THE 400 BLOWS

*****

Director
&
Writer:
Francois Truffaut

25 years ago, the world of Cinema lost a major talent. Mr. Truffaut's untimely passing at the young age of 52 due to cancer, left a void in world cinema, but his films remain behind to speak for him and are still cherished as treasured examples of what cinema and storytelling are all about. In honor of the sad anniversary, I bring to you a new appraisal of his first and most-classic film.

Odds are, you've at least heard of the film before. It is basically an autobiographical look at Truffaut's childhood through the lens of nostalgia and regret. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud, who's young face has almost become a trademark for French New Wave Films) is your average trouble making student. He lives in a cramped little apartment with his uncaring mother and stepfather, and the film sets us up early for the fact that whenever Antoine steps out of line, he is punished.

He and his friend Rene decide to steal a typewriter from the office of Antoine's stepfather in order to pawn it for spending money, but the plan backfires and they are arrested. After this last of many serious indiscretions, his parents hand him willingly over to the state and basically wash their hands of him. He is put in a juvinile prison of sorts and later shipped out to a work camp by the sea for hopeless cases. We later find out that Antoine's mother was planning an abortion when she found out she was pregnant but had him anyway. Maybe the fact that he knows that forces him to act out to get her attention; maybe even get her to love him like he's always hoped she would.

The last shot of the film is the most famous one. Antoine makes a break from the prison camp, searching for freedon, yearning to be his own man and make his own way in life. But, sadly, he reaches the shore of the ocean and realizes he is trapped. He is not only trapped physically, but spiritually as well. To truly escape this prison of other people's rules, he must conform and thus give himself up to the uncaring world from which he tried to escape.

Antoine comes off as not only a young Truffaut, but as all young people. We are all searching for the same basic thing he was in the film: acceptance. To me, the film is very powerful because of that blunt, cold ending. It seems like the end (or "fin" in this case), but it never really is an end until the person dies. So you will be forced to interpret the ending as more of a change in Antoine's tactics, and an obvious sign to the fact that he must now grow up. This is Truffaut's most precious message to his filmic alter-ego (Antoine appears in 3 more films, which continue the adventures of his growing up, plus a short). Swallowing the realities of an unfeeling society can be tough, but we all have to grow up eventually.

VERDICT:

Surprisingly accessible for a French New Wave film, this delicate and quiet movie is not only a must-see, but a must-study for film lovers. Not over-long and never boring, this is one classic of world cinema you simply must add to your memory bank.

FROST/NIXON

Rated:
Good but not great
**

Director:
Ron Howard

Writer:
Peter Morgan
from his
play

Ron Howard is a good director. He's not great, but he's good. He can point a camera the right way and get what he needs. Unfortunately, that makes most of his films flat and very by-the-book. I don't think every director should break the film making rules, but even Spielberg can blow your mind with an amazing shot. Howard's not about that. He just wants to tell the story as simplistically as possible, which is why this movie fell short of my expectations.

I was born three years after the Frost interview of Nixon was taped and aired, so I had no idea that it existed until the film was released. The film begins the day that Nixon resigns office after the Watergate scandal (if you don't know what that is, go look it up, because I won't go into it here) and David Frost, world-renowned TV personality, gets the brilliant idea to have a sit-down chat with Nixon and find out all there is to know. We never really understand why Frost, a Jay Leno-type of guy, would want to interview Nixon beyond an ego-boost.

First they have to convince Nixon, who is fielding other offers, to allow Frost to do the interview, and after $600,000 paycheck Nixon realizes that only Frost can do the interview justice. Frost's pre-production team consisting of Oliver Platt and Sam Rockwell go into research mode, digging up every piece of dirt in Nixon's past. Frost, however, is more interested in the limelight and everyone is afraid he will soft-pedal the former President, which is exactly what happens for the first three of the four planned interviews. Nixon's team have coached him how to act and he's playing Frost like a dime-store ukelele.

