2017 Films: #35. Voyeur

Netflix viewing on January 12th in Chicago. Myles Kane and Josh Koury direct this documentary about legendary journalist Gay Talese's book The Voyeur's Motel. The film follows Telese's over 30 year relationship with Gerlad Foos, a motel owner from Aurora, CO. Foos purchased a motel in the late 60s with the intent on spying on guests from an observation platform that he built. Foos spent hours spying on his guests and kept detailed notes about their habits. Foos invited Talese to visit the hotel back in 1980 and even took Telese up into his observation platform to spy on guests so he could get a feel for what it was like.

Telese kept in contact with Foos for over thirty years before deciding to put everything together for a New Yorker article that would later expand into a book. Foos' authenticity was called into question when New Yorker fact checkers found a discrepancy in when he actually bought the motel. He told Talese he bought it 1966 but records show that the didn't actually purchase it until 1969 which could invalidate his notes between that time frame.

 Upon the book's publication, The Washington Post discovered that Foos had actually sold the motel in 1983, not in the 90s as he told Talese. This forced to disavow the book until he contacted the purchaser and he informed Talese that Foos still used his keys to gain access to the platform to continue his peeping.

Say what you want about Mr. Talese as a journalist but he is a snappy dresser. 

Foos comes off as a bit of a creeper for obvious reasons. What's weird is that both of his wives seemed cool with what he was doing. Foos refers to his platform as a "laboratory" and his peeping as an experiment. Albeit a weird one. Despite his detailed notes, Foos appears to have exaggerated about witnessing a murder back in 1977. New Yorker fact checkers tried to find about the murder but there was nothing at Foos' motel. There was a similar murder that fit Foos' description but nothing ever comes of it and the article and book get published anyway.

Clearly Foos is a creepazoid of the highest degree. But I came away thinking that Talese and the New Yorker were a bit sloppy. Discrepancies were found and it didn't seem to bother anyone and they didn't do a very thorough job of tracing the sale of the motel. Foos has some credibility issues as well and seems like a bit of an attention seeker. I also can't imagine that everything Foos observed was salacious. There had to have been an endless amount of entries where people just did nothing.

The film received a 78% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Kane and Koury do a very nice job of building the narrative that kept me glued to my seat. A nice documentary that's worth watching. 

2017 Films: #34. Desolation

An iTunes rental on December 29th in Chicago, IL. A low budget stalk and slash horror film from first time director Sam Patton. Patton goes for tension and fear instead of gore and jump scares. Abby (Jaimi Paige) and her son Sam (Toby Nichols) go out to the woods (never a good idea, when will people learn?) to complete their husband's/father's last wishes to have his ashes scattered on a hiking trail. Along for the ride is Abby's friend Jen (Alyshia Ochse).

Sam is having trouble coping with his father's death because his parents kept it a secret from him and Abby hopes that this trip will bring them closer together and provide closure. As they get ready to set out on the hike, Sam notices a dark stranger (Claude Duhamel) by the lake and when Sam turns his head for a moment and looks back, of course the man is gone. The creepy stranger begins to stalk the threesome and eventually Jen goes missing. Abby and Sam start to panic and try to make it back to a populated area. During the night, Abby is abducted and her fate seems sealed. Abby escapes, reunites with Sam and confront the stranger.

The film received a 67% Rotten Tomatoes rating, which seems about right. It's not that bad and it isn't that great either. The plot doesn't give you a whole lot of twists and turns. In fact, there were a few times that I felt like things could have been sped up despite the fact that run time is only 78 minutes. The tension seems a bit slow to build at times though Patton does a nice job of building the sense of isolation with Sam and Abby. Again, not a bad film but it's a theme that I have seen a lot and it doesn't give anything new. Not a must see by any standard. 

2017 Films: #33. Killing of a Sacred Deer

An iTunes rental on December 29th in Chicago, IL. This psychological horror film was written and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The film is a modernized version of the Greek tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis.

Colin Farrell plays renown cardiac surgeon Dr. Steven Murphy. He kind of mentors Martin (Barry Keoghan), a teenage boy who's father passed away. Steven holds back on some details about his relationship to Martin with his own family and eventually decides it's a good idea to invite him to dinner to meet his family. Martin is very charming and takes a shine to the Murphy's daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Martin returns the favor by having Steven over for dinner but it doesn't go well after Martin's mother makes a pass him that he rebuffs and leaves. Over the next few days Martin tries to reconnect with Steven but is ignored. Meanwhile, Steven's son Bob (Sunny Suljic) is unable to use his legs one morning and is rushed to the hospital. Tests reveal that there is nothing wrong with Bob. While this is going on, Kim and Martin go out on a date and Kim becomes infatuated with Martin.

The next day at the hospital Martin and Steven speak in private and Martin reveals that he holds Steven responsible for his father's death. He has placed a curse Steven's family where they will suffer before dying a terrible death. In order to balance things out, Steven's family needs to be destroyed. Soon Kim falls to the curse and Steven comes clean with his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) about his relationship with Martin. Anna, who is a doctor herself, investigates the operation and finds out that Steven had a few drinks prior to the surgery.

Kim and Bob are taken home but their condition does not improve. In a panic, kidnaps Martin and tortures him in order to lift the curse. Kim crawls down into the basement and offers to runaway with Martin if he'll make her better. Anna ends up releasing Martin reasoning that it will do no good to keep him and that they should kill one of the children as they can have more children. As Bob enters the final stage leading to death, Steven ties up the family in the living room and attempts to shoot one randomly while blindfolded.

