Zero Budget Production

Friday, April 23, 2010

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:

The Hamiltons - Mitchell Altieri / Phil Flores - USA - (2006)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443527/

Plot from Imdb: "Four young adult siblings try to fend for themselves after the mysterious death of their parents. But they harbor some dark secrets which include abducting and killing strangers, and feeding them to a mysterious 'thing' living in their cellar."

Nice little movie with a nice twist. The "family" is filled with real characters which add to the feeling of nausea when the killing starts. Good cast and, for once, good use of the "POV shots" inserts, as the youngest is documenting his family using a DV camera...

A good use of a family drama in a horror piece...It's good to see a genre movie where not every characters is a caricature of himself. The twist is great if you haven't guessed it before and explains the family behavior from a drastically different point of view.

At the end of the day, not a masterpiece of any kind but a solid b-movie, way more intelligent than the average.

Trailer:

Yoju Toshi aka Wicked City - Anime - Japan - (1987)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098692/

Plot by Imdb: "There has been peace between the worlds of the mortals and the supernatural for centuries, but the balance is now being threatened. The Radical elements from the Supernatural world are crossing over into the mortal universe for the purpose of destroying the peace forever!"

In a "Blade Runner" type neo-Tokyo, two detective, one human, one from the Demon world will have to battle together to save peace-talks between the two sides of the universe, like your typical buddy-.movie from Hollywood but with a Lamberto Bava's "Demons" touch (the color palette and the back lightning). Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri was in command ("Ninja Scroll", "Vampire hunter D") and created a very nice néo-noir universe. It reminded me of the traditional Japanese Ero-Guro style and of the world of Philip José Farmer, mixing erotism and fantastic....The sex scene between the hero and one of the "female spider-demon" at the beginning seems to be straight out of PJ Farmer novel's "Image of the Beast" ! And it came at the same time as "Urotsukidoji ", the reference in Hentai anime (tentacules style !!). The animation is typical of that time but stands the test of time. The art direction is perfect as often in Japanese feature animation movie.Another amazing accomplishment is that the script and plot doesn't let you down and I've been kept interested all along the movie. Great achievement from director Kawajiri and another proof that another kind of "adult" animation is possible.