Gangleri – filmreviews

When I discovered the 1973 original version of this film late last year, I already heard that also this film was up for a remake. I like the original, am no fond of remakes, heard some bad things about this remake, so I just went to see it out of curiosity. There is no use in telling where the remake differs from the original, it is almost an entirely different film. The note: “based on the screenplay by Anthony Schaffer” should be completed with the words “very loosely”. Where are the songs, why did Lord Summersisle become a woman, where is the Christianising character of Howie, what about the bees, what about the the Wicca and occult symbols that have nothing to do with paganism, what about this epilogue / cliffhanger for a sequel? etc., etc. In short: the story has been changed quite a bit. The new Wicker Man became just an average thriller, whereas the first had a nice atmosphere. Surprisingly enough, the climax did become even more fierce in the remake. All in all not convincing when you know the original and from the reactions from the cinema I understood that the rest of the audience wasn’t entirely convinced either.
4/9/06 -2-
Read the review of the original here.

For some reason I thought that the title referred to some Japanese action film, but nothing is less true. Now with the new film of Del Toro in the cinemas, attention is drawn to his older work. I saw a trailer of the new “El Laberinto del Fauno” (strangely translated as “Pan’s Labyrinth” for the international release), first thought that it was some kind of fantasy for children, but when I later read the reviews, it seems that it is actually an impressive fantasy for adults. The same can be said about “Hellboy”. If I had to tag the film, it would be something like: “a (political) sci-fi fantasy comedy”. A what? “Political” is between brackets. The Nazis are dragged it, but I don’t think that the film as a whole has much of a message. “Sci-fi” because of the laboratory, etc. “Fantasy” is obvious and “comedy” because the film has a wonderfull sense of humour and more than just a random joke here and there. The story then. The Nazis open a gate to another world and this in order to get forces here for the destruction of the world. A little red ape falls in the hands of a (good) scientist who later has some secret monster division of the FBI, monsters fighting monsters. There is a nice thick layer of religion and occultism in the film (but not really ‘deep going’), great costumes and stages and a simple but effective story with good scenes and acting. “Hellboy” is unlike almost any other film and in this regard refreshing; maybe not a brilliant top-film, but definately very enjoyable. <28/4/07><3.5>

Watching a David Lynch film is like listening to a power-electronics album. It is not for most people, because most people will be looking for melodies, lyrics and a feel-good atmosphere, rather than oppressive darkness, chaos and violence. The same goes for a film such as INLAND EMPIRE. Film critics have been looking for logic, a story, a nice atmosphere and a happy end, but they have found none of that and therefor slay this film to the ground. What INLAND EMPIRE brings you is a very ‘industrial’ opening, weird characters, strange filming, absurd dialogues, scenes that (apparently) have nothing to do with eachother, a story that is ‘incorrect’ and confusing (actually there seems to be a multitude of ’stories’) and most of all: extremely dark scenes, eruptions of violence and disturbing images. Indeed, Lynch-fans can be reassured, INLAND EMPIRE is in the style of Lost Highway and Mullholland Drive. In a way, it continues the ‘path’ where the other two point to.Where Lost Highway had two stories (and ‘unconnected scenes’) and Mullholland Drive several, INLAND EMPIRE seems just a collection of short films rather than a film. It has elements of the sitcom “Rabbits” (that I haven’t seen), hallucinative scenes, typical ‘Lynchial’ close-ups with industrial background music, different stories that somehow seem to form a red line, but maybe that is not the case at all. You guessed it: I am not going to tell you a story, I will not going to analyze the different elements. The biggest mistake you can make with a film such as this, is to approach it rationally. Somehow everything has its place. Like the electronic noise terror of a power electronics release, the artist has carefully put it together, undoubtely with an idea, but if the artist leaves out an ‘explanation’, all you can do is undergo it and enjoy the atmosphere. Somehow I like one power-electronics release, but another not. In film there isn’t such a variety, there is Lynch and a few other ‘weird directors’ that don’t care about how things are supposed to be. I happen to like Lynch. His films are impressive and because they cannot be understood, I can watch them over and over again, like I can listen to music over and over again. Maybe a final note for Lynch-likers like myself: Lost Highway is magnificent, Mullholland Drive is very good, INLAND EMPIRE is good, but it seems like Lynch is trying to be weirder and weirder which makes it more and more difficult to ‘get into’. Of course I have only seen INLAND EMPIRE once now, but at the moment it seems that with Lost Highway Lynch has reached his peak for me and now it is slowly (and I say “slowly”) going down. No worries, because INLAND EMPIRE still is a film that you have to see if you can stand a film like this and I adivise you to see it on the big screen, even when it only plays in a few cinemas. A last thing about the camera work, as you know Lynch shot the film with digital handycames (that he partially handled himself!), this is sometimes irritating (shaky images, not too good quality), sometimes fitting. Concider it as a typical David Lynch experiment and don’t worry about it. <10/4/07><4>

