MERLIN AND THE BOOK OF BEASTS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/21/09

 

One of the most enjoyable of the Sci-Fi (I refuse to say "SyFy") Channel movies that I've seen, MERLIN AND THE BOOK OF BEASTS (2009) is a modest but well-crafted continuation of the Arthurian legend that knows its limitations and uses a modest budget to its fullest potential.

After the deaths of King Arthur and his knights, and the rise to power of an evil sorcerer named The Arkadian (Jim Thorburn), darkness has once again descended upon Camelot and the rest of England. All that's left to fight the good fight are an aging Sir Galahad (Donald Adams), his young apprentice Lysanor (Jesse Moss), and the brawny Tristan (Patrick Sabongui), son of Tristan and Isolde. Most importantly, there's the beautiful blonde warrior princess Avlynn Pendragon (Laura Harris), who just happens to be the daughter of Arthur and Guineviere.

After securing the help of an initially reluctant Merlin (James Callis), the brave band makes its way into a ruined Camelot to confront The Arkadian. But he has a terrible weapon at his disposal--a magic book which contains the captured spirits of evil creatures whom he can release from its pages at will to do his bidding. He also has a terrible secret, which King Arthur fans will probably guess pretty darn quick.

The script is fairly good for this type of film. Scriptwriter Brook Durham keeps a pretty even tone most of the time and goes easy on the lowbrow humor. With some awesome Canadian locations to work with, director Warren P. Sonoda is able to manage a hint of big-budget gravitas in some of the sweeping outdoor shots, especially during the pivotal scene in which Avlynn wades into a lake to retrieve Excalibur from a protruding rock and hoist it aloft.

Production values remain modest but decent enough otherwise, although the most the filmmakers manage in the way of interiors are a few rooms in the Arkadian's palace and some tunnels. A small courtyard set with a couple dozen extras is all we see of Camelot's inhabitants. Overall, the production design and cinematography are good and the film, while sparsely populated, has an attractive look.

Callis, better known as Baltar in "Battlestar Galactica", does an okay job as a gruff, growly-voiced, and supremely world-weary Merlin, although his strangely Jamaican-tinged accent had me wondering at times. His quirky interpretation of the character has its ups and downs, one advantage being a very dry sense of humor. Here's an exchange that takes place between a captive Merlin and The Arkadian:

"Where is the sword--the sword in the lake?"
"You'll never find it. I hid it, see?"
"You hid the sword?"
"No, I hid the lake."

The rest of the cast is capable if not quite outstanding. I liked the Avlynn character most of all--it's intriguing to see a female Pendragon fighting to regain her father's throne. Thankfully, Harris doesn't play her as an unrealistic superwoman, but simply as someone who finds herself in a desperate situation in which she must act heroically.

The "beasts" of the title include, strangely enough, a CGI-generated flock of deadly butterflies (well, it's original, anyway), some "Dragon Soldiers" with really ugly makeup jobs, giant "Death Hawks" that capture the good guys and whisk them away to the bad guy's lair (which reminded me of a similar scene with the flying monkeys in "The Wizard of Oz"), and, best of all, the ever-popular Gorgon sisters. Some of the liveliest moments involve these snake-haired beauties, led by the malevolent Medusa (Maja Stace-Smith), against whom our steadfast heroes must do battle with their eyes closed lest they be turned to stone. The fist and sword fights with more human foes are serviceable although the choreography is a bit on the flabby side.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 Dolby Surround sound. There's an eleven-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, and English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired.

MERLIN AND THE BOOK OF BEASTS is no epic, to be sure, but simply an entertaining B-movie that manages to rise a bit above the mediocrity of the usual Sci-Fi Channel fare. As a big fan of John Boorman's classic "Excalibur" I found it interesting to watch this fun and fairly involving small-scale continuation of the story, and consider it a worthy effort of its kind.

 

 

MERLIN AND THE BOOK OF BEASTS -- DVD Review by Porfle

All The 50-Foot Woman Scenes From "Attack Of The 50-Foot Woman" (1958) (video)

Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes) grows to a height of 50 feet...

...due to radiation from an otherworldly spacecraft.

She escapes, and goes searching for her unfaithful husband, Harry (William Hudson) and his mistress Honey (Yvette Vickers)…

...wreaking havoc and destruction along the way.

(spoilers)


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

All The 50-Foot Woman Scenes From "Attack Of The 50-Foot Woman" (1958) (video)

ANOTHER EARTH -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/2/11

 

Scintillating sci-fi elements serve as a backdrop for heartfelt human drama in ANOTHER EARTH (2011), which asks the question: what if there were another you?

Astronomy is the passion of young Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), who is headed for MIT until a drunken drive home from a party lands her a four-year prison stretch for vehicular manslaughter.  Noted classical musician John Burroughs (William Mapother, THE GRUDGE, MOOLA) ends up in a coma, his pregnant wife and five-year-old son dead.  Four years later Rhoda is released on parole, John wakes up, and the mysterious duplicate Earth which appeared in our solar system shortly before their collision is beginning to make contact with us.

The consequences of one reckless moment are portrayed with aching melancholy as Rhoda meanders through her new life as a high school janitor, feeling isolated from her family and former friends, constantly haunted by a paralyzing sadness and guilt.  The only thing that gives her hope is the idea that perhaps on that mirror Earth hanging in the sky she has a twin whose life took a different turn. 



