Note on The Assistant

Note on Jumpman

A Note on Jeune et Jolie aka Young and Beautiful

Note on Venus in Fur

Note on La Fille Inconnue the Unknown Girl

Note on The Quarry

Note on American Movie Catharsis

Note on Proxima

Note on Acucar aka Sugar

Note on The Traitor aka Il Traditore

Note on Leaving Afghanistan

Note on Anna Christie

Note on La Chevre

Note on Oh Mercy aka Roubaix

Note on Imaginary Crimes

Note on The Asphalt Jungle

Note on Criminal

Note on Kiss of the Spider Woman

Note on Internship

Note on Lady Jane

Note on The Candidate aka El Reino

Note on All Quiet on the Western Front

Note on Wuthering Heights

Note on Resistance

Note on Lady Winsley

Note on Whatever Happened with Baby Jane

Note on A History of Violence

Note on What's Eating Gilbert Grape

The Big Heat, screenplay by Sydney Boehm, based on the serial by William McGivern, directed by Fritz Lang - 10 out of 10

The Big Heat, screenplay by Sydney Boehm, based on the serial by William McGivern, directed by Fritz Lang

10 out of 10

This is evidently one of the best options for the Armageddon that we may contemplate, seeing as it is one of the best motion pictures of all time, selected on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/note-on-mad-max-2-road-warrior.html - and an inspirational film that could make us face the adversity of the pandemic with more courage, resilience, self-sacrifice, kindness, vitality, integrity, grit, hope, just like the hero of this impressive story, Sergeant Dave Bannion aka fantastic Glenn Ford, who takes on an all-powerful Evil, that we may see as the Virus or perhaps Trump in this age, the gangster- politician Mike Lagana.

We can easily assimilate, see the resemblance, if not the perfect replica with the Crook in charge of the free world represents for the Quintessential Vileness presented in this formidable movie, the corrupt individual that has climbed at the top – in the film it is just a town, but the real estate owner that has been through a series of bankruptcies and yet his idiotic fans see him as a ‘successful businessman has risen on top of the world, ‘stable genius’ as he is, pathological liar, spectacularly stupid and representative though for the depth and magnitude of the bright thinking of tens of millions of Americans and citizens of other nations, for there is no border for cave men and women and the likes of BolsoNero, Duterte, Putin and Xi are almost copies of the Orangutan…

The Big Heat starts with the suicide of a policemen and the call his widow, Bertha Duncan, makes to the…underworld, controlled by Mike Lagana and his cronies and hatchet men, the most prominent being, Vince Stone aka young and remarkable Lee Marvin, people that have the city under their control, because they have corrupt politicians, police commissioners on their payroll…which also strikes one as so similar with the present, in our land we have had until just a while ago such vicious and disgusting leaders, that their ‘party’ – in fact a Mafia organization meant to assure power and money – was known as the Red Plague – fortunately, Alhamdulillah, the disgusting thief that made laws for his own good is now in jail, though this is no reason for exaggerated exuberance, given that the other comrades share the same avarice, selfishness, stupidity and desire to steal and get rich at all costs.

Then we have the Lagana and Trump, representing the flaws of America, past and present respectively – a model to which I keep coming back, because it affects almost all of us and it is overwhelming and it seems to show the Decline, the Decadence, the Failure for us all, since that democracy used to be hailed – as the system in general – as the epitome of the successful running and development of a country as in The American Dream, all of which appears to have collapsed, in spite of the impeachment – voted down in terms of punishment in the Senate controlled by sycophants and smaller replicas of the Big Scoundrel - - and it pains so many, given that this used to be The Model to follow, the Shining City on the Hill, the Goal that we must look towards and hope that we will arrive there in the future…and now we look and see a post-apocalyptic society, where the Ultimate Pithecanthropus is in charge and not only that, but as he makes thousands of mistakes and tells tens of thousands of proven lies, 30 or 40% still love him and they are ready to use their guns – and they have a huge arsenal, bigger than most armies in the world – to keep him there…

To lighten the tone a little, we used to have jokes here and in the rest of Eastern Europe about America, such as ‘we offer 4 bedrooms penthouse, center of this or that capital, with all the amenities and exclusive facilities for a tent in Central Park…or another has the End of the World – just like now, with the Apocalyptic Virus – arrive and the American president says ‘do not worry, we have the space ships, we can leave the doomed planet’, while ours says ‘do not panic, we are anyway 50 years behind’ – that last figure varied, it was 100 at one time and now, in political terms we are ahead some decades, in the sense that our illuminated president is one million times better – with his inevitable flaws – than the monkey that they have placed in the White House…this trend could be reversed, but we surely hope not…Insha’Allah!

Dave Bannion is investigating the suicide, when he has a talk with Lucy Chapman, a woman that had had an affair with the late Duncan and who knows that there is something seriously wrong with the lies told by the widow, who has tried to justify a desperate act, claiming her late spouse had been very sick, when he was not and this makes the honest sergeant suspect there is more to find, especially when he would find that the poor ‘barfly’ – the demeaning term used then for those who had no possessions, flirted and had intimate affairs with various men, around bars – would be killed and worse, tortured, displaying cigarette burns on the dead body…

The hero knows, just like everybody else, that the gangster Mike Lagana is in charge and anything that happens in the streets has to have his marks, the approval and therefore he tries to push the bar tender, after he stays close to hear him connect the ‘higher echelons’, to tell him about the killer that ended the life of the poor woman who has tried to be a whistleblower – another connection with the present, when some patriot has tried to sound the alarm over the treasonous behavior of the president, Trump has pushed his monstrous behavior as far as to put the life of that noble man or woman in danger and in the days of the crisis, he has just sacked the Inspector General that had warned congress over the now infamous Ukraine scandal…

