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Possession (1981)
Not worthy of the cult status the film has
"Possession" was badly received at the time of release. In the UK it was one of the notorious "Video nasties" and only released in an uncut version in 1999. In the USA it was released in a heavily edited version. Only after restoration an uncut version was released in 2021. In later years the film acquired cult status.
After watching the movie I asked myself what the cult status was based on? The film wants to say too much and says it with an hysterical voice. In Cannes Isabelle Adjani was awarded as best actress for a really maniacal performance. OK, she has to play a female character that becomes hysterical during the movie, but even then her performance is way over the top.
Regarding the too many themes: I spotted the following relationships with other movies (and I don't think this list is complete).
The film is about a couple going through a painful divorce. Peculiair, certainly at the time of release, is that it is the man who takes care of the child. Relationship with "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979, Robert Benton). Incidentally, director Andrzej Zulawski had been divorced himself not long before shooting this film.
Certainly the woman (Anna played by Isabelle Adjani) but to a lesser extent also the man (Mark played by Sam Neill) become more and more mad and hysterical during the film. Relationship with the sinking into madness of Catherine Deneuve in "Repulsion" (1965, Roman Polanski)
In a flash back Anna tells about a miscarriage she has had when walking through subway corridors. This scene is very intense and almost diabolical. In some interpretations Anna gives in this scene birth to the creature that later becomes her lover. Relationship with "Rosemary's baby" (1968, Roman Polanski).
In the movie Anna visits a house in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin in which there is an octopus like creature. She makes love to this creature. As the film progresses this creature starts looking more and more like a human being and eventually like Mark. Relationship with "Invasion of the body snatchers" (1956, Don Siegel). By the way the creature was created by art designer Carlo Rambaldi. A year later he would be responsible for the design of ET ("ET" (1982, Steven Spielberg)).
Not only Anna has a lookalike of her man, also Mark has one. Helen, the teacher of his son, looks exactly like Anna. In the film both characters are played by Isabelle Adjani. Where Anna is rebelious (to say the least), Helen is everything a man is looking for. Relationship with "The Stepford wives" (1975, Bryan Forbes).
The strongest point of the film is the use it makes of the Cold War Berlin. Both the marital home of Anna and Mark and the Kreuzberg appartment were Anna makes love to the creature overlook the Berlin wall. At the beginning of the film Mark comes home from an espionage mission, at the end of the film the soundtrack suggests that the Cold War transforms into a real war.
The art design of the Kreuzberg appartment reminded me of the apartment in "The tenant" (1976, Roman Polanski). This is the third time I mention the name of Polanski in this review. Polanski was a countryman of Zulawski, and in my opinion much superior as director.
Kynodontas (2009)
Too little focus in the absurdity
Yesterday I wrote a review about "Following" (1998, Christopher Nolan), an early film from a later to become prominent director. The same is true for "Dogtooth" (2009, Yorgos Lanthimos). "Dogtooth" did get attention in arthouse circles but the breakthrough of Lanthimos by a big audience only happened with "The lobster" (2015), his first film with a really international cast.
"Dogtooth" is about a family in which the parents keep their adult children at home and isolate them from the rest of society. They tell their children that outside the gates savage animals are looming.
In effect "Dogtooth" is about a real weird method of raising children. In this respect it made me think of a few other films about educating children. For example "The wild child" (1970, Francois Truffaut), but in this film the lack of contact with human society is not the result of a explicit choice. The child has grown up in the forest. Another example is "Abel" (1986, Alex van Warmerdam), but in this film the choice to avoid contact with society is not made by the parents but by the child himself.
The story of "Dogtooth" is rather absurd and already reflects the style of the more well known films to come. The film is however not of the same quality as for example "The lobster" (which is of very high quality indeed). Part of the difference is the static cinematography in "Dogtooth", but the main defect in my opinion is that there is no real theme behind the absurdity.
"The lobster" is equally absurd but can be interpreted as a film ridiculing a society in which the family is the sacred cornerstone. "Dogtooth" could have been a film about parents that try to implant their worldview into their children and try to "protect" their children from elements of society that are outside this worldview.
For example the parents in "Dogtooth" don't give their children a proper (and timely) sexual education. Of course this doesn't stop the emergence of sexual desires in their son (not in their daughters?) and so the father takes home an employee from his company to satisfy these desires. However with these employee the outside world inevitably slips into the protected cocoon.
Had the film focused more on a specific element (for example on (the lack of) sexual education) the theme behind the absurdity had become more clear. With the addition of strange games and strange stories about savage beasts outside the absurdity is overdone.
Following (1998)
An impressive price / quality ratio
Early films by directors that later became famous can be fascinating. Are these films already good and have they been ignored unjustly? Do they already bear the signature of the later work of this director? In this review I shall try to answer these questions with respect to "Following" (1998), an early film of Christopher Nolan. Christopher Nolan broke through a couple of years later with "Memento" (2000).
In "Following" the main character (called "the young man and played by Jeremy Theobald) is a writer that follows people to give him inspiration for his novels. Unintentionally this following gets him involved in criminal circles.
Let's begin with the first question. The price / quality ratio of "Following" is impressive, but this is also due to the fact that the budget of 6.000 dollar was extremely low. Nevertheless compliments for the actors who had to do everything first time right (there was no money for second takes) and also compliments for Christopher Nolan who was a Jack of all trades with respect to this film (director, producer, scenario-writer, cinematographer and editor).
When we compare "Following" with "Memento" (the second question) it is above all the complex structure of time that stands out. The story is not told in chronological order, nor is it a simple flash back structure. Time has been mixed up as if it were a deck of cards. In "Following" the appearance of the main character (long hair/ short hear, unscathed face/face with a wound) still gives some indications about the order of scenes in time, in "Memento" the viewer even lacks this.
The real theme of "Following" is in my opinion voyeurism. This is already evident in the act of following, but also in the criminal circles the young man gets involved in. For pornography the relationship with voyeurism is not hard to understand, but in "Following" even burglary gets a voyeuristic dimension.
