"Querelle" (1982)

Starring: Brad Davis, Franco Nero, Jeanne Moreau, Laurent Malet, Hanno Pöschl, Günther Kaufmann

First, the Lowdown: A French sailor comes to terms with his own homosexuality.

A man dances with the madame of a brothel, his name is Robert. The madam, Lysiane, insists on giving him a tarot reading. In the cards she sees Robert's previously unmentioned brother, Querelle. She also warns Robert that Querelle is in true danger of finding himself.

As providence would have it, a ship arrives into the port of Brest. The sailors look longingly at the carnal delights offered at the port - especially The Feria, Lysiane's brothel. Querelle, a sailor on the vessel is told about the rules of the Feria – if you want a lady you have to throw dice with Nono the bartender, Feria's husband. If you lose, you get screwed by him.

Querelle goes ashore and is surprised to see his brother at The Feria. Robert has been sleeping with Lysiane in exchange for room and board. Querelle mentions to Nono that he has a package of opium to sell. Nono makes an arrangement to buy.

Meanwhile, Gil, a polish construction worker keeps haranguing a young boy by the name of Roger for a chance at Roger's sister, Paulette. However, from their argument it's hard to say who Gil is more turned on by, Roger or his sister. Gil's proclivities seem to be obvious to everyone but himself, as the foremen of the construction crew keeps belittling Gil for his effeminate tendencies.

Later that evening, Querelle and another sailor smuggle the opium to shore. His partner starts talking about the Feria, which puts Querelle on edge, especially when his brother is mentioned. Querelle isn't repulsed by Nono's homosexuality like many of his peers, but he doesn't know how to reconcile his attraction to it. Before his partner notices that Querelle has been lustfully staring at him, Querelle slits his throat and leaves him bleeding.

Fassbinder is a director that I've been recommended before, and as my first encounter with his work, I feel puzzled. Querelle is his last film, so I have nothing else to base his style on, but I get the impression that Fassbinder is a student of Jung. There is a lot of duality going in this movie: from the juxtaposition between Querelle and his brother, to an actor playing a significant dual role. Even the dialog oscillates between the poetic and the profane. The story itself is a tale of Querelle's narcissism and how in his discovery of himself, Querelle sacrifices the lives of all in his path.

As a movie, it left me more perplexed than compelled. It's executed much like a Greek tragedy (a move I think is deliberate). The set is sparse and the actors recite their lines more toward the audience than at each other. There isn't much “acting” going on between actors, but in a tale such as this there doesn't necessarily have to be. Fights between characters come across as an elaborate dance (a knife fight between Querelle and his brother as them skipping around each other chanting prose). An omnipresent narrator furthers the story like an ancient chorus. While this may work for other people, it comes across as a little over the top for me. That's not to say that melodrama doesn't have a place in the cinema, but for some reason or another I kept expecting to see Laurence Olivier appear on screen and give his “oysters or snails” monologue from Spartacus.

Line of the movie: “I'm on the brink of a shame from which no man ever rises. But only in that shame will I find my everlasting piece.”

Three stars. You break it, you buy it.

"A Fistful Of Dollars" (1964)

(Originally released as Per un pugno di dollari)

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, John Wells, W. Lukschy, S. Rupp, Joe Edger, Antonio Prieto

First, the Lowdown: A mysterious gunman pits two warring gangs against each other.

Perhaps more important than knowing how to fight is knowing how not to.

This is the first appearance of Sergio Leone's “Man With No Name”, and in many ways it's more potent than its other appearances. There is a lot of weight to be put into names, they often touch upon something in our collective subconscious. By not naming our main character, we can't lay any expectations on him aside from what he proves to us by his actions. Then again, it's hard to imagine anyone else pulling off the role as effectively as Eastwood with his flinty eyes and chronically dusty complexion.

Our Man With No Name enters the outskirts of town to pause at a well. He witnesses a small boy sneak into a cabin only to be chased back out again and shot at. His father tries to lock him into an opposing building, but the men who chased his son beat him. To further hammer the welcoming atmosphere of the village MWNN hears a bell toll. The people scramble to their houses and peer out of cracked doors and windows at him. A dead man rides his horse out one last time – the message “Adios Amigo” tacked to his back. The bell ringer happily tells MWNN that he can get rich working for the Rojos or the Baxters, or be killed.

Once in town, a group of men belonging to the Baxter gang accost MWNN and shoot at his horse to spook it. He regroups at a tavern, where the innkeeper informs MWNN that the only person who doesn't work for either the Rojos or the Baxters that makes a good living is the coffin maker. Seeing an opportunity, MWNN announces to Don Miguel Rojo that he's available for hire, but not cheap. He then walks to the Baxter men who previously harassed him and kills four of them before they can draw.

