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Friday 08/28/09

6pm Sundance
Zebraman (2004 JAP): Good Lord, does director Takeshi Miike EVER take a day off? Here's yet another feature from this tireless toiler, one of four films he completed in 2004. The film features Shô Aikawa (Pulse) as Shinichi, a Japanese Joe Sake-Pack who adopts the personality of superhero Zebraman in an effort to make up for the disappointments of his "normal" life. When he finds his alter-ego thrust into conflict with alien invaders, Shinichi must decide whether to embrace his inner action-figure or shuck off his costume and ignore the threat from outer space. Needless to say, he makes the right choice, and this briskly-paced (if overlong) genre spoof takes off in all sorts of wacky directions.

10pm Sundance
Drama/Mex (2006 MEX): A multi-story drama co-produced by actor Gael Garcia Bernal, Drama/Mex relates three (or is it two?) interconnected tales set in Acapulco. This isn't the Acapulco the tourists generally visit, however; it's here dubbed "Crapapulco". There's a dangerous relationship game played out between two young folk (Emilio Valdés and Diana Garcia), a jilted boyfriend (Juan Pablo Castaneda) who shouts a lot, and a middle-aged schlep (Fernando Becerril) who steals his employer's payroll and decides to off himself at the beach. If the film is a little too indebted to the style of Iñárritu and Arriaga, it partially compensates with attractive photography and a tighter narrative focus than, say, the overreaching 21 Grams.

Saturday 08/29/09

1:30pm Turner Classic Movies
After the Fox (1966 ITA-GB): I haven't seen this Vittorio De Sica comedy for at least a quarter-century; all I really remember about it is the theme song (provided by The Hollies, and not their best effort) and Maurice Binder's credit sequence. So this recommendation comes with extra caveats! Peter Sellers stars as Aldo Vanucci, an Italian master criminal out to get his hands on a large shipment of purloined gold. Aldo decides to masquerade as a film director on location, which will provide him cover and close access to the treasure, but complications ensue when he is compelled to assemble a full cast and crew for his imaginary "film", including an aging movie star (Victor Mature) hoping the project will revive his sagging career. Purportedly laden with cinematic in-jokes about Fellini and neo-realism, After the Fox was written by Neil Simon and co-stars Akim Tamiroff, Martin Balsam, and future Sellers spouse Britt Ekland. I don't remember it being very funny, but perhaps it's improved with age.

10pm Turner Classic Movies
Two-Way Stretch (1960 GB): A day of Peter Sellers on TCM is highlighted (well, for me, at least) by this rarely-shown caper comedy about a criminal who plans to carry out a jewel robbery whilst doing time! Sellers plays Dodger Lane, a miscreant plotting to take a brief one-day sabbatical from his jail cell in order to steal some diamonds from an Arabian sultan. Dodger's task is made easier by his close relationship with the prison governor (Maurice Denham), who's convinced himself his charge is now well on his way down the straight-and-narrow. With the aid of fellow cons Soapy (Wilfrid Hyde-White) and Jelly (David Lodge), Dodger hopes to pull a fast one on the authorities, but he hasn't reckoned on newly-arrived screw Crout (Lionel Jeffries), who takes a distinctly more jaundiced view of the governor's rehabilitation efforts. Clocking in at a breezy 78 minutes, Two-Way Stretch is no Sellers classic, but is jolly good fun nonetheless.

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