WITHIN OUR GATES (1920)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Drama

Director: Oscar Micheaux

Cast: Evelyn Preer / Flo Clements / Charles Lucas

Plot

Coming to the North from the segregated rural south, an African American woman looks for funding for a Southern school for black children.

What I Liked

When one considers that “Within Our Gates” is the oldest surviving example of a feature-length film directed by an African American, it should come as no surprise that the entire movie is a condemnation of Jim Crow America.  In fact, one could see it as the direct antithesis of D.W. Griffith’s more renowned epic “The Birth of a Nation,” released to great acclaim just five years earlier.  Where Griffith’s movie portrayed black people as slovenly, traitorous, lecherous buffoons and the Ku Klux Klan as heroic enforcers of peace and order, director Oscar Micheaux and the cast of “Within Our Gates” go to great lengths to dispel such misconceptions.  To his credit, Micheaux does not play into the same racist hatemongering of Griffith by portraying all whites as idiots and savages, but rather take a peacemaker’s approach to race by presenting race as a more complex issue than the simpleton’s view found in “The Birth of a Nation.”

The film’s portrayal of race issues in 1920 is the most interesting aspect of “Within Our Gates” for a viewer separated from the time by almost a century.  Clearly the intention of Micheaux was to display the various facets of American life that racial injustice effects as well as the wide variety of people, black and white, involved.  From the bowing and scraping of the “Uncle Tom” preachers and house negros, to the wealthy old white women, to black intellectuals, to ignorant hillbillies, to street hustlers, to poor black sharecroppers, to white landowners, each plays a role in or is effected by the struggle of blacks for equality in modern America.  Amazingly, the film uses this wide variety of characters to take on an even wider (and shocking for 1920) variety of topics: religion, poverty, sharecropping, miscegenation, education, crime, patriotism, lynching, rape, and incest.

What I Disliked

Unfortunately, outside of its historic relevance as a portrait of its times, “Within our Gates” has little to hold the modern viewer’s attention.  It is a silent film, and a low budget one at that.  The surviving picture is so faded that at times its impossible to make out what is happening on screen.  Not that if you could see what was happening, you would understand the events any better.  Micheaux’s insistence on showing racism from so many perspectives seems to have gotten in the way of his creating a coherent and enjoyable movie.  The plot structure is peppered with frame stories, dream sequences, and flashbacks, further disorienting the viewer by making it difficult to keep track of where in the overall timeline of events the action on screen is taking place.  When the action taking place involves the not-so-riveting account of someone searching for school funding, we're not exactly talking about edge-of-your-seat excitement here to begin with.  Ultimately, though this film lasts only one hour and seventeen minutes, it took me four sittings to get through.

Most Memorable Scene

When watching the scene depicting the lynching of a black man wrongly accused of killing a wealthy white landowner (the condemned man’s wife, whose only crime was apparently fleeing with her husband and, of course, being black, is also lynched) I assumed that scene would end up as the most memorable scene when it came time to write this entry.  However the lynching is followed immediately by an attempted interracial rape which ultimately turns out to be incestuous.  The pair of actors do a fine job here of depicting all the brutality, fear, and desperation involved in such a moment.  Nearly a hundred years later it still makes for a visceral and disturbing scene and is easily the most reproving of the film's many condemnations of the horrors of racism.

My Rating: 2 out of 5

EUROPA EUROPA (1990)

A.K.A.: Hitlerjunge Salomon

Country: Germany

Genre(s): Adventure / Drama / War

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Cast: Marco Hofschneider / Julie Delpy / Andre Wilms

Plot

The true story of Solomon Perel, a German Jew whose life was turned upside down by the events of World War II, forcing him to adopt new identities, even joining the Hitler Youth and fighting alongside the Nazis, to survive.

What I Liked

Is it better to die for a cause or, in the face of death, abandon the cause in order to live?  Clearly, for many it would depend on the cause.  In Solomon Perel’s case, neither his Jewish heritage, nor German nationalism, nor Communist education were worth sacrificing his life.  Thus “Europa Europa,” the film that dramatizes Perel’s dangerous adventures during the second World War, becomes a morally conflicting experience.  While one viewer might walk away from the film seeing Perel as a heroic survivor, another might see him as an unscrupulous coward.

