Best Foreign Language Film nominees: The Class, Revanche, Un Prophete, Ajami

This entry completes all of the foreign film nominees from 2008 through 2017 (my goal to watch all nominated films goes back to 2008). Thanks again to the Minnesota Library System and inter-library loan, because it enabled me to get the films I wanted, when I wanted them. And for FREE. Libraries are a tremendous resource. 

9/14/17 The Class, nominated Best Foreign Language Film, 2008

The Class reminded me of an American book I read not too long ago called The Way It Spozed to Be by James Herndon, a former teacher, and in fact, The Class was based on the semi-autobiographical book by Francois Begaudeau, who also starred in the movie. The movie is set in a middle school in a Paris arrondissement which is made up of a large immigrant community. This brings its own set of challenges, from different cultural backgrounds, 'rivalries' between different home countries (Morocco, Mali, etc.), parents who may not understand the school requirements or expectations. I wanted to like the movie, but there were parts that just seemed shrill to me, and I found myself not caring, and I wanted to care about someone. There was a young girl at the end, and I thought, she would have been a good focal point, but it came too late; she walked up to the teacher after he went through the class to ask what they had learned over the school year, and she said she didn't feel like she learned as much as the other students. There was something in her disappointment and shame that made me want to know more about her. I did not particularly like the teacher either, again, that doesn't help. I think it was interesting, maybe bold, not to cast professional actors (if they were there, they were supporting cast and not noticeable), because it definitely added to the sense of chaos, but, I don't know, it just didn't click with me.

9/23/17 Revanche, nominated Best Foreign Language Film, 2008

Out of all the films here, this was probably my favorite: it actually had a story that I didn't need to follow on Wikipedia, characters that were interesting and that I cared about and it was not black or white/right or wrong. Revanche is set in Vienna and the Austrian countryside, and it starts with Tamara and Alex, who are lovers, but also co-workers in a Vienna brothel (Tamara is a prostitute and Alex is handyman, driver, protection). They have a dream of getting away, but they have no money; Alex decides to rob a bank, and he wants to leave Tamara at home, but she insists on going with him. That doesn't end well. The other storyline involves Susanne and Robert, a couple that live out in the countryside, near Alex's grandfather Hausner; Robert is a police officer who happens to be in the area when Alex robs the bank. The two men are forever intertwined, especially when Alex goes to his grandfather's farm to hide out. Alex resents Susanne's attention towards his grandfather, and orders her to stay away; that doesn't go according to plan either. Revanche is French for retaliation, and Alex spends a lot of time thinking about retaliating against the man who killed Tamara. Will he or won't he? He certainly has the opportunity. I liked the twists and turns that the movie took; nothing went quite as you might think, and even though Alex is not the most likeable character, I did care about him and Tamara, and I was interested in what happened to him, as well as the other characters. The winner from 2008 was Departures, a movie that I liked a lot and heartily recommend.

9/23/17 Ajami, nominated Best Foreign Language Film, 2009

This entry from Israel has me scratching my head a day later; did I like it, was it good, would I recommend it? I honestly do not know. The story is actually five stories and five different perspectives, told in a non-linear order, focusing on a two families in Jaffa, Israel. The occasional narrator is Nasri, a young Arab Israeli who likes to draw, and loves and looks up to his older brother, Omar. The movie opens with Nasri's young neighbor being shot by a Bedouin gang after being mistaken for Omar. We learn that there is a feud between the gang and Nasri's uncle, which has been extended to Nasri and his family. The feud is mediated by a local leader, Abu Elias, and the leader of the Bedouin's. Different members of the community come in and out of the other chapters of the film, including Malek, a young Palestinian who works illegally in Jaffa for Abu Elias, trying to save money for his mother's cancer treatment; Binj, the cook in Abu Elias's restaurant, who is fun-loving, drug-smoking and a friend to Malek, Omar and others; Dando is an Israeli police officer who is caught up in trying to find his brother who is in the Israeli army, but has gone missing. The characters are interesting: Malek is a likeable kid, Nasri could have been used better for his perspective, Omar is likeable if not a little frustrating, like most twenty year old boys. The narrative is what was frustrating; I was fine with the narrative being non-sequential and bits of the story being unraveled slowly, but I think there was chance lost to really get into the lives of the characters, especially because there aren't a lot of movies that show this perspective.

