Serial Killer movies

"I watch so you don't have to" -- Lisa DeMoraes

April 29, 2010--

"The Red Riding Trilogy"

People have criticized me for liking dark, depressing movies instead of 'heart-warming family films' (aka "The Blind Side"), so I thought I would expand my horizons by going to a feel-good, family-sounding film "The Little Red Riding Hood Trilogy." Except when I got to the Angelika theater in downtown Houston, I realized it was not a 3D, animated retelling of the popular fairy tale from the Disney conglomerate, but a 3-part BBC series based on a real life serial child-killer that terrorized Yorkshire in the 1970s and 80s! And this was on Easter Sunday! Go Figure!

Actually titled "The Red Riding Trilogy" and originally airing on BBC television, I have to say it translates well to the big screen. Not only because of the superior British acting (the scenes between Andrew Garfield and Rebecca Hall are amazing--and not just because they are having sex all the time), but because each installment has its own accomplished director, creating a subtle shift in tone and style from episode to episode Part One, which takes place in the Year of our Lord 1974, is especially authentic in capturing the mood and feel of a 1970s crime drama. Director Julian Jarrold never lets you escape from the cold, rainy, suffocating grip of his mise-en-scene. This is two hours of sheer depravity and violence -- I loved every minute of it!

I loved it not because I love depravity and violence -- I love uncompromising, exceptional filmmaking! But it was so gut-wrenching I couldn't stay for Part Two. I saw the last two installments on succeeding nights, and while interesting, they didn't reach the epic heights of Part One. The other two films (set in 1980 and 1983) continue the story of the corrupt Yorkshire Police Department and how it was finally brought down by one of its own, but they don't pack the emotional wallop of part one (nor does part 3 offer the expiation the audience is entitled to after enduring 6 hours of chasing a depraved pedophile).

So in that sense, an investment in all 3 films leaves one somewhat disappointed (not to mention exhausted). Part One stands on its own as a gut-wrenching, captivating tale of police brutality and corruption, but I defy anyone to stop after just one film.


And now for something completely different -- a serial killer in Sweden!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Dir: Niels Arden Oplev

The popularity of the Swedish mystery trilogy "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (another trilogy!) has always intrigued me. According to NPR, Americans are defying U.S. law to order the UK edition of the English translation of the third (and final, due to Stieg Larsson's untimely death) installment before it is released here. After watching the film version of Part One, all I can say is: "There are a lot of sick, sick people hanging out at 'Murder By the Book' in Houston!"

Because this movie is two hours of sheer depravity and violence -- I hated it!!
Not because I hate depravity and violence -- au contraire -- I hate pointless, gratuitous depravity and violence (involving Swedes). I won't give away anything (I hope) to say the late-author piled on every sick pathology into his villains (Anti-Semitism, torture, mutilation, incest) -- he even made them Nazis! Swedish Nazis!

Subtlety was not this guy's strong suit.

But what really kills this movie is that, in apparent over-fidelity to the book, IT NEVER ENDS! The audience is forced to endure an extended denouement that is so at odds with the rest of the film, I left the theater not only repulsed but feeling cheated--as if the author sacrificed his main character so he could insert an inauthentic 'twist' to the end of his book.

And I never found out why she got that hellacious dragon tattoo!

A museum devoted to Cinema

Dateline: Berlin
(I've always wanted to write that!)

Berlin's newest architectural gem, the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz, is home to one of the most wonderful museums I've ever visited. The Deutsche Kinematek is devoted to cinema - - German cinema specifically, from the earliest silents to 'Run Lola Run.' And if any country's cinema deserves a museum of its own, Germany takes a back-seat to no country! (France and Hollywood included).

The Sony Center (as featured in last year's "The International" with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts)






I spent a glorious two-and-a-half hours here on a recent
Saturday afternoon, and enjoyed every minute of it. The classics of German expressionism are given their own displays (Caligari, M, Mabuse, and Metropolis -- which had a special exhibit devoted to the latest, most-complete restoration, which had its premiere while I was in town).

The stars of the era are celebrated, too: silent film great Asta Nielsen (I stayed in her fashionable apartment in Berlin, converted to a homey Pension), Conrad Veidt, Emil Jannings (winner of the FIRST Oscar for best Actor). Although I was disappointed in the cursory treatment given to my personal fave, American sensation Louise Brooks. Marlene Dietrich has pride of place with an entire room devoted to her photos, costumes, love letters from famous men (and women). and luggage! (She brought alot of clothes on her visits to Hollywood).

