Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)

Roman Polanski on his way to court.

This better than average documentary comes from HBO. Years ago I watched one of those "E! True Hollywood Stories" about the Roman Polanski rape case, so a lot of this was familiar territory for me, but this film focuses less on the incident itself and more on the details of his trial and how it was mishandled. Boy, was it ever mishandled...

Again, I don't like to go into too much detail when writing about documentaries. Movies exist for entertainment and it's acceptable to reveal a certain number of plot elements to pique peoples' interest. Documentaries exist both to entertain and to inform, and giving away too many details can cause people to lose interest in seeing it, I think. I'll try to practice moderation and leave plenty of meat on the bone for those that decide to watch this.

Roman had a rough childhood. His mother was gassed by the Nazis and his father was thrown into a concentration camp while he was still very young. Somehow he overcame this, followed his dream and became a success making movies. After proving himself in his native Poland, he moved to London and became a staple of the nightlife. Charismatic and likable despite his short stature and strange looks, Roman did alright for himself with the ladies. After meeting Sharon Tate on the set of one of his films, they fell in love, married and moved to Hollywood because that's where the money was. Soon after, Sharon was brutally murdered at the hands of the Manson family. Polanski fell into a depression and unapologetically dealt with it by plowing through scores of young women. For him, chasing jailbait was a better option than drowning his sorrows in booze. On a photo shoot for Vogue, Polanski drugged and photographed a topless 13 year old girl in a hot tub at Jack Nicholson's house, then had what he considered to be consensual sex with her. She called it "rape", and Roman went to jail.

The bulk of this documentary deals with the trial and how badly it was handled by the judge, Polanski's growing hatred of the media (starting with his wife's murder) and his fleeing the country to make a new life in France. These are the details that made this an interesting film. There were long, in depth interviews from both the prosecution and defense attorneys, both corroborating each other's stories concerning the details of the trial and of Judge Rittenband's inappropriate conduct throughout. Lots of other people weighed in on the subject, too, none boring or making me question their presence in the film (see: Jack Black in any music documentary ever), and there was plenty of archival news footage and interviews that held all of this together nicely.

Overall, this was very well made, informative and entertaining. I only wish I didn't already know so much about this case going into it. Had I known nothing in advance, this would have been even better. I found this DVD at Big Lots for $1.88 and there was a huge pile of them. I figured it would be lousy because of that, but it far surpassed my expectations.

4/5

Searching For Sugar Man (2012)

Sixto Rodriguez: America's Cast Away

Sony's documentaries are usually pretty great. I picked this up hoping it would be another "Devil in Daniel Johnston" (one of my favorite music documentaries ever), but it wasn't nearly as good. I still enjoyed it, though. 
 
It's difficult to write about this film without revealing too much about it, so this will be a short synopsis. The mononymous "Rodriguez" was a mystical folk singer who recorded two albums for the Sussex label in the early 1970s. Both albums tanked here in the states and he disappeared into obscurity. Somehow, a copy of his first album, "Cold Fact", made it's way to South Africa and it spread like wildfire becoming a huge sensation there on par with The Beatles and "bigger than Elvis". This background information is given in the opening lines of this documentary, followed by a matter-of-fact account of Rodriguez dousing himself in lighter fluid,setting himself ablaze and killing himself during a poorly received concert.

One day, while visiting with one of his American friends, Cape Town native Stephen Segerman was shocked to learn that nobody in America had even heard of Rodriguez. He assumed that because he was so popular in South Africa, he must have been hugely popular in his own country, but that just wasn't the case. When Rodriguez's second album, "Coming From Reality", was finally issued on CD in South Africa in 1996, Segerman was invited to contribute to the liner notes. Within those notes he solicited further biographical information, should any exist. It was a long shot and  an open-ended request, but music journalist Craig Bartholomew Strydom was already wondering about the circumstances surrounding Rodriguez's death and got in touch offering his help. People loved Rodriguez's music, but nobody knew anything about him. The cryptic album art and lack of liner notes left only his lyrics as clues. What follows is the search for "Sugar Man".

