I've been catching up on the movies of Alex Iglesia. Probably because I found out he was responsible for both Perdita Durango and The Perfect Crime. Wanted to see what else he'd made so...
La Communidad
Better informed people than myself say this is Iglesia's best film. A down on her luck real estate agent is living in an empty apartment that she's meant to show to potential customers because her own flat has no heating. One day, a million cockroaches fall on her from a crack in the cieling. This leads to a discovery that the man who lives in the flat above her is dead and peacefully rotting away, uncared for and unattended. We find out that the dead man was a recluse hated by the other people living in the complex and was also a winner of the national lottery. The woman happens to find the money hidden away in his flat and so begins a tense and comedic cat and mouse chase between the woman and the rest of the occupants in that building. There's an opening shot with a corpse and a cat that is simply fantastic and the movie does have its moments but of the Iglesia movies I've seen this is probably my least favourite. Still better than 90% of the crap out there.
The Day of the Beast
The movie follows a catholic priest and theology professor who has deciphered a code that tells him the anti-christ will be born in Madrid. He determines to summon the devil so he can ask him when and where exactly the baby will be born. Along the way he recruits a metal head and a popular TV medium to his cause. The movie plays out like a light hearted farce for about the first half and then things start to take a turn to darker territory. The performances are terrific in this film and the characters are likable. A very enjoyable dark comedy with a high body count.
The Last Circus
The latest film from Iglesia. This is a strange film about a boy from a family of clowns. His father, a "happy" clown is imprisoned and later dies in prison as a rebel of General Franco's politics. The son goes on to become a "sad" clown and joins a circus. Here, the happy clown is the star and is a cruel bully who mistreats his employees and beats on his wife (the beautiful Carolina Bang). Our happy clown falls in love with her and it all ends badly. Part camp, part comedy, part horror and part heartbreaking tragedy, the movie is held up by 3 superb performances from the sad clown, the happy clown and the woman. The hero's father, played by Iglesia regular Santiago Seguro turns in another wonderful performance. There's heavy use of CGI particularly for the set piece climax with the three main characters battling it out on top of a gigantic tower and the whole movie is set in Franco's Spain, starting from when he came into power and ending as his power was on the decline. This is a powerful film and worth watching.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
So I finally saw the film. It has one great central performance from Gary Oldman and a terrific supporting cast which makes even the smallest walk on cameo a pleasure to watch. The story is simple enough. Set during the height of the cold war, there's a mole in British foreign intelligence and Oldman is brought out of retirement to flush the mole out. Maybe its just in my head but it feels like Oldman is channeling Alec Guinness' performance in the TV series. His speech, the half smile, the delicate way he holds his cigarette all reminded me of Guiness's performance but Oldman is a terrific actor and he makes the role his own. Its a very tight movie at just about 2 hours and has almost no exposition. you need to pay attention to the dialogue and the seemingly thrown away little pieces of information that the director let's you have. The problem with this is that apart from Oldman's Smiley, the rest of the characters never really come alive and are just cardboard cut outs. Still, worth watching.
Homeland
Saw season 1 of Homeland over the weekend and its pretty good. An American marine sergeant held captive by a terrorist cell in Iraq for 8 years is freed in an unrelated attack on insurgents. He comes home a hero and one track follows his rehabilitation and settling into his domestic life with a wife and 2 kids. Then there's Claire Danes who plays a CIA agent with information that a POW has been turned by the terrorists and is planning something big in America. She's convinced that its the Sergeant and so begins a 12 hour cat and mouse game with various political and CIA intrigue thrown in. The acting is pretty great right from episode 1. The dude who plays the sergeant, his wife played by the whore from Firefly, Mandy Patinkin as a CIA consultant and Danes are particularly good as is just about every kid cast in this series. Homeland also stays away from any sort of propaganda and jingoism with all the characters dressed in various shades of grey. Overall, worth watching even if a touch predictable and succumbing to the rules of television and a possible second season.
Outrage
Takeshi Kitano returns to the world of the Yakuza after almost a decade with mixed results. The story is simple enough and almost an alternate version of Sonatine. Kitano plays the head of a minor Yakuza gang who gets used by his immediate boss. He's asked to constantly pick fights with a drug running gang who's boss is brother to Kitano's boss. Kitano's gang is used to further his own ambition and then thrown to the wolves when it suits him. Obviously, this doesn't sit well with Kitano and company after about an hour of set up we're left with a violent and bloody closing chapter that sees Kitano the director, completely unrestrained in the spilling of blood. Kitano the actor also seems to be having fun with his role and is a bit more animated than usual. The stillness I've come to associate with Beat Takeshi is reduced here. There's also a lot of familiar faces from previous Yakuza movies. Overall, fans of Kitano's more violent work will probably like this but it lacks in characterisation and the labyrinthine plot of double and triple crosses and political intrigue and power struggles within the yakuza need to be paid attention to, to follow completely. The man's well over 60 now but his energy seems to be boundless. Kitano fans will like this but everyone else should stay away.
