Saint Frances, written by and starring Kelly O’Sullivan - 9.6 out of 10

Saint Frances, written by and starring Kelly O’Sullivan

9.6 out of 10

What a fantastic, fresh, at times outré, captivating, emotional, amusing, creative, original to the point of causing some distress motion picture this is, launching a very interesting new star, Kelly O’Sullivan, the writer and actress in the leading role, that of Bridget, for what is an appreciated film so far and if this gets more traction, then we could envisage seeing the extremely talented protagonist go far and challenge traditions at Hollywood.

Bridget is one of the complicated personages that represent the new generation, though she argues with her sex partner – when he talks about ‘their relationship’ she retorts that there is ‘no relationship’ and thus I am forced to avoid saying her boyfriend, lover or something of the kind – that the does not play with the ‘millenials’, she is on the cusp…her views though could be assessed as quite liberal – she herself uses that label – and she could also identify with the ‘progressives’, though this viewer hopes she is not a Bernie supporter – for one who has ‘enjoyed’ and still does get the effects of the Moscow – where the old socialist has spent his honeymoon, in the days of the Soviet union no less, without edifying him of what leftist doctrines bring about – imposed system, the under signed refutes the leftist doctrines absolutely…especially the extreme ones, Biden seems to be alright, and anyway a thousand times better that the fool who is running the show now, just like in the days when he was a game show host…

She is a server in a  restaurant and this cinephile was feeling awkward about the fact that she seemed somehow ‘superior’, much above the education needed for that position, given that she is thirty-four – it sounds fine for someone to be waiter with an advanced education, on the way to the position for which she or he is qualified, but to serve tables and have a degree in astronomy sounds awful…my daughter works as a waitress – well, she had done before this terrible pandemic – but this while she is learning to get a degree in the tourism business, which is in such a free fall alas…

The heroine is applying for a job as a nanny, while having a casual sexual encounter with a younger, sometimes strange man, Jace, which unexpectedly results in a pregnancy, that he wants to talk about – “shall we explore the options”- but she is much more mature – not in years, but in gravitas, understanding, emotional and ‘traditional Intelligence – wise, has the ability to see that in their circumstances, with their financial challenges, parenthood is not really an option …though this would change perhaps, once she will have met and proved she has the stamina, courage, grit, empathy, resilience to hold on in the company  of…

Saint Frances

Frances is the six years old that the would be nanny will be supposed to guard, entertain, prevent from drowning, having an accident and keep from all other dangers that are out there, if she passes the examination in front of the two mothers, Maya and Annie, a lesbian couple that wants to know if Bridget has had extensive experience as a baby sitter and she does not have, when she mentions her younger brother there is again an appearance of failure, for she has not connected with him and it looks like she is not really the best to handle the task…

Indeed, once she is installed, for the previous woman has just committed some unacceptable act, it looks like we might be Flirting With Disaster, a very amusing comedy written and directed by David O. Russell, who is a talented film maker, but from what actors have stated he is a terrible human being - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/flirting-with-disaster-written-and.html  - and we see that little Frances might be too much to take, both for the poor heroine and for the audience, at least for this viewer, who was thinking Jesus! This is impossible to control…

Admittedly, the inexperienced Bridget makes some mistakes that could have had more serious consequences, such as when she rattles the pram which the little girl enjoys, but she forgets to put the security belt and then the child falls on the ground, only to rush up to Maya, once they arrive home and complain that the nanny has thrown her to the ground…later on, during some seconds which the guardian angel spends on her smart phone, Devilish Frances falls or jumps into a nearby pond, making the woman shout and then a runner has to interfere and get the child out of the water, in which the desolate nanny has to immerse to get the sandals for her tormentor…

Maya is aghast to see this new accident happen and she tells the nanny that ‘a mother has to look at the child all the time and even if she said it was just a second, it is inadmissible’…words to that effect, but quite soon, the depressive, desolate mother will get important help from Bridget, who takes the infant son, the brother of Frances, in her arms and he is soothed, while strangely he keeps crying when his own mother takes him…she complains and we see that whenever she approaches him, the son is in maximum agitation…

There is one freakish aspect that this cinephile was taken aback to hear, when the heroine and Jace have sex, the next morning there is blood all over the bed and…on the man’s face, which provokes some awkward dialogue, about the fact that she did not know, which he says it is all right he never witnessed anything wrong, she tasted well – or some other similar comment – making her refer to the…

Bloodhounds…which apparently are men who like this sort of – what shall we call it – extreme experience, going for ‘the period’ with delight (!)

Blood is a recurring element, for the main character – I still think of Bridget as the leading personage, though the film is called Saint Frances and indeed, after the first few nasty clashes, this girl becomes Seraphic, Wonderful, angelic and a Joy to watch – suffers from some complications and she is bleeding often…at one time, Frances takes some blood –stained underwear from her hand and runs to Maya with them (!)  and then the latter is talking about her own incontinence, following the pregnancy and the two women eventually bond and become friends…

Saint Frances is a wonderful film at any time, but it may be especially rewarding at this Time of the Virus…

Red Dog: True Blue by Daniel Taplitz - Nine out of 10

Red Dog: True Blue by Daniel Taplitz

Nine out of 10

Yes there is something corny, and we get a sense of déjà vu when we see yet another motion picture with a dog at the center…there is the quintessential classic, The Call of the Wild, written by Jack London, which has recently seen another adaptation – number 67? – with Harrison Ford in the supporting role, for the Dog has the attention of the audiences http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-call-of-wild-by-jack-london-another.html

Nevertheless, this story of this animal that is an Australian legend is emotional – just like Michael Carter aka Jason Isaacs – we may feel tears coming down our cheeks, and captivating, especially if you love dogs and are able to appreciate excellence e and beauty, which mark this splendid pet that would go to the ends of the world, in search of his worshipped master, friend and companion, young Carter in this case…

As a boy, Michael Carter has to live with his grandfather, portrayed by another Australian icon, Bryan Brown, seen in many outstanding motion pictures, such as Breaker Morant - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/02/breaker-morant-based-on-play-by-kenneth.html

However, the film starts with the boy hero – there is a dog hero and arguably the canine gets more attention – as an adult, told by his wife, when he arrives home, that he has to get the boys to the movies, as he had promised and that he has also pledged to get them a dog…something he is doubtful of…

As he is watching a film with…Red Dog, in the cinema theater, the grown man starts crying and he would eventually tell his elder son, once they get back home, that Red dog is based on his own Blue and this is when we get back to the farm, the majestic horse, the fires of Australia which touch such a sore wound now that they have had a terrible season this year when they say that about one billion animals have died in the catastrophic fires…

Michael finds a puppy dog and sleeps with him in the house, but the master of the home says that he will talk with the neighbor that has the mother of the puppy to keep him, on condition that this animal does not sleep inside…which makes the boy take his sheets and lie with his new friend outside, on the porch…

When others mock the fact that the four legged does not do any tricks, the human hero is somewhat ashamed and starts trying to show his friend what to do, rolling over, doing funny postures for the canine to repeat…

It is clear soon that Red dog – who is named Blue, has tremendous capacities, demonstrated in the game wherein the human hides a ball, all the way to the top of the house, only to see his companion get to it in a couple of seconds…

Surely, the most impressive characteristic of the Animal Hero is his loyalty…others know so well that he is so devoted to his human companion that they cannot touch him without serious, perhaps devastating consequences…

One thing that this viewer disliked was the fact that Michael kept driving on his motorcycle and had the pet running after him, which seemed entertaining and remarkable to a degree, but it is also clear that the animal would have had immense trouble in keeping up with this and later with a helicopter in which his beloved master would travel

Indeed, for that helicopter ride, they surely must have guessed that the worshipping Blue would start a run for it and thus endanger his life and should have taken measures to prevent him…though the consequences might have been just as devastating, for there are so many stories with dogs that languish and many die when their best friends, the humans, abandon them, expire in their turn or just have to move…

Vivarium, written by Lorcan Finnegan and Garret Shanley, directed by the former - Eight out of 10

Vivarium, written by Lorcan Finnegan and Garret Shanley, directed by the former

Eight out of 10

The Economist Espresso mentioned this new motion picture on Saturday and the parallels we may draw with what happens in the world today, as so many of us are trapped, under house arrest and thus seem to share the experience of the main characters – there are only four in all, if the count is correct – who find that they are taken to visit a house, in a post-apocalyptic, perhaps After the New Virus World, where there is no escape…just like most of us ‘at home’ now.

