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rjcook47
Reviews
A History of Violence (2005)
a history of bad film-making
The 'hype' surrounding this film had me intrigued, critics had said it was Cronenbergs first accessible movie since The Fly, with a taught and exciting script and impressive performances by Viggo Mortensen (Tom Stall) and Ed Harris (Carl Fogarty). I can honestly say that they must have been watching a different movie, this film was 90 minutes of clichéd stereotypes and poor direction and the audience I watched this with almost universally sighed with relief when it was all over.
The interesting part of the story was almost over before it began, with a couple of killers on the run arriving in "smallsville USA" attempting to rob a café owned by Tom who proceeds to kill them both in self defence. The film then descends into a ridiculous and tedious plot about who Tom really is and why he seems able to be able "to kill so easily". I never liked Mortensen in the Lord of the Rings, and his subsequent roles have provided little evidence of any talent. He plods his way through this one, initially struggling to understand who he is and then suddenly remembering when Fogarty has a gun pointed at his head. Billed as a thriller, this film was one of the most predictable and boring movies I have seen in a long time with only a few brief moments of gore and sex to distinguish it from a low budget TV drama. Cronenberg should stick to what he does best - weird! 2/10.
Baise-moi (2000)
Bravo, Bravo!
I wasn't fortunate enough to find this film at the local multiplex and instead had to wait for the DVD release, shame, because it is simply brilliant! Instead of shying around the topics of prostitution and rape like so many Hollywood productions, this film shoves it right in your face to deconstruct any imagined 'glamour', leaving a nasty taste in the mouth. The initial sex scenes are mundane, devoid of any eroticism, and the gang rape scene creates a genuine sense of menace that is hard to watch.
This film sets out to distress the viewer and is able to use this to create real empathy with the female characters despite their actions later in the film. Put simply, Baise Moi does what it says on the tin and tests the boundaries of audiences taste but I would recommend it to anyone looking for a genuine gritty modern classic. Bravo!