rumfoord Reviews

Eros (2004)

One great film among two lesser.

[6/10 · 26 January 2007]

I rather enjoy watching short films. Like short stories, there's seldom room for more than one good idea, so that idea has to be done well--in the hands of a skilled director, this is an opportunity rather than a limitation. Eros is a collection of three such films, ostensibly sharing a similar theme.

Wong Kar Wai's "The Hand" is the first film, and is a premiere example of what a short film can achieve. A concise story about a tailor and a high class prostitute, "The Hand" distills the love/lust theme into a beautiful, intoxicating gem. It is by far the best film of the bunch, perhaps even one of the director's finest.

Steven Soderbergh's "Equilibrium" is the second film in the trio, and features a few shots of a naked woman and a long and unrelated dialog between Robert Downey Jr and Alan Arkin. As far as I can tell the film has vanishing little to do with love, lust, passion or sex--and not much else to say about anything. Soderbergh, who's often hit-or-miss, misses big time with this convoluted short.

Michelangelo Antonioni's "Dangerous thread" (or however it is properly translated) is quite different from the previous two films. It is certainly on message, featuring lots of full frontal nudity and some sex, but doesn't really have much of a story. It actually feels like it is much closer to succeeding than "Equilibrium", if only because it seems to fit comfortably within its time constraints, but the vacuous plot leaves you bored.

In the end Eros is a missed opportunity. After the first film you expect a beautiful tapestry of ideas and perspectives, but it never materializes. Nevertheless, the first film is well worth watching--easily justifying a rental or screening.

I Stand Alone (1998)

At once sad and horrifying

[9/10 · 13 January 2007]

I stand alone tells the story of a recently released ex-con butcher. Penniless, the butcher moves in with his pregnant girlfriend and her mother in northern France, based on the promise opening up a new butcher shop. His girlfriend, her mother, and his life prove to be too much for the butcher to handle--provoking him to horrifying violence. Fleeing to Paris, he tries to start over once again.

With highly stylized cinematography and editing, and wholly unnerving philosophical monologues from a character on the brink of total mental collapse, Gasper Noe gives us a stunning and realistic portrait of a hopeless and lonely existence. Though less compelling than irreversible, I Stand Alone is a concise and powerful film that's well worth watching.

Dead or Alive (1999)

A lively disappointment

[6/10 · 7 January 2007]

Dead or Alive is a Japanese direct-to-video Yakuza flick with a lot of violence, a bit of sex, and a sprinkling of perversion. It begins with a kinetic montage of Yakuza violence, which sets the stage for a somewhat convoluted story about a policeman and a young group of hoodlums that are trying to cut into the Yakuza's action. The story progresses normally, and then ends, as the Director says, like a head-on collision with a 18 wheeler.

That ending though, is bad. The characters are flat--even more so than is usual in a Miike film--and largely bland, nothing like the amazing people that populate the cinematic worlds of Ichi the Killer or Audition. All that saves this film from being a consummate bore are Miike's trademarked scenes of surreal violence and perversion--and these are certainly here in full force.

This is an entertaining film for the genre and budget, but it's likely to disappoint those expecting another small Miike masterpiece.

Your Friends and Neighbors (1998)

Familiar people and other things we'd like to forget

[9/10 · 30 December 2006]

Your Friends & Neighbors is a film about six middle class people plagued by dysfunction and unhappiness. These people do and say things that are awkward, immoral, and nearly always familiar enough to make you cringe. They cheat, lie, and hurt each other--not so much with callousness, but with sad disregard.

It's not escapist entertainment, but the film manages to evoke some thought and ambiguous feelings without feeling emotionally labored or difficult. In fact, the normalcy of the characters make it something like an easy to watch soap opera featuring distillations of all those things in real life you'd prefer to forget.

Your Friends & Neighbors is also wonderfully cast. Patric's pathological character is a stand out (bearing strong similarity to Eckhart's character in "In the Company of Men"), but with the exception of Kinski, all of the actors manage to captivate us in varying ways--from Brenneman's introverted reactions to Keener's profoundly cold mannerisms.

This is an excellent film that might not always be well received but can and should be watched by anyone open to a cynical view of humanity.

