The Whale God (1962) Directed by Tokuzō Tanaka

Daiei Film, who brought us the Gamera series of films, made this historical drama before the giant turtle made them famous and it's almost sad they didn't stick with this sort of movie. In many ways the story, which centres around a giant whale that returns to a small whaling village every year but escapes being killed and instead kills many of its pursuers, IS a kaiju film even if whales are real creatures. Its ability to best the whale hunters drives many of the villages to want vengeance to an extreme degree, and more and more of them are dragged beneath the sea by the now uncontrollable need to "best" the creature. The lead character  Shaki (Kojiro Hongo) whose father and grandfather were killed by the whale god goes as far as telling anyone who tries to leave the village as traitors. No one can leave until the monster is destroyed. 

I do hope readers will seek this film out, it's on Tubi for free at the moment. It looks fantastic, many if not most of the effects are really well done and are ins ervice of the plot. The whale itself didn't seem bigger than a normal whale, to me anyway, but it's a fearsome creature worthy of it's reputation. he actors are good in thier parts, Hongo is very compelling and grows as a character - but not out of his obsession. 

Keeping mostly spoiler free, there are some very uncomfortable scenes in this, such as a very disturbing rape, woman used as as bargaining chips and property and a population of people that have lost thier reason and sense of humanity. It's a serious film to be sure but also happens in a time and place we have evolved from.... or have we? 

The Outsiders (1983) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

 

The Outsiders is based on a 1967 book by S.E. Hinton and sort of starts the "teen gang movie" genre in it's 80s incarnation. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola with a cast that has more future stars than any film ever made I think...  C. Thomas Howell Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane... I mean who else is there? 

The films centres around disaffected poor youth who street fight and quite frankly mostly aspire to be assholes. In this film they are all the prettiest of pretty boys as well which seems... unrealistic. There isn't much of a plot as the story follows them around their mostly empty, though brutal lives. The tension between the "greaser" and Socs" grows until finally the socs attack two of the youngest greasers and attempt to drown one. The other kills the would be killer with a knife and the two greasers hide out in the country until they decide to come back and turn themselves in. There is a fire in a church and they save the children inside and they become heroes. The one who killed the competing gang member is seriously burnt and injured. 

An older greaser played by Matt Dillion and is someone the younger guys look up to and who helped the two who were wanted for the killing to escape and hideout encourages everyone to have a rumble which they win. The two main characters visit their friend in the hospital to tell him of their victory but he dies while they are there. Dillion's character robs a store, unable to deal with his emotions about it all and commits "suicide by cop" while the remaining main character writes an essay about his experiences which we see starts with the opening lines of the book. 

I will be frank and say I wasn't impressed by this movie. It isn't bad. The performances are good, especially for such a young cast and I liked that it sort of aimlessly flows most of the time like the lives of the boys but it doesn't come together or move me like I think it was meant to. Pretty much everyone in it is  a jerk or jerk in training and did not illicit sympathy from me. I really did not like the music and cast is just too pretty for the roles they play. My opinion, of course. I can see someone else finding a lot more depth in it than I did. 

Dragonwyck (1946) Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

 

I would swear I wrote about this film a few months ago, but apparently I meant to and never did. I really liked it so I don't know why I would have forgotten but that is now rectified. 

Miranda, a farm girl who dreams of romance and luxury finds herself invited to visit her rich distant cousin to be a companion to his little girl and she jumps t the chance. Once there she discovered his wife and daughter have very little to do with him. Vincent Price is the rich cousin and if you are expecting this to be a gothic horror treat, it just isn't. Sure is has one gothic horror element, a harpsichord playing when tragedy is about to strike and only the cousin's direct bloodline can hear it but that goes pretty much nowhere. 

Where the film does go is into a murder mystery and family drama as Price's wife gets a cold but suddenly dies of it. The doctor he has come over, which price assumes is dumb turns out not to be. In no time The cousins are getting married after he confesses that his unhappy marriage was caused by the former wife not bearing him a son and she is pregnant shortly after the nuptials are over. Sadly, the infant dies shortly after being baptized of a heart condition.