9/22/17 Un Prophete, nominated Best Foreign Language Film, 2009

I may be imagining it, but it seemed that the theme for the Foreign Language nominees was about retaliation and retribution in some way. Malik is a young Algerian who has spent his young life in correctional institutions and now in prison. He is among Corsicans and Muslims, two groups who do not like or trust one another (I was not sure exactly where the movie was set, but I'm pretty sure it was France). He is taken in by the leader of the Corsicans, Luciani, at first as an assassin (reluctantly on Malik's part), then a low level errand boy/house boy who is regularly disrespected by Luciani and his men as a dirty Arab. Malik doesn't like being treated like this, but he keeps a lot of his thoughts to himself, secretly learning Corsican, so he can understand what Luciani and his men discuss when they're not speaking French. Eventually, Malik becomes Luciani's most trusted 'employee', especially when Malik gets a special work release and he can carry on Luciani's business outside. Luciani realizes too late that Malik is not the scared kid who needed his protection a few years earlier, and the tide turns. It is a prison movie, but I think the character of Malik makes it a little different. The Oscar winner for this year was The Secret in Their Eyes from Argentina.

9/24/17 Hors la Loi, nominated Best Foreign Language Film, 2010

I was interested in the story of Hors la Loi, which followed a family of three brothers, born and raised in Algeria who lost their family land to French colonials, to the 1945 Setif massacre (with which I was unfamiliar), participation of Algerian forces in World War II with the Allies, to the fight for independence. The Setif massacre is early on in the movie, and it took me by surprise with its ferocity and seemingly indiscriminate killing of civilians. The three brothers, Messaoud,, Abdelkader and Said find themselves in the middle of the story, and they represent different points of view: Messaoud is the oldest, and was a soldier during the war; Abdelkader is the middle son, and a political intellectual, caught up in the Setif massacre and sent to prison in France; Said is the youngest son, trying to take care of his mother and reunite his family in France. The movie covers territory unfamiliar to most Americans, and I think the topic is interesting, but something about the movie didn't quite grab me like I thought it would. In a Better World won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but I also thought Incendies was a powerful film.

9/19/17 Footnote, nominated Best Foreign Language Film, 2011

Netflix describes Footnote, Israel's nominee for 2011's Best Foreign Film, as a 'witty' drama; I beg to disagree. Like most of the movies in this particular blog entry, this movie left me not caring, but thinking the writer/director missed an opportunity for an engaging movie. I would imagine that not many movie goers would find Talmudic research a particularly hot topic for a film, especially the philological aspects. However, parent-child rivalry is very relatable, and it can be funny and poignant. Unfortunately, I think Footnote got lost in the weeds somewhere along the way. I didn't care about either of the main characters, Eliezer, the father who has toiled away in relative obscurity, but he has annoyed most of his colleagues and rivals over the years; and his son, Uriel, described in Wikipedia as a 'charismatic' academic (I think they used that word wrong, because he was as charismatic as a loaf of wet bread), who is in the same field as his father, but well-liked and respected, and he has recently put up for the prestigious Israel Prize. The problem begins when Eliezer is called and congratulated for the award and it turns out that there was a mistake of bureaucratic proportions, because it was meant for Uriel. We learn there is a lot of jealousy and resentment from Eliezer towards Uriel, and I didn't think it was entirely clear why there was such bitterness (or I could have dozed off, I suppose). A Separation was the winner for 2011.

Shorts - Papageno, Ersatz, The Bespoke Overcoat and The Stranger Left No Card

9/10/17 Shorts

The library is a wonderful thing. I was looking to see if they had a couple of the shorts on the Oscar list, and lo and behold, I found a VHS tape waiting for me on the hold shelf. It had a few unmemorable shorts, a couple Oscar winners, and two non-winners that I really enjoyed.

Papageno, 1935

Papageno is a character from Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and in this animated short, her is trying to find a mate. It wasn't the story that interested me so much as the animation technique, which was the use of cut-outs/silhouettes, but in a very sophisticated and beautiful manner. 

Ersatz, Best Short Subject, Cartoon, 1961

This ten minute short was about five minutes too long for me. A man goes to the beach and starts to inflate all of the objects he brings, whether it's a bed, a surfboard, or a woman. Perhaps this was amusing in 1961, but I was bored.

