Happiness (1998) - Solondz's presentation of American dysfunction is a great if bleak work

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+ Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year 

 

A comics-styled poster of an assortment of the film's anxiety-ridden, secretive, unhappy characters beneath a sun-colored background for Todd Solondz's Happiness

Extreme loneliness and its ramifications, unaddressed pedophilia, substance abuse and permanent identity crisis are some of the problems of modern America that are probed in Happiness.

 

Happiness is written and directed by Todd Solondz (Fear, Anxiety & Depression (1989)).

The dialog in the film, - and in fact the entire script and the handling of suspense in its mostly separate character-centered stories, - are incredibly intelligent and pregnant with meanings and subtext. The film has a bold use of compositions, music, language and issues.

There are also fantastic performances, among others from Dylan Baker (Two Days in New York (2012)) as a child-rapist father, for most people the film's most disturbing character. There appears to be no taboos for Solondz here. My only reservation towards the film is that it leaves its audiences in a radical state of hopelessness and despair about the human condition - and nothing else.

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2.2 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 5.9 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a box office success (reportedly returned 2.68 times its cost)

[Happiness premiered 15 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of the main competition) and runs 139 minutes. Shooting took place from August - October 1997 in Florida and New Jersey. The Sundance Film Festival found the film's portrayal of pedophilia "too disagreeable" and refused to accept it. The film's original US distributor dropped the film, which was eventually released unrated, after having gotten an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. It opened #15 to a 130k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it widened to 60 theaters but didn't attain a higher ranking, grossing 2.9 mil. $ (49.2 % of the total gross). The-Numbers.com claim that the film made 3 mil. $ internationally (without any details to back it up), and if true, this makes it a box office success. It won a prize in Cannes, was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit awards and a Golden Globe, and it won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Solondz returned with Storytelling (2001), and later made the semi-sequel to Happiness, Life During Wartime (2009). Baker returned in Oz (1998, TV-series) and theatrically in Celebrity (1998). Happiness is certified fresh at 81 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Happiness?

Border/Gräns (2018) - The second Lindqvist adaptation is another wtf-experience with muddled implications if any

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Standing in a very vivid version of a Swedish forest, Eva Melander's uniformed lead stands out on this curiosity-sparking poster for Ali Abbasi's Border

Tina is a customs officer at a Swedish ferry crossing, a job which she is especially good at since she can smell sinners out. Her unusual, Neanderthal-like traits one day match those of a mysterious crosser, Vore, whom she immediately has a connection with.

Border is written by Isabella Eklöf (Holiday (2018)), John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In/Låt den Rätte Komma In (2007), novel), based on his same-titled short story from the collection Let the Old Dreams Die/Låt de Gamla Drömmarna Dö (2011), and co-writer/director Ali Abbasi (Shelley (2016)). It is a very strange film that is part horror, part fairy tale, part crime drama, and partly a romance. Some may find it very beautiful, a few may find it erotic; some may find it very funny, - and some of its grotesqueness does provoke chuckles, - others mostly disturbing and frightening. I found it mostly uncomfortable.
Tina's journey is so intimate, and the bodily fixation in the film is so strong that it almost continually seems to transgress an intimacy border most other films keep up. The transgression, of course, is felt more strongly because both romantic leads are uncommonly hideous to look at (SPOILER and even have unusual genitalia and reproductive abilities!) As if to make the film's unpleasantness an absolute constant, a subplot concerning pedophiles and baby pornography is also a prominent part of the plot. - Oh yeah: Plus voracious insect-munching, don't forget that.
There are many animals in the film: Impressive scenes with a moose, a fox and deer help keep it fascinating; the prosthetics and makeup designs for Tina and Vore are also incredibly accomplished, and what the leads must have gone through for this film boggles the mind.
The unpleasantness also causes the film to feel overlong, SPOILER as Border develops into a quirky riff on an old Scandinavian mythical forest creature, the troll. This will add interest for Scandinavians and outlandishness for anyone else, I should think.
The score is in line with the overall confusing tone and hard-to-categorize elements, sometimes upping its art film romance feel, at others sounding as a hip indie horror. The head-scratching and disturbing elements (concerning infants) are not illuminated by the film's end, as audiences make it with clammy hands and backs out of the cinemas. 
Border is likely to be 2018's strangest film, and it is fascinating but also a complete cipher to me, besides its genre fantasy allure: Does it tell us anything, and if so what?
From a country with such vast internal problems, no present government and a state that has just rolled out an initiative which encourages people to turn in hand-grenades and other bombs and explosives at local police stations with impunity, as a means to calm gangland explosions that are now so common in the soon unrecognizable Sweden, (not for a week or two but running for 3 months!), - I can't help feeling discouraged that leading Swedish filmmakers apparently don't dare tackle more of that pressing and indeed unfantastic, disturbing reality.

