.
All hail February! Don’t blink, or you’ll miss it…
(All ratings are on a 5 star scale. Note that a classic only becomes a classic after a decade or more.)
(Titles in purple have been expanded for Flix Pix columns.)
> This month I dive into the following 18 titles:
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (2018)****
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (2018)***+
OUR MAN FLINT (1966)*****
COLD WAR (2018)****
THE SISTERS BROTHERS (2018)****
THE INCREDIBLES 2 (2018)****+
ANT–MAN AND THE WASP (2018)***+
A WALK IN THE WOODS (2015)***
THE JUDGE (2014)***+
LEAVE NO TRACE (2014)****
RONIN (1998)****
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN (2018)***
THE YOUNG SAVAGES (1961)****
EIGHTH GRADE (2018)****+
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT (2018)***+
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (1918/2018)*****
KING KONG (1976)***
THE TRAIN (1964)*****
THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEM I’M DEAD (2018)****
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (2018) ****
> Looks like 2018 was the year of big screen stories about powerful women battling to establish dominance.
. As in THE FAVOURITE, this is a rich period piece about female power struggles at the highest echelons of royalty. Here, we get a retelling of the familiar story of two queens- Mary of Scotland and her cousin Elizabeth of England, women tied together by blood and history but permanently estranged by politics and religion. In the central roles, both actresses give powerhouse performances: a fierce Saoirse Ronan as Mary and Margot Robbie, Oscar-nominated for her transformation into beleaguered Queen Elizabeth, who suffered from an ugly case of the pox.
. I have loved historical drama since I saw ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS in 1969 at twelve years old, and this is a good example of the genre. It’s a tragedy alright- and that is acknowledged in the very first scene, as a defeated Mary marches regally to her execution. (History does not come with spoiler alerts.) All the politics and religious rivalry gets thick as molasses by the end, and sometimes the pacing begins to lag, but the central performances are great- Ronan and Robbie both shine in every scene. Guy Pierce is good too, as he always is, quietly calculating as a key political advisor to Queen Elizabeth. The film does a good job at keeping the tension taut between these two willful and unyielding titans, despite the fact that they do not meet face to face until the end, when all the simmering tension of the film explodes into a fiery conflagration of emotion.
. It all seemed a bit dark, though. Literally. I suspect the projectionist did not have the illumination up all the way. Many shots were murkier than I would have liked. I get that Scotland is a cold, desolate, grey place and that castles of the time did not have modern lighting, but there has to be a happy medium where viewability is not sacrificed for authenticity.
. This sixth (English language) film version of the story is a good one, but somehow, greatness eluded it. In 1885 the story got the silent treatment- or at least Mary’s execution did. John Ford directed the classic 1936 version of Maxwell Anderson’s “blank verse” play, featuring Katherine Hepburn and Fredric March. Since then, we’ve seen a German version in 1940, a terrific version from 1971 with Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson squaring-off in political battle, a Cate Blanchet vehicle in 2007, a Swiss version from 2013, and then, this incarnation. And yet…
– Frankly, I think the truly great film about the struggle between these two iconic women warriors has yet to be made.
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (2018) ***+
> I was looking forward to this film for some time before my library bought a copy, and though it wasn’t quite as great as I had heard, it certainly had its pleasures.
. But there is no doubt that for me, these pleasures were somewhat diminished by a thoughtless film reviewer (A.O. Scott- I am very much an admirer), who blurted something out without presaging it with a spoiler alert. I get why he did this- the film had been out for almost six months when he revealed the unwanted bit of information about this sly, outrageous film. What Mr. Scott perhaps did not get, is that there are many film-lovers like myself, whose wallet does not match their thirst for cinema. We do not get free passes into any film we like because of our connection to the (succeeding!) New York Times, but must pick and choose titles judiciously to suit our pocketbooks. This means that many worthy films end up on our ‘TO SEE’ lists, when we are unable to catch them in theaters. It sometimes takes us a while to get ‘round to them. Knowing this salient point about SORRY TO BOTHER YOU did dampen my enthusiasm, (since I knew in advance exactly what these clever filmmakers were working up to), but it had one good effect: It made me wonder if I myself might have been guilty of this exact kind of over-sharing. Sometimes it is difficult for the critic to know exactly how much of the plotline is necessary to recount to effectively communicate in the review. Sometimes, in our enthusiasm for a film, we might get overzealous in our prose. I try to remember to include spoiler alerts, when necessary- but they may be necessary a lot more than I thought they were…
> So- good news about my review of SORRY TO BOTHER YOU: I will need no spoiler alert.
