A Scene At The Sea - 1991 - Japan

A Scene At The Sea - 1991 - 7/10 
AKA - あの夏、いちばん静かな海

 
Deaf trash collector, Shigeru, finds a broken surfboard on his route.
He clumsily repairs it, begins trying to master the waves.
Along the way, he picks up a girlfriend, Takako, also deaf.
For aspiring surfers, this film is encouraging.
Shigeru falls over and over and over, yet he persists.
To the point where he does improve.  Never world class, but that’s not the point.
Low-key Takeshi Kitano film.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3372673

The Cat - 1991 - Hong Kong

The Cat - 1991 - 6/10
AKA - Wèisīlǐ Zhī Lǎomāo // 衛斯理之老貓

Alien monstrosity invades Hong Kong, along with a bitter foe from another system.
Our alien heroes are a pixieish girl and a forceful black cat.
How forceful?  Friend, wait till you behold the epic battle it has with a Rottweiler.
Luckily for us, the adventurer Wisely gets involved.

 
Best way to fight?  Bottles of vodka, set ‘em on fire.  Books, what?
The ridiculous story is matched by the effects.
Glorious nonsense!  Better Wisely film to see is Seventh Curse.
Oh, how I miss HK energy from this era.

Robotrix - 1991 - Hong Kong

Robotrix - 1991 - 6/10
AKA - Nu Ji Xie Ren // 女機械人

 
Scientist Sakamoto, deranged, shifts his consciousness into an android.
From there, he goes on to kidnap, then a spree of rapes and murders.
Who’s gonna stop him?  Female police officers, transferred into female cyborgs.
Fembots, anyone?
Think Robocop with loads of nudity, sex, slathered with sleaze.
Trashy Category III flick, an inspiration for teenage males; robotics builders who will recreate Amy Yip and Chikako Aoyama girlfriends.

Raise The Red Lantern - 1991 - China

Raise The Red Lantern - 1991 - 7/10
AKA - 大紅燈籠高高掛

 
Songlian is sent by her financially ruined to be wife #4 of a wealthy man.
Treated lavishly at first, she soon realizes her “husband” is capricious.
The various wives are untrustworthy, as are the servants.
Pressure is tremendous, security assured only if a wife gets pregnant – and bears a son.
Beautiful film, as are most of Zhang Yimou’s, yet the tension never lets up.
None of the video releases I have watched since cannot match the vibrant colors I saw in the arthouse theater.

Strays - 1991 - USA

Strays - 1991 - 5/10

 
Fool yuppies move from the city to rural oblivion.
Inside the bucolic house, the husband’s cat allergies go overload.
Do they figure this out?  Ha, ha.
Then there are rats!  What’s wrong with local strays?  My cats would have chomped down right quick.
Top cat is a wet, matted pelt of rage and fury, soon terrorizing hapless humanity.
Laughable mouse-killers matched by hammy people and a script full of holes.

A Question Of Attribution - 1991 - UK

A Question Of Attribution - 1991 - 7/10

 
Three had been unearthed and chased from the nation.
For Blunt, exposure had hung like a sword for over a decade.
Government ministers were certain he was a Soviet spy.
Yet, his position, his eminence, made cornering him exceedingly tricky.
Nuanced teleplay focuses on the verbal cat and mouse.
A highlight is Blunt discussing art with Queen Elizabeth, who proves to be sharper and deeper than he assumes.
Electric drama, better if you know SOMETHING of the Cambridge Five.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3366594

Anchoress - 1991 - UK

Anchoress - 1991 - 7/10

 
Christine, working the English fields in the 1300’s stands transfixed, watching the Virgin Mary stature arrive.
Seemingly blessed, Christine agrees to be confined in a small dwelling attached to the church.
A holy anchoress, an intermediary between the flesh and the Divine.
The faithful seek her out, for answers, for guidance, for succor.
Conflict arises with the self-righteous priest, as her answers do not always align with dogma.
Greater conflict between her midwife mother, and the priest, who declares her a witch.

