Lake of the Dead (1958)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Lake of the Dead (1958) – K. Bergstrøm

Norwegian ghost story that manages to evoke a spooky feel (with a few moonlit shots of actors drawn to the haunted lake) even while succumbing to an excessively talky script.  Perhaps this is because the story and screenplay were drawn from an existing novel (and the novelist takes a turn at acting a minor part here).  Or perhaps it is because the ghost story has a number of complicated points to explain (e.g., the possibly incestuous bond of boy-girl twins, the Freudian interpretation of dreams) that need to be spoken rather than shown (although this is an empirical question).  At any rate, we follow a group of adult couples as they visit a large cabin in the woods where they learn the local legend about a peg-legged ghost who possesses people and drives them to drown themselves in the nearby lake.  Not coincidentally, their expected host, one half of the twins in question, has gone missing and his sister is the one drawn to the lake at night.  Fortunately, a psychologist and a constable are both on hand to help solve the mystery, which may or may not have supernatural origins.  Worth a look just for its B&W eeriness alone.

The Ghost Ship (1943)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Ghost Ship (1943) – M. Robson

One of the five collaborations between director Mark Robson and producer Val Lewton (best known for his low-budget RKO horror films which included Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie, both directed by Jacques Tourneur).  Although Robson’s best Lewton film is certainly The Seventh Victim (also 1943) about a nihilistic Satanic cult, The Ghost Ship manages to summon up a similar sense of dread in places.  Russell Wade plays Tom Merriam who has just signed on to be the Third Officer on the ship Altair, captained by Richard Dix’s Will Stone.  Stone is a sombre character, weighted down by his “authority” which he wields with a heavy hand, although alternating with moments of fatherly warmth.  When Merriam begins to think the captain is deranged and suspects foul play, he calls the shipping company to turn him in.  After that, the forces of doom seem aligned against him and shadows lurk in every corner of the ship.  His former friends turn against him.  Will there be any escape from the sullen and brooding captain?  As in other Lewton pictures, a real sense of menace and dread is created here using very subtle means: darkness, a camera shot fixed on a slowly opening door, noises from offscreen.  A creepy mute sailor adds a further spooky touch. 

I, Tonya (2017)

☆ ☆ ☆

I, Tonya (2017) – C. Gillespie

Is this really supposed to be a comedy?  About Tonya Harding, the figure skater whose husband arranged for a hit man to bash competitor Nancy Kerrigan’s knee before the 1994 Olympics?  How is that expected to be funny?  Is it because Harding was a “white trash” type, with bad taste in clothes, hair, and music?  Is it because her mother (played by Alison Janney who won the Best Supporting Actress gong for this role) was an evil bitch?  Is it because she surrounded herself with hopeless losers who hatched the bizarre plan to “help” her?  Yet, a lot of what we see seems played for laughs and that includes some hair-raising and very frequent scenes of brutal domestic violence.  Or if they aren’t meant to be funny, then they do represent very dark and abrupt changes in tone for the film, which also includes recurring breaks to the fourth wall, where characters speak directly to the camera/audience, commenting on the action that they are immersed in.  You see, the film itself is supposedly drawn from competing interviews by Harding and her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, who are recounting past events from the future, albeit very differently (i.e., in a self-interested way).  Over the closing credits, we see the real Harding and Gillooly (and mother LaVona) which shows you just how much effort was put in by Margot Robbie (Harding), Sebastian Stan (Gillooly), and Janney to mimic the real people – which makes you wonder what the point of such an exact recreation would be.  But of course, there’s more, a lot more (as I mentioned), and the result is something of a trainwreck, not without some interest, yet harsh in so many ways. Or maybe this just doesn’t jell with my sense of humour...

  

The Post (2017)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Post (2017) – S. Spielberg

It would be damned near impossible not to think of All the President’s Men (1976) when watching Spielberg’s The Post (also about investigative journalism at the Washington DC paper) and, of course, Spielberg’s film pales in comparison to that great classic.  Tom Hanks might be working his best Jason Robards impression – or perhaps both were channelling the real Ben Bradlee, Editor of the Post – but can’t really get any traction in the part.  Instead, the film belongs to Meryl Streep’s Katherine (Kay) Graham, the Publisher of the Post, and her struggles as a woman in a man’s world.  Although we do get some of her backstory, the script largely focuses on the events surrounding the publication of the “Pentagon Papers” which were a top secret review of the history of American involvement in Vietnam commissioned by Defense Secretary Robert MacNamara and a no-holds-barred indictment of the policy (and lying) of all the presidents from Truman to Nixon.  The New York Times was first to publish (after receiving a leak from Daniel Ellsberg) but the Nixon White House sued to stop them.  The pivotal moment here focuses on whether Graham will allow Bradlee to publish stories drawn from the leaked Papers in defiance of a court order not to.  Of course, she did – no spoiler intended – and Spielberg’s attempts to build suspense around this known outcome are destined to fail (despite John Williams’ urgent score).  But Spielberg was really hunting for bigger fish and the rousing moment when freedom of the press triumphs over governmental interference is clearly designed to castigate Donald Trump and his war on journalists and journalism.  Perhaps some need to hear this cry for freedom (an important message to be sure) – but they probably wouldn’t be watching this film anyway.  In the end, the film is average at best (despite the strong performance from Streep, as usual), taking too long to get to the point, drifting in places, offering too many faceless bit characters, and just plain not being All the President’s Men.

