Tag: Murder

“Love Crime” (2010) starring Ludivine Sagnier, Kristin Scott Thomas, & Patrick Mille

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An elegant business exec, Christine Rivière (Kristin Scott Thomas- who speaks fluent French), brings on Isabelle Guérin (Ludivine Sagnier) as her protege. Christine seems to enjoy toying w/ the young/naive woman. Christine is involved w/ Phillipe (Patrick Mille), an arrogant/charming lawyer who consults w/ this company. Soon, Isabelle’s ideas become creative enough for Christine to pass off as her own. In time, we see that Christine has underestimated Isabelle’s ambition/cunning!

As one viewer commented, this is “not a whodunit, but more of a what’s-she-gonna-do next” story. I heard about this French neo noir film on the Fatal Attractions podcast. Alain Corneau (1943-2010) was a Cesar Award-winning French writer/director; he died soon after Love Crime was released. The American remake (undercooked and boring) was titled Passion (2012); it was directed by Brian De Palma and stars Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace. If you like this movie, you may want to check out The Business of Strangers (2001) starring Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles.

The French ain’t like us (Americans) y’all- that can be surprising (yet refreshing) to watch! They don’t need big budgets, expensive sets, action scenes, or likeable lead characters. They also don’t carry the (Puritan) baggage when is comes to nudity, sex, or relationships btwn men and women. After a meeting out of town, Isabelle jumps into Phillipe’s arms and kisses him w/ fervor (looks a BIT aggressive). These women are battling it out in (and out) of the boardroom! The filmmakers don’t shy away from melodrama. If you like psychological thrillers, then I recommend this movie.

…Mr. Corneau makes witty use of the contrasting faces and temperaments of the two main actresses. Ms. Thomas, her manner as impeccable and dry as her French, is all angles and edges, most terrifying when she seems most at ease. Ms. Sagnier, soft and skittish and visibly struggling to maintain her composure, turns out to be even scarier.

-Excerpt from NYT review by A.O. Scott

[1] The narrative style is one of omniscient point of view. As an audience, you are along with the perpetrator for a ride all the time. The fun is in seeing (and sometimes guessing) how she uses the “self-framing” trick (think “The Wrong Man,” but in that movie the audience is in the dark and are in for a big surprise, unless they are really smart) to get away with murder, literally.

[2] What makes the film so fascinating is the clever move/countermove screenplay that provides tantalizing hints increasing skullduggery. The two female leads play beautifully off each other and the hapless men that get in their way are interesting in their own right.

[3] …here we have real human action. With women as the characters, “action” does not have to constitute external phenomena as is the case with men. For women, “action” is the deadly silent conflict between personalities, and how they outwit each other. This is a true “psychological thriller,” whereas many claims of that kind are made by films which are not all that psychological.

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews

“Internal Affairs” (1990) starring Richard Gere, Andy Garcia, Nancy Travis, Laurie Metcalf, & William Baldwin

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Vicious manipulations and power games between men made all the more dramatic being set inside a police drama. –Gene Siskel

A young/Hispanic cop, Raymond Avila (Andy Garcia- aged 33), has just joined the Internal Affairs bureau of the LAPD. He and his partner, Amy Wallace (Laurie Metcalf), get a case involving a young/hot-headed patrolman known for getting rough w/ suspects, Van Stretch (William Baldwin). However, they soon come to realize that Stretch’s more experienced partner, Dennis Peck (Richard Gere- aged 40), might be at the root of many illegal activities. This is a movie that seems of its time, yet also ahead of it’s time; issues incl. domestic violence, racism, adultery, and police corruption are explored.

As Garcia explained on the pod WTF with Marc Maron, Paramount selected this movie for him; one of its producers (Frank Mancuso) became like a father-figure to the actor. This was Mike Figgis’ 1st American movie; Garcia brought the British/indie director onto the project (for his fresh takes). I’m a fan of Garcia; I don’t know why he didn’t become a bigger star. (I even saw the movie he directed a few yrs ago- it was pretty good.) Gere has the more fascinating role as a multi-layered villain who manipulates (almost) everyone around him! Did y’all know that this movie came out the same year as Pretty Woman!? As some critics/fans commented, the haircuts may be bad (too short), BUT the jeans fit V well! In the scene where his character is introduced, there is a long/close-up shot on Baldwin’s butt.

Dennis Peck [to Van Stretch]: How many cops you know, huh? Got nothing. Divorced, alcoholic, kids won’t talk to them anymore, can’t get it up. Sitting there in their little apartments, alone in the dark, playing lollipop with a service revolver?