. This edgy comedy tells the story of a young black man questioning life and his role in the world. That sounds appropriate. Four months overdue in rent to his landlord/uncle, he is desperate to earn some serious money in order to stop the house from being repossessed from under them. But it’s a tough job market for young men of color with no resume. He stumbles into a telemarketing job that is all commission and no wage. It is a dismal outfit to work for, that exploits the bottom tier of the sales force to pamper the elite class, who make serious money selling serious shit in the sealed-off upper floor. But Danny Glover clues him into a salient fact: that if he uses his “white voice” on the phone he can close big sales instead of hearing the receiver click every time he pitches. He tries the ruse and discovers he is very good at it! Who knew he had an inner white voice hidden under his black larynx? He gets involved in a labor dispute, but finds himself torn when offered access to the big money. Just how much does a man compromise his soul to live “the good life”?
. And oh yes… there’s more. Much more! This sly film takers a sudden turn into some pretty strange territory. Ultimately we see the story plays as metaphor- a kind of labored and obvious metaphor, but this doesn’t distract from the twisted fun.
– So don’t read A.O. Scott’s review! Just see this sly, subversive flick.
OUR MAN FLINT (1966) *****
> Since this broad spoof of James Bond 007 hit theaters in January of 1966, I must have been all of 9-years old when I thrilled to it in a darkened movie house. What an imprint it left!
Wait a minute! There’s something going on here that only one man can solve. The world is is turmoil! Frenzied diplomats turn to their computers and come up with the one individual on earth who can snatch victory from defeat- and here he is: the Total Man: OUR MAN FLINT! He fences for breakfast. Karates for lunch. Dances for dinner. Kisses anytime. Visits the most sensational places. And when our man Flint discovers a spy close to home, his superb training and instant reflexes take over. Mention pleasure, and Flint is right on the job. His lighter has 82 different functions. (83 if you wish to light a cigar.) He’s as much at home in the casbah as he is in the boudoir. Or anywhere else for that matter. The surprises keep building! The women get wilder! But whatever happens Flint can handle it! You’ll never believe it!
. I was a Bond-mad kid with a wild imagination, so wild campy satire like this was made for me. Naturally, I had not yet developed the sophistication to see it as the obvious broadside on the celebrated 007 spy franchise that it was, which had progressed as far as THUNDERBALL by then. I did notice the obvious allusion to the volcano-lair of Dr. No, a device repeated here, but I did not dwell too deeply on it.
. In the two Flint films, Sean Connery’s James Bond is replaced by James Coburn’s Derek Flint- every bit as cool, hip, suave, witty, sexy, resourceful and dangerous as 007, but (impossibly!) more so. Flint can do all kinds of things Bond couldn’t- even stop his heart for relaxation and life-extension for hours at a time, before being revived by his amazing watch that has any number of unexplored functions that might be helpful to an intrepid spy.
. Playboy Flint is a former agent of Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage, obviously), who is reluctantly called back into duty despite his checkered record of insubordination, when three mad scientists attempt to blackmail the world with technology that has the potential to alter the world’s climate. (Manmade global climate destabilization- in 1966! Imagine that!) In these films, Lee J. Cobb created the irascible mold he seemed typecast in, as Flint’s skeptical blustery boss Cramden. I always loved to watch this actor at work- or perhaps more accurately: at play. He goes for comedy here, but Lee J. Cobb delivered some very searing dramatic performances.
. OUR MAN FLINT is extreme kitschy silliness of the highest order. It’s a cartoon of a movie- nothing is believable for an instant. 100% gaudy overkill. Some might say this is one of the movies that is so bad it achieves greatness. Could be- but even my 60’s, I don’t want to overthink it.
– A great flick is a great flick, even if it is utterly and irredeemably goofy.
