For a notion of how cockeyed the cold war and its aftermath look to an Australian, this bubbly comedy, written and directed by newcomer Peter Duncan, is a good place to start. Judy Davis plays a fervent Australian communist who writes passionate letters to Stalin in the early 50s, is invited to the Soviet Union to see him, and appears to go to bed with him just before he dies. Back in Australia she gives birth to a son she names Joe, who grows up to become a radical labor organizer. A spy (Sam Neill) who may also be Joe Read more
The two earliest surviving films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (the very first, in 8-millimeter, no longer exists), as well as his powerful half-hour self-portrait in the collective 1978 feature Germany in Autumn. The City Tramp (1966), in 16-millimeter, is about a tramp who finds a gun in an alley; The Little Chaos (1967), in 35-millimeter, is about three young people attempting a swindle. Fassbinder appears in all three. (JR) Read more
Billy Crystal and Robin Williams costar in yet another Hollywood remake of a Francis Veber boulevard comedy, this one taken from Les comperes (1984). A mother trying to recover her runaway son recruits two of her ex-lovers in the search (Crystal as a big-time lawyer and Williams as a weepy neurotic) by telling each that he’s the boy’s real father. Ivan Reitman directs Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel’s adaptation like standard-issue sitcom, inviting Williams to pursue his usual overacting shtick and Crystal, who seems much closer to an actual human being, to adhere to his terse one-liners. What Dave Kehr wrote here about Les comperes applies equally to the recycling: The mechanical possibilities are worked out with precision and relish, but [the director] is careful not to allow the comedy to linger too long in the realm of real feelings. A platitudinous ending restores a safe and sane emotional order. With Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Nastassja Kinski. (JR) Read more
The first of seven features directed (and in most cases written) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder in 1970, this early work makes one wonder if his prolific output was always worth the trouble. Two young workers scheme to leave Germany and go after a treasure they believe is hidden in Peru, but a lot of this movie simply fills up space. In contrast to the painterly qualities of the director’s best work, this has the pasty, overlit look of a Bavarian sex comedy. On the other hand, Hanna Schygulla is great in a featured part. (JR) Read more
Though not the best of Val Lewton’s superb B movies of the 40s, this putative sequel to Cat People presents a finely shaded poetic and psychological portrait of childhood lonelinessthe fantasies of a little girl about her father’s mysterious first wife (Cat People’s Simone Simon). Beautifully atmospheric and suggestive, this 1944 film runs for 70 minutes, and hardly a moment is wasted. Written by DeWitt Bodeen and codirected by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise (the latter’s directorial debut); with Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, and Elizabeth Russell. (JR) Read more
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s updated adaptation (1970) of a 1929 play by Marieluise Fleisser that Bertolt Brecht is said to have liked; it’s about the relationships between women in a provincial German town and soldiers who are building a wooden bridge. As elsewhere in his work, Fassbinder’s simplicity in framing the action is often a tonic, but the lip-smacking depictions of cruelty remain as problematic as ever. With Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann, Harry Baer, and Gunther Kaufmann. (JR) Read more
Most of this arty crime movie by writer-director-costar Gene Mitchell, heretofore mainly an actor and writer, is clumsiness and excess in search of post-Tarantino stylishnessdeveloped (read: underdeveloped) from a one-act play, which means that stagy actor’s shtick tends to crowd out logic and meaning in almost every scene. (A notable exception is Keith David playing the cool gang leader, at least when he isn’t defeated by the hectoring script.) Although the emergence of a couple of gay relationships among the hoods promises a certain freshness, the rhetoric of gory violence and other show-offy moves quickly takes over. With David Amos, David Proval, Shant Benjamin, Barry Primus, Paul Klar, Tony Burton, and Mike Starr. (JR) Read more
