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L’homme du train
L’homme qui aimait les femmes
Horse Feathers
House of Sand and Fog
How to Marry a Millionaire
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Homicide 1991 David Mamet (director and writer) 3.0 Joe Mantegna as police lieutenant who specializes in hostage negotiation; William C. Macy as Sullivan, Mantegna’s best friend and confidant on the police force; Ving Rhames whom we barely see, as a murderous drug dealer pursued by the FBI and the police; Rebecca Pidgeon in brief appearance as the daughter in the Jewish family. Interesting although overly ambitious film about a skilled policeman who gets sidetracked into a quest for his own identity. Mantegna is a member of the team tracking Rhames, but by chance (?) he is ordered to abandon the Rhames case and is put in charge of an investigation of the murder of an elderly Jewish woman in a store in a ghetto neighborhood; the story unwinds into Mantegna’s discovery that the woman had been a gun runner during the Israeli war of independence and that now (1980s?) she has been murdered by a neo-Nazi organization. Mantegna’s investigation leads him to a radical Jewish organization fighting Neo-Nazis in the city; he goes through a highly unlikely personal transformation leading to his embracing of his Jewish identity; and within a few minutes of discovering what the Zionists are up to, he participates in a terrorist act blowing up the offices of a Neo-Nazi group. He is so busy with his Zionist-style activities that he forgets about his commitment to stand by his friends in the arrest of Rhames; the result is the death of Sullivan, the killing of Rhames, and Mantegna barely escaping with his life at the hands of the vicious Rhames. Mamet manifests his usual pessimistic vision. The film has a dual focus: on the one hand, two police stories – tracking Rhames and uncovering the murder of the Jewish lady; on the other, Mantegna’s crisis of identity and conscience. We are led to believe that although a Jew himself, Mantegna has never given it a moment’s thought, and he is made to feel ashamed of his indifference: Pidgeon surprises him in overhearing his anti-Semitic tirade delivered to himself when he thought he was alone; and a Jewish man he meets in a library upbraids him for not knowing how to read Hebrew (previously he had not been able to understand a man speaking Yiddish). A fair amount of Mamet-speak, especially when characters are talking tough (policemen and crooks) and when characters such as the Jews are making hidden accusations without saying it out loud. The Jewish characters are a peculiarly unsympathetic bunch, when one considers Mamet’s support of Israel: they are cold (to outsiders), exclusive, demanding, and extremist. Many interesting things, but too many things going on in the film, including Mantegna’s improbable psychological transformation.


L’homme du train 2002 Patrice Leconte (France) 3.5 Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday. Laconic, elegant, puzzling account of very unlikely friendship between two very different characters. Hallyday is kind of crime icon who steps off the train in Rochefort’s dark, grimy town and strikes up relationship with elderly Rochefort, an intellectual ex-teacher who has the gift of gab and who derives much comfort from repetitive routine. Rochefort is scheduled soon for a triple bypass. Hallyday (great French pop star from the 60s) has come to town to pull off a robbery with other heavies who arrive later. Rochefort and Hallyday bond despite their obvious differences. Both want to live the life of adventure but also with cultivated comfort; e.g., Hallyday slips on Rochefort’s tattered slippers that the latter praises in precisely chosen words (the teacher). Wonderful dialogue with droll and piquant sense of humor. A puzzling exchange at the end. Movie works so well because the two principals inhabit their characters in completely credible fashion.


