George Washington (2000)

Spine # 152

George Washington is a simple, but visually stunning story of a group of inner city kids that live in a rundown town in North Carolina. You are first introduced to the kids through an amusing, yet beautiful conversation between Nasia (Candace Evanofski) and Buddy (Curtis Cotton III) who are discussing their relationship struggles. Nasia is also the Narrator telling the story. At first I was displeased with the look of the film because I felt it too closely resembled a film I have mentioned in a few earlier posts; Gummo (1997) the cinematography, grittiness, location, narration, and characters do somewhat look similar to Gummo but George Washington redeems itself in the end, no pun intended (you'll know what pun I'm talking about once you've seen the film).

The first six and a half minutes are filmed in a subtle, slow-motion fashion thats gorgeous and immediately sucked me into the story for the rest of its duration. The only time I grew a little weary was a few scenes that attempted to pull intense dialogue out of some of the child actors, one scene in particular between Vernon (Damian Jewan Lee) and Nasia. They were arguing in a kitchen and Neither of them could hold their own, especially Nasia. Aside from the characters that were lacking proper acting skills, there were a few brilliant performances, specifically that of Buddy, who delivers a speech on an abandon "auditorium like" stage while wearing an alligator mask, this was by far my favorite scene in the film.



To my surprise Paul Schneider (from the show Parks and Recreation, which is hilarious and I watch weekly) played an important roll in the film as "Rico Rice". I also found that the director of this film; David Gordon Green, last two films were "Pineapple Express" and "Your Highness"... stoner comedies just don't do it for me... Although he did direct "Snow Angels" which I loved and own  on DVD, so I guess  he's broke even in my book.

As a whole the film begins as a tragedy and ends up being an uplifting story of redemption, its refreshing to see independent films of this quality and I wish there were more like it.

IMDB:******** 8/10

NETFLIX:***** 5/5

Claire's Knee (1970)

Spine #:347

This is the second film of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales I viewed and I must admit, I went into it expecting to be disappointed. The reason for the pessimism was the first film I watched in the box set, a short entitled; The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963, Spine #: 343). The 22min. long short is filmed in black and white and I found it to be bland and uneventful. Its a simple story of a man who runs into a woman, who he then asks out, she agrees then disappears so he searches for her everyday stopping at a bakery for a cookie to replace his lunch which he has sacrificed for the cause.

He ends up becoming familiar with the girl that works at the bakery and must choose between the two of them when the woman that he was searching for initially finally returns. Maybe it was the mixture of how subtle the film was with the shortness in its length that made me unable to be drawn in toward the characters or story, but Rohmer certainly rebuttals with Claire's Knee.



Claire's knee is the charming tale of a soon to be married man Jerome who happens to run into an old friend Aurora and gets talked into staying at a lake house with her for the month of July. Aurora's landlady's daughter Laura, develops a crush on Jerome but she is far to young for him to act upon it and thankfully avoids intimacy with her. Once July 10th comes around Jerome learns that Laura's half sister Claire is expected to arrive with her boyfriend Gilles.

When she arrives there is little to no interaction between Jerome and Claire until the next day (the 11th) when Jerome spots her and her boyfriend ascending a ladder to pick berries. This is where his infatuation for her begins... but this no typical attraction he has developed towards her, although Claire is a gorgeous young woman, surprisingly Jerome does not desire to sleep with her, he desires to caress her knee which he claims will be more difficult then attempting to sleep with her.

After sometime of pondering and scheming a strategy to accomplish his goal, Jerome with a helping hand from Aurora, manages to finally touch Claire's knee. This however does not completely satisfy his desire for Claire to willingly allow him to caress it though so he presses on. He begins to despise Claire's boyfriend Gilles and tries to sabotage there relationship, which causes Claire to break down. While Claire is sobbing, Jerome goes in for the kill and using the illusion of consolation he caresses her knee. After this mission was accomplished Jerome bids them all farewell and fortunately Claire and Gilles relationship survive the whole ordeal. In all its glorious sensuality, this film is a real gem and will prove an enjoyable viewing experience for most.

IMDB: ******** 8/10

NETFLIX: ***** 5/5

Criterion Art Smartphone (Iphone, Android) Wallpapers

I have a collection of about 500 Criterion Wallpapers that fit the IPhone/Android perfectly, so I thought I'd share them. The link is below the examples and you can download the entire album if you wish.

LINK:


http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n545/doliver21/Criterion%20Art/

The Plumber (1979)

Spine #: N/A

One of the few made for television movies in the criterion collection directed by the Australian filmmaker Peter Weir, The Plumber could be described as a psychological thriller/dark comedy, but as a whole I would say it is the definition of 1970's cult horror. Following his other three criterion thrillers; The Cars That Ate Paris,The Last Wave, and Picnic at Hanging Rock, Weir takes us into the cosy apartment of Jill Cowper (Judy Morris) an Anthropologist, and her husband Brian (Robert Coleby).

What begins as a normal day takes an unexpected turn when while her husband is out at work, Jill answers a knock at the door. The man at the door claims to be the plumber responsible for all of the pluming duties in the entire apartment complex, the plumber informs Jill that he was sent there to check her pipes and introduces himself as Max (Ivar Kants). Jill hesitantly allows him in the house and this is where The Plumber's relentless reign of terror begins.

Ivar Kants delivers a brilliant performance as a mentally unstable (borderline psychopath) stalker that does everything in his power to make every scene uncomfortable and at times horrifying.

It seems that no matter what Jill does to try to get rid of him she does not succeed, even when she reaches out to her best friend and husband she cant rid herself of this maniac. The Plumber is quite obviously the origin of The Cable Guy (Jim Carey, 1996) but is done better and much more effective.

The film will give you an uneasy feeling in your stomach from beginning to end due to a pair of outstanding performances from the terrified Judy Morris, and the relentless Ivar Kants.

IMDB: ******** 8/10

NETFLIX: **** 4/5



Off Topic: The Future (2011)

I was lucky enough to catch one of the first screenings of "The Future" by Miranda July at the Independent Film Festival Boston. This is Miranda's second film, her first being "Me and You and Everyone We Know" (2005) which happens to be one of my all time favorite films. With only two films under her belt Miranda July has become one of two directors without a Criterion film that I can honestly say are my personal favorites, the other director being Harmony Korine (known for; Gummo 1997, Julien donkey  boy 1999, Trash Humpers 2009).

The Future is a Hilariously quirky film that deals with the perception of what the future holds and time itself through the minds of the main characters Sophie (Miranda July), Jason (Hamish Linklater), and Paw-Paw the Cat (Voiced by Miranda July).There are several scenes that are nothing short of brilliant and as a whole the film in perfectly paced.

The Future is part of a hip new era of artistic films and I hope to see it as well as July's previous film someday be part of the Criterion Collection (also, Korine's Gummo should have been in there years ago in my opinion).

The only way I can describe the experience of viewing a Miranda July film is the feeling of being wrapped in blankets. To me its a warm, safe, delightful feeling and I would recommend anyone to see her films. She was there for an amazing Q & A after the film which I recorded on my IPhone so you can watch it if your interested (apologies ahead of time for any shaky camera work).