Un éléphant ça trompe énormément (1976)
Bittersweet, ... as almost all films about a mid life crisis
"Un éléphant ca trompe énormément" is the original of the American remake "The woman in red" (1984, Gene Wilder). Not always are American remakes good films, but if not they still can lead the way to films that are good. See for example "Insomonia" (2002, Christopher Nolan) pointing to the 1997 original by Erik Skjoldbjærg or "Nightwatch" (1997, Ole Bornedal) pointing to the Danish 1994 original "Nattevagten" by the same director. The 2002 "Insomnia" incidentatlly wasn't a bad film at all, the 1997 "Nightwatch" was.
"Un éléphant ...." is about four men in mid life crisis. It shares this theme with for example a film like "American beauty" (1999, Sam Mendes). Films about mid life crises are almost always bittersweet. They have comical elements, as men pursuing a new love interest after all those years invariably behave strangly. On the other hand they are also sad because in essence these men are dissatisfied with their lives.
"Un éléphant ..." is no exception. With respect to the sad element, none of the four men is really happy. One is an incurable womanizer who panics every time his wife leaves him, one is a single still dominated by his mother, one is a homosexual who has not come out yet and the main character is a civil servant with a dull life.
We can see the comical element throughout the whole movie, sometimes bordering on slapstick. Not all jokes are funny, but some are. The slapstick in the scenes with horses are in my opinion very funny. I could imagine these scenes have been an inspiration for director Benedikt Erlingsson when making "Of horses and men" (2013).
Last but not least, "Un éléphant ... " (and also "The woman in red") derive their fame to no small extent from a film quote derived from "The seven year itch" (1955, Billy Wilder) showing the billowing dress of Marilyn Monroe ("The seven year itch"), Anny Duperey ("Un éléphant ... ") and Kelly LeBrock ("The woman in red").
C'era una volta il West (1968)
An Operatic Spaghetti Western
Sergio Leone is famous for his "dollar trilogy" (1964-1966) and his two "Once upun a time ... " films ( "Once upon a time in the West" (1968) and "Once upon a time in America" (1984)). All of these films, with the exception of "Once upon a time in America" (a gangster movie), are Spaghetti Westerns. In fact Sergio Leone is the father of the Spaghetti Western.
The Spaghetti Western is a Western filmed at a European locations (often Italy or Spain) but with at least one American star actor. In so doing the producer could economize on the expensive Hollywood production facilities. There are however also substantive differences with "mainstream" Westerns. The Spaghetti Western often contains more violence and there is a less clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys. The result is that the Spaghetti Western tends to be more cynical.
"Once upon a time in the West" is the magnus opus of the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, but the film derives its fame as much from the work of composer Ennio Morricone. His score is not only beautiful, but it contains also signature tunes to recognize the main characters. In this way it resembles the "leitmotivs" of a Wagner opera.
Also opera like is the way in which is simple theme is elaborated into a complex story. The theme in "Once upon a time in the West" has to do with the frontier moving westwards. This creates a demand for railroads, leading to land speculation in its turn.
The story may be complex, the film contains some scenes you will never forget. Of course the opening scene with the arrival of the harmonica man (Charles Bronson) by train. Even more memorable in my opinion is however the scene (leading to) the slaughter of the McBain family. The score in the beginning of this scene is really pregnant with doom.
In the McBain scene there is a little boy looking at his slaughtered family. This boy is the only really innocent character in the whole film. The other characters are ranging from oppurtunistic to straightout bad. Henry Fonda, usually playing good guys (for example in "Twelve angry men" (1957, Sidney Lumet)), is anti typecasted in this film. Charles Bronson as the harmonica man seems to protect a woman for a long time, but in the end it turns out that thirst for revenge was his main motive all the time. Didn't I say that Spaghetti Westerns were more cynical than mainstream Westerns?
With 2h 46m "Once upon a time in the West" has a long run time. This enables Leone to keep the pace slow and elaborate on many scenes. He does so by making extensive use of extreme close ups, following the example of Sergey Eisenstein.
Max Havelaar of de koffieveilingen der Nederlandsche handelsmaatschappij (1976)
The difficult task of adapting an icon of Dutch literature
Fons Rademakers is a Dutch director known for his adaptations of Dutch literature. Earlier I already wrote reviews about his films "The dark room of Damocles" (1963) and "The assault" (1986). With "Max Havelaar" he adapts one of the icons of Dutch literature.
"Max Havalaar" was written in 1860 and is about the Dutch colonial government in Indonesia. It has strong autobiographical elements as the writer Eduard Douwes Dekker has been a civil servant in the Dutch East Indies himself. One of the purposes of the book is to find rehabilitation for injustices Douwes Dekker believes were done to him during his career. He published the book under the pseudonym "Multatuli", latin for "I suffered a lot". This personal motive does not harm however the literary value of the novel.
"Max Havelaar" is a multi faceted book. It covers the following topics.
The way the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies was organized.
The way native princes collaborated with the Dutch government producing an intimately intertwined system of exploitation of the population.
A story within a story about this population featuring the boy Saïdjah and the girl Adinda.
The hypocrisy of Dutch traders in oriental spices, interpreting exploitation as development aid and beleiving it themself, as represented by the character of "Droogstoppel" (dry stubble).
A description about the essential element of bureaucracy as not including bad news in official reports because later you could be held accountable for not doing anything about it. This discription of bureaucracy is surprisingly topical for a novel from 1860!
The movie does not (and could not) treat al these elements. It is above all the story of a good Dutch civil servant (Max Havelaar played by Peter Faber), who tries to protect the native population, and a bad native prince (Adipati played by Adendu Soesilaningrat), who exploits the people. The other elements of the story are hinted at at best. The hypocrisy of Droogstoppel is magnificently illuminated by church services (with very hypocritical preaching) at the beginning and the end of the film.
