Movies you've just watched

[BryanM]

I like to think there's a whizzing score counter in the upper-left with an array of JUSTICE SHOT and RELOAD blurbs - most definitely a Raiden Fighters DESTROYED AT A TIME when he shot that rapist in his dick and both balls

I think youtube took down the legendary Fatal Farm version of this scene. Which leaves only the uncensored version easily available on the internet, I think.

I... don't very much like watching the uncensored version.

[BIL]

I've never seen that one tbh My first recollection of that scene - outside Robot Cop itself - is listening to it as BG noise one day, and exclaiming "Wow! Robot Cop sounds a lot like Obama!"

[GaijinPunch]

Haven't set time aside to start The Human Condition yet, but that's on my short list.

I did it in chunks. I used to take a 4 hour flight once a month, which gave me time to knock out some of these doozies. Definitely worth a watch.

[xxx1993]

The Boy and the Heron. Quite possibly the first and only Hayao Miyazaki movie I'll ever see in a theater, and the first anime movie I've seen in the theater in a very long time.

[neorichieb1971]

Just booked Godzilla minus one for Saturday.

I've given enough money to Disney and their Marvel franchise even after Endgame when things went south a bit.

Time to give some money to something with high praise. I hope it lives up to it.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

The Thing from another World - 7/10
Very enjoyable. Don't get why the creature was wearing clothes, I mean if it can easily withstand subzero arctic temperatures and even a day frozen in a block of ice... could/ should have been a lot less human-like as well. Still, especially for a movie from the fifties, it moved quickly, kept up the suspense, and even had an interesting/ confident female character. Was really cool to see where Carpenter got his inspiration from.


As for the rest, despite my better knowledge, really looking forward to SIlent Night. Goddammit, John Woo, just one more good movie from you and I'll be happy. Just one!

[Lord British]

Senso - 1954 - Luchino Visconti



My third Visconti film, so that could put Visconti right there in my new list of Top 30 directors, right? Not quite. Still a good movie though. I was surprised to see the scary dance instructor (Alida Valli) from Dario Argento's Suspiria in the lead role.

Spoiler

Like Visconti's The Leopard, this one also takes place during Garibaldi-era wartime in the 1860's. It's a melodrama where Valli plays an Italian countess who falls in love with an enemy; a Prussian Lieutenant played by Farley Granger.

Visconti intended to cast Ingrid Bergman and Marlon Brando as the two romantic leads, but that didn't work out. Alida Valli probably is a better fit than Bergman, but the film could have used a Marlon Brando over a Farley Granger. The performances are good, but the characters aren't interesting enough. The stakes against them, and the scrutiny around their relationship could have been more interesting. This is what keeps it from me really liking the film.

But on the production side, Jesus. If you're ranking directors in terms of visuals, Visconti is in the top 5 if you like movies that look like moving paintings. One of the cinematographers here was Robert Krasker, an Australian, who ranks among the greats.

I liked the ending of Senso, it just needed better second act IMO. I think The Leopard is a great movie (especially the look), but overall not one of my most favorites. Rocco and His Brothers is in my Top 25 all time. There's definitely some interesting Visconti films I haven't seen on my watchlist, but as of now, Visconti just misses the cut of my Top 30 directors.

[Koa Zo]

The Boy and the Heron. Quite possibly the first and only Hayao Miyazaki movie I'll ever see in a theater, and the first anime movie I've seen in the theater in a very long time.

How'd you like it?
and subbed or dubbed?

There was a Miyazaki film festival which ran in theaters across the US this past summer. A different film each week, and most theaters provided the choice of seeing a subbed or dubbed screening.

I got to see Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind on the big screen - what a beautiful and enchanting experience! Id never seen it before and knew little about it other than its influence on Panzer Dragoon. I was surprised that some of the themes were essentially a rough draft for Princess Mononoke.

Looking forward to the Boy and the Heron.

[vol.2]

The Holdovers 9/10

New Alexander Payne film. I thought it was amazing. The location work alone is enough to impress, but the acting is fantastic and the script is heartfelt, honest and engaging.

I honestly think it's the best film of his career so far. I was a fan of Election when it came out, but I didn't really get into About Schmidt or Sideways as much. Nebraska was great, but it didn't hit the same levels of synergism as Outsiders did. This one reinvigorated my interest in following his career and it's probably the best new movie I've seen this year.

I'd sum it up as a cross between Igby Goes Down and Rushmore but without the fantasy of Rushmore or the soap opera esthetics of Igby. Highly recommend.

