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Reviews
Salome (1981)
Laurice Guillen in her proper form...
Salome - Laurice Guillen I finally saw Laurice Guillen's hailed film Salome and I must say that I'm pretty impressed with it. Salome is about the titular barrio girl (played with much versatility by a young Gina Alajar) who is married to a domineering man named Macario (Johnny Delgado). The film starts quite wonderfully with a pleasant montage of an early morning in a rural town, with roosters crowing, the bright sun glaring, and the waves steadily blanketing the glistening beach. Then comes Salome, dressed in white stained with red blood, running and screeching for help, finally saying that he has killed a man. The man (Dennis Roldan) is a mining engineer from Manila who finds himself drawn to Salome. Guillen and her screenwriter Ricardo Lee basically unravels Salome's story through a series of flashbacks of the man's murder. Some have claimed that Salome is a Filipino version of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon and they are probably right as Guillen and Lee follows the same style. Yet while Kurosawa was interested in the multi-faceted aspect of truth, Guillen is more interested in the powerplay of the genders. Guillen's films have been described as feminist in spirit and Salome, while still having the typical Filipino plot movements that mostly involve showing females at their weakest (rape scenes or wife-beating scenes), it presents the central female character as a chameleon of sorts, ready to use, to attack, to even distort the truth, to maintain that de facto seat of power men consciously and mistakenly refer to as a weakness. Yet if such is a weakness, then why do men swoon and go insane with lust like the man from Manila who ends his life during that erstwhile affair. If such is a weakness, then why do men give everything and still beg and plea for repentance as the character of Macario does when societal justice fails to repair the wounds of an already scarred marriage. Salome is not interested with truth, as we can see the courts has settled that for us yet the film does not end where the court has determined Salome's criminal liability. The film is more of an examination of a woman's power to drive men crazy and down to their knees with just a tinge of innocence coupled with the attractive curves of their bodies. The same power that drove the residents of that seaside barrio away from the beach where the mythical mermaids dwell yet incessantly lures the village idiot back to wait for nothing but sure death. ****1/2/*****
Bomnaleun ganda (2001)
One Fine Spring Day
Although I didn't like April Snow, I have to admit that I got curious about it's clinical, meditative, and almost Ozu-like approach to start searching out its director's previous films. One Fine Spring Day is Hur Jin-Ho's second feature film. Surprisingly though, the film feels like it's been crafted by a master who's been making films for decades. One Fine Spring Day evokes a certain sense of maturity and control that deflects the low points of its spare plot. Sang-woo (Yu Ji-tae) is a sound engineer who lives with his father and his senile grandmother. He gets a job to record certain sounds of nature with beautiful radio DJ Eun-su (Lee Young-ae). Sang-woo, who seems to be an extrovert and Eun-su, who is more outgoing and openminded, get along very well and start a relationship. Their relationship, however, is not the type that would last forever as both characters are very different and both have issues that need to be resolved. Those seeking something that will provide for a fuzzy joyous romantic feeling would easily get disappointed with One Fine Spring Day. One Fine Spring Day, despite its rather light atmosphere, holds a bittersweet conclusion that feels all too real for comfort. It matches the joys of falling in love with the pangs of an unexplained break up. The beauty of the film doesn't emanate from the plot, or the characterizations, or even the technical merits, but from Hur's surehanded direction that never seems to stray from its melancholic tone. Hur doesn't waste time in dealing with heartwarming moments or scenes of melodramatic intensity. He satisfies himself with sincere moments of silence that somehow evoke great emotional weight. One Fine Spring Day is a lovely film. I loved the fact that it never breaks into serious drama or comedy. It stays right there, comfortable in the middle, chronicling in a very sure manner the failing relationship of the couple. It's very different from April Snow which I thought tried too hard to build up its setup with a more ominous atmosphere that bogs down whatever talent and effort Hur and the rest of his crew put in entirely.
Joyeux Noël (2005)
Merry Christmas is wonderful, yet disposable entertainment...
