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T. Ungerer

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Autoportrait, Tomi Ungerer (2009). — Crayon de papier et encre de Chine. 42 x 30 cm

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T. Ungerer

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HARRY DEAN STANTON: PARTLY FICTION

At the 0:55 mark, Harry starts to sing in Spanish. It's sounds beautiful. Can't wait to see the film. 

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The East REVIEW

A decent thriller. No more, no less. 

It has an odd ending, leaving you with a epilogue that plays over the credits. It doesn't quite work, just feels like they ran out of money to film so instead they tacked on still image montage that's meant to bring some sort of closure. 

Alexander Saarsgard is not quite up to the task of playing charismatic leader who you would want to follow into battle. The early scenes with him with bad beard make up don't help. He's just not that enigmatic in the role. Marling doesn't fare all that better. She's supposed to play a heroine torn between two worlds, playing both sides, yet that conflict barely registers. 

She was much more impressive in her other outing with the director Zal Batmaglij. As well as the little seen but intriguing lo-fi sci-fi Another Earth. Ellen Paige is ok, but she plays a stock character that all of us have encountered. The righteous hippie, just amped up to 11. 

Toby Kebbell comes out the best, bringing a history to the character that isn't on the page. You believe him, even with all the actorly antics. 

The director keeps a good pace and introduces us to this collective slowly. It's never boring nor is it ever a nail biter. In an interview, Marling said that the Pakula thrillers of the 70s were an influence. Bold ambitions, but this film just doesn't pack the punch those films had. It doesn't have enough personality to stack up next to Klute or Pallalex View. 

This is best experienced with low expectations on a rainy night, as you find it on Netlix Instant. 

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The Purge REVIEW

The home invasion horror genre is rather vast, and compared to some of the other films - this one just doesn't hold up. 

It has a nice enough premise. The purge of the title refers to an annual 12 hour event where all laws are suspended and you are free to pillage, rape and murder. 

Since the introduction of this idea in this alternative America of 2022, unemployment has gone to 1% and there is barely any crime. It's a trade, 12 hours of murder in return for a happy go lucky rest of the year. 

The problem with the film is in its basic storytelling. It adheres to all the rules you'll find in every other movie. 

You introduce us to characters in the beginning, you know the movie can't end without them coming back. 

There are some sequences where one of our characters gets to exercise his savage within, and it works on a visceral level. Just not a storytelling level. 

When a character asks 'why do you guys don't participate in the purge?' You are surely going to see them doing just that. 

Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey are good enough in the roles, especially the latter who has a few nice scene towards the end.

If you like horror movies, watch Them instead. Or Inside. Or Funny Games, either version. Or the Strangers. Or the original Straw Dogs. All these films are great, even more so when in the company of a mediocrity that is the purge. 

If they do a sequel to the film, and given how well this one did at the box office there is sure to be one, just tell another purge story. Another family, or just follow a character around as his purges himself or herself.

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Are you fucking serious?

Muslim woman, 20, covered up, w/ a stroller. Here to see The Purge. An R rated home invasion horror film. And she's surprised that the baby started crying.

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David Rakoff's Final Book. 

This book trailer ( a new phenomenon of sorts) for David Rakoff's final book brought me tears. It was the moment towards the end when David reads the last verse that got me. He looks so frail and sickly, yet refusing to stop writing. And this time in-rhyme. Can't wait to pick it up when it comes out later this year. 

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I completely forgot that Woody Allen used to be a stand up comedian. And a really good one. You can even see how some of the jokes ended up in one his many movies. 

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Journey to Italy REVIEW

Journey to Italy (1954)

dir. Roberto Rossellini 

Here is a film all about death and decay yet it ends on the note that love solves all your problems. Leaving you with such a bitter after taste that made me dislike the film altogether. 

Kathrine and Alex are on vacation of sorts in Italy. They are there to sell the house of Kathrine's recently deceased uncle. From the get go, there isn't an iota of chemistry between the two leads. And mind you, these are inherently charismatic actors. George Sanders playing every note as if it were beneath his dignity. And Ingrid Bergman trying to imbue a history to a character that has none. She's nothing more than a trophy wife.

We come to realize that this is not a real marriage. It's all a show. Alex goes to pursue other women, and Kathrine explores the ruins of a gone by era, or stays home and plays solitaire. 

All of the movie builds to the realization on Kathrine's part that she's can't do this any longer. She can't stand her husband. The charade has long been over. Divorce is imminent and unavoidable. 

The director revels in showing us their surroundings.Filming sculptures with real love, and an genuine compassion. Showing us carefully the remains of dead bodies, natural wonders that seem to be in sync with one another. At one point, a guide demonstrates this to Kathrine. If you blow smoke into one volcanic crater, all the other ones react in the same manner. 

The film is called a A Journey to Italy, and naturally all journeys must come to an end. The film feels like it is slowly preparing us towards either the death one of the characters or their separation.

Neither happens. There's a parade. There is a funeral procession. They promise to love each other. Forever. They hug. End of movie. 

Give me a fucking break. Really? Love is gonna conquer this couple's problems? It feels like a complete and utter cop out. It feels like the studio stapling a scene to the end so it doesn't look lke they endorse divorce. If there was a couple that needed to be divorced, it's this one.

The film almost works on this level where the characters fears are externalized. Everything around them is there show us how they feel. Yet the ending is an emotional deux - ex machina. Sure they had to be some restrictions to the hays code but it was on his way out. This film could have suggested or hinted at a darker and more realistic ending. Anything but what we got.

I can't remember the last time that an ending has undermined a film as much. 

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The Master