There wasn't much to work with in making this documentary, I assume. The interviews with the players in Rodriguez's career were interesting, but there weren't very many of them to speak of. The big reveal is given away early on in the film and was predictable from the very beginning. The problem is that it didn't leave much to fill the rest of the running time. This documentary succeeded in introducing me to his music, though, which is terrific. It's my understanding that with the exception of this film's soundtrack, his music has been out of print here in America since 1971. If a CD containing both of his albums in their entirety existed, I'd happily purchase a copy today.

This was entertaining enough, but I wouldn't have bought it if I had watched it first. My wife paid for it and gave it to me for my birthday, so that works for me. If you have the chance, see it, but don't go out of your way to do so.

3.5/5

 (Watch the trailer at your own risk as it gives away more about the film than I have above.)

Little Children (2006)

The great Jackie Earl Haley.

I watched this based on Kate Winslet's performance in Roman Polanski's "Carnage". I was flipping through movies On Demand, saw her name and "pornography addiction" in the description and decided to watch it. It ended up being a terrific movie, and really depressing most of the time. Not quite Todd Solondz-depressing, but along those lines.

Sarah (played by Winslet) is a frumpy housewife with a degree in literature who meets Brad (Patrick Wilson) while taking her daughter to the park. The other women at the park were too stuck up to speak to Brad and chose instead to admire him from afar. Sarah's dislike of the other mothers drives her to introduce herself to Brad in an attempt to one-up the others. They hug and kiss as a joke to forever shut up the other mothers, but both of them have a hard time forgetting about each other after that day's kiss.

They meet every day at the city pool, become good friends and find that they're both better parents while spending time together. Brad is a stay at home father, a failed law student who had his youth stolen from him when his parents died. He feels emasculated by his wife's professional success and constant hen-pecking and puts no effort into passing the bar exam. Sarah feels like she's failing as a parent and resents her husband because he works in advertising and makes his living telling lies. On top of this, he has a pornography addiction that prevents him from covering his parenting duties at home. Their shared dissatisfaction of their home life is their common bond and, over time, their friendship evolves into a fling.

All of this takes place in a quiet little town which is the home of a sex offender just released from a two year prison sentence for indecent exposure. The citizens are outraged and Larry (an ex-policeman who plays on Brad's night football league) takes it on his own to create a committee for decency to make everyone aware of who their new neighbor is. Ronnie (played by the great Jackie Earl Haley) moves back into his elderly mother's home and is constantly under attack with flyers baring his face hung everywhere, his house spray painted, late night drive-by's with megaphones warning the neighbors of his presence and even knocking on his door trying to coax him outside to fight - all at the hands of a drunken ex-cop who, too, is a failure in his own life. The movie's most tense scenes are with Brad and Larry, and the end result of Larry's merciless tormenting is too good to give away here.

So who's more detestable? The creepy sex offender doing his best to be good and keep to himself, or the selfish, adulterous "normals" who throw away their lives for another chance at happiness at the expense of their families? Every single person in this movie is unhappy, and all instances of joy are fleeting and at someone else's expense. Damaged characters make for great movies, though, and this was no exception. There was a sinking, hopeless feeling in my stomach for most of this film and I haven't been able to push it out of my mind since it finished. There was a little bit of an Robert Altman-like quality to the film in the way the characters' lives intertwined, but not in an annoying or forced way like in "Crash". There wasn't a bad performance in the entire film. Kate Winslet was especially good and Jackie Earl Haley was brilliant in his first film in 13 years. It would be unfair to give this anything less than a perfect rating as it's heaps better than the movies I've given 4 star ratings. It's the best movie I've seen in a long while.

5/5

The Goode Family (2009)

Poor Che...

I admit without shame that I am a Mike Judge fanboy. I love the guy and, for the most part, think his work is brilliant. I thought "Idiocracy" was a slight misstep when I saw it the first time, but it got way better on subsequent viewings. Mike Judge is great with creating believable characters and a genius with dialogue. People are still quoting "Beavis and Butthead" in 2013 because he so perfectly captured that generation. The "King of the Hill" detractors disliked it because of how slow it moved, but I imagine life in Texas moves at a snail's pace. There were so many believable situations that occurred on that show, even on the more ridiculous episodes, all made believable through great writing. The guy's a brilliant satirist.

