arc3-705-44561 Reviews

Pseudo (2020)

A fast-paced crime drama - even if you don't speak Spanish

[8/10 · 19 March 2022]

I caught this movie as it was starting on HBO Latino. Let me admit up front that I can read Spanish but don't understand the spoken language very well so I watched the film as a challenge to myself. Despite being only able to surmise what was going on in the absence of subtitle , I couldn't take my eyes off it. Wonderful photography, sweeping shots of La Paz (come for the action, stay for the funiculars, glimpses of bowler-hatted indigenous women, and a cemetery's glass-fronted memorial cases). An intriguing premise, gritty locations, a moderate level of violence, and great performances by a host of supporting characters. Catch it if you can.

Champions: A Love Story (1979 TV Movie)

More than just a teen love story

[8/10 · 16 February 2022]

This TV movie has stayed with me for decades but not just for the standard teens-in-love story. In the late Seventies figure skating had become an extremely popular spectator sport, with the skaters' personal stories as important as their athletic prowess (e.g. Scott Hamilton, the Carruthers siblings, Tai and Randy). This movie gives the viewer a glimpse behind the glitter. "It's work!" the hockey-playing son insists to his macho dad. Top-level figure skating is also expensive, especially for his ordinary middle-class family. Most of all, however, what has stayed with me is the acting by Richard Jaeckel who plays the boy's father. His stunned demeanor when he has to drive to a hospital after a tragic loss is a master class in acting. Tony Lo Bianco is great as the veteran coach as well. If you love figure skating, check this out if you can.

The Family Way (1966)

Once scandalous, now touching

[9/10 · 11 June 2018]

It's been forgotten that "The Family Way" caused a near-scandal when it was made in 1966, partly because of its unusually frank subject (impotence and possible homosexuality), but also because of the nude scene in which Hayley's behind is exposed. We think of the Sixties as being swinging, anything-goes, but 50-some years ago bottom nudity was rare outside of the Continent. Profanity such as "hell" and "damn" were forbidden on TV. This movie narrowly escaped receiving a "Condemned" rating from the Catholic Film Board, which sound humorous now but at the time was a serious matter, as it would make it a sin for a Catholic to see it and it would be one step away from being considered pornography. Many theatres would not have shown a "Condemned" film. The Boultings, who were noted for social commentary in their films, argued that the nudity was essential to the story (isn't it always) since it showed the cramped and substandard state of housing that was a reality for many British people: no proper bathroom, an outhouse in the back yard. The film board relented and gave it the next lowest rating: "Morally Objectionable in Part for All".

Times change, and not only would the story be featured in any TV sitcom today, but TCM showed the movie in its entirety, unblurred naked behind and all, on morning television. And the year after the release of "The Family Way" the Catholic Film Board voted as its best film of the year "Bonnie and Clyde". Things do change!

East/West (1999)

An interesting part of history, easy to comprehend

[8/10 · 14 August 2017]

This film portrays an interesting slice of Soviet history, showing the shock of the French wife when she has to live in the poor-quality housing most Soviets had to put up with in the postwar era, the strains placed on her marriage, and her loyalty to her husband and to the hope of freedom.

I watched this film on a VHS tape from Russia. The textual introduction, most dialogue, and the afterword were all in Russian; there were no subtitles except when the French characters spoke French with each other, and then the subtitles were in Russian. I know only a small amount of Russian and the sound quality of the videotape made the French difficult to hear, yet I could follow what was happening perfectly.