Dave Bannion walks up to the resident of the Godfather and confronts him, but the initial result is to have him scolded and warned by the lieutenant, who had had Big Heat coming from upstairs, where Commissioner Higgins and others are on the payroll of the gangster – indeed, in one scene of despicable violence, Vince Stone attacks his mistress, Debby Marsh aka Gloria Grahame, and pours hot coffee over her face, torturing and mutilating her for life and it is the commissioner who has to take her to the hospital, servant of the killers as he is, to prevent the otherwise inevitable report that would be made in such a case…

Tragedy strikes at the home of the Untouchable Sargent, when a bomb destined to silence him forever, blows someone else instead, but this will only serve to strengthen his anyway marvelous resolve to stand alone in front of the Evil Empire and fight to find the truth, revenge and make the loathsome creatures pay for their rottenness and abjection…

Note on Mad Max 2

http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/note-on-mad-max-2-road-warrior.html

Note on Ode to Joy

Note on La Belle Epoque

Note on Alice's Restaurant

Note on It Must Be Heaven

Note on The Ten Commandments

Note on the Argentinian 4x4

The Rhythm Section by Mark Burnell - Seven out of 10

The Rhythm Section by Mark Burnell

Seven out of 10

This is a note on the film based on the book by Mark Burnell…

Having a strong, determined, courageous, intrepid, battle hardened, excellent, gritty, intelligent, sometimes emotional female lead is to be appreciated, especially given the fact that we have had so many James Bond, Jason Bourne and other action movies, where the stars have been almost exclusively male and female leads are still rare in such genres, though not impossible to find…take Hanna - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/note-on-hanna-with-saoirse-ronan-eric.html - or Wonder Woman - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/wonder-woman-by-allan-heinberg-story-by.html

Alas, the problem is that we have been there before, so many times that the sense of déjà vu is overwhelming and even if the action figure is no longer 007 or some macho character, it is not enough to make seeing The Rhythm Section a memorable experience, though this is a cinephile that had been educated in the old school and perhaps try as he might, he still does not see the big difference…

There are some details that could indeed make this a completely new film and have viewers in awe at the way the central character deals with a few situations…for instance the one where she has to deal with a man that is debilitated and apparently easy to take – well, if you make it your supreme goal to take vengeance on terrorist who are specialized in…killing multitudes – but she looks unable to overcome this enemy.

Again, later on, she is about to explode in a bus and only help from a wounded woman may or may not save her from being blown apart…which is perhaps exactly the human touch, the more delicate female that is different from the scores of heroes we have seen blowing away whoever comes down their path – Mission Impossible I, II, III, IV (where are we now, by the way at V?) seems to represent the opposite view… http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/note-on-mission-impossible-rogue-nation.html

Galaxy Quest by David Howard - 8.5 out of 10

Galaxy Quest by David Howard

8.5 out of 10

If for no other reason, then it is still worth seeing this Science Fiction comedy for the outstanding team that acts in it – Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith aka the commander of a galactic ship in a series, Sigourney Weaver as another artist, Gwen DeMarco, with a role on the same space ship, Alan Rickman as a disabused actor, Alexander Dane, who had tolerated enough of the arrogance of Jason Nesmith, Tony Shalhoub as Fred Kwan and the recent Oscar Winner, Sam Rockwell as Guy Fleegman, the one with just a cameo in the series, but who happens to get sucked in a Galaxy Quest, meant to save some…aliens.

The superb acting – though perhaps the visitors from Outer Space overdo their mannerisms…and even this is hard to assess, for who knows how aliens behave – helps carry the story around, in that the ‘commander’ is amusingly preposterous, too infatuated to be taken seriously, for quite some time, though an actor in the film, he acts as if he really has superior knowledge and he is towering over the rest of the ‘crew’ and people in general – in one of his mesmerizing novels, I think it was Point and Counterpoint and not chrome Yellow, Aldous Huxley writes about an actress that has to portrays a char woman and after a while, she changes her manner of speaking and takes that character into real life, where she is no longer that acclaimed artist, but the woman she had been meant to bring only to the audiences…

http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/11/point-counter-point-by-aldous-huxley.html

Aliens arrive at a meeting with the fans and they are evidently taken for something else, for quite some time, resulting in some amusing scenes, wherein ‘the great commander’ insists on the limo, for he is sure these are just those who want them to show at a gathering of admirers of the series – that resemble the real aficionados of shows like Star Treck or the Star Wars sequels and prequels, that are devoted and intoxicated with the personages, the light sabers, costumes and all the paraphernalia involved…

Only they are ‘real’ and they take the one they think is so skilled, adept at managing crisis – suddenly, I am thinking of Trump, who also wants to show off and speaks of himself as the ‘very stable genius and more recently the war president’ when in fact is just a con artist who has managed to trick so many fools into voting for him and before that buy his phony products, university, vodka, airlines, etc…a crook that has been in bankruptcy Six (6!) times  - to their universe, where there is trouble and calamity in store…

This is not Doctor Strangelove, King of Comedy, History of the World by Mel Brooks, or The Producers by the same comedy genius

http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-producers-written-and-directed-by.html

It is probably good entertainment though, especially at the Time of the New Cholera, the Corona Virus 19

Les Miserables, written by Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti, directed by the former - 10 out of 10

Les Miserables, written by Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti, directed by the former

10 out of 10

As the winner of The Jury Prize at the most important –at least for this cinephile – cinematic competition in the world, the Cannes Film Festival of 2019 – it looks like there may not be one this year – we can see Les Miserables as the second best motion picture of the year, in a race dominated by the fantastic Parasite, the film that has won almost everything across the board, from the Palme d’Or to the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture (and the one in Foreign Language too)- http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html

This is a phenomenal, outstanding achievement, challenging on so many levels – let us start with…the ending, which is so puzzling and difficult to decipher…what do you think will happen after the last shot by the way, for there seem to be quite a few possibilities – for one is evidently tempted to take sides with Les Miserables aka the miserable, mostly young people who live in the ‘banlieues’ where poverty and alienation seem to be dominant and they result in rebellion, protests and violent incidents, mentioned in the film, with reference to revolts in which arson was the order of the day, a multitude of cars have been burnt, many millions have damage have been reported and injuries inflicted, but as the ‘good cop’ of this story, Brigadier Stephane Ruiz ‘Pento’ aka excellent Damien Bonnard, states when speaking with one of the reformed characters, Salah, it has brought no good for the community, mainly because ‘on s’en fout’ aka nobody cares…

