lanilen Reviews

Staying Alive (1983)

The strut is the highlight!

[5/10 · 15 January 2007]

What first and foremost makes this film a bit of a disappointment is that it is a totally different thing than its predecessor. In a way, it belongs to an entirely different genre. While "Saturday Night" was an urban drama with pulsating music as a backdrop, "Staying Alive" is more or less a show or dance film, along the lines of "Flashdance" or the "Fame"-series. Ironically, director Sylvester Stallone has also given it one of its main weaknesses, by largely molding its story according to the success-formula of his Rocky-films, namely where the underdog gets a chance of a lifetime. This makes it very unoriginal.

Also, people who expect to see the continuing lives of the characters introduced in "Saturday Night" will be disappointed, since this film treats us with an entirely new range of characters, save for Tony Manero. His mother makes a welcome cameo as the only reminder of the mood of the previous film.

The different style of music is one thing that totally puts this film into another category, and although some of its tunes are quite catchy, they fail to deliver the same pulse and groove as "Saturday Night".

The acting is OK, but not overwhelming. Cynthia Rhodes is passable as one of Manero's love interests, but Finola Hughes is completely embarrassing as the bitchy, British-accent dance queen.

Overall, the film fails to capture the audience, being far to predictable and lacking any real twist or memorable characters.

The best sequence happens at the end, when Manero struts through the streets of Manhattan with BeeGees "Staying Alive" accompanying him. Those were the only few seconds that recreated a bit of the magic inherent in the first film.

You'd be perfectly pleased with watching only the first film.

Along the Way (2007)

Utterly compelling and involving film. Well recommended!

[3 October 2003]

My expectations were incredibly low when I started watching this film for the first time. It came as a super-low-budget one-pound DVD that had horrible picture and sound quality, even for VHS standards, and absolutely no extras. Just the title, "The Haven", sounded naff to me.

It starts out as a rather unoriginal film, portraying the growing-up of four friends, and it tends to be rather superficial for the first quarter, but then... it really engulfs you.

25 minutes into the film, you have been introduced to the characters and you find yourself completely addicted to see how they solve their building conflict between eachother, their conflict with people around them and how they face the real world. You get so involved into the story and the characters that you eventually experience an emotional rollercoaster until the film ends. Despite being a tough, allegedly non-sensitive guy, it had me shedding a few tears and reflecting silently upon life a few minutes when the film had ended. The film just did not leave me. I still keep thinking about it now, months afterwards.

The most fascinating fact is that it boasts a group of terrific actors, and yet they are all more or less unknown. In my opinion, the strongest actor without doubt is Andrew Bowen, who portrays Jocko. His performance is simply brilliant, and gives the character a depth that I couldn't think possible. The other three actors are marvelous as well, but it was Bowen that captured my attention. When I then found out that Bowen also was the director and writer of the film, I gasped. Quite an undiscovered talent that deserves more recognition.

The most unbelievable thing about the film is that it seems so professionally construed yet has no decent DVD or video release anywhere. To later find out that it has not even reached the major cinemas and has no major distributor is shocking. As far as I'm concerned, the film could easily compete for Oscar or Academy Awards among the top films from major Hollywood studios.

Today, "the Haven" is one of my all-time favourite films. I recommend it to everyone, but they simply cannot get hold of it, which is a shame. I really hope a decent DVD studio gives it a proper worldwide release some day.

In any way, if you get the chance to see "The Haven", please do. It is truly rewarding and will in one way or another affect you - more than you think.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

A film filled to the brim with colour and spectacle

[3 October 2003]

As far as I can recall, 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty was one of the many matinee-films shown for many years during Christmas that I used to watch lazily as a kid while doing other things at the same time. I do not think I ever watched the whole thing from beginning to end. Consequently, I never found it too fascinating.

When I many years later decided to buy it on VHS and watch it concentratedly, I fell in love with it immediately. I have always been a fan of large-scale films like Ben Hur, Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia and Mutiny is definitely a "large-scale" film. Not only boasting a wide variety of colourful locations, from breathtaking, sun-drenched sea vistas to exotic beachscapes on Tahiti, it also includes some great actors, such as Marlon Brando, Richard Harris and Trevor Howard as the despicable captain Bligh. Contributing to the "large-scale" feel is Bronislau Kaper's lush and magic music score, featuring haunting chorus statements of the main theme, interestingly entitled "Follow me". The music was so lovely that I had to try out the theme on the piano once I finished watching the film.

I suppose most readers of this post are already familiar with the basic plotline, so I will not have to go through that.

I find that the film contains quite a lot of nice dialogue that sticks in your memory. But it is above all the growing conflict aboard the ship that is the major interesting theme of the film. Just to see how the conflict between Bligh and Christian builds step by step, from more or less nothing to mutiny. Even though it is unpleasant, it is a delight to follow. In any case, it had me glued to the screen.

I cannot say whether the events are portrayed authentically as they happened historically or not, but to me that is of minor interest. The film comes out magnificent all the same and appear to me to be quite realistic.

Another thing about the film that appealed to me is that it is so beautiful. Not only are the locations beautiful, but a lot of the actors, their contemporary clothing, not to mention the Tahitian beauties, are simply eye-catching. The Bounty, the ship itself, is also quite something else. A lot of the film's beauty, I believe, also has to do with good photography thoughout. The film lends itself incredibly well to widescreen-viewing.

I would heartily recommend this film to any fan of cinema. It is a film filled to the brim with colour and spectacle with marvelous actors and a catching and disturbing story of power abuse and the British Empire in its heyday. The only disturbing thing at the moment of writing, is that it still has not been released on DVD. But when it is, I sincerely hope it comes in a deservedly magnificent picture- and sound-transfer including a mountain of extras. I simply cannot wait.