Mad Detective - 2007 - Hong Kong

Mad Detective - 2007 - 6/10 
AKA - San Taam // 神探

 
Bun is highly effective, if highly troubled.
Has the ability to get inside the criminal’s mind, in numerous cases, minds.
Meaning, villains with multiple personalities.
Thing is, he was pretty much flat out nuts.  Once off his meds, even worse.
Uncomfortable Johnnie To vehicle of crime, insanity, and the false narrative. 

Exte: Hair Extensions - 2007 - Japan

Exte: Hair Extensions - 2007 - 5/10
AKA - Ekusute // エクステ

 
A young female is washed up dead.  Save for her hair, which keeps growing.
And what luscious hair!  Glorious tresses that a collector / fetishist starts selling to salons.
Too bad the hair turns out to be cursed.
Clear signpost that the “dead wet girls” cycle was finished.
More campy than frightening, silly more than scary.
I felt cheated the first time I watched.  Second time, I decided to view as comedy / satire and this was better.
Better still, find other wet girls for your enjoyment.

Alien Vs. Predator Requiem - 2007 - USA

Alien Vs. Predator Requiem - 2007 - 5/10

 
Pity the unloved child.
Unexpected followup to 2004’s AvP boasts more carnage with a barely coherent story.
Hard upon that film, the Predator crew is overwhelmed by a new chestburster, and the ship crashes in woodsy USA.
The Xenomorph survives and scampers away, laying fresh eggs.
A Predator fixer races to the area to clean the mess, remove evidence and liquidate all Xenomorphs.
What else?  Law enforcement, overage teenagers, compositions that are far too dark.
Not as good as the previous effort (which received mixed reviews), this has decent scenes, absurd logic.
B-flick.  Hopefully, the studio will resist the creators lobbying for another film.

Kanashibara - 2007 - Canada

Kanashibara - 2007 - 6/10

 
Young male grieves in the basement, dreams tormented by the death of his girlfriend.
Who may – or may not – be physically / spiritually there.
Damaged look works to exacerbate the nocturnal state.
Dreamlike short of haunted possession.

One California Day - 2007 - USA

One California Day - 2007 - 7/10

Tour through the California surf, from Baja to the North Coast.
Different waves, participants, alternate attitudes.
In Baja, for example, riders prefer the isolation, aloneness, the chance to embrace Nature.
Further north, say Malibu, Orange County or Santa Barbara, surfers deal with the crush.

 
Some scenes witnessed riders shoving other surfers off boards.
Coarseness may contribute, as well as the fact that California is beyond overcrowded.
Music is low-key, and there are nice detours to traditional board makers.
(Professionals now use Thai factories to mass produce their endorsed boards.)
Doc contrasts how the beach was, with how it is today.

Diary Of A Nobody - 2007 - UK

Diary Of A Nobody - 2007 - 7/10

 
Mr. Pooter holds himself, and his lot, with higher regard than his actual station.
Fortunately, he keeps a diary and jots down his thoughts on the day, anxieties, regards of others, despairs.
Engaging from the start, this is essentially a one-man play.
Hugh Bonneville embodies the soul of the man, fleshes him out, makes him one we might like to meet.
Light-hearted comedy, in the amusing vein, for fans of Victorians, Edwardians.

Flash Point - 2007 - Hong Kong

Flash Point - 2007 - 6/10
AKA - Dou foh  // 导火线

 
The inspector has been reprimanded repeatedly for excessive use of force.
Injuring, hospitalizing and maiming suspects.
His partner has been working undercover for months, ferreting a Vietnamese gang.
Police thriller never simmers below mid boil, with furious fight scenes.
Donnie Yen electrifying here, the speed of his movements breathtaking.
Collin Chou (Seraph from the Matrix) makes an incredible foe.
Full credit to the action and stunts; pity about the generic plot.

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.

It's A Free World - 2007 - UK

It's A Free World - 2007 - 7/10

 
Unpleasant, Ken Loach “message” film about the exploitation of undocumented workers.
Angela is fired from her recruiting job after repulsing a groping male coworker.
Soon enough, she and a friend set up their own black market agency.
Companies want temp workers, day workers, casual workers.
Immigrants, especially illegal immigrants without papers, are less likely to complain when cheated.
The females soon realize there is a lot of profit in flop houses, as well.
So they lease sh!tholes, jam them with illegals, double book the rooms so sleeping is only by shifts.

