Pusher Trilogy

Nicolas Winding Refn made a good record of movies from 2008-2012 ( Drive, Only God Forgives, Valhalla Rising, Bronson) but his earlier trilogy Pusher I (1996) , Pusher II&III (2004/5) is very refreshing and complete even today.

Completely from the drug pusher/dealer point of view and their lives- we see "life" as-it-is  .. very humanistic and interesting. With drugs -  always a "deal" gets botched up, but here 'we' are set up into a thrill ride from the start whether you like it or not..

like the drug itself... you will want more and more... (Pusher II... Pusher III).. and the music will not let you stop it.



Zlatko Buric (Milo) got an award for Pusher I and he will take it all the way to Pusher III.

Aleksei Balabanov's Russia

Aleksei Balabanov had made more than a dozen films in the past two decades. He died recently in May 2013 and had won "best director" for Me too(2012). His Gangsters are cool, play their music for us (may not gel with the images), have great sense of reality and humor. They walk the walk and talk the talk. Most of his movies have images/music of American artists and food. His movies are about broken journeys, people hunting people, bloody killings without any melodrama...

Florian had done a Phd thesis on his films to study Russian culture. His book - Path of Blood: The Post-Soviet Gangster, His Mistress and Their Others in Aleksei Balabanov's Genre Films should be a great read. His brief interview is available  

 
His Popular Brother series  (Part 1 and 2) is about a "robin-hood' like gangster who is fearless and super cool with his own "samurai" like code. You will be waiting for new tracks as the movie progresses and the character searches for a particular CD (Nautilus Pompilius - Wings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5mTTMmt-hs)


The Shocking 'Cargo 200'..


The very funny and memorable characters (by famous actors) in Dead Man's Bluff...


 Trailers are badly made ( & without sub-titles) compared to the movies.  Youtube does have some of his movies in full length.

The Place Beyond the Pines

As a student of Stan Brakhage, Derek Cianfrance images do impart a different experience - esp. when the motorist rides through the pines or the cemetery.

The Place Beyond the Pines (2011) has a very good story that spans generations. In a way like Bourne we have our imprints seeded long back...

Who is  .. that guy?
He is yours...

 

 

William Friedkin

40+ years since The Exorcist and The French Connection, William Friedkin is still making movies. The following are some of his movies since...

The Brink's Job (1978) - A true comedy robbery - was Oscar nominated for Set/Art direction and has great lines with some slapstick. It is more like reverse of the "chain of events going unplanned". It snowballs to your favor.


Cruising (1980) - Al Pacino as a gay undercover cop in 80's remains more of a cult status now. The movie was based on a novel and has a good ending . It was voted for worst movie/director and would have made some profit if it was remade appropriately now.


Jailbreakers (1994) - had good structure with interesting characters. Tony is hot tempered & madly in love with Angel - He goes the distance and lands up in prison, Angel is a jailbird herself contained in a wealthy family. 
http://www.imdb.com/rg/s/1/video/screenplay/vi4123305497/

Jade (1995) was based on thriller by Joe Eszterhas(writer for Basic Instinct, Show girls) but Friedkin changed it completely. It was not innovative.


The Hunted (2003) has Tommy lee and Del Toro, the hunter-hunted psychological chase starts very interestingly & the hunt drags a bit near climax but ends very well.


The Bug (2006) - The movie starts well as the characters are revealed and like AshJudd we start to believe what the paranoid drifter says. By mid-movie we don't believe "whatever he says" like she does - that's where the bugbite seems trivial.


Killer Joe(2011) - Bug screenwriter wrote the story and the style/mood/acting/music all gel-up nice - like a Tarantino flick. We don't question 'reality' here till he we realize some common-sense would have helped.


I haven't got a chance to look into his other works yet. I am sure it will re-surface again.  

Dangerous Method, Cosmopolis & Videodrome

Cronenberg D's A Dangerous Method (2011)

A story weaving Carl Jung and Sig Freud though a 'muse' patient. The trio's past had a big impact in their lives. As we swayed between Magic-Science in Nolan's Prestige, here too we oscillate between conflicting theories and practices. The fact that these were real people who lived recently makes the movie all the interesting.


Cosmopolis (2012)

Based on D.Dellilo's book, both artists try to predict future. Everything mixes, overlaps - work, sex, workout, medical examination even for a billionaire on his way to barber (probably only hair grows naturally rest of world is controlled 'on time'). The words in their conversations look distorted to us and meaningless - we don't catch their language, humor or any type of communication.  As the plot thickens, we feel as if the modern world almost found the 'pattern' in everything - only to find that nature will introduce 'distortions' when needed.

Videodrome (1983)

 Considered to be Cronenberg's Masterpiece, videodrome is not an easy watch. More like his 'Cosmopolis', he was hinting the future of  TV, Movies, Porn, Feelings & Hallucinations. Since the beginning people are becoming more and more 'glued' to the images on TV, Internet, Movies, shows and so on & in fact the 'medium' is the new flesh. By now, we know how it ends but don't have a choice.

Contagion

Soderberg's Contagion (2011)

"Nothing spreads like fear"



There has been many movies about the 'end of the world' and even about outbreaks/pandemics. With technology and everyone connected globally - panic spreads faster than the virus. We are helpless but 'as audience' we are confident someone will find something. What Contagion sets apart is the 'realistic' set problems of this problem. Chaos & Anarchy is just days away even in civilized world as fear of survival seeps in. If the situation were hopeless, the whole world would end happily; but reality is only a select group gets access to the cure not by natural selection (or lottery), but selection by 'power'.

Sisters

Palma's Sisters (1973)



Hitchcock like thriller from Palma. Much bigger than the crime is the 'Past' which is slowly revealed. Two bodies one mind - a split one is an interesting concept. But Palma takes it further as the movie progresses. The content of the mind is the content of the story & one is left hanging in an almost  comic ending.

 

Amour

Experienced M Haneke's Amour (2012)

Can you make a film where the central characters doesn't want us to see them ?



Life itself the real plot -  as George and Anne spend their old age. We see it emotionally& melodramatically but they don't - they want to get by enjoying their last days gracefully and with respect.  A pigeon is a pigeon MH says.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Sean Durkin's Debut Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) won many awards.



The story is based on Sean's earlier short 'Mary last seen' has a nice blend of perspectives. An interesting mix of flashback with the present, of two families with so much contradictions that we are helpless but to take sides often...till the end?

Killer of Sheep

Charles Burnett's debut - Killer of Sheep (1979)

What makes a man 'A Man' ? Is it him or his job?
 

Stan's big heart is only filled with sadness and drenched with weakness as he watches his wife and children grow in a ghetto. His honest money from the slaughterhouse does make ends meet - a mere survival.  Burnett's short (Horse) is very spiritual addition.  His style is filled with emotional images with an ideal mix of sound.

 

The Hypothesis of Stolen Painting

Chilean Director Raoul Ruiz's"The Hypothesis of Stolen Painting (1979)"

How would it be to enter into a painting and dissect it from various angles for clues & find something much bigger...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077707/


The mood, lighting, models and the stage are all set like a painting in this movie. And all the actors expression and gestures frozen in a place but not in time. The dilemma and the eventually the frustration of the collector narrating it can only be justified by his and our curiosity.  In Kurosawa's Dreams we enter into the colorful Van Gogh's painting.