Movies I have recently Seen

Movies I’ve seen recently

I am still involved with my book project but I wanted to get something on the blog about some movies I have seen recently. I changed my deal with NETFLIX. Instead of 3 movies at a time and streaming we cut back to 2 movies and no streaming for $12, which is half the other plan. With our appetite for film it may not be enough, but we shall try it and see how we feel. So far this year we have seen 165 films, about 90% through NETFLIX. Because of their need for revenue they hiked their prices and in one month they have lost 600,000 customers.

In 1996 the painter/filmmaker Julian Schnabel made a docudrama about one of the major stars in New York of the 1980s, Jean-Michael Basquiant, who was a friend of his. Along with Keith Haring they were the gold dust twins of the New York art scene in that decade, both dying young, Basquiant from a drug overdose and Haring from AIDS. Both had discipline as artists but not much with other appetites. Basquiant OD of heroin at 27, joining that array of “rock stars” that died at 27. Haring was 32. As has proven many times over, fame can be injurious to your health. Schnabel’s film is a kind of loving tribute to the young man. Jeffrey Wright played Basquiant and did a remarkable job, bringing to life in a fictional treatment his successes and death. David Bowie played Andy Warhol who was friend and mentor to the lad from Haiti; he even shared a show with him. Dennis Hopper also shows up in the film. The introduction to Basquiant work was of the drive-by variety.

I also saw a later film (2009) about Basquiant by another friend, a gal named Tamara Davis who has made several films, including “Billy Madison,” and “Gun Crazy.” It was called “Jean-Michael Basquiant: The Radiant Child.” The film was built around a Davis interview with the artist while he was still alive. In front of the camera he seemed uncomfortable and rather shy, not very forthcoming either. The film is generally less adoring of the “Radiant Child” and reassess him as a human being. We see more of his work, with a stress on the paintings with a graffiti emphasis rather than pictorial or painterly quality. Davis comments that he was not ready for fame. It came too early for him to handle it well.

My daughter hoodwinked me into seeing “Bridesmaids”; but I thanked her afterward because it was truly a hilarious film, one of very few I have seen in recent years. It has an ensemble cast but one talent really stood out, and it belong to Kristen Wiig. Foul-mouthed, scatological, and raunchy not only as a comedienne but she also wrote the screenplay. One scene is hilarious, when Wiig gets intoxicated on a plane. It’s a classic as far as I am concerned. I saw her as an updated Steve Martin, very skilled at physical comedy and a good writer too boot.

“Of Gods and Men” is a historical drama about some conflicted Trappist monks in Algeria during the anticolonial insurrection against France in the 1980s. Eight monks who live in complete harmony with the local village Muslims come into conflict with some Muslim extremists who have begun to terrorize the region. They talk among themselves what to do: should they flee or stay and take their chances. There is much debating about what to do and much singing and praying, which constitutes what they normally do day in and day out. Eventually they all decide to stay, no matter what. One night six of the monks are taken prisoner. The Arab terrorists try to make a trade using them as hostages to free some comrades. But the French officials won’t make the deal and the inevitable happens. We get a snapshot of how these monks lived, how they devoted themselves to God and helping others, and how they got caught in the crosshairs of history.

“RIFIFI” is a French crime drama that owes much to American noir films. I have seen at least 5 times, as I find it that intriguing and so well mounted and played. The last time I saw the film it was a terrible print. This time it was a Criterion DVD that was in excellent condition. Jules Dassin was the director. The last film he made was another noir film, “Night and the City,” which was released in America 1949. But then he ran afoul HUAC, a communist-hunting investigation committee from the House and because he failed to cooperate he was blacklisted till 1955 when he caught on in France. The film would certainly make my top ten in regard crime dramas. The highlight of the film is a robbery of some diamonds from a jewelry store in which no word is spoken for a half hour. The heist doesn’t pay off like it should have because one of the safecrackers—it was Jules Dassin himself playing the part—stole an expensive ring to give to a woman he was romancing, who belong to a rival gang. Such a thoughtless slip-up is a typical downfall in the noir movie where women are to be feared as well as loved. The two gangs war over the loot and 7 guys end up dead. The only survivors are three women, secondary characters—but without the loot. There is an interesting interview with Jules Dassin in special features.

“Fish Tank” is a small British film with Michael Fassbender who seems to be on the rise in movies as the newest hunk. He has a rugged handsome look, reminding me a bit of Rutgar Hauer who always got the role of Gladiator or Replicant. In “Fish Tank,” which is a small movie, Fassbender is carrying on an affair with a woman with a 15-year-old daughter who becomes smitten over lover boy, because he is nicer to her than her mother is. The girl is also an aspiring dancer, even though there is nothing extraordinary about her dancing; it just a dream she needs to nurture to keep her head above water, as her life is stuck in a narrow orbit with no real prospects. Well, lover boy makes love to her one night when her mother is drunk and asleep in the bedroom, and soon afterward she finds out he is married with a wife in the suburbs and 5-year old daughter, which pisses her off. So what does she do? She runs off with some 16-year-old boy, who like her quit school long ago, to repeat the folly and pattern of her luckless mother. It is a bleak film in the style of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach.