September 06, 2007
A Very Two-Thirds British DVD Reviewlets
Now with two-thirds more outsourcing!
1. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (d. Michael Winterbottom, 2006): Appropriate review by our friend Roger Ebert here. Some witty commentary from Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon which continues the tone of the movie (one-third straightforward adaptation, one-third Christopher Guest-style mockumentary, one-third surrealism). It will take about two viewings to get all the references and separate fact from fantasy; you hardly notice that it's Jeremy Northam playing the director until he's had a few scenes. Winterbottom might have a few false starts in his career, but overall he's been one of the more interesting and prolific directors in the past 15 years.
2. Performance (d. Nicholas Roeg and Donald Cammell, 1970): The review summing up my relative disappointment with this film is here; I had probably seen about half of the film before, thanks to a documentary on artiste Donald Cammell, who conceived of the daring project. James Fox is terrific, Mick Jagger is a giant bore, and leading lady Anita Pallenberg could have done something if not forced to strip every three minutes. Not much in the way of extras, apart from a 45-minute making-of documentary that wildly overpraises and overstates its importance.
3. Ace in the Hole (Criterion #396, d. Billy Wilder, 1951): Review here. Not Wilder's best work (although prescient given the state of cable and local news today), mainly because I'm not all that fond of Kirk Douglas' acting... and the fact that there's no strong enough actor to really provide a foil for him. Terrific extras, though, including a commentary track and numerous documentaries and interviews about this titan of a director on a second disc (including some great afterthoughts by Spike Lee, of all people), in that this is the first title of his to be featured on Criterion.
Now your turn!
I say this only having seen two of his films, but Winterbottom seems like a real up and down director. I loved 24 Hour Party People, and in particular the direction. But In This World really felt like a great idea executed pretty poorly. Still, I should definitely add more of his movies to the ol' Netflix queue. It's increasingly rare to find a director to get excited about.
Posted by: inkybrain at September 6, 2007 01:35 AMall your judgments are correct, and lots of other directors have handled the merging/trading of personalities better, but Performance was one of the first movies that made me say, "What the hell was that?" in a good way. Like a lot of experimental literature of that period, it almost seems quaint now.
Posted by: paperpusher at September 6, 2007 08:40 AMi caught 'ace' during the nauseating 'month of the stars' or whatever on turner classic. i thought it was pretty sharp, though yr right - kirk played it kinda broad, and SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the last act was a cop out, a total cop out.
i've got a bunch of shit i bought over the summer that i still haven't watched yet - '9 souls,' 'blue spring,' 'lady terminator,' 'battle royale' - though i did see tom tykwer's 'perfume' the other night...i'm not sure what i think of him. it was a lovely movie to look out, and i have never ever ever seen so many attractive actresses in one film, ever, but there's something very cold about his films. i can't really connect with his stuff.
Posted by: dex at September 6, 2007 11:27 AMPerformance is a real 'you had to be there' kind of movie, 'there' being...well, I'm not quite sure.
Posted by: Tom Hilton at September 6, 2007 11:40 AMThe opening of Tristam Shandy and its closing credits are funnier than most Hollywood comedies. I need to rewatch Ace.
Posted by: Batocchio at September 7, 2007 01:34 PM