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mystic-hawk
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Proud message board has-been, the Timothy Bottoms of IMDb, I had been circling this place for a while before rising to relative prominence among the Best and Worst class of 2003. But that was then. Once a F-I-S-T, once Golden... now a full-fledged Hawk, just soaring about, just passing through.
THE NEST
Born in 1986, I have dedicated much of my life to film. Though interested in pictures of all eras and sensibilities, I've always felt an affinity for a time, immediately before my own, that I feel no responsibility for but always find myself at home in: late 60s to late 80s, where most of my favourites lie.
Said favourites can be found on my lists below. Up here I'll give you a look at myself based - exclusively - on my viewing preferences.
01. Drama with nary a trace of comedy. Bittersweetness. Nostalgia-infused throwbacks, coming-of-age/maturation plots, and tales of redemption.
02. Films first experienced during my formative years, e.g. Mystic_River, the Indiana Jones saga, Stand by Me - and my much-loved Cinema Paradiso.
03. L'anima della terra, la poetica del territorio - the remote, down-to-earth idylls of Ermanno Olmi, Franco Piavoli, Victor Erice, among others...
04. Films set in and around the Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, Spain...) that shed light into the mediterranean roots, mores, cultures I know and love.
05. Ethnographic documentaries in general and from Portugal in particular, as with the works of Alfredo Tropa, Teresa Olga and António Reis.
06. 80s style action. Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, Van Damme.
07. Filipino post apocalyptic fare and Vietnam War remnants, as exemplified by the works of Cirio Santiago, Joe Mari Avellana and Eddie Romero.
08. Stylish-yet-frank depictions of violence and/or sexuality (Brian De Palma, Adrian Lyne, and Paul Verhoeven - especially in his Dutch phase.)
09. 70s low-budget, b-movies, TV-movies off the beaten path.
10. MacGyver, Fame, Wiseguy, The X-Files, Twin Peaks re-runs, with some room for classic mini-series - as well as LOST and 24.
11. Late-60s-to-late-80s has-beens. Actors/directors representative of that moment in time; Timothy Bottoms, Ryan O'Neal, Peter Bogdanovich...
12. Anything with my favourite film people: Bottoms, Stallone, my dearest Tatum O'Neal, Eric Roberts, Rutger Hauer and Jan-Michael Vincent.
13. Série noire French cop thrillers of the 70s/80s. The sorts with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Patrick Dewaere and Lino Ventura, amongst others.
14. Lives changing on the road. Paper Moon, Y tu mamá también, Alice in den Städten, Il sorpasso, Two-Lane Blacktop, Electra Glide in Blue, Easy Rider...
15. Counterculture films of the late 60s and early 70s, in the mold of R.P.M., Stanley Sweetheart, Getting Straight and The Strawberry Statement.
16. Against-all-odds sports-centric movies; Rocky, Field of Dreams, etc.
17. Dalliances on love and romance. Unrequited love, first love, carnal love, forbidden love, obsessive love, platonic love. All romance, no comedy.
18. Interesting usage of the colour blue, of which Eaux d'artifice is the prime example. See also John Rambo (teal grading) and Michael Mann's universe.
19. The beautiful, sweeping, emotional soundscapes of Ennio Morricone.
20. Political thrillers of the 70s/80s, mostly from Italy (Elio Petri, Francesco Rosi), but not exclusive (Costa-Gavras, Alan J. Pakula, Sidney Lumet).
21. Old American cartoons, the Soviet school of animation, Studio Ghibli and World Masterpiece Theater (Tom Sawyer, Anne of Green Gables, etc).
22. Poetic filmmakers in the vein of Terrence Malick and Andrei Tarkovsky.
23. Nighttime. All-nighter pics such as Eyes Wide Shut, Collateral, Dazed and Confused. Films set in a very short span of time - one day, maybe two.
24. Light, engaging, modern, late-night cable thrillers.
25. Little-known, underseen gems. Exploring the unexplored - film worlds few others have inhabited. Being privy to a secret, perhaps keeping it a secret.
UNDER CON5TRUCTION
Reviews
Club Havana (1945)
Detour into not-so-grand a club.
Whether by chance or providential design, Edgar G. Ulmer's definitive rumination on fate - otherwise known as Detour (1945) - has slowly etched itself into the minds of film lovers around the world as one as one of the quintessential b-movie noirs of its day.
Bolstered by similar musings and patched together at about the same time, Club Havana (1945) amounts to little more than a trifle. A story is concocted out of nowhere and, once over, dissipates back into nothing. But that's part of its charm. In draining a Grand Hotel (1932)-type scenario of a budget as well as a purpose, the film acquires a strong offhand flavour that legitimises the whole ordeal. Low-budget-friendly aggravations of sadness, solitude and regret hover over the set as individual stories coalesce into an abstract whole. Talking leads into music and back into talking. The top-billed Tom Neal is diluted into the narrative and what little there is of a plot through-line emerges elsewhere - and why not?
Ulmer knew how to breathe life into an obviously vacant affair and have a lot of fun in the process. Club Havana may not be Exhibit A (nor B, nor C...) of this refreshing trait, but it's certainly one to consider down the road.