Jesus Camp (2006)

An unbiased, disturbing look at American evangelicals

[10/10 · 4 December 2006]

Ever since Sunday school, I've regarded modern Christianity as innocuous if boring. At its best it inspires a few extra people to volunteer at the homeless shelter, at its worst, its a bureaucratic waste of time and money. If evangelical minister Becky Fischer has anything to say about it, this kind of soft-core, innocuous Christianity is on its way out.

Jesus Camp explores the ministry of Fischer, who administers and teaches an evangelical summer camp for children. Fischer is a charismatic person that wishes to, in her own words, indoctrinate children with the one true religion. Moreover, she wants to indoctrinate the children with a philosophy of action and war, to cleanse the "sick world" of its maladies. To this end, she uses devices similar to self-actualization workshops/cults, -- dramatically calling the wicked children within the camp to be cleansed with water and renounce their secular lifestyles -- praises the piety of Islamic suicide bombers, brings children to the (now defunct) Ted Haggerty ministry, and invites in guests to speak about political topics like "right-to-life." Jesus Camp is sure to galvanize viewers. Secular and religiously moderate viewers will have a difficult time maintaining the opinion that the growing Evangelical movement is just another innocuous branch of Christianity. Those within the movement will find it to be honest and will likely embrace Fischer's philosophy of education.

The Illusionist (2006)

Good but immemorable

[6/10 · 29 August 2006]

The Illusionist is a fine film. The acting is all quite solid--though only Giamatti gives a stand out performance. The writing is good, the cinematography looks very nice, and the score is perfectly complementary.

Despite this and the obvious care and effort that went into its crafting, the film never manages to soar. There's nothing compelling in it. The ending is not surprising, by design, which means that the journey is what should move us. The problem is it doesn't. It's not obviously tragic, clever, or romantic--and yet it's not subtle either.

In the end, The Illusionist seems destined to become that movie on the tip of your tongue. The one you know you watched but can't for your life remember.

Pulse (I) (2006)

A solid, sometimes rewarding look at modern living

[8/10 · 16 August 2006]

Pulse is a relatively close translation of a subtle Japanese horror film called "Kairo". Unlike its brethren (Ring, Grudge, etc.) Kairo was less a fantastical horror film than a grim psychological look at modern, tech-laden urban living. Despite a lot of slick looking supernatural content, Pulse largely succeeds in preserving the focus of the original--steering our attention to individuals rather than ghosts or evil entities.

The plot, which some will find tough to embrace, has a computer virus interacting with ghosts of some kind. The end result is a suicide pandemic striking all known urban areas. To the extent that the film focuses on ghosts and computers, it is easy to fault the plot for its lack of continuity and simplistic explanations--and this is really the central problem with the film; not the plot mind you, but the extent to which the film gets side-tracked with expository content that shifts focus away from the individuals struggling with depression and isolation to its devices (ghosts/computers).

Minus the ending and superfluous explanations, Pulse is good. And relevant. And really, relevance is what makes it good. It's not tough to spot the growing paradox of ever-increasing connectedness and isolation in our world of text messages, email and mass-produced culture. Pulse uses this paradox and exaggerates, and to a large extent, succeeds in provoking thought and maybe a glimmer of recognition.

The Devil's Rejects (2005)

A surprising improvement from the original

[8/10 · 25 June 2006]

House of a thousand corpses was gory, foul, and really blandly abrasive. It had style and the elements of some kind of homage, but lacked interesting characters and a plot. It was more a nightmarish vignette than a story.

Devil's rejects retains the gore and repulsive horror of it's predecessor, but manages to go beyond just looking creepy. The characters are interesting, and for the most part well acted. More importantly, there is a story -- and by the last 1/3 of the movie, it becomes something fairly unique.

8/10 -- the caveat being that it will still nauseate 3/4 of the movie viewing public.

When a Stranger Calls (2006)

Better described as torture than "horror"

[1/10 · 13 May 2006]

I've watched a half dozen installments of Scream and what must be a hundred thousand other films in the teen-horror genre. I know what to expect, and I know how to enjoy them -- a liter of vodka and some company.

