the LAST FILM YOU'VE SEEN thread

[Johann]

Coffy



Cult classic from Jack Hill starring Pam Grier as a nurse who's gotta avenge her heroin addicted sister.

This film is a wild ride.
Tarantino put it in his top-ten of all-time.


This is one hell of an violent adult film.

Pimps, bitches & ho's, drugs, shotguns, hand-cannons, needles, a sexy catfight, racism, afros, sexual situations and nudity, blood, gore, torture, this is grindhouse blaxploitation at it's finest.

I'm watching Hell Up in Harlem next- the sequel to Black Caesar with Fred Williamson

[Chris Knipp]

You're in the grind house now, Johann. Welcome your reports.

[Chris Knipp]

Christian Faure: Juste une question d'amour (Just a Question of Love, 2000) (TV) 88 mins. Netflix DVD.

Laurent (a vibrant Cyrille Thouvenin) is a 23-year-old agricultural student in Lille (with a passion for poetry) who knows he's gay but lets his parents think he's straight and that his roommate Carole (a sweet Caroline Veyt) is his future wife. He's held in this bind by the fact that a gay cousin, Marc, who was like a brother to him, came out only to wind up dying rejected by his parents, an example of in-family homophobia that seems to have been all too well accepted by his own mother and father. Laurent has been on a downward spiral in school ever since Marc's death. Marc's parents are around at family parties, the mother a basket case on tranquilizers, the father stolid and still unforgiving. This angers Laurent, but the trouble is that his mom and dad, who run a pharmacy, are very dear to him. He loves his parents; he loves family; and he loves kids. But he's stuck in a charade. It's already hurting Carole, who's more than a little in love with him, though she knows full well about his sexuality.

All this has to change when Laurent is attached as a trainee (stagère) to a nursery and lab run by the slightly older Cédric (sexy, soulful Stéphan Guérin-Tillié) and they fall in love.The more grown up and independent Cédric is impatient with Laurent's playing the "little hetero to mom and dad." When he came out to his mother Emma (Eva Darlan) 11 years earlier on the death of his dad, Cédric said she could "take it or leave it." Laurent's pretense is exploded from an unexpected source. The film takes us sympathetically through the pain of Laurent's parents and Emma's efforts to help.

The special virtue of Just a Question of Love is its balance. If it's primarily from the point of view of Laurent, and secondarily Cédric, and takes pains (though it's joyful, not painful) to make their love real (without any explicit nudity or sex though, just passionate kissing), it's just as much about the parents' difficult journey toward understanding of their sons' sexuality.

A beautiful gay coming-out-to-the-parents film that had an unusually high viewership and almost universally positive response when shown originally on French TV, this has meant a lot to a lot of gay men, especially young ones thinking about love and conflicts with parents and the kind of "intense love relationship such as I dream of having and regret not to have had up till now," as one young French blogger typically put it. In IMDb comments that rate it, it has gotten nothing but a 10/10: enough said? Splendid performances by everybody, especially Thouvenin, Guérin-Tillié, and Darlan; this is far more than a "TV movie" and like some of the best contemporary French films, manages to be both elegant and emotionally direct.

With his looks and personality, Cyrille Thouvenin is irresistible in the film: he's always running and leaping, troubled, vulnerable, acting out, but also bursting with youthful energy and smiles. The restrained but warm Eva Darlan is also very memorable. This is the kind of film a gay man can watch over and over, with much pleasure and some tears. Doing so is also helping my French quite a bit.

[Johann]

Hell Up In Harlem

I like this movie but I'm not sure I can explain why.

Black Caesar (Gibbs Jr.) is up in Harlem, working with his father Gibbs Sr. to clean up New York's mean streets.

People get shot a lot, death comes to the innocent and the guilty, there's a funky motown soundtrack by Edwin Starr (great in surround sound) and the blackness can't be beat brotha.

The plot is a little hard to follow, but basically it's just a relatively low-budget actioner from the early 70's that was a very popular sequel to Black Caesar which made Fred Williamson a star.

[Chris Knipp]

You'll Get Over It/À cause d'un garçon (2003) Netflix DVD.

