edwinbodegraaf Reviews

The Professor (I) (2018)

A disappointing turn for Johnny Depp

[5/10 · 20 August 2021]

You used to be able to rely on Johnny Depp. The films he was in were pretty much always worth watching and he was always brilliant. The Professor must be one of his poorest films and one of his least convincing performances. Depp has a lot of charisma and it's nice to see him on screen - even in a film as disappointing as this and saying some of the worst lines of his career.

A (very handsome) professor in English finds out he has only six months or so to live and realises he hasn't made enough of his life. Cliche? Yes, and it doesn't become any better. There's a bit of Dead Poets Society when Depp hangs out with a small privileged group of students to whom he gives life lessons; all variation on the theme 'make something of your lives, kids! Don't waste it!' 'Is that all?' Asks one of the students after another bad speech. Apparently yes. Still, the students are full of admiration for the wisdom and courage the professor shows. They all want to sleep him as well.

Making something of your life apparently means getting drunk and... drinking a bit more. What it doesn't mean is spending some time with your wayward and struggling daughter while you still can. The professor is a pitiable and undeveloped character that not even Depp can bring to life. The film is almost (but not quite) rescued by Danny Huston who plays his best friend and is absolutely wonderful. Rosemary deWitt is fine too as the professor's wife.

But no actor can turn this insipid script in anything worthwhile. Let's hope Depp will make a better choice with his next film. With bigger productions staying clear of him (because of his private life), it would be a good time to go back to more intelligent and independent film making. An aging Johnny Depp could be interesting; this film certainly isn't.

Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Just too perfect

[8/10 · 20 August 2021]

The chase is often better than the catch, as they say, and Call Me by Your Name proves that this also the case for films. A spoiled 17-year old boy is in lust with an American man about ten years older who stays as a guest in their luxurious villa in Northern Italy. The longing, jealousy and insecurity of the boy are beautifully played by Timothee Chalamet, who steals the show in his breakthrough film. When the two men finally sleep together the film becomes much duller, with too many sex scenes for my liking and without the tension that kept the film going. To be openly gay was problematic in early eighties Italy (it still is), but the boy's parents are liberal and accepting and it doesn't seem to hold the boy back, nor does it give him the feeling of guilt and shame often associated with semi-illicit affairs.

The social setting is straight out of Woody Allen with its privileged and cultured intellectuals. The boy is constantly seen reading high-brow literature, he plays the piano and transcribes classical music. The father is an archaeology professor who, as he admits to the boy in an overlong speech at the end, had homosexual leanings himself that he never acted upon. The scenery is reminiscent of Bertolucci and especially brings to mind his film Stealing Beauty. Attractive people who are swimming, dancing and playing games. Somehow there is not a tourist in sight. The idyllic surroundings and life style feel a contrived. Everything is just too perfect.

Call Me by Your Name is convincing tale of young love with all its complications. The film is beautiful to look at and it has a sweet melancholic air about it, but it's also shallow and in the end has very little to say. Enjoy things as they last? There is no joy without pain? Not the masterpiece it is proclaimed to be, at least not in my opinion...

King of New York (1990)

Entertainment at its darkest

[8/10 · 11 August 2021]

When Christopher Walken is well cast, he is one of the best actors around. In that sense he's a bit like Clint Eastwood or even Jack Nicholson: limited in scope but brilliant when he gets it right. And in King of New York he's tremendous. He plays the just out of jail crime kingpin Frank White who soon re-establishes himself at the centre of the New York crime scene by killing off the competition.

King of New York is violent and out of control with dark humour and over the top characters. Laurence Fishburne is fantastic and seems to relish playing Frank White's right hand man in scenes reminiscent of early Tarantino. Victor Argo is understated as the police lieutenant in charge of investigating White; the other coppers are weasely and no more sympathetic than the bad guys.

White sees himself as a bit of a Robin Hood, running an operation that in his own eyes is clean, and donating money to local causes. Walken's charm is irresistible and he is very, very scary in the way only Walken can be.

King of New York is entertainment at its darkest. The pace is perfect, the music great and Walken delivers one of his finest performances ever.