Frost feels like a fool and realizes that Nixon is stringing him along, so he decides to spent the remaining days before the final interview on Watergate to bone up on everything Nixon. On the day of the interview, Frost takes Tricky Dick to task and we finally see the real, hurting Nixon shine through the wrinkled, stoic facade. He isn't a doddering old fool, he's just a lonely old man man who feels he has made some mistakes and knows he has to live with it for the rest of his life. The world finally gets to hear Nixon speak and Frost reaps the rewards by sprining back into the spotlight that so many denied him.

You can't help but feel sorry for Nixon, but then you think about all the terrible decisions and double-dealing that went on during his administration and that pity fades. The film, a very standard, by-the-numbers affair, will also fade, but from our memories. The acting is wonderful, but Howard is not up to the task to make the film really pop. This film will leave you disappointed if you expect something great, but if you expect a Lifetime movie, then you'll have an okay two hours. At the end, I found myself in a curious position, I had no feelings for the film. Usually, after I finish a film I know how I'm going to review it. But with this one I had a tough time coming up with any thoughts. It's a weird thing when a film is so "meh" that I have zero response to it. That goes to show you how much of a blank this film felt to me.

VERDICT:

This film could have been a masterpiece in the hands of Oliver Stone, or even Martin Scorsese, but in Ron Howard's hands its basically a movie-of-the-week with some good actors. It's worth a watch, but don't expect to be floored, because there's nothing very earth-shattering here. Expect this one to be forgotten by next year. Anyone remember "THE MISSING" or "ED TV"? 'Nuff said.

THE WRESTLER

Rated:
Depressing but worthwhile
****

Director:
Darren Aronofsky

Writer:
Robert D. Siegel

Second on the list of my 2008 awards season recap is the interesting but depressing as hell bio-pic of a wrestler, directed rather simply by Darren "Pi" Aronofsky. This isn't really a bio-pic of any particular wrestler, but I call it a bio-pic because this underdog story and its downbeat ending can fit pretty much anyone who's tried and failed and tried again. Before I go any further, I promise not to ruin the ending. You can read on and expect only the highlights. However, whatever you as the reader infer is your fault.

Randy "The Ram" Robinson (played excellently by Golden Globe winner Mickey Rourke) is an aging wrestler who still throws down a couple of matches on the weekend while making ends meet at the local grocery store. He has a daughter, but they are severely estranged. His only form of human contact is a stripper named Cassidy (played very well by Marisa Tomei, who should be given credit for flaunting her assets without restraint). She likes him, but is hestitant of forming a relationship with a "customer".

After a brutal, knock-down, drag-out, bloody match, our hero suffers a massive heart attack due to the amount of performance enhancing drugs he pumps into his system and the wear and tear his body takes on a regular basis. The doctor advises him to quit wrestling and now Ram is faced with a new life, one he can't quite handle. But this new change allows him to build a relationship with Cassidy and forces him to find his daughter and try his best to repair the burned bridges.

The film is simple...almost too simple, to be great. The acting is wonderful, for course, but the story in the end is so unsatisfying that I hasten to call the film a masterpiece. I liked it, though, don't get me wrong, its just so very true to life that it becomes painful to watch. I think the film is definitely worth watching, however. My only complaint is that the story ultimately goes nowhere and the last ten minutes pretty much make the entire film pointless. We end up where we began, and yes Mickey does a phenomenal job of becoming a real, hurting individual (the story was probably too close to his real life), but in the end the journey was shorter and much more bitter than we as the audience hoped it would be.

VERDICT:

The almost opposite of a "ROCKY" movie, this film is a solid, powerful motion picture, but ultimately Aronofsky and company leave you feeling cold and alone. This isn't the most action-packed film, either, so don't watch this one tired.

GUMMO

Rated:
Extremely Dangerous
*

Director
&
Writer:

Harmony Korine

Some movies are lazy. Some movies exist just to take up space. This atrociously boring and directionless film falls right into that category. This is a shame because experimental auteur Korine is a pretty good writer. The dialogue smacks of reality, even if the situations are so far out, but words are not enough to save this turgid, bizarre film.