The underrated Albert Lewin (Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, The Moon and Sixpence), a sort of Val Lewton who had the run of the MGM backlot, adapted Oscar Wilde’s novel and directed his own script in a skillfully somber and haunting version of the metaphysical fable about a man whose painting ages and records his moral corruption while he retains his youthful appearance. With Hurd Hatfield memorably playing the title part, this 1945 film also includes juicy performances by George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, and Donna Reed. Deeper and creepier (that is to say, better) than anything turned out by Merchant-Ivory, this is both very Hollywood and very serious in a manner calculated to confound the Hey, it’s only a movie! crowd. (JR) Read more
Andrei Tarkovsky’s powerful 1962 first feature, also known as Ivan’s Childhood and The Youngest Spy, is his most conventional as narrative, though it contains some remarkable dreamlike interludes that anticipate his later work. Shot in black and white, it follows the adventures of a boy serving as a spy on the front lines during World War II. In Russian and German with subtitles. 94 min. (JR) Read more
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s second feature (1969) is something like the decanted essence of his work. There’s less plot than usual, but the portraiture already seems firmly in place. Based on his own play, the film consists largely of a lot of deadbeats standing around on the street in a Munich suburb, abusing women and showing one another how macho they are. (The title is Bavarian slang for stud.) Eventually a Greek immigrant (played by Fassbinder himself) turns up and becomes the target of their xenophobia. Hanna Schygulla is also present in one of her earliest roles. In German with subtitles. 88 min. (JR) Read more
Ludicrous as morality or theology but passable as light entertainment (despite the lame try at jaunty theme music), writer-director Daniel Taplitz’s comedy-drama concerns a man (Aidan Quinn) who loses his wife, home, and job and is even hit by a bolt of lightning. He then resolves to defy God by breaking all of the Ten Commandments. Since this, like most commercial American movies, is about capitalist male ownership, the bad luck of the hero’s wifenot to mention the welfare of his community relative to his lossesis never remotely at issue; what’s at stake is God’s respect for a man’s private property. With Courteney Cox and Anthony LaPaglia. (JR) Read more
Its paper-thin characters turned into caricatures by egregious hamming, this 1996 Japanese comedy drama about shy ballroom dancers is sentimental goo and downright interminable. Clearly pitched to the Strictly Ballroom market, it’s strident and glib enough to corner it. Good luck and all that, but count me out. Written and directed by Masayuki Suo. In Japanese with subtitles. PG-13, 118 min. (JR) Read more
Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow play best friends who decide with some trepidation to attend their high school reunion. Despite the aggressive silliness of this enjoyable comedy, the emotional focus on the painful social experience of high school makes the film real and immediate, and the flavorsome dialogue in Robin Schiff’s script gives the leads a lot to work (as well as play) with. Directed fairly well by David Mirkin, though this movie really belongs to the actresses and screenwriter. With Janeane Garofalo. Evanston, Ford City, Lake, Lincoln Village, Norridge, 600 N. Michigan, Webster Place. –Jonathan Rosenbaum
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Uncredited photo. Read more
The subject’s nice — a clan of Irish con artists operating in the rural south — but the movie breaks down into separate pieces, some fresher than others, without much cumulative force. Directed by former cinematographer Jack Green (who’s shot eight Clint Eastwood movies as well as Twister) from a script by Jim McGlynn, the story centers on the adventures of a seasoned scam veteran (coproducer Bill Paxton) and his young protege (Mark Wahlberg), though a love interest eventually turns up in the form of a single mother (Julianna Margulies) who becomes the target of one of the duo’s schemes. James Gammon is around for additional grit, and there’s loads of country music on the sound track. (JR) Read more
Made between The Peddler and Marriage of the Blessed, this 1989 Iranian feature by the highly talented Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a filmmaker comparable in some ways to Martin Scorsese, follows the exploitation of an Afghan refugee who embarks on a bicycle marathon in order to raise money for his wife’s medical expenses. A searing expressionist work about man’s inhumanity, filmed in a hypnotic and feverish style. With Moharram Zaynalzadeh and Esmail Soltanian. Film Center, Art Institute, Columbus Drive at Jackson, Thursday, April 24, 6:00, 312-443-3737. –Jonathan Rosenbaum
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Uncredited photo from “The Cyclist”. Read more