Rhoda then does two things that will change her life.  First, she enters an essay contest in hopes of winning a ticket on a privately-funded spacecraft bound for the other Earth.  Then, posing as a housecleaner, she enters John Burroughs' life and tries to help the devastated, reclusive man any way she can.  While it's no surprise that the two lost souls eventually fall in love, the mutually healing relationship is portrayed with realism and sensitivity and we dread the eventual revelation which will likely destroy it. 

As Rhoda and John's odd romance deepens, the enigma of the mirror Earth takes on added significance when, in a very nicely-handled sequence, the head of SETI makes radio contact with her own duplicate on live television.  Here, ANOTHER EARTH becomes pure science-fiction which is so intriguing that I found myself wishing this aspect could've been developed further rather than merely serving as a metaphorical counterpoint to the main story.  Still, it's enough to keep a constant sci-fi vibe buzzing around in the background, especially with the growing likelihood of Rhoda's impending space flight. 

That such a mind-expanding premise is shown strictly from Rhoda's point of view--we share her sense of wonder as she gazes up at the other world and imagines her mirror self leading a different life--is, in fact, part of what makes the film so uniquely appealing on an emotional level.  We can't help sympathizing with her as she strives to make amends, not just to John but to anyone she can, until a final selfless act offers her the chance for a certain measure of redemption. 



Marling and Mapother give restrained, spot-on performances, handling even the "big" emotional moments with sensitivity and restraint.  Director Mike Cahill avoids melodrama with a naturalistic, non-sensational approach, giving the film a dreamlike stream-of-consciousness quality that flows smoothly from one scene to the next.  Deft use of documentary-style camerawork keeps us in intimate contact with the characters, save for the more formal shots in which we observe them from a distance. 

The Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack from 20-Century Fox Home Entertainment is in 16:9 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.  There are no extras on the DVD.  Blu-Ray bonus features include deleted scenes, a music video, "The Science Behind Another Earth", "Creating Another Earth", and three Fox Movie Channel presentations featuring Cahill, Marling, and Mapother.

For a drama dripping with tragedy, despair, doomed love, and hopeless yearning, ANOTHER EARTH is both profound and remarkably subtle.  As science-fiction, it's an irresistible exploration of concepts that should stimulate anyone's imagination.  And in the end, the two intertwine in a way that I found deeply moving.

ANOTHER EARTH -- DVD Review by Porfle

PARADISE CLUB -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/17/17

 

They say if you remember the 60s, you weren't there.  But Carolyn Cavallero was there, and she remembered it well enough to write and direct the incense-scented, psychedelia-laced paean to the era, PARADISE CLUB (2016). 

Probably not coincidentally, much of this cinematic recollection looks and plays as though related by someone who experienced it through a haze of drugs, confusion, and/or naiveté.

This describes Cavallero's fictional surrogate, young Catherine (Elizabeth Rice, ODD GIRL OUT, "Mad Men"), a nude dancer in San Francisco's Paradise Club in 1968.  Catherine yearns to join her generation's search for freedom and enlightenment, although this consists mainly of expressing herself by dancing naked for strangers and contemplating beat poetry and free-thought prose (her narration sounds as though she's solemnly reciting pages from her diary).

Her two fellow dancers are Tabitha (Tonya Kay, CREEP VAN), a tough chick with a good head on her shoulders, and the wispy Tulsa (Nicole Fox), a gullible waif blown about by any ill wind that comes along. 

They work at the Paradise Club, one of those movie-fantasy nudie clubs where men regularly come to gaze longingly and reverently at their favorite girls as they perform languid interpretive dances to current songs. 

Here, they live their lives in the womb-like environment of the club, acting out their micro-dramas and personal traumas while the outside world rages on around them.  Unsurprisingly, the sight of two soldiers in the club sets off the sensitive Tulsa, who has an anti-war freak-out onstage and tearfully flashes peace signs at them.

 

All of this occurs under the wing of paternal club owner Earl Wild (Eric Roberts), who loves his club because he also finds it a haven against the world.  Although for him, "the world" consists of a money-grabbing ex-wife and an even more demanding coke dealer whom he's into for tens of thousands. 

Eventually, the fate of the Paradise Club and those who inhabit it will mirror that of the era itself as it heads toward harsh reality and self-destruction.  Accordingly, various characters degrade themselves sexually, seek solace in hard drugs, or betray one another.  Not everyone makes it out alive. 

Much of this is conveyed visually, in long, sometimes surreal montages set to contemporary music (It's A Beautiful Day's "White Dove" is especially well-used). 

Naturally, there's a lot of drawn-out nude dancing sequences intended to express the characters' inner feelings.  Sometimes this works, sometimes it seems just a little too free-form and indulgent (albeit not unlike actual films of the time such as THE TRIP).  Needless to say, fans of nude girls will have no complaints.

Performances are good, particularly the endlessly wonderful Eric Roberts (THE DARK KNIGHT, SHARKTOPUS) as Earl. Evan Williams is suitably bland and spaced-out as Ben, the arrogant pretty-boy rocker who threatens to sweep starstruck Catherine out of Earl's life. 