Abbasi gives an interview about the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unreported
= Uncertain
[Border premiered 10 May (Cannes Film Festival, France) and runs 108 minutes. Casting took a reported 18 months. Shooting took place in Sweden. Eva Melander (Flokken/Flocken (2015)) reportedly spent 4 hour before shooting every day to have the prosthetics applied. The film won the Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes, and it has been elected as Sweden's entry for the coming Oscars. It is slated to open 19 October in Norway, 25 October in Russia, 26 Oct. in USA, 3 January in Portugal and 9 January in France. Abbasi does not have his next project announced yet. Leads Melander and Eero Milonoff (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki/Hymyilevä Mies (2016)) also don't have coming gigs announced. Border is fresh at 95 % with a 7.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Border?

Secrets of the Tribe (2010, documentary) - Padilha's superb anthropology documentary

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1 Film Excess win:

Best Documentary   

1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Documentary (won)

 

An ominous poster for José Padilha's Secrets of the Tribe

 

Secrets of the Tribe looks into the controversy arisen by Patrick Tierney's book Darkness in El Dorado (2000), which raises grave accusations against prominent Western anthropologists concerning their involvements with the indigenous Yanomamö people in the Amazon.

Secrets of the Tribe is a phenomenal example of how to make a documentary of this kind. It deals with relatively intellectual and complex content; scientific research conducted decades ago, ideals of science and research in general, references in many directions, a large gallery of subjects and their conflicts. From the dethroned, megalomaniacal Napoleon Chagnon, who stands out as resourceful and intelligent, - but also monstrous, - to criminal Jacques Lizot, through Claude Lévi-Strauss, Kenneth Good and more peripheral characters, Secrets of the Tribe presents a fascinating and quite disturbing look-in at the world of indigenous anthropology. It raises a critical and keen debate of the discipline to a higher level, where it is the legitimacy of modern science as a whole that is really up for debate.

Secrets of the Tribe is directed by Brazilian master filmmaker José Padhilha (Elite Squad/Tropa de Elite (2007)).

 

Related posts:

 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

A still of Chagnon with a Yanomami Indian

LA Times critic Kenneth Turan sings his praise for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Unknown

[Secrets of the Tribe premiered January 22 (Sundance) and runs 110 minutes. It was shot in Brazil, Venezuela and the US as a co-production between 11 companies and institutions. It was screened at 5 US festivals in total and at 1 Polish, as well as on various TV channels. 260 IMDb users have given Secrets of the Tribe a 7.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Secrets of the Tribe?

Spotlight (2015) - McCarthy puts an admirably bright and sober light on one of the major crimes of modern history

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+ Best True-Crime Movie of the Year
+ Best Boston Movie of the Year

The poster for Tom McCarthy's Spotlight indicates its focus on investigative journalism

Spotlight is the 5th feature from great New Jerseyite writer-director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent (2003)), who has written the Oscar-nominated script with Josh Singer (The West Wing (2003-04)).