Directed by Fabrice Cazeneuve, starring Julien Baumgartner as a lycée (high school) swim champ who gets outed by an admiring transfer from another school so he's forced to deal with being openly gay. This time the parents including the working class unionist dad are understanding. Memorable question from the dad at a dinner: "When you grow up, will you live with a man?" He says he doesn't know, but whatever he does, it will be frank and open. The lead isn't terrifically charismatic and the filmmaking isn't as fluid and winning as in Just a Question of Love, nor is there a satisfying gay relationship on offer, but this is a good treatment of the issues of girlfriend (she's not pleased) best mate (he remains a friend but wishes he'd been told) and classmates (swim team is mean, but coach protects him and when he wins a big meet for them, they come back).

[Chris Knipp]

Nettoyage à sec/Dry Cleaning (Anne Fontaine 1997). Netflix DVD.

In this Teorema-style menage a trois story, the sexy young Loïc (Stanislas Merhar), a former drag performer, comes to live with Jean-Marie and Nicole and help them run their dry cleaning establishment in a town near Lille (Belfort) -- and disrupts their lives gradually and completely by sexually tempting them both. It's not so much that they were bored and repressed as that they never thought of the kind of thrills Loïc so boldly offers and so have no resistance to them, besides which, Jean-Marie has homosexual tendencies he has hitherto repressed. Loic isn't there to disrupt; he can't help doing it, but what he wants is the stability of a home that he's never had. Despite the familiar premise, the treatment is intriguing, the unfolding of the story highly suspenseful. You don't know what's going to happen, and that goes especially for the last astonishing few moments. I don't know enough about Anne Fontaine, having only seen her somewhat strange 2001 Comment j'ai tué mon père (How I Killed My Father, also starring Berling). A common thread is bourgeois repression. Fontaine's fortes (exhibited more successfully in Dry Cleaning than in the over-ambitious later film) seem to be the slow burn and the jaw-dropper ending. It's fun to observe chaos methodically take over an ordered existence. All three actors are fine and well cast. This was a striking debut for Merhar, then 26, and his ability to tempt either sex is totally believable. The backgrounds and technical side are well handled, and the suspense shows directing and screenwriting skill (Fontaine is a writer, director, and actor). Five Cesar nominations, and a Cesar win for Merhar -- Most Promising Actor (Meilleur espoir masculin).

[bix171]

Amy Heckerling's film of Cameron Crowe's "non-fiction" year in a California high school is fairly faithful to the book (Crowe wrote the script which is just as implausible) and it holds up pretty well after twenty-five years. But it's the cast of young up-and-comers (Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates and the sublime Jennifer Jason Leigh) that makes the film work. Heckerling's comic timing was not yet fully developed--this was her first feature; she would be much more proficient in later films such as "Clueless" and "Look Who's Talking"--and Crowe has always been something of a killjoy, so there's a lot riding on cast chemistry and they deliever with the ease of old pros. A not bad way to pass an evening and a good way to intoduce your new teen to pitfalls of adolescence.

[bix171]

Well, Ridgemonth's back to Ridgemont. Curious about the t-shirt.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is my favorite actress, bar none. I know of few actresses working as fearlessly as her. "Miami Blues", "The Anniversary Party" (which she co-directed and co-wrote with Alan Cumming), "Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle", "The Hudsucker Proxy", "Single White Female" (she's great, the movie...not so great), "Short Cuts" (good in another bad film). Kubrick filmed her in "Eyes Wide Shut" but had to reshoot her scenes with another actress--God, what might have been!

Lotsa great actresses out there but Jennifer Jason Leigh, to me, knows no peer.

[Chris Knipp]

I deleted my post in the course of editing it but for the record here it is again.

You threw me off with that title, which relates to a satirical T-shirt series. It's been a long time since I saw this and I never thought I'd see Jennifer Jason Leigh described as "sublime." Didn't know about Amy HEckerling though I have seen Clueless, being a fan of Alicia Silverstone--I love her in Excess Baggage. Anyway, Fast Times sure is a classic from the great era of youth flicks, the fabulous Eighties.

Here is the T-shirt site but I think the Ridgemonth spelling is a typo there too.