[xxx1993]

The Boy and the Heron. Quite possibly the first and only Hayao Miyazaki movie I'll ever see in a theater, and the first anime movie I've seen in the theater in a very long time.

How'd you like it?
and subbed or dubbed?

There was a Miyazaki film festival which ran in theaters across the US this past summer. A different film each week, and most theaters provided the choice of seeing a subbed or dubbed screening.

I got to see Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind on the big screen - what a beautiful and enchanting experience! Id never seen it before and knew little about it other than its influence on Panzer Dragoon. I was surprised that some of the themes were essentially a rough draft for Princess Mononoke.

Looking forward to the Boy and the Heron.

I watched it in English. And Nausicaa is a masterpiece, to be honest. It didn't just inspire Panzer Dragoon, it also inspired others like Ghosts 'n Goblins (one of the bosses is based on the Ohme) as well as Contra (there's a boss in Contra 4 that also resembles the Ohme).

[Lord British]

The Silent Partner - 1978 - Daryl Duke (Canada)




Looking for an alternative Christmas movie that isn't Die Hard?

This one has been on my watchlist for awhile and I finally pulled the trigger because of the holiday season. It's a pretty good movie that should be more known. It's about a bored/aimless shopping mall bank teller (Gould) who is robbed at the bank by a gun-toting mall-Santa (Plummer). Elliot Gould is not as "cool" as he is in the Altman films, but it's still 70s Elliot Gould, which is good. Christopher Plummer proves to be a really underrated villain-actor, and its a really macabre movie in parts. You also have a late-prime Susannah York here; this is the third movie I've seen of hers from the same year (Superman, The Shout). Also, a young John Candy. There's plenty of gratuitous nudity in this movie, lol. Wow, what a time in cinema. I gotta say that the floor was high on this movie for me because of EG and I'm a sucker for late-70s shopping malls. I also like how the movie is set in Toronto, the Canadian touch gives it a fresher feel. The script was written by Curtis Hanson, who later directed L.A. Confidential. This isn't up to the caliber that I found The Long Good Friday to be as a hidden gem I discovered this year, but still really solid. Rented on Prime.

[xxx1993]

The Family Plan was pretty fun. It was like John Wick meets Vacation.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Actually went outside and caught Godzilla Minus 1. Surprisingly well thought out and decent film. I definitely have strong nostalgia for Godzilla films but I think it's probably still worth checking out even if you don't.

[Lord British]

3 Women - 1977 - Robert Altman



This is my first time seeing this, but it's probably going to wind up in my Top 10 films. It's right up my alley. In my current Top 10 list I have David Lynch's Mullholland Drive, and Frank Perry's The Swimmer; both sharing similar themes of identity and desire. You could lazily call 3 Women "Altman's Persona", which is the most obvious influence on this film. I've only seen Bergman's Persona once (I think it's time for another watch) but in that film you'll see a slow metamorphosis of identity reversal and that of dominance and submission between the two women. That's mostly what's happening in 3 Women, and by the end you'll probably won't know what is real. This is far from the usual Altman film, this one is totally bananas. Like the ideas of David Lynch, this one was birthed from one of Altman's dreams. I'll cover a bit of the plot of the first two acts (lengthier than normal, I know, but I'll save the last in case you want to see this). If you want to go into the movie cold then read no further.

From the first minute until the end I had a half-scared smile on my face. It's funny, scary/creepy, and sad as hell. Shelly Duvall should have won an Oscar in this but no one saw this movie and it got shelved from a home release for about 25 years. Sissy Spacek goes by the name "Pinky" instead of her real name Mildred and Shelly Duvall plays "Millie", whose real name is also Mildred. Pinky starts a job as a caretaker at a geriatric facility, and Millie is assigned to train her. Pinky is 18-ish probably but she's as naive and innocent as a 10 year old. When Millie is training her in the pool, Pinky submerges herself in the water, stunning Millie with her childlike behavior, and on Pinky's lunchbreak she's blowing bubbles in her glass of Coke in front of her new co-workers. Millie seems to have it all together in comparison; she seems balanced and confident, but when you see her interact with anyone outside of Pinky that's another story. Millie basically can't help herself from chatting up every one of her co-workers with banal subjects such as casserole recipes and other things that she's read about in checkout counter magazines. She also considers herself very attractive to men but they tend to see her as a homely cuckoo on the contrary. Pinky sees that Millie has put up a roommate request on the work bulletin board, and she soon moves in with her. Millie's favorite color is yellow; her dresses are yellow, her car is yellow, and eek, the interior decorating in her apartment is mostly all yellow. Does anyone remember Terri Garr's character in After Hours? (That's also in my Top 10 hehe) Millie tries to introduce Pinky to her fellow apartment neighbors but they just walk right by her. She then takes Pinky to her local watering hole / shooting range which is Millie's only source of a social life. Millie isn't popular there either. The bar and apartment complex is owned by an aged, washed-up stuntman named Edgar and his pregnant wife Willie, who's played by Janice Rule (Rule was also in The Swimmer which I mentioned previously). Willie is a kinda scary, witch-type of a women who barely talks and spends most of her time painting disturbing murals, on walls and in the apartment swimming pool. One night Millie brings home a drunken Edgar to sleep with her, and kicks Pinky out of the apartment for the night. Pinky then tries to commit suicide by jumping into the pool, then is quickly rescued, then enters a coma.

