Tivoplex
By John Seal
November 28, 2006
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 11/28/06
12:20 AM HBO Signature
La Puta y la Ballena (2004 ARG-ESP): For some reason the DirectTV listings for this film all truncate the titular word ‘puta' to ‘p...', which is a bit odd, considering that a)most English speakers won't know what the word means anyway, and b)when they find out it means ‘whore', they probably won't drop dead from shock. Released in the Anglophone world as The Whore and the Whale (sorry if that offends you), this Argentine-Spanish co-production stars Leonardo Sbaraglia as a Spanish Civil War soldier whose photographs inspires a 21st century journalist (Aitana Sanchez-Giton, the enigmatic waitress in Brad Anderson's The Machinist) to investigate the circumstances of his wartime demise. Shifting from the present day to the past and moving from Patagonia to Madrid and back again, this is a richly complex feature best appreciated on the big screen—but as that is unlikely to ever be an option for 99.9% or more of the population, this will have to do. Expertly shot by Jose Luis Alcaine and beautifully scored by Andres Goldstein and Daniel Tarrab, this is a classic example of magical realist cinema, and is a must-see for art-house mavens.
9:15 PM
Floating Weeds (1959 JAP): Warning: most viewers will consider watching Floating Weeds about as much fun as watching Paint Dry, so if you already got your fill of artsy-fartsy from La Puta y la Ballena, you may want to give this one a miss. Directed by Yasujiro Ozu, this is generally considered the Japanese director's finest effort (though how many can claim to have seen all of his 50 plus films?) and is certainly of a pastoral piece with the balance of his 1950s and ‘60s output. Ganjiro Nakamura stars as Komajuro, the aging patriarch of a troupe of kabuki actors traveling across medieval Japan, and the story revolves around his efforts to reconnect with an old lover and their illegitimate offspring. Komajuro is a bit of a blowhard with an oversized ego, and after being welcomed back with less than open arms, finds the secrets of his past intruding unpleasantly into the relationships of the present. This is deeply personal, unflashy filmmaking that will either enthrall you or bore you to tears. Either way, you'll know which camp you fall into within the first few minutes of Floating Weeds. Also airs 11/29 at 2:30 AM and 12:35 PM.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Flesh (1932 USA): This very fine John Ford picture stars Wallace Beery as a dumb but loveable wrestling waiter who marries bad-girl Karen Morley and gets drawn into an underworld of fixed fights by Morley's old boyfriend, the caddish Ricardo Cortez (no, this film was not written by Barton Fink). For some reason, this film reminds me of G.W. Pabst's The Last Laugh, and while it can't quite measure up to that silent classic, it remains a powerful and ultimately moving film, especially during the final reel. Look for Warner Bros regular Nat Pendleton in a small role as one of Wally's wrestling chums.
Wednesday 11/29/06
4:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Bad Boy (1935 USA): James Dunn stars as a pool hall hustler trying to turn over a new leaf in this obscure Fox comedy-drama. Dunn plays Eddie Nolan, a penny ante grifter who falls for nice girl Sally Larkin (Dorothy Wilson) and attempts to win her heart by learning how to earn an honest living. Clocking in at less than an hour, Bad Boy is a minor pleasure with a thoroughly predictable storyline, but there's fun to be had spotting familiar faces such as Beulah Bondi, John Carradine, and Billy Benedict amongst the cast.
7:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
A Life Less Ordinary (1997 GB): There aren't many who agree with me, but I find this Danny Boyle-John Hodge feature a reasonably effective social satire and a thoroughly entertaining picture. Ewan MacGregor stars as a janitorial worker who kidnaps his boss's daughter (the eternally annoying Cameron Diaz, here a bit less annoying than usual) after he's downsized and replaced by a robot. Unable to pull off the job convincingly on his own, Ewan defers to the advice of his victim, and the two bond in best Charlie Sheen-Kristy Swanson fashion. Meanwhile, a pair of angels (Delroy Lindo and Holly Hunter) descend from Heaven and pursue the desperadoes at the behest of Cameron's millionaire daddy (Ian Holm). It sounds dreadful, and most critics considered it a disaster in the wake of the Boyle-Hodge team's Trainspotting and Shallow Grave successes, but for whatever reason I quite like it—and it's making its widescreen television debut this evening.
