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Just another Journalspace.com Blogs weblogAnaïs (Anaïs Reboux) is a disinclined twelve year old with something of an eating problem. Her sister Elena (Roxane Mesquida) is fifteen, first-rate and looking for have a passion. While on feast at the seaside with their parents, the girls meet Fernando (Libero dr Rienzo), an older Italian student, also on holidays. He falls for Elena (and vice versa), but he’s already had profuse sex conquests and wants to take things with Elena faster than she really cares to. Interim, Anaïs who loves and hates her sister equally, begins to withdraw into herself, eating even more. Elena desperately wants Fernando’s love; but what is she prepared to do to become involved in it?
In
Christopher Münch
's
The Sleepy Time Gal
, a middle-aged woman's cancer diagnosis spurs attempts at resolution and reconciliation. But where most films about terminal illness hang a millstone of lesson-learning on the dying and their loved ones, Münch's rarefied elegy depicts a more matter-of-fact and expansive preparation for death. The film's working title,
Backward Looks, Far Corners
, perfectly summarizes its methodology and subject. From the dull, surreal ache of mortal awareness emerges a radiant character portrait, one undaunted by the bulky proportions of biography or by the contrary particulars of a willful, eccentric woman's cruelly truncated life?abundant in both bliss and agony, marked equally by snatched opportunities and lingering regrets.
photo: Vette Dennison
Almost trancelike introspection: Bisset in
The Sleepy Time Gal
Details
The Fatigued Time Gal
Written and directed by Christopher Münch
Pioneer
Through June 4
BAMcinématek
June 8 and 9
The Mad Songs Of Fernanda Hussein
Written and directed by John Gianvito
BAMcinématek
May 31 through June 6
Insomnia
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Written by Hillary Seitz
Warner Bros.
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On the page, lines like these may creak with a declamatory stiffness, but in context, they're hardly ever incongruous. Münch's characters are given to a certain rapt, unwieldy thoughtfulness, and accordingly, his films cultivate a mood of almost trancelike introspection. When Frances's daughter, Rebecca, grown into a brittle, somewhat pinched lawyer (played with furrowed brow by
Martha Plimpton
), travels to Florida to administer a radio station takeover, she befriends the smooth-talking owner (
Frankie Faison
), who, unbeknownst to her, was once romantically involved with her birth mother. The two share an amusement-park ride that echoes Frances and Bob's private airborne reverie. She confides, "I can't help but think there are so many things I haven't done." (He calls her an overachiever with a premature midlife crisis, and sets about seducing her.) Later, an exasperated Frances tells her son Morgan (
Nick Stahl
), a budding photographer, "The life you lived isn't always the life you hoped for." As in Münch's first two films, the speculative Lennon-Epstein chamber piece,
The Hours and Times
, and the railroad preservation allegory,
Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day
, the most powerful undercurrents are impossible expectations and thwarted desires.
Incandescently photographed by
Rob Sweeney
(it's Münch's first feature to be shot in color),
The Sleepy Time Gal
proceeds in erratic temporal leaps (like Münch's other films, it's a period piece, spanning the early to mid 1980s) and darts freely about in space, moving from New York to San Francisco, Pennsylvania Dutch country to
Daytona Beach
. Münch crosscuts between Frances and Rebecca, fashioning a faraway-so-close pas de deux, though in so emphatically enforcing the umbilical connection, he manufactures a few too many mirrored, quasi-mystical resonances.
In this avowedly autobiographical story, the most moving element may be the most starkly personal?the relationship between Frances and Morgan, in which genuine affection is complicated by mutual provocation and a rueful awareness of the other's shortcomings. Basically, she nags him, while he calmly ribs her. Several minor characters, in just a few brief scenes, suggest entire movies of their own, notably Peggy Gormley as Bob's wife. Stahl is excellent as the director's surrogate, aloof yet inquisitive, but the film belongs to Bisset?it's thanks in no small part to her candid and complex performance that for all its gossamer, death-haunted poetics,
The Sleepy Time Gal
in the end conveys the irreducible weight of a singular life.
