I also enjoyed this Clifton Duncan podcast about the collapse of Hollywood.
Sayonara (1957)
arte Mediathek, Deutsch
As part of the Brando centenary, arte showed a few non-Godfather movies and a couple documentaries. Sayonara is the story of two American officers stationed in Occupied Japan, and based on the semi-autobiographical James Michener novel of the same name. Despite the extremely strict “no fraternizing” policy they fall in love with Japanese dancers. There are several extended scenes of performances, and the music and costumes are splendid.
Moron that I am, I saw “Red Buttons” and thought “Hey, this should be funny!” And parts of it were, but Buttons–who turns in a great performance–meets a tragic, and preventable fate.
Recommended.
The Missouri Breaks (1976)
arte Mediathek, Deutsch
Warning: Enough actual animal abuse occurred on the set that the ASPCA called for a boycott. f’n arte.
The movie starts with a band of horse thieves, led by Jack Nicholson, attacking a ranch and murdering the foreman, in retaliation for one of their members being hanged for his crimes. The band also buys the farm next door, and uses it as a hide-out. The ranch owner does what anyone would do–hires a “regulator” (bad Radish), played by Brando to track them all down and kill them all. Meanwhile, Nicholson’s daughter’s making moves on the neighborhood’s new bad boy.
Brando’s character becomes increasingly unhinged he murders the whole gang one by one, and in creative and personal ways. Reportedly he ad-libbed and improvised much of it, and I’m inclined to believe that.
I didn’t care for this one, but I think it held up. The gore and sadism would be right at home in contemporary German cinema.
The Bible in the Beginning… (1966)
April 2024
arte, Deutsch
Lush and star-studded three-hour Italian epic. I needed six weeks to finish it. The cinematography in opening chapter of Genesis was stunning; but once they got past Noah (John Huston again), the script started to drag a bit, and I understand why the sequels never got green-lit.
Trivia: This is the second G-rated film featuring nudity I have seen this year.
Im Reich des silbernen Löwen (1965)
3sat, Deutsch
Film adaptation of a novel by 19th-century German bestseller Karl May–this time the author is imagining Kurdistan, instead of Arizona–starring Lex Barker. Apparently this was the third part of a trilogy, but the recap in the first scene was enough to understand where we were in the plot, with an evil (Muslim) warlord trying to steal the sacred devotional objects of a last remaining Christian holdout. All the usual stylized fight scenes/trick riding/romance; a happy-enough ending.
Enjoyable, and (because?) unchallenging. We need more of this.
Shrekathon 2024
Netflix, original English
Why not?
Shrek (2001)
I have successfully severed the film from the previous associations, but I didn’t laugh as much as remember laughing in 2021. The musical interludes were well-planned; I’m not normally a fan but they fit into the scenes very well.
Shrek 2 (2004)
I liked it better last year.
This film is twenty years old. Millions of girls have grown up watching the fairy godmother offering to make Fiona over into a surgically-enhanced plasticized bimbo so she can be good enough for a man, and missed the part where Fiona refused because none of that is actually necessary. Sigh.
Still loved Puss in Boots.
Shrek the Third (2007)
Too many celebrities voicing too many unlikable new characters. There was an extraordinary amount of sneering at marriage and babies for a “family film” in a “happily ever after” genre. I laughed at some woodland animals, but it really wasn’t very good.
The fourth film was not available. I’m not complaining.
Seven Days in May (1964)
Cable (Warner Film), original English
Everything I said in 2022 is still true. This time I was able to enjoy the performances–Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frederic March–and Hugh Marlowe, from Earth vs the Flying Saucers!
The soundtrack was from Jerry Goldsmith, and I could hear undertones of his work from Planet of the Apes, only less dissonant. FWIW.
THX 1138 (1971)
Cable (Warner Film), original English
An electronic surveillance state, where loving heterosexual relations are deemed “perversion” and everyone is reduced to a number. Huh. How did anyone ever imagine that?
I know this is a cult fave, loved by George Lucas fanbois everywhere, but I can’t recommend it unless you’re really into history of film, or in love with Robert Duvall.
Mr Radish enjoyed the cars.
Coming 2 America (2021)
Amazon, original English (with Dialog Boost)
I don’t know if the Dialog Boost really worked, but we could hear all the dialog, so there’s that. I didn’t understand all the words, but as that’s an age/subculture problem and not a technical malfunction, I can live with that.