For the Dutch film industry "Max Havelaar" is on the crossroad of the careers of two prominent Dutch directors. Fons Rademakers, the director of this film, was in the later stages of his career. Paul Verhoeven was the upcoming director at that time. Verhoeven himself was not involved with "Max Havelaar", but some people who would later become his regular "crew" were. I can mention scenario writer Gerard Soeteman, actor Rutger Hauer and cinematographer Jan de Bont. Nevertheless the film is "signature" Rademakers. The scene in which Havelaar saves a dog out af the sea with sharks nearby or the scene in which a native prince tries to blackmail a Dutch civil servant using beautiful young native dancing girls would have been done much more spicy by Verhoeven.
Soldaat van Oranje (1977)
A mediocre war film, but a reasonable action movie
"Soldier of Orange" is about the experiences of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (Rutger Hauer) in the Second World War.
We meet Hazelhoff Roelfzema as a freshman student in the Dutch city of Leiden being the object of an initiation ritual of his student association. There are a few other films about student resistant fighters such as "The girl with the red hair" (1981, Ben Verbong) and "Sophie Scholl" (2005, Marc Rothemund). The hero's of these films are however really idealists, and I am afraid that is not the case with Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. We can see that at the beginning of the film. Erik and his studentfriends are more interested in action than in ideals. In this respect this bunch of guys is not unlike the motorguys in "Spetters" (1980), another film of Paul Verhoeven, although they are from a very differents social class. After the Second World War the real Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema turned out to be not so great a supporter of democracy after all, being associated with the preparation of a coup in the Netherlands in 1947 because the Dutch government from that moment was too supportive twards Indonesian independence. From an ideological point of view this is a 180 degrees change of perspective (from fighting an occupier to supporting an occupier) proving in my opinion that Hazelhoff Roelfzema lacks such an ideological point of view.
In my opinion "Soldier of Orange" is a mediocre war film but a reasonable action movie. As in so many Verhoeven films there is some nude, such as in the scene in which the girlfriend of a student-resistance fighter distracts the collaborator who is supposed to keep an eye on this resistance fighter. In "Blackbook" (2006), a film much later in his career, Verhoeven would repeat the theme of using feminine charm as a weapon by the resistance in World War Two.
At the beginning of the movie, before the war breaks out, the friends make a group photo of themselves. At the end of the film this photo re-appears. Not everyone on it is still alive. This photograph could have been a nice structuring element in the film if the screentime between the different characters had been more balanced. As it is most of the attention goes to the character of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who in my opinion never becomes a convincing hero but remains some mix of a dare devil and a swagger guy.
Umberto D. (1952)
A man's best friend
"Umberto D" (1952) is just like "Bicycle thieves" (1948) a masterpiece of neo realist cinema made by Vittorio De Sica.
Both films are about two related concepts: poverty and preserving dignity. It is worthwile to compare the two films in this respect.
With respect to poverty there is an essential difference between Antonio in "Bicycle thieves" and Umberto (Carlo Battisti) in "Umberto D". Antonio is unemployed and hopes to find a job, no matter how difficult. Umeberto is retired and there is little hope his financial situation will improve.
The enemy of Antonio is the abstract labor market. It is shown most prominently in the scene with day laborers lined up to get a job for one day. The enemy of Umberto is much more concrete. She is his landlady Lina Gennari (Antonia Belloni) who constantly threatens to throw him out because of his rent debt. This Antonia is someone with a Janus head. Organising cultural charity evenings on the one hand but ruthless to her tenants and renting out their rooms by the hour during the day to facilitate sexual encounters in the other hand.
Switching to preserving dignity the roles are changed, In "Bicycle thieves" Antonio tries to preserve his dignity towards his son (specific) while in "Umberto D" the main character tries to preserve his dignity towards society in general (abstract). Bittersweet is the scene in which Umberto leaves it to his dog to beg because he is to proud for it himself. The result is that he no longer suffers from his pride, but he still feels like a coward.
Not everyone is against Umberto. In the first place there is his dog Flike. If there is one film that shows who is a man's best friend, it is "Umberto D". In the second place there is the maid of the landlady Maria. She is played by Maria Pia Casilio, who is so lovely that I don's understand why she hasn't become a major film star. Maria has problems of her own, because she is pregnant. Still being young and having her whole life ahead of her, she possesses the flexibility Umberto so desperately lacks.
Giant (1956)
Old money versus new money
"Giant" is the last film of James Dean. He was dead before the premiere.
Undoubtedly some of the fame of the film is based on this fact, but it would be unfair not to judge the film on its own merits. In fact "Giant" with its running time of 3h 21m is an epic on a scale that is not produced anymore since the financial disaster of "Heaven's gate" (1980, Michael Cimino).
The central theme of "Giant" is old money versus new money. More specifically the fact that old money lacks the flexibility (or the opportunism?) to adapt to changing times. The old money, represented by land owner Jordan Benedict (Rock Hudson), continues to herd cattle, while the new money, represented by Jett Rink (James Dean), realizes that the oil that happens to be in the ground is much more profitable.
The story of "Giant" has much in common with the comic strip "The wind trade" (1959, Marten Toonder), but this reference is especially interesting for Dutch readers. On a more general level I can refer to the "Godfather" (1972, Grancis Ford Coppola), although in this instance we are stepping outside the oil industry, but remaining within the scope of the theme. In "The Godfather" the father has build a criminal empire based on gambling, booze and prostitution. It takes a change of generations to change the course in the direction of drugs. Also in this instance it is not only a matter of lacking flexibility but also lacking opportunism.
When it comes to morality the old generation turns out to be still capable of learning. Jordan Benedict, an apparently entrenched racist, improves his attitude towards coloured people at the end of his life. Both the influence of his wife Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), who is not from Texas but from Maryland, as the fact that coloured people have entered the family contributed to this.
It struck me that apparently director Terrence Malicjk has watched "Giant" very well. Both in "Badlands" (1973, the pose of James Dean) as in "Days of heaven" (1978, the Benedict estate) we can see the influence of "Giant".
Ladri di biciclette (1948)
The brilliance is in the details
"Bicycle thieves" is one of the masterpieces of the neo realist movement in Italian cinema after the Second World War. The neo realist movement filmed outside studio's (studio's were destroyed in the Second World War) and often uses non professional actors. As a result neo realist films often have a documentary like feeling.