Production values are good, and, for better or worse, the film does have something of an authentic late-60s feel similar to the works of Roger Corman or Dennis Hopper.

PARADISE CLUB isn't an all-encompassing statement about the 60s, but it doesn't try to be.  Cavallero is simply telling tales about her own experiences, perceptions, and emotions, and what life was like in her own small corner of a turbulent world. 

Official website

PARADISE CLUB -- Movie Review by Porfle

CURSE OF THE MAYANS -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 2/28/l8

 

In the tradition of such tales as THE LOST WORLD and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, there's 2017's CURSE OF THE MAYANS, the story of yet another ill-fated group of explorers venturing into a land that time has forgotten to hunt something that ends up hunting them.

This time it's Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and the team is headed by fiercely dedicated and somewhat arrogant scientist Dr. Alan Green (Steve Wilcox) who yearns to delve farther and deeper than ever before into the mysteries of the ancient Mayans. 

Since this will involve unexplored underwater caverns in the cold, dark earth beneath age-old pyramids, Green enlists the aid of gorgeous scuba expert Danielle Noble (Carla Ortiz) to assemble and lead a crack dive team. 

Unfortunately, this team will include Danielle's flaky ex-husband, his current weed-head girlfriend, and the latest lovesick loverboy to be trapped in her spell.  They all hate Dr. Green, and they're all superstitious about the legends of evil reptilian space monsters trapped by the Mayans and just itching to break free in order to enslave and possess the human race.

Sounds like nothing could possibly go wrong, right? Well, if it didn't, this wouldn't be much of a movie, and for most of its running time CURSE OF THE MAYANS is a pretty good one. 

The best part for me is the journey into the jungle and subsequent exploration of the crumbling Mayan ruins.  The interpersonal relationships are just entertaining enough, with some smart, realistic dialogue and more than adequate acting (Ortiz and Wilcox are first-rate), and the scene in which the party encounters some really hardcore Mexican bad guys intent on raping and pillaging is even more tense than the monster stuff later on.

Director and co-writer (with Alberto Haggar) Joaquin Rodriguez has crafted a film consisting mainly of handheld camera that manages to avoid the sloppy, slapdash look we see so often, while also delivering some of the most stunningly beautiful shots of jungles and caverns that I've seen.  The underwater photography in particular is often breathtaking.

Once we get to that point, the film takes on a really claustrophobic, past-the-point-of-no-return feeling with the team blundering about in spooky underground tunnels and diving in dark scary waters.  Things of a possibly supernatural origin begin to plague the expedition as they get closer to the terrible secret the Mayans went to so much trouble to bury in the first place.

The final act gets a bit confusing--I wasn't always able to keep up with what was happening to whom, and much of it is murky and dark--but this actually helps to keep the viewer off-balance. 

Monster sightings are mostly limited to brief, shadowy flashes, which keeps us from seeing the seams and zippers, so to speak.  I was reminded of THE DESCENT during this sequence--I enjoyed the first half of that movie more than the rest as well. 

After a furious flurry of monster attacks and screaming, which I can't really go into without spoiling the story, the ending sets us up for a sequel that may or may not have you quivering in anticipation.

As for me, this one installment was enough.  But as Mattie Ross says in TRUE GRIT, "enough is as good as a feast", and CURSE OF THE MAYANS is a visual feast that also feeds my inner Monster Kid enough to tide him over till the dinner bell rings again.


                                     WATCH THE TRAILER:

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Format: DVD (Single) / Digital HD
Running Time: 88 mins.
Genre: Sci-fi / Thriller
Audio: Dolby 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 (1.78:1)
Release date: March 6, 2018

CURSE OF THE MAYANS -- DVD Review by Porfle

FARINELLI -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/18/19

 

The very notion of the "castrato" has always been utterly grotesque to me, so I didn't know what I was getting into with FARINELLI (1994), the biography of real-life 18th-century Italian castrato Carlo "Farinelli" Broschi.  And the last thing I expected was for it to be so moving, so engaging, so lavishly produced, and, ultimately, so much fun.

Not a comedic sort of fun--there are few actual lighthearted moments--but the fun of delving into something purely enjoyable and being dazzled by it. The story is a richly dramatic one that's well-acted and impeccably rendered, with fine costumes and locations including some of the grandest opera houses in Europe.

But the main appeal here is the journey of our main character, Carlo (Stefano Dionisi), who becomes a castrato (thus preserving his exquisite pre-pubescent singing voice) against his will having already witnessed another boy's suicide after suffering the same fate.

His musician father makes him vow to never deny his voice to his older brother Riccardo (Enrico Lo Verso), an aspiring composer who uses Carlo as a vocal instrument to increase the appeal of his own pedestrian music. Later, when Carlo's fame elevates him to rock-star status, this brotherly partnership will extend to Carlo's sexual conquests, which Riccardo also shares in tag-team fashion.

The early part of the film reminded me a bit of Ken Russell's LISZTOMANIA--sans the over-the-top ridiculousness--with women, nobility included, throwing themselves at Carlo and sometimes even reaching sexual climax during some of his more impressive vocal gymnastics. 

Riccardo seems to enjoy this aspect of his brother's fame the most, though, as Carlo is clearly unfulfilled and searching for something more. That something, we discover, is to sing music with genuine passion, as opposed to the ornate but empty passages penned by his brother.

