mosoul_65 Reviews

You Are What You Eat (1968)

New version is more complete

[6/10 · 1 July 2013]

"You Are What You Eat" has been uploaded to YouTube. Here is the link: http://youtu.be/_U9-k3086x4 It is not the clearest transfer, but I think it is now complete. It has the Super Spade scenes I mentioned in my 2002 review. "You Are What You Eat" is an artifact capturing that brief patchouly scented moment when the world's youth migrated toward its free love Mecca, the Haight Ashbury. Before the mean spirited chill of hard drugs, Charlie Manson, Nixon and Pol Pot shocked everyone back to their senses. It's puzzling, incoherent and unflatteringly besotted with unattractive flakes pontificating nonsensically, yet still rather engaging. The new version is 1:11 long.

The film begins with notorious San Francisco pot dealer Super Spade who is described in reviews at the time of the film's release. The fact that before "You Are What You Eat" was released Super Spade was murdered and left in a sleeping bag beneath a cliff by the Point Reyes lighthouse seems ominously portentous. Rumors after his death of imminent mob control of the Haight caused a whole, new emigration of older hipsters to the countryside in search of some Utopian dream that perhaps wasn't there.

Tiny Tim duets with his then girlfriend Eleanor Baruchian on "I Got You Babe" while mania-addled girls (inserted from The Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium concert) scream for their idols. Nature, leaves and flowers accompany a plaintive " Don't Remind Me Now of Time" sung by Peter Yarrow with whispers of "in the sky". Hell's Angels Motorcycles and a black screen precede the film's first title "The Heart Attack" (a narrator recounting how a loved one died after seeing motorcycles and while taking pictures of the Pope).

Youthful frolics include a desert ceremony with bearded conga drummers, ritualized dancing, body painting and a proper "Freak Out" with Zappa on stage (the music in fact a jam featuring John Simon & The Electric Flag with Michael Bloomfield on lead guitar).

Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived (2008)

Why skills of diplomacy are key to world peace

[9/10 · 8 July 2012]

Speculative fiction is a tricky business. This documentary does a good job of staying grounded in fact. The hawks of JFK's time called his approach to international affairs appeasement. I call it the art of diplomacy. Reason and compromise leave all sides less than satisfied. JFK had the emotional maturity to resist calls for extremism. His South Pacific wartime experience tempered his judgment. Rather than classify himself as a hawk or a dove, he said "I am a democrat who was elected president, hopefully a responsible one." The use of Cuban crisis audio tapes where General Curtis Le May says you're in a pretty bad fix Mr. President and JFK responds, "Well you're in there with me" are most interesting. The fragile turning point of the Gulf of Tonkin is inescapable. Humphrey's career is an American cautionary tale in not speaking your mind.

Borsalino and Co. (1974)

Passable, but far inferior to Borsalino

[5/10 · 4 February 2012]

I rented this DVD today and was very disappointed. I had been seeking "Borsalino" and the clerk said, "Borsalino and Co." is in the foreign section. I wasn't yet aware there even was a sequel. I haven't seen "Borsalino" since its original '72 theatrical run. At that time I went to see it three times. I remember seeing the first run of "The Sting" and thinking it was good but not as good as "Borsalino". I loved the original, the music by Claude Bolling was unforgettable. The original had masterful dynamic interplay and tension between Belmondo and Delon. I began watching "Borsalino and Co." and soon realized it was trying yet failing to recapture its predecessor's magic. I loved Delon in "The Sicilian Clan" and other films. He is a cool screen presence, but was so effective contrasted with Belmondo's volatility.

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

A most faithful adaptation of the Hergé comics, yet engrossing for all.

[10/10 · 14 January 2012]

This film was a very personal pleasure for me, but familiarity with the source material is not a prerequisite to loving it. Don't be put off by its European pedigree. Tintin's dog Snowy is the perfect partner and companion for our protagonist. He is integral to the plot and rendered wonderfully. As a small child my father read me Tintin books. Later I bought and enjoyed the many adventures myself. Snowy was my favorite character as Hergé would sometimes reveal his thoughts in one-word balloons. The film subtly conveyed this with stylized yet detailed articulation.

I saw the 3D version and was especially enthralled by its application in this story. The visual composition and scene to scene transitions were most compelling. I may sound like a shill for the film's producers, but I am only a fan and most sincere in my recommendation.

El (1953)

I'm just a jealous guy...look out!

[8/10 · 6 May 2010]

A fine depiction of toxic bitterness that destroys a man and the woman he claims to love. Bunuel begins to express his familiar themes within the commercial framework of this film from his Mexican period. The protagonist is a narcissist paranoid that loses any sense of perspective as he pursues his agenda. Also a masterful use of music and clever commentary on the Catholic church in Mexico. I was lucky to see "El" on TCM Latin America in Spanish. It prefigures later Bunuel films with surrealist moments, yet these are well placed within the narrative. Interactions between the characters show insight into subtleties of Mexican and Spanish-speaking culture. This and "El Gran Calavera" are the only Mexican period Bunuel I've seen but I will seek more of them out.

The Cool World (1963)

The real deal...raw and uncut

[10/10 · 17 December 2009]

In the early '70's, at age 12 I was sleepily channel surfing late at night, (past my bedtime at a friend's house) looking for monster movies. I believe I was watching Channel 2, (KTVU Oakland, California's then independent now Fox-affiliated TV station) when I was riveted awake by the most amazing film. For years I looked for it, telling anyone who would listen about how real it seemed. How compelling it was. I never found anyone else who had seen it, let alone a theater showing it, a video or a DVD of it. One of the reasons I came to IMDb was to at last find confirmation of The Cool World's existence (not the Ralph Bakshi cartoon). I found some lobby cards at a collector's fair and bought them. Hope was awakened in me in the early '90's when I heard of a special showing at the Roxie Cinema. The print was on loan from Shirley Clarke as it was so rare. The day came and I arrived at the cinema and the print didn't appear due to a shipping snafu. By now I was losing hope. When I first wrote this I hadn't seen it again. Recently, I saw it at last. It is an amazing cultural document of 1960's Harlem.

Come Have Coffee with Us (1970)

Overlooked Italian comedy gem highlighting the great Ugo Tognazzi

[8/10 · 10 October 2008]

A sardonically funny look at a Lothario's nightly tiptoe through the tulips. Ugo Tognazzi, who is best known in the US for La Cage aux Folles, is a middle-aged man who decides to settle down and marries an unusual heiress. His virile prowess eventually extends to her two sisters but, when the maid catches his eye... Each sister plays an instrument, suffice it to say, the trio are collectively bewitching though not conventionally attractive. This film is curiously similar to 1987's The Witches of Eastwick. Perhaps because of the obvious story dissimilarity, the female leads in Eastwick being witches, no one has mentioned it.