Sisters (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Sisters (1972) – B. De Palma

Brian De Palma’s films often end up unsatisfying.  Especially in his 1970s work, he cribs liberally from Alfred Hitchcock, borrowing his themes (voyeurism), his flaws (misogyny perhaps), and here even his composer (Bernard Herrmann) – but the result is not on the same level as Hitch’s best work.  De Palma seems more grubby, although the 70s fashion, cars, and decor may contribute to that sense, perhaps a conscious choice, in Sisters.  De Palma also pushes the sex and violence further than Hitchcock did, losing something when actions and images become explicit rather than implicit.  This said, there is just enough weird morbidity in Sisters (a hint of Cronenberg perhaps) that makes it interesting.  We begin with Danielle (Margot Kidder), a French Canadian living on Staten Island who has a one-night stand that ends in murder. Reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) sees it from her apartment window but the police don’t believe her.  Danielle and her weird ex-husband Emil (William Finley) clearly cover it up (as shown in split screen, while the police are on their way), but we come to believe that the murderer is Danielle’s (evil) twin.  A private detective (Charles Durning) is hired by the newspaper to investigate.  Herrmann’s score really keeps things moving, evoking the classic Hitchcocks.  But weirder things happen and what’s with the ending?  Ultimately, the sum may be more than equal to its parts – but the parts have been repurposed from elsewhere!  This might reward another viewing.

Akira (1988)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Akira (1988) – K. Ôtomo

This was really a famous anime film back in the day, perhaps the first one to be a hit in America.  I didn’t watch it back then because I wasn’t really interested; but this was before I realised how good animation could be, before those annual animation short film festivals in the early ‘90s and before we knew about Miyazaki.  Of course, Akira is absolutely nothing like Miyazaki’s work and it definitely isn’t for kids.  Imdb summarizes the plot as follows:  “A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.”  So, there are heaps of explosions, fights, deaths, a rape scene, motorbike accidents, police, army, tanks, gangs, and yes, psychic kids.  The animation itself is impressive and often beautiful in that classic Japanese style that has become so familiar worldwide now.  It is hard to place this as a 1980s film, perhaps because it takes place in 2019 (where strangely Japan is preparing to host the Olympic games in Tokyo) and the futuristic city isn’t too different from today’s cities; in other words, it feels new and current.  Yet, a little of this also goes a long way and by the time we approached the end, I was dozing off (that third beer probably didn’t help).  I think I might only dip into anime now and again, and perhaps those short sweet versions are the best dosage.    

The Uninvited (1944)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Uninvited (1944) – L. Allen

I keep returning to this film because I want it to be something that it is not.  I want it to be a spooky supernatural ghost story, along the lines of The Haunting (1963), and although it does include all the elements from the haunted house genre, the tone of the film consistently undercuts its spookiness.  For one thing, there is Ray Milland, constantly joking and not really taking the supernatural (sobbing from somewhere in the dark house, sudden cold spots or a whiff of mimosas, doors slamming) seriously at all.  His sister, with whom Milland has bought the house on the clifftop overlooking the sea on a whim, is a bit more concerned.  But the film jauntily moves along (with some mickey-mousing on the soundtrack) to focus on a burgeoning romance between Milland (aged 38) and Gail Russell (aged 20), who is the daughter of the woman who used to live in the house who died mysteriously, falling from the cliff.  It is the mother who is thought to haunt the house -- but this doesn’t quite jell because of the malevolence of the spirit toward Russell.  A seance is held to try to sort it all out and the plot thickens considerably (including the introduction of a possible lesbian subplot).  With all these classic ingredients, The Uninvited should be a spine-tingling ghost story but instead it becomes a fantasy film (save for one “angry ghost” scene), offering hope for romance if only the secret of the ghost can be worked out and Russell freed from its curse.  And approached with these different expectations, the film works.

Earlier, I wrote more pithily:

Ray Milland plays a 30-something jovial oaf who moves into a haunted house with his sister and puts the moves on a 20-year-old neighbor girl who is the target of the ghost's energies. Generally lighthearted and romantic but with some good (and not overdone) chills (room gets colder, pets won't go in there). Solving the mystery of the ghost's back-story means saving the girl.