Sexual liberation in the Middle Ages

ANCHORESS (1993)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Anchoress of Shere, like all anchoresses and anchorites, is already dead to the world. When the anchoress physically dies, her grave is in the walled-in enclosure of the church. There is no escape from it since it is a chosen, voluntary religious vocation. Watching Chris Newby's film, "Anchoress," is also a religious experience with thankful notes of humor. You need a little humor to get by the 14th century pastures of Surrey, England.

Christine Carpenter (a beatific Natalie Morse) is the anchoress. At first, she's drawn and fascinated by the Virgin Mary statue that is brought to the church. When she looks at the statue, it is so mesmerizing to her that she doesn't blink - almost as if she was lovestruck. Christine comes from a commoner family where the mother is tempermental with her and the sister. The Reeve (Gene Bervoets), a mayor of sorts in this village, has romantic inclinations towards the disinterested Christine, and then finally the other sister (Brenda Bertin) whom he gets to marry. The disapproving mother (Toyah Wilcox) is not happy, often spitting on her hand, urinating in front of the sole village priest (Christopher Eccleston), and in general expressing unhappiness about everything including her husband who will not please her sexually. She is not a religiously devout and her practices, including helping women with abortions, are deemed Satanic by the priest.

All this is too much of a distraction for Christine who makes a plea to the Bishop to become the Anchoress. This means a life inside this closed-off church chamber where she can have two windows - one is referred to as a "squint" where she can view the Virgin Mary statue at the altar, and the other is like a confessional to the outside world where villagers can come to her with their problems and beg for forgiveness. This is also where her mother and sister can bring her food and, though men can approach her, they cannot touch her (truthfully nobody can).

"Anchoress" is about Christine's religious devotion yet she always expresses an orgasmic pleasure with everything she sees or touches. She has one heart-stopping moment where she feels and penetrates the ground itself or holes in the wall - ecstasy has entered this girl's mind. Even her own mother gets to have a romp in the hay with a goat, spotted by her disbelieving husband (Pete Postlethwaite). Sex is on the minds of all of these peasant women yet Christine still holds true to her visions of the Virgin Mary. The priest wants those visions revealed to him yet he disagrees with her that the only Mother has red robes - according to his beliefs, they should be blue. And whatever Christine expresses that goes against the grain of the church dogma, the priest instantly blames her mother and not her. This leads to another heart-stopping and intensifying moment where the mother is chased by the villagers - Christine's mother is determined to be a witch.

There are rewards aplenty for the bewitching and sometimes darkly humorous "Anchoress." It is a striking, Bergmanesque religious tale that I am sure might have inspired later directors like Robert Eggers for its attention to period Gothic and/or Middle Ages details, specifically the look of the claustrophobic cell. Filmed in high-contrast black-and-white by director Chris Newby, "Anchoress" holds your attention and never lets loose its grasp on the audience. Natalie Morse's role here is definitive for an atypical Middle Ages tale - she may seek penance but she is deep down more liberated than most. 

Vangelis' score is legendary, this papier mache Colon is not

 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE (1992)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus arrives in the New World (the island of Guanahani), there's a mist revealing the sought-after island. Columbus is on one of the three ships and he closes his eyes and opens them and revels in the discovery. Since Gerard Depardieu is playing the infamous/famous Columbus, you only get a whisper of satisfaction from him. He walks on the land by the shores, and falls on his knees with a dour expression. Compare that to Kevin Costner's sense of joy of returning to England in 1991's "Robin Hood," and you might wonder why Columbus is so restrained at this groundbreaking discovery. 