L’homme qui aimait les femmes 1977 Francois Truffaut (France) 3.0 Charles Denner as physically unattractive man with an insatiable urge to possess women; Nelly Borgeaud makes a big impact as insanely jealous, completely unpredictable, sociopathic mistress; Jean Dasté as wise and avuncular doctor who gives Denner some timely advice; Brigitte Fossey as angelically beautiful wise éditrice of a publishing company who resembles Catherine Deneuve; Nathalie Baye as one of Denner's mistresses. Seemingly autobiographical film about a man living in Montpellier who has an obsessive need to pursue and possess women. The narrative has a flashback structure that begins with a long parade of women (in high heels of course) attending his funeral, thus setting the theme of death in the mind of the viewer. In the subsequent flashback, the first 60% of the film has Denner chasing one woman after another, beginning with his noticing their legs and feet in high heel shoes and then resorting to a variety of stratagems to snag and seduce them. The repetitiveness of the process sometimes becomes tiring. The most piquant of the interludes is with the married Borgeaud, who loves him to distraction, makes him have sex in dangerous situations such as the front seat of his car or in a bedroom display on the floor of a department store; she eventually shoots her husband and is sent off to prison. Denner/Truffaut is instinctively dissatisfied with his lifestyle and we wonder if he would be happier with the possession of the love of a single woman; he decides to write an account of his amours, which he gives to a typist to type; and then to his surprise Fossey persuades her publishing house to print it. He meets by chance an old amour, played by a mature but still beautiful Leslie Caron, and the ensuing moving five-minute exchange between them reveals that they had lived together for an extended time and that Denner appears to regret that they couldn't make it last -- when she tries to kiss him, he says that he no longer "has the right" to touch her. Another clue to his behavior is the flashback recollections of his mother, who walked around half dressed in front of him and gave him letters for her lovers to be posted. There is however no salvation for the protagonist: he has an affair with Fossey, who more or less takes the initiative, and he is then run down by a car in the street of Montpellier while he is pursuing another woman with beautiful legs. His voiceover at the continued funeral (as dirt is being dropped on his coffin) shows no regrets: he insists that he has enjoyed all the women he has been with (they are pictured and described one-by-one – the student, the older woman, the one out of a Russian novel, etc. – and that their variety has made him happy. Film benefits from snappy cinematography and editing and from the classic Truffaut dialogue – philosophical and reflective, snappy with short sentences, full of paradoxes (My mother displayed herself in front of me not to tempt me but to show me how insignificant I was to her). The film’s sexual psychology seems superficial – e.g., Denner insists that he is not a “cavaleur”, but then what is he? All the women seem privileged to have sex with him with no one showing regrets (even Borgeaud returns from prison ready to take another roll in the hay); at the end they are all seriously and soulfully dropping handfuls of dirt on his coffin. Film ends up being a bit self-indulgent.


L’horloger 1974 (France) Bertrand Tavernier; based on a novel by Philippe Simenon (France) 2.5 Philippe Noiret as quiet, lonely, heavily jowled, petit bourgeois Lyon clockmaker whose son is pursued by the police for murdering a shop steward in a factory; Jean Rochefort as police inspector who befriends Noiret; Jacque Denis as firebrand friend of Noiret. Set in Lyon about 1970 story about an apparently unmotivated murder; the suspect and his girlfriend are tracked down and convicted. The film is not a murder mystery, but is really social and psychological analysis. The air is filled with politics and resentment; although the son does not give a reason for the murder (he also burned the victim’s car), it is implied that his anger at what is happening in France – all those fat, self-satisfied bourgeois sitting around (Noiret) – drove him and his girlfriend to take revenge on the man who (apparently) raped the girl in the workplace. The film is really about the father’s dawning awareness of his love for his son, of his “solidarity” with him; at first they are distant, alienated, the son had never confided in him, and he does not want to see him after he is arrested; but once Noiret declares his support for his son; their relationships warms up; and the last scene is of them in a prison visit talking through the screen and the bars, both smiling, both content with the opportunity to talk, both now aware of their common destiny. Film has too many imponderables: is France really so bad that its youth commits unmotivated murders? What was the motive for the murder (the son says the victim was an “ordure” and thus deserved what he got)? And Noiret needs such a shock to make him recognize his love for his son? What happened to his shock, anger, dismay, etc.? Rochefort, who wants to take measures to defend the son, seems more reasonable than his newfound friend. Film is shot informally with swish pans, lots of cheesy zoom shots, long moments of silence while one character is waiting for another to show up for a rendezvous, empty conversation (“Merci bien, Madame. Ca va bien comme ca.”). Unless you are captivated by Noiret and his predicament, film is quite dull.


