Thoughts on Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

 On Criterion in September 2021, I watched Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., a 1992 film directed by Leslie Harris, one of the few indie films at the time focusing on a Black teen girl’s experience. I had seen a little of it ages ago on Bravo, and was glad to see it in its entirety. It’s pretty good, it focuses on a Brooklyn teen girl named Chantel (Ariyan A. Johnson) who is a outspoken, funny, smart and charismatic heroine, and focused on going to college and med school, but life circumstances get in the way.

I liked how this movie has her break the fourth wall a lot to talk to the audience, and how she calls out her white high school teacher for focusing too much on Eurocentric history and ignoring and dismissing the histories and cultures of his Black students. The movie has a really good early 90s soundtrack of hip-hop and dance music, especially a lot of New Jack Swing style and female-focused hip-hop. I liked how she was a heroine who was often confused and scared and made mistakes in an understandable way as a teenage girl. I’m glad Criterion added this film, it’s part of their New York Stories streaming collection for the next month or so.

Thoughts on Bagdad Cafe

 On Hulu in August 2021, I watched Bagdad Cafe, a 1988 movie starring CCH Pounder and Marianne Sagebrecht, in which Sagebrecht plays a Bavarian woman who gets abandoned by her husband in the Nevada desert, and she ends up at a roadside motel/diner/gas station, run by CCH Pounder, and ends up befriending Pounder’s family as this quiet oddball woman who has an endearing charm, and Pounder is more assertive and stressed and trying to keep her family from mucking up her business, as well as being skeptical of this random woman who just seems weird and off-putting to her. They eventually become friends, and I liked how they had this unusual chemistry together with each other, especially since both got abandoned by their husbands very recently and are largely fending for themselves.

I had seen it once before, but didn’t remember it too well. I still really liked it, though Jack Palance really creeped me out. He’s supposed to play a local who is an artist and takes a romantic shine to Sagebrecht, but I just found him gross and unsettling, and wanted him out of the movie. IMDB trivia stated that he refused to do a romantic scene with her because he found her unattractive, likely because she was a middle-aged heavyset woman, so their romantic scene (he paints her while she chooses to disrobe slowly) was shot with them separately and not in the same shots together. Again, Palance was creepy and Sagebrecht was cute.

I liked that Pounder just owned this movie, as a woman just trying to keep her family together and being frustrated a lot, but still having heart and having more relatable quieter moments. I liked her family dynamics and their chemistry together. The desert setting also made me think of Tremors, and I could easily see this movie taking a weird turn into Tremors in the second half.

I’m not surprised this movie also led to being a short-lived sitcom with Whoopi Goldberg and Jean Stapleton, I could see someone thinking it would be a good sitcom idea then petering out of ideas within the first season.

Thoughts on Garbo Talks

 On Hulu, I watched Garbo Talks, a 1984 drama by Sidney Lumet in which Anne Bancroft plays a woman dying of cancer whose last wish is to meet her idol Greta Garbo, and her son Ron Silver sacrifices his job and his marriage to search for the elusive star to make his mother happy.

It’s an 80s film that feels more like a 1970s film, the music has these Bacharach-like horns that feel very much like a 1970s TV show, and this style of drama and comedy feels out of place, it’s a little outdated even for its time. But I liked it a lot. It was a nice difference to see Ron Silver play a decent and nice person, even if he would go on to further excel in playing jerks and villains in movies like Blue Steel and Timecop.

Anne Brancroft is only in parts of the film, as most of the film is about her son on his quest and she’s in the hospital. It’s also a film of its time in which a doctor wouldn’t directly tell a woman she has cancer, but would tell her closest male relative, like a husband or son, instead, in a show of benevolent sexism. But she more than makes up for her limited screen time with this incredible monologue scene in which, after months of searching and getting blocked by gatekeepers, Silver finally meets Garbo (played by Tony-winning composer Betty Comden as a silent stand-in), brings her in to meet his mother, and Bancroft delivers this amazing scene in which she tells anecdotes of her life in which Garbo films just happened to be a part of. This excerpt from an IMDB review sums it up perfectly: “It is only then, in her emotional epiphany, that Ms. Bancroft reveals the delicate yet powerful theme of the film. It was never about Garbo. She was merely a symbol of the quest to find a unifying thread that gives meaning to a life remembered. The buildup may be tauntingly slow, but the payoff is astounding.”

Harvey Fierstein has a nice part in the film as a random guy that Silver meets while he goes to Fire Island to search for Garbo, it’s an endearing and sweet role in which he talks about his own connection to Garbo films as a charming and friendly stranger.

Thoughts on Bram Stoker's Dracula

On Hulu in August 2021 I watched Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I hadn’t seen it in ages. It still holds up as a gorgeous-looking ornate film using a lot of practical effects that look like CGI but aren’t, just use of miniatures and camera angles.

People get on Keanu Reeves for his bad British accent, but I felt like Billy Campbell’s Southern accent was terrible and he felt like such a useless character in the movie. Maybe he’s more important in the novel, but in the film he felt unnecessary.

Winona Ryder was perfectly cast and looked gorgeous in turn of the century clothing, despite being shaky with a British accent. She and Gary Oldman had great chemistry onscreen despite reportedly despising each other during filming, though in a later quote she said they became friends years later.

I loved how Sadie Frost just totally threw herself into playing Lucy, with full on horniness and vampiric possession and all, and that she was so convincing as a monster that the little girl who she has as a potential victim in a scene was terrified of her in real life and she and Coppola had to console her in order to do another take of their scene.

I liked Anthony Hopkins’ humor as Van Helsing, his matter of fact comments about cutting off Lucy’s head delivered in an unaffected business-like manner. Like this exchange:

Mina Harker: How did Lucy die? Was she in great pain?

