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Body of Evidence (1993)
An act of love, or an act of murder?
Filmmaker(s): Uli Edel

When an elderly millionaire is found dead with cocaine in his system, his will leaves $8 million to Rebecca Carlson, who was having an affair with him. District attorney Robert Garrett decides to prosecute Rebecca, arguing that she deliberately engaged in wild sex with the old man to overexcite him and lead to his premature death. Defense attorney Frank Dulaney defends Rebecca in court while getting sucked into a dangerous affair with her.

Whipped often run across movies where the idea of the thing is much richer than the thing itself. In this case, the idea starts with that narrative battleground, the trial. Trial movies are cool, the best solution to the untrusted narrator problem. In this case,...


Published November 23, 2024
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Room in Rome (2010)
A night of passion that will change their lives.
Filmmaker(s): Julio Medem

A hotel room in the center of Rome serves as the setting for Alba and Natasha, two sexy and recently acquainted women, to have a physical adventure that touches their very souls.

Maps, Mirrors there is a spoiler alert on this comment and I urge you to take it seriously. You must see this, then come back. The comment below talks about structure, as my comments usually do. The structure should not be apparent to you before you...


Published November 30, 2024
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Broken Embraces (2009)
Passion, obsession, wealth, jealousy, family, guilt, and creativity.
Filmmaker(s): Pedro Almodóvar

Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.

Blind Onion usual, Pedro builds layer upon layer of introspective insight. As before we have love, image, image as love through the eyes of a filmmaker, love as obsession, obsessions of the filmmaker's eye, and that imposed on the love discovered/portrayed. This time the layering is...


Published November 30, 2024
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Across the Universe (2007)
All you need is love.
Filmmaker(s): Julie Taymor

When young dockworker Jude leaves Liverpool to find his estranged father in the United States, he is swept up by the waves of change that are re-shaping the nation. Jude falls in love with Lucy, who joins the growing anti-war movement. As the body count in Vietnam rises, political tensions at home spiral out of control and the star-crossed lovers find themselves in a psychedelic world gone mad.

Entering the Mask say up front that this film will almost certainly go on my list of films to see before you die, only one of two that I allow from each year. Let's get the problems out of the way first. The overall container of this...


Published November 30, 2024
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The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes (2004)
Filmmaker(s): Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay

Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.

Man's Machine, God's Tune is a matter of abstraction. Always has been, in everything I suppose. But especially in film. The business is one of sharpening some edges and making others recede so as to cut us in some way. It is a dangerous business...


Published December 2, 2024
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2046 (2004)
Are you still in the mood for love?
Filmmaker(s): Wong Kar-wai

Women enter and exit a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years after the author loses the woman he considers his one true love.

Gloved Hand Welles, Tarkovsky and Kurosawa are the three past masters. Greenaway, Medem and Kar- Wai are the three greatest living filmmakers. All three weave incredibly deep and personal stories which bleed into the act of their creating the film. Each create striking images that...


Published December 2, 2024
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Heaven (2002)
When you take justice into your own hands, what are the consequences?
Filmmaker(s): Tom Tykwer

Cate Blanchett stars as Philippa, a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, who has seen many friends, including her husband, fall victim to drug overdoses. Philippa has repeatedly contacted the police with information about Turin's biggest drug dealer but, complicit in his dealings, they have completely ignored her. So Philippa decides to dole out her own form of justice with a homemade bomb -- setting her off on a journey from young widow to fugitive on the run.

UnderItalian movies are about other movies, never life. Kieslowski made a career out of making films that take a national filmmaking style and twisting them to new purposes, letting us know he is doing so in the process. ‘Three Colors' was as much about French filmmaking...


Published December 2, 2024
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Talk to Her (2002)
Filmmaker(s): Pedro Almodóvar

Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.

The Manifold Fluidity of the Dance a film's reason for being is to build layers, the opening shot must be a promise, an anchor in the shifting seas of perspective and a springboard for the narrative. In twenty seconds, I knew that this time Almodovar...


Published December 2, 2024
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In the Mood for Love (2000)
Feel the heat, keep the feeling burning, let the sensation explode.
Filmmaker(s): Wong Kar-wai

In Hong Kong of 1962, Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow, a journalist, move into neighbouring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their respective spouses creates an intimate bond between them.

Repetition, Secrets, Space with your typical Hong Kong Kung Fu movie. A normal director will simply film that. But not this guy. What drives kung fu movies is not the bozos doing the fighting, but the masters behind them who use them as surrogates. But then,...


Published December 2, 2024
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The Pillow Book (1995)
Filmmaker(s): Peter Greenaway

A woman with a body writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.

Stop Making Sense think Greenaway makes very smart films, and I'm really glad he's around. His intellect is always tuned to ideas about the visual, so we get a double measure: his images and his commentary on those same images. You should see this film...


Published December 4, 2024
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