Change Your Image
cloistermouse
Reviews
Repo Man (1984)
Only insomnia
Only insomnia ensured that I saw this film for the third time when it was screened late at night on TV last night. I saw it in the cinema in the 1980's - how this film captures the era - and on TV when I was visiting New Zealand some years later in a hilariously bowdlerised version, peppered with expletives rendered as "flip you" and "holy sheepdip" etc. Reminiscent of an extra on the "Sean of the Dead" DVD with its tame "funkings" and "prinks" dubbed in.
Alex Cox was a director who burned brightly for a very short time in the mid-eighties. Straight to Hell was surely a contender for the worst film of all time accolade. Cox did pop up again as an astute presenter of cult films on British television.
Repo Man is one of those quirky cinematic gems which deserve cult status. A pretty savage picture of an era of monetarist economics and violent young punks, but it's hard not to feel nostalgic about it if that was when you were young(ish) yourself. In this film Emilio Estevez will ever be young and p*ssed off and Harry Dean Stanton at his peak following his tour de force of a performance in Paris, Texas.
Im Lauf der Zeit (1976)
Wenders better at titles than Shakespeare?
I haven't seen this film for ages, but it is one of the ones that have stuck in my mind. Saw it twice in the 1980's when it seemed to be a cult art-house favourite. I thought Kings of the Road was a good title but perhaps the German "Im Lauf der Zeit" is more poignant, illustrating a theme that Wenders explores in his auteurly way to devastating effect in "Paris Texas".
"In the Course of Time". Does this mean that in the course of time all relationships tend to disintegrate, due to bad faith. The guy's just broken up with his partner. He starts a friendship after a chance encounter with the travelling projector repairer. It ends in a punch-up. What a tragic view of life.
There were a few memorable and amusing scenes, such as when a self-abusing cinema projectionist is confronted.
"Wings of Desire" was "Der Himmel ueber Berlin" in German. Apparently Wenders gave some thought to how his titles appeared in different translations.
Six Feet Under: In the Game (2002)
God have mercy. God have mercy. God have mercy.
This struck me as one of the most entertaining episodes of Six Feet Under, right from the slasher movie beginning followed by the event which actually provided business for the Fishers (in a rather parsimonious way from the late actress's colleagues).
Nicolai saying grace at the dining table in his heartfelt way was funny and moving, and this was followed by Nate's even more hilarious ecstasy trip.
A great start to the second series of Six Feet Under. It was the only show with a soap opera format that I can really say I liked, with its characterisation and its postmodern supernatural elements.