Papillon

 Papillon 1973

 

• Director: Franklin J Schaffner
• Seen by this director: Planet of the Apes
• Based on the book by Henri Cherrière
• Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Steve McQueen – The Tower, Getaway, Bullit, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Great Escape, The Blob
• Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey, Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland, Moonlight Mile, Hero, Hook, Billy Bathgate, Rain Man, Tootsie, Kramer vs Kramer, Lenny Bruce, Straw Dogs, Little Big Man, John and Mary, Midnight Cowboy, The Graduate
• Why?  A classic.
• Seen: Once before. Now 1 April 2022 

You probably know the story. Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman are prisoners on an island. Escape is impossible. They escape.

So, does the film hold up after all these years?

Not so well. It’s extremely long and barely interesting enough to keep watching. Hoffman is worth watching in his half-blind, gimpy, Ratso-like role and it picks up a bit with the actual escape, but even that goes on too long. The story becomes unlikelier by the minute.

Nope. Don’t need to see this one again. 

2 * of 5

 

Capharnaüm

 Capharnaüm 2018

 

• Director: Nadine Labaki
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Zain al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Bolowtife Treasure Bankole, Kawsar Al Haddad, Fadi Yousef, Cedra Izzam
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them but I certainly hope to see them again!
• Why?  Possibly interesting
• Seen: 31 March 2022 

Twelve-year-old Zain (al Rafeea) struggles to survive in Beirut’s slums, doing his best to protect his siblings. When his parents force his little sister to marry, he runs away. He meets Tigest (Shiferaw) and takes care of her baby (Bankole) while she’s at work. She’s an illegal immigrant, always in fear of being deported.

It’s a film about the despair and absurdity of life in extreme poverty. And about never giving up. About hopelessness and hope.

It’s a heart-breaking story. Al Rafeea as Zain is incredibly good and Bankole as the year-old Yonas is adorable. 

4 ½ * of 5

 

The Lighthouse

 The Lighthouse 2019

• Director: Robert Eggers
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Robert Pattinson – Tenet, Queen of the Desert, Twilight, Remember Me, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Willem Dafoe – Murder on the Orient Express, John Wick, Fireflies in the Garden, Paris je t’aime, American Dreamz, Manderlay, the Aviator, Once upon a Time in Mexico, American Psycho, eXistenZ, Lulu on the Bridge, The English Patient, Wild at Heart, Cry-Baby, Born on the Fourth of July, Mississippi Is Burning, The Last Temptation of Christ, Platoon, Streets of Fire
• Why? I like lighthouses.
• Seen: 27 March 2022

Two men serving four weeks as keepers of a remote lighthouse in the 19^th century. From wariness to tension and hostility to drunken hysterical friendship to violence.

It’s starkly and stormily filmed in black and white with the constant moaning of a foghorn a foreboding background. The suspense and eeriness grow, and it takes on a surrealistic nightmarish tone.

Ultimately, I don’t see the point but maybe there isn’t one. For its atmospheric harsh beauty and the strong performances of the two actors: 

3 ½ * of 5

 

The Chinese Widow

 

The Chinese Widow 2017 

• Director: Bille August
• Seen by this director: Good-bye Bafana, Les Misérables, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, The House of the Spirits
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Liu Yifei, Emile Hirsch, Fangcong Li
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Emile Hirsch – Once upon a Time in Hollywood, The Darkest Hour, Taking Woodstock, Milk, Into the Wild, Third Rock from the Sun
• Why?  Possibly interesting
• Seen: 25 March 2022 

Fate brings US bomber pilot Jack (Hirsch) together with silk producer and widow Ying (Yifei). She hides him from the occupying Japanese.

