Movies etc

SHALLOW GRAVE (DVD), about a suitcase full of money that breaks apart a threesome friendship and leads to three bashed in bodies buried in the woods. Moral? When you bury your bodies, make sure they are six feet under. Otherwise the police become suspicious of foul play.
THE CONVERSATION by FF Coppola (DVD). Gene Hackman is an expert wire-tapper. In the course of his work he overhears the conversation of a man and woman who hint at a murder. Gene, as Harry, believes that the murder is planned by the woman's husband, who is his client. He has an attack of morals (for a wire-tapper!) and refuses to give the tape to his client. As it turns out, the couple actually murder the client, so Harry's scruples actually assist the murderous pair in their nasty scheme.
Jan 24. IMPROMPTU (DVD), starring Judy Davis, Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson as George Sand, Chopin, and a country countess who invites these immortals to her place in the countryside. Great fun is had by all, including the viewer. While the innanities go on, we hear the wonderful romantic music of Litzt and Chopin.
Jan 31. THE DAVINCI CODE (DVD) taken from the book by Dan Brown. On the search for the Holy Grail in the most unlikely, but greatly photogenic, locales in Paris and London. You see, the Catholic Church knows where the Grail is, but keeps it from the world through the agents of the Opus Dei, because then everyone would know that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Christ. Then the world would know that the Church had lied. Most unusual scenes: those involving the insane Opus Dei fanatic who flagellates himself before he kills. What garbage.
May 26. MRS PACKARD by Emily Mann at McCarter. Poor Mrs Packard. She strongly disagrees with her husband's dark Calvinism. The husband then took her away from her 6 kids and put her in an insane asylum. She thought Ward 5 was bad. How about Ward 8, where they keep the violent lunies and don't bother removing the night wastes. Not a joyful evening.
June 1. BLACKMAIL, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in a 1929 thriller shown at MOMA. A policeman's girlfriend unwisely visits the apartment of a noted London designer, who has designs on her body. In return, she kills him with a knife. A criminal sees her leave the building and attempts blackmail. A fine black and white silent film.
June 4. PURPLE NOON (DVD). Ripley is hired by Mr Greenleaf to bring his rich playboy son back to San Francisco from Italy. The son toys with Ripley and refuses to go, so Ripley kills him on his yacht and (presumeably) sinks him in the Mediterranean and assumes his identity, but his friends become suspicious, the police become involved, and Ripley's future becomes clouded.
June 6. SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER, by Truffault, a French spoof of the American crime movie. The piano player is never shot, but others of his crime family are bumped off or kidnapped.
June 9. DIE NIBELUNGEN, a restored masterpiece by Fritz Lang. Siegfrieg, a Nordic hero, wins a bride for King Gunther (by ravishing the powerful Brunhilde) and takes Kriemhild as his wife. Idiotically, he tells Kriemhild where his vulnerable point is located. Kriemhild, in turn, blabs to the local commandant, who finishes off Siegfried with a well placed spear. His wife then weds Attila the Hun in order to retaliate against the kingdom. No half way solutions in Nordic mythology. Great eye work by Brunhilde. A minor miracle that Siegfried did not sustain burns over his entire body from the burning glances of Brunhilde.
July 23. LA VIE EN ROSE at Montgomery. The life and art of Edith Piaf the forelorn Parisian street singer. Her childhood was spent in squalor and sickness, as shown by the action of her father, who, released from the army during the war, took her to a brothel in the country, which he considered more healthful than the flophouse of her mother, a street singer.
July 29. WAGNER, DVD with star-studded cast, including Richard Burton, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, and Lawrence Olivier. Eight hours on the life of the great composer. Hard to follow in parts; people--like Nietsche--not identified.
Aug 7. THE SEVENTH SEAL by Ingmar Bergman. Bergman's quest about the meaning of life. A knight returns from the crusades to his castle in Sweden, swept by the Black Death. Unforgettable scenes of the knight playing chess with Death, and the burning of a witch.
Dec 6. STRAY DOG, a Japanese film by Murakami, set in the grimy days of Tokyo after the war. A woman steals a detective's gun on a crowded bus. The gun is sold to an unstable crook who begins robbing and killing. The detective feels honor bound to catch him. A great examination of the Tokyo underground in postwar Japan.
Dec 12. THE VANISHING (DVD). after a quarrel in a broken-down car in an Alpine tunnel, Rex and Saskia make up. However, she disappears in a station stop for coffee. For 3 years Rex searches for her without results, but finally the killer seeks him out and offers to tell him what he did with Saskia. Rex takes the coffee offered and later wakes up buried alive, like Saskia. Ugly story of a maniac. Not recommended.