Brigadier Ruiz, who might have a passing resemblance with the much more famous Jean Valjean, moves to Paris to be able to see his son, separated as he is from the wife that had already moved to the capital, and he joins this team of the Anti-Crime Brigade, where Chris is the leader and Gwada the other team mate, and he is given a tour of the community, mocked on ‘the engine oil’ he  might be using for his hair, on one occasion he is sent into a shaorma joint to ask about the missing lion cub, only to be left there in an embarrassing situation, meant to bring joy to his new comrades, who prove very soon to be very complicated human beings, for although we soon see Chris talking to the local ring leader Le Mair aka The Mayor about a special gift for his wife, this viewer is still in disbelief as to how earthlings could resist the pressure, the torment, the abuse, torture suffered by officers in the line of fire in these places…

Evidently, Les Miserables appear to have the worst possible life, plagued by poverty, abuse, living in crowded, squalid buildings – a most recent article in The Economist mentions the fact that the well-off have had the means to escape quarantine in the worst affected places, while those who have to stay inside, together with so many others, would face grave challenges and consequences – and as it appears in this vast fresco, which looks at so many elements of this huge puzzle, they have adversity on all sides: Le Mair is a corrupt individual that supervises much of the illegal activity in his domain, from the selling of counterfeit merchandise – which the Brigade knows and does nothing about, except get something original in exchange for closing the eyes – and there is another pressure, from a group that gets severely punished at some stage, for it seems only interested in getting profits, even if that means covering for and collaborating with the police, that is one of the harassing, tormenting and torturing elements in this explosive mix

Before the level of tension starts ascending dramatically, we have indications that this is a team that faces constant pressure and as a result, due probably in equal part to personal flaws and shortcomings, they behave violently, especially Chris, who sees a few girls in a bus station and because he suspects - perhaps he knows, for even if he is abusive, he has acquired an impressive experience and has developed special skills – for instance, when the lion cub disappears and is about to cause a tragedy, he looks on the social networks, aware that these individuals would boast there about their exploits – that they are smoking marijuana and he speaks with vileness and even smashes the phone of one girl who is only 15, after harassing and bullying her and the others present in the station…

The lion cub belongs to a circus and Salah is right when he points out that lions do not belong in circuses – which is indeed illegal now in most of the civilized world – though he uses an argument from the Koran – now here is one of the few things we would like about this and other religious texts – and he has been stolen by a rebellious child, Issa, and this is on the point of creating a massive clash between the inhabitants of the ‘banlieue’ , under the corrupt leadership of Le Mair and the ‘gitanes’, those who control the circus and who are ready for a bloody battle, for which they have brought many hoodlums, armed with hatchets and many other weapons…they are separated by the three members of the brigade, who start investigating to see where the ‘mini-lion’ is, to return it and avoid the huge clash.

Alas, when they do find Issa, after seeing him photographed and then posted on the internet, the police officers lose control of the operation, as they try to immobilize the boy, they are faced with the opposition of his comrades and though perhaps most under the age of ten, their sheer numbers threaten to overwhelm the three adults, a chase ensues and when finally they catch up with the running boy, who is maybe eight or ten, they are again surrounded by the others, maybe over twenty or thirty, and those agitated children throw cans, stones and whatever they find at the reviled police…they are at least in part responsible for the fact that the brigadier of African origin, Gwada – Djebril Zonga is formidable in role and the fact that it is the minority officer who is most to blame is again very poignant – shoots his weapon.

Issa is badly hit in the face and it is clear that this will be a massive scar for the rest of his life, both physical and perhaps much more serious, psychological, though he will survive, for this is not a deadly weapon in normal conditions – though it can be from very close and this was very near – it is as grave a mistake as can be, ever more serious if we consider that the pistol has a safety and cannot be released by accident, as Ruiz would make clear when he confronts Gwada with the gravity of what he had done…to which the man of African descent replies that he had been under fire for ten years, patrolling in this section is hell, at night they have to dress like Rambo, fro there is no other way to survive in this jungle…and it sounds about right, though he admits to have snapped, lost a cable inside and blew it…

This stupendous motion picture raises so many questions, such as what happens at the end, or better said after the ambiguous, thought provoking end, what is the solution, for it seems that Les Miserables are entitled, justified to revolt – though for me, it is clear that they went too far and if they keep it this way, it would be ever harder to gain sympathy – and on the other hand, Gwada and the other brigadiers can only be expected to snap, working in a war zone, having to face battle scenes on a regular basis…

Dark Victory, written by Casey Robinson, based on the play by George Emerson Brewer and Bertram Bloch - Nine out of 10

Dark Victory, written by Casey Robinson, based on the play by George Emerson Brewer and Bertram Bloch

Nine out of 10

This motion picture is important on many levels, one of which might be that it seems to have launched the career of godly Humphrey Bogart, who is ‘just a stable hand’ – as he describes himself in a  dialogue with the main character – but his presence here, though in a supporting role would be noticed and later on ’Bogie’ would be the  star in classics like The Maltese Falcon http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-maltese-falcon-by-dashiell-hammett.html - Casablanca -- http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/04/casablanca-with-humphrey-bogart-and.html - The African Queen http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-african-queen-by-c-s-forester.html  and many other extraordinary movies.

Dark Victory is also 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/5 - and it benefits from the performance of another member of the select committee that lives eternally on The Olympus of Cinema, Bette Davis, the first actress to benefit from an independent contract – before that, actors and actresses had been under slavish arrangements with this studios that dictated what they did, even what would be projected from their private lives, for the use of the audiences –and the star of films like Now, Voyager - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/now-voyager-based-on-novel-by-olive.html - The Whales of August - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/note-on-whales-of-august-with-bette.html and many more films...

