Vagabond

Year of Release:  1985
Director:  Agnes Varda
Screenplay:  Agnes Varda
Starring:  Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Meril, Yolande Moreau
Running Time:  105 minutes
Genre:  Drama

The film opens with the discovery of the frozen body of Mona Bergeron (Bonnaire) in a ditch.  The film goes on to detail Mona's last days, as she aimlessly wanders around rural France, through fragmentary vignettes, and straight to camera interviews with those who knew and were affected by her.

The recent death of revered director Agnes Varda, at the age of 90, robbed the world of cinema of one of it's most innovative, inspiring and compassionate voices.  This bleak and powerful drama is one of her most well known and acclaimed works.  It's told through a blend of conventional narrative scenes, and documentary-style sequences.  There are important parts of the narrative which are not shown. leaving the viewer to work out for themselves what happened.  Mona is a drifter, wandering form place to place, exploiting or being exploited by the people she encounters.  The only hint of a backstory to Mona is when she comments that she once worked a secretary, and was doing pretty well for herself, but deliberately decided to through it all away and start wandering in search of freedom. The film does not make Mona into any type of hero.  On the contrary she takes advantage of people constantly and is often quite cruel, but she is always sympathetic, partly because we know how it is going to end up for her.  The film features a stunning central performance from Sandrine Bonnaire, and a bleak portrait of rural France in the middle of Winter where the colours seem to be washed out except for occasional vivid flashes of bright colour in the picture.
This is not an easy watch, and it is not any kind of fun, but it is important and packs a real punch.

Mona Bergeron (Sandrine Bonnaire) in Vagabond

Ring

Year of Release:  1998
Director:  Hideo Nakata
Screenplay:  Hiroshi Takahashi, based on the novel Ring by Koji Suzuki
Starring:  Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rikiya Otaka, Yoichi Numata
Running Time:  95 minutes
Genre:  Horror

This film centers around an urban legend about a cursed videotape.  Immediately after watching the tape, the viewer receives a telephone call informing them that they will die in seven days.  Exactly seven days later, the unfortunate viewer mysteriously dies, their face contorted with horror.
Reporter Reiko Asakawa (Matsushima) is investigating the story of the video curse, when she watches the tape, thereby coming under the influence of the curse.  Teaming up with her ex-husband (Sanada), Reiko goes in search of the origin of the curse and a way to break it before it's too late.

This hugely influential film, based on the best-selling horror novel by |Koji Suzuki, pretty much launched the genre of "J-horror" in the West.  A lot of the hallmarks of the genre are here: pale specters with long lank hair and blending modern technology with traditional supernatural elements.  During the late 90s Western horror was still in the post-Scream period with a lot of loud, gory, ironic slasher films, and the Japanese genre films that were making a splash in the West at were usually violent anime, or surreal, gory science-fiction such as Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1987).  Ring however was quiet, restrained and very serious, so it really was a breath of fresh air, and it appealed not just to horror fans but also to fans of World Cinema in general.  The film is really a mystery, focusing on the investigation into the tape.  The main problem with the film is that a lot of information is revealed to the main characters in psychic flashes, that feels like a shortcut.  However it is a genuinely atmospheric and creepy film, which creates a powerful feel of dread as the allotted time runs out.  Despite the outdated technology, it still really does work.  The film was a huge international success, spawning several sequels and remakes in Korea, India and the USA. 

Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) watches the cursed tape in Ring.   

They Live

Year of Release:  1988
Director:  John Carpenter
Screenplay:  John Carpenter (as Frank Armitage) based on the short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson
Starring:  Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
Running Time:  94 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, action

Ever get the feeling that there is something not quite right about the world?  That there is something going on behind the scenes?

Drifter "Nada" (Piper) arrives in Los Angeles looking for work.  He discovers a pair of normal-looking sunglasses but when he puts them on he discovers subliminal messages hiding behind every billboard, advertisement and television signal instructing people to "Obey", "Consume", "Marry and Reproduce", "Conform" and so on.  Moreover, wearing the sunglasses allows him to see that many seemingly normal people are in fact skull-faced aliens in disguise.  The aliens are in the process of an insidious and successful take-over of Earth.  Needless to say, Nada can't see eye to eye with the alien invaders and makes his feelings known through the medium of punching and the use of very large guns. 

