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Reviews
A Shock to the System (1990)
a gem
Almost effortlessly accomplished, A Shock to the System absolutely exudes confidence and remains a minor - if largely still unknown - classic. Caine is on real form as the tale's moral black hole, conjuring a performance of occasionally genuine surprise (witness Caine's hilarious reaction to his wife's death, or his utter bewilderment/rage over being passed over for promotion).
With Gary Chang's dexterous score and the production's nimble, well-framed cinematography, it's one of those rare films that allows you to absolutely relax, confident that you are in good hands. A similar case could be made for Liliana Cavani's superb Ripley's Game which is charted by an equally immoral (but again highly satisfying) compass.
Les bicyclettes de Belsize (1968)
A time capsule
For those interested in this film, I felt it worth mentioning that it is now available via Optimum Classic/Studio Canal (optd1142) on the same release that features Norman Cohen's utterly wonderful 'The London Nobody Knows'. As you might expect, the DVD is lovingly assembled and the print quality of both films is superb.
Juxtaposing both on the same disc carries some editorial weight: Cohen's London is genuinely (and properly) post-apocalyptic, still reeling from the human and economic tragedies of the Second World War, whereas Hickox describes a shimmering fantasy which, for the fortunate few, was not a million miles from the truth.
Altered States (1980)
Stunning form from Ken Russell
It seems somehow ironic that Ken Russell - usually the most indulgent and variable of directors - produced his most solid work in North America. 'Altered States' (like 'Crimes of Passion', its odd, binary-star sibling) teeters toward a kind of brilliance that Russell never really demonstrates in his British output. Although the film is certainly flawed, almost ultimately collapsing under its own ambition and finite budget, certainly the first two acts are as good as anything I've seen in the cinema. At its heart is a jaw-droppingly stunning ensemble cast who Russell choreographs (there can be no other word) with remarkable precision and confidence: those who equate Russell with only the low-camp depths of something like 'Gothic' will be astonished at this film's naturalism. Balaban's house party, set early on in the proceedings, is a case in point, effortlessly summing up both an entire era and a complex set of relationships.
'Altered States' also boasts John Corigliano's fine score and Jordan Cronenweth's lucid cinematography - it's worth noting that Cronenweth subsequently moved on to DOP perhaps one of cinema's most arresting visual landmarks: 'Blade Runner'.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
genuinely horrified
Even a day later, my thoughts are so addled by this saddening, hopeless and castrated revision of Adams's work that I genuinely don't know where to begin or end. All I can do is implore people not to see this, not even out of idle car-crash curiosity. Where certain British genre movies get it absolutely right (witness Wright and Pegg's 'Shaun of the Dead'), this - with an almost suicidal zeal - wrong notes with every single exposed frame.
Perhaps the film's largest error of judgement is any inclusion at all of 'fan-pleasing' cameos - the appearance of Simon Jones only made me yearn for the *real* Arthur Dent, with all his petty, unending suburban irritation (rather than the frighteningly somnambulistic Martin Freeman). Similarly, the fleeting, unheralded return of the BBC's Marvin only served to underline the television adaptation's far greater sympathy with Adams's vision: a Marvin that actually *looks* depressed is nowhere near as funny as one that doesn't. Geddit?
I can only hope that Garth Jennings receives some kind of community exclusion order for this, forbidding him access to any piece of equipment capable of recording moving images or sound ever again, at any point in this - or any other - future.
'For Douglas'? How about 'For Money'?