Recommended by BradF and very good/intense: 499 Directed by Rodrigo Reyes • 2020 • Mexico To reflect on the five-hundred-year anniversary of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, director Rodrigo Reyes offers a bold hybrid-cinema experience exploring the brutal legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico. Through the eyes of a ghostly conquistador, 499 recreates Hernán Cortés’s journey from the coasts of Veracruz to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, the site of contemporary Mexico City. As the anachronistic fictional character interacts with real-life victims of Mexico’s failed drug wars and Indigenous communities in resistance, the filmmaker portrays the country’s current humanitarian crisis as part of a vicious and unfinished colonial project, still in motion nearly five hundred years later. Provocative, unique, and strikingly cinematic, 499 mixes nonfictional and performative elements with conventions of the road movie to show how past traumas continue to shape contemporary reality.
I was initially flummoxed at not being able to find a single film on the channel with a score by the most Academy Award nominated composer in Hollywood history, John Williams. A channel name search was exasperatingly fruitless (CC still needs to work on that). So I took the long route and combed the John Williams IMDB listings for a Criterion title. Had to go back to '64 - The Killers (1964, Don Siegel) Surprised that their contract victim didn't try to run away from them, two professional hit men try to find out who hired them and why. Of course, this is one of three versions of the Ernest Hemingway story adaptations that Criterion features on their release. And in the early days of his career Williams was billed as "Johnny" Williams, still revealing his long apprenticeship with tv serials in the music (take a quick listen to the extract above). Intended as a tv movie but deemed too violent it only received a theatrical release. And, apparently, Stanley Wilson, music director at Universal Studios at the same, conducted the score. Seems Willams on Criterion is more of a curio than anything else. Small wonder they resorted to other composers like Morricone for retrospectives.
not Criterion but adjacent maybe? TCM has been showing 100 years of Warner Bros, including relevant Looney Toons shorts before a movie withe say Edward G Robinson. Tonight they were showing Treasure of Sierra Madre, and they had a new 20 minute intro on John Huston before it that wasn't listed on Hulu's guide, but I thought it was well done, Criterion extra worthy. I know who Huston is obviously, but I never knew he made Annie somehow, and I wasn't aware of either Reflections of a Golden Eye or Wiseblood, if Criterion Channel can do a two film think for Jayne Mansfield, they should do one for the lesser Huston films!
A couple of first time watches on the weekend. L'Atalante ('34) Enjoyed this quirky, absurd love story that takes place mostly on a canal barge. Nostalghia ('83) Captivating film, a meditation really. Didn't spend a lot of time trying to analyze it. Just got a gift code from the Criterion store if anyone can use it. 9YHYEH. I think I read somewhere that you can stack multiple codes on an order, not sure.
This is a film that takes it time, but never lets up. Screenplay by Harold Pinter. The Comfort of Strangers Directed by Paul Schrader • 1990 • United States Starring Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson Two couples are drawn into a dark psychosexual vortex in Paul Schrader’s stylish take on the erotic thriller. Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson are a British couple hoping to repair their rocky relationship while on vacation in Venice, where they fall in with a wealthy, mysterious couple (Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren) whose fascination with them turns increasingly treacherous. Adapted by Harold Pinter from the novel by Ian McEwan, THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS is a moody, spellbinding study in carefully controlled dread.
^ Thanks, I've put this one on my soon-to-view list. A couple more I watched recently. Dressed to Kill ('80). A tawdry thing from De Palma that I didn't enjoy at all. Whatever possessed Michael Caine to stoop to this I have no idea. La Cérémonie ('95). Enjoyed this one a lot, from the Isabelle Huppert collection. A newly hired maid makes friends with an equally unbalanced local postmistress. Adapted from a Ruth Rendell story.
“"I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."
Appreciate the recommendation for The Comfort of Strangers. Great set design and cinematography. And then Natasha Redgrave, so beautiful, looking like she stepped out of a Rossetti painting. I also enjoyed Dead Man ('95), the Jim Jarmusch neo-Western. Johnny Depp as the mild mannered bookkeeper turned outlaw. Fun cameos from Iggy Pop and Billy Bob Thornton. Cool soundtrack by Neil Young.