COLD WAR (2018) ****
> After the stunning artistry of 2013’s IDA, I would see anything by Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski.
. IDA was easily one of the most stunningly beautiful films I have ever seen. And the critics just love his new film! I have read more than one high-profile review that described this tragic romance in terms like: “the perfect film” and “a masterpiece”. It’s been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography- and it is deserving of the recognition. There is so much to admire here, in this stark, studied tale of thwarted romance behind the Iron Curtain. It is a technical marvel. Still, something felt missing for me.
. Again, we get stunning black and white photography, crisp and clean and high contrast- beautifully lit scenes and impeccably framed camera. Again, Pawlikowski uses a foreshortened format that presents the picture almost as a square instead of a widescreen rectangle. It has the effect of harkening back to another era and squeezing the actors, placing them under constant pressure. COLD WAR had a palpable sense of time and place, and each scene seemed impeccably lit- faces in particular are expertly shot. Both lovers have tired, world-weary faces that are fabulously expressive when so expertly illuminated, (a hangdog Tomasz Kot and a sultry Joanna Kulig, who kept reminding me of a Polish Jennifer Lawrence). The film takes place over many years and shifts episodically and sometimes with very little transition in time and space, visiting Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia and France over its compact 88 minutes. Much great music here too, which is integral to the story.
. But even with its short running time, the film occasionally felt listless and plodding. A number of major plot points absolutely did not work for me. While the character’s actions were intellectually understandable, I did not feel like sufficient groundwork was laid in many areas. This was a big problem for me at the ending. I just wasn’t buying it. The scenes that would have made me feel their motivation simply didn’t exist, or were left on the cutting room floor. Much is implied by context, but not enumerated. I do admire filmmakers who do not feel compelled to spell out every little thing, but sometimes this works better than others. Here, I could have used quite a bit more background on these lovers, that might have gone a long way to make me understand and care about these characters a whole lot more than I did.
– I correctly predicted that ROMA was unlikely to win Best Picture of 2018, despite the fact that it deserved to. Which made it 100% certain to win Best Foreign Language film, as it did. If COLD WAR had not arrived in the shadow of ROMA, I have not the slightest doubt it would have taken the Foreign Language statuette. It’s a stunner indeed. That’s what Paweł Pawlikowski does: he makes stunning films.
THE SISTERS BROTHERS (2018) ****
> I love westerns, and I really enjoyed this modern western, despite the fact that in the end, it doesn’t really amount to much.
. Charlie and Eli are the Sisters brothers, a notorious pair of hired guns who work for a ruthless powermonger known as “The Commodore” (Rutger Hauer, barely there). A refined British tracker (a refined, erudite Jake Gyllenhaal), is sent out by the kingpin to find and detain a man who devised a chemical process that makes gold mining as easy as picking up shells on the seashore. Once the bounty hunter has his man, the Sisters brothers are to be dispatched to torture the secret out of him. But all does not go as the Commodore plans, when the scout meets the scientist/prospector and decides to abandon his commission and form a partnership with the man to mine gold themselves. Now, Charlie and Eli are sent by their vengeful boss to kill both men. But what will happen when the moment actually comes? Will they too be more attracted to the glittering lure of gold, than they are scared of the men The Commodore will send to kill them?
. Both brothers are compellingly played by tormented loose cannon Joaquin Phoenix and long-suffering caretaker John C. Reilly, but of the two, Reilly fares far better, despite Phoenix’s extraordinary talent. Reilly gives a really strong performance in a part that feels a world away from his comic roots. This same year he played Oliver Hardy in STAN & OLLIE, to huge acclaim. I’m starting to think this guy can do anything!
. Ultimately, I enjoyed the way this film went its own way in the final act, refusing to follow the well-trodden pathways of westerns that came before it. If you are going to make a western in 2018, it’s wise not to just regurgitate old familiar tropes.
– And check out the unexpected cameo at the end! I won’t tell you who it is, so you will be as surprised as I was.
THE INCREDIBLES 2 (2018) ****+
> The amazing Brad Bird does it again!