In Dark Victory, Bette Davis has the role of Judith Traherne, a character who has so much in common with the star, independent, strong, gritty, vivacious, determined, intelligent, modern, charming, remarkable as she is, in the prime of her life, but alas affected by some mysterious ailment, which is puzzling her and her entourage, when she tries to jump with her horse and has an accident, caused as she confesses, by the fact that she had seen two images and instructed the quadruped to jump over the false image…

George Brent is just as good in the role of Doctor Frederick Steele, a busy brain surgeon who is in a hurry to catch a train when they first meet, but mesmerized by the attractive beauty, he decides to miss the voyage and consults her, worried by what he sees, the fact that she does not feel with her right hand and confuses different materials which she has no problem in identifying as silk and other things with her other hand.

Upon further investigation, he concludes that these manifestations are caused by a brain tumor and he needs to operate immediately, as soon as it is possible, given the severity of the problem and because a clear bond is created between the two, the patient is obviously under a spell, she obeys though she is generally a little spoiled, upper class woman, with access to stables, horses, money and even Humphrey Bogart works for her as the man at the stables, the one who warns her that a new born animal might die of bronchitis during one night when she seems to care little if anything about the rest of the world

If Hollywood motion pictures are known and often mocked for the rosy, Panglossian depictions of life, wherein Fast and Furious, but often ridiculous heroes beat all adversity and triumph in the end against well, common sense, this is that one rare bird, rara avis, that makes it clear from the very title, Dark Victory, that this is going to be quite negative and there would be ‘death’ as the idiot in The White House has just said yesterday, after denying the pandemic and calling it a ‘hoax’ made up by the Democrats, and much talk about it going to zero, when it was just starting, he is now denying any responsibility and lying as he always does

The operation does not solve the problem and Doctor Steele and other experts conclude that the patient is going to die in a matter of months, though he does offer a small silver lining, saying that she would not suffer, but just die peacefully and without pain…

Frederick Steele talks with the friend of the patient, Ann King aka another superb actress, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and shares with her the tragic diagnosis, or ‘the negative prognosis’ as it is officially inscribed in the medical records and they decide to keep this a secret from the dying woman, though that would be illegal in many lands today…

As they secretly meet and come together to the residence, though one after the other, not at the same time, Judith is suspicious and jealous, but frank about it, expressing a mild concern about their possible interaction…

Alas, she is about to find out accidently, as she visits the office of the doctor who has become her lover and might soon be her husband, and she has a breakdown, hidden to some extent by an attempt to exaggerate her exuberance in the company of others and trying to pretend she is blissful, only to confess to her stable man…

This is a very sad, but wonderful meditation on dying, enjoying the present, trying to get the best out of life, dignity, bravery, self-sacrifice and altruism…

A River Runs Through It, based on the story by Norman Maclean - 9.4 out of 10

A River Runs Through It, based on the story by Norman Maclean

9.4 out of 10

Apart from marvelous story by Norman Maclean and the charming performances of the lead actors, it probably the spectacular, magnificent scenery of The Gallatin and Boulder Rivers that make this motion picture such a pleasure to see…reminding one of the more accomplished, classic and one of the Top 100 Movies, Deliverance - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/deliverance-based-on-novel-by-james.html

Indeed, quite often this seems more like The Story of The River That Runs Through It, in its majesty, emphasized by Reverend Maclean aka excellent Tom Skerritt, when he explains to his two sons, Norman aka formidable Craig Sheffer and Paul aka the recent Academy Award winner Brad Pitt, about the immemorial age of the rocks, which sets him apart, for there are so many foolish fundamentalist evangelicals who believe in the ‘literal’ word of the Bible, as creationists and maintain that the world is only so young as the holy book says…they do other, more damaging things, such as voting with an immense scoundrel.

Reverend Maclean offers a very strict education to his children, teaching them parsimony…in one amusing and relevant scene, one of them has a short story to write and he presents it to his father, who keeps asking for the writing to be shorter and then…to be thrown away…

Norman spends five tears East, attending college, though to the dissatisfaction of his father, he will have not made up his mind about what he wants to do, what his calling might be, if it is teaching or something else…for this, he could consult the online courses of Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar, who explains that there are three domains, one of the things we like to do, another of the activities we are good at and finally, the third contains what has meaning for us and where these groups intersect we can find our calling…

As his brother spends time in the East, Paul becomes very different, if not the complete opposite of his sibling, involved as he is in gambling, accumulating so much debt with the wrong people as to place his physical integrity, perhaps even his life in danger, though he is otherwise a charming, brave, kind, devoted young man and what is crucial for many of those who live in this small town and similar places, he is an excellent fly fisherman…

One of the mirthful passages takes place as Norman has to take his would be brother-in-law, Neal Burns, fishing, together with Paul, but Neal is the extremely obnoxious character, arrogant and infatuated with his supposed glamorous life in California, who arrives late – though this appears to be anathema for those that love this sport – in the company of Rawhide, a woman with an established reputation in the community, both of them drunk.

If they are initially infuriated with the attitude of this moron, they are greatly avenged by the fact that the two fall asleep in the sun and get severely burnt…though that attracts the wrath of the Burns family, when the prodigal son is returned and Jessie Burns, the one that Norman loves; herself would pay him back…

As she has to drive him back to town, for he has driven in their car, to brink the burnt by the sun drunkard, they meet with an impassable obstacle on the road and thus she decides with suicidal conviction to get on…the train lines and enter a tunnel, where it was evidently impossible to tell – given that there were no lights inside it at that time, at the beginning of the twentieth century – if a train is coming to crush and destroy them…

The script of the motion picture directed by Robert Redford and the story by Norman Maclean are not very different and this is where I have written the note on the original material:

http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-river-runs-through-it-by-norman.html

La Gomera aka Whistlers, written and directed by Corneliu Porumboiu - 9.4 out of 10

La Gomera aka Whistlers, written and directed by Corneliu Porumboiu

9.4 out of 10

As a nominee for the Palme d’Or, the most relevant cinematic trophy in the world – this year, we have had a premiere, The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture (and Best Motion Picture in a Foreign Language, Best Director and Best Screenplay) has been given to Parasite - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html - , a tour de force that had won the Palme d’Or in the 2019 competition, were it had been on the same lineup with La Gomera – The Whistlers is already an established achievement and indeed, a remarkable film, with an original contribution.