The Bespoke Overcoat, Best Short Subject, Two-Reel, 1956

Conversely, The Bespoke Overcoat tells a heartbreaking, but captivating, story in only seven minutes. The film opens with the funeral of an unknown person, whom we find out is Fender, a clerk at a clothing manufacturer, and all he wants is a nice coat to keep him warm. His miserly and unsympathetic boss refuses to give him one or even sell one at a cheaper price. Fender asks his friend, Morry, a tailor, to make one for less than cost. Morry tries, but he is unable to finish it in time, and Fender dies from the cold. In fact, we meet Fender as a Ghost or in flashbacks. The film was based on a short story by the Russian writer, Gogol, who I have not read, but I'm now curious to learn more about his stories. It was directed by Jack Clayton, who later directed The Great Gatsby and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.

The Stranger Left No Card, 1952

The Stranger Left No Card is the longest of the shorts on the tape at 23 minutes, and struck me as a story worthy of Alfred Hitchcock or Rod Serling. A strange character comes to town, he's very flamboyant and colorful, a little odd, but very noticeable. He goes by the name 'Napoleon', and soon becomes a fixture, entertaining the kids and being humored by the adults. This is all an act of misdirection as he has a vendetta to resolve as he commits the perfect crime. I'm hoping that you will try to find this in your library online somewhere, because it is a wonderful suspense story, and I may have told you too much. It was directed by Wendy Toye, who was a director, actress and dancer; I don't know how many women were directing in 1952, but I don't think there were that many, so to me, this is an important film for that reason as well as being a very good film.

Rope, A League of Their Own, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Woman of the Year

9/8/17 Rope, 1948

Rope isn't on any of my lists, which kind of surprised me, at first, but after watching it, I guess I'm not. Two things intrigued me about it; one was the subject matter, which was loosely based on the killers Leopold and Loeb; the other was the way director Alfred Hitchcock filmed it. First, the two main characters are based on Leopold and Loeb who killed fourteen year-old Bobby Franks in 1924. Brandon and Phillip are 'roommates' (the homosexual subtext is very subtle) in a very swanky New York City apartment, and as the movie opens they are murdering David, a former classmate of theirs. The rest of the movie is Brandon and Phillip (mostly Brandon) trying to carry off a dinner party with the body of David in the same room in a chest; Brandon (John Dall) is smug and pompous, and poor Phillip (Farley Granger) is a bundle of nerves, snapping at Brandon and other guests, including their former housemaster, Rupert (James Stewart), as well as David's father, aunt and girlfriend. The acting was horrible, a lot of overacting; Stewart was the only one who didn't annoy me. Dall was almost a caricature. The other thing about watching this movie that is not on a single list was that I read Hitchcock filmed this with longer takes than usual, some of them going seven and a half minutes or longer, and I guess I thought that would be interesting. It didn't really help. So, I don't know, but what's done is done.

9/9/17 A League of Their Own, 1992 National Film Registry

I saw A League of Their Own when it opened in theaters 25 years ago, and every one in a while I catch it on television, but for a fresh perspective, I watched with some friends last weekend. I love this movie: it's got baseball, women playing baseball, humor, history, and some good acting. It's a cast of stars, and new and unknown actors directed by Penny Marshall. During World War II, women stepped into formerly male-dominated fields, like factory work and baseball. Yep, baseball. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a real thing from 1943 - 1954, with teams scattered throughout the Midwest, and the movie focuses on the Rockford Peaches and the Racine Belles. The movie opens in current day (1988 to be exact) as Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) reluctantly prepares to head east for a reunion with former players of the AAGPBL. As she heads to the airport, the movie goes back to 1943 and Oregon, where she and her kid sister, Kit, play fast pitch softball for the local dairy team. A wise-cracking, somewhat insulting scout, Ernie Capadino, (played by Jon Lovitz) wants Dottie to try out for this new league started up by Walter Harvey (based on Philip Wrigley; played by Garry Marshall); Dottie isn't interested, but Kit is desperate for the chance. No Dottie, no Kit, so Dottie agrees to go. Capadino drops the girls off at Harvey Field where around 100 girls are trying out for the four teams. Here is where we meet Doris (Rosie O'Donnell) who cannot be quiet to save her life, always with the wisecrack and her pal, Mae (Madonna) among others. Dottie, Kit, Doris, Mae and several others are on the Rockford Peaches. As they practice baseball skills, they are also put through etiquette classes, including grooming, eating, and walking. They may be baseball players, but they are also women, and there are still certain expectations and requirements. You can't have a baseball team without a manager, and the Peaches don't stretch too hard to find one, pick Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), a drunk, washed up ballplayer, who is less than thrilled about girls playing baseball. Eventually Jimmy sobers up, and takes an interest in the team; the scene where he fights with Dottie over giving signs to the bewildered Marla is one of the funniest in the movie. The movie follows the first season, as the league builds momentum and popularity, on one hand, 'selling' the sex appeal of the women (who play in skirts) to the men; but also inspiring young girls. Throughout the film, Kit and Dottie have a typical big sister/little sister rivalry, which usually doesn't end well for Kit (Kit is a pitcher and Dottie is the catcher, which can also have its prickly points); the rivalry boils over when Kit is pulled from a game, and she blames Dottie when she is later traded to the Racine Belles. There is more that goes on, but if you've seen it, you know, and if you haven't seen it, I don't want to ruin it for you. I really love pretty much everything about the movie.

