Category: The Auteurs

The Auteurs review a movie by a director whose voice greatly impacts his/her work.

Le Samouraï

Le Samouraï is a 1967 movie written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.

Le Samouraï tells the story of Jef Costello, an assassin who performs a contract killing but is then brought under police suspicion. Facing pressure from both detectives and his shadowy employers, Costello becomes a hunted man.

Alain Delon is a precise, quietly dynamic and occasionally intense presence throughout Le Samouraï but the greatest star is the easy, mellow sense of cool that drifts throughout the movie. Jean-Pierre Melville captures an environment that is effortlessly sophisticated, yet dreary and ominous.

The world of Le Samourai is also distinct in its loneliness. Costello inhabits a world chilled by Melville’s blue and gray hues. He is a professional assassin disconnected from the emotions of the world. His only tangible relationship is with Jane, a sometimes lover and convenient alibi.

It is Costello’s alibi – a marvel of efficiency – that proves his undoing. After executing a hit, he is seen leaving the crime and later brought in for a police lineup. He is initially cleared but his meticulous story creates suspicion for Francois Perier’s Le Comissaire, who is investigating the murder.

Costello’s isolation is striking. Because of the police involvement, he is now a threat to his underworld employers. He escapes a murder attempt, only to return home bloodied to his lonely apartment. His only companion is a chirping bird.

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Two Lane Blacktop

Two Lane Blacktop is a 1971 movie directed by Monte Hellman.

Two Lane Blacktop tells the story of The Driver and The Mechanic, who drive their 1955 Chevrolet across the country in search of opponents to race. They encounter GTO, a middle-aged racer and make a bet to see who can reach Washington, DC first.

I’m not sure how to properly describe Two Lane Blacktop. It’s either a minimalist classic by design or necessity. It’s both realistic and existential. The lead actors are famous musicians who barely speak. There’s no resolution to the story’s simple plot.

In short, it’s a fascinating movie experiment.

In terms of car movies of the time, it’s the antithesis of 1971’s Vanishing Point – which featured a fantastic car and bloated, clumsy social commentary. Two Lane Blacktop is all about the cars – yet somehow still makes important statements about society.

Unlike Vanishing Point, we don’t need to know the backstory of The Driver. In fact, we don’t even need to know his name. Or the names of The Mechanic, The Girl or GTO. Certainly, there’s intrigue to be found in these characters – but Two Lane Blacktop rightly puts the focus on two things: cars and races.

With only some slight exceptions, all the dialogue in the movie is focused on the cars. It’s the lone thing The Driver and The Mechanic talk about. How the car runs, who is a good race opponent and how much money is involved is all that matters. We know nothing more about their relationship – it’s not even suggested that these two are friends.

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Singles

Singles is a 1992 movie written and directed by Cameron Crowe.

Singles tells the story of a group of twenty-something friends living in grunge era Seattle who navigate love and careers. The setting captured a hugely influential piece of 1990’s culture. Cameos are made by a variety of bands who would achieve massive fame.

Essentially, Singles is a romantic comedy featuring some terrific bands. However, Cameron Crowe’s deft touch as a writer in the hands of a strong cast elevates the movie. There are some cliche moments but also enough quirky comedy to keep the story fresh.

The group of friends include Steve, who’s working on a Super Train traffic project. His roller coaster relationship with Linda, an environmental activist, is the centerpiece of the movie. Janet is a waitress and hopeful architecture student, who is in love with Cliff – an aloof and probably untalented musician. Debbie Hunt works in television and explores video dating.

The movie opens detailing the futility of Linda and Steve’s respective past relationships. Linda falls for a guy from Spain who claims his VISA is running out. He seduces her before calling from the airport to say goodbye. Later, he’s spotted at a local bar – Linda breaks down and turns icy towards future relationships.

Steve flashes back to his childhood and an awkward visit to the doctor, where sex is graphically explained. Like Linda, he’s close to swearing off relationships in order to focus on work. Cliff and Janet are presented as a doomed couple. Janet is obsessed with Cliff, despite being told they are not exclusive.

