ASHES AND DIAMONDS: a killer wants to stop

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Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Coming up tomorrow night on Turner Classic Movies, a masterful director and his charismatic star ignite the war-end thriller Ashes and Diamonds, set amidst war-end treachery. It’s one of my Overlooked Noir.

It’s the end of WW II and the Red Army has almost completely liberated Poland from the Nazis. The future governance of Poland is now up in the air, and the Polish resistance can now stop killing Germans and start wrestling for control. Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski) is a young but experienced soldier in the Resistance. His commanders assign him to assassinate a communist leader.

Maciek is very good at targeted killing, but he’s weary of it. As he wants out, he finds love. But his commander is insisting on this one last hit.

This is Zbigniew Cybulski’s movie. Often compared to James Dean, Cybulski emanates electricity and unpredictability, Unusual for a leading man, he often wore glasses in his screen roles. He had only been screen acting for four years when he made Ashes and Diamonds. Cybulski died nine years later when hit by a train at age forty,

Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Andrzej Wajda fills the movie with striking visuals, such as viewing Maciek’s love interest, the waitress Krystyna (Ewa Krzyzewska), alone amidst the detritus of last night’s party, through billows of cigarette smoke. Wajda’s triumphant signature is, literally, fireworks at the climax; the juxtaposition of the celebratory fireworks with Maciek’s emotional crisis is unforgettable.

Ewa Krzyzewska in ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Wajda adapted a famous 1948 Polish novel into this 1958 movie. In the adaptation, the filmmaker changed the emphasis from one character to another.

Ashes and Diamonds was the third feature for Andrzej Wajda, who became a seminal Polish filmmaker and received an honorary Oscar. US audiences may remember his 1983 art house hit Danton with Gerard Depardieu.

TCM will be preceding Ashes and Diamonds with the documentary Wadja by Wadja, which I haven’t seen, but I will be recording. Ashes and Diamonds can be streamed from Amazon and iTunes. It was featured at the 2020 Noir City film festival.

Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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THE HANDMAIDEN

More unjustly overlooked movies to enjoy at home: an erotic plot-twister, an unforgettable coming of age film, some political economics and an amazingly charismatic star in a classic noir…from Poland!

Tonight, I’ll be streaming the newest from documentarian Matt Wolf – Spaceship Earth, about the 1990s Biosphere 2 experiments.

ON VIDEO

After a few minutes of The Handmaiden, we learn that it’s a con artist movie. After 100 minutes, we think we’ve watched an excellent con artist movie, but then we’re surprised by a huge PLOT TWIST, and we’re in for two more episodes and lots of surprises in a gripping and absorbing final hour. It’s also one of the most visually beautiful and highly erotic films of the year. Stream it on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

The unforgettable coming of age film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is perched right on the knife-edge between tragedy and comedy. The title suggests a weeper (and it is), but 90% of Me and Earl is flat-out hilarious. Stream it from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL

Other recent streaming recommendations:

Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a critical look at the concentration of wealth from Thomas Piketty’s best seller.

ROJO. Courtesy of SFFILM.

ON TV

On May 10, Turner Classic Movies presents the Polish thriller Ashes and Diamonds, one of my Overlooked Noir. A masterful director and his charismatic star make this a Can’t Miss. I’ll be writing more about this tomorrow.

ASHES AND DIAMONDS

ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL – perched on the knife edge between comedy and tragedy

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Olivia Cooke and Thomas Mann in ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL
Olivia Cooke and Thomas Mann in ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL

Here’s a MUST SEE – the unforgettable coming of age Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, a brilliant second feature from director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. The title suggests a weeper (and it is), but 90% of Me and Earl is flat-out hilarious. It’s high on my list of the Best Movies of 2015 .

Greg (Thomas Mann) is a Pittsburgh teenager who has decided that the best strategy for navigating high school is to foster good relations with every school clique while belonging to none. Embracing the adage “hot girls destroy your life”, he gives the opposite gender a very wide berth. Outwardly genial, Greg is emphatically anti-social in practice, except for his best friend Earl (Ronald Cyler II). But he even refuses to admit that Earl is his friend, describing him “as more of a co-worker”.