I will let my pictures tell the rest of the story:

the lovely Louise Brooks



Fassbinder's director's chair and his two Golden Bears for "The Marriage of Maria Braun."

The first Oscar for Best Actor
(to silent star Emil Jannings for "The Last Command" and "The Way of All Flesh"). He later became a leading member of the Nazi film industry and was recently vilified (justifiably) in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."

My trip to the Berlinale

February 22, 2010 --

Yes, folks, I attended my first World Class Film Festival this year: the 60th Annual Berlin Film Festival. The stars were out in force, (Leo, Scorsese, Olivia Williams, Julianne Moore) but I didn't see any of them! Unless you count the Vanessa Redgrave-look-alike I spied at the Paris Bar on Kantstrasse one night. Instead, I was left to rub elbows with the great mass of public film-goers (Oh what I would have given for a Press Pass!)

The Berlinale is a massive, well-run festival. Next time, I must arrive early and wait in line for advance sale tickets (and go to the gift shop, which involves another long line). As I did neither, I only made it to three showings: two programs of shorts (one devoted to the work of Festival honoree Hanna Schygulla--she's a better actress than filmmaker--ouch!), and a new Czech film from Jan Hrebejk: "Kawasaki's Rose" -- good film, bad title.

The latter film was shown in a massive East Berlin theater, on a massive, Communist-era boulevard lined with apartment blocks. (Now Karl Marx Allee, formerly Josef Stalin Allee). Impressive, but a bee-atch to walk down when you are late for a screening! To be in a huge theater packed with film lovers was amazing. A community develops among the hard-core attendees. Unfortunately, I was unable to devote the time to cultivate any relationships (it was my first visit to Berlin... I had places to go, things to see!)

Next time (God willing), I'll know exactly what to do.

List of prize winners

Here are some of the sights I took in:

Esteemed member of the jury:

The foreignfilmguy himself!!

TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2009

February 11, 2010 --

I'm always the last critic to post my Top Ten List (there are just so many movies to see at the end of the year!!) Fortunately, the East Coast blizzard gave me the one extra day I needed to complete the list before I travel to the historic Berlin Film Festival ! (60th year). (Even so, I still haven't seen "Crazy Heart.")

To build the suspense, I first present my Saw & Enjoyed:

An Education (UK)
The Damned United (UK)
The International
Nine
Star Trek

Next, my Honorable Mention:

Antichrist
The Informant!
State of Play

Now, in ascending order:

10. The Moon
9. (500) Days of Summer
8. A Serious Man
7. Avatar
6. Me and Orson Welles
5. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
4. Precious: ...
3A. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
3. Up In The Air
2. BRIGHT STAR

and the No. 1 Movie of the Year ...

1. THE HURT LOCKER -- Good luck at the Oscars!

Best Foreign Films of the Decade

February 3, 2010 --

While I still have a few more 2009 releases to see before finishing my annual Top Ten List, that will not stop me from wrapping-up the decade just past (2000-09--I hate the phrase "the naughts") in film. For starters, here are the 15-Best Foreign Films of the Decade:


But First! I have to single out Europe for providing a steady stream of exceptional films, namely:
Germany -- The Educators, Goodye, Lenin!, A Woman in Berlin (and two movies I failed to see: Downfall, and The Baader-Meinhof Complex);
France -- A Very Long Engagement, La Vie en Rose, La Veuve de St. Pierre);
Scandinavia -- After the Wedding, Let the Right One In, Reprise, Saraband.

15. [3-way tie!] Each of these directors deserves recognition for their work this decade, so here are 3 representative samples: Amelie (FRA: Jean-Pierre Jeunet); In the Mood For Love (HK: Wong Kar-Wai); and Volver (ESP: Pedro Almodovar).

14. The Piano Teacher (2001 D: M. Haneke)
13. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring (Korea 2003)
12. A Secret (FRA 2008)
11. The Sea Inside (ESP 2004)
10. The Lives of Others (GER 2006)
9. Caché (2005 D: M. Haneke, again)
8. The Diving Bell & the Butterfly (FRA 2007)
7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (CHN 2001)
6. City of God (BRA 2002)
5. Y tu Mamá, también (MEX 2001)
4. To be and to have (FRA 2002) -- the only doc. to make the list, it is far more insightful than the more-recent, much-heralded "The Class"
3. Amores Perroes (MEX 2000)
2. The Best of Youth (ITA 2003)

and the #1 Foreign Film of the decade is ....