After its weeklong run at the Pioneer,
The Sleepy Time Gal
screens the second weekend of June as part of BAMcinématek's annual survey of films without distributors, drawn from the results of Take Three, the most recent
Voice
critics' poll. This year, the BAM rescue effort opens with
John Gianvito
's nearly three-hour
The Mad Songs of
Fernanda Hussein
, a no-budget epic that, along with Münch's labor of love, might be seen as the valiant, battered embodiment of true independent American film?produced not least through sheer force of determination (see
feature
).
more by Dennis Lim
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A Memorial at Once Visceral and Sober
Festival Express
More Toronto highlights, from Nazis to anarchists
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Quicksand review by
Tom Blain
Once again, I?m bargain bin diving and once again I?m looking at the film noir three for one combo (just $5). It?s addicting. No matter how many times I come up short, I keep going back for more; the investment is minimal so what do I have to lose? In this case the little number I picked was
Quicksand
which grabbed my attention because it had Mickey Rooney in the main role. It?s odd to think of him playing in a film being labeled as noir because Rooney seemed to always play the ideal smiley faced kid in a number of movies including the Andy Hardy series. But I?m game for something new and different?
Dan Brady (Mickey Rooney) is a mechanic who is short on money, but hot on this new blonde waitress, Vera Novak (Jeanne Cagney). In order to make his date swing, he makes a decision to lift $20 off his register, with full intentions of paying it back by the end of the week. His date, the blonde, has danger written all over her. You can tell early on when she sees a new mink coat in a department store window and says in a foreboding voice, ?I?m gonna get that coat? and will do ?what ever it takes to get it.? Yeah, she?s bad news Mick. Her shady past is further revealed when she has a run in with Nick Dramoshag (Peter Lorre) the owner of a penny arcade. If you find your girl is involved somehow with Peter Lorre, it should be a sign to leave her by the curbside.
The $20 comes to back haunt him, as the collector comes two days early to check the register. Danny figures out a way to get some instant cash to pay it off, but that only puts him further in debt. But of course, getting that $20, wasn?t exactly honest either, so he needs to find away to cover that loss as well. And so on? Each scheme to pay off his incrementing debts spirals out of control, as do the crimes he commits to get the money. Like the title implies, the more he squirms to pay off his debts, the more he sinks in the quicksand. Thievery, robbery and blackmail? And it all started with stealing a Jackson. Man crime must have been contagious in the 50s.
Quicksand
has a slight-film noir feel in story as Danny is just an average guy who makes a bad decision and gets himself in to more and more trouble over a femme noire. Unfortunately it is low on style. There are shadows and dark alleys that you would expect in film noir, but it never feels like anything special. It also has the feel of one of those ?Anti-{pick an issue} / Scared Straight? movies like
Reefer Madness
that shows the worst possible scenario a guy could find himself in if he makes one wrong move. In this case, the issue is petty thievery and spending money past your means. The guy lifts a few bucks off the register where he works and pretty soon he is running from the law for every heinous crime short of selling pictures of boys over the internet. At times the means of pushing the story forward seem to be so obsurd that they ruin the story itself.
Its odd seeing Mickey Rooney play such a dark role after seeing him play the light hearted Andy Hardy. There is definitely no singing and no Judy Garland. He is definitely not as ?at home? with the role as Peter Lorre seems to be but actually does end up decent job with the part so don?t be turned off by him. The movie itself is just sort of ?blah? though and that?s probably due to lack of noir style. At times it seems a little ?after-school-special-ish,? as it beats you over the head with how terrible lifting a few bills off the register can be. All I can say is it has the feel of an average B-moive.
Tom Blain Rating: 3
Review by
:
Tom Blain
Classic veil buff within the JAC stratosphere. (Warning: he took film classes.)
The steam, is directed in rather certain style by Charles Jarrott. The script [from the novel by Sidney Sheldon] seems awkwardly pulled together, making for some weird set jumps in the 1939-47 full stop even with the help of sequence subtitles.
Inducted early into a life of making it on her body, Marie-France Pisier sleeps her way up to international film star status, all the while paying out money to follow John Beck.
Beck meanwhile meets Susan Sarandon in Washington, DC, whom he marries before going off to the Pacific theater of war. Sarandon has enough troubles in his absence, but when he comes back, her pull with boss Clu Gulager lands Beck lots of jobs.
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Pisier, from the mansions of rich Greek Raf Vallone, fixes it so Beck has to turn to work abroad, hiring on as her pilot so she can degrade him.
Players, script and director have not failed the project in this regard; Michel Legrand’s score is appropriately goopy.
1977: Nomination: Best Costume Design
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Australian ABC TV talkshow host Andrew Denton attends the 63rd National Precise Broadcaster’s Symposium in Dallas, Texas, in February 2006, where more than 6000 Christian communicators gather. He interviews several delegates about their faith and examines the venomous edge of evangelical technology, the business of God, the America of the pious well, and what the ‘inescapable truths of the Bible’ mean as an adjunct to US politics.
