Only a Canadian could make a campy pseudo-musical film about the Manson Family. While perhaps fading from the memory of those not alive at the time, the name Charles Manson is still one of the icons of crazed cult leaders and serial killers. Director Reginald Harkema creates a visually stunning romp through the late 1960s that uses fairly standard imagery to ask some interesting questions. Is it really possible to learn from history? And if so, do some people even care to do so?
Leslie (Kristin Hager) is a flower child who, after her parents’ divorce and a forced abortion, finds solace and purpose in the arms of Manson and his followers. Perry (Gregory Smith) is a straight-laced Christian boy who does not share his father’s views on the necessities of the Vietnam draft. Perry is assigned as a juror to the Manson trial where he becomes infatuated with Leslie. The clash of these two cultures at this time period is not unexposed territory; rather it is in the execution that Harkema challenges the viewer.
Virtually every shot is thought-out to the last detail, making it a visual feast. Complemented by solid performances by the cast (especially the two leads) make this world completely believable. This richness lays bare the arguments put forth by both sides: the blind hypocrisy of Perry’s father and his rants on the ‘godless commies’ as well as Manson’s on the ‘fascist pigs’ sound like so much empty posturing. The end is not surprising, but it isn’t meant to be. Regardless of the facts, most people will take security not matter the lives it might cost, American or otherwise.
The films of the incomparable Claire Denis are subtle lessons in semiotics. They are almost moving photographs, or graphic novels with almost no words: the viewer must (and can) put together the story from the images, like they are a fly hovering with no knowledge of past context.
The third of her African-centred films, White Material stars Isabelle Huppert as Marie, a French woman running a coffee plantation in a (deliberately) unnamed country with her ex-husband and son. With the government in turmoil and rebels running loose, her workers have deserted her right before the harvest. She seems to be the only one determined to stay, even after the army leaves the country and her ex-husband (Christopher Lambert) conspires to leave her behind.
This has probably the most comprehensible narrative of Denis’ films, and the most overtly political. Marie is as much a part of the land as those who were born there; but her skin keeps her an outsider. She never stops moving; if she did, she might have to realize that defeat is inevitable and the longer she waits, the less departure alive is assured. Alongside her story is that of child soldiers. Rebel groups forcibly recruit them in order to control them; but once all the adults are gone, all that is left is hungry, dirty, heavily armed children with no sense of right and wrong.
While perhaps not the masterpiece that Beau Travail was, this film still manages to pack a punch. A slow, haunting punch to the stomach that can see the viewer in the place of Marie, recklessly holding on to something that is not worth her life.
The past few years have seen Spanish horror burst onto screens around the world thanks to some fairly high-profile Spanish directors making films in Hollywood, and Spanish films being remade for US audiences. [REC] was remade into Quarantine, though there is no news on whether Quarantine 2 will be made (I haven’t seen it, preferring my horror in its original packaging). While perhaps not quite as frightening as the original, [REC] 2 still had the audience jumping out of its seat fairly frequently.
Picking up a mere 15 minutes after the first film left off, a SWAT team goes into the quarantined apartment building with a health official to try and asses the situation. They make their way to the penthouse, the source of the contamination. And there it turns out that the health official is really a priest, and that the contagion is the devil, and the devil is spreading.
Unlike the original, which used only one camera, directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza smartly expand the number of cameras. The SWAT team each has one, allowing for shifts in location, and a few times picture in picture (so you can see the zombies coming from all directions). As stated, there are fewer frightening moments, but then the scary moments that do come are all the more frightening from the build-up of tension. Throw in a group of stupid teenagers in the wrong place at the wrong time, a survivor from the first film, and some pretty frightening and blood-thirsty children, and [REC] 2 is a fine follow up to the original, and hopefully the third in a trilogy.