It is precisely this dichotomy, constant throughout the film, that makes “Europa Europa” so poignant.  Perel certainly behaves cowardly on a number of occasions, switching loyalties and identities any time he finds himself in danger.  He flees battle on more than one occasion and betrays those who would help him in order to save himself.  Yet, Perel’s boyhood might offer him a moral pass, at least in the eyes of some viewers.  At an age when most boys are preoccupied with the awkwardness of adolescence and relationships with girls, Perel, through no fault of his own, is caught up in a firestorm of fanaticism and bloodshed.  Looking at the war from Perel’s perspective, it’s easy to see why he would view everything happening around him as incomprehensible insanity.  Adherents to the various parties involved in the war behave irrationally, screaming and ranting, killing and destroying in the name of ideals and belief systems that, so far as a lone teenage boy can see, serve no purpose but to set people and nations against one another.

Perel’s story is filled with so many near-death experiences and coincidental escapes that the apparently true story is difficult to believe; doubtless the filmmakers took some liberties for dramatic effect and to keep the story moving along.  But what is quite believable are the characters involved in Perel’s journey.  Even peripheral characters are wonderfully developed and capably acted, making the plot as much about the fascinating people Perel meets along the way as it is about the events he survives.  With a few exceptions, the supporting characters are all fanatics of one kind or another, yet they also possess interesting personalities beyond their fanaticism, making it easy to see how Perel could befriend some of them, even a few Nazis.

What I Disliked

As I mentioned above, the frequency and ease with which Perel escapes so many near-death experiences casts doubt onto the authenticity of his story, at least for this viewer.  Too often I found myself wondering if anyone else could verify Perel’s story, or if the filmmakers just took him at his word.  Regardless, these unbelievable moments of survival weaken the film, as they just seem too convenient to be part of the reality of wartorn Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.

Marco Hofschneider’s performance as Perel is another aspect I found troubling.  He does bring a certain adolescent awkwardness and naturally goofy charm to the character, but I never really saw the character develop.  He pretty much spends the entire film with a perplexed look on his face, appropriate for the moments when the chaos of war is shoving him from one danger toward another.  However, at times I felt like Hofschneider could affect no other emotion; perhaps he himself was perplexed on how to actually act in some of the scenes that demanded a little more emotional variety.  More disappointing, the film covers maybe seven or so years and yet Hofschneider’s Perel never seems any older, still clumsy and boyish.  If this was supposed to be a coming of age film, as the story and dialogue would suggest, Hofschneider’s performance made sure that aspect of the film failed.

Most Memorable Scene

Circumcision is a recurring theme throughout “Europa Europa,” for reasons that should be obvious in a film about a young Jew hiding amongst Nazis.  For years Perel hides the physical evidence of his ethnicity from his peers, but it is romantic and sexual desire that eventually push him to an extreme measure that had me cringing through multiple scenes.  When we finally do see just exactly what Perel has done to himself, the result is not only physical disgust but pity for the boy who, after years of hiding, is doing this in order to finally achieve some kind of intimacy with another human being.

My Rating: 4 out of 5

DANCE, GIRL, DANCE (1940)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Drama

Director: Dorothy Arzner

Cast: Maureen O’Hara / Lucille Ball / Louis Hayward

Plot

Classically trained dancer Judy and raunchy burlesque star Bubbles becomes rivals for stardom and the affections of a millionaire playboy.

What I Liked

 “Dance, Girl, Dance” puts a shameless spotlight on a good, old-fashioned showbiz rivalry, complete with gratuitous song and dance numbers, bared knees, and backstage catfights.  Stock genre characters crowd nearly every scene of this silly melodrama, characters who will be as beloved as they are familiar to fans of such movies.  At the center of the story is Maureen O’Hara as wide-eyed and chaste Judy O’Brien, whose dreams of becoming a respected ballet dancer are literally run over in the street along with her dance instructor.   Yet the center of the audience’s attention is stolen and locked up for good by Lucille Ball as bawdy and brazen Bubbles, Judy’s co-star and sometime nemesis.  Anyone who has ever seen even one scene from Lucy’s fifties television sitcom knows that the woman was a natural-born, almost peerless entertainer (How many other shows of that era can you name still run regularly on TV?).  Her irresistible star power provides one or two dazzling moments for this otherwise trashy spectacle.