At one point, the great composer Handel (Jeroen Krabbé, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS), who previously rejected the brothers and ridiculed Carlo as a freak, has a change of heart after Carlo's rise to fame and wishes for him to perform his music.  This will create a rift between Carlo and the increasingly jealous Riccardo that will grow wider with time, especially when a terrible secret from the past is revealed. 

Meanwhile, Carlo's sensitive side emerges when he meets Margareth Hunter (Caroline Cellier) and her disabled young son Benedict, with whom he forms a deep mutual affection.  He also falls in love with Benedict's nurse Alexandra (Elsa Zylberstein) and they form a close relationship that will, as usual, include Riccardo.

Most of this, as I found after a bit of online research, is made up of whole cloth and bears little resemblance to the life of the real Farinelli (Carlo Brochi's stage name).  But I didn't mind, because it's such a gorgeous, sumptuous fiction that I found myself captivated by it from tumultuous start to emotional finish.

Not the least of its charms are its performance scenes, during which Farinelli's incredibly rich and nimble soprano voice is simulated by the painstaking combination of real-life male and female opera singers after much experimentation. 

Stefano Dionisi himself underwent extensive training to learn how to convincingly lip-synch the songs amidst all the pomp and splendor the production designers could muster.

Director Gérard Corbiau brings it all together with a surehanded, straighforward style and a keenly artistic eye.  FARINELLI is both a visual and aural confection and a dramatic delight that one can indulge in like a rich dessert.  And like any sumptuous treat, I didn't want it to end.


Buy it at Film Movement 

BONUS FEATURES:
Making-Of Featurette
Behind-The-Scenes Interviews
Illustrated Booklet With Essay
Trailer

TECH SPECS:
Format: NTSC, Subtitled
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Film Movement Classics
New 2K Digital Restoration
1.85:1 Widescreen, 2.0 Stereo
Language: French and Italian, English Subtitles
DVD Release Date: April 23, 2019
Run Time: 111 minutes

FARINELLI -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

MARQUISE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 5/11/19

 

The 17-century French comedy-drama MARQUISE (Film Movement Classics, 1997) looks like it's going to be one of those daunting costume affairs that bore us and then make us feel stupid and unsophisticated for being bored.

But then the first thing it does is to set such concerns at ease by engaging in about ten minutes of crude, delightfully unsophisticated humor--including bathroom humor--in which a group of actresses passing through a bustling French town set off looking for a place to "go" and the playwright Molière (Bernard Giraudeau) and his partner Gros-Rene (Patrick Timsit) meet a gorgeous peasant girl named Marquise (Sophie Marceau) who is both a dancer and a whore. 

Gros-Rene, smitten by love at first sight, barges into her hovel while she's servicing an elderly client and invites her to come to Paris to dance before their plays, and she, an aspiring actress, accepts.  (Later she will accept his proposal of marriage and remain a loving wife to him even despite a succession of affairs.)

Thus beginning as sort of an upper-crust "Porky's", the story reveals other facets as well when we're immersed in a superbly-rendered world of old French theater attended by upper-class sophisticates who are in reality just as crude and lowbrow as the risque' sex farces Molière writes for them.

But while stricken at first by crippling stage fright, it isn't long before the beautiful Marquise becomes the toast of the theater world and sought after by such royal figures as an oddly-eccentric King Louis XIV (Thierry Lhermitte) while captivating the lower classes as well.

All of which is brought to the screen with the most sumptuous of production values (costumes, cinematography, and Italian locations are all stunningly lavish) and a directorial style by Véra Belmont (MALENA, RED KISS, PRISONERS OF MAO) that's effortlessly inviting. 

Performances are uniformly fine and well-suited to the time period. Lambert Wilson (The "Merovingian" from the MATRIX sequels) enters the picture as playwright Racine, who competes with Molière for the King's attentions artistically while ardently pursuing Marquise's affections.

Sophie Marceau, to whom I've always been rather indifferent, soon proves herself an irresistible presence as Marquise as she conveys the character's naivete, ambition, determination, insecurities, desperate desires, and equal amounts of loyalty and duplicity in her dealings with both men and women.    

The story grows deeper and more dramatic as Marquise's social and romantic entanglements become ever more complicated and lead to tragedy.  Deftly combining sophisticated story with an ever-present wry humor (which, as mentioned before, isn't afraid to revel in the lowbrow) and ample opportunities for Sophie Marceau to charm us with her beauty and mystique, MARQUISE is like a rum-soaked confection that's both sweet and intoxicating.


Buy the Blu-ray or DVD from Film Movement Classics

Also available on Fandango, iTunes

New 2K Digital Restoration
1.85:1 Widescreen
2.0 Stereo
French w/ English Subtitles
Bonus: Interview with director Véra Belmont, trailer,
       illustrated booklet with essay by Laurence Marie

MARQUISE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

GREGORY'S GIRL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/15/20

 

I remember seeing the promo for GREGORY'S GIRL (1980) back in the early 80s when it was on Cinemax, and although it looked harmless enough, I had no desire to actually watch it except maybe for the novelty of seeing Altered Images lead singer Clare Grogan in an acting role.

Now, however, I'm no longer trudging through the 80s but looking back on them through a haze of nostalgia, so the idea of watching this endearingly easygoing teen comedy appeals to me.