This is an enjoyable blend of science-fiction, action, satire and social commentary.  On one level it is a fun twist on the alien invasion narrative, but on another it does have a very pertinent message about how we are controlled by the media and messages that we seem  to be constantly bombarded with, now more than ever.  In fact the film is possibly more pertinent now that it was back in 1988.  Professional wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper makes for a charismatic leading man, and he handles the action scenes well, his nearly six minute punch-up with Keith David in an alley is a highlight.  None of the rest of the cast really get to make much of an impression, because it really is Piper's show.  Meg Foster in particular doesn't really have much to do.  While the film was a moderate success on it's release, it has since become a major cult film, and it's imagery has been used many times in various places. 
As well as directing and writing the screenplay (under a pseudonym), Carpenter also co-wrote the film's pulsating, noir-tinged score. 
It's an important and memorable film that is gets ever more disturbing all the time.  The film was distributed by Universal and it is unlikely that such a subversive film would be released by a mainstream studio today.  In fact, according to Carpenter, when he first pitched the film to Universal, a baffled executive asked "Where's the threat?  We all sell out every day."  Carpenter used the line in the film.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.  And I'm all out of bubblegum."
- Nada (Roddy Piper)

- They're already here in They Live

 

Bad Lieutenant

Year of Release:  1992
Director:  Abel Ferrara
Screenplay:  Zoe Lund, Paul Calderon and Abel Ferrara
Starring:  Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderon, Eddie Daniels, Bianca Hunter, Zoe Lund, Vincent Laresca, Frankie Thorn
Running Time:  96 minutes
Genre:  Crime drama

This film from prolific director Abel Ferrara follows an unnamed New York Police Lieutenant (Keitel) who takes cocaine and heroin, swigs from a bottle of vodka while driving, steals drugs from a crime scene, robs thieves and in one very disturbing sequence pulls over two teenage girls (Daniels and Hunter) who are driving illegally and forces them to mime sex acts.  The Lieutenant also has  a severe gambling problem and owes the Mob thousands of dollars which he is unable to pay.  He becomes involved in the investigation into a brutal assault on a young nun (Thorn) when he learns that the Catholic church are offering a large cash reward.  However the nun refuses to identify her attackers, saying that she forgives them.  The Lieutenant embarks on his own spiritual journey.

This is a very gritty and brutal film.  Abel Ferrara was kind of the enfant terrible of American independent cinema in the 90s and this features many of his hallmarks such as mixing violence with religious iconography.  It mostly has a raw, stripped-down semi-documentary feel, with much of the dialogue apparently improvised.  People who are familiar with Harvey Keitel from his recent insurance commercials on TV may forget that he was one of the great actors of his generation, and Bad Lieutenant is one of his greatest performances.  The Lieutenant himself is a toxic mix of anger and self-hatred, and in among the more showy aspects of Keitel's performance: the yelling, the sobbing, the anguished howling, and stumbling around in the nude, the film works in the quieter moments, where a flicker of an expression or a look in the eyes conveys his disgust at how far he has fallen.  The Lieutenant is an absolutely loathsome character, but Keitel manages to give him some shriveled shred of humanity buried deep, deep down. 
This is a tough watch, and I would definitely recommend caution if you are easily offended, but it is not just lurid exploitation.  It is a powerful and serious film.
   

Harvey Keitel is the Bad Lieutenant 

Us

Year of Release:  2019
Director:  Jordan Peele
Screenplay:  Jordan Peele
Starring:  Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Madison Curry, Tim Heidecker, Elisabeth Moss
Running Time:  116 minutes
Genre:  Horror

The Wilson family, Adelaide (Nyong'o) and Gabe (Duke) and their children Zora (Joseph) and Jason (Alex), head out on vacation to their beach house.  Adelaide doesn't like the beach due to something that happened to her as a child.  She notices that their seem to be an unusual number of strange coincidences surrounding them.  One night their house is invaded by another family, who are their exact doubles. 

Jordan Peele made a huge splash with his debut feature, the multi-award winning Get Out (2017), and he follows it up with another disturbing look at modern-day America through the lens of horror.  Us is more of a straightforward horror film than Get Out, and it is genuinely scary and funny.  While it doesn't have as much of an overt satirical bite and social commentary as Get Out it is still there as subtext.  The idea of the doppelganger is a scary one and this is an interesting variation on the "evil double" theme.  The film is overlong and it does slow down with an exposition heavy climax, sometimes it feels like an extended Twilight Zone episode (Peele has acknowledged the 1960 Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image" as an inspiration).  The cast are excellent in dual roles.  The film takes it's time building up the characters and their personalities and relationships and so you care about them.  You're interested in spending time with these people, even before the horror elements kick off. 

