Film Review: Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
To follow up my previous piece about the great films showing at Il Cinema Ritrovato next week, I am reviewing another film that will be shown during the festival: Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion, a fascinating, but somewhat forgotten thriller that won the best foreign film Oscar in 1971.
Investigation… concerns a police detective who kills his girlfriend and leaves plenty of evidence behind to prove that he is indeed “above suspicion.” Even after the initial crime he goes out of his way to implicate himself and exonerate other suspects while slowly mentally unraveling due to the stress of not being caught. All of this is set to a backdrop of leftist protestors and widespread government spying, which is legitimized by the conservative government’s fear of the liberal left.
Ultimately an expertly crafted satire, Investigation… is equal parts comedy, giallo and poliziotteschi, or for those who are unfamiliar with Italian cinema, comedy, murder mystery and investigation thriller. The writing is complex and intriguing while the acting is pitch perfect throughout, even though the tone of the film shifts from comedy to taught suspense. Fans of Italian cinema will certainly recognize two of the film’s stars Gian Maria Volonté (For A Few Dollars More, A Fistful Of Dollars) and Florinda Bolkan (A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin, Don’t Torture A Duckling). And while we’re on the subject of recognition, the score to this film was composed by none other than Ennio Moricone and is certainly one of the most memorable scores of his long and varied career.
Director Elio Petri is well regarded as a political filmmaker, and no matter what genre he is working in he crafts a film with leftist leanings and a political subtext. Investigation…, while an entertaining piece of popular cinema, is also a harsh satirical criticism of the perceived fascist police state of Italy at the time and of the ways in which the police treat everyday citizens and suspects while investigating a crime. While the film ends on an ambiguous note it seems safe to surmise that our protagonist will not be treated in the same manner that we saw other suspects being treated earlier in the film. So what else is there to say other than check this film out? It’s really worth taking advantage of this opportunity to see it on the big screen.
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion; Dir: Elio Petri; Starring: Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan
This film will screen Thurs, March 19, 7pm, as part of the Il Cinema Ritrovato series at the Granoff Center For The Arts, 154 Angell St, Providence.
Brown University Presents Il Cinema Ritrovato
One of the great things about writing for Motif is cluing people in to theatrical events that otherwise might go unnoticed by the general film-going public. Next week the Italian Studies Department at Brown University will present a touring version of Il Cinema Ritrovato, a yearly festival held to showcase the restoration work performed by the Cineteca of Bologna, Italy. Starting Mon, March 16, they will showcase five nights of restored classics ranging from a selection of Chaplin shorts to the 1970 winner of the best foreign film Oscar Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion.
One of the great films screening will be Angst (1954), the last film Roberto Rossellini directed, starring his wife Ingrid Bergman before they were divorced. Angst concerns Irene Wagner (Bergman), a factory owner who cheated on her husband and is now being blackmailed by an ex-girlfriend of the man with whom she had the affair. As the plot twists and turns, we find out that there may be more behind the blackmail than we originally thought.
Based on a book by Stefan Zweig, Angst is a well-written and taught drama with thriller overtones, which the cast navigates perfectly. The film is also a phenomenally shot film that seemingly blends the visual styles of both film noir and neo realism. It is wonderfully shot by Carlo Carlini, who shot many great Italian films, such as The Big Gundown and one of my favorite underseen films, The Bloodstained Butterfly. Rossellini is considered to be a masterful director and this is evident even in his lesser-known films such as this one, which from what I can tell isn’t even available in the US on DVD.
Angst (La Paura) (1954); Dir: Roberto Rossellini; Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Mathias Wieman, Renate Mannhardt
Il Cinema Ritrovato runs March 16 through 20 at the Granoff Center For The Arts, 154 Angell St, Providence. All screenings start at 7pm and are free to the public. For more info on the films, head over to cineritrovatobrown.weebly.com. And if Angst sounds interesting to you it screens Wed, March 18.
Film Review: What We Do In The Shadows
For my first official review at Motif, I couldn’t have lucked out more since What We Do In The Shadows is such a treat of a film. Brought to us by the creators of “Flight Of The Concords,” this horror comedy from New Zealand defies the limited expectations that come with the description “comedy horror mockumentary” and delivers a hilarious, but extremely well-made send- up of the vampire genre.