Hors de Prix 2007 Pierre Salvadori (France) 2.5 Audrey Tautou with her winning smile charming and sexy in extremely low-cut dresses gold-digging in Biarritz and the Cote d’Azur; Gad Elmaleh (Moroccan-born) as shy, clueless, innocent, dead-pan bartender Jean in the first hotel; Marie-Christine Adam as Jean’s sugarmomma in the second part of the film. Frothy sex comedy – French farce set in more or less abandoned beautiful five-star hotels in the South of France. Tautou is a completely venal gold-digger who moves blithely from man to man depending on where she finds the best deal. She hooks up with Jean thinking that he is wealthy, but the complications are just starting. She of course leaves him in a huff when she discovers his poverty (much comedy as he scrambles to find money to pay for her expensive lifestyle), but they then become partners in crime when he becomes Adam’s gigolo; and of course things progress steadily toward the moment where Tautou falls in love with Jean, she gives up her old ways, and they hop on his motor scooter off to God knows where. Some clever playing with McGuffins: Tautou’s little Tahitian umbrellas inserted into her hair to indicate she has drunk too much; a one-Euro coin that signifies Tautou’s venality, but which reappears in the last shot as the only coin they have to throw into a freeway toll booth; repetition of the phrase “Je voudrais…, J’aimerais…” as a pickup line that Tautou uses in the penultimate scene to ask Jean…to kiss her! The film takes place in an immoral situation, but it does not past judgments on the characters – just exploits them for cute laughs. Charming movie made with an impeccable light touch, a sex comedy without heavy sex (we never see Tautou’s breasts!), photographed in bright southern light in elegant and tasteful surroundings. A frothy nothing that is a bit boring, but very well done.

Horse Feathers 1932 Norman McLeod 4.0 Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd (despite popularity she has squeaky non-expressive voice). Very funny anarchic (perhaps even more do than other great ones) Marx Brothers comedy written at Paramount explicitly for the screen. Only the thinnest of plots, namely Groucho as president of Huxley College, pulls out the stops (inefficiently) to field a winning football team. A little satire of higher education, since Groucho is clear that his main job is a winning football team, not academics. A bit of music including Harpo’s and Chico’s usual (boring) solos, but Groucho in the beginning sings witty song to the trustees “I’m against it,” and all the boys take a crack at corny “I love you.” Comic personae are classic Marx Brothers – Groucho’s sarcasm and word play – free association, high velocity, off color, self-contradiction, cruel insults, uncouth, bad puns, play on literal and metaphorical meaning of words and phrases, Chico’s word play (“wool over my ice,” ‘falsetto voice’ becomes ‘false set of teeth’), Harpo’s lunatic pantomime; Zeppo sings creditably, but doesn’t try to be funny. Funniest scenes: 1) Groucho trying to get into the speakeasy with the “swordfish” password (Baravelli: “Hey, what's-a matter, you no understand English? You can't come in here unless you say, "Swordfish." Now I'll give you one more guess. Harpo “Honk”) 2) classroom scene with bad puns, mocking the solemn professor, passes at girls, Groucho’s lecture on blood, end with brothers fighting with bean shooters; 3) the canoe scene, where Groucho serenades Todd, mocks her use of seductive baby talk, (Todd:"If Icky baby don't learn about the football signals from the big stwong man, Icky baby gonna cry!" Groucho: "If Icky girl keep talking that way big stwong man gonna kick all her teeth right down her thwoat!") and then dumps her into the water and throws her a candy life saver; 4) final football game, where Harpo and Chico focus on playing…pinochle, eating hot dogs and bananas (latter used by Harpo to cause defense men from catching him), Groucho wearing tailcoat over his uniform, Harpo’s shtick about tackling the man who has the ball (referee), Harpo’s handing the ball to defenders when he is cornered, and in grand finale Harpo and Chico drive garbage (Roman!) chariot through defenders for the winning touchdown! All the brothers make salacious remarks in the presence of Todd; all three wed her at the end, and then they jump on her! Only thing missing from formula is Marguerite Dumont.