Friday 12/01/06
5:00 PM Showtime
Beat the Drum (2004 SAF): A small scale dramatic triumph that made its world premiere at Northern California's Mill Valley Film Festival, Beat the Drum stars 9-year old Junior Singo as Musa, an AIDS orphan who sets off to find his uncle in the Big Smoke of Johannesburg. He's picked up by friendly trucker Nobe (Owen Sejake, in a fine performance), but once in the city soon becomes just another homeless child surviving on its mean streets—and one no closer to his uncle than he was in the countryside. Aimed primarily at a homegrown audience, Beat the Drum pounds out a relentless tattoo of anti-AIDS educational messages, but still works as effective drama for western viewers. Also airs at 8:00 PM and 12/4 on Showtime 2 at 5:00 PM.
9:00 PM IFC
Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973 JAP): The first of a complex five-film gangster series from director Kinji Fukasaku, Battles Without Honor and Humanity begins the story of Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), a former Imperial Army soldier who latches onto up and coming yakuza boss Yamamori (Nobuo Kaneko) in the testing environment of 1946 Japan. After fulfilling an assignment to kill the leader of a competing clan, Hirono ends up in jail, and begins to realize he's been played for a fool by Yamamori, setting up a climactic encounter at a funeral upon his release from jail. Boldly portraying post-war Japan as a charnel house burdened by a brutal army of occupation, Fukasaku utilized handheld shaky-cams and faux-newsreels to emphasize the story's grounding in reality. (Apparently, real-life yakuza also dropped by the set to put in their two cents worth.) An excellent introduction to the Japanese gangster genre, Battles Without Honor and Humanity makes its American television premiere this evening. Also airs 12/2 at midnight.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Conqueror Worm (1968 GB): A legendary feature from British director Michael Reeves, The Conqueror Worm (original UK title: Witchfinder General) still hasn't had a legitimate Stateside DVD release. It'll be interesting to see if TCM will be airing the original UK cut, or the re-edited American version, but either way we're the winner, because the film rarely shows up on television anymore. Vincent Price stars as Matthew Hopkins, a freelance witchfinder who travels from village to village scaring up confessions from unsuspecting Norfolk wenches. When Hopkins accuses the niece of a local priest of consorting with Lucifer, he makes a powerful enemy in the form of fiancée Richard Marshall (Ian Ogilvy), and blood is sure to flow. A gruesome film in either cut, Conqueror Worm still has the power to shock, though the mayhem is softened somewhat by Paul Ferris' lush score.
Saturday 12/02/06
3:00 PM Showtime
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985 USA): It's hard to imagine a time when Madonna was actually hip and not the subject of well-earned ridicule, but this still fresh ‘punk' comedy caught her at just that moment. Her film career soon went into precipitous and irreversible decline, but Desperately Seeking Susan is proof positive that Madonna Louise Ciccone once showed some onscreen promise. She plays a New York free spirit who finds her fate inadvertently entwined with that of boring middle-class housewife Roberta (Rosanna Arquette, another actress who soon fell from grace). Director Susan Seidelman had the good sense to film on location with a boatload of Bowery denizens—including Richards Hell and Edson, Ann Magnuson, Rockets Redglare, Adele Bertei, Arto Lindsay, and John Lurie—as well as professional actors such as Victor Argo, John Turturro, and Shirley Stoler. The result is a lively musical comedy of errors cut from the same cloth as Martin Scorsese's After Hours. Desperately Seeking Susan makes its widescreen television debut this evening, and airs again at 6:00 PM and 12/3 on Showtime 2 at 5:15 PM.
