Change Your Image
sharonkathleenjohnson
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Our Neighbors Shadow (2022)
I'll Have What He's Having
It's a pleasant surprise to have an indie film turn out to be so riveting. Ordinary-looking actors can become superstars when given a good script and great dialogue. The plot here is convoluted but naturalistic in an amusingly serious way--it's not too far-fetched to believe such contretemps could happen in real life. The presence of the archetypal counselor saves this embroglio from descending into Mexican soap-opera territory and in fact, lifts it into the realm of Jungian psychotherapeutics, where problematic life situations ping off the ivory tower of philosophy and take on the universiality of art. Did l say the dialogue was top drawer--l had to turn the sound up so as not to miss the hidden punch lines ("l didn't know what he did for a living for three years") or ("l used to feel sorry for women who were married to losers"). I laughed out loud more than once. For a low-budget, no-big-Hollywood-stars movie, l was impressed. It demonstrates what you can do with ordinary thespians in a mundane setting if you have an interesting and unusual premise. Kudos to the screenwriter!
The Last Days of Capitalism (2020)
The Thinking Man's "Pretty Woman"
Evidently, monetary negotiations have become a tad more cutthroat in the age of EAT THE RICH than they were a generation ago, when money was equated with virtue. It's causing amoralists to look back nostalgically to the era of "Pretty Woman," when an honest working girl could go from prostitute to wife in three seconds flat--no class barriers, hidden agendas, or brass knuckles. But now that we're all painfully aware that 1% of the world populace controls 95% of its wealth, things have really gotten out of hand. Even the help are fighting back! We'll probably never know the true identity and backstory of this female protagonist, this mercurial honorary love child of Scheherazade and Machiavelli. A young woman this capable of psychological warfare and subterfuge has to have some heavy lifting precedents! Why, the poor-little-rich-boy protagonist is completely out of his depth, unfortunately becoming the sympathetic character by default. I haven't been this impressed by a dialogue writer in forever. As a radical Marxist, l applaud this literary attempt to right all wrongs by wronging all rights but as a radical feminist, it begs my imagination that a call girl has that level of ruthlessness--she would have been a corporate lawyer by age 25. She also seems to have psychotherapeutical, acting, medical, and acrobatic skills down pat. But then, this is a man writing dialogue for the soulmate of his dreams--a budding female adolescent who thinks, spars, and feints like a man. A worthy opponent who looks fifteen. But would an oligarch's heir reveal that much about his finances to a stranger? Seems naive in the extreme but then losing five million doesn't seem to phase him. In the end--does she just drug him or something more drastic? Does he die or just pass out? What is so personal about Paris for her? Curious minds long to know. In either event, the screenwriter has created a female villain so nefarious as to reincarnate Kahli--that terrifying Hindu goddess of both birth and death. I'm still trying to figure her(him) out. But isn't that the highest purpose of both literature and film--to provoke thought?
Disencumber (2021)
Real World Issues
This is the rare occasion that good story and dialogue eclipse Hollywood production values. In an nongimmicky naturalistic manner, these relatable slacker semi-adults come of age withinthe usual capitalist conumdrum of "nothing succeeds like success even if you lose your soul". This dichotomy comes at us from several existential angles, provoking deep questions about meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. Individual fortunes are in perpetual flux--such vicissitudes were common among my friends after obtaining that so-called pinnacle of privilege, the four-year degree. Our definitions of true success ranged from working in cutting-edge tech to forsaking all modern convenience and going completely off-grid, with varying degrees of drug abuse sprinkled on top. So this wonderful morality play really took me back to those angsty but halcyon years. The open-ended manner in which this slice-of-life cinemata verite concluded gave me enough pause to mentally thank the screenwriter for restoring my belief in serious literary auteurship.
