Pasolini

 Year of Release: 2014

Director:  Abel Ferrara

Screenplay:  Maurizio Braucci

Starring:  Willem Dafoe, Ninetto Davoli, Riccardo Scamarcio, Valerio Mastandrea, Adriana Asti, Giada Colagrande, Maria de Medeiros

Running Time:  84 minutes

Genre:  Drama, biography, 

Rome, 1975:  Internationally acclaimed film director, poet, screenwriter, author, essayist, critic, commentator and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini (Dafoe) his just completed his notorious film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom and has returned home to start work on two new projects: a novel, and another film.  However neither of the projects are completed, as Pasolini is brutally murdered.

The film moves between the events of Pasolini's final few hours and recreations of scenes from his planned film and unwritten novel.  It's less of a biography of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and more of a tribute to him.  The film assumes that it's audience are already familiar with Pasolini, and at least the basic facts of his life and work.  If you are not familiar with him, then you won't learn anything about the man or why he was so important.  Prolific director Abel Ferrara began his career with the notorious The Driller Killer (1979) before moving on to disturbing cult films such as Ms. 45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), The Addiction (1995) and The Funeral (1996).  This is more of a European art film but, while it lacks much of Ferrara's earlier carnage, this still has some explicit sex and the climatic murder is deeply disturbing.  Moving between fact and fantasy it's sometimes unclear as to what is actually happening, but Ferrara conjures some startling images.  Clad in black leather jacket, with dyed black hair and eyes permanently hidden behind dark glasses Willem Dafoe bears a remarkable physical resemblance to Pasolini, given to making gravely pronouncements in restaurants and during interviews, Pasolini remains a cipher, but in the scenes with his friends and families, Dafoe imbues him with genuine warmth.  the film also costars Pasolini regular Ninetto Davoli.  While this would be inaccessible for newcomers, Pasolini fans should enjoy it.

  Willem Dafoe as Pasolini

Creepshow 2

 Year of Release:  1987

Director:  Michael Gornick

Screenplay:  George A. Romero, based on stories by Stephen King

Starring:  Lois Chiles, George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Tom Savini

Running Time:  92 minutes

Genre:  Horror

Young Billy (Domenick John) cannot wait to get his hands on the latest issue of his favourite comic book Creepshow.  The comic's mysterious host, The Creep (Savini, voiced by Joe Silver), introduces three stories:  The murderers of two beloved elderly people are pursued by a vengeful "cigar store Indian" statue; Four pot-smoking, partying teens swim out to a raft in the middle of a large lake for some fun but find themselves preyed upon by a carnivorous oil slick; A hit and run driver (Chiles) is pursued by the vengeful spirit of the hitchhiker she killed.

The original Creepshow (1982) was written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero.  Here Romero takes on scripting duties, with King providing the source material.  One of the stories, "The Raft", had previously been published, and can be found in King's 1985 Skeleton Crew collection, the other were original to the film.  As with the previous film this serves as a tribute to the EC horror comics of the 1950s such as Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror.  However this lacks the style of the first film.  The whole thing looks very low-budget and ropey, despite some good make up effects in the first segment.  The man-eating oil slick in the second segment basically looks like a plastic sheet with some gunk on top of it.  The best of the bunch is the third story, mainly thanks to a very strong performance from Lois Chiles.  The three tales are linked by an animated framing story, that really looks like a very cheap children's cartoon.  The film's director, Michael Gornick, worked as Director of Photography on the first film and gets some interesting visuals.  There are some problematic elements with it's depiction of native Americans.  In keeping with it's inspiration,  the film has a strongly old-fashioned morality, where if you don't follow the rules exactly very bad things will happen to you.  This is not as good as the original film, but it's brainless old-fashioned nonsense and is fun if your in the right mood for it.  Stephen King appears in a cameo as a truck driver.

The Creep (Tom Savini) makes a delivery in Creepshow 2

     

Time Bandits

 Year of Release:  1981

Director:  Terry Gilliam

Screenplay:  Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin

Starring:  John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, Peter Vaughan, David Warner, Craig Warnock, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds, Tiny Ross 

Running Time:  113 minutes

Genre:  Fantasy, comedy

Young Kevin (Warnock) lives in an average house in middle-class suburban England, with his normal parents.  One night Kevin is woken up by a knight in full armour on horseback bursting out of his wardrobe and running through his bedroom wall.  This heralds the start of a bizarre adventure when he encounters a gang of quarrelling dwarves who have stolen a map revealing the locations of holes in space and time, which they plan to use to commit a series of robberies throughout history.  They encounter Napoleon (Holm) who is obsessed with his own height, a frightfully posh Robin Hood (Cleese), the Ancient Greek warrior Agamemnon (Connery), take a trip aboard the RMS Titanic, and become unwittingly embroiled in the age-old battle between Good (Richardson) and Evil (Warner).

