A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CAREER OF BURT LANCASTER

Saw BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ the other day.  Far from being the usual by the numbers biographical picture, it’s a quirky narrative with the messy feel of real life.  The key is Burt Lancaster an actor who made an astonishingly good number of films.

                                                 

I say “astonishingly” because when I’m making a list of my favorite actors, Lancaster doesn’t automatically pop up in my mind.  He has a lot of passion but there is a coldness and a glibness that can be off putting.  He isn’t an actor I would normally rush to see a film based on his appearance in it. 

But at a certain point in his career, Lancaster switched from the studio system to independently made productions often produced or co-produced by himself.  After that he made one great movie after another rivaling any other great actor for a hot streak.   

ELMER GANTRY, THE SWIMMER, THE LEOPARD, and his best film THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS among many others show expert film selection by Lancaster.  What these classic, great films have in common is the main character is dead center.  His reaction to his environment, how he changes or doesn’t change is the primary focus despite all the other aspects of the movie – great writing, great cinematography, other excellent actors in roles.  His later films TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING, GO TELL THE SPARTANS, and ATLANTIC CITY continued this.  Often the characters are very gray - fully fleshed out not uniformly good (or bad either) but containing combinations of the traits we find negative when in too much of abundance in humans - Selfishness for example being a big one    

A good actor once he gets control of his career and establishes himself as an audience draw needs to pick the right projects to keep his career alive.  Some pick the same formula which might account for good box office but nothing that is artistic and challenging.  Others like Lancaster pick challenging roles in well written films or even better producing them, shepherding them from beginning to end.

In conclusion, THE SWIMMER is a film I’d like to highly recommend.  Based on John Cheever’s short story, the saga of a once successful adman swimming across his neighbors’ pools as the dark truth comes out is just a brilliant film. Very powerful with Lancaster at his best especially at the end.  

FOUR FILMS - ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW, ZERO CHARISMA, EVIDENCE, THE DIRTIES

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW

Gleefully insane, darkly funny, David Lynch in Disneyland, completely over the top but it fits the story and never gets lost in its own wacky world.  Some of the visuals here are so striking as to make a permanent impression.  I hate Dinseyland so this makes the story even sweeter for me.

ZERO CHARISMA

Uncomfortable to watch at times (the trailer is marketing this as a comedy. There are funny moments here but more squirmingly awkward ones especially in the second half) but that’s okay because this an intuitive, brilliantly written character study.  A great film both for the characters and Sam Eidison’s performance in the lead role.  The gamers I’ve encountered in my earlier life were much like the characters here.

EVIDENCE

Found footage murder mystery.  The murder mystery part (including the twist ending) was good like a CSI episode but the found footage part just gave me a headache and was hard to watch.  In general I find found footage films difficult due to an inner ear imbalance.  Too much of the camera moving around can trigger dizzy spells.

THE DIRTIES

Currently generating a lot of buzz at film festivals but I don’t get it.  The well shot bullying scenes are intense and painful to watch.  The rest feels half-finished and the end is anti-climatic.  By the end, I’d lost all interest anyway and was sort of rooting for the bullies.  Poorly made film – a waste and who was the cameraman filming all this?  Many theories on that but the filmmaker didn’t do a good enough job explaining this.  

ALL THE TIRED PEOPLE IN LA NOTTE

I have never seen a movie with more tired looking people in it than Michaelangelo’s Antonioni’s LA NOTTE. Everyone has bags under their eyes and moves wearily even the handsome, urbane Marcelo Mastroianni looks shagged out here.

Nobody looks more tired than Jeanne Moreau who plays Mastroianni’s wife.  He is a successful writer and the couple has no children.  Moreau, one of the most exceptionally beautiful actress in her film history, with her drawn face and lack of make-up looks miserable most of the time here except for a couple scenes during the long walk through an old neighborhood she used to frequent with Mastroianni in happier times.  Seeing kids shoot fireworks and other simpler pleasures brings a brief, tight smile to her face.

