Zelig

1983
Directed By Woody Allen


SYNOPSIS

A mockumentary examining the life of Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen,) a human chameleon. During the 1920s-30s, he has the unusual ability to become who he is around. When pared with obese people, he becomes fat; with Hasidic Jews, he spouts a beard; with African Americans, he becomes black, etc.

MY THOUGHTS

A hilarious change of pace from Woody Allen.

Zelig takes the form of countless (slightly dry) documentaries  that you would see on PBS by Ken Burns or others that examine a topic seriously with prominent talking heads. Woody Allen is able to capture this perfectly and subvert it perfectly.

The humor comes off as strong and zany as an extended Monty Python sketch. This is about as high praise as I can offer a comedy. The joke does, however, run a little thin by the end of its short 80 minute run-time, but is still filled with many laugh out loud moments.


Inserting Woody Allen in classic newsreel footage predates Forrest Gump, and is just as effective, despite the lack of high-tech special effects of Gump. Seeing him with the New York Yankees or with Hitler is far more amusing than the later film.

There are so many hilarious oneliners in the film that singleing a few out would be an injustice to the others.
If you like the intelligent later-day mockumentaries of Christopher Guest, or are in the mood to laugh, I highly recommend Zelig.

The Men

1950
Directed By Fred Zinnemann

SYNOPSIS

After a World War II soldier (Marlon Brando) is shot and paralyzed, he must face an even greater battle... conquering his depression in a VA hospital, allowing his pre-war fiancee (Teresa Wright) to see him again, and trying to bring some normalcy to his life.

MY THOUGHTS

Brando shines in his screen debut.

The film boldly tackles the difficulties faced by returning soldiers. Issues are dealt with head-on like acceptance by loved ones and a society that sees them as different and 'less of a man' and soldier's own difficulties dealing with the same issues internally. This was a problem of thousands of veterans returning from the war, yet rarely seen on screen. Surprising for a 1950 film, it even references bladder and bowel problems that these injured soldiers face. This stark approach brought the film more realism than most films of the era.


Marlon Brando's agonized character brought even more realism and helped to bring the growing Method acting revolution to greater heights on the big screen. Brando, along with his fellow injured friends (played by Richard Erdman and Jack Webb,) seemed very authentic as paralyzed soldiers. (just try and look for any leg assistance when they try and sit up) Webb is just about the complete opposite of his Dragnet persona, very real and human. Several real paralyzed war vets play the soldiers in the background.

Teresa Wright (better known as Mrs. Lou Gehrig in Pride of The Yankees and the heroine of Hitchcock's Shadow Of a Doubt) gives a solid performance, but her old-school acting style seems out-of-date in comparison to Brando's Method acting. He's clearly the one to watch. Regardless, they have great chemistry and the clash of old-school and new-school acting somehow works.

The film's stark black and white photography keep your eyes clearly focused on the actors, rather than the surroundings, where they should be.

American Grindhouse

2010
Directed By Elijah Drenner


SYNOPSIS

Robert Forster narrates this documentary tracing the history of exploitation films from the early days of film, to it's eventual death at the hands of porn, and it's influence on modern movies.

MY THOUGHTS

A great intro to the much-maligned and practically forgotten genre of exploitation films.

Exploitation films got their name because they had some content (usually sex and/or violence) that could be exploited to get people into theater seats. These cheaply made movies would find their audience in grimy, dingy, open all day/night theaters called grindhouses.

American Grindhouse covers the gamut of the subgenres of these films from titillating films of the silent era... to drug and prostitution films of the 1930's... to the monster, juvenile delinquent, nudist, burlesque, and teen beach movies of the 1950s... to the drug and biker films of the 60's... to the blaxploitation, Nazisploitation, extreme gore, women in prison films in the 1970's.

These films were mostly made far from Hollywood... yet many were able to influence Hollywood in a big way. The documentary is told in a very entertaining and fast paced way using dozens of clips of both the indie films and their Hollywood spawn.

American Grindhouse primarily uses exploitation film fans (and mainstream directors) John Landis and Joe Dante for interviews. They and the other interviewees (mostly filmmakers of these 'classics') all have a strong passion for these movies that are far from artistic masterpieces. They know they're not discussing high art and have a lot of fun. No snobbish film critics pop up with long-winded diatribes to slow the whole thing down.

One of the film's few flaws was to completely forget Roger Corman, the king of B-movies of the 50's, 60s, and 70's. They show a few posters of his films, but since he is still very much alive, his insight could have been fascinating. It's a glaring omission.

If you already consider yourself to be an expert on grindhouse films, you probably won't learn much new here.... but American Grindhouse serves as an excellent Exploitation 101 course for the newbie.

My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done

2009
Directed By Werner Herzog


SYNOPSIS

A mentally unstable man (Michael Shannon) murders his mother. Through a series of flashbacks we find out the strange circumstances that drive him to kill.

MY THOUGHTS

Pretentious bullshit.

My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done was produced by David Lynch and the film features many of the hallmarks of his directoral career (extreme oddball characters, use of music, etc.) I couldn't help but to think of Lynch's latest film as director, Inland Empire. Both films are overly ridiculous and obtuse. They are very pale copies of David Lynch's earlier films, or quality films for that matter. Film can be overly artsy and still be good, if they have something to say. My Son and Inland Empire do not.

Director Werner Herzog is a unique talent and it is painful to see him try and ape another's style and utterly fail to make a decent film.

In the lead, Michael Shannon is completely awful. He creates a completely unsympathetic character who never once seems to be connected to reality or the people around him. He plays the role so over the top (or completely flat) that I found myself laughing unintentionally at his performance, drawing me out of the film.

The film features some excellent character actors to fill out the main cast but all are wasted. William Dafoe, Chloe Sevigny, Brad Dourif, and Udo Kier are given little to do but react. It's hard to empathize with them either since we learn basically nothing about them and they do nothing. I'm guessing the actors all signed up for the film just to work with Herzog.

As a fan of both Herzog and Lynch, I found the film to be nearly unwatchable.