9/10/17 Woman of the Year, 1942 Best Original Screenplay, National Film Registry

I'm sure I'm committing some kind of blasphemy or someone is going to say I'm really missing the point, but I hated Woman of the Year. I understand that movies made seventy years ago have a different perspective, a different reality, and that society was different - I get that, and a lot of times, I can overlook that, and watch a movie 'in its time'. Not here. Katherine Hepburn as Tess Harding is a liberated, educated and opinionated woman, which are normally characteristics I love and admire, but she is also incredibly self-involved and annoying as hell. I'm not sure how Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy) puts up with her, or why. Tess and Sam are writers at The New York Chronicle, Sam covers sports and Tess covers world events, hobnobbing with politicians of the day; they have a spat and are ordered by their editor to make up. They do more than that, they fall in love, despite a bumpy start. I really felt bad for Sam, who gets run over by Tess. It was directed by Oscar-winning director, George Stevens (Giant, Diary of Anne Frank, Shane) and written by Ring Lardner, Jr. (MASH, Cincinnati Kid) and Michael Kanin. I found it shrill. This was the first collaboration between Tracy and Hepburn, and not one of their best I'm afraid.

9/10/17 The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1936, Best Assistant Director

It turns out that this is the first of several movies I will watch over the next few weeks featuring Olivia de Havilland, and one of a handful of movies to ever get a nomination and Oscar for Best Assistant Director. The Charge of the Light Brigade is based on the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was based on a battle during the Crimean War; for those of you with a more populist leaning, it may be familiar to you through Alfalfa's recital in a Little Rascals episode. Errol Flynn stars as Major Geoffrey Vickers of the Light Brigade who is stationed in India; his brother, Captain Perry Vickers, is also stationed there, as well as their love interest (their, unknowingly to Geoffrey), Elsa (Olivia de Havilland). The fort/town where the 27th Lancers are stationed is brutally attacked by the Russians and their allies, led by the treacherous Surat Khan; Vickers survives to fight another day, which ultimately is to lead his men in the charge of the Light Brigade to avenge his friends. In addition to starring Flynn and de Havilland, the movie features David Niven, Nigel Bruce, and Donald Crisp. Both major battle scenes are pretty intense, but the last one featured dozens of horses which, according to Wikipedia, experienced extremely dangerous and fatal conditions (Errol Flynn protested to the director Michael Curtiz, to no avail). The 1930s seem to be a time where movies celebrate the rise of the British Empire like The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Gunga Din, but sometimes they don't translate so well into the 21st century. I liked Flynn in this role, I thought the whole love triangle thing was unnecessary (but I usually do). This isn't a must-see by any stretch.

Travel the world without leaving your chair: nominated foreign films Incendies, In a Better World

I got a bug up my butt to finish the foreign film nominees from the past 8 years or so, all in one week (or maybe two). I'm not sure if that was the best idea I've ever had, but I'm running with it, and the rest of the foreign films from the nominated films going back to 2008, should be wrapped up by next week. I don't think it's a bad thing, but it's really heavy. And if you don't believe me, I suggest you watch Dogtooth and Bullhead right in a row, and get back to me.

