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Reviews
Era Uma Vez Eu, Verônica (2012)
My Ennui and Welcome to It
The other reviews here have easily fallen into the trap that Independent Films often provide. Start with moody cinematography, a lack of a rational plot, a heroic main character who finds life baffling, and a non-ending ending: There you have the formula for praise. Since I already know the deal, I often find myself at odds with the majority of reviewers. Take my advice--write down the scenario I just outlined, watch this movie, and see if I haven't nailed it. There is one character we will find appealing--a sweet old father who is tied to the hip of his daughter (and she his) and is slowly dying without knowing it. The love she freely gives to him is in direct contrast to her inability to connect in a romantic relationship. Her main use of men is for sex, which she adores, but prefers to have with random guys who she never wants to see again. She mistreats the one man that professes to love her (I think he just likes her body), even pretending to her father that he is really her boyfriend (the much wiser Dad couldn't care less, wanting his daughter to choose her own happiness. But Veronica is incapable of happiness. She wanders through the public psychiatric clinic like a catatonic, barely functional, and showing neither insight nor empathy for her poor, hapless patients. We are given no idea as to why she became a doctor or chose this specialty, for her disdain for it begins to show itself on her first day of work, and only grows worse with each passing day. Meanwhile, her two best friends can only babble on about the absence of men in their lives and merely urge Veronica to "snap out of it." Yeah. Anyone who has ever suffered from depression knows how helpful THAT phrase is (NOT)!!!! The movie ends with Papa hovering near death, Veronica feeling content with that because she bought him her childhood house as a present. She has somehow been promoted to work at a private hospital with a huge pay raise. We are given no clue as to whether this is going to help her escape from massive negative ennui. Ahhh, but the saving grace for many Brazilians appears to save the day: floating immersed in the Sea (capital letter essential), with thoughts of a nude orgy on the beach which may or may not be a memory or a fantasy, she tells herself something unmemorable, which gratefully releases us from her empty self. If you like that, you are welcome to it.
Die Blechtrommel (1979)
Brilliant and Memorable
"These are exciting times!" So says the hapless everyman German father as he belatedly embraces the Hitler/Nazi phenomenon. The same can be said for this brilliant and memorable movie. Even eight years after my last viewing, the images, content, context and overall impact of this singular film remain with me. This is not a film to trust the specifics of any other viewer's observations--so I shall not in this writing try to alert you to the elements which grabbed me by the scruff of the neck. As close to a flawless film as I have ever seen, it makes Surrealism believable, and Realism baffling. It is as though a nightmare revealed itself as a fairy tale, and insisted throughout that this was no dream. If you have ever lived through a disastrous event, you recognize the awful truth of this experience. Don't judge this film while viewing it--allow yourself to be released into its construct, and then watch it again and again, this time with thought and feeling. It will not dissapoint!
Party Plane (1991)
This Plane Crashes Not Long After Takeoff
Oh my! I am beginning to think that Ed Hansen is an automaton, who has only one plotline: A company gets in financial trouble, then ditzy babes bail it out my flashing their T & A. Bumblings fools (read: men) try to act funny around them, but fail miserably. In "Bikini Carwash Company", Hansen has mastered his own genre, abandoning all sense of trying to make a real movie, and contenting himself with revealing a bevy of beautiful women. Nearly nude women fill the screen from start to finish.... Sure, his skeletal plotline is there, but he knows he's not fooling anyone, and the movie delivers what most guys want from a T&A movie. But in this airline disaster flick, the younger Hansen still feels guilty enough to TRY to make a movie. Orson Welles he ain't, and the ALBATROSS (the plane has a nickname--too cute, eh?) is no Spuce Goose (more like a Lurking Turkey, mind you). OK, there are two scenes worth seeing: the brunette "stewardness/dancer" does a rousingly awkward striptease as a cowgirl, and the fatboy's audition of new dancer/sterwardesses yields at least 2 bimbo's worth looking at (the nurse and the whipped cream girl get my vote), but that's about 3 minutes worth of the flight time. Take my advice, just after the stinkbomb routine, rewind the movie and watch the first part again. The rest of the flight is a nosedive into the ground. Two thumbs down.