 
Extremely slow film, black and white arthouse, similar to Book Of Days.
Filled with arresting images, yet one never knows if Christine is truly visionary, or a simpleton.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3362252

Flirting - 1991 - Australia

Flirting - 1991 - 6/10

 
Adolescent misfit Danny is shipped off to a boys’ school where he is even more isolated and bullied.
During an outing, he meets an African girl and they share an unlikely attraction.
Mind you, this is early 1960’s Australia.  She is black, he is white, the result is outrage.
A lot of melodrama could have been milked from this, yet instead it is a gentle comedy.
Probably the best route, as the film is wise and enjoyable.
I kept telling Danny, “Dude, she’s too big for you,”  even though I rooted for them as a couple.
Young talent who went further include Thandiwe Newton, Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman.

The Resurrected - 1991 - Canada

The Resurrected - 1991 - 6/10

The client glides into the office.
Blonde, wearing a gold satin outfit, lips red enough to halt a cavalry charge.
Only there’s a wedding ring.  Her husband is missing.
Happened after he unearthed a portrait of a bygone ancestor.
With whom he bears an uncanny resemblance.  Oh yeah, the husband’s name is Charles Dexter Ward.

 
Get the flaws out of the way first.
For the first hour, the directing and photography is atrocious.
Closeups galore, amateurish reaction shots, and a Deckard style narration.
A cross between cheap TV and tacky.
The flashback sequence of 1771 goes straight into classic HPL.
Exploration of the subterranean catacombs is eerie and spooky.
And the finale is a real doozy.

Soapdish - 1991 - USA

Soapdish - 1991 - 6/10

 
Ratings are bad, the “star” suffers a relationship crisis, supporting players joust for the throne.
Hit and miss comedy set in the realm of soap opera.
Very much a parody of the genre, with particularly good comic casting.
Downey, droll and wry, Field with emotional outbursts, Kline a master of timing, Moriarty the caustic femme.
Their strengths, however, don’t always mesh.
Earlier sections play like theatre, gears sometimes slipping until the final act, sheer farce.
Nostalgia for some, as soaps have declined in viewership.

Alma Cogan: The Girl With The Giggle In Her Voice - 1991 - UK

Alma Cogan: The Girl With The Giggle In Her Voice - 1991 - 6/10

 
Alma dominated the English music charts from the mid 1950’s until the 60’s.
Buoyant and radiating optimism, Alma represented a return to joie de vivre following austerity.
With Merseybeat, with the rise of young pop groups, she became passé.
Nicely covers the high points of meteoric British artist, forgotten at home, unknown in the States.
The illness struck suddenly.  She was 34.
Her “giggle” by the way, resembles a squeak (although not as pronounced as Dale Bozzio’s).
Beatles fans, proceed = https://webgrafikk.com/blog/uncategorized/alma-cogan-1932-1966/

Subspecies - 1991 - Romania

Subspecies - 1991 - 5/10

 
Three college girls (two Americans, one local) investigate folk culture in Romania.
Where in Romania?  Transylvania.
And yes, vampires do exist, friend.  In this case, two rivals, brothers.
The “good vampire” is magazine handsome and has his eye on one of the girls.
The “evil vampire”, Radu, seems a descendant of Murnau’s Nosferatu, and has his eye on world domination.
Straight off, I root for the baddie.
Location filming in Romania is the best thing here.  Script likely penned by a fanboy reading issues of Forrest Ackerman’s “Famous Monsters”.
3-4 sequels expand this Full Moon vampire saga.

Once A Thief - 1991 - Hong Kong

Once A Thief - 1991 - 6/10
AKA - Chung hang sei hoi  //  縱橫四海

 
Three high-end thieves are asked to steal a painting in France.
Security guards, state-of-the-art tech protect, along with a curse.
A John Woo film, there is action galore.
Nevertheless, this is a very playful film, tongue in cheek, as if Woo is parodying his own films.
Cast helmed by Chow Yun Fat and Leslie Cheung.
Released during the Chinese New Year this was meant to be fun entertainment.
Lest you think Woo was going soft, this was followed by Hard Boiled.

