Devil In A Blue Dress

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

Runtime: 102 minutes

Directed by: Carl Franklin

Starring: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, Don Cheadle, Maury Chaykin

From: Tristar

As Noirvember winds down, it only made sense for me to finally watch this neonoir which should have been viewed by me long ago. The fact that this will leave The Criterion Channel in a manner of hours pushed me to experience a motion picture which many said should have had sequels-it was based on one of a series of novels by Walter Mosley so sequels had an obvious selection to pick plots from.

In essence it is just like a noir of old; the setting is 1948 Los Angeles and a shady figure asks a blue collar worker to try and find a missing lady as she hangs out in the same world he does, only to discover liars, scandal & murder that goes all the way to a mayoral race. Of course, this is different as it is a Black setting filled with great Black music, colorful characters and yeah, racist moments. “Easy” Rawlins has to look for a lady who literally wears a blue dress & not only does this have some foul language, the MacGuffin that is eventually identified: definitely a plot point that could not have been done in the 40's or 50's.

Of course, Denzel delivered a quality performance as Rawlins; the rest were at least good. It was nice to see Jennifer Beals although for me the highlight was the over the top Mouse, played by Don Cheadle. I'd ask for more of Mouse but perhaps too much of him would have ruined the nice atmosphere or even could have become grating at one point. As is, I dug said atmosphere, along with said music and said swerves. It looks like a vibrant world... if you ignore all the killings, that is. Also, after the movie I realized why a key role was well-cast... it related to an actor's real life background. I've seen some declare this “boring”; to each their own but I do not share that viewpoint. It satisfied my standard noir desires so shame on me for not giving it a shot many years in the past.

Kagemusha

Kagemusha (1980)

Runtime: 180 minutes

Directed by: The legendary Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu, Hideji Otaki

From: Toho/Akira Kurosawa Productions... and 20^th Century Fox, as Lucas and Coppola are such fans of Kurosawa, they asked Fox to help when the movie ran out of money

“Psychedelic Akira Kurosawa scenes” is a phrase I love being able to say.

Now that everything is back to normal (Saturday night I caught up on everything I missed out on when I was out of town for Thanksgiving) my schedule of watching motion pictures should likewise not be disrupted... at least until I am out of town again right before Christmas but I'll explain that in a few weeks. For now, it wasn't difficult for me to pick another Akira Kurosawa picture to view; including this it's been 11 of his films watched and the “worst” I rated as very good and he has several legendary pictures. Of course I haven't seen his earliest work, although one day that'll change. In the meanwhile, finally crossing off one of his major pictures off the list seemed a wise choice, & it was.

In a three hour runtime that never was dull even w/ its measured pace, a thief who is the spitting image of a Lord in late 16th century feudal Japan is hired as a decoy-after all, “Kagemusha” literally translates as “shadow warrior”-but when the actual Lord dies & he decrees before passing away that his leaving the mortal world MUST be hidden for three years, that is a real pickle of a situation for that clean. Rivals start to suspect the truth and the decoy starts to love the job...

Hindsight speaking, it is not a surprise this is often gorgeous visually. A painter since his youth and someone who always had detailed storyboards, all the years it took to finance this meant he had the time to create lavish drawings that brought to life the script he co-wrote. Subsequently, several scenes are quite striking w/ their usage of multiple colors. A dream sequence is a real kaleidoscope of different shades/shapes but that (literally) colors a few other moments. Of course all the other aspects are great (acting, action beats, the score, the rural Japanese scenery, etc.) but it's the visual aspect which was the standout for me. A thrill for Lucas and Coppola must have been getting 20th Century Fox to give the production money after it ran out of money-as Kurosawa productions were wont to do-which is why Fox distributed this outside of Japan.

While I do prefer some of the director's other films and the movie being on the dry side at times is something even I can admit, overall it was a lengthy journey I enjoyed being on.

 

OSS 117: Panic In Bangkok

OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok (Banco A Bangkok Pour OSS 117) (1964)

Runtime: 119 minutes

Directed by: Andre Hunebelle

Starring: Kerwin Mathews, Pier Angeli, Robert Hossein, Dominique Wilms, Akom Mokranond

From: A few different Italian and French companies

Personally, DOCTOR SINN wouldn't be my primary healthcare physician.