9/1/17 Incendies, nominated Best Foreign Film, 2010

Not too long ago, I was talking with a friend about the use of flashbacks in movies and how I hate when they are used as a gimmick. That is not the case with Incendies, the French Canadian film directed by Denis Villeneuve, where flashbacks are used to unravel the mystery that Nawal Marwan left behind after her death. As the movie opens, we meet her twin children, Simon and Jeanne, as notary and Nawal's employee reads her will and last requests. It's painfully clear early on that the twins' relationship with their mother was distant at best and full of secrets and strange behaviors, and Simon isn't interested in fulfilling his mother's wishes, which include finding their father and the brother they never knew existed. The movie starts in Canada and in an unnamed Middle Eastern country that has faced civil war between Muslims and Christians; Nawal's is from a Christian family, but she is in love with a young Palestinian Muslim refugee, which causes severe problems for Nawal. I'm not really sure how to give you any more information without ruining the plot twists, and I really hope you watch this. There are no winners in a war like this (and the wars that continue to be waged); it's not just soldiers on one side or the other, it's both sides, it's non-combatants, and it's people born after the conflict. Lubna Azabal plays Nawal, and I hope she was under consideration for Best Actress, she was that good (Natalie Portman won for Black Swan, and other nominees included Jennifer Lawrence, Annette Benning, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams). The rest of the cast is really good as well; I kind of liked Remy Girard as Jean Lebel, the notary and kindly father figure, who shepherds the twins through their journey, refusing to break the trust their mother placed in him.  I was not sure how I would like this movie because I have been hit and miss on Villeneuve's other movies I have seen, Arrival and Sicario (miss) and Prisoners (sort of hit). This is a definite 'hit' for me. 

9/4/17 In a Better World, Best Foreign Film, 2010

In a Better World is a Danish film, directed by award-winning director Susanne Bier, and it's set in Denmark and a Sudanese village. Anton is a Swedish doctor who goes back and forth between the Sudan and his home and family in Denmark, he has two boys, Elias and Morton with his wife Marianne, but they are having some marital difficulties. The other family is Claus and his son, Christian, who have just moved back to Denmark after Claus's wife (and Christian's mother) has died in London after a long illness; Christian and his father have a strained relationship. Elias gets teased at school, partly because he is Swedish, he looks different, and kids can just be cruel asshats; Christian starts at his new school and is seated next to Elias, with whom he shares a birthday. Christian is quiet, but upset about the teasing and abuse Elias gets from his classmates, and tries to stick up for him. This protective attitude gets taken a little too far as Christian beats the head bully bloody and is chastised by the school. Anton tries to tell Elias that responding with violence to violence never works and you never win; in fact, he gets into an altercation with another parent when he tries to break up a mild skirmish between his youngest son, Morton, and another boy, but he lets the other parent push him around, and later hit him in the face, to show he's not scared and it didn't hurt. Christian thinks his friend's father is a wimp and a coward, and sets out to teach the other parent a very harsh lesson. There is also the storyline in the Sudan, where a cruel warlord viciously cuts open pregnant girls as a game; the girls are brought to the camp for medical attention by Anton and his team. The warlord comes to the camp for medical attention and against the wishes of the village and the medical team, Anton agrees to treat him, but no guns are allowed and only two of his men can stay. The warlord takes his gloating and crude attitude too far, and Anton snaps, and kicks the warlord's men out and leaves him to the wrath of the people. It's a decision that can't be taken back, even if Anton wanted to. Bier is not afraid of conflict and making people uncomfortable, and she does this on so many levels in this movie, but she also lets the characters and the viewers have a sense of closure and resolution. I liked the movie, I thought it was a different type of story, and the actors were wonderful, but I didn't love it. Out of the nominees for 2010, I have one left to see (Outside the Law), and I kind of think Incendies was the best foreign film, and Biutiful was also very powerful with Javier Bardem (I saw this a while ago). 

9/4/17 Dogtooth, nominated Best Foreign Film 2010

It has been a while since I had a WTF moment when watching a movie. Well, the dam done finally burst, and it is a massive WTF for Dogtooth, a movie that was hailed by the Greek government after its Oscar nomination (to be fair, it had been a rough couple of years for Greece). I can't give you a plot summary because I don't know what the hell was going on except there was sex, bizarre violence, and a type of dystopian environment. I watched director's Yorgos Lanthimos's The Lobster, which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in 2016, and didn't hate it, I actually thought that was interesting. The Lobster also had sex, bizarre violence and a dystopian environment, but a little more of a story. If I didn't like you, I would tell you to watch Dogtooth. Netflix predicted that I would give it 1 1/2 stars. I so appreciate their optimism, but I'm afraid it gets 1 star. File this under 'pretentious' and 'shock value'.