Prazské orgie (2019)
City of Stories
Living in a relatively young country like America, we can be blissfully unaware how untold European generations of intellectuals can devolve into jaded nihilism or dogmatic elitism, especially a country of writers and artists like Czechoslovakia. Its shabbily ancient cities have become claustrophobic fishbowls of intrigue, paranoia, and infighting. A famous American author sets out to fight the suppression of leftist writers, naively believing his fame will protect him. It's never clear who eventually undermines him or if the intricate system of spies, informers, and surveillance set him up to fail from the get go. One truly grieves for the confiscated manuscript and the explosive secrets it must contain. The dance of deceit between said famous author and Olga (a character like no other in all of cinema--a force of nature akin to Kali, that convoluted Hindu goddess of both birth and death) sparks with scintillating dialogue and dark humor. In fact, the cooly sardonic humor throughout this film is so evocative of its faux-lascivious creator, Philip Roth, that Czecks should not be insulted by its specific location--it grapples with great universal literary themes such as state versus individual, right versus left, art versus realpolitik, which could happen anywhere given enough corruption, paranoia, and economic insecurity. A stunning adaptation!
Shuttlecock (2020)
Slow Burn
The secrets of the past are best left alone unless the price is ones own sanity. Three generations are forever bound by a truth that must not be spoken. So much rests on the universal need for straightforward heros. War is messy and men often governed by instinct; armed conflicts compromise us all. With a detective's intuition, the son of a war hero obsesses over the wartime activities of his father and because of his desperate quest, three generations are able to bond in a singularly awkward British way in spite of human failing. The dialogue and plot are completely believable and naturalistic, the cinematography topnotch, and the stately and slightly deteriorated Portuguese settings are shabbily beautiful. It rings very true as a psychological thriller rooted in human and familial despair. In the end, the lust for truth outweighs all other desires.
Little Kingdom (2019)
Little Masterpiece
This is a gloriously shabby slice-of-life war-time drama where everybody double-deals, betrays, abandons, kills, or flees. Nobody is innocent. Loyalties seem to shift with the tide (it takes place in 1945 just before the Soviets take Berlin) and you have to pay close attention to the dialog to sift out the collaborators, sycophants, and secret agents from the members of the resistance. Aside from political tensions, there are the usual paltry village jealousies and alliances and nobody really wins in the end. Everybody is painfully human. I found Little Kingdom to be a gripping little story-telling masterpiece. The cinematography and sets are magnificently and Slavicly (if that's a word) dilapidated. It could be a microcosm of a dozen Baltic or Slavic villages during World War ll--no need to get specific!
Guillaume le Conquérant (2014)
The Real Thing
Notwithstanding all the Medieval-era movies and television shows that have been concocted out of thin air of late, here is the real story of the Norman Conquest and its repercussions. Its juicy detail about bloodlines, banners, battles, and boats is spell-binding! A unique French perspective adds to its intrigue and the music score is superlative. A must-see for all connoisseurs of Medieval history, the re-enactments are humorous as well as informative. Its naturalistic approach brings historical detail to the forefront in a very accessible format. I came away feeling that some very dry history had become enchantingly up-close and personal.
Mediterranean Escapes (2007)
Working Class Food Traditions
Stein is wonderfully down to earth and sincerely in touch with the real people of the Mediterranean and their simple oft-humble food traditions. He investigates mundane but hearty recipes handed down from the mists of a penurious past made piquant by frugality and ingenuity. Every ingredient (olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, pasta, fish, homemade cheese, and bread being fairly ubiquitous throughout the Mediterranean) is hard-won from nearby rocky outcroppings, herds of goats and sheep, wild undergrowth, and the wine-dark sea itself. He waxes elegaeic over every ungodly variety of sea life, as well as over the stoic fishermen who grapple with decreasing catches on heaving seas. The sweat and toil of unpretentious workers is front and center. They shine with simple pride over various sundry culinary configurations featuring local fruits of earth and sea, often garnished with wild foraged greens and lovingly cooked the way their mothers and grandmothers taught them. From cluttered country kitchens to backstreet mom-and-pop eateries, Stein gets intimate with ordinary working class people enjoying ordinary working class food in off-the-beaten-path venues. It's a triumphantly proletariat travelogue sans tourists, expensive restaurants, or sumptuous hotels. It's really quite the Marxist manifesto and the food to which he introduces us is the healthiest on the planet. His painstaking unpacking of each relatively simple and accessible recipe is like a living cookbook. One begins to grasp the overall unity and methodology of Mediterranean cuisine--it's pretty much all one-pot cooking! Stein is also quite erudite and his multi-lingual grasp of cultural and historical minutae is literate and gripping. One almost feels that one has circumvented the Mediterranean at his side. His focus on the true values of farmwork, family ties, and frugal food is infectious--he has inspired me to investigate local wild edible plants in order to start foraging for myself.