Oddly, it opens with what appears to be a sop to the PORKY'S crowd, with Gregory (Gordon John Sinclair, BRITANNIA HOSPITAL, LOCAL HERO, WORLD WAR Z) and his mates excitedly watching a young nurse disrobe in front of her window.

But they're not actually pressing their noses against the glass or peering into a hole drilled in a shower wall. In fact, they appear to be watching this apparent act of exhibitionism from behind a tree across the street.  Not exactly a gang of lechers, these lads. (One of them even faints.) I would've stopped to look too.

The nice thing we discover about Gregory is that he's really just a normal high school kid who's well-meaning enough despite the usual faults. He's a tad irresponsible, doesn't take life all that seriously, and tends to be a stranger to his parents (the latter point is played for gentle laughs in a nice scene between Gregory and his driving-instructor dad, who we never see again).

He doesn't even get upset when his football coach tells him he's moving him from lead kicker to goalie and trying out new talent for their perpetually-losing team.  This sets up the story's main plotline when a beautiful, athletic girl named Dorothy (Dee Hepburn, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie") tries out and blows everyone else away with her skills, while stealing the lovesick Gregory's heart at the same time.

What follows is one of the most low-key and pleasantly realistic coming-of-age comedies that one could while away some time with.  Gregory's attempts to overcome his shyness and make progress with the seemingly unattainable Dorothy are easily relatable and never played for cheap laughs.

And when his little sister Madeline (Allison Forster) tries to give him first-hand advice about girls even though she's years away from any actual romantic experience herself, it's heartwarming. Through it all, Gregory is so lighthearted and happy-go-lucky that even the agonies of teenage love can't keep him from strolling through life with a smile on his face.

Writer-director Bill Forsyth (LOCAL HERO) captures the flavor of smalltown Scotland with this pleasant diversion in which the teachers are barely out of school themselves (Gregory's mousey football coach is proud that his moustache is growing in) and his pals are interested in such things as photography, baking black market goodies in Home Ec to sell after school, and, of course, girls.

Or, in the case of his likably timid friend Andy (Robert Buchanan), standing on an overpass watching trucks go by because he read that so many tons of corn flakes pass beneath it every day.

All of this culminates in a delightful sequence in which Gregory's date with Dorothy goes from a non-event (she doesn't show up) to a lovely scheme by his other female friends to set him up with the girl who really has feelings for him.

This is where Altered Images lead singer Clare Grogan ("Red Dwarf") comes to the fore as classmate Susan, who joins Gregory for an evening of simply passing the time together.

That's what watching GREGORY'S GIRL is like, and what gives it such an unassuming charm.  It's not often that I enjoy a movie so much simply because it's such an effortlessly placid and comforting look at everyday life and the modest pleasures that can be derived from living it.


Buy it from Film Movement Classics

Tech Specs
Film Movement Classics
1980
91 Minutes
United Kingdom
English
Comedy, Romance, Drama, Coming of Age
PG

Bonus Features
Audio Commentary with Bill Forsyth and Mark Kermode
Bill Forsyth on Gregory's Girl interview
Bill Forsyth - The Early Years interview
Gregory's Girl Memories interview with Clare Grogan
New essay by film scholar Jonathan Murray
Alternative U.S. and French dub versions
Sound: Stereo
Discs: 1

GREGORY'S GIRL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

TIME TO DIE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/23/17

 

Sometimes I'm in the mood for a simple, matter-of-fact story told in a deliberate style that allows the viewer to contemplate what's happening rather than just passively observing flashes of action and drama. 

If, like TIME TO DIE, aka Tiempo de morir (1966, Film Movement Classics), this story happens to be a vintage Mexican western in exquisite black-and-white, then all the better.

There's a lot to contemplate in the story of Juan Sayago (Jorge Martínez de Hoyos, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE PROFESSIONALS), who, after serving 18 years in prison for killing a man, is released and walks all the way through the lonely desert to return to his hometown where the dead man's two sons, now grown, wait patiently for their revenge. 

Juan doesn't want trouble, but only to rebuild his life just as he tries to reassemble the shambles of a home left when his mother died years ago.  But the hatred of proud, hot-tempered young Pedro Trueba (Enrique Rocha) is too strong, and his insistent provocations to violence unavoidable even as the man's younger brother Julian (Alfredo Leal), the less volatile of the two, has a conflicting sense of what he sees as a potentially honorable man.

The story seems almost reverse-inspired by HIGH NOON--this time it's the protagonist coming into town while his killers await him there, and the townspeople, rather than staying out of it, do everything they can to come between the opposing forces to avoid bloodshed. 

This is especially true of Juan's former love Maria (top-billed Marga López), now a rich, respected widow, and Julian's girlfriend Sonia (Blanca Sánchez), who fears the needless death or imprisonment of her future husband--strong women but unable, in their time, to affect the course of men doing men's business with harsh fate as their final arbiter.

There's also HIGH NOON's brand of crisp black-and-white photography and quiet, deliberate pacing as well as a preoccupation with time and timepieces.  In addition to brief snatches of its minimalist score, the film's soundtrack consists mainly of stark practical sound effects often backed by the constant rush of hot desert winds. 