9/5/17 Bullhead, nominated Best Foreign Film, 2011

Great, another WTF movie. Two in a row. At least this one tried to have a plot, one that draws on a real life incident, although that seems so unimportant for most of the movie. There is: a brutal castration of a young boy, cattle doping, cattle doping mafia, characters losing their minds in incredible violence, double dealing, and Belgians who can't understand or stand one another. Yeah, I'm sorry, I just can't. As of yet, I have only not seen one entry from 2011 (it's coming later this week), but so far, out of all the nominees, this has been the worst film. I mean, yay Belgium for getting nominated, but you can do better. See the other nominees, including winner, A Separation, or In Darkness, or my favorite that was one of those gut punchers, Monsieur Lazahr.

One word movie titles for three hundred, please - Hugo, Deliverance, Champion, Spartacus

8/26/17 Hugo, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, 2011

I haven't figured out why Martin Scorsese's Hugo has not found a bigger audience; I think it has stunning visuals (this is one of the few movies I have seen where 3D makes a difference, in a good way); I think kids/young teens can relate to the story; fans of early animation can appreciate the story of Georges Melies. But, perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. In 1930s Paris, Hugo (Asa Butterfield - Boy in the Striped Pajamas) is orphaned after his clockmaker/inventor father (Jude Law) is killed in a fire, but he is left an automaton his father was repairing. He is left in the care of his drunk and mean uncle Claude (Ray Winston), who teaches him to keep the clocks running at Gare Montparnesse. Hugo has a habit of shoplifting from a toy store owner (Ben Kingsley); using the pieces to finish restoring the automaton, until he gets caught by the store owner, who threatens to burn Hugo's notebook. Hugo meets Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) and they go on adventures, and Hugo learns that Isabelle is the toy store owner's goddaughter. Uncle Claude turns up dead after an ill-timed dip in the Seine, and Hugo is on his own again, so he lives in the clock (seriously, who would not think this is the coolest thing?), evading capture from a very hilarious Station Inspector Gustave (Sacha Baron Cohen who is surprisingly not offensive). It turns out that the toy store owner, also known as Papa Georges, was a groundbreaking filmmaker in the early 20th century, making the landmark film "A Trip to the Moon". The movie won the visual Oscars for very good reason, it's gorgeously done, the special effects from the automaton to the recreated scenes from Meliers' films and theater pieces are beautiful. Scorsese is a film historian and has provided funds for film restoration and while this may seem off the beaten track for him, I think it's a work of love. There are not a lot of films that families can watch together, so if you're looking for something whimsical and magical, get Hugo from the library or Netflix.

8/26/17 Deliverance, 1972 #84 BBC, National Film Registry

I don't think some of these 'classic' films translate so well thirty or forty years later. At least that's my opinion Deliverance based on watching it three times and not liking it any time, although I was less creeped out the last time than the first two times. The film is set in the north Georgia wilderness, and stars Burt Reynolds as Lewis, Jon Voight as Ed, Ronnie Cox as Drew and Ned Beatty as Bobby; Lewis and Ed are the outdoorsmen of the group, and this is Drew and Bobby's first outing. These are city boys and the locals are targets for their mockery and mistrust (although the mistrust goes both ways). Even if you have never seen Deliverance you are probably familiar with the music called "Dueling Banjos" (usually played when people are referring to hillbillies or something backwards); it's early on, and pretty much the only part I liked. Anyway, the city boys head down the river in their canoes, and Ed and Bobby have the misfortune to meet two very creepy country boys who have more than just fishing on their minds; one of them humiliates Bobby by making him squeal like a pig and then raping him. Before the same can be done to Ed, Lewis kills the attacker with a shot from his bow. The men dispose of the body, but are now in fear of the second man, whom they believe is stalking them from above in the cliffs. Things get really dangerous as they hit a series dangerous rapids, and it doesn't end there, as there are more deaths, severe injuries and an encounter with the local sheriff who doesn't believe anything they say. I don't mind outdoor films, and director John Boorman filmed a lot of beautiful shots in the Tallulah Gorge, and I like a good mystery or thriller, but this did nothing for me, and I can honestly say I tried.

