Dogs Bark

Man In His Time - - Holy Motors (2012) - - 26 April 2012

Recommended.  I‘m not really one for surreal cinema; however, if a story emerges from the madness, I can be won over. So it is with Holy Motors, a wholly unique, Cannes-lauded, montage of stories, assembled by French writer/director, Leos Carax (Boy Meets Girl). Holy Motors - - the company - - is a fleet of long, white limos, one of which transports M. Oscar (Denis Lavant) about Paris for 24 hours. His job is a series of performance-art “appointments,” assuming outrageous costumes, make-up and deportment for an unrevealed profession, although veteran actor Michel Piccoli (Belle de Jour) suggests a syndicate boss. In one remarkable sequence M. Oscar becomes a psychotic leprechaun, terrorizing Père Lachaise Cemetery and kidnapping a supermodel (Eva Mendes!) In another, he reunites with a lost love (Kylie Minogue!) There’s a suggestion that M. Oscar’s day symbolizes our lifelong pantomime, conveyed by Fate’s limousine . . . but that may be a stretch.

The Conscience Of The King - - En Kongelig Affære [A Royal Affair] (2012) - - 18 April 2013

Recommended. Pondering recent political events in the US, a nation born of The Enlightenment, how long before reason truly embodies the age? This kind of question is aroused by Nikolaj Arcel’s excellent Danish film, A Royal Affair.  The movie garnered Oscar and Golden Globe nods, losing twice to Amour. It attends the ascendancy and rapid downfall of King Christian VII of Denmark, his English queen, Caroline Mathilde (George III’s sister), and the King’s German physician, Johann Friedrich Struensee.  In the late 18^th century, this trio attempted to liberalize Danish governance but were undone by Struensse and Mathilde’s titular cuckoldry.  As the not-so-good doctor, Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) proves he’s bigger than a Bond villain but Mikkel Boe Følsgaard is just as impressive as the pathetically unstable king. Remarkable, too is the photography (Rasmus Videbæk). The story flags slightly in the middle but finishes strong over time. Perhaps, America will, too

Picture This - - Trance (2013) - - 13 April 2013

Recommended.  The connection between hypnotism and movie-making seems obvious. Both are about creating a perceived reality based on a suggestion. Suppose you are running through a zombie apocalypse. Suppose you are sawing off your own arm. If we throw sexual attraction into the mix - - suppose Rosario Dawson (Sin City) is sawing off your arm . . . in the nude - - then we have the basis of director Danny Boyle’s Trance. Needless to say, this film is entirely about suspension of disbelief, also a basis of hypnotism. So if you are one of those highly suggestible types, you will love this movie. Ms Dawson plays the hypnotherapist hired by Vincent Cassel (Black Swan) and James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland) to recapture McAvoy’s memory of a botched crime. All three do great work and the production, particularly Jon Harris’s (127 Hours) editing, is spectacular. Despite the silly plot, I was completely enthralled.

Ten Little Idiots - - Identity (2003) - - 30 March 2013

Not recommended. How’d I got lured off the interstate into this roach motel? Possibly the interesting cast, (John Cuzack, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina) or the clever director, James Mangold (3:10 From Yuma, Walk The Line) but I should have checked the writer, Michael Cooney (Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman) because Identity is one of the more moronic slasher story yet devised. Stress ‘devised,’ because the story hinges on a single plot device that’s telegraphed quickly to the mildly aware viewer. Viewer awareness is challenged because Identity is such a soporific movie. Each wonderful actor is given such a threadbare character to inhabit that zero audience ‘identity’ is established . . . hence, no suspense. Further, the diluvian amount of artificial rain poured onto the set and gloomy lighting makes it hard to tell which character has lost their head and whose has just lolled off from disinterest. Keep driving.

R.I.P., Roger. I miss you already.