One Missed Call (2008)

American remake of Japanese original Chakushin Ari (2003)
Directed by Eric Valette
Starring Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns, Ana Claudia Talancon, Azura Skye and Ray Wise.

Review by Junior.

Well, that's 87 minutes I'll never get back.



Story---1
Acting---1
Look---2
Overall---1

Vintage Foreign Flick: Fear of Fear

AKA "Angst vor der Angst," directed and co-written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Released 1975.
Film is in German with English subtitles.

SYNOPSIS: On the eve of the birth of her second child, hausfrau Margot finds herself the victim of her own anxieties.

Review by CINEMAGIRL:

I'm a fan of retro foreign flicks. Starting with the French and Italian New Wave, these films began to explore human emotions, the impact of a human on his surroundings and the impact of surroundings on the state of human beings. Although made in the 1970s, "Fear of Fear" continues in that vein and explores the emotions and mental instability of Margot.

At the start of the film, Margot begins to feel strange emotions and paralyzing anxiety just before the birth of her second baby. She becomes gradually worse after the birth, feeling hopeless as a housewife. Her family doctor writes her prescription for Valium and tells her she is more sensitive than most people. Great diagnosis, doc.

Margot is alone all day with the baby. She considers pulling her 4 year-old daughter out of kindergarten to have her at home for company out of loneliness. At the same time, she must put up with a kind yet self-absorbed husband who is constantly busy studying for his degree, plus his bitchy sister and heavy-handed mother who live in separate apartments upstairs.

Margot has no one to talk to, except one unusual neighbor, the mentally ill Herr Bauer. This neighbor can see what Margot is going through and reaches out to her on the street, but she rebuffs him as being "a strange man."

Instead, Margot goes uncounseled and untreated, until she finds a connection for more sedatives. She later ends up having a near-suicidal experience which finally wakes up her husband to the fact that she needs real treatment.

The film is shot in a simple, straightforward way. However, there are times that Fassbinder creatively inserts a visual barrier between husband and wife, such as an ordinary table lamp, to illustrate their emotional barrier. The director uses dramatic string music to illustrate when Margot is experiencing an episode of anxiety or panic. He also uses a subtle ripple effect across the screen, most likely achieved by placing a piece of glass in front of the camera lens and turning it to make the room go just slightly wavy.

I liked that Fassbinder was respectful of Margot's character and showed real tenderness toward her mental illness. Even when Margot placed herself in compromising situations or went through difficult times, Fassbinder did not exploit the character or the actress by shooting graphic scenes. Sometimes less IS more.

Story: 8
Acting: 7
Shooting: 7

I recommend this as a rental during a foray into New Wave or other emotional European films. It makes for a nice psychological, character study.

A Rolling Stones Double Feature

"GIMME SHELTER" - filmed and directed by David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin. Released 1970.

AND

"SHINE A LIGHT" - directed by Martin Scorsese. Released 2008.

Both films star: The Rolling Stones

REVIEW by CINEMAGIRL:

I actually watched these films two nights in a row, which was a great experience. I enjoyed being able to immediately compare them, and it was fun watching the old dudes rocking it in concert in the Scorsese film after seeing them so young in the Maysles Brothers' film.

My viewing began with "Gimme Shelter." The film, shot in 1969, opens with Mick kicking off a rockin' show in NYC, featuring some excellent candid shots (all on 16mm, of course) of the bandmates and concertgoers. No one "plays to the camera" - the faces and emotions are very real and the crowd is enthralled.

The concert footage cuts to the studio, where Mick and the band (particularly Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts) are viewing the actual concert footage that is to be used in the documentary. Throughout the film, the Maysles bring us back to this scene to catch the band's reactions to different events.

The story quickly picks up with the Stones' preparation for a huge, free concert planned in San Francisco. The film builds in anticipation of the event, which is eventually chosen to be held at Altamont Speedway, outside the city. Eventually, 300,000 people make the nomadic trek to the track, in VW buses and station wagons, carrying babies, walking dogs and hauling in loads of illegal drugs. The Hells Angels also roar in on their motorcycles, making for an unusual combination of concert-goers.

The Maysles expertly capture the momentum building up to the show, and the chaos that ensues when the leftovers of the now-defunct Haight-Ashbury hippie center in San Francisco trip out and collide with the angry, alcoholic biker gang. It's no secret - a gun-toting concert attendee gets stabbed to death by a Hells Angel right in front of the stage. And the Maysles, who seem to have their eyes fixed everywhere, capture it on film.