The undersigned is ever more pleased with this movie, given that he has had the chance to see the writer-director on a regular basis, for he has had – probably still does – his children at the same French School where his daughter has graduated – indeed, I even wanted to approach him and the other legend of cinema – and not just local film making community – Cristian Mungiu, at the end of year celebrations, to express my admiration and probably to get a photo with them and then brag about it here, or on Facebook…my wife disapproved, saying that they surely want tranquility, to enjoy the party and not have intruders like me spoil the fun…

Vlad Ivanov is the Sacred Monster of our Film School, present in almost every relevant movie made here and in some extraordinary productions that are important for European Cinema and that of the world, especially in the case of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/4-months-3-weeks-and-2-days-aka-4-luni.html - which has been included by TIME Magazine and other publications among the Best 100 Films…

Spectacular Toni Erdmann, also one of the best motion pictures made in the last decades and anytime, just as worthy as Parasite of Academy Award recognition, has also benefited from the acting of Vlad Ivanov, though in a supporting role there… http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/01/note-on-sublime-toni-erdmann.html

Corneliu Porumboiu and Vlad Ivanov had collaborated before La Gomera on the set of Police, Adjective, another formidable movie - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-police-adjective-written-and.html

In The Whistlers, Ivanov portrays Cristi, a narcotics detective that is under lands on the island of La Gomera, where he is met by Kiko, a Spanish member of a drug network, who takes his phone, takes him to a rather luxuriant accommodation, where he joins the resplendent Gilda aka talented Catrinel Marlon.

With great skill, Corneliu Porumboiu offers a succession of tableaux, segments in which we are introduced to the various characters and we are also invited to place the pieces of the puzzle together, to try to understand who might come on top, if one or the other of the protagonists would be killed and who would be the winner, or winners, if any…

In a recollection of the main character, he thinks back at the moment when he has met Gilda, as she came to him in front of his house, embraced him and tried to start a conversation with him, only to be warned that he is under surveillance, they have cameras in his flat too, so he is reluctant, nay, hostile to the idea of continuing this communication, but the bold, intrepid woman takes him to his building, explains the plot…she would be a high class prostitute that he meets with, she has to take out 200 lei to supplement the only 300 he holds in his wallet, to make it credible, for she is so gorgeous that to have paid sex for less would attract the attention of the investigators…

Indeed, as she walks in, she behaves as if she knew the place and gives off one detail that shows the outfit had done its homework – they would later talk about it and the officer would ask her how did she know about a painting and his mother and she explains that she had gone to her house with one of the gangsters and they had talked with the mother, ready to use her and information found there to blackmail the detective into helping them in their contraband and/or accidents that happen in their illegal doings…

This is why he is in La Gomera, where he has to learn an ancient whistling language – hence the Whistlers – for which he is not ready to begin with, for his breathing power is not sufficient and Koko says that he has to swim, and not in the pool by the splendid villa, but in the ocean, to be ready for the language that they are supposed to use when they try to work around the jailing of one of the Romanians involved in the drugs mafia, Zsolt, who has to be taken out of prison, kidnapped would be the idea, though for some time it looked like it would be simpler if they had him killed, especially when the plot thickens and we find that he had wanted to run with the money and the ring leader, Paco, had wanted to eliminate him and Gilda, who seemed to have been in cahoots and when pressed, she confessed…

Kiko seems to be willing to cover for the spectacular woman – the puzzling thought is why would such a glorious beauty get into something like this when she only needs to get on the catwalk and have a substantial income…however, it is true that she is not likely to get millions in the fashion industry, if she is using only her looks…I guess – but he is pressing, harassing and ultimately abusing her physically to have coitus with him and she would not have that, though she had had sex with Cristi, in the role of the high end prostitute, back in Bucharest…once on the Spanish island, she has told him that it would not happen again…but will it?

The story gets ever more complicated, as it suits such a movie – though why it is also described as a comedy, it may be difficult to explain, though not impossible, given that many situations are indeed amusing…for instance, somebody is killed (well, many are in a narrative about vicious mobsters) and the detective is present at the crime scene and wants to go across the forbidden perimeter saying he is ‘narcotics, only to be rebuffed and told ‘this is a crime scene and that means no trespassing’, only to gain access, because this is what happens in a permissive society, where rules and laws are bended from top down – though we have a president that is 1,000 times better than the cretin that sits in the White House – once a colleague would see him and say…’okay, but just go along the extremity there, will you…’

Notorious, written by Ben Hecht, directed by Alfred Hitchcock - 10 out of 10

Notorious, written by Ben Hecht, directed by Alfred Hitchcock

10 out of 10

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the greatest names in The History of Cinema, celebrated as the ultimate auteur, in fact the one who seems to have been the cause of the invention of the notion of the author films, productions that owe everything to the director, though this is a misconception, disassembled by the brilliant William Goldman in his quintessential classic on cinema, Adventures in the Screen Trade, where he takes the case of the British film maker and explains that though the role of director is important and Alfred Hitchcock has some of the most wonderful achievements in his art, there are others who play a vital role, such as the screenwriters, actresses and actors, even the special effects, that quite often seem to be responsible for much of the end product these days, so much so that the balance might be reshaped.

Notorious is just one of the many Hitchcock films that are part of The Cinema’s Hall of Fame, its History, together with To Catch a Thief http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/04/to-catch-thief-based-on-novel-by-david.html -Vertigo - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/06/vertigo-based-on-novel-dentre-- les-morts.html –Shadow of a Doubt http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/shadow-of-doubt-based-on-story-by.html - Psycho - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-psycho-directed-by-alfred.html -Rear Window - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-rear-window-directed-by-alfred.html ..