From the opening scenes, Peck is the “Alpha” among his circle; he puts a knife into the hand of the unarmed dead man to cover for the young/Black cop who shot him, Dorian Fletcher (Michael Beach). There is an instant dislike btwn Avila (ambitious) and Peck (working on the street); I learned that Garcia and Gere didn’t get along during filming. These two characters glare at each other w/ such animosity that we feel a fight could break out at any minute. Given his erratic schedule, Avila misses out on quality time w/ his wife/manager of an art gallery, Kathleen (Nancy Travis). Peck thinks of himself as a “family man;” he lives in a spacious house w/ a pool. He’s on his 4th marriage; his current wife is Heather (Annabella Sciorra), and father to 8 kids (no joke)!

It’s NOT easy to be in police work; the conditions can be V rough and the pay quite low (so that many cops have off-duty jobs). Peck helps Fletcher get a 2nd job at a good location; he counsels Van Stretch to return to his family- wife/banker Penny (Faye Grant) and young son. However, there have always been some who are “a disgrace to the uniform;” in one scene Peck is in bed w/ Penny fully clothed in his uniform. In another scene, Peck (in a calm tone w/ quiet menace) opens Stretch’s button-down and gently pats his chest down (looking for a wire) w/ one hand, while playing tea party w/ his daughter w/ the other hand.

Man, Gere was nasty in that movie- Internal Affairs! -Marc Maron

Yeah, Gere was terrific in that movie! – Andy Garcia

[1] Gere is on best form here, playing a character against type, he is the embodiment of corruption, deceit and murder. Garcia is also excellent as Raymond, who blends his actions well from good into bad. Metcalf is excellent as Garcia’s partner…

[2] Internal Affairs is a character study at it’s finest. There are few films out there that can compare to this one and that can be attributed to the director, Mike Figgis. He hits every note perfectly and the performances he gets from his cast is such a joy to watch.

[3] Gere fires on all cylinders in this performance, full of swagger and aggression, with a character that would easily dupe you into believing he’s on your side, while all the while setting up your execution. 

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews

“Saltburn” (2023) starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, & Archie Madekwe

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SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read this post if you haven’t seen, or don’t want to know, details from the movie Saltburn (streaming on Amazon Prime).

Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten. -Synopsis

Woo boy- what can I say re: this (unhinged) British/indie movie!? Yikes, it’s hard to put into words suitable for all ages of readers! I was curious b/c I’m a big fan of The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow. I have NOT yet seen the two miniseries of Brideshead Revisited (1981; 2008). After I watched Saltburn (written/directed by Emerald Fennell), I was a BIT surprised that it was free on Amazon Prime. Speaking of shock value, yeah- there are several scenes which were unexpected (rarely depicted in movies)! We’ll never look at bathwater the same way…

Barry Keoghan is trying to create a role out of the disparate parts of other ones (Norman Bates, Tom Ripley, Patrick Bateman), yet doesn’t get all the way there. He couldn’t have. There is no “there.” -Wesley Morris (New York Times)

The cast is made up of (mostly) fine/experienced actors, BUT w/ such poor writing/shallow character development, there isn’t much they can do. Keoghan (an Irish character actor) doesn’t disappoint; it’s TOO bad that this was his 1st leading role. Oliver speaks w/ a Liverpool accent; it is revealed that he comes from a comfortable middle-class family. Elordi (an Aussie who recently played Elvis in Priscilla) has potential; I hadn’t seen his acting before. There are a LOT of shots which linger over his handsome face and tall/lean body; I thought this was overkill (hey, I’m NOT a teenage girl). Felix’s parents, James (Richard E. Grant) and Elspeth (Rosamund Pike) are removed from their feelings and say whatever they want- it’s just absurd. Some critics (incl. POC) weren’t pleased w/ the way Felix’s cousin, Farleigh (Archie Madekwe), was depicted. Taking it back to the Ripley comparison, Farleigh (w/ a Black/American father and white/English mother) reminded me of Freddie Miles (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), as he is one of the few characters suspicious of Oliver’s motives. Just when things could get interesting, Farleigh is removed from the story! Oliver’s socially awkward/Math major friend, Michael, is played by Ewan Mitchell (one of the young stars of House of the Dragon).