In the offices of the Boston Globe newspaper works the country's oldest investigative journalism unit, Spotlight. As the paper gets a new editor, a local scandal that has been overlooked comes to take over the unit's long hours for months: The Catholic Church's decades-long problem with sexually abusive, pedophile priests and their covering up for them.

The authentic content of Spotlight, of which the vast Boston scandal is only one out of several dozens if not hundreds, is outrageous and deeply affecting. The deceit of trust and neglect involved on the behalf of the Catholic Church worldwide amounts to what I consider as one of the largest crimes against humanity in modern history. And the fact of the matter is that the Church of today, despite its drawn out acknowledgment of its responsibility and possible change of policy internally, still clings to the practice that is at the heart of this problem: Its insistence that its priests remain celibate.
Spotlight's great accomplishment is that it lays bare this very dark chapter of US, Catholic and essentially world history. But also that it shows the unique importance of investigative journalism to lift such major societal issues out into the light, when society-bearing institutions are not up to the task, which won them the Pulitzer prize in this instance. In a time when social media, communications people, gadget, finance, sports and celebrity news have increasingly eaten up newsrooms the world over, Spotlight takes a stand against that development and for the importance of the labors of the serious, investigative reporter.

One of the heavy-aired meetings in Tom McCarthy's Spotlight

No doubt Spotlight is a must-see film. It is not only gut-wrenching but will leave many audiences panting, nauseous and literally sick to their stomachs. It is a feel-bad movie, but an essential, important one.
It is hard to single out actors for praise, since the film is really a case of a great ensemble giving fine performances across the board. Liev Schreiber (Pawn Sacrifice (2014)) as the surprisingly conscientious and smart new editor at the Boston Globe; Brian d'Arcy James (Game Change (2012)) as the Spotlight member who has to take up writing a horror novel in order to get his mind off the fact that the Church has a secret treatment center for its pedophile priests in his neighborhood; Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada (2006)) as the tireless lawyer working with the survivors, and Jamey Sheridan (Homeland (2011-12)) as an incriminated lawyer were in my view truly great in Spotlight, but Oscar-nominated Rachel McAdams (The Vow (2012)), Michael Keaton (Batman Returns (1992)) and Oscar-nominated Mark Ruffalo (Begin Again (2013)) are also all fine.
Spotlight is a sober depiction of a scandal from the view of the journalists that uncover it in the vein of the great All the President's Men (1976). The filmmakers have chosen to let the content speak on its own, presenting it in a docu-like realism that can hardly be termed very filmic. Masanobu Takayanagi's (Warrior (2011)) cinematography and Howard Shore's (The Departed (2006)) overly simple score are the least impressive parts of the film in my opinion, and the reason for my not awarding it a 6th ♥.

Related posts:

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 92.2 mil. $

= Big hit

[Spotlight premiered out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival September 3 to sustained applause and runs 129 minutes. McCarthy and Singer's script figured on the 2013 Blacklist. McCarthy is Catholic and Singer stated that the aim was not to expose the Catholic Church but to show the power of the newsroom and that journalism is important. Shooting began in September 2014 in Massachusetts and Ontario, including in many of the real locations such as the Boston Globe offices and the Boston Public Library. The Oscar-nominated editing lasted 8 months. On the limited release first weekend in 5 cinemas in North America, it racked in a 59,002 $ per screen average, among the best averages of the year. Spotlight made 4.4 mil. $ in its wide-release opening weekend, finishing #8, (which is far from impressive, given its stars and great relevance.) It has grossed 38.3 mil. $ (65.9 % of the total gross) in North America, and the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been the UK with 6.3 mil. $ (10.8 %) and France with 3.1 mil. $ (5.3 %). The film has been praised by the Vatican, and the Vatican City's commission on clerical abuse have attended a private screening of it. Spotlight is nominated for 6 Oscars; Best Picture, Supporting Actress (McAdams), Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Directing, Editing and Original Script. It has won a slew of awards, figure on tons of critics' top 10 lists of 2015 and is #172 on IMDb's Top 250 as rated by its users. Spotlight is certified fresh at 96 % with a 8.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Spotlight?

