FilmFanatic.org

Synopsis:
An apolitical bourgeois writer named Sergio (Sergio Carmona Mendoyo) remains in Cuba after the revolution, despite the fact that his parents and ex-wife have fled to America.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors::

• Character Studies
• Class Relations
• Cuba
• Writers

Response to Peary’s Review:
This enigmatic, complicated film — the first from “post-revolutionary Cuba to be released in the United States” — focuses on one man’s personal attempt to make sense of the rapid changes occurring in his country. Director Tomas Gutierrez Alea draws overt parallels between Sergio’s “underdeveloped” new girlfriend (Daisy Granados):

… the “underdeveloped” nation of post-revolutionary Cuba, and Sergio’s own “underdeveloped” sense of political agency. As Peary notes, it’s “hard for us to figure out Alea’s feeling towards his protagonist” — is he capable of being radicalized? — but Alea’s supplementary use of documentary footage astutely shows “the need for the revolution in Cuba and the need to preserve” its positive changes.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• A rare portrait of post-revolutionary bourgeoisie in Cuba
  
• An eclectic mix of stills, documentary footage, freeze frames, and fictional narrative
  

Must See?
Yes. This movie holds a special place in Cuban film history.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Review

Synopsis:
Filmmaker Ira Wohl helps his aging aunt and uncle find a secure home for their intellectually disabled 52-year-old son, Philly.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Documentary
• Grown Children
• Intellectually Disabled
• Survival

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary writes that this “glowing documentary” — full of “many moving scenes” — is unique in that its director “openly influences the lives of the people he’s filming”. Due to Wohl’s concerns that “Philly will be defenseless if his elderly parents die, Wohl convinces them to allow Philly to take giant strides toward self-sufficiency” — and “the excitement that he feels as he progressively achieves independence is contagious.” As Peary notes, “the intimacy Wohl achieves is remarkable — we become extremely fond of Philly, but we also become sensitive toward his mother and (dying) father, who, when they don’t worry, are happy about their son’s accomplishments, yet understandably feel self-pity because the boy needs them less and less.” Wohl followed this film nearly twenty years later with a sequel, Best Man (1997), which is also of interest, though not nearly as poignant.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Wohl’s touching concern and love for his intellectually disabled cousin
  
  
• Watching Philly go to school for the first time
  
• Philly and Zero Mostel singing a backstage version of “If I Were a Rich Man” together
  

Must See?
Yes. This Oscar-winning documentary should be seen by all film fanatics.

Categories

• Oscar Winner or Nominee

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TV Guide Review

Synopsis:
A woman (Kim Basinger) gets involved in a steamy affair with a mysterious, kinky broker (Mickey Rourke).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Mickey Rourke Films
• S&M
• Sexuality

Response to Peary’s Review:
In his review of this infamous softcore sexual drama — based on an autobiographical novel by “Elizabeth McNeil” — Peary expresses little but puzzled bewilderment, wondering why Basinger’s Elizabeth — who “seems too smart, too independent, and too under control to have anything to do with Rourke” — would be attracted to someone like him in the first place. But I think he misses the point of sadomasochistic impulses: seemingly “strong” people like Elizabeth may find themselves caught up in fantasies which even they don’t understand; thus, Elizabeth’s reluctance to leave the increasingly controlling affair makes sense on some level. For a superior work on S&M, however, see the more recent Secretary (2002) starring Maggie Gyllenhal and James Spader.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Basinger’s vulnerable, sexy performance
  

Must See?
No. While it holds some historical interest for the controversy surrounding its “almost X-rated” status, it’s not must-see viewing.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• TV Guide Review

Synopsis:
Six Yankee tourists driving through the Deep South are “invited” to Pleasant Valley for a centennial celebration of the town’s decimation by Union soldiers.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Civil War
• Deep South
• Herschell Gordon Lewis Films
• Horror
• Revenge

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary opens his review of this “terribly acted, crudely directed” cult horror flick by stating, “I don’t necessarily mean this as a recommendation, but this is goremeister Herschell Gordon Lewis’s best film” — an opinion it’s hard to dispute after watching just a few of his other flicks, including (just for instance) Blood Feast (1963). With that said, I would recommend 2000 Maniacs — which inspired the name of the rock group “10,000 Maniacs” — to film fanatics who’d like to get a good sense of the “gore fest” genre, given that it possesses a surprisingly creepy and original premise in which the killers are “vengeance-bent ghosts of people who were wiped out by Northern troops in 1869”, ready to slaughter their unsuspecting guests “in hideous ways”. As Peary notes, this is a “truly scary movie”; chances are you’ll feel genuine terror for these unwitting Yankees and the supernatural trouble they find themselves in.