Professor Abraham Van Helsing: Yeah, she was in great pain! Then we cut off her head, and drove a stake through her heart, and burned it, and then she found peace.

I remember this movie being a big deal when I was a kid. I loved the haunting Gothic movie poster, as well as The Simpsons parody with Burns as Dracula (which did take away some of the horror for me in this). As much as I like this film, I like its sister movie Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein even more, as a more bonkers movie with a really good quiet performance by Robert DeNiro contrasted with a hilariously overacting performance by Kenneth Branaugh.

Thoughts on Cutter's Way

In July 2021 on Criterion, I watched Cutter’s Way, a 1981 noir film starring Jeff Bridges and John Heard and directed by Ivan Passer. The basic plot is that Bridges is this random guy in L.A. who sees someone dumping a body, which turns out to be a murdered teen girl, and he and his alcoholic Vietnam vet friend (Heard), plus the victim’s sister, are playing detective and trying to uncover this murder mystery.

It’s a bit of a rough watch, as Heard’s character, Alex Cutter, is a racist and ugly person who starts off the movie completely unlikable, but is given more complexity and depth in his lucid moments when sober, and is more understandable, if not forgiven for his asshole moments, like his character introduction or his abuse towards his tired, put-upon wife (Lisa Eichhorn). John Heard was very good, even if it was unusual to see him do this whole character with a rough voice, eyepatch, limp, cane, and angry alcoholic attitude, and be better known within a decade later for yuppie douchebag characters in Big and Home Alone. Though he was good in his run on The Sopranos. And I agree with an old review a friend wrote that Gary Sinise did this kind of character better in Forrest Gump.

I forgot how hot Jeff Bridges was back in his youth, he was all lean and cut. Though I think his peak hotness was in the early 90s, with long hair in The Fisher King and Fearless. His character was fine, someone who seemed more like a layabout and with nothing really going on in his life, like not much better than his loser friend outside of his good looks and laid-back attitude.

I liked the early 80s hazy look of this noir film, and how the story’s resolution felt hopeless, like no real winners or sense of vengeance.

Thoughts on Paprika

On Criterion in July 2021, I watched Paprika, a 2006 anime film by Satoshi Kon. I heard of his name from Perfect Blue, but hadn’t seen any of his movies. This one was pretty trippy, about a psychiatrist named Atsuko using a machine to enter her patients’ dreams to study them, while also entering as an alter ego detective named Paprika to further investigate on their real thoughts. When the machine gets stolen, Atsuko and her staff race to find it to prevent it being used for nefarious purposes, while also fighting their own psychological issues in their dreams.

I generally liked it, liking the strange dream imagery and the duality of the female lead character. I really wasn’t into the frequent fat-shaming of her colleague, a guy who is drawn to be very obese in a unattractive light, and who Atsuko treats with contempt. That whole part felt really gross and unnecessary.

I was getting shades of The Cell and In Dreams from this, and wasn’t surprised that Inception was partially inspired by this film. Overall, I thought it was pretty good, but since I’m not a big anime fan, I just liked it casually.

Thoughts on In the Cut

In July 2021, on Hulu I watched In The Cut, Jane Campion’s 2003 film in which Meg Ryan plays a teacher who gets entangled with a serial killer investigation and has a twisted relationship with a corrupt cop abusing his power over her. I had read the book ages ago and had seen the movie before. I don’t think it is as bad as it’s made out to be, as the book was a good dark thriller, and Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Jason Leigh give performances that feel above this movie’s level. The issues I had was that the cinematography is way too murky and shadowy, and not in that moody noir kind of way, but more like poor lighting that makes it hard to see what’s going on. I didn’t think it worked well for this film, it made it frustrating to watch.

Meg Ryan got a lot of grief for this role, and I’m mixed on her. She’s not terrible, and I’ve seen her be really good in drama before, like in Flesh and Bone and When a Man Loves a Woman. But she just felt out of her element in this movie, like she didn’t really know what she was doing, and didn’t really connect with the story as much. I know that all sounds vague, and I’m not sure how to articulate it better, but while her acting was competent, she didn’t seem to have the right ability to tackle this kind of noir/erotic thriller kind of movie.

I know that Nicole Kidman was Jane Campion’s original choice for the lead, and that she was busy at the time due to her personal life (divorce from Tom Cruise), but she really would have been much better. It did seem like a step down to go from considering Kidman to picking Ryan, whose career was unfairly in jeopardy after her affair with Russell Crowe, which she didn’t deserve to have fallout from, or getting picked on by the media for unflattering face work in her forties. I could think that a more cerebral kind of actress could have taken this on, or someone who was believable as a reserved teacher with a hidden darkly erotic side could do it.

It’s weird seeing Mark Ruffalo in these old roles where he played brusque asshole cops, because even if he is a great actor, his real self comes off as so shy and dorky that it’s kind of funny seeing him try on these roles to play tough alpha male types that seem so far from his nerdy personality. From interviews with him, it feels like Bruce Banner is more closer to his real personality than any of his cop roles.

Jennifer Jason Leigh did a lot with a role that felt like it had more potential, like finding the dark humor in playing Meg Ryan’s sister as a woman having an affair with a married doctor and wanting real love, not just sex with no-name guys. Like when she’s called to court by the doctor’s wife for a possible restraining order, she jokes about how when the doctor sees her, he’ll just fall in love with her right there and realize she’s the woman for him, as her wishful thinking. She’s great in this, and while I’m happy to see her appear in more recent work, it’s usually small roles or side parts, outside of The Hateful Eight, Anomalisa, and Atypical.

I generally like Jane Campion’s work, and felt like this could have been better with the right lead actress and more moody cinematography, but I don’t think it’s awful, it’s still watchable.