Greg’s parents disrupt Greg’s routine by forcing him to visit his classmate Rachel (Olivia Cooke), who has just been diagnosed with leukemia. Rachel doesn’t want any pity, so this is awkward all around until Greg makes Rachel laugh, which draws him back again to visit -and again. A friendship, based on their shared quirky senses of humor, blossoms, but – given her diagnosis – how far can it go?

Rachel is delighted to learn that Greg and Earl shoot their own movies – short knock-offs of iconic cinema classics. She first laughs when she finds that he has remade Rashomon as MonoRash. Their other titles include Death in Tennis, Brew Velvet and A Box of Lips Now.

Ronald Cyler II and Thomas Mann in ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL
Ronald Cyler II and Thomas Mann in ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL

Why is Me and Earl so successful? Most importantly, it perches right on the knife-edge between tragedy and comedy, and does so more than any movie I can think of. As funny as it is, we all know that there’s that leukemia thing just under the surface. But, with its originality and resistance to sentimentality, Me and Earl is the farthest thing from a disease-of-the-week movie.

Any movie lover will love all the movie references, as well as Greg and Earl’s many short films. Gomez-Rejon shot these shorts with Super 8, Bolex, digital Bolex and iPhone. Jesse Andrews adapted his own novel, and, as Gomez-Rejon expanded the number of “films within the film”, he called on Andrews to supply him with the new titles – and there are scores of them, right through the ending credits.

Finally, Me and Earl’s art direction is the most singular of any coming of age film. In fact, all the art direction led to the movie’s very satisfying ending; Gomez-Rejon brought in those surprises on the wall at the end – it’s not in the novel.

But Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is at its heart a coming of age story. Sure, the character of Greg is an original, but the life lessons that he must learn are universal.

Thomas Mann is hilarious as Greg; he could be a great comic talent in the making. Cooke and newcomer Cyler are also excellent. Nick Offerman and Connie Britton are perfect as Greg’s well-meaning parents, as is Molly Shannon as Rachel’s needy mom. Jon Bernthal also rocks the role of Mr. McCarthy, another great character we haven’t seen before – a boisterously vital, but grounded history teacher; Mr. McCarthy lets Greg and Earl spend their lunch hours in his office watching Werner Herzog movies on YouTube. (And Herzog himself reportedly loves the references.)

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon started as a personal assistant to Martin Scorsese and worked his way up to second unit director. With the startling originality of Me and Earl, he’s proved his chops as an auteur.

I saw Me and Earl and the Dying Girl in May 2015 at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) at a screening with Gomez-Rejon.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and a Must See. It’s available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Three more days to enjoy these films from SXSW – included with Amazon Prime

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FACE TO FACE TIME

This year’s SXSW Film Festival, set to play in March, was cancelled due to COVID-19, but SXSW and Amazon are teaming to showcase over thirty of the films through this Wednesday, May 6. I’ve seen six of them (five shorts and a feature) that I can recommend.

Fate to Face Time is a 7-minute comedy about how any date can lead to misadventure, even a remote one. She’s gone out with him twice and is looking to accelerate things with a surprise FaceTime call, but he may not be that much into her…

We’ve all over-invested in a certain date (and, since teenage years, we’ve all known better, but have done it anyway). Face to Face Time begins as a cringe comedy, but the finale is a howler.

Face to Face Time is written and directed by (and stars) Izzy Shill. As Shill herself notes in the intro, this short is especially timely while we are all sheltering at home and many are dating remotely.

Here are some some more recommendations from Prime’s SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection:

  • Quilt Fever – an affectionate documentary abou the Olympics of quilting, held annually in Paducah, Kentucky (who knew? And who knew that there was a Quilting Channel?) (16 minutes.)
  • No Crying at the Dinner Table – Filmmaker Carol Nguyen recorded separate interviews with her mom, dad and adult sister about losses they have suffered but never talked about, and then shared all three interviews with all three family members. It’s authentic, and it’s a weeper. (16 minutes)
  • The Voice Inside Your Head – a bizarre comedy is which the inner voice that is stripping you of confidence and self worth is personified in a guy who follows you around all day. (12 minutes).
  • Daddio – Casey Wilson of SNL wrote, directed and stars in this comic short about how she and her zany dad (Michael McKean) navigated their grief after the death of her mom. (18 minutes.)
  • Selfie – This French feature film is a collection of astute parodies that comment on digital online culture, from obsession with view/likes on social media to Internet dating to security breaches. Some of the vignettes are smarter and funnier than others. I especially enjoyed the guy who is bragging about how his life is made better by targeted ads (the algorithms really get him!) until he receives a targeted ad for Viagra. (1 hour 48 minutes.)