What I Disliked

As engaging as she may be, even Lucy’s talent can’t hide the fact that there isn’t much to “Dance, Girl, Dance.”  She brings life to a story that had already been beaten to death in movies even in 1940, but even her character ultimately lacks depth underneath the skimpy outfits and risque moves.  She’s loud, vulgar, and charismatic, but, much like this movie, Bubbles lacks any underlying complexity to satisfy the more discerning viewer.  When it comes to burlesque stars of early cinema, give me Lola from the “Blue Angel” over Bubbles any day.

The filmmakers hit all the right marks, as if following a manual on how to make a good-girl-makes-good showbiz drama.  Tragic missed opportunities; hand-holding, eye-gazing romance; sassy one-liners and moralizing soliloquies; they’re all here.  Yet, for the most part, the film does not pack the punch it might have in 1940.  As is the case with so many films that rely on salaciousness as a selling point, this movie does not age well and now induces more yawns than it does shock or awe.  "Not Suitable for General Exhibition," read the movie posters.  Indeed.

Most  Memorable Scene

Maureen O’Hara and Lucille Ball are such icons of classic Hollywood, revered as exemplars of bygone class and glamour that it is surreal to see the two ladies literally tear into each other as their rivalry reaches its inevitable conclusion.  Their fight is viscous, chaotic, believable, and yet bizarre to behold.  And, for those who want to know, (*spoiler alert*) Maureen kicks the living shit out of Lucy.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Adventure / Sci-Fi

Director: Jack Arnold

Cast: Grant Williams / Randy Stuart / Paul Langton

Plot

Overcome suddenly by a mysterious cloud while on vacation, Scott Carey finds that he begins to shrink with each passing day.  Eventually reduced to the size of an insect, he finds everyday life a grim struggle for survival.

What I Liked

Honestly, I am astonished by how good this movie actually was.  It is a well-known film but not one I had ever seen and until today I lumped it in with the rest of the preposterous science fiction films made in the 1950s.  Kitschy, I assumed, but not relevant.  Its premise does of course make it a member of the spate of ridiculous “horrors of atomic power and radioactivity” films to come out of that decade.  However, “The Incredible Shrinking Man” also has the added dimension of being timeless because of its thoughtful, if none-too-subtle, study of the value of life and man’s relationship with existence.

Exploitative and simple though it may be, the movie’s premise of a man continually shrinking provides the opportunity for the writers and filmmakers to dwell upon concepts that have been plaguing mankind for centuries as well as those that are particularly poignant in the modern world.  As Scott shrinks, he finds himself overcome with the insecurities of powerlessness and insignificance.  This leads him on a quest to reconcile his new concept of himself with some sense of purpose and meaning not only for his life but for the universe, not unlike the use of religion by many to reconcile a similar need.  Considering that this film was part of the post-war era, coming along after the power and the importance of the individual in society had been trivialized by war, genocide, and two atomic bombs in the 1940s, Carey’s struggles have a timely significance that still resonates today.

The film also takes an interesting look, though perhaps unintentionally, at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, for as Carey continues to shrink his needs become ever more primitive.  Initially, Scott loses his confidence and self-esteem.  Before long his struggle becomes one of finding understanding and companionship in others.  Soon enough his problem leads him to the more basic challenges of maintaining proper shelter and clothing.  Finally, his daily life becomes dominated by the constant struggle for food, water, and basic survival.  This final stage, constituting the entire second half of the film, makes for some surprisingly impressive special effects and some wonderfully intense action scenes.

What I Didn’t Like

As much as I was impressed by the movie’s more philosophical elements, screenwriter Richard Matheson (who also wrote the novel that inspired the film) was too heavy-handed for me in his use of second-rate poetics and melodramatic descriptions in the main character’s narration.  One horribly cliché and over-the-top musing follows the other, each more embarrassing than the last.  If it weren't for it being the middle of the night and my not wanting to wake my wife, I probably would have shouted "Oh shut up!" at the screen.  The dialogue was just horribly written overall, with all the naturalism of a bad comic book and never once giving the sense that the characters are real people.  