I'll stop here, and leave one more hint if you've seen Mullholland Drive in the spoiler.

Spoiler

Pinky entering the coma and eventually waking from it is similar to the gateway moment when Betty and Diane find the key to the blue box in Mullholland Drive

It's a nutty ride. 10/10. Rented on Prime.

[BIL]

Great posts, LB. That one and The Silent Partner sound especially intriguing, being a fan of both Lynch and The Long Good Friday.

[Lander]

Conquest (1983)

a.k.a. Chaz & Wolf Go Large

Now playing: That tune which was the dog's bollocks until everyone cottoned on and started licensing it.

Previously covered by Dr. Biruford and making a resurgence in light of recent Rygar talk, it's a dark fantasy adventure with a unique take on sword and sorcery; handsome grecian hero receives a magic bow and sets off to become a true man, and finds himself in a barbaric land.

Without doubt, the finest hardcore italian dark fantasy fever dream I've seen. Truly gorgeous landscapes, weird dreamlike soft-focus direction, a fully earnest presentation, and genre-defyingly respectable budget.

I liked the twist on expectations of dropping Ilias into a dark and oppressive world as opposed to the expected Herculean setting; the latter is almost comfortable fare for a grecian hero at this point, so having him immediately out of his depth made for a strong start.
And his fast-track bromance with Mace was great; an unusual collision between demigod heroism and rugged barbarian morality. Friend to no man eh? That forehead glyph is all talk

Buddy-barian Adventure

A real implicit trust kind of pairing - you save me, I'll save you, no need to keep count bro

The zombie sequence was great. Four on the floor, mummies galore, and it fit into the world rather than feeling like an odd digression. And bonus doppelganger! Hard to keep track of the fight, but a good clean finish with no spidey.jpg shenanigans.

Though Ilias' return was a little off-kilter; loved the monster designs, but I figured he would immediately leap to Mace's aid after he got cliffed. Hold the shot for a minute, and... Nah, keep firing! gotta keep that score counter ticking.
I guess we're operating on Bangai-O rules, based on the intro - bereft of arrows and backed into a corner, he readied his bow and unleashed a magical hail of fire - 100MAX!

I was shocked that they had the balls to kill him after all that, and have Mace discover his still-dripping inverted corpse. The poor lad really was out of his depth. Good revenge setup, and not a single punch pulled - bravo!

And the music, my god! Disasterpeace in the streets, CARPENTER BRUTAL in the sheets twist up that LFO dial!
Most unexpected, and dually most welcome. It fits the rest of the film's weirdness perfectly, and I enjoy a good bit of ambient electronia and darkwave.
This begins to explain the prevalence of horror imagery in the latter genre, so I'm all ears to recommendations of other classic films with similar soundtracks!

Relentlessly entertaining, but make sure to bring an iron stomach; I had the sense that old-school Italian movies don't fuck around, and this proved it wholly correct, and went a bit further for good measure.
Cut with a blade? Seen it. Crushed with a bludgeon? Everyday business. But a fully-rendered warpick to the dome? That's cruel and unusual.
A respectable commitment to the gribbly as well - it wasn't pleasant to regard, but they clearly went the extra mile when it came to all things that bleed and ooze.

