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Reviews
L'albero degli zoccoli (1978)
Unrelentingly grim....and more than a little boring
A movie with very little plot, 'The Tree of Wooden Clogs' is basically a recreation of Italian peasant life at the turn of the 20th century.
In it, we're shown the almost medieval conditions people still lived in at the time, at least out in the countryside. Large families, crowded together in substandard housing with just a few sticks of furniture, mostly eke out a living sharecropping, though a few attempt to get ahead by growing crops of their own, that they then sell in town.
Education is looked at rather skeptically, though one family does send their son to school, after debating how they'll get by without his help in the fields. With no transport, the boy walks miles to and from school, alone, every day. As for his sisters, they'll be raised to be wives and mothers, bearing child after child and wearing themselves out cleaning and cooking. Unlike with the nobility or merchant class, there's zero chance a smart/talented peasant girl will ever receive schooling or an outlet for her creativity. She's just a breeder and is made aware of that from her first breath.
Daily life in this cultural backwater is imbued with religion and folk superstition, upon which virtually everyone relies to get through various situations that confront them, up to and including dealing with sick farm animals. Prayer even marks the division of days into mealtimes and bedtimes.
Joys, which are few, include gatherings where storytellers entertain with tales both mystical and bawdy, and rough 'country fairs' where people gather to buy factory-made goods, play simple games....and get drunk. Then it's back to the farm, the crops, and the animals, a grueling life that's changed little in 500 years.
As someone descended from Italian immigrants, this film makes me realize how the idea of life in America must have tantalized them. Imagine, free education for all your sons (and for those more advanced. Daughters too!) Imagine, medication for times when you're sick! And free flowing water from taps, for washing and drinking! Plus, for those who didn't fall in line with 'tradition', a chance to break free from the centuries-old thralls of church and aristocracy. Life in America wasn't always easy, but this movie shows it beat the conditions most Italians came from. Hands down.
Mala Noche (1986)
I'm not sure what I just wasted my time on
TBH, I'm not familiar with the filmmaker or the writer who contributed the 'story' for 'Mala Noche'; I just watched it as part of TCM's Pride Month offerings.
Going in, I was kind of hoping a love story might develop (despite linguistic and other barriers) between Walt, a clerk at a rundown liquor store, and Johnny, one of a group of young Mexican men who hang around nearby, looking for work. Well, let's just say I didn't get what I was hoping for; this tale's about obsession, sexual fetishism, and racism....but not love.
Initially (as in most relationships, probably) Walt is purely 'in lust' with Johnny for his youthful, Indigenous looks, while Johnny is wary, needing to be convinced by his friends that a sexual encounter with the scruffy white guy is worth the $15 he'd be paid for it. Eventually, he agrees to an encounter, after which Walt seems to develop feelings...or, more likely, an obsession with...him, wanting to continue their liaison, but Johnny seems disinterested. His sexual orientation is unknown to the viewer, but it seems, even if he's gay or bi, Walt just doesn't do it for him.
And Walt is not a romantic hero you can pin your hopes on. In fact, he's downright racist, something that comes out thru snatches of 'interior dialogue', in which he remarks on Mexicans in general, Johnny in particular, and himself. The ones about Mexicans refer to his perception of their mental inferiority and childlike behaviors, while those about himself, though acknowledging 'white privilege', seem to ignore the fact he's on the same rung of the ladder as those he criticizes. Or maybe a few down, since much like the alcoholics he serves at the store, Walt's grungy, unshaven, and dressed in ragged clothes. In seeking to bed Johnny once more, he makes no attempt to improve his appearance, or make himself more attractive to the object of his desire, because he's sees himself as being 'in charge' of the situation.
Perhaps this is why his pursuit leads nowhere, except a couple of joyrides with Johnny on which his friends come along. You'd think Walt would deduce from this that Johnny has no interest, and it's time to back off and leave him alone, But no, he continues obsessing...until Johnny mysteriously disappears.
In the wake of that incident, Walt becomes attached to one of Johnny's friends, and though he shows some kindness to the young man, you get the feeling he's just 'exchanging one Mexican for another' to please his sexual tastes. That attitude really comes to the fore when, during a driving lesson, the young man accidentally runs the car into a tree, and Walt starts screaming, 'You drive as well as you f*ck.' (Translation: 'Damn Mexicans, you can't teach 'em anything.')
Through a sad series of incidents, Walt's new 'friend' eventually dies, but this is forgotten one day when Walt sees Johnny on the street and the old obsession rises again. He brings him back to his grimy apartment, where he learns Johnny didn't voluntarily 'disappear' but instead was picked up by immigration. Instead of this news sparking a joyful reunion, however, things take an abrupt turn for the worse, when Walt shares his own news about Johnny's friend having died. In shock, unbelieving, Johnny spurns Walt and runs away.
Though at the end, Walt drives past Johnny, again waiting on the corner looking for work, and entreats him to stop by the liquor store to talk, you get the feeling Johnny's finished with a situation he never wanted to be in, in the first place. Personally, I found myself hoping Johnny eventually found steady work, and a partner (whatever orientation) who would love him for himself, not as a 'flavor' or 'fetish'.
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Sentimental Classic
The Jazz Singer was one of the first silent movies I ever saw, way back in the '70s, before TCM. Unlike many young viewers today, I felt 'connection' to it, because my father had seen it in its first release and told me a funny story how the projectionist didn't sync up the Vitaphone 'record' properly so that Al Jolson was silent in the singing scenes and vice versa. Nevertheless, he'd enjoyed the film (considered, in his Polish Catholic neighborhood, to be an insight into the 'exotic' Jewish community), because it touched on the universal themes of assimilation, the expectations the older generation places on the younger, and of course, familial love.
