 1976 - 6/10

As in Robin Hood and Maid Marian, well past their youth.
Aged now, Robin returns from yet another Crusade, and finds Marian in a convent, the Sheriff of Nottingham in control.
The band of “merry men” are now, like Robin, old and tired.
Sister Marian, casts a suspicious eye at the old love who so casually abandoned her, twenty years earlier.
The story, perhaps reflecting the characters, is suffused with twilight and sunset.
Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn have undeniable chemistry, however.
The pitch for this must have sounded terrific, although afterwards, you will run for Errol Flynn.

A Bigger Splash - 2015 - 7/10

Deliciously unpleasant story of pop idol secluding herself on remote Pantelleria after vocal surgery.
Intruders arrive. Her ex (manager/lover/producer) with his sullen daughter.

Ralph Fiennes excels as hyper-kinetic, limelight hogging noise unit.
High energy, passive aggressive, pushy, sarcastic, manipulative, utterly toxic.
One of those souls who demand the spotlight, even though his gifts are minimal.
Fiennes’ character unsettles everyone. His relationship with his daughter is uncomfortably cozy.
One wonders why the “normal” individuals endure him, though that is obliquely explained.
Warning, characters throughout are trolls or door mats.
Though not written by her, material evocative of Patricia Highsmith novels.

Phillips, Thomas - Sentimentality

Beneath all the social preening lurks banality and mediocrity. Such is worse, corrosive even, when the most limited of souls are regarded as “influencers,” major and minor.
Or are smug, petty bullies.
Fortunately, for the blissfully ignorant, there is Honorine. Librarian by day, murderer at night (I write librarian, yet Honorine’s duties suggest she is a page).
She whiles away her free time reading quality books, the literary genre, and viewing arthouse films. Isabelle Huppert is a favorite (as she is with me).

“…The library has been quiet of late. I worry about reading, the loss of reading, or its denigration at the hands of developmentally-arrested hordes whose attention to language is so crippled as to resemble the salted slug…But you can always count on the homeless to make an appearance. Perhaps there will come a time when they’re the only ones left who remember books while everyone else is so deep into constantly updating screens and sound bite expression, so hot-rodded with chips just under the skin for quick access to goods and services that they will have lost all sense of artfully-sculpted word collections…”

Hovering nearby is her husband. Ex-husband, actually. Well, if you want to be technical, dead husband. This is no ghost story, nor a supernatural one, so perhaps he is her better angel. Her outlook, bleak and jaded, could use tempering.

“… The dumbing down (of history), as it happens, has always been here, like weather patterns, craving things, and all-too-human power dynamics. All the points in history of this or that politician (even cave people had politicians) towing the line of fascist tendencies that obviously require citizens to severely limit the scope of what they absorb as truth…”

Sentimentality runs this course throughout. Meditations on social shortcomings, providing justification for messy liquidations.
This is a ferocious satire, so dark and so intelligent, one may miss the black laughter. In gallows humor, this echoes his In This Glass House. Both are delicious pleasures for misanthropes.

Without Warning - 1952 - 6/10

Blonde bar-crawlers are being stalked by a serial killer.
Stabbed to death with scissors like weapon.
Labeled Noir, but it falls into the thriller / police procedural category.
We see the killer early on, a social misfit and a loner.
Then an omniscient voice follows from one department to another of crack Los Angeles police.
Prints, fabric analysis, head shrinker (profiler not a term yet).
Predictable, though one wonders how high the body count will rise.
Most of the women have bad Phyllis Dietrichson hairdos.

The Namesake - 2006 - 7/10

Young Gogol and father out on the beach.
Named after his father’s favorite author, he is born in the USA, but maintains Bengali roots.
Not so much a coming of age tale, instead showing his relations with family and girlfriends.
The latter are a series of cultural misunderstandings, and the lure of the old flame.
Leisurely paced film should resonate with all immigrants, from whatever nation.
Sidetrips to Delhi beautifully shot, whereas New York seems in eternal winter.

Grace Of My Heart - 1996 - 6/10

Aspiring singer wins a talent contest, leading to a recording deal.
A year on, still no record, she is persuaded to be a songwriter.
Fanciful retelling of Carole King and her years in the Brill Building.
Knowledgeable souls may glimpse “versions” of Phil Spector, Gerry Goffin, Brian Wilson, Lesley Gore …
The Brill material is fun, if fantasy. West Coast act drags the film down.
Too long, and possibly made ten years too late.
Hey, and a shoutout to WKEE! Remember, O’Shea loves you best.

Who Killed Teddy Bear - 1965 - 7/10

Aspiring actress Norah (Juliet Prowse) finds a DJ gig at a busy New York nightclub.
Someone, however, is stalking her, and keeps phoning her home, then the club.
Club owner (Elaine Stritch) offers streetwise advice, waiter (Sal Mineo) is also sympathetic.
Much is part and parcel of New York in the 60’s, a seedy, abrasive environment.
Police try to help, but they are cynical and overworked.
Film is adept at offering various suspects.
One also gets an eye-opening look at Broadway, and current shows, as Norah walks from one audition to another.
Likewise, Times Square, with its burlesque clubs, XXX theaters, adult bookstores.
Sal Mineo in peak form in this part Noir, part grindhouse, pure sleaze, leaving us as voyeurs of perverse sexuality.

Strangerland - 2015 - 6/10

City family relocates to small town oblivion and have trouble fitting in.
They had to leave the big city after their underage daughter got into trouble with a male teacher.
In the new redneck burg, she skips in skimpy clothes in front of new males. Making friends.
One morning, daughter and son have disappeared into the Outback.
Parents (Joseph Fiennes and Nicole Kidman) enlist the locals to start searching.
Dust and sand seem to be everywhere in this, and no one has air-conditioning!
None of the residents want to help those entitled city types. There is an undercurrent of class distinction and simmering resentment. Caught in the middle is the local cop (Hugo Weaving).
The married couple seem to harbor several dark secrets, of which only half emerge.
Brooding character studies, with mysteries partially resolved.

Men Of Crisis, The Harvey Wallinger Story - 1972 - 6/10

I ought to award this eight more points for sheer chutzpah.
In this, one of the most obscure of Allen films, he distills his dislike of Nixon into a barbed satire.
Predating Zelig by two decades, he constructs a faux documentary, that, I suspect, many would believe.
Nixon had been reelected by a substantial margin in 1972, which might be why PBS refused to air this.

Grant, Charles L - The Soft Whisper Of The Dead

Supposedly the first part of a trilogy, this actually reads like the sequel to The Dark Cry Of The Moon.
Chief Lucas Stockton is now an older man, while Ned, last seen as a boy in Dark Cry is now an adult.
In this outing, the undead arrive in Oxrun Station.
A pale, not seen by day, old friend of our heroine, and an elegant count.
Bodies are soon discovered, throats gashed or ripped out.
As before, R. J. Krupowicz provides highly stylized illustrations that serve better this time around.
Very quick read, that feels much like Salem’s Lot lite.
Enjoyable, if not essential horror reading.

Train To Busan - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - Busanhaeng / 부 산 행

Zombies pack a high speed train!
I mean, really, do you need to know more?
Cities are over run with ravenous dead!
Surviving passengers must fight their way to forward compartments!!
Zombies are of the sprinter variety and only eat “live” meat, not zombie meat.
Unlike similar train flick Snowpiercer which I jeered, I liked this better.