Babette's Feast Review- By Michael Carlisle

 Title: Babette's Feast
Year: 1987
Director: Gabriel Axel
Country: Denmark 
Language(s): Danish/Swedish/French

Costume dramas always peak the interest of cinephiles and casual film-goers alike. They are epic in scale, filled with great beauty. The cinematography is often top notch and the performances are admirable. The films of Alexander Korda, Max Ophuls and Victor Fleming portray this very well. Fleming's Gone With the Wind is the highest grossing film of all time adjusting inflation. While Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast is not as grand in scope, it certainly is just as beautiful.

 The film is set in 19th century Denmark, where two adult sisters live in an isolated village with their father, who is the honored pastor of a small Protestant church. The sisters choose to stay with their father, to serve to him and their church. After some years, a French woman refugee, Babette, arrives at their door. Sometime after their father dies, the sisters decide to hold a dinner to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. Babette implores the sisters to allow her to take charge of the preparation of the meal.

Babette's Feast is a flawlessly directed film, an example of cinema at its best. The style is somewhat similar to the great Swedish Director Ingmar Bergman. It is a refreshing film, because it does not cling to the formulas of most films. There is no violence, no rage, no death, no cheese. It is an "art" film but it is not pretentious; it is a film with religious subject matter but it is not preachy. Axel's film is optimistic yet sincere and realistic, a real rarity.

It's meticulous in detail, yet it does not overpower the senses. As time passes we connect with each of the characters and understand their frailties. It is a film about healing; a mending of the spirit and the body. It teaches us about the power of art, love, grace and sacrifice. Even a meal can hold great truths about the human condition. Babette's Feast is a necessary film because it reminds us about the good in humanity.

In conclusion, Babette's Feast is a must own. An astounding Criterion Collection edition of the film is coming out in July, pick it up immediately. There is much to learn from this spiritual film and much to gain as well. It is an anti-depressant and should be seen at least twice a month. What a glorious film indeed! Praise it! 5/5

Senso Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Senso
Year: 1954
Director: Luchino Visconti
Country: Italy
Language: Italian

Everybody loves a film with great romance, but it's amour fou; dark and twisted love that really keeps our interest. Adultery, obsession, murder and uncontrollable emotion are many themes that plague these films. We've seen it in Oshima's controversial In The Realm of the Senses and Malick's brilliant Badlands. Luchino Visconti's Senso is no exception; filled with amour fou, it also is a devastating tear-jerker.

The story is set in Venezia, spring of 1866, in the last days of the Austrian occupation. A performance of Il Trovatore ends up in confusion due to an anti-Austrian demonstration, organised by Count Ussoni. His cousin Countess Serpieri falls in love with Austrian Lieutenant Franz Mahler, but the times are changing.

 Senso is a historical spectacle, an epic that stands the test of time. Visconti's great film opens in an opera house and in a way never leaves it. It is a masterpiece; full of melodrama, adultery, war, doomed love and death. Countess Livia Serpieri (Alida Valli) is a woman helplessly in love, sexual passion is her driving force in life. Unfortunately love makes even the best of us blind, and like Shakespeare's Juliet, her uncontrollable passion will ultimately lead to her doom.

Senso was Visconti's first film in color, obviously he would put great detail in it. The sets are fantastic, the cinematography is gorgeous and the costume design is top notch. Only a master of his craft could have made a film as great as this. The film is not only a critique of Italian ruling classes, but a study regarding the neo-realist emotions of post-war Italy. Unfortunately Italian censors forced Visconti to reshoot the ending, saying his original version was an insult to the Italian army.However it did win the admiration of acclaimed Director Martin Scorsese.

In conclusion, Senso is an alluring film that is a must own, especially since it has a remarkable Criterion Collection edition. It may not be Luchino Visconti's best film, however that's only because the majority of his films are masterpieces. Surely this is a wonderful introduction to his work, or to Italian Cinema in general. Praise it! 5/5

Metropolis Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Metropolis
Year: 1927
Director: Fritz Lang
Country: Germany
Language: German 

From A Trip to the Moon (1902) to Moon (2009), the science fiction genre is filled with mesmerizing films that expand the mind and inspire great creativity. They show that there is no limit to the Universe and that anything and everything is possible. Fritz Lang's Metropolis is no exception; a wonderful silent film that is filled with groundbreaking special effects that help create shockingly futuristic world.