Most Memorable Scene

What surprised me the most about “The Incredible Shrinking Man” was that I actually found it frightening.  The scenes where Carey, about the size of an ant, is forced to fend for himself against a tarantula (not Claymation or stop motion, but the real deal) that is comparatively about the size of an SUV proved the most distressing, as the effects are still good enough to fool the brain into recoiling in horror.  I wish I could think of a more creative way to put it, but that thing just plain freaked me out.  By the film’s climax, I was writhing uncomfortably on the sofa, unable to contain my anxiety.

My Rating: 4 out of 5

ANVIL: THE STORY OF ANVIL (2008)

Country: Canada

Genre(s): Documentary

Director: Sacha Gervasi

Cast: Steve Kudlow / Robb Reiner / Glenn Five

Plot

Now in their fifties, the members of the long-forgotten Canadian heavy metal band Anvil give one last go at rock stardom, persevering through a constant cycle of opportunity and disappointment.

What I Liked

This is a movie I’ve been meaning to watch for a while.  I consider myself a metal fan but I must be honest, until I’d heard about this movie a couple of years ago I’d never heard of Anvil.  Once I saw the trailer for the documentary, though, I learned a little more about the group yet never did get around to seeing the film.  I knew it would be about an underrated, down-and-out, aging rock band going on a tour and searching for the stardom that has eluded them for decades.  When I finally did sit down to watch it today, I really expected more comedy than anything else, one of those documentaries that mocks its subjects as much as it pays tribute to them.  I definitely did not the emotional ride that “Anvil: The Story of Anvil” took me on.  I certainly didn’t expect to find myself fighting back tears on more than one occasion.

Look through a list of Anvil song titles and you’ll come across one shallow subject after another: “Toe Jam,” “Pussy Poison,” “Blood on the Playground,” “Cramps,” “Holy Wood,” “Mattress Mambo,” “Show Me Your Tits,” the list goes on.  Yet the film made about the band is anything but shallow.  In fact, it serves as an unforgettable portrait of love, of all things.  The love that Steve Kudlow and Robb Reiner, Anvil’s founding members, have for one another.  The love that their respective family members have for them, patiently putting up with their absurd pursuit of stardom.  The love for making music shared by Kudlow and Reiner.  And the die-hard love that Anvil’s ever shrinking fan base continues to have for this ultimate underdog of rock bands.  In the face of all the evidence to the contrary and one disappointment after another, these people all cling to their love to keep them dedicated to Anvil and what it has come to represent for them: faith in pursuing one’s dreams, no matter what.

As I watched it all, I found myself at first just thinking how pathetic these guys were.  Their music sounds dated, their clothing is even more dated, some of their fans are numbskulls, and yet they seem completely oblivious to all of the signs that the world has passed them by.  But it doesn’t take long to really find these men not only likable but admirable and inspiring.  Their passion for what they do and their refusal to accept any obstacle that gets in the way of what makes life valuable for them is a lesson for anyone to take to heart.  A lot of movies (most of them fictional) present the idea that if you follow your dreams you will achieve success.  “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” presents a different idea; that following the dream is in itself the success, regardless of the outcome.

What I Didn’t Like

The members of Anvil and their supporters would have you believe that this band was every bit as good as their more financially successful U.S. contemporaries like Metallica and Anthrax.  Anyone who compares their music with those of the other bands I’ve listed won’t take long to see that this is not true.  Anvil certainly had some technical ability and infectious riffs to their credit.  Yet their music lacks both the serious approach and creativity that the more successful metal bands of their era displayed.  Anvil and their supporters act like the band’s lack of success is purely because of bad management and even worse luck.  While these things certainly didn’t help, the reasons they didn’t “make it big” are plain to see.  They aren’t good looking.  None of them are particularly brilliant or charismatic.  They fight with each other a lot.  Their lyrics are trite.  Their stage show relied on cheap and unentertaining gimmicks.  They never changed or developed their musical approach.  They’re from Canada.  And they constantly wear fanny packs.  But to focus on all these things would of course miss the point of the film.  In their own minds, Anvil are destined for stardom.  And it is that passion and determination which ultimately won them international acclaim through this documentary.

