Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Police Story 3: Supercop (1992) – S. Tong

The special thing about Jackie Chan is that he does his own stunts – not just fighting but extreme stunts, which probably hit their peak in this second sequel to his action comedy hit Police Story (1985).  The plot is really incidental to the stunts – Jackie is a cop going undercover in mainland China to capture a drug kingpin.  Michelle Yeoh is the Chinese Interpol agent who joins him (and also does her own amazing stunts).  What little comedy there is here (as compared to the earlier Police Story or Project A films) centers on Jackie’s boastful “supercop” persona and on his relationship with May (Maggie Cheung) who catches him in compromising situations (that are not what they seem).  In some ways, Jackie is a little older, a little duller – but the stunts more than make up for this, involving trains, helicopters, cars, motorbikes, motorboats etc.  There’s also a good deal of ultraviolence, courtesy of drug dealers with automatic weapons and explosives.  So, more of an action film and less shenanigans than in the past.  I saw this on the big screen in 1993 (not the later dubbed version with a new musical soundtrack) and was pretty wowed.   

  

Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Twelve O’Clock High (1949) – H. King

Gregory Peck plays Brigadier General Frank Savage tasked with reversing the flagging morale of an air force group who are trialling daylight bombing campaigns during the early days of US involvement in WWII.  The film is explicitly about leadership, what works and what doesn’t.  Savage is replacing another group leader who became too protective of his “boys” and started to make poor decisions as a result.  So, Savage starts off cold and tough with no sympathy and the only goal being to build confidence and pride in the 918’s achievements. The outcome is a whole raft of transfer applications.  Slowly, following mission after mission (and a few key deaths), Savage’s leadership style changes toward a more personal identification with the group.  Apparently, Peck himself wanted the script to be anti-war, emphasising the psychological toll on Savage and the men under his command – it does that but never quite denies the “glories” of war. Although most of the film takes place on the ground, some final pivotal action scenes make use of real battle footage (which feels rather ominous).  On the back of Peck’s charisma (and also Dean Jagger in a key supporting role), the film works. 

El Topo (1970)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

El Topo (1970) – A. Jodorowsky

A cult sensation and “Midnight Movie” that brought director Alejandro Jodorowsky (still working at age 90 as of 2019) fame/notoriety and the attention of the Beatles and their resources, El Topo is something of a curiosity in these days of much more grotesque shocks. Despite all the violence and blood (garishly looking like red paint slopped everywhere), the film has more in common with Buñuel’s provocative surrealism than with grindhouse exploitation fare. Jodorowsky himself plays the gunslinger who must defeat four masters to gain enlightenment but who ends up trapped underground with a community of physically disabled outcasts (who he then frees). The shifts in the film are jarring – from mystical acid Western to socio-political attack on religion with some mime thrown in for good measure (Jodorowsky trained with Marcel Marceau!). It doesn’t really make sense but has some great images – every time I started to get bored, another beautiful vista or startlingly weird set-up appeared.  You have to keep asking yourself, who would put this sort of scene in a film – and why? I believe the answer can only be found in Jodorowsky’s deeper consciousness or his autobiography (he’s a metaphysical guy, very interested in the Tarot, as his next better film, The Holy Mountain, would reveal). Of course, El Topo crosses the line of good taste very often and is not for the squeamish or easily offended (Jodorowsky has since apologised for some aspects).

  

The Celebration (1998)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Celebration (1998) – T. Vinterberg

Obviously, Thomas Vinterberg’s film is intended to shock – with the key “reveal” treated almost like a jump scare, for the audience and most of the characters in the film. Of course, Festen is also famous as the first Dogme film, following the “rules” set forth by Lars von Trier and his associates in 1995 (e.g., location shooting, handheld camera, diegetic sound only, natural lighting, no action, etc.).  Despite this spartan approach, Vinterberg has concocted a film from which it is hard to look away.  A family gathers for the 60^th birthday of the patriarch.  His three grown children have very different personalities (and perhaps personality problems) and they are mourning the recent death of the fourth sibling.  The events take place in the magnificent hotel owned by the family which has been reserved for the occasion.  In turn, we learn about each sibling, but only in dribs and drabs, until eventually the truth comes out.  It’s ultimately a gut-wrenching experience, determined to shock and wound – not unlike the confrontational moves by von Trier in his own films.  This deliberateness might actually lessen the power of the film and mute any discussion of its real issues.  But nevertheless it does force them out there.  I suspect trigger warnings are in order.