The distinguished director has not been an easy man to work with and if we are to look at interviews, autobiographical documents from those who have been part of his team, he could be quite unpleasant, to say the least, showing a tremendous disregard – again, to be polite – for those who have had to follow his direction, though it was with great success that most of his films have entered the theaters and the later the history books…

Eva Marie Saint is explaining in one of the marvelous documentaries about movies, either American Cinema or the very recent Movies, that she has been trained as a ‘method’ actor and her presence in the classic On The Waterfront, together with godly Marlon Brando, is mesmerizing - http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/05/on-waterfront-by-budd-schulberg.html  - though working with Hitchcock, she has to follow a completely different set of guidelines, on North by Northwest, the director insisted that she does not look at the character of Cary Grant- in the leading role there, as in Notorious –and change her style of acting…

Cary Grant is Devlin – perhaps as in Devil Inside, an Inxs song – in Notorious,  an American agent that has to approach Alicia Huberman aka the Athena of the Cinematic Olympus, Ingrid Bergman, who is the daughter – at the beginning of the film, though he would die soon – of a convicted German, who had committed treason and thus, together with the disservice to America, he would push his daughter to drink and what used to be called in puritan days – and it is today in much of Trump land, among evangelicals who oppose philandering and so much else, but vote with gusto for the ultimate, most despicable Devil – fornication…

Devlin talks to Alicia about the help she can provide for the government and though she seems reluctant for a little while, she accepts the idea of travelling to South America and somehow try to make amends for the harm done by her father, especially given that the agent proposing this commitment is such an attractive, the symbol of male charm for so many decades, partner, though that may be only secondary in her mind, at least to begin with.

The two people seem to get along very well and the man plays a disc – that is how things worked in 1946 – on which the agency has recorded fights between the woman and her father, in which she expresses a love for America and a total condemnation for the endeavors of the treacherous parent and his exploits.

Nevertheless, a tension builds soon after it appeared that fascinating woman and handsome man are destined to get ever closer and engage in what could be called an inappropriate relationship – given that they were supposed to ‘work’ for the same rather patriotic, superb goal and in most cases there is an ethics code, which has had quite a few CEOs eliminated recently and over history from their positions, together with a multitude of others…the under signed had been scolded and eventually evicted for just such a ‘connection’..

Alas, the assignment is now known and it involves getting as close as possible to an influent, very wealthy and probably a Nazi with very dangerous activities – she would later say with chagrin that she is meant to be a Mata Hari – and that appears to put an end to the romance between would be spy and her handler, for though he protests in his circle that she would not do it, in front of her, he invites her to take the decision, hoping she would refuse, while she also has expectations that he would not ask her something which is so much against their emerging passion and future love story, that is now about to die…

There are superb performances, the tension is evident, for this is a story that has multiple messages, a sophisticated look at love and the conflict between the mind and the soul, passion against rationality, duty against pleasure, the need to work for the country that in this case involves acting against one’s own happiness and risking so much in dealing with vicious, heartless, devilish enemies that are preparing deadly plots.

Devlin is both infatuated and disappointed in the woman he so admired, for he has hoped she would turn down the assignment, something he feels he could not do for her and she is equally thinking that, since he has a wife and two children, he is in this frame only acting for his department, doing his job and perhaps acted as a chivalrous, attractive man, only to get her trapped in this plan and get from her all the information they need…

It is a very dangerous enterprise and we are kept breathless at many moments, when the key is taken, they try to find whatever secrets are hidden in the house where Alicia becomes the wife of Alexander Sebastian aka also legendary Claude Rains and where the Nazis are meeting to plot their future war on America…

You can find this masterpiece 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/16

Just Mercy, written by Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham and Bryan Stevenson, based on the book of the latter and directed by the former - Eight out of 10

Just Mercy, written by Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham and Bryan Stevenson, based on the book of the latter and directed by the former

Eight out of 10

This is a note on the film inspired by the book written by Bryan Stevenson

It is probably impossible to find a more important, emotional, significant, shaking, challenging, emotional subject than this motion picture based on real events has, the drama that exposes the racism which was so pervasive in America – and many say still is, given that Trump has been elected and enjoys now his highest approval ratings, from tens of millions of people who identify with the creature who speaks about ‘shit holes’ , countries in Africa that he cannot name (for example Nambia, as he says) ‘alien rapists’ …the list is too long for one of the most vile human beings one can see, never mind a leader in the highest office, ‘the very stable genius’…

Walter McMillan aka always formidable Jamie Foxx is arrested and then found guilty for a murder he had not committed, though the jury wants a life sentence, he is sent by a biased, incompetent, perhaps racist judge on death row and the film is about him, but not just this hero, fro there are so many others trapped in a system wherein money buys freedom – through expensive lawyers and vast sums of money spent on experts, doctors and other legal loopholes that allow the doubt to set in the mind of the jurors.

Indeed, we learn that one in eight of those who have been sentenced to death would be found innocent of the crimes, upon further investigation and analysis of their case, the flawed basis on which corrupt, racist police and prosecutors would convict and jail suspects just because, as one has put it ‘we can look at his face and know right away that he did it’

Bryan Stevenson aka Michael B. Jordan is the knight in not so shining armor that would offer to defend, without pay – this is soothing for the community that has had counselors coming in, making promises, taking money and then deliver no results – the innocent Walter McMillan, though it would be an uphill, exhausting, humiliating struggle.