The Host 2006 Jooh-ho Bong (Korea) 3.5 Kang-ho Song as narcoleptic, juvenile acting, apparently irresponsible young man helping to maintain a snack bar next to the Han River in Seoul – the first shot of the film has him sleeping at the snack bar instead of tending it; Hie-bong Byeon as his grizzled father, who dies early in the film; Ah-sung Ko as Song’s adorable, resourceful 12-year-old daughter; also an older brother (Hae-il Park) who is unemployed and fairly clueless although he is a college graduate; Doona Bae as older sister who is an archery champion (although she does not win the competition broadcast on her father’s television set in the beginning of the film). Engaging, suspenseful, exciting, sometimes moving monster film. The monster, spawned by an American scientist who insists that dirty formaldehyde be poured down the drain of his laboratory rather than be properly recycled, rampages on the Han River eating some of his victims and saving others in a compartment in the river bridge for later delectation; after Ko is kidnapped by the monster, the family sets off in Steven Spielberg style to rescue her; they have almost as much problem with the incompetent, paranoid South Korean authorities as they do with the monster; they make great efforts, but fail to rescue Ko in time; both the father and Ko are killed by the monster. The film shows great flair, if at times it is a bit chaotic. The monster is very entertaining and horrifying: a large fish with a prehensile tail, resembling a lizard, and a disgusting multi-layered mouth that swallows its prey whole, moving very fast in the water or on land, where it bumbles along at high speed, swinging along under the home bridge much like an acrobat doing graceful flips and then diving stylishly into the water making nary a splash. The family is a cross-section of ordinary people who just make it in life, are pretty dysfunctional, but who hang together in a crisis to rescue the granddaughter; Ko and Song are the only ones resourceful enough to do some good. The film critiques South Korean society and its penchant for military and emergency personnel taking charge but getting little done; it also criticizes the Americans who sometimes behave like occupiers with little regard for the well-being of the South Korean population (although the Americans do a better job than the Koreans of figuring out the precise danger posed by the mutation). Memorable are the all-too-human character of the sluggish Song, the images of Ko using her wits to survive in the monster’s layer, the monster racing along the shore of the river, swinging under the bridge, or licking his unconscious future prey with his long, smooth tongue. Film is often chaotic and might have been clarified with a little editing – the subplot about the little boy who joins Ko in the monster’s den, what actually was the threat posed by the infection and how it was resolved, etc. Very entertaining film combining humor, horror, and human interest.


Hotel Rwanda 2004 Terry George (Britain) 3.0 Don Cheadle (American) in charismatic performance as Paul, Hutu manager of Belgian-owned hotel catering to western tourists -- hides over 1200 Tutsi refugees in the hotel during the slaughter, Sophie Okonedo (British) as Tatiana, his loving and faithful Tutsi wife, Nick Nolte in growling, barking performance as colonel in charge of the toothless (can’t fire weapons!) U.N. “peace-keeping” force. Strong story about the “Schindler of Africa,” who hides Tutsis (his wife is one) in the Mille Collines hotel that he runs for a Belgian company. A main attraction of the story is becoming informed about the genocide in Rwanda (1,000,000 Tutsi “cockroaches” killed, mostly by militia machetes in 1994). Another is the performance of Don Cheadle, who keeps his cool throughout – some reviewers thought he remained too cool to be realistic; he bribes the authorities for as long as he can (the venal general represents the army that is less vicious than the militia), and wants to rely on the UN peacekeepers, but they are truly a toothless lot. Film attacks the western powers for their indifference (when French soldiers show up at the hotel, they have come only to pick up stranded whites), but makes no comment on neighboring African powers looking the other way. Film lacks often a biting edge: the viewer is drawn in periodically by the horrors, but it could have been more horrifying, more gut-wrenching than it is. The horrible effects of the murders are shown only fleetingly in shots of corpse-littered streets; they come off more in the emotional reactions of Paul’s family…. One good scene was Paul’s hotel bus forced to a stop by log-like obstacles on a foggy road – when they get out of the car, they find that the road is littered with Tutsi bodies! Paul and family escape afterward to Belgium, where they stay after the terror.