Others I viewed this with were horrified.  I shrugged and said it was fairly accurate, if over dramatized.
I worked with illegals for many years and most were treated OK, though we had one SOB boss who contacted Immigration every time payroll ran tight.

The Girl Cut In Two - 2007 - France

The Girl Cut In Two - 2007 - 6/10
AKA - La Fille Coupée en Deux

 
Girl in question is local weathergirl chased by an aged roué and a young wastrel.
In the best ménage à trois traditions, the female attempts to navigate both males.
The provincial town is rather small, however.
The older man, a writer, frequents a sybaritic den with other dissolutes.
The younger man is spoiled, insecure, prone to violence.
Talky (as expected), laced with bedroom politics and petty rivalries.

Note - I braced myself for another French talk-o-drama.
During opening credits, I announced aloud,
“Look, Mathilda May!”
“Who’s that?”  asked one of the girls.
“Brilliant thespian,”  I said.  “She starred in the classic Lifeforce.”
“Oh?  Any good?”
“Unforgettable.”

To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore - 2007 - USA

To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore - 2007 - 7/10

 
“As long as there is death, there is hope.”
Stand up comedian, performance artist, revival preacher, ruined aristocrat, prophet, madman.
Theodore Gottlieb – Brother Theodore.
“It’s best not to be born at all.”
A biography told in fragments, disjointed, with unnamed voiceovers (MAJOR omission there).
Part documentary, part experimental theatre, part puppet play.
“We are all puppets in the hands of an insane puppeteer.”
Flawed, as this seems to spotlight the aesthete of the man, and not the man himself.
Arguably the last Weimar entertainer, and brother in arms with Emil Cioran.

"What this country needs is a dictator. I feel the time is right, and the place congenial. I will be strict but just. Heads will roll, and corpses will swing from every lamppost... Evil that succeeds is good. The coup is well in preparation."

Conspiracy In The Court - 2007 - S Korea

Conspiracy In The Court - 2007 - 5/10
AKA - Hanseongbyeolgok // 한성별곡

 
Costume K-drama set in 17th century Joseon.
New king wants to relocate the palace capital to new area where there will be more food for citizens.
Most courtiers and power brokers do not want to move.
Labyrinthian maze of scheming, poisoning, assassinations, financial chicanery.  
Plot is confusing, though not impossible if you persevere.
More intrigue than action, with dozens of villains.

Biggest drawback gainsaying recommendation art the Elizabethan subtitles.
Verily, the sole subs hailst from the now-moribund Written In The Heavens sub chamber.
Dialogue be heavy over-subbed, configuring archaic words and syntax.
“Liar!” might get subbed “Thou liest, foul knave.”
Gentle viewers wouldst squander precious time reading and pondering obsolete verbosity.
Yea, methinks WITH aimed for historic veracity, yet hold steady!
Yon play is enhanced with modern pop songs (which were not subtitled).
Be thou warned, varlets and slatterns.

Summer Of Love - 2007 - USA

Summer Of Love - 2007 - 6/10

 
Indifferent use of period sights and sounds from San Francisco, circa 1967.
Interviews with still-surviving, oldish spokesmen from the era.
Music soundtrack a mix of San Francisco and Los Angeles groups.  In some cases, cover groups.
Some clips from the Human Be-In, next to nothing from Monterey Pop.
At the end, speakers confessed how very sour it all became, as tens of thousands flooded in.
PBS aired a couple superior docs of that period with Coyote - worth seeking out.
The “summer of love” turned 50 awhile ago.  This balances rosy memories with the mess.

A Kiss, If You Please - 2007 - France

A Kiss, If You Please - 2007 - 7/10
AKA - Un Baiser s'il vous Plaît  //  Shall We Kiss?

 
Uneasy French comedy that straddles between awkwardness and guilt.
A couple meet one morning, make a connection, go on a perfect date - a long perfect date - and wind up in her hotel room.
Along the way, we realize both are in other relationships.
He requests a kiss - she declines.  Instead, she offers a story of the consequences of the innocent kiss.

