Perspolis (2007)

Persepolis, an often banned book, has made its way to the big screen in a powerful way. The film carries all the artistic elements from the book. The viewer easily relates to our main character and we become completely engrossed in the movie.

Persepolis is autobiographical story of the author of the book, Marjane Satrapi. Chiara Mastroianni voices her as a girl living in Tehran during the turbulent 80's. Marjane quickly realizes what is going on around her and tries to participate in the revolution. Through this, she realizes the struggles in life and love.

The movie is flawless aside from one thing, the fact that they barely changed the graphic novel. Though it may be artistic and great, why make an animated movie out of an already drawn book? Still, it is very interesting and quite well done. I can't deny it.

Persepolis is gripping and powerful. The animation is great and a treat to watch. The stark black and white contrasts well with the few scenes in color. The movie's acting and message are excellent. Though not much work may have been done to adapt the graphic novel, it still winds up being great.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Pan's Labyrinth is in Spanish, with English subtitles. It is also called El Laberino del Fauno.

There are many fantasies that are so boring, but never before has dream like imagery and the horrors of real life been mixed. Pan's Labyrinth is not a G-rated fantasy as you would have expected. It is a violent R-rated venture into the dark world of Facist Spain in 1944-Guillermo Del Toro style. Fascinating special effects and great acting abound, Pan's Labyrinth is one of those movies you have to see more than once.

Pan's Labyrinth is the dark tale of Ofelia, a girl whose mother has recently married a wicked general. To break away from the harsh realities of the war, she goes to a labyrinth where one night she meets a creature who tells her she is Princess Mohana and must go through three obstacles to regain her royalty. As she completes them, she is forced to deal with the events that surround her as well as the ones inside the labyrinth.

The special effects in this film are outstanding. In the days where mostly everything is done on the computer, many of the effects were done with makeup. The best and finest example of this is the Pale Man, one of Ofelia's obstacles. He is missing eyes and is completely shriveled up. The great thing about it is that is so creepy because it looks so real. For information on how they did it, one should look no further than the excellent documentary on the DVD.

The real triumph here is Guillermo Del Toro's adaptation of the idea of a fairy tale for adults. Violence is blended with fantasy in a surreal and absurd manner. In fact, I'd say that this is the best case of this that I know of. Many of Miyizaki's films utilize this idea, but this shows happiness and sadness as polar opposites which his films fail to do.

Pan's Labyrinth is one of the outstanding films of 2006. It won three Oscars and it rightfully deserved each one. Guillermo Del Toro has produced and excellent fantasy drama that will stay with me for ages. The ending still makes me weep every time I watch it.

Eyes Without a Face (1960)

Eyes Without a Face is in French and subtitled in English. It is also called Les Yeux Sans Visage or The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus.

Eyes Without a Face is an odd cult classic. The movie is eerie and distubring and at the same time, amusing to watch. There is great direction and some really good special effects for its time. This little known chiller is surely an eye opener.

The strange story may sound slightly cliche, but that is only now. It is about Christiane, a sweet girl whose face has been horribly disfigured in a car accident and is now forced to wear a creepy mask. Her father, the person responsible for the accident, has concocted a plan with a nurse to give her a new face. The only way to do this is to graft the skin of other women onto hers. The events that follow are not easy to watch.

As I have previously mentioned, the effects in the movie are quite good. The one time we do see Christiane's face without the mask is shocking because it does look quite real. Also, the scene where the doctor cuts off a girl's face looks realistic. It is creepy how often the film feels real.

Unfortunately, the film is not known by very many, but it is a member of the Criterion Collection, therefore it gets the treatment it deserves on DVD. The stark black and white imagery is surreal and beautiful. Many may be scared away from the film by its subject matter, but one shouldn't. It probably may come off as hokey, but to me it is a creepy, very real movie.

High Tension (2003)*

Yay! My 50th post!

*This film was released in America in 2004. It is also called Haute Tension. In French, with English subtitles.