This is a delightfully dark comic fantasy which shows director Terry Gilliam at his very best.  Co-written with fellow Monty Python alumni Michael Palin, who also appears along with fellow Python John Cleese, this has a real Pythonesque feel to it, and feels like a low-budget British take on the American blockbuster.  There is a distinctly British feel to the film, despite Terry Gilliam being American, with the minutiae of everyday mundanity existing cheek-by-jowl with fantastic wonders, and characters being adrift in a chaotic and hostile universe.  Working on a limited budget the filmmakers work wonders with some impressive special effects and memorable images (for example a large old sailing ship turns out to be a giant's hat).  Almost every frame is packed with detail, and there is a real chaotic feel to the film and you do feel like anything could happen.  As Kevin, the film's anchor role, young Craig Warnock doesn't really have much to do except look wide-eyed, but the dwarves have well-defined personalities and their constant bickering with each other is very funny ("I can't stand people who are right!"  "That must be how you get on with yourself so well").  Otherwise you have famous faces appearing in small funny roles, with the late, great Sean Connery giving real gravitas to the part of Agamemnon, even if his Scottish accent doesn't sound quite right for an Ancient Greek hero, and Ian Holm as the mercurial Napoleon, give to drunken rants about the heights of famous historical people.  David Warner relishing every second as Evil, and Ralph Richardson as a querulous Supreme Being ("Dead, eh?  That's no excuse for slacking off work").  There is also a very early appearance by Jim Broadbent as a game show host.  The film has some still quite pointed satire, and a surprisingly bleak conclusion.  It was co-produced by former Beatle George Harrison who provides the closing theme song "Dream Away", some of the lyrics of which were apparently inspired by his notes to Gilliam during the film's production.  

David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Malcolm Dixon, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds and Tiny Ross are Time Bandits 

The Fall of the House of Usher

 Year of Release:  1960

Director:  Roger Corman

Screenplay:  Richard Matheson, based on the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe

Starring:  Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe

Running Time:  79 minutes

Genre:  Horror

19th Century America:  Philip Winthrop (Damon) travels to the lonely decaying House of Usher, to visit his fiancée Madeline Usher (Fahey) who lives alone in the mansion with her brother Roderick (Price) and their servant Bristol (Ellerbe).  Madeline and particularly Roderick both suffer from hypersensitivity.  Roderick strongly disapproves of his sister's engagement, because he believes that the Usher bloodline is cursed, and is determined that the family end with him and his sister.

Director Roger Corman and distributor American-International Pictures were known at the time for churning out super low-budget, black-and-white "B" movies, for drive-ins, and grindhouse cinemas, as well as filling out the bottom half of double-bills and kid's matinees.  However the feeling was that the market for those movies was starting to decline, and Corman convinced AIP to put a bit more money behind this film and make it in colour, with some attempt at decent production values, and based on a respected literary source.  Acclaimed horror writer Richard Matheson (author of I Am Legend (1954), The Shrinking Man (1956) and numerous episodes of The Twilight Zone) adapted Edgar Allan Poe's short story into a literate and intelligent script.  Although it was expensive by Roger Corman and AIP standards, this was still a low-budget film, and takes place entirely within the confines of the mansion with only four speaking roles, and the meat of the drama is the struggle between Roderick and Philip for Madeline, whether she likes it or not.  Vincent Price is the standout, turning in a sensitive, quiet performance as the tormented Roderick, making what could be a straightforward villain, pitiable and sympathetic.  Also, he believes that he is doing the right thing, no matter how unpleasant it may be.  Myrna Fahey is effective as the unhappy Madeline.  However, Mark Damon is never really more than the typical square-jawed hero.  The film is directed with style, and Corman manages to get every bit of melodrama from the story.  The house itself becomes a character in the story, with it's constant creaking and crumbling, as it moves toward it's final dissolution.  It really needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible in high definition, to get all the impact from the beautifully designed sets, and such, vibrant colour photography.