Diverge (2016)
Superfluous
Why didn't someone travel back in time to divert our pandemic is the question that inevitably rises. And if he is the dead man on the beach who is gripping the shell in the future, then how can there be that future if the future no longer includes people dying from the pandemic? What is the meaning of the mother with the child on the train in the scene before the last? How did the dead man on the beach come into possession of Daisy's doll? How do people from the future survive themselves if they were killed? If you started a pandemic to make money before having a cure, what is to prevent you from getting it? Inquiring minds need to know. The one mark of a good film is that you can't remove yourself from the screen for one second because you're riveted. This definitely passed the rivet test. And the poetic existential despair of knowing one is superfluous, that is a despair one understands.
The Land Between the Lakes (2021)
The Illusionary Nature of Illusion
It's hard to know if this movie was about famous musician Brian who killed his childhood friend Alan or about famous detective Alan who is still calling out to his childhood friend Brian but we can be sure that their childhood nightmares were a reality for some. It's hard to know who's good and who's evil in this movie. But then, it's hard to know who's good and who's evil in real life. It's guaranteed that no matter who you are and to what depth of horror you have sunk, you will still believe that you are on the side of good. As usual, illusion rules and the key to every mystery can be found buried deep within ones past--even ones ancestral past. This strangely philosophical horror-slash-psychological thriller is an unsung Freudian gem. A truly marvelous soundtrack, gorgeous graphics, and mesmerizing dialog. Thought-provoking and well-crafted.
Two Cents from a Pariah (2021)
Gripping
This film had a slice-of-life ambiance. The characters were refreshingly ordinary-looking and their backstories all too believable. Having seen what drugs and alcohol can do to families and children, l found the relationship fallout here highly relatable. The deep questions get asked and the true priorities of life shine through. This unexpected tour-de-force is a complex movie that is uplifting as well as thought-provoking. It is naturalistic in the extreme with a dose of the sacred withinin the profane. It's like the "ashcan" school of artists who painted hardscrabble reality without apology. We need more of this kind of film-making, where the message is more important than the massage. By massage, l mean the dazzling special effects and nonstop action of average Hollywood fare. Two Cents from a Pariah is the definition of a slow burn and l couldn't tear myself away for a second.
Luxor (2020)
Luxury in Luxor
I agree that this film is of a woman's sensibility, perhaps of lsis herself. The symbolism was obvious to me, the dream about the children, the angst of aging, the search for meaning. How familiar it all felt. The pat formula would have been for her to find meaning in romantic love but somehow you feel she won't. The ever-restless searching mind forbids it and ultimately refuses to swallow the sun. Her acting was so naturalistic, l came to know her on the cosmic plane. A solitary soul but aren't we all. I also feel the sacred sites weighing down on me with their thousands of years of worship. I now feel that l have been there and walked like an Egyptian. It wasn't exactly Death on the Nile but there's no dignity in middle-aged love. The sight of the stars makes us dream.