Kill List
Act 1. A family. Husaband and wife love each other. They have a son they love as well. But. Husband has no job and they're broke. Wife is upset about this. They fight constantly but they still love each other and love their son. Then one day, husband's old friend turns up with a new girlfriend for a dinner party. Offers the husband a new well paying job. We find out then that the husband and his friend used to be soldiers, then dodgy mercenaries and now are hit men. There's also something a bit off about the friend's new girlfriend. Act 2. The husband and his friend take on the Kill List. Everyone on it is involved in a kiddie porn ring so no problems in disposing of this scum. But. Husband seems to be on the verge of a breakdown and each kill is more violent and gory than the last. Act 3. Everything goes to hell with a crazy fucking twist ending. Honestly, a tense, superbly acted little British film with an ending that left me asking "Why?!" Completely unnecessary. Shades of A Serbian Film, shock cinema, whatever you want to call it. A film worth watching but with an ending that left me quite disappointed.
SpunLa Communidad
Better informed people than myself say this is Iglesia's best film. A down on her luck real estate agent is living in an empty apartment that she's meant to show to potential customers because her own flat has no heating. One day, a million cockroaches fall on her from a crack in the cieling. This leads to a discovery that the man who lives in the flat above her is dead and peacefully rotting away, uncared for and unattended. We find out that the dead man was a recluse hated by the other people living in the complex and was also a winner of the national lottery. The woman happens to find the money hidden away in his flat and so begins a tense and comedic cat and mouse chase between the woman and the rest of the occupants in that building. There's an opening shot with a corpse and a cat that is simply fantastic and the movie does have its moments but of the Iglesia movies I've seen this is probably my least favourite. Still better than 90% of the crap out there.
The Day of the Beast
The movie follows a catholic priest and theology professor who has deciphered a code that tells him the anti-christ will be born in Madrid. He determines to summon the devil so he can ask him when and where exactly the baby will be born. Along the way he recruits a metal head and a popular TV medium to his cause. The movie plays out like a light hearted farce for about the first half and then things start to take a turn to darker territory. The performances are terrific in this film and the characters are likable. A very enjoyable dark comedy with a high body count.
The Last Circus
The latest film from Iglesia. This is a strange film about a boy from a family of clowns. His father, a "happy" clown is imprisoned and later dies in prison as a rebel of General Franco's politics. The son goes on to become a "sad" clown and joins a circus. Here, the happy clown is the star and is a cruel bully who mistreats his employees and beats on his wife (the beautiful Carolina Bang). Our happy clown falls in love with her and it all ends badly. Part camp, part comedy, part horror and part heartbreaking tragedy, the movie is held up by 3 superb performances from the sad clown, the happy clown and the woman. The hero's father, played by Iglesia regular Santiago Seguro turns in another wonderful performance. There's heavy use of CGI particularly for the set piece climax with the three main characters battling it out on top of a gigantic tower and the whole movie is set in Franco's Spain, starting from when he came into power and ending as his power was on the decline. This is a powerful film and worth watching.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
So I finally saw the film. It has one great central performance from Gary Oldman and a terrific supporting cast which makes even the smallest walk on cameo a pleasure to watch. The story is simple enough. Set during the height of the cold war, there's a mole in British foreign intelligence and Oldman is brought out of retirement to flush the mole out. Maybe its just in my head but it feels like Oldman is channeling Alec Guinness' performance in the TV series. His speech, the half smile, the delicate way he holds his cigarette all reminded me of Guiness's performance but Oldman is a terrific actor and he makes the role his own. Its a very tight movie at just about 2 hours and has almost no exposition. you need to pay attention to the dialogue and the seemingly thrown away little pieces of information that the director let's you have. The problem with this is that apart from Oldman's Smiley, the rest of the characters never really come alive and are just cardboard cut outs. Still, worth watching.
Homeland
Saw season 1 of Homeland over the weekend and its pretty good. An American marine sergeant held captive by a terrorist cell in Iraq for 8 years is freed in an unrelated attack on insurgents. He comes home a hero and one track follows his rehabilitation and settling into his domestic life with a wife and 2 kids. Then there's Claire Danes who plays a CIA agent with information that a POW has been turned by the terrorists and is planning something big in America. She's convinced that its the Sergeant and so begins a 12 hour cat and mouse game with various political and CIA intrigue thrown in. The acting is pretty great right from episode 1. The dude who plays the sergeant, his wife played by the whore from Firefly, Mandy Patinkin as a CIA consultant and Danes are particularly good as is just about every kid cast in this series. Homeland also stays away from any sort of propaganda and jingoism with all the characters dressed in various shades of grey. Overall, worth watching even if a touch predictable and succumbing to the rules of television and a possible second season.