The plot, or what can be considered a plot, is about a whole bunch of fucked up hicks in a boring ass town doing crazy shit like: a dorky kid eating spaghetti and drinking milk while taking a bath and having his mom wash his hair. Or kids killing cats (or collecting roadkilled ones) to sell to the local supermarket for a dollar a cat. Or a skinny-as-sticks kid walking around in little shorts and big, pink bunny ears for some reason. Or three sisters taping up their boobs and looking for their missing cat, Foot-Foot. Or a kid pounding away at his bicep with a barbell made of cutlery taped together. Or kids sniffing glue and making out in a pool in the rain. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.

There is a narrartor present, and it seems as if he is trying to make sense of the senselessness around him, but soon you realize that his musings are just as empty as the images. The listlessness of the film perhaps tries to make us better appreciate the sadness of these kids lives, and that would have been a good concept if it had been handled better. But Korine is more in love with weird characters and abstract reality. Film is an art form, and this type of film would be the equivalent of plopping a dollop of black paint on a canvass and calling it midnight...it's bullshit.

VERDICT:

This is about as random and pointless and movies get, but every once and a while a bit of hard truth about the disenfranchised youth of middle American sneaks in. Even these moments do not save this limp, and aimless movie about nothing. Stay away at all costs, unless you're into cinematic bullshit.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

RATED: Extraordinarily Satisfying
*****
Director:

Danny Boyle
Writer:
Simon Beaufoy
from a
Vikas Swarup novel

This is without a doubt the most joyous film of 2008. Director Danny Boyle tries his hand at essentially a Bollywood film which is equal parts coming-of-age epic, love story, crime thriller, feel-good comedy, and gripping drama. The best part about it is how well Boyle keep it all together and never allows the film to collapse in on itself.

Using probably the most ingenious storytelling device I have seen in a while, Boyle's film begins with our hero Jamal Malik (played very well by Dev Patel) being tortured by the local police. He has just won 10 million Rupees on India's 'WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?' and they think he's cheated, so they decide to beat and electricute the fact out of him. He tells them plainly that he "knew the answers". They let him down and then sit through his episode of Millionaire so he can explain just how he knew the answers.

Malik begins to tell us his life story and how the answers to the questions came from the tumultous events in his life. We see Malik and his brother Salim grow up as orphans and beggers and rise to become mini-entreprenuers. We meet Latika, Malik's first and only true love. We runs into gangsters and Indian movie stars (which, by the way, was one of the best scenes in the whole film...you'll know it when you see it). I'll leave the rest of the story for you to enjoy, and believe me it is quite a wonderful adventure. I found myself crying one moment, then laughing, then gasping from shock.

The film, exisiting in three different time frames, is so well-crafted and plotted that it just might be the most perfect film of the year. The last fifteen minutes are definitely pitch perfect and flawless. Nothing is wasted. Boyle's visual flair is on display, infusing the film with an eccstatic energy. Almost every shot is canted, which may speak to how the brave and lost trio of heros, our Three Musketeers, see the crazy, turbulent world around them. I would wager to say that this is Boyle's masterpiece, but I'll bet he's got a few more in him.

VERDICT:
This complicated and beautiful film is a definite must see by all. Laid out flawlessly and plotted like the crime of the century, this exuberant piece of art is more an experience than just a mere movie. There is a power to this film which will bewitch you, and have you dancing in the streets Bollywood-style by the end.

INLAND EMPIRE

Director:
David Lynch

Writer:
David Lynch

I loved "LOST HIGHWAY" and "MULHOLLAND DRIVE". This film, however, is stranger than both of those films combined. Pieced together from random scenes Lynch would shoot here and there, the film is essentially two movies. Much like "MULLHOLLAND", the first half of the film is easy to follow and the latter half is incomprehensible.

The first problem with "EMPIRE" is the staggering fact that film is 3 hours long and in Lynch's hands we don't get substance, we get weird, seemingly uneccessary scene after bizarre, unexplainable scene. Upon first viewing, the last half hour of the film is almost pointless, but I revisited the film recently and made up my own story to explain the disparate images, and you know what? Maybe that's just what Lynch wanted us to do in the first place.