. “Genius” is not too strong a word to use to describe this world-class animator who worked on THE IRON GIANT, RATATOUILLE, and the original THE INCREDIBLES in 2004. Hard to imagine it would take 14 years to return to this winning formula about a family of superheroes- but it’s a welcome return!
. All the original vocal talent is back, albeit 14 years older. (Good thing none of them died in the interim!) Including the wonderful Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks (both from Better Call Saul), the delightful Holly Hunter, plus Catherine Keener, Craig T. Nelson, Usher, Isabella Rossellini and the mighty Samuel L. Jackson! They all sound like they are having a ball.
. The original film was a total blast, and this long-awaited sequel is… even better! Lovable characters, evocative rendering and killer action sequences make this a real winner.
. Wish I had seen it on the Big Screen, but when I had my shot at it, I balked at paying 10 euro ($12) to see a matinee in Killarney. I ended up lounging in a meadow in the national park there- a better use of my time under the circumstances. But even if you’re earning euro, not dollars, that is just tres pricey. Doesn’t the industry care that they are driving away potential customers with outrageous ticket prices? There just comes a point where too much is too much, and people just stop going out to movies when they can watch them at home almost immediately upon release. As a retired person on a fixed income, I have passed that point.
– Yes, THE INCREDIBLES 2 is great animated moviemaking that must have kicked ass on the Big Screen, but at 10 or 12 bucks for a matinee,? For a senior? Disney/Pixar can go fuck itself.
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (2018) ***+
Another big cartoon of a movie from Marvel Studios, and while hugely diverting, it’s like dining on donuts. Too sweet and not satisfying as a meal no matter how many you eat. Here is another case of the sequel being marginally better than the film that spawned it. Paul Rudd is just such a sympathetic figure as the average man endowed with superpowers to grow and shrink at will. Here, he gets a crime-fighting partner- and perhaps, if he gets lucky, something more. It’s full of gentle, human humor that sets it apart from others in the genre, and if you are just looking to be entertained, not edified, you could certainly do a lot worse than this popular sequel.
A WALK IN THE WOODS. (2015) ***
> Veteran actor Robert Redford (now retired from acting), plays popular novelist Bill Bryson in this fun biopic.
. Returning to the states after a decade abroad and trying to navigate the next chapter of his life, Bill wonders: After all the success, what now? On little more than a whim, Bryson decides to hike the entire Appalachian Trail all by himself- all 2,190 miles. It had been ages since he had done anything so physical, and his loving wife (a fretful Emma Thompson), is not thrilled by the prospect. She insists he find a companion to make the excursion safer, or he ain’t goin’ nowhere. But Bill can’t find anyone willing to just abandon their lives for five- maybe seven months, and join him on the trek.
. Word of Bryson’s predicament spreads to a roguish old bachelor buddy (charmingly overplayed by an uber-crusty Nick Nolte), who insists on accompanying him. Fine. But this guy is a dry alcoholic. Dude is in such terrible shape that that he can barely walk! After a few steps he is wheezing and perspiring heavily. He is definitely the wrong man for the adventure! But the longest journey begins with a few steps. They pack their gear and start out at the trailhead. It is entirely predictable that things do not go quite as planned.
. Sadly, almost everything about this bright film was entirely predictable- down to the true, but unsatisfying conclusion that makes the viewer wonder if the journey was even worth the effort. Nonetheless, these grizzled old thespians are a blast to watch- especially Nolte who was such a perfect fit for the role it seemed written for him. Watching these two fine actors bounce off each other is reason enough to see this entertaining, but somewhat bland film. Oh- and the scenery too.
– What a breathtakingly beautiful country we Americans take for granted!
THE JUDGE (2014) ***+
> The perfect Robert Duvall is the judge.
. Vera Farmiga, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dax Shepard, Billy Bob Thornton and Robert Downey Jr. fill out the ranks in this legal drama about a fraught father and son relationship that is tested to its limits when the father is suspected of murder and the estranged son steps in to defend him.
. Everyone is good here, even if it was a formulaic by-the-numbers plot. Duvall was nominated for Best Supporting actor for the turn, and although he did not win, as always- he deserved the accolade. Downey is good, Farmiga is good, D’Onofrio is good, even lightweight Dax Shepard is good- but Duval gives a technical virtuoso performance that stacks up with THE APOSTLE and the best work of his impressive career. This skillful actor delivers seemingly effortless emotional fireworks with an intense authenticity.