Scene after scene of "1492" indicates a beautifully mounted production that director Ridley Scott might have been born to direct. Every shot is really divine including the ships and their long masts at sea with a golden glow and amazing sunsets and sunrises (coupled with colorful flags). The jungles of this New World reveal something untouched by foreigners and the atmosphere practically drips off the screen. And every scene has Depardieu looking more and more like a sad sack of a man, not the ambitious navigator and explorer who dared to question the Catholic theologians and search for land in Asia. When he gets upset and tosses scrolls on the ground, Depardieu manages a little emotion. When he speaks to Queen Isabella (Sigourney Weaver), he's at a standstill and emotionally bereft (of course, maybe he is supposed to be since he's talking to the Queen). However, with regards to the singular emotion of anger, Columbus can spear the natives who attack him and his crew without question (this violent episode occurred when he returned to the Caribbean and finds the murdered crew members who stayed behind.) Anger is his singular emotion but his ambition, his craving for uncharted new lands and making new discoveries, is hampered by making the crew aboard the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria ships restless and almost provoking a mutiny. Yet again, Depardieu is unaffected, indifferent and you would think he would show some level of exhaustion being at sea for nine weeks, not to mention his arduous return journey. Compare this to the apocalyptic "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" where we witnessed a conqueror who is more mad than anyone, yet we also saw the passion and zeal at work. Columbus is depicted as someone who has been burning the midnight oil doing a social studies homework assignment. 

"1492" has beautiful locales and is quite the picturesque Illustrated Comics version of Columbus. I especially love the hoisting of the bell at the top of a tower, complemented by Vangelis's legendary musical score. As history, the film actually tries to show certain realities but hardly enough to merit a 2 1/2 hour running time. There are some revelations here about Columbus' wanting to convert Guanahani natives to Christianity, indicated by his voyage diary entries. This apathetic man is also depicted as noble and willing to help the indigenous people of this Caribbean island. Eventually, violence erupts during the the colonization and the film wants to put the blame on the murderous Adrián de Moxica (Michael Wincott, in a performance that mimics his Guy of Gisborne in 1991's "Robin Hood") who thinks nothing of chopping a native's hand off. Moxica feels the natives are stealing or hiding the gold and riches from the island (he is shown here to commit suicide than be hanged, when in fact he was hanged). Many historians believe Columbus to have committed genocide and lay the trappings of colonialism going forward, with some aid from his crews no doubt. No matter what one believes, this Columbus is just a papier mache version of the real thing.

Women's Lib structured as road movie

 THELMA AND LOUISE (1991)

An Appreciation and Reassessment by Jerry Saravia

What I love most about "Thelma and Louise" is that it is not simply a road movie (that most beloved genre), a feminist parable or, as critics exclaimed back then, "toxic feminism." The latter is a foolish assessment because these two energetic young women on the lam are not anymore toxic than if they were a pair of males on the run. The first two descriptions are most apt to describe "Thelma and Louise," a basic friendship movie in the guise of road movie cliches that are somehow less cliche-ridden based on its feminist context. It basically puts a whole new spin on the road movie as allegory and has more nuanced ideas about how women see themselves.

Thelma (Geena Davis) is the ditsy, innocent type who abides by her regional manager husband who sells carpets, Darryl (Christopher McDonald), yet she is desperate to step out and be somewhere else, at least for a weekend getaway. That chance arrives when her best friend, Louise (Susan Sarandon), a waitress, is ready to go on the road trip to go fishing! Once they stop at a Texas-like bar/restaurant along the way and Thelma has a good time dancing with a supposedly charming smooth talker, Harlan (Timothy Carhart), the situation escalates to sexual assault and Louise ends it killing the guy with a gun. Now, Thelma and Louise are on the loose though nobody initially suspects them of the crime. The rest of "Thelma and Louise" is the twosome on the road, evading police, massive trucks and leering truck drivers. When Louise gets some money from her boyfriend (the always terrific Michael Madsen), she is determined to go to Mexico knowing she's ultimately the one that pulled the trigger and will not give herself up at all to the authorities. Thelma is simply going along for it but her malleable nature erodes when she chooses to have sex with a polite drifter and ex-robber, J.D. (Brad Pitt, in a star-making performance). When J.D. steals Louise's money, Thelma gets an idea from J.D's confessions to rob a gas station and she does. There is not a care in the world for these women who choose to live freely and not be dependent on men to sustain themselves.

Louise is also going through changes. Many scenes show her looking at herself in bathroom mirrors or rearview mirrors, as if she is trying to shed the woman she was and become more independent in her nature and way of being. At one crucial point, she gives up her watch and rings to some old bystander - time and attachment to shiny accoutrements are no longer necessary. When she sees an older woman through a storefront window, Thelma decides to abandon lipstick and eyeshadow - perhaps maintain an earthy look. One amazingly potent scene shows Louise looking at the desert during sunset, knowing an eventual change is coming. 