In this weird similarity, the ‘adventures of the protagonists’ may be interesting and worth watching, the average score from the main critics is 65 out of 100, which may mean that even if this is no Parasite -http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html this is still a good enough film.

However the screams of that baby, turned mischievous, unlikeable, hateful child – why was he given to the young couple anyway – the continuous digging of the male character seem pointless, nauseating and too much to enjoy for this viewer…

J’accuse aka An Officer and a Spy, written by Robert Harris (based on his original novel and Roman Polanski, directed by the latter - 10 out of 10

J’accuse aka An Officer and a Spy, written by Robert Harris (based on his original novel and Roman Polanski, directed by the latter

10 out of 10

This note is about the motion picture based on the novel by Robert Harris

For the undersigned, this film is Magnificent, though it has to be admitted that there is a just cause for those who demonstrate against the cowriter and director,  feminists and others, because they loath for good reason the director, Roman Polanski, author of a Magnum opera that is included in part in the History of Cinema – Chinatown - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/chinatown-written-by-robert-towne.html - Tess - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/tess-based-on-novel-by-thomas-hardy.html  The Pianist - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-pianist-written-by-ronald-harwood.html - and a few other features helmed by the runaway are major cinematic master works, no matter how disputed and controversial the Polish creator might be.

We could think of Intellectuals, by the outstanding Paul Johnson, in which we learn about the real life, the character of famous writers like Jean Jacques Rousseau – who has abandoned many of his numerous children at the door of an orphanage, at a time when nine out of ten would die there – Ernest Hemingway, Henrik Ibsen and even Tolstoy and we are often appalled by what we find and then need to consider the fact that the chef d’oeuvre needs all the attention, disregarding the genius as a man, for otherwise we would eliminate so many of the masterpieces we now cherish…another recent example this cinephile has learned about is that of James Joyce, who had been helped by a lesbian publisher – the author of Fun Home where from I have learned this detail wants to underline this orientation, arguing furthermore that there is a boldness there and there are other cases presented in the excellent Fun Home – when others would not touch him with a pole, but once he would become a celebrated name, he would just cancel his original contract and never think to compensate the initial, courageous Mecena in any way…

The puzzle continues for this viewer, since once we pass by the flaws of the writer- director as a human being – if we do that – then we meet with quite astonishing reviews from critics who dismiss the motion picture as not quite remarkable, lacking pathos and emotion, being just a series of events presented with some craftsmanship, but not phenomenal…would this be to atone the eventual protesters, who might target the scribblers who could embrace Polanski, disgraced as he is by the label of pedophile and statutory rapist, or is it their honest, objective opinion?

Notwithstanding the opinion of most critics, this cinephile was elated, fascinated, overwhelmed by An Officer and a Spy, which for me is not just one of the best movies of this year – regardless of what happens with releases or production at the time of the Corona Virus – but it is As Good As It Gets and one of the best productions of the decade, solid, with wonderful performances, majestic screenplay, spectacular mis en scene – attention to detail is so extraordinary as to have horse manure on the streets of Paris, which was indeed omnipresent at the time when these animals were everywhere, before the automobile gained the upper hand…

The drama of Alfred Dreyfuss aka wonderful Louis Garrel is one of the most rewarding stories ever told, a real scandal that revealed the atrocious anti-Semitism within the French society – present elsewhere, perhaps almost everywhere – and forewarned, foretold what would happen during the World War II, when it was not just the Nazis that were to blame for the deportation of the Jews to the extermination camps and the ‘Final Solution’ – though they played the main role – but also the French collaborators, many ‘common people’ who have showed a deep hatred of the race, in this astounding An Officer and a Spy and later on…

No matter how vital the character of Dreyfuss is for his own story, it is Colonel Georges Picquart aka glorious Jean Dujardin, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for the magnificent part he has had in the celebrated The Artist, who towers over the plot, for he is the complicated man who starts from the rather abject position of showing antipathy for the Semitic race, only to show another, much brighter side, when he manifests a dangerous, absolute devotion to the truth and tries eventually to find what had happened in  the most famous or infamous court case in French history, that involving the Jewish Officer, Alfred Dreyfuss, who is accused and sentenced as a traitor, just because he belongs to a race that most of command of the French army and a large segments of the population despised and wanted punished…

The film opens with the impressive scene, one of so many, during which there is a parade, in the middle of hundreds of soldiers and officers, Alfred Dreyfuss is humiliated, all his garments, signs of rank and basic military activity are torn apart and then to pieces, with finally his sword being broken in two and thrown at his feet, while the innocent man keeps shouting that he is innocent,  ‘Vive la France’ and a mob gathered outside this unit also cries ‘death to the traitor’ and other insults, racial slurs and more…the prisoner is then sent to Devil’s Island – I think that is where the fortress is – and Georges Picquart is assigned the position where he finds details about the real Spy, one abominable man called Esterhazy, and then tries to act according to moral principles, expose the truth and eventually free the innocent Dreyfuss…

Alas, various generals – it looks like all – are in cahoots and once prove emerges that in fact the traitor is still free and they had sentenced the wrong man, their preoccupation is not to repair the injustice, but to ‘keep the image of the army immaculate’ – one of them would state at one of the ensuing new trials that if they doubt their integrity, the calumniators must take care because there would be no one to defend the dear country…words like that – and they start causing trouble for the hero, Colonel Georges Picquart, first with veiled expressions of concern, and explaining what evil would result from reopening the Dreyfuss affair, then ordering him to stop, finally forging documents and eventually trying to get rid of the ‘whistle blower’ – as a present day correspondent, the idiot Trump has tried much the same thing with the patriot who had exposed his betrayal of duty, when he tried to blackmail the Ukraine to get personal gain.