. When the tough, cold, bombastic judge is diagnosed with a terminal disease, it is absolutely predictable that his emotionally scarred son will have to rise to the occasion to become caretaker to the man whose distant disapproval damaged him so.
– Yep, the plotline is a retread, but the actors are so good, their work elevates this otherwise fairly pedestrian movie into a real entertainment.
LEAVE NO TRACE (2014) ****
> Talented director Debra Granik dazzled us with WINTER’S BONE in 2010. Eight years later she delivers another dazzling human drama that proves her impressive debut was no fluke.
. Based on the novel My Abandonment, LEAVE NO TRACE tells the story of Will, a severely damaged ex-soldier who is so tormented by PTSD that he simply cannot live in the company of men. So he squats in a wilderness park near Portland Oregon with his 13-year old daughter “Tom”, using well-honed survival skills to live rudely but surprisingly comfortably off the land. They are a couple of self-imposed exiles from society, only heading into town to replenish supplies. But this well-ordered world comes crashing down when they are discovered and taken under the wing of Portland social services. They are given everything they need to live a normal life- but is “normal” good? Not for them. Being tied down to a home and a job is just more than Will can stomach. This kind of life feels like prison to him, and the freedom of the backcountry calls to them. Will they abandon all the comforts of life that have been showered upon them to return to wilderness sustenance? It’s a choice that threatens their freedom and their relationship.
. In a less competitive year, Ben Foster would have been Oscar nominated for his outstanding performance as Will. He is that good here. And, as in WINTER’S BONE that introduced the world to Jennifer Lawrence, Granik casts a stunningly talented newcomer in a pivotal role. Young Thomasin McKenzie (born in 2000, last seen in THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES), plays Will’s daughter Tom with amazing surety and aplomb. For such a young actor, she stands toe-to-toe with Foster, delivering a stunningly naturalistic and genuine performance that is a real gem.
. The final showdown between father and daughter is just dynamite. This skillful director knows when to step out of her actors’ way and just let them shine. And they do! To top it off, all the secondary characters don’t look like actors. They look like real people making real choices to navigate a difficult world.
– Certainly, LEAVE NO TRACE is one of the greatly under-appreciated gems of 2018. For my money, it was one of the best films of the year.
RONIN (1998) ****
> John Frankenheimer was winding down his career (and his life), when he made this solid action flick. (He had only one more feature and a TV movie left in him, and died four years later.)
. Perhaps one of the reasons RONIN works so well is that David Mamet co-wrote the script.
. It’s the story of a group of mercenaries for hire. They are free agents, like Japan’s disgraced lordless Samurai. Each has a special skill set, and mysterious Irishwoman Natascha McElhone needs their services. RONIN is a breathless caper film, about stealing a mystery suitcase from some very amoral men who plan to sell it to the highest bidder. The hired guns are never told what’s in the case, and Frankenheimer places us right in their shoes: we don’t know either. All we know is that many are willing to kill and die for it, and it’s an intense curiosity.
. The cast is dynamite, from an unusually grounded Robert De Niro, to a haggard Jean Reno- from a duplicitous Jonathan Pryce to a seething Sean Bean, by way of an always-excellent Stellan Skarsgård. The editing is brisk and tense and there are some great car chase action scenes- a Frankenheimer specialty.
– Exciting moviemaking! I grooved on it.
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN (2018) ***
> At 85 years old (and showing every day of it!), Robert Redford decided it was time to hang up his hat and call it a career.
. He still intends to produce and perhaps direct again, but his days as one of Hollywood’s most respected veteran actors are over. He wanted to go out with a splash, and this was the project he chose to be his swan song- an odd choice, in my estimation. He must have seen something in the story and script that I didn’t see in the finished film.
. Certainly, I get why the part of gentleman-thief Forrest Tucker, a man who robbed banks for the sheer love of it, seemed a good fit for him. It is. Redford has always been an actor with charm to burn, and it was nice to see a gracefully aging Sissy Spacek as his skeptical love interest, not certain what to believe about her new mystery man. Casey Affleck is here too, as the detective on his tail. He’s always good.