Seeing a good thing when it comes to him, Don Miguel hires him on. Miguel tells MWNN that the military is going to come to the outskirts of town to purchase arms from the US Cavalry. Settling in, MWNN runs into a woman he saw earlier named Marisol. Miguel's brother Esteban is furious that a gringo should be paid so highly, but between the army coming into town and their brother Ramon, the REAL muscle behind the Rojos, being away all Miguel wants is peace and quiet.

The army arrive with a heavily guarded stagecoach – meaning that they are protecting something important. That evening MWNN asks about the woman Marisol, she was married to someone else, but Ramon fell in love with her. At dawn MWNN and the innkeeper see the army leave town with considerably less noise than they arrived. They follow the soldiers to a rendezvous at the riverside. But the Mexican army is ambushed and machine-gunned down by the Cavalry – who are actually Ramon's gang wearing their uniforms. They arrange the bodies so that it looks like they fought each other and make off with the Mexicans gold.

Arriving back home Miguel introduces MWNN to Ramon, who tells the rest of the Rojo gang his plan on inviting the Baxters over to negotiates a truce. The MWNN doesn't buy it however, and makes his leave of the Rojos because there will be peace. It is a delaying tactic – the US Cavalry will investigate their missing men, so Ramon plans on being peaceful until the heat blows over. Then the Rojos will take over everything.

But the MWNN has bigger plans. While the Rojos and Baxters confer, he smuggles two bodies from the massacre at the riverbank and hides them in the cemetery. He then tells the two gangs the same story, that two men from the army attack survived and are hiding in the graveyard. The Baxters plan on using them to prove to the government that the Rojos killed them, the Rojos plan on killing the “survivors” before anyone can use them.

A Fistful of Dollars is Leone's tribute to Akira Kurasawa's Yojimbo. But since I've never seen that movie, I can't really say how good of a tribute it really is. Leone certainly knows how to stir the pot of tension however, and he knows that the best killers are also the smartest. There is an odd kind of relaxedness to the Man With No Name, he rarely hurries his actions. Even his walk seems slow and deliberate without appearing overconfident.

Line of the movie: “When a man with a .45 meets a man with a rifle, the man with the pistol will be a dead man.”

Five stars. Drink responsibly.

"Dark Habits" (1983)

(Originally released as Entre tinieblas)

Starring: Cristina Sánchez Pascual, Will More, Laura Cepeda, Miguel Zúñiga, Julieta Serrano

First, the Lowdown: A lounge singer tries hiding from herself in a Catholic monestary.

After watching this movie twice I’m reminded of an amusing event in Catholic history:

In 1634 the Ursuline convent of Loudun was afflicted by a terrible rash of demonic possession. The woman would set out a cacophony of screams, cries, and animal noises – all while contorting their bodies obscenely and shouting vulgarities in various languages. Upon examination by the church, it was found that they had all been seduced by a respected priest, Urbain Grandier. Grandier was found guilty of sorcery (among other things) and burned at the stake after a confession was wrested from him. The possessions would continue for 4 more years until a miraculous exorcism was performed on the sisters in 1638.

(The whole debacle would later prove to be a conspiracy to discredit Grandier, who was an outspoken enemy of Cardinal Richelieu.)

On with our movie:

Yolanda is a lounge singer with an abusive junkie boyfriend. When the boyfriend overdoses on heroin, Yolanda makes a quick exit. However, the police catch up to her at the club she sings at. Using a friend's absence as cover, she hops on the first bus she can find to take her in the general direction of away.

While going through the items in her purse, she she finds a card for the “Community of Humble Redeemers.” Some time before her current situation two nuns approached Yolanda in her dressing room asking for her autograph. Yolanda obliges them happily and admires the purse one of them carries. The nun gives it to her as thanks for the autograph, and also gives her a card for their convent. She tells Yolanda to visit whenever she pleases.

Meanwhile, the convent receives word that their benefactor has died and neglected to put anything in his will that would continue donations to them. Said benefactor's daughter was serving as a nun, but ended up dying during a mission in Africa. His widow however, has seen this as an opportunity to enjoy herself now that she is no longer under the thumb of her abusive and controlling husband.

Enter Yolanda, who has come merely as a means of hiding. The nuns are overjoyed, for they see this as an opportunity to help a wayward soul. Yolanda is nervous at first, and confused. Even more curiouser, the Mother Superior shoots heroin with her. The convent follows the traditions of self-mortification and humiliation: which is why the Sisters all have odd names: Rat, Snake, etc. Each has their own secret. Sister Manure drops acid and subject herself to pain; Sister Rat is an author of tawdry bestsellers, Sister Damned is an obsessive-compulsive clean freak. The convent is home to a tiger as well, a pet of a former residents.