Go/Don't Go (2020)
See/Don't See
See this movie if you need a break from hyperactive Hollywood hype with it's pat formulas and labyrinthian plots. It will soothe you in a weird way, i.e. Nobody is THAT lonely. It made my world seem crowded (which it isn't in actuality). I perceived it as an allegory for what lost love is like. It feels like the end of the world for those who lose their significant other, at least for a while. I experienced the same extreme sense of remoteness and isolation only once in my life and this movie is a very good depiction of that gestalt. In fact it's been more than eight years and l still feel that loss. Fortunately the feelings are not debilitating anymore. Routine activities did help! Luckily l moved on with my life and the feelings aren't.
Monsters of Man (2020)
"Why is Life Important?"
I was glued to the screen by the constant action and suspense. It's a surprisingly thoughtful movie but a little heavy on gore and emoting. Five minutes spent on the boy grieving his father is a bit much. But there is genuine human empathy in the boy-Navy Seal relationship and l count it as unique in an action movie that the primary bond is not the usual male-female one. The emerging sentience of the rogue robot is electrifying. "Why is life important?"
Echo in the Canyon (2018)
The Gods at Play
They all had hit albums and could afford to buy beautiful homes, cars, gear, studio time. They were corporate darlings before moving to Laurel Canyon, certainly not real hippies in any sense of the word--most were already fabulously wealthy. I hate to love them. It's like Lennon singing about the working class hero when he owned a dozen mansions. Remember the CS&N album where they're sitting on a ratty old sofa? Or the Mamas & Papas with the toilet album cover? All of it was a hard-sell. Being down and out was just a facade. They were all fabulously wealthy. Not to say that the music wasn't sweet but certainly not BACH for God's sake. Comparing Brian Wilson to Bach??! Yes l grew up with them, but poor.
Simple Creature (2016)
An Insignificant Singularity, Not Apocalyptic but Trippy
This up-looking story does a ping when you expect a pong. Now we have a hybrid running around, more human than not, all but convincing most folk she didn't die in the mortal sense of mortality that we call death but came back with a strange (would it not be almost programmed) demeanor that can't quite convince her husband that she is actually her but being lonely, he'll settle, but then he too becomes a guinea pig for the same reasons as she and maybe that's how they planned it BHA-HA-HA-HAW. Not to spoil it for you but it's the journey not the destination for this slow-burn plot--it's always the dialog that tips you off about an excellent screenwriter--actually every movie is about dialog, whether chatty or silent so all said, I salute this screenwriter--the dialog and understated sinisterness of the charactors in A SIMPLE CREATURE is naturalistic and top drawer and I was drawn deeply into every character and backstory. The plot operates like a well-oiled machine and there is not one wasted word or expression in its entireity. Like a mundane slice of life with a lime twist. You're almost surprised that it's sci fi--which is the best kind in my opinion. The budget consists of renting a lab with men in white coats. You really have to have an imagination at this level of "indie"osity.
Green Rush (2020)
Femme Fatale
The allegorical premise of GREEN RUSH concerns the primal preeminence of female-plus-fetus in her primordial habitat. At intervals, we hear about the lioness and other predators of nature deep in their Darwinian writhings and to not apply these broadside hints to the obvious intricacies of human interaction as related to reproduction in GREEN RUSH would be doing a disservice to this finely-wrought parable. Early on, Maria goes so far as to applaud the killing of the male plant's seedpods in order to enhance those of the female, for God's sake, do you have to be literally hit over the head with a metaphor? This film is a veritable forensic feminist manifesto with all it's gleeful Bram Stokian gore and torrents of toxic homoerotic masculinity. There's plenty of fodder here for the #me too brigade as well! A real pretzelodian twist on the everyone-dies genre; I was on the edge of my seat for an entire hour. And it sticks with you beyond its running time, so relatable is this motley crew of stoners, rednecks, refugees, and ex-cons. So much for prison reform! These people feel like the exact braindead bunch of bunglers that we all grew up with. The house itself is a blueprint for every single serious stoner's crashpad that ever was and I loved that just about every single one of the blockheads could have been the father. By the end, one hardly cared if Maria fell victim to a cougar or not. Nice touch--leaving it open to speculation. Butter wouldn't melt in HER mouth either way.