In the film, the city of Metropolis is home to a Utopian society where its wealthy residents live a carefree life. The futuristic city is sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

 Anyone who knows the history of science-fiction films knows the story of Metropolis; much of the footage in the original version was cut and then lost for several decades. However, after 70+ years all the footage has been found and fully restored. Masters of Cinema has a stunning edition of the film. Visually exhilarating, its style and its bleak look of the world that director Fritz Lang created is entrancing. From it's large vast bright buildings, stylized sets, dark shadows and lights and dramatic camera angles the film feels like an eerie, beautiful nightmare

Metropolis employed large vast sets, and new groundbreaking special effects to create two worlds: the great city of Metropolis, with its beautiful artistic design of the expressways and skyscrapers in the sky, and the subterranean workers' city which included over 25,000 extras.Its themes and designs have been duplicated over and over, you can see some of its influence in Lucas' Star Wars. It's obviously a political film in nature; Marxist themes captivate the film. Strangely it was also a favourite film of Adolf Hitler, though I should point out that Lang absolutely hated the Nazi regime.

In conclusion, Metropolis is a wondrous, thought-provoking film. It is a timeless work of art which remains in the minds of anybody who is even remotely interested in film. To not have seen this film is to not have lived. Though the great H.G Wells called this "quite the silliest film," time has proved that he was wrong. Praise it! 5/5

Diabolique Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Diabolique
Year: 1955
Director: Henri Georges Clouzot
Country: France
Language: French

Henri Georges Clouzot, as well as Claude Chabrol, is known as "The French Hitchcock". All three director's films are incredibly suspenseful and full of remarkably dark characters. They also are all masters of putting psychology on-screen. However, Clouzot may have had a harder life than both men.  Dogged by ill health, branded a Nazi collaborator and spurned by the French New Wave, his career ended before potential was realized. Still he made some great films and Diabolique was definitely one of them.

The film consists of a wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster who plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school's filthy swimming pool... but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared - and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his 'killers' to the brink of insanity.

The style of Henri-Georges Clouzot was considered the scariest and most thrilling of all French Cinema. Diabolique has always been considered "the greatest Hitchcock film that Hitchcock did not make.". Indeed, Afred Hitchcock missed out on purchasing the rights to Boileau and Narcejac's novel, of which the film is based on, by just a few hours, Clouzot got to the authors first.

Diabolique is shocking and claustrophobic. It is full of very tense moments that keep you on the edge of your seat. The murder plot is very intelligently constructed; you will find yourself absolutely amazed by the end of the film. The lighting and cinematography make for a dark an disturbing overall atmosphere. However Diabolique is not perfect, it dabbles in a movie cliche which paints people with heart conditions as weak and helpless. In reality it takes a lot to harm a younger person with a heart condition, thus Vera Clouzot's character seems a bit melodramatic.

In conclusion, while I would certainly consider Diabolique a great film that must be seen, it's a film that is hard to watch more than once. Clouzot relies heavily on the un-expected to entertain his audience; once you've seen the film you aren't as involved in the suspense and it definitely hurts the experience. Regardless of this, Clouzot's film is one of great technical perfection. Praise it! 4/5

Pale Flower Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Pale Flower
Year: 1964
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese 

Gangster films are well received in the Western World. Films like Goodfellas, The Godfather and Scarface have been hailed as cinematic masterpieces. Unfortunately films portraying the yakuza are not as well known in North America. These films often dive deeper into understanding the nature of man and arguably are better character studies. Perhaps the greatest of these films is Shinoda's Pale Flower.

The film is about Muraki, a hardboiled Yakuza gangster, has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder. Revisiting his old gambling haunts, he meets Saeko, a striking young upper-class woman who is out seeking thrills, and whose presence adds spice to the staid masculine underworld rituals. However he realizes that Saeko's insatiable lust for intense pleasures may be leading her to self-destruction.

Pale Flower is a product of the  "new wave" art cinema of Japan in the 60's which was as innovative and profound as the revolutionary American and European films of the era. It is also an example of Amour Fou, films with characters who have an uncontrollable or obsessive passion. Muraki meets Saeko and as time goes by they seek bigger and bigger kicks, all in some vain attempt to feel something, anything at all. It makes one wonder how in love they are. Is their relationship purely based on mutual self destruction?