Child Bride/Child Brides/Child Bride of the Ozarks/Dust to Dust (1938) - Revier's dubious curio

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An original, boding poster for Harry Revier's Child Bride

QUICK REVIEW:

A female teacher in the Ozark mountains talks against village stupidity and the custom of taking a child bride, but she encounters strong resistance.

I saw this short (62 min.) feature from the Internet Archive, where it is in public domain, and the copy there is, unfortunately, terrible, both image- and sound-wise. But it is an interesting and unusual film, controversial for its lengthy scene of its 12 year-old star Shirley Mills' (The Grapes of Wrath (1940)) skinny dipping.
It has therefore been labeled an exploitation film by many, (undoubtedly also due to its suggestive posters like the one above), but it is also an honest rejection of the unnatural marriage system depicted. - Although, of course, its blending of the two is highly unusual, questionable, and, for many, hard to take.
The film's cast also includes one of the little people of Tod Browning's Freaks (1932). Among its oddities counts also its ending, SPOILER in which the girl is allowed to avoid the marriage and be in love with her half-brother!?!
It is directed by Harry Revier (The Revenge of Tarzan (1920)) as his penultimate film (out of 26, including a few shorts.)

This collage of stills from the film also includes some from the notorious nude swimming scene:

This original trailer seems to lend something to the exploitation argument: 'Sextastic' the film was actually sold as ...

Cost: Estimated 24k $
Box office: Unknown
[Reportedly, the film ran the 'exploitation circuit' for many years. The controversial elements got past the Hays Office, because the film was made independently and claimed to be educational. It is now available free and legal right here.]

What do you think of Child Bride?
If you've seen other films by Revier, how was/were it/they?

Accused/Anklaget (2005) or, Grey Danish Molestation Misery

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If only Jacob Thuesen's Accused had, as this dull poster might suggest, been a film about a man with a freakishly oversized head, I might have liked it better

Accused presents a story of a man who gets accused of molesting his teenage daughter. 


The great dramatic potential in this premise gets lost in the film in excessive underplaying by the filmmakers: Everything is presented in stylistic, oppressive greys, and all the characters are tight-lipped, quiet and awkward. The charmless minimalist approach doesn't lead to suspense or anything much else, but it does make Accused a cold and severely hard-to-like acquaintance.
SPOILER The judicial protocol and direction the events turn towards could have been interesting. A major issue which also regrettably prevents this is lead Troels Lyby's (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) acting, which manifests mostly through his annoying, ever-frowning eyebrows. SPOILER The ending, (in which he crawls around in a street and shouts for kids to get an adult), is simultaneously unrealistic, contrived and sloppy filmmaking. It just doesn't work.
Debuting great Danish filmmaker Jacob Thuesen (The Left Wing Gang/Blekingegade (2009-2010, TV miniseries) has worked as an editor on many Danish films and since directed the funny film of Lars Von Trier's youth, The Early Years: Erik Nietszche Part I/Erik Nietszche: De Unge År (2007).
Accused is written by Kim Fupz Aakeson (The One and Only/Den Eneste Ene (1999)).

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

This short by director Jacob Thuesen is about the LA freeway system

Cost: Unknown, projected 1.44 mil. $
Box office: Unknown, projected 0.6 mil. $
= Some uncertainty, most likely a mega-flop (returned approximately 0.41 times its cost)
[Accused was released 28 January and runs 103 minutes. Little is publicized of the film's production, but its budget could well be modestly projected at around 10 mil. DKK, approximately 1.44 mil. $. The film sold 48,939 tickets in its native Denmark and was screened at several film festivals, including, most prominently, Berlin International Film Festival. It was nominated for 2 Robert awards (Danish Oscars). Thuesen returned with Freeway (2005, documentary) and theatrically with The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 (2007). Lyby returned in Jul i Valhal (2005, TV-series), Below the Belt/Under Bæltestedet (2006, short) and theatrically in Skymaster/Der Var Engang En Dreng - Som Fik En Lillesøster med Vinger (2006), Sofie Gråbøl (The Day Will Come/Der Kommer En Dag (2016)) in True Spirit/Den Rette Ånd (2005). 1,662 IMDb-users have given Accused a 7.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Accused?