High Tension is a bloody French film that is a piece of shock cinema. It grabs the audience by the throat and doesn't let them go for the whole movie. A very cliche story quickly changes into something bold and new. Even though the ending is flawed, the story still holds up.

Alexandre Aja's masterpiece starts out with two friends going on vacation to one of the parents' house. The house is of course secluded in the French countryside. It's not to long before the father is killed brutally and one of the girls is taken. The story just gets more bloody from there.

The film has some pretty shocking parts in it. The first appearance of the killer is just strange and gross. We see him getting fellated by a girl and then the camera pans away and its only a decapitated head. Also, some cuts of the film are rated NC-17 for a reason, but not for the normal sexual reasons.

Alexandre Aja seems to quickly be gaining popularity in America and this should just bring more. The Hills Have Eyes was a good remaking, so I'm looking forward to his other films. He is a good director, but he does have one flaw-P2, but its okay--he produced it.

Inside (2007)

This film is also known as A L'interieur. In French, with English subtitles.

The genre of French shock cinema has produced some of the most strange and disturbing films in it's most recent years. Inside is just another even more disturbing addition to it. Chilling and creepy, Inside manages to work it's way into your mind and never crawls out. You will surely be disturbed by it for a while.

Inside is the story of a mother named Sarah who has recently survived an accident that she was in. At the time, she was pregnant, so luckily for her, the baby survived, but her boyfriend didn't. On a lonely Christmas night that she spends at home, she is visited by an odd woman who won't leave her alone. The plot then descends from here into a gory and twisted story.

Inside is not a movie to be seen if you're at all squeamish. The film went direct to DVD in America probably due to it's violent content. There's tons of scissor violence and unrealistic gore that is all over the walls of Sarah's house by the end. These acts include stabbed testicles, eyes being gouged out, and exploding heads.

The end of the movie leaves some to be desired. Although it may be a pretty good twist, it seems like one can tell what's going to happen from the beginning. When it does happen, it's bloody and incredibly effective, but it seems to be a little expected. Also, some elements of it are open to interpretation by the viewer.

Inside is one of the few movies that actually scares me. Not only am I somewhat afraid of it, but it also manages to gross me out, which is something I don't usually care for, but I did like it in this movie. The gore just makes it even more insane and twisted. It is probably unlikely that I'll ever see another film like this one.

WARNING: This film includes extreme strong graphic violence. Many audiences may have a problem with it.

Les Diaboliques (1955)

This movie is also known as Diabolique. In French, with English subtitles.

Les Diaboliques is the movie that started the twist ending before Psycho could revolutionize it. Henri-Georges Clouzot's spectacular, black-and-white French film is a classic that is timeless and still surprising. Much better than most of Hitchcock's films, this is one to see.

Les Diaboliques is based on a book by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac of the same name. The clever story is about the wife of headmaster at a school and teacher who works there who are mad at the headmeaster. Their sinister talks about him lead to them plotting to kill him. They go through with the plan, but after the murder happens, the body mysteriously disappears. Strange happenings begin at the school all leading to the jaw dropping ending.

Clouzot's best film constructs suspense in such an amazing manner. In the scene in which the take the water and leaves out of a pool (this is where the women have deposited the body), we're sure their going to be found out. As the water clears lower and lower, the suspense mounts. Finally, the water clears and we're given a look at the pool. There is no body! His eery scenes are really what makes the film so special.

The tagline on the poster advised audiences to "See it, be amazed at it, but...BE QUIET ABOUT IT!" This is exactly what one who sees this should do. A major twist makes the film famous so don't spoil it. A great movie that Hitchcock actually tried to get the rights to a half hour after they were sold to Clouzot, it could not have been done better. It couldn't have even been done better by the Master of Suspense.

Run Lola Run (1998)

Also known as Lola rennt. In German, with English subtitles.