In some ways they are the Romeo and Juliet of Japanese underground gangsters. Director Shinoda puts together a very impressive film, so smart and tightly constructed. His use of camera and lighting is masterful, his characters are multi dimensional and real in many ways. The film is filled with depict nihilism, yet there is never a dull moment and always a great sense of dread and doom.

In conclusion, Pale Flower is an incredibly thought provoking film which acts as great social commentary. It reflects the end of the old Japanese tradition of honor and obedience to a patriarchal system that was in disarray after their defeat in WWII and the occupation that followed. Using a brilliant score, Shinoda's film is one that will stand the test of tiime. Praise it! 5/5

Santa Sangre Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Santa Sangre
Year: 1989
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Country: Mexico
Language: English

Alejandro Jodorowsky is undoubtedly one of the strangest film-makers that has ever existed. His surrealistic style is reminiscent of Luis Bunuel, though it can be argued that Jodorowsky is the oddest of the two. Beginning his film career with Fando Y Lis, Jodorowsky maintained the social status of an outcast due to being far too unusual for typical films made in Hollywood. Two decades later he would make Santa Sangre, which is typically considered a masterpiece.

In this film a young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child.  Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his surviving and armless mother. Against his will, he "becomes her arms" and the two undertake a grisly campaign of murder and revenge.

Santa Sangre is one of Jodorowsky's most accessible films. It's a colorful, horrifying and hallucinatory masterpiece. It's shocking, Freudian, surreal and remarkably poetic. There are few films with similar subject matter that can be as intelligent as this film. It's a throwback to when movies didn't try to have the same mass market plot formula in desire to make money. This film is an individual achievement that will stand the test of time.

Jodorowsky's film is not only a surrealist delight, but it is also a satire on the absurdities of cult and organized religion. It's an original homage to slasher films of the past and has been called somewhat of a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's legendary Psycho (1960). Alejandro Jodorowsky's continuing preoccupations with circus themes, childhood, murder and performance art; as vivid colours and bold strokes of character and ideology are thrown wildly around the screen and they all are combined to make a brilliant film. Jodorowsky gives us a barrage of visual and aural stimulation yet never makes it too difficult to watch. His film isn't full of the gross out gore we see in modern films and it isn't full of murder, yet it still manages to push the envelope.

In conclusion, fans of Jodorowsky, cult and/or horror film will absolutely love this film. It's difficult to stop thinking about this film, even more difficult to not want to watch it again right away. The famed Mexican director gives us plenty to think about while also scaring the hell out of us. Newer film directors should study this film as there is wonders to learn. Praise it! 5/5

Evil Dead Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Evil Dead
Year: 2013
Director: Fede Alvarez
Country: US
Language: English

 For me, the original Evil Dead Trilogy (Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness) was among the greatest film trilogies ever produced. The films were absolutely hilarious, full of camp, bad special effects and terrible puns. Ash (Bruce Campbell) was a mockery of the typical male hero, an overly masculine character who shouted catchphrase after catchphrase, saving the typical heroine from certain doom. In 2013 a remake of the original Evil Dead was made...and it's quite different.

The film consists of Five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.

While Evil Dead is technically a "remake", the only similarity it has with the original film was the plot. The director of this film clearly had a different vision for what the film should be. It's much darker & more serious than Sam Raimi's film, this film is not trying to be satire in anyway. However the Director does try to imitate some of Raimi's shot's from the original film and it feels, for lack of a better word, out of place and awkward. It's a creative film that struggles to find its individualism. 

The gore in this film is extremely hard to watch, yet there's so much of it that it becomes desensitizing and almost comical. Evil Dead feels and looks like every other big budget horror film, it's almost as if I could see the exact same movie if I rented (insert modern horror title). It's probably unfair to compare this Raimi's film, but one charm that it has which this film doesn't is the surrealistic aspect. There are not just demonic possessions and disfigurement, you really get a sense that the characters are going insane via odd images like a mirror turning into water. This Evil Dead is JUST about episodes of demonic possession and feels disjointed.