Not however the films of Vittorio de Sica, who always have a plotline. In "Bycicle thieves" an unemployed man badly needs a job to support his family. He finds a job (pasting posters on billboards throughout the city) where he needs a bycicle. His bycicle however has been pawned, but fortunately can be exchanged by the pawnshop for the bedding of the family. Misfortune strikes very quickly when his bycicle is stolen. Together with his son the man begins a search through the city for the thief. He has to succeed because without a bicycle he will lose his job. Desperate, the man tries to steal a bicycle himself but immediatley he is caught.
It is however not the storyline that makes "Bicycle thieves" a masterpiece. In this film it is not the devil that is in the details, but the brilliance. Below some examples.
When the man is still unemployed we see how day laborers line up to get a job for one day. It reminded me of similar scenes in "On the waterfront" (1954, Elia Kazan).
Visiting the pawnshop to exchange the bedding for the bicycle we see the immense warehouse of the pawnshop. Are all Italians customers at the pawnshop?
Finally working the man is pasting posters of Rita Hayworth. Evidently Rita Hayworth has a special talent comforting men in trouble. See also "The Shawshank redemption" (1994, Frank Darabont) wherse she is decorating the wall of a prison cell.
Once the bike is stolen father and son wander through the city searching for the thief. The film takes on some characteristics of "The kid" (1921, Charlie Chaplin). The father takes his son into a restaurant (which is well above the expenses the household wallet can afford) and let his son sip some wine (which for Italians maybe some sort of initiation ritual on the way to adulthood).
When the father is caught (and released out of pitty) the son grabs his hand to comfort him. The roles have been changed dramatically, and the father knows it. Tears roll down his cheeks.
Il giardino dei Finzi Contini (1970)
A counterpart to "The zone of interest"
"The Garden of the Finzi Continis" (1970) is a late movie from Vittorio De Sica. De Sica became famous with neo-realist movies such as "Bycicle thieves" (1948) and "Umberto D" (1952). Later he never managed to maintain this level of quality, but from time to time made relatively good movies such as "Two women" (1960) and "Yesterday, today and tommorow" (1963), both with Sophia Loren. After 1963 the quality of his films further declined until he unexpectedly made a good movie a few years before his death with "The garden of the Finzi Continis".
"The garden of the Finzi Continis" is a good movie, but not nearly as good as his neo realist films. Part of its reputation is due to the fact that it compares so favorably with his films of the previous years. The acting is cold and distant, preventing viewers from identifying with the main characters. The two leading actors, Dominique Sanda and Helmut Berger, are non Italians who made their best known movies with Italian directors, mostly in the first half of the seventies.
"The garden of the Finzi Continis" is situated in Italy in the years before the Second World War. Mussolini is already in power and the hatred of Jews is introduced step by step. As Jews from the city are banned from the local tennis club they are welcomed by the rich family of Finzi Contini who have their own tennis court in their luxurious estate.
After "The zone of interest" (2023, Jonathan Glazer) was released I am inclined to interpret "The garden of the Finzi Continis" as its counterpart. In "The zone of interest" a German family uses its garden to shield itself from the atrocities commited by the Nazi's, including their own husband / father. In "The garden of the Finzi Continis" a garden is used by a rich Jewish family to keep a blind eye to the atrocities hanging in the air.
One can interpret the film also as a counterpart to De Sica's neo realist movies. In these neo realist movies the vulnerabilities of the working class ("Bycicle thieves") and the old and retired ("Umberto D") is portrayed. "The garden of the Finzi Continis" on the other hand shows the vulnerabilities of the rich, enabled by their wealth to play ostrich politics while the people in the city have a much more realistic view of the sign of the times.
Regarding the look and the feel of the film we can make a comparison with Luchino Visconti who also started as a member of the neo realist movement ("La terra trema" , 1948) and ended situating his films in upper class and noble classes. For me "The garden of the Finzi Continis" is somewhat reminiscent in atmosphere to "Death in Venice" (1971).
The Snapper (1993)
Pappa don't preach .... and he doesn't
"The snapper" is the middle episode of the Barrytown trilogy based on the novels of Roddy Doyle. All episodes are situated in Dublin. The first episode is "The Commitments" (1991, Alan Parker) and the last episode is "The Van" (1996, Stephen Frears).
In the eighties a couple of directors appeared in England who found their insparation in the kitchen sink movement of the early sixties. The political climate with Margaret Thatcher breaking down the welfare state shall have contributed to this reappearance of social commitment.
Stephen Frears was one of these directors. He had his breakthrough with "My beautiful laundrette" (1985), went to Hollywood and made the much more commercial "Dangerous liaisons" (1988). When he went back to England he picked up his social commitment again, resulting in, amongst others, "The snapper" (1993).
In "The snapper" the oldest daughter from a working class family is pregnant. She refuses to say who the father is. This leads to consternation, not only in the family but in the entire neighborhood.
"The snapper" certainly has social commitment, but has so in a very different way than for example the films of Ken Loach. In the films of Ken Loach the working class has an enemy, whether it is the government ("I, Daniel Blake" , 2016) or the employers ("Sorry we missed you", 2019). "The snapper" shows the working class in his own merits. The films of Ken Loach are a mixture of social commitment and anger, "The snapper" is a mixture of social commitment and comedy.
What are the merits of the working class? Maybe they are not very emancipated with regard to women. When an unmarried woman gets pregnant, she is to blame. The man is treated as an unwilling slave to his sexual needs and so it is the woman who must be careful and sensible. On the other hand in some bar scenes the girls proved that men do not have excluseive rights on dirty talk. The ladies also hold their own in that regard.
The main message about the working class is however their solidarity. This message is embodied particularly in the father of the daughter. Learning that your daughter is pregnant, don't intend to marry with the father of the baby and even won't tell his name is not an easy message for a father to hear. Sure he is confused at first, but later he "don't preach" to talk with Madonna and tries to help his daughter as much as possible.
Talking about the soundtrack, the Madonna song "Pappa don't preach" was not the only applicable songtext. "I should have known better" (Jim Diamond) is another one.
