Series of Billy Wilder films based on Melbourne Cinematheque season. Wilder is a director that, while I respect his body of work, I often feel a little cold, untouched by his films so interesting to see five in short succession, overall I have a better liking of his work than I did before
- Mauvaise Graine - French film Wilder made between leaving Germany and moving to the states. It is a talky film but is strongly influenced by the early silent films. It is not really especially Wilder-ish, though I think you can see certain elements of his later style there. An interesting film rather than a classic.
- The Private Lives of Sherlock Holmes - not even heard of this before this season and I'm very pleased that I've now seen it. It really is excellent (and a huge influence on other adaptations/versions of Holmes) and very enjoyable film, just the right balance of comedy, mystery and action. I definitely recommend it.
- Ace In the Hole - Excellent, really quite vicious satire/drama starring Kirk Douglas as the newspaperman who will go to long lengths to get a good story. Douglas is fantastic, this may be his best performance that I've seen (certainly better than the famous
Spartacus). As in the previous film Wilder balances the dry wit, social satire and more broad comedy elements excellently.
- Kiss Me, Stupid - Dean Martin (playing a fictional version of himself) gets stuck in a small town. Some aspiring songwriters want to sell him their songs but one of them is afraid that Dino will seduce his wife. To stop this he gets Kim Novak, a waitress/prostitute to take the role of his wife while Dino stays in his house. The premise is not bad but the script is just not good enough (strange for Wilder film) and the whole thing just drags on. And one does not much liking, or even sympathy with Dino or the songwriters. Novak's character is the heart of the film but she does not turn up until about a third of the way through. A big disappointment compared with the previous films.
- The Major and the Minor - Considering the central plot of this film - bloke falling in love with a woman 'disguised' as a twelve year old - it should not work, but it does. The script is good but Rodgers is the real star, while she Rodgers does not look 12, or anything like it, she does manage to create enough of a persona (or rather two persona's) and energy that I could not help going along with it. What in the hands of many would just be creepy and sleazy manages to retain a charm and even a certain sweetness under Wilder.
- (final film in the Melbourne Cinematheque season was
Stalag 17, which I watched about a year ago)
This Boys Life - The film where Leonardo DiCaprio got his big break playing opposite DeNiro. It's one of those troubled 50s childhood films that were big at the time and despite the cast (Ellen Barkin, Carla Gugino and a very young Eliza Dushku all also make appearances) it is absolutely by the numbers. No surprises, lots of stuff you've seen before and all a bit dull with the attempt to be worthy. Don't bother
Tigerland - Joel Schumacher and Colin Farrell do a (Vietnam) war film, I had bad forebodings about this film but it very pleasantly surprised me. It's a far more subtle and intelligent piece of filmmaking that I expected. Schumacher's decision to base the whole film in the US, during the training of the soldiers is a good one, allowing the film to focus on a relatively small cast and keeps the film a tight 100 minutes. Farrell is actually very good in his role and Matthew Davies delivers a decent supporting performance. I'm not sure that this is not a better film than many of the Vietnam classics.
Dheepan - I liked
Read My Lips and consider
A Prophet to be excellent, but while I enjoyed
Rust and Bone I felt it lacked something in comparison with Audiard's previous work.
Dheepan is seriously good. The changing relationships between the three 'family' members is developed brilliantly, there is nothing wasted, nothing extraneous, a moving film with a humanistic core.
Plan 9 from Outer Space - The classic 'worst film of all time'. It is not really, it's very silly and takes far, far too long to get going but the last 20 minutes (with the aliens as anti-hero's is even quite interesting in the context of the 50s). I've certainly seem many more objectionable films and/or films I dislike more. It's just a bit boring, I guess it is of certain interest to cinephiles for the history aspect but for most people I would not bother with it.