What’s Love Got To Do With It? - 2022 - UK

What’s Love Got To Do With It? - 2022 - 6/10

 
Childhood best-friend Raz tells Zoe he decides to have an arranged marriage.
He probably should have waited, as Zoe is a documentary filmmaker and begs to film the whole process.
The matchmaker, screening candidates, awkward meetings, interviews with happy arranged marriages.
Consistently funny (Emma Thompson is a hoot), yet the last act veers into a different direction.
Much of the steam and energy also evaporates, causing me to wonder (you’re not going there, are you?”
Rom-Com is a cousin to My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), although that confection had a hard center while this is marshmallow filled.

A Taste Of Flesh - 1967 - USA

A Taste Of Flesh - 1967 - 4/10

Another blunder.  I thought I was acquiring another of the “of her flesh” series by Michael Findlay.
Wrong.  This is a Doris Wishman roughie.
Two armed men invade the apartment of two women and a friend.
Assassins, it turns out, who run at the mouth.
Appalling film boasts flesh, but suffers from being boring.
The actors are inept.  My theory is Wishman hired thespians at a nearby truckstop.

 
A fantasy sequence carries lesbian overtones, which make some giddy.
I’m ambivalent whether such was the living arrangement or not.

Gipsies - 1921 - Czechoslovakia

Gipsies - 1921 - 6/10
AKA - Cikáni

Giacomo plies the canals of Venice, dreaming of his betrothed, Angelina.
Deck mates warn him, “Trust not fortune nor women, both are deceitful and changeable.”
Thus, when the handsome, wealthy stranger appears, so disappears Angelina.
Giacomo, forlorn, gazes out at the empty waters.  End of Prelude.

 
Time passes and the narrative fragments into several overblown stories.
Orphaned children, accused women, jealous menfolk.
Melodramatic acting, flailing arms, contorted facial expressions.
Wonderful restoration of this obscure Czechoslovakian Silent.
Modern score serves the story.

Wetherby - 1985 - UK

Wetherby - 1985 - 6/10

 
Early, a prophesy is spoken, which could resonate today:
“Logic also tells us that there must be constraints. That if people went around saying exactly what they feel, the result would be barbarism.”

The young man shows up out of the blue.
Friendly, yet withdrawn, moody.  Suicidal, too, as it turns out.
His death stirs undercurrents throughout the community.
Old memories, resentments, faded promises, dashed obsessions.
I watched when it first screened (never having heard of Hare) and did not know what to make of it.
Still a puzzle, a film of aching loneliness, of disconnection within ones community.

The Insect Woman - 1972 - S Korea

The Insect Woman - 1972 - 6/10
AKA - Chungyo  // 충녀

Too late, fellow patients warn the new arrival about female insects.
The ones who devour male partners after mating.
Professor Lee’s wife dominates him in business and in the household, leaving him impotent.
Meanwhile, one of his teenage students, forced to provide for her family, starts work as a hostess.
Meaning, casual prostitute.  And as a virgin, her first time will cost plenty.

 
Professor and student start an affair, restoring his prowess, of which his manipulative wife is aware.
She even pays the girl an allowance.
Then things start to get surreal.

 
Pay attention all you want, the plot steadily loses cohesion.
Until the police arrive.
Strange Korean melodrama, desperately in need of a restoration.

The Danish Girl - 2015 - UK

The Danish Girl - 2015 - 6/10

 
Unsteady biopic of transgender pioneer, “inspired” by Einar Wegener  (Lili Elbe).
30's Danish artist goes from modeling female costumes for his artist wife, then cross-dressing at soirees.
Finally, he decides he was mis-born male and tries to convince medical types he is not insane.
Extremely earnest and correct film rings false on a few fronts.
One, the history is inaccurate - hence the “inspired” tag.
Wegener/Elbe was not the first operation, that was Dora R in 1921.
Eddie Redmayne, exceptional as Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, here is either miscast of suffers atrocious pancake makeup.
Not once could I accept him as female, transgender or cross-dresser.
This reminds me of gay cinema of the early 70's (eg: The Boys In The Band).
Heavily viewed, embraced.  Entertaining as broccoli.

Venus - 2021 - UK

Venus - 2021 - 6/10

 
Mother knows the risks are immense, as she hurries to place her daughter Iris’s memories into a synthetic.
SciFi short borrows from Blade Runner and Ex Machina.
Even answers a question omitted by the latter.
This feels like a pitch, or proof-of-concept, yet is well done and leaves a door open.
Worth a look.
English subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/venus-2021

The Search For John Gissing - 2001 - UK

The Search For John Gissing - 2001 - 5/10

 
Hotshot young Yank is transferred to London to help with a takeover merger.
Events turn south immediately.  No pickup at Heathrow, the office is locked, the hotel is the wrong one.
Matthew’s boss (a delicious Alan Rickman) turns out to be a master game player.
Labored comedy is a very spotty affair.
Writer/director/star Mike Binder aims for Ben Stiller or Woody Allen, though he is not in their league.
He has the sense to surround himself with excellent comedians (Rickman, Janeane Garofalo, Juliet Stevenson).
Stale goods, nonetheless, might have been funnier decades earlier.

The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady - 1984 - UK

The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady - 1984 - 7/10

 
Lovely adaptation of Edith Holden’s book, which was quite popular a generation earlier.
12 episodes, one per month, this follows the changing seasons, as well as Holden’s life.
Nature fans will embrace the scenery.  Topical points also raised (hunting limitations).
Holden herself is something of an enigma.
Pay attention and you will notice her family’s declining fortunes.
Her death was likewise a mystery, although producers offer unsupported hints, which they ought not have.
This series should be better known.  Music by Jon Lord.

I Smile Back - 2015 - USA

I Smile Back - 2015 - 7/10

 
Well acted across the board, but depressing, disturbing film of mental illness.
Mom (outstanding Sarah Silverman) drinks, pops pills, snorts lines, prowls for men who like doggie.
Stunts and reckless behavior to break the numbness.
Not shown, but probably when she’s on lithium.
When she skips the lith, she swings from belligerent to utterly withdrawn.
Childhood demons might be a cause, or it might be genetic.
Family and friends are trapped with her, or swirling near the edge of her whirlpool.
The soul in a tunnel with no light at either end.

Mansfield Park - 1999 - UK

Mansfield Park - 1999 - 6/10

 
Poor sparrow Fanny is invited to live with wealthier relatives at a young age.
She grows into a beautiful and intelligent woman.  Marriage bait.
Then, as now, a lot of men don’t want no woman who’s too smart for her own britches.
And one with no fortune, no dowry?
Fanny is a wry observer, commentator, but still a back row student.
Producers attempt to “modernize” Austen with righteous stances on slavery.
Save for Harold Pinter, entire cast lacks charisma, lacks chemistry.

Madame Claude - 2021 - France

Madame Claude - 2021 - 6/10

 
Biopic of Parisian madam plays out like scattershot Twitter feed.
Straight off, pre-credits read, not based on or inspired by, but rather “Based on true events from the imagined life.”
Hello?
Claude runs a team of 300 prostitutes, so expect sex and (tasteful) nudity.
Comfortable with criminal racketeers, she likewise works with the police, and later the SDECE.
Who is she, Chuck Barris?
Wait a minute, “imagined life,” remember?
Jumbled mess of characters, incidents, scenes, without depth or coherence.