Change Your Image
priddy
Reviews
Girlfriends (1978)
a lost gem
i saw this at the theater when it came out, haven't thought about it since and i think very few others have either. it's not even in my 1994 Leonard Maltin guide. but it remained with me regardless, to the point that a chance encounter with the title just now provoked me to come here to say that all these good reviews are well deserved. i'm almost afraid to find and watch it again... no, i'm confident i'll like it just as much, even thirty-five years later. hmm, too bad i have to write ten lines; i thought i had said it all. what to add? that sometimes, as with this review, less is better, and film might be better with less than Woody Allen would have done with more. oh, and that Kubrick called it the best film of 1978.
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)
sublime
A great filmmaker, at the height of his art, working with very strong material. To distill Bernanos' great book down to so few essentials and still convey its full force took a great mind and a great spirit. bleakness has never been more uplifting.
There is no need to be religious to partake by this masterpiece, it spirituality will move all equally. Be aware however of one thing: just as many films are not for children, some are not for all adults. Do not watch this (nor read the book) if you are not prepared to have your soul harrowed to its very bottom. you cannot and will not be the same person after watching it.
Old Joy (2006)
modest, minimalist, almost magnificent
The first two reviews here (Roland Atkinson and Chris Knipp) are very close to what i felt about this film, but I see Mark and Kurt's meeting, and parting, in a more positive light.
There is little spontaneity in their conversation, but they're old friends so not much is expected or needed. We don't get many details about Mark's job or marriage or Kurt's tribulations, but again the essential is elsewhere.
Kurt parasitism doesn't really bother Mark, nor does his teardrop universe. In the diner, both know Mark's "I never doubted you man" is a lie, but since the waitress has found the hot springs for them it doesn't matter anymore; it's water under the bridge.
The overlong notebook/dream story bores Mark as much as us, but "worn-outjoy" is the nugget that makes that alright too. The shoulder rub makes him tense at first but he quickly "settles into it" and it does him good... as has the whole trip. enormous good. He may never see Kurt again but this weekend his old friend has given him energy to face a future and a fatherhood he naturally finds daunting.
For Kurt things look gloomier; his problems require more than just a breath of fresh air. But the first step is to get his mind off his navel. A bit of spare change (at first withheld) isn't a job, isn't youth work, isn't fathering a child, but it's a tiny first step to his own redemption.
Ransom for a Dead Man (1971)
Great but not great
Compellingly logical mystery plots are rare in Columbo, this one is extremely flawed: the inconsistencies start with "how the heck does Lee Grant get a body almost twice her size into a trunk", continue to "how can a bag dropped from an airplane in the dark get found immediately if ever" and just go on and on.
If Peter Falk is still searching for Columbo, Lee Grant is brilliant... but the rest of the acting is high school drama class.
The flying sequences add nothing except perhaps justify to the executive producer the rental of a Beechcraft for 24 hours.
But there are lots of reasons to love Columbo and this episode has plenty of them. The camera angles, fade effects and other devices are fabulous, a pinnacle of a stylish 70's look that broke the barrier between small and big screens. And in the long line of real Hollywood residences that served as Columbo sets, this one is the worst... meaning the best!
So in some ways this is one of the worst Columbo's ever... and one of the best.