Sadly, given even these prime conditions -- a total absence of expectations, excessive amounts of alcohol, and attractive company to boot -- "When a stranger calls" doesn't deliver. Or rather it does deliver, but instead of cheap thrills and a clever line or two, it serves up a tortuously vapid and physically abrasive experience.

For scares, there's a black cat, and a horribly dim serial killer that looks as though he'd have trouble euthanizing a paraplegic ferret. Then there's a phone that keeps ringing and ringing as though the telemarketer from hell is on the other end -- and of course the girl keeps picking it up and spitting out the same three lines again and again as though mercilessly beating the audience into submission.

The score for this film, like everything, feels like a key got stuck somewhere in the production facility. For the entirety of the running length, the same stock "spooky" music loops endlessly. Cue the trip to the refrigerator -- the trip to the laundry room -- the long shot of the lake. Everything sounds the same.

But of course the writing is what takes the cake... in the face mind you. There's not one clever line in the movie. The characters are boring paper cutouts that haven't even been colored in. The plot contains no less than a dozen obvious holes, and the supposed "climax" is so bad that it verges on farce.

This film is so bad it's practically weaponized. I could easily see this as part of a Canadian psych-ops campaign to destroy interest in Hollywood films. Ahh well. Lets hope they don't make a sequel.

Decoys (2004)

Strangely decent when watched in right light.

[6/10 · 21 August 2005]

The word metamerism is used in printing circles to describe color shifts that occur in inks depending on the type of light they're exposed to. For example, under typical indoor (tungsten) lighting, a print could match a desired color perfectly, but once taken outside, it might look a little green or red.

Decoys has a similar sort of volatility. Sink into your couch expecting Scream, or clever dialogue, or the kind of kinky sensuality of Species, and you'll quickly find yourself squirming for lack of stimuli. If, however, you're jonesing for something in the vein of the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits, Decoy's objectivity will likely sate your thirst.

The Scarlet Letter (2004)

On the cusp of good

[5/10 · 13 August 2005]

This is one of those films where you can't help but improvise. It has those scenes where you shout out brilliant, but then proceed to make a few alterations to the already produced script to make the thing workable, if not believable.

There are many awful south Korean films out there (for whatever reason, most of them seem to be romantic comedies)-- this is not one of them. Unfortunately this is no "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" or "Sorum" either. There are a handful of brilliant scenes in this film, including one particularly claustrophobic segment that reminded me of a permutation of Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 2. Unfortunately, these moments are mired in irrelevance, overacting, and implausibility.

By all means, have a drink, take the film in -- but be prepared to throw a huge amount of constructive criticism at your TV. Be prepared to start writing a screen play, maybe take up non-linear editing as a hobby.

Open Water (2003)

Suffers from excessive realism

[4/10 · 8 February 2005]

"Open Water" is the sort of film a cinema student would write a lengthy paper on. The ways in which it departs from standard Hollywood fare make it interesting to talk about, yet even with a notably short runtime, the realistic approach taken by the director weighs heavily on the material.

I would define the realistic aspects of this film primarily as: 1) The stark "open water" in which 90% of the film takes place. It is photographed in a sort of pedestrian fashion.

2) The plot of the film seems quite believable, with few conspicuous devices to distract from its subject.

3) The dialogue is not remotely stilted. The characters seem just as normal/boring as your next door neighbor.

These elements sound as though the could be made into a fascinating, minimalist thriller. Unfortunately this just isn't the case. The story is not interesting or horrifying enough to stand so completely on its own. The realistic characters/dialogue which were highlighted by the relative lack of any other subject matter, became quickly grating. 10 minutes into the "open water" segment of the film and about 9.5 minutes into the unintelligent dialogue, I was rooting for the sharks. Blair Witch worked because the story was not about students being attacked by bears, but by far more sinister elements. Open Water doesn't work because it's little more than a protracted news segment, lacking character development, horror, philosophy, and aesthetic appeal.

