Vincent Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful traces the rise and fall of Jonathan Shields, a tough and ambitious Hollywood producer who was obsessed with perfection when it came to making great films. Told through a series of elaborate flashbacks, The Bad and the Beautiful tells this man's story through the eyes of three past collaborators, a Pulitzer-prize winning writer, James Bartlow, a Hollywood starlet, Georgia Lorrison, and a director, Fred Amiel. Perhaps the greatest film ever produced about Hollywood, The Bad and the Beautiful beautifully captures the ruthlessness of Tinsel town, with Shields being a man whose obsession with perfection leads him to ruthlessly manipulate talent in an effort to make a successful picture. The movie comes first, over everything else for Jonathan Shields, who shows little empathy for anyone around him, only using them to help him achieve his next great project. The Bad and The Beautiful touches on unique aspects of each disciplinary, from director, to actress, to writer, with unique insights to inner-workings of the creative process. Perhaps the film's greatest attribute, regardless of the individual character's plights, is the film's ability to capture this overall sense of neglect this town breeds, with both Georgia, and Jonathan, being characters whose weaknesses stem at least somewhat from the neglect they felt from their famous parents. Georgia is a particularly tragic character at times, a Hollywood actress who has struggled with bouts of alcoholism and despair due to her troubled relationship with her father, a famous actor who simply put his career ahead of his family. The film never goes into too much depth exploring Jonathan's relationship with his father, but The Bad and The Beautiful manages to capture through these characters the corruption in which success breeds, the broken children left behind in this town who feel unloved by men whose first love is the silver screen. Kirk Douglas gives an amazing performance in this film as Jonathan Shields, with the explosive scene between Georgia being a standout, where Douglas is able to capture a man who does show glimpses of love towards Georgia but simply won't allow it, unwilling and unable to let anyone or anything come in-between himself and his budding empire. From a technical standpoint alone, The Bad and the Beautiful is an impressive film, with some impressive cinematography throughout, especially its use of elegant tracking shots to give the experience more punch. Full of fascinating insights that are both subtle and explosively clear, Vincent Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful is a powerful story of one man's rise and subsequent fall, being a fascinating expose of the Hollywood system where the pursuit of making the perfect film often leaves shattered lives in its wake.
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Lucio Fulci's The Psychic is a classic Fulci that features some impressive atmosphere and cinematography, but what makes the film stand out as one of Fulci's best is its well-crafted story that unwinds in a way that is intricate but simple, leading up to a dynamite ending. The film tells the story of Virginia, a woman who suffers from bizarre episodes in which she see visions, typically related to death. The first time she had one of these visions was the day of her mother's suicide, with these psychotic episodes haunting her from an early age. Her latest psychotic episode involves a host of seemingly interconnected images. Having recently married, Virginia decides to visit the country house which her husband recently owned, hoping to clear her mind and help him decorate. The Psychic features some impressive atmosphere from the legendary Italian horror filmmaker, but I would defintely classify the film as more of a mystery than horror film. The voyeuristic quality of the cinemaotgraphy helps in elevating the sense of mystery and intrigue to this story that is full of twists and sturns, with Fulci also using overhead shots early on to give the film a unique feeling of dread. The film uses these images to construct a story that feels almost like a large puzzle to the viewer, with Virginia's psychotic interconnected episodes being the puzzle pieces that will are the key to the mystery. The editing used to showcase these reminders is far from subtle, but given Fulci's outlandish, atmospheric nature, it fits right in with his other visual styles. While I wouldn't go as far as to call The Psychic one of Lucio Fulci's best films, it is one of the better Italian giallo type films that manages to combine the genres intense sytle with a twisty, turvy mystery narrative that is intriguing from start up into its fantastic finale. Elliott Lester's Nightingale opens inside a seemingly normal house, where Peter Snowden talks into the camera lens, expressing frustration over his mother, whom he lives with. He frantically explains that he has "snapped' due to another heated argument with his mother, seemingly apologetic to something he has done. Taking place completely in the confines of this small, ranch home, Elliott Lester's Nightingale