The film’s set-up is that a small documentary crew has been given access to a group of vampires who are all housemates in modern day New Zealand. We follow three main vampires, Viago, Vladislav and Deacon, with occasional appearances by their fourth housemate, Petyr, as they navigate their daily lives, which includes household chores, city nightlife, learning modern technology and encountering werewolf packs. Meanwhile, the group’s daily dynamic is thrown into turmoil when they have to educate and guide a new vampire and navigate the social politics of their semi annual ball, The Unholy Masquerade. What We Do In The Shadows is definitely one of the funniest films I have seen in the past couple of years. The film is convincingly shot, well acted and wonderfully written, and I believe that this film will go down as a classic horror comedy since the humor is purely situational while not making fun of the genre. Clearly a lot of research into vampire mythology was done in order to create a well-rounded representation of the subgenre while offering nods to numerous classics of vampire films and literature. It is also worth noting that the comedy and horror moments are balanced wonderfully, which will make this an enjoyable viewing experience for fans of either genre. I recommend this for anyone who likes to have fun at the movies.
What We Do In The Shadows will be screening at the Cable Car Cinema starting Fri, March 6. Please refer to their website for times. Is it too early to proclaim this one of the best films of the year?
What We Do In The Shadows (2014); Dir: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi; Starring: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh; At The Cable Car Cinema.
Documenting an Emergency (R)Evolution
To say that emergency medicine has changed a lot over the last 60 years would be an understatement. Frankly it was built from the ground up in that time. The documentary 24/7/365: The Evolution Of Emergency Medicine, narrated by Anthony Edwards of the old ER TV show, tells the story of the emergence of emergency medicine as a specialized study and highlights a number of the doctors responsible for establishing the systems of emergency care common today.
The documentary is split into multiple sections with titles such as “The Bad Old Days” and “The First Residents” to help lay out the chronology of emergency medicine in the wake of World War II. During and after the war, many Americans moved to city centers and away from their family doctors, but most city hospitals were not equipped for much beyond a simple suture. Emergency rooms, as we know them now, were usually just disused basement rooms without proper staffing.
Different plans were implemented by different hospitals and had varying degrees of success such as The Pontiac Plan in Pontiac, Mich, which arranged to have doctors who worked in the hospital take shifts in the emergency department while other doctors, such as Dr. Mills of Alexandria, Va, gave up his regular and successful practice to concentrate on working in his local emergency department. These measures were a step in the right direction, but doctors knew they needed proper training for emergency medicine and that it had to be a board certified specialty. The medical establishment fought this notion. 24/7/365: The Evolution Of Emergency Medicine takes us from those shaky beginnings to the post- Vietnam establishment of trained paramedics to more recent laws preventing hospitals from turning people away without at least giving them required basic care.
Two of the films’ contributors, writer and producer Dr. Mark Brady and interviewee and consultant Dr. Brian Zink, provided insight into this project. Dr. Zink said, “I wrote a book called Anyone, Anything, Anytime – a History of Emergency Medicine that was published in 2006. I interviewed many of the founders of the field of emergency medicine and spent three years researching the early history of the specialty. Mark Brady and others read the book and Mark got the idea to make a documentary using the basic story I put together and re-interviewing many of the key people with video.”
This is one of the more informative documentaries I have seen recently, and I was curious about the film’s intentions. Brady explained, “People don’t know that a generation ago there was no 911, there were no trained ambulance services, that firemen did not do anything medical, and that ERs were really no more than a room with probably the least trained doc to care for the sickest patients. That was just a generation ago. I wanted to show the origin of it all because that’s why I went into the specialty. The whole EMS/ 911/ ER system arose out of demand from a changing America. We are there because that’s what people wanted. I like that I never have to worry about a patient’s insurance. I can just do whatever I can for what they need. I also am a huge dork and wanted to meet and talk with all these badasses who changed the American healthcare system for all the right reasons.”
Dr. Zink added, “I hope that the film, like the book, will cause people to consider the interplay between social, political and healthcare factors that led to the development of emergency medicine, and how far we have come in 40 years in providing high-quality, always available emergency care in the US.”