Actual quote from the movie: “What do we [US cinema] have besides superhero shit, remakes and sequels to old movies nobody asked for?”
Occasionally a US movie I want to see will pop up in a streaming service, and Mr Radish says, “Oh, I want to watch that with you, but not tonight” four times a week until it gets taken down. A year later, when it comes to German commercial TV, poorly translated and with a 30% longer runtime due to interruption by mid-scene advertisements, that’s the time to watch a movie. *sigh*
Fortunately, as this is an “Amazon Original,” I did not have to watch the German commercial TV version when it popped up in the listing literally years after I had lost interest and moved on.
The music and costumes were outfnstanding, I enjoyed the cameos, and I laughed at the role reprisals and cat jokes., But there were too many plot holes and more suspension of disbelief was required than I could muster up. Queen Lisa doesn’t demand the bastard son usurping her daughter be DNA-tested? Really? Then King Akeem’s 100-lb teenage daughters beat up multiple adult male soldiers (Wesley Snipes, their leader, looked like he had a lot of fun in the villain role), a thing that should never happen outside of “superhero shit.”
Perhaps I am being too harsh. After the previous movie night’s all-too-current dystopian sci-fi, I did enjoy the bright colors, light comedy, and feel-good ending. I just feel I would have liked it more when it was fresh.
Taking Sides (2001)
arte Mediathek, English
Be Prepared: Actual newsreel footage of piles of bodies in Bergen-Belsen is shown.
Another film about the Nazis and their control of art and culture directed by István Szabó, the Hungarian director of RadishFlix recommendations Mephisto and Sunshine. This is a telling of the true story of the 1945 investigation of American Denazification officer Maj. Steve Arnolds (played by Harvey Keitel) into the Nazi-related activities of the Berliner Philharmonic director Wilhelm Furtwängler. It’s based on a play by Ronald Harwood (nice interview here), and it’s a lot more ambiguous than Szabó’s previous films.
Arnolds was part of the liberation of a death camp and he’s haunted by the sights and the smells. He’s correspondingly hardcore about making sure the director is punished for enjoying the perks and privileges of being one of Hitler’s favorites instead of taking any of the jobs he was offered in other countries. His assistants–a young woman whose father was a Nazi party member but executed by the regime for treason after joining an assassination plot, and a Jewish Berliner (Moritz Bleibtreu, the other reason I selected this film) who was sent to an uncle in the US as a boy and whose parents were murdered–are surprisingly chill with the situation, explaining that he’s a very good director and symphonic music is non-political. Furtwängler himself insists he remained because he did not want to cede the culture to the Nazis, and that he played the birthday party because he didn’t want to be shot. The script allows the viewer to reach their own conclusions.
I particularly enjoyed the classical concerts being held in the rubble, there’s a message about music transcending the horrors there.
Mysteries from Beyond Earth (1975)
YouTube, original English
I love a vintage UFO documentary, but this one takes an off-topic detour to the performance of a “Satanic ritual” about halfway through, distracting from the entire premise. Good footage of Stan Friedman, nice campy music.
Eingeschlossene Gesellschaft (2022)
Netflix, original German
Forgettable and generally unfunny comedy. A group of teachers is taken hostage on a Friday afternoon in their own lounge–at a school named for a 1960s West German communist who advocated for street violence and inspired the serial-killing RAF, that’s where I should have turned it off but my whole life is the sunk-cost fallacy–by a gun-toting father who is angry his son won’t be allowed to sit for the Abitur (the standardized test that determines if Germans are allowed to go to university or will be forced to endure the shame of learning a trade) because he turned in a paper two minutes late. They represent all the archetypes–the stodgy Latin instructor, the coach who parties with the students, the spinster who resents the pretty girls who dress like whores, the hyper-idealistic student teacher with “Migration background”, the chemistry nerd who downloads pr0n on his work laptop–and I have seen some of the actors make clichés hilarious in their earlier projects, but it was just plain unfunny.
The funniest bits were when they tried to call the police, who thought it was a prank, and then the chaos at the end when they finally show up–after the matter is resolved, and the son has already chosen to leave the country instead of taking the test.
Next month’s log will have more pictures.