To say the least, this picture pulled me in. The cast showed little emotion other than anger and seemed robotic but that was deliberate. Lanthimos uses a lot of angles to show how vast and empty things are. Everything appears antiseptic. Very nice use of color and light.

This is a very interesting film. In 2016 Lanthimos' American debut, The Lobster, received an 88% Rotten Tomatoes rating. There was a lot of positive buzz about the film for being different. This effort gives us more of the same and it received a 79% Rotten Tomatoes rating. This not a film for everyone, Lanthimos creates tension slowly and with a 121 minute run time, it may be too slow for some. Lanthimos is a director who's going in a different direction and it could be worthwhile to check out his past work and keep an eye out for his next film. 

2017 Films: #31. Saving Capitalism

A Netflix viewing on December 16th in Chicago. Jacob Kornbluth directs the film that's based on Robert Reich's 2015 novel of same name. I had been looking forward to this film as I was a big fan of Kornbluth's and Reich's 2013 collaboration, Inequality for All.

Reich is a liberal economist/professor/author with excellent credentials. The premise is that instead of a book tour, he's going out on a pseudo lecture tour in middle America, the conservative heartland to talk to people about economics. There's a scene where he has a dinner with some Kansas City entrepreneurs who are of course conservative. The entrepreneurs let Reich know that they feel vilified by him because they're rich and worked hard to get there, which is never the target of Reich's rants. Nothing really ever comes of this dinner. We also get interviews with farmers about the 2016 election. There are segments that explain how the average person is left out of the economy, how corporations game the system and how politicians cash in after their service.

The film goes in different directions but finally comes to the conclusion that crony capitalism is to blame.

Which I find hard to believe that this is some sort of news flash.

I found this film to be a bit disappointing. It was not as good as Inequality for All. It seemed to take a roundabout way to make it's point and the only solution I came away with was to elect better officials, good luck, and end crony capitalism, good luck again.  I guess I will have to read the book.

2017 Films: #30. Blade of the Immortal

An OnDemand viewing on December 2nd. Renown director Takashi Miike brings this manga series of the same name to the screen as his 100th film.

Taking place in feudal Japan, our protagonist Manji, has killed a corrupt lord and his guards, one of which is the husband of his little sister Machi, who loses it over the grief of her husband's death. A bounty is placed on Manji's head and his sister is captured. On the way to rescue his sister, Mani duels an 800 year old samurai, which really doesn't do much for the advancement of the plot other than to give you a little, but not really needed, backstory on how one becomes an immortal samurai.

Machi is killed in front of Manji and he gracefully hacks his way through the group before succumbing to his wounds. Before he does pass, a wandering mystic inserts sacred bloodworms into his body to bring him back to life. Fast forward 52 years and young Rin's parents are murdered by the Ittō-ryū under the orders of Kagehisa Anotsu. Seeking revenge, Rin comes across the same wandering mystic that created Manji and she tells Rin where to find Manji to enlist his aid. Manji at first doesn't want the gig but the fact that Rin looks exactly like his sister Machi, he takes the job with hopes that by helping Rin, he can cleanse his soul. Manji starts killing off Anotsu's subordinates and it leads to a final battle with Kagehisa.

There is a lot going on with this film. There's an entire subplot of Kagehisa trying to bring all the dojos in line to teach one form of fencing, the one he's really good at. This is why he kills Ren's father. Kagehisa is betrayed by his backer, Habaki has betrayed him and killed his follower prior to the final battle with Manji. Since the film is based on a long running manga series, there's a lot of story and characters that would need to be worked into the film. But with a run time of 141 minutes, the film drags at a few points. I chose to watch this because it sounded cool so for me to say that there too many characters and too many scenes (do we really need another scene where a character asks for help/training from the protagonist, who initially refuses but ends up taking the job anyway? Can't the guy just say, "sure, I would love to help train/exact revenge" for a change? In fact can we do away with that trope already? There wouldn't be much of a movie if the guy actually stuck by his guns and not trained/helped whomever asked)  is a little shortsighted but it was too long.

The film got an 85% Rotten Tomatoes rating but it was apparently not that well received in Japan. Blade of the Immortal is a solid film but it pales comparison to Miike's 13 Assassins from 2011. I would recommend 13 Assassins over Blade of the Immortal. To me, this could have been a better film with another round in the editing room.

2017 Films: #2. Get Out

March 4th in Chicago, IL. Not sure how I forgot to mention this film throughout the course of the year, which is a crime, but better late than never. This picture has been talked about all year and since this post is over 8 months late, there really isn't much more I can add. Get Out is one of the year's best films. It was also the year's runaway hit.

Get Out had a working budget of $5 million, took in $33 million on it's opening weekend, has grossed over $175 million domestically and over $252 million worldwide. Jordan Peele wrote and directed this film about a young black man, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), going to meet the parents of his white girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams). Suffice to say, things go down a little differently than Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

The film has a great cast. Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener and Caleb Landry Jones are great as Rose's creepy parents and brother. But it was LilRel Howery who stole the show as Chris's conspiracy theory cousin Rod who works for TSA. Rod's conspiracies are ridiculous but he usually turns out to be right but law enforcement just mocks him. The  picture got a 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating. As great as the film is, that rating seems a bit on the high side and no film is that close to perfect.

The is worth watching and if you haven't seen the film, see it. You shouldn't be disappointed. There's humor, tension and horror. Then there's the "hidden meaning" that is worth checking out as well as the film's philosophy, which leans toward not trusting rich white people.