Alas, this cinephile does not think that the young actor raises to the challenge, but it is just a subjective opinion and given the other views on his performance, it is more likely that he has done very well and this brewer has been unable to see it…

He and his colleague, Eva Ansley aka Brie Larson, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Room - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-room-with-brie-larson-and-jacob.html - receive bomb threats, insults, humiliation and in the first stage of the effort to have the case reopened, they are defeated…

The main witness for the accusation, the state, states in court that he had lied during the initial trial and he had been coerced by the state team…furthermore, there are many witnesses that testify for Walter McMillian and his profile, his thereabouts on the day of the horrible murder, but in spite of all this, the judge does not allow the re-opening of the case…

Just Mercy has reminded this cinephile of the classic, magnificent Mississippi Burning, with legendary Cinema God Gene Hackman in the leading role - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-mississippi-burning-director.html

A Hidden Life, written and directed by Terrence Malick - 10 out of 10

 A Hidden Life, written and directed by Terrence Malick

10 out of 10

A Hidden Life seems to be the perfect motion picture to see at the time of the New Age Plague, as billions are under lockdown, this is long enough at almost three hours for people with so much time to spend under house arrest, it is inspirational, shows the Absolute courage that the hero has and we also need in large doses to look at the end of the virus and what is left of the world outside…face the dramatic questions of subsistence, will there be enough money, could we keep this house, how will we light and heat it…

Franz Jagerstatter aka fantastic August Diehl has the almost certitude that he will die if he keeps going against the Nazis, maintain his virtues, the belief that killing is wrong and thus refusing to participate in World War II, as an Austrian peasant farmer who is forced by the vicious law to join in the army and fight for Hitler and his demented ideas…

Terrence Malick is the sublime writer- director of this movie, acclaimed for his other beautiful achievements, such as The Thin Red Line - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-thin-red-line-based-on-novel-by.html - during the filming of which he has first learned about the story, which would lead to A Hidden Life

At the end of the film, we have the powerful, magnificent quote form George Eliot, that gives the title to this great feature and furthermore, explains how important the attitude of the hero is, against the perhaps common dismissal which could be heard in cinema theaters – where this majestic film has done very poorly at the box office alas – that this is just one man who will change nothing and should not bother to oppose Hitler and his regime

“...for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

Indeed, in one poignant dialogue, Judge Lueben aka marvelous, legendary Bruno Ganz - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-party-by-sally-potter-writer-and.html - speaks about the futility of the prisoner’s attitude and the risk of facing a death sentence if he continues to defy the fascists…

What makes the public think that the hero might just change his mind is his devotion, seemingly intense love for his children and especially his wondrous wife, Fani aka Valerie Pachner, a wonderful artist…

This cinephile has been overwhelmed by the talent of this phenomenal actress, especially since he has had the chance to see her in a completely different role, that of a quite superior, modern day lesbian executive in The Ground Beneath My Feet - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-party-by-sally-potter-writer-and.html - while in A Hidden Life she portrays a peasant woman contemplating tragedy, having to pull the hard plough on their crop with her sister, at a farm where the man is no longer available…

The Gentlemen, written by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies and Guy Ritchie, directed by the latter - Nine out of 10

The Gentlemen, written by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies and Guy Ritchie, directed by the latter

Nine out of 10

Captivating, amusing, inventive, alert, The Gentlemen looks like a Guy Ritchie motion picture and, although it is not as original, exhilarating as Snatch - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-snatch-written-and-directed-by.html - or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-lock-stock-and-two-smoking.html this is still a very good film to watch during the pandemic, though some critics have dismissed it and one said something like ‘the director has only reached 2005 with his inclusion of YouTube and new themes’…this cinephile liked it.

One main advantage of deciding to spend time with this film would be the fact that is so fast paced – just like the aforementioned excellent features – that you find you forget for about two hours that the world is coming to an end – especially since the alleged most advanced part of it has chosen the Ultimate Buffoon to lead it and furthermore, this idiot has just reached a…peak in his approval ratings…for fuck’s sake, you tempt one to say that this new plague is welcome if it wipes out another deadly virus, that of the cave men that belong to the Cult of the Evil Baboon…

The plot of The Gentlemen is rather complex and gets the viewer engaged, unless of course he or she shares the views of the critics and then they should better watch something else, but following the adventures of Michael Pearson aka solid Matthew McConaughey (not a personal favorite though), his outfit, enemies, tabloid press and the bold team of fighters that enter the frame, under the guidance of Coach aka excellent Colin Farrell is rewarding.

Michael Pearson has a network of well hidden places where he grows marijuana plants, but he wants to sell it to another drug baron, Matthew aka rather hard to accept as a mobster Jeremy Strong (in the film he is actually weak, not Strong), and he shows him where he has one of the outfits, using the property of one aristocrat – the scheme involves many more – who has trouble in footing the evidently huge sums that such immense properties involve – with this Corona crisis, the expenses of a house that is twenty times smaller horrify me – and thus is an easy prey for the intrepid criminal boss.

Alas, soon after he mentions the sum of four hundred million pounds – or was it dollars – calamity strikes, not in a form of a deadly virus – but an attack on the operation that he has just presented to the potential buyer, where a group of very young men drops in, without much effort to hide their identities and confront the hoodlums that are strong favorites to win, if one makes bets before the clash of the titans…only the underdog wins, for these are highly skilled, wonderfully trained fighters, supervised by Coach aka florid here Colin Farrell.

Furthermore, these people film and post on the internet their daring enterprise, hence humiliating Michael Pearson, who seems to be dead right near the start, when we see him in a café and then in the following seconds there is blood sputtered on the glass of beer in front of him, presumably coming from his now perforated head…that might be a ploy though, we do not know yet what happens and it will not be written here.

Dry Eye aka very good Henry Golding and Lord George aka Tom Wu enter the frame, the former interested in getting control of the Pearson marijuana empire, and the latter having to suffer indignity and a revenge incursion form the angry Marijuana Lord, who puts some intoxicating substance into the tea (that of Lord George) and makes it clear ‘do not mess with me, because if I can get into your kitchen, be sure that I can get to you anywhere’ something like these words were said…

Coach finds about the exploits of his team and he is very unhappy and understands that this is no futile matter, so he tries to make amends, meeting with Ray aka interesting Charlie Hunnam, the right hand of Michael Pearson, the Lieutenant and consigliore, and stating that he apologizes, it is his responsibility, please do not harm my boys and let me do what you ask to get even with your organization…

The first thing they need is to find who gave the location for the incredible stunt operation, for this is so secret that nobody is in the know, except maybe five men, and the result of the investigation would be very unexpected, though this is not to be revealed, on the off chance that anybody reads this far and wants to see The Gentlemen, unlikely as that is…

Fletcher aka brilliantly portrayed by iconic Hugh Grant is an ‘investigative journalist’ or a paparazzo, working for a rather sleazy tabloid newspaper, and he has found in his work, trailing Michael Pearson and those associated with him, some very delicate details, which he is ready to sell for twenty million pounds, payable in seventy two hours – if anything happens to him, he has back up material which would be calamitous for the Pearson empire, since it will be in the public domain as soon as Fletcher will have disappeared or be found dead.

