Violette Nozière - 1978 - France

Violette Nozière - 1978 - 7/10

 
Teenage girl, chafing against her parents’ petty restrictions, begins prostitution.
Soon acquires a needy boyfriend, whom she supports financially.
Parents are clueless, until she contracts the disease.
Slow burn thriller / morality tale simmers steadily.
Isabelle Huppert seems too old to play a teenager, yet Chabrol’s direction uses her wisely.
Based on an explosive 1933 true history, the resolution of which may not please many.

IXE-13 et la course à l'uranium - 2024 - Canada

IXE-13 et la course à l'uranium - 2024 - 6/10

 
1946, Canada, World War II is over and the special espionage team disbanded.
There are missing containers of uranium, however, so the team squares off
Against Soviet agents, against a clandestine Nazi group, against nervous politicians.
Follow the glowing vials and you will be fine.
Canadian series has too many characters, some barely utilized.
Motivations and alliances swivel often, as if they don’t know each other.
Narrative is intriguing, but sloppy.  Tries too hard.
In French, beware inept computer subtitles.

The Grobian - 2024 - Finland

The Grobian - 2024 - 6/10

 
Can’t say they weren’t warned.
“It’s just a story,”  the two hikers dismiss the local.
The woods are thick, one of the pair sickens, they must spend the night.
“Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.”
Dark, gory Horror short.

The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Phil Spector - 2008 - USA

The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Phil Spector - 2008 - 6/10

 
Strange “documentary” that seems part interview, part paean to the troubled producer.
Weaving in and out, the 2007 homicide trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson.
Spector, hands visibly shaking (Parkinson’s, Bells?) discusses his life, production glories, individuals.
For whatever reasons, he has a particular axe to grind against Tony Bennett.
Courtroom proceedings are all but silent, although several of the high tier individuals seem to mug and giggle.
Video clips of groundbreaking songs also fuel the narrative.
Underneath, an author writes hyperbolic, rapturous praise about these pop hits.
There is no real biographical meat to this.

My Dinner With Andre - 1981 - USA

My Dinner With Andre - 1981 - 7/10

 
The inspiration for those action figures (Waiting For Guffman).
Theatre director Andre meets friend Wally for dinner, and we eavesdrop.
Andre has had affairs, foreign travels, broad worldviews.
Wally is more grounded, more of a listener, but not a milquetoast.
When pushed, he can shove right back.
In some ways, this is theatre, in other ways, this is listening to intellectual intelligence.
A quiet film, one could rewatch every few years and tease new insights.

Saltburn - 2023 - UK

Saltburn - 2023 - 7/10

 
Oliver begins Oxford on an academic scholarship.
High IQ, disciplined, organized, yet socially repellent.
Not the right class, not really our kind, don’t you know?
Until he is befriended by the charismatic, wildly popular Felix.
Whereupon Oliver begins to worm his way into the social clique.
Straightaway, I wonder if this is a Tom Ripley clone.
It is not, but it is a story of aspiration, envy, dependence, and Olympian indifference.
Barry Keoghan (born to play Elon Musk) is too old as a first year Oxford student, and it detracts.
A taut mystery, with diabolical twists, although not as deep as it desires to be.

The Deadly Knell - 1914 - Denmark

The Deadly Knell - 1914 - 6/10  
AKA - Dødsklokken

 
During the dinner party, military brass learn they are at war!
Next scene, the trenches!
A young officer is dispatched, carrying an important dossier to the front.
Except he is betrayed by a higher rank, imprisoned for his trouble.
Fortunately, pageboy cut Hubert (think Hardy Boys) is there to bail him out over and over.
I am guessing the conflict may be the Franco-Prussian War.
Denmark film ends abruptly, missing a reel or two.

English subs = https://subscene.cam/subtitle/3349449

Polite Society - 2023 - UK

Polite Society - 2023 - 6/10

 
Ria self-trains to be a stuntwomen – although she is smallish and still in school.
Sister Lena is a failed artist, suddenly wooed by a rich, handsome bachelor.
Ria, jealous, confused, lonely, suspicious, senses something amiss and decides to stop the wedding.
Even her friends say, “He’s good looking, wealthy and a doctor.  What’s the problem?”
Nevertheless, right or wrong, Ria IS the fury.
Brit / Hindi comedy pushes the yucks, and the story is puddle deep.
Has its moments, though, and seems agreeable for most audiences.

Blue Nude - 1977 - Italy

Blue Nude - 1977 - 6/10
AKA - Nuda Prohibida

 
Sleazy, smutty tale of Italian “actor” trying to make it in New York.
He is optimistic, good-natured, hopeful.
“If Pacino, de Niro, even Stallone can make it, so can I!”
Rocco pounds the pavement for roles, hustles for money.
Dog-walker, tour guide, gigolo, male stripper (clients are not models, but foul mouthed grannies).
Eventually, he drifts into porn.
As painful as things go for him, colleagues spiral into the violent, sadistic videos.
Cheap looking, unpleasant, with fabulous street scenes of pre-sanitized New York.

English subs = https://subscene.cam/subtitle/3349448

Hollywood Boulevard - 1936 - USA

Hollywood Boulevard - 1936 - 6/10

 
The Silent era has-been still has his pride, though casting directors shun him.
Until a magazine publisher offers to print his memoirs for a princely sum.
His reminisces are discreet, gentlemanly, whereupon the editor rewrites them into spicy tell-alls.
Well, that’s what readers want!  Scuz, trash, filth.  Who cares about reputations?
The film is packed with cameos of faded Silent stars, even a rising Gary Cooper.
Would that the whole film were thus.
Instead, there is a secondary story of an estranged daughter and her unbelievably obnoxious boyfriend.
Fast-forward scenes with eager beaver Bob Cummings and this will be more enjoyable.