Mubi Monday: Obsession (1976)

Although I haven't actually seen every film directed by Brian De Palma, even still missing out already on a few that I have owned for years, I am so familiar with his general style, and his biggest hits, that it's always a surprise to come across something from him that I had previously not watched. Such was the case with Obsession, a film that I finally made time for because I wanted to spend some time with the director fully indulging his love of classic Hitchcock.

Obsession will be very familiar to those who have seen Vertigo. It doesn't come close to that film, although you wouldn't know that if you just judged it by the superb Bernard Herrmann score, but it's impressively twisted and dark by the time things clash together in the third act.

Cliff Robertson plays Michael Courtland, a businessman who suffers a great tragedy when his wife (Geneviève Bujold) and daughter are kidnapped. The attempt to pay the ransom money goes wrong, leaving Michael quite distraught. Jump forward a number of years and things are relatively back to normal. Michael continues to be in business with his partner, Robert La Salle (John Lithgow), and the two have a chance to make some big profits. But Michael starts to refocus when he meets a young woman named Sandra (Bujold once again), someone almost identical to his dead wife.

Written by Paul Schrader, from a story idea worked on by himself and De Palma, Obsession is a fun and well-paced thriller that, like the best De Palma movies, really doesn't hold back during an ending that will have you thinking about it long after the end credits have rolled. It's surprisingly restrained in some ways, and I admit that I was hoping for some of that patented De Palma audaciousness, but as an exercise in sugar-coating an exceedingly bitter pill it takes some beating.

Bujold is quite fantastic in her dual role, although she doesn't have to do as much in the earliest scenes, and she's bold enough to trust the writing and direction when it asks her to commit to one or two moments that come very close to being absolutely ridiculous. Lithgow is a lot of fun in his role, and there's obviously a good actor-director relationship here that would allow them both to have a lot of fun in a number of better collaborations. The weakest link is Robertson, who lacks any energy or passion. He looks as if he's wandered in from the set of some nearby soap opera, completely unprepared for anything that requires him to display some strong emotions. 

It's not the best Hitchcock homage. It's not the best De Palma thriller. It's not even the best De Palma thriller that seemingly exists simply to be a Hitchcock homage. It's an enjoyable and enjoyably strange feature though. I expect most fans of those involved will have already seen it though, but anyone else could do a lot worse than setting aside a bit of time for it.

6/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing. All links are HERE.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

American Gigolo (1980)

"What are you doing this evening?" my partner asked me.

"Watching a prime slice of sexy Richard Gere in glorious 4K," I replied.

"Ewwwwww, he's not sexy," she then said.

"Many would disagree with you. Especially in the 1980s," I told her. 

Whether you view Gere as a sex symbol or not, and it's hard to argue with his possession of that status for at least a number of years, American Gigolo is a film that has writer-director Paul Schrader firmly in the "he definitely is a sex symbol" camp. And the way he films his star, it's hard to disagree. Unless you're my partner, I guess.

It's embarrassing that I took so long to get around to this that I reviewed another Paul Schrader movie, The Walker, a few years ago, describing it as a film that may not be too similar to other Schrader films. The Walker is about a male escort who finds himself mixed up in a murder. I didn't really like it. American Gigolo, as many are already aware, is about a male escort who finds himself mixed up in a murder. I really liked it.

Gere plays Julian, a classy escort who wears all the right clothes, has all the right moves, and says all the right things to keep his clients happy. His life starts to get a bit complicated when he starts a relationship with Michelle (Lauren Hutton), the wife of a senator. It's complicated further when a client turns up dead, bringing him to the attention of Detective Joe Sunday (Hector Elizondo). But at least his life is soundtracked by Giorgio Moroder and a repeated Blondie track.

While it's obviously a bit dated nowadays, American Gigolo feels as if it was always a magical blend of the cool and the uncool. Gere is suave and sexy, his life is full of great accessories and treats, but he's also surprisingly emotionally available for many of his clients. He's shown as a very capable man, but is also rendered useless as he becomes more and more tangled in a web that could lead to him serving some serious time in prison.