Outrage
Takeshi Kitano returns to the world of the Yakuza after almost a decade with mixed results. The story is simple enough and almost an alternate version of Sonatine. Kitano plays the head of a minor Yakuza gang who gets used by his immediate boss. He's asked to constantly pick fights with a drug running gang who's boss is brother to Kitano's boss. Kitano's gang is used to further his own ambition and then thrown to the wolves when it suits him. Obviously, this doesn't sit well with Kitano and company after about an hour of set up we're left with a violent and bloody closing chapter that sees Kitano the director, completely unrestrained in the spilling of blood. Kitano the actor also seems to be having fun with his role and is a bit more animated than usual. The stillness I've come to associate with Beat Takeshi is reduced here. There's also a lot of familiar faces from previous Yakuza movies. Overall, fans of Kitano's more violent work will probably like this but it lacks in characterisation and the labyrinthine plot of double and triple crosses and political intrigue and power struggles within the yakuza need to be paid attention to, to follow completely. The man's well over 60 now but his energy seems to be boundless. Kitano fans will like this but everyone else should stay away.
Kill List
Act 1. A family. Husaband and wife love each other. They have a son they love as well. But. Husband has no job and they're broke. Wife is upset about this. They fight constantly but they still love each other and love their son. Then one day, husband's old friend turns up with a new girlfriend for a dinner party. Offers the husband a new well paying job. We find out then that the husband and his friend used to be soldiers, then dodgy mercenaries and now are hit men. There's also something a bit off about the friend's new girlfriend. Act 2. The husband and his friend take on the Kill List. Everyone on it is involved in a kiddie porn ring so no problems in disposing of this scum. But. Husband seems to be on the verge of a breakdown and each kill is more violent and gory than the last. Act 3. Everything goes to hell with a crazy fucking twist ending. Honestly, a tense, superbly acted little British film with an ending that left me asking "Why?!" Completely unnecessary. Shades of A Serbian Film, shock cinema, whatever you want to call it. A film worth watching but with an ending that left me quite disappointed.
Jason Shwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Mina Suvari, Brittany Murphy and John Leguziama makes for an interesting cast. Put them in a movie made by a Swedish music video director and what you get is a hipster druggie movie that's part Requiem for a Dream and part Tarantino wannabe. Shwartzman goes to his dealer Leguziama to score some crystal meth. There he meets Murphy who takes him to meet The Cook, played by Rourke. Shwartzman spends the next 3 days driving the duo around in exchange for drugs and that's pretty much the story. There's also a disturbing sub plot involving a girl that Shwartzman's chained up in his house. There's Shwartzman's neighbour and phone sex operator played by Debbie Harry, Rob Halford as a porn shop clerk, Ron Jeremy in a thankfully non speaking cameo and Eric Roberts in an embarrassing, over the top cameo as a gay drug lord. The most likable characters here are Leguziama as the meth dealing Spider and Rourke as the meth cooking "Cook." Both are competent and over the top when they have to be but both have been way better. Shwartzman, Suvari and Murphy are all at various levels of annoying although Peter Stormar turns up in a fun little role as a coke head cop. Credit where its due, the movie isn't as bad as it sounds. The director uses a shit load of edits, dilating pupils and animation to add visual flair. Unfortunately, the story isn't much. Still worth a watch if you want an over the top flashy ride with very little substance.
Here's Rourke and Halford in the same scene. Sort of.
A Lonely Place for Dying
Tight action thriller about a group of mountain climbers out on a climb in Scotland who come across a little girl buried in an underground chamber. Who she is and who put her there makes up the story with some stunning cinematography. The movie plays out like a more cerebral Cliffhanger with a couple of great action set pieces. Doesn't flinch on the violence and the acting is pretty decent. Overall, worth a watch for action fans.
Triangle
From the guy who did Black Death and Creep, this movie was quite entertaining. A group of friends take off on a boating trip. The weather suddenly changes and a sudden storm overturns the boat. The stranded survivors see a cruise liner that drifts along and manage to get on board but its not a normal ship. Released the same year as Time Crimes from Spain, the similarity in theme is undeniable. However, thanks to a great lead performance, the movie holds together and as it unfolds, manages to be gripping in spite of the fact that genre fans should figure out the plot quickly. Nothing special but worth a watch for sci-fi fans.
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