Search on Amazon for the title of the film – or “SXSW” for the entire menu of 2020 SXSW films on Amazon Prime thru May 6. If you have Amazon Prime, they’re free.

THE HANDMAIDEN – gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot

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THE HANDMAIDEN
THE HANDMAIDEN

After a few minutes of The Handmaiden, we learn that it’s a con artist movie. After 100 minutes, we think we’ve watched an excellent con artist movie, but then we’re surprised by a huge PLOT TWIST, and we’re in for two more episodes and lots of surprises in a gripping and absorbing final hour. It’s also one of the most visually beautiful and highly erotic films of the year.

Director and co-writer Chan-wook Park sets the story in 1930s Korea during Japanese occupation (Japanese dialogue is subtitled in yellow and Korean dialogue in white). A young heiress has been secluded from childhood by her guardian uncle, who intends to marry her himself for her fortune. A con man embarks on a campaign to seduce and marry the wealthy young woman to harvest her inheritance himself. The con man enlists a pickpocket to become handmaiden to the heiress – and his mole. I’m not going to tell you more about the plot, but the audience is in for a wild ride.

The Handmaiden takes its time revealing its secrets. Who is conning who? Who is attracted to whom? How naive is the heiress? How loyal is the handmaiden? Who is really Japanese and who is really Korean? What’s in those antique books? What’s in the basement? Is the uncle perverted or REALLY perverted? And what legendary sex toy will show up in the final scene?

THE HANDMAIDEN
THE HANDMAIDEN

Chan-wook Park’s 2003 US art house hit Oldboy is highly sexualized, trippy and disturbing. The Handmaiden is much more mainstream and accessible than Oldboy, but its sexuality packs a punch.

Gorgeous and erotic, The Handmaiden is one of the most gloriously entertaining films of the year. You can order the DVD from Netflix or stream it on Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: behind the one percent

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CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Documentarian Justin Pemberton brings alive Thomas Piketty’s bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a critique of the concentration of wealth. There’s no more fundamentally important political topic than inequality, and this theme has resonated through the best of recent cinema, including Parasite and Knives Out.

Pinketty traces the economics of wealth from feudal times to the present, and Pemberton keeps all the economic history lively with plenty of eye candy. Capital in the Twenty-First Century covers a lot of ground – globalization and movable capital, deregulation and privatization, defanging of organized labor, China state capital, and the impact on today’s youngest generations.

Piketty’s proffered solutions are simple and intellectually sound (stopping off-shore tax dodges, taxing inheritance, incentivizing wealth to be invested in productive risk instead of moving around a closed-loop of financial instruments). But, given the political power of great wealth, this is a very heavy political lift.

CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century pops along fairly briskly, but, as an entertaining popularizer, it’s no The Big Short or An Inconvenient Truth. Still, about an hour in, there’s a jaw-dropping psych experiment in which people benefiting from pure luck believe and act as though they are entitled.

During its Bay Area virtual run at the Roxie, you can stream Capital in the Twenty-First Century at Roxie Virtual Cinema, or at distributoe Kino Lorber’s new virtual platform Kino Marquee.

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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THE DEEP

This week, The Movie Gourmet adds more three overlooked gems to watch at home: a real life survival story, an irresistible glimpse into The New Yorker cartoons and a forgotten anti-war classic.

ON VIDEO

The compelling The Deep tells the fact-based survival story of a shipwrecked Icelandic fisherman’s ordeal in frigid waters.   You can stream The Deep on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

If you’re like me and you worship the cartoons in The New Yorker, then the documentary Very Semi-Serious is a Must See. You can stream it from Amazon (free with Prime), iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.