The backdrop for these relationships is the burgeoning Seattle grunge sound. Linda and Steve meet at an Alice In Chains show. Much later, Steve – a former college DJ – breaks down at another show, pouring his drunk heart out in a phone booth. Cliff’s band, Citizen Dick, is comprised of three-quarters of Pearl Jam. Chris Cornell makes an unassuming cameo.

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Pierott le Fou

Pierott le Fou is a 1965 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

Pierott le Fou tells the story of Ferdinand, a bored man eager to escape his Bourgeois life and Marianne, a gun smuggler on the run from terrorists. Together, they escape Paris and embark on a genre-bending adventure.

Pierret le Fou exists in an interesting space of the Godard universe. In some respects, it’s the natural follow-up to Band of Outsiders, yet also could be seen as the true culmination of Breathless. Godard blends gangster films, island adventures and spy thrillers into a subversive text that ultimately reveals itself as an ironic political statement.

Godard’s movies feature a quirky, contextual innocence – his characters seem to be trying on roles in an experimental landscape. Here, we see a familiar blueprint: a couple is on the run – they’re playing existentialist gangsters – staging car wrecks and breaking the fourth wall. Ferdinand is writing a book, Marianne throws it away.

However, a shift is occurring in the Godard universe. The subversive reassembly of culture that marked his earlier movies is still vivid, but a heaviness is looming. The second half of Pierrot le Fou issues a statement regarding an increasingly militant world. Even Godard is not immune to such sweeping societal change.

Yet, Pierrot le Fou is still a masterful dissection of culture and a really fun movie.

And it looks great.

Stylistically, this may be Godard’s most appealing movie – or at least, it’s intriguing to see him experiment with color.

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Stalker

Stalker is a 1979 Science Fiction movie directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Stalker tells the story of a journey to find a mysterious forbidden area known as The Zone, where a secret room can grant visitors their deepest desires. The Stalker guides a Writer and Professor to the area, where they each confront their greatest insecurities and fears.

Stalker may be the most desolate, desperate, depressing movie ever that is somehow incredibly hopeful.

The opening scene perfectly sets a bleak tone. The Stalker quietly arises from bed in a grim apartment, trying not to wake his wife and crippled daughter. The wife knows he’s abandoning her again. She confronts him, he relents. He leaves and she crumples to the ground, thrashing her body and cursing her fate.

Tarkovsky’s choice of color is fascinating. The entire scene – along with the first 25 minutes of the movie – are painted in a monochrome sepia. The smoky, smudged windows and broken wall plaster in the apartment are vividly defined. This is a broken down place filled with hopeless people.

The early exterior scenes amplify this atmosphere. Factories are seen in the background and a haze of industrial smoke floats by. We meet The Writer, who is trying to seduce a young woman by lamenting the lack of the supernatural in society. “Don’t hope for flying saucers. That would be too interesting.”

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Companeros

Companeros is a 1970 Italian Western directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero.

Companeros tells the story of Yodlaf Peterson, a Swedish arms dealer who forms a shaky alliance with El Vasco, the leader of a Mexican revolutionary group. They aim to protect Professor Xantos, the intellectual head of a student resistance group, from military leader General Mongo and mercenary John, the Wooden Hand.

Companeros is a fun, stylish Italian Western that essentially represents the greatest hits of Sergio Corbucci. It’s a vivid, cleanly shot movie that is equal parts violent and campy.

The characters follow the formula created in earlier Corbucci movies – Franco Nero is the suave foreign mercenary who reveals a soft heart, Tomas Milian is the hardened gunslinger turned revolutionary, Eduardo Fajardo plays a boisterous Mexican general and Jack Palance takes another turn as a warped but quirky villain. There’s also yet another female revolutionary who plays the love interest.

And of course, it just wouldn’t be a Corbucci movie if Nero doesn’t let a machine gun rip….

