www.bbc.com
Wow, what a wealth of information. Thank you. Definitely some interesting stuff. Thank you for putting that together. I don't see a Suspiria review there, albeit I heard there's debate over it being considered a Giallo. Either way, what are your thoughts on that film? (This is without me even using the search function to see if you have a review written elsewhere for it on this website)
Everything Went Fine (2022) Directed by Francois Ozon 8A
Having suffered a serious stroke and in his mid-80s, Andre (Andre Dussolier) demands that his elder daughter Emmanuele (Sophie Marceau) help him end his life. She and her sister accede to his wishes reluctantly and seek our an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, as such an act is still illegal in France. Andre has been one of those barren fathers who thinks his responsibility to his children ends by being a good provider. Emmanuele and her sister struggle with many mixed emotions as well as with the morality of the act. These are characters who order foie gras for lunch, meet in museums, know their way around a wine list, and casually discuss serious literature, but the dilemma they face is universal and on occasion even worthy of a grudging smile.
I suppose one could compare Everything Went Fine to Amour, but Everything Went Fine is by far the lighter, deliberately less deeply involving film. Director Francois Ozon's movies are always very French, pretty much the template that casual viewers have in mind when they think of French cinema, but, as well, his films are known for their technical sophistication. This sophistication is in service of a style that is extremely clean, efficient and doesn't call attention to itself (Ozun is like the kid in your third-year English Lit class whose essays all got A+ but he never mentioned anything about it).The refinement of this approach means that emotions tend to be kept at arm's length. However, the lightness of touch doesn't diminish the fact that both Marceau and Dussolier give the best performances of their long and, in Dussolier's case, extremely distinquished careers in what is very likely Ozon's best movie.
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TIFF Digital.net
Best of '22
Everything Everywhere All at Once, Kwan and Scheinert, US
Everything Went Fine, Ozun, France
Turning Red, Shi, US
Awful lot of plusses for a 6.5.
I don't have a Suspiria review - maybe one for the remake (which I liked a lot too). Love the film, but it's no giallo - and I haven't seen it listed as one in the lists I checked to guide me through my yellow journey. In fact, it's considered a departure from the genre for Argento. Still, it does have some narrative/structural similarities to both Deep Red and The Bird With the Crystal Plumage - Argento couldn't get away from the investigative format, and now the missing information hasn't been seen, but heard (but he cheats and we haven't really heard it - not as ballsy as Deep Red). I do love the film though, top-4 in Argento's work, but not as good as the two previously mentioned films.
Really. If so, it zipped through my memory without leaving a trace. Most do.Yeah, I think I got tougher with my grade.
I just did not find this one too memorable, to be honest. It is fine, but there is just nothing spectacular about it.
If I remember correctly, you wrote a review for By the Grace of God. I believe you called it was the French version of Spotlight.
Yeah, I think I got tougher with my grade.
I just did not find this one too memorable, to be honest. It is fine, but there is just nothing spectacular about it.
If I remember correctly, you wrote a review for By the Grace of God. I believe you called it was the French version of Spotlight.
By the Grace of God (2019) Directed by Francois Ozun 7A
Alexandre discovers that the priest who abused him as a child is still involved with children despite his initial censure. First he goes to the local Church authorities who are helpful in their way, but only up to a certain point, ready to accept some responsibility but not willing to do much about it. As Alexandre continues his struggle to get the priest removed from having anything to do with children, other men, with stories of sexual assault of their own, become involved, and what was once a story of one man seeking justice develops much broader implications. Scrupulously devoted to actual accounts, By the Grace of God is France's Spotlight, a film that focuses on pedophile priests and the great harm that they do. While Francois Ozun, whose movies are usually anything but weighty, seems an unusual choice for director, he places the emphasis right where it belongs, on the victims and their trauma. The movie has a few problems. It is subtitle heavy as much of the initial dialogue comes from letters that are traded back and forth between Alexandre and the Church authorities. For the first third of the movie, it seems like we are watching one man's quest for justice, so that when the movie shifts to incorporate a much broader perspective it comes as a bit of a jarring surprise initially. But Ozun is very good at quietly focusing on the human cost and the unwillingness of the religious authorities to act unless they are prodded. Despite an approach that is non-sensational, every so often the movie will pull off a sequence that has such tension and power that I was sitting there going "Whoa, where did that come from?" The movie doesn't rely too much on these bravura moments to make its points, a credit to Ozun and his concern not to overshadow the stories with cinematic effects or melodramatic bombast. But their inclusion gives the viewer a clear hint of the hell these men have gone through and continue to suffer.