The Charitable Country lives up to its title. The camera has captured a vast part of the southwest with such fidelity that the long stretches of dry motherland, in juxtaposition to tiny western settlements, and the behemoth canyon country in the arid area, have been recorded with almost three-dimensional intent.
Although the story - based on Donald Hamilton’s novel, with Jessamyn West and Robert Wyler credited with the screen adaptation - is dwarfed by the scenic outpourings, The Big Country is nonetheless armed with a serviceable, adult western yarn.
Basically it concerns the feud between Major Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford) and Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives), rugged individualists who covet the same watering area for their cattle. The water spot is open to both camps since it is the property of Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) who has been willed the property by her grandfather.
Bickford is the ‘have’ rancher of the area, with a fine home, a large head of cattle, a beautiful daughter (Carroll Baker), and a full crew of ranch hands. Ives is the ‘have not’, with a brood of unruly and uncouth sons, a bunch of shacks, and an army of ‘white trash’ relatives. Into the atmosphere of hate and vengeance comes Gregory Peck, a genteel eastern dude, to marry Baker. Peck arouses Baker’s displeasure when he refuses to ride a wild horse and backs away from a fight with Charlton Heston, Bickford’s truculent foreman who’s after Baker himself.
As the peace-loving easterner, Peck gives one of his better performances. Ives is topnotch as the rough but fair-minded Hannassey; Bickford is fine as the ruthless, unforgiving rancher. Chuck Connors, a former professional baseball player, is especially convincing as Ives’ uncouth son who attempts to rape Simmons. Jerome Moross’ musical score is also on the plus side.
1958: Best Supp. Actor (Burl Ives).
Nomination: Best Score of a Dramatic Picture
The Citadel is Metro’s second British-made production. It’s an effective drama based on A.J. Cronin’s novel which generated quite a argumentation in medical circles plenty of to presentation of its reason matter. Prime alter instead of drawing is a change to a blithe ending.
Story details the adventures of a young physician (Robert Donat) who starts out with high ideals and determination to help humanity. When Welsh miners object to his research to prevent tuberculosis in the community, he goes to London, gets in with a coterie of mulcting doctors who brush aside medical ethics in their chase for money. Snapped out of his new surroundings by a bungling operation on his best friend, the young physician discards the shams of money for his original ideals.
Donat gives a most seasoned performance. Rosalind Russell turns in a sympathetic portrayal of the young wife who struggles through at his side, and gets him back to his ideals after the London experiences.
Picture is studded with many brilliantly human and dramatic sequences. Success of Donat in reviving a stillborn baby in a worker’s home is a real heart-puller; chiller is episode where entrapped miner’s arm is amputated in cave-in; and vivid drama springs forth when Donat stands by while his best friend dies during bungled operation performed by the incompetent, social-climbing surgeon.
1938: Nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Robert Donat), Screenplay
Fakers follows the predictable misadventures of a small time crook, who needs to come up with 50,000 big ones by the end of the week, "or they're gonna kill me." He draws his friends into a scheme that involves making multiple copies of the last painting of a passionate Italian artist.
A tissue paper thin comedy crime caper, it feels like a million movies I've seen before and not really enjoyed. It starts quite promisingly, but quickly descends into a mire of clichés and plot holes. I found the charming rogue lead character intensely annoying, which didn't aid my enjoyment. In fact, none of the characters are particularly engaging, apart from a smouldering Art Malik, who gives the film a bit of depth, if only by a couple of centimetres.
Fakers is in the tradition of the chirpy, cheerful, action packed comedy thriller, not unlike Shooting Fish from the late Nineties, only it doesn't have the warmth and sense of fun to pull it off. At least it zips along at a pleasing pace, and while I clearly didn't enjoy it, I'm sure others might, despite being better suited for television.
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The Silver screen:
Theft movies are a lot of fun and filmgoers just love to root for the daring thief as he goes for his prize. Just take a look at films like Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job. Both of those were favorites thanks to plot and the quality of acting and proved to be popular enough to be remade. Twenty or thirty years from now will the same thing be said about Entrapment? I think not.
This pre-millennia high tech action piece is the product of Jon Amiel (The Man Who Knew Too Little and The Core). As the film gets going it’s easy to say that it forsakes a quality script and plot to focus on the fact that Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones are eating up the camera time. Granted both churn out entertaining performances but when you dig deeper and looking for something more substantial than a pair of faces you are left with a somewhat garbled tale of theft, trust, and lust.
