Cinematic Distractions...

[dulcedemon]

This list is everything I watched over the holidays from the solstice to orthodox Christmas. Expect a lot of Marx Brothers movies in the weeks and months to come. A generous someone bestowed me with a whole set.

Leviathan(2014):
Shipwrecks, and whale bones...
There is no corruption movie like a Russian corruption movie.
Amid the bleak, craggy beauty of coastal Russia, a man fights to keep his familial homestead from being taken over by the town at the behest of its corrupt mayor.
Kolya lives with his second wife, and his teenage son from his first marriage. They live in a large wooden beach house meets farm house. Kolya works as a mechanic out of a garage on the property.
The adjacent town is a small collection of old, weather-beaten buildings huddled around a fish processing plant, where many of the residents work. There is one church, and one major employer. Everyone knows everyone.
The local police, such as they are, address the locals by name, and think nothing of taking their official vehicles for an afternoon of drinking, and target shooting to celebrate a friend's birthday.
The town makes an offer to buy the property, but rather than accept it, the family fights to keep their home/business through the court system. When that fails, their attorney and close family friend tries to play dirty. A chain of repercussive events unfolds. The result is a total and shocking loss, which raises more questions than it answers.
When it comes to depictions of alcohol consumption, I think this is the most I have ever seen in one movie. They drink vodka like water. A great moment in movie drunkenness comes when the mayor(Roman Madyanov) gets staggering, word-slurring drunk, and decides to pay the family a visit to gloat about how their property is going to be his.

A Woman in Berlin(2008):
Based upon the memoir Anonyma, which was first published in 1959. The memoir caused such an uproar in Germany that the author forbade any additional printings within her lifetime. It was seen as an affront to the honor of German women.
It takes place near the end of WWII, when the Soviets invade Berlin. Nina Hoss plays the woman.
War in civilian areas comes with its own peculiar set of horrors. It forces people to make choices, and take actions that they would not even consider under any other circumstance. The drumbeat of war, patriotic duty, and honor mean little to starving civilians with guns pointed in their face. Whatever side they are on, whatever the ideology behind it, survival takes precedence over it. The women who step out of the cellar being used as a bomb shelter at the words "Pretty woman. Come. Eat." must know the inevitable price that will be demanded for a few potatoes, and a scrap of bacon. Those who don't give it, will have it taken.
Invasion becomes occupation. Rape is a common daily occurrence. When women greet each other, they ask "How many times?". They do what they can to mitigate their plight by trying to gain the favor of higher ranking soldiers, which earns them a sort of exclusivity, reducing their chances of being jumped by random soldiers on the street.
Eventually, the war ends, and they try to piece their lives back together. Most would not dare admit what they endured. Those who did, like the author of the memoir, were shamed and lambasted for it.

I Am Divine(2013):
My dad made me aware of Divine, and John Waters back in the early 1980s. It was the television show, Night Flight, that prompted the conversation. I had seen the video for I'm So Beautiful.
Short version: Divine made quite an impression.
Long version: There is a world out there of movies that never made it to any theater near me. Drag is an art form. Beauty is about having confidence in yourself, and not just your physical appearance.
The conversation ended with my dad explaining "the egg lady"(Edith Massey), and joking about how she reminded him of his ex-mother-in-law.
This documentary is both entertaining and informative.

Ravenous(Directed by: Antonia Bird - 1999):
I was gifted a copy over the holidays. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. Were it not for its unique score, I might not feel that way. Composed by Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman, it breathes life into the action in a way that is impossible to ignore or forget. It's reminiscent of the scores done by Ennio Morricone for Sergio Leone's westerns in that regard.
It's also one of my top three movies for snowy scenes; The Shining and Jeremiah Johnson are the other two. It's ironic given how the weather did not cooperate for much of the filming. Spring came early to Slovakia...
Welcome to Fort Spencer, California, where the U.S. Army stations its disgraces and misfits!
I sometimes quote a line spoken by Jeffrey Jones as Col. Hart. As he welcomes Capt. John Boyd(Guy Pearce), he offers him some fresh walnuts: "Have a walnut, Boyd.". Later in the story, he makes the offer again, but it has a very different tone and meaning. The simple act of offering someone a walnut becomes an acknowledgement of lost humanity.
The best dialogue belongs to the antagonist, played brilliantly by Robert Carlyle. His delivery of this bit is impeccable: "But I must say...when I stepped inside that cave...the smell of meat cooking...I thanked the Lord. I thanked the Lord.".
Toward the end, he makes a speech in which he outlines his peculiar interpretation of Manifest Destiny, which includes the line: "Morality --the last bastion of a coward."
It's well-rounded by its supporting cast, which includes David Arquette, and Stephen Spinella. Fangless vampire movie would be a fair description. It has the same kind of creepy erotic tension, blood-fueled virility, and a sort of amorous hostility.

Invader Zim: Horrible Holiday Cheer(2001):
We opened our presents while watching this disc from our boxed set of the show.

Cheeky(Tra(sgre)dire - 2000):
I wanted something silly but adult. Tinto Brass movies are good for that. I have seen this one before. While watching it, I realized I had it mixed-up with another one. I wanted the one with the bike ride scene. The bike ride scene is in Frivolous Lola(1998). I got my asses confused.
One of the most memorable scenes in Cheeky is one in which Tinto Brass himself appears. He plays the proprietor of a film processing shop.
The main character, Carla, played by Yuliya Mayarchuk, has a boyfriend with an enormous...cellular phone. It's the biggest one I've ever seen.

The Uninvited(1944):
Has a cool ghostly apparition special effect that gets used a few times, but overall, I didn't like it very much. A brother and sister buy a suspiciously cheap country house, which turns out to be haunted as fuck. The ghosts have unfinished business with their still living descendants from whom the siblings bought the place.
With a little help from Dr. Scott, played by Alan Napier, they uncover the hidden truth. Cornelia Otis Skinner has a minor but memorably bizarre role as the head of an unorthodox mental health facility.
Giving Up The Ghost: Notes on The Uninvited is an extra feature on the DVD version that gives good backstories of the movie, and the actors in it.