This is a V glaring case of style over substance; I noted this before re: other (modern) media. As the time period is 2006/2007 (when Fennell was in college), we see looks which were popular then, incl. pierced eyebrows, bleached (damaged) blonde hair, long belts, etc. The real location for Saltburn is Drayton House in the village of Lowick in North Hampshire; it was built around 1300. Fennell stated she considers this “a vampire movie,” even though the story does not have supernatural elements. Oliver refers to himself as a vampire in the (now infamous) garden scene w/ Felix’s younger sister, Annabel (Sadie Soverall).

[1] For me, unfortunately its third act is probably its most memorable feature because it requires an enormous suspension of disbelief.

[2] The twists – I saw all of them coming, most are heavily contrived, and none felt shocking in the slightest. […] Saltburn is a seriously dull watch, the humour is barely present at all. I would have turned off after about an hour, but having got that far I stayed in hope of a clever ending. Nothing clever here, in fact, rather than clever they went for nonsensical.

[3] …the issue of character: no one in the film is a real person: all of them are pawns to serve the grand plot which, when dissected, falls apart. These aren’t people; they’re vehicles for the screenwriter (director, producer, etc.) to show off an interesting, but ultimately flawed story.

[4] Saltburn is a film that promises much, but delivers little. Despite its grand setting and talented cast, it fails to provide a compelling narrative or engaging characters. It’s a film that tries to be a critique of the English aristocracy and a psychological thriller, but falls short on both counts.

[5] The suspenseful bits aren’t suspenseful. The funny bits aren’t funny and the sexy bits aren’t sexy.

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews

Two Movies from Noir City DC (OCT 13th-26th, 2023)

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Introduction

Hey y’all, how is your Fall season going? Thanks for reading! As local noir-istas may know, Noir City DC film fest is going on (OCT 13th–26th) at AFI Theatre here in my area (downtown Silver Spring, MD). Eddie Muller (TCM host; founder of the Film Noir Foundation) helped to curate the movies for this event. Muller introduced screenings on the opening weekend (OCT 13th–15th); I saw 2 movies (for the 1st time).

The Big Clock (1948) starring Ray Milland, Maureen O’Sullivan, Charles Laughton, George Macready, Pauline York, & Elsa Lanchester

The Strangest and most Savage Manhunt in History! -A tagline for the film

When a publishing tycoon, Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), commits murder in a heat of passion, he begins to cover his tracks. Janoth frames an innocent man he doesn’t know, BUT who knew the victim, Rita Johnson (Pauline York). That man, George Stroud (Ray Milland), works for one of Janoth’s magazines and is enlisted to trap the “killer.” George must “help” his boss, elude the police, and find proof of his innocence and Janoth’s guilt!

Rita Johnson: You know, Earl has a passion for obscurity. He won’t even have his biography in ‘Who’s Who.”
George Stroud: Sure. He doesn’t want to let his left hand know whose pocket the right one is picking.

Kenneth Fearing’s 1946 novel and this film adaptation bear many similarities to Samuel Fuller’s novel Dark Page (1944) and its screen adaptation Scandal Sheet (1952). Janoth’s right-hand man/lawyer, Steve Hagen (George MacCready), does his dirty work; they’re close (though- b/c of censorship- we don’t see how much). Neo-noir fans will find similarities btwn this movie and (the 2nd adaptation of The Big Clock) No Way Out (1987) dir. by Roger Donaldson. In that movie, Sen. Brice (Hackman) has a V clever/loyal aide, Scott (Will Patton), who cleans up his messes (and is obviously in love w/ the politician).

Don Klausmeyer: Our organization, the Janoth Publications, is trying to find someone, possibly a collector of your pictures.
Louise Patterson: So have I- for fifteen years.

Milland got the roles that Cary Grant turned down, Muller noted; he’s best known for The Lost Weekend (1945) and Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954). Like Michael Douglas, he has the air of a man who could be a “regular” guy, yet w/ a “shady” side. According to Muller, Louise Patterson (Elsa Lanchester) is based on (IRL American artist) Alice Neel. Laughton and Lanchester were married at this time, though we later learned that he was gay. Director John Farrow and Maureen O’Sullivan (who plays Georgette Stroud) were also married. Unlike what you’d expect from a “typical” noir, there are some of funny moments; Lanchester made my audience LOL during a few scenes.