Lupita Nyong'o in Us

Ocean Waves

Year of Release: 1993
Director:  Tomomi Mochizuki
Screenplay:  Kaori Nakamura, based on the novel I Can Hear the Sea by Saeko Himuro
Starring:  Nobuo Tobita, Toshihiko Seki, Yoko Sakamoto
Running Time:  72 minutes
Genre:  Anime, drama, slice-of-life, romance

This film was produced by the legendary animation company Studio Ghibli and premiered on Japanese television on May 5 1993.

It opens with a young man, Taku Morisaki (voiced by Tobita) waiting at a train station in Tokyo, where he glimpses a familiar woman.  This takes him back two years to when he was a high school student in the small town of Kochi, and a love triangle that springs up between him, his best friend, Yutaka Matsuno (voiced by Seki) and a transfer student from Tokyo, Rikako Muto (voiced by Sakamoto).  Yutaka is immediately infatuated with the beautiful Rikako, while Taku, despite being very attracted to her, is put off by her difficult personality.  However, Taku grows increasingly close to Rikako during a class trip to Hawaii, and an impromptu trip to Tokyo.  However, as we all know very well, these things are rarely simple.

This was originally intended as a way for Studio Ghibli to allow their younger staff members to make a quick, low budget film, even though it ran over schedule and over budget.  It's a lesser Ghibli work, and the animation is not as impressive as usual, however it is still a good movie, with some beautiful visuals.   This is a straightforward contemporary romantic drama with no fantasy elements whatsoever, in fact it is interesting that it was done as an animation and not live action.  However the animation does work well for the material.  It's a quiet, graceful film that should appeal to fans of more "realistic" slice-of-life anime. 

Taku and Rikako in Ocean Waves        

Mandy

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Panos Cosmatos
Screenplay:  Panos Cosmatos and Aaron Stewart-Ahn, story by Panos Cosmatos
Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouere, Richard Brake, Bill Duke
Running Time:  121 minutes
Genre:  Horror, action

Nicolas Cage has had a curious career.  A respected, Oscar-winning actor, he has become something of a cult figure due to his prolific appearances and over the top performances, often in very bad movies.  However, when he is in a film that seems to interest him, with a director who knows how to use him, Cage can show what a great actor he is.  Mandy is one such film.  Cage does not have to worry about going over the top here, because the entire film starts over the top and ends up somewhere in the stratosphere.  It is one of the most striking films that I have seen in a long time.

The film is set in 1983, somewhere near the Shadow Mountains in California.  Red Miller (Cage) is a logger who lives with his girlfriend, Mandy Bloom (Riseborough), a talented fantasy artist who works as a cashier at a gas station.  One day, Mandy is unlucky enough to catch the eye of Jeremiah Sand (Roache) leader of the depraved Children of the New Dawn cult.  Infatuated with Mandy, Sand orders the cult to kidnap her with the help of a demonic biker gang known as the Black Skulls, who have a taste for human flesh and a highly potent strain of LSD.  As things go from bad to worse, Red sets out on a quest for violent revenge.

The plot itself comes as no surprise from any number of horror, action, revenge films, and you'll be able to tell right from the start how it's all going to end up.  That is not the point of the film, though.  The point is to bombard the senses with surreal, psychedelic sights and sounds.  The film uses pretty much every cinematic trick in the book, and it makes for quite an overwhelming experience.  The film is very violent, and very gruesome, the action scenes however are handled with flair and genuinely exciting.  The constant, droning soundtrack was one of the last works by acclaimed Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson.  Nicolas Cage gives a powerful performance and ends up at his most unhinged, although he looks positively restrained compared to the rest of the film.  The film gets a lot of mileage from Andrea Riseborough's ethereal looks, and she gives a striking, sympathetic performance in the title role.

This film is an instant cult film.  This is a film that should really only be seen with a like-minded crowd on the biggest screen you can find with the soundtrack cranked all the way up to maximum.  Some viewers may be put off by the film's weirdness and violence, but if you can go along with it, it's a unique experience and well worth checking out.   

Nicolas Cage in Mandy

Cold War

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Pawel Pawlikowski
Screenplay: Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki and Piotr Borkowski
Starring:  Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza, Cedric Kahn, Jeanne Balibar
Running Time:  85 minutes
Genre:  Romance, drama

Poland, 1949:  Musical director Wiktor (Kot) meets aspiring singer Zula (Kulig) and the two fall madly, obsessively in love.  The film charts their tumultuous personal and professional lives against the backdrop of the turmoil of post-war Europe, as they move back and forth from Poland, to Yugoslavia, to East Germany, to France.

