After 3 glowing reviews for 3 fun watches, here are the less favorable reviews. But these were interesting enough to write about (and not painful to watch). I wasn't shocked these films weren't successful but I'm glad they have some cache value now.
Novocaine is a weird comedy from the same year as 9/11. It represents that cold, moody, protestant (in the political & religious sense) era where the flippant, firm-standing 1990s became the wary, depressive, chaotic first decade of the 21st century. Now it was probably filmed in 2000, a very celebratory, radically progressive & casual time. Bill Clinton was a popular & socially melding president for most people, but he faced a tough scandal and society was very jaded & shaken up again. It was a flashback to Nixon's discrepancies and a quieted minority saw the dark cloud forming in the Middle East, Russia, Asia and within powerful Western institutions. It was a gray period where there wasn't much unrest or commotion but there was smoke still in the air.
Novocaine brought all of the mystique back. Its in every level of the production and the 1st time director David Atkins (who also wrote the film) knows that this moment is important. He makes it as ephemeral as possible, presenting a cartooned vision of the Y2K era. Stylistically, it almost reaches the clean design of a work of futurism or an avant garde play. And that was the actual commercial style of TV & film at that time. Its European, independent, retro, experimental. MTV video techniques mixed with French New Wave references and slasher film tropes pureed with primetime sitcom cues. It was just a surreal time for audiences. It was a collected & shared enterprise globally where everyone was happy and putting out the content they wanted and audiences respected.
While Novocaine isn't the best film of that year, its unique & full of ideas. It seems amateur by standards now and thats whats refreshing. This film is evidence that Hollywood can abandon the cookie cutter formula of glossy factory "product" and let movie-lovers make love movies for movie-lovers. Novocaine has its warts, but it doesn't offend the audience's intelligence ever. It might be a bit drab compared to fratboy comedies or too highfalutin for families. Its a tad derivative but its wide influences are a nice salad of Hitchcock, Tarantino, Wilder & Coen Bros. "Crime comedy" was kind of a saturated genre then, but at least Atkins nails the noir tones & gives his characters life. Watching the film in 2017, I'm reminded of most television now by the serio-comic aspects, the Euro-techno-Goth visuals. Its interesting how mediocrity from some years will stand up to the best work of other years, at least in films.
With all of the sexual abuse claims in Hollywood, I dared myself to review films from some controversial names this past month (strangely, TV was more than game to show these films despite the ostracization of current stars by Hollywood & streaming). I'm hesitant to cast out Woody Allen and I don't think Victor Salva is a threat to worry about, but Roman Polanski is a much scarier name now. He is a confirmed criminal who took illegal advantage of a VERY underage prostitute. But he is also a special case with uniquely tragic & unrepeatable circumstances. To complicate matters, he's regarded as one of the most important stylists and voices in Hollywood's modern golden age.
Now I've never been the biggest fan of him. I can dissect the brilliant economy and freshly gritty subtext of "Repulsion" but despite its towering influence, I think some parts of it are backwards and maybe offensive or toxic in their wrongness. Polanski injects his films with a sadistic, cynical, pessimistic & somewhat abusive philosophy. It wouldn't bother me too much but you can't divorce his films from the tragedy that derailed his career & the resulting crimes he committed.
FVK is a great snapshot of an enthusiastic, educated and subversive young talent. The film itself is a cynical exercise in deconstructing the vampire genre without much blood or brains beyond tricky technical shots and stunning, sometimes sexually perverse eye candy. Its a lot of surface without much substance. Really Polanski doesn't seem in love with the material, just using it as a stepping stone or calling card. It reminds me of newer directors like Denis Villeneuve and Damien Chazelle who think being stylish and sour is all it takes to be compared to Kubrick or even a David Fincher. And an ignorant film public fell for it n 1967. To be fair, Polanski deserves high esteem for Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. Polanski could make enlightened, important works of art when he was at his peak. But this isn't peak. Just a warm up for a star who burned out too soon.
The House on Skull Mountain is like so many blaxploitation films not made by black filmmakers or fans of the genre. Its conservative, pandering, backhanded & a brainless exploitation for profit. But sometimes these hired filmmakers found inspiration in the totally radicalized and relieved black talent of the post-Civil Rights era. Skull is taken with its subject matter of black lives, culture, religion and spirituality. Mostly the sexuality and heathen/dangerous persona inherited from white racism. Racism is never addressed here which may generalize it for some but legitimizes it for its target audience.
So few "black films" were allowed to embrace the honesty & grit of the Neorealists films that inspired the world at that time. Black films had to be gratuitous, simple and commercial by not shaking things up and usually playing to the status quo of white patrons. Skull Mountain would be remembered fondly if it had some of the black ideals that made 70s black culture so influential. The film cops out but its a fun disaster. Its kitschy, dated, too obtuse and half-baked. But there is an elevated air about it. The cast especially give 110% and you wonder why it didn't lead to better work for the cast, D.P., production design & special effects. But the answer is obvious when you consider the bland director, writer and producer probably got their positions from privilege and not talent or dedication.
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