The generals send the Colonel Georges Picquart to ‘inspect’ garrisons in the East of the country – which away from Paris and any further complications for them – then to all sorts of other corners, only to try to have him killed in suicide missions in the North of Africa…fortunately, the truth slowly emerges in the press, there is the famous landmark, the article titled J’accuse, written by famous author Emil Zola, and then there are more trials and gradually and painfully the truth might emerge, contrary to the efforts made by the abhorrent heads of the ‘illustrious command’ of the French Army, with a rather complex, not the easy, common ‘happy end ‘conclusion to what is a fantastic movie…if you are to listen to this humble scribbler

Realini

For Your Consideration, written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, directed by the former - 9.2 out of 10

For Your Consideration, written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, directed by the former

9.2 out of 10

This is a miraculous motion picture, though not destined for the Cinematic Hall of Fame, it is fantastic in its elaborate, hilarious, phenomenal team game, with a multitude of talented actors making an outstanding ensemble piece that offers joy and could be the perfect comedy to watch now that we are all sinking like the Titanic – that was a joke, we are not sinking like the infamous big boat, for we are almost all in quasi isolation, house arrest and therefore we would go to the bottom not like a huge team, but individually, like stones…

There are magnificent lines in this superb movie, which is also insightful, sardonic, critical of the arrogant character of so many- if not most of the- celebrities that love themselves so much and demand the most absurd things, envy each other, rise from obscurity on gossip, then fall to the level of petty, silly commercials, just like Victor Allan Miller aka Harry Shearer, who has to jingle some preposterous balls in an ad that promotes one of those phony weight loss procedures, through which you lose fifty kilos in a matter of days, if not minutes, just by fooling around with some small spheres attached to your waist…do not try this at home though

When asked, one character says that ‘actors have inside them some animals, a pig, a nightingale and some others were mentioned and you never know which one you will get’ – reminding this cinephile of the snow storm joke, wherein a man is compared with a snow storm, because for both you never know when it is coming, how many inches you will get and how long it will last’…

There is the argument to be made, if you read the Magnum opus Adventures in the Screen Trade by the majestic and regretted William Goldman, that what For Your Consideration mocks are real excesses of the superstars of Hollywood, for we learn from Adventures in the Screen Trade about how Dustin Hoffman misbehaved on the set of Marathon Runner, subjecting the iconic Laurence Olivier to torture almost, Al Pacino has had his share of more than bravado and finally, Robert Redford has been quite insufferable on plenty of occasions when dealing with the screenplay writer of All the President’s Men – for this and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, William Goldman has won the Academy Awards…

This satire refers also to the often mischievous, sometimes abject role that producers play – Harvey Weinstein comes to mind, though now that he has the Corona virus and he is over sixty, maybe he will be a ghost of the past soon – who take a project and then transform it beyond recognition, against the wishes of those involved in them…

In this case, the project was entitled ‘Home for Purim’ and as the initial tile makes clear, it is about a Jewish family, where the matriarch is very sick, children return to see her – the director is amusing in his instructions…you need to play it like this and what he suggests looks like a ridiculous fit of epilepsy – and then it transforms into something not just different, but a film that has annulled all the initial elements…

A vain, arrogant producer interpreted with gusto and the famous talent by Ricky Gervais objects in front of the writers about the ‘Jewishness’ of the script and says that it is ‘too much in your face’ and thus they need to modify it and ‘tone down’ what is in fact the essence of their work and it demonstrates how absurd and surreal – also funny for the purposes of the satire – relationships can be and how torturing…

Gossip online has it that Marilyn Hack aka excellent Catherine O’Hara is to be nominated for the role she plays in the small Home for Purin, soon to be transformed into Home for Thanksgiving – not just another religion, but one that proclaims some ideas that contradict the initial one, that was at the core of the project…

Jealousy, controversy, petty emotions will be on display frequently and the media is also exposed in its obsession for the futile, the scandalous aspects of movie making and so much else – Fox is one network that goes beyond being superficial, it is outright dangerous in the ascension is helped obtain of the Orange Fool and the peddling of conspiracy theories…some at the start of the new pandemic, when they called it, with their Cult leader, just a hoax…

Two hosts of a popular talk show interview actresses and actors on the set, but they could not be more comical, the man with his outrageous hairdo, the woman with her disinterest in the questions – ‘where have you been hiding? Just kidding, it was rhetorical question and the interviewee has no chance to utter a word – then the male host answers a call on his cellular, just as part of the team is all gathered in front of him, waiting for the ‘reporters’ to do their job…

Other members of the crew have a share, as one is scolded by the rather outlandish director – who eats during filming and has quite a few pompous views – on the matter of the lightning, prompting the lights specialist to retort along the lines of…

‘What do you mean more lights…this set here is brighter that Stephen fucking Hawkins!’

A Regular Woman aka Nur Eine Frau, written by Florian Oeller, based on the book by Matthias Deis and Jo Goll - Nine out of 10

A Regular Woman aka Nur Eine Frau, written by Florian Oeller, based on the book by Matthias Deis and Jo Goll

Nine out of 10

This motion picture is so much more compelling when we learn that this is based on real events and furthermore, that is the fate shared by multitudes of women in the world…Islamic and wherever they manage to get their murderous ‘brothers and fathers’ all male anyway to commit what they call ‘Honor Killings’

Zagros is the name of another cinematic achievement that deals with the same tragedy, with different names and coordinates, but leading to the same abject, inhuman revenge - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/04/zagros-written-by-sahim-omar-kalifa-and.html

A Regular Woman is the type of rewarding, creative, relevant motion picture that does not get, alas, a wide distribution and therefore you only have the chance to find it, if lucky, streaming on Cinemax – as happened to this fortunate cinephile, for it surely does not figure in the rather short on value Netflix list – checking on what classics from decades ago they have, the undersigned was extremely disappointed for they seem to have…nothing, or very close to zero.

The tragedy of Aynur could not be more compelling and we know right there, from the opening scenes that she will be dead in a less than one hour and half, in screen time, since this is how long the film is, because she lies there, shot dead in a German street and then we learn the narrative, what led to this catastrophe and we are horrified by what is a case in many thousand, for what happens to the main character of this tragic tale is the paradigm of so many women that are killed by relatives in what they ghastly call:

“Honor Killings!”

Aynur was born a German citizen, but in a family of Turkish descent, her parents had come to work in Deutschland, settled there, but never integrated – we will actually witness quite often feelings of hatred, the next generation does not just choose to live outside the society of the country that had adopted and offered them a decent living, in a civilized, democratic society – though there would be flaws there that justify only in minuscule part whatever the monsters do – but they loath the others…in one scene on a public transport vehicle – cannot remember if it was the subway of a bus – one of the vile brothers of the heroine is speaking to the girl they want to submit and fool into joining this atrocious family and he tells her about the natives that travel with them…’look how disgusting these people are” – words to that effect

The ‘traditionalist’, maybe better said fundamentalist, parents decide that their daughter must follow the rules of Islam and marry the man they choose and given that this spectacular choice lives in Turkey, this is where the woman has to go, obeying the elders and committing to the ‘arranged matrimony’ that will result in absolute Islamic bliss…only it does not get there, because instead of proving the perfect spouse, the Turkish option proves to be an abusive man, and the woman who is now a mother of a boy, returns to Germany, only to find her scolded and even rejected by her own mother first – this is one personage that proves that vileness is not the monopoly of men, for she would play the game of the males of her family and insist on respecting the most medieval and torturing rules of their variant of Islam to the very end

Seeing that for the time she lives under the same roof with the ‘Taliban from Turkey’ – they are not literally members of that other mostly vicious community, it is an attempted figure of speech – she has practically no liberties and she is slowly sufficing – again, just figuratively – the main character decides to try a change and appeals to some German authorities that help mothers in difficulty, by providing a temporary home and some other means of support, but only after they inspect the place where they live, to see if the conditions really necessitate change and this is not a fraud of the kind we have often seen here, where claimants of social welfare travel to get it in BMW cars – though not the latest, most luxurious model, still vehicles that prove beyond a doubt that there – mostly – men actually try to get money for the most despicable reasons