"Thelma and Louise" was accused of being a misandrist film where all men are chauvinistic pigs and the women are simply objects of ridicule that need to know their place and fulfill men's needs - at least, according to the male characters in this film. That is not entirely the case with all the men here, especially Louise's boyfriend who does erupt in violence for a brief moment before apologizing. There's Harvey Keitel as the good, sweet-natured cop who wants to bring them in but knows, deep down that even if their predicament is their fault, he knows it is far more complicated than that. The rest of the men are powerless against Thelma and Louise and that includes the unredeeming Harlan - I will not say he deserved his fate but he should've known he had it coming. Darryl is something of an egghead who realizes he has no control over Thelma at all. There's also a highway cop who, for whatever reason I cannot fathom, asks Thelma to sit in the front seat of his car and asks her to remove her eyewear (my parents had thought he said underwear when they first saw the film) - this results in him being forced into a trunk which leads to a Rastafarian biker scene that has to be seen to be believed. The foolhardy J.D. uses his charms and almost gets away with it, never assuming that Thelma would hold up any store - he can, it turns out, one-up the women. 

Ultimately, "Thelma and Louise" is a female empowerment statement that can still carry a dangerous charge 35 years later (Men clearly are more threatened by this film than women). It is not a female empowerment fantasy but rather about women seeking their own place in a male-dominated world without their help. The final emotional powerhouse of a sequence can quicken the pulses of most men and women but it can also demonstrate that Thelma and Louise's choices over their fate are their own. Most liberating.   

Dishonorable cop in gloomy Japan thriller

 BLACK RAIN (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Black Rain" is not quite a full-fledged movie - it is an assemblage of plot points and cliches that don't amount to much. It is ostensibly a cop thriller but its suspense is drowned by its heavy synthesizer soundtrack and some gory moments. There is some level of excitement in certain spots but an unspectacularly faint echo of a performance by Michael Douglas brings the movie down to the gutter. 

A violent criminal, Koji Sato (Matsuda Sugai), is a yakuza seeking a counterfeit money plate. He kills some Japanese businessman right out in the open in a New York restaurant, no less witnessed by cops including the uptight Nick (Michael Douglas) and his happy-as-a-clam partner, Charlie (Andy Garcia). The yakuza is chased by the cops, captured and extradited to Osaka, Japan. Of course, you can anticipate every scene including Nick punching Sato in the face on the plane, and police inspectors ready to pick up Sato when they turn out to be yakuza members (and then the real police show up). Now Nick and Charlie are to be only observers to the Osaka police trying to capture Sato. Naturally, these American cops know nothing about honor and are wanting Sato and to bring him to America. 

"Black Rain" has its purest and most instinctual performance by the straight-as-an-arrow, by-the-book  Ken Takakura as Assistant Inspector Masahiro "Mas" Matsumoto. Through the slightest shadings imaginable, we can see Takakura's obedience and honor to the law yet also showing his slightly changing attitude to Charlie's ability to party with girls at a club and by Nick's rebellious stance to go on instinct rather than follow procedures. I also give a shout out to Kate Capshaw's sexy and alluring American from Chicago who is some sort of hostess/bartender and has intimate knowledge of gang warfare.

Scene after scene though, "Black Rain" is hindered by Michael Douglas' virtually difficult, displeasing cop who has an Internal Affairs investigation back home dealing with his taking money from drug dealers. There is a semblance here of something deeper when Nick has alimony payments, kids, an apartment and a house - not enough income from a NYPD cop who loves motorcycle racing on weekends. Ridley Scott certainly knows how to make all this come alive but it is an undernourished screenplay with zero sympathy towards the guy we are supposed to root for. The late Matsuda Sugai plays his Sato as a one-dimensional psychopath who thinks nothing of chopping off his own finger, you know, for being dishonorable. It is a fair to average movie but I expect much more than that from Ridley Scott.