A difficuld choice for the director in a film like "The snapper" is what to do with the unknown father. Keeping him unknown all the way? Going for the Hitchcock treatment and making it known to the public but not to the other characters? Making it known also to (some) characters? The director chooses to make it known to the public roughly halfway the film and to some characters not long thereafter. This works pretty well, but I think other choices mifght have worked also.
"The snapper" is a mixture of commitment and comedy, but towards the end of the film, when the daughter goes towards giving birth, the emphasis shifts towards comedy. Some is funny, some is not so funny.
In my opinion not so funny were a series of cuts comparing the daughter with the father.
The daughter giving birth vs the father trying to get a candy bar out of a vending machine.
The baby drinking milk vs the father drinking a pint of Guinness.
The father burping after his pint of Guiness vs the baby NOT burping.
Funnier was the following conversation the father has in a bar with a lone visitor:
Father: 7 pounds 12 ounces.
Lone visitor: Is that a baby, or a turkey?
Father: A baby!
Lone visitor: That's a good-sized baby.
Father: Right.
Lone visitor:Small turkey, though.
Sleuth (1972)
Participating is more important than winning, ... isn't it?
In "Sleuth" businessman Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) has a romantic relationship with the wife of Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier). Normally a reason for hostility. In "Sleuth" however Wyke has no problems at all. He has a mistress of his own and has no problem with the fact that another man will support his wife ("Sex is the game, marriage is the penalty"). On the contrary together with Tindle he stages a fake robbery. Tindle the proceeds of the loot, Wyke the insurance money. This way Tindle can finance the expensive lifestyle of Mrs Wyke.
The above is the plan. In spite of the rationality of this plan, in reality their arises a a big fight between Wyke and Tindle, with a plot akin to an Agatha Christie story and a psychology akin to "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966, Mike Nichols).
A film with practically speaking only two characters asks a lot from the actors. In "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf" Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton rise to the occasion, as do Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in "Sleuth".
In my opinion Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier) is the most interesting character. He is a successful (and rich) crime fiction author. As a crime fiction author he is accustomed to think up ingenious plots, but as a rich man he has become rather otherworldly. You can see that in his estate and country house which resembles in some way Graceland and Neverland.
Wyke is rich enough to value participating above winning, but that is not his psychological setup. He may not love his wife anymore, but the fact that she prefers someone else remains unbearable for him. See also the relationship between Waldo Lydecker and Laura Hunt in "Laura" (1944, Otto Preminger and Rouben Mamoulian).
Milo Tindle is in many ways just the counterpart of Wyke. He is streetwise in stead of other worldly. He is not rich, so for him just participating is not enough ("The only game we played was survival").
Get Carter (1971)
An ode to ugliness
In "Get Carter" gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine) returns from London to his hometown of Newcastle to attend the burial of his brother Frank. He suspects that Frank's death is not a natural one. Once his suspicion is confirmed, he wants revenge.
This way Jack ends up fighting the Newcastle crime scene in stead of participating in the London crime scene. It turns out that there are linkages between the two crime scenes and they start to work together to eliminate the increasingly bold Jack Carter to restore peace and order. Hence the title "Get Carter". A situation not unsimilar to "M" (1931, Fritz Lang) arises.
"Get Carter" is a strange mixture of the genres of social realism and film noir. Social realism in portraying the poverty of North England, film noir in portraying the crime scene.
"Get Carter" is also is a film in which everyting is ugly, on purpose. The buildings are ugly (social realism), the people are ugly figuratively speaking (film noir) and in most sex scenes the people are ugly literally speaking. The last of course does not apply to Britt Ekland, who would be Bond girl three years later in "The man with the golden gun" (1974, Guy Hamilton). However even she does not succeed in making her nude scene erotic.
In 1971 Michael Caine was the lead actor who could unite those two different genres and contribute significantly to the quality of the movie. In 2000 Sylvester Stallone was not able to put as much nuance in his performance, making the remake "Get Carter" (2000, Stephen Kay) much more unidimensional.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Donnie Darko is no Holden Caulfield
The plot of "Donnie Darko" is rather chaotic. The film seems to be about time travel but ultimately is about a troubled teenager (Donnie Darko played by a young Jake Gyllenhaal).
This interpretation of the movie is shared by director Richard Kelly, who compared "Donnie Darko" with the novel "The catcher in the Rye" (1951, J. D. Salinger). Evidently Kelly does not suffer from false modesty. The comparison is correct to the extent that Kelly, just like Salinger, is well known mainly due to a single piece of work. His later films were disappointments.
To be like "Catcher in the Rye" takes not only a troubled teenager but also some hypocritical adults. In "Donnie Darko" these adults are the teacher Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant) and the motivational speaker Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze).
All in all "Donnie Darko" is a little too chaotic for me. It depends also a liitle too much on film quotes. Although time travel is not the main theme of the film, it does play a role. Roberta Sparrow (Patience Cleveland) is an old lady who long ago wrote a book about this subject. Her appearance is (too) obviously) modelled on that of Dr Emmett Brown in "Back to the future" (1985, Robert Zemeckis).
Process (2018)
Let the images talk
I am fully aware that lots of people consider the documentary's of Sergey Loznitsa boring. Their IMDB rating seldom exceeds the 7. But I love them.
Just as in "State funeral" (2019), about the funeral of Stalin, Loznitsa let the images talk in "The trial" (2018), about a show proces in 1930. No commentary only images from old archives and editing choices. Images originally intended for propagandistic purposes turn out to be merciless evidence proving how rotten the system really was.
To appreciate the film in full, some historical knowledge is necessary. The showproces in 1930 was the precursor for the more famous showprocess in Moscow in 1936 - 1938. The judge in both processes was the same (Andrei Vyshinsky). It was this judge from whom the judge in "Sophie Scholl" (2005, Marc Rothemund) learned his trade in show processes.
The 1930 trial was against the members of the Industrial party. Members of this party were accused of sabotaging the Soviet economy. As it should be in show processes they plead guilty from the very start, practicing self-criticism throughout the whole trial.
