Film Pairings — One Smart Nasty, One Sleazy Nasty

Dorothy Parker once said, “If you can’t say anything nice, come sit by me.” Both of these movies have nothing nice to say about its characters or humanity in general. No one is nice.  No one. It is a cynical double feature for those in the mood for cynicism.

The Two Faces Of January — Patricia Highsmith’s novels have proven to be a rich source for cinema.  Strangers on a Train, the three Ripley movies and this one, The Two Faces of January.  Hossein Amini directed the three principal actors, Viggo Mortenson, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac in this 2014 tale of two male con artists, a beautiful woman and a suitcase full of money.  Grittily set in Greece and Turkey, we watch the shift of power as all three attempt to outsmart the authorities and each other.  This is one of those smart, small films you’ll only see on platforms like Netflix.  I don’t have a problem with big budget, action packed, technologically pumped up blockbusters. But I am pleased that low budget, difficult to distribute little jewels like this have a way to get to us.

 

The Bag Man — What a strange film. Some might conclude that this is a morality tale in which an evil genius toys with a fool who sticks by his principles when they are the very characteristics that are used to dupe him. Unfortunately I expected but didn’t get the moral of the story. Perhaps that is it — nothing to get — in a noir perspective.  The French called this movie Cat in The Bag. In some countries it was released as The Motel.  The 2014 film is dark, violent and at times flirting with the horror genre and at others inexplicably surreal. For me the saving grace amidst the gratuitous bloodletting is Brazilian actress Rebecca Da Costa, who, if she had a sleeve, would have something up it. (what?). No matter, she is the beauty, brains and the best reason to watch the movie.  John Cusack, plays a character he’s played well a few times before while Robert De Niro and Crispin Glover do what they do without breaking a sweat.   The dark and sleazy film was directed by David Grovic. 

For the first film, ouzo maybe.  For the second, bring a blanket to the sofa before you settle in. Depending on your attitude, you could be happy with a whiskey on the rocks or a cup of hot chocolate.

Film Pairings — Suddenly An Albino Alligator or the Hostage Days of Summer

One of the reasons I like baseball is that it reminds me of summers in my childhood — hot, sunny days, lemonade, the sound of propeller airplanes in the sky and the sound of the wood-framed screen door slamming shut.  Fewer clothes and the world moving more slowly.  I also associate summer with baseball, a kind of slow, almost lazy sport.

Today, I watch the Giants whenever the game is on TV.  I look forward to it.  Maybe some fried chicken, baked beans and potato salad.  I also look forward to not having that intense commitment to the game as one might to basketball or football as it unfolds.  Baseball on radio was actually pretty good. Most of the time, I can look at a magazine, talk on the phone, or jot some notes down on a book I’m working on — all while the game goes on.  You can’t do that with other sports.

Sometimes I’m in the mood for movies like that.  Most of the time I’m looking for a film to take me completely away or draw me completely in.  I’ve written about them before here. A good, not quite spine-tingling, not obsessively engrossing story with competent writing and performances can, in the right mood, be desirable.  And here are two of them.

Both are hostage dramas.  Both have good casts.  Both should have been in black and white.  Only one of them was.

Frank Sinatra plays a tough, little hood in Suddenly (1954). Three thugs descend on a home inhabited by “decent folks,” in order to use the house’s strategic location to assassinate the President of the United States.  The film got and is still given pretty good reviews, though I suspect many younger viewers will see it not only as dated (and not stylishly so like The Maltese Falcon or Casablanca), but also stilted. It is considered by many to be in the “noir” tradition. I don’t think so. It is, in the end, hopeful and upholds the values promoted in the 1950s.  Sterling Hayden is the good-guy, male role-model sheriff.  One suspects J. Edgar Hoover approved.

Matt Dillon in Albino Alligator

Oddly enough, Suddenly was one of the first films to be colorized (I saw and recommend the b&w version).  Albino Alligator (1997), the other film on the double bill with hostages, should have been in black and white.  It is far more “noir” than Suddenly.  And the title, if not the story, should have motivated director Kevin Spacey to go retro in black and white.  As in most decent hostage films, the drama is about the interaction of those held in close quarters under stressful circumstances.  Reviewers have not been kind to this film with Faye Dunaway singled out for particularly bad acting. Certainly, there was nothing subtle about her performance. Others also saw it wasteful of the talents of Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise, Viggo Mortenson, Joe Mantegna and Skeet Ulrich.  I liked it.  I tend to like anything set in New Orleans, but it really didn’t matter in this case.  We spend all our time in a dark cellar bar, where we witness the appropriate disintegration of humanity and a genuine noir-style ending.

It’s definitely a beer night.  Any beer.  And if you get bored, switch over to a baseball game.