Surveillance

one gimmick film, cu genul de flashbackuri contradictorii si intortochetate, gen Rashomon de Kurosawa sau mai recent Basic al lui McTiernan, filmul fetei lui Lynch, Jennifer Chambers Lynch, la 15 ani dupa Boxing Helena. Prezentat la Cannes ca Midnight Movie, cu cronici de boo (genul, ori iti place, ori nu!), dar vazut acum pe un divx f. ok. Bill Pullman (creepy, cu rictusuri a la De Niro) si Julia Ormond sunt f ok ca agenti FBI NBK. Pell James, blonda Bobbi junkie si fetita Ryan Simpkins (Stephanie0 sunt insa cele mai bune din cast. Michael Ironside e seful statiei de politie dat fiindca s-a filmat in Canada. Papa Lynch cinta o piesa pe genericul final.
7/10

RIP Robert Mulligan

22 December 2008 Empire
Mockingbird Director Dies
Robert Mulligan dies aged 83




Robert Mulligan, the Oscar-nominated director of To Kill A Mockingbird, has died of heart disease at his home in Connecticut aged 83.

The Bronx-born director began his career in the fast-evolving world of live TV working at CBS in the so-called Golden Age of Television of the early 50s. In New York he worked alongside young TV directors like George Roy Hill, Sydney Pollack, Robert Altman and John Frankenheimer, before launching his filmmaking career with 1957 baseball drama Fear Strikes Out.

Mulligan went on to direct more than 20 films, but will be best remembered for his 1963 screen adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Coaxing arguably Gregory Peck’s finest performance from him as attorney Atticus Finch, Mulligan delivered an eloquent, humanist assault on the prejudices of the Deep South, proving to be the perfect choice to choice to bring Lee’s masterpiece to the screen.

Mulligan was by nature a diffident man but he stood up to Universal Pictures over the casting of To Kill A Mockingbird, insisting on Peck in preference to the studio’s first choice, Rock Hudson. His conviction was rewarded when Peck won the Best Actor Oscar and he himself was nominated for Best Director, losing out to David Lean for Lawrence Of Arabia.

The director’s final film was 1991's The Man in the Moon, also the film debut of a 15 year-old Reese Witherspoon.

recuperari: Hell Is for Heroes (1962)

da, stiu e si o trupa engleza de un soi de rock mai spre indie/hard, acum ca si-au luat numele de la filmul lui Don Siegel sau de la expresia consacrata, i dont know...




primul film al lui Steve McQueen dupa Cei sapte magnifici si in timp ce filma la TV serialul Wanted: Dead or Alive. Un aprig film de razboi, in traditia lui Aldrich, Sam Fuller, spre Peckinpahul de mai tirziu, cu o companie in Franta in 1944, in fata liniilor germane (linia Siegfried), care trebuie sa le faca fata.
muzica lui Leonard Rosenman (mort in aprilie 2008, am scris de el in post-ul The Car in blogul vechi), prezenta numai pe genericele filmului (cool, cu frezeuri eroice) , alb-negru, cu filmari de noapte. McQueen e anti-eroul, soldatul Reese, secondat de Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, Nick Adams, Harry Guardino, L.Q. Jones, Bob Newhart si James Coburn.


Coburn apare creditat mult mai tirziu, el si McQ erau prieteni si impartaseau aceiasi pasiune pentru karate (ambii l-au avut profesor pe Bruce Lee), au jucat si in Wanted: Dead or Alive, apoi in Cei sapte magnifici si Marea evadare.
Trivia McQueen: Steve McQueen did not socialize with the rest of cast because his character was anti-social and alienated himself from the rest of the squad.



la secventa-cheie cu cazemata a tras cu ochiul Spielberg in secventa debarcarii din Saving Private Ryan, ca si la The Big Red One al lui Fuller. Polonezul Homer (Nick Adams), un personaj interesant si insolit pentru povestile de gen, citvea cadre de arhiva intercalate cu ceea ce s-a filmat, o secventa interesanta la hanul din sat cu hangita si Calvadosul ei.




Filmul se termina abrupt, ceea ce mi s-a parut indraznet, dar am aflat ca pur si simplu nu au mai avut pelicula si Paramount nu a vrut sa mai bage bani si sa trimita, si Siegel (care l-a inclocuit pe regizorul initial, scenaristul Robert Pirosh, a carui versiune era mai comica, cu tot cu monologurile telefonice ale lui Newhart)



dvd gol de la Paramount, nici macar cu trailer care acum se gaseste la pret redus si in magazine-Diverta. O cronica competenta la dvdsavant !
7/10

recuperari: A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

inainte de a iesi un alt crapy Hollywood remake (a tale of two sisters renumit acum The Uninvited ( 30 ianuarie 2009, US) am recuperat una din lacunele de baza din horrorul asiatic, Janghwa, Hongryeon / A tale of two sisters, de sud coreanul Kim Ji-woon (al carui excelent A Bittersweet Life -2005 mi-a placut si al carui The Good The Bad The Weird-2008 il astept cu pofta). Si sunt fericit ca Kim Ji-woon nu alaut-o pe urmele lui Hideo Nakata sau Miike sau mai rau, sa-si faca singur remake-ul, semnat de 2 baieti englezi debutanti, fratii Guard ! Nu, omul s-a apucat de facut lucruri in alte genuri, si eu zic ca bine a facut. Inflatia de ghoststory-uri, par in ochi si alte japonezisme, chinezarii, o fi atmosferica, dar eu m-am saturat, si ma zis ca nu mai vad neam filme cu fantome asiatice. Oricum genul era acolo acum 40 de ani, la Kwaidan si Onibaba. Ringu a pornit un nou val, la fel ca Scream in SUA, enough ! Francezii cu sadismul lor rafinat, italienii cu spaghetele cu ketchup si spaniolii cu umor negru, mi se par mult mai familiar. Revenind la cele doua surori, gimmickul e obvious.



am inteles ca filmul se bazeaza pe o veche poveste din folclorul local,
The movie is based on an old folktale by a Joseon Dynasty, about two sisters who died because of their stepmother and one of their stepbrothers acts. As ghosts they tormented every single new mayor in town until justice was made and their stepmother and stepbrother were sentenced to death. Being this true, I could also say that this folktale is about the supposed evil that lives within non conventional nuclear families according to South Korean tradition. Stepfamily? No, thank you.
in rest latura de caz psihiatric e ok, dar atmosfera incarcata, faptul ca de fapt nu se intimpla nimic si trauma gen Santa Sangre, et all, Sisters de Brian De palma all over (cred ca Kim Ji-woon e fan BDP, dupa cum se vede din A Bittersweet Life). Deci, probabil vazut acum 5 ani si enshpe horroruri in acelasi gen si remakeuri vomistice, poate as fi apreciat filmul la caum a fost el primit atunci (premii la toate horror fest-urile). Scenografia casei, atmosfera de Bergman /Kim Ki Duk si faptul ca de fapt e o drama psihologica si nu horror propriu zis, m-au facut sa rabd cu stoicism si sa ma bucur apoi la Surveillance al fetei lui Lynch.
6/10