 
The couple are platonic best friends.  She is married, he has affairs.
They always had chemistry, however.  The flame never died.
Why did they never date?  Marry?  Unexplained.
Eventually they make tentative, fumbling moves in that direction yielding to an explosion of passion.
This half of the film innocent, goofy and funny.  Before the guilt and fallout.
Most in the room enjoyed the first half of giggles and accelerating heartbeats.  Second half, not so much.
Comedy with a bitter aftertaste.
Restrained, almost symbolic set design if you notice those things.

Forgotten Girls - 2007 - France

Forgotten Girls - 2007 - 6/10
AKA - Les Oubliées

 
Fifteen years after the sixth girl disappeared, another one vanishes.
The serial killer has resurfaced.
Not that murders are confirmed, for no bodies have ever been found.
Families, exhausted by despair, suspect the cold case detective is way over his limit.

 
Six part French mystery of forgotten victims and an officer who pushes himself to madness.
Directions shift throughout, rather like a lost car tackling meandering intersections.
Character study of driven individual fighting apathy, resignation and suspicion.

Swastika - 2007 - UK

Swastika - 2007 - 7/10 

The premise:  If we only demonize Hitler and associates, we fail to recognize they are also humans.
Thus we assume the next mass murderer will be easy to spot, being a monster.
This mixes rallies, parades, speeches with parties, cocktails, frolics.
Weird, watching Goering and Goebbels hand out Christmas gifts to children.

 
Footage from Leni Riefenstahl and Eva Braun’s home movies, with actual overheard comments.
Timeline runs from 1933-1938.  World War II and atrocities compressed in final five minutes.
A lot of footage I have never seen, and I have watched a fair amount over the years.
Nonetheless, this is not recommended for casual viewers, looking for a primer on Nazism.
I was initially unimpressed, yet this has a cumulative power.  Well done.

Liar Game: S01 - 2007 - Japan

Liar Game: S01 - 2007 - 7/10
AKA - うそつきゲーム

 
Great little series about con-men, game playing, greed.
Young girl receives a case full of money and an invitation to participate in the Liar Game.
There are numerous players.  The object is to swindle other players out of their case of money.
The winner keeps all the money, losers must pay what they lost.  They will be financially ruined.
Straight away, the girl, a trusting, gullible innocent, seeks help from a cunning genius of schemes.
Temporary allegiances, snares, and of course, lies, more lies, and damned lies.
Honorable, upright souls, be warned to avoid this one.

The Frolic - 2007 - USA

The Frolic - 2007 - 6/10

 
Demons follow psychologist Dr. Munck home.
He has been interviewing a child serial killer, one John Doe, who seems to slither under his skin.
Based on a Thomas Ligotti story, this suffers budget limitations, poor direction, and perhaps limited understanding of the author.
Mr. Doe is shot, head down, making creepy eyes (when girls do this, they are called bedroom eyes).
Throughout, the obvious dominates over nuance.
Score by Steven King, including bandmate, Ligotti.

Devil - 2007 - S Korea

Devil - 2007 - 7/10
AKA - Ma-wang // 마 왕

 
K-drama about revenge.
Not the implacable, unstoppable, self-righteous vengeance of 99% of plots.
No, this factors the wages of revenge, the toll it takes on conscience, karma, and those around you.
Matching tarot cards are sent to police and victim, and the police hustle to identify and protect victim.
Luckily, a girl who works in a fortune parlor can explain what each card means - may not mean - plus, she is psychic!
Meandering puzzle plot that widens considerably midway, then tightens with little room for escape, as well as justifications for murders.
Exteriors appeared shot during spring as colors were often breathtaking.
Interiors more hit and miss, about the third of interiors rivaled cheap soap opera sets.
Romance elements, not too terrible.

Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story - 2007 - USA

Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story - 2007 - 7/10

 
Good documentary of the rise and demise of the premier soul label of the 60’s, 70’s.
Survivors reminisce, packed with performance footage.
Simmering in the background, is the ugly reality of racist Memphis.
While Stax’s late era financial woes cannot be carpeted over, other issues get a light tread.
Mention is made of Booker T. and the MG’s departing, reasons are like soft sighs.
Deeper history can be found online, yet for what this is, it is highly enjoyable.