A Lesson in Love (1954)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

A Lesson in Love (1954) – I. Bergman

A screwball comedy of remarriage (popular in Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s) is hardly something you would expect from Ingmar Bergman (especially prior to his great comic hit, Smiles of a Summer Night, 1955) – but he pulls it off.  With the help of witty stars Gunnar Björnstrand and Eva Dahlbeck (who later starred in that more famous comedy), Bergman keeps things as light as air, even as the onscreen events descend into chaos (as they always do in the screwball genre).  That’s not to say that Bergman (also the screenwriter) doesn’t throw in a few philosophical barbs (because he does) but these are mainly in keeping with the primary themes of this genre: the needs and roles of men and women and the value (or lack of value) of marriage itself.  I can see that the blu-ray boxset next turns to Scenes from a Marriage (1973) where Bergman undoubtedly shows us marriage through a less comic lens (we shall see soon) and there are traces of that view here too (Björnstrand offers the usual one-liners about marriage quelling passion).  Bergman’s own marital life (five wives and numerous affairs) was anything but stable.  Both husband and wife have extramarital partners as the film starts; but as is traditional, by the end, they will have found themselves back together and their relationship (if not the sanctity of marriage itself) reaffirmed.  An enjoyable trifle from the great auteur.

The Natural (1984)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Natural (1984) – B. Levinson

I never watched this back in the day and, watching now, it certainly has a dated sort of style – you can tell somehow that it’s the ‘80s even though the events depicted take place in the 1930s.  It’s the kind of film where you know that good is going to triumph over evil, that Robert Redford is definitely going to hit the home run that saves the day – and he does. It’s a picture that pretends to evoke suspense but always goes for the gratifying outcome; by the end, viewers can have no doubt that everything will work out.  In that way, it’s a fantasy film and there are suggestions that it has loose connections to the legend of King Arthur (the team is called the Knights) as well as Homer’s Odyssey (with Darren McGavin’s one-eyed bookie as the Cyclops and Robert Prosky as Hades), although the film isn’t really overt about this.  Moreover, director Barry Levinson decided to change the downbeat ending of Bernard Malamud’s novel (which I haven’t read but may have on my shelf) to keep Redford’s Roy Hobbs an unadulterated hero at the end of the day.  Or perhaps he is adulterated – we never really find out what happened in the 16 years when he didn’t play baseball (he is a star prospect in 1923 but suffers a freak event, courtesy of Barbara Hershey) and claims only to have made mistakes.  The script keeps him as a mystery and Redford plays him opaquely (and rather flatly).  Even in his relationships with Kim Basinger (evil) and Glenn Close (good) he remains distant and impenetrable (although we assume he eventually connects with the latter). Of course, this film is probably most well loved by baseball fans and a deeper knowledge of the sport and its fabled players might lead to greater enjoyment (at the allusions to real events).  As it stands, it is a bit corny, a bit old-fashioned, but you can count on an uplifting heart-warming finale.

  

Logan (2017)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Logan (2017) – J. Mangold

I confess that I haven’t seen many superhero films (including none of the X-Men films that I can recall) but this recent Hugh Jackman Wolverine film got such positive reviews that it attracted my attention. So, bear in mind that I watched this cold, without much awareness of the X-Men backstory (apart from anything I may have gleaned from looking at other kids’ comics during summer camp in the 1970s) – your mileage may vary.  Of course, setting aside some of the supernatural elements, the film can be read as the story of an aging and disillusioned man, potentially dying of some unknown illness, drowning himself in drink and drugs, but then called upon to assist in a moral imperative whereupon he rediscovers an important part of himself and/or his deeper values.  This may not be Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey but it is certainly a story arc we have seen before.  The fact that it is a child who brings the hero to his senses is also familiar.  So, adding the supernatural elements to the mix may be what has refreshed it.  In this version, the weary old man (Logan; Hugh Jackman) has razor sharp adamantium claws and the young child is a new mutant developed from his genetic material (played by Dafne Keen) who sports the same weapons.  She has escaped from the facility that created her (run by Richard E. Grant) and needs Logan to help her to escape to “Eden” located on the Canadian border.  It is a long way from the Mexican border – especially with X-Men leader Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), now 90 years old, and experiencing seizures that can kill others, in tow.  There are some military-styled bad guys to fight along the way and the film earns its R-rating for violence.  The final fight, in a North Dakotan forest reminiscent of the setting (and moves?) for the Six Million Dollar Man vs. Bigfoot, feels old-school rather than CGI, which I appreciated. And it was hard not to identify with a grumbly superhero who wears reading glasses!  This said, I’m not sure I need to watch anything else from this franchise.

