Unless you’re George Clooney or Scarlet Johansson, chances are at some point or other on New Years’ Eve you’ve found yourself stressing out about that potentially euphoric or calamitous midnight kiss, or - worse - finding your lips depressingly unkissed by the time the clock strike 12:01.
For those of you who ended up sliding from 2008 into 2009 with nary a smooch, there may at least be the satisfying substitute of sharing in the anxiety and the fulfillment of a New Years kiss vicariously through the film (appropriately titled no less) IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS. It may be a small, black & white indie gem in all likelihood you’ve never heard of before, but it’s without a doubt one of the sweetest, most entertaining films I’ve seen this year, and perfect for lovers of BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET.
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There’s nothing worse than having your thunder stolen before the lightning even makes contact with the ground. This week I was all ready to post a mind-blowing list of recommendations of horror movies that are underappreciated and underwatched, and then – low and behold – what do my eyes peer on Video Hound’s website? Not only their list of “Ten Truly Underrated Horror Movies,” but a list that covers a good chunk of my own recommendations. Touché, Video Hound. Touche.
I particularly throw my weight behind their choices of SESSION 9 (one of my favorite horror movies ever), SUSPIRA, and the DEVIL’S BACKBONE (better than Del Toro’s PAN’S LABYRINTH). Also, most of you will probably laugh at DOG SOLDIERS, but as silly as the title is, the movie is as good as Video Hound suggests. What’s more, since it stars Kevin McKidd from HBO’s series “Rome,” you can make it an alumni night, and rent the similar and equally fun horror movie OUTPOST which stars McKidd’s former co-star Ray Stevenson.
If you’re looking for horror movies beyond the “staples,” you can’t go wrong with this list.
Those of you who went to check out PINEAPPLE EPRESS this past weekend may have noticed a new name amongst the usual Judd Apatow suspects involved with the film: the director, David Gordon Green.
It’s possible some of you may have never heard of the guy before, so if you haven’t now would be a great time to catch up on the work of one of the best directors currently around. His films focusing on the deceptively quiet drama of small town existence are some of the more emotionally palpable, powerful, and often devastating films of the last few years.
His first film, GEORGE WASHINGTON, established Green as a new dramatic voice, one with a calm, reassuring style that seems to absorb the events of a film (often with lushes cinematography), rather than creatively guiding them or observing them. It also introduced his auteur like fixations on small-town life and the often painful transition from emotional adolescence to adulthood, ones he investigates with a tone that’s almost like gentle, quiet poetry. That’s probably why the film earned itself a Criterion Edition, a confirmation of a blooming auteur if there ever was one (well, okay, maybe not always).
That was especially the case in his subsequent film, ALL THE REAL GIRLS, in which a small-town lothario (Paul Schneider) falls in love for the first time with the sister (Zooey Deschanel) of his friend. What transpires in that film remains one of the sweetest, truest, and often painfully true portrayals of the emotional rollercoaster of young love I’ve seen in a movie.
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Sidney Lumet has certainly cemented his position as one of America cinema’s finest directors with films like 12 ANGRY MEN, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, SERPICO, NETWORK, and even the recent BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD. However, one of his grossly overlook filmed – and one I myself had never heard of before I started working at TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies – is the 1981 police corruption epic, PRINCE OF THE CITY.
Many films about police corruption are disappointingly black and white. Admittedly, it makes for great entertaining film watching, but on a deeper level it leaves something to be desired. We all love an anti-hero, but a corrupt cop need not always be a gleeful bad-boy to be enjoyed, nor need he be a moustache-twirling villain. PRINCE OF THE CITY is perhaps one of the best films about corrupt police officers I’ve seen, mostly because of its stark realism (Lumet deliberately wanted to make the anti-SERPICO), but also because its unwillingness to give in to neat police film clichés, or ever make anyone out to be a clear “good” or “bad” guy. The New York City world of corrupt police officers, and the informers and lawyers who seek to conspire against them is decidedly a world painted in shades of gray.