. There’s nothing overtly bad about the film (it enjoys a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s safe to call this flick a crowd pleaser), but it falls so far short of Redford’s best work that to me, it’s a comparative embarrassment. THE OLD MAN & THE GUN is sweet but entirely predictable, even if you don’t know the true story it was based on.
– Sadly, the great Robert Redford concludes his storied career on autopilot. He should have stopped at ALL IS LOST. That was his tour de force.
THE YOUNG SAVAGES (1961) ****
Stalwart Hollywood director John Frankenheimer directed this gritty crime noir about a racially fraught court case involving three gang members who murdered a blind Puerto Rican man. Frankenheimer regular Burt Lancaster is as good as usual in the central role of the district attorney prosecuting the boys. Needless to say, the deeper he delves into the case the more apparent it is that things are not as we presume them to be. Stark black-and-white photography suits the story well. Telly Savalas plays a Kojak kind of character, and Shelly Winters acquits herself well as the grieving mother of one of the accused killers, who just cannot accept the fact that her son may be guilty of murder. THE YOUNG SAVAGES is roiling, somewhat overheated melodrama, but it works. By the time the final twist rolls around, we are absolutely invested in this old-school drama.
EIGHTH GRADE (2018) ****+
> Actor/comedian/musician/poet and now- filmmaker Bo Burnam helmed this resonant and highly respected coming-of-age story.
. Completely overlooked by the Oscars, it won the New York Critics Circle Award and the Directors Guild of America award for Best First Film, and impressively, also scored the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. The National Board of Review and the American Film Institute both named EIGHTH GRADE as one of the top ten films of the year.
. There’s a reason for this: EIGHTH GRADE is a sharply observed, absolutely unblinking look at the almost unbearable angst of a 13-year old girl, awash in unfamiliar sex hormones and so painfully insecure, each new day becomes a challenge to negotiate. I worked for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of America, serving this middle school population for two years, and I can tell you from direct experience that Burnam just got everything right. The unvarnished truthfulness of this film is absolutely refreshing and compelling. This is a hellish time to be a “tween”! It may not be a reality most adults (and all parents) are comfortable with, but it is very much Reality.
. Young actress Elsie Fisher (a poised Oscar presenter at the first “hostless” Oscars), was absolutely perfect in the central role. I had never seen her before- though unbeknownst to me I had heard her voice as Agnes in the first two DESPICABLE ME films. Fisher gives a truthful, painful, fearless performance that absolutely anchors the film. Her acute social anxiety is a horror to behold, and as the film progresses, we can’t help but feel certain paternal emotions toward this awkward young girl. We want to protect her, to reach into the film and give her a reassuring hug. We so relate to her struggling single father, who seems to suddenly have an alien living under his roof.
– By turns painfully funny and horrific, chances are EIGHTH GRADE is the best film from 2018 that you have not seen. Do yourself a favor and seek it out!
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE- FALLOUT (2018) ***+
Here we go again, in this franchise that refuses to die. (This is the sixth iteration of the series, and it was such a box office smash that two more installments have already been green-lit.) Considering what a tepid disappointment the original 1996 film was, this longevity is very impressive. To me, these films seem to buck the usual trend and get a bit better with each outing. (Though I will say the stunts in the fifth outing exceed those seen here.) This is also impressive because stars Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are not getting any younger. Angela Basset and Henry Cavill round out the cast here, and despite the inherent silliness of it all, everyone is solid here. The film moves at a good clip, and despite holes in the plot you could fly a jumbo airliner through, (with Tom Cruise hanging on the fuselage), it’s a big entertainment. I loved this TV series as a kid and I am grooving on these latter-day updates.
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (1918/2018) *****
> Peter Jackson is a friggin’ wizard!
. For this stunning achievement, the kiwi auteur took 100-year old archival footage from World War I that had been heavily damaged by the ages, and made it look like it was shot as recently as the Vietnam War era. In the process, Jackson reinvents the historical documentary. Jackson himself introduces the theatrical release, addressing the audience directly, preparing us for what we are about to see and informing us that if we stick around after the credits, we can see a 30-minute documentary on the making of the film. (At my showing, every single person in the theater chose to stay and watch it.)
