The Whistlers

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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Amanda Seyfried in MANK on Netflix

This week, the prestige movies have started to roll out for the Holidays. Stay tuned.

ON VIDEO

Don’t forget that some of my Best Movies of 2020 – So Far, are already available. I haven’t yet written about Mank or The Father. I haven’t yet seen Nomadland or The Sound of Metal.

  • Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie. The more I think about Driveways, the more I admire it. It also features the final performance – so genuine and subtle – by Brian Dennehy. Driveways is available to stream on all the major platforms.
  • The Whistlers: In this absorbing crime thriller, a shady cop and a mysterious woman are walking a tightrope of treachery. The Whistlers was a hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 impaired its 2020 theatrical release in the US. (Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.)
  • The Truth: Writer-director Hirozaki Koreeda’s latest wry and authentic exploration of human behavior is a showcase for Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche. Hirokeeda, such an insightful observer of behavior, cuts to the core of his characters’ profound humanity. (Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.)

ON TV

Ray Harryhausen with one of his sword-fighting skeletons from JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

On December 10, Turner Classic Movies will be airing Jason and the Argonauts, a work of artistic genius and fun with Greek mythology. The original thousands-year-old story is a fun adventure yarn, and the 1963 movie, even with its sword-and-sandal dialogue and acting, is loads of fun.

Ray Harryhausen was a unique genius of pre-CGI movie special effects.  His stop-motion animation created the vivid creatures that made possible movies about ancient mythology (from the 1958 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad through the 1981 Clash of the Titans) and fantasy literature (The Three Worlds of Gulliver).  His pioneering work in stop-motion animation has influenced the field since, all the way to today’s Aardman Animation and Wallace and Gromit.

Harryhausen’s masterpiece was Jason and the Argonauts, for which he created the Harpies, Talos, the Clashing Rocks Triton, the Hydra and the sword-fighting skeletons that emerge from the Hydra’s teeth.  I still watch Jason and the Argonauts whenever it’s on TV, and I often give the DVD to kids. 

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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THE DEEP

This week, The Movie Gourmet adds more three overlooked gems to watch at home: a real life survival story, an irresistible glimpse into The New Yorker cartoons and a forgotten anti-war classic.

ON VIDEO

The compelling The Deep tells the fact-based survival story of a shipwrecked Icelandic fisherman’s ordeal in frigid waters.   You can stream The Deep on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

If you’re like me and you worship the cartoons in The New Yorker, then the documentary Very Semi-Serious is a Must See. You can stream it from Amazon (free with Prime), iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.

In the absorbing crime thriller The Whistlers, a shady cop and a mysterious woman are walking a tightrope of treachery. The Whistlers was a hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 impaired its 2020 theatrical release in the US. You can stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Other recent streaming recommendations:

Buck Brannaman in BUCK

ON TV

On May 3, Turner Classic Movies will present an overlooked masterwork. Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing Englishwomen for the brass. Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War. She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.

Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy. Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it. Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.

It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network. Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe. Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.

One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

Jule Andrews and James Garner in THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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THE WHISTLERS

Yet more movies to watch at home, still topped by the excellent crime thriller The Whistlers.

ON VIDEO

In the absorbing crime thriller The Whistlers, a shady cop and a mysterious woman are walking a tightrope of treachery. The Whistlers was a hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 impaired its 2020 theatrical release in the US. You can stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Because the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) was supposed to be underway now (it’s been cancelled for the COVID-19 emergency), here’s a film from SFFILM’s 2017 program: The Lost City of Z revives the genre of the historical adventure epic, with all the spectacle of a swashbuckler, while braiding in modern sensitivities and a psychological portrait. This is a beautiful and thoughtful film. The Lost City of Z is available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Other recent streaming recommendations:

ON TV

Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Seven Days in May

“I’m suggesting Mr President, there’s a military plot to take over the Government of these United States, next Sunday…”

John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) is a master of the thriller, and his 1964 Seven Days in May is a masterpiece of the paranoid political thriller subgenre.  Edmond O’Brien’s performance is best among outstanding turns by Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frederic March and Whit Bissell.  Douglas showed his range by playing a profoundly decent man, for whom “patriotic” meant “devoted, dutiful and loyal to the nation’s principles”, not “jingoistic”. April 23 on Turner Classic Movie.

Kirk Douglas in SEVEN DAYS IN MAY

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Catrinel Marlon and Vlad Ivanov in THE WHISTLERS

More movies to watch at home: I’ve amped up my streaming recommendations as we shelter in place. And we start with a new film, The Whistlers.