Fight Club (1999)

Better than the novel

[10/10 · 13 December 2004]

Fight Club is a fantastic movie in almost every sense. Aesthetically speaking, it is probably the most imaginative Fincher film. What's really impressive though, is the way that Fincher managed to broaden the appeal of the story, without compromising Palahniuk's message. The book is certainly entertaining as hell, but the reader is always councious of the way the book attempts to indoctrinate you (in the same vein as Atlas Shrugged). This is due in large part to Palahniuk's narrator being closer in character to Tyler Durden than Fincher's narrator is. By balancing the characters in the film, Fincher keeps the dynamic interesting, and avoids descending into a preachy tone. This accomplishes the almost unheard of on screen feat of actually improving upon a book.

Indeed, judging by Palahniuk's work after fight club, it seems he too prefers Fincher's permutation. Bravo!

Saw (2004)

Breathes new life into domestic horror

[10/10 · 28 November 2004]

In a time of tired gore and predictable thrillers that are anything but thrilling, Saw brings youthful creativity and exuberance that has long been missing from the genre.

Equal amounts of time are spent in a claustrophobic bathroom and in flashbacks that give context to their predicament. The aesthetic choices made by James Wan recall the spare, grating minimalism of Cube, the frenzied cinematography of The Cell, and the dark grit of Se7en. These elements are masterfully combined to create an altogether immersive, disturbing feel. The protagonists are largely straight men, but manage to come off with some type of depth. The psychopath, while not really a developing character, is brilliantly conceived. He places his victims in situations designed to make them decide (or perhaps realize) how much they want to live. In a sense, the serial killer is something of a apolitical Tyler Durden. At one point in the film we are acquainted with someone who survived one of his orchestrated tests. Cognitive dissonance has brought her to 'appreciate' what the psychopath did to her. At the same time, it's not entirely clear that in the absence of the experience she would be better off. Brilliant!

Wan has gone beyond Rob Zombie's boring caricatures of inbred southerners, beyond gimmicky blair witch devices. He's created a singularly engaging film that breathes new life into domestic horror.

Gozu (2003)

Brilliantly surreal and funny, but completely meaningless

[8/10 · 20 November 2004]

With Gozu, Miike goes for extreme surrealism. As such, lactation fetishes, transsexuals, homosexuality, and a man with the head of a cow are par for the course. The story is not particularly thrilling or scary, but certainly quite unusual. The surrealist aspect resembles an immature lynch. But where a film like 'Lost Highway' explores abstract ideas like circularity from many different angles, and ultimately succeeds in becoming more than the sum of its parts, Gozu largely remains a meaningless collection of spectacles with only the vaguest notion of theme.

This said, high brow meaning isn't the only reason to watch a film. Miike has once again succeeded in making a highly interesting, almost psychotropic movie for an admittedly limited audience.

7.5/10

Collateral (2004)

A dark, penetrating film

[10/10 · 19 November 2004]

Collateral has its share of flaws. The beginning is too choreographed, there are several superfluous characters that the camera spends excessive time with (cops), and finally, the plot has some annoyingly predictable elements.

This is, however, a magnificent film.

Tom Cruise is a stylish but experienced hit-man who clearly spends his off days listening to improvised jazz, sipping scotch, and reading Nietzsche. He's a calculating man of will, suffering from a rather pronounced case of anti-social disorder. What he's not, is a caricature.

Jamie Fox is a cab driver, and for the purposes of this film, Cruise's foil. He is an ordinary person with ambitions, but insufficient will to realize them. His fanatical capacity to predict trip times and devotion to efficiency suggest a stagnant, almost autistic approach to life.

These are terrific characters to start with, but where the film really excels is in its treatment of them. Despite immense odds, it manages to maintain a Hemingway'esque level of objectivity in a more pronounced fashion than 'Heat'. In so doing, it keeps us interested not only in who will ultimately 'win', or how stylishly he does so, but also (and more importantly) in how the characters exist in each moment.

9/10

2046 (2004)

Aesthetically brilliant, but ultimately falls short of its potential

[10/10 · 16 November 2004]

2046 is clearly the product of immense amounts of thought and effort. Each individual shot the camera takes looks as though it took days to orchestrate, some such moments approach aesthetic perfection to an extent that is difficult to fathom without actually seeing the film (eg: near the end when Gong Li's lipstick is smudged). This approach is certainly typical of Wong Kar Wai, but he takes it to a whole new level with 2046. The soundtrack isn't quite as spectacularly well chosen, however it is still exceptional when compared to the product of the director's peers.