Approaching the Unknown (2016)
A Ray of Sunshine
Even in the bleakest moments, the sheer singularity of being alive is enough. When Stanaforth steps out of his flimsy little pod onto that remote red planet, somehow you KNOW he's going to survive. I mean if someone can reap water from sterile desert soil, they can certainly synthesize oxygen from the red dirt of Mars. Nine months away from all that is familiar, the words loneliness or remoteness can't begin to do his situation justice as he makes that second giant step for mankind by disembarking onto that utterly alien virgin plain. Yet there is something almost comically optimistic about his confidence as he sets out across it, the very first human being on Mars. It rang truer to me than THE MARTIAN, which was humorous and suspenseful but lacked documentary realism. Documentary realism may be slower and less eventful but better conveys life itself with all its repetitive and banal minutia; its all-too-human mishaps and migraines. APPROACHING THE UNKNOWN takes place at the pace of life but it ultimately made me feel like I went to Mars myself and, in spite of several major engineering mistakes, emerged more resilient and eager-for-adventure than ever. This movie conveys a sense a loneliness and isolation more effectively than any other movie that I have seen. And I thought I was introverted! Yet APPROACHING THE UNKOWN also gave me a sense of pride and hope for mankind.
2 Graves in the Desert (2020)
ALLEGORY IS A THING IN FILM or THE VIEW FROM INSIDE
Ye nay-sayers have no film background. Stuck in a trunk is an ultimate allegorical film motif--what could be more hopeless? What would transpire between a man and woman (especially) in those dire moments--these are dilemmas you only present to a savvy and dialogue-driven screenwriter. The dialogue covers much territory, including both early-and-late-in-life scenarios (the suicide-murder of the father, the vaguely Russian-satellite-country "formula," and the misbegotten unborn child's paternity). The plot is nitty-gritty,convoluted, and there's even a modicum of Freudian psycotherapeutic theory thrown in. Meaning-heavy like Bergman. A Thinking Person's Movie all the way down the line, full of life's worst rather than best moments--why, I felt like my life was a casual carousel ride in comparison. DAS BOOT comes to mind. All in all, extremely gripping but my one question, did he survive the shot while wrapped in that blanket? AND WHAT DID HE WRITE ON HER ABDOMEN? Questions that haunt me two days later. And let's have a sequel focused on the baby's own inevitably treacherous and iniquitous life! With the one-brief-flashback-ending that explains everything. Beautiful and thought-provoking, this film proves that real art is real--it's about reality and it teaches you something. I salute this writer.
Old Joy (2006)
The Teardrop-Shaped Universe
Though cemented to their disparate destinies, two old buddies awkwardly trade anxieties and clumsily reconnect emotionally, as only men can. One, the upstanding citizen, appears to have a relatively enviable life but no heart of poetry; the other, marginally subsisting in a junk-filled van, is apprised of a poignant sensitivity that brings to mind a Dostoevskian tragicomedic fool. Apparently, the grass is always greener on the other side--the dire responsibility of parenthood is rightfully both dreaded and anticipated by the former, fostering incipient escapism in the form of a night out with the boy(s) so at the very least he can return to his urban angst with verdant memories of trees and streams. This movie is so intrinsically Oregon in its mundane and banal minuteia that I felt like I took the trip myself and can now say "been there, done that, bought the pink T-shirt". The fact that that the two lovable nimrods get lost en route and end up camping out at a dumpsite is funny enough, but there are many other subtly hilarious epiphanies gilding this film: the little red wagon with the TV, the church bell ringing, the red-and-green flowered couch at the dumpsite, the slug on the leaf, the changing of pants in the car. All somehow highly engaging! But it is Kurt's theory of the universe that is the definitive epiphany for me--it explains everything so eloquently without actually solving anything, exactly like the movie itself. It's a slice of life filmed at the pace of life and it will slow your brain waves significantly, like a contact high. The narrative of the woman in the store dispensing the divine redemption of worn-out joy is not only the epitome of stoner profundity, but a metaphor for the guilt-drenched terror hidden within all of our hearts and our constant, consequent, unremitting, and somewhat pathetic need for affirmation.