A lesser film in comparison to the others that Schrader directed between the late 1970s to mid-1980s, it's still an interesting way to make use of some of his usual themes with material that feels more "sellable" than some of his other works. The runtime - just under two hours - passes by quickly enough, and the stars have enough fun to ensure that nothing ever gets too grim and unenjoyable. It's a bit lacking in depth, but that's in line with the world that viewers are shown around, which makes it a nice marriage of content and form.

Gere enjoys a few iconic moments, something that he did remarkably well in his biggest cinema hits, and Elizondo is an entertainingly tenacious, but generally polite, detective. There's also a fantastic turn from Bill Duke, playing a pimp named Leon. Hutton is lovely in the role of Michelle, Carole Cook and K Callan are two other women who get to enjoy Gere's company when the opportunity presents itself, and Nina van Pallandt is very good as the woman who connects our lead with the women who want to, well, connect with our lead.

The Moroder music helps, but the big plus is Gere being able to anchor the film with what would most commonly be referred to nowadays as BDE. It all depends on how you feel about him though. I'm a fan, especially when he's used as well as he is here. My partner, on the other hand, is not. 

8/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share 

Mubi Monday: Affliction (1997)

If you're struggling to think of any film to watch on a very Catholic holiday, let's say you're not in the mood for something highly religious but you want something in line with the calendar, then I recommend one of the many films from Paul Schrader. They're all practically dripping with Catholic guilt, and you could argue that Affliction is up there with his very best/most intense.

Nick Nolte plays Wade Whitehouse, a small-town cop who is struggling to maintain control of his temper, his life, and how his turbulent childhood and family life keeps crashing in to his present frame of mind, an unwanted guest smashing up the insides of his heart and mind. He is trying to keep shared custody of his young daughter, Jill (Brigid Tierney), ends up becoming suspicious of a hunting accident that involves a young man named Jack (Jim True), and only finds some solace in the company of Margie (Sissy Spacek). Things are about to get worse, however, when things happen that lead to him having to spend more time with his abusive father (James Coburn).

Based on a novel by Russell Banks, Affliction is a film that feels very much like a murky neo-noir for almost half of the runtime, albeit one that has Nolte being as typically gruff and dangerous as he has been in so many other movies . . . or maybe specifically because of that. It's easy to see why Schrader was drawn to the material - the tension throughout it, the exploration of the sins of the father reverberating through the lives of the sons (the brother of Nolte's character is played by Willem Dafoe, who also narrates parts of the film) - and he is helped by a cast who are all easily up to playing the ramped-up emotions of the piece.

Nolte is excellent, and this was at a time when he was on a hell of a run (the films themselves may not all be memorable, Nolte was brilliant in all of them). He veers between helplessness and misdirected rage with great ease, and his character carries both of those extremes around with him at all times, played like a physical weight on his shoulders. Dafoe is an excellent counter-balance, showing the image of a son who has tried to distance himself from a past that he knows could still endanger and harm him. Spacek gets to be a real sunbeam, someone and something that we know Nolte should be treating well enough to keep in his life. She knows who she is getting attached to, but she thinks that she can help him move forward while he spends too much of his time looking backward. Both True and Tierney are decent in their roles, as is Holmes Osborne (playing the town selectman, Gordon LaRivere), but all of them pale into insignificance under the looming shadow of Coburn's monstrosity. While Coburn doesn't have to be nuanced or subtle (and what "villain" in any Schrader movie is nuanced or subtle), he throws himself fully into being so loathsome, and as cruel as possible, that viewers will want to see him punished, no matter his advanced age and possible diminishing physical strength.

While it seems to explore anger issues, alcoholism, small-town business dealings, domestic violence, and much more, the main strand running all the way through this, to the surprise of nobody who has experienced any other Schrader movie, is guilt. Guilt for things not done in the past, guilt for things happening in the present, and guilt for any possible future created by the reverberations of those things. Not a film to pick when you want something disposable and distracting, Affliction remains worth your time when you're in the mood to observe the unravelling of a hurt person hurting people.