. The first 20 minutes or so are presented in what appears to be the original shape Jackson found the footage in: The frame is much smaller and squarer than a modern cinema screen, with rounded corners, random scratches, blemishes, stray hairs, constant variations in brightness. It has the jerky juttering motion of film sprocket holes that have become malformed over 10 decades, (!!!) and the speed (that is, the number of frames per second), varying wildly, because these were hand-cranked cameras that shot this footage. Then suddenly, the image grows to fit the screen and Jackson fades into the treated footage. There were only about twelve people in the auditorium, and you could hear an audible gasp from all of them at this moment, as the extent of Jackson’s extraordinary and culturally important work made itself known:
. The image is suddenly stable as gravity. Most of the imperfections are completely absent. There is nothing to separate you from the reality of the human carnage of a senseless war that sacrificed over a million lives to satisfy the power games of a few arrogant egoists. The colorizing is amazing. Murky shadows of the distant past become flesh and blood people, as a blur becomes a 16-year old face, an indistinct smear becomes a battle-mutilated body- some lost mother’s son. The soundtrack consists almost entirely of archival recordings of survivors recounting their experiences, and again- it is an absolute technical marvel.
. This film was released in late December of 2018. Why on earth it was not up for Best Documentary Feature that year is completely beyond me. I get that FREE SOLO, the winning film, is a breathtakingly exciting movie, but THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD is a masterwork. It’s like comparing Gilligan’s Island to The Twilight Zone. Five stars! At very least, Jackson should absolutely have won a special technical Oscar for this unparalleled feat, that could open up vast new portals into our collective past. The fact that he was overlooked is a total friggin’ outrage! THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD may be one of the most important films ever made. What the fuck is wrong with Academy voters?!
– Perhaps they were punishing Jackson for the egregious and inexcusable MORTAL ENGINES…
KING KONG (1976) ***
> No, this somewhat clumsy remake of the classic silent was not high on my ‘must see’ list. Still, sometimes you’ve got to approach movies as dumb entertainment, not high art.
. Indeed, this retread of the silent classic was dumbly entertaining. But my, have times changed! Her Fay Wray part in KING KONG is so blatantly offensive as to seem almost criminal now. Lange is treated as mere female flesh here: a free spirited sensualist, reduced to a sexual creature with no depth or gravitas whatsoever. Here, Lange is anything but an empowered woman. She is a mere object- used to titillate and enchant both leering men and the giant ape who becomes fascinated with her. It’s more than a little pathetic to see such a great actress playing the empty-headed bimbo stereotype here- probably at the behest of director John Guillermin. (I can just see him instructing her: “Writhe more! Less brains, more breasts! Simulate orgasm in every moment!”) It was a steep price to pay in exchange for a career, because every moment is so cringe-worthy.
. The luminescent and extremely talented Jessica Lange made her screen debut here, and it certainly got her noticed. Her leading man was a green young Jeff Bridges who had clearly not yet developed his chops, despite the fact that he had made a dozen feature films already by the time he said yes to KING KONG when in retrospect, he might have been better to say no. (He began as an infant, in the 1951 film THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS.) I remember him being so good in films like THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, but he is an awkward mess here. Fortunately, a serious career followed this empty vessel. Charles Grodin is the craven bad guy in this KING K., and though I have always liked his performances- Grodin is just awful here! He seems like a man who hadn’t the slightest bit of training at his craft. It’s a painfully amateur performance- all grimaces and salacious leering. Oh God, I hated it!
. And the offensive stereotype of the dark-skinned natives just burns the eyes to watch! It burns. It burns!
. The Oscar-winning effects are an extremely mixed bag. Sometimes the great ape is very effective, sometimes the hairy dude looks shockingly fake- almost like a man in a monkey suit or a clumsy puppet. It is certainly a long way from the technical marvel of Peter Jackson’s bombastic 2005 remake. Nonetheless, there is one actual improvement over the original: the ‘beauty and the beast’ aspect is much more sharply delineated here, even if director Guillermin takes it all too far with his exploited leading lady. All this being said, I was entertained. The locations were intoxicating, and some of the action sequences were a bit of fun.
