ph: Yuval Hen
Saturday, May 25, 2013
First Lines: Elfriede Jelinek - The Piano Teacher
The piano teacher, Erika Kohut, bursts like a whirlwind into the apartment she shares with her mother.
Friday, May 24, 2013
The Trip (1967)
A television commercial director is in the midst of a personality crisis and he seeks the help of a friend, a self-styled guru who's an advocate of LSD to be the guide on his first "trip".
The plot is merely an excuse for an attempt to create a 'psychedelic' film experience; the result is a pulp version of a surreal movie a la Bunuel.
Halliwell *: "Much-banned plotless wallow, the ultimate opt-out movie; well done for those who can take it."
Maltin **: "Definitely a relic of its era, with a screenplay by Jack Nicholson."
Plein soleil (1960)
The American Tom Ripley has been sent to Italy to persuade his wealthy friend to return to the United States and take over his father's business, but has his own sinister plans.
Classic and best adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's famous crime novel with an almost perfect cast that skillfully creates a grim atmosphere in sunny Mediterranean settings.
Halliwell **: "Sparkling variation on an American film noir, glowing in the Mediterranean sun and maintaining suspense as well of sexual ambiguity."
Maltin ***: "Marvelously photographed..., tautly directed suspenser..."
La piscine (1969)
An out-of-work writer and his girlfriend, a successful journalist, spend a few days with a record executive and his young daughter at his country house with a swimming pool.
Pedestrian analysis of relationships under a cloud of ennui which finally explodes into a senseless tragedy.
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Thursday, May 23, 2013
First Lines: J. M. Coetzee - Life and Times of Michael K
The first thing the midwife noticed about Michael K when she helped him out of his mother into the world was that he had a hare lip.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Resident Evil (2002)
A special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
Fashioned after a computer game and it shows, but otherwise a standard sci-fi zombie actioner with some thrills.
Halliwell (no star): "Frenetic, frantic, mindless action movie that offes much less enjoyment than the computer game on which it is based."
Maltin *1/2: "Bloody, barely coherent high-tech horror film..."
The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
A drama set in the days leading up to the 2008 Presidential election,
and centered on a high-end Manhattan call girl meeting the challenges of
her boyfriend, her clients, and her work.
Intriguing low-budget study of relationships dictated by economic restraint, but a bit pedestrian and talkative.
Maltin ** 1/2: "Fragmented, pseudo-Godardian study of prostitution as a metaphor for capitalism is generally engrossing but ultimately feels shallow and leaves little lasting impression."
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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