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| Saturday, March 24, 2007 09:11 PM |
| Netflix movies |
 by Fëanor |
My plan to watch Netflix movies on my iPod has been proceeding apace. Here's a bunch of stuff I watched via this process lately:
F for Fake - This is a fascinating and unique documentary by Orson Welles about truth, lies, and the difficulty, perhaps even purposelessness, of telling the difference between them. Like all of Welles' films, it's also about art, and it's also about Orson Welles. It tells the story of an amazing man named Elmyr de Hory who could paint incredible forgeries of practically any famous artist you can think of, and who made a good amount of money using this gift. Another man named Clifford Irving wrote his biography, and then did a little fraud of his own, claiming to have the text of an exclusive autobiography of Howard Hughes, which, as it turns out, he did not. There's actually a little Hollywood movie coming out soon about Irving and his whole story. Anyway, Welles takes us on a fast pace and non-chronological tour of his own life, the life of Irving, and the life of de Hory, all in the context of the meaning of authenticity and ownership. The film is deeply engaging, funny, intelligent, and postmodern, but not so over-the-top as to be pretentious. In short, it's pure brilliance, and contains many moments of astonishing beauty and wisdom. Welles was truly an amazing artist.
Eyes Without a Face - A French film whose plot, believe it or not, was sort of halfway ripped off by the MST3K film The Brain That Wouldn't Die. In this case, a brilliant surgeon's daughter loses her face in a terrible accident, and there is no awful, inhuman thing he won't do to get her a beautiful new face. He doesn't, however, stop to consider his daughter's own feelings, which is ultimately his downfall. A really fantastic and creepy movie with wonderful atmosphere and some really tense and terrifying moments. Definitely check it out.
Three...Extremes - This is a horror anthology film from a few years ago featuring three stories, each one directed by one of the big names in contemporary Asian genre film: Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike, and Fruit Chan (ok, I don't know who Fruit Chan is, but he's supposed to be a big name). Chan gives us "Dumplings," a disgusting tale about youth and beauty and the terrible lengths people will go to get it. Miike gives us "Box," a weird and puzzling story about love, memory, envy, and guilt. And finally Chan-wook Park contributes "Cut," a seriously screwed up little piece about, well, vengeance! It is a Chan-wook Park film, after all.
"Dumplings" pretty much starts by revealing what you would think would be the climactic horrifying secret: that the dumplings a strange young woman is selling to older women as youth-restoring health food are actually made with human fetuses. Then, it gets worse. Definitely do not eat immediately before, during, or immediately after watching this one. That being said, it's a pretty decent movie, and does have one or two surprises in store, even though it gives up a big one right off the bat.
"Box" is more serious and more in a straightforward J-horror-style than Miike's typical film - which is not to say it's not still a confusing, non-chronological story that mixes memory and dream with reality. There's a girl, and a ghost, and the ghost is her sister, who she used to perform with as a child, along with her father, until an act born of envy caused a horrific and tragic accident. Now she's a reclusive author. But what's real, and what's not, and what does it all mean? You've got me. This one had some really interesting sequences, and some really scary bits, but overall it was a little underwhelming, and confusing.
"Cut" is just freaking crazy and violent and full of torture and twists and turns and insanity. It's about a filmmaker and a man who wants revenge on him, and how his sick and complex plan for getting revenge plays out. It goes maybe a little too far, but it is definitely an engrossing and effective story up to a point.
So overall, it's a decent collection of horror movies, flashy and stylish, and worth a rental.
A History of Violence - Everybody else has already said it, but damn, this is a fantastic film. It's directed by David Cronenberg, so of course there's plenty of gory violence and really screwed up (and shockingly explicit) sex scenes. The story focuses on a seemingly average little family in a seemingly average little town. Viggo owns and runs a local diner, has a couple of cute, reasonably well-adjusted kids, and a super-hot, super-cool wife. What could go wrong?? Well, one day a couple of crazed killers could stumble into his diner, and he could be forced to kill them (in a surprisingly and even suspiciously efficient manner) to save himself and his customers. His actions ripple outward, bringing up secrets from his dark past and forever changing the other members of his family. This is no action movie, though; the real emotional effects of acts of violence are examined, and the ending, though vaguely hopeful, is not a happy one. In fact, the conclusion, when Viggo returns to his family with the knowledge of who and what he is thick in the air all around them, was one of my favorite parts: wordless, strained, complex. A great film. I did get a kick out of the fact that Philly was the bad place where all the bad men came from, too. :)
The Thin Man - Poppy had never seen this, so we gave it a whirl, and we both enjoyed it very much (even though it was my third time, IIRC). Exceedingly fun movie loaded with great characters and an interesting mystery. But Nick and Nora are of course the centerpiece of the film. They're brilliant, fully-realized people and by the end of the movie (really, by the end of the first scene) you can't help loving them and wanting to hang out with them - them, and their dog Asta. What really makes it work are the fact that they're played masterfully by William Powell and the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Myrna Loy. I'm not going to say that no other pair of actors could have played these parts, because that's a silly thing to say, but I will say it's hard to imagine anybody doing a better job than Powell and Loy do here.
Philadelphia Story - Another classic film poppy wanted to educate herself about. It's a ton of fun, loaded with talented actors, with ridiculously smart and snappy dialogue, and lots of humor. But it also has some troubling ideas and themes that it puts forward. The father of Katherine Hepburn blames her (in part, at least) for his own infidelity, and is angry at her for being angry at him for cheating on her mother. This wouldn't be so bad - after all, people do and feel things like that - if it weren't for the fact that the movie is on her father's side. The whole film, really, is about the fact that Hepburn's character expects too much of people and is too hard and too unforgiving of failure and weakness. But really, is she asking too much in this case? I don't think so. I'm also troubled by the fact that this is another of those movies (like The Women) that is so smart and so forward-thinking and feminist and liberal-minded in so many ways, but that ultimately has the theme "you should stick with your husband like a good wife is supposed to." Disappointing. But if you can look past that, it's also highly entertaining. And it's a ton of fun to go around saying C. K. Dexter Haven. |
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