  

A Ghost Story (2017)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

A Ghost Story (2017) – D. Lowery

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about this one.  Would it be too depressing? After all, the description suggests it is about love and loss and a ghost that lingers after death.  And it is all those things.  In fact, the ghost lingers long after love and loss are maybe only a distant memory.  In fact, the ghost seems tied to the place (as in the classic “haunted house” genre) rather than to a person.  Director David Lowery manages to allude to the tropes of that genre while instead making what is really an experimental film (but one that is absorbing and watchable and not hard work at all, in case that term turns you away).  Amusingly, the ghost is the well-known spectre in a sheet (with two sad eyes cut out) which may have a Brechtian effect (?).  Although the film is virtually wordless, somewhere in the middle there is a long monologue by Will Oldham (yes, Bonnie Prince Billy) that tries to put our humble existence into context.  So, yeah, it’s an existential statement but also cosmic and spiritual, sad and stirring, and possibly romantic (that last scene may or may not belie this).  Only 90 minutes and so worth it!

Cremator (1969)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Cremator (1969) – J. Herz

This Czech New Wave film is definitely weird, although perhaps not quite as weird as I was expecting (I didn’t expect a character study).  Rudolf Hrusínský plays the title character, a family man who proudly works at the local crematorium, setting souls free from their worries (as inspired by a book about the Dalai Lama).  However, the film is set in the 1930s and soon Kopfrkingl the Cremator is being encouraged by an old friend, and now Fascist with Nazi sympathies, to think about the purity of races and using his crematorium for cleansing in the Holocaust sense.  So, yeah, it’s dark and often discussed as a horror film.  But Kopfrkingl is seemingly not an evil guy – he’s avuncular and pretty much a dupe who is willing to change his behaviour to be part of the in-crowd (evil is banal, then).  Somehow director Juraj Herz manages to connect this will to power with sexual desire, implying that Kopfrkingl’s motives are anything but clear.  Add to this his morbid obsession with death and disease and it’s positively psychodynamic.  Where the film is definitely weird is that we can’t always be sure whether what we see is reality or Kopfrkingl’s fantasies/dreams/fears.  There are a lot of really strange scenes and shots in beautiful B&W (and impossible edits between them) – which makes the film impressive despite its content matter, which to be honest grows darker and darker as it goes along.  At the same time, it is impossible to escape the feeling that much of what is happening could be very very black comedy.  Wow.

Blue Collar (1978)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Blue Collar (1978) – P. Schrader

Paul Schrader’s debut film as a director (after writing Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and De Palma’s Obsession) is a heist film, of a sort, but really more a look at three autoworkers and their attempts not to get screwed by both management and their union. Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto, and Harvey Keitel are barely making ends meet – Keitel works two jobs, Pryor cheats on his taxes, and Kotto has a side hustle or two going on.  They blow off steam when they can but the failure of the union rep to support them leads to a half-cooked plan to rob the safe at headquarters.  Of course, things don’t go to plan – but the aftermath is what really makes the film interesting.  Pryor, Keitel, and Kotto all have different depressing trajectories.  Schrader keeps things gritty and the actors strut their stuff.  The result is partly a sociological treatise about the plight of the working man (1970s edition) with some particular truths about working while black (courtesy of Pryor) and partly an engaging drama about three friends who fall out.  Recommended.

The Lady Eve (1941)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Lady Eve (1941) – P. Sturges

Do you know about writer-director Preston Sturges, one of the masters of screwball comedy? If not, you are missing out!  He first worked as a screenwriter for Mitchell Leisen (Easy Living, 1937; Remember the Night, 1940) but then graduated to his own insane work, populated with peculiarly named characters played by eccentric and memorable character actors and with a few big name stars thrown in.  His work can be manic and wordy but always funny (and often satirical with some bite).  The Lady Eve is a relatively leisurely affair, following Henry Fonda’s Charlie Pike (heir to an ale fortune) as he encounters a trio of card sharks aiming to swindle him out of his fortune on a cruise ship.  Charles Coburn (perfect!) and Barbara Stanwyck (exquisite!) team up as a father-daughter act and Fonda swiftly succumbs to their charms.  Stanwyck is soon in love with Fonda too, but when she’s exposed as the con artist she is, all bets are off!  But true to his complicated form, Sturges doesn’t leave things there but allows Stanwyck to return to wreak her revenge, lightly disguised as a British noble. Confusion ensues (and lots of pratfalls).  The ending is particularly sweet – is this secretly a comedy of remarriage? Highly recommended!