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dene_kernohan
Reviews
The Music Box (1932)
One of the funniest 30 minutes ever
Lately I've been rewatching the work of some early US film comedians, namely Chaplin, Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy.
All are wonderful, but none made me laugh so much as the last, and especially their Oscar-winning 'The Music Box'. This tale of the pair's delivering of a piano up the longest set of steps I've ever seen to a man who hates pianos would be a wonderful tonic for anyone.
This is marvellous stuff, with virtually everything the pair touches being demolished in increasingly amusing fashion. And sometimes they haven't even brought it on themselves -- like their cinematic offspring Inspector Clouseau they simply seen to attract destruction!
The relationship between the two is wonderfully well drawn (I don't find them quite as funny with someone else there!) with Oliver Hardy's little 'camera looks' just as hilarious as whatever Stan Laurel has done to prompt one -- which is of course why they are the finest comedy double act ever seen.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Coen Brothers' latest is not their absolute best, but still terrific
Staggeringly, we in the UK have this much anticipated picture a full three months ahead of the US (presumably because of the English production company, Working Title). How rare is this!
The Depression-era pic, about three escapees from a chain gang (George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson), is loosely based on Homer's 'Odyssey' -- although the Coens say they haven't read it! -- and chronicles the protagonists journey across Mississippi ostensibly towards Clooney's buried treasure of $1,200,000.
As offbeat and charming as you might expect, the movie is very episodic, with some set pieces working better than others but this is all very amusing stuff, with the performers all clearly enjoying the unique opportunities the Coens provide for actors in Hollywood today.
Roger Deakins' Panavision photography is literally breathtaking! An Oscar nomination is surely in the bag there at least, and elsewhere too probably.
Perhaps flick is too meandering at times, but still a joy to behold.
Ringu 0: Bâsudei (2000)
Effective enough but confusing prequel
Having seen and enjoyed 'Ring' recently, I was delighted to see 'Ring 0' playing at the Edinburgh Film Festival while I was there for the weekend.
My friends had heard me rave about the original, so I was only too pleased to take them along to this...
And indeed, it is an effective horror story, not dissimilar to 'Carrie', it has to be said, and directed with authority by Norio Tsuruta.
In this, Sadako (played by the beautiful Yukie Nakama) is 18 or so, and a student. A sympathetic, tragic figure, a development from 'Ring' is presented here: the 'diabolical' side of Sadako is a separate entity, responsible for all the evil independent of her alter ego, who has no control, and no real understanding of the destruction which follows in her wake.
Although this is a prequel, it depends too much on knowledge of the original -- you definitely need to have seen it first as several important plot points are not explained again.
My companions were confused, and I don't blame them, but there are still enough resonances of 'Ring' on display -- the quiet, dread atmosphere, the evil Sadako's terrifyingly 'un-human' movement -- to send a major chill down the spine.
Nevertheless, I hope there are not too many more sequels. The totals accrued by the likes of Freddie or Jason or Michael Myers is not something for Sadako to covet...and they have nothing on her anyway.
Ringu (1998)
Creepy, effective ghost story
I saw 'Ring' at the weekend, and still have goosebumps two days later (and I don't expect them to disappear anytime soon)...
Based on a novel apparently, this Japanese flick is the story of a 'cursed' videotape and what happens to those who watch it (we find out what that is at the end of the picture, and believe me, you'll be cowering in terror as much as the victim!).
Our heroine is a reporter (Nanato Matsushima) with a young son who investigates after 4 schoolchildren--one of whom is her niece--are all found dead on the same day. Their friends are full of tales about a tape.
Director Hideo Nakata has fashioned an unfussily directed but undeniably creepy ghost story, replete with unsettling images briefly seen and a real feeling of dread.
Rather like US horror success stories, this has led to a franchise with (at least) 'Ring 2' (1999) and 'Ring 0' (a prequel, obviously) (2000) and more on the horizon. Part of me is disappointed at the inevitable dilution of the original which must come with this, but I look forward to seeing them all the same.
So far, the original is the only one to have been released in the UK (originally, the sequel was to have come out at the same time, so hopefully it isn't too far off).
If you like a good scare, check this one out.
The Swimmer (1968)
Underappreciated gem
I first saw this film more than a decade ago, and I have been enchanted by it ever since. Last week I read the John Cheever short story upon which it is based (all 13 pages of it!), and it really is a fine adaptation.
We are to assume that in the written version, some of Ned Merrill's earliest visits to his friend's pools have been adjusted in his memory to appear more benign. In the movie, Frank Perry chooses to present the reality, but he has nevertheless turned in a marvellous script in which we still get the impression only gradually that this man's life is anything other than idyllic.
Like many American pictures of the 1960s it captures a marvellously elegiac atmosphere.
Definitely one of my all-time favourites.
The poster's tagline is hilariously unsubtle, and hardly encapsulates what the movie is about: "They had the pools - but he had their wives"!