To say I resonated with those themes nearly 50 years later, to me shows why this movie, talking 'novelty' or not, is still relevant.
Incidentally, years after first viewing this movie, I formed a tangential connection to the author (Samson Raphaelson) of the play it's based on, when I worked for his son, Joel Raphaelson, the advertising executive and author. A most fascinating person, he shared information about the casting of Al Jolson as replacement for George Jessel, and other aspects of the production. Though I was told Al Jolson was a close personal friend of Mr. Raphaelson's, I never thought to ask if their friendship predated the writing of the play, "The Jazz Singer" for it's remarkable how closely it aligns with the Jolson's real life.
Soulmates (2020)
Semi-interesting....
Just finished the third episode (I DVR'd this series to have something to watch as the pandemic continues....) and still am not quite sure what to make of things.
The stories only interconnection is that each features two people brought together by a mysterious company said to match 'soulmates'.
These soulmates are never, apparently, the spouses/partners with whom you've forged a relationship over time, but someone from outside your sphere, with whom you have an instant 'magical' connection. If you find this premise believable, you 'may' find the show interesting.
Thing is, the 'soulmate' premise seems, at least in the episodes I've seen, to turn and bite itself in the ass. In one, hacking the system matches a revenge-seeker and her victim; in another, a woman leaves her open relationship for a soulmate who ultimately finds her too much to handle! This results in them inviting the original partner back to 'take up the slack', though he's already invited HIS soulmate over, to get to know her. The final, awkward scene shows four people debating the possibility of forming a menage a quatre.
I, personally, could think of more interesting directions to take this in than what I've seen. For instance, what if you are an American, and your soulmate is from Cameroon? He/she speaks not a word of English, and is utterly unfamiliar with your culture, but there you are: Soulmates! Or perhaps, you share a nationality/language/culture, but are four decades apart in age? One of you is 35, one is 75. Navigate that!
The Strangers (2008)
Spoiler: Movie Dies Halfway Thru
I had hopes for this movie, as it started out great with the premise of a young couple dealing with a crossroad in their relationship: he wants to get engaged, she's not ready yet. There's a sweet mournfulness between them as they try to reconcile , that makes you think they might be successful, but just as they're about to make love, they're interrupted by someone pounding on the door of their remote house.
Personally, I think most people would ignore the interruption, say "Go Away", or just ask thru the door, who it is, but no, these idiots open the door, to find a rather disoriented young woman asking for someone who doesn't live there. After closing the door, the mood's cooled between the lovers, so he decides to go for a drive, after making sure she has a fire to curl up by.
It's at this point, things become scary, as the separated couple start to realize there's someone, or several someones, intent on harming them. Suspense builds as the house is invaded. But then...
It all becomes a jumble of violence, jump scares, and the usual crap Hollywood now trots out as 'suspense'. The main characters begin consistently making the stupidest decisions possible under the circumstances, opening doors despite knowing they're under threat, running around outside, getting in a car without checking the backseat, and so forth. You begin to think maybe it's good these two didn't get married and reproduce, for they would've spawned idiots.
Honestly, I, a person known to watch almost anything till the bitter end, had to give up on this one.
What We Do in the Shadows (2019)
Becoming my favorite show...
I was a huge fan of the movie, so I was both delighted and afraid when i heard it was being adapted to a TV show. Delighted that I'd get another helping of vampire humor, afraid without the original actors or New Zealand base, it might not work.
The pilot was, indeed, a bit rough, though the bit about 'creepy paper' (crepe paper) made me giggle for some reason. But in episodes 2 and 3, things started hitting their stride. The Council meeting, the encounter between Nadja and the virgin, the Energy Vampire....all hilarious. And now we have the Emotional Vampire! A familiar presence to anyone who's ever slaved in a cube farm.
I hope the network gives sufficient time for this very unique show to build an audience, because it has the hallmarks of a genuine hit!
Now Apocalypse (2019)
Unsexy Sex Series
OK, I watched this as a stopgap waiting for Starz to start Season 2 of Vida and SweetBitter, shows I actually enjoy.
From the previews I understood the subject matter would be sexual, so understand I wasn't shocked...just bored. The episode I saw featured a hetero couple having passionless intercourse while she uses a vibrator and he checks his phone, and later, another couple awkwardly trying to spice up their love life with a threesome (the man asks the triad 'third' if he can tell her loves her during the act, even though 'he won't mean it'). If there was a gay or lesbian interlude, I either tuned in too late for it, or tuned out before it was shown, but I can't imagine it any less exciting than the other two stereotypical imaginings of 'millennial' sex.
Watch only as a reminder that, written without an understanding of lust (or love, or both), sex scenes can be boringly mechanical.
Infidelity in Suburbia (2017)
Watch it for what it is
The reviews on here are hilarious. First of all, this is NOT meant to be a great drama or romance....it's mind candy .
Yes, the plot of lonely wife, tempted by sexy (and psycho) contractor has been done many times, but obviously people find it entertaining or it wouldn't be such a perennial.
My husband, who watched this with me, renamed the movie "The Shirtless Man Chronicle" because this seems to be said contractor's only qualification: he looks good shirtless. Anyone who's ever hired a contractor KNOWS (1) they don't look like male models and (2) they don't show up to go over plans with you, naked from the waist up. Nor, considering they work with power tools, raw lumber, and nails, do they prance around semi-clothed on the worksite.
So...take this movie as female fantasy (with requisite guilt). And as to the confusion about the child who interrupts the lovemaking at the beginning of the movie, I believe that's supposed to be a flashback to when the contractor was a child. It's made obvious in the story, he had 'issues' from an early age, having been exposed to too many 'stepdaddies'' (his mother was promiscuous); his odd reaction to his pet being killed shows he's already unbalanced.