Call it a light cavalry skirmish

 THE DUELLISTS (1977)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Imagine holding a grudge towards someone, a friend, ally or enemy (god forbid, a family member), for decades. In these modern times, we would stay far away from them and hope there is no chance of running into them. In Ridley Scott's fabulous directorial debut, "The Duellists," two comparatively different men fight several duels over the course of nearly two decades without any real victory other than nursing deep wounds. It is somewhat fated that they keep running into each other every few years and the chance for bloodletting is renewed.

Starting in the 1800's during the Napoleonic Wars, we are introduced to the fierce French Lt. Feraud (Harvey Keitel), a man with a violent temperament who engages in sword duels to the death and is loyal to Napoleon Bonaparte. The reasons for his incessant dueling are not divulged other than having a violent temperament. Lt. Armand d'Hubert (Keith Carradine) is a dedicated French soldier who is under orders to place Feraud on house arrest for almost killing a mayor's nephew in a duel. Naturally, Feraud is not just any French soldier who can be reasoned with - his rage is unfathomable as he is prepared to duel d'Hubert who is just following orders. It turns into an embarrassment as the two have a swordfight which leads to d'Hubert getting a severe though not fatal wound, and some deep scratches on his face by Feraud's mistress (Gay Hamilton, who also appeared in "Barry Lyndon"). D'Hubert is looked upon unfavorably by his Brigadier-General Treillard (Robert Stephens) who sees d'Hubert as weak and incapable, demoting him to the barracks with the regiment. 

"The Duellists" carries on with this "light cavalry skirmish" for so long that you wonder why death hasn't approached either one of them. D'Hubert is unequivocally loyal to his rank and standing (he assumes Colonel and General positions), and duels are forbidden (or at least, frowned upon) when the duellists are of different ranks especially in a time of endless war. Feraud cannot let go of these bloody duels, the last of which (prior to using guns) results in Feraud obtaining a head injury. From Augsburg to Lubeck to a haunting passage of frozen Napoleonic soldiers on the Russian front (defeated by "General Winter") where Feraud and D'Hubert shoot at Cossacks - the one chance encounter where a duel doesn't emerge - to d'Hubert's home where they engage in a pistol duel near some castle ruins. 

"The Duellists" doesn't initiate any persuasiveness when it comes to its two strangely cast leads who are anything but French in appearance, Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine. Yet even if both Keitel and Carradine seem too modern, it doesn't matter because they acquit themselves with their depiction of their characters' own tribulations, passions and dedications to the war effort. Feraud may have mistresses throughout his life but d'Hubert is the one who settles down, gets married and joins the Louis XVIII army. These two powerhouse talents give us enough shades to trample any lack of casting credibility. 

"The Duellists" is breathtaking, forceful cinema by a director whose tantalizing vision (based on Joseph Conrad's short story) consumes us from first frame to last. Howard Blake's memorably moody music score elevates everything we see and every image here is as potent as "Barry Lyndon" of which this pays direct homage to. Never have deathly grudges been so picturesque.  

Strategic Management on an Island

 SEND HELP (2026)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I love a tuna sandwich as much as the next person but I would not trust a woman who has a smidge of tuna on her lip after eating said sandwich. That woman is our protagonist of this dark, often gore-laden and dark comedy by Sam Raimi. Raimi has often treated these melodramatic stories with a controlled serious tone, as in "A Simple Plan," but he is back to sensationalizing everything and delivering deliberately cartoonish mayhem-fueled moments. 

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is a "Survivor"-loving corporate strategist working for a company that has promised her a vice-president position. Only Linda has no chance of securing such a powerful position despite eyeing it for seven years. A new CEO named Bradley Preston (Dylan O'Brien, an underrated actor) is conniving and duplicitous, citing Linda as gauche and favoring his old college pal, Donovan (Xavier Samuel), as VP. Linda has to prove her worth on a business trip to Thailand with her new boss. Let's say this trip doesn't go as planned when the plane crashes into the ocean leaving only Linda and Bradley as the survivors on some seemingly unoccupied island. Bradley has a bad cut on his leg and Linda, learning her survival skills from that dreadful show, builds camp on the beach, hunts for fish, and goes spear-hunting killer boars for much needed protein. You are practically watching a redux of "Castaway" with no Wilson volleyball or Tom Hanks. 