The structure of the story is anachronistically organized, but the plot is relatively simple, so this presents little challenge to the viewer. In many ways the story more closely resembles Ashes of Time than In the Mood for Love. Unfortunately, this proves to be overly ambitious for the subject matter, especially given the low key approach Kar Wai favors when it comes to love. This isn't to say 2046 is a failure, but rather that it falls short of its potential.

The Polar Express (2004)

Nice animation, everything else brings me to tears

[1/10 · 13 November 2004]

From boredom of course. This was one banal flick. Just because it's the target audience is children doesn't mean the film has to be a stupid celebration of orthodoxy. In comparison to a clever and largely appealing film like "the incredibles", polar express comes up short. There are a handful of scenes where the film could have progressed beyond its preordained mediocrity, but instead it chooses to stay the course, boring all adults in the audience to tears, while indoctrinating the children with thoroughly inane, defeatest ideals.

Yay we can all live outside the cubicle in our fantasy lives, and somehow vicariously survive through our children's delusions. No need to actually effect change, it's all about "the magic" of the holidays. One or two days per year are certainly enough for me to enjoy the happiness of being together with my family. Good thing polar express came along to breathe new life into my otherwise stale, predictable holiday tradition of pretending like I have a large amount of disposable time to spend with my children.

Cabin Fever (2002)

Bland American fare

[1/10 · 28 August 2004]

Cabin Fever kind of reminded me of that awful steven king flick dreamcatcher, sans aliens. You're probably thinking that it must be an improvement, but to be honest it's not. At least dreamcatcher tried to give us *something* unique. By contrast, Cabin Fever brings us the same thing we've seen thousand times before in various permutations. The result is total boredom.

Why are Americans so scared of making interesting films? When it comes to horror, Japan is vastly ahead of us. It's time for us to remember what makes a film scary. Here's a hint, gore, predictable rhythm, and formulaic plots do little to further the whole horror thing. <yawn>

Ichi the Killer (2001)

2-dimensional, surreal psychosis

[10/10 · 28 August 2004]

There's no depth to be found here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Kill Bill, for example, was quite successful despite the fact that it didn't feature any kind of depth. Ichi the Killer, like Kill Bill celebrates it's extreme, but shallow or perhaps static characters.

Ichi is interesting, but the blond masochistic yakuza guy steals the show. His character makes the film's extreme violence interesting rather than gratuitous. It's not difficult to watch in the way that sympathy for mr.vengeance is because you don't particularly care about any of the characters. On the other hand, the extreme violence, particularly the amount levied at women, certainly causes some thought. Even the most normal of characters in the film, the retired policeman, exhibits very disturbing sociopathic tendencies when it comes to women. Does this reflect contemporary Japanese culture?

In any case, this film is certainly worth watching if you can stomach the surrealist violence and are up for a serious change of pace.

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Failed to realize potential, gratuitous violence instead

[2/10 · 12 August 2004]

My faith has nothing to do with this. The cinemaphile part of me is what aches when I watch this film. With the possible exception of Pilot, Gibson reduces all the characters to flat 2 dimensional vectors. And then he proceeds to perpetrate rather extreme violence on the audience. The cinematography was decent, but the representation of the devil was laughably ham-fisted. There was certainly some potential in the story. I would have liked to explore some of the ambiguities of the story. But no, Gibson isn't about exploration, he's about shoving saddistic violence down the throats of the audience.

Incidentally, the R rating of this film in america is revealing, especially in contrast to Bertolucci's "The Dreamers" which received an NC-17 rating for a few relatively mild sexual scenes. What kind of culture allows parents to bring their 14 year old children to see this kind of incredible level of violence, but shuns the most natural of sexual acts?

Baise-moi (2000)

Slightly gauche, generally unfocused effort. Great Concept.

[12 September 2003]

In both mainstream cinema and pornography, sexuality is mutilated several times over until at last it's a big mac fit for consumption. Baise-moi approaches sexuality with a startling but ironically healthier and more interesting perspective.