Most Memorable Scene

Apparently Kudlow and Reiner have a pretty tenuous friendship, one that has resulted in violence on more than one occasion and glimpses of that tension are caught in this documentary.  Yet their love for one another is evident in every single scene, never more so than when, after a rant about the pressure he feels to achieve success for his bandmates and family, Kudlow makes an offhand reference to suicide.  Reiner jumps right in, saying “I''ll stop you.”  It’s really a simple statement, but the moment is clearly filled with emotional turmoil between the two of them.  The dedication of these two to each other, even as one man considers ending it all, is profoundly touching.

My Rating: 4 out of 5

WEST SIDE STORY (1961)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Musical / Romance

Director: Jerome Robbins / Robert Wise

Cast: Natalie Wood / Richard Beymer / Russ Tamblyn

Plot

In this modernization of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” young lovers Maria and Tony fall in love, despite both being from different ethnic backgrounds and a gang rivalry that threatens to tear the couple apart.

What I Liked

More than a half a century of hindsight gives some perspective on just how influential “West Side Story” would be in terms of influencing trends in future American filmmaking.  Its direct impact can be seen in two ways, historically.  Certainly the concept of modernizing classic literature to make it more relatable for a teen audience has proven to be a successful formula repeatedly since 1961.  Also successful has been the concept of a dance-oriented drama marketed toward teenagers.  So “West Side Story” could be seen as the grandparent of everything from “Clueless” to, unfortunately, “Step Up Revolution.”

Aside from historic relevance, “West Side Story” does have some impressive elements.  Most outstanding are those associated with the film’s production values.  The cinematography brings an epic scale to the petty dramas of teenage street gangs and, when required, the camerawork matches the smoothness of the expertly choreographed dance scenes.

Much of the film was shot on location in New York’s streets but even on the constructed sets the filmmakers create the feel of an endless and labyrinthine urban wilderness, fraught with possibilities both violent and romantic.  Contrasting that vastness is the insular world created by the characters themselves, filled with limitations, rivalries, and passions that are completely ignorant of a world outside of the city streets.

What I Disliked

Despite these strengths, “West Side Story” is still a musical.  A musical about impoverished street thugs.  It just doesn’t work.  I don’t like musicals to begin with, so doubtless my personal prejudices are coloring my description here, but knife-wielding gangs prancing about on their toes and singing “I just met a girl named Maria” neither makes sense nor entertains.  I will fully admit that on a technical level the music and dance scenes are marvelously executed.  It’s the scenarios that don’t make sense.  Of course I’ve always had this problem with musicals in general.  Someone in the middle of a conversation or dramatic moment just suddenly breaking into a song only serves to rip this viewer clean out of the moment.  Instead of feeling like part of the action on screen, suddenly I’m an observer emotionally detached from what I am witnessing.

Ultimately, it took me four viewings to get through “West Side Story,” a chore I will not repeat, despite the film’s redeeming qualities.

Most Memorable Scene

The most beautiful and dazzling of all of the movie’s classic musical moments takes place on the tenement roof tops as the Puerto Rican Sharks and their women debate the pros and cons of living in an America full of both opportunity and racism.  The song “America” and the Latin American influenced dance moves make for the most interesting and entertaining moment of a film that I found dull otherwise.

My Rating: 2 out of 5

THE LONG GOODBYE (1973)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Crime

Director: Robert Altman

Cast: Elliott Gould / Nina van Pallandt / Sterling Hayden

Plot

Private detective Philip Marlowe takes a case involving the suspicious suicide of his friend, only to uncover a tale of a drunken writer, his troubled wife, and a sociopathic gangster.

What I Liked

I like Raymond Chandler’s novels, though I never did get around to reading “The Long Goodbye.”  Apparently, this film is a very loose adaptation, the most obvious difference being that the film takes place during the early 1970s, when the movie was filmed, rather than the 1940s, when the novel was set to take place.  As a result, the character of Chandler’s famous detective, Philip Marlowe, is changed from hard-boiled tough guy to sarcastic jokester.  The 1970s-era Marlowe’s relaxed, wisecracking attitude represents a sort of generation gap in what passed for heroic in pre-war America and what was considered heroic for the baby boomer generation.  Refusing to curb his smart ass remarks for any kind of authority figure, be they doctors, cops, or mob bosses, Marlowe is a natural anti-establishment champion without even trying.

