Bigger Than Life

What at first seems like a rather silly melodrama turns into a wickedly subversive, 1950′s version of The Shining.  In this case, the evil comes not from a spooky hotel but from Cortisone.  James Mason plays a schoolteacher who goes batshit crazy when he starts taking too much of it, and begins to shatter his complacent suburban lifestyle.  I’m sure it’s no accident that his nickname at his moonlighting job is “Voice”, a moniker that becomes especially appropriate as he begins to say the things the rest of us are thinking.  It’s still a little on the silly side, and it takes a while to get going… but once it does, it’s brimming with intensity (thanks to Mason’s unbridled performance) and vicious critique.  This is my favorite so far from Nicholas Ray, and Mason, too.  Nitpick: there’s a really obvious mirror gaffe; keep your eyes peeled for a few frames of Ray squatting in front of the camera.  Rating: 8

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Rue cases nègres (Sugar Cane Alley)

Euzhan Palcy has distinguished herself (at least, according to iMDB) for being the first black woman to direct a Hollywood movie, A Dry White Season.  I saw that one in the theaters and thought it was a decent but unremarkable drama.  This earlier work is a bit better.  The storyline is somewhat been-there-done-that, and the mise en scene is nothing special, but there is a heartfelt, authentic quality to it.  In some ways it was reminiscent of Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy.  The film’s greatest asset is the strong characterization: Jose and his grandmother are people who grow on you quickly.  Rating: 8

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Ace in the Hole

Slightly (but just slightly) overrated, in my opinion.  I was bothered by the abrupt and unconvincing change in the character.  It’s funny… for most of the film, I was thinking that it was playing out rather predictably, but then when something happened that I didn’t expect, I thought it was too inconsistent.  So maybe I’m just being too finicky.  I’m not a huge Billy Wilder fan to begin with, and so far I haven’t seen anything that comes close to his masterpiece Double Indemnity.  But this one wasn’t too bad.  The cynicism is perhaps a little too over-the-top, but the construction is tight, there’s some witty banter, and Douglas gives a compelling performance.  That final shot is wonderful, too.  Rating: 7

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Il Deserto Rosso (The Red Desert)

Antonioni isn’t necessarily a lot like Bergman, but they kind of dwell in the same realm.  And it’s no surprise to me that his most Bergmanesque film (at least, of what I’ve seen) would be my favorite.  With its story of a woman veering over the edge of sanity, I couldn’t help but think of Through a Glass Darkly, and also shades of Face to Face and perhaps even The Silence.  In fact, Monica Vitti even looks quite a bit like Ingrid Thulin.  And her performance is riveting (although I’d say Richard Harris was wasted).  The whole thing is incredibly thoughtful and nuanced, giving you much to absorb and appreciate without overwhelming you.  The cinematography is the best I’ve seen in an Antonioni film, with bold color and heaps of haunting images.  And the sound design is an unsettling mix of industrial hum and electronic noise.  I also found this to be the most emotionally involved of his movies, which is one reason why I connected with it more than I usually do.  Beautiful and strange and definitely worth coming back to.  Rating: 9

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Love Me Tonight

This put a big smile on my face.  A light and breezy musical comedy, with a marvelous anything-goes attitude.  From the sounds of the city opening to the fairy tale ending, it’s full of carefree little bits of business.  Great gags, great songs, great energy.  But it wouldn’t be half as good without Maurice Chevalier, whose irresistible charm lights up the screen.  Jeanette Macdonald is the weak link… she’s okay, but she can’t compete with Chevalier’s infectious disposition.  I thought Myrna Loy was a better match for him.  Rating: 9

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Word Wars

At first glance, this might seem an awful lot like the crossword documentary, Wordplay.  It follows four guys who are tournament Scrabble players, gives some background on the game, and uses graphic effects to weave the game into the narrative.  But in essence it’s closer to Cinemania.  These guys aren’t so much fascinated with wordplay as they are simply obsessive misfits.  They’re somewhat unlikeable people, and there’s really no one worth rooting for.  Still, they have some interesting traits, and there’s some fairly compelling drama (for example, the relationship between Matt and Marlon).  Not a great movie by any means, but fun for fans of the game.  Rating: 7

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La Notte

I wish I liked Antonioni as much as I appreciate him.  It’s hard to enjoy something that makes you feel dead inside, even when you respect how the filmmaker achieves it.  I think each part of his “alienation trilogy” is interesting in its own way.  They all compel me to return to them, despite finding them sometimes hard to sit through without getting bored.  This one allows the deepest connections with its characters, with less of a distancing effect than L’Avventura or L’Eclisse (though perhaps I’m not remembering them well enough).  The way Antonioni works mood and meaning into the film is remarkable… but again, a little dull at points, too.  Rating: 8

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The Thief of Bagdad

Beautiful color, impressive sets and costuming, full of wonder and whimsy and a sense of fun.  There really isn’t any reason not to like this movie (the effects are dated, but that’s hardly a fair complaint).  Perhaps if I had seen it as a child, it would be as beloved to me as The Wizard of Oz or Clash of the Titans.  But as someone watching it for the first time now… I didn’t LOVE it.  I couldn’t put my finger on it at first, but eventually I narrowed it down to Conrad Veidt.  He’s great in the silents, and his small role in Casablanca, but he doesn’t have the oomph to carry a leading man speaking role.  He brings no life to the character, and that made it hard for me to get invested.  Sabu (in the title role) had a little more charm, but even he could have used more spark.  An impressive and in some ways magical production, but the lackluster performances keep it from perfection.  Rating: 8

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Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Being a person over the age of 30, I have no particular interest in exploitation films.  That ironic stance of loving something because it’s “so bad it’s good” is in my past.  Funny thing about this movie, though… it’s not “so bad”.  At least, it’s better than I thought it would be.  This is my first Russ Meyer film, and I didn’t expect him to be such a competent (even skilled) director and editor.  It’s clearly the work of someone who knows how to make movies.  The weakest part is the acting.  Or possibly the writing… even a gifted actor would have a hard time delivering lines so overloaded with slang, puns, metaphors and innuendo.  I guess that’s part of the fun, though, along with the big breasts and bad attitude.  I didn’t enjoy this as much as some mid-20′s hipster would (the kind of guy who would annoy all his friends by quoting it incessantly for the following 3 weeks), but I was pleasantly surprised.  Rating: 7

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Syndromes and a Century

What an amazing and unique work.  Contemplative, mysterious, and beautifully heartfelt.  I love films that employ these kinds of meditative rhythms, and I love films whose mysteries invite you to revisit them.  The structure of this movie is unlike any other I’ve seen before, where a story (the meeting of the director’s parents, apparently) is told, and then re-told in a different setting, with the same jumping off point but branching off in different directions.  One pays special attention to the mirroring instances between the two stories, many of which are done in subtle ways.  The photography invokes an eerie blend of the peaceful and the vaguely unsettling, and the performances are all very naturalistic.  Checking out the other films by Weerasethakul has shot up to the top of my priority list.  Rating: 9

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