jklugman Blog

The Man Who Laughs (1927)

jklugman — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:41:27 GMT

This is a different film than I was expecting. As far as I can tell, there are barely any traces of German Expressionism weirdness here. This feels like a typical big budget Hollywood silent film--slow pacing and typical romantic trajectory (boy loves girl, boy gets tempted by "bad girl", boy figures out the truth and goes back to the good girl, triumphs over the odds, etc). Visually there's not a lot going on...Leni made a lot of bland choices in terms of composition and lighting.

Probably the film's saving grace is Conrad Veidt, who was able to convey his character's melancholy despite having to smile all the time in a silent film.

The Set-Up (1949) (spoilers)

jklugman — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:58:22 GMT

This film is only loosely related to film noirs in a narrative sense. Robert Ryan plays a down-on-his-luck boxer who insists he can win his latest fight. Unbeknowest to him, his manager, Tiny, has agreed that he will take a fall in the third round. Tiny doesn't tell Ryan's character because he wants to pocket the money himself. You can see what happens--due to forces outside of his control, Ryan meets a tragic end. Unlike in many other film noirs, the hero is not taken in by his own stupidity or the seductive wiles of a femme fatale.

But visually speaking, the film is very much a film noir, and comes the closest to German expressionism. Wise frames Ryan so that he is swallowed up by his dark surroundings. Wise also uses the camera to indict the brutal sport of boxing and its spectators.

Aside from the beautiful mise-en-scene, I loved watching the film. Robert Ryan makes a sympathetic portrait of a loser boxer, and Wise ratchets up the tension during the boxing match--I was simultaneously repelled by the sport but also rooting for Ryan.

Dolemite (1975)

jklugman — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:44:00 GMT

I guess in blaxploitation movies the plot and dialogue are beside the point. But if the film's stars have absolutely no charisma, the film is sunk. This is the case with Dolemite. The hero is a pimp who is supposed to be defiant, savvy, and a lethal fighter. In reality, Rudy Ray Moore is a chunky man who acts as if just saying "mutha fucka" makes him some kind of great wit. (Don't get me wrong: I don't have a problem with profanity. Just don't expect me to salute a guy who thinks that using profanity is sufficient to impress me). Most of the performances are so bad that the viewer becomes so conscious that these are people acting out parts. The only exceptions are West Gale (who plays a corrupt, hypocritical preacher) and Jerry Jones (one of the detectives in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye), who plays an FBI agent tackling corruption in the local police force. I did find it interesting that the film treats an FBI agent as a hero, considering the FBI's pretty shabby record when it came to the civil rights movement. Maybe it just came from respect for the federal government's other interventions to promote civil rights.

The Bubble (2006)

jklugman — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:10:11 GMT

I guess I did not find The Bubble very compelling mainly because for the first 90 minutes it felt like a Friends episode, as it follows a group of good-looking, young friends who live in Tel Aviv. These stories always kind of aggravate me, because it is as if I was part of a larger group of friends who have their own in-jokes and expect me to laugh and play along because they're so hip and cool. I guess Fox is trying to be critical of these people for not doing more to break out of their "bubble", but I felt this got overshadowed by the romantic and sexual shenanigans of the protagonists.

To be fair, the actors playing Noam (Ohad Knoller), Lulu (Daniela Virtzer), and Ashraf (Joe Sweid) did a good job fleshing their characters out and making them likeable and sympathethic.

In the last twenty minutes the film dramatically switches gears as it lays bear the tragedy of the characters' lives--and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict--with the subtlety of a jackhammer.

Wait Until Dark (1967) (spoilers)

jklugman — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 03:39:21 GMT

This is a quite effective thriller. The filmmakers slowly raise the level of tension as the heroine realizes that she is at the center of a sinister plot.
There is something satisfying about watching Audrey Hepburn find her inner strength and intelligence to save herself and foil the villains' machinations. Hepburn is aided by her costars as well. The men playing the villains (Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, and Jack Weston) are convincing and really fun to watch, and Julie Herrod is great as an awkward 12-year-old girl who helps Hepburn turn the tables on her antagonists.

Under Capricorn (1949) (spoilers)

jklugman — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:00:26 GMT

While the film throws out a few red herrings at the beginning to make the viewer believe that this is a Gaslight-type thriller, for a Hitchcock film the mystery and suspense elements are quite subdued, making this more a historical drama than anything else. The plot is propelled not so much by the actions of malicious characters (although there is some of that) but also by the misunderstandings among the non-bad characters about each other's past and intentions. The movie frustrated me because these non-bad characters seemed to deliberately mislead other characters and the viewer for no other reason than to propel the plot along, so the ensuing tension feels artificial, as does the you-can't-run-from-the-past theme. This isn't helped by the forgettable performance of Michael Wilding, who frankly is a rather bland hero.