8/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Mubi Monday: The Card Counter (2021)

We have seen all of this before, for the most part. Writer-director Paul Schrader doesn’t mind that. He wants viewers to remember what they have seen before. Because this is a film that takes you through a lot of familiar places on the way to a slightly unexpected destination.

Oscar Isaac plays someone who goes by the name of William Tell. He served a lengthy sentence in prison, for something that will be revealed later on. Prison is where he learned to count cards, he became a master of blackjack. He’s also a pretty dab hand at poker. That makes him of interest to La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), a woman who gets great poker players bankrolled to play at the tables with higher stakes. William isn’t really interested in playing poker for a lot of money though, but finds his opinion subject to change when he meets young Cirk (Tye Sheridan). Cirk knows something about William’s past, and wants the two of them to pay a visit to another important figure from their past, Gordo (Willem Dafoe). Cirk doesn’t really know the cards that are being dealt, however, while William knows exactly how things will play out.

Very typical of Schrader’s work, The Card Counter is a solid character piece that ultimately just doesn’t do quite enough in the first two thirds of the runtime to make it all worthwhile once you know where things are going in the third act. The four main cast members, and it is worth noting that Dafoe is onscreen for only a minute or two of screentime, all work well, separately and together, and the leisurely pacing allows them to hold your attention and deliver some stellar work.

You could argue that the performances are better than the material, which wouldn’t be entirely unfair, but both ultimately work to elevate one another. Isaac gives one of his best performances, a dead soul with one huge talent (but he’s far from lifeless), and I definitely would not want to see him across from me during a poker game, whether he has been helped by props onscreen or has learned the card skills. Sheridan is excellent alongside him, a young man with a desire for revenge that he doesn’t realise could take him down a dead end road. Then you have Haddish, also giving one of the best performances of her career so far. Her character is the perfect mix of cynicism and optimism, and she shows how obviously she is drawn to Isaac’s character. Dafoe is right for his role, even if it’s a shame to see him so underused, and he does well.

Perhaps Schrader wanted to challenge viewers by delivering something so full of things we’ve seen so often before, or perhaps he wanted to use the familiarity to help pull the rug out during the third act. Whatever his reasoning, it doesn’t quite work as well as he hopes. That’s because he doesn’t add anything else to the mix, in terms of style or truly memorable dialogue. He still gets enough right to make this a worthy film though, helped immensely by the cast.

Maybe not a full house, this remains a gripping and intriguing tale of past sins, prison life, and poker tactics. 

7/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Mubi Monday: The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988)

I think most people are already aware of my heathen ways but, for those who aren't, I am a committed atheist. And I'm starting this review with that reminder because I think people often confuse my lack of belief, and my ability to use anything and everything in joke form, with a disrespect in the beliefs of others. That's not the case, not at all. Everyone has the right to peacefully believe in whatever god they want to connect to, be it the Catholic god, Shiva, Buddha, the wonder of the cosmos, or whatever else you seek. I become disrespectful when those beliefs are used to harm others, used as weaponised rod rather than a firm support structure. If you talk to people who are earnestly following a belief system that they hope to do right by then you'll often find ways to engage and agree on things from differing viewpoints.

There's a wonderful scene, a favourite of mine, in the film Millions (perhaps the most underseen Danny Boyle film in his filmography) in which a character explains to a young boy a different version of the events of "the sermon on the mount". The young boy then seems unhappy that the explanation makes the feeding of the crowd seem like less of a miracle. The other character explains that the explanation doesn't make it less miraculous, it just shows how the miracle can come about in a very different way. I love that idea, and can believe in it. Which means I can agree with anyone who believes in that event, despite viewing it from a different perspective.

The Last Temptation Of Christ is not a film that wants to make Christ any less important as a figure, despite the fact that it has many scenes that show him battling with very human thoughts and conflict. It's a film that wants to make Christ equally important BECAUSE it is hypothesised that he did his good deeds while also having doubts and the potential to make mistakes. It arguably makes a more powerful argument for the inherent goodness and bravery of anyone who went through what Christ is said to have endured.

Directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader, from the book by Nikos Kazantzakis, there's no question that the talent behind the camera here is both formidable and also well-suited to something looking to further explore Catholicism, temptation, and guilt. You could argue that both Scorsese and Schrader had been finding ways to tell this tale for the past decade, culminating in this, their most overt and explicit study of these themes. The fact that this doesn't quite match their previous collaborations, struggling to hold up under the sheer weight of the powerful tale they want to tell, doesn't mean this is any less worthy of your time. It's a hefty investment, over two and a half hours, but one you won't regret (if you're at all interested in the subject material and the artistry with which it can be tackled).

Willem Dafoe gives a performance that sits up there with his very best, possibly knowing that anything less when playing Jesus Christ would be a missed opportunity. Barbara Hershey is also very good, playing Mary Magdalene. Harvey Keitel feels a bit out of place, as Judas, but the fact that his belief and devotion is so strong makes the narrative even more interesting for those who think they know this tale back to front.

It's funny that I always remembered this film because of the controversy from when it was released. Yet I also put it off for too long because I assumed it would be a dull affair, too dry and preachy. It's neither controversial (although I can see why it upset some) nor is it dull. In fact, I'd say that it's impressively high up there in the general rankings of Scorsese movies, hindered only by a weak soundtrack (from Peter Gabriel) and some of the casting (as well as Keitel feeling out of place, David Bowie brings you out of the film in his small amount of screentime playing Pontius Pilate). Believe it.

8/10

You can get the film here.
Americans can get it here.

Rolling Thunder (1977)

William Devane plays Major Charles Rane, a Vietnam veteran, in this dark thriller that mixes a tale of revenge with a look at how those accustomed to wartime conditions adjust to civilian life. He has just returned home, along with a few other men, after time spent in a POW camp. His wife (Lisa Blake Richards) is as confused as she is relieved, as he was thought dead for some time, his young son (Jordan Gerler) doesn't really recognise him, and a local policeman (Lawrason Driscoll) seems to have been filling in the space that was left vacant during his time away. While he's processing the whole situation, some bad shit goes down. It leaves the Major in a bad way, but it also gives him a new mission to embark on, something that seems to put a fire back in his belly.

Directed by John Flynn, this is a movie that sits in an area right between revenge thriller and full-on exploitation film. That's no surprise, considering that the story came from Paul Schrader (who wasn't happy with changes made to the material). He and Heywood Gould co-wrote the screenplay, which is as dark and angry as you'd expect. Yet, for all the pain and darkness on display, much of the movie focuses on the readjustment that many must struggle with after various experiences in wartime. The revenge aspect of the movie may be nicely interwoven throughout the majority of the movie, but it's also almost secondary for many scenes, with viewers being given the time and opportunity to think more about what is going through the mind of Major Rane than just how satisfying revenge could be.

Devane is fantastic in the lead role. I've always been a fan of the man, and this is one of his finest lead performances. A relatively young Tommy Lee Jones also does a great job, portraying a fellow soldier equally lost when dropped back into civilian life. Richards, Gerler and Driscoll all do decent work, but it's Luke Askew and James Best who make the best impression by exemplifying the worst in human nature. They, and a few others helping them out, provide Devane with a goal to reach. Linda Haynes brightens up the screen, playing a young girl who has a crush on the Major, and who ends up helping him in his quest.

Rolling Thunder remains a very interesting movie because of the way it manages to take the darker material, and themes explored, and still package everything in a pretty slick piece of satisfying entertainment. It's not the easiest viewing experience that you will have, but it's certainly put together in a way that allows it to reach a wider audience. It's an unrelentingly grim film that doesn't feel unrelentingly grim, which is quite an achievement. Personally, I feel that a lot of that end result is thanks to the winning performance from Devane. Others may disagree, and that's absolutely fine. I will simply stalk them and glower at every opportunity.

7/10

The Region B disc is, as far as I can tell, the best option - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rolling-Thunder-Double-Play-Blu-ray/dp/B004OQJS5O/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1405101898&sr=1-1&keywords=rolling+thunder