November Criminals (2017)
THINLY-DISGUISED RACISM
Rich white kid succumbs to dealing himself as he plays Sherlock Holmes for a black friend who has already succumbed, but still gets to live his promise-filled life after the funeral, while the (still married) decent black couple grieve discretely in a baroque cathedral. All kinds of class and racial stereotypes in play here--especially the fact that the oh-so-sensitive and compassionate white kids are somehow heroes after having completely unpassionate clinical sex and naively dabbling in dangerous police detective work. What about all the fine upstanding highly-gifted black honor students who actually WERE gunned down in real life? Why not make a film about them? Why does the black dealer have to die and not the two white ones? Think about it--sometimes racial prejudice runs so deep, it's completely subconscious in the heart of the author.
What About Me (1993)
Unsung Tour de Force
In a return to European-style auteurship, Amodeo writes, directs, and stars in this bare bones low-budget gem of a "Little Match Girl" reboot. Like Edward Hopper and the ashcan school of art, this film focuses on a ragtag milieu of mendicants, bohos, bums, and junkies in their natural habitat, a bleak dystopic graffiti-gilded New York cityscape in midwinter. All of whom come across refreshingly ingenuous and unrehearsed. Shades of early Truffaut and the bicycle thief! The meandering episodic nature of Lisa's last days comes across as both mundane and heart-wrenching--she is the littlest most unlikely saint of the meanest streets. One wishes to see her in a third incarnation where she is a perpetually pampered princess free of pain.
Bel Canto (2018)
An Opera Singer's Opera
Like Lifeboat, Key Largo, and Dog Day Afternoon, this film focuses on a limited number of characters trapped in a claustrophobic and seemingly untenable situation. The sumptuousness of the industrialist's mansion and the erudite sophistication of the opera crowd contrast sharply with the roughshod revolutionary naivete of the largely illiterate ragtag band of guerillas, yet the humanity of both manages to shine through. Charactor development and cross-cultural exchange are the focus here and ironic unexpected downright hilarious interactions abound between the guerillas and the hostages. Their comaraderie is heartwarming and inspiring! The beauty of operatic song is also celebrated and holds one in thrall the few times it is showcased--I was left wanting to hear more of Renee Fleming's celestially cerebral phraseology. A film so engaging you don't want it to end, but end it must in the grand tradition all great operas.
Korparna (2017)
High Art
It's bracing to see the austere spirit of Bergman and Haneke played out once again in such minimalist stentorian tones. Cold yet deeply authentic, Ravens pulls no punches when it comes to raw human nature and family rupture. It felt very real to me, coming as I do from Finnish farming roots--the gravitational drag of intergenerational obligation, the family suicides and insanity, the endless thankless backbreaking labor underlying all of life. The rebellion of the spirit against this monolithic yoke of family inheritance is carried out on many levels as young and old alike strive for individuality and the illusion of freedom. Guilt fuels all virtue. What a monument to Scandinavian landscape--both of the heart and of the land!
Real Playing Game (2013)
Hell is Other People
What is the matter with you people? This cerebral thinking person's gem of a metaphysical film has lofty themes and piquant dialog--quoting Sartre at one point and speculating on what Hitler knew at twenty years of age for heaven's sake. Shades of Bergman or Bunuel! The entire premise is deeply personal as well as universal--what does anyone really know at twenty of the inherent treachery of human interaction and aren't we all trapped in some prison or another--whether it be old age or the naivete of youth? This film makes good use of low budget sci fi sets, as well as carries on the European auteur tradition of tackling the grand themes of philosophy. The fragile balance between trust and suspicion, cooperation and competition, love and hate are so explicitly explored here, how could anyone miss it?