"The Goode Family" aired for one season on ABC in 2009 and I somehow managed to miss every single episode. The buzz on the Internet was that it wasn't very good, but that's not what kept me from matching it. Seriously, who in the fuck watches ABC? Who in the fuck makes plans to watch ABC? I missed it because I don't watch network TV, period. Luckily, in a time where great, classic TV shows are only seeing a few of their seasons released on DVD before the studios halt production leaving us in limbo for years (goddammit, release the rest of those "The Bob Newhart Show" seasons, you fuckers!), the entire run of "The Goode Family" was released on one 2DVD set. I'm not complaining because I finally got to see it, but why did this failure of a TV show see a release when so many others don't? Regardless, I snatched this up when I saw it at Best Buy and watched all 13 episodes over the course of two days.

Meet The Goode's, an Earth-friendly, green, ultra-PC bunch who do everything they can to make everyone happy, but ultimately are met with obstacles at every turn due to ever-changing public opinion: 

Gerald (voiced by Judge and sounds exactly like Mr. Van Dreissen) - works at the community college and is a doormat his superiors walk all over, too big of a pussy to stand up for himself.

His wife, Helen - spends most of the series in direct competition with her "friend" Margo in a contest of who can be more PC.

Bliss - their rebellious teenage daughter who agrees with their core values, but wishes they'd tone it down a bit.

Unbuntu - their adopted, African son who just happens to be white because they forgot to check a box on the adoption form and ended up with a South African baby.

Charlie (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray) - Helen's pig of a father who is always around, mocking their lifestyle and trying to corrupt Unbuntu into being "normal".

Che -  the stick-thin, meat-deprived family dog forced to eat vegan dog food, but who terrorizes the neighborhood eating every animal he sees. Che has all of the funniest scenes, salivating over steaks, seeing red and continually deprived of what he lusts for.

Overall, this wasn't as funny as Mike Judge's previous efforts, but I think he was just a collaborator on this series. His humor is definitely there and there are a lot of genuinely funny moments that made me laugh out loud, but I had a hard time relating to these characters because I don't know anyone like them in real life. The animation is slick with a bright color palate and the pacing seemed about right for what this was. There were some nice side characters that kept the episodes interesting, like the overweight, mullet-topped lesbian couple who Gerald and Helen befriend simply because they think they should and "Cranky" - a restauranteur who gets progressively more angry each year he loses the chili cook-off, but the on-going competition between Helen and Margo was irritating after the 3rd episode. It felt very "chicky" because of it, like it should have aired on WE or Lifetime.

I wasn't crazy about "King of the Hill" when I first saw it, either. Maybe this will grow on me like it did, but I can't imagine watching it again anytime soon. I had fun watching it, though, just not as much fun as I had hoped. This was Goode, but not great.

3.5 / 5



 

Thursday's Game (1974)

Once a week for 4 years, a group of people got together to play poker. One of them decides the stakes aren't high enough, so they play for more money. After all but two lose a considerable amount of money, a fight breaks out and they decide they aren't playing anymore, but Harry (Gene Wilder) and Marvin (Bob Newhart) decide they enjoy their one night a week away from home too much to give it up, so they agree to keep meeting on Thursdays to do whatever they want without telling their wives otherwise. Harry and Marvin weren't friends before this, but over the next three months they form a solid friendship. While Marvin has recently found success in the garment industry, Harry is fired from his job as a television producer after his ratings have been steadily slipping. Both of their marriages, however, are falling apart. While Marvin is shallow and spends all of his energy finding a way to leave his older wife, Harry's unemployment causes him to slip into a depression that pushes his wife away from him to the point of separation.