The filmmakers did a wonderful job making this documentary both visually stunning and emotional. Candid emotions of the band are particularly well captured during a scene where the Stones are listening to their recording of "Wild Horses." This scene, with its long, slow shots, no cuts, and the lack of dialogue, allow the filmmakers to peer inside their main characters and make them real.

The Maysles' footage of the sea of people at the concert, and the eerie, post-apocalyptic vibe of the morning after the show - with fans spilling out over the golden hills and hiking back to the road, back to the real world - works wonderfully.

In contrast, "Shine A Light," by Martin Scorsese, is essentially a big, glossy music video. Scorsese did a great job wiring up the Beacon Theatre so as to capture the Stones, live - in their 60s - and in concert, at every possible angle and vantage point.

Scorsese brought in three cranes, mounted a floating camera over the audience and had countless camera people onstage to capture each of Mick's gyrations and Keith's guitar pick tosses to the crowd. The footage is beautiful, shot in crystal-clear 35 mm film, with an attuned eye. However, this film lacks the emotion and storytelling of "Gimme Shelter."

"Shine A Light" uses a minimum of archival Stones footage. There are four or five short moments, in between songs, where we see Mick or Keith giving an old black-and white-interview. I realize, the film is about the concert, but it failed to make the Stones "real" for me.

Scorsese also stars in the beginning and end of the film. At the opening, we see him being the frantic director; pleading with Mick and producers for a set list so he will know which order the songs will be performed in. It seemed slightly dramatized and unnecessary.

My favorite part of "Shine A Light" was the "supplemental featurette" contained on the DVD. This provides the viewer with far more insight than the big concert. There are shots of the band rehearsing backstage, BS-ing with blues legend Buddy Guy and fooling around together like the old pals that they appear to be. I wish more of the film was like this, and less of a 2-hour music video.

OVERALL:
Gimme Shelter - a 10 of a documentary - great shots, great story, very unique
Shine A Light - a 4 of a documentary - not much story going on - but as "live show" it gets a 9

I highly recommend seeing other Maysles Brothers films, such as "Grey Gardens." As for Scorsese, he should stick to his narrative niche.

*pictured above - Mick in the opening concert of "Gimme Shelter"

Funny Games

Written and Directed by Michael Haneke

Starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet and Devon Gearhart.

Review by Junior.

Funny Games starts with an artful overhead shot of a happy, affluent family driving to a their vacation home by a lake, over the strains of opera music, setting a cool, clean tone which is maintained throughout this carefully crafty, intense thriller. Things start going badly for our yuppy heroes (played by Tim Roth and Naomi Watts, who also was Executive Producer) and their young son.

Their happy vacation is invaded by Paul (Michael Pitt) and Peter (Brady Corbet), who insinuate themselves into the couple's home in a seemingly innocuous way, soon to reveal themselves to be serial sociopaths. Their home invasion is creepily polite and conversational, even while they are threatening, controlling and hurting the family.

The film masterfully maintains its cool, even tone, making the situation that much more threatening. The camera is often static, with characters wandering in and out of frame. This seems to be a stylistic choice at first, but is later revealed to have a more substantive reason behind it. The camera rarely catches any violence on-screen, in direct contradiction to recent gorefests such as Hostel, except for one or two notable exceptions.

Similar in premise, but miles away in tone from films such as The Last House on the Left, Funny Games overtly acknowledges its thriller tradition and what the audience expects of it. It both acknowledges, fulfills and consciously subverts the audience's expectations of such a film. As the movie goes on, the clues to the deconstructivist tendencies of the director become impossible to ignore, and may interfere with some viewer's enjoyment of what is otherwise a tight, visceral thriller which sticks in the memory long after it is over.

Not recognizing the director's name, and given the postmodern bent to the film, I assumed the film heralded a new talent I would be wanting to watch. After consulting IMDB, I found that I was totally wrong. The director's intelligence and artistry are due to the fact that he has foreign sensibilities, being German. Director Michael Haneke has been directing films in Austria and Germany for over 30 years. In fact, Funny Games is an English-language remake of his own 1997 version.

I highly recommend Funny Games for those of you who can both stomach a disturbing thriller and also enjoy talking about a film afterwards. There's more to chew on here than just what happens to this unfortunate family.

Story---7.5
Acting---7
Look---9
Overall---8