Mostly slow, it has moments of drama in this based-on-a-true-story of a little-known episode in WWII. Gripping on occasion, it was a bit too romantic and predictable to rate higher than 

2 ½ * of 5

 

Akeelah and the Bee

 

Akeelah and the Bee 2006

• Director: Doug Atchison
• Based on the book: No.
• Cast: Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Basset, Curtis Armstrong, J R Villarreal, Sean Michael Afable, Lee Thomas Young, Julito McCullum, Erica Hubbard, Eddie Steeples, Tzi Ma
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Laurence Fishburne – Man of Steel, Contagion, Bobby, Matrix x 3, Mystic River, Othello, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Boyz n the Hood, Class Action, The Color Purple, Rumble Fish
• Angela Bassett – Black Panther, Music of the Heart, Strange Days, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Malcolm X, Boyz n the Hood
• Curtis Armstrong – Ray, Third Rock from the Sun, Clan of the Cave Bear
• Lee Thomas Young – The Sarah Connors Chronicles
• Julito McCullum – The Wire
• Erica Hubbard – The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
• Tzi Ma – Fringe, Battle in Seattle, Robocop 2
• Why?  I liked it the first time.
• Seen: Once before. Now 26 March 2022. 

Eleven-year-old Akeelah ((Palmer) feels like an outsider and doesn’t much like school but she’s a whiz at spelling. Her teachers urge her to take part in the school spelling bee and when she wins that to go on to the regional, then state and finally national bees. After a hostile run-in with Josh (Fishburne), a language expert, they call a truce and he becomes her coach.

Spelling bees? Seriously? Can a film be more boring?

Guess what. It’s exciting. Akeelah doesn’t just face words like synecdoche and argillaceous but also ridicule from classmates, anger from her overworked harsh widowed mother, a nasty and oppressed fellow speller, and pressure from all sides.

It’s not because I’m a language nerd myself (though not a spelling whiz) but because it’s just impossible not to love Akeelah. Yes, it’s a bit sugary in its feel-goodness but young Palmer is outstanding and everyone else is good too. 

4 ½ * of 5

 

Jalla! Jalla!

 

Jalla! Jalla! 2000

• Director: Josef Fares
• Seen by this director: Zozo
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Fares Fares, Torkel Petersson, Tuva Novotny, Laleh Pourkarim, Sofi Helleday, Jan Fares
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Fares Fares – Rogue One a Star Wars Story
• Tuva Novotny – Annihilation
• Why?  Fun film
• Seen: Once before. Now 24 March 2022 

Roro (Fares) är kär i Lisa (Novotny) men tvingas förlova sig med Yazmin (Pourkarim) av sin familj och hennes bror. Måns (Petersson) är ihop med Jenny (Helleday) men har stora problem med potensen.

Det är en slapstick romantisk komedi med lite allvar och en mild satir på svenska stereotyper. Fares Fares är helt underbar. Det är omöjligt att inte älska den.

 

In English:

Roro is in love with Lisa but is forced by his family and her brother to become engaged to Yazmin. Måns is together with Jenny but has problems with impotence.

It’s a slapstick romantic comedy with a trace of seriousness and a mild satire on Swedish stereotypes. Fares Fares is wonderful. It’s impossible not to love it. 

4* of 5

 

The Andromeda Strain

 The Andromeda Strain 1971

 

• Director: Robert Wise
• Based on the novel by Michael Crichton
• Cast: James Olson, Arthur Hill, David Wayne, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Arthur Hill – TV series
• David Wayne – TV series
• Kate Reid – Atlantic City
• Paula Kelly – Soylent Green, Sweet Charity, TV series
• Why?  A sci fi classic
• Seen: 21 March 2022 

Just what we need in these times of continued Corona, a film about a germ from outer space that threatens to wipe out the human race.

What it really threatens to do is bore me to death. After about half an hour I fall asleep and when I wake up nothing seems to have happened. I fast-forward a bit and nothing seems to have happened. At the end there’s a race against time. ‘There are now 30 seconds to self-destruct.’

Fewer than that before I fall asleep again.

Where oh where do all the stars in other reviews come from. What a disappointment!  

1* of 5