This was a made for TV movie filmed in 1971 that finally aired on ABC in 1974. Written by James L. Brooks, this film is at once funny and depressing. The budding friendship between Harry and Marvin is interesting to watch unfold. Together they talk about their marriages, employment problems, etc, but neither of them spend any time with their spouses discussing their problems at home. It's all very relatable, and the set-up is as good as any to deal with this mid-life crisis business. The best scenes are with Harry and his wife, Lynne (played by Ellen Burstyn). All of her attempts at consolation are batted away and she reacts as one would expect under those circumstances. As this was made for TV, it's loaded with television stars (Bob Newhart, Cloris Leachman, Valarie Harper, Rob Reiner, Norman Fell), all delivering solid performances. Thankfully, Gene Wilder has a few scenes where he loses it and goes manic, as he does so well, but his brooding, darker scenes are just as great. James L. Brooks is a great writer, and this cast does a decent job with his work.

You wont find this on DVD, but I found a copy on VHS here at a secondhand shop. Someone's uploaded the entire thing on YouTube, so it's there if you want it. Nothing life changing, mind you, but you'll likely find something of yourself in this movie somewhere. Recommended. 

3/5

 

Dead End Drive-In (1986)

Making an exit with style!

Not exactly a post-nuke movie, but set in the not-so-distant future after total economic collapse. The government sweeps go-nowhere youth off the streets and imprisons them in the local drive-in, sort of a concentration camp, but with all of the luxuries lazy, unmotivated teens could want: free movies, junk food, drugs, etc. Despite being patrolled by armed police and kept in by electric fences, everyone is complacent. Nobody has any desire to leave. Nobody but Crabs, that is. Crabs just wanted to take his girl to the movies in in brother's '56 Chevy, but was imprisoned in the process. He spend the entire film trying to get back out, butting heads with the owner/warden of the drive-in and with other punks who themselves have surrendered to their new lifestyles, but are irritated by Crab's refusal to accept the situation.

This takes place in the future, in 1990, but the costumes, music and everything else about this movies is 1000% of the 80s. It severely dates this film, but also provides it with most of it's charm. It's fairly cheesy, but fun because of it. There weren't any subtitles on the disc, so I struggled with some of the dialogue as the Australian accents were quite thick at times, but I understood most of it. Crabs was a likeable enough character, maybe the only likeable person in the film. While everyone else was stupid, vapid and lazy, he just wanted to get his tires back so he could go home. As with a lot of Aussie films I've seen, there's some great stunt work involving car smash-ups. There's a decent fight scene, more than one pair of exposed breasts, a sex scene, shower scene and some neat-o explosions. There's even a side story involving Aussie racism against Asians that sets somewhat of a moral tone, but it's quickly interrupted by gun fire and giant fireballs before it goes anywhere.

This was a fun way to spend an hour and a half. Nothing mind-blowing, mind you, but enjoyable. I'd have no problem with drinking a few beers and watching this one again.

3/5

Uptown Saturday Night (1974)

"I get mean when you mess with my green!"

Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby star in this 1974 comedy about two working stiffs looking for a good time. Wardell (Cosby) convinces Steve (Poitier) to cut loose for a night of his vacation and pay a visit to Zenobia's, an illegal night club. While there, the place is held-up and everyone's money, jewelry and personal effects are stolen by masked men. The next morning Steve recognizes his winning lottery numbers in the newspaper, but remembers his ticket is in his wallet that was stolen the night before. The rest of the movie is one madcap adventure after another in an attempt to get his wallet back from the thieves who stole it. 

Poitier isn't known for his comedic skills, but he had a lot of support in this movie by way of Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson, Harry Belafonte, and of course, Bill Cosby. Cosby steals the show, not surprisingly, but the single scene with Richard Pryor was the stand-out of the movie for me. Poitier directed and produced this movie as well, and at a time when most black movies were mostly low budget blaxploitation affairs that did more harm than good to the people involved. It was because of Poitier's success he was able to make a movie like this, though, and the roles could have easily been switched out for an all-white cast with similar results. This isn't a comedy for black people, it's just a comedy with black people in it. There were a lot of funny scenes, but it also felt really "clean". A little more grit would have made this more enjoyable for me, but then we'd be moving right into the stereotypes Poitier was trying to avoid. In general, PG rated movies aren't my thing.

I liked this, but it's probably not something I'll ever want to see again. As a result of watching this, I'd be keen to see more of Cosby's work from the 70s, though. With the exception of "Mother, Jugs & Speed", this is the only pre-"Cosby Show" movie I've seen.

2/5