In the absorbing crime thriller The Whistlers, a shady cop and a mysterious woman are walking a tightrope of treachery. The Whistlers was a hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 impaired its 2020 theatrical release in the US. You can stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Other recent streaming recommendations:

Buck Brannaman in BUCK

ON TV

On May 3, Turner Classic Movies will present an overlooked masterwork. Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing Englishwomen for the brass. Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War. She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.

Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy. Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it. Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.

It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network. Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe. Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.

One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

Jule Andrews and James Garner in THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY

THE DEEP – true life survival

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THE DEEP

The compelling The Deep tells the fact-based survival story of a shipwrecked Icelandic fisherman’s ordeal in frigid waters.   Amazingly, all of the footage was shot in the ocean (no tanks) without stunt professionals.  The lead actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson makes the protagonist endearing, and he must be a hell of a good sport to spend all that time in icy water. 

Writer-director Baltasar Kormákur made the unconventional and successful choice not to end the movie with a climactic rescue, but to instead explore the impact of the incident and the attempts to explain how it was possible.

Kormákur also wrote and directed a very different and even better 2006 film, the very dark neo-noir police procedural Jar City, available on DVD and streaming.

I saw The Deep at the 2013 Cinequest. You can stream The Deep on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

VERY SEMI-SERIOUS – glimpsing inside The New Yorker cartoons

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VERY SEMI-SERIOUS

If you’re like me and you worship the cartoons in The New Yorker, then the documentary Very Semi-Serious is a Must See. Very Semi-Serious takes us inside The New Yorker for a glimpse inside the process of creating and selecting the cartoons, chiefly from the perspective of cartoonist and twenty-year New Yorker Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff. You will know Mankoff from his cartoon with the caption, “How about never? Is never good for you?”. (Mankoff has since left The New Yorker for Esquire and the website Cartoon Collections.)

We also meet rock star cartoonists that include Roz Chast and George Booth, along with The New Yorker Editor David Remnick and some aspiring cartoonist newcomers. We are boggled by the tens of cartoons each cartoonist pitches each week and the hundreds that the Cartoon Editor must review. Rejection is a major part of the cartoon life.

We also learn how Mankoff scientifically studies the eye movements of readers to see how/when/if we “get” the jokes. And we get to laugh again at HUNDREDS of cartoons.

I saw Very Semi-Serious at the 2015 San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM), and now you can stream it from Amazon (free with Prime), iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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THE WHISTLERS

We’re still watching our movies at home, so here are plenty of choices. Of the recently released, I am still recommending The Whistlers.

I also wrote about The Dark Horse, an extremely cynical and hilarious comment on American politics from 88 yer ago (and still timely), If you missed it yesterday on TCM, at least watch the clip in my post.

ON VIDEO

In the absorbing crime thriller The Whistlers, a shady cop and a mysterious woman are walking a tightrope of treachery. The Whistlers, was a hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 impaired its 2020 theatrical release in the US. You can stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

And here’s one that I KNOW you haven’t seen – the droll comedy Radio Dreams. This indie set in the Bay Area explores the ambivalence of the immigrant experience through the portrait of a flamboyant misfit, a man who rides the roller coaster of megalomania and despair. Radio Dreams is available to stream from Amazon, iTunes and kanopy.

RADIO DREAMS

Other recent streaming recommendations:

ON TV

Lon Chaney in THE UNKNOWN

On April 29, Turner Classic Movies airs The Unknown, a Lon Chaney silent, and I think that Chaney’s charisma is worth sampling. And as a fun experience, not a “this is good for you” experience.

REMEMBRANCE

The actor Brian Dennehy stood a bear-like 6’3”and could have filled his career by playing menacing heavies (and he had his share of those). But Dennehy had uncommon range, as evidenced by his most well-remembered roles – Rambo’s nemesis in First Blood and the alien in Cocoon. My favorite Dennehy movie roles were the crooked sheriff in Silverado and Harrison Ford’s morally complicated boss in Presumed Innocent. Dennehy was even a bigger star on stage – he won Tony Awards for his Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and his James in Long Day’s Journey into Night (the role Ralph Richardson played in the movie).

Brian Dennehy