kate2000 Reviews

Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (1991)

A film that missed the target, just

[7/10 · 12 August 2001]

This movie should have been great.

The acting is great. The locations are excellent, as is the photography, editing and so forth.

The premise is clever, the opening scenes of the script intriguing, and the actions of the characters logical given the circumstances. A few scenes are riveting, and the sequence of events, at least for the first half of the movie, captures your attention completely.

My feeling is that the film was cut, to the point where we are left with only the basic storyboard. The ending is questionable, probably because there are missing pieces of information.

Hopefully, the whole film was shot, and someone will go back and re-edit the final version someday. Or perhaps I am filling in a script that was not revised enough - who knows? But my gut feeling is that this film could have been quite extraordinary.

Cabo Blanco (1980)

A beautiful Mexican location, quirky characters and the inimitable Bronson combine in an offbeat suspense tale

[9/10 · 19 May 2001]

I gave this film an extra two points for the location alone.

The gorgeous coastal town used in Caboblanco was in fact once a favorite retreat of members of a corrupt Mexican regime. The deluxe hilltop mansion, the thatched hotel-bar that Bronson's character runs, palapas lined up at the water's edge, a bare-bones, dingy police office, and so forth: you can't ask for a more convincing backdrop for this tale of international skullduggery.

Caboblanco also gets points for Bronson's spot-on portrayal of an ex-pate living in Mexico because he probably can't go home, the complex and riveting performance by Fernando Rey, and for filling out the cast with several supporting players in a non-linear presentation. There is a denouement at the end, but the film's mood and pacing are not obvious in working to that conclusion. In other words, Caboblanco succeeds in making a viewer feel he/she is eavesdropping on lives in progress.

Admittedly, this is a piece of entertainment, but it strives for something more, and it is NOT an imitation of Casablanca, by a long shot.

My one complaint is that the great Gilbert Roland was not used to more advantage.

The Looking Glass War (1970)

One of the better espionage films of the era

[10/10 · 17 April 2001]

I am amazed that so many reviewers panned this film when TLGW came out.

While this film is very bleak, so was The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. TSWCIFTC had none of the whimsical touches that distinguish TLGW, and lacked the gritty underbelly that makes TLGW so much more believable, if even less romantic and reassuring.

While TSWCIFTC is more of an intellectual overview of The Game (until its dismal conclusion), TLGW spares no one.

Christopher Jones is excellent as the charming but unbalanced ne'er-do-well, who is exactly what British Intelligence needs.

Anthony Hopkins is so good, you'll forget Hannibal Lecter.

The entire ensemble cast is superb, with supporting players able to convey fully realized characters with only a few lines in most cases. The few characters who are not fleshed out seem to come from out of nowhere, as does Jones' character, echoing the mood of a man lost in a country he does not know - first England, then East Germany.

I particularly liked the fact that the film made England the dark, enclosed, maze of liars and opportunists, while E. Germany was shown alternately as open, pristine land and the property of deceptive invaders (the mirrors of the British). In addition, the film bluntly and confidently attempts to dissect patriots and their imitators: a rarity in 1970.

This film is not strictly an entertainment, but there are some fine, light moments between the characters played by Jones, Hopkins, Pickles and Richardson.

The Looking Glass War is a fascinating film, a tribute to an era and an author.