Yolanda finds herself getting used to the bizarre solitude of the convent, spending most of the time reading her ex-lover's diary as a means of punishing herself. Having being deprived of the primary source of income, however, has made the already unstable sisters descend rapidly into chaos.

Much like another of Almodovar's early work, Dark Habits has an interesting premise and doesn't go anywhere. The movie (with the exception of a couple shots) looks like it was filmed by a student. The setup itself sounds like it would make an interesting drama, but after the pieces are put into place, it's almost like the director didn't know what to do with them.

Line of the movie: “It's music that really tells the truth about life. Because all of us have been in love for deceived.”

Two stars. Chew slowly before swallowing.

"The Big Sleep" (1946)

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone

First, the Lowdown: A private detective is hired to investigate a blackmail case, and finds more than he anticipated.

Humphrey Bogart is Philip Marlowe, hard-boiled P.I, etc, etc. He arrives at the Sternwood manor at the invitation of the retired General Sternwood. In the foyer, Marlowe is greeted by Sternwood's younger daughter, Carmen – a woman barely mature, who coyly plays with the reactions of those around her.

General Sternwood meets with Marlowe in his greenhouse, where the warmth helps his circulation. The general invites Marlowe to a drink and a smoke, as the elder Sternwood can only enjoy his vices by proxy because of poor health. Mr. Sternwood is being blackmailed by a party unknown to him. This isn't the first time Mr. Sternwood's been blackmailed either, the previous case was handled by an acquaintance of Marlowe's: Shawn Regan. Regan has mysteriously disappeared, though, much to the sadness of Sternwood. Previously a man by the name of Joe Brody demanded $5000 in exchange for silence in Carmen's embarrassing behavior. Now a used book dealer by the name of Arthur G. Geiger is trying to collect and equal amount for outstanding gambling debts. Marlowe advises Sternwood to pay the man off because the debts are in the form of promissory notes bearing Carmen's signature. But Sternwood merely wants the matter taken care of discreetly without having to pay.

After leaving his meeting with the General, Marlowe is informed by the butler that the elder Sternwood daughter, Vivian. She grills Marlowe on the nature of his investigation, in particular if it had to deal with the missing Shawn Regan. Apparently Shawn had left in a bit of a hurry, but his car was found abandoned in a garage outside of town.

A quick trip to the library provides Marlowe with a quick back story. He arrives at Geiger's rare book inquiring about a rare book, a “Chevalier Audobon – 1840”, and is brushed off by the woman at the desk. He goes across the street to a DIFFERENT bookseller and makes the same inquiry, only to be told that the book doesn't exist. Smelling a false front, Marlowe waits across the street for Geiger to leave his office so he can tail him.

Tail him he does, however, directly to Geiger's house in the suburbs. While waiting patiently outside in his car, he sees another car pull up and a man enter the Geiger residence. The car is registered to Carmen Sternwood. A few moments later a scream is heard as well as a gunshot. Marlowe bursts into the room to find Geiger, dead by a gunshot, and Carmen – sitting high as a kite. In an oriental statue, Marlowe finds a concealed camera, minus film. A search of Geiger's lockbox, reveals a notebook of coded messages – including one labeled “Sternwood.” Having overstayed his welcome, Marlowe takes Carmen home and instructs her older sister to insist that to anyone else that Carmen has not left the house all evening and that Marlowe especially didn't drop her off.

Returning back to the Geiger house, Marlowe finds everything how he left it – except Mr. Geiger's body is gone. Frustrated, he goes back to his office and tries to work out the coded entry in Geiger's notebook, only to be interrupted by Bernie - a friend who is a homicide detective. Sternwood's car was found washed up off Lido pier, with a body in it. The body is the Sternwood's chauffeur, but it looks like someone knocked him out and dumped him there.

I'm not much of one for old movies, and you have my grandmother's passion for Vivian Leigh and Judy Garland to thank for that. So naturally I've gathered an aversion to anything in black and while that predates the Eisenhower era. However, The Big Sleep is a tight little story (adapted for the screen by William Faulkner, no less.) One thing I admire about it is that while it is a vintage picture, it doesn't come off as musty (in spite of the presence of Bogart.) Also it helps bolster the argument your grandparents used to make about how they never make movies like they used to. It's a nice little mystery that is neither rushed or slow and it comes from an era where you could have a suspense story without explosions, overlong gunfights, or nudity in order to keep the plot moving.

Line of the movie: “You oughta wean her, she's old enough.”

Four and a half stars. Don't make me turn this car around.