1. PAN'S LABYRINTH (MEX/ESP 2006)

Invictus

Invictus

Dir: Clint Eastwood

If Morgan Freeman gets an Oscar nomination for his stilted exercise in hagiography as Nelson Mandela, it will be a crime. He sleepwalks through this movie (which he also co-produced), delivering wise maxims rather than authentic dialogue (the screenwriter shares the blame for this). Sadly, the entire movie is as lifeless as Freeman's performance: Matt Damon does his best in a decidedly supporting role as the South African rugby team captain, but he doesn't deserve a nomination, either.

Director Eastwood is too reverent of his subject to delve into the messy reality of the first years of Mandela's presidency, so he takes the easy way out by: 1) not bothering to cast, or even refer to, the radical members of the ANC or even Mandela's troublesome wife, Winnie; and 2) depicting everyone else as so damn noble! In place of a complex depiction of race relations, we have to suffer through a microcosm of distrust and reconciliation inside the cramped office of the Black and Afrikkaaner security detail assigned to guard the President (again, not convincing), and a throw-away scene of Damon's family's long-suffering (we assume she's long-suffering, because she's not given much to say) black housekeeper, who gets a ticket to the Final, so she can enjoy the game right next to her white employers!

Where Eastwood fails most miserably is in the climactic final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup (which naturally involves South Africa's "Springboks" versus those crazy New Zealand "All-Blacks"). He obviously doesn't know much about the sport, and has no interest in edifying his audience in even the basic rules. So we are left clueless as the game action plays out -- as clueless as the extras employed to play the crowd. Compare this with the best of the three sports movies released this year (I'm referring to the British import "The Damned United"): in that movie the scenes on the British soccer pitch are as authentic as the crowd's reaction to them.

Here, Eastwood gives us endless reaction shots of 'ordinary' South Africans glued to their TVs: but this crowd of extras (black and white, natch) might as well be watching election results for all the intensity they show. Their emotions run the gamut from A to B: from uninvolved silence to wild cheering (when Eastwood gives the cinematic cues to cheer--not a second before!). It would have been so easy to overlay the action with commentary from unseen announcers, to at least give us some sense of why the referee kept pointing to the ground and stopping play. But that would have interfered with the overbearing, uplifting score -- composed by, who else?, one of Clint's kids! (another Eastwood son plays one of the Springboks --quite well, because at least the rugby players all look like athletes). The simplicity that runs throughout the rest of the movie doesn't do us (the audience), South Africa (the nation), or most-importantly the sport of rugby any service.

A movie about a director (non-musical)

Me & Orson Welles

Dir: Richard Linklater

This is a very entertaining movie! I am surprised, not because of the talent involved (Slacker-extraordinaire Linklater, the lovely Claire Danes) but because it received so little buzz. Remember when Tim Robbins directed that dreadful work about the Manhattan theater scene in the Thirties -- "Cradle Will Rock" (1999)? This movie is everything that forgettable failure wasn't: it gets the zeitgeist right! New York in the Thirties: you are immediately drawn into the exciting world of live theater when Orson Welles was an impetuous, unproven genius -- pre-Citizen Kane.

All of the real-life supporting players are there: John Housman (Eddie Marsan), Joseph Cotton (that guy from 'Men in Trees'), Norman Lloyd, and other, less well-known members of his acting troupe (Ben Chaplin, the lovely redhead Kelly Reilly). All are excellent because they are totally committed to their roles. But the movie wouldn't work if the man himself was unconvincing. Instead, Christian McKay as Orson Welles is brilliant. If he's not nominated for an Oscar, there is no justice! Oh, and Zach Ephron is the star. So why didn't this movie get more attention?

A movie about a director (musical)

January 04, 2010 --

NINE
Dir: Rob Marshall

I must set aside my sentimentality to review this movie, for -- as with "Evita" -- I had a memorable family experience traveling to New York City to see the original Broadway production of this musical, too many years ago to count (I'm asking you...don't count!). Hearing the soundtrack again brought back those memories, but I don't expect today's filmgoer (you) to be familiar with the source material at all. It is a somewhat obscure choice for Rob Marshall's follow-up his well-deserved hit "Chicago." [Might it be a last tribute to the late Anthony Minghella, who co-wrote the screenplay?]