A long moment in which Maria quietly dreads the inevitable future is accentuated by the loud ticking of a clock.  When the vengeful Pedro dons his father's old clothes and paces within his empty study, the dead man's spurs echo hollowly on the wooden floor as Pedro follows in his ghostly footsteps.

In 1962's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, Jorge Martínez de Hoyos played a humble farmer seeking the aid of expert gunmen to help protect his village from marauders.  Here, he himself is such a gunman, but a tired, much older one who now wants only peace and a chance at redemption. 

It's a restrained, subtle performance that reflects Juan's wasted years behind bars and his weary regret for once killing a man while now facing the prospect of engaging his two sons in pointless conflict.

The main tragedy is that in this revenge western there are no bad guys and no clear-cut morality--only a relatively good man who was once forced to kill, and two brash young men honor-bound to avenge what they perceive to be the cowardly murder of their father. 

Director Arturo Ripstein, who began his career as Luis Buñuel's assistant director in 1962 and would become one of Mexico's leading filmmakers, handles his first feature film with a restrained confidence and an artistic eye.  He favors long, unhurried takes with fluid handheld camerawork (a rarity in those days before Steadicam) that tells the story unobtrusively and economically. 

Part of the novelty of this Mexican western comes from the setting, taking place not in the rough border town of Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, but in a picturesque village with narrow cobblestone streets and whitewashed buildings of adobe and brick.  There's an almost turn-of-the-century modernity and sense of progress which the more civic-minded inhabitants are striving to keep untainted by the kind of violence threatened by Juan's return. 

The physical and emotional release of gunplay is held back from us until the very end, where neither we nor the surviving character(s) derive much satisfaction from it save for a curdled sense of relief.  In TIME TO DIE, the only real victor is Death itself.


BONUS FEATURES
Video Introduction by director Alex Cox (Repo Man)
Commentary by director Arturo Ripstein and actor Enrique Rocha
New essay by Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-founder of Cinema Tropical
Booklet insert

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Type:  Blu-ray/DVD
Running Time: 89 mins. + extras
Rating:  N/A
Genre:  Western
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio:  Stereo
Language: Spanish with English Subtitles

Buy it at Film Movement Classics

WATCH THE TRAILER

TIME TO DIE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE THIRD MURDER -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/18/18

 

More than just a courtroom drama--the actual trial takes up relatively little running time--THE THIRD MURDER, aka "Sandome no satsujin" (Film Movement Classics, 2017) is an intense character study as well as a somber morality play which eschews the usual thriller elements in order to put us into a deeply contemplative mood.

We witness a shocking murder--Misumi (Kôji Yakusho), still on parole after serving a lengthy prison sentence for double murder, bludgeons a man to death one night by the river and sets his body on fire.
 
After being apprehended, he fully confesses to the crime and is charged with robbery-murder.  The only question is whether or not he'll get the death penalty.

Enter his three lawyers--an idealist young novice, a jaded old courtroom veteran, and, in between, Shigemori (Masaharu Fukuyama), whose years of experience have yet to dull his conscience or desire to do the right thing.

They decide the best path is to lessen the charges against Misumi and seek life imprisonment, but with him changing his story with every interview, even this modest goal proves elusive.

Moreover, Shigemori's investigation into the case keeps turning up information that clouds the issue at every turn.  Misumi is an enigma, almost eager to be found guilty even as evidence of extenuating circumstances continues to come to light.

He even seems to have a friendly relationship with the victim's disabled daughter Sakie (Suzu Hirose), who reminds him of his own long-estranged daughter. For her part, Sakie seems mysteriously conflicted regarding her father's killer, while her mother's behavior becomes increasingly suspect.

Thus, as the story becomes an engrossing, unpredictable legal procedural, the emotional elements give it a depth far beyond the usual crime dramas of this nature.  All manner of questions about the human condition are subtly and quietly explored, with Shigemori's two partners representing the yin and yang of his moral dilemma in dealing with Misumi.

Performances are all fine, as nuanced and subdued as writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda's deceptively simple visual style.  The story never resorts to melodrama or sensation, keeping a stately pace and somber, autumnal air of melancholy throughout.

The Blu-ray from Film Movement Classics is in 2.35:1 widescreen with 5.1 surround sound and 2.0 stereo.  Japanese with English subtitles.  Bonus features include a Palme d'Or-winning Chinese short film, "A Gentle Night", directed by Qiu Yang, along with a making-of featurette, messages from the cast, and a trailer.

Realistic and introspective, THE THIRD MURDER eschews cheap thrills for a slowburn series of revelations that keep us emotionally involved.  It's absorbing, adult entertainment for both the heart and mind.

THE THIRD MURDER -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/30/11

 

Man hates Japan, goes to Japan, learns to love Japan.  That's the basic plotline but there's more to this story in THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE (2009), writer-director Aaron Woolfolk's semi-autobiographical tale that's slow and predictable but ultimately as warm and comfortable as a pair of old shoes.

Retired photographer Daniel Holder (Bennet Guillory), still bitter about the way his father was tortured to death in a Japanese POW camp during WWII, disowns his artist son Mickey (Victor Grant) for hooking up with Noriko (Saki Takaoka) and leaving San Francisco to teach English in Japan.  When Mickey is killed in a motorcycle accident, guilt-ridden Daniel travels there to take back all of Mickey's paintings from the people he's given them to, alienating and offending everyone he meets. 