EXTRA thick tomato sauce

Talk about frontloading - that scene with the natives begging the wolfmen for mercy was raw! Not many films have me reminding myself It's just a pig carcass, just a pig carcass from the local butcher - jesus fuck - just a pig

Smartly done, now I think about it - the wolfmen can't help but look charmingly goofy, so having them do horrible shit early on is a handy way to backline that. In as much as it can be, at any rate
The following scene with Ocron having evil sexy snake sorceress visions was a great tonesetter as well; a pivotal part of good fantasy, like a dark and drug-saturated analog to Deathstalker's much-oft-reused tavern sequence.

And poor poisoned Ilias, eurgh! They even gave him a fat lip to complete the thesis on allergy horror extra gross, but I can't fault the attention to detail!

I note that Sabrina Siani - of Throne of Fire fame - got a credit too, presumably as Ocron. Curious choice to cast such a looker in a part with no facetime*, but she played it well.

*

You know what I mean teleported into the Red Zone for a brutal finish! Not sure whether the magic arrow blew her face off, or whether she was always a horror under there. Probably the latter, given the nature spirit overtones of her subsequent banishment.

Speaking of, I absolutely love that they couldn't get Zora's white wolf form to look threatening for love nor money he's just happy to be there and loving every second of it. Who's an adorable eldritch boy then!

[Lord British]

Images - 1972 - Robert Altman




This was a bit of a disappointment, but that's a bit unfair to say since I saw this right after 3 Women, which i now consider my favorite Altman movie. But this is the closest film to 3 Women in the Altman canon, so at least it made sense to follow with this one. This one stars Susannah York as a schizophrenic children's author trying to complete a book. It's that creepy horror style that you really only see in the early/mid-70's; Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now comes to mind. The creepy music is also typical of the time, and its done by John Williams believe it or not before he became the hero-theme go-to. There's some good jump scare moments as people pop out of the woodwork to her, but it happens so frequently that you just kinda get used to it (and I guess so does she). It's an ok movie but it kind of wears itself out to me. I liked the cast of Marcel Bozzufi, who I remember from the movie Z, he's one of the best A-hole typecast character actors; he plays one of the apparitions. Decent but not great overall. Rented on Prime.

[Lord British]

Great posts, LB. That one and The Silent Partner sound especially intriguing, being a fan of both Lynch and The Long Good Friday.

Thanks! TLGF had one of the best endings ever, goddamn. I also recommend Mona Lisa too, another role in which Hoskins kills.

[vol.2]

Godzilla Minus One 10/10

Wow. The first Kaiju movie I've seen with universally amazing acting. When we got out of the movie, my buddy's first comment was, "it didn't need to be anywhere near that good," and I completely agree. I would have walked away happy from a Kaiju film that just did a good job of destroying Tokyo.



And it did that, but it also brought me to tears and made some amazing points about finding your own family in life and about the value of human life. Every member of the cast was brilliant, but to me, the casting of Kuranosuke Sasaki and Hidetaka Yoshioka were just a stroke of genius, and they really made the film work; their presence very much glued the film together and smoothed out the emotive performances of the leads.




Speaking of which, I can't understate just how moving the performance of the main characters was here. Ryunosuke Kamiki is completely believable as a war survivor struggling with PTSD, and Minami Hamabe's character realizes character growth in a truly meaningful way.



Honestly though, there are no phoned-in performances here. It's all gold. It gets my 10/10 for being the best Kaiju film ever made. I still love the OG Godzilla movies, but this is on a totally different level.

[Lord British]

I saw 266 movies this year, nearly all first-time watches. When I was trapped in a living room with Covid for two weeks I knocked down 70, lol. I'll never have another year like this. I basically just went off lists. Here's my Top 25 of the year (ranked):

3 Women - 1977 - Robert Altman
Secrets & Lies - 1996 - Mike Leigh
The Red Shoes - 1948 - The Archers
Rocco and His Brothers - 1960 - Luchino Visconti
The Long Good Friday - 1980 - John Mackenzie
Fanny And Alexander - 1982 - Ingmar Bergman
Nights Of Cabiria - 1957 - Federico Fellini
The Battle Of Algiers - 1966 - Gillo Pontecorvo
Children Of Paradise - 1945 - Marcel Carne
Pather Panchali - 1955 - Satyajit Ray
The Tin Drum - 1979 - Volker Schlondorff
Harakiri - 1962 - Masaki Kobayashi
Sansho The Bailiff - 1954 - Kenji Mizoguchi
Tokyo Story - 1953 - Yasujiro Ozu
Kes -1969 - Ken Loach
Out Of The Blue - 1980 - Dennis Hopper
Mona Lisa - 1986 - Neil Jordan
All That Jazz - 1979 - Bob Fosse
Walkabout - 1971 - Nicolas Roeg
Trust - 1990 - Hal Hartley
This Sporting Life - 1963 - Lindsay Anderson
The Hunt - 2012 - Thomas Vinterberg
Z - 1969 - Costa-Gavras
Cache - 2005 - Michael Haneke
Dead Man - 1995 - Jim Jarmusch

