A Clockwork Orange; Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom; I Spit on Your Grave; Funny Games; Baise-Moi; Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer; Fat Girl; Possession; Martyrs; Enter the Void; A Serbian Film.
Those are a select few films that I have sat and watched all of the way through. Having the audacity to showcase anything is an important part of film itself; some wish to go further, either to explore themes too taboo to stomach/talk about or to invoke pure sadism upon their audiences. Then, there are those who wish to highlight major bloodshed or the vicious destruction of human life usually for cheap popcorn thrills. And of course, sometimes the major endurance challenge for a film is its own failure at conveying its message or overcoming its shoddy construction.
NOTE: You can easily see by clicking on the "Essential Film Hit List" label below or to the side how long it has been since the last update. I admit that I have been lazy when doing this part; movies like The Passion of the Christ, United 93, and Fireproof were supposed to be featured here as well. However, the timing of the summer movie season and the fact that I was to watch a series of movies that were often depressing caused the massive delay. I'm just failing on my "make time" declaration. Anyway...
Death Wish made a mighty stink during the 1970's, as it largely advocates vigilantism and help lead to infamous real-life cases like the story of Bernhard Goetz. Not counting into fact the laughable stretching of the franchise into the 90's, with all succeeding entry having a budget limboing downward, the first film does hold up a bit well, more as a watchable action flick than as a serious drama of city turmoil. Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey, a NY architect whose life turns upside down when his wife and daughter are raped by invading thugs (including a young Jeff Goldblum!), who then murder the former before fading back into the scummy streets. During a business vacation, he befriends a gun-happy Arizonan resident developer and begins to switch his liberal beliefs to conservative. Receiving a Colt Police Positive as a departing present from his client, he takes to the streets, snuffing out those that have plagued the city. Bronson was always a fine actor and you can see the evolving change of Kersey's demeanor, from a suited weakling to a hard-edge punisher. Not much else to say.
The Hurricane may seem like an odd choice for this selection (Truth be told: it was expiring on Netflix and I wanted to see before it was removed). However, it becomes perfectly clear at its climax: A Polynesian sailor named Terangi is set to marry the loveliest girl on an island in the South Pacific. As was custom at the time, both are being played by white actors (Jon Hall and Dorothy Lamour respectively). At one island stop, Terangi punches the hell out of a drunk racist, nearly killing the guy. He's sentenced to serve a moderate prison stay but because of his cultural lust for the sea, and the love of his life, the strong idiot keeps trying to escape and adding up more years. He finally breaks out after 16 years behind bars and heads back to his native land, all before a horrible storm is about to approach. Once we get to the hurricane sequence, the film turns from a adventurous drama into a horror show. Tons of water are spewed all over the sets, probably causing an untold number of injuries for the actors. A lot of people are viciously killed off, whether the ones roped to the trees or the ones in the crumbling church. And, all of this is shown without any music; just the terrifying noise of screams, wind, water, and a ringing church bell. This was one of the odd efforts by legendary Western director John Ford but he does make spectacle out of the shallow story. It's a laughably entertaining ride at the start before the harrowing finale sucks the air out of the room.
Well, I finally hit my first misfire. Elephant was the toast of the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Palme d'Or and Best Director for writer/director Gus Van Sant. I have a hard time seeing the so-called amazing praise because the uncomfortable film is so boring and misguided in all of the wrong ways. It shows the multiple viewpoints of several high-school students as they endure and suffer from a planned school shooting. The two gunmen are also focused heavily. Relishing on the disturbing history and visuals of the Columbine shooting, the film tries to make art from the staleness of the classrooms and the mumbled angst of the tortured young spirits. It also thinks it can pull off a Tarantino-esque approach to plot structure, as we get a bigger picture of all of the character intersections. None of these artistic touches matter because the movie falls apart so easily. All of the innocents aren't well developed enough for us to care about their plight or worse, they are unbearably flat and irritating (namely, the mean girls) that you wish for them to die, which is a horrible thought to have with this material. Some of the stories certainly don't matter; for instance, one person is introduced and then is quickly killed off. To fail the film ever more, the ending closes the plot on an ambiguous note, but not before a strange turn of events comes out of nowhere. It does have some good visuals and the third act is a bit terrifying but Van Sant clearly is not trying to make a compatible movie, let alone a coherent one. I gladly would watch Gerry anytime over this again.
Michael Haneke is a mixed blessing for myself; I've not always walked away pleasant with his wild work (Funny Games, Cache) but they are all so intriguing and artfully constructed. He's one of the few directors to expertly torture the viewer but make you think about the dark corners of humanity. The Seventh Continent was his first film and what a crashing breakthrough. Told in three acts, it follows an Austrian family possibly suffering a shared psychological breakdown. Their normal life of consumerism and modernity has chipped away at their souls: the child temporarily goes blind, a routine car wash causes the wife to spontaneously burst in tears, and they all keep observing a banner to vacation in Australia, even though the image has crashing waves on a beach that's next to a mountain range. The third act is when it all falls apart, as the family willing engages in the complete obliteration of their human lives, starting off with their possessions. This act is virtually wordless, except for a key moment that briefly wakes them up from their depressive stupor. Unnerving and emotionally draining, the movie is an amazing display of misanthropy and self-destruction.
One of the type of films I wanted to add to the Essential Film List was a "video nasty", a group of movies that were persecuted and banned in England during the 1980's VHS boom largely due to their violent content. A major film to be judged for obscenity, The House on the Edge of the Park was one of two listed films directed by Ruggero Deodato (the other being the infamous Cannibal Holocaust). The film certainly lived up to its distasteful nature; the opening scene has the main character stalking, raping, then killing a woman. To make it even more worst, the credits reveal that the two actors are married (!). Anyway, the rapist/murderer (David Hess in a role modeled after his work in The Last House on the Left) later meets up with his best friend. A couple with car trouble invite the two to their house party, where they are then treated as fools to the snooty amusement of the real guests. The two get fed up with it so they take their hosts hostage and begin to celebrate a night full of depravity. The movie is a true-blue exploitation, with horrific acts performed for the camera yet there is no excitement or enjoyment for the viewer, not even in a twisted dark sense. Hess and his buddy are truly disgusting while the rich guests are either too stupid or non-caring for their plight. The real deal-breaker for nearly all who chooses to watch it will be a sequence where a young female guest makes a surprise appearance and is then sexually humiliated and mutilated by Hess. If you make it to the end, you are treated to seeing an unbelievably horrendous twist ending and one of the worst death faces ever recorded by a movie camera.
The Passion of Joan of Arc has always been labeled as one of the greatest films ever made. It certainly is. A spirited adaptation of the actual trial and execution of the French teenager turned army leader, Carl Dreyer keeps his camera close on all of his subjects. From the devious judges to the saint herself, every spit, tear, and eye twitch is displayed. You can practically feel the breathing hit the camera lens. Humorously, Dreyer had extravagant sets built for the feature yet they are often obscured away by all of the close-ups. The film of course excels thanks to the bottomless emotional depth of actress Maria Falconetti. She is able to show both courage and dejection with just one good look. It took many extraordinary circumstances to receive this film in its original cut and due to the mighty efforts by many talented companies and musicians, the power of this film will continue to resonant.
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