Nonetheless, this inspection is a major problem for the woman who knows the barrage of invectives that she would suffer once social workers come to her home, given that she will have problems in communicating her decision to move out, helped by ‘strangers and infidel’ and indeed, her mother is appalled and then the men in the family, because she is slowly breaking the rules of the Koran as they see it…there will be those that insist on the fact that these personages are not representative of the common Muslim man, but there would be others that highlight the fact that bombings, such horrible, disgusting Honor Killings’ are the provision of Muslims, with notable expect pitons that may contradict this theory, such as the mad man from New Zealand and others like him…

When Aynur decides to move to a different place, she is already on the way to trespassing those old, shall we say terrible rules that state that the woman must take the designated husband, and now she has left him – tough she is supposed to allow him to kill her? – and she is leaving her family behind, and there is another precept that she is breaking and when later on she takes her veil off her head, she is in territory where her brothers call her a whore and the insults, as we know from the start, will be transformed into murderous action…

When she finds a partner, he is attacked by the same Fundamentalist Committee and the man, rather cowardly we might say, says this is too much and he cannot take it anymore, though the relationship with the Turkish- German partner had been almost perfect that far…then things precipitate because there is the other accusation, of abandoning her Most righteous, sublime – really? – faith and Muslims simply cannot do that without getting the label of apostasy and then the death sentence…in those circles we have talked about, which have no mercy and are bent on doing what Allah tells them.

Alas, the victim has reported to the police, but they want proof and their word against theirs is not enough, moreover, there would be complications at the trial, perhaps some victory too, for the dead woman from the debut of the movie is dead near the end and we have to see what, if anything happens at the trial, in this very disturbing, truthful film that raises so many questions and might make some viewers intolerant, at least of those talibans…

The Song of Names, written by Jeffrey Caine, based on the novel by Norman Lebrecht - 8.6 out of 10

The Song of Names, written by Jeffrey Caine, based on the novel by Norman Lebrecht

8.6 out of 10

This is a short note on the film based on the novel by Norman Lebrecht…

The Song of Names is a very compelling drama that has met though with mostly justified criticism, having a rather poor average score that signals the fact that though the themes could not be more powerful, there is a certain sense of quite a few elements missing in the unfolding of the drama…perhaps the length of the motion picture could be one aspect, maybe it would have helped is the feature were shorter, the dramatic effect may be lacking, or to the extent that the story of Jewish boy that simply disappears, just as his first solo concert is about to be performed and thus the conductor has to announce the public that the performance is canceled…perhaps to be rescheduled for…thirty five years later would have suggested.

Tim Roth has the leading role of Martin and he has a solid appearance, though it might lack the sparkle, effervescence vitality of previous roles – Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs belong to the Olympus of Cinema and as such, the parts there belong to another world – but we can think of Lucky Numbers http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/note-on-lucky-numbers-with-john.html -perhaps Hoodlum - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/note-on-hoodlum-with-laurence-fishburne.html or the more recent Luce http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/10/luce-by-jc-lee-based-on-his-play-nine.html or the radiant Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, based on a florid, marvelous play by Tom Stoppard - http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/01/rosencrantz-and-guildenstern-are-dead.html

Clive Owen is also one of the greatest actors of our time and one of the titans already, but his quite late appearance does not transform this interesting, at times inspirational movie into a candidate for the Academy Awards, though given the crisis we all face, who knows if there would be a ceremony next year and a population to celebrate it with…this is just trying to downplay the meager news – my business partner has just called to say that with our activity stopped, there is some money for next month, but after that maybe “Le Deluge” as the Sun King would say it…”après moi, le deluge” which we could relate to the calamity that has wiped out people and foreseeable income…but, we will get through it

Insha’Allah!

Which is quite the message of this film that deals with the much more calamitous- if we can say that – tragedy of World War II, when millions have been sent to the death camps by the Nazis, other millions had already been exterminated in famines by one of the other mass killers of the last century, Stalin – a recent extraordinary motion picture, Mr. Jones, tells that story - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/03/mr-jones-by-andrea-chalupa-95-out-of-10.html - and he would be at it again, surpassing Hitler, just like the other mad man, Mao, would do in his communist China, the land of the ‘free’…

Auggie Rose, written and directed by Matthew Tabak - 9.3 out of 10

Auggie Rose, written and directed by Matthew Tabak

9.3 out of 10

The story of John Nolan and his Transformation, Redemption, Epiphany or/and Resurrection – however you want to call it – could serve as well, just as we face a dramatic scenario ahead of us, the trauma of a calamitous pandemic and we have to make choices, change the way we interact – what comes after social distancing? – look at the world, meaning, our lives in a completely different light and find that we have done things wrong – in the extreme case of the hero of this film, he wants to change Everything – and find inspiration from John Nolan aka Auggie Rose perhaps, in that we get the courage to act decisively, find our calling

In The Time of the Corona Virus, just like in the Magnum opus, Love in the Time of Cholera, by the divine Gabriel Garcia Marquez, included on The Guardian’s Top 100 books of All Time - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/08/books.booksnews - we need to adapt, take some drastic measures and perhaps enjoy the time we need to spend in self-quarantine, at home, watching movies for which we may consider compiling a list…on such ‘to watch’ note, Auggie Rose could be inserted, though critics have either ignored or been less than enthused, with the exception of the Los Angeles Times by this compelling story.

The main merit of the film may lie with the seraphic, hypnotizing, serene, captivating Jeff Goldblum, who acts with majesty and also ease in the leading role of John Nolan, who might or might not become Auggie Rose, the personage that dies in the first few minutes of the motion picture, in a violent and stupid robbery, during which he gets shot, in a store where he was a kind of good for all hand – though he would later write to his pen pal that the owner was a generous man and gave him the position and had the kindness to name him assistant, to boost his self-confidence perhaps or just without a psychological intent.

John Nolan sells insurance and he would tell another character that he has done this for a long time – it seems that it had been for too long – and he has had to tell people to buy policies for various unforeseen events, in case of tragedy he would take care of them or the loved ones, but all he has ever done was to send them a check and not really empathize with them, their traumatic experiences or the ones left behind…

However, this insight into what looks like the remorse, the belated realization that his job has had little emotional impact or others comes later in the game and in the beginning, the audience and some participants in the narrative are more than confused by the attitude of the hero, their puzzlement giving place to a rising alarm, as the insurance salesman becomes ever more involved in the ‘case’ of Auggie Rose…

There is an absolutely understandable reason for the interest in this figure, for the assistant in the shop dies in the hands of John Nolan, as he was a customer in the store, when the killer shoots the poor victim, the insurance man was just there and then he tries to see what has happened to the individual, finding that the wounds have been deadly and then that there is nobody to claim the body and this is the moment when the survivor feels pity – now, we may have to meditate on that, for Milan Kundera, in his acclaimed chef d’oeuvre The Unbearable Lightness of Being http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-9-put.html - explains that there is a difference between pity and compassion, we feel the former for someone ‘inferior’ and the latter for ‘an equal’

The story of John Nolan and his Transformation, Redemption, Epiphany or/and Resurrection – however you want to call it – could serve as well, just as we face a dramatic scenario ahead of us, the trauma of a calamitous pandemic and we have to make choices, change the way we interact – what comes after social distancing? – look at the world, meaning, our lives in a completely different light and find that we have done things wrong – in the extreme case of the hero of this film, he wants to change Everything – and find inspiration from John Nolan aka Auggie Rose perhaps, in that we get the courage to act decisively, find the calling…

As to finding the Calling, Positive Psychology has the way, as indicated by Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar, who says that we have to look at what we Like, then identify the things we are Good at and finally see what has Meaning for us and where these domains intersect, that is the Zone where we would have our Calling…we would be in Flow as a result of that, for most of our lives and as to Flow, you should read the quintessential, classic Flow by another Giant of Positive Psychology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi…the former illuminati used to joke about the name of the latter with his students, saying that if they can spell the name, they would get two more points at exam…

John Nolan becomes a private investigator in the case of the late Rose, unqualified, but obstinate, going to a prison where he finds little information, but he would still try and get more from the flat rented by the deceased, where he finds a pawn shop note and in consequence becomes the owner of a beautiful, smart parrot, Charlie – I have two macaws, Balzac and Puccini and they help or are responsible for the flaws of this scribbling – …the amateur detective also finds some emotional letters from Lucy Brown aka Anne Heche and he would decide to meet with the woman, at the bus station where they had planned an encounter, before Auggie would have died, something the correspond is not aware of.

