Reviews

  • Café Society (2016)

    Café Society (2016)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, September 2020) I’ve made my peace with the idea that, despite my overall dubiousness about Woody Allen’s personal life, I will eventually see most of his movies. The latter half of his career has been exceptionally consistent: A mixture of some nostalgia, straightforward plotting, capable actors and no-nonsense filmmaking. Occasionally, a performance will get nominated for the Oscars, or a topic matter will strike the imagination of specific people—and that’s how I feel with the Golden Age Hollywood material in Café Society. Much of the film’s first half is spent in the shadows of the movie studio system of the 1930s, as a young man moves from New York to Los Angeles in the hope of something better in service of his uncle, a powerful studio executive. The patter is heavy with movie reference that would have completely flummoxed me before taking a crash course in classic movies, and that’s part of the fun as the characters name-drop like crazy. Don’t expect to spend much time on set, as the film is limited by its budget to show us tight angles on exteriors and sets that can approximate 1930s Los Angeles. That part of the film is actually fun, and shot with luminous clarity. Then things get more complicated, as our protagonist unsuccessfully romances his uncle’s secretary and eventually decides, upon being rebuffed, to go back to New York, where he’s able to help his mobster brother set up a nightclub. Much of Café Society’s second half plays off the thrill of the first, letting the pieces of an unconsummated romance fall where they are exposed in time for the wistful ending. It’s not bad, but it’s not designed to make you feel happy: the more the film advances, the more it becomes apparent that it’s reaching for regret rather than laughs. Oh well; that’s where Allen wants to go for this film. At least the acting talent is worth a look: Now that Allen merely narrates the film, Jesse Eisenberg is probably one of the two best actors to play Allen-like characters and his second time doing so after To Rome with Love. Kirsten Stewart is not bad opposite him, although she once again plays a very specific kind of character. Steve Carell flexes some antagonist muscles as the uncle wooing the same girl. In the end, the rush of the opening half having dissipated, Café Society fells like many, many twenty-first century Allen movies: pleasant enough to watch, with some good actors along the way and a decent-enough plot to follow, but not particularly memorable or worth getting excited about. Even by his latest standards, it’s middle-tier material.

  • My Own Private Idaho (1991)

    My Own Private Idaho (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (YouTube Streaming, September 2020) I suspect that most circa-2020 viewers will approach My Own Private Idaho because it happens to star young Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix and you know what? That’s a perfectly respectable reason. Phoenix’s talent, taken too soon, is showcased here, and Reeves turns in a looser performance than in many of his other roles. But it’s not the only reason to watch My Own Private Idaho. Some will flock to it because of its strong gay themes at a time where such topics were not yet part of the mainstream; others for watching one of writer-director Gus van Sant’s early efforts; and others for the film’s stylish presentation halfway between realism and dreamlike escapism. It is because of this whole package that My Own Private Idaho remains interesting, even to those who, like me, aren’t particularly interested in either of those specific reasons. It’s a film that doesn’t quite play out like expected. The expressionistic moments are refreshing in the middle of so much grimy meditation on the outcasts of society; and the narrative remains a stream of surprises. While I don’t particularly like My Own Private Idaho (too long, too scattered, too sad), I can certainly respect it, no matter why anyone would want to watch it.

  • Caged Heat (1974)

    Caged Heat (1974)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) Not every Oscar-winning director has an immaculate high-art past, and so it is that the celebrated Jonathan Demme got his start on Roger Corman exploitation pictures, and exploitation thriller Caged Heat was his first directing credit. As a better-than-average women-in-prison film, Caged Heat has all of the nudity, violence, girl-on-girl fighting, anti-establishment screeds and sadistic wards that you’d expect from such films. The plot first goes where you think it will go (unjust arrest; meet the cast; early rebellion; punishment; greater rebellion; escape and so on) and then doesn’t, with the details along the way being little bits of titillation thrown to the audience. Where Demme does bring his touch is that the result is noticeably better than other films of the subgenre: there’s some humour to the proceedings, social critiques, scenes that go beyond the strict minimum, and the film minimizes (but does not eliminate) male-on-female violence to focus on female-on-female oppression (or rather system-on-women oppression). Some of the casting does work: Barbara Steele does have one weird role as the wheelchair-bound warden, and Juanita Brown is simply captivating. It’s not much, but it does work: most of the film plays according to exploitation expectations, but there’s enough going on here to keep interest if you’re committed to the film. I suppose that if you must watch a women-in-prison film, you could do worse than Caged Heat.

