The classic template of delinquent lovers on a
crime spree and on the lam, used in Bonnie & Clyde, Badlands, True Romance, and Natural Born Killers, and adored by Nouvelle Vague exponents, had
their genesis in the excellent B-noir Gun
Crazy. Daring, frenetic, pulpy, doom-laden and filled with stylistic
flourishes, the film touched on social themes and subtexts – post-War
disillusion and social taboos in particular – through a deliriously fun ride. Bart
(John Dall) has had a fascination with guns since a young age, and becomes a
crack-shot through his stints in a
reform school and the army; Annie (Peggy Cummins) shows shooting skills as part
of a traveling carnival, and her lethal beauty masks a dangerous inclination
towards violence. These two natural born social outsiders, on account of their aberrant
obsessions, hit it off like a house on fire as soon as they meet. He leaves his
staid life and she quits on her vile manager who she’s been a mistress to, and
together they hit the road. They commit small thefts to start with, and soon,
on Annie’s pursuance despite Bart’s growing guilty conscience, graduate to
robberies. However, the mythical final job – holding off of a payroll office –
proves a crime too many. The final scene, where they retreat to the mountains
to escape from the police, albeit in futility, is bound to remind one of High Sierra. The film boasted of great B/W photography and camera work which would be taken to dizzying
heights by Lewis in The Big Combo;
the real-time capture of the final heist, with the camera placed like a silent
observer behind the lovers’ backs during their car escape, made this sly
examination of sex and violence a visual treat.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Genre: Crime Thriller/Film Noir
Language: English
Country: US
The Silence is an assured and compelling crime drama from German filmmaker Baran bo Odar.
Dark, grim and brooding, the film provided a discomfiting panoramic view of the
varying, but permanent, effects of a gruesome crime on all those touched by it.
It starts with a flashback sequence that immediately set the context for the
rest of the film – the brutal rape and murder of Pia, a 13-year old girl, by a young
man as his friend passively watches the crime from the car. Cut to present day,
23 years after the horrific event, as another 13-year old girl, Sinikka, goes
missing and her bicycle is found at exactly the same spot, leading to
speculations of murder and evocation of suppressed memories of the earlier
crime. Thus begins a complex examination of all those connected with both the
incidents – the guy who committed the crime 23 years back, his buddy who’s
forever haunted by it even though he’s now leading a seemingly respectable life
with his wife and kids, the retired detective who’d been assigned Pia’s murder
and is obsessed with solving it, an emotionally vulnerable detective who’s investigating
Sinikka’s disappearance, Pia’s distraught mother, Sinikka’s grief-stricken
parents, the police bureau under sever public pressure to solve the mystery,
and so forth. The plot might appear to be tad too complicated and labyrinthine,
but the leisurely pacing ensured that sufficient time got invested on all the
key characters and their shifting inter-personal dynamics, which ensured that
it managed to be not just an engaging police procedural, but a gripping character
study as well. The fine photography, low-key background score and excellent
performances made this all the more attention-worthy.
Director: Baran bo Odar
Genre: Drama/Crime Drama/Police Procedural/Ensemble Film
Language: German
Country: Germany
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Vilgot
Sjöman had initially intended to make a marathon 4-hour film reflecting on the
personal and the political in contemporary Sweden, but he ultimately edited
that down to I Am Curious (Yellow). I Am Curious (Blue), the colours being a
reference to Sweden’s flag, was carved out of the outtakes – unused footages,
additional materials and re-shoots – of the former film, and was released a year
later, thus making them companion pieces. Though, on first glance, this too was
stylistically, thematically and formally marked by the satirical,
self-referential, freewheeling, political, pop-cultural and cinéma vérité nature of the earlier
film, tonally they were quite different, thus making a back-to-back viewing of
the two films necessary as well as rewarding, even if Yellow, undeniably, was the superior and more original of the two. The
political width here was far more focused, with the questions being largely
limited to social inequity on account of society’s preponderance towards
meritocracy, organized religion, and Sweden’s prison system. Further, in place
of the jazzy and flamboyant style of Yellow,
Blue was more introspective, personal
and melancholic in nature, with the satire and humour dramatically toned down,
if not dispensed with. Lena Nymann once again put in an excellent turn as she
continually slipped in and out of real and reel, and her growing bond with a
bearded professor (Hands Hellberg), the effects of her reel/real parents’
relationship, her friendship with a single mother, the social injustice and
callousness around her, and her inner dilemmas, adding an affecting side to her
character. For those who’ve seen Yellow
are bound to be less surprised by Blue,
and Sjöman put this together with that basic assumption in mind.
Director: Vilgot Sjoman
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Social Satire/Political Satire/Avant-Garde
Language: Swedish
Country: Sweden
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I Am Curious (Yellow) – the colour being a reference to Sweden’s flag
– was the first film in Vilgot Sjöman’s experimental, self-referential,
controversial and arthouse I Am Curious
series. With its freestyle, rambling and loosely structured narrative, original
idea, jazzy tempo, cinéma vérité form, audacious blend of real and reel, lacerating
sociopolitical critique of the country, brilliant evocation of 60’s zeitgeist
in its exploration of such elements as leftist politics and movements,
counter-culture, class systems, international imperialism, culture of protests
and sexual liberation, and a marvelous dose of droll humour and subversive wit,
this managed to be a polarizing watch upon its release and a delightful one for
me. Called “obscene” upon its release by the puritans and constantly shifted
from documentary to feature mode and back, the film-within-a-film had director Sjöman
making a pseudo-documentary on Sweden’s socio-political standpoints and
conservativeness with his lover cum lead actress Lena Nyman, a young college
student, interviewing people at random on topics ranging from Martin Luther
King’s endorsement of non-violence to Swedish tourists visiting Franco’s Spain
to subjugation of women in the society to income disparities. In a parallel
strand, it also covered Lena’s complex relation with her father (Peter
Lindgren), her growing affair with Börje (Börje Ahlstedt), a suave car-dealer with a young daughter, her inner
dilemmas, and her conflicts between conventionality and radicalism. The
alternate Ten Commandments, were, in itself, worth its weight in gold for the
lacerating and radical commentary on the “as is” and “to be” behavioral traits
in its cocktail of socialism, freedom of choice and ethics. The excellent B/W
photography, low-cost footages and hand-held camerawork added to its unique,
bold and freewheeling nature.
Director: Vilgot Sjoman
Genre: Black Comedy/Social Satire/Political Satire/Experimental/Avant-Garde
Language: Swedish
Country: Sweden