The funny thing was though, there never was an Industrial party and there never was any sabotaging. The whole story was invented to cover up the disastrous effects of Stalin's economic policy. Stalin abolished the New Economic Policy (NEP) of Lenin, under which small scale entrepreneurship was allowed, and replaced it with mass collectivization. Diminished productivity and famine resulted.
It is strange to see innocent people confess crimes they didn't commit. Crimes that didn't even exist. One can only wonder which coercive measures were applied behind the scenes to make this happen. It is even stranger to bear in mind that some of the officials of the court later became victims of Stalin themselves. Living under Stalin was living dangerously.
I have seen many court room drama's, but for me this documentary is the real thing.
Spetters (1980)
The language is not politically correct, but it sure is realistic
"Spetters" is a coming of age movie situated in a Dutch medium sized city. Three friends are having dreams of becoming a famous motorcycle racer, just like a successful fellow citizen of them. At the end of the film none of them has realised his dream.
At the time of release "Spetters" caused a lot of commotion in the Netherlands. When I ask myself if today (nearly 25 years later) the same commotion would break out, the answer is mixed. We are certainly accustomed to the level of violence in "Spetters". Regarding the sex scenes I am not so sure. The last decade nude in films has become less rather than more. The biggest problem anno 2024 would be the explicit language of "Spetters". In times of "Me too" and "Black lives matter" we are very sensitive to language that is racist, sexist or homophobic. The language in "Spetters" contains all of them. In defense of "Spetters" I must say that, given the social environment the film is situated in, the choice was between politically correct language or realistic language. Director Paul Verhoeven unequivocally chooses realistic language.
The fact that Verhoeven liked to provoke, and also liked the publicity that this generates, also would have influenced the choice for realistic language. Verhoeven is known as a somewhat sensation seeking director. Fons Rademakers, a famous Dutch director from the previous generation, on the other hand is known for adapting Dutch literature from writers like Multatuli, Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch. I think this stereotyping as a director of high culture (Fons Rademakers) and low culture (Paul Verhoeven) is not justified. Also Paul Verhoeven was often inspired by Dutch literature, although by other writers. "Turkish delight" (1973, Paul Verhoeven) was based on a novel by Jan Wolkers, who also assisted in the screenplay for "Spetters". "The 4th man" (1983, Paul Verhoeven) is based on a novel by Gerard Reve.
Apart from the three friends the main character in "Spetters" is Fientje played by Renée Soutendijk. She sells fries from a stand. All the friends are head over heels in love with Fientje. Fientje may not be a "femme fatale" (she does not actively ruin her lovers) but she sure is very opportunistic. She chooses the one with the brightest career opportunities because she doesn't want to make fries all her life. Because career opportunities alternate during the film at the end Fientje has had all of the friends, but she didn't get rid of the fries!
Renée Soutendijk was at the top of her trade in those years. A year later she would not play an oppurtinistic girl from low descend but an idealistic girl from upper middle class in "The girl with the red hair" (1981, Ben Verbong).
Hell or High Water (2016)
Some strange kind of Robin Hood
"Hell or high water" is a crossover between Crime (it's about robbing a bank) and Western (it is situated on the country side and not in the big city).
More revealing however is in my opinion that "Hell or high water" is a typical film in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008.
There are films in which the relation with the financial crisis is more obvious, such as "Margin call" (2011, Jeffrey Chandor) and "The big short" (2015, Adam McKay), but these films are about the perpetrators of this crisis. "Hell or high water" is about the victims. It is about the two brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) Howard, who risk to lose the familt farm to a bank on account of the reverse mortgage of their mother.
The two men decide not to let that happen. The two men decide to act like a strange kind of Robin Hood: steal from the rich (i.e. The bank in question) and give it to yourself. "Hell or high water" is one of those rare movies where you sympathize with the bank robbers!
Despite their determination the two brothers don't embody the American dream at all. One of them compares poverty with "a disease passing from generation to generation". Not the spirit that you can achieve anything you want, as long as you realy want it. Not the spirit that you can become millonaire starting as a newspaper boy within one generation.
Het meisje met het rode haar (1981)
Final recognition of a Communist resistance heroine
"The girl with the red hair" tells the story of the Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft (1920 - 1945). Together with "Sophie Scholl, the final days" (2005, Marc Rothemund) "The girl with the red hair" forms an interesting combination. In both films a young girl goes into resistance against the Nazi regime and in both films she pays with her life.
There are however also differences between the two films. Sophie Scholl remained nonviolent while Hannie Schaft hardened during her career in the resistance movement and ultimately performed liquidations. "The girl with the red hair" is mainly about the character development of Hannie in the resistance movement.
In the beginning of the film Hannie gives up her law school in order to serve justice in a more practical (and violent) way. This reminded me of "A short film about killing" (1988, Krzysztof Kieslowski). In this film from the Dekalog series a law student is portrayed both during his final exam and his first case.
In practical life al sorts of ethical issues arise. Focused on working in a resistance movement during the Second World War one can think of the following.
How to take into account possible reprisals the German occupier would undertake? This issue is at the heart of "The assault" (1986, Fons Rademakers). This film centers around a liquidation not performed by Hannie Schaft, but it is presented in a way very much like a liquidation Hannie Schaft did perform.
How to eliminate personal motives in selecting actions and targets? This issue appears in "The girl with the red hair" after the death of the fiance of Hannie.
It is also interesting to compare "The girl with the red hair" with "Soldier of Orange" (1977, Paul Verhoeven). In this comparison the ethical issues are not so much ones that the resistance fighter has to take into accoount regarding the society but much more the other way round. "Soldier of Orange" is the story of Erik Hazelhof Roelfzema, also a resistance fighter, but one of a more glamerous kind than Hannie Schaft. Roelfzema had also connections with the royal family. Right after the war Roelfzema was very popular, but his popularity diminished when it was revealed in 2015 that he was involved in planning a coup in 1947 to prevent the independence of Indonesia.
Hannie Schaft on the other hand was not very popular after the war because of her Communist background. After the end of the Cold War her popularity is once again on the rise.