I've never been to Japan, but if all its citizens are this impossibly nice and polite then everyone should move there.  By contrast, Daniel, who's at least a head taller than everyone else, is unbearably rude and intimidating, and I felt embarrassed by his crass behavior toward his hosts from the local Education Office out of which Mickey worked.  Kindly Ms. Hara (Misa Shimizu) takes him to the school where the students have put up a photo memorial to Mickey, and Daniel, while moved, nevertheless plucks his son's centerpiece painting (a gift to the school) from the wall and makes off with it.

We know, of course, that Daniel will eventually make a one-eighty in his surly, unforgiving attitude--especially when he finally starts to see the negative effects his actions are having on other people, and how he, as a black man, is acting out some of the same prejudices he's suffered himself--but getting there is a long and very deliberately paced process.  A major breakthrough comes when he tracks down the widowed Noriko and shares her grief over the loss of his son while making a discovery that is probably the film's one plot point which qualifies as a surprise. 

The gradual softening of Daniel's demeanor makes the film more enjoyable to watch from that point forward, with some poignant emotional moments that are subtly evoked by director Woolfolk despite the sometimes overly-insistent musical score.  A major asset is Bennet Guillory's refusal to overact or try too hard to sell his character's anger and grief, making it all the more effective when he does go for those heartfelt moments. 

Misa Shimizu as Ms. Hara and Saki Takaoka as Noriku also give depth and nuance to their performances.  In a smaller role as Daniel's brother Joseph, executive producer Danny Glover adds his own venerable presence to the film (although much less so than the ads would have us believe--this show belongs to Guillory and his female co-stars all the way).   

Woolfolk, who based much of Mickey's character on his own experiences as an African-American teacher in Japan, was inspired by that country's slow-paced, pastoral films of the 50s and gives THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE a simple, often elegant look with good use of both city and rural locations.  Some humor is derived from Daniel's culture-shock reaction to various foods and customs and the way he seems shoehorned into his tiny apartment.  Saita Nakayama (pop singer Misono), a hyperkinetic young secretary who loves American culture, is the one overtly comedic aspect of the film and, although cute, is best appreciated when not onscreen.

The Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack from Funimation and Eleven Arts is in 16:9 widescreen with an English/Japanese soundtrack in Dolby 5.1 surround (Japanese dialogue is subtitled in English).  Extras include a making-of featurette, cast and staff interviews, and trailers of other Funimation releases.  Woolfolk's commentary is in-depth and very personal.

One of the film's more effective scenes comes when Daniel visits a small art gallery proudly displaying Mickey's work in a show called "Japan Through the Eyes of Foreigners."  That title aptly describes THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE, with Woolfolk offering a fresh perspective that's an aesthetically-pleasing synthesis of both Japanese and American films.  The languid pace and lack of sledgehammer dramatics will put off some viewers, while others will find the low-key storytelling and lush visuals as enticing as a lazy stroll through the Japanese countryside.

THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE SWORD WITH NO NAME -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 9/2/11

 

A tragic love story set in 19th-century Korea, director Kim Yong-gyun's THE SWORD WITH NO NAME (2009) goes for a combination of historical epic, action flick, and tearjerker, with fairly successful results.

The production values are lush, giving us all the pomp and opulence we expect from such royal goings-on.  A beautiful young noblewoman named Ja-young (Su-Ae) is due to marry the king but first becomes friends with roguish swordsman Moo-myoung (Seung-woo Cho), who is hopelessly smitten and swears that he will devote his life to protecting her.  With a new husband who regards her as merely a trophy, she is drawn to Moo-myoung and welcomes his devotion.

Using his wits, Moo-myoung manages to become one of Ja-young's royal guards and leaps into action when political complications--mainly the result of her dealings with both Westerners and the Japanese, which greatly displease her isolationist father-in-law--result in her attempted assassination.



With the young lovers' "meet cute" on a beach and a couple of goofy comedy companions for Moo-myoung, THE SWORD WITH NO NAME takes awhile getting down to serious business.  When it does, though, it gets pretty grim as peripheral characters start getting offed left and right, and various factions begin to move against Ja-young.  While I didn't totally follow all the political details, which are based, I understand, on historical fact, that aspect of the story is well-done and fairly intriguing.

Action-wise, the film features several thrilling setpieces involving both guns and swords.  A couple of major, highly-stylized fight sequences pit Moo-myoung against Korea's greatest swordsman, Lee Noi-jeon (Jae-woong Choi), who is also Ja-young's chief guard.  These are reminiscent of similar scenes in THE MATRIX with CGI succeeding wirework as the hit-and-miss special effect of choice, plus lots of frenetic direction, dizzying camerawork, and rapid-fire editing.  We also get a couple of those big fantasy battle scenes with Moo-myoung taking on dozens of swordsmen singlehanded or with Noi-jeon by his side.
 


As for the love story, Moo-myoung and Ja-young are an attractive pair but I never really connected with them on an emotional level.  Much of their interplay is by-the-numbers and compares poorly to similar relationships better portrayed in other films, particularly the Japanese film GOEMON from the same year.  While Su-Ae is a good actress who can really turn on the waterworks (she's known in Korea as the "Queen of Tears"), and Seung-woo Cho does manic, selfless devotion like nobody's business, their scenes together finally reach a climax that borders on the maudlin. 