Gradually, John Nolan takes the identity of the dead man, to console Lucy, another time because he is mistaken by a small time gangster, Roy Mason aka Timothy Olyphant, who thinks he is the ex-jail bird who can help him organize and then finalize a robbery, only to find that this is actually someone impersonating the late convict and with his negative, suspicious mind set, the scoundrel is sure that there is an insurance or some other scheme here, of which the false Rose would have to benefit from and he obviously wants his share, blackmailing and threatening, both the new Auggie and his ignorant girlfriend…

Although this is not a masterpiece of the magnitude of It’s A Wonderful Life, it is however a thought provoking film, and as stated twice, the example of the hero who thinks hard, sees that his life has not had meaning, when faced with death, he decides to change completely…reminding one of Dostoyevsky and his look at death.

When the genius had been condemned to death, he had three minutes left before the firing squad would shoot him and in the last moments he is pardoned – if it had not all been a strategy to make him reconsider his views – and he writes in his Magnum opera about what he saw in the last few moments, how important life becomes, what sublime intensity is drawn from this and much more…read his work to be elated and transcend

The Way Back, written by Brad Ingelsby and Gavin O’Connor - Eight out of 10

The Way Back, written by Brad Ingelsby and Gavin O’Connor

Eight out of 10

Critics have been mostly positive about this motion picture and they have appreciated Ben Affleck in particular, who has been though similar predications, has faced the traumatic experiences that the main character in the film has to cope with, in his struggle to find The Way Back and end his addiction, stop cursing, see the meaning of life, the light at the end of the tunnel, after the catastrophe that just about ended his life – he is on many levels dead and just going through the motions, for most of the time we could argue – when his son died…

It is thus a movie about depression, struggling, finding if possible the vitality, courage, grit, resilience, strength to move ahead, cope with trauma and perhaps helping others is the way out…this is the opportunity offered to the isolated, grieving, hard drinking Jack Cunningham aka Ben Affleck, a former basketball star, who is now invited to be the coach of a struggling team and though he does not seem to want this, there is some hope…

This scene which takes place near the beginning is also humorous, for when he gets the call, he walks to the refrigerator that is filled with…beer and though he concocts a speech in which he refuses the offer, stating that is too busy, we can see that he is occupied with getting inebriated mostly and this would be a state we will see him in quite often during the feature…just like we understand that the actor has had his share of problems with various addictions, in his private life…

Being the coach has some challenges, which is exactly what the struggling man needs – indeed, a classic of psychology, Flow by the outstanding co- founder of Positive Psychology Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that one thing we need to be in The Zone, attain maximum satisfaction and wellbeing, also called Flow, is to introduce more Challenges in our lives, for this is when we reach Zenith, when we are challenged, not when sitting on a coach, in front of the television…

Alas, this coach may not cope with the demands of his position, though he does have success in turning around a group of teenagers who are too spoiled, too quarrelsome and self-absorbed – just as all are and we all have been perhaps – to pay much attention, but once he gets involved, Jack Cunningham makes a difference.

He is also engaged in this new endeavor and that is also part of, or perhaps the main problem, seeing as he keeps saying bulshit, horse shit, damn and other expletives that are against the policies of his former alma mater and he collides with the priest who is part of the team and eventually, with the one who had hired him…

Although this is not the best film of the year – we may have to reconsider that, seeing as this pandemic has put a stop to so much activity, including launching new motion pictures, like the latest James Bond feature, and film making, who knows, maybe this will be the best there is at the end of the year, when it will have competed against 10 other releases – there are clear merits here and if you listen to critics, this is well worth weatching…

Married to the Mob, written by Barry Strugatz and Mark Burns - Eight out of 10

Married to the Mob, written by Barry Strugatz and Mark Burns

Eight out of 10

Although this comedy is included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made List https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/14 - has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and won other trophies, this cinephile has seen very little to be blissful about.

The director, stupendous Jonathan Demme, has been at the helm of the ultimate classic, Silence of the Lambs http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/03/silence-of-lambs-based-on-book-by.html

To add to this resounding name, the cast is equally resplendent, with radiant Michelle Pfeiffer in the leading role, though with a performance that is not on the level she enchanted the audiences with in Wolf, costarring with transcendent Jack Nicholson http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/wolf-with-jack-nicholson-directed-by.html or the magnificent The Age of Innocence with equally sublime Daniel Day-Lewis, directed by legendary Martin Scorsese http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-age-of-innocence-based-on-classic.html

Alas, Married to the Mob seemed artificious, exaggerated to this viewer, in the sense that performances do not convince, appear to be over the top, with the exception of fantastic Alec Baldwin, who has a quite short role and he does not overact…he is after all the glorious, vicious figure from the divine Glengarry Glenn Ross – where the team is descended from Cinematic Olympus, with Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin all Gods of the screen http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/04/glengary-glen-ross-by-david-mamet.html

Married to the Mob is definitely worth seeing, first of all because of the aforementioned inclusion among the best films ever, then there is the spectacular cast and there are merits – most likely, the undersigned had come with too high expectations and then grumbled to anything that met with his disapproval, such as the innocent scene in the bus, wherein the FBI agent is following Angela de Marco aka Michelle Pfeiffer and seeing as he cannot get off at her stop, he just jumps on the roof and then from there on a van and finally to the street…

In conclusion, if the audience goes along with the actors and believes their interpretation, enjoys it, then power to them…the comedy might work miracles…

Mr. Jones by Andrea Chalupa - 9.5 out of 10

Mr. Jones by Andrea Chalupa

9.5 out of 10

This is a magnificent motion picture, that may be perfect for The Time of Covid 19 that we all try to survive through, trapped in self-quarantine, for though the biographical drama is often as bleak and terrifying as can be, the ultimate message is one of resilience, courage, determination, which could help populations that have to stay at home, when they compare their ‘ordeal’ to that of the millions of those who died of hunger, forced to resort to eating bark tree whenever they could, whose atrocious torture would be exposed by the hero of the narrative, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones aka impressive James Norton, the first to tell the West the truth about the Soviet famine and expose what that system really brings about…hence, this should be on the must see list for Bernie, AOC and their socialist supporters…come to think of it, Trump fans must watch this too, because the idiot is a fun of dictatorships and Putin, a worthy descendant of Stalin.

The opening scenes are poignant and present clearly some of the abilities of the hero, as he presents to some British illuminati – this is meant as a sardonic epithet – some of his eerily prophetic conclusions, made after interviewing Hitler, telling the audience that the lunatic would pose an existential threat to England, foreseeing that an alliance with Stalin would be necessary and having to hear the older gentlemen laugh at his predictions and state that ‘Hitler will soon find out the difference between organizing a rally and running a state’…they are joyful and find the predictions ludicrous, even as the main character is called to answer a phone call from Moscow, where we see that he speaks Russian.