Crisply photographed in luminous black-and-white this is a stunningly beautiful film.  It also features a fantastic soundtrack mixing traditional Polish folk songs, jazz, classical, and fifties pop music.  However there is very little chemistry between the two pretty unlikeable leads, and while there is supposed to be white-hot passion between them, they don't even really seem to like each other very much.  The narrative is very fragmented, it takes place in a lot of locations over a very long period of time.  Wiktor and Zula both get together and split up with a number of different people, none of whom really make an impression, which becomes quite confusing, for example in one scene it is mentioned briefly that Zula has a  child who is never even referenced afterwards.  It's one of those romances where none of the characters make an impact aside from the central pair.  The film does reference the political situation in Europe at the time, but it helps if you already have some knowledge of it, because the film doesn't explain much.

It is worth watching because it is a very beautiful film, and the ending packs a real emotional punch.  I'm glad that I saw it, but I wouldn't really say that I enjoyed it, and I'm not in any hurry to see it again.

Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot in Cold War   

The House That Jack Built

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Lars von Trier
Screenplay:  Lars von Trier, story by Jenle Hellund and Lars von Trier
Starring:  Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Grabol, Riley Keough, Jeremy Davies
Running Time:  150 minutes
Genre:  Horror, thriller

Jack (Dillon) is an engineer, and aspiring architect who wants to build a house, he is also the brutal serial killer "Mr. Sophistication".  Telling his story to a mysterious interviewer (Ganz), Jack relates five of his murders, or "incidents" as he calls them, that took place over a period of twelve years.

This is kind of a violent horror art-film.  If you are familiar with the work of notorious danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, than you'll have an idea of what to expect with this.  It mixes scenes of shocking brutality, with images of striking beauty, odd digressions, archive footage and animation.  It's constructed in five chapters, and an epilogue.  Von Trier always seems to be trying to shock, provoke and frustrate his audience, and this will certainly do that.  I have seen many horror films, and even I found some of the violence hard to watch, which includes a graphic, but simulated, scene of animal torture, and documentary footage of historical atrocities.  However, it is also fascinating, striking and often darkly funny.  It is shocking, disturbing, offensive, funny, breathtaking, fascinating, dull and frustrating.  It kind of frustrates expectations at every turn, and the ending is frankly bizarre.  The performances are good, but this is really von Trier's show.

Riley Keough and Matt Dillon in The House That Jack Built         

Captain Marvel

Year of Release:  2019
Directors:  Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Screenplay:  Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dwort, story by Nicole Perlman, Meg Lefeuvre, Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dwort, and based on a character created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan and Roy Thomas
Starring:  Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimou Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, Jude Law
Running Time: 124 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction, action, adventure, superhero

In the year 1995, on the planet Hala, homeworld of the Kree Empire, Vers (Larson) is training to be a warrior, but is haunted by nightmares of a past on Earth that she does not consciously remember.  The Kree are at war with the shape-shifting Skrulls.  When a mission to extract a Kree spy turns out to be a Skrull trap, Vers is captured and her mind is probed, revealing that she is a human from Earth.  Vers escapes to Earth and soon learns that she is a test pilot named Carol Danvers.  Teaming up with spy Nick Fury (Jackson) Carol fights to stop the Skrull infiltrating Earth, as well as trying to discover the secret of her past and powers.

This is the latest entry in the seemingly endless MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) franchise based on Marvel comicbooks.  At this late stage, the MCU is like a well-oiled machine, churning out well-made, entertaining films at a rate of two or three a year, so it really isn't a surprise that this is a good, fun film.  Here we are introduced to Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, and the usual superhero origin story film tends to be:  The hero is introduced as a normal person, they get their powers somehow, they learn how to use their powers and finally fight with a villain for the rest of the film.  Here Carol already has powers, and her origin story is a mystery that is revealed slowly throughout the film.  The film is funny, well-paced, with some genuinely exciting action scenes (even if, as is almost inevitable with these movies, it feels like a special effects showcase towards the end), and there is fun 1990s nostalgia.  The script is well-written, with regular twists and surprises, and a surprisingly contemporary relevance.  Brie Larson is a great actress, and she is perfectly cast as Carol Danvers, making for an engaging, kickass new hero, and she has real chemistry with a youthed down Samuel L. Jackson as a young Nick Fury, and it's fun to see Fury take his first steps into the superhero universe.  There is a fun cameo from the late Stan Lee riffing on his cameo in Mallrats (1995).  While there are many references to other MCU movies this can be enjoyed even if you've somehow avoided the others.  The ending sets up sequels and, to be honest, I am more looking forward to them than I am to the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. 
A quick note: As always with MCU films there are additional scenes during the end credits, here there are two, one in the middle of the credits and one at the very end, so make sure to stick around.   

