A couple of weeks ago, I acquired a free 2-month subscription to Hulu Plus through a friend of mine. I am only using it for one thing: consuming movies from the Criterion Collection. I am binging on the stuff, and thought I'd write a little about each one I've watched. So, without further ado, here are assorted thoughts on six of what I've watched so far.
Sisters (1973): Aside from watching bits of Carrie on TV as a little kid, this is my first real experience with Brian De Palma’s work, and the one movie that was at the top of my list to watch. The movie is essentially a Hitchcock thriller turned up as loud and nasty as possible. The score is outrageous and unsettling, the cinematography quite voyeuristic. De Palma uses splitscreen for the first time in this movie for a gruesome murder and the cleanup afterwards, and from there the movie just keeps firing on all cylinders until the bitter conclusion. There’s a hypnosis/dream sequence towards the end that had my jaw on the floor. I need to get myself a copy of this on DVD soon, I absolutely loved it.
Fiend Without A Face (1958): All 1950s sci fi/horror movies are kind of the same, or so they feel sometimes. This one isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything new or different until maybe the last 20 minutes or so when the atomic monsters are finally revealed to be stop-motion brains that bleed quite a lot when shot or stabbed. I think that’s what made it notable in its time, taking things just a bit further than what audiences of the time were used to. I did find it interesting that a woman, Amelia Reynolds Long, had written the original story on which the movie is based.
Mr. Freedom (1969): I was uncomfortable the entire time I watched this movie, right from the first few minutes. It’s the most scathing satire I have ever experienced, vicious to the very end. Mr. Freedom is an American superhero in a riotous future, who gets called to France in order to introduce democracy, and things just keep getting weirder and weirder until the very end. There’s a real pop art/comicbook sensibility to the visuals, which makes the darker themes and dialogue stand out even more. At one point he develops stigmata, which then goes away after he eats a huge bowl of cornflakes. One of the movie’s “villains” is a giant inflatable dragon. I can’t do it justice with words, you just have to watch it.
The Sword of Doom (1966): Recommended by Chris Ready, this is a dark and brutal samurai film. The protagonist, though I hesitate to call him that, is a remorseless killer with sociopathic tendencies, uncomfortable to watch but so intense you can‘t take your eyes off of him. The movie opens with him mercilessly killing an old man on a mountain path before heading back to his village to take part in a duel. The action is quick and bloody, most confrontations over in the blink of an eye, which is something I always enjoy about samurai movies. Each strike counts. The end of the movie is a descent into madness and chaos, ending abruptly, as it was meant to be the first part of a series based on an unfinished novel with had been serialized in newspapers for over three decades. This is another one I need my own copy of, a movie that really sticks with you once it’s over.
Harakiri (1962): A classic. I had some issues paying attention to the first half of it (due in part to my stomach being lame), but the drama builds and builds, leading to a final act which feels like a hand around your throat the entire time. I’m curious about Takashi Miike’s recent remake of it, I feel like it just couldn’t be nearly as good as this is.
Shock Corridor (1963): A reporter gets himself checked into a mental institution to investigate a murder, only to go mad himself in the process. I like how the murder itself wasn’t really a part of the movie, it was all about Johnny’s descent into madness. Pretty well written, some neat color segments, and lots of fun psychological issues being thrown around. It feels like it was lifted right out of an old pulp magazine or EC crime comic.
Next time: A three punch combo of Seijun Suzuki films, plus um, whatever I watch after that. My queue still has 15 or so movies in it!