Sooner than expected, I have returned. The preceding week for certain had its ups and downs-yet I still had Thanksgiving w/ some family members, my health is fine & things are practically back to normal now. Thus, while that short break was nice I am happy to forget about the recent drama. Randomly, I chose to view something I've seen little of: the Eurospy genre, prevalent in the 60's after 007 became so popular at the box office. The character Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath was also a literary creation (from French author Jean Bruce) which not only predates Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Bath made it to cinemas first. The character just never became legendary like Bond did. This was my initial experience w/ Ol' Hubert; I've never even viewed the spoof movies from the 2000's from the people that would also make The Artist.

There's a few spots to rent it from, but Kino's streaming service is the way to go even if you have to view it on your laptop as at least the picture is in HD. In this tale filmed & set in Thailand (an interesting locale for me to view) our hero is tasked with investigating a... faux vaccine which is actually a plague that will wipe out “undesirables”; that's what some people think is real life but let me quickly move on before I brew up some controversy. It's a scheme from Doctor Sinn; I can't scoff at the name when there's a much more famous spy film that has a villain named Dr. No. It's a bad look in 2021 that our lead is a real cad around the ladies... if that is not shameful enough, to paraphrase another Letterboxd reviewer, he saves his own ass by letting random people die and not seeming to care that this happens! The first half also has a more languid pace than the back half-at least for me the Thai scenery both rural and urban kept me at attention.

Thankfully this second half has a quicker pace & the obvious inspiration from the earliest Bond pictures becomes more apparent. There's shootouts, kidnappings, double-crosses, a bit of romance, locals that help the hero, the heel wearing a CAPE in one scene... it was a shot of adrenaline that was much-needed. In addition, it became clear that not only was Pier Angeli my type in terms of appearance, but also why both Kirk Douglas & James Dean fell for her. Her passing away accidentally at the age of 39 is sad. To end this review on a positive note, even if it takes awhile for the plot to be fully propelled, overall it was a fun spy romp which does give me the germ of an idea to check out more Eurospy features in the future.

 

Apologies Are Due...

for mentioning on Letterboxd a few days ago that I wouldn't be watching films for a few days due to the up and down week I had... but neglecting to do the same here. It's been like that for me as November winds on down. Yet perhaps as soon as tomorrow I'll return and things will be more back to normal.

The Place Beyond The Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Runtime: 140 minutes

Directed by: Derek Cianfrance

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Emory Cohen, Dane DeHaan

From: Focus Features

One of my faults: purchasing movies on disc then not watching them for years. This was an example of that; it was one of a few Blu discs bought a few years ago from a Big Lots for cheap that sat in my collection collecting dust. For the purpose of adding more variety to my film watching, this was finally given a shot & one benefit of not checking it out much sooner-nor even taking a close look at the credits on the back of the case: the number of actors who would become more famous in the years after this came out. Mahershala Ali as a caring dad is one thing—another thing entirely was experiencing Ben Mendelsohn as a white trash mechanic w/ a cigarette ever-present in his mouth.

In a plot spanning many years, the focus is on the relationship between fathers/sons and the legacy that leaves behind. Ryan Gosling is a motorcycle rider who does stunt shows at county fairs (he and two buddies ride around in a steel globe a la Elvis did in Roustabout. He discovers that he has an infant son w/ Eva Mendes, who has another beau. He tries to be a better dad but does so by making a selection of really poor choices. Eventually Ryan has a scene w/ cop Bradley Cooper... who also has an infant son. I had an idea this wouldn't be the most joyful of pictures-but it was more morose than expected. After all, there are some corrupt police officers (which plays differently than it did then) and many bad things happening to many people. As others have noted, the opening 50 or so minutes is the strongest segment of the movie and your overall opinion will depend on how “worse” you think the subsequent scenes are.