The rape scene exemplifies this conceptual strength. What's most interesting about it is that it's not nearly as disturbing as you'd presume it to be. Most films with graphic rape scenes exploit the traditional mutilated sexual dialetic given to us by mainstream cinema/porn/commercialized culture (eg: irreversable). In contrast the intial rape scene in Baise-moi serves as a preface rather than an anchor point to establish character motivation. Our heroine's nearly impassive expression throughout the scene betrays more boredom than devestation.

"There are worse things they could have done, they could have killed us"

Such a great setup.

Sadly, from there the film declines. Instead of exploring sexuality regardless of taboos, or capturing the mindless mechanics of sexuality in the context of the characters progression, the film seems to wander about aimlessly tossing in graphic sex and violence without any real coherence or meaning.

With a deft director and a little more vision, this film could have been remarkable. As it stands, it's simply unusual.

Solaris (2002)

Stunning-

[10/10 · 11 February 2003]

This is one of those films that produce a wonderfully cold chill up your spine. It's that feeling of familiarity. It's that feeling of the perfect fit that turns out to be a little more than you bargained for.

As compared to the boo-- *quiet*. As compared to tarkovsky'-- *quiet*.

Approaching this film with expectations based on genre, marketing, or on an encyclopedic film junky vocabulary will result in nothing but dissapointment.

Then the cold chill runs up your spine. It's when realize that this is you. That this is what you feel, this is how you exist. Solaris reveals that huge gap that exists between an individual and everyone else. It's the realization that the toolset we use (logic, science, etc.) fails to overcome the alienation of existence.

Truth About Demons (2000)

Irrefutably boring

[1/10 · 30 December 2002]

In the long tradition of b-movies made in australia, Irrefutably boring starts off with some humorous dialogue: "that's not fear, that's how I look every morning. it's called existential fatigue". I thought it was amusing. Quickly enough the protagonist opens an envelope filled with blood and a vhs tape... and off to sleepy land we go. Seriously, this is tired, boring stuff. demons, gratuitous gore, satanists. Ok, I guess that would be ok if this were somewhat scary, but the this is about as taut a thriller as the maury povitch show.

B-Movies are like independent movies minus entertainment. They're like all the things that make hollywood crap, crap, minus the budget that makes them watchable. Save your hour and a half and do something around the house, or sleep, or something.

R.S.V.P. (I) (2002)

Not nearly as intellectual or thrilling as it aspires to be

[3/10 · 28 December 2002]

As one of the commenters here noted, sundance is usually inundated with gritty depressing films. R.S.V.P. is certainly not one of those. The same person said there were many clues throughout the film that hint at the surprise ending. To say that there were "clues" is an understatement. At every juncture the film screamed its torpid theme.

The film alludes several times to an underrated hitchock flick called "rope". Despite the allusions, the film doesn't even come close to Rope's level of philosophy, morality, or thrills. Instead it borrows a couple ideas, mixes in a few of the cheesier elements of mediocre American thrillers (see "Scream") and comes out with absolute boredom.

There were a few elements that could have made this film great. The allusion to rope could have gone farther and actually translated the film into a modern adaptation. One element that has changed since the time of rope is the perceived value of "fame". The film touched on this, but didn't carry anything through. The thing that could have been done right was translating the fame into a postmodern context. The killer claims he wants fame, but he tries to setup the professor as the culprit for all the murders. This could have actually been an excellent concept if the film had decided to take into account the two realities it exists in, namely: The reality of the film, wherein the professor would take the blame, and secondly the reality of the film as watched by the audience, where the killer could find fame without cost. Indeed, this would have been a clever concept that perhaps would have carried this over into the intellectual genre. Instead, the director has his character act inconsistently and later claim that he wants to be pursued by the FBI "because it's part of the game". The result is that the killer comes off as an absolute idiot, which is unfortunate because our interest has been staked in him being clever enough to pull something entertaining off.

To go back to the comment that this film is so unlike the rest of sundance's depressing flicks, I'm going to have to disagree. This having passed for an intellectual thriller is several times more depressing than boys don't cry.