Sunset Boulevard (8.3/10)

Billy Wilder, 1950

The Hollywood classic is a fantastic physiological film noir that explores the twisted ego filled and delusional lives of movie stars. Joe Gillis (William Holden) the films protagonist is an unsuccessful screenwriter on the run from debt collectors. Looking for a place to hide his car, he comes across a seemingly abandoned old mansion. It turns out that the house belongs to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a once famous silent movie star from a bygone era in Hollywood. Hearing of Joe’s money problems, Norma offers him a job editing her script, which he grudgingly accepts to help pay off his debts. It is not long until Norma takes a romantic liking to Joe, and immerses him in the weird and sad world of Hollywood’s elite. A world of excessive ego worship, complete with an endless supply of champagne and bizarre rituals such as extravagant funerals for deceased pet chimpanzees. Unfortunately for Norma, the attraction is one sided and becomes evident that Joe is only in the relationship for the materialistic gains. While Norma prepares for her comeback to the Hollywood stage, the situation increasingly becomes suffocating for Joe. As he begins to drift away, Norma becomes more desperate and delusional to point of madness.

The story is typical of celebrities. Who on the surface, seem to have everything anyone could ever want. However, in reality many of them lead tortured lives, suffering from a gambit of mental health and addiction issues. Often causing them to lash out or act peculiarly, get involved with strange cults, steal things simply for the sake of stealing, or overdose with drugs. Often the larger the celebrity the more tragic the consequences are, look at Michael Jackson for example. This makes sense, because from a young age these people are completely detached from reality, sheltered behind mountains of money, and worshiped by legions of fans. When their time in the spotlight is up, it can be difficult for their ego to cope and subsequently causes great anguish. Wilder captures this pain, and in doing so makes Norma human again, into someone that we cannot only relate to, but can pity. It is timeless story, applicable to anyone famous, in any culture, anywhere in the world. However, what really makes the film truly interesting to watch is the weird and wonderful world Wilder creates on screen. It gives the viewer a glimpse into the super decadent and sordid reality of the super rich, which while fictional is remarkably believable. It is a world that is ‘fellini-esque’, and is every bit as depraved and extravagant as ‘La Dolce Vita’, only a decade earlier.

Lilja-4-Ever (7.4/10)

Lukas Moodysson, 2002
Lilja-4-Ever is a tragic and gut wrenching film that leaves the viewer troubled long after the credits finish. The film is an adaptation of an actual incident in 2000 involving a teenager from Lithuania that shocked Swedish society and received extensive media coverage. Lilja (Oksana Akinshina) is a 16-year-old living in a dilapidated Soviet era residential suburb with plans of immigrating to the United States with her mother. When her mother abandons her right before they are about to leave, she is forced to live with her Aunt. Who not concerned about her nieces well being, moves her into a filthy rundown apartment to live alone. Lilja spends her days hanging out and getting high with Volodja, a 13-year-old run away from an abusive home. With no other options and at the recommendation of her aunt, Lilja eventually resorts to prostitution for survival. She takes small comfort in the fact that it lets her buy luxury goods such as fruit juice, potato chips, and a small gift for Volodja. While working one night at the club, she meets Andrej a ‘nice guy’ who is not just interested in sex but who really wants to get to know her. He promises her a better life in Sweden with a good paying job, and gets her a passport and a plane ticket. At the last second, Andrej claims he has to visit his poor sick grandmother and promises to meet Lilja in Sweden. In reality, there is no lucrative cleaning job waiting for her, Andrej has sold her to a pimp in Sweden. Who locks her in a dirty apartment during the day, and sells her for sex at night, but is kind enough to buy her a McDonald’s value meal between clients.