8/26/17 Champion, Best Editing, 1949

I've been in a Kirk Douglas frame of mind, I guess, having recently finished Douglas's autobiography, The Ragman's Son, watching an old interview with Dick Cavett and grabbing two of his films in this blog session, Champion and Spartacus. Douglas was nominated for Best Actor for his role as "Midge" Kelly, a good boxer but a pretty crappy person. Midge didn't plan on being a boxer; he and his crippled brother, Connie (Arthur Kennedy), are heading west to claim their ownership of a restaurant in California, only to find that they've been swindled. The real owner, Lew, of the diner lets them stay on to work and both Midge and Connie fall for the owner's daughter, Emma. Lew is less than pleased with Midge and Emma's relationship and forces them into a shotgun marriage. Now that the fun is over, Midge takes off, leaving Emma behind. This is pretty typical of how Midge operates; he's a me first kind of guy. On the way out west, Midge enters a fight as a way to make some quick money, and when he flees his marriage, he finds Tommy Haley who offered to train and manage him if he wanted to get into the fight game for real. Midge has a single-minded focus on his new career, defeating all comers as he moves around the country. Midge gets the opportunity to fight Johnny Dunne, who is in line for the championship. Instead of tanking the fight like he promised, Midge knows out Johnny early on, earning the wrath of the mob, but the affections of Johnny's girlfriend, Grace. Yeah, there's not a lot to like about most of the characters in this movie. Grace persuades Midge to drop Tommy and get a new manager. Bad move on Grace's part as she unwittingly sets Midge up with his next fling. Being champion holds short term rewards for Midge, for which he seems to have no gratitude or appreciation. Things don't end for him quite as he anticipated. Douglas is pretty despicable in this role, and it kind of reminded me of his part in Ace in the Hole, as a journalist who is willing to risk another man's life to improve his career - devoid of scruples. It was a good movie, probably not at the top of most people's list, but it's one of Douglas's earlier films and worth a look.

8/27/17 Spartacus, 1960,  Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography - Color, Best Costume Design - Color,  #81 AFI

Spartacus is one of those old time Hollywood epic films that begins with an overture, has an orchestral intermission and a closing bit, enough costumed Romans to fill the Colosseum and more stars than there are in the sky. The movie is significant for more than its scope; it was Dalton Trumbo's first officially credited movie since he had been blacklisted, and it pretty much broke the blacklist; Kirk Douglas hired Trumbo and made the decision to put his name on the credits. Stanley Kubrick directed after the production company, Bryna Productions, fired the original director, Anthony Mann (Bryna Productions was Douglas's company). Douglas stars as Spartacus, a Thracian slave who is sold to a gladiator school run by Batiatus (Peter Ustinov in an Oscar winning role). Spartacus meets a slave girl, Varinia (Jean Simmons), who also draws the attention of Crassus (Laurence Olivier) and his entourage. Crassus and his party request a fight to the death between the gladiators, and Spartacus is chosen to fight against the African, Draba. Draba refuses to kill Spartacus and instead, lunges at the gawking visitors, only to be killed by one of the guards. This is the inspiration for the slave rebellion, led by Spartacus. Meanwhile, back in Rome, Crassus is in a power struggle with Gracchus (Charles Laughton) in the Senate. Domestically, Crassus adds a young slave to his household, Antoninus (Tony Curtis), and attempts to seduce him (one of the interesting things about this scene is that it is part of the restored film and Olivier's voice had to be dubbed by Anthony Hopkins). Antoninus later joins the growing slave army. Spartacus is trying to get the slaves out of Rome and makes a deal for ships, but in the time it takes for him to move down the coast, Crassus and Gracchus have been making their own deals and double-deals, in opposition to one another. Eventually, Spartacus and his army are brutally defeated, and the stage is set for probably the best known scene in the film, where the Romans are looking for Spartacus, and everyone stands up and says "I'm Spartacus"; the scene is more dramatic than written here. I love the drama, maybe melodrama, the grand scale, the cast of amazing actors, and since I have learned more of the history of the film, that just adds to it. Ustinov plays his role with a touch of comedy, dry wit and tongue in cheek; Olivier is cool and calculating; Laughton is calculating but honest about some of his foibles and weaknesses (food and women); there is something about Jean Simmons that I find captivating, her voice, her almost ethereal presence, I don't know. Douglas as Spartacus is pretty flawless, which is not typical of most heroes, there is sign of weakness, not even being prideful; I don't think it detracts anything, though, the movie is so big and there are other flawed characters. This would be a great movie for an autumn night in front of the fire, perhaps some Italian wine and cheese, if you're so inclined.

