6 Reviews: Anatomie (Anatomy), Barton Fink and more!
Chained for Life (1951)
1/10
Chained for Life belongs to a subgenre of exploitation films from the 1950’s which focused on having the type of appeal synonymous with a sideshow circus. Exploiting the unfamiliar was essentially the draw factor. Generally these films were not good and Chained for Life provides evidence for the claim. It is loosely based on the real life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton who are the stars of the film. The real-life events use their sideshow background, publicity stunt marriage and more. The murder trial aspect? Not so much. This can barely even be called a film. The point of it is to be a novelty act and as a film it is impossible to expect any more than the worst. This outlook works out as it easily one of the worst films ever made.
That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
6.5/10
Luis Bunuel’s last film is a bit of a mixed bag. Despite having many admirable qualities including an ultimately successful look at idea of ‘desire’ which he spent his entire career exploring, the film simply never moves past its own repetitiveness. The framing device is a delight and it places Mathieu both in and out of his own story. The casting of two different actresses as Conchita works beautifully. Her perspective comes from the knowledge that Mathieu just wants her for sex despite what he says. The longer she says no the more he is blinded by his desire. Having two different actresses emphasizes Conchita’s point throughout the film. He cannot love this person if he is blinded by his sexual desire to the point where her face is interchangeable. By forcing herself to be looked at as a person, she becomes frustrating to the viewer which is probably purposeful. Conchita’s demands are all completely valid; she plays with him the way he is subconsciously playing with her. The final scene of the film is near perfection. The problem with That Obscure Object of Desire is that it goes in circles. Those circles are likely intentional but about half way through the scenario between Mathieu and Conchita wears thin. While this is a nice send-off for Bunuel, films like Belle de Jour cover the same subject much more relevantly.
I Walked with a Zombie (1943):
4.9/10
Along with Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie is considered by many to be both Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur’s masterpiece. The film has a surprisingly observational view of West Indies culture and voo-doo, a sinister walk through a corn field, an effectively filmed voo-doo ritual, some impressive shots and the use of the song “Shame and Sorrow for the Family”. However, I Walked with a Zombie is quite overrated. That this is consistently considered one of the greatest films of all time is shocking. As a reworking of Jane Eyre it becomes redundant and unnecessary, adding nothing to the original story. Anytime the film’s apparent genius is talked about it is always in relation to a walk through a cornfield which is admittedly great; still, Tourneur has done better. There is an actual film surrounding this sequence though that is rarely mentioned perhaps because it is covered in mediocrity. Uninteresting characters performed blandly, the film drags itself through a mere 70 minutes. Unfortunately the film struggles in addition because Tourneur and his signature style only come in spurts. It lacks the energy and innovation of some of the other Lewton produced works. There are so many lackluster scenes in this that the impressive qualities are washed over by an overall dull film.
Anatomy (2000)
5/10
Anatomy starts out with promise. With an engaging lead like Franka Potente and a subject matter exclusively dealing with the human body, what is underneath us and our impending expiration; it could have been a lot more than what it ultimately is. Instead of taking the structure of the mainstream American horror film and building on it, the film falls flat due to following the conventions and pitfalls to be found in other films of its kind. Directed by Stefan Ruzowitsky, there is definitely a sleek style to the film which brings most of its best moments. The mise-en-scene and shot composition are used to create spacial relations that build the suspense of situations. Dissecting the human body while it is still alive is a premise that proves effective in the discomfort it provides. The film continues to use misogynistic stereotypes that will probably never go away such as the death of the sexually active female character. There is a useless romantic subplot involving a character named Caspar. Soon after it starts comes the realization that it is going to hit every note you expect it to. The climax in particular is laden with cliché. This is certainly better than many horror films in this vein due to the stylish direction by Ruzowitsky and the lead performance by Potente but overall this is a cliché ridden redundancy.
Barton Fink (1991)
9/10
One of the Coen Brothers best films, Barton Fink defies genre classification with its exploration of ennui, Hollywood culture, male friendship, the common man, writer’s block and so much more. The film, in a perfect move, takes on a slightly (very much so) surrealistic vibe by the end. It rightly favors a subtle ambiguity which makes us feel inexplicably as lost and hopeless as Barton Fink himself feels at the end. Something great about the Barton character is that while he spouts on about wanting to create a new theater for the common man, he is pretty naïve about what he spends so much time talking about. Barton is quite flawed and it makes him a much more interesting character. He has a sense of superiority that likely comes with being a playwright but he secretly loves the praise heaped upon him, knows little of what he wants to write about and is pretty terrible at fitting into a different culture hen taken out of the theater world. Much of the film takes place in an odd hotel that Barton tries to write in which is fundamental to the film’s atmosphere. Here he meets Charlie Meadows played by John Goodman. Charlie Meadows is my favorite Coen Brothers character. His desire for connection and his friendship with Barton juxtaposed next to his Madman Mundt persona, Charlie becomes a heightened representation of the lost efforts of the common man. The scenes between Goodman and Turturro, both in career best performances, are some of the best stuff the Coen Brothers have ever done. The film as a whole is filled with dark humor, trademark cynicism and an honest desire for answers to big picture questions. This is one of their best films for sure.
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
3/10
Where I Walked with a Zombie is primarily famous for a 3 minute walk through a cornfield, She Done Him Wrong is famous for being the best representation of the Mae West persona. Mae West was built for Pre-Code and her Broadway work fits in perfectly with the sexual freedom and the female dominated period in American film. She saunters around and owns any room she is in. Men are mere playthings for her and that is the way Pre-Code was. Most films of the time outside of the gangster film were star vehicles for females and features characters that were not punished but celebrated for being independent. She Done Him Wrong is certainly engaging as a Mae West vehicle, but outside of her presence it would never be spoken about by anyone. The plot has a bare bones structure, built for West to do her thing. Her control over a room holds up to her reputation. As a time capsule and a mark of the importance her persona brought to the changing ideals of the time, she is rightly famous. Her material is quite dated though and every time she speaks is a punch line. The film itself is barely interesting and the end is so ludicrous and goes against anything West herself must have believed in that is ends up negating the progressive content of the film. This film has absolutely nothing to offer outside of Mae West and even she becomes redundant (she only knows one way to deliver a line) soon after she is introduced.
Horrorphile
Barton Fink is in my top five Coens fer sure (1. Blood Simple 2. No Country for Old Men 3. Fargo 4. Barton Fink 5. Raising Arizona/The Big Lebowski)
Mae West: " A hard man is good to find." (not sure what movie that's from but it's a goodie)
Was never much of a fan of I Walked With a Zombie either, and Anatomie I can't even remember if I saw it!
Cinema Enthusiast
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
That is a pretty great Mae West line. She has so many great one liners but they work better as individual quotes than being thrown at me in a film. I wish that one had been in She Done Him Wrong.
I am happy to see that somebody else feels similarly about I Walked with a Zombie. I guess it is being remade which, well, what isn't these days? Not being able to remember if you've seen Anatomie sounds about right. I probably will have the same dilemma soon enough!
Horrorphile
Blood Simple changed everything for me. I saw it one night on VHS whilst babysitting at some friends of my folks when I was about 16 or so. I was so impressed. I wanted to make a movie like Blood Simple, it exhibited everything I loved about cinema, and I decided I wanted to study film once I got to university, which I did.
I ended up writing one of my very best uni essays on the movie. Unfortunately I lost it over the course of moving apartments, or perhaps I lent it to someone ... who knows.
I shudder to think of the day when the Coen brothers' movies will be remade, as they inevitably will.