Jennifer is too angst-ridden for me, but she is distinctive and the movies you mention are good ones or at least good roles for her. I love Miami Blues. Don't agree with you on Short Cuts, which I like, maybe partly because of a laser disk of it with hours of fabulous extras inlcluding an interview with Pauline Kael, with Robert Altman, a making of, and the texts of all the Raymond Carver stories.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by bix171
Jennifer Jason Leigh is my favorite actress, bar none. I know of few actresses working as fearlessly as her. "Miami Blues", "The Anniversary Party" (which she co-directed and co-wrote with Alan Cumming), "Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle", "The Hudsucker Proxy", "Single White Female" (she's great, the movie...not so great), "Short Cuts" (good in another bad film). Kubrick filmed her in "Eyes Wide Shut" but had to reshoot her scenes with another actress--God, what might have been!
Lotsa great actresses out there but Jennifer Jason Leigh, to me, knows no peer.

I'm so happy someone here agrees the great JENNIFER JASON LEIGH has no peer. She is simply the best American actress. No one can touch her.

*This is an excerpt of a list I posted of Favorite Female Performances of the 90s:

JENNIFER JASON LEIGH---- (Georgia)
ROMANE BOHRINGER-------(Savage Nights)
CRISSY ROCK------------- (Ladybird, Ladybird)
JULIETTE BINOCHE-------- (Three Colors: Blue)
EMILY WATSON----------- (Breaking the Waves)

*Here's an excerpt of my comments about her performance as Dorothy Parker:

"Which brings me to Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker. If film appreciation is a rather subjective endeavor, evaluating a performance is even more so. I happen to think Ms. Leigh is one of the best actors working in film and her performance here is the type of no-net, bravura acting that is quite rare. Few actors take such chances. She understood that for Mrs. Parker sitting around that table was like being up on stage. She understood that a "naturalistic" portrayal would be totally wrong for the character, after doing her typically thorough research into the real Dorothy Parker."

*Here's a comment about Altman's Kansas City:

" I like Kansas City more than most viewers because Jennifer Jason Leigh is my favorite actress."

*Even decidedly "B" movies like Heart of Midnight are immediately elevated by her performance into something worth watching.

[bix171]

Oscar,

Reading what you've written in the past about JJL makes me feel almost like a plagarist. My comments only amplify yours.

I liked "Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle" (though I generally hate Alan Rudolph films) but I think the bon mots given to Leigh were too familiar to be witty. (I'm pretty sure everyone's heard the "Katherine Hepburn runs the emotional gamut from A to B" line a hundred times before.) What I liked about her performance was her vulnerability which ran contrary to the image Parker publicly projected; to me, it seemed, well, if not, as Chris writes, "instinctive", then well thought-out. Leigh is nothing if not highly intelligent; her roles seem more choices borne from restlessness than jobs; you can understand why she chooses them.

I've only seen two of the other selections Oscar mentions in his comment about outstanding female performances in the previous decade. I very much was impressed--and continue to be--by Emily Watson. I'm afraid I differ, though, as far as Juliette Binoche. Perhaps it's because I'm not a big fan of Kieslowski, and I find "Blue" to be the weakest of the trilogy. Binoche's dourness in "Blue" bordered to me on whining. Her ecstasy at the film's conclusion seemed no ecstasy at all, just overwhelming sadness that she couldn't get past. If that's ecstasy, I'd want no part of it. (I did like her in "The English Patient", though and thought her Acadamy Award was a pleasant surprise.)

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by bix171
Leigh is nothing if not highly intelligent; her roles seem more choices borne from restlessness than jobs; you can understand why she chooses them.

-She's said she's not interested in playing ingenues or girls-next-door or any part created to "prove that the leading character is heterosexual".
-A movie of hers many have forgotten is Last Exit to Brooklyn. She won accolades from Critics' Societies for that role. But who am I kidding...I like everything she does. She's great in the made-for-TV Bastard out of Carolina, for instance.
-I can't wait for the release of her husband Noah Baumbach's follow up to The Squid and the Whale. JJL has a major part in it.

[Chris Knipp]

Olivier Assayas: Les Destinées/Les destinées sentimentales (2000). Netflix DVD.

This is basically a love story -- with elaborate period trappings, primarily the intermittent chronicle of a Limoges porcelain factory belonging to the family of protestant minister Jean Barnery (the recessive yet somehow adorable Charles Berling, with a ginger moustache), whose first wife Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert, as haughty as ever) he banishes, suspecting an infidelity, then brings back, then divorces -- and loses their little girl.