A Hootenany with the Indigo Girls at the Minnesota Zoo 2017

I love the Indigo Girls, there's really no other way to put it, and the Zoo is one of the best venues to see them (except for receiving the only mosquito bites of the whole summer). I have seen them maybe a dozen times or more over the years, with different band configurations, but I somehow always miss the shows where it's just the two of them, until this concert. The night started out with Becky Warren and her band. A little on the country/Americana side, Warren presented songs from her new album, War Surplus, a semi-autobiographical work about a newly married couple, Scott and June, Scott's deployment overseas, his return and struggle with PTSD. The songs cover pretty intense subject matter, but Warren made it personal as she explained the storyline and the background. The band was tight, and singer Mary Bragg also joined on a couple of songs. I love discovering 'new' acts, and tonight, I added Becky Warren and Mary Bragg to the rotation. I think it's really cool when the headlining act picks their opening act (sometimes they don't and there's no connection or support) because you may get some crossover, like when Folk Uke opened for the Jayhawks, and that's what happened (more later).

As the crew was clearing off the stage from Becky and the band, I noticed they weren't replacing any equipment, no new set of drums, keyboards, violins, and I thought, hmm, this could be interesting. Sure enough, the two of them walked on stage, to the crowd's cheers, and started of with "Jonas and Ezekiel", one of my favorite songs, honestly, the night was filled with my favorite songs. I think it's fair to say that they tend to alternate between songs written by Amy and Emily (they do not usually write together), trading lead vocals. If you might think that two women with guitars are just going to sing gentle, quiet folk songs, you are seriously mistaken. Emily traded off between acoustic, electric and electric banjo and Amy switched between acoustic guitars and mandolin, and they had their 'quiet' songs, but had no problem filling the amphitheater with rock on songs like "Go", "Driver Education", "Shame on You", naming just a few. The night covered pretty much every album, going back to Strange Fire with "Land of Canaan", which I don't think I have ever heard live.

Amy and Emily are always really good about chatting with the crowd, but on this night, they seemed really loose and like they were having a great time. During "Shame on You", a huge crowd favorite, Emily is supposed to have a banjo solo, but she switched to guitar too soon, ripped into a great guitar solo, and I saw Amy laughing a little, and at the end, Emily said she totally forgot that she had a banjo solo. Ha! Then Amy said that they really do practice every day. These are the types of exchanges that you don't always hear or get at huge stadium shows.

The crowd was fully participative, and took this job very seriously, singing loudly on "Watershed" and "Ghost", giving up a big cheer when Emily sings "And the Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota". Emily's songs tend to have these big choruses. I was thrilled that they did Amy's songs "Devotion", and "Spread the Pain Around" and "Rise of the Black Messiah" (which is about the mass incarceration and executions of black men, specifically at Angola Prison in Louisiana). This was a pretty magical night, because they each did a song from their solo albums; Amy sang "More Pills" from Goodnight Tender, with Mary Bragg and Becky Warren joining on backing vocals; and Emily sang "Train Inside" from her just released album, Murmuration Nation, just her on guitar. Jonatha Brooke, recently moved to the Twin Cities, came on stage and sang "So Much Mine" with Emily on harmonies. One of the constants of an Indigo Girls set is "Closer to Fine", an opportunity to bring on any guests they have and for the audience to sing one last time; Jonatha and Becky joined, Amy provided the whistle, and we all sang.

The experience of an Indigo Girls is not easily captured in a one dimensional blog, even with videos and photos (which are admittedly crappy, and I apologize), but their performances are transcendent; it's not just music, it's a sense of community, and not just the GLBTQ community, it's all everyone, an incredibly inclusive community; it's uplifting, even the songs looking about tough topics; a feeling that we are all in it together; the Indigo Girls are invested in their message, and back it up in words and actions. Their music has touched a lot of people, and this night was no different.