Laura Dern appears in front of Lynch's dream camera once again after the wonderfully eccentric "WILD AT HEART". Here she playes Nikki Grace, an actress that has just been cast in a film called "ON HIGH IN BLUE TOMORROWS". The problem is there appears to be some kind of curse on the film because the first time they tried to make they film, the leads were killed. Now, it appears, she finds herself in they very same predicament, among other things that I'd like to let you discover on your own.

This is such an unruly beast of a picture that no film critic would be able to give you an accurate description of the plot. Lynch himself says he doesn't really know what the film is about and abhors people that try to find explanation in things that just are. This film just is. That is the best way to explain it, and that's a good thing. A major proponent of Trancendental Meditation (his book "CATCHING THE BIG FISH" was great and focused mainly on this subject...I read it in a day), Lynch provides a slice of his subconcious on consumer-grade DV.

The film was shot apparently over a 4 year span, and that definitely adds to the disjointed atmosphere, but let's face it, that would have been there anyway. The film begins with a plot and then devolves into what can only (to me) be explained as Dern's fears and anxieties made real. That's the only way I could see the film making any sense. Dern weaves in and out of rooms with dancing prostitues, imagines a rabbit-family sitcom, and has the strangest conversations imaginable. But in that last conversation on the streets of Hollywood blvd with that chinese girl, the most discerning film lover will definitely be able to grasp some sort of meaning, which is not for me to say, but for you to find out if you wish to follow Mister Lynch yet again down his twisted rabbit hole of cinema.

VERDICT:
The weirdest of Lynch's films by far, and probably the most agonizing to sit through thanks to the running time. But the film holds a hypnotic power that lulls the viewer and draws them deeper into a semi-dream world worth exploring at least a couple of times.

WHAT IS IT?

(no stars...not even close)

Director:
Crispin Hellion Glover

Writer:
Crispin Hellion Glover

What is "WHAT IS IT?" You may ask, and I may answer "I have no fucking clue." This is without a doubt the weirdest, most random film I will ever review on this blog. Oh yes! Even more random than anything Lynch, Maddin, or Korine can throw my way. Compared to Glover, those guys are Joseph Campbell! This film is so random that the only way to review it is by matching it random bit for random bit. My apologies for what follows, but if you saw the movie you'd understand. Here we go!

Snail's talking in whispers and then screaming when a down syndrome kid pours salt on them. Snails voiced by Fairuza Balk from "THE CRAFT". Glover is the devil. An old guy with cerebral palsy getting a blow job from a girl in a monkey mask. Another girl in an animal mask with massive breasts walking around a fog shrouded set right out of "PLAN 9". Glover is the lead kid's inner-psyche. Down syndrome kids performing their own version of "FIGHT CLUB". Shirley Temple. Nazis. Labias. People in black-face and snail juice. Thrones. Seriously deformed people in flanel. Racist Johnny Rebel music. Golden halos of holly. People stoning the down syndrome kids. Shovels hitting lopsided heads. Watermelons being smashed. Giant clams. Big, weird, giant clams. Handicapped blowjobs. Detergent box puppets. Papier Mache volcanoes. Glover is pissing me off. Overly made-up handi-capables coming on to Glover, wanting to be his girlfriend. A praying mantis eating a retarded person. No Script. No point. No reason to exist.

I think you get the idea what this 72 minute waste of time is all about. Glover calls it a reaction to Hollywood bullshit and apparently fills the film with tons and tons of symbolism. That's all well and good, but when the film in actuality amounts to absolutely nothing then its just as bad as the Hollywood trash he's raging against. The images mean nothing and the casting of people with down syndrome was not a stunt, according to Glover, but what does it mean then? Only retarded people would appear in his films? What does that say about Fairuza balk?

Is this art? Well, yeah, by definition it is. Does it force us to open our eyes to the world around us and see things different? No, not really. Is it a powerful statement about anything? No, nothing. Does it help us reevaluate anything? No. The film serves no purpose except maybe to waste your time, money, and faith in experimental cinema.