Closet Land - 1991 - USA

Closet Land - 1991 - 6/10

 
The female has been apprehended by the secret police, and turned over to an interrogator.
She is a writer of innocent children’s stories, so surely this is a mistake.
Claustrophobic, Kafka shrouded film feels very much like a two-act play.
Sexual tension pulses throughout.  Revelations about State surveillance comes as no surprise.
Acting is fine, although the dialogue is heavy handed, the themes obvious.
Preachy film grows more tiresome as the viewing clock ticks

Black Cat - 1991 - Hong Kong

Black Cat - 1991 - 6/10  
AKA - Hak Mau // 黑猫

 
Hong Kong remake of La Femme Nikita.  Expect action overload and carnage.
Jade Leung plays the highly neurotic girl who is trained (Simon Yam) into the assassin, Black Cat.
Killer action, especially when well-oiled plans go haywire.
Romantic elements merely muddy the proceedings.  Leung at this point, was not skillful enough.
Those scenes range from cloying to maudlin.
Fans of classic Hong Kong films will enjoy (probably fast-forward the dull stuff).
Worth a look for its excessive violence, but this pales next to the Bresson original.

Defending Your Life - 1991 - USA

Defending Your Life - 1991 - 7/10

 
That’s the way it goes sometimes.  One moment you’re rolling easy down Life’s Highway, the next moment you’re dead and in Judgment City.
Say where?  Daniel is in the waiting zone, where he will be deemed eligible to ascent to Heaven, or back to Earth.
Hit and miss Albert Brooks comedy is one of his best, with plenty of jokes and compelling concepts.
Meryl Streep, especially luminous and likeable here, is an enlightened soul, all but predestined.
Brooks, on the other hand, is one of us.  A schlub.

Once Around - 1991 - USA

Once Around - 1991 - 6/10

 
Renata is part of a tight knit family.  Very tight.
Into her world arrives Sam, rich, successful, boorish, and older.
Across the line, the family immediately takes a dislike, which intensifies the harder Sam tries.
Aside from their perception of him, the fact is they resent their adult daughter spending more of her time with him, rather than them – them – them.
Uncomfortable comedy plays far better now than it did upon release.  At least to my eyes, Boomers and their offspring are much closer than the actual family units Boomers grew up in.
“The heart wants what it wants - or else it does not care”  Dickinson.

Hudson Hawk - 1991 - USA

Hudson Hawk - 1991 - 5/10

 
I only knew a handful of people who enjoy this, aside from Bruce Willis.
A singing burglar is hired (coerced) into thieving da Vinci secret weapon plans.
The singing may have put audiences off.
Of the notion that this is a comedy, a rather surreal comedy harking back to James Coburn’s Flint movies.
Willis is at once in on the joke, yet earnest throughout.
My wife, who likes slapstick, loathed this film to the point it gave her a headache.
I dislike slapstick, yet enjoyed it when it came out, and still enjoy it.
Nevertheless, if you take a gamble on this, have a backup film ready.

Sleeping With The Enemy - 1991 - USA

Sleeping With The Enemy - 1991 - 6/10

 
Laura and Martin are the unhappily married couple.
Why?  Because he is a domineering control freak.  Possessive, jealous,
So how come she never saw that coming?  Most know the seeds are always there.
Did he have a head accident?  No.  Is she half-blind and dimwitted?  Hmm.
Terror / thriller vehicle goes full throttle into Melodrama, with looney plot twists.
A hit with audiences (go figure), and boosted sales for Berlioz.
I kid you not.  During its run, I worked at a record store where every week assertive females came in, dragging their subdued or bashful boyfriends, and requested Berlioz.
Symphonie Fantastique, in case you were wondering.

Scenes From A Mall - 1991 - USA

Scenes From A Mall - 1991 - 5/10

 
Fans knew this wasn’t a “Woody” film.  Knew it suffered scathing reviews.
Nevertheless, we viewed.
Woody Allen and Bette Midler play a happily married couple whose marriage has hit a crisis.
Allen and Midler show great chemistry, yet their characters are extremely dislikeable.
They bicker, squabble and lash out.  Inside the mall, at a time when malls had become less popular.
The movie feels improvised, or poorly edited.
Mazursky attempting Altman, without the latter’s touch.