Jean's naturally sweeter second spouse (based on the actresses' two personalities) is Pauline (Emmanuelle Béart). This is the love story. The warmest moments are their embraces. Feeling guilty about his ill treatment of Isabelle's character, Jean renounces the ministry, gives away his factory stock, and goes to live in Switzerland on a comfortable annuity with Pauline, with nothing to do but embrace and get lost in the mist.

But a death in the family -- and the need for something to happen -- requires Jean to take on the reins of the porcelain factory -- become its manager or gérant. Pauline doesn't want him to go, but their love survives. Versatile man, he's also in the army during WWI and seems coarsened by that period. There is the irony, that the factory is making the best porcelain ever, and the workers are on strike because they suffer. The story takes us and the factory up to and beyond the economic crisis of the Great Depression, to the decline of the factory and of Jean.

This is a saga, and it runs three hours. It seems odd that anyone as sophisticated and up to date as Olivier Assayas would film a nineteenth-century novel (by Jacques Chardonne, 1884-1968), but he does it well. Perhaps the story is lacking in dramatic incident and inevitably feels like a toney TV miniseries. But, as Roger Ebert wisely wrote, if you're patient and give it time to unfold, this is a film that has rewards for you. Of course on a DVD you can split it into smaller segments, as a cable company also might do.

The not-so-hidden strength of the film is the depth and subtlety given to the many secondary characters, which go hand in hand with fine costumes and rich mise-en-scène. If it has a greatest weakness it's a certain blandness at times in Berling's character and vacuous sweetness in Béart's--despite all the little changes and vicissitudes they and their relationship go through, and despite the fact that they're both quite wonderful in their roles, especially Berling. Nothing radical here. It's as if Assays is saying, "See, I can do conventional stuff if I want to." But that's not all he wanted. This has the rewards, which are precisely those of a long historical novel--capturing the values of another era, capturing the passage of time itself. For me what's rather thrilling is to see a Limoges porcelain factory of a hundred years ago recreated, working full tilt. A French filmmaking team can do this--because the tradition lives. And so do the delicate plates with their translucent Moon-glow glazes. After all is said and done this is a beautiful film, which redeems Assayas' experimentalism but perhaps also underlines his lack of a central concern.

[Chris Knipp]

Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, Jeanne and the Perfect Boy/Jeanne et le garçon formidable 1998. Netflix DVD.

This earthier update of the French movie musical style defined by Jacques Demy (whose son Matthieu is the male lead here) is a must-see for anyone with gay and AIDS-related interests or French musical film interests. Virginie Ledoyen is stunning and wonderful in the girl who sleeps around, then finds Mr. Right and he turns out to be HIV-positive. This earlier film is the most notable yet by the director team.

Alain Cavalier, The Heartbeat/La Chamade 1969. Netflix DVD.

Starring Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli with Belgian beanpole Roger van Hool as the flacid young male cutie Deneuve goes off to live in a posh Paris garret with, abandoning her rich, devoted boyfriend (Piccoli). The upper-bourgeois self indulgence of this film is amusing to watch, it has a few good moments, but its greatest virtue may be its harmlessness. Except for the makeup and elaborate hairdos of the women, the styles aren't as out of date as you'd expect.

François Ozon, Short Films. Ca. 1994-98. Netflix DVD.

As in the first François Ozon film given as a bonus in the US DVD of his Sitcom, it's all there -- the provocation, the playfulness, the sexual ambiguity, the classically simple style. Much reliance on closeups and dialog except for the mostly silent longer X-2000, these, which primarily deal with sex, are notable for their economy, elegance, and wit. There's not much to them, but what can you expect in five minutes?

[bix171]

Jack Nicholson stars as a depressed, compromised reporter who assumes a dead gun runner's identity in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1975 laid-back thriller that's more brooding than suspenseful. It also, as an "art" film, holds up pretty well. Only occasionally does it lapse into pretentiousness and some of the acting--even Nicholson's--is quite stiff. But it works, thanks to Antonioni's detached, dispassionate mise en scene, perfectly complemented by Luciano Tovoli's photography of the arid landscapes of most of the film's locations. That makes sense, given that they're symbols of Nicholson's emptiness.