Redeeming Qualities:

• An extremely creepy, gruesome premise
  

Must See?
Yes. While certainly not for all tastes, every film fanatic should see at least one cult film by Herschell Gordon Lewis, and this is a good candidate.

Categories

• Cult Movie
• Important Director

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Images Journal Review

Synopsis:
Wheelchair-bound Penny (Susan Strasberg) returns to her wealthy father’s house for the first time in ten years, only to be told by his new wife Jane (Ann Todd) that he has gone away suddenly on a business trip. When she starts to see her father’s corpse appearing around the property, Penny believes she’s going crazy, and enlists the help of a hunky chauffeur (Ronald Lewis) to help her solve the mystery.

Genres:

• Christopher Lee Films
• Disabilities
• Gaslighting
• Horror
• Susan Strasberg Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
Susan Strasberg is mesmerizing in this heart-stopping Hammer Studios flick, reminiscent of both So Long at the Fair (1950) and My Name is Julia Ross (1945) in its depiction of a young woman made to doubt her own sanity. While the script is “full of holes” (wouldn’t Penny have met Jane at least once before?), the true identity of the villain(s) remains a secret to the end, and there are “several times when you are guaranteed to jump.” As Peary notes, this film remains “lots of fun for terror-movie fans.”

Redeeming Qualities:

• Susan Strasberg’s impressive performance as wheelchair-bound Penny
  
• Some genuinely freaky shots of a corpse
  
• Several exciting plot twists

Must See?
No, but it’s highly recommended.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Classic Horror Review
• SciFilm Review

Synopsis:
An American (Robert Stack) studies bullfighting in Mexico under the tutelage of a famed matador (Gilbert Roland), while trying to win the heart of a beautiful woman (Joy Page).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Budd Boetticher Films
• Bullfighting
• Character Arc
• Cross-Cultural Romance
• Mexico
• Robert Stack Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, this “largely autobiographical film” by former apprentice matador Budd Boetticher is one of the few early Hollywood films to treat Mexicans with respect and dignity. Indeed, this is a rare movie in which “Mexicans don’t have to ingratiate themselves to Americans”; instead, it’s “the ugly American who becomes humble”. While the bullfighting scenes go on too long, they’re undeniably “quite exciting”; and, though parts of the script are heavy-handed — there are too many foreshadowings of impending tragedy — Boetticher does a fine job tracing Stack’s character arc from cocky American to a matador of “good stature”.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Sexy young Robert Stack as Johnny Regan
  
• Katy Jurado as Estrada’s strong wife
  
• Interesting footage of bullfighting
  

Must See?
Yes. As famed western director Boetticher’s breakthrough movie, film fanatics will want to check this one out.

Categories

• Important Director

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
A veteran sergeant (Lee Marvin) leads four soldiers (Robert Carradine, Mark Hamill, Bobbi Di Ciccio, and Kelly Ward) through the European theatre of World War Two, while death and chaos surround them.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Lee Marvin Films
• Sam Fuller Films
• Soldiers
• Survival
• World War II

Response to Peary’s Review:
As noted by Peary and many other reviewers, the salient theme of Sam Fuller’s dream film — a “hard-hitting yet extremely poetic, impressionistic recollection of his WWII experiences” — seems to be that “surviving is the only glory in war”. More a series of nightmarish moments than a coherent story, “Fuller’s most expensive and ambitious film has epic proportions, taking place in countless locations… and covering many battles” while downplaying “spectacle and battlefield heroics”. The movie’s many “memorable, moving scenes” include a Belgian woman giving birth on the floor of a tank:

… and “Marvin with the little boy from the concentration camp.”