Of course Humphrey Bogart provided us with the quintessential example of the pre-war Marlowe in “The Big Sleep.”  To Elliott Gould’s credit, he in no way attempts to imitate or parody Bogart’s rugged performance in his incarnation, instead inventing his own, more casual and decidedly less intimidating Marlowe.  He’s more Kerouac than Bogart.  Though no less determined and intelligent in his pursuit of the truth, he forgoes the use of violence (with the exception of one shocking instance) in favor of quips and sneers.

I was surprised by Sterling Hayden, who I never considered much of an actor until I saw this movie.  Portraying a Hemingway-esque alcoholic writer named Wade (Chandler actually wrote him as a self-portrait), Hayden captures all that is mesmerizing and pathetic about self-destructive brilliance.  His is the most soulful and haunting performance of the film.

What I Didn’t Like

The only thing really disappointing about this movie is really how bland the whole plot is.  Most of Chandler’s novels involved the seedy secrets hidden beneath glamorous Hollywood.  The secrets particular to “The Long Goodbye” are rather tame and the big reveal of the conspiracy is consequently anticlimactic, even if the events of the final scene do shock.

Most Memorable Scene

*spoiler alert*

Gould’s Marlowe is so non-violent that by the end of the film the audience is starved for real action.  For a seventies crime thriller, “The Long Goodbye” lacks the gore and grittiness of most of its contemporaries.  To the filmmakers’ credit, the lack of action never gets in the way of maintaining the viewer's interest, thanks to intriguing characters and suspenseful predicaments.  Still, Marlowe is so relaxed and passive that even when he does draw his gun in the film’s final scene we still don’t believe it is in his nature to use it.  He proves us wrong, and still manages to throw in a sarcastic quip in the process.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Animated / Comedy

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Charles Fleischer / Bob Hoskins / Kathleen Turner

Plot

A down-and-out private eye investigates the murder of the owner of a popular cartoon studio and winds up protecting Roger, the wacky cartoon rabbit framed for the killing.

What I Liked

I am amazed at how well the blend of live action and animation still works nearly a quarter-century after I first saw this movie in the theater as a kid.  The special effects are immaculate, not at all antiquated by the now prevalent use of CGI that has dated so many older movies.  The effects on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” are actually all the more impressive now that I look upon them with adult eyes, knowing how meticulous and creative the filmmakers had to be in order to pull them off so perfectly and entertainingly.

Speaking of how impressive this movie’s visuals are without the help of CGI, even the non-animated scenes are striking for how well they create an authentic-feeling and very much alive 1940s-era Los Angeles.  The cars, the clothes, the streets, the buildings, the bars, they’re all there and none these live action elements seem cartoonish or idealized.

Of course effects and production values, no matter how good they are, rarely hold up over time if there’s no substance underneath the flash.  “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is – animation and gimmicks aside – an excellent buddy film supported by excellent performances all around (Christopher Lloyd really should cast in more good movies these days.)  Also important to keeping this one interesting, the script takes the conventions of several genres, shoves them all into a clown car together, jostles them around for a bit, and pops out with a wholly unique, genre-defying tribute to American pop culture.  As much as it parodies some familiar archetypes and clichés, “Who Frames Roger Rabbit” is never cynical, but instead embraces the fun of it all.

What I Disliked

If one goes into “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in the wrong frame of mind, one runs the risk of a massive headache.  True to the animated characters who inspired it, this movie is a non-stop blast of obnoxious noise and color from start to finish.  Indeed the visual and audible noise only gets worse as the film goes along.  For some that’s all part of the fun.  Others may find it irritating and maybe even intolerable.  I can almost understand that perspective, as the film certainly isn’t one I would recommend putting on if you’re looking for relaxation and contemplation.  There’s no subtlety here, just insanity.  That said, if you turn this film off, you’ll be missing out on a dazzling little piece of Americana.