Films like Lilja-4-Ever are difficult to write about because of the severe nature of the subject matter. How can someone recommend a film about child sexual exploitation, where teenagers sniff glue and commit suicide on screen, because they thought the film’s narrative was well done or the sound track was interesting? Ultimately, one must judge the film within its context to determine if the content is justified. They must determine whether the director successfully matched the brutality of the images and story with the seriousness of the subject matter. If it is unbalanced in either direction, the film is an epic failure, especially when handling extremely controversial topics. While it is true, that the director could have had much of the truly disturbing scenes take place take place off camera and retain the potent message of the film. The fact is that humans have become so desensitized to disturbing images that artists need to resort to new depths of depravity to get our attention. Moodysson does this very well, almost too well. The scenes in the film get progressively more brutal to the inevitable conclusion, bringing out so many raw emotions in the audience that range from hate to compassion and are impossible to ignore. Maybe that is why we like films like this, or at least like them enough to warrant their creation, because we find them cathartic. Maybe seeing how fucked up someone else’s life is or can be, makes us feel better about our own relatively minor problems and the social context is just an excuse to evade censorship. Regardless, the way Moodysson creates a universe that is completely tragic and utterly devoid of any hope to bring attention to a real and grave injustice speaks to the power of cinema.

The Great Silence (9/10)

Sergio Corbucci, 1968
The film is an interesting and ironic reflection on morality and law, set among a picturesque background and involving a cast of eccentric characters. It is the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ of spaghetti westerns. At face value, the film is similar to most films in its genre. Everything from the plot, which involves outlaws chasing their prey through a lawless and expansive countryside, to the Ennio Morricone score and final show down are typical. What distinguishes the film is Klaus Kinski’s performance as Loco, a morally deprived and dishonest bounty hunter on a mission to capture a group of outlaws hiding in the mountains to collect the reward. Since, Loco can collect the reward regardless if he brings the fugitives in dead or alive, he prefers the former, provoking them into threatening him and claiming self-defense. After he kills a woman’s husband, she hires Silence, a mute gunslinger with a high tech pistol to extract revenge. The two chase each other through the Italian Alps, guised as the Rocky Mountains, and eventually meet in a final confrontation that ends with a distinctive ‘Corbuccian’ twist. Interesting to note the director also made an alternative happy conclusion for North American audiences, where everything works out perfectly for the hero and everyone lives happily ever after.
Like most Westerns, from Sergio Leone to Howard Hawks, John Wayne to Clint Eastwood, the Great Silence portrays a type of moral ambiguity, in where the good guys aren’t really good. The protagonists are often the same bounty hunters, killers, drunks, and mercenaries as the antagonists. However, at the end of day the former are a little less sociopathic, a little more compassionate, and much more human than the latter. This is what makes the genre, inclusive of spaghetti westerns, so ‘American’.

It can be difficult to take Kinski seriously, given his outlandish ‘I am the new Jesus’ performances and legendary escapades with Werner Herzog. However, before all that, he made his name in Italian Westerns, and ‘The Great Silence’ is unquestionably the best performance of his career. His detached deadpan seriousness and eccentricities are reminiscent of a super cool mix between Dennis Hopper and Jean-Pierre Léaud. Corbucci’s distinctive styling and the genius of Klaus Kinski truly distinguish the film, making it one of, if not the, best in the genre.

Malcolm X (7.3/10)

Spike Lee, 1992
The film is an excellent introduction to one of the most interesting and influential characters of the century. The biopic starts with Malcolm Little (Denzel Washington) hustling and committing petty crimes in Boston, leading to his incarceration and evidential conversion to the Nation of Islam (NOI), where he takes the name Malcolm X. At this point Malcolm meets Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr.), who appoints him an assistant minister in Chicago, and soon after a minister of a Mosque in Harlem. This relationship between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X is extremely interesting, and is what makes the film worth talking about. Granted, for a Hollywood blockbuster, the film is quite good overall, especially the acting. Both Denzel and Al are incredible in their respective roles, but the later steals the show. His subtle calm movements, drawn out voice and gentle demeanor share an uncanny resemblance to the real Elijah, and are a refreshing contrast to Denzel’s energetic and powerful screen presence. The performance won Freeman the 1995 NAACP image award for Outstanding Supporting Actor, and should have won him an academy award. Why the academy nominated Denzel for best actor but not Freedman for best supporting, speaks to the vapidity and irrelevance of the institution.

