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Posted: |
Oct 27, 2022 - 9:31 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE (2018) – 7/10
This French-language Canadian film starts out as a crime thriller, but ends up in a somewhat different place. “Pierre-Paul Daoust” (Alexandre Landry) has a PhD in philosophy, but is reduced to working for a delivery service because, as he says, “Teachers make less than delivery men.” He laments to the girlfriend who is about to break up with him (Florence Longpré) that it is the ignorant who seem to attain wealth and fame rather than intellectuals.
Then, one day as Daoust pulls his van into a parking lot to make a delivery at a business, two robbers burst out of the place with large duffle bags stuffed with millions in cash, followed by a pursuing security guard. A quick gunfight later, the guard and one robber are dead, the other robber is in flight, and the two bags are lying nearly at Daoust’s feet. After a quick moment of indecision, he tosses them in the back of his van, answers a few questions from the arriving police, and is on his way.
Of course, the money belongs to a drug gang, who was using the business as a “bank,” and to launder the cash. In a plot as old as ACROSS 110th STREET, both the cops and the criminals go in search of the cash. Daoust must figure out what to do with the money, while staying one step ahead of the crooks, and particularly the cops, who soon come to suspect him. Towards this end, he enlists the help of high-priced call girl “Camille Lafontaine” (Maripier Morin), whom he initially retained for sex because she went by the name “Aspasie” (an ancient Greek courtesan) in her online profile. For a “financial advisor,” he hooks up with “Sylvain 'The Brain' Bigras” (Rémy Girard), an ex-con who got a business degree while in prison. Along with shady banker “Wilbrod Taschereau” (Pierre Curzi), they concoct a scheme to get wealthy themselves while also furthering Daoust’s philosophy of doing good with money.
It's that latter point that changes the film from just being a tale of greedy people stealing from even greedier people. While Daoust initially comes off as a complaining slacker, we find out that he really has a good heart, volunteering at a local soup kitchen and having a number of friends among its denizens. But if writer-director Denys Arcand has a larger point to make about society’s inequities, it is diminished by the fact that in addition to any social good the money may do, a lot of people end up getting a piece of the pie for themselves before any of it trickles down to the needy. (But, now that I think of it, that may be Arcand’s point.)
Although the location of the action is never specified, the film has an odd title for a picture that is clearly shot in Montreal and populated by Canadians. I suspect it’s because the Quebecois Arcand thinks that the attitudes expressed by most of the characters are distinctly American ones.
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I read Spock was in this film, but I didn't see him.
He was the one wearing a wooly hat, so you wouldn't see his ears.
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I read Spock was in this film, but I didn't see him.
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He was the one wearing a wooly hat, so you wouldn't see his ears.
Thxs, Bob. Damn, I remember that scene too. He's unrecognizable without them pointy protrusions!
Or a wooly hat.
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Posted: |
Oct 31, 2022 - 3:05 PM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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The Day of the Locust (1975) ... 3/10
And the marks are for the filmmaking, acting and - of course - music score. It was never a film which I desired to see but I bought the DVD in 2006 because I wanted to hear more of John Barry's music. I'd bought the vinyl LP back in 1975/6 but been disappointed at the amount of non-Barry music thereon. Worse still: there was a cue, called the same as the film's title - the longest track - which I didn't like! The first (and only!) time a piece of John Barry music was a failure ...
I started to watch the film and got not much further than the main titles ... so the DVD went back on the shelf. And 10 years later Intrada released the full score et al. ... wonderful, now I had no need to watch the film 
But in seeking to declutter  I decided yesterday to give the DVD another try. I forget the number of times I asked myself why I was watching it ... there was no character I liked, the story was - at best - unpleasant and the script was very poor with many scenes ending with no resolution, timelines making little sense, and character motivation being almost non-existent.
Both Homer/Donald Sutherland and Tod/William Atherton are taken with Faye/Karen Black and the story related revolves around her disdain for both whilst using each to further her non-existent career and self-centred lifestyle. Burgess Meredith brings some pathos to his role - which leads to an extended and tedious funeral sequence of little importance ... and the ending, horrific and sickening, comes from nowhere. Yes, Homer has finally accepted he's been used but there's no explanation as to why he walks to the film premiere carrying suitcases; the thoroughly despicable child actor taunts him - but why throw a stone at him?
The recent tragedy (one of many) in which people were crushed makes the ending even more difficult to watch. The best sequence, for me, was the filming of the battle scenes and the collapsing stage, leading to the film bosses assessing how best to make someone responsible.
This is not the first, or last, film to portray Hollywood as the place of nightmares ... I won't watch it again.
Happily I now enjoy the period songs and exposure to the great works of Stravinsky, Bartók, Schoenberg and others means I no longer consider Barry's The Day of the Locust cue too avant-garde for my taste
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Saw this a few months ago Mitch.
Tedious and slow, agree with your mark, and the Ending is bonkers.
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Hercules, Samson and Ulysses(1963) 8/10
With Kirk Morris and Richard Lloyd
Hercules and his men go after a sea monster. The get shipwrecked in Judea. Herc must capture Samson for the Philistines, to ensure his crew's release. He joins up with Samson to overthrow the hiss, boo king( played by wotzizname, the drunk general in the good the bad and the ugly), which they do by bringing the house down, literally.
This one was above average, for the genre. Decently made, good looking sets and some nice locations. Also it wasn't too stupid, with a fairly straightforward plot. AFLs music was OK but not remarkable, a bit more restrained.
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