Blue Sunshine - Joseph Lieberman - USA - (1976)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074226/

Plot by imdb: "At a party, someone goes insane and murders three women. Falsely accused of the brutal killings, Jerry is on the run. More bizarre killings continue with alarming frequency all over town. Trying to clear his name, Jerry discovers the shocking truth...people are losing their hair and turning into violent psychopaths and the connection may be some LSD all the murderers took a decade before."

For all you pills poppers and Acid eaters out there, a strange and weird 70's movie about drug's aftereffects... I watched it, not knowing anything about it and I must say that the first scene really left me extremely perplexed and really looking forward for the rest of the story. Some scenes are very creepy but it's the general weirdness of it all that creates a lasting effect. The rest of the movie is so-so, an average casting with basic acting and some lame chases. Some of the acting is so lame that it might make you laugh. Strangely, I didn't think at the time that it was so ridiculous as some appears to think. Thanks to the interesting main idea, it kept me interested all along. In the end, a freaky-funny-creepy paranoiac thriller from the 70's acid hysteria, with some really memorable scenes.

 

Trailer:

The Way of the Gun - Christopher McQuarrie - USA - (2000)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0202677/

Plot by Imdb: "Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man."

To begin with, this movie has one of the best opening scene ever: watch it here. Now, let make it very clear: this is one of my favorite noir thriller of all time. Not that it's the best movie I've ever seen but it contains a certain nihilistic "je ne sais quoi" that clearly works with me. Scriptwriter Christopher McQuarrie's only directorial work, "The way of the Gun" is between a post modern Western and a Noir movie. There's also something we don't see everyday in the storytelling and dialogues: silence, emptiness... A lack of explanation that feels good. For once, the scriptwriter/director doesn't take us for fools and doesn't need to explain everything, even let some of his character's histories and motivations appart. In this aspect, it's almost an Asian movie. For example, we don't have any details on the main characters past lives. We just have to deal with them as they are. The other great aspect is the "desperate" feeling that exudes from the story and the characters. Like if they were all living on borrowed times. But ain't we all ?

The cinematography is cold, well done, almost classic. I think the Coen Brothers are very close to this kind of filmmaking in their own masterpiece "No country for old man". The acting is marvelously subtle:  in addition to the main trio - Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Lewis and Ryan Philippe (all amazing) - some old school supporting actors steps in to further improve the high level: James Caan & Geoffrey Lewis, amongst others.

Some scenes are, in my opinion, classics: the opening - already mentioned, the kidnapping/chase scene, and the final shootout are all very impressive.

It 's time to put this movie were it belongs: amongst the best of its genre. 

PS: Again a warning to the pregnant ladies out there, the final scene might not be the most indicated for you as it is "tough" to say the least. I added the label "Gore" to the post just for that scene, so beware.

Trailer:

Black Snake Moan - Craig Brewer - USA - (2006)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462200/

Plot by Imdb:"In Mississippi, the former blues man Lazarus is in crisis, missing his wife that has just left him. He finds the town slut and nymphomaniac Rae dumped on the road nearby his little farm, drugged, beaten and almost dead. Lazarus brings her home, giving medicine and nursing and nourishing her like a father, keeping her chained to control her heat. When her boyfriend Ronnie is discharged from the army due to his anxiety issue, he misunderstands the relationship of Lazarus and Rae, and tries to kill him."

 Second movie in his "music movie trilogy" after "Hustle and Flow" and before his future country music movie called "Footloose", this is a down south, hot and sweaty movie about sin and redemption. Behind its disguise as an exploitation movie, it deals with very deep subject as the guilt and auto-punishment that people who have been suffering from abuses inflict on themselves and the way society perceives them. It is mixed here with a very special  background as the story takes place in the South of the USA, birthplace of the Blues and home of a still very profound racial divide. The blues in this movie represents a "religion" for the godless, as it is. A mystical direct line to our beliefs, hopes and despairs. Casting is uber-great: Jackson is perfect, Ricci is touching and sexy as Hell, and Justin Timberlake proves, once again, that he's a great actor. The sexploitation elements are working great as catalyst of the hate/love relationship between a nymphomaniac girl and an old sinner full of wisdom. That's the beauty of it: the Blues is here for you, whoever you are, and whatever you have done. Blues is redemption to the soul.

Hallelujah, my brothers ! A director makes a movie about one of my favorite music and makes it good.

And there is a half-naked chick chained almost all along the picture ! (yeah, I know, I'm a sinner)

Trailer:

Wristcutters: A Love Story - Goran Dukic - USA - (2006)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477139/

Plot  from Imdb: "When his girlfriend Desiree breaks up with him, the heartbroken Zia commits suicide cutting his wrists. He awakes in the arid Beyond, a dark place inhabited by suicidal people and worst than the world of the living. He finds a job in the pizzeria Kamikaze, sharing a room with a weird roommate. When Zia meets a former friend, he is informed that Desiree has also committed suicide a couple of months after his death. He befriends the Russian guitarist Eugene, who died electrocuted in a rock concert, and together they decide to seek out Desiree. While driving in a lonely road, they meet the hitchhiker Mikal, who is chasing the People in Charge to clarify that she is not a suicidal, but a victim of OD. In their journey, they befriend Kneller, who owns a camping, and Eugene falls in love for Nanuk."

Very uplifting black comedy, based on a short story by Israeli writer Etgar Keret, that plunges us in a parallel world of the "dead by suicide", where everything is twisted and grey. Everything stands on the shoulders of the actors, all excellent, especially the supporting roles of Eugene (Shea Whigham) and Kneller (Tom Waits).

As an all time Tom Waits fan, it's always nice to see the master at work in another field. The music contains a lot of Gogol Bordello's songs and that's also a winner in my book. The humor is cynical and east-european Jewish like, witch made me at home right away. The beginning of the movie is more an introduction to the "dead world" and riddled with hilarious moment. As the movie goes, the humor tends to blend into more emotional and dramatic feelings, but it's all subtly done.

Great little black comedy to lift us up, in those heavy times.

Trailer: