Dogs Bark

Sometimes A Movie Is Just A Movie - - A Dangerous Method (2011) - - 28 April 2012

Recommended. I can’t exactly put my critical finger on it but there is something about this David Cronenburg effort that mocks the title. Maybe it’s just that the philosophical basis of psychotherapy is so tame after a century on the couch. It’s tough to understand how radical Jung and Freud were, both absolutely and relative to each other, back in 1910. Both Viggo Mortenson (Eastern Promises), as Freud, and Michael Fassbender (Shame), as Jung, provide perfectly fine interpretations. Much has been made of Keira Knightley’s (Pride And Prejudice) mad scenes and getting her backside slapped, yet Sabina Spielrein was an extraordinary intellectual figure and much more than a gorgeous bottom. I was reminded throughout of Ken Russell’s Altered States - - another very talky but unsuccessful - - movie about young (actually, behaviorist) shrinks in love. But whatever . . . this is a thoughtful, albeit cautious, attempt to represent an important intellectual battle. I was entertained.

Agony - - The Woodsman (2004) - - 25 April 2012

Recommended. . . but not to everyone. If you have molestation issues, I don’t recommend this very serious, but very disturbing, movie. Kevin Bacon (Footloose), showing a depth that he rarely gets to display, plays Walter, a paroled pedophile. Bacon plays Walter in an entirely believable way, a man so repulsed by his own impulses that he lives in a state of perpetual terror. Normal people joke about being normal; sick people never do. Fledgling director Nicole Kassell does well with her cast, including an astonishing and painful performance by Hannah Pilkes as an abused (not by Walter) girl. My only problem with the movie is its overly busy plot, diluting the complex power of Bacon’s performance. I would have done some judicious editing. But despite this, if we are going to better protect our children, we need first to better understand the problem and this movie eloquently makes that argument.  

The Sons Of Latka Gravas - - Night On Earth (1991) - - 13 April 2012

Strongly recommended. You know . . . I’m waiting for Jim Jarmusch to film an epic - - maybe a remake of The Sound Of Music starring Crispin Glover and Björk.  But Jim doesn’t seem interested and that’s OK since he’s so good at telling the littler stories. Night On Earth, like Mystery Train before it, extends Jarmusch’s devotion to the overlooked corners of life, something few do as slyly as him. The five stories follow cab rides through five cities during a single night. I adore the way he recreates the circadian rhythms of these cities using great dialogue and by opening up talented, very place-bound, actors.  The New York segment, my favorite, borrows Rosie Perez and Giancarlo Esposito from Do The Right Thing but set up against a marvelous performance by Armin Mueller-Stahl. There’s a sweet craziness to this segment, possibly defining Jarmusch’s sentimental side. Tom Waits, as usual, provides perfect background music.

Bone Dry - - Cutter’s Way (1981) - - 9 April 2012

Not recommended. It’s not often you see Jeff Bridges upstaged but if that thrills you, take Cutter’s Way, an interesting but unsatisfying little movie from the early 80’s.  The ham in this sandwich is little-used John Heard (Home Alone, Big).  This time Heard assumes the gravelly voice and eye patch, well playing an ebulliently alcoholic Vietnam Vet.  Bridges is Richard Bone, Cutter's more introspective side-kick. The story, like Heard’s character, is crippled, never really stepping off and stumbling over an arbitrarily unresolved ending.  Lisa Eichhorn (Yanks, The Talented Mr. Ripley), another appealing but underused talent, is very good as Heard’s wife but she's not given much of part. Not sure if all this is the fault of director Ivan Passer or writer Jeffrey Alan Fiskin; neither has produced much else I’ve seen. But having said all that, there is a very strong cult regard for this movie. Very mysterious.

No One Gets to Be A Cow Boy Forever - - Monte Walsh (1970) - - 31 March 2012

Recommended. In 1970 the western, like the frontier eighty years previous, was presumed dead.  Howard Hawks had cremated his last remake of Rio Bravo. Budd Boetticher hadn’t even made a Western in ten years. John Ford was in a wheelchair. But despite this, there were a number of younger directors - - Peckinpah, Eastwood, Penn and Altman - - who were hot on the trail of a different sort of Western. And along came Monte Walsh. Actually, until two years ago, you couldn’t even find this movie but here it now is on DVD.  Cameraman-turned-director William A. Fraker sobered up Lee Marvin enough to turn in a steller performance as an aging 'cow boy' closing out his frontier. He’s backed up by sidekick Jack Palance and still-lovely Jeanne Moreau as a past-her-prime dove. In the 70’s, the Western kept relevant with an elegiac gaze and wry characters.  Monte Walsh is a lovely example of this genre.