[Lord British]

In A Year Of 13 Moons - 1978 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder (German)



Even if I don't end up loving a RWF movie, I always know beforehand that I'll be watching something that's personal, uncompromising, and faithfully executed. RWF has said that this is his favorite of the 43 films he made before he died at the age of 37 (that's not a typo), and apparently Richard Linklater agrees too, but as for me it's about middle of the road for now, though I did find some classic moments. This one is about a butcher named Erwin who, after falling in love with a man, decides impulsively to get a sex change for a chance to be with him; becoming Elvira. It doesn't take Elvira too long to seriously regret this decision so, in this film, we're watching Elvira drifting into the last circles of hell. Is it depressing? Terribly so, but the movie has some moments that are actually pretty humorous. I guess this is because Elvira doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. RWF's inspiration for this film came from the recent suicide of his partner. Also, props to RWF for putting in the Suicide song "Frankie Teardrop" @ 1:44 just months after the album came out. I'll return to this one again; it will probably have more of an impact on me next time now that I know how it unfolds. Watched on Criterion.

Bonus note: The pic I used is the game arcade scene, lemme see if I can find a good youtube

[vol.2]

The last Altman movie I saw was The Company and it was great. Neve Campbell plays a dancer that came to NY somewhat recently, and Malcolm McDowell is the head of the dance troupe she's in. It's a fairly brutal, but realistic take on the inner workings of the world of modern dance and ballet in NYC. If you're on an Altman kick, I would recommend that one as it tends to slip under the radar a bit.

[Lord British]

The last Altman movie I saw was The Company and it was great. Neve Campbell plays a dancer that came to NY somewhat recently, and Malcolm McDowell is the head of the dance troupe she's in. It's a fairly brutal, but realistic take on the inner workings of the world of modern dance and ballet in NYC. If you're on an Altman kick, I would recommend that one as it tends to slip under the radar a bit.

Added to the watchlist!

[xxx1993]

Saw Rebel Moon on Netflix. Since it's just the first part of a planned trilogy, it already had me wanting more. Just like Dune.

[copy-paster]

Watching all of MonsterVerse movies back to back since yesterday. Not sure whether I should put Godzilla: King of the Monsters or Godzilla vs Kong for the 1st place, one has better lore and fight atmosphere but too much jump cuts to human scenes (although not as annoying as the 2014 movie), one has clear and well filmed fight scenes but no recurring monsters from KOTM. Hyped to see The New Empire after seeing the first trailer.

Too bad Minus One is not airing in our theaters yet and I've already getting spoiled of the final fight and the outcome.

[xxx1993]

Saw Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Honestly, not a bad movie to close out both the year and the DC Extended Universe. I had fun with it.

[Lord British]

Diary Of A Mad Housewife - 1970 - Frank Perry



"TEEEE-NAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

Diary Of A Mad Housewife should have been the title for Ozzy Osbourne's 1986 album IMO.

Spoiler

Anyways, first I want to talk about the other two Perry movies (Frank and Eleanor) I've seen.



Their 1968 film The Swimmer is in my top 5 movies of all time. It stars Burt Lancaster as Ned, a very fit 50-something who one day, miles from his home and clad in only in swim trunks, decides to journey home and swim through the pools of his acquaintances along the way. After each swimming pool is swimmed, swammed, or swummed, we find out a little more about Ned. The movie kicks you in the balls. Eleanor adapted the screenplay from a short story by John Cheever. Her husband Frank was fired by the producers as director, and the film was finished two years later by Sydney Pollack. Without giving anything away, the themes of the film include narcissism, entitlement, and materialism.



Their 1969 film Last Summer is about a trio of rich, spoiled teens vacationing on Fire Island, also an adapted story. The trio is played by John Boy from The Waltons, the blonde-fro guy star from The Greatest American Hero (believe it or not...), and Barbara Hershey from...well she was in stuff (The Entity was solid). They walk around together admiring each other's good looks and eventually come across a shy, awkward plain jane girl (Catherine Burns won an Oscar for this). The trio invite her to join them in their hangouts, but only as a means to exploit her for the less-desirable person that she is. If you make it to the end of the film, you will also get the Perry kick in the balls. I don't consider this as one of my favorite movies exactly, but definitely one of the most harsh and disturbing; the movie won't ever leave you. It is the darkest of teen movies you can see, yet it shares the same themes as The Swimmer despite the age gap of the characters.



