Enchanting, surreal mindbender inside Laura Palmer

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 1996)

My taste is in the minority but I consider "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" to be David Lynch's weirdest and most humanistic film since "Eraserhead." Back in 1992, the film was reviled for disgracing all devoted "Twin Peaks" fans because of its strained logic and omission of some major characters from the show. The movie was booed rather than ballyhooed at the Cannes Film Festival, and was panned by most American critics resulting in poor box-office. "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" certainly does not have much in common with the cult TV series but most people I think have missed the point. The story is about Laura Palmer and what she endured in her final days before being murdered. Laura is the most full-bodied and complex portrait of a high-school student I've seen since Timothy Hutton's complex teen character in "Ordinary People."

I'll admit the film does start off badly. Chris Isaak stars as an FBI agent who is arresting teens in a school bus in Fargo! He is called by his superior (David Lynch) to investigate the murder of Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley) in a town as exceptionally creepy as Twin Peaks. Isaak brings along a nervous doctor (Kiefer Sutherland, who is always twitching) to help perform the autopsy. Unexpected clues and goings-on occur and when you have Harry Dean Stanton as a trailer park manager, you know nothing is quite normal. Enter Kyle MacLachlan as Agent Cooper who is sent there to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Isaak.

The film finally picks up speed as we enter the second act, set "One Year Later" in Twin Peaks, detailing the final week in the life of Laura Palmer (beautifully played by Sheryl Lee). She is one of the most popular, sexiest students at Twin Peaks High School but appearances always conceal the truth. Apparently, she is a cokehead, has several boyfriends and attends late-night sex clubs in the Canadian border. Her home life is not much better than her lifestyle. Laura's mother, Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) is bordering towards insanity, and her father, Leland Palmer (Ray Wise), is abusive and strict towards her resulting in one heck of a dysfunctional family. Laura's only sign of normalcy is her devoted best friend, Donna Hayward (Moira Kelly), who is trying to come to terms with Laura's decadent side.

What is especially invigorating about "Twin Peaks" is its unpredictable narrative that confusingly leaps all over the place. At one point, there's a flashback showing David Bowie as some lost FBI agent who knows something about the strange forces at bay in Twin Peaks. Then there are Laura's surrealistic, haunting nightmares (or actual figments of an otherworldly presence) which include a red-suited dwarf (Michael Anderson) commenting on formica tables; young boys wearing strange white masks with Pinocchio noses; angels in waiting; framed pictures of doorways leading somewhere, and so on. The movie feels like a never-ending nightmare, and it is to Lynch's credit that he doesn't suffuse it with tongue-in-cheek humor or deliberate winks to the audience as if it was all a joke - "Wild at Heart" is a minor example of the latter. This is a dark fable about self-revelation, incest, murderous impulses and depravity in small-town America - a far more vivid journey than the overrated shenanigans of "Blue Velvet."

The casting is impeccable. Sheryl Lee exhibits layers of sincerity, lustfulness, heartbreak and denial with breathtaking vigor - her Laura Palmer is a tortured soul in need of nurturing. Ray Wise scarily depicts a seething madman in Leland yet seems normal enough to pass as an average dad. Wise and Lee's scenes are intense and dramatic to witness in the most twisted father-daughter relationship ever seen. Moira Kelly is not especially convincing as Laura's best friend and remains the poorest casting choice (Lara Flynn Boyle was better). MacLachlan mostly has a sharp cameo as Agent Cooper and floats in and out of the story, and there's the fast-talking Miguel Ferrer as a competitive agent. A character sorely missed from the show is the alluring Audrey Horne but you can't have everything.

David Lynch's direction is exceptional with his trademark shadowy angles bringing forth a foreboding sense of gloom, and moody photography courtesy of Ron Garcia. Two standout sequences are a strobe-lit club party, and a harrowing encounter with the One-Armed Man (Al Strobel) during a traffic jam. The nightmare sequences are weird and abstract beyond belief, and will give you goose bumps for days not to mention Angelo Badalamenti's eerie score.

"Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" is far from greatness, but it is more philosophical and less enchanting than "Wild at Heart." Laura Palmer's descent into drugs, decadence and madness is thrillingly realized by Lynch, and he creates the most unforgettable character since Henry in "Eraserhead."