It is a magnificent day for a Dutch Lynch-freak. Today “Inland Empire” premieres (in only five cities!) and we are going to see it coming sunday. Also, after almost five years of waiting, the often anounced boxset with the remaining Twin Peaks episodes is available!! The ‘first series’ was 7 episodes (you had to buy the pilot separately if you got the American version like me, I believe the European version has 8 episodes) and now we are finally up for the remaining 22. The series proved successfull enough to allow Lynch to make more episodes, yet it never came to a third series. The box of the second series is nothing compared to that of the first. There is no tranparant plastic case this time, just a cardboard box holding two ‘digipacks’ with two halves of the second series (which are released separately in Germany I heard). The artwork seems to have been tried to give a ‘modern look’. Why does the dwarve have white eyes on the box and what about this strange frontcover?
You can imagine that I haven’t yet watched the 22 remaining episodes, I just got the box! I have seen Twin Peaks a couple of times and I am not going to say anything except that this is the best that ever appeared on TV. If you don’t know Twin Peaks, you will have to start with the first series anyway (read my review of many years ago) and the rest will be excited by the news that the remaining episodes are truely finally available on DVD. <5/4/07><5>

“From the creators of Memento”. I have to admit, I fell for the tagline. “The Prestige” doesn’t have much incommon with the masterpiece of six years ago though. “The Prestige” is about two students of an illusionist who become bitter rivals trying to ruin eachothers carreers. When one invents a top trick, the other wants to learn the secret. In the proces the story moves a bit towards the Serbian scientist of electricity, Nikola Tesla (David Bowie). The film is rather standard, it plays in the present and is shown in flash-backs. The story doesn’t really raise questions, but towards the end a puzzle is given when is it solved (!). “The Prestige” has a nice atmosphere of 19th century London though, great stages and good acting (I especially liked Christian Bale as one of the illusionists). Considering all, “The Prestige” is really just another Hollywood productions, nothing special. <12/2/07><2.5>

A documentary about what Dutchmen do in their free time. A women’s days out, Gay Pride Amsterdam, shopping, Prinsegracht concert, Elf Fantasy Fair, Efteling amusement park, etc. The film is presented as a hilarious and charming look on the Dutch, but besides a few ‘typicallities’ and amusing moments, I find this documentary not very groundbreaking or even very typical. What adds to this, is that the documentary is often ‘behind the scenes’. You don’t get to see people visiting the Efteling, but the creation of a new attraction; not much people going to a mall with thousands of others on holidays, but a man trying to promote his small town and its middle class. Amusing, but the idea could have been worked out better in my opinion. The documentary has English subtitles, so also non-Dutch-speaking viewers can laugh about us. I don’t know if there is another version than region 2 though. <15/1/07><2>

Another old film by the magnificent director Peter Greenaway that has been made available on DVD. Now there is also a series with “the early films of Peter Greenaway”. I am still eagerly awaiting Greenaways absolute masterpiece “Prospero’s Books” to be released on DVD. I did notice that “The Baby Of Mâcon” has been released on DVD, so I hope it is only a matter of time. Anyway, I hadn’t heard of “ZOO” yet, but Greenaway has many films that I haven’t seen. “ZOO” is a typical Greenaway film. A long line of strange scenes made around a thin story that only serves as starting point. Greenaway took a few absurd (or even taboo?) subjects, uses his famous amount of nudity and inverted sexual moral and again managed to create a dreamy atmosphere with great camera work and music. The story plays around a zoo where two women mysteriously died and another survived. All people involved are somehow connected to the zoo. Again a very good film of one of my favorite directors. <10/7/06><4>

250 Years ago, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born, so 2006 is pronounced Mozart year. On several locations, the film recording of “Die Zauberflöte” (the magic flute) opera performed by the Orchester der Bayerischen Staatsoper directed by August Everding is shown. I had never seen an opera, neither real nor filmed. I really wanted to see this “alchemical opera” some time and this was a good opportunity. Well, it sure was a great experience! The stages of the 1983 performance are grandiose and the fact that the opera is filmed, leaves out many pauses and an up-close view, but since this film was shown on the big screen, the experience is certainly better than at home on TV. I have the “Die Zauberflöte” highlights on cd, but seeing the play as it should have been, makes the music a lot better. There isn’t too much alchemy in the play, but a lot of Freemasonry (also see my review of the book Die Zauberflöte, an alchemical allegory elsewhere). The story beautifully gives the path of initiation with obvious references to Freemasonry (Mozart was a Mason), but then placed in the Isis-mysteries. The play and the story are moving, beautiful, extremely symbolic and I loved watching the three hours. Be sure to take the chance to see it if you get it. I noticed that the film is also available on VHS and there are undoubtely more Magic Flutes on DVD, but I don’t know if they are as great as this one. <22/1/06><5>

premonition

Another Japanese horror/thriller. The director of “Kakashi” and “Ringu 0″ does not bring much news. There is no curse in “Yogen”, but people get premonitions in various ways, premonitions of things to come shortly, of course the premonitions are about people dying. The persons getting the premonitions get some kind of decease. “Yogen” has the typical Jap horror atmosphere, nice and gloomy, but here without extremely dark scenes or frights. To make the film more interesting (?) the end become all blurry with shifting viewpoints and storylines every three seconds. This does have some kind of function, but I don’t think it is too well done. Oh well, “Yogen” is a nice film, but like “Kakashi”, just nice, nothing special. <4/2/06><2>

Of course this wasn’t the first time that I saw this film, it’s a Lynch afterall. Of course many actors are the same as in other films of Lynch, but the main part is for noone less than Nicholas Cage. Cage plays a man good within but always getting problems. He falls in love with a girl he better shouldn’t see. His former employee had a girlfriend who is Cage’s girlfriend’s mother and when the husband/father gets killed, both his former employee and the mother think that Cage knew what happened. Anyway, “Wild At Heart” became a roadmovie with Cage dancing to heavy metal and singing Elvis. Naturally Lynch included some dark and vague scenes and his weird sense of humour comes out well too. Very nice film. <4>