Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

 

ANATOMY OF A FALL  (2023)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Justine Triet

    Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner,

    Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, 

    Anne Rotger, Camille Rutherford, Sophie Fillières

A man falls to his death from the upper level of a chalet in the French Alps. Was it suicide, or something else? Circumstantial evidence implicates the man's wife, and there's an inquest and an indictment and a trial. In fact, it's never entirely clear what happened, and the movie, which puts the viewer in the position of being a juror, hinges not so much on want you know as what you decide to believe. You can see where its sympathies lie, but the film never overplays its hand. There's always an element of doubt. Sandra Hüller, with no makeup and often in tight closeup, is devastating in the lead and got an Oscar nomination for her performance. Swann Arlaud as her attorney, Milo Machado-Graner as her visually impaired son (a key witness) and the entire supporting cast combine to convey a sense that if justice isn't arbitrary, it's at least ambiguous. The movie's two and a half hours long, and you don't want to miss any of it. Considering the subject matter, the similarity between its title and Otto Preminger's "Anatomy of a Murder" can't be accidental.

American Dresser (2018)

 

AMERICAN DRESSER  (2018)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Carmine Cangialosi

    Tom Berenger, Keith David, Carmine Cangialosi,

    Penelope Ann Miller, Bruce Dern, Gina Gershon

    Jeff Fahey, Becky O'Donohue, Scott Shilstone

For a lot of us, Tom Berenger will always be Sam Webber, the hotshot television action star in "The Big Chill" (1983). There's something faintly sardonic about Berenger's performance in that film, an intelligent guy who accepts the fact that he's selling out because he likes the payoff and knows he can't really help himself. So here's Berenger 35 years later, older and wearier, but still with that playful, knowing edge. He's playing a Vietnam vet living on Long Island, drinking too much and grieving over the death of his wife. A letter he finds in the sleeve of an old vinyl album induces him to take off on a cross-country journey by motorcycle, bound for the Pacific Northwest. Along for the ride are an old Army buddy (Keith David), and eventually a young drifter (Carmine Cangialosi) they meet along the way. There are diversions in the form of Penelope Ann Miller as a woman who connects with Berenger and gets a ride on his bike, and Bruce Dern as an old coot who needs help with a flat tire. It's a pleasantly laid-back road movie up to the last reel or two, when it kind of skids onto the gravel. And there's Berenger, who won't attempt a stuntman's leap into a Porsche convertible ever again (see "The Big Chill"), but retains the trace of a twinkle in his eye.

Lady Godiva (1911)

 

LADY GODIVA  (1911)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: J Stuart Blackton

    Julia Swayne Gordon, Robert Gaillard, Hal Wilson,

    Kate Price, Harry Ward, Clara Kimball Young

History's most famous exhibitionist rides through town on a horse. One unlucky voyeur sneaks a peek and lives to regret it. The nudity is notably discreet. 

Alam (2022)

 

ALAM  (2022)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Firas Khoury

    Mahmood Bakri, Sereen Khass, Mohammad Karaki,

    Muhammad Abed Elrahman, Amer Hichel, Saleh Bakri

Somewhere in Israel, a small group of Palestinian students plan an act of rebellion: replacing the Israeli flag that flies from the roof of their high school with one of their own. They're the opposite of organized, their motives and levels of enthusiasm are diverse, and the movie reflects that, opening a window on life in a place and a political environment where existence means humiliation and resistance means boots and clubs, prison or death. The movie's a little rough. The actors who play the students look way older than high school, and some of the messaging is blunt, like the shots of people hugging trees in a forest that's been planted over what was once a Palestinian village. It's part of what the Palestinians call the Nakba, "The Catastrophe", going back to 1948. It's about being a prisoner in your own land. There's no relief and no way out. It never ends. 

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

 

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE  

    D: John Huston                              (1948)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, 

    Bruce Bennett, Barton MacLane, Alfonso Bedoya

Three down-and-out gringos pool their resources on a grubstake and head out into the Mexican wilderness to look for gold. This being a John Huston movie, they find what they're looking for, or seem to, but there's a cost. Huston won Oscars for writing and directing it, and his old man got one for best supporting actor, minus his upper teeth. Bogart slips into paranoia and madness after taking a blow to the head, and a bandit claiming to be a lawman famously insists he don't need no stinking badge. Based on a novel by the enigmatic B. Traven. Some of it prefigures "The Wild Bunch". 

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

 

PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND  (2021)  ¢ 1/2

    D: Sion Sono

    Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Nick Cassavetes,

    Bill Moseley, Tak Sakaguchi, Takato Yonemoto

A screwed-up, mixed-up "Mad Max" knockoff starring Nicolas Cage as a bank robber who's released from prison and sent into a place called the Ghostland to rescue a woman who's disappeared out there. He has three days to bring her back - or maybe five - before the black leather jumpsuit he's wearing explodes. There's some cool set decoration (the Ghostland stuff), but Cage looks old and tired, and the script's a real mess. Also, Nic gets one of his balls blown off. Sound like fun?

