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…