  • The Prize (1963)

    The Prize (1963)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) Nothing, exactly nothing about The Prize makes any sense—least of all the plot, which is rather embarrassing for a narrative-driven thriller. The beginning sees an alcoholic, womanizing American author somehow winning the Nobel Prize for Literature (based on, what, a corpus of one novel?) The action begins after he flies into Stockholm to receive the prize, and meets the other winners. A lovely young Scandinavian (Elke Sommer, in an early role) is assigned to him as hostess, and his meetings with the other winners show an eclectic group of intellectuals. But as various strange events occur, we stumble onto a premise that only made sense at the height of the Cold War: a dastardly plan by the Soviets to replace the Nobel Prize winners with lookalikes so that the lookalikes can denounce the western world in their acceptance speeches and then “defect” to The Soviet Union. Trying to even pretend that this premise makes sense is tiresome, so let’s skip to the overall impression left by the film: it’s about as scattershot as its premise in blending comedy, young-punk protagonist, some danger from the spying team at work in Stockholm, Paul Newman in the lead role, Edward G. Robinson in one of his late-career performances, a scene set at a nudist convention, and many more idiosyncrasies than you’ll know what to make of. The film was a success upon release, but newer viewers are more likely to be perplexed by the ungainly blend of ill-fitting elements. At least Newman is quite likable, despite a character not necessarily written to be so. He’s almost enough to make us forget a plot that wouldn’t make sense even at the protagonist’s most drunken state.

  • Standing Up, Falling Down (2019)

    Standing Up, Falling Down (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) Clearly easing into an elder statesman of comedy roles, Billy Crystal has slowed down over the past few years—fewer film parts and more elements of his filmography “as himself.” And why not? He doesn’t have a lot left to prove, and as a seventy-something-year-old could coast into retirement without anyone putting up a fight. You can almost feel that late-career contentment at play in Standing Up, Falling Down as he plays a dermatologist with a pronounced sense of humour who comes to mentor a young comedian who has moved back to his parent’s place after a failed stint in Hollywood. As a younger and an older man begin a friendship, you can count on most of the tropes of such films to be trotted out, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing: a strong script, directed by Matt Ratner, allows Crystal to provide the laughs even as the film moves into bittersweet territory. Crystal has some easy chemistry with co-lead Ben Schwartz, and the film isn’t in a hurry to get everything done right away even at 91 minutes. Standing Up, Falling Down is not a big event film—it’s meant to play leisurely at home, entertain audiences with a well-executed portrait of male friendship and bow out. As such, it’s reasonably successful in its aims… and it gives Crystal a good later-career role to show everyone that he’s still reasonably funny under the right circumstances.

  • The Clearing (2004)

    The Clearing (2004)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, September 2020) In between the dark scary forest of genre crime thrillers and the featureless plains of straightforward drama, there is a zone that is neither—a place where crime stories can be used to illustrate human concerns without necessarily becoming genre stories nor completely fall in the vast expanses of straight drama. The Clearing is in such a zone, as the kidnapping of a rich person becomes more of a dramatic vehicle for a good cast than a conventionally satisfying story. In this case, the cast is a trio of legends: Robert Redford plays the kidnapped, Willem Defoe the kidnapper and Helen Mirren the wife who must deliver the ransom. But writer-director-producer Pieter Jan Brugge (directing his first film after a long producing career) isn’t really aiming for a visceral thrill-a-minute kind of film. Instead, he spends his time ambling along with the characters, and even misdirects the audience’s attention to stretch the story for even longer than it is. The result of such shenanigans is not what he had hoped for: The Clearing, in the end, feels like a trick more than a movie. The misdirection hides an unsatisfying ending, and distances audiences from the characters. Neither ends up being a winning move considering the coldness of the film. Despite good work from the actors, The Clearing is not only a disappointment, but something that’s likely to fade away from memory far quicker than a conventionally entertaining genre piece would have.

  • Waxwork (1988)

    Waxwork (1988)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, September 2020) If there’s such a thing as an “exact median” 1980s horror film, I would nominate Waxwork for the title: it’s a bit too good to be dismissed, but not good enough to be praised. It’s certainly attuned with the 1980s horror movie atmosphere, as it pays homage to everything that’s come before it, mixes all of those influences together, and even nods toward some of the decade’s other films. Plotting-wise, it feels like a blender full of homages, as teenagers exploring a creepy wax museum are… sucked into parallel dimensions to meet the real versions of the wax monsters, then have to… fight off an evil prophecy that would deliver the world to eighteen evil forces? What? Unable to keep an idea in head longer than it’s still interesting, writer-director Anthony Hickox flits from one horror trope to another, delivers his House of Wax homage, then (obviously, because that’s what happens in war museum horror films) burns everything up in time for the climax. Waxwork is, again, not terrible and not great but somewhere in the intermittently interesting middle. It will be far more interesting to fans of the genre more than neophytes.