7:00 PM Sundance
Breathless (1959 FRA): It's hard for me to put into words the effect Breathless had on me the first time I saw it. As a tender twenty-year old, I immediately fell in love with star Jean Seberg, who had already been dead for three years thanks to her FBI-inspired suicide. The story was incidental for me—and remains so to this day—but it involves Seberg's character falling for a cop killer (deliciously portrayed by the great Jean-Paul Belmondo). The two spend a few glorious days together in Paris, and then their brief relationship comes to a tragic end. Directed with style, energy, and jump cuts by Jean-Luc Godard, Breathless is both a heady tribute to the boundless invention of the innovative auteur and to the breathtaking beauty of Seberg. Like Louise Brooks, Seberg was an actress of limitless onscreen charisma and charm. Watch this film and let her luminous presence take your breath away.
Sunday 12/03/06
5:30 AM IFC
Fires On the Plain (1959 JAP): It occurs to me that this has been an exceptionally fine week for foreign film admirers—and especially for admirers of Japanese film. Folks, we ain't done yet. Here's an anti-war classic from director Kon Ichikawa set on the island of Leyte at the end of the Second World War, where tubercular soldier Tamura (Eiji Funakoshi) is hoping to escape capture by the oncoming American army. Tamura and his compatriots are desperately fearful of falling into the hands of the enemy, and flee for the coast, where they hope to be rescued and transported to Cebu, a neighboring island still in Imperial hands. When their escape route is cut off, the remaining soldiers begin to turn on themselves, and the result is a grim and bloody Lord of the Flies-style finale that doesn't spare Tamura's highly refined sensibilities. Based on a novel by Shohei Ooka, Fires On the Plain also airs at 12:20 PM.
11:00 AM Encore Dramatic Stories
Turtles Can Fly (2004 IRAN): Our monstrous enemies in Tehran continue to create some of the most moving, humanistic films imaginable. Turtles Can Fly is another Iranian film that tells its story through the eyes of children (all the better to avoid the intrusive scissors of the censorship board), and takes place in Iraqi Kurdistan on the eve of Operation Daddy's Boy's Revenge in 2003. Set in a refugee camp populated by war orphans, the film tells the story of Satellite, a feisty 13-year old who helps run the camp and also organizes teams of children to assist in disarming the numerous deadly land mines peppering the landscape. The refugees are anxiously awaiting news of the fall of Saddam, and the well-connected Satellite tries to break up the explosive monotony by trading some radios for a dish—all the better to see CNN with. Directed by Bahman Ghobadi, whose A Time For Drunken Horses also took place along the porous borders of an imagined Kurdistan, Turtles Can Fly is a beautiful and moving film that, given the chance, might just convince viewers that Iran might not deserve blowing up after all.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Face of Another (1966 JAP): I've been dreaming of seeing this film for years—and now, thanks to ever generous TCM, I'm finally getting my chance. Apparently a Japanese take on the Eyes Without A Face trope, The Face of Another stars legendary Tatsuya Nakadai as a laboratory worker horribly disfigured by a chemical explosion. It's based on a Kobo Abe novel, was director Hiroshi Teshigahara's follow-up project to Woman In the Dunes, and features a Toru Takemitsu score. How can it NOT be great?
Monday 12/04/06
11:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Under Eighteen (1932 USA): I had to include this one to acknowledge the recent death of star Marian Marsh, who passed away on November 9th at the tender age of 93. Marsh, all but forgotten today, was a wonderful, fresh-faced leading lady during the 1930s, earning a place on the marquee thanks to her riveting breakthrough performance as Trilby in 1931's Svengali. I haven't seen Under Eighteen before, but I'll be watching it and mourning the passing of another irreplaceable Golden Age star. RIP, Marian. (On a happier note, her co-star in this film—96-year old Anita Page—hasn't left us yet!)