Caine seems to be having a ball in the movie, which I can't say for Jaws 4. Caine did turn down Hitchcock's offer to star in Frenzy, because of the subject matter, so it's surprising that he accepted DePalma's. Maybe he regretted saying no? I like Dressed to Kill and have no complaints.
Good points. Yeah, I know Dressed to Kill gets a lot of love and I'm probably out here alone on an island with my opinion. Still I'm a guy who absolutely loved Bullet Train, so no accounting for taste.
Good interview here with Paul Schrader. He mentions where in the film he quotes Resnais and Cocteau, as if we didn't already know: Paul Schrader on THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS - The Comfort of Strangers - The Criterion Channel
^ Yes, I watched all those clips, they were very good; I especially liked the one with Dante Spinotti, the cinematographer. And of course I meant Natasha Richardson, not Redgrave.
Yo, watched it last night, had never seen a Bunuel film (I think), didn't know what to expect. Wow. Still digesting. Very powerful movie.
Viridiana is a good one. Bunuel was an atheist, no friend of the Church and religion. In one of the interviews Guillermo del Toro had some good insight I thought. Bad Timing ('80) directed by Nic Roeg, starring Theresa Russell and Art Garfunkel. A highly intense psycho-sexual relationship played out by way of flashbacks and memories real or imagined. Good spirited performance by the sensuous Russell in her youthful prime. My second viewing, it made for a better appreciation, especially of Roeg's crafty editing.
Fantastic! Made me obsessed with Bunuel many years ago. I watched as many of his films that I could find. I'd say watch The Exterminating Angel next, which was the movie he made right after Viridiana. Pretty soon you may want to watch all of them.
Well, this was crazy! I can't believe it got released. Not for the faint of heart. It's very sleazy and wild, but entertaining. Now I guess I should watch Body Heat, which also features Kathleen Turner. I don't recall ever seeing it. Crimes of Passion Directed by Ken Russell • 1984 • United States Starring Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, Bruce Davison She is watched. She is worshiped. And she must remain a mystery. Fashion designer Joanna Crane (Kathleen Turner, at the height of her powers) leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a sex worker who has attracted the unwanted attention of two men. One is a sexually frustrated private detective hired by her employees. The other is a psychopathic priest (played by Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins) in possession of a murderous sex toy. With its outré screenplay by Barry Sandler and over-the-top score by Rick Wakeman, this may just be the most outrageous film renegade director Ken Russell ever made—and that is saying something.
The Heroic Trio ('93) and it's sequel Executioners ('93). Some good campy Kung Fu mayhem featuring intrepid crime fighters Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung. The Wicker Man ('73). Nicely shot mystery movie has Christopher Lee lording over the pagan town folk. Reads like a big budget Twilight Zone episode. Days of Being Wild ('90). Great film. Interwoven story of unrequited and lost love, familiar themes for director Kar-Wai Wong. A precursor of Wong's In the Mood for Love (2000).
I second this suggestion. The Exterminating Angel is a must see. I would also recommend Nazarin and I adore his film of Robinson Crusoe.
Singapore Sling ('90). An unholy mash-up of Laura, Grey Gardens and a giallo horror. In The Cut (2003). Another good psycho-erotic thriller on the channel, features Meg Ryan being drawn deeper and deeper into an active serial killer investigation. Demonlover (2002). Stylish neo-noir goes deep down a rabbit hole of corporate subterfuge as two companies tangle for control of a Japanese anime studio. Sonic Youth score adds to the vibe. Have to mention I recently watched a wonderful anthology film that the director of Demonlover took part in, called Paris, Je T'Aime (2007). A series of 18 vignettes, some comic, some tragic, all compelling. Highly recommended. Caught it free on Plex.
I believe that was a challenging role for Meg Ryan that she did quite well with, but some critics thought otherwise.