features a tour-de-force level performance by David Oyelowo that examines a character who is battling with mental distress. Peter is a character who has become increasingly obsessed with having Edward, his former friend in the military, come over for dinner. Peter goes to extreme length to prepare for this dinner party, painting walls and extensively cleaning, but as the film progresses it becomes clear that this catch-up engagement was never actually made, being another delusion in Peter's fragile psyche. Oyelowo gives a fantastic performance in this film, done with such conviction that I began to question how much of his performance was improvised in the moment vs. directed, with so many character decisions feeling genuine and organic. While one could write at great length about David Oyelowo's performance, which would be well warranted, Nightingale's other great attribute is its ability to blur the line between reality and Peter's imagination. As David talks to increasingly worried friends and family about his mother, I began to question whether or not these phone calls were even real, or simply another delusion, a manifestation of Peter's guilt over the murder of his mother. Atmospheric and well-designed, Nightingale uses frantic editing and blurred imagery to visually represent Peter's psyche, leading to a conclusion that forces the viewer to consider the inherent tragedy of mental illness. Told with subtlety and nuance, Elliott Lester's Nightingale is a fascinating film about a man's spiraling psychosis, arguing that it may have begun years ago, with the death of his brother, which subsequently lead to his mother's neglect and eventual mental instability in Peter. George Ovashvili's Corn Island is a minimalist study of life that uses a small, simple story to speak to the greatest aspects of nature. Exploring the rhythm of nature and its relationship with mankind, Corn Island is a poetically realized vision that speaks to the cycle of life with destruction turning into creation. The story is set on the Inguri River, which forms a natural border dividing Georgia from Abkhazia. Every spring, the river naturally creates tiny islands in the middle of the river, extremely fertile land that many local inhabitants use to cultivate crops. An old Abkhaz farmer and his teenage daughter begin to cultivate crops one one of these islands, building a hut for shelter, with the rest of the island covered in corn crop. Having very little dialogue, Corn Island is a film that feels like a battle of intrigue, but as it progresses, it becomes clear that this film is a powerful allegory for the sands of time. Tensions between the two countries on each side of the river have not abated, and Corn Island creates a great sense of dread to this fable-like tale, as the conflict between the two militaries slowly infects the lives of this old man and his granddaughter. At first it is merely patrols of troops from both sides, armed to teeth, heading up and down the river. It increases with gun shots that ring off in the distance, eventually seeing the two protagonists drawn into the conflict when a wounded soldier washes up onto their small island. Corn Island juxtaposes the grandaughters descent into adulthood with the growing of the cornfields, another example of Corn Island's poetic nature of exploring the relationship between humanity and nature. With Corn Island, George Ovashvili has delivered a poeitc, minimalistic tale about the cycle of life, with nature being a force that both creates and destroys. Bianca, a content high school senior, finds her world flipped upside down when she realizes that among her peers she is referred to as "A DUFF", the Designated Ugly Fat Friend. Having prettier and more popular friends, Bianca becomes infatuated with bettering herself in order to not be perceived as a DUFF, enlisting her neighbor Wesley, a popular jock at the school, to help her reinvent herself. While unable to reach the same heights as films like Mean Girls or Easy A, Ari Sandel's The Duff is a relatively charming, well-made teenage drama comedy that works best as a showcase for the talents of its star, Mae Whitman. As an actress, Whitman impressively plays Bianca in a way that is charming, funny, but also a genuine depiction of a young woman trying to be comfortable in her own skin. Whitman has a ton of charisma, and The Duff wisely recognizes this, being very much a film driven by her performance. The Duff is very playful, and the way Whitman is able to balance its more absurd humor with the film's more poignant moments about self worth and self-esteem is what makes The Duff one of the better films of this ilk. Another aspect of the film that stuck out to me is how Bianca is not a passive character. It's rare to see a film centered around a female character who is attempting to learn how to socially engage with members of the opposite sex, as many of these films tend to be about the male equivalent trying to date the attractive, popular female. Seeing Bianca nervously talk to various boys at the mall in a hilarious montage sequence was oddly refreshing in its own right, being something that simply isn't