Monday night I was down & out due to that food poisoning; I'm fine now. Here is me catching up on the last two films I saw:
Runtime: 123 minutes
Directed by: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Starring: Boguslaw Linda, Boguslawa Pawelec, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Marzena Trybala, Jacek Borowski
From: Zespol Filmowny “Tor”
In a review posted much earlier than usual during a weekday due to my schedule, would people believe me when I say that this was my first Krzysztof Kieslowski picture? Due to availability I haven’t seen anything from the Dekalog TV show and I know the Three Colors trilogy is best seen together in order, so I instead went with a movie on the Criterion Channel which has a fascinating scenario: one young man and how his life branches off in three different scenarios all dependent on how he handles running into someone at a train station then if he makes the train or not. That not only affects his decision to join the Communist Party, but also his love life.
Besides getting to see the director’s tropes in just one film, I understand why Mr. Kieslowski has such a lofty reputation among foreign cinema film fan dorks like us. I don’t want to reveal much more about the plot except that each scenario is fascinating as our protagonist Witek’s life is quite different just from one incident. The outcome of all three stories: I’m not sure if I’m supposed to read anything into that (such as “oh, that’s how life in Poland was back then”) or not… without knowing everything about filmmaking behind the Iron Curtain, I can only speculate. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live in that place & era but its arts and entertainment could be incredibly enriching, or at least thought-provoking. At least with me, the thought has crossed my mind-too often-about how my life would be different if I had or hadn’t done a certain thing, heard a certain comment, had a certain opinion which later changed. But enough of my melancholy and contemplative nature.
What is on the Criterion Channel is the original 1981 cut of the film; it actually was not released until ’87 in an edited form. It wasn’t the brief cursing, the nudity/sex or the actual autopsy scene (which wasn’t needed as I was recovering from food poisoning!); in a Communist country, of course the Polish government wouldn’t be happy with a movie filled with criticisms of Communism. Only later was the full version made public… minus one scene they couldn’t recover, which was noted with text during the missing footage. No doubt about it, the future will include viewings of the director’s most famous work.
Runtime: 100 minutes
Directed by: Michael Winner
Starring: Charles Bronson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Keenan Wynn, Jill Ireland, Frank DeKova
From: United Artists
Yeah, this is a movie from Michael Winner, for sure. In my life I’ve
seen some Charles Bronson in my life and most of them I’ve enjoyed; it
was time to see another one, and one of his most famous efforts was the
way to go. There is a disturbing scene which involves a young lady
(Linda Ridgeway; this was her only role although she is best known as
one of Bill Cosby’s many accusers) slitting her wrists and the two leads
not caring if she dies. To be frank, that is the sort of scene I expect
in a
Michael Winner picture. If that isn’t too upsetting to you and
the plot otherwise sounds intriguing, then the movie is well worth
watching.
Bronson is Arthur Bishop, hitman connoisseur who is great at staging deaths to look like accidents but despite his great skill and exquisite tastes, the job is rather unpleasant for a human being. He needs to take pills, his health is wavering, his love life is one night stands, and his demeanor is rather cold. Due to his lifestyle and meeting a similar-minded Jan-Michael Vincent, training a new apprentice to take over seems like a swell idea despite the inherent risks.
The first 15 minutes or so is great; you only hear two words of dialogue (there is diegetic radio noise in one scene) as Bishop examines the lair of his quarry, plans the death, sets it up, then enacts the kill. The pacing was methodical yet I was glued to the screen. Fascination abounds as the duo interact w/ each other and the viewer discovers why Bishop is in that line of work, along with why Vincent’s character Steve McKenna wishes to join that line of work. It was an unsympathetic yet fascinating look at a unique world which featured some nice action beats, a quality score that sets the mood, quality performances from our two leads, and is a typical grim 70’s genre picture… which is a compliment.
By the by, in the original script Bishop and McKenna were supposed to be gay lovers! Not a surprise that this detail was quickly scuttled-maybe one day the general public will be more receptive to such an idea. As is, this is still very good.
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