Nero basically plays his role from The Mercenary, only he swaps Polish roots for Swedish. He’s suave, self-assured and playfully stoic. Again, he arrives in town to sell weapons, then gets mixed up in a revolution. Along the way, his professional lone wolf persona gets assimilated into a buddy comedy. There’s a fun running joke between his character and Milan’s El Vasco regarding a silver coin.

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Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a 1974 movie written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul tells the story of Emmi, a widowed house cleaner and Ali, a Morrocan immigrant mechanic, who meet and fall in love. Both characters are essentially isolated, lonely people who form an unusual bond. They find comfort in each other, but quickly realize that their family, friends and neighbors are hostile towards their intentions. These external pressures begin to crater the relationship.

The legend of Fassbinder is that he lived a fast life, died young and created an unparalleled body of work. The volume of movies he directed – some 40 over the span of 15 years – is astonishing. In Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, it’s easy to grasp how he accomplished such a feat. This a precise, effective story about loneliness and perception. The scenes are simple, but contain a density of emotion: the settings are sparse and dialogue purposeful, which effectively illustrates his characters’ anxiety.

There’s little wasted motion as Fassbinder introduces his leads and propels them into a meaningful union. Emmi enters a bar to get out of the rain – she’s aged and carries a worn appearance. Ali is presented as a hulking, stoic figure – he’s drinking with his “Arab buddies”, something he does every night. The clash of backgrounds creates a striking mood of suspicion, something Fassbinder expertly frames with his long, meditative shots.

Ali asks Emmi to dance with her, then offers to walk her home. The scene in her apartment lobby is fascinating. She is both afraid of Ali and endlessly intrigued by him. She comments on his clothes, suggesting that “dark clothes look sad.” Her own sadness is apparent – “it’s good to talk to somebody. I’m so lonely. All the time, really.” He is invited up for brandy and later spends the night. Ali’s own anxiety – a central theme of the movie – is apparent as he cannot sleep and comes to Emmi’s bedroom.

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Massacre: Mafia Style

Massacre: Mafia Style, aka The Executioner is a 1974 movie written and directed by Duke Mitchell.

Massacre: Mafia Style tells the story of Mimi Miceli, Jr., the son of an exiled Mafia Don. Mimi leaves Sicily and heads to Hollywood, where he attempts to take over the city’s organized crime activity. With the help of his partner, Jolly, Mimi succeeds in decimating both high ranking Mafia members and a successful street pimp. Mimi later returns home to Sicily where he faces the reckoning of his actions.

For those of you who like to get to the point, here’s a quick review: Duke Mitchell tries to make his version of The Godfather.

Or at least he wanted to make a grittier, more authentic version of The Godfather. Growing up around the Mafia and hearing their tales as a lounge singer, Mitchell decided Coppola’s epic was closer to Hollywood than the streets he knew. Rejecting the movie’s themes of honor and family, Mitchell produces a truly unique, if not conflicted vision.

Massacre: Mafia Style is perhaps best known for its opening scene, where Mimi and his longtime friend Jolly (Vic Caesar) shoot up an office. The production is sparse and the overacting abundant but you can immediately sense Mitchell’s DIY ethos – he’s the writer, director, lead actor and his way too catchy Italian wedding crooning serenades this cinematic bloodbath.

Legend is Mitchell culled a lifetime of stories told to him by Mafia types to create his work. At times, Massacre: Mafia Style feels like a collection of these greatest hits – literally. We see toilet electrocutions, hangings, a meat hook through an eye, a funeral bomb and an elaborate crucifixion. The effects of these techniques – the staging of blood and makeup – on Mimi’s various victims is highly stylized and visually impressive.

However, the action of the murder scenes is a different story.

Mitchell and Caesar are essentially two lounge singers trying to make a movie – and it shows. Each are charismatic but their acting contributions consist of walking, shooting and delivering long-winded monologues. The shooting scenes are clumsy and strangely edited and Mitchell’s pivotal fight scene is embarrassing. Throughout the movie, victims are either comatose in their responses or wildly overreaching.

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