At the outset, let me say that composer-lyricist Maury Yeston is no Kander & Ebb, certainly no Sondheim, hell, he's not even Andrew Lloyd-Webber! So the weaknesses of the original are evident in the film version: namely, a disjointed collection of varying musical styles, covering a thin plot. Marshall works his magic with the material he has: the movie's opening number is essentially the greatest Victoria's Secret fashion show ... EVER!, and he gets the most from a stellar cast, confirming his talent for turning anyone into a singing-dancing-acting 'triple-threat' (remember what he did for Richard Gere & Renee Zellweger?).

Credit to all the actresses who orbit around Daniel Day-Lewis's intense performance as Italian director "Guido Contini" (think of Marcello Mastroianni in Fellini's "8-1/2" on which this musical is based). First and foremost is the lovely French actress Marion Cotillard, playing his long-suffering wife, Luisa. Both her acting and singing are superb: she goes toe-to-toe with Day-Lewis in the dramatic scenes, and delivers a heart-breakingly beautiful solo with "My Husband Makes Movies" (the best song in the original show, and thanks to MC, the best moment in the movie).

Aside from her, all the other actresses are given supporting roles (in most cases, a couple of scenes and one song), but each makes an impression. Penelope Cruz as Carla has the most-provocatively sexual number in the show (I remember fighting with my sister over our binoculars during that number), but surprisingly, it is Black-Eyed Pea singer Fergie who steals the show (and my attention) with her turn as the voluptuous prostitute Saraghina. Marshall obviously devoted most of his time and talents to her "Be Italian" number--it's the song you will be humming as you leave. Cruz's more notorious song, "A Call From the Vatican," while energetically performed, seemed over much too quick. =(

Nicole Kidman brings her customary cool glamour to the role of Claudia, yet her part is reduced to almost nothing (she proved herself adept at muscials in Moulin Rouge--why not give her another song, at least?). I suspect Marshall was protecting his male lead, clearly not a professionally-trained singer, from having too many musical numbers. That is a shame, for as Tim Burton proved with Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd, a gifted actor doesn't have to be a great singer for his performance to work. If anyone else can pull that off, surely it must be Day-Lewis!

Kate Hudson adds much-needed youth and exuberance to this 1980s-era musical by energetically performing one of the 'new' songs. Dressed in a Sixties go-go outfit, she looks every bit the spitting image of her mother (Goldie Hawn, in case you forgot). As for her material, "Cinema Italiano," suffice to say Yeston hasn't improved much as a lyricist in the intervening 25 years (but the music is catchy).

Sadly, the odd-woman-out is the great Judi Dench (I'm not sad that she was not part of the Victoria's Secret show!). Don't get me wrong: her role in the film as Guido's confidante is vital; her musical number, however, desperately needed to be cut! On the stage, "Folies Bergere" was a highlight of the show. Here, it falls flat--partly due to her laying on a thick French accent (that inexplicably disappears when she delivers her speaking lines), but more because Marshall doesn't seem invested enough in this particular number to give it his customary visual flair (my recollection is that the whole number was filmed in medium and long shots). Considering all the other numbers he trimmed from the show, his fear of Dame Judi must have gotten the better of him.

My review reads like I watched a collection of musical numbers, which is essentially what I did. As a whole, they were very entertaining numbers, which is why this movie will end up in my "saw & enjoyed" category for 2009.

Who doesn't belong in this picture?

Talking Foxes!

December 14, 2009 --

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Dir: Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson can do no wrong in my book. His movies are so unapologetically human (you know, those flawed, imperfect humans you hear about), that I cannot help but be capivated by the quirks of the Rushmore hero, the Darjeeling Limited brothers, all the Tenenbaums, and Steve Zissou. He brings this same trait to all the main characters in his first animated feature--except they aren't human at all! Instead, they are a community of stop-motion animated foxes, beavers, and opossums, living ordinary lives in a world that is more akin to Wallace & Gromit than Shrek. [That is to say, in an animated movie that doesn't try to cater to two audiences simultaneously.] Rather than laying on a hipper-than-thou ironic detachment with a few winks to the adults in the audience (I'm talking about Shrek--hated it!), Anderson creates a universe of his own that is more authentic because it doesn't cater to anyone.

With a dream cast of actors (their voices are so distinctive that their mannerisms are infused into their animated counterparts), and a smart, witty script, you will be enchanted by this nuclear family of foxes. Ironically, the human characters are the one-dimensional ones.

Anti-Christ

Dir: Lars von Trier

Believe it or not, the previous film is not the only one this year that features a talking fox. "Chaos Reigns." That's the only line delivered by a denizen of the creepiest woods you are likely to see anywhere outside of Deliverance country (I hope!). But this fox's warning comes a little late for us viewers, who have already endured an exhausting build-up of tension between a couple who have escaped to these woods to get over the grief of losing a child to their own negligence.