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The Thing (1982) - 10/10
No movie before or since has created feelings of dread and paranoia so well.
I saw the 40th Anniversary screening at my local theater. There were many online reports that the audio and video were awful. Fathom Events must've gotten their stuff together because the picture was good and the sound was great. It felt like seeing the movie for the first time again and I had a blast.
There was a little 10 minute post-credit featurette, taken from a late 1990's documentary. The theater had almostly completely emptied, so all but 5 people missed this.
For fans of The Thing, here are 10 trivia items you probably have never heard:
1. Originally the film was going to be an ensemble, with no lead character. Actors who read for the role of MacReady included Tom Atkins, Tom Berenger, Brian Dennehy, Ed Harris, and Scott Glenn. (Brian Dennehy was a favorite for Dr. Copper also). Tom Atkins was a favorite to land the role until Carpenter decided MacReady was going to be the main character of the film. That caused him to re-unite with Kurt Russell, who he'd worked with on Elvis and Escape from New York.
2. Jay Leno read for the part of Palmer. Special effects guru Rob Bottin pushed to play the role as well, but Carpenter thought it would distract from his special effects duties.
3. Carpenter regular Donald Pleasance was considered for the role of Blair. However, because Pleasance was well known, Carpenter thought it would be too distracting when he wasn't on screen. He went with then-unknown Wilford Brimley.
4. John Carpenter, the man himself, briefly plays MacReady in the scene where the team approaches the spaceship in the ice field.
5.A rough cut alternate ending was shot where MacReady awaits a blood test at McMurdo Station. This was the station Windows was trying to reach via radio early in the film. It's also a real station.
This ending has never seen the light of day. According to producer Stuart Cohen, this film was last seen "sitting off by itself at the end of an editing room bench".
6.The famous Bennings transformation scene was added during re-shoots. Originally, Bennings was killed slasher movie style.
When Carpenter watched the work print of the movie, he said "that's a long time between monsters", alluding to the fact we do not see any "things" between the dog kennel scene and the blood test scene.
7.Fuchs death was also changed during re-shoots. His original death was also off-screen, and his shovel-impaled body was found in Childs and Palmer's marijuana green house (a set/subplot that was cut from the movie). Like Bennings death, this death also seemed more appropriate in a slasher movie or traditional mystery movie.
8.When the alien dog enters a room and a shadow turns around, most people know that Carpenter used a cast member in order to make the victim anonymous. That cast member was stuntman Dick Warlock, who played Michael Myers in Halloween II.
The character who this was intended to be, the first person at the camp who is assimilated was...Palmer. However, the actor's shadow was too distinct, hence Dick Warlock. I had always assumed the first assimilated character was Norris.
9.Who got to the blood? We know both Copper and Garry were human.
Likely it was Blair. According to producer Stuart Cohen, "it was our intent that Blair be infected very early on in the proceedings, and off - screen." He mentions they liked the idea that Blair's crackup was a ruse.
Windows drops the keys in the store room upon finding Bennings being assimilated. Blair is nowhere to be found during this incident, so likely he collected the keys and tampered with the blood.
10.Was Childs an assimilation at the end of the movie? Carpenter has never commented on it, but according to screenwriter Bill Lancaster....Childs was human at the end.
Oof - just a slight point here because I don't want to belabor it, but that position kind of makes me sad. I appreciate so much the work that goes in to making these sort of movies succeed (as opposed to being just total schlock), versus say a period drama in Victorian England (to give an example of a type of movie that tends to be more well regarded by critics on average than horror).