Tom Tykwer's visually stunning, ecstatic film Run Lola Run is adrenaline pumping and worth more than one viewing. The film is about Lola (Franka Potente) whose boyfriend needs 100,000 dollars in twenty minutes to pay a gangster his debt. When Lola's moped gets stolen, she is forced to run and go to extremes to save him. The story is told three times, each one having a different ending because of something different that happens.

Tykwer gives some pretty amazing shots of Germany. He picks up on some interesting designs in places where you would not ever look. For example, there is a shot of Lola running across a big square. The camera quickly pans up to show a lot of squares that she is running over.

Run Lola Run hits the ground running and does not ever stop. The colors pop like a whore's lip gloss and the acting could not be more energetic. The first story is by far the best, but each one is really good. Never has an action movie been so fun.

Audition (1999)

This film also goes under the title Odishon. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

Nothing is ever what it seems in Takashi Miike's films and the same can be said about Audition. It is a gruesome and disturbing film, but the beginning can be misleading. The film starts out with a man whose wife has recently died. He takes an offer to audition girls who do not know that they are auditioning to be his wife. He picks Asami, yet she is not quite who she seems to be when it turns out that she is a psychopathic murderess.

The scene that everybody remembers so fondly is the final one. Just a warning: it is powerful and yet, it contains not a single shot of what violence is being done under the camera. People mistake the film for being gory, but Miike is a smart man. He chooses not to show a single shot of blood.

Audition is a great piece of horror, but the beginning is not quite what the rest of the movie is. It does not truly get moving until about an hour in. Give this film patience. Also, prepare for torture and some strong graphic scenes. I just want you to know what you're getting into.

Suspiria (1977)

Suspiria is one of the few artful horror pictures that I know of. Dario Argento has directed this "giallo", a pulpy Italian horror movie. His brilliant colors and imagery bring his story to life.

Jessica Harper plays a girl who moves to a ballet in college in Italy. The school seems fine until strange and unexplained events occur. When the girl does some investigating, she finds out that the school is being run by a witches covent.

Dario Argento's direction is the real reason the film is so good. It's eerily bright colors and Goblin soundtrack are spooky and draw the viewer in. In the first and best scene of the film a double murder occurs. The scene is so graphic that it even shows a girl's heart being repeatedly stabbed. The rich color of the blood splashes onto the odd yellow color of the glass behind her.

These days it may be considered a somewhat hokey, obscure foreign movie, but it truly is a horror masterpiece. By the end, it morphs into something so strange and beautiful that it is hard to resist it. One of Dario Argento's better films.

Unfortunately, this film is being remade in America. A poor choice considering the old one is good enough.

The Son's Room (2001)

This film is also titled La Stanza del Figlio. It is in Italian, subtitled in English.

The Son's Room is a one of a kind Italian masterpiece. It is a dramatic representation of a family in their own crisis. The direction is beautiful and the acting is nearing perfection. A small story blossoms into a tale of emotions.

The Son's Room is about a happy family living in the South of Italy. The son, Andrea, is the perfect son, yet does not live up to the mother and father's expectations like the daughter does. When the son get's into a diving accident and dies from drowning, the family falls apart. No, it's not a remake of Ordinary People.

The ending of this movie is very moving, but at the same time, needs more closure. After a whole film of depression and sadness, it comes to an abrupt halt and it just ends. I am still satisfied with the rest of the movie.

The acting performances in this movie are what carry the viewers through it. Nanni Moretti does an amazing job as the father, Giovanni, and Laura Morente is just as outstanding as the mother, Paola. It's no surprise to me at all that Nanni Moretti won the Golden Palm and the FIPRESCI award at the Cannes Film Festival for his work.

The Son's Room should come as no surprise to you to be an emotional movie. The feelings are felt as strongly in the viewers as they are by the characters. Sadly, this a movie that very few no about. It did not nearly recieve enough acclaim in America as it should have. I'll say it again (because I know you were thinking it) : it isn't a remake of Ordinary People!