That scene of their child's accidental death comes at the beginning of this aptly-titled film (any scene depicting a child dying violently is a cinematic no-no), serving notice to everyone brave enough to buy a ticket that you are about to be taken to a place you've never been before. The first clue I had was in the soundtrack: the opening scene of this married couple (Charlotte Gainsbourg and, who else, Willem Dafoe) having sex is filmed in slow-motion black and white, to the strains of the beautiful Handel aria "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo (I'm listening to it as I write this review!) The words are instructive:
Let me lament / my cruel destiny /and yearn for liberty.
May grief, in its mercy, / shatter the bonds / of my torment.

The device was used most-recently in Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" -- start the film with a beautiful piece of music to contrast it with the depravity to come. Oh, and the depravity does come. But von Trier has a deeper purpose in taking his audience further and further into this Dante-esque hell, and it is not to titillate: it is to depict nothing less than mankind's struggle between good and evil in visceral, stomach-churning terms. In scenes that defy description, both horrible and beautiful, you realize this director is striving to reach something profound.

I am going to stop right here to warn my readers that I am not recommending you see this film. To paraphrase a far-different film: "You can't handle the Anti-Christ!" It is too dark and unsettling for everyone but the hardest-core film buff. Not only does it show more full frontal nudity than any non-pornographic film seen by this reviewer (me!) -- it goes so far beyond the unwritten pact a filmmaker has with the public (loosely, to be 'entertained'), that it renders conventional criticism pointless. You have never seen anything like it, and very probably will wish you never had.

The Road

Dir: John Hillcoat

Chaos reigns in a big way in this film: a 2-hour slog through a post-apocalyptic hellscape (filmed in Pennsylvania ... I'm just sayin'!). This Cormac McCarthy-penned yarn is bleaker than "No Country For Old Men" by a country mile. Imagine the overriding concern of the surviving inhabitants of a post-nuclear world being the best way to commit suicide so you won't get eaten by cannibals, and then imagine it not being played for laughs (cf. 'Welcome to Zombieland.') Throw in a few big-star cameos (covered in mud), and that's the movie, right there.

I'm a big fan of Viggo Mortensen, and nobody does grungy like him. He does have some nice scenes with his son (also well-played), when they are not being chased by cannibals. Charlize Theron is good at grungy, too, but she walks out of the movie (literally), so maybe she knows before we do that this Road isn't leading anywhere. Don't let the uplifting ending fool you into thinking this trip was worth the effort: it wasn't (I'm just sayin').

There you have my holiday movie reviews -- God Bless Us, Everyone!

Quick reviews before the Christmas rush

December 4th:

These 2009 films slipped through the gaps in my reviews --

(500) Days of Summer

Finally, the tweeners have their "Annie Hall." That is high praise from me (and deserving) for this light and breezy rom-com* uses all the tricks in the book to spice up the story of one young man's obsession with the girl. Animation, out of sequence scenes, and a smart, at times witty screenplay all hark back to Woody Allen's classic. (There is even a song and dance number!) [*rom-com = romantic comedy]

None of this would work without leads who can capture the Allen-Keaton chemistry. Joseph-Gordon Levitt and the lovely Zooey Deschanel (a better actress than her sister Emily, star of "Bones" on tv), are perfectly matched, with chemistry and spark to match. On the downside, the obligatory male sidekicks don't make much of an impression, and Summer's 'replacement' can't hold a candle to Zooey, who is a worthy successor to Parker Posey as America's 'Indie Princess.'

The Informant!

Steven Soderbergh and the courageous Matt Damon (he plays an overweight schlub of a character!) team up for this comedic take on a true story: an Archer-Daniels Midland whistleblower who turns out to be a compulsive liar. When the extent of his delusions are finally revealed, however, it's not so much funny as sad. Nevertheless, the whole thing is played for laughs, sustained by Damon's committed performance. He is in almost every scene, and he nails the character and carries the movie past its shortcomings. Soderbergh is having fun with the material, too, turning southern Illinois circa 1990 into a landscape of bad fashion and ill-fitting hairpieces that look more like the 1970s (starting with the opening credits). He even uses both Smothers Brothers in key cameos. I could have done without Marvin Hamlisch's cheesy, over-the-top score, which only serves to call attention to itself. But if Soderbergh's intent is to create a parallel between the Watergate era the more-recemt sordid history of corporate crimes and cover-ups, he succeeds brilliantly.