Hard Candy (2005) - Slade's stylish and intense modern thriller classic

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+ Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year: Ellen Page

A skin-crawling poster for David Slade's Hard Candy

It seems impossible to relate anything from the plot of Hard Candy without giving away some of its unpredictable allure, so I will confine myself to presenting its exposition:

A 32 year-old hermit photographer takes a 14 year-old girl back to his home after flirting with her in an online chat-room and subsequently in a café.

I won't reveal more of the plot but recommend the film for anyone up for an edgy, intense and unnerving ride with formidable performances from the leads, played by a real trooper here, Patrick Wilson (Little Children (2006)) who faces Canadian shooting star Ellen Page (Juno (2007)): Her performance and work in Hard Candy is especially impressive due to her age, - and she stands out as obviously a very, very bright young lady here.
The film has some Saw (2004)-like physical uncomfortability to it, - and it was indeed distributed by Saw-handler Lionsgate, - and definitely, if you like hard-edged horror like Saw, then you shouldn't miss Hard Candy. It builds on a gimmick of 'turning tables', as producer David Higgins (The Damned (2013)) also brazenly points out in the DVD's great behind-the-camera-featurette, just as Saw in a way does. More than in that film, though, I believed the gimmick here and didn't notice it as such during the film. - It is too riveting and realistic not to. - The realism of Hard Candy also makes it worse to sit through in my opinion.
It is the 2nd feature from great English director David Slade (Motion (1994)), and Slade has made many intelligent choices with this impressively low-budgeted film, and especially its look is original and well-crafted: The coloring is distinctively alive and confusing (in that it throws its audience off morally a few times), the close-ups relentless and very uncomfortable, especially in the first act, and the focus uncommonly sharp throughout. Intense lighting and photography in the action sequences (perhaps filmed at a higher frame rate), - it all makes for a visually vivacious and continually interesting watch. Remarkable as at least 80 % of it takes place within just one single LA-home. Cinematographer Jo Willems (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)) and colorist Jean-Clement Soret (Kon-Tiki (2012) have both done excellent jobs.
After watching Hard Candy, I'm sure a lot of people will be debating it with different experiences, and few will be able to forget it quickly. SPOILER Personally, I feel that both protagonists are sick, and that the swifts in sympathy from one to the other certainly make Hard Candy unique and daring. It is written by Brian Nelson (Devil (2010)).
For a similarly powerful, stylized and modern, low-budget LA-set thriller with sick twists and great performances, look up Nick Tomnay's The Perfect Host (2010), with David Hyde Pierce in his absolute ace in the title role.
If the subject matter makes you want more, I warmly recommend Michael Cuesta's L.I.E. (2001) with Brian Cox and Paul Dano, which is a personal favorite of mine, - and even better than Hard Candy.

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 0.95 mil. $
Box office: 7 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 7.36 times the cost)
[Hard Candy premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, in just 18 days. It opened #48 in 2 theaters to a strong 58k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #20 and in 152 cinemas, grossing 1 mil. $ (14.3 % of the total gross). Its biggest market by far was (curiously) the UK with 3.3 mil. $ (47.1 %), North America was the 2nd biggest, and the 3rd biggest was Spain with 0.8 mil. $ (11.4 %). The film was nominated for a British Independent Spirit award and other received other honors. Slade returned with 30 Days of Night (2007). Wilson returned in Little Children (2006), Page in Mouth to Mouth (2005). Hard Candy is fresh at 68 % with a 6.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hard Candy?