There are many humorous, perhaps even hilarious moments in this action packed thriller, and one that comes to mind is the scene wherein the gang has to return the estranged daughter of one of the British nobility that has placed his domain in the Pearson network, a setup that reminds one of the much more famous, classic now scene from Pulp Fiction, with the Samuel L. Jackson recitation ‘The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the Inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness…

A group of addicts is around the room and somehow the gangsters need to take the girl, even if the companions protest and eventually, one of them – the son of another ‘upper class, rich people’ this time from the corrupt Putin empire and this will offer another complication, some more pieces to arrange in this vast puzzle – is defenestrated and down near the corpse, a group of teenagers are filming everything and therefore a chase is in progress, for the gangsters need to get all the evidence and this is very amusing, for they lose breath, one is kicked by an opening door, slapstick comedy and then another reference to Indiana jones this time…if Harrison Ford shoots with a bored attitude the jihadist that was showing off his sword, in The Gentlemen the threating teenagers and some more grown men come towards Ray with a machete, but he takes out a massive, extremely powerful…machine gun

The Usual Suspects, written by Christopher McQuarrie - Nine out of 10

The Usual Suspects, written by Christopher McQuarrie

Nine out of 10

The Usual Suspects is one of the motion pictures that has won so much acclaim that it looked destined to enter the History of Cinema – and maybe it is there already, or it will be included, just as it is 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/24 - and on the Top Rated, Popular Movies list at 32, https://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=tt_awd – it is also the winner of two Academy Awards and many other key trophies…

That brings us to the problematic, or catastrophic participation – for the future of the feature in these or maybe any other compilations – of the director, Bryan Singer, who has had his share of scandals and though this cinephile is not up to date with what his status is now, it looks like he is not involved in the projects that would be his, if it were not for the private shenanigans, which obfuscate, maybe eventually annihilate for many, his achievements here and in other productions that he has helmed…

Most importantly though we have the involvement of Kevin Spacey, who has won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Usual Suspects – and for the leading role in the stupendous American Beauty - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/american-beauty-written-by-alan-ball.html - but he is now definitely compromised, apparently stigmatized for his sexual abuses, making perhaps this movie anathema for future generations…

Judged without taking account of the said scandals, which again, could become impossible in an époque where there are so many glorious motion pictures without so much baggage to select from that the people of the future, if there is one after this pandemic and the Virus in the White House – more popular than ever, if you can believe the judgment of those Cult members that maybe deserve what they get, if there are so unadapted, such awful judges that they place their lives and those of their families into the hands of the Ultimate Crook – The Usual Suspects is remarkable, intelligent, astute, creative…

To end the Kevin Spacey chapter here, his character, Verbal Kint, has a key presence in the storyline and he could offer one of the biggest surprises in crime movies history, though about that we would not elaborate more, except to say that he may be right when he says…

"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist,"

That is of course, if you believe in God and his adversary, the Devil, which I do not, but still, the idea that the mastermind of the plot tries to confuse, to make the investigators think he is not the Main Suspect, that he ‘does not exist’ as a criminal, that he has only had a limited presence in the scheme, indeed, he has a plea bargain for whatever he had admitted, sounds credible, smart and contributes to the value of the movie…

To begin with, the five Usual Suspects are lined up for identification and then locked together in  a police cell and all the artists are marvelous – for Spacey, amendments have been made, sort of, for his personal life – Gabriel Byrne as Keaton, Benicio Del Toro as Fenster, Kevin Pollak as Hockney and finally, another disgraced participator in this film, at least for this viewer, the infamous Trump supporter – apparently the first and one of the few in Hollywood – Stephen Baldwin, in flagrant opposition with his brilliant brother, an outstanding impersonator of the Biggest fool in the World – well, there would be others parked in bushes all over the world, but to have access to so much intelligence, best information, means to ‘wise up’ and fail so catastrophically, that makes one the Most Outstanding Cretin of them all…

As they are all in together, the criminals – not for this highjack that brought them to the lineup – plot a revenge that would bring them money and get many corrupt police officers in massive trouble, since they were offering various Traficant protection and even rides to their illegal transaction spots in their…official cars…

As it is expected for one of the most appreciated – still – movies in history, the plot is very complex and representative Kobayashi aka another regretted, brilliant actor, Pete Postlethwaite, enters the stage to announce The Usual Suspects that they each and every one of them have a debt to pay to the infamous Keyser Soze, his boss, and such a mythical figure that legends are circulated around him, placing his origins in Turkey, where rivals have entered his house, kidnapped his family to blackmail this vicious gang leader…

Something out of the grimmest horror movies happens in this mythical tale, when this Keyser Soze shocks everyone,  most of all the public in the cinema theater, when he uses his gun to shoot…his own family!!

Children, wife and only after he murders the intruders, letting one alive to go out and spread the story, to make his power grow, creating an image – if this ever happened, which with hindsight, it might not have, given the later developments – of an absolute psychopath, one that all adversaries must fear…

This feature is indeed more than just gripping, captivating, there are many passages where the immersion, absorption is total and thus this could be ideal for this terrorizing calamity that we have to live through and one absolutely vital aspect is to try to use Positive Psychology rules, one of which would have us establish a strategy to cope with adversity, by thinking of other things, trying to eliminate, at least temporarily, the obsessive images of thousands of dead, scenarios where millions would die and those who survive – aka you and me – might have to go out to the Post-apocalyptic scripts we have seen in 28 days and other such features…