Briefly Noted...

Darling (1965)***

One of those 1960s “sophisticated” entertainments in which everyone drinks too much, drives too fast in zippy little convertibles, has tawdry affairs, and there’s a character or two that might be gay. This one also has a couple of plot twists too many, and as Julie Christie sleeps her way to the top, you’ll likely need a scorecard to manage all the convolutions. The dreamy assemblage of Christie, Laurence Harvey and Dirk Bogarde never quite gels here, but it’s not director John Schlesinger’s fault. Darling is a 3 hour script crammed into 128 minutes, and it gets a little exhausting.

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Japon (2002)***

This debut effort from Carlos Reygadas features the bleak physicality of his later films, but fails to establish that perfectly dialed-in mood of existential despair that’s made his work famous – or infamous. The accent here is on the raw and the unfiltered, without the balancing humanism of Battle in Heaven or Silent Light. Fans of the director will recognize a number of trademark Reygadas shot designs, but ultimately, the film seems more like Arthouse porn than the transfixing internal dramas we’ve come to expect.. Japon gets a third star for at least trying to do something interesting, but there’s some shocking stuff here, so don’t watch it with the in-laws.

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Rendez-vous (1985)**

By the time Andre Techine's bohemian anti-romance is over, you will likely have lost any marginal interest in any of the characters. Perky Juliette Binoche plays an archetypal young woman who flees the provinces for the big city to pursue an artistic career and the attendant sexually liberated lifestyle. Along the way, she gets buck nekkid with several miscreants, all of whom turn out to be shining examples of what utter pigs men can be. The most disturbing aspect of this dour snoozer is that it’s a reasonably accurate picture of urban dating life in the 1980s. It’s a miracle we survived.

Briefly Noted...

Darling (1965)***

One of those 1960s “sophisticated” entertainments in which everyone drinks too much, drives too fast in zippy little convertibles, has tawdry affairs, and there’s a character or two that might be gay. This one also has a couple of plot twists too many, and as Julie Christie sleeps her way to the top, you’ll likely need a scorecard to manage all the convolutions. The dreamy assemblage of Christie, Laurence Harvey and Dirk Bogarde never quite gels here, but it’s not director John Schlesinger’s fault. Darling is a 3 hour script crammed into 128 minutes, and it gets a little exhausting.

---

Japon (2002)***

This debut effort from Carlos Reygadas features the bleak physicality of his later films, but fails to establish that perfectly dialed-in mood of existential despair that’s made his work famous – or infamous. The accent here is on the raw and the unfiltered, without the balancing humanism of Battle in Heaven or Silent Light. Fans of the director will recognize a number of trademark Reygadas shot designs, but ultimately, the film seems more like Arthouse porn than the transfixing internal dramas we’ve come to expect.. Japon gets a third star for at least trying to do something interesting, but there’s some shocking stuff here, so don’t watch it with the in-laws.

---

Rendez-vous (1985)**

By the time Andre Techine's bohemian anti-romance is over, you will likely have lost any marginal interest in any of the characters. Perky Juliette Binoche plays an archetypal young woman who flees the provinces for the big city to pursue an artistic career and the attendant sexually liberated lifestyle. Along the way, she gets buck nekkid with several miscreants, all of whom turn out to be shining examples of what utter pigs men can be. The most disturbing aspect of this dour snoozer is that it’s a reasonably accurate picture of urban dating life in the 1980s. It’s a miracle we survived.

Leon Morin, Priest (1961) **1/2

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"Léon Morin, Priest is a film with a few intriguing and compelling moments, but never adds up to anything greater than the sum of its parts. Melville seemed so concerned with pleasing everyone that he took a fascinating premise – a study of the similarities of military campaigns and organized religion – and through excessive calculation, turned it into pablum for the masses."

Click Here to Read the Full Review at IONCINEMA.com

Leon Morin, Priest (1961) **1/2

(

"Léon Morin, Priest is a film with a few intriguing and compelling moments, but never adds up to anything greater than the sum of its parts. Melville seemed so concerned with pleasing everyone that he took a fascinating premise – a study of the similarities of military campaigns and organized religion – and through excessive calculation, turned it into pablum for the masses."

Click Here to Read the Full Review at IONCINEMA.com

A Screaming Man (2009)***1/2

"Mere words cannot be trusted in a time of civil war, and in A Screaming Man, Haroum wisely distrusts them to convey the full measure of his hero’s bitter and costly lapses. Like the nation of Chad, Adam has managed to destroy himself from within, and we can only sit and ache at the horrors of the aftermath."

Click Here to Read the Entire Review at IONCINEMA.com

A Screaming Man (2009)***1/2

"Mere words cannot be trusted in a time of civil war, and in A Screaming Man, Haroum wisely distrusts them to convey the full measure of his hero’s bitter and costly lapses. Like the nation of Chad, Adam has managed to destroy himself from within, and we can only sit and ache at the horrors of the aftermath."

Click Here to Read the Entire Review at IONCINEMA.com

Life During Wartime (2009) **** Blu-ray

As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, this disc should rank among the most significant, and certainly the most truthful, commemoratives of that terrible day. For as Life During Wartime clearly shows, Americans, through paranoia, greed and hubris, are doing a much better job of destroying their society than any terrorist could ever hope to accomplish.

Read the Full Review

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