Sweet Country (2017)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Sweet Country (2017) – W. Thornton

Australian Western taking place in the 1920s around Alice Springs at a time when relations between whitefellas and blackfellas was particularly bad.  Ewen Leslie plays a WWI vet who moves to the Outback to take over a station and starts causing trouble with his hard-drinking and negative approach to the Indigenous people (in contrast to the more equal treatment advocated by Sam Neill’s missionary).  Soon, Leslie has been killed by Hamilton Morris in an act of self-defence and Bryan Brown’s constable is sent to track him down (and his wife, Natassia Gorey Furber), with the assistance of Gibson John, an Indigenous man expected to track outside of his own country.  Director Warwick Thornton uses this plot (from screenwriter David Tranter) to interrogate Australian attitudes toward Indigenous people and the unequal application of the law.  In other words, the European colonists want one version of justice for themselves but apply another version (frontier justice) to the Aboriginal people.  It isn’t too far a leap to suggest that this same double standard is still applied today – so this is an important message to contemplate.  Thornton himself is a Kaytej man from Alice Springs and the film employed a large number of local Indigenous people both in front of and behind the camera (Thornton and his son Dylan River worked together as cinematographers and the film looks beautiful). It is excellent that there is an Indigenous voice (or voices) in film. Unfortunately, the “sweet” in the title may be meant ironically.  

The Sundowners (1950)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Sundowners (1950) – G. Templeton

I was actually looking for the Robert Mitchum Australian sheep-ranching drama but ended up renting this one by accident.  It’s a classic B-western with familiar themes, shot in some early version of technicolor (but well-faded and rather murky in this print). Robert Sterling is a Texas rancher who is losing many of his cattle to rustling – that is, until the Wichita Kid (Robert Preston), a notorious outlaw, shows up to help him out.  Soon, they have embarrassed the rustlers and Sterling and his younger brother, Jeff (John Barrymore Jr), are indebted to Wichita.  That is, until they discover that he has been up to no good, interloping with Cathy Downs (who is married to Jack Elam but an object of affection for Sterling) as well as doing some rustling of his own (with Jeff in his posse).  Soon, both Elam and the Sheriff are dead and Sterling has to face the Wichita Kid – who turns out to be his own brother.  As I said, this is purely B fare, although the plot is a bit more intense than is standard for the bottom of the bill and Preston’s charisma does elevate things.  But it was a helluva murky print.

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

☆ ☆ ☆

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) – C. Gans

Based on a true story (!!!) – or at least many of the characters are real people from pre-revolutionary 18^th century France (the bodice-ripping era) -- and apparently, there was a wolf-like beast preying on peasants in this particular regional area of France at that time.  The fictional conceit is that two “investigators”, one French (Samuel Le Bihan) and one Native American or Canadian (Mark Dacascos), have been sent by the King to catch the beast and bring it back to Paris for scientific analysis.  So far, so good.  However, the style used to present this story (by director Christophe Gans) is one that I find immediately off-putting:  it’s that mix of video game or comic book aesthetics with irritating sound effects, slow motion fight moves, and occasional CGI flourishes that also marred other films of this time period (I’m thinking the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes film at the moment).  Others may enjoy this style and certainly this became a hit outside of France but it ruined the film for me (that and the over-long running time and dragging romantic scenes).  Still, there are some fine actors here (Vincent Cassell, Émilie Dequenne, and Monica Bellucci among them) and the art direction/period mise en scene generally looks great (apart from that CGI sheen). A conspiracy plot lies buried beneath everything, which could be appealing if the chaff were cut away from the wheat.  In short, I tried hard to get into this – comparing it to some of the Hong Kong films of yore (with their decidedly non-naturalistic fight scenes and sound effects) – but to no avail.  Moreover, the beast itself reminds one of Princess Mononoke (1997), the better film (if entirely different). I guess I can’t really recommend this – but whatever floats your boat!

Capricorn One (1977)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Capricorn One (1977) – P. Hyams

About ¾ of the way through this very entertaining conspiracy thriller, I posited that there could only be two possible endings: 1) the conspiracy is exposed; or 2) the conspirators win.  Since this was the 1970s, I expected the bleakest outcome (e.g., The Parallax View, 1974, if I am remembering correctly).  However, bleak didn’t always win (see All the President’s Men, 1976,for example) – but just demonstrating that the conspiracy is out there was probably enough to fit the zeitgeist.  In Capricorn One, we are shown how the moon landing could have been faked – except the script shows us a future mission to Mars instead (and Kubrick has nothing to do with it!).  The astronauts (James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O. J. Simpson) are kept in the dark until the very last moment when they are pulled from the rocket and transported to a secret military base that has been rigged up to look like the surface of Mars; they are told that their families will be harmed unless they cooperate and stage the Mars landing for the TV cameras.  Although the plan for rescuing them from the capsule when it lands in the sea after the mission is carefully explained to them (by boss/friend/bad guy Hal Holbrook), it doesn’t take long before they realise that they really aren’t going to be allowed to live...  Elliott Gould plays the clichéd alcoholic but intrepid reporter who stumbles onto the conspiracy (with help from Karen Black and Telly Savalas).  Writer-Director Peter Hyams throws everything at the audience (stunts with cars, helicopters, airplanes), including all the usual conspiracy thriller elements, and comes up with fun popcorn fare.