Beverly Hills Cop 4 - Axel is back!

BACK WHERE HE DOESN'T BELONG

By Jerry Saravia

In July of 2013, news was announced that Eddie Murphy would return as Detroit detective Axel Foley in the on/off again project, "Beverly Hills Cop 4." Never mind the fact that Murphy was already back as Axel in the now shelved 2013 TV pilot titled "Beverly Hills Cop" where Axel's son, Aaron Foley (Brandon T. Jackson), tries to escape his father's shadow by enlisting in the Beverly Hills police department. Shelved? Cancelled? Yes, Virginia, there is no "real" Santa Claus. Twenty years ago, networks would have been set ablaze to have Eddie Murphy in a television show (how often do you see Eddie on television, period)! I mean, it is Eddie Murphy, who is not quite the superstar he was back in the 80's and mid-to-late 90's. Reportedly, Paramount Pictures had their heads set in a dizzy mode when watching the pilot due to Murphy's "scene-stealing turn" as the tough-talking Detroit detective. Well, of course, this is the role that made Eddie a superstar and it is his most popular film role ever - it defines everything that mainstream audiences love about Eddie Murphy. 

Brandon T. Jackson and Eddie Murphy in the TV pilot for Beverly Hills Cop

What I don't get is why the pilot was shot and edited and NBC executives marveled at Murphy's performance, and yet abruptly cancelled any plans for more TV episodes? Unless, of course, Murphy's performance is the only aspect of the show that they marveled at (director Barry Sonnenfeld helmed the pilot). At any rate, Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec - the screenwriting duo behind "Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol" - are writing the script for the fourth film. Will Axel's son still be in the script? Will Eddie just hang out in Beverly Hills again with old buddies Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton)? Me thinks so although a little backstory on the potty-mouthed Detroit detective might be nice since, after three movies, we know very little about him. Will Theresa Randle, last seen as Axel's first major squeeze in the entire series ("Beverly Hills Cop III" to be precise), be back? Will she be the mother of Axel's son, if in fact he makes an appearance? Don't count on an appearance by Axel's boss, Inspector Todd (Gil Hill - an actual former Detroit detective) since he was gunned down in the third film - unless they ignore the third film completely which would be okay by me. I don't mind seeing a new sequel with Axel Foley but will modern audiences cater to it since it has been twenty years since the third film, which fizzled at the box-office?  

Eddie Murphy and Theresa Randle at the end of Beverly Hills Cop III

Misery loves Henry Jaglom

SOMEONE TO LOVE (1987)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

How interesting can it be to film people's responses to loneliness, loss of love and women's liberation? New York filmmaker Henry Jaglom ("New Year's Day," "Eating") has taken the route of doing just that - filming people's responses to those subjects, and the result is one of the most profound, exciting and personal films of the 1980's.

Henry Jaglom plays a film director named Danny who is shaken and perplexed by his girlfriend, Helen (remarkably played by Andrea Marcovicci) who wants to be left alone, much to Danny's chagrin, when she sleeps. After she brushes her teeth, Danny has to leave so she can sleep in peace. On that note, Danny flies to Santa Monica to see his brother (Michael Emil) who is in the real estate business, and who deplores Danny's profession insisting it isn't work, it is "play." His brother is co-owner of an antique theater that is about to be demolished after having sold it. Danny gets the creative idea to stage and film his old friends and acquaintances in the theater, and so he makes invitations to all who are lonely on Valentine's Day to attend. A surprising number of people show up including his emotional companion Helen, a singer; Dave Frishberg who plays the piano in a beautiful montage sequence; Sally Kellerman as a distraught, popular movie star who all the men flirt with; Kathryn Harrold as an actress who wants to have a family; Steven Bishop who gets to play the guitar; and even the sage Orson Welles, in his last role, as a film director who delivers profound insights on women's liberation, loneliness and filmmaking. And for avid film buffs, Oja Kodar makes a pleasing guest appearance as a Yugoslavian woman who admires Danny for his truth and honesty (Oja was Welles's longtime collaborator and companion and appeared with him in "F for Fake").

