Dewey-5 Reviews

Fridge (1995)

A moving piece of bleak realism, shot through with grim dignity

[10/10 · 14 July 2000]

Fridge is set in a Glaswegian slum, where a homeless couple struggle to free a child trapped in an abandoned fridge. The action unfolds simply, with indifference and misunderstanding, compounded by the couple's own alcoholism and vestigal existence, leading towards a potential tragedy. The photography and performances are beautiful and compelling and natural. There is no sign of artifice, just anger and indignation. These are people who do not ask for pity or even understanding, just that they be allowed to live their lives unjudged and undisturbed.

This is compelling, beautiful film making, which has not left my mind since I watched it.

The Naked Spur (1953)

One of Stewart's best performances

[22 July 1999]

The Naked Spur is a startling film, an adult western that pushes Jimmy Stewart's anti-hero to the brink of his own humanity. A morality play in some respects, the film sometimes feels like what "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" would be if the gold was a living, scheming, malevolent human being - Robert Ryan fulfills this role and drives the film with his devilish prodding of the "partners."

The film cranks up the desperation of its characters. They're all losers of some kind - Meeker's discharged soldier, the old prospector who's never struck gold, and most pitifully, Jimmy Stewart's emasculated Howie, who lost everything by trusting in love. Stewart constantly attempts to shed his decency and humanity, but in the end he can't - nor will Janet Leigh let him. At the film's shocking climax, it is she who pulls him back, just as he drags the body from the raging torrent. Stunning.

The Fountainhead (1949)

Kinda funny, kinda despicable, definitely dreadful

[3/10 · 26 May 1999]

Bumped into "The Fountainhead" last night. Ouch!

I had been curious to see it for a while. It was briefly re-released in the UK at the beginning of the year. Certainly Ayn Rand is an interesting author, and the combination of King Vidor, Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal and Raymond Massey couldn't be all bad, could it? Actually, it could. Turns out that Rand wrote the screenplay - big mistake. There is no dialogue in this film, just actors woodenly delivering speeches to each other. And what speeches - arguments against any kind of community or co-operation between humans.

It's ironic that the lead character, Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), is an architect. Architects build structures for humans to use and to live in - yet the film seems to propose nations based around the individual, i.e. welcome the United States of Ayn Rand, population 1. At one point in the film, villanous rival architects propose despoiling Roark's design for low-income housing by adding balconies and "human touches." Roark, upon seeing these "human touches," serenely dynamites the buildings which would have provided housing for thousands. (Even more ironic: Roark's brilliant designs are identical to the enormous social housing projects that are now inner-city America's killing fields.)

I found it disheartening that this film was made by Warner Brothers. In the '30's, Jack Warner and his brothers made films which uniformly championed the struggling masses and the little guy. Here is a film dedicated to a philosophy which sticks up a middle finger to the great unwashed, instead choosing to celebrate a Nietzchean superman. This is a film written by someone who clearly despises their audience. Luckily, it's so badly written and acted that its unpleasant message is deflated by the hilarity of its own self-importance.

Brass Eye (1997–2001)

Insanely brilliant! Chris Morris skewers everyone!

[10/10 · 10 September 1998]

Brass Eye is a TV show which spoofs newsmagazines, celebrity as reason for living, "big issues", left and right, up and down, and is outraged about outrage. If you you cut this baby open, you find in the stomach every hand that fed it! Definitely one of the Three Funniest Series ever to come from the UK (with Fawlty Towers and Father Ted). Unfortunately, much would not translate across to North American audiences (Morris sets up Brit celebs with mock interviews which the unwitting participants thought authentic - hilariously deflated egos drape the studio walls) but the tone is always spot on. Notorious and demonized in some corners here, its last episode contained a very rude insult to outgoing Channel 4 chief Michael Grade (who had censored a segment about a musical based on the Yorkshire Ripper) and probably will not be re-shown anywhere for a very long time. Which would be a monstrous tragedy.

The Hill (1965)

Breathtaking - no-nonsense Lumet goes to desert prison.

[8 September 1998]

Stark images, powerful script and performances, and rapid, sharp editing make this film difficult to forget. Director Sidney Lumet stamps his authority on the movie with a style that is gritty, almost documentary -like. The quick cuts are precise, like the snap of the salutes and the bark of the NCO's. Beyond Lumet's towering presence, there is a likeable performance from a young Ossie Davis, an excellent early non-Bond performance from Sean Connery, and Harry Andrews' Sargeant-Major is a remarkable creation - a little man whose job is to destroy these misfits on behalf of a system that will not tolerate individuals.

This remarkable film stays in the mind long after viewing for me, mainly because it announces early on that it is not an easy picture, and like early Frankenheimer, it's aggressive style stands out from the norm. It is a quintessential sixties picture - a time when experiments in style could be taken seriously - not just a smirky in-jokes or cartoonish roller -coaster rides. Exhilarating nonetheless.