ON VIDEO

In the absorbing crime thriller The Whistlers, a shady cop and a mysterious woman are walking a tightrope of treachery. The Whistlers, was a hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 impaired its 2020 theatrical release in the US. You can stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

My tribute to the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM), which would have been underway but for COVID-19, is Rojo. Set just before Argentina’s bloody coup in the 1970s, this moody, atmospheric film works as a slow-burn thriller. Rojo made my list of 10 Overlooked Movies of 2019. Stream it from Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a biodoc of a female cinema pioneer – one of the first directors, producers and studio heads – in both France and the US. You don’t know the whole story of the beginnings of cinema if you don’t know about Alice Guy. It’s currently free on WATCH TCM and can be streamed from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play. You can watch Guy’s comic 1906 critique of male behavior, The Consequences of Feminism, on my blog post.

Evelyn Keyes in THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK

And is it too soon for Pandemic Noir? My post highlights Panic in the Streets and The Killer that Stalked New York. The Killer That Stalked New York has played on Turner Classic Movies; it’s not currently available to stream, but the DVD is available to purchase. The better movie, Panic in the Streets, plays frequently on Turner Classic Movies and can be streamed from iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Other recent streaming recommendations:

ON TV

On April 11 and 12, Turner Classic Movies brings us Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, another film noir from the great Fritz Lang. Seeking to discredit capital punishment, a novelist (Dana Andrews) gets himself charged with and CONVICTED of a murder – but then the evidence of his innocence suddenly disappears! Crackerjack (and deeply noir) surprise ending. Film noir historian Eddie Muller will introduce the film.

Dana Andrews and Joan Fontaine in BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT

REMEMBRANCE

Character actor Allen Garfield contributed to many fine films, especially in the 1970s heyday of American auteurs, including The Candidate, The Brink’s Job, Nashville and The Stunt Man. My favorite Garfield performance was as the sleazy Bernie in the 1974 masterpiece The Conversation.

Allen Garfield in THE CONVERSATION

THE WHISTLERS: walking a tightrope of treachery

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Catrinel Marlon and Vlad Ivanov in THE WHISTLERS

In the absorbing crime thriller The Whistlers, Cristi (Vlad Ivanov) is a shady Romanian cop who is lured into a dangerous plot by the rapturously sexy Gilda (Catrinel Marlon) and the promise of a fortune. A lethal Spanish mafia is planning a Perfect Crime to recover the loot stolen by Gilda and her Romanian partner, Zsolt. Only Zslot knows where the treasure is, and he’s been jailed by Cristi’s colleagues. To beat the omnipresent surveillance of Romanian state security, Cristi is sent to La Gomera, an island in the Spanish Canary Islands to learn a whistling language.

A whistling language? Indeed, residents of La Gomera can communicate by whistling in code. The language is called Silbo Gomera and it was already being used in ancient Roman times. The whistling can be heard for up to two miles, which allows the locals to communicate across the impassable ravines on the mountainous island.

The plan to spring Zsolt depends on Cristi learning Silbo Gomera and then implementing an intricate plan in which nothing can go wrong. Even if the plan goes right, Cristi and Gilda run the very real risk of being killed by the pitiless Spanish mafia or by the corrupt and unaccountable Romanian cops. Cristi and Gilda are walking a tightrope of treachery.

Vlad Ivanov in THE WHISTLERS

The Whistlers is written and directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, who is a master of the deadpan. Two of his earlier films became art house hits in the US, 12:08 East of Bucharest and Police, Adjective. Both of those films explored fundamental corruption in Romanian society as a legacy of the communist era..

Cristi is played by Romanian actor Vlad Ivanov. Ivanov is best known for the Romanian masterpiece 4 Days, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, in which he played one of cinema’s most repellent characters – Mr. Bebe, the sexual harassing abortionist. American audiences have also seen Ivanov’s performances in Police, Adjective and Snowpiercer.

Ivanov excels in playing Everyman piñatas, which serves him well in The Whistlers. Ivanov delivered a tour de force in the 2019 Cinequest film Hier, as a man more and more consumed by puzzles, and increasingly perplexed, dogged, battered and exhausted.

For The Whistlers to work, Catrinel Marlon must make Gilda quick-thinking and gutsy, and she pulls it off. She is very good, as is Rodica Lazar as Cristi’s coldly ruthless boss Magda.

This is a Romanian film with dialogue in Romanian, English, Spanish and, of course, whistling. The Whistlers, a top notch crime thriller, can be streamed from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.