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joepolach
Reviews
A Day in the Death of Donny B. (1969)
Stark and Gritty
I was surprised to see that this particular film was produced by the Health Department of the US federal government. Governments from local to federal had been pumping out drug and auto crash flicks since Reefer Madness in the 1930s, and reached its peak in the 60s-70s. This film portrays in a Scorsese-like manner one day, as the title implies, of Donny B. As he stumbles his way around Harlem looking for a fix. With close-ups, sharp camera angles, and a grainy black and white, we observed a junkie attempting to live from needle to needle. You never see him eat, sleep in a bed, or engage in any social life other than wandering the streets and shooting up with other junkies. One cannot help but feel a visceral sense of helplessness, but at the same time, cast some judgment that his life is of his own making, as the narrator comments. Overall, it's a beautiful film from a director and cinematographer's perspective but sad to watch.
Si shui liu nian (1984)
Interesting View of 1984 China
By the time of this filming, the cultural revolution was over and economic development was on the rise with the advent of Deng Xiaoping's economic policies. Thus, the censor police allowed a peek into the cracks of the social structure of marriage while at the same time espousing the one-child policy, an interesting juxtaposition. We see the rigid village tradition while at the same time witness Coral (Josephine Koo) struggle as a businesswoman. As a film, however, the plot was slow and disjointed, and acting was mostly morose and dull. I did find the cinematography and aspects of village life interesting enough to keep me engaged. Fortunately I was able to witness a semblance of old China from 2013-2015 while capitalism's double edged sword was wielded: the lifting up of millions from poverty while despoiling the environment.
The Guilty (2021)
Insufferable
Watch benched cop Gyllenhaal spend the entire film, sitting at a desk in a 911 control center, wringing his hands in tortured angst, crying, languishing, bursting out, for 90 minutes. There is no other locale throughout the entire movie. There is no other activity, other than voices on his headset and the occasional GPS screen depicting the victim's location. Sure, there's a minimal subplot having something to do with a shooting he committed while on duty, but good luck tying it to the slap-dash climax.
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
Poor Example of the Genre
It tries everything to win the viewer over, all of the typical western tactics and tropes, but a western with a vapid story line, basic acting, and too many improbable and poorly edited shoot 'em up moments cannot be rescued, no matter how many whiskeys and cowboy antics are thrown in, even with a star-studded cast.