In conclusion, fans of the original Evil Dead will be disappointed in this film as well as people who have never seen the original. The characters are absolutely boring and forgettable, which drains your investment in them. The reliance on shock gore is rather annoying, though it's impressive to see such an unapologetic film in 2013. It's strange that the film did not get an NC-17 rating.  Piss on it! 1.5/5

The Idle Class Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: The Idle Class 
Year: 1921
Director: Charles Chaplin
Country: US
Language: English
 

In 1921 director Charles Chaplin was still a fresh film comedian who had a lot more to accomplish. He had acclaim, wealth and an incredible amount of potential. Though he wasn't at his political peak, which would come after the end of the silent period, he still had completed several important political films like Shoulder Arms (1918), The Immigrant (1917) and  The Pilgrim (1922). The Idle Class would arguably be the funniest of Chaplin's early works.

The plot here is between Charlie the wealthy and alcoholic husband and Charlie the Tramp: the idle rich and the idle poor. In the opening scene wealthy Edna descends from a Pullman car while the Tramp crawls out from under another one. At a fancy masquerade ball Edna's husband appears as a knight whose visor is stuck closed. The Tramp shows up, running from the law, and is mistaken for the husband. Edna finds the new "husband" more to her liking than the real on.

The Idle Class is incredibly important to the history of cinema because it is the inspiration for Chaplin's much more renowned film The Great Dictator (1940).  That time Chaplin's theme of mistaken identity was used to mock the most feared dictator on the planet: Adolf Hitler. While Chaplin's social commentary isn't as brazen in The Idle Class, it certainly is remarkably intelligent. I wouldn't necessarily say that the film is an exploration of the gap between the rich and the poor, but an insight into romance. Charlie the wealthy is too busy getting drunk to notice his wife, Charlie the Tramp is too busy playing gold. Neither are detestable characters, but both are idle in regards to love and romance.

 Chaplin's film is clever and brilliantly constructed, each gag is handled with delicate care and perfection. Chaplin's "economy of expression" in this film shows his true genius. Using few title cards he creates a somewhat complicated story that is easy to follow and enjoy, this would be incredibly difficult for any other Director at that time. In The Idle Class Chaplin explores what he knows best, the absurdity of human behavior and the deflation of human ego.

In conclusion, The Idle Class is a timeless Chaplin short that will leave you in stitches from laughing so hard. It has great historical importance, as well as cinematic importance. If any film-maker wishes to learn how to make a comedic film, then this is definitely the place to start. Chaplin's comedic timing is absolutely perfect. Praise it! 5/5

Limelight Review- By Michael Carlisle

 Title: Limelight
Year: 1952
Director: Charles Chaplin
Country: US
Language: English

By the time 1952 had rolled along, the legendary comedic filmmaker Charles Chaplin had made a career out of political comedies that won over the hearts of audiences worldwide. Though he had killed his beloved character The Tramp over a decade earlier in The Great Dictator, he proved with Monsieur Verdoux (1947) that he did not necessarily need the character in order to make a competent picture. Limelight would be Chaplin's first motion picture in the "leave it to beaver" era of the 50's.

Chaplin's final American film is a somewhat autobiographical film which tells the story of a fading music hall comedian's effort to help a despondent ballet dancer learn both to walk and feel confident about life again.

Why was Limelight Chaplin's last American film? Because on September 19th, 1952 his long career was dealt a heavy blow by the House Un-American Activities Committee who blacklisted him for refusing to co-operate with the FBI and possibly being a communist. All of Chaplin's sentimental political film worked against his favor as they had a 2,000+ page file on him, fortunately this would not signal the end of his career.

Limelight is an incredibly moving autobiographical picture that is both a bittersweet melodrama and a mirror into the soul of its director. It is a great drama, with many comedic moments. Like Chaplin, his character Calvero knows how to make people laugh, but feels he has lost the ability to do so. He realizes he is at the end of his career, but he still hungers for one final moment in the limelight. It's philosophical yet can be preachy at times, however it does contain a lot of Chaplin's love for humanity and his desire for a loving world.

In conclusion, while Limelight is far from the type of film Chaplin became famous for, it is still pretty meaningful and entertaining. Perhaps the biggest problem with this film is that it can be too dramatic, Claire Boom tends to over-act and thus it makes her character a tad unlike-able. To counter this, the brilliant silent star Buster Keaton makes a coma-inducing cameo that one will not forget. Praise it! 4/5