A Slightly Misleading Title

I needed a break from Italian 70's cinema so I sat down and watched:

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022).

This is not a remake of either Lewis Milestone's 1930 adaptation or Delbert Mann's 1979 version, but rather a direct adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 book of the same name.

I have not seen either of the earlier movies or indeed read the book, so I went in with as open a mind as one can have concerning such a famous work. I of course knew it is set in WWI from the German point of view and that it is staunchly anti war. Beyond that I knew nothing.

The movie starts with four students that naively volunteer for the army and proudly and with a belly full of propaganda march off to the western front. All their inflated dreams of honor and glory are immediately punctured upon arriving at the trench. Everything is downhill from there.

The movie can be broken up into four different elements.

1. Gruesome battle scenes.

2. Generals and politicians talking.

3. Soldiers having a conversation.

4. Amazing nature scenes.

First off, All Quiet on the Western Front is a cinematic masterpiece but only from a visual point. This visual point is however magnificent, no questions and no doubts. It is stupidly pretty. The battle scenes are horrific, brutal and really well done. The rest is meaningless and boring.

As stated, I knew the movie is anti war, and I have no problem with that. My problem lies in how it tries to convey that message. Yes, the slaughter is horrible, but we already know it is. The truth is that war is the ultimate horror humanity can orchestrate. The slaughter is senseless and tragic, and the only ones who want it are the ones who don't need to participate, I.E. generals and politicians. I get that the filmmakers probably didn't want to diverge from the original material too much, but beyond a basic “war is bad and awful” this movie has nothing to say.

This brings me to point 3. We don't really get to know the characters at all. There is a handful of scenes where the soldiers are talking and they unfortunately don't really do anything for the narrative or character development. We learn that they yearn for home and their families, that they really don't want to be in the trenches and that they miss female company. Well so what? Sure these are valid feelings but every soldier feels this unless they are complete psychopaths. Any competent maker of thrillers know that they have to make you feel for the characters before the killer comes creeping or the tension is lost. In All Quiet on the Western Front there is no tension to speak of. Without the personal touch, the tragedy devolves into statistics. Sure, I did feel a little for the poor guys, but it could have been so much better. Their deaths could have meant something.

Point 2 is almost completely pointless and in my opinion does very little for the movie as a whole. This brings us to point 4. The movie is interspersed with the most beautiful shots of nature. Every shot is like a painting and could be the pride of any calendar. What I don't get is why they are there in the first place. Contrast to all the mud and blood? Maybe, I have no idea, but they are worth seeing just for their sheer beauty.

Otherwise, the movie is fine. The actors do a great job, the soundtrack is weird but good and as I said, the cinematography is A+.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes and no. I'm sure you noticed that I have a lot of harsh criticism and I stand by that. All Quiet on the Western Front is two hours and twenty eight minutes long, and despite that, I had no trouble sitting through it. I guess what it boils down to is that it could have been a masterpiece and instead we get a pretty snooze fest broken up by complete carnage. If you like war movies or if the subject matter has some other appeal, then by all means watch it, but otherwise I'd say give it a miss.

That is that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Why is it so creepy?

 Today I want to talk about J-Horror, or Japanese Horror. 

It's a style of horror that I'm passingly familiar with. Ringu (1998), The Grudge (2004), Ju-On: The Grudge 2, Dark Water (2002) and One Missed Call (2008) are all excellent examples of J-horror, and I enjoyed them a great deal. 

There is something special with these kinds of movies, but rather than repeat what others have said, and said better at that, I'm going to present you with two Youtube videos.

The first one is A Short History of Japanese Horror by the channel One Hundred Years of Cinema. I recommend you watch this first to get a good overview of horror in Japan. This video can't be embedded, so just follow the link.

Then watch The Grudge & Ringu: What Makes Japanese Horror Creepy? by Blulavasix.

Both videos have disturbing footage, so if you are sensitive, be careful. Then again, if you are sensitive, you probably aren't interested in Japanese Horror to begin with. Either way, you are warned and my conscience is clear.

 

So enjoy and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and ghost free week!  

 

Torso

This week I watched:

Torso (1973).

This Giallo, directed by Sergio Martino, who also directed last week's entry, caused a bit of a stir upon its release. Some critics to this day speak of its “graphic carnal violence”. My reaction to that is, really?

The movie is set in Perugia, at the international university. We meet a group of art students, most of whom are lovely young ladies. One in particular, Daniela, is being courted, or should I say stalked, by one of the male students who doesn't know when to quit. Another likes to party with some pretty out there people. Pretty soon the first murders happen, putting everyone on edge. It becomes clear that some of the students harbour dark secrets, and the list of suspects grows steadily. The one lead the police have is a red and black scarf, but it is difficult to remember who was seen wearing it. Daniela gets a threatening phone call one evening, warning her to stop trying to remember who had the scarf. Her uncle suggests that she go to his villa in the country with her friends in order to feel safer. Naturally, the killer follows and we get a tense race to the finish.