McAdams often shrill portrayal of Linda in the first half-hour can get on your nerves. She plays it well but it seems vaguely one-dimensional...until she shows her pain and unwillingness to cry in public. O'Brien's Bradley is an arrogant, informal asshat who will not wear socks at a meeting. Once they are on the island, he still thinks he's her boss and fires her before realizing it is a mistake (or is it?) Bradley begins to sense his own discomfort at what he is since he learned it from his long deceased, mean-spirited and abusive mother (Dad was never around much). Linda was once married to an abusive lout of a husband and then we learn the details of his death that carry a potent charge - can we trust Linda? Trust is thrown out the window when she sees a speedboat on the waters and does nothing to alert them to their presence.

"Send Help" is often a wicked, tumultuous ride with suspenseful sequences. The trip around the edge of a cliff is enough to give anyone with a fear of heights the heebie jeebies. McAdams does suggest Linda's explosive side and her calm demeanor with equal strength. O'Brien's Bradley is a sourpuss who has always had everything done for him and hasn't cooked a day in his life. We kind of root for him to get off the island and then there is the queasy sense that it has more to do with Linda's increasingly psychotic side than anything else. I wished for more of a power play of two opposites in the corporate world learning to deal with each other where no offices or cubicles are in their way. Since this film was written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon (previously scribed "Freddy vs. Jason" and the "Friday the 13th" remake), I figured such complexity might escape them. 

"Send Help" is a horror comedy with absurdity written all over it but I still craved a deeper look into power dynamics. 

Hood ornament that flies

 THE ROCKETEER (1991)

Reassessed by Jerry Saravia

Pulp adventure tales used to be a dime a dozen in book format, comics and movie serials. Some even had a sci-fi edge to them. "The Rocketeer" is based on the late Dave Stevens' 1982 comic-book series of the same name and, like the feature film, it is a deliberate throwback to a 1930's-1940's sensibility with chivalrous heroes like The Shadow and, perhaps, the Phantom. The difference may be that the Rocketeer is a reluctant hero and he is not interested in wearing tights. His look is more of an Art Deco pilot wearing a "hood ornament" for a mask. "The Rocketeer" is tons of escapist fun though the hero is not as charismatic as I might have hoped.

Bill Campbell is the unlucky pilot, Cliff Secord, who finds himself in trouble with the FBI and the mob, both searching for a top-secret rocket backpack designed by Howard Hughes! It is left in Cliff's biplane and, suddenly, his eyes glow at the possibilities of such a super duper find. Peevy (Alan Arkin), Cliff's mechanic, is also startled by this invention and so they test it on a statue with mixed results. At an air show where he tries to rescue an older former pilot, Cliff swooshes in and out of the clouds and the countryside of orange groves where he keeps trying to get used to the rocket pack (his lack of smooth flying feels credible for a first-timer). This gets the attention of the FBI (one of the agents is played by Ed Lauter), gangsters including their mob boss, the "100% American" Billy Valentine (Paul Sorvino), and naturally fictional Hollywood actor Neville Sinclair (a boisterous turn by Timothy Dalton) who is a secret Nazi. 

"The Rocketeer" packs in a lot of heat for a fun, joyous serial-based fantasy with a few cliffhangers. There is plenty of aerial action with that rocket pack and several planes, a flaming zeppelin, a couple of fistfights with a Rondo Hatton henchman type, Nazis aching to return to the Fatherland, a Hollywood celebrity club where we hear renditions of "Begin the Beguine" by the lovely presence of Melora Hardin and where W.C. Fields and Clark Gable attend, a Bulldog cafe (there was an actual one in L.A.), a creepy Nazi cartoon, and even a lively turn by Terry O'Quinn as a mustachioed Howard Hughes who is trying to develop the Spruce Goose! 

As for Bill Campbell, he looks the part of a 1938 pilot but he is unpersuasive as a hero - just some twentysomething kid who at least knows how to kiss Jennifer Connelly. Connelly gives one of her loveliest performances ever as a Bettie Page-type who is not quite your usual damsel in distress (though she needs rescuing, she also fights back against Neville and some Nazi agents). Despite Campbell's role (he does give it an ounce of humor and determination), "The Rocketeer" is sheer entertainment with thrilling moments that are quite breathless to witness. You'll be cheering by the end.