Zeta-Jones plays Gin Baker, an insurance agent who is out to track down famed thief Mac MacDougal (Connery). She is steadfast in her belief that it was Mac who stole a Rembrandt painting though we quickly discover that it was indeed her who did the thieving. Unfortunately it wasn’t much of a mystery because Zeta-Jones plays Gin coyly to the point of transparency. Almost a little too easily Gin lures Mac into her “trap” and works with her insurance agency to frame him for the theft. All the while she attempts to play Mac for the fool and get his help to steal an ancient Chinese mask worth $40 million.
As the sloppy plot moves forward we learn that Gin is in deep over her head with a rather large debt; thus the thefts. With her connections she cooks up the biggest heist of all time and uses it to entice Mac into helping her. For some reason (we never really get insight into Mac’s mind) he goes along with her knowing full well that she’s also working to turn him in and knows that he knows. It’s never quite clear who is playing who for the fool and to be honest it gets confusing to the point of annoyance. In any event the reason to enjoy the film is the mindlessness of it all and the performance of its two lead actors.
You really do have to shut your brain off at the door in order to appreciate the latter part of the picture involving the “big job”. With fear surrounding the Y2K bug spreading the globe, the largest bank in Malaysia (that handles just about all of Asia’s transactions) is performing tests galore to ensure a glitch-free transition to the new millennia. Gin learns about a 30 second window where all security systems will be shut off and sees that as their opportunity to pull eight billion dollars out right from under their noses. A lofty goal to be sure and with the clock ticking there is a fair amount of suspense looming over head regarding whether or not they’ll actually pull it off.
Believe it or not I actually had a good time watching Entrapment when it first came out and once again on this blu-ray release. The movie’s plot is a mess at times and I think it’s safe to say that Connery and Zeta-Jones are not used to their full potential. Once you get past all that you’ll find a simple and enjoyable movie that has enough quirks to endear itself to you. Forget all of the confounded relationship nonsense and the “I know that you know that I know” game and you’ll walk away with a positive impression. Still, you have to shut your brain off and munch away on a bowl of popcorn to get to that positive stage though. This is the kind of movie that is easily picked apart but under the right circumstances is worth checking out.
The Disc:
Video:
Presented on a 25GB Single Layer blu-ray disc, Entrapment’s newest release is a big step up in quality from the Standard Special Edition DVD from 2000. With 1080p HD resolution and MPEG2 encoding at 18 MPBS the picture for this film has never looked better.
Since this is a crime-laden caper you can expect a great amount of shadow and darkly lit scenes. For the most part these sections of Entrapment offer a good deal of depth and contrast. Colors remain vibrant on the whole and throughout the entirety of the film there is little that appears murky or unattractive. The image remains grain free and I didn’t notice any compression while watching. The only real flaw that sprung up now and then was a fair degree of softness. The overall sharpness of the film was great but there were many scenes where the picture would turn soft for seemingly no reason. Still, this release is a definite step up from the Standard DVD and uses blu-ray technology well.
Audio:
While there are a few audio options available on the disc the first and foremost is easily the only one worth listening to. Presented in English with a DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio track Entrapment’s blu-ray release is once again a step up from the Standard DVD. The sense of immersion that comes from the lossless track is subdued with implementation being evident only with certain effects. Most of the dialogue, music, and action find their place on the front channel but the all around clarity of the track is impressive. French and Spanish tracks are available on this disc as well as English and Spanish subtitles.
Extras:
Straight from the Standard Special Edition DVD we receive the Audio Commentary by Director Jon Amiel on this disc. The content is rather lightweight when you get right down to it and compare it to other commentaries. He mostly discusses what it was like working with Connery and Zeta-Jones but breaks into talk about various scenes at certain times. I would have been more interested if he was talking about the film’s actual production so as it stands this is a mediocre commentary at best. The only other feature on this disc is a high definition trailer for the movie.
Final Thoughts:
Entrapment is a glossy, sexy, and mindless romp through a world filled with high-tech theft and gadgetry. Connery and Zeta-Jones make a good pair but considering that the plot seems to have been made strictly to get the both of them on the screen it’s easily overlooked. Many holes riddle the script and the sense of drama is nowhere near as good as it could have been if handled differently. Still, the movie proves to be entertaining enough to warrant a rental and the blu-ray’s presentation quality receives relatively high marks.
Rachel Chlebus