Hannie Schaft is played by Renée Soutendijk, an actress that was at the top of her game in those years. She played both in arthouse movies such as "The girl with the red hair" as in more commercial films such as for example "Spetters" (1980, Paul Verhoeven). She could also play very different characters. In "The girl with the red hair" she plays an idealistic girl from the higher classes, in "Spetters" on the other hand she plays a very opportunistic girl from lower descent.
"The girl with the red hair" is a rather slow movie, and so is the music. I imagined hearing music similar to that from films of the brothers Taviani. I was right. Nicola Piovani wrote the music, as he did for "Fiorile" (1993, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani).
The cinematography is very beautiful, somewhere in between color and black and white. A bid like the cinematography in "Sleepy hollow" (1999, Tim Burton). Of course the red hair is in color and really sets the images on fire.
Challengers (2024)
Slow motion plus drops of sweat does not make a new "Raging bull"
"Challengers" is a love triangle situated in the world of tennis. The two male rivals are childhood friends that have been driven apart over the years. One has become a world class tennisplayer, the other has wasted his talent due to a lack of discipline. At one moment they are facing each other again at the tennis court in a second rate tournament. For one this is his usual habitat, for the other it is a come back event after an injury. The game between these two men is however about much more than just winning a game of tennis.
The film is told using multiple flash backs, jumping back and forth in time. In "Challengers" this results in a plotline that is sometimes confusing. In this respect the jumping back and forth in time is done better in "Blue Valentine" (2010, Derek Cianfrance).
As already indicated, the love triangle is at the core of this movie. In this triangle the character of the woman is not very convincing. She sometimes alternates between fighing and making love very fast, a little too fast.
The film frequently uses slow motion, in the tennis scenes often accompanied by falling drops of sweat. Sounds familiair, because this combination was also used in "Raging bull" (1980, Martin Scorsese). In this film these images proved to be very effective, in "Challengers" they are used much too often and become laughable at last.
The film contains some images in which the tennis match is followed trough the point of view of the ball. These images are really stunning, but not enough to save the film.
When my newspaper published a review of this film it also published an article of love triangles in films through the last few decades. Compared with these films "Challengers" is certainly not on top.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Some stills resemble a Vermeer painting
Most of the time I start reviews with the themes of the movie, the content. In the case of "Cyrano de Bergerac however I would like to start with the design and the performances of the actors, because in my opinion this is what makes the film form good to superb.
The cinematography of exterior scenes is sometimes very beautiful using misty landscapes. At some moments these images made me think of "Tess" (1979, Roman Polanski).
The cinematography of interior scenes is also very beautiful, mainly in relation to candlelight. In these scenes my thoughts wandered in the direction of "Barry Lyndon" (1975, Stanley Kubrick). Another comparison is with the paintings of Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer painted a lot of women reading (love)letters and in "Cyrano de Bergerac" Roxane (Anne Brochet) also reads a lot of love letters.
With respect to the actors, Anne Brochet is beautiful enough to make it plausible that so many men fall in love with her. However I would like to call attention in the first place to the performance of Gérard Depardieu as Cyrano. His performance is both comic and tragic in equal measure. Later in this review I will mention a scene in which his performance contains both elements. In later years Depardieu would become a rather nasty and aggrieved old men that makes it easy to forget how good he really was in his best years.
At last I would like to say something about the theme of the film. The film is not about a love triangle but even about a love quadrangle, a woman (Roxane) loved by three men (Cyrano, Christian (Vincent Perez) and the Comte De Guiche (Jacques Weber)).
Two of these men however combine to be one lover, Christian delivering the looks and Cyrano delivering the charms and the eloquence. In a rather comic balcony scene Christian conquers Roxane with the aid of the poetry of Cyrano. When Christian and Roxane go inside to make love, Cyrano walks away in heavy rain, his head bended. A really heartbreaking image.
The other lover, de Comte De Quiche, uses more worldly means to reach his goal. He is a high ranking officer and sends his competitors in love into war in the hope they don't survive. In this way the old Biblical story of David, Uriah and Bathsheba enters the film.
Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (2005)
A show trial with very much show and very little trial
There are many movies about the Second World War, but relatively few of them are made by a German director. Most of these German war movies contain an element of repentance, from "Die Mörder sind unter uns" (1946, Wolfgang Staudte) to "Der Hauptmann" (2017, Robert Schwentke).
"Sophie Scholl" (2005, Marc Rothemund) is somewhat different in the sense that its main (historical) character (Sophie Scholl played by Julia Jentsch) was a war heroine. "Sophie Scholl" preceded other German war films with the main character on the right side of history. Think of "Elser" (2015, Oliver Hirschbiegel) and "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" (2015, Lars Kraume), although in the last mentioned movie the hero was active after the war and fought against the tendency in Germany to remain silent and forget about all those war crimes.
"Sophie Scholl" has much in common with "The girl with the red hair" (1981, Ben Verbong). This film is about the Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft, who was also executed during the war. The similarities are obvious: girl, student, resistance fighter, executed. Cinematographically it can be added that in both films the color red is dominant. In "The girl with the red hair" the reason is obvious, in "Sophie Scholl" it is caused by the red Nazi banners in, among other places, the court room.
There are however also differences between the two films. Sophie Scholl remained nonviolent while Hannie Schaft hardened during her career in the resistance movement and ultimately performed liquidations. "The girl with the red hair" is mainly about the character development of Hannie in the resistance movement while "Sophie Scholl" is in essence a court room drama.
"Sophie Scholl" is based on the proces-files of the Nazi regime, so not only Sophie is an historical figure but also Gestapo investigator Robert Mohr (Alexander Held) and President of the court Roland Freisler (André Hennicke). Both are Nazi's and thus essentially bad, but what a difference.
After getting a confession Mohr gives Scholl the opportunity to express regret, which may have saved her life. She refuses.
Freisler is a judge and public prosecutor in one person. The trial is a show trial with very much show and very little trial. You may wonder if the film makes a caricature of Kreisler, but I am afraid this is not the case. Freisler had studied the Soviet show trials very carefully, he even visted them in 1938. Freisler was responsible for more death sentences than all other Nazi judges combined.