What is the source of her unhappiness?  Well the ending is catharsis.  She tells her husband she no longer loves him and hasn’t for some time and is sure he feels the same.  He refuses to admit this and to take no for an answer and forces himself on her as the movie pans away to the end credits.

Relationships are confusing. It is strongly suggested that Mastroianni’s infidelities might be largely responsible for their deteriorating marriage.  Moreau has a chance to be unfaithful at the party that takes up about 60% of the film (the second part) but can’t bring herself to do it.

The visually exciting post WWII Rome is a city on the move but much like LA DOLCE VITA ,which this feels like a companion piece too, there is rot at the human level and old values are replaced with nothing.  Here it is a married couple rather than a single swinging man but the end result is the same.

All the tired people….  The only one in LA NOTTE who isn’t tired is the couple’s dying friend Tommaso whom they visit in the hospital at the beginning of the film.  He is meant to be a “good” person and is still in love with life despite his impending mortality.  The Rosebud of the film is he loved Moreau when they were single but she chose to have a relationship and marry Mastroianni instead.

What a great film! To top it off, LA NOTTE is filled with visuals that in direct relation to the mental states of the characters show how lost they are in life.

       

FOUR FILMS - THE GLASS MAN, BLUE CAPRICE, BLOODY HOMECOMING, PLUS ONE

THE GLASS MAN

Complex uncomfortable thriller with great performances by the two leads.  Unpleasant but well made.  The source of the main character’s breakdown is timely. Easy to guess twist does not detract from narrative.

BLUE CAPRICE

Isiah Washington is very good in this semi-fictional story of the Beltway snipers.  There is insight into what makes the killers tick and it is not exploitative.  However the narrative style makes it feel like a series of vignettes rather than a complete film.

BLOODY HOMECOMING

I appreciate a film based on the classic 1980's slasher template with a whodunit ending (and this film follows that template religiously) but low budget makes for flat action in otherwise suspenseful scenes.  CGI gore looks fake and also detracts.

 PLUS ONE

A clever and original plot device/menace can't make up for poor pacing, boring teen angst, and a dumb ending.  Basic idea is good but too much set-up and runs out of gas.

THREE FILMS - YOU'RE NEXT, THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, WITHER

YOU’RE NEXT

The twists are easy to guess but this is a solid fast paced thriller with plenty of inventive, gory violence, a kickass heroine, and AJ Bowen the prince of modern day horror movies.

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX

Excellent German flick about 70’s terrorist group.  Riveting, detailed full of historical context and great performances.  Credible, intelligent, you would never see a film like this made in America.  

WITHER

Forget about the shitty Evil Dead remake, this  Swedish ghouly film is the true remake – gory, shocking, full of action and in the same spirit as the original Evil Dead.

FOUR FILMS - THE ICEMAN, THE SEASONING HOUSE, AMONG FRIENDS, MAGIC MAGIC

THE ICEMAN

Entertaining crime fluff albeit sanitized as the real-life Iceman was not a family man but someone who abused his wife and kids.  Still, this is a fun crime film with plenty of psycho swagger and a good performance by Michael Shannon.

  

THE SEASONING HOUSE

Can a movie be too genteel and exploitative at the same time about a subject as horrific as Bosnia?  A mixed bag – thrilling in places but ultimately questionable in morality and at the same time also too afraid to delve deeper into its dark subject.

AMONG FRIENDS

This felt more like rough cut or student film than completed product.  The look is right, the plot starts off well but the end result is an incomplete 80 minutes that didn’t even bother with an explanation or an ending.  I’d like to see it redone because there is potential there. 

  

MAGIC MAGIC

Didn’t get this film at all.  Is it totally improvised?  Kept waiting for something to happen when it dd, it didn’t lead anywhere or make sense.  Michael Cera is extremely annoying but maybe that’s the point.

 

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