Under Capricorn is unusual for a Hitchcock film in that it explicitly takes on the role of class and examines how class distinctions can trap people and make them unhappy.

The setting was also very drab--the colors, especially in interiors, felt washed out. I don't know if this was the fault of the filmmaker, or aging, or that of the transfer ( I saw the Image DVD edition of this film). Because the plot is so boring, I don't think Hitchcock was able to flex his directorial talents very much. The only thing that really stands out is an impressive long take where the camera follows Wilding around Joseph Cotton's estate as he is introduced to the other guests.

Murder, My Sweet

jklugman — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:53:00 GMT

I have to confess that I approached this film somewhat predisposed to not liking it. First, I was introduced to the 1975 version of Raymond Chandler's novel Farewell, My Lovely when I was a teenager, and I loved it for the performances by Mitchum, Rampling, Harry Dean Stanton, John Ireland, and Jack O'Halloran. Second, to some extent I bear Dmytryk some antipathy for naming names at the HUAC hearings.

It turned that the first bias really colored my feelings about the film. Frankly, most of the performances are pretty forgettable. Dick Powell is one of the weakest Marlowes ever. Chandler's Marlow is a 38-year old man who makes a living in corrupt Los Angeles as a virtuous and jaded private detective whose understanding of human nature allows him to penetrate the most byzantine of plots hatched by powerful men and alluring femme fatales. Rather, Powell's Marlowe is a grinning idiot and a smug asshole who couldn't survive Chandler's Los Angeles for one day.

The same goes for the other performances. As characters were introduced I kept on thinking that their counterpart in the 1975 Farewell, My Lovely did a much better job. The one exception is Otto Kruger, who does a good job playing the villanous Jules Amthor.

Dmytryk and his cinematographer Harry J. Wild did make a movie that had some nice shots visually, but since Murder, My Sweet, is so plot- and character-driven, it is sunk, in my view, by the poor acting.

Gaslight (1940)

jklugman — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 03:12:50 GMT

This could have been a stodgy adaptation of a British play about a man who is driving his wife insane to cover up his criminal past. The film is saved by Antom Walbrook, who plays the husband. He gives a controlled performance--at first he seems annoying, but gradually he brings out his character's sinister nature. His character is one of the most despicable I have seen in a long time. As the film progressed I felt more and more tense, and could only get relief when the film ended. Diana Wynyard is also good as the meek and passive woman who is victimized by her husband, although I wish there was more to this character (I suppose she was playing to Victorian ideals of feminity).

Across 110th Street

jklugman — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:18:30 GMT

Across 110th Street is about three desperate black criminals, whose ambitions are checked by poverty, racism, and their own criminal pasts, who rob the Mafia intending to strike it rich. Instead they end up killing a number of gangsters and two police-officers, and bring a nightmare down on their lives as mobsters ruthlessly hunt them down one by one and torture them for leads to another collaborator. Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn play police officers who are trying to track down the robbers before the Mafia can get to them. Kotto has to deal with the racism, brutality, and corruption of his elder partner.

I really like this film. This is one of Kotto's best performances I have ever seen, as a noble detective who is overwhelmed by the situation. The film does not glamorize violence at all--all that violence accomplishes is bring pain, and even its perpetrators become engulfed by it.

The biggest problem with the film is that the film is a little too efficient with its narrative, and many of the characters (even the two leads) seem to function merely to advance the plot.

The Namesake (2006)

jklugman — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:56:07 GMT

The Namesake is a family drama that follows a Bengali-American family (the Gangulis) from the parents' courtship in India, move to New York City, and birth and life of their son, Gogol (played by Kal Penn). The film explores the tensions between tradition and assimilation, and between autonomy and family life.

Unfortunately I do not believe the film addresses these issues in a particularly interesting way, namely because of its focus on Gogol's coming of age and maturation. Gogol transforms from being obnoxious and self-absorbed to being a good guy who cares about his mama and his Bengali heritage. I didn't buy Kal Penn's performance, and I didn't buy how profound his character's self-realization was. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen this kind of story many, many times before.

On the plus side, the actors who play the parents do a marvelous job (Irfan Khan as Ashoke, the father, and Tabu as Ashima, the mother). I think their characters' story would have been a more interesting movie than Gogol's.