He would be nonetheless dismissed by Lloyd George from his payroll, in spite of the fact that the young man accurately retorts that it is his advice that the politician needs –and events would clearly underline that – but he has to be ‘satisfied’ with a letter of recommendation that the clever hero would later use to get access to higher circles, forging the detail that he used to be an adviser and claiming he is the envoy of the famous, though obviously flawed statesman…he asks to be sent as an official to the Soviet union, but he would be forced to travel on his own and meet with suspicion trying to get into the country where he is asked about the purpose of the visit, the woman jokes when she hears he is a ‘stringer’ a free-lance journalist and hence he does not work for a publication – she says ‘you are trying to be a journalist’ and when he says that he wants to interview Stalin the official concludes…’you are funny Mr. Jones’.

Eventually, he gets limited passage into Moscow, but he would meet all manner of obstacles – for those of us who have had the fortune to live in communist heaven, it is all so familiar and quite painful, because we still pay the price, the fact that we are so much behind the developed West, in terms of infrastructure,  hospitals-  now that they are so desperately needed or they will soon be, when the number of the very sick will rise – but not in political terms, for we have voted for a wise, manly, calm, modest, reasonable president and the American members of the stupid Trump cult might just propel him into the highest office yet again…

Gareth Jones is told to stay only at this hotel and for a couple of days and he is soon informed that there are no rooms left and thus, he has to exit and given it is only this address for him, he would have to travel back home…there are some developments which change the course of events, one being the mentioned use of the Lloyd George letter, with a significant change in it, and the communication with another brilliant, valiant journalist who tells the hero over the phone about ‘Stalin’s gold’, only to be shot dead by the agents of the regime, though the official version would be that a robbery took place…the Welsh personage had always had an issue with the massive investment made by the Soviets, finding it impossible to figure out the source of all that money and asking around about it…

When he meets with the apparatchik that is interested in the man sent by Lloyd George, the journalist gets the usual propaganda, which he would be served on the train as well, that includes talk about the glorious communist party and the wonderful achievements – they kept boasting that they had had no factory for automobiles and now they have and the same for tanks and tractors factories – and in order to see for himself, the Welshman is sent to the Ukraine to admire such a factory, accompanied by a special comrade, who has the same bulshit lines ‘it is so great that we live in paradise now and other such crap’

Intrepid Mr. Jones pretends he is going to the bathroom, only to jump from this train, leave behind the agent and take another one, where he has the first shock, when he peels an orange and sees that those around are hypnotized and when he tries to offer money for the coat of the man next to him, so that he would inconspicuous in his endeavors, his neighbor refuses money and asks for bread…henceforth, images of suffering will be pervasive, long queues of people waiting near food which is shipped on to Moscow, millions had perished he finds out, but he also has to run from the secret police which is trying to get him and they make all the efforts to suppress the truth, helped in this enterprise of selling lies to the West by a Pulitzer Prize Winner, Walter Duranty aka outstanding Peter Sarsgaard, an American that had sold out to the Soviets – that seem to have also had some blackmailing material on the one interested in peccadillos and acts that were illegal at that time – and promoted an image of a lovely new society that is led by great men, especially sweet comrade Stalin, such a dear figure…

As has always been the way of the communists, they try to blackmail Gareth Jones as well, after they catch him and send him to prison, they use six British engineers as a possible subject for a trade – if Mr. jones speaks about things that the soviets do not like, upon his return to Britain, those men would not survive and thus he is asked about the famine…was there one, and he has to answer that there was none, only to have to mediate on the truth as he would have returned, meeting with famous, magnificent George Orwell – who would base Animal Farm on the reporting of the hero and we see him writing the famous Magnum opus that depicts so accurately, although it is a fictional novel, the reality of the communist state and he reads passages with the pigs, the farm where ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.

George Orwell talks with Gareth Jones about the need to tell the truth no matter what happens and indeed, the idea that he has to keep quite in order to save the lives of the imprisoned British engineers is contradicted by the notion that exposing the truth about the Famine that had already killed millions in the Brave New Soviet union might save other millions of people, if only the West, the Free world does something about it – which they would not for the most part, since due to the diligence of the bastardly liar Duranty – whose Pulitzer has never been revoked, inexplicably and atrociously – the relations between the Soviet union and the US have been normalized and somewhat celebrated…which transports the public to the present, when Putin steals American elections and the result of the fraud, the bombastic idiot is thankful and friendly, taking the word of the tyrant over what the agencies of his country had established…Helsinki 1919

Invisible Man, written and directed by Leigh Whannell - Eight out of 10

Invisible Man, written and directed by Leigh Whannell

Eight out of 10

If you accept the premise that technological progress, science advancement would allow inventor to create a complex, sophisticated costume that allows individuals to ‘disappear’ from sight, without protecting them from harm though, then you are off to something, especially considering that the critics and the audiences have appreciated this slick, well made, beautifully acted motion picture that has made an impact on this cinephile.

Alas, Science Fiction is not exactly the preferred genre for everyone and it might not be the best of times to watch a horror movie, now that terror lies just outside…we are all supposed to stay home, unless our sorties are vital for one sector or another – well, this occupation surely is, but you can still enjoy it as the undersigned does it from home…as he always does anyway.

Elisabeth Moss is flawless as Cecilia Kass, a determined, brave, gritty Wonder Woman, that has to survive the abuse of her boyfriend, the terror of being haunted by aka The Invisible Man, a most adroit, formidable, cunning adversary…after all, he has a splendid mansion, to be compared with the one in much more rewarding, the Magnum opus of recent years, Parasite - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html

The trauma of having escaped the tormenting husband is not over when the boyfriend is found dead, for like the elusive, smart, Machiavellian Hannibal Lecter and others of this kind, for the supposedly demised former partner is in fact on a rampage as in any respectable horror feature and takes advantage – as expected – of his invisibility, coupled with a brilliant mind, a psychotic personality and an obsession for Cecilia.

She will have to struggle when her sister is dead right in front of her, as they were sitting at a table in a restaurant, and The Invisible Man makes it look like she is the killer – he is absent from the picture, right, and all the witnesses see is the murderer with a knife in her hand and the collapsed body of a victim nearby…

The Villain had left a fortune in his will and the brother is instructed to be the executor and transfer one hundred thousand per month, for a period of some years, making the woman worth about five million dollars, unless she is convicted for a crime or is incapacitated, which she certainly is once she is locked up in an institution and charged with murder.