– Ultimately, this KING KONG is only notable as a simple diversion, and as a time capsule to a much less enlightened era.
THE TRAIN (1964) *****
> After RONIN and THE YOUNG SAVAGES, this was the third exceptional John Frankenheimer film I saw this month, courtesy a collection of his films I scored at my local library.
. Curiously, Arthur Penn was set to direct this picture, but was replaced by Frankenheimer three days into filming. I am unclear what the issue was, but the result is a classic film.
. Again, we are treated to an intense Burt Lancaster, giving a fine performance in a truly exceptional action flick. It is the closing days of WWII. The allies are closing in, and France will be liberated any day now. This reality is not lost on driven Nazi officer Paul Scofield- almost as good as he was in MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, and that’s saying a lot! Scofield’s rigid, pitiless officer is a monster- but a cultured monster. The man is an evil art lover, overseeing the illicit collection of fine art that Germany looted from the museums of Europe, as their juggernaut rolled across the continent. He sees something his superior officers fail to understand: these masterpieces from the likes of Picasso, Cézanne, Monet and Miró are potentially even more important than moving or supporting troops. They are worth untold millions- and money is a weapon that could potentially reverse Germany’s fading fortunes.
. Lancaster plays an absolutely unconvincing Frenchman- a fierce resistance fighter who does not see the value of art in the midst of vicious war- or at least, does not see how it is worth risking human life for. He is enlightened by a very sympathetic Jeanne Moreau, who shelters him from the Nazis and provides some unexpected human warmth in a storm of violence.
. THE TRAIN is a caper film: All the priceless stolen art is loaded aboard a single train, carefully packaged for shipping behind German lines. Lancaster and his team of fearless monkeywrenchers must stop the train any way they can- without harming its precious cargo. To complicate matters: the allied air forces are on their way to bomb the train station, and the only way to mark the train to make it safe from destruction is to whitewash the roof- right under the noses of the German army!
. I remember seeing this film on TV in the 60’s, but it did not register how truly classic it is. This is the man who directed BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ and SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, (also featuring Lancaster), plus SECONDS and THE ICEMAN COMETH and the truly great THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. Despite a career that faded badly half way through, that’s quite a track record.
– And THE TRAIN stacks up with the best of ‘em.
THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEM I’M DEAD (2018) ****
> This very interesting documentary covers the later years of the life and career of cultural titan Orson Welles, focusing on his (until recently) unfinished film THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.
. The complicated man had a notoriously hard time finding funding for his projects, and many of them were left partially developed only to be abandoned by lack of willing investors. After decades in obscurity, this long-gestating project was finally completed 33 years after the great auteur’s demise, and is available now to stream on Netflix.
. Clearly, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND was a major labor of love. Thanks to a torturous history marred by failed Iranian funding following their Islamic revolution, the footage was locked away in vaults all around the world and existed in several different formats. Welles left no blueprint behind for how to assemble the disparate footage, filmed over many, many years. He was shooting the film, and planned to edit it entirely by the seat of his pants. Everything unfolded in his gray matter- not on the printed page. The results were a fucking mess. I did not care for THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND at all- except as a cinematic curiosity featuring unreleased performances from John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich. (I wonder what Welles himself would have thought of it. Considering his notoriously high standards, I suspect he would have agreed with me.)
. Ironically, I suspected this document of the fraught process might make for a much better film than the movie it chronicles- and I was right. This fascinating portrait of artistic struggle was far more compelling than his posthumus hate letter to Hollywood. The viewer comes away from THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD with a real feel for the imposing and somewhat tragic figure, and a sensation that we got a rare peek behind his veil of mystery. Orson Welles had the soul of a magician. It was all prestidigitation to him, and now that he’s dead… I love the guy.
– Highly suggested.
*
That was a lively month of cinema! Until our next round, I toast you: Vive Cinema, my brethren!
* * *
© Kevin Paul Keelan and lastcre8iveiconoclast, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kevin Paul Keelan and lastcre8iveiconoclast with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
KPKworld 