Fuller emphasizes the “surreal aspects of war, from bizarre images and nightmarish situations to soldiers carrying on everyday conversations although their friends have just died in battle or they themselves may die a moment later.” He argues that “if you were disappointed when you first saw” this flick, “give it another try — it really improves the second time around.”

Redeeming Qualities:

• Lee Marvin as The Sergeant
  
• An intimate look at infantry survival and camaraderie during wartime
  
• Beautiful cinematography
  
• Fine location shooting
  
  

Must See?
Yes. While not quite the masterpiece Fuller intended, this is still indispensable viewing for any film fanatic.

Categories

• Important Director

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Roger Ebert’s Review
  

Synopsis:
A beautiful scullery maid (Machiko Kyo) becomes the wife of the Emperor (Masayuki Mori) in 8th century Japan, and must sacrifice herself for the sake of his honor.

• Cross-Class Romance
• Japanese Films
• Kenzi Mizoguchi Films
• Royalty and Nobility

Response to Peary’s Review:
This “rare color film by Kenji Mizoguchi” — a Japanese Cinderella story based on historical legend — features a touching cross-class romance, colorful scenery, and a befittingly tragic ending. Princess Yang Kwei Fei — beautiful, selfless, noble, and “equally at ease in a palace or mingling with the common people” — is the epitome of womanhood in director Kenji Mizoguchi’s eyes, and is treated with sympathetic idealism. While not as indispensable as Mizoguchi’s Sansho, the Bailiff (1954), Ugetsu (1953), or The Life of Oharu (1952), this lovely historical fairy tale is very much worth watching.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Kohei Sugiyama’s rich cinematography
  
  
• Princess Yang and Emperor Zong wandering through a street bazaar together
  

Must See?
No, but it’s highly recommended.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
A lady-in-waiting (Kinuyo Tanaka) has an affair with a lower-ranking page (Toshiro Mifune), leading to the exile of her entire family. As she struggles to help make ends meet, Oharu is eventually reduced to prostitution and begging.

Genres:

• Downward Spiral
• Feminism and Women’s Issues
• Flashback Films
• Japanese Films
• Kenzi Mizoguchi Films
• Prostitutes
• Toshiro Mifune Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, the central character in this “exquisitely shot” Kenzi Mizoguchi film — which offers a “shocking view of the sad role women have played in Japan” — may very well be the epitome of “the victimization of women throughout history”. Indeed, Oharu is literally the pawn of others’ needs and desires, exploited by men (and her family), then “tossed aside”. Through heart-rending flashbacks (Oharu looks back on her own downward spiral) we’re forced to watch “one bad thing after another happen to Oharu” — it’s a tough story to stomach, but the film’s undeniable “poetic quality” makes it a haunting, valuable experience.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Kinuyo Tanaka’s sympathetic portrayal as the tragic Oharu
  
• Luminous b&w cinematography
  
• A powerful depiction of social injustice in medieval Japan

Must See?
Yes. This is one of Mizoguchi’s most affecting films, and certainly a must-see classic of Japanese cinema.

Categories

• Foreign Gem
• Important Director

Links:

• IMDb entry
• SF Gate Review

Synopsis:
When a psychologist (Donatas Banionis) is sent to space station Solaris to investigate the mysterious mental breakdowns of the men on board, he’s visited by visions of his deceased wife (Nathalya Bondarchuk), and finds himself confronting his guilt over her death.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Guilt
• Mental Breakdown
• Science Fiction
• Russian Films
• Tarkovsky Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem (and recently remade by Steven Soderbergh), this “cerebral” Russian sci-fi film is “slowly paced and a bit too enigmatic”, but possesses visuals “like nothing seen in an American sci-fi film”, and is oddly hypnotic. You’ll be reminded of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in the way relevant details are unfolded one by one, and the fact that the “enemy” is a mysterious presence rather than a physical creature. Perhaps most intriguing (and impressive) is the way Tarkovsky manages to combine creepy sci-fi with a very human subplot of guilt, loss, and love.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Haunting cinematography
  
  
• An unusual, psychologically complex premise for a sci-fi film
  
  

Must See?
Yes. This is a classic of Russian sci-fi cinema.

Categories

• Foreign Gem
• Important Director

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Washington Post Review
• Q Network Review
• TCM Article