On a related note, some of the intended comedy in the movie falls flat.  In particular, many of the puns and slapstick disappoint.  Likewise, some of the sexual innuendos are crude without being the least bit amusing. Overall, though, these are made up for by the genuinely funny interactions between incurably grumpy Detective Valiant and the hopelessly manic title character.

Most Memorable Scene

There are several classic scenes in this film, but for me the most stunning was the initial car chase with Roger and Valiant charging through the streets of L.A. in an animated cab.  I’m a lover of car chases in general anyway, but this one stands out as a particularly wild.  Here the blend of the real and animated happens at hyper speed and yet remains technically flawless and marvelously entertaining.

My Rating: 4 out of 5

THE PIANO (1993)

Country: Australia / New Zealand

Genre(s): Drama / Romance

Director: Jane Campion

Cast: Holly Hunter / Harvey Keitel / Anna Paquin

Plot

A mute woman arrives along with her daughter and her piano in New Zealand, where she is to marry a wealthy stranger in an arranged marriage.  When she begins a romance with another man, the various relationships of everyone involved become strained.

What I Liked

Feeling like it was genuinely written in the nineteenth century, “The Piano” has all the dark, mysterious romance of the best British gothic novels, only with a more exotic locale that serves to enhance and beautify that mystery.

Every moment of this film is soaked in mood and strangeness and a lot of that has to do with the script, the cinematography, and the setting.  However, much of it originates in Holly Hunter’s performance as Ada, an extremely hard-headed and passionate woman who, for reasons never overtly explained, has chosen never to speak.  Intelligent, talented, selfish, resentful, loving, and disturbed all at once, Ada is the mesmerizing creature that no one in the film, not even her daughter, can fully understand.  Underlying her story and character exists something of a feminist martyr, a woman smarter and more willful than either of the men who seek to possess her.  Forced into a situation over which she had no control, she battles for her own identity – closely tied to her beloved piano – in a manner that produces destruction and bloodshed.  Hunter gives a complicated character all of the depth needed, making Ada, even surrounded by the wilderness of a gloomy forest, still the most mysterious facet of the film.

Surrounding Hunter is a cast of top flight actors who each give adept performances and flesh out their characters well.  Harvey Keitel is both masculine and fragile as Englishman-gone-native Baines.  Sam Neill is Keitel’s foil as the entitled and clueless Mr. Stewart.  And a very young Anna Paquin holds her own with this all-star cast as Ada’s mischievous and naïve daughter.

Written and directed by Jane Campion, “The Piano” has all the sweeping grandeur of a well-done period romance, yet each scene carries with it a certain discomfort and strangeness that sets it apart from the rest.  This is a film about a woman trapped and ultimately punished by her own nature, not because she does not speak, but because the rest of the world refuses to listen.

What I Disliked

*spoiler alert*

Others are free to disagree, of course, but Campion might have overdone it with the feminist messages in her film.  There were times where I felt like I was being preached to, rather than being told a story.  Ada’s refusal to let herself disappear into the role men have carved out for her is heroic indeed and the fact that nobody around her, even other women, seem to understand her struggle makes her situation even more tragic.  Still, I found Ada to be so belligerently selfish at times that I couldn’t help but feel for the other people whose emotions she completely disregarded in pursuit of her own desires.  Here she is not heroic, but instead the thoughtless catalyst for a great deal of heartache for others, including her daughter, and even herself.

Actually, given the feminist messages and the overall tragic feel of the story, I was genuinely surprised at the relatively happy ending of it all.  The scene where Ada very nearly ends her life with a very poetic suicide attempt is followed almost immediately by a “happily ever after” conclusion that, while romantic and well executed, feels a bit forced and out of place with the rest of the film’s mood.

Most Memorable Scene

*spoiler alert*

Many will find “The Piano” decidedly lacking in action.  Everything is slow movements, hard-eyed stares, piano playing, and panoramic views of the setting.  That is until the film’s climax, when one particularly cruel act of violence serves as a kind of breaking point for all of the resentment and repression that preceded it.