"Someone to Love" is an eye-opening pseudo-documentary of relationships and what it means to have a companion, and the benefits and hazards of being lonely. It is the only film from the 80's to deal honestly, and with startling candor, on such issues. The question of Danny's credibility as a filmmaker is brought up at one point when he films Helen while dancing with her and she gets visibly upset. To quote Michael Powell, is all this filmmaking healthy? Is Danny asking questions that are too personal, or does he really want his brother to mingle and meet people at this offbeat party? Could it be that Danny is the only miserable person at this party?

"Someone to Love" has no real ending but it does have a stirring conclusion with Welles smoking a cigar and cracking up as he expounds on what Jaglom may or may not have accomplished in his film. "Your films are very different from mine," says Welles. "You like happy endings because you are a sentimentalist." "Someone to Love" is never sentimental but it is a love letter to all artists (and people) who are miserable, happy or unhappy about life and love, and to those who consider loneliness a virtue. Are women better off without a male companion or a marriage? Are men also plagued by the same questions? These may be questions you ask yourself everyday but rarely are these questions ever explored in a film. "Someone to Love" is a sad, passionate, funny, messy film of great magnitude by a great director. And yes, his films are very different from anyone else's.

Natural Born Weed Killers

SAVAGES (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Savages" is Oliver Stone's return to crime thrillers bathed in noirish amorality a la delicacies borrowed from his underrated "U-Turn" to his masterstroke, the highly controversial "Natural Born Killers" (a movie I've steadily admired). It is the latest in slacker noir porn, relatively meaning weed noir where bloody violence is steeped in the business of selling and smoking weed. Except that Oliver Stone's movie is semi-serious business and not exactly a replica of the horrendous "Pineapple Express." Nope, this is a semi-"Salvador" version of "Pineapple Express" mixed with a comical and often disturbingly chaotic cocktail brew of Stoned Extremes. Is it a great movie? Not quite - it is messy and overindulgent - but it is also exasperatingly alive. In other words, Oliver Stone's demented, wildly demonic self is back.

Two marijuana users and business partners, battle-scarred Navy Seal Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and pacifist Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), are harvesting marihuana in Laguna Beach, California and their plants have THC levels that are as high as 33%. They are the best of friends and they share the same woman, O (Blake Lively). The story begins like a "Jules and Jim" variant except that chopped heads and protruding eyeballs are around the corner. Elena (Salma Hayek) is the reluctant Mamasita of the Mexican drug cartel and she wants a piece of the weed pie (frankly, no one else in the world has THC levels that are so damn high). When video is sent of a massacre that would be at home in Peckinpah country, the boys get nervous and are unwilling to cooperate with this criminal syndicate. But then the eternally stoned O is kidnapped and things get hairy when a conniving DEA agent (John Travolta), a terrifying and slimy psycho named Lado (Benicio Del Toro, in a role reversal from his "Traffic" role) who is itching to kill and rape, and other unpleasant characters enter the picture. And to make everything as topical as possible, there are references to Afghanistan (where Cho got all the weed from), BP oil spill, legalization of marijuana (when in creation will that happen?) and much more.

Everyone in "Savages" becomes a savage and cannot be trusted, including Ben and Chon whom we are supposed to root for, somewhat. The sweet-as-a-headache girl O even becomes tainted. Oliver Stone's point (taken from a script he co-wrote with Shane Salerno and the book's author, Don Winslow) is that our world is so chaotic and lacking in any defining moral shape that greed rules all, and backstabbing (literally and figuratively) is this country's cross to bear. If you are too sensitive, you will be killed. If you can screw the next person, by all means do it but you might end up in a bodybag. Perhaps that is why "Savages" was not exactly a major box-office success - no morality and no one to root for. Exactly.