On Christmas eve in the First World War, an unexpected truce was agreed upon by the warring French, Germans, and the Scotsman contingent of the British army. The truce began when ex-tenor turned German private Sprink (Benno Furmann) gave an apt rendition of "Silent Night" which the Scotsmen quickly offered to accompany with their bagpipes. Feeling the Christmas spirit despite their hometown being invaded by the Germans, the French agreed to celebrate Christmas eve with their enemies. Undeniably schmaltzy and melodramatic, Merry Christmas seems to be doomed to be in the company of other schmaltzy films like Pay it Forward or Benigni's Life is Beautiful. However, one has to look beyond the evident schmaltziness and keep one's cynicism at an all-time low to truly enjoy the film, which I thought was decently made and truly touching. After all, one cannot fault writer-director Christian Carion as the film was based on recorded events that truly happened during World War I. I think Carion tried his best to make the film as grounded and as realistic as possible although sometimes his screenplay gets a bit too oratorical and his direction gets a bit too overhanded with his overuse of the musical score. Carion promptly neutralizes the fuzzy feelings that are generated by warring men playing football and poker on Christmas Day by immediately portraying the sad repercussions of the men's fraternizing with their enemies. I thought that was a very welcome addition to bring back the audience from its suspension of disbelief to a more realistic ground that despite the innate humanity in everyone's heart, politics and the irrationalities of war still determine the fates of these men. There are also some technical aspects that I feel could've been polished a bit more. The lipsynching of the songs is quite obvious and very distracting especially since its hard to believe that Diane Kruger can belt out those high and strong note with her anorexic frame. Merry Christmas is wonderful, yet disposable entertainment. It is France's submission to the Oscars and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets a nod as it possesses almost everything that the Oscars want - a war film, with themes of peace and humanity, and of course the resulting emotion of fuzziness and pride for one's humanity. ***1/2/*****
The Black Cat (1934)
The Black Cat is a terrific film, but definitely not Ulmer's best.
Peter (David Manners) and Joan (Julie Bishop) Alison are newlyweds who are on their way to a Hungarian resort town for their honeymoon. On the train, the couple are introduced to Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Bela Lugosi), who is on his way to visit an old acquaintance. When the bus they are riding meets an accident, the couple and Dr. Vitus are forced to spend the night in the mansion of Poelzig (Boris Karloff), Vitus' old acquaintance who has more than hospitality in mind when taking them in. The best part of The Black Cat is the fact that two of the greatest actors in horror film history are pitted against each other in this ageless tale of good vs evil which is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story. Although Karloff is very excellent as the mysterious lord of the house, it is Lugosi who steals most of the limelight. Upon introduction of his character, he immediately clouds his personality, teasing the audience into a confusion of what his true intentions are with the two lovebirds. His thick accent adds a lot to the whole suspicion business, but Lugosi mostly acts his way to greatness with his ominous facial features and his subtly perverse gestures. The other good thing about the film is Edgar Ulmer's direction. Ulmer can make so much out of the littlest budget but given studio backing, Ulmer makes miracles. Poelzig's mansion is beautiful. Straying away from the usual Gothic castles that the likes of Karloff and Lugosi have been occupying most of their professional life, Ulmer takes in a more modernist approach. The interiors of the mansion is clean, cool, yet as the characters clearly describe, has an atmosphere of death. I mean, a mansion occupied by the likes of Karloff, a strongman, a creepy butler, and an Eastern European maid, should at least get an atmosphere of death, if not an atmosphere of total evil and perversity. Ulmer, even with a decent budget, doesn't spend time dillydallying. He keeps the film trim and concise. The result is a rather flimsy plot line with several sideplots that are never really realized but Ulmer, as a director, does not invest on plots. Like budgets, he makes most of the silliest of plot lines. Here, he makes most of each and every bit of decent dialogue (note the plenty of close ups on Lugosi or Karloff when they spew a line that somehow is miraculously inspired), and utilizes music, production design, and cinematography, to raise the plot to a higher level. Also, Ulmer doesn't waste the fact that he has with him Lugosi and Karloff. We are entreated to them in a chess match (examine and enjoy how Karloff concentrates and takes the game so seriously), and a final wrestling match that ends up in a torture scene that only Edgar Allan Poe can imagine. The Black Cat is a terrific film, but definitely not Ulmer's best. Ulmer's masterpiece is still Detour where he has a storyline that finally matches his directorial talent.