Diary Of A Mad Housewife also shares the same themes, but a lot more loudly this time, and to a comical degree. This one is also an adaptation. Carrie Snodgress (who received an Oscar Nomination for this) plays a housewife whose husband is basically the devil. He's an incredibly arrogant, social-ladder climber who treats her like a slave and verbal punching-bag. The husband plays the role so perfectly that if he didn't, it would be almost too cartoonish to be believable, yet it is. While out at one of the NYC socialite parties, she meets an @sshole writer played by Frank Langella (complete with a Keith Richard's hairdo) with whom she begins an affair. Frank Langella is equally as abusive as her husband is and even just as insecure and entitled. Even more heartbreaking is that her two daughters adopt their father's treatment of her and treat her like pathetic scum too. That being said, the abuse is so severe that I laughed the whole time, and I think that was the intention. The film also ends with an extra punch in the balls, but not as severe as the other two films I mentioned. It's not for everybody, but it works for me. Carrie Snodgress is amazing and looked to have a great career, but she soon married Neil Young, and they had a child together (the one who has cerebral palsy). This completes a very impressive trilogy for the Perrys, and I think these films deserve a re-watch as they didn't get the full credit then as they should have now. Watched on Youtube.

[Lord British]

Beware Of A Holy Whore - 1971 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder (German)



My 11th RWF, and I liked this one. It's very Linklater-ish like Dazed And Confused where there isn't much story, it just switches between several different groups of people who are all at the same place. If this case, its a film production that's on pause due to lack of resources and funds. It's basically a retelling of what happened on the set of RWF's prior film Whity. The lead actors arrive late, the director is a tyrant (played by a guy who resembles Joffery Baratheon), and the rest of the cast and crew are bored, drunk, bitchy, and fooling around with each other. It's pretty cool to see an early film that has several of his future lead actors like Hannah Schygulla and Kurt Raab. I thought Eddie Constantine playing himself in the movie was a nice touch too. This was RWF's favorite film, and though I don't agree, I liked it and will revisit it. Definitely in the "hang-out" genre. Watched on Criterion

[NYN]

Some re-views. I don't subscribe to streaming, thusly no current flicks.


Legend

Last seen about a decade ago, from a video store . Couldn't remember much, though Tim Curry's transformation exempt. Fairy magic myth movies are not my preference. Through it all, I am reminded that this is perhaps Scott's strongest production design, next to BR. The illusion works start to finish. "Call that a kiss? Am I not sweet?"


THE BL0B

Punk-rocking '88 Just leave it to Flagg. High delight every time. How humour and sfx hold hands and often kiss is a stunner, hitting every stride they take together. Memory disserves since the last we saw each other: I could have sworn Jack Nance gets it, but no. "Ribbed!"

Match Point

Nasty piece about social climbs. Remembered the fatal deed, not much of these people. High form all around. Brian Cox as doting Pa. Jo before tats and nerd icon status. Allen after Hitchcock. "You know what, I don't care if he's great. I just hope that he's lucky."

[Lord British]

Los Olvidados (The Forgotten/The Young And The Damned) - 1950 - Luis Buñuel (Mexico)



This is the first Buñuel film I've seen from his Mexican era, and this one has more in common with the Italian Neo-Realist directors like Rosselini than the surreal movies Buñuel would be most known for in his Spanish and French eras. You can consider this like the movie City Of God but 50 years prior, and in Mexico City instead of Rio de Janeiro. It focuses on a gang of poor street kids, and most notably their leader Jaibo. Jaibo is bigger and older than the others, and had just recently escaped his juvenile detention facility. The kids are desperate enough that they aim for the weak to rob and physically assault; two of which would be a blind street performer, and a man with no legs pictured above^. Jaibo's best friend Pedro, who by witnessing Jaibo's cowardly murder of an older boy by hitting him from behind with a rock, is made a part of the crime in the eyes of Jaibo. Pedro becomes the central figure of the story as things go from bad to worse. There's a couple dream sequences in this film that exemplifies the Buñuel touch; that was nice to see. It's a pretty disturbing film for its time. I guess it's also a bit like Kids (1995) in its way too. Watched on Youtube