Act of Violence (1948) starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, & Phyllis Thaxter

The Manhunt No Woman Could Stop! -A tagline for the film

Robert Ryan is like one of my top 2 or 3 actors in noir. -Eddie Muller, in intro to the film

WWII veteran Frank Enley (Van Heflin- age 40) is a family man/builder in SoCal. He has a modest house, a beautiful/young wife, Edith (Janet Leigh- just 21 y.o.) and toddler son; he’s respected as a “war hero” in his small town community. One day, he learns that Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan- age 39) is searching for him; he is out for revenge, b/c of something which occurred while they were POWs. Joe drags his right leg as he walks; he carries a handgun. Ann (Phyllis Thaxter- age 29) is the woman following Joe, in the hopes of stopping him from doing something drastic. When Frank has to leave for a builders convention in LA, Joe is close behind! When Frank happens upon a bar, he meets Pat (Mary Astor- in a daring/unglamorous role at age 40).

Joe [to Edith]: Sure, I was in the hospital, but I didn’t go crazy. I kept myself sane. You know how? I kept saying to myself: Joe, you’re the only one alive that knows what he did. You’re the one that’s got to find him, Joe. I kept remembering. I kept thinking back to that prison camp. One of them lasted to the morning. By then, you couldn’t tell his voice belonged to a man. He sounded like a dog that got hit by a truck and left in the street.

No one wore makeup on this movie. Zinnemann wanted somewhat of a documentary look. -Cheyney Ryan (son of Robert Ryan) on the podcast Robert Bellissimo At The Movies (10/12/22)

Some viewers were surprised to see issues tackled so soon after the end of WWII. At the forefront is the question: How does an individual adjust to “normal” life after surviving war? I was excited to watch this movie; it’s currently NOT on any streaming platform. This is a tense noir that’s unpredictable both in its character development and plotting. It’s V well-paced (at only 82 mins), has great dialogue, and important themes. Director Fred Zinnemann (an Austrian Jew who fled Europe before WWII) went on to work on some big movies: High Noon (1952) and From Here to Eternity (1953). As Muller said, Zinnemann learned that both parents were killed in a Nazi concentration camp. The writers of the screenplay are Robert L. Richards and Collier Young (husband of actress/director Ida Lupino).

Edith: Suppose there is a grain of truth to it. Suppose you did have some kind of trouble with him. I can understand how something like that could happen in a prison camp.
Frank: No. You don’t know what happened.
Edith: What was it Frank? Whatever you did you must have had reasons.
Frank: You can always find reasons. Even the Nazis had reasons.

Ryan (who Scorsese called “one of the greatest actors in American film”) and Lupino later starred together in 2 unique noirs- On Dangerous Ground (1951) and Beware, My Lovely (1952). Ryan and Leigh were co-stars in the Western The Naked Spur (1953). Ryan (nearly 6’4″) towers over almost all the others; his simmering rage adds to the intimidating effect. When he talks w/ Edith, his voice is NOT loud/frightening, BUT holds pain/regret. I wanted to see more of Joe’s relationship w/ Ann; they discussed re: what happened in wartime (unlike Frank and Edith). The two leads are opposites in looks: Ryan is brown-haired w/ small/dark eyes, while Heflin is blonde/wide-eyed. Heflin (almost 6″ tall) gets to stretch himself, showing more depth (and emotion) than is usually required of his “Everyman” roles. Leigh does a fine job w/ her role (opposite these experienced men) at such a young age (early in her career). I really liked the cinematography; light, dark, and shadow are used quite effectively.

[1] One of the most daring elements of the film is its suggestion that Heflin is deserving of forgiveness, because the codes of conduct that govern men in the theater of war are different from those that govern us in our day-to-day lives. That maybe doesn’t seem like a daring thing to say now, but at the time it would have been.

Heflin and Ryan are both terrific; Ryan is one of my favorite film noir actors. But the women in the film make quite an impression… If the mens’ world- both at war and at home- is one of violence and revenge, it’s the women who act as the voice of reason and sanity, trying to impose a sense of stability amid the chaos.

[2] This grim look at a couple of de-mobbed soldiers continuing their private war at home rarely get mentioned in lists of essential noirs; maybe, upon release in 1949, it was just a little too close for comfort- hinting a truths the victorious American public were unwilling to acknowledge. If so, the film has yet to be rediscovered- or reappraised. […]

Though the script opts for a strange and bitter “redemptive” ending, the acrid taste of Act of Violence lingers long.