Female Trouble (1974)

FEMALE TROUBLE  (1974)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: John Waters

    Divine, Mink St0le, David Lochary, Edith Massey,

    Mary Vivian Pearce, Cookie Mueller Susan Walsh,

    Michael Potter, Margie Skidmore, Susan Lowe

John Waters' followup to "Pink Flamingos" stars Divine in a story that tracks a woman's life from high school to motherhood to strip joints to pop stardom to murder and the electric chair. Nobody could top Divine in a movie like this, but just for the fun of it, keep an eye on Mink Stole.

The Hollywood Review on 1929 (1929)

 

THE HOLLYWOOD REVIEW OF 1929  (1929)   ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Charles Reisner

    Jack Benny, John Gilbert, Norma Shearer,

    Joan Crawford, Bessie Love, Marion Davies,

    Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Buster Keaton,

    Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Ukelele Ike

MGM's entry in the early sound musical sweepstakes looks pretty stiff, with a stationary camera planted in front of a stage where the studio's stars perform a series of variety acts. Jack Benny's the host. Highlights include a comedy routine with Laurel and Hardy playing magicians, and a song-and-dance number featuring a chorus of tall royal guards and a tiny but lively Marion Davies.

Fragments of Paradise (2022)

 

FRAGMENTS OF PARADISE  (2022)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: K.D. Davidson

The long, eventful life of avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas, who escaped from Lithuania toward the end of World War Two, having pissed off both the Germans and the Russians, spent four years in a displaced persons camp, and eventually landed in New York City, where he picked up a 16mm movie camera and spent the next 60  years shooting film. Mekas never cared about technique and his movies show it, but he took his camera everywhere, and whenever something he found interesting passed in front of his lens, he filmed it. John Waters, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese and Jim Jarmusch are among those he influenced and inspired, and they all turn up here as witnesses. Viewers with a minimal interest in the movies Mekas made might still want to take a look at this one. 

The Ice Rink (1998)

 

THE ICE RINK  (1998)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Jean-Philippe Toussaint

    Tom Novembre, Mireille Perrier, Dolores Chaplin,

    Marie-France Pisier, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Bruce Campbell

A French comedy about a film crew trying to shoot a movie on an ice rink. Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter, the "Evil Dead" guy and the Lithuanian National Hockey Team are among those who appear. Amusing but slight. 

Jimi Plays Monterey (1986)

 

JIMI PLAYS MONTEREY  (1986)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus

Concert footage of Jimi Hendrix at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. John Phillips does the sparse narration, and Janis Joplin, Grace Slick and the Mamas & the Papas appear just long enough to be recognized. 

Life During Wartme (2009)

 

LIFE DURING WARTIME  (2009)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Todd Solondz

    Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney, Ally Sheedy,

    Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Lerner, 

    Ciarán Hinds, Paul Reubens, Renée Taylor, 

    Charlotte Rampling, Gaby Hoffman, Emma Hinz

Massive dysfunction and a generous supply of guilt in a movie about three sisters (Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney and Ally Sheedy) in an apparent competition to see who's in more dire need of therapy. It's smart and well-acted, but, boy, are these people fucked-up. Especially nice work by Shirley Henderson as the mousy sister (the one who sees dead people) and Charlotte Rampling as a cold-eyed monster who comes on to Ciarán Hinds.

Listomania / Take 15

 

Movies directed by Peter Fonda:

"The Hired Hand"

"Idaho Transfer"

 "Wanda Nevada"

Movies directed by Jack Nicholson:

"Drive, He Said"

"Goin' South"

"The Two Jakes"

Movies directed by Dennis Hopper:

"Easy rider"

"The Last Movie"

"Out of the Blue"

"Colors"

"Backtrack"

"The Hot spot"

"Chasers"

Lobster Man From Mars (1989)

 

LOBSTER MAN FROM MARS  (1989)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Stanley Sheff

    Deborah Foreman, Anthony Hickox, S.D. Nemeth,

    Tony Curtis, Dean Jacobsen, Patrick MacNee,

    Tommy Sledge, Billy Barty, Bobby Pickett,

    Fred Holliday, Ava Fabian, Erica Evans

In the framing device for this film-within-a-film, Tony Curtis plays a movie producer who owes the IRS more money than he can ever pay back, unless he can come up with a sure-fire flop. (Yeah, like "The Producers".) In the nick of time, a kid named Stevie Horowitz shows up with a film canister containing his masterpiece, a loony sci-fi thriller called - you guessed it - "Lobster Man From Mars", and the producer and the filmmaker head off to the screening room to watch the kid's film, which is no more silly than most of the low-budget space-monster pictures it's sending up, and a lot more entertaining. Highlight: standup comic Tommy Sledge in his persona as detective Tommy Sledge, who has nothing to do with the story, but materializes now and then to deliver wacky, hard-boiled commentary. Keep an eye out for the references to "Alien", "Jaws", "Patton", the Three Stooges, Rod Serling and "Little Caesar". A guilty pleasure.