I was really hoping for an interesting art film with some unique elements, but what I got turned my stomach and worse than that, it bored me. Glover will not say what the film is about, and I wager it is because he has no clue. I will also wager he takes a lot of non-perscription drugs. The funny thing is that he is a very personable and regular guy in real life. In fact, the only way to see this un-masterpiece is to attend one of Glover's roadshows, which I did. The best part was when he read from his equally bizarre and pointless books, because he came alive as a person and an artist. In this film, he basically sends experimental film a thousand years back. I can gaurantee that this slow, turgid, unsufferable and incredibly politically incorrect piece of garbage will not be gracing your TVs anytime soon. That being said, if you can find this turd, get it! It'd make for one hell of a MST3K night! I guarentee you that you won't believe your eyes.

VERDICT:

This severely perverse and ridiculous film is neither enjoyable or interesting. Only the pain-loving film freaks would get anything out of this tortuous and pointless waste of time, and that is only if they can ever find it! But why would you look?

BRAND UPON THE BRAIN

*

Director:

Guy Maddin

Writers:

Guy Maddin

George Toles

Guy Maddin is probably the most unique and inventive filmmaker working in cinema today. That being said, I am not a fan of his films. Although, I loved the awkward and bizarre “SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD”, the rest of his oeuvre has not thrilled me.

Word got out that he had put together another silent-film that was touring theaters as part of a live show. I put my feelers out to track the show dates down found out that the film was coming to the Egyptian theater in Los Angeles, thanks to the wonderful film fans at the American Cinematheque. My wife Jessica and I were lucky enough to catch the show which provided the stark black and white film with live foley and narration from Italian horror movie goddess Barbara Steele, who helped make “BLACK SUNDAY” a memorable film experience. If we had watched it without all this fun stuff going on onstage, we’d have certainly fallen asleep.

I will try my best to describe the plot to you, but honestly it was all over the place and I’m sure I’m going to loose a few plot points here and there. Basically, a man (called Guy Maddin, no less, and played serenely by Erik Steffen Maahs) returns to the lighthouse orphanage his parents owned and where he and his sister spent their childhood. The memories of the olden days flood back in and we flashback to an event in his younger years when strange marks appeared on the heads of the orphans and a couple of kid detectives show up to uncover the truth behind the strange experimentation being performed on the children.

Employing startlingly authentic black and white photography and blurry title card, you’d believe it if they told you the film was old. But as much as I enjoyed the look and feel of the film, the story was incomprehensible and boring, which is the worst sin a film could ever commit. The acting is fine and the locations (what can be seen of them) are interesting. But the directing and the story are muddled and both my wife and I found ourselves lost a number of times and losing interest quickly. Maddin reminds me of Lynch. These are two guys who make films for themselves and no one else and there is nothing wrong with that.

VERDICT:

Cramming lesbianism, mad-scientist fathers, a suicidal mother, and Nancy Drew-like antics, this film is a can’t-miss for film scholars. However, even the most seasoned filmgoer will have a tough time sitting through the film’s plodding 95 minute running time.

The INDIANA JONES of movie watching.

My name is Jose Prendes and I am a filmmaker and writer. But primarily, I am a film lover. Too put it bluntly, I am a film nerd of the highest order and have decided to put together this blog to showcase some the most unusual, or dare I say, hard-to-watch films out there.

I'm not talking about the blood-and-guts stuff or Roger Corman goodies. For that stuff you can check out my other writing gig at http://strictlysplatter.com/. Here I will focus on obscure foreign and Indie films that you may or may not have heard of.

My goal is to provide you with in-depth info on the films that casual and even the die-hard film fans normally stay away from.

I will not be afraid to watch anything...ANYTHING! This is my promise to you. As long as it is a real film, I will do my best to track it down and give that sucker a watch, then report back to you all here.

Consider me the Indiana Jones of movie watching.

It is 5:06 pm on a cold Wednesday night in Los Angeles as I type these words. So, without further ado, let's begin the adventure...