"Savages" is not exactly different from any numerous films and TV-movies that have covered the war on drugs and cliched Mexican drug lords and cartels and their negotiations of business dealings, etc. The film, though, distinguishes itself from the norm by cranking out one delicious performance after another from a great supporting cast. Salma Hayek sports graceful notes with her love for her daughter and for her growing need to nurture the unfortunately needy O; Benicio Del Toro is the loco villain who thinks nothing of shooting someone in the kneecaps or raping his wife, despite supposedly loving and needing a family (his character could've used more backstory); John Travolta simmers on screen as a crooked DEA agent who tries to work both sides with sincerity, and is losing his wife to cancer; the suave Demian Bichir as the high-ranking member of the cartel; Emile Hirsch as a savvy, alert computer expert; and Sandra Eccheveria as Elena's daughter who wants nothing to do with the family.

Taylor Kitsch defines steely, rough exterior even when having sex with O ("Wargasm," she says) - he looks hardbitten and has the look of early Clint Eastwood. The fault in casting is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the sweet, environmentally-friendly Ben (who also has sex with O) - his character's shift to violence is hardly credible. A more stirring actor would have been appropriate, maybe even Shia LaBeouf (Did I just say that? Yes, I did). Blake Lively appears more stoned victim throughout the film, like a symbol of love than a full-bodied character.

Still, "Savages" has high energy in spurts, terrific suspense and Oliver Stone keeps up the momentum. There is sex (women wear their bras while being penetrated), drugs, lots of weed smoking, graphic violence and many Tarantinian moments for sure (what happens to one specific character will remind many of the savage violence from "Reservoir Dogs"). Salma Hayek wears the same hairdo as Louise Brooks and, of course, Uma Thurman (from  "Pulp Fiction"). Travolta gives a wickedly comical performance that has a subtle nod to his Vincent Vega from "Pulp Fiction." This is Stone having fun with a big-scale crime epic, throwing everything from grainy images to black-and-white back to color, an assortment of canny tunes and some gorgeous desert scenes. The ending has a nice twist that makes sense with all that precedes it (it will not end the way you expect it). And Stone gives his film a mild dose of "Salvadorian" reality crossed with the Tarantino razzle-dazzle (and a nod, I gather, to Brian De Palma as well). "Savages" is odd, a bit heartless and cold at times, but never less than an adrenaline-stoked, feverish rush that only Stone can manage. After feeling a bit mixed about the otherwise solid "W." and the halfway decent "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," it is refreshing to see the man engaged in a little tomfoolery.

Grunts and an inert plot undermine Conan sequel

CONAN THE DESTROYER (1984)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Arnold Schwarzenegger established a career as an action star with "Conan The Barbarian," one of the best sword-and-sorcery flicks ever made. As written and directed by John Milius, it was a film of gestures and body language - imagine a comic-book with illustrations of swordsmen and pythons come to life. Hence, a sequel was quickly dispatched to cinemas known as "Conan the Destroyer," a hardly invigorating sequel with none of the juice or energy of the original.

Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the muscle-bound barbarian who handles a sword better than anyone - he also has the strength of ten thousand men. Conan is recruited by a persuasive queen (Sarah Douglas) to aid a virgin princess (Olivia D'Abo) to some crystal palace where a stone of some kind exists, yet it is guarded by a demonic guard. We also have the Wizard (Mako, nicely overacting) along for the ride, in addition to the queen's trusted palace guard (the humongous Wilt Chamberlain) who has dubious thoughts regarding the barbarian. Also, there is an electrically charged performance by Grace Jones, a warrior princess who could give Lucy Lawless's Xena the heebie jeebies. She is the one redeeming feature of this inert fantasy.

There are the standard sword battles, the usual grunts and monosyllabic speech of Conan and a statue that comes to life that guards the stone, or was it jewels (I tend to forget these details). The violence is less graphic thanks to a ridiculous PG-13 rating - this kind of tale is supposed to be dark, larger-than-life and graphic. None of this matters since not one scene works on any level. There is no sense of adventure or excitement and hardly much of a story. The special-effects lack the magic of the original film. After it is all over, we are told in an epilogue that Conan will someday rule as king. The fact that a "Conan III" never materialized should be considered a blessing. (UPDATE: "The Legend of Conan" might become a reality, rather than the originally titled "King Conan." Schwarzenegger is returning and I am hoping it is better than this limp sequel and limp remake). 