Her denials are ever more incriminatory; when she keeps saying the killer in in the room – she means The Invisible Man – and the investigators consider that murderer to be the woman…they see nobody else in the interrogation room, obviously…

The poor brother sates that he feels compassion, he had been living through hell with his sibling, but Cecilia rejects all that when he makes clear that there is no more money coming, though she is helloing friends go through college with the inheritance…

She says ‘you are the jelly fish version of your brother…all the vileness, everything, expect for the backbone’’

Ergo, this is an interesting, watchable film and furthermore, you should consider it much more than that, seeing that others, with much more gravitas than this cinephile have raised it to the level of quite better than average…

Atlantics, written by Mati Diop and Olivier Demangel, directed by the former - Nine out of 10

Atlantics, written by Mati Diop and Olivier Demangel, directed by the former

Nine out of 10

Having won the 2019 Cannes Film Festival – maybe the last before next year, seeing as we are all corralled by the virus – well, many stupid, reckless, Trump voters seem to think this is a hoax, just as instructed by their primitive cult leader, and if we are cynical, we could say more power to you, go ahead and drink the hoax, mingle and express your intellectual prowess – to stay at home – Atlantics is clearly one of the best films of the past months, beaten for the most relevant of all cinematic trophies, The Palme d’Or, only by the glorious Parasite - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html - discovered after all at the aforementioned cinematic celebration…

The merits of this motion picture are many, it is complex, deals with many themes, from the startling, appalling poverty that we see on the streets, in the slums of Dakar, and the contrast with the wealth of the corrupt constructor that is not yet satisfied with the fortune accumulated – there is after all in psychology a phenomenon called Hedonic Adaptation, epitomized by the vile rich man here and the likes of Trump elsewhere, which purports that we  Adapt to material things, be they expensive homes, cars, jewels and we need to accumulate ever more because of diminishing and perhaps extinguishing returns…that is why it is better to spend on experiences (say on a petri dish cruise like Crown Princess) and better still, act like the Dalai Lama, who has entered one supermarket – before Covid 19 will have emptied the shelves – and said ‘Wow, so many things I do not need’…he had all he needed in his brilliant mind.

The workers that the villain uses to erect a huge tower – which is so preposterous when surrounded by shacks and slums – are not paid for months and rebel against this injustice, without success though, for we would later hear a police commissioner, or anyway some superior officer there, saying that this rich man had helped them and they need to protect his peace and see that those who protest there stop doing it, and they will be forced to resort to other, Supernatural means in what is a shocking twist in the movie…

Ada aka the very talented Mame Bineta Sane is the main character of this feature, and she is living through a drama, as she is in love with Souleiman, but she has been promised in this Muslim community to another, rather rich man, who seems to be very inadequate, chauvinistic, medieval and rebarbative in his attitude towards the girl – at one point he would reject her, saying that there are so many that desire to be with him and indeed, even her own family insists that she must be nice to him, even once they are married, because otherwise he would get a second, maybe even a fourth wife

Depending on what interpretation they select of the Koran, some of the men of this faith take some extreme views, that we see in Saudi Arabia – with all their new, ‘generous’ acceptance of women drivers – and in places where they have ‘honor’ killings, wherein a younger member of the family takes the life of the woman, if she has missed on one of the five rules – if she left the home to live somewhere else, even thinks of abandoning her faith and other such primeval beliefs that imperil the lives of women who live in families with such monsters…

Souleiman and others decide to take to the ocean and try to reach Spain and make a new life there, but their boat would be found capsized and they all die drowned, as so many hundreds of thousands have and will, in an effort to reach the shores of an Europe that does not want them – mostly – and it is strange to find that he is still the prime suspect in an arson attack that sets the nuptial bed, on which Ada would have to consummate her marital vows, on fire and the police is investigating the case…

Seeing as they find of the relationship, affection or perhaps love between Souleiman and Ada, the suspicion is targeted on the man and the girl is accused of being an accomplice, pressed later by the family of the groom to take a virginity test – she is untouched – in a humiliating, traumatic push against the girl who loves another and in fact would try to run from the arrogant, rather loathsome, self-important, almost Trump like man who looks at Ada as if she would be a trophy – Ivana and the others come to mind – and a possession…

The climax is reached when a group of women show at the house of the wealthy, vile constructor and ask for the unpaid wages, some 42 million, and we see that there is something strange about their appearance, their eyes look bizarre and everything is so outlandish as to make this viewer think that maybe they have some contact lenses to change appearance and terrify their enemy into submission…the explanation is different though…

This is what would be called voodoo perhaps, on other coordinates, for these are the spirit of the dead, the drowned men who tried to escape their destitution, the unfairness of working without pay and having the corrupt institutions, police and the others, do nothing for them, but on the contrary, protect the vicious rich monster, have returned, took possession temporarily of the bodies of these women and came to haunt the scoundrel…

Now the police is acting, for the general inspector or whatever he is wants the patrol to stop these ‘persons’ from returning – when his subordinate is asking about the unpaid wages as reason for this intrusion, the chief says something like ‘never mind about that, this man has helped the force and see that they do not bother him again…’

Only they do and it becomes clear that they have this outlandish power, given that they come from another world and this Hannibal Lecter that makes people die, without eating them though, may be forced to listen to the demands of the ‘undead’, spirits of the dead or however you want to call them and there are other twists in the plot, wherein the one that is in charge of the arson case and follows in the footsteps of Ada, sending her to jail to make her talk about her role, the whereabouts of her lover has a very strange evolution himself, though he is trying to stay handcuffed in order to stop wondering as another being or ghost…

Young Frankenstein, written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, starring the latter and directed by the former - 9.4 out of 10

Young Frankenstein, written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, starring the latter and directed by the former

9.4 out of 10

This formidable comedy is based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the script has been nominated for an Academy Award and the film is included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list - https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/25 as one of the most amusing features you can watch…

Gene Wilder is fabulous as Doctor Frederick Frankenstein – he has a certain manner in pronouncing it, up to a point, and this causes one of the multiple scenes of mirth, when he meets with Igor aka equally outstanding Marty Feldman and the latter responds in kind…as in, all right, if you play games with the pronunciation of a name that we know so well around here…there we go, this is no longer Igor, but something like Yagor maybe…

He receives the testament of his famous grandfather, Victor von Frankenstein, from a box…but it was no easy thing, to get it from the cadaver that would not allow it to be extracted, even from the ‘dead hands ‘so to say – and the young neurosurgeon travels all the way to Transylvania – which is right where we live…well, nearby – and he would at one stage address a scientific gathering at the Academic Society of…Bucharest, where we are right now.

The humor is pervasive and throughout the trip we have moments when the announcements are intelligible, then the surgeon asks a boy about the ‘Transylvania Station’ as if there would be one railway station for a whole region, like say for the whole of Mississippi, and in the first place there is the same unintelligible gibberish, which is then replaced by ‘would like a shine for your shoes, sir’…the boy knew English all along.

At the ‘Transylvania Station’, Igor aka Marty Feldman is waiting, offers to take the bags, but when he sees that one if really heavy, he takes the light luggage and then invites the guest to the vehicle, which is a cart with a…Damsel inside, the florid, attractive Inga aka Teri Garr, who is supposed to and will be the assistant of the surgeon and will keep him company all the way to the sinister, farfetched and far away castle, where the scary Frau Blucher awaits- whenever her name is uttered, the horses jump and scream…indeed, Igor is naughty that he comes out the door, after all are inside, to say Blucher for the tenth time and see the animals agitated and scared…

While the new owner is accommodating, he hears a violin somewhere and decides to investigate with his assistant – how else – and physical comedy follows, as he is thrown by a secret door out and back into the room a few times, then he is caught and almost crushed in between, until they reach the secret library and then they would pursue the magic, supernatural operations that are destined to give life to a senseless being, following the recipe, the discoveries of the ancestor who has written everything in a book…

They select the freshly buried body of a giant, but the journey back to the ‘laboratory’ is not without agitation, for they slip and part of the cadaver are out, just as an agent of the ‘Transylvania polizei’ is walking about, saying he knows everyone, but Frederick Frankenstein is unfamiliar and they have to communicate with the good doctor pretending that one of the hands of the dead man is actually his, shaking it with the agent who remarks on how cold it is – dead cold we can say with insight – and then they put the fellow on the table and proceed to give him a brilliant brain, kept in one of the jars in the pantry presumably…