Price becomes a lot less likeable after that, becoming a drug addict, abusive and it is revealed that, even worse, he is an atheist! Things degrade and Miranda becomes suspicious of the previous wife's death and enlists the doctor's aid to find out. They also seem to be falling for each other. 

This is not a best film of all time sort of thing but it is pretty great, mostly because Vincent price is so amazing in the role. Gene Tierny deserves a better role and the doctor as well but who can outshine Price? 

Silent Summer: Dans la nuit (1929) direccted by Charles Vanel

 

One of, if the last of the French silent film era. this film is a tour de force in acting and image composition. The editing and transitions are amazing and the recent restoration really lays to rest any ideas that silent films were primitive filmmaking in any way. 

After a disfiguring mining accident, a man hides his face from his wife who he discovered is charting on him. He catches her and her lover who is also wearing a mask and in the struggle, the husband is killed and the body dumped in the river. I won't spoil things but suffice it to say that murder leads to to a number of twists and turns that use creative montage to show the [present, what really happened and to move between the past and present in a truly masterful way. The only problem I have is with the ending, which was forced on the director by the studio. It still works but could have been a much more powerful ending if the studio had kept their hands off it. 

I saw this on French TV and I have no idea where else it can be seen. I did not find it on Amazon or on YouTube but if you get a chance see it! 

Un beau monstre (1971) directed by Sergio Gobbi

 I had the chance to see this on TV after reading about in relation to the death of Helmet Berger recently. He plays a sadist who drives his wife to suicide and then proceeds to do the same to his second wife. Police Officer Leroy (Charles Aznavour) begins to suspect the truth and is determined to save the unfortunate woman from Alain's clutches. The movie is filmed as an art film and moves pretty slowly. The sadism is sort of low key but cruel and they seemed to be holding back on getting too explicit with that while, even at 2 in the afternoon on Quebec TV, the film has some rare full frontal male nudity showing off Berger's talents as he was considered one of the most beautiful actors at the time. (Hence the name of the film.) 

I can't say I loved it or hated it. the Performances are very understated and the motivations of just about everyone but the inspector are nebulous at best. There is some interesting cinematography, maybe to interesting as I was sometimes not sure where the characters were or how their apartment was set up. I also am not a fan of watching people be cruel as entertainment and the film allows Berger to control his wife totally, including raping her while she is sick and given drugs. There is never really a passion between the man and his victims, they seem be be going through the motions most of the time. 

Spoiler: 

In the last scene of the movie, the police are shown investigating something that is revealed to be the bodies of Nathalie and Alain next to each other on the ground. The two spouses have most likely committed suicide together.

Lion 2016 directed by Garth Davis

Based on the non-fiction book, The Long Way Home  by Luke Davies , this film is a tear jerker to be sure. Unlike some other films with multi-Oscar nominations, the tears are well-earned. As the story of 5-year-old boy in India who gets lost and eventually adopted by an Australian couple unfolds, the plight of young missing children from the country is made real for the viewer. You realize that where we are in life is pretty much completely by chance and you can't help but feeling for the main character. 20 years after his adoption, a random memory surfaces after having some food from his native country at  a party and he begins a journey to find his birth mother, whom he is convinced must be looking for him still.

I won't go into spoilers because if you haven't seen this film already, it's good to go into it fresh and let it unfold at it's own pace. The performances, especially by Sunny Pawar as the young Saroo. his performance is real and pulls you in. Nicole Kidman is also great as is everyone else.

On a critical level, there isn't much to say against this film. I would have liked to know more about Saroo's adopted brother with the behavorial issues and his adopted parents, though.  I understand time is limited in a movie but just a little more information would have gone a long way I think.

I would say this movie is somewhat a "feel-good" film... but not 100%. there is too much strategy in this life story and the ending is satisfying, but not completely uplifting. A good thing since while Saroo may have been lucky, there 80 000 young children missing every year in India who are not.