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

A minor classic in its own right

[7/10 · 9 July 2021]

A Hard Day's Night is a charmingly quaint film. A fictional day in the life of the Beatles that is disarmingly funny and very, very English. The main attraction of the film lies in the performances of the Fab Four themselves: four likely lads being a little bit naughty, having a laugh and cracking bad jokes. Ringo Starr in particular is wonderful.

On the road with them is Paul McCartney's 'granddad'. It might have sounded like a good idea at the time and it sort of moves the plot forward, but the joke wears thing quickly and Wilfrid Brambell's character really is an annoying, humourless old man and an unwelcome distraction from the scenes featuring the band. Victor Spinetti, as the stressed out TV producer is fantastic though, and all in all the acting is fine, with the Beatles holding their own as fictional versions of themselves.

The film is more than a vehicle for the Beatles and might have been a minor classic in its own right. A great English comedy. The music isn't bad either.

Point Break (1991)

Moral ambivalence and great action

[7/10 · 8 July 2021]

Long-haired surfer dudes robbing banks for kicks versus a cocky new FBI recruit who goes undercover to solve the case of a series of bank robberies.

Patrick Swayze is magnificent in all his intensity and madness as the leader of the bank robbing surfers. Keanu Reeves as the FBI agent is passable as always, but hasn't got the gravity or cool that possibly a Tom Cruise could've brought to the role. After a promising start, Lori Petty is relegated to a supporting role. A shame, but it's a film about guys after all, or as the Lori Petty character says at some point: 'There's a bit too much testosterone around here.' (Surprisingly it's directed by a woman, the Oscar winning Kathryn Bigelow.)

The first twenty minutes are pretty standard FBI fair, with a lot of shouty men in suits, masculine bullying and the pulling of rank, but as soon as the film gets going, the excitement and tension build up beautifully. When Keanu Reeves's cover is blown by chasing the masked bank robbers, he surprisingly goes back to continue his job as an undercover... It's a strange twist, but after this, the film speeds up further and there is no way of telling how it will all end. It certainly had me at the edge of my seat.

After all these years (thirty!) the film, which depicts a life style that in my mind is very much associated with the period, is still very watchable. The tuxedo dressed and masked bank robbers (the masks depict as ex-presidents) show a another side of the the thrill seeking surfers and add a nightmarish feel to the otherwise freewheeling and drugs taking young men.

The action is balanced with some low-key druggy philosophy about living for the moment, that feels heartfelt and authentic. The film doesn't glamorize and none of the characters are all that likable - should we be rooting for Schwayze the bank robber of Reeves the sneaky FBI undercover agent? The ambivalence makes this film much better than the average action film where the line between good and bad often is drawn with much more clarity.

A ninety classic that has lost nothing of its original excitement and reminds us of what a great actor Patrick Swayze was.

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

A buddy movie with a heart

[6/10 · 7 July 2021]

This was my first experience with the Fast and Furious series and I wasn't disappointed. A charming Hollywood version of Rebel Without a Cause mixed with a somewhat unconvincing heist film. But at heart it's an old fashioned buddy movie, with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker as handsome and charismatic leads. (It's no surprise that they would return for future episodes of the series, until Walker's tragic death in 2013.) Not much is made of their female counterparts, played by a sultry Michelle Rodriguez and the very beautiful Jordana Brewster. You might say that the real leads of this film are the cars, but although a lot is made of the technical side of things, the focus fortunately is on the people behind the wheel. The car chases and races that the series is known for are great though. It's one of those films where as a viewer you get the idea that the actors all got on in real life and that it was real fun to make. Unpretentious film making at its best and a great introduction to one of the most successful film series of all times.

Ronin (1998)

Disappointing heist film

[4/10 · 1 July 2021]

Standard and pretty boring car chases, a cliched screenplay by David Mamet, and Robert De Niro going through the motions. I could've (and should've) switched it off at any point and would not have missed anything worthwhile. The lightweight philosophy and male bonding should give the film more depth, but it all feels very uninspired. As can be expected, there is a love interest, but it's difficult to understand what the attraction is between De Niro and Natasha McElhone, and her character feels very unexplored. All the cliches of the genre are thrown together without originality. The moody opening and some of the cityscapes are beautiful - almost as in a travel documentary - but for me there was little else to enjoy.