First off, lets address the carnal violence aspect. There is quite a bit of carnal nudity in Torso, but the violence is mostly just glimpsed. A knife flashes and a bit of red is shown, a limb is severed but the camera cuts away so fast you have a hard time really seeing what was sliced off. I suppose the more hinted at violence can be more effective than lingering on the gore, but frankly I expected more from the supposed carnal violence. Luckily this doesn't actually matter. Maybe it was a cost cutting decision.

Like Martino's, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, Torso is nicely shot. Again, he doesn't seem to go for anything too dramatic for the shots and angles, but instead achieves a more gritty and realistic feel. Many Gialli have a dreamlike quality which can be good, but I appreciate Martino's style. The actors range from good to great, reinforcing the overall vibe. There are also several scenes of someone spying on the women through half drawn curtains, something that is common enough in Giallo, but Martino takes it to another level, by showing a group of men, from lecherous old geezers to young studs, openly commenting and drooling over the girls as they head up to the villa. This was a really uncomfortable scene, and I got the feeling that it somehow made me complicit in just watching the movie. I don't know if that was Martino's intent, but he almost forced me to be a part of the final part of the movie. I haven't experienced that before.

What is different is the unmasking of the killer. Typical for many Gialli is the investigative element, but in Torso it is more a question of survival. We do learn the killers identity and motives, but they are almost secondary. Torso also plays around a bit with viewpoint characters which can be a dangerous technique, but it is done with style and heightens the idea that you don't know who is going to survive.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, I do. Torso is a bit slow at first, but the final third is up there with the greats in pure tension. I would even say that you don't need to be a Giallo fan to enjoy it, as it works on many different levels. Due to the large amount of sexual content, I'd be choosy who I watch it with, but you do you. Overall, I enjoyed Torso, and any thriller fan could do so as well.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!

 

This Movie Title is too Long.

I have swum deeper in the interesting and murky waters of Giallo and this week's entry is:

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972), henceforth known here as Locked Room.

This movie with it's cumbersome title is directed by Sergio Martino, who can safely be said, was a big shot in the Giallo genre. Not as big as Mario Bava and Dario Argento, but nevertheless a name to be reckoned with.

Some spoilers ahead.

Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli, Bay of Blood), is a previously successful author suffering from writers block. He treats his depression with copious amounts of alcohol and takes out his frustrations on his long suffering wife Irina (Anita Strindberg, Who Saw Her Die). They live in a crumbling mansion in northern Italy with their maid Brenda. One day, a young woman is murdered and Oliviero is a suspect since the police knows he had a secret rendezvous with her. Irina backs up his false alibi but soon another woman is killed. Then, Oliviero's niece Floriana (Edwige Fenech) arrives for a visit and things really spiral out of control.

Locked Room is a hard movie to watch. Beyond the murders which are quite tame for a Giallo, Oliviero really is rough on Irina. He assaults her both physically and sexually on more then one occasion and it is nasty. That said, Locked Room presents a very different kind of mystery. Is Oliviero the unwitting killer, so deep in his whiskey bottle that he himself doesn't even know it? What is Floriana out to get as she plays every angle at once? There are other mysterious elements as well, that makes Locked Room a worthwhile movie despite its unpleasant domestic abuse.

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is solidly shot. Not perhaps a masterpiece of cinema but sturdy and without any major flaws. I can't comment on the soundtrack as I never noticed it. It might be good, but despite my best attempts, I can't recollect it.

What really sells this movie though are the actors. Luigi Pistilli is in good form as he goes from drunken sullenness to furious rage. Anita Strindberg does an amazing job showing her fear and fury at the way she is treated and Edwige Fenech is a perfect Femme Fatale. I saw a documentary on Giallo yesterday called All the Colors of Giallo and apparently Edwige Fenech is one of the Queens of the Giallo genre together with Barbara Bouchet that has appeared a lot on this blog. I look forward to seeing more of Fenech's work.

The biggest critique I have against Locked Room is that the middle of the movie is a bit weak. Not catastrophically weak, it just looses a bit of momentum. Also, if you are familiar with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, you will see the ending coming a mile away. But, seeing as the filmmakers acknowledge this, I can't really fault them for it. A homage is a homage after all.

So do I recommend Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key? To Giallo fans, yes, absolutely. Non Giallo fans will likely wonder what they are watching. Horror fans will probably be a bit bored, but general thriller fans might like it. I think it says something that despite the grimy abuse, this is still a good Giallo and worth it in my opinion.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!