  • Class Action Park (2020)

    Class Action Park (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) One of the most interesting kinds of laughter is what I call the disbelief laughter—whatever comes out when you’re just astounded, in denial, or still trying to process new information that just simply shouldn’t be part of reality. Since that information can be violent or macabre in nature, it’s the kind of laughter that makes you feel a little bit like a psychopath. All of this to say that you may find yourself laughing quite a bit throughout the documentary feature Class Action Park, and at things that are resolutely not funny. Don’t worry—that laughter is your brain trying to catch up. The film is all about New Jersey’s infamous Action Park, an amusement park so dangerous and badly supervised that no less than six deaths have been linked to the park rides—and that’s not mentioning the countless injuries (“several ambulances per day”), the high-risk culture of the place, and the rampant inebriation of visitors and staff. (Yes, they sold alcohol on-site.) Much of the lively film is spent in interviews with past attendees and supervisors—most of whom cheerfully recall the park’s dangers (in a “wow, I can’t believe we survived” kind of way) while soberly acknowledging that it wasn’t a place that should have kept going. Why it kept going is an interesting question in itself, as allegations of corruption and evidence of insurance fraud legal action are mentioned. But it’s in the crazy-stupid anecdotes that the film is at its most…er… hilarious. Don’t be surprised to laugh and laugh at recollections of the “Cannonball Loop” water slide also include that due to the design of the ride, users would frequently be stuck at the top of the enclosed loop, unable to slide further… and with further users coming down the pipe cutting themselves on previous riders’ stuck teeth. There are many more such incidents mentioned in the film, from a pool nicknamed “The Grave Pool” to altercations between visitors and staff. While Action Park is a memory by now, it’s not an uncommon memory to New Jersey residents—as it was the closest and cheapest water park, it attracted crowds that the park was ill-equipped to handle. But what’s just a fond (if sometimes painful) memory for the film’s interviewees can see like an unbelievable tall tale to anyone who wasn’t there and will have trouble believing that such a thing could ever exist in today’s litigious context. Indeed—documentarians Seth Porges and Chris Charles Scott III can’t quite reconcile the allure of the park’s danger with the consequences of its failings: the ending hits both themes in such rapid succession that you can’t help but… laugh.  And if you’re laughing throughout the entire film, that’s you struggling to make sense of it all. Ironically, if you think that Class Action Park is the stuff of fiction, rest assured that a movie partially inspired by Action Park does exist as Action Point, starring (who else?) Johnny Knoxville. Alas, it’s not nearly as funny as the documentary, even if it’s a very different kind of laughter.

  • Shine a Light (2008)

    Shine a Light (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) Look, if you’re going to shoot a concert film for **The Rolling Stones**, obviously you’re going to get **Martin Scorsese** for it. Legends to present legends, right? It makes more sense than most picks—Scorsese, after all, has directed concert films before (most notably The Last Waltz) and considers the Stones a formative influence. It certainly helps that The Stones, as of 2008, were still incredible performers: Mick Jagger can’t just stand still and sing when there’s dancing and crowd-hyping to do. Combined with behind-the-scenes footage, celebrity testimonies (the recorded concert at New York’s Beacon Theater was a benefit for the Clinton Foundation, so you’ll never guess who shows up), archival footage and swooping moving cameras, Shine a Light is at once majestic and intimate. Inevitably, the music is iconic, the energy is infectious and Scorsese clearly knows how to package everything into one great package.

  • Stay Alive (2006)

    Stay Alive (2006)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, September 2020) I could go on to live a long and fulfill life without ever hearing the cliché “If you die in the game, you die for real” ever again. But thanks to Hollywood, that’s not likely to happen—it’s the defining trope of the gaming-horror movie subgenre, and Stay Alive embraces it with a passion. Well, except that the death doesn’t immediately happen upon dying in the game—instead, the game is a way for Elizabeth Bathory is, I guess, be inspired as to how she will kill the gamer a few moments later in real life. Or something: Stay Alive is clear on the fact that if you die in the game, then you die in real-life, but the specifics are always hazy and subject to change according to the requirements of the screenwriters. This sloppy lack of rigour is one of many failings that condemns this mid-2000s teen horror film: To that, you could add uninspired characters, by-the-number horror sequences, William Brent Bell’s dull direction and a ridiculous portrayal of “gaming.” I’m going to be nicer than you’d expect about the obviously dated portrayal of mid-2000s computer graphics because that’s the most obvious target and we’re almost at the point where Stay Alive can be given the nice patina of retrogaming. In fact, I suspect that Stay Alive itself may appreciate a bit more over the next few years: As bad as it is, it can still be fun to watch as an endearing attempt at that era’s idea of teen horror and create the distance required for any mocking take. According to the usual nostalgia cycle, I give it about ten years before it’s fondly remembered by those born in 1990.