House of Sand and Fog 2003 Vadim Perelman 3.0 Ben Kingsley as angry, proud, snobbish exiled former Colonel in the Shah’s army now living in America, for which he has general contempt; Jennifer Connelly, wan, passive, defeated as recovering alcoholic who doesn’t know what to do when she loses her house; Aghdashloo, well-known Iranian actress who plays Kingsley’s usually submissive and unhappy but sometimes fiery and affectionate wife; Ron Eldard as not so smart police officer who takes up with Connelly. Slow-moving, gripping, and ultimately violent and draining drama about a dispute over a house that Connelly has been unfairly forced out of for non-payment of taxes and that Kingsley buys on auction in order to make a killing so he can restore his status as a member of the upper class (film opens and ends with Kingsley felling trees that spoil the view of his bungalow he used to own on the shore of the Caspian Sea – memories of aristocratic privilege). Kingsley plays role with hard features, absolutely unbending determination to restore the position of his family through purchase and resale of the house. Film takes on extreme melodrama, when Connelly strikes up a romance with a local policeman, who leaves his pretty wife, two children, and his suburban home and resorts to illegal intimidation to force Kingsley to give the house back to his girlfriend; further complex developments lead to the fatal shooting of Kingsley’s son, and then an elaborately staged suicide murder – Kingsley poisons his wife, and then dressing himself in full military regalia asphyxiates himself with a plastic bag that he tapes around his neck; Connelly is left curled up at the foot of the bead in fetal position. Film is very strongly acted, perhaps too strongly in places – Kingsley’s possessive rage towers over everybody else, and Connelly’s pitiful passiveness shrinks to practically nothing in comparison. House seems hardly worth the trouble – it is a tract house in modest repair but surrounded by beautiful fir and pine trees, and the fog is usually enveloping it or rolling by when we see it. Film plays rather as the unfortunate confluence of major character flaws rather than a culture clash between immigrants and native-born Americans: unbending pride (Kingsley) locks horns with weak passiveness (Connelly), who unfortunately puts her fate in the hands of stupidity (Eldard), all of which leads to catastrophe. Still some good acting to appreciate.


How to Marry a Millionaire 1953 Jean Negulesco 3.0 Marilyn Monroe as glamorous but dim-witted New York model who runs into doors if she isn’t wearing her glasses – “congratulations, Honey. I think it is just creamy!”; Lauren Bacall as another model who hatches the scheme to rent a fancy apartment to trap millionaires but who can’t make up her mind; Betty Grable as third model – fresh, pretty and completely clueless (her second to last film); William Powell avuncular and elegant as Texas cattle man who decides it would be unfair to continue a relationship with the much younger Bacall – “That’s one of the few advantages of age; disappointments become a normal art of life”; Rory Calhoun as handsome young guy that Grable falls in love with; Fred Clark as big lug of a guy that Grable at first hooks up with; Cameron Mitchell as plain but good-looking guy who successfully woos Bacall. Materialistic glamorous romantic comedy (in 50s Cinemascope) about three penniless girls in New York determined to find millionaire husbands. The three babes set their hooks for rich men (if he’s married, it might be possible for him to get a divorce), but they are all good-hearted girls who fall in love with other, often not very rich, men in the process. All three women are dressed in a succession of expensive, glamorous gowns. Very nice location shots of New York City, snow scenes in Maine, driving down early New York freeways toward the City, crossing the George Washington Bridge. The three women find appropriate mates: Grable falls for a penniless but handsome forest ranger (Calhoun) when she goes off with Clark to his cabin in Maine; Monroe falls for a fellow pursued by the IRS when she gets on the wrong plane. In the witty final scene Bacall is about to marry the wealthy Powell, but he lets her off the hook since he knows that she is really in love with her young man, Mitchell, who she thinks is a service station attendant; but in the last scene we find out that Mitchell is “loaded” and thus the most “material” of the material girls ends with up with as guy who is worth $200 million. An amusing, mostly well written and well photographed trifle – three romantic comedies for the price of one. Even though all the girls are romantics at heart and want to marry the men they have fallen in love with, the film does jar with its materialistic values.