Only poor, helpless Igor slips and the good brain is lost and he has to replace it with what he would later call the organ of someone Abby Normal – alas, it was labeled ‘do not use under any circumstances, Abnormal brain’ – Igor being an interesting combination of someone very clever, shrewd, funny, but also portrayed as having something on the back – the doctor says upon their acquaintance that he is a surgeon and can do something about that thing on his back, but when he sees that the man does not acknowledge anything wrong – what thing on the back? – says never mind, only to ask later – but your thing was on the other side, as in the hump was leaning left and now it is to the right and in deference to sensitivity and perhaps politeness, he again retrains himself and stops in his tracks…

Meanwhile, the ‘natives are restless’ as in they have a reunion and show incipient nationalism – making us think of Trump’s rallies, the idiot that keeps calling the Covid 19 threat ‘the Chinese virus’ in his trademark distancing from anything that can be hi fault…when asked, he says he ‘is perfect’ they have done nothing wrong and takes no responsibility, even if he had acted as a cretin in this pandemic, which he denied as a hoax invented by democrats, which will drop to zero in days and miraculously disappear…only a few weeks ago that was his take on what is clearly as bad as it gets…

The ‘monster’ is created and he attacks when he sees fire, he is free to roam around and this is where we have again some hilarious scenes, such as the ones where he meets the ‘Blind Man’ aka legendary, Titan of cinema Gene Hackman, an isolated hermit who had prayed God for someone to visit and break his too long solitude and when the Creature arrives, the ascetic figure is overjoyed and puts out drink, only he breaks the can from which the visitor is supposed to toast, then he offers him one of the two cigars he had saved for this momentous celebration, but as he cannot see, he puts fire to the finger of the poor guest, who runs from this home in aggravation to meet with a child that he treats with kindness…

Doctor Frederick Frankenstein says to his team, Igor and Inga, that he would have to go into the cell where his Creation is kept and stay with him no matter what, come Hell or High Water, for he has to solve this drama and he needs to consider self-sacrifice for science and more to the same ‘motivational’ but oh so jocular purpose and then adds with gravitas that they must keep the door close, once he gets in with the so dangerous character, no matter what he says, if he begs, shouts, cries or orders to be allowed outside, they must still keep the door locked and once he is inside, within ten seconds or less, he starts moaning and asking to be free again, asking for mother or anyway taking a immensely amusing stand…also, when he insisted on being trapped with the Godzilla, Igor says with brilliant comical zest…

‘It was nice working with you’ as in you will die in the next minute, you poor lunatic

To Dust, written by Jason Begue and Shawn Snyder, directed by the latter - Nine out of 10

To Dust, written by Jason Begue and Shawn Snyder, directed by the latter

Nine out of 10

Love in the Time of Cholera is a Magnum opus by the Columbian Nobel Prize winner, fabulous author of One Hundred Years of Solitude – that the under signed has loved most of the novels by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – and Autumn of the Patriarch - http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/autumn-of-patriarch-by-gabriel-garcia.html …

To Dust might remind viewers of Love in the Time of Cholera because there is a very outré love story in the motion picture and alas, we are living in a time of a deadly disease, though Alhamdulillah this is much less catastrophic, that is spreading all over the world, has forced populations indoors and therefore in front of television sets to watch anything…even a couple of mad men that burry a pig, trespass on a field with…decomposing corpses – though the latter is actually arguable, for they do not exactly manage to enter, except for the head of Shmuel, who would be ecstatic almost about what he will have seen decaying there (!) – All in the name of a twisted love.

Geza Rohrig is the outstanding Hungarian actor that has helped massively the remarkable work of art Son of Saul winner of The Academy Award and The Golden Globe for Best Picture in a Foreign Language and many other trophies, and he has the leading role in To Dust, where he is Shmuel, a Hasidic cantor in upstate New York…a remarkable performance, though it might have gone a bit too far in the moments when the grieving cantor becomes aggressive, compensated nonetheless by the brilliant manner in which the mostly gentle, withdrawn, sad, tormented, even when agitated widower is manifesting during prayer and the quite frequent moments of jocularity…

The wife of the hero has died and commendably, well, up to a reasonable point, he is lamenting her passing and suffers a lot – we can see this so well on the face of Geza Rohrig who is Perfect when transmitting to the audience these deep emotions of pain – as he has done, again flawlessly, in the much more appreciated Son of Saul – but he is also exaggerating when he takes this trauma to a bizarre and ultimately funny level…

Shmuel has nightmares – and this obviously he can do nothing, perhaps not much is better said about – but apart from those obsessive images of death he sees when asleep, the most recent of which has the toe of his late wife’s foot falling off, when awake, the cantor keeps entertaining these morbid thoughts and furthermore, he works to enhance, prolong and then take them to an absurd zone, which will make this a tragic comedy.

He talks to the rabbi that wisely advices restraint – he reminds me of the Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar, whose lectures are available on YouTube, and his story that has an unhappy man come for advice to another rabbi, who advises first to have the chicken, then the pig, finally the horse in the house, to the dismay of the farmer, who is anyway so elated when the adviser ultimately says that he should take all animals out of the house in the ultimate Gratitude Exercise, that teaches one to be grateful for what he or she has, since we never know when a pandemonium would strike…wait, we do know…it just did http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/positive-psychology-on-youtube-by.html

Shmuel is obsessed with the putrefaction of the corpse of his beloved and now expired spouse and instead of experiencing PTG – Post Traumatic Growth, which some stronger, more resilient humans can, after being placed in tough, dramatic position – he is almost taken down by PTSD – the more familiar Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and he resorts to some quite outlandish maneuvers to sooth his troubled mind, venturing to find about the state of the cadaver form a community college nearby, where he enters the class of professor Albert aka wonderful Matthew Broderick, who has had one of his best roles when he was so young, in the extraordinary Glory - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/11/glory-based-on-books-by-peter-burchard.html

Albert proves to be just as bizarre, if not worse, considering that he has not had the maddening loss of a dear one to trouble his mind so much, but the fact that he smokes marijuana and probably experiments with various other intoxicants would explain to a large extent the cooperation in increasingly farfetched, ludicrous acts that are meant to bring solace to the widower, if we take the generous, kind angle and represent the manifestations of crazy men, if we have another perspective…on the other hand, so many tens of millions resonate with the Cantor in the White House, so what is there to wonder about when these two bury a pig…

’Very stable geniuses’

The biology professor is admittedly reluctant to help the one he calls ‘rabbi. Repeatedly, but after many messages and seeing that this is truly a suffering man, Albert decides to look at the case, scientifically and then show the video of the body of a piglet, which had been crushed by the mother, and then placed on the ground to decay, in the interest of science…the two debate on the matter of the parallel between this piglet and the corpse of the wife, and the details are different – one is just there on the earth and the other To Dust, as the tile puts it, buried in the Hasidic tradition, in a shroud, then a pine coffin with holes at the bottom to be in touch with the earth…

One amusing scene has the cantor enter a funeral parlor where he asks about the different coffins, this is before he resorts to the ‘expert’ Albert, and he puts all kinds of questions, increasingly suspicious and over the top to the man in the show room, asking about what happens to the body …the man says that ‘it is embalmed and then placed inside in ‘pristine’ condition, but as to what will have happened next, well, he has no idea, they never check on that…ending the conversation, after it is clear and stated that ‘there is going to be no sale’ with ‘look, I am just a salesman, the bodies disintegrate, right…I have no fucking idea on how that happens…words to that effect