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nekrochop
Reviews
Pusher (1996)
Excellent
This is, as debut features go, excellent.
i saw it on the UK R2 DVD release - and it's brilliant. The characters are amiable, yet when they get scary it's totally realistic.
This film really gets under the skin of it's characters and the small, seedy world that they populate. You don't need to know the (simple) story, just rest assured that this a great film, with fantastic subtle performances and one of those endings that makes you really feel ... well, just watch it! You won't be disappointed!!
(The extras on the UK DVD are top notch. Are the same on the US release? Not sure. Commentary [with the director & Bill Lustig], documentary, trailers, etc).
Day of the Woman (1978)
A tough, important film
To the narrow-minded, this could easily be dismissed as an exercise in cheap, exploitative mysogyny.
What we get instead is a disturbing portrayal of rape at it's most brutal and unforgiving. Yes, it's graphic and takes up a 3rd of the film - but shouldn't a rape scene make it's viewer uneasy?!
Far more honest and harrowing (which is a good thing) than the stylised view of rape that mainstream Hollywood took in THE ACCUSED, Zarchi's film pulls no punches yet ultimately ends up being a feminist statement ... Each male character is written as a stupid, sexist redneck with no understanding of basic social values. The only character we can possibly relate to, then (even as a largely male audience), is the woman. Her convalescence is brief - her revenge is swift but satisfying. We root for her.
Also, we must take into account the fact that although there is a lot of nudity in the rape scenes, Zarchi has obscured breast and pubic hair for the most part - and even when they are exposed, everything is filmed in such a manner so as to eliminate any prospect of eroticism. This isn't turn-on sex - it's ugly, just like rape is in 'real-life'!!
Sure, there are genre trappings along the way - and, yes, it does bear low-budget limitations - but ultimately the reputation is warranted completely. A hard-hitting, well-meaning partner piece to Craven's like-minded LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.
Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies (1993)
Unmissable
The funniest film about rock music since THIS IS SPINAL TAP, this is also one of the most disturbing documentaries ever made.
We follow GG Allin in the last weeks of his short life as he drinks, swears, fights, defecates and generally lives by his own misguided conceptions that what he's doing will really shock the world.
The most shocking moments of this often hilarious film are the saddest ones - his funeral, his childhood, his lack of relationship with his Dad, etc.
A powerful, engaging film - buy the DVD for the 50 min extra feature, a concert/riot recorded on the night that he died.
Bound (1996)
The film that has it all
Forget THE MATRIX - this is a real show of talent!
Imagine a film with all the cleverness and technical nounce of the Coen brothers, but one that was actually engaging and - dare I say it - thrilling, too.
BOUND is exciting. It's dark, witty, sexy, candid, astute, well-written, well acted, stylish, scary, exciting, tense, surprising ... and then some!
Anyone who loves cinema (and doesn't mind copious swearing, and lashings of ultra-violence) will love this film.
And although the girls ignite the screen, it's the hilarious PANTOLIANO that ultimately makes the film his own. Cesar - do we love him, or hate him? An impossible question, thanks to such depth in the writing, and Pant's brilliant performance.
Best gangster film of the 90s. Yes, I'm serious.
Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (1970)
Fantastic!
This is Herzog's most telling film.
The world he has created sees dwarfs confined in an un-named, oppressive system. When they finally revolt against the machine, they don't know what to do with themselves and ultimately resort to destroying the things around them (cars, trees, animals).
Bizarre, beautiful, and horrifically engaging, this is a unique experience that demands your full attention.
Give it a go (the ANCHOR BAY DVD even has audio commentary from Herzog!!) - you won't be disappointed.
Seul contre tous (1998)
One of the greatest horror movies ever - 10/10!!
Okay, so Gaspar Noe's feature debut (he previously directed a 20 min short based on the fate of the same butcher, and a controversial French advertisement for condoms) is probably not horror - not in the sense that THE EXORCIST or THE EVIL DEAD are considered to be horrifying. But that's only due to Noe's intelligent direction, and startingly astute script.
This film superbly forces it's viewer to identify with a jaded, middle-aged (unemployed) butcher - he has sunk so low that he hates the life destiny has mapped out for him. And, from the opening scenes, he beckons us to join him on his journey of self-recreation as he sheds himself of his old life and moves on.
*SPOILERS!* The 1st 20 minutes offer a shocking montage of relentlessly misanthropic dialogue, hardcore pornographic images (albeit brief) and one of the most disturbing displays of anger-fuelled violence I've ever seen. My wife was pregnant with our first child when I saw this, and it disturbed me profoundly.
Our narrator, the butcher, goes on the run once he realises the stupidity of his actions - "Your baby is hamburger meat now!" - and returns to Paris where he plans to fleece old friends for money and reunite with his mentally handicapped daughter.
Unfortunately, his friends offer no financial services, and every attempt at gaining employment ends in humiliation - further incensing our bitter anti-hero.
Once reunited with his daughter, our narrator makes the agonising choice between shooting her (then himself) or showing her the physical love she has been denied during her life in a mental hospital. After a severely jolting hallucination, the butcher makes his choice ...
I call this horror, in the same way I would describe TAXI DRIVER as a horror movie. It's dark, realistically violent, and totally unrelenting. It's horrors are all to true - and the moments where you find yourself relating to this guy's hateful babbling make his uncontrolled outbursts all the more disturbing.
Out on US DVD, it's presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (non-anamorphic). It's a bare-bones disc, with burnt-on subtitles and the picture quality looks like it was transferred from a laser-disc.
Don't let that put you off - you NEED TO SEE THIS FILM!!!
Opera (1987)
8 out of 10
At the time of writing, the overall rating for this film was 6.8 out of 10.
I previously owned a full-frame VHS copy of the film ,and would've agreed with that score. But ...
Having seen the stunning anamorphic w/s version now out on Anchor Bay DVD this really is one of Argento's most satisfying features.
OK, the finale is still a cop-out (although the 36 min documentary explains how this was never intended to be shot anyway). But the set-pieces are fantastic - the crows defending the dress; the 1st murder; the bullet-through-the-peephole scene ... Don't worry, these ain't spoilers. You'd have to sit through the film to even understand what I'm writing!
OK, a couple of the performances are flat. OK, it's not as colourful as SUSPIRIA or INFERNO. But it's a lot better than the majority of 80s horror flicks ...
Main gripe ... Brian Eno's TERRIBLE heavy metal score!