Classe tous risques (1960)
A criminal becoming a family man
"Classe tous risques" is the debut movie from director Claude Sautet. It's a crime movie and as such not very representative for the oeuvre still to come. It builds upon the movies of directors such as Jacques Becker, Jean Pierre Melville and Jules Dassin.
The film depicts the crime scene in a very realistic way, and this is no wonder because it is based on a novel by José Giovanni, a writer who had first hand knowledge of this scene. Also "Le trou" (1960, Jacques Becker) was based on his work.
I was especially intrigued by the tempo changes in the movie. It begins fast, is slow in the middle and accelerates again towards the end.
In the opening the main character Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) tries a last heist before retiring. Had he seen some crime movies he would have realised that a last job just before or just after retirement is risky business. See for example films like "Touchez pas au grisbi" (1954, Jacques Backer) or "Rififi" (1955, Jules Dassin). "Classe tous risques" is no exception, but Abel does not get shot or arrested. Instead he loses his wife and ends up being a widower with two little kids.
Here starts the (slow) middle part of the movie. Abel changes from criminal to family man and his main concern is finding a safe haven for his children. This middle part may not be so at odds with the rest of the oeuvre of Sautet as I have suggested above.
Abel contacts his former gang members to help him, but in the preceding years they have grown accustomed to quiet and luxurious civil lives (see also the problem of the main characters in recruiting their old band members again in "The blues brothers" (1980, John Landis)). They recruite the young gangster Eric Stark (played by Jean Paul Belmondo who would become famous in the same year in "A bout de souffle" (1960, Jean Luc Godard)) and although Eric does the job, Abel is disappointed in his former comrades and considers their behaviour as breaching the code of honor.
In the last part of the film Abel takes revenge on his former comrades. The ending scene shows him disappearing in the crowd while a voice over tells us about his final fate, thereby depriving this fate of all glamour.
"Classe tous risques" is a real men movie, with men's friendships arisng and perishing. However don't underestimate the women's part. I am not only referring to the character of Liliane (Sandra Milo), the love interest of Eric Stark. There are also a couple of women that have very limited screen time and no obvious contribution to the plot that nevertheless contribute to the look and feel of the movie (at least for me). Think of the woman looking out of the window when Eric is refeulling ths car. Think also of the girl in the apartment building (Betty Schneider) with whom Abel has a conversation when tapping water.
Borgman (2013)
Disrupting a middle class family from the outside
The films of Alex an Warmerdam are unique, and "Borgman" is no exception. Nevertheless it is possible to find some recurring themes and make comparisons with other movies.
A recurring theme is for example the dysfunctional family, which can be seen already in his debut as the director of a feature length film "Abel" (1986). In "Abel" however the disruption comes from within, as is already obvious in the dinner scene at the opening of the movie. Some interpretations of "Able" may see Zus (Annet Malherbe) as a disruptive force from outside, but to me this interpretation is a little bit far fetched.
In "Borgman" the disruption comes clearly from the outside in the form of the title character played by Jan Bijvoet. The next questions are who is Borgman and what are his motives?
These questions are not easy to answer in "Borgman". Take for example "Cape Fear" (1991, Martin Scorsese). Also in this film there is an outsider (Max Cady played by Robert de Niro) exposing the hypocrisy in a middle class family. This outsider has however obvious reasons for revenge. Borgman does not have these reasons. Yes the man of the couple is very aggressive at the first meeting, but this first meeting takes place on the initiative of Borgman. Before this meeting they didn't know each other.
A film where the motive of the outsider is equally unclear is "Teorema" (1968, Pier Paolo Pasolini). Whatever the motives of this "visitor" (Terence Stamp) are, his deeds are much nicer.
Right at the beginning I got my suspicions about the Borgman character when he is being hunted fanatically by some villagers. Where does the hatred of these villagers come from? We will never know because we will see these villagers never again, but with the film progressing we will see that Borgman doesn't bode well.
Last but not least I will make a comparison with "Invasion of the body snatchers" (1956, Don Siegel). At first sight this film seems far removed from "Borgman", but let's not forget about the Biblical message with which Borgman opens ("And they came down to the earth to strengthen their ranks"). This directly gives the movie something extra terrestrial. This extra terrestrial element is reinforced by metamorphosis (scenes with greyhounds), strange scars on the back of Borgman and his companiens and mind control.
Borgman is able to guide the dreams of the wife of the couple by sitting naked on her body when she sleeps. These images are both very strange, very strong and very discomforting.
All in all "Borgman" is a very unfathomable movie, even for van Warmerdam standards. For some this will be a recommendation. For me the film did a very great demand on my ability to come up with my own interpretation.
Hereditary (2018)
Complex feelings of guilt
2018 was a good year for the horror genre. Two young directors made their debut in this genre. John Krasinski with "A quiet place" and Ari Aster with "Hereditary". A year later Aster would make the folk horror "Midsommar".
In horror movies the horror can come from the outside or from within (psychological horror). In "A quiet place" the horror clearly comes from the outside world. Hereditary" is a much more psychological movie.
I think the most important theme of "Hereditary" is the bereavement of a mother after the death of her child, especially when there are also feelings of guilt involved. In this respect "Hereditary" can be compared with a (non horror) movie like "Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2017, Martin McDonagh).
In "Three billboards ..." the feeling of guilt has to do with the fact that the daughter has died after she had left the house after a quarrel. In "Hereditary" the daughter has died because her older brother has not taken care of her at a party. He was much to busy seducing his girl friend. The mother was the one who insisted upon the daughter accompanying her brother to the party. The feeling of guilt in "Hereditary" is therefore more indirect than in "Three billboards ... ", but also more complex. The one more directly to blame for the dead of the young girl is the elder son, but what are the feelings of a mother towards her child that is responsible for the death of another of her children?
A mistake horror movies often make is following up a slow build up in the first half with excessive shocks in the second half. "Hereditary" does not manage to avoid this mistake, but neither do "A quiet place" or "Mother!" (2017, Darren Aronofsky) from a year earlier.