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Reviews
Reflections of Evil (2002)
Destined to be remembered
That's right. One day, when all the drivel that currently preoccupies so-called movie fans has passed into the obscurity it deserves, "Reflections of Evil" will still have a life. Weird kids -- i.e., future artists -- will turn to it for inspiration. Scholars -- those few that exist -- will study it for the insight it provides into hyper-paranoiac America at the turn of the 21st century. Steven Spielberg should count his lucky stars that "Reflections of Evil" exists. Without it, he'd have no legacy whatsoever. But because he was satirized by Damon Packard (who's weirdly a Spielberg admirer), future generations will know him as the corporate shill he was, churning out movie after movie that told his contemporaries absolutely nothing about the times in which they lived, and becoming a billionaire in the process. Spielberg is the Thomas Kinkade of circa-2000 film-making, and Damon Packard the Heironymus Bosch. Alas, he doesn't know it, but the limited intelligentsia of the future will.
Le Crabe-Tambour (1977)
Haunting
I saw this film five or six years ago after selecting it at random on the "French" shelf of my local video store. It made quite an impact on me, but I subsequently forgot the title and had to go to quite some lengths to relearn it.
I wish I had the time and patience to write out my thoughts at length and with eloquence. Simply put, this feels like one of Joseph Conrad's sea novels, in particular "Lord Jim." It's gorgeously lit and shot -- in fact, I'd go so far as to call it a photographic masterpiece. Maybe the narrative unfolds a bit too slowly or bogs down here or there, but the film concludes beautifully and has haunted me ever since the one and only time I saw it. This may owe something to the casting of Jacques Perrin in the title role. For once here's someone with enough dash and je ne sais quois to justify an entire film spent in search of a supposedly legendary character. Even Brando somewhat disappointed in this regard in "Apolcaypse Now" (which, come to think of it, was very loosely based on Conrad).
It's inexplicable to me that "Le Crabe-Tambour" has never had, and likely never will, much of a following. For my money, the French have never excelled at "classical" film-making in the key of Hollywood. Nor am I typically a fan of that kind of thing; however, this film is an exception in either case. I just picked up the VHS box on the shelf at the verysame video store last night, which is what prompted my comment. I think I'll rent it again tomorrow.