That said, it was still a captivating experience. The natural structure of the story-there are a few different stories told-results in a few moments best described as “convenient”-that did not bother me as there were solid themes that were addressed. A haunting score & a cast full of faces I recognized who (mostly) delivered were assets. A different setting of Schenectady, New York was pleasant to me... it seems like a nice decent-sized city in the upstate region. Various themes are addressed-such as masculinity & other things it probably be best not to spoil-it did not seem long despite being over 2 hours in length, has pleasant cinematography... even if it's not a feel-good movie you can throw on at any time, it was a rewarding journey which presented ideas worth of conversation or contemplation. It did make me contemplate what happened w/ Dane DeHaan... turns out, he was on an Amazon Prime series I hadn't even heard of before and (lolz) was on a Quibi series too.

Eaten Alive!

Eaten Alive! (Mangiati Vivi!) (1980)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Umberto Lenzi

Starring: Robert Kerman, Janet Agren, Ivan Rassimov, Paola Senatore, Mel Ferrer

From: A few Italian companies

Why not discuss my Thanksgiving week plans in the beginning of a review of a cannibal movie? Unlike typical, I will be out of town for a few days; the plan is to postpone posting a review for a few days-that would allow me to put up an appropriate review on the holiday itself while I am elsewhere. That's another rarity for me: watching a Thanksgiving picture. As for what I saw last night, don't confuse this with the 1976 Tobe Hooper picture which has the same name except for an exclamation mark... even though hilariously both feature Mel Ferrer. This movie was watched on Arrow's streaming service.

The plot: a woman from Alabama goes to New York City to try and locate her missing sister. She discovers that sis went to Papua New Guinea (Sri Lanka stood in for that country) in order to follow a guy I'll call “Not Jim Jones”... the Jonestown tragedy is ripped off her and it does not seem in good taste as that was filmed mere months after it actually happened. Then again, if you thought there were many animal deaths in Cannibal Holocaust, wait until you see this—barf. The plotting here, how the story is told and some of its beats were not good, IMO. The exploitative elements (random racial slurs, sexual assaults, all the nudity) was a bit much even for someone sleazy & trashy like Umberto Lenzi.

Anyhow, in New Guinea our lead meets up with Vietnam War deserter Robert Kerman & this is how the sister is found in the village ran by Not Jim Jones. In case you're confused, Not Jim Jones and his followers are NOT the cannibals: it's the “natives” in the area. The movie gets a meh rating from me-instead of a bad one-due to the gore being effective, some decent kills (even if most are clips lifted from earlier films), music that at times was discofied/always catchy & the scenes shot in the New York City of Old are always of interest to me. It was amusing to see that in the holiday season of '79, besides the XXX features the films you could see in Times Square included Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 10, and the Frank Zappa concert movie Baby Snakes. Experiencing all of those in a seedy joint with some people that are probably wearing raincoats no matter what... probably better than this although perhaps the cannibal genre just isn't for me.

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Hiroshi Inakagi

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentaro Mikuni, Kuroemon Onoe, Kaoru Yachigusa

From: Toho

A movie that I saw due to a young lady... long story but I don't know this young lady “that way”, regrettably. I needed to see some more Toshiro Mifune anyhow and instead of one of his efforts with Kurosawa, why not the first part of a trilogy that was a loose retelling of a legendary samurai master?

In a lovely rural area of Japan circa early 17th century-the color cinematography is one of the highlights-we are introduced to Miyamoto, known at the time as Takezo and his buddy Matahachi. They join a war but unfortunately are on the losing side so they flee. Things happen, the duo are both not as honorable as you both think, and the future Miyamoti is such a wild character, an entire village wishes to capture him-it takes a Buddhist priest to try & tame him. That character was a real life figure-Takuan Soho-although in real life he and Miyamoto never actually interacted w/ each other.

To be frank, I did not love every story beat. The fact that multiple women are not treated well and practically every male character had at least one A-hole moment was unfortunate. Yet otherwise this was a high-quality production. When there's music it fits the film; when there's action it is exciting. And as expected, Mifune's performance was the best when it came to acting craft. Whenever I get to the two sequels, they may actually be preferable to me as they will be more focused on the samurai action & drama. Still, no regrets in checking this out... even if Mifune here did not compare to his character in The Seven Samurai, which came out about 5 months beforehand.