Also released simply as House of Usher, it was quite a big hit in it's day, and became the first of eight movie based on Edgar Allan Poe stories that Roger Corman made with Vincent Price.

Mark Damon and Vincent Price in The Fall of the House of Usher

      

Full Moon in Paris

 Year of Release:  1984

Director:  Éric Rohmer

Screenplay:  Éric Rohmer

Starring:  Pascale Ogier, Tchéky Karyo, Fabrice Luchini

Running Time:  102 minutes

Genre:  Drama, comedy

Young interior designer Louise (Ogier) lives with her fiancé Rémi (Karyo) in the suburbs of Paris.  Feeling left out from the nightlife of the city centre and missing the freedom of her single life, Louise decides to buy a pied-à-terre as a second home.

This is the fourth of writer-director Éric Rohmer's "Comedies and Proverbs" cycle.  It's a well made film, with each shot elegantly composed and staged.  It consists of long conversations about the nature of love and freedom.  Louise and Rémi love each other, but they are very different.  Louise wants to enjoy her life and freedom but Rémi wants to stay home, and resents her from going out without him, although Louise also enjoys hanging out in her new apartment working and reading and relaxing on her own.  However, it soon turns out that freedom can have drastic consequences.  It's a slow-moving film, and the deliberate pace may alienate some viewers, however, for the patient viewer, it does have it's rewards.   The performances are appealing, particularly Pascale Ogier, who is fantastic in the lead role.

Fabrice Luchini and Pascale Ogier in Full Moon in Paris

   

The Lighthouse

Year of Release:  2019

Director:  Robert Eggers

Screenplay:  Robert Eggers and Max Eggers

Starring:  Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe

Running Time:  109 minutes

Genre:  Period drama, horror

In the late 19th century, two lighthouse keepers (or "wickies") head out to tend to a remote lighthouse off the coast of New England.  When they are stranded at the lighthouse during a terrible storm, their sanity begins to unravel due to the stress, the lack of supplies, the harsh conditions on the island, their isolation and their heavy drinking.

Director and co-writer Robert Eggers first came to prominence in 2016 with his feature debut The Witch, and has come out with one of the strangest films in recent years.  Filmed in crisp black-and-white, with dialogue influenced by the journals of lighthouse keepers of the period and the works of 19th Century American writer Sarah Orne Jewett, with elements from Herman Melville, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe, the film mixes bleak realism, surreal fantasy and elements of lowbrow comedy (there are a surprising amount of fart jokes).  The film is almost entirely a two hander between Robert Pattinson as the neurotic newcomer and Willem Dafoe, as the irritable, superstitious veteran, both turning in fantastic performances, alternating between tentative friendliness, almost homoerotic intimacy, odd-couple comedy and real menace and threat as the balance of powers shifts in some unexpected ways.  The film almost feels like a queasy nightmare, and a relic from a previous age.  It's full of references to art, literature and mythology, and cinematically feels like a folk horror film from Ingmar Bergman or Carl Theodor Dreyer, although it properly belongs to a world far older than cinema.  This is a film that may not exactly be enjoyable in a conventional sense, but people will be looking at it and analysing it for years to come.

 Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse

Host

Year of Release:  2020

Director:  Rob Savage

Screenplay:  Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage,  Jed Shepherd

Starring:  Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward, Teddy Lind, Seylan Baxter

Running Time:  57 minutes

Genre:  Horror

While in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, six bored friends decide to take part in an online seance over Zoom.  It all appears to be a fun distraction from being stuck in their own homes, until it becomes apparent that a supernatural entity has been summoned.

This found-footage British horror film takes place entirely over a Zoom call.  It was filmed under the quarantine restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic, Savage directed remotely, with each of the  actors handling their own lighting, camera, stunts and practical effects.  This is a film very much of it's time, and could be the first film of the COVID era.  However, in many ways this is quite a traditional found-footage film, with many of the scare tactics being familiar from films such as Paranormal Activity (2007), and Unfriended (2014), which also takes place over a group video chat.  The backdrop of the lockdown is effective for a horror film, since we can all relate to it, the claustrophobia, and boredom, and also, for some people, being stuck with someone who we may not want to be with.  This is one of the better found footage films, and certainly worth watching for horror fans.

Haley Bishop, Caroline Ward, Emma Louise Webb, Jemma Moore and Radina Drandova in Host