Elijah Muhammad is equally worthy of having a three hour epic film made about his life. His controversial past, and shadowy relationship with Wallace D. Fard the founder of the NOI, could fill up a hundred screenplays. Spike Lee does not mention Fard in the film and the only reference to him is a self-portrait prominently featured in Elijah Muhammad’s study, which is the only known image of the prophet. This is unfortunate because he is without doubt the most interesting person the nation’s history. With a life truly stranger than fiction, that includes a dubious ancestry, esoteric teachings, involvement in a bizarre ritual murder, and abrupt disappearance after leading the NOI for only three years. Lee could have developed this brief relationship between Fard and Elijah into a very interesting and controversial subplot that would have added to the films mystique. Maybe the director felt it would be too much of a tangent or too distracting from the main point of the film. Malcolm X is typical of Spike Lee’s films, while they are extremely well done, interesting, and intelligent they always follow the typical Hollywood narrative with the same predicable and linear structure.

Wages of Fear (8.25/10)

Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953
In ‘Wages of Fear’ (8.25), Henri-Georges Clouzot masterfully creates an atmosphere of tension and suspense that keeps the viewer pleasantly engaged throughout the film, but without the anxiety of trashy Hollywood horror film. The story is about an oil company in South Africa that in a panic needs to transport nitro glycerin across rugged terrain. They offer residents in a sleepy economically impoverished town a large sum of money to drive two trucks full of the substance to a remote drilling site. The caveat is that the slightest disturbance to the nitro glycerin could cause the trucks to explode, which given the dilapidated condition of the rural roads is a likely outcome. From the very second the driver’s start their journey, the viewer is half expecting the trucks to blow up at any second, creating a sense of suspense that carries throughout the entire film.

Early in the expedition, conflict quickly arises between the four drivers. With the brunt of the hostility directed towards the eldest member of the group, whose bark is evidently much louder than his bite and in reality is a coward. Regardless, the drivers must work together in overcoming obstacles along the way. What makes the film so successful is the way Clouzot pays attention to the subtle details in order to create a foreboding sense of fear. Having the eldest driver too scared to let go of the steering wheel for even a split second to take a sip of coffee or a puff from a cigarette, or using close ups to show the sweat on their brows or the treads of the tires as they go over potholes in the road are examples of this. Even though the story line is relatively uninteresting, at no point in the film is the viewer ever board, which is a testament to the director’s skill. As a bonus, the film has a very clever ending that ties everything together in a dark and ironic way that only like a master like Clouzot can.

Steve James

What distinguishes Steve James’ documentaries is the exceptional character development and evolution witnessed in his films. Hoop Dreams (7.5), documents the journey of two promising basketball ball players from South Chicago over the course of five years through high school, ending with both of them starting college. At the beginning of the film the only thing matters to the boys is making it to the NBA, but as they grow up their priorities change as their lives unfold and they become victims of circumstance and chance. Slowly, the game becomes less and less important to them, changing from an all-pervasive way of life, to simply a means to an end. Seeing this evolution first hand on film, and watching the two boys become men in the span of two and half hours, is incredibly engaging; even if you don’t really like the sport. Because it is real, this character development is so natural and fluid, making the film very enjoyable to watch.

His latest film The Interrupters (7.75), also takes place in South Chicago and focuses on personal evolution as a major theme. It is about a group of ex-gang members who patrol the streets, putting their lives at risk on a daily basis to pacify confrontations. The camera documents their encounters, as they intervene in fresh conflicts and follow up on people from previous episodes. It is amazing to watch how these volunteers, simply by taking someone aside and letting them cool down for a couple minutes can save lives. One exceptional case, where a man, leaving his house gun in hand with intention of extracting revenge on a rival gang, grudgingly accepts an invitation from one of the volunteers to lunch. After putting away his weapon, he cools down over fast food, and begins a relationship that eventually saves his life. At the end of the film, we see him gainfully employed, extremely grateful for the program and acknowledging it for saving his life. Capturing these precious seconds where people make life and death decisions on film, makes for incredibly powerful and engaging cinema. Akin to ‘Hoop Dreams’, the film has fluidity and realism that no director could ever recreate with professional actors in a studio, not even Ozu! This is what makes James such an exceptional documentary filmmaker and truly raises the genre to new heights.