afc-ajax Reviews

Rockets Redglare! (2003)

The only thing I've ever walked out on

[1/10 · 31 March 2004]

Quote: "The only possible flaw with this movie was that I wanted more of it."

I find this impossible to believe unless you are a masochist. The doc seems hell-bent on portraying RR as some sort of figurehead of indie/off-beat cinema & stage...and yet you realise - watching people like Willem Dafoe and Steve Buscemi struggle to come up with anything remotely interesting to say...and looking embarrassed by what little they can muster - that RR's just a *u*ked-up guy with a *u*ked-up life.

There's nothing wrong with being *u*ked-up, but the desperation evident in the way this doc was assembled (I can only assume every single frame of every interview ever shot was used) is too much. It is the antithesis of editing. I ended-up walking out of the theatre (Hot Docs - Toronto - 2003), feeling that this doc wasn't even fit for Interrogation Night at a prison camp.

The Reflecting Skin (1990)

My thoughts...

[3 December 2003]

This is conceivably one of the most disturbing films I've seen. It's characters are painfully fragile, and the tone is menacingly dark and corrupted. Still, albeit as depressing as The Tin Drum, this is an excellent film.

The Ninth Gate (1999)

Forgettable

[3/10 · 29 September 2003]

Polanski's films "The Pianist" and "Death & The Maiden" make up for terribly disappointing dreck like this.

I wanted The Ninth Gate to be all that it promised, and although Polanski manages to add a macabre tone overall, it's simply not filmed very cohesively. It seems rushed, and what suffers is what's most important in stories such as this: atmosphere.

Oh and the ending...an after-thought written on a napkin, evidently.

Stardust Memories (1980)

Beautiful

[14 August 2003]

Reading some of the comments listed here, I'm dismayed by some of the narrowness of the criticisms ("It's shot in black & white for no reason!" "The flashbacks are indistinguishable from the present day!")... as if these were somehow to be construed as mistakes. Jeez.

I love this film. It rambles a little here and there, and sometimes it's so personal I feel voyeuristic watching it. The montage of Charlotte Rampling towards the end is stunning in how it summarizes Allen's feelings about memory, nostalgia, and the ever-present reality that never seems to allow the past to make sense.

One cannot deny that Allen has a very keen understanding of who he is, as a person, comedian, and lover. This is not to say that he is infallible or somehow more evolved than anyone else, but rather - through the retrospective of his "earlier funny films" - it's clear that he understands his strengths, and - outside the theatre - the weaknesses of his emotional life.

A perfect film for a quiet Sunday.

Heaven (I) (2002)

This film is truly wonderful

[10/10 · 21 July 2003]

Being a sympathetic soul to the work and tone of Kieslowski's films, and (more or less) liking Tykwer's Run Lola Run, I figured upon renting Heaven: "How bad could this be?".

I'm not a Cate Blanchett fan, wasn't particularly in the mood for Hollywood romanticism, and feared I was about to see one of those mediocre spy/evil-establishment films that seemed so prevalent in the UK during the 80's.

Pardon the cliché, but from the first frame this film captured me. It is patient, respectful, realistic, but still optimistic in it's view of our greater intentions. It is violent when it needs to be, but even then it respects the victims. Everyone is human in this film.

The technical aspects aside (and they are legion), there is so much to recommend about this film that I will simply suggest anyone with a clear mind and 2-hours of time find this on the shelf and watch it.

Great Performances: September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (1994) Season 23, Episode 7

Wonderful - Refreshing

[19 June 2003]

This is what modern documentary filmmaking is meant to be. Neither relying on talking-head interviews nor re-enactment, "September Songs" attempts to convey the great talent, contribution, and indeed the trials of Kurt Weil's journey from pre-WWII Germany to his eminent destination, the U.S.

The performances by Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, and PJ Harvey are wonderful and inflect a properly dark, dramatic tone which parallels the hard and often persecuted life of the composer.

Buy the soundtrack - see the film.

Trauma (1993)

I thought it was a comedy

[5 June 2003]

I don't mean that in a derisive way...I honestly thought this was a comedy, as did most of the audience in the theatre I saw this in (Toronto Film Fest, I believe...'94?). I mean, how could this not be comedy when the sheer amount of serendipity happening in the plot is so obvious. Characters realise their implication in the plot just as other characters are knocking on their front door, looking for them.

Watch it as an uneven, possibly wacky, comedy, and I think you'll have a better time of it.