Mr. Jealousy; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Joe and I rented Mr. Jealousy (1997) because it was written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who also wrote and directed the very funny Kicking and Screaming, the squirmingly well-observed the Squid and the Whale, and penned the charming The Life Aquatic by Wes Anderson. Mr. Jealousy seemed like it was his first film, and I was surprised to find that it actually came after Kicking and Screaming. It had all the trademarks of his other films, with some excellent dialogue at times, interesting characters in strange situations. But it felt like a first film because it seemed way too in love with itself, trying to be showy and clever with fancy camerawork that is always panning and zooming, iris in and out, jumpcuts and freeze frames galore. The narration felt overwritten and completely unnecessary, and the main characters were prone to literary monologuing, as though they were in a stageplay. Eric Stoltz and Annabella Sciorra are pretty good as a new couple whose relationship is threatened by the guy's excessive jealousy, but the supporting cast overact as though they are projecting to the back of the theatre, probably because the script is so theatrical. And, wow, a lot of sensitive rock guitar. Baumbach is certainly talented and it comes through despite all the excess, but he is so much better when he doesn't try so darned hard.

Then we watched Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin and Michael Caine who play two conmen out to gold-dig. What a delightful confection! What a comic treat! Great acting, great script that twists and kicks all the way to the ending. What a pleasure!

The 4th Man; Twin Peaks, Season Two; The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse

I would never have rented The 4th Man (1983) by Paul Verhoeven, director of such Hollywood schlock as Showgirls, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers, though I admit, Robocop was a fun treat. But Joe said our friend Johannes in Rotterdam had recommended it, and we're glad he did! Filmed in his native Holland before Verhoeven hit Hollywood, The 4th Man is a taut psycho-thriller with shades of the surreal (the main man has crazy visions) and lots of male full-frontal. Great editing and special effects that teeter on the line between incredible and cheesy. Thanks Johannes!

Speaking of surreal, incredible, and cheesy, we finally got the 2nd season of Twin Peaks (disc 1) on DVD! It hasn't been available until just recently, and believe or not, I hadn't seen any of it back in the day when it was on TV. I didn't have cable back then, and I was making an effort not to buy into the hype (and frankly, I hadn't liked any Lynch film since Eraserhead). Silly me! Years later, when Joe and I watched Season One on DVD, well, we couldn't get enough. Season Two starts out weirder than ever, in fact, seemingly weird for the sake of weird, but by the third episode, we were once again sucked in. More, more!

Finally, we just finished Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960), the sequel to his earlier Testament of Dr. Mabuse, and his last film. Fritzy, old boy, you've done it again! A brilliantly orchestrated, twisty thriller. And interestingly, a lot of silence in this film, something you rarely find nowadays. So much of film music soundtracks are manipulative and unnecessary, so it was pleasing to hear the action unfolding without benefit of the orchestra. Thanks, Fritz.

Crush; Cure

It's not the 1993 thriller called The Crush with Alicia Silverstone, or the 2001 comedy called Crush, which you've probably never heard of, with Andie MacDowell. It's the 1993 Crush, which you've also probably never heard of, with Marcia Gay Harden. We rented it because it was directed by Alison Maclean, who later did Jesus' Son, which is, btw, pretty good. The other thing that links these three films with similar names is that they all are overly-contrived in both plot and characterization, manipulative, and boring. Joe and I fast-forwarded through much of this movie, and we noticed that we still more or less knew what was going on anyways. The surprise ending was no surprise.

Then we watched Cure, not the Robert Smith band of the 80s, but the Japanese psych-horror-thriller made in 1997, just before Ringu (1998) pretty much blew open the popularity of that genre, worldwide. For one thing, it was a relief not to have to brace myself though scenes of torturously extreme violence. Some creepy imagery, sparingly used, is plenty. It’s a police thiller about murder, hynosis, memory and identity, where seemingly well-adjusted people commit bizarre murders using the same technique of slashing the throat with a giant X. The main characters are, for the most part, really well-drawn, rounded, intriguing, and though the pace is slow, it’s tense enough to have kept me interested. I like a story that takes its time to build into a deep, menacing drone. Joe, however, thought the film was “just okay” since he kept falling asleep through it.