Day the Clown Cried Behind-the-scenes

THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED FOOTAGE SURFACES

By Jerry Saravia

It seems not too long ago that Jerry Lewis spoke very negatively of "The Day the Clown Cried," an unfinished film he directed back in the early 1970's. As a refresher course on this controversial, unreleased film, Jerry Lewis play the title role of a German circus clown named Helmut Doork who entertains Jewish children repeatedly (they laugh at his antics) despite being admonished and beaten by the Nazis each time. Before long, he is mistakenly stationed in Auschwitz where he continues to entertain the Jewish children who are being readied for the gas chamber.

Reportedly, from many sources involved with the production, the film was a disaster (one such source was "This is Spinal Tap's" own Harry Shearer who saw the film). Jerry Lewis himself had tried to complete it and have it ready for release but faced many financial and legal entanglements. Most recently at a Cinefamily Q&A event at the Los Angeles Silent Movie Theatre, Lewis was asked if the film would ever surface in any fashion. He replied: "...in terms of that film I was embarrassed. I was ashamed of the work, and I was grateful that I had the power to contain it all, and never let anyone see it. It was bad, bad, bad."

Just a couple of days ago, Youtube uploaded a 7-minute behind-the-scenes special with footage and some takes with sound from the film, originally discovered in a Flemish website. The footage has Lewis juggling balls and performing some funny tricks with a candle, discussing the use of temp music to get the actors ready and engaged for their scenes, and several other clowns who mug for the camera. This may be as close as anyone gets to seeing a frame of this controversial film beyond what A&E aired years ago.

Buzz is back and LOUD

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is one of the loopiest, demented horror sequels ever made - a nonstop avalanche of bloodcurling terror and black humor. There is never any respite from the chaos or the dementia - it goes on and on. Though it is not as gory as one might think, it is not everyone's cup of tea, not if you are in the mood for pleasant time-filler.

Part 2 takes place several years after the events of the first film. An opening sequence shows two college-age kids attacked by a chainsaw-wielding maniac on a pickup truck. They are killed in grisly fashion while talking to a disc jockey on the air. The next day, a former sheriff (Dennis Hopper) investigates the crime and wants to put a stop to the cannibal family that killed a relative of his in the past. The disc jockey, Stretch (Caroline Williams), decides to help the sheriff by airing the audio tape she made of the grisly crime, despite the conflicts with the FCC. The hope is that authorities will realize that the cannibal family must be captured and brought to justice. Naturally, after the tape is aired, a gangly, greasy-haired man named Chop Top (Bill Moseley) makes inquiries about the tape. Before you can say the buzz is back, the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface (Bill Johnson) and his family raise holy hell all over again. This includes the wicked father who runs a profitable chili business and the 130-year-old grandfather who seems to drink blood to stay alive. Gross? Yep, including Chop Top's constant scratching of the metal plate on his head with the use of a hanger that he...well, folks, I hate to gross you out.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is merely frenetic and cartoonish from start to finish, and Mr. Hooper doesn't know when to quit. The crazed family now live in an abandoned amusement park of sorts with a house built underground on several levels. So we see one room and passageway after another decorated with candles and cadavers. Miss Williams runs from one room to another, constantly screaming in the highest pitches imaginable - certainly topping Miss Marilyn Burns own screams from the original. And Mr. Hopper, pre-"Blue Velvet", finds their living quarters and starts to cut down the foundation with several chainsaws. So we see some bloodletting (though it is kept to a minimum), Leatherface making Miss Williams do the most disgusting acts imaginable, Chop Top screaming about Vietnam, a dueling chainsaw match, old gramps licking his lips with glee, a suicide involving a grenade in someone's butt, and so on.

For sheer sweat-inducing thrills and genuine claustrophobia, I still highly recommend the original "Chainsaw Massacre" (nobody has ever made a frightening, never-ending nightmare like it since, not even Hooper). For genuinely cartoonish mayhem and melodramatic thrills with its tongue firmly placed on its cheek, this highly over-the-top sequel is the one to see. Hooper still knows how to engineer a feverish, energetic horror film like no one else, and the abrupt ending with Williams dancing around with a chainsaw still makes me shiver. It's just that the pitch is set a little too high. Or perhaps the buzz on that chainsaw is just a tad too loud.