The moment takes place in a series of only a few seconds but is so shocking the viewer might find themselves questing if they really witnessed it.  Even the three characters involved are all stunned by the sheer savagery of it.  Hunter’s understated performance here is balletic in movement and heartbreaking in soulfulness.  Most importantly, the scene shows the lack of purpose involved in violence.  Nothing gets solved and everyone involved suffers because of it.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Horror

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Cast: Frances Dee / Tom Conway / James Ellison

Plot

Hired to care for a disturbed woman on a mysterious Caribbean island, nurse Betsy finds herself conflicted by her fear of the nightly voodoo rituals that occur there and her forbidden love for her patient’s husband.

What I Liked

“The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictional.  Any similarity to any persons, living, dead, or possessed, is entirely coincidental.”  And thus opens one of the eeriest films of the 1940s.  At the same time that Universal Pictures’ cycle of classic monster films devolved from groundbreaking to trivial, RKO Pictures began putting out the less heralded but idiosyncratic and unnerving films of director Jacques Tourneur.

Generally speaking, low budget horror films of this era were notoriously lacking in depth or ambiance.  However, “I Walked With a Zombie” has a plot so classic it harkens back to the Bronte sisters and Poe with its weaving of dark, supernatural elements into a scandalous family drama.  At the same time its focus on the failure of modern psychology and medicine to explain spiritual depravity predates later film classics like “The Exorcist.”

Most important of all to this film is the ambiance.  Once Betsy arrives on the island, there is constant noise.  The island is constantly buzzing, moaning, and roaring with the sounds of insects, animals, drums, chants, and waves.  These noises are always indistinct, never belonging to one thing or person but to the entire setting, a fact that makes them all the more mysterious and ominous.  In this way and others, Tourneur shows us how the unseen can often be more frightening than what can be seen.  He knew that his audience imagination could create more terrifying images than anything his budget could produce on the screen.  The audience’s vision is almost constantly obscured by high grass, shadows, walls, and gates, allowing them to imagine what lies in wait just beyond our sight.

What I Disliked

It may be an underrated gem, but I don't want to give the impression that this movie is more than what it in fact is: a low-budget exploitation film that, despite being unique and well-executed, still has some of the limitations common to other movies of its kind.

If the plot to “I Walked With a Zombie” seems all too familiar, that’s because it is.  Most of the plot is a hastened, over simplication Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre… only with zombies (Eat your heart - or brain, if you prefer - out, Seth Grahame-Smith).  Of course the film’s use of literate themes was also mentioned under “what I liked,” and I do appreciate it.  It’s only that the human drama of it all, especially the romance between Betsy and her employer, Mr. Holland, seemed rushed and underdeveloped.  Instead of being more creeped out by the fact that Holland is trying to seduce his comatose wife’s caretaker, we’re instead asking “Wait, when did these two get together?”  Of course, Ms. Bronte had hundreds of pages to develop her story, and the filmmakers of “I Walked With a Zombie” only just over an hour of footage.  So things have to move along quickly and they do.  This will no doubt be a bonus to some, who want to get to the voodoo and zombies and skip all the mushy stuff.  In my opinion, though, this film could have used more length and character development.

I did not recognize any of the actors from this movie from anything else.  While I didn’t find any of them inept, nor did I find anyone particularly impressive.  This could have something to do with the fact that the two lead roles were somewhat bladly fleshed-out: the well-mannered, dark, mysterious wealthy man and the naïve young nurse who pines for him.  Not exactly groundbreaking stuff for the actors to work with.  They are adequate, but it’s no surprise that none of them wound up being a major star.

Most Memorable Scene

It’s the case with so many classic films, especially horrors, that they are best remembered for one scene that is sometimes more famous than the film itself.  “I Walked With a Zombie” is a prime example.  The film itself is a very good product put together with limited means.  Yet right in the middle of it is a scene that is nothing short of a masterpiece.  As Betsy travels through the wilderness of the island in a desperate attempt to locate the voodoo cures she hopes will save her patient, she finds herself lost inside a terrifying maze of woods, grass, and voodoo artifacts.  There is some fantastically intense camera work here that reminds me of later stylistic flourishes from the Coen brothers and Sam Raimi.  It all culminates with a brief, wordless, but undeniably chilling encounter that will scar itself irreparably on any viewer’s mind.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5