  • Divine Madness (1980)

    Divine Madness (1980)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) I’m coming at Bette Midler’s concert film Divine Madness from a very different perspective than the paying audience did back in 1980—she was then known as a singer, with only one film under her belt. People saw the film as one way for the chart-topping entertainer to extend her reach to the movie screen. I, on the other hand (and like many cinephiles), now see Midler first as a comic actress—that’s what’s been captured and keeps her profile alive even as her earlier musical success has been eclipsed. From that perspective, Divine Madness is an enduring film capture of her singing abilities. It should not surprise any of her fans, no matter how they know her. Here, a thirtysomething Midler demonstrates the three pillars that ensured her success no matter the medium: beauty, charisma and talent. Blending bawdy comic patter with stirring performances and a grander-than-life persona, Midler tears through multiple outrageous costume changes, touches upon half a dozen musical styles, and keeps up the comedy from beginning to end. Director Michael Ritchie innovated at the time by keeping the energy high and the numerous cameras rolling: While this approach has become familiar over the years, it was a revelation at the time and helped distinguish the film from many more conventional concert films. While the time to see Divine Madness and rush out to buy tickets to Midler’s next concert is gone (although she is still performing on Broadway), we can at least keep the film as a capture of that specific moment.

  • Hard to Kill (1990)

    Hard to Kill (1990)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, September 2020) As much as it’s easy to laugh about Steven Seagal these days now that he’s an obese shadow of his former self, his first few films weren’t that bad. An example of this is Hard to Kill, a straightforward revenge action movie in which Seagal is surrounded by competent filmmakers, is in fairly good shape, and has an acceptable script. (Well, one that doesn’t dwell for a long time on physical rehabilitation after seven years of coma—Seagal is always ready to go!) It’s still not that good a movie, but at least it’s competent. Seagal, on the other hand, is still as stiff and downright strange here at the top of his screen persona—playing an action hero more than a character, and not doing it with any style or grace. Kelly Lebrock is a welcome addition to the package, but let’s be clear—as orchestrated by Bruce Malmuth, it’s an efficient action movie first, and then all sorts of Seagal-infused weirdness second. Anyone wondering what the fuss was about Seagal in his glory days could always watch Hard to Kill: they’ll at least get an accurate idea that Seagal could be better but, even at his best, wasn’t that much of a superstar.

  • Uncut Gems (2019)

    Uncut Gems (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, September 2020) Every few years, Adam Sandler comes out of his rote torpor and delivers a dramatic performance for good directors that impresses even those who aren’t big fans of his. Uncut Gems is the latest of those too-rare performances, a quasi-hallucinatory, anxiety-inducing trip within the dangerous life of a Manhattan jeweller/gambler at a time when all sorts of crises are reaching a dramatic point. Written and directed by the Safdie Brothers, Uncut Gems is not a pretty film in any way—it’s not slick or glossy or comforting. Every nervous edit, every discordant musical cue, every trashy backdrop seems calculated to make the film even more unsettling. This is absolutely not safe or classically entertaining. But while I wouldn’t normally cheer on such movies (let alone one that seems to think that basketball is one of the most important things ever), even I have to admit that Uncut Gems work rather well, and that Sandler is surprisingly good in this very dramatic -some will even say tragic—role.

  • Radio Days (1987)

    Radio Days (1987)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) As much as I have a lot of unflattering things to say about Woody Allen, I’ll take a break from it in discussing Radio Days, as the film almost deserves to live on its own. The irony is that it’s clearly a semi-autobiographical tale, telling us about the late-1930s and early 1940s, when radio reigned over the lives of ordinary people, before TV took over everything. Our protagonist is a boy (an incredibly young Seth Green) who obsesses about the shows he hears—but from him the narrative sprawls to cover his family, his friends and the actors playing the characters he idolizes. It’s 85 minutes of thick nostalgia, and it’s so effective that it works even for those who weren’t there by a few generations. The historical recreation of New York City (Manhattan for the radio personalities, Queens for the protagonist) is convincing for a mid-1980s film. The soundtrack is really good and the episodic structure does come together more readily than most films of this type. It all culminates in a poignant send-off that also nods at an entire era. Radio Days may not be my favourite Woody Allen film, but it’s certainly in the top tier.

  • 52 Hz, I Love You (2017)

    52 Hz, I Love You (2017)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, September 2020) If Hollywood can’t be bothered to do romantic musical comedies, let’s go overseas! Taiwanese entry 52 Hz, I Love You focuses on Valentine’s Day in Taipei, following a main trio plus an ensemble of supporting characters as they meet, break up, make up and get married during the course of the day. Taking its cues from classic Hollywood musicals, the film blends singing and a bit of dancing, zipping from one character to the other and having everything seem lost right until the heartwarming ending. It’s nothing wild or upsetting, but the Taiwanese atmosphere is unusual and the characters can be endearing after a while. 52 Hz, I Love You doesn’t reinvent anything (although the inclusion of a same-sex couple is unexpected and charming in its own way) but it does it rather well.