Few things are as absorbing to be as humanity. The depth of it is intriguing — the things people do, what they say, rebuttal, response, regret. Everyone is a big stew pot of emotional charge, whether it be comedic, dramatic, sarcastic, spiteful, or loving. L’Avventura is a good example of humanity in the heat of love, loss, escape, and regret. L’Avventura is Michelangelo Antonioni’s first piece in the unofficially-titled “Incommunicability Trilogy,” and what a more fitting name for these films.
Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t think I’d be too out of league to say that Rainer Werner Fassbinder is one of the more intriguing directors to ever grace this green earth. Fassbinder has gone on to do some of the most interesting films, regardless of whether they are good or not. Satan’s Brew, for example, is actually quite a detestable film that is extremely hard to ingest. But even on an absurd level, one cannot deny that it is its own piece and has never been, nor could ever be, recreated. Fox and His Friends breaks from Fassbinder’s mold only slightly. It may be a very different piece concerning the director’s history, but it’s still ultimately his own.
Read the rest of this entry »
Trafic is both the best and worst way Jacques Tati could’ve concluded the adventures of Monsieur Hulot. Considering the path Tati set ahead for his beloved character, it’s only logical that where this film goes be the next (or, as it turned out, last) stop on his journey. But for anyone who’s seen one of the previous Hulot pictures, you’ll know that logic is the man’s worst enemy. Unfortunately, in the case of Trafic, it’s a formidable foe that does a good job of vanquishing most of the charm, fun, and wry social commentary the series had held dear beforehand.
Read the rest of this entry »
From watching Re-Cycle, you wouldn’t have guessed that its creators helped usher in a new wave of Asian cinema. Brothers Danny and Oxide Pang presented 1999’s Bangkok Dangerous as a crime drama with a twist, and 2002’s The Eye got the A-horror boom off to a great start before it petered out fast. But Re-Cycle is the latest product of a woefully inconsistent streak the brothers have recently adopted. It’s a nice step in a different direction for the pair, but this experiment doesn’t end up working in their favor.
Read the rest of this entry »
On the Internet Movie DataBase, you’ll find the words “the ultimate orgy of evil” written as the tagline for Spirits of the Dead. I dunno if I could ever call any Poe story truly evil. His stories are often horrific or contain horror elements within them, but none of them have ever exercised evil to, say, the degree of Clive Barker (Hellraiser series). However, within this film we do see Federico Fellini (segment “Toby Dammit”), Louis Malle (segment “William Wilson”), and Roger Vadim (segment “Metzengerstein”) tackle these short stories.
Read the rest of this entry »