The DVD from Funimation is in 16:9 widescreen with English 5.1 surround and Korean stereo with English subtitles.  Extras include a ten-minute "making of" featurette, cast interviews, teaser and main trailers, and trailers from other Funimation releases.  While I reviewed only the DVD, the combo pack also includes the Blu-Ray version of the film.

Falling somewhat short of the heights reached by other historical films in this vein, THE SWORD WITH NO NAME nevertheless manages to impress and often dazzle with its royal spectacle, political intrigue, and well-staged action sequences.  The fact that it doesn't quite come together as well as one might expect didn't keep me from appreciating the effort that was put into it.

THE SWORD WITH NO NAME -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE TREASURE HUNTER -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 10/20/11

 

THE TREASURE HUNTER (2009) is one of those action-adventure flicks where certain parts are greater than the whole, but that may be enough to make it worth watching--even if several of those parts are from other, better movies.

We're first introduced to the Eagle of the Desert, a lone warrior who protects the ancient treasures buried beneath its sands from tomb raiders.  He keeps this job until somebody comes along who can defeat him.  These sand-clogged fight scenes are the best-looking in the movie and it makes me wonder why the rest of them weren't done so well.  After such a changing of the guard, Qiaofei (Jay Chou, THE GREEN HORNET) returns to the real world, hanging out in a remote tavern and forcing passing scavengers to hand over their ill-gotten booty to be returned to their rightful place.


You may think you've wandered into a hyped-up Sergio Leone film when director Yen-ping Chu starts quoting shots from ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, complete with open-air saloon, spinning windmill, locations that sometimes resemble Monument Valley, and other obvious reminders.  When a group of raiders barge through the swinging doors in a cloud of dust, you'll recall Jason Robards' gang arriving to rescue him from his escort on the way to prison. 

Then Qiaofei saunters down the stairs to engage them in battle, which is a mish-mash of martial arts and Robert Rodriguez-style moves which reminds us that bad wirework, not-too-sharp fight choreography, and sloppy action camerawork are still alive and well in the cinema.  It's all pretty lively, though, and every once in a while something happens that's cool enough to be worth rewinding for--as when Qiaofei reassembles the pieces of an automatic pistol as though by sleight of hand, just in time to blow away an armored boogeyman erupting out of the earth and charging at him on horseback across the saloon floor.

More supernatural stuff enters the picture with the appearance of a semi-mummified guy (he actually looks like he just climbed out of a vat of Charmin) whose wrappings become lashing tentacles--here the film loosely resembles a CGI-fueled superhero flick with echoes of THE MATRIX.  Indiana Jones is invoked when a treasure map to a lost desert temple pits Qiaofei against a mysterious fedora-wearing fortune hunter named Hua (Daoming Chen) and his rotund, avaricious comedy sidekick Pork Rib (Eric Tsang). 

Qiaofei's "Marian Ravenwood" equivalent is Lan (Chiling Lin), with whom he has a longstanding love-hate relationship that's renewed when she finds herself along for the ride.  Along the way, turbulent reunions with both his sister and the current Eagle of the Desert will yield some heart-tugging drama (or a reasonable fascimile thereof) in addition to more frenetic fight action.

Aside from a few draggy spots (mostly the romantic, touchy-feely scenes), THE TREASURE HUNTER moves through its action setpieces at a pretty fast clip.  A lengthy encounter with a band of horsemen called the Sandstorm Raiders, who are followed everywhere they go by a huge, sandy tornado, turns into a chase that's right out of both THE ROAD WARRIOR and STAGECOACH. 

It's a lively enough sequence which, unfortunately, is marred by the apparent use of the kind of horse-tripping stunts that have always made me cringe.  It's hard to enjoy a scene where dozens of galloping horses are having their front legs yanked out from under them, driving them headfirst into the ground.

The final sequence inside the buried temple--which is reminiscent of Stephen Somers' MUMMY films (in addition to Universal's 1940 THE MUMMY'S HAND)--features people turning into ghouls, ghostly sword-slinging wraiths flitting around, and more Indiana Jones-type booby traps, with some surprisingly good CGI. 

As in various Leone films, Hua's intermittent flashbacks of his first expedition to the site finally play out to reveal why he's so obsessed with finding it again.  This aspect of the story helps add some emotional weight to the film's climax, as does the final scene between Lan and Qiaofei, ultimately making THE TREASURE HUNTER seem slightly more than an elaborate but superficial comic book adventure.  Although, basically, that's exactly what it is.

The DVD from Funimation is in 16:9 widescreen with Dolby Digital soundtracks in Mandarin and English, with English subtitles.  The only extras are trailers for this and other Funimation releases.

Lavish but wildly uneven, THE TREASURE HUNTER occasionally captures the epic feel that it's striving for while remaining, for the most part, a not-altogether successful attempt to transcend its familiar storyline and mish-mash of derivative elements.  If you understood why THE BEASTMASTER was fun to watch on cable back in the 80s, you may find this slapdash adventure mildly diverting as well.

THE TREASURE HUNTER -- DVD Review by Porfle