Do Yourself A Favor

Despite the fact that I originally reviewed them (glowingly!) almost eighteen months ago, Mesrine - Public Enemy Number One, and Killer Instinct, are finally opening in the States. They comprise an exquisite duet in a genre the French are excelling at lately (A Prophet was another winner). I urge anybody who appreciates solid cinema to support these movies with your dollars.

I often ponder what would happen to Quentin Tarantino's career if he featured as much sex in his movies as violence? I'd say the critics and audiences would turn on him. They've sure turned on the makers of the next little gem.

The sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, has been lambasted by most U.S. critics for reasons I'll get to shortly. It's smaller scale entry, sure, and it's not quite as glossy as its parent, but for fuckin fuck's sake, see this film! It's suspenseful, brutal, unrelenting, and downright deviant bullet train of moviemaking. On top of these honors, it boasts an incredible and unique villain.

If the series continues to head in this direction, the third and final installment will be a subversive masterpiece.

I'd say the high level of sexual content (consenting and non-consenting) is behind the majority of poor reviews the film is getting in the U.S. Let's face it, considerable portions of the U.S. are puritan to the core, and sex is considered more obscene than a human being having their head chopped off. When was the last time a non-porno film was charged with obscenity, eh? Gross discomfort with the sexual nature of the human animal sways the most intelligent critics (with some exceptions, and you know who you are!) in the U.S. Very few seem capable of shedding their puritanism so that they can fairly and objectively review films with high level sexual content. For some reason, all that flesh and sweat tends to overwhelm them.

A classic example of puritan backlash (or is that whiplash?) was Giussepe Tornatore's exquisite The Unknown Woman, one of my favorite and most beautiful/brutal noirs of the last five years.

Ignore the puritans, listen to the audiences, and make a date with The Girl Who Played Played With Fire.

Also well worth catching this week is the excellent Hugh Hefner doco, Hugh Hefner - Playboy, Activist and Rebel. It's a pretty exhaustive look at the man and, primarily, his brave, lifelong campaign to fight official and unofficial racism in America. The Hugh many of us thought we knew is but one part of a fascinating gentleman and modest activist. Even an American hero.

No Dogs

I feel like barking at traffic this morning, so hope there's something of interest here to warrant your time.

Just ordered an Oppo Blu Ray Multi-Region player because there's a lot of stuff coming out in France and the UK that is being totally ignored by US distributors. Seriously, the US scene is getting lamer and lamer. There is no much international stuff that is not available.

I reviewed the 'Mesrine' films, Killer Instinct and Public Enemy Number 1 almost a year ago on this blog. These brilliant crime flicks are still total no-shows theatrically and on DVD/Blu-Ray in the U.S. Directed by Jean Francois Richet, who also directed the brutal Assault on Precinct 13 remake, and starring Vincent Cassel, these are on par with American classics such as Heat and Goodfellas.

Thank Christ another French crime flick, A Prophet, made it to these shores, and is currently in theatrical release. I urge you to see this terrific crime/prison drama. It is a blistering, realistic genre pic with a number of sensational performances. Nobody is doing this stuff like the French.

This week I was pretty disgusted by Comedy Central's censoring of the second part of a two-parter of South Park in which the prophet Mohammed is referenced and said to be inhabiting a bear costume. A Muslim extremist group, predictably upset by this, said that Trey Parker and Matt Stone would probably end up like Theo Van Gogh for making this episode. Van Gogh, a doco filmmaker, was slain in Amsterdam in 2004 for daring to expose the abuse of Muslim women in Islamic society.

Comedy Central's knee-jerk kow-towing to this group is pathetic, but equally pathetic is how thin-skinned these extremists are. If they honestly feel that their religion can not withstand a bit of satirizing, how strong can it actually be?

Every religion gets satirized on South Park. In this episode alone, Budda snorts coke and Jesus surfs the internet for porn.

I felt that the show's handling of the Mohammed character was extremely sensitive.

Obviously, a few others didn't.

Still thoroughly enjoying A&E's The First 48, easily my favorite reality crime series. This is an exceptional weekly show detailing the first forty-eight hours after a homicide is committed.

Last week's duet of episodes, 'The Stranger', and 'Prince of Darkness', were dark, stark explorations of an embedded crime culture. As usual, I was riveted.

The show is a textbook example of how to make a solid reality show. From the cutting to the graphics to the ace sound design and camera work, every element contributes to an overall sense of suspense and dread. It's important to mention the show's brilliant music contributions, too, from Paul Brill, Justin and Brian Deming, and Don DiNicola. If you've never seen this show, do yourself a big favor.

Belladonna's latest excursion into perversion, No Warning 4, comes with two covers. This one is sure to provoke water cooler conversation.

The flick itself is much tamer than the cover art suggests, but one has to admire Belladonna for not disappointing her fan base.

The alternative wrapper adds a fascinating line of copy to the sell:

"A girl at war with herself."

The psychology of this director's work is what makes it interesting and an indicator of where hardcore, directed by women, is moving.

At the other end of the spectrum, and recommended, is Luc Jacquet's Le Renard Et L'Enfant (The Fox and the Child), a 2007 childhood odyssey from the director of March of the Penguins

Although it is not a documentary, it is close to it, and focuses on a tender relationship between a young girl and a fox. The images of the two interacting are magnificent, and the location work is exemplary.

For some, the film may be a little too manipulative and heavy-handed (there have been such criticisms). As a fan of The Bear, Milo and Otis, The Yearling, The Plague Dogs, Duma, Fly Away Home, Watership Down, and The Painted Hills, I found The Fox and the Child to be a warm and wonderful viewing experience.