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Stutterer (2015)
This is why I love Short Films . . .
A man who loves words but can't speak them has to finally meet his on-line girlfriend.
That's a set-up for a full length rom-com, yet it takes care of business in just 12 minutes (as I wish most modern rom-coms would). It's a fine example of story-telling with maximum economy. This is what the best of Short Films do and "Stutterer" is one of the best, among this year's Oscar nominees at least (I'd put it a close second to "Day One").
Like a haiku or a sonnet, the short film can serve to distill a subject to it's essence. "Stutterer" is a fine example of the form. Bravo!
No Man of Her Own (1950)
Improbable...TWICE!
This film's set-up is so preposterous that it's a tribute to all involved that it works as well as it does. Leave it to Barbara Stanwyck to bring such overwrought material back down to earth. (Maybe Bette Davis could have done it but in, say, Joan Crawford's hands, the film would been entertaining in an entirely unintended way).
Yet maybe there's something about the source material that is impervious despite being so far-fetched. It was remade in France in 1983 as "I Married a Shadow" ("J'ai épousé une ombre") with the always luminous Nathalie Baye in the Stanwyck role and it held me throughout. Also worth seeing...
New Orleans (1947)
Some great music and one horrific oddity!
Do not watch this movie in real time. Rather, tape it or get the DVD so you can fast forward through every scene with just white people in it. That will leave you with about 15 minutes or so of performances by Louis Armstrong and his combo and Billie Holiday. Although heavily lip-synched, they are still worth watching at least for historical interest, especially the scenes with Billie and Louie performing together. Also, Louie's personality and joy of performance still shine through and are genuine pleasures.
The only other point of interest is Billie Holiday's 'performance' (to be generous) as an obsequious maid! It is the saddest spectacle ever offered up by American popular culture!!! True, many great black performers had to humble themselves to get into the movies but Billie didn't need the movies and she was otherwise quite vocal about being nobody's fool (except, tragically, her own). Watching her in these scenes, I couldn't help but think about her criticism of Louie Armstrong ("Louie 'Tom's from the heart"). Sad, sad, sad. I watched it as if it were a road-side accident...I felt guilty for gawking but I couldn't look away, either.
Everything else is just filler (much like 'Cuban Pete', a turgid little romantic comedy whose only excuse for existence is to showcase the hot, new (1946) Cuban sensation, Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra. For that reason, I recommend it highly with the same caveat...skip everything that isn't music).
Cuban Pete (1946)
Mondo Proto Video!
Okay, I can't really review the movie too much but then again, there's not really too much movie to review. It's typical studio musical fodder (and pretty low-budget at that) with the plot serving merely to convey us from one musical number to another. But what numbers! The movie's sole reason for existence was to showcase the hot, new (1946) Cuban sensation...Desi Arnaz! We got glimpses of his act in 'I Love Lucy' reruns but here, we get to see just how hot he was.
My lasting impression of this movie is of Desi leading his orchestra through some wild, propulsive, Latin rhythm, Conga drum slung over his shoulder, sweat streaming down his chest and disappearing beneath his half-buttoned shirt, whipping his long black hair out of his eyes and yelling at the top of his lungs. He was, in short, a rock star! One can imagine why he would have been tempted to stray from Lucy...women were probably throwing themselves at his feet. This was one sexy guy! When you see the movie, feel free to fast-forward (I doubt this is going to find it's way to DVD) to the musical numbers. They're all you need to see but you'll probably want to see them two or three times.
Cinemax Comedy Experiment: Martin Mull Presents the History of White People in America, Part I (1985)
"Mockumentary" Masters in Prime Form
One of the lucky things about living in Southern California is the opportunity to attend an event such as the one I did last night, a retrospective at the Museum of Television and Radio for "A History of White People in America". Most of the principals were there and you could see how the film came to be by watching these good friends and frequent collaborators riff off of each other. Yet, despite the cast's brilliant improvisational skills, there was a solid script underpinning this lunacy and it's premise is sound; what if we treat the "norm" as a special case just like any other ethnic group?
Seeing it again after all these years proves that the hallmark of a classic is that it doesn't date. Funny is funny no matter when the joke was made and this is FUNNY, perhaps because not that much has changed in the everyday lives of the types of people it examines. It is true to the form of documentaries, making the events all the more hysterical because they're treated as if they're actually happening. With Martin Mull anchoring (and sometimes inserting himself into) the narrative as the oh-so-self-important voice of dispassionate authority (think Mike Wallace with a smirk...well, more so), the illusion is complete. The ensemble cast always displays a deft touch, never over-playing and the production details are spot-on.
This may be hard to find at the video store but it will be well worth the search. Also check out Part 2: A Paler Shade of White and Portrait of a White Marriage.
A Flash of Green (1984)
This Movie is Worth the Trip
I'm writing this review because I thought that no one else had and that would have been a shame. After reading raves on this site about movies which are, at best, popcorn-fare (`Space Cowboys'?!? . . . yeah, I saw it . . . the theater was air-conditioned . . . what the hell), it would be a shame if this little gem stayed neglected.
Victor Nunez apparently knows how to make only one kind of movie. Those who are familiar with his better-known titles, `Ruby in Paradise' and `Ulee's Gold', will know what I mean. Like those two fine films, `A Flash of Green' is what is often called a `personal' movie, set in Nunez' native rural Florida and populated with ordinary people in recognizable situations. This is a story, which unfolds slowly, allowing us to catch the rhythms or its character's lives, involving us in their concerns. When the Ed Harris character is forced to confront an ethical choice, we are concerned for him because, by that point in the film, we know him as if we, too, are resident in that small town.
Sound boring? It's not. Any good screenwriter knows there's nothing as interesting as real life. `A Flash of Green' is not a documentary. It has its artifice, in the best sense of the word, with evocative images and sounds and wonderful performances from top to bottom. But it is the atmosphere, the feeling that I've been somewhere and met the people who live there, that stays with me most about this film. I can't describe too much of the plot. I only saw it once almost 15 years ago. But this isn't, foremost, a plot-driven movie anyway. There are no startling twists, memorable bits, catch-phrases, special effects or `money shots'. Just fine actors, good writing and a director accomplished enough to make us feel as if his characters' world is ours, too.
`A Flash of Green' is sweet, sad and best of all, absorbing filmmaking. Take the time to make the trip.