Rhino (2021) - bleak and crunchingly brutal Ukrainian film and it's nothing to do with the war (not obviously, at least) - a fairly standard gangster-death-spiral story but told with some real skill and creativity - there are a couple of amazing sequences where time does funny things (ellipsis, misdirection, and a fantastic opening where our antihero's youth is raced through in under 10 minutes and sweeps you right along). Then obviously things get darker - it's set in the chaotic, violent, mafya-ridden mid 90s, with all the old Soviet certainties are shattering and the hoods jockeying for power; our anti-hero is a smouldering slab of muscle with few redeeming features, no nicer friends and not a lot of charm. Plenty of violent mayhem ensues and there are many, many innocent victims. Like the man it's about, this gets slightly caught in the dead end: the sins and the crimes escalate relentlessly, you can't trust anyone, even your mates turn against you, what was it all for really, etc etc. Not an easy watch but a very long way from straight-to-DVD thug-sploitation - there ARE deeper thoughts here (other than just "a life of crime is likely to be short and painful and sure to rob you of your soul") but probably a lot of the nuance only really hits home for Ukrainians. It's lugubrious, not lurid - despite all the punching and shooting and nasty acts with hand tools. Worth a watch if you've a strong stomach and/or are very interested in filmic technique. Its director Oleh Sentsov has served several years in Russian prison for anti-Putin activism in the Donbas and is currently serving in the Ukrainian Army so obviously does know a few things about trauma first hand. Was on FilmFour, so likely to be re-run soon.
Human Desire (1954) carbon-dark film noir directed by Fritz Lang, with Gloria Grahame giving it the full go as a cheap, brassy twitchy-lipped femme fatale trying to get Glenn Ford (mildly sleazy demobbed serviceman back from WWII Japan) to bump off her husband, who's a MUCH older, ugly drunken lunk (played by Broderick Crawford with some tragic dignity). Bleak as all get out without being at all explicit. So much in here about mutual exploitation, men and women and using and abusing each other with no illusions. All about the cynicism. Not a true classic (there's honestly not much suspense in it, or specially great frames) but even by classic noir standards it's strikingly stark, casting a cold clear eye on pretty much everybody. (Although seen through today's eyes, Glenn Ford's character is a LOT more creepy than he was probably written to be at the time.) On Talking Pictures.