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews

Countdown to #Halloween: “American Psycho” (2000) starring Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Samantha Mathis, Chloe Sevigny, & Reese Witherspoon

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Killer looks. -A tagline for the film

The character is so vain and obsessed with his looks. While the psychology of the character was something that I could perform, you can’t fake the physicality. Being English, I tend to enjoy going down to the pub far more than going to the gym, so it was very unnatural for me. I just had to convince myself that I loved it, which was the most difficult thing about playing this part. Working out is incredibly boring. I swear it’s true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have. I found I had to stop thinking when I was in the gym because if I thought about it, I’d realize how ridiculous it was that I was pumping iron when I could’ve been out having a drink and a cigarette and enjoying some lunch. I did three hours a day for six weeks with a personal trainer and some time before that. I ate an awful lot during training and then almost nothing during filming. -Christian Bale (actor)

It’s the late ’80s, a 27 y.o. old Wall Street bro, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale- NOT yet famous), travels among a small network of the young/rich/beautiful. They all come off as vain narcissists who attended elite colleges, dine at the most exclusive restaurants, and constantly compete w/ each other (even when it comes to romance). Patrick has a strict morning routine(“self-care”- we’d say today) to maintain his youthful skin and super-fit body. Patrick’s friends incl. several conventionally handsome/up-and-comers from US/Canada: Paul Allen (Jared Leto), Tim Bryce (Justin Theroux), Craig McDermott (Josh Lucas), and Marcus Halberstram (Anthony Lemke). Willem Dafoe (playing a private investigator) has unique looks; he is thus considered to be odd/suspicious to the audience. Patrick’s fiancee, Evelyn, is played by (soon to be “America’s Sweetheart”) Reese Witherspoon; they hardly spend any time together. An indie movie darling (Chloe Sevigny) is Patrick’s secretary, Jean. We soon learn that Patrick’s “mask” hides someone mentally unstable and dangerous!

Leonardo DiCaprio (already well-known in Hollywood) was 1st offered the (controversial) lead role; he declined the role after a meeting w/ Gloria Steinem (where she said it’d be bad for his career). Ewan McGregor (who’d reach international fame in Star Wars prequels) was also offered the role; Bale convinced him NOT to take it. Before preparing for American Psycho, Bale (w/ a naturally tall/slim build) hadn’t gone to a gym (wow)! The young actor even insisted on paying for his own dental work, as he felt Patrick would have perfect teeth. Looking for a way to create the character of Patrick, Bale came upon an interview w/ Tom Cruise on the Late Show with David Letterman. According to the co-writer of the screenplay/director, Mary Harron, Bale saw in Cruise “this very intense friendliness w/ nothing behind the eyes,” and based his character of on the actor (LOL)! Most of the dialogue is taken word-for-word from the source novel by Bret Easton Ellis.

I re-watched this after many yrs (on Max); this is the type of horror which is NOT for sensitive (esp. squeamish re: blood) viewers. This also contains dark comedy, as it takes on the superficiality of “yuppie” culture. Everyone in Bateman’s circle appears to be the same; it’s no wonder that identity is mistaken and swapped (as many viewers commented). In several cases, Patrick is mistaken for Marcus; they both prefer the same designer suits, glasses, and hairstyle. The film (though low budget for its day) has many designer labels: Nino Cerruti (men’s suits), Rolex (watches), Perry Ellis (underwear), Jean Paul Gaultier (luggage), L’Occitane (skincare), etc. If you’ve lived for some time in NYC, this movie will resonate a BIT more w/ you!

[1] The film looks to examine our own distorted points of view or detachments from reality. Like Patrick Bateman, we may be trapped craving the approval of others and denying ourselves the ability to distinguish fantasies from our reality. People are obsessed with how the others perceive them…

To escape the conformity that he, on some level, despises Bateman leads a second life as a killer, where he’s unfettered from the bounds of society. Although he actually wants to be seen as a murderer, as someone different from the rest of society, Bateman is denied even the satisfaction by every self-absorbed yuppie he meets. When he’s seen stuffing a body into the trunk of a car, the witness is only interested in the bag.

[2] The performance of Christian Bale is calculatingly brilliant, and that is due to how wonderfully despicable he is from the start, and it only gets worse. The way he talks is absolutely annoying, and that makes the film hysterical from the start. His facial expressions through the eyes and the way he talks makes me instantly discus him, but there are a lot of fools around in the business world who thinks latching on to a person like that would be an aid to their career.

[3] One of the weirdest movies I’ve seen. Saw on video tape when it came out, then recently watched it again 18 years later. Forgot how fun it is to watch. The absurdity of Bale’s character Patrick Bateman’s shallowness and preoccupation with superficial things, like how upset he gets over a colleague having a better business card than him, makes this movie comedic while he’s slicing up victims. Still not sure about whether or not all of the things happening were all in his head. I guess that’s up for anyone’s interpretation of the story. Very well done and one of Bale’s best performances, as if he’s ever performed badly.

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews