Mother Kusters’ Trip to Heaven

Mother Kusters’ Trip to Heaven (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975)

Frau Kusters (Brigitte Mira) is preparing dinner late one seemingly ordinary afternoon in her seemingly ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany. Mrs. Kusters wants to add canned sausages to the stew, her annoying daughter-in-law thinks otherwise. The point, we soon find out, is moot: Mr. Kusters has murdered the personnel director at the soap factory where he works before committing suicide.

In a Year With 13 Moons

In a Year With 13 Moons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978)

This drama follows the last few days in the life of Elvira (formerly Erwin) Weisshaupt. Years before, Erwin told a co-worker, Anton, that he loved him. "Too bad, you aren't a woman," he replied. Erwin took Anton at his word. Trying to salvage something from the wreckage love has made of his life, he now hopes that Anton will not reject him again.

1941

1941 (Steven Spielberg, 1979)

Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.

After a couple of blockbuster hits in the Horror genre with Jaws in 1975 and the Science-fiction genre with Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, Steven Spielberg was hot at the box-office. While grossing more than half a billion dollars with the two films aforementioned, Spielberg turned to comedy to make a comedy that was reminding of old tymes like the films of Howard Hawks, Norman McCloud, etc. Well, a comedy that was out of its time.

Despite the presence of the most iconic comedians of the time : Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, Ned Beatty as long with film legends such as Warren Oates, Slim Pickens, Christopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Stack and well known names like James Caan and Nancy Allen to name more than a few the film seemed to be a huge pot of anything. Even with the writing work of Robert Zemeckis, John Milius, and Bob Gale Spielberg’s lack of real natural touch for comedy has at the start failed 1941.

Not being a total train wreck does not save the film from being a mess. Scenes after scene the plethora of characters isn’t really connected neither really engaging. Some of the best scenes are with two of the greatest actors of all time Toshiro Mifune and Christopher Lee in the Japanese submarine. For the rest, some riots and the Hollywood boulevard scenes are directed with Spielberg’s mastery, however it’s still not enough to elevate the whole and achieve an Airplane or a Mel Brooks level.

Since there are many characters, there’s a waste of talent like Belushi who has to act again like an animal. Aykroyd might probably the most interesting character and Candy could have been bigger on this as well.

Even if Spielberg made a lesser film with his try at comedy with 1941 it didn’t stopped him from getting back on top with his excellent Raiders of the Lost Ark two years later.  More than thirty five years after its initial release, 1941 has now earned a cult status and is an alien in Spielberg’s filmography. One of the few comedies he ever directed and one of the lowest rated films he ever made. It is indeed a curiosity and if you are a fan of the director you might give it a watch but don’t expect huge belly laughter.

India Song

India Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975)

Poetical tale of Anne-Marie Stretter, the wife of a French diplomat in India in the 1930s. At 18 she had married a French colonial administrator and went with him on posting to Savannakhet, Laos. 

Visually stunning and populated with long shots of almost still life or still lives, India Song is rhythms only by its voice overs and the musical tracks. It plays as bits of a life of boredom into Asia that its screenwriter/director Marguerite Duras has probably took from her own experience in the Eastern World. It is also a piece of History that reminds the role of the Colonialism countries in the World. Just like the scenes in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux with the French living in Vietnam. They are a strange oddity of upper-class in such a poor and distant world.

India Song is the kind of film that gives lots of time and space for its viewer to think, contemplate, get immersed in the story. However, the contemplative element of the film reminds us of how a film can be that much slow and, in fact, almost standing still. As a self proclaimed film historian and movie critic, I had my share of slow and contemplative films but in this case there are few camera movements and long, long, did I mention long takes? Well, there are many long takes in this film. It is beautiful to look at and a lot of style in the way it is done. 

But, it is so slow that it plays as watching a painting and reading a realist novel of the early last century. The composition of the frames must have been studied for weeks and just like Carl Th. Dreyer I'm sure every movement was synchronised and rehearsed. India Song, plays as a novel that was written to be felt by its words and filled with pretty pictures of grand compositions.

As a whole, India Song feels like a artsy film that brought a few number of viewers in and a fewer number out at the end. Has my first encounter with Marguerite Duras, I'm not sure if I'll ever get excited and jolly about seeing another of her films. Not that it was bad or anything but it was a demanding film that uses its own storytelling way and narratives.

Westworld

Westworld (Michael Crichton, 1973)

A robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.

In a not so distant future, people are traveling to a remote setting where they can experiment the life of three distant past : the Old West, a Medieval court, and the Roman Empire. All of this is controlled by programmers that control robots with humanoid appearance. Much like HAL 9000 in 2001 : A Space Odyssey, the robots eventually take control of the amusement park and drift from the original purpose of the park and becomes harmful for its visitors. Staring Yul Brynner as one of the robots a full copy of his character in The Magnificient Seven, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as two visitors of the Old West, Westworld is a reference in pop culture and an iconic Science fiction film.

Inspired from the Disney parks and the trademark animatronics, Westworld presents a way to vacation that is not that far from us with the constant eveolution of technologies at the service of humans. It could have been even more interesting to see a social commentary on the fat that the machines were evolved and revolted against humans who serviled them as their slaves. Just like the robot that refuses the advances of one of the Medieval visitors. The technicians see it as a malfunction but it could be a normal reaction for a real woman to refuse the advances of a man.

Director Michael Crichton who also was a succesful author of many novels including Jurassic Park, which is a better twist and exploitation of the concept he explored in Westworld, was one of the reasons why I wanted to watch the 1973 film. There’s also an episode of The Simpsons where they get to the Itchy and Scratchy Park populated with robots trying to kill the family. Those are some of the many reasons why Westworld is worth the look, but as a film this is more on the okay side of appreciation and the ending feels a bit flat.
Crichton wanted his settings to be cliché and almost false or fake to remind us that his characters are in an amusement park inspired by films and the imaginary perception we have of times in History. Just like that old saying from the great John Ford : print the legend. Crichton wanted to create a world where the commentary and the story surpass the sets and the clichés.

THX 1138

THX 1138 (George Lucas, 1971)

Set in the 25th century, the story centers around a man and a woman who rebel against their rigidly controlled society.

In the 1970's, the films about the future and the Science Fiction features were according to project a dystopian vision of what mankind will be. In George Lucas lecture of the things to come, a pure white virginal world of machines and programmed events puts Robert Duvall as THX in a near George Orwellian world of greater power and crushed human conditions.

Being the follow up to Lucas' student film, THX 1138 was produced by his friend Francis Ford Coppola and became a sandbox for him to experiment for his game changing Star Wars movie that became the multi billion dollar franchise that it is today. Watched as a precursor of Lucas' talent and so-called vision, THX could be a nice little first film for any director. However, it is shadowed by the aforementioned Star Wars films. While keeping in mind that it is a first film, the story is well handled even if a little conventional for the genre but it is the visual mastery and the storytelling approach of few dialogues and a lot of space for the nothingness of the sets and the claustrophobic society depicted. The use of Techniscope gives and sense of depth and its large framing could only be appreciated in theaters until HD televisions were introduced in everyone's homes.

The presence of Donald Pleasance might be the most interesting of the interpretations in this particular movie. His relationship with Duvall's character is unhealthy at best. Pleasance is disturbing and uses all the screen time he has to be the most interesting character of the movie. It is about alienation and every character seems to bring its own in this unappealing world.

All in all, this is a short movie of under 90 minutes that gives a little something to the fans of the early films that had the spirit that Lucas wrote and directed. It also lost with the passage of time since many films of the same era are now considered as Sci-Fi classics for example: 2001: A Space Odyssey might overshadow any Sci-Fi film to ever be released. 

The Fury

The Fury (Brian De Palma, 1978)

A government agent (Kirk Douglas) is determined to come to his son's (Andrew Stevens) rescue when a sinister official (John Cassavetes) kidnaps him to harbor his extremely powerful psychic abilities.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975)

Jeanne Dielman (Delphine Seyrig) is a single mother and a six years widow with a teenage son. They live in the same apartment where she daily receives one man to subsists to their needs. The audience is asked to watch her daily routines for three days and to witness her evolution in three subsequent days.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Russ Meyer, 1970)

Three young women—Kelly MacNamara (Dolly Read), Casey Anderson (Cynthia Myers), and Petronella "Pet" Danforth (Marcia McBroom)—perform in a rock band, The Kelly Affair, managed by Harris Allsworth (David Gurian), Kelly's boyfriend. The four travel to Los Angeles to find Kelly's estranged aunt, Susan Lake (Phyllis Davis), heiress to a family fortune.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972)

This film has an all-female cast and is set in the home of the protagonist, Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen). It follows the changing dynamics in her relationships with the other women.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent, 1974)

A group of criminals are taking hostage for ransom the passengers of a busy New York City subway car.

Starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, and Hector Elizondo The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is an iconic film of the 1970’s. A good suspense and an influential movie for Quentin Tarantino with the naming of the criminals by colors (see Reservoir Dogs) and a huge influence on action films to come along with John Carpenter’s The Assault of Precinct 13. Not the actual film canon that is praised a lot habitually by this critic, but it is deserves its mention here.

American Graffiti

American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973)

It is 1962 and teenagers are cruising in their real cars around the city of Modesto in California. A myriad of characters portrayed by Richard Dreyfus, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Wolfman Jack, and Suzanne Somers. Cruising was a way to get diner at Mels’ Drive in, get girls, and race around the city. 

The Passenger (Professione: reporter)

The Passenger (Professione : reporter) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)

David Locke (Jack Nicholson) is a television journalist making a documentary film on post-colonial Africa. To finish the film, he is in the Sahara desert seeking to meet with and interview rebel fighters involved in Chad's civil war. Struggling to find rebels to interview, his frustrations reach a climax when his Land Rover gets hopelessly stuck on a sand dune. After a long walk through the desert back to his hotel a thoroughly glum Locke finds that an Englishman by the name of Robertson (Charles Mulvehill), who has also been staying there and with whom he had struck up a friendship, has died overnight in his hotel room.

The Wicker Man (1973)

The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)

Often praised by critics and recommended by one of my friends, Christian Audet an Independent filmmaker and Horror aficionado, The Wicker Man is an intriguing and very interesting movie. Sgt Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) is a catholic investigating the Summerisle community about a missing young girl. The people of the village don’t want to collaborate and Howie witnesses many pagan rituals that alarm him. Those are Celtic pre-catholic rituals including couples copulating in public fields, teaching children the importance of the maypole as a phallic symbol, women dancing around a fire naked to celebrate the coming of a child, and strange cures like putting a frog in the mouth for a sore throat.

Don't Look Now

Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)

After the accidental death by drowning of their daughter, a couple (Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland) goes to Venice for a contract of church restoration. Laura (Christie) meets a couple of elderly sisters that told her that her daughter his still with them. It is one of the sisters, who is blind, that tells that she can see her sitting between them. Following this memorable scene the couple will be intertwined in a story of look alike and apparitions. It also contains one of the most well recognized sex scenes ever shot on film.

Nosferatu the Vampyre

Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1977)

This Gothic homage to F.W. Murnau’s Expressionistic masterpiece of 1922, brings to the big screen another vision of the classic story of Dracula. Shot simultaneously in German and in English, Werner Herzog’s version of Nosferatu highlights the bleak bringing of the plague and the loneliness of its title character.

Carrie (1976)

Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)

With the reinterpretation of Stephen King’s novel by Kimberly Pierce lately, it was natural that the classic Horror film that amongst all film enthusiasts, Quentin Tarantino himself ranks as one of his favorite films of all time would be revisited. And for Halloween’s sake let’s have a re-watch of this landmark.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Dawn of the Dead (Zombi) (George A. Romero, 1978)

Let’s go  to the mall said Robin Sparkles, but here it is a question of survival that our four protagonists escape by helicopter and land on a mall in Pennsylvania. Two SWAT members Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger), an helicopter pilot Stephen (David Emge) and his wife Francine (Gayleen Ross) take refuge in this suburban mall where they have food, ammunition's, and leisure to pass the time. However, the zombie infested lands of America isolate them from the rest of the world and zombies seem to be attracted by the shopping centre. Explaining why, the characters only summarize it by saying that it is their instinct of converging to a place that was important for them. As a consultant I have worked in a mall for two years straight at a client’s offices and I really enjoyed it and someone can almost never leave the place and live his whole life there. It wouldn’t be sane to do but most people may find it appealing. Even the central characters of the film go on a shopping spree and calculate how much the things they get costs.

Harold and Maude

Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971)

Harold (Bud Cort) is a twenty something son a of a wealthy socialite woman (Vivian Pickles) who wants him to become someone and be more like her. He is just doing the exact opposite and simulates his death by multiple simulated suicides. He even regularly attends funerals and he is captivated by death. Until one day, at a funeral, he met Maude (Ruth Gordon) who is passionate about life and is 79 years old.

The Devils

The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)

Banned in many countries and rated X in others, Ken Russell’s telling of Urbain Grandier’s (Oliver Reed) priest life and trial is an unforgettable film. Depicting a sexually repressed head nun, sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) masturbating and dreaming of Grandier as a christ figure that she wants to fornicate with. She goes berserk when she learns that the priest got married with another woman. Accusing him of witchcraft and fornication.