common in these types of films. One of The Duff's sharpest commentaries is centered around the ever-growing reliance teenagers have on social media, portraying how teenagers these days are more attached to technology than each other. While The Duff is a rather predictable film, its deconstruction of high-school stereotypes is sold, capturing the importance of having confidence and comfort in ones' own skin. Paolo, a divorced father of two young children, earns his living working as pianist for a hot nightclub in town. One night, while playing, he meets Franscesca, a bombshell of a woman who almost seems to have supernatural abilities when it comes to seducing men. After some playful banter Paolo invites Francesca to his beach house, where they plan an exotic getaway for the two of them. Francesca uses some special secrets she learned from a guru in bed, turning Paolo into a paralyzed sex-slave of sorts, fully erect but having no control over his body whatsoever. While Paolo seems to not have much of a problem with these strange circumstances, things get more interesting when Francesca gets bored with their sexual lifestyle and decides to leave. Marco Ferreri's The Flesh is a muddled and beguiling film that is far from the filmmakers best efforts, though it does maintain the filmmakers fascinating penchant for carnal desire and the strange sense of empowerment he gives over woman in many of his films. In this film, Franscesca doesn't even feel human, almost like a symbolic representation of male desire, with her volompous figure and sex appeal being completely intoxicating to Paolo. She seems to have also been distracting to the filmmaker as well, as this film frequently feels unfocued and uncontrolled, with Marco Ferreri himself intoxicated by Franscesca Dellera. With The Flesh, Ferreri seems to have something to say about the male ego, with Paolo becoming detached from Franscesca after she becomes disinterested. Much of this disinterest seems to begin with the mention of storks from Francesca, as the filmmaker seem to be trying to say something about the relationship between having children and sexual appetite. Of course what makes The Flesh his worst film is that it simply isn't very clear what the filmmaker was trying to say, I could be grasping straws here, but the film seems to be about men's sexualization and possessive nature of woman at the very least. While far from his best, The Flesh is a film that is worth experiencing, due to how the filmmaker uses Franscesca as a visual presentation of male desire. Joanne and Micah, two African American twenty-somethings living in San Francisco, wake up together one morning after a alcohol-infused one-night stand; a bi-product of a late-night party among a mutual friend. They've never met each other before, and after getting breakfast together, Joanne quickly goes along her way, accidentally leaving her wallet behind in the cab. Knowing very little about Joanne, Micah is able to track down where she lives in order to return her wallet, which inevitably leads to the two of them spending the day together. Barry Jenkins' Medicine For Melancholy is a pensive and observant character study and romance, focusing on two African American characters who couldn't be more different. While Micah lives in San Francisco's lower-income Tenderloin district, Joanne lives in the pricey, upscale Marina District, being two individuals who couldn't be from more different worlds. Their is a mutual attraction between the two of them, but as they spend more time together it becomes increasingly clear that Joanne and Micah don't share the same viewpoints on most issues. Barry Jenkins' Medicine for Melancholy is an intimate story of two characters that manages to say a lot about about a host of issues, including race, poverty, and love. Creating a vivid portrait of San Francisco, Medicine for Melancholy is an observant film about gentrification, exposing the swelling gap that exists between the rich and the poor, as rent control dwindles and affordable housing only exists for the wealthy, and in most cases white individuals. Compared to some films that let their anger cloud their intelligence, Medicine for Melancholy provides a pretty mature viewpoint on race, exploring and acknowledging the important difference between society and the individual's viewpoint of oneself, with Joanne arguing that just because society defines her as black, she doesn't have fall victim to the same level of vapid description. Simply put, perhaps Medicine for Melancholy's greatest attribute is the simple reminder that race means next-to-nothing as a defining characteristic, with both Joanne and Micah's being completely different individuals whose only similarity, outside of a mutual attraction, is the color of their skin. Well-crafted as well, I particularly liked the cinematography in Medicine for Melancholy, where the camera itself drifts and floats along with the characters, creating a melancholic nature around this one fateful day in the lives of these individuals. |
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June 2023
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