The Grim Truth of NATURAL ENEMIES

Sometimes you don't want grim, you don't want utter, hopeless darkness, but sometimes you do, you're ready -- at last -- to take the plunge. For those times, there's Jeff Kanew's NATURAL ENEMIES starring the wonderful Hal Holbrook.

Made in '79, at the end of an era when films like this got major studio support, this is a (still) very timely piece about a family man (Holbrook) who tells us at the film's outset that he's going to kill his wife, kill his young children, and kill himself. "Every man thinks about killing his family at some time," he says, pretty much setting the tone for what's to come.

The events of the film take place over eight to ten hours. 

Holbrook, a magazine publisher in a marriage polluted by mental illness, fills his day lamenting -- in voice-over and with colleagues -- the rotten state of his marriage, his career, and a future he can't perceive as anything but terrible. From these laments and ruminations emerge existential vomit trails that no intelligent viewer could fail to relate to. In fact, the film does a knock-up good job of covering pretty much every dark corner of the human journey, and offers enough food for thought to fill the cranial belly.

Holbrook takes an afternoon detour into group sex and extracts some female perspectives from naked females before returning home to meet with a concerned wife (Louise Fletcher in top form) who's made a discovery that may or may not impact on her longevity. You'll have to watch the film to find out.

The film's tone, nihilistic narrative, and rigid, formalized compositions reminded me of Buddy Giovinazzo's COMBAT SHOCK, Richard Mahler aka Roger Watkin's MIDNIGHT HEAT (with Jamie Gillis), Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER, and Gasper Noe's I STAND ALONE.  The way the film presents a society that is becoming more and more aware of its own inevitable destruction is a great deal more honest than today's portraits of a world too busy tapping cell phone keyboards to know or care about greater issues. 

This is one powerful movie from the director of EDDIE MACON'S RUN,  REVENGE OF THE NERDS(!), TOUGH GUYS, and TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL (TV series).

Based on a novel I must read by Julius Horwitz.

Thanks to Mark at Soiled Sinema for the recommendation.

The ANGST/Schizophrenia Blu-Ray

The French (Carlotta) Blu-Ray of Gerard Kargl's ANGST (aka 'Schizophrenia') is a revelation, and, for the first time, footage missing from gray market copies is re-instated, further underscoring why the film was such a massive influence on Gasper Noe's I STAND ALONE, his best film (in my opinion).

Now, it can be seen that I.S.A. directly lifted its historical credit montage from ANGST, and imitated the very best. ANGST's re-instated credit sequence features photographs, writings, and family photos of the killer, placing his entire being in historical and cultural context. Noe added more dramatic music, but the homage is, nonetheless, a direct one.

Pre-credit sequence, not shown on gray market copies, depicts the killings that put the killer in the slammer in the first place. The extraordinary Erwin Leder wears Kargl's 'body camera' in this introductory sequence as he knocks on empty doors in a quiet neighborhood looking for lives to end.

A Blu-Ray I thought I'd never own is another reminder that Blu-Ray rules and downloading of inferior elements sucks elephant dicks.

Thank you, Carlotta, Kargl, and Leder for your contributions to the extras, too. Mr. Noe makes an appearance also, respectfully citing the film's influence on him.

Although not English subbed, a rudimentary familiarity with French or Italian makes the French subs more user-friendly. If you've seen the film thirty times (as I have), subs are simply not necessary. Still, an English-subbed version would be a cherry on top of a very rich pie.

This is a day to celebrate, and a film to honor. First seen over fifteen years ago, it gets better and bleaker with age.

Quality of transfer is surprisingly wonderful.

Cinematic orgasms all 'round!

Void

Unfortunately, Gasper Noe's Enter The Void, his third feature, is also his worst so far. He had eighteen million to make this one, and he spent most of the money on technical razzle dazzle while forgetting to make something engaging. His camera swoops and swan-dives all over the place in an attempt to recreate the vibe of a bunch of drug trips he took in the past, but the sheer volume of this hallucinogenic material ultimately buries the drama . I'm sure Gasper had a good time dropping whatever the fuck he dropped into his bloodstream, but I had an irritating time staring at his cinematic representation of it.

In a weird way, the film is structurally a remake of Irreversible infected with the tone and storyline of Philippe Grandrieux's intolerable La Vie Nouvelle (A New Life, 2002), a film that began with some stunning experimentation, but then plunged us into a world of monotony involving a prostitute and a pimp's dominance over her.

Like La Vie Nouvelle*, Enter The Void's biggest sin is being boring and repetitive. I Stand Alone, his best film, is this film's polar opposite, mostly because it has a fascinating protagonist we cared about. He was funny, too. The hero characters in this effort, a brother and sister whose lives have been altered by a tragedy, register as non-humans.

Before closing, I must admit that I have a pet peeve with films that depict nightclub/narcotic culture. I despise nightclubs and all they represent, so Void's nightclub focus didn't exactly warm my heart. This bias didn't kill the film for me, though; it just made a bad thing worse.

As I emerged from LA's Nuart Theater into the harshness of peak hour sunshine, I felt enormous relief that Enter The Void was over. I was free of its cloying mundanity. Yes, folks, a Gasper Noe film that was, ultimately, mundane.

Still, I look forward to Mr. Noe's next cinematic excursion. Perhaps he's gotten the self-indulgent rot out of his system.

* I found Grandrieux's Un Lac (A Lake, 2008) to be a far more effective exercise in abstraction and tone than La Vie Nouvelle, and a more immersive cinematic experience than Enter The Void.

The I Stand Alone/Angst Connection

I Stand Alone is truly one of the greatest, harshest, funniest, and most brutal films ever made.

Director Gasper Noe followed it up with Irreversible and Enter The Void.

The film's protaganist, 'The Butcher' (Phillipe Nahon) is a chap I'd love to spend some time with. His world view is cynical and as raw as a freshly fucked orifice.


I was fascinated by a recent Gasper Noe interview (from Britain) in which Noe cited the relentless voiceover of Gerald Kargl's mind-bending Angst as being the inspiration for the relentless voiceover used by 'The Butcher' in I Stand Alone.



It's an extremely interesting and understandable revelation because the voiceovers of both movies serve to undermine and counterbalance what we're seeing on-screen. They don't simply underline what we're seeing.


Angst, a sadly obscure film, also influenced some of I Stand Alone's stylistic flourishes.

In the film's climactic moments, 'The Butcher' becomes disoriented after he's engaged in sexual relations with a family member. Noe conveys the mental state of 'The Butcher' by attaching a camera rig to his body. The rig mimics the erratic movements of the character, and, by design, puts us inside his head.

In Angst, director Gerald Kargl conveys his character's instability with a similar rig.

This, of course, was done fifteen years before Noe used the concept in I Stand Alone.



Although Angst and I Stand Alone share some stylistic similarities, they are very much the works of original, uncompromising artists.



I do find it curious that the protaganists of both films fail to bite as savagely as they bark.

Kargl's killer, just released from jail, plans an unholy rampage that he fails to pull off.

Noe's 'Butcher' has fantasies of revenge that are thwarted by fate and his own confusion.







Both characters have spent time in jail, and, as a result, are trying to make it in a world that appears to have passed them by.

Their violent actions represent a desire to be acknowledged and taken seriously.

The films are masterpieces, and would make a perfect double feature.