24/7/365: The Evolution Of Emergency Medicine skillfully takes viewers through the establishment of emergency medicine as the modern backbone of the hospital industry, told from the point of view of those who fought those battles. When asked what challenges lay ahead for the still young specialty of emergency medicine Dr. Zink replied, “There are lots of exciting areas and developments in healthcare where emergency medicine is a big part of the picture. We will figure out the proper role for emergency departments in increasing access to care, lowering costs, improving communication with other providers, handling complex care, medical homes, end of life care, an aging populace and generally learning how to function more like a system. We have been the safety net for all people, regardless of their ability to pay, when they have medical or psychiatric crises. We will still be that, but hopefully engaged in many new ways to deliver higher quality, lower cost care to the right patients at the right time.”
24/7/365: The Evolution Of Emergency Medicine has aired numerous times on PBS and information about screening the film or purchasing DVDs is available at 247365doc.com
Scary Little Fuckers, A Christmas Movie
Something is stirring in Chepachet this holiday season, but it is not quite what you would expect; it’s a film crew producing a horror, comedy, Christmas short titled Scary Little Fuckers. You might expect a film crew taking advantage of the holiday season and its decorations to craft a heartfelt family drama, but there aren’t usually any tiny monsters running amuck in a heartfelt drama. Local filmmaker Nathan Suher is hard at work directing his new short film, which pays homage to the tiny monster subgenre popularized by the movie Gremlins.
The film has garnered some internet buzz through its social media presence and crowdfunding campaign, and Suher and producer Richard Griffin were kind enough to provide more info on the project. Suher summarized the story as “a story of a father and a son, but the father is a functioning alcoholic who has a faltering relationship with his 15-year-old son. He brings home a Christmas present hoping to mend their relationship and it’s a terrible present. Very similar to Gremlins, it gets out and starts wreaking havoc on their lives. In the end it’s a simple story about how they overcome this obstacle.”
Naturally Suher wanted to keep as much descriptive info as possible about the film’s creatures, Fookas, secret. But I did find out that the Fookas will be an amalgam of movie monster influences with a decidedly Critters-esque quality. The important thing is that all of the film’s effects will be practical. Nathan explained, “The puppets will be hand-operated; we’ll be able to give them a lot of personality with head and mouth movements.” Although the practical effects will be the film’s biggest obstacle, they will also be its largest achievement, considering the project’s small budget. Griffin explained, “The most challenging aspect of the movie has been the Fooka puppets. I did the design of the creature, and we were very fortunate to have Margaret Wolf come in and create them. Margaret has, within a very limited schedule and budget, created some truly fantastic looking beasts!”
Suher, who has directed numerous short films, will be tackling new genres with Scary Little Fuckers since his previous films are mostly dramatic or straight comedies, such as the comedic homage to silent cinema Right There. This project allows him to not only explore new themes, but to work with other filmmakers. When asked about the make-up of the cast and crew, Suher explained, “Its actually a good mix. Richard is one of the most prolific filmmakers in the area and he knows pretty much everybody and I had my favorites from previous productions. I did let him (Griffin) handle production design and the effects. This is probably the 10th short I’ve done in the new England area. With every one, I find favorite crew members that I try to bring to the next one, but there are a lot of new people I’m working with as well. It’s also great cast.”
Although the film did have a well-publicized crowdfunding campaign, it failed to meet its goal. I inquired as to the possible negative impact this could have on the production, but was given a positive response from Suher. “It won’t affect the actual production at all. We were shooting for $5,000, and that was a lofty goal so we could pay for everything including post-production, scoring, film festival submissions and marketing. But we have what we need to put it in the can. So there may be a fundraiser event to raise another $1,000 to $1,500 for post-production.”
Given the multigenre concoction that Scary Little Fuckers aims to be, I was curious what the overall feel would be. Griffin described it. “The tone of Scary Little Fuckers is very dark, with extremely brutal humor in the mix. It’s not a satire or a parody, but more an alternate reality version of Gremlins where the writer and director just had complete contempt for the human race. I think people are going to really enjoy it!” Scary Little Fuckers will shoot in Chepachet over the course of two weekends in December, with post- production to follow early in the new year. Suher and company plan to have the finished short festival- ready for next fall with a definite eye on screening it in October. Beyond Scary Little Fuckers, Suher has plans to continue making short films, tackling new themes and genres. For up-to-date information and news on the film’s progress, check them out on Facebook at facebook.com/pages/Scary-Little-Fuckers- A-Christmas-Movie