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When William Wyler directed THE COLLECTOR, an adaptation of the John Fowles’ novel, in 1965 his mark on cinema history was well beyond cemented with films such as THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, ROMAN HOLIDAY and BEN-HUR. By all means it would have been fine if he had called it in, or – like Frank Capra – simply and quietly disappeared. Instead, Wyler (of course with the help of screenwriter Stanley Mann) delivered a film that was not only unnervingly good, but one that is rather daring for a director who isn’t exactly known for being so – all the more considering he apparently turned down the chance to direct THE SOUND OF MUSIC for this.
THE COLLECTOR is about a socially stunted clerk and butterfly collector named Frederick Clegg (Terrence Stamp), who wins a large amount of money in the pools and there through gains the financial independence to stop working, buy an old house in the countryside, and realize his darkest desire. That desire is to make Miranda Grey (Samantha Egger) – an art student – fall in love with him. His way of doing that? Kidnapping her and locking her in his basement cellar. Strangely, he is nothing but a gentleman, promising to have no intent of sexually harming her, and immaculately arranging the basement to her liking and interests, while serving her precisely laid out meals on a tray.
The film starts somewhat jarringly, with an annoyingly intrusive film score that seems out of sync with the slow initial pace of the movie’s events. But stick with it, because the film turns into an eerie affair, aided by the effectively unsettling and evocatively minimalist performance of Terrence Stamp, as well as the performance of Samantha Egger who accomplishes the rare feat of making her character an empowered, intelligent woman, rather than your typical shrieking victim.
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THE TREATMENT isn’t necessarily a perfect movie. I know, not a great way to start a recommendation. The reason I mention it though is that there’s a lot being attempted in this film, and a fair amount of it doesn’t work, so it’s to best to warn you now.
Specifically, the movie wants to somehow be one of those films with psychologically flawed protagonists who struggle towards healing, but you’re never really convinced the main guy, Jake (Chris Eigeman, whom “Gilmore Girls” fans should easily recognize), is as neurotic or messed up as the writer and director think he is. Or, for the matter, his foul-mouthed, sexually frank, and extremely peculiar psychiatrist (played by Ian Holm with great relish at least) who considers himself the last Freudian. As a result, a lot of the film isn’t bad, it just has scenes that just don’t really … well, fit. There are other sub-plots that give you the sense that the filmmakers intended some bigger picture, they just don’t manage to piece it together. However, a film with a misaligned aim doesn’t necessarily make it bad, and a lot of the scenes whose greater purpose you’ll question, still work in their own way and are often even quite effective. They’re good pieces that don’t fit into a whole, but they’re still good, and in the end you’ll quickly overlook them for the reasons why I actually DO recommend this film.
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There’s a good chance a lot of may not have heard of director (and often writer), Brad Anderson. A precursory glance at his filmography will reveal big gaps between his projects, and few films that were ever really high-profile flicks that garnered a lot of attention. Probably the most recognizable one is THE MACHINIST, which was best known for Christian Bale’s haunting performance, but especially the extreme amount of weight he lost for the role. However, with news that his new film TRANSIBERIAN (which sounds uncannily like Alfred Hitchcock’s THE LADY VANISHES) was recently picked up by First Look Pictures, I thought this might be a good chance to encourage y’all to track down some of his other films.
I’ve been a fan of Brad Anderson ever since I stumbled across his film SESSION 9 (2001), which remains one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen because it employs the most effective (at least for me) means of eliciting horror: atmosphere. In that respect it has a good starting point, as it takes places in an old mental institution that was abandoned in the 1980s and was known for its experimental and often violent treatments (not excluding lobotomies). The film follows a clean-up crew hired to remove hazardous materials from the gigantic building within a challenging deadline of one week. As the men do their work the atmosphere of this enormous, gothic building begins to take its hold, both on the viewer and the stressed workers. Of course what makes it even worse is when one of the team members stumbles across old recordings of psychiatric sessions with a severely disturbed patient. Soon enough strange things start to happen. If you think you know – based on all the horror films you’ve seen recently – that you know where this is going, I can almost assure you that you don’t.
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