Brie Larson leads the charge in Captain Marvel   

The Sting

Year of Release:  1973
Director:  George Roy Hill
Screenplay:  David S. Ward
Starring:  Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Robert Shaw
Running Time:  129 minutes
Genre:  Crime, thriller,

Chicago, 1936:  Johnny Hooker (Redford) is a small time crook who joins forces with veteran con man Henry Gondorff (Newman) to scam a wealthy and powerful Mob boss (Shaw) with an elaborate con, as revenge for his ordering the death of their friend.  However, as the plan progresses it becomes apparent that the police, FBI and a hired killer are closing in on the pair.

This is probably the best film made about con men and, as with all movies in this genre, the scammers are charismatic, loveable rogues (instead of the sleazy slimeballs they really are) conning a wealthy villain who is worse than they are and deserves what he gets (instead of ordinary innocent people) and the pleasure comes in seeing how the plan is laid and put into operation like an elaborate house of cards where one wrong move could send it crashing down (here the various stages of the con are set out in chapters headed by title cards written and illustrated in the style of Norman Rockwell and The Saturday Evening Post) .  Reuniting stars Redford and Newman with their Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid director Hill, this is one of those classic Hollywood films, reveling in rich period detail.  Photographed in rich, vibrant colour where Newman's eyes have never looked so piercingly blue, and Redford's hair never so golden.  Redford and Newman have genuine chemistry together and the film coasts along on their considerable charisma.  Robert Shaw is good as the urbane but mercurial gangster, who is the target of the con.  The soundtrack consists of variations of ragtime music arranged by Marvin Hamlisch, most notably "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, which became a top ten hit on the back of this movie.  The script is witty, clever and packed with twists and turns.  This film is pure classy entertainment from beginning to end.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting   

Detour

Year of Release:  1945
Director:  Edgar G. Ulmer
Screenplay:  Martin Goldsmith, based on the novel Detour: An Extraordinary Tale by Martin Goldsmith
Starring:  Tom Neal, Ann Savage
Running Time:  68 minutes
Genre: Thriller, film noir

Penniless New York piano player Al Roberts (Neal) undertakes to hitchhike to Los Angeles.  Along the way he is picked up by loudmouth bookie Charles Haskell (Edmund MacDonald) who drops dead on the road.  Despite being innocent, Roberts is convinced that he will be convicted of murder, and so he decides to steal Haskell's clothes, money, car and identity.  Later he picks up ruthless drifter Vera (Savage) who immediately sees a chance for blackmail.

This low budget film was allegedly shot in six days, and is full of technical errors, a plot reliant on almost impossible coincidences, however it is a kind of minor masterpiece.  It does boasts razor-sharp dialogue, and performances which are one note, but surprisingly effective, with a sweatily anguished Tom Neal and a terrifyingly snarling Ann Savage.  The film conjures up a bleak, unforgiving world, a shadowy twilit universe of unforgiving fate.  Filmed almost entirely in a studio with minimal sets, and only one exterior shot, the characters are filmed usually in close-up or surrounded by heavy shadows, which emphasizes the traps that they are in and their inescapable fate.  While there are many better films than this, almost none have managed to capture the same paranoid, doom-laden atmosphere that this one has.

Ann Savage and Tom Neal take a Detour

 

Rome, Open City

Year of Release:  1945
Director:  Roberto Rossellini
Screenplay:  Sergio Amidei and Federico Fellini
Starring:  Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero
Running Time:  105 minutes
Genre:  Drama, war

Nazi-occupied Rome, 1944:  Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi (Pagliero) is being hunted by the Gestapo.  With the aid of Pina (Magnani), the fiancee of a fellow Resistance member, and Don Pietro (Fabrizi) a priest who aids the local Resistance groups, Manfredi struggles to evade the Nazis and the Italian Fascists.

This was filmed in the months immediately following the end of the Second World War, with scenes shot documentary-style on the still ruined streets of Rome mixed with more conventional studio-set scenes, and many of the cast being non-professional actors, alongside established stars Anna Magnini and Aldo Fabrizi.  This was the film that brought the movement known as Italian Neorealism to international attention.  While doubtless not as shocking today as it would have been to viewers of the time, it still has shockingly brutal moments, and still packs a real punch.  It features great performances, particularly Magnani and Fabrizi, who at the time were known as comic actors, and here playing against type in serious dramatic parts.

        Anna Magnani in Rome, Open City