Irina Palm - 2007 - Belgium

Irina Palm - 2007 - 6/10

 
The grandson needs expensive medical treatment.  Parents seem hopeless.
Only Grandma  pushes down all avenues to earn money despite her complete lack of modern skill sets.
Nonetheless, a few professions are timeless.  The oldest profession, for example.
In which she proves surprisingly adept and successful.
Marianne Faithful marvelous as the grandma whose desperation is stronger than her moral qualms.

The Last Of The Haussmans - 2012 - UK

The Last Of The Haussmans - 2012 - 6/10

 
Mother abandoned her two children early to live in an ashram.
Grandma took care of the youngsters and promised them her home when she died.
After she died, however, Mother appeared and took possession of the home, cutting the children out.
She could not afford to maintain the property and allowed it to descend into shambles.
So the play opens.  Mom, half-senile, one tumor removed, living amidst her sixties hippie delusions.  The adult children, failures each, watch any sort of security ebb away.
The hippie stereotype wears thin, and no one seems capable of becoming “adult”.
Not particularly funny, nor tragic.  Talking, not conversation.

Hot Thrills And Warm Chills - 1967 - USA

Hot Thrills And Warm Chills - 1967 - 5/10

 
Toni regroups with her old gang, Dody and Kitten, and plan a high stakes heist.
Mardi Gras.  The bejeweled crown of the King Of Sex!  The plan to lift it.
Beforehand, they hit the club and see hard-rocking Glory Rhodes, admire a topless dancer, then slick the sheets with aroused males.
Yeah, one of those kinda of films.  The kinda films men used to like.
Once talking stops and the “plot” kicks in, this becomes a shambles.
Completely incoherent.  Get in the mood, drink two bottles of Thunderbird first.
Subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/hot-thrills-and-warm-chills/english/2998025

The Hillside Strangler: Devil In Disguise - 2022 - USA

The Hillside Strangler: Devil In Disguise - 2022 - 6/10

 
The first murder occurred in October 1977, the final pair in January 1979.
Main suspect Kenneth Bianchi  confessed and recanted countless times.
He implicated his cousin, he exonerated him, then changed his mind.  Again and again.
Bianchi persuaded a deluded female to commit a copycat murder to muddle the case against him.
The trial lasted four years and was one of the most expensive in California history.
He remains a habitual, chronic liar and the truth will never be truly known.
Four part series.  Talking heads, repeated use of numerous photos and clips.
Victims lightly mentioned.  Their dreams, plans, given short shrift.

The Menu - 2022 - USA

The Menu - 2022 - 7/10

 
The Hawthorne, exclusive restaurant.  How exclusive?  On its own island.
Expensive?  Prices  run into four figures.
Yet tonight, as in every night, tables for twelve are sold out.
And the meal, a multi course cavalcade, is a building presentation of art.
The guest list is composed of critics, “foodies”, loud-mouthed wannabees, entitled, and snobs.
Vicious satire on cork sniffers and swooning nibblers who rhapsodize over their consumption.
Acid laced meal of Bitter Feast (2010), Boiling Point (2021), seasoned with the bitter bile of Flux Gourmet (2022).
Eat, drink and be merry.

La Cérémonie - 1995 - France

La Cérémonie - 1995 - 7/10

 
Disturbing psychological thriller based on Ruth Rendell novel.
Distracted wife interviews maid applicant, explains duties, gives a tour of the house.
Does or does not run background check.
The maid, it is revealed, has one glaring shortcoming, which gnaws at her more than anything.
Maid falls under the influence of busybody mail clerk,
and two females bond over resentments, secrets, worries, and grudges.
Tension is tightened throughout until the last reel.
One of Claude Chabrol’s more accessible films.
Huppert and Bonnaire pitch perfect as amoral pair.

The Wayward Cloud - 2005 - Taiwan

The Wayward Cloud - 2005 - 6/10
AKA - Tian bian yi duo yun // 天邊一朵雲

Half sibling to 1999’s The Hole.  In the earlier film, torrential rain, in this one drought.
Water flows briefly each day, residents rely on melons to slack thirst.
A seemingly abandoned apartment building houses a film crew making porn videos.
Tenants wander listlessly, engage in bored sex, browse the empty video shop.
This is mostly wordless.  While there may be meaning, I did not think too hard.

As with The Hole, the favorite parts for me were the weird-beyond-belief musical numbers.
Prudes, beware numerous mid-core pornographic sequences.  γνῶθι σεαυτόν
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/the-wayward-cloud-tian-bian-yi-duo-yun/english/2997328

The Glass Tomb - 1955 - UK

The Glass Tomb - 1955 - 5/10

 
Step right up!  Look at Sapolio, the starving man!
Pel promotes sideshow artists, carnival acts, etc …
Newest gig, the man who won’t eat for the next seventy days.
Meantime, while all the carnies are partying, a murder is committed in the upstairs flat.
Dull story, lacks mystery, lacks tension, and the carnival world is not explored.
Lackadaisical commentary by Richard Roberts wanders and is misinformed, saying this was Ireland’s lone Noir.
(Check out Behind Green Lights and Railroaded (1946), along with Open Secret and Raw Deal.)

Under Milk Wood - 2014 - UK

Under Milk Wood - 2014 - 8/10

 
“Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God?”
Dylan Thomas’ radio drama receives a magnificent interpretation via a luminous cast.
A dizzying rush of images, character sketches, plots, lies, treachery, regrets.
Language flows forth like a gushing spill.
One seizes upon an instant, before being propelled onward into another.
Crossing of memory and dreams, recollections true and misremembered.
“Remember me. I have forgotten you.  I am going into the darkness, of the darkness forever.  I have forgotten that I was ever born.”
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/under-milk-wood-2014/english/2995796

Hanzo The Razor: The Snare - 1973 - Japan

Hanzo The Razor: The Snare - 1973 - 6/10
AKA - Goyôkiba: Kamisori Hanzô jigoku zeme

 
Hanzo, the sheriff with the big blade, prepares to interrogate.
One does not want to be interrogated by this man, trust me.
Treasury officials have devalued the currency, forcing desperate citizens into crime.
Hanzo, venting his disdain at officials stumbles across an illegal abortion site.
This is merely the beginning of slave traffic, government criminality, murder attempts.
Storylines churn at a furious pace.  Speaking of churning, so does our big blade officer.
Middle outing of an extremely sleazy trilogy.  Only Japan offers nuggets like this.

The Amityville Horror - 1979 - USA

The Amityville Horror - 1979 - 6/10

 
The previous homeowner murdered his whole family.
A year on, the house is available – cheap!
So the new family snaps it up, moves in … and Pa starts weirding out.
What to do?  Stay and get slaughtered?  Or keep asking,  “What’s going on?”
The house upsets a nun, a priest, a paranormal sensitive.
Any family with a lick of sense would flee.
Based on a huge bestselling book, which was based on “true events”.
Haunted house clichéd to the max in enjoyable if predictable, outing.

Cry Wolf - 1947 - USA

Cry Wolf - 1947 - 6/10

 
Sandra arrives at her late husband’s family home.
Wife?  Widow?  “Why, we never knew he was married!”
The narrative soon goes into one of mutual suspicion.
Is this woman a gold digger? Did her husband’s brother have something to do with his death?
One watches this to see Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck together – their only pairing.  
Noirish looking, although this is more mystery / thriller.
Not enough tension in an underwritten script.
Watchable if you run across it while surfing late night.