Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #300: Happy as Lazzaro (2018).

 

On rural Italian state named Inviolata, Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo) is a passive and almost simpleminded young farmhand working for the Marchioness Alfonsina De Luna (Nicholetta Braschi), who runs Inviolata in an almost feudal manner. Lazzaro dutifully obeys every order the Marchioness, her son Tancredi (Luca Chikovani) and the estate supervisor Ultimo (Sergi Lopez) give him, but it soon appears this is all an act, for Lazzaro is far more intelligent and cunning than everybody else thinks. After he clandestinely befriends Tancredi, who himself is also more rebellious than he publicly appears, Lazzaro makes a plan with Tancredi to have him kidnapped so he can finally escape his oppressive life and work on the farm and move to the big smoke.

This 2018 Cannes Film Festival entry from writer-director Alice Rohrwacher begins quite charmingly with its depiction of a relatable young protagonist in the Italian countryside and, perhaps surprisingly, it doesn't show Lazzaro and Tancredi entering a same-sex romance (just for the record here I wouldn't have found that offensive, just predictable). But then after Lazzaro's fake kidnapping is staged, I must say I found it to be increasingly very bland and even slightly monotonous. There is literally no humour here despite the narrative and its devices inviting numerous chances for some, particularly during and after Lazzaro leaves the farm, and there's also not enough music IMO to maintain a consistent energy. I realise it's a drama and that was Rohrwacher's intention, but I think this narrative would've ultimately been more vibrant and engaging as a dramedy.

Tardiolo gives a sweet performance - adequately natural, duplicitous and non-judgemental - as the not-so-simple Lazzaro, and Chikovani counters him well as the more openly anarchic Tancredi, but they keep Happy as Lazzaro only barely afloat for me. What could've - and I suspect should've - been a coming-of-age buddy story that critically contrasts the atmospheres of rural and urban Italy instead struck me, by the end, as a dully conventional and overly serious friendship adventure. 6/10. 

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #299: The King of Comedy (1982).

 

Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) is a delusional New York City stand-up comedian trying to get his big break. There's just one problem: he's not very good, and certainly not as good as he thinks he is. After meeting successful comedian and talk show host Jerry Langford (a hilariously deadpan Jerry Lewis), he tries repeatedly to win a guest spot on Langford's show, but Langford's secretary Cathy Long (Shelley Hack) and then Langford himself rebuff Rupert. Still undeterred, Rupert then arrives uninvited at Langford's country house, albeit partly in attempt to impress his love interest, local bartender Rita Keene (De Niro's then-wife Diahnne Abbott). When this stunt also fails, Pupkin then takes drastic measures: with fellow stalker Masha's (Sandra Bernhard) help, he kidnaps Langford and holds him at ransom until Langford finally relents and gives him a chance at stardom.

The King of Comedy was a departure for Martin Scorsese and De Niro in that it's more of, well, a comedy than any of their previous collaborations; however, a streak of underlying darkness and suspense still pervades it. What I'm saying is, it's a black comedy. Working from Paul D. Zimmerman's suitably balanced screenplay, Scorsese seems to feel refreshed in diversifying his tone here and De Niro shows glimmers of the comic skill he would later demonstrate more overtly in farces like Meet the Parents. Together, this trio also offer a stinging and a quite impassioned critique of modern society's obsession with celebrity and glamour, as well the fickleness and pitfalls of fame. In that sense, it's very easy to see why this film has grown in popularity and relevance over time despite commercially flopping when first released.

Regardless, there are plenty of genuine laughs to be had here and they're all mixed in with the darker and more serious scenes very effectively. It also evokes the atmosphere and inner workings of New York City's culture and entertainment scene (at least of the era) very strongly, as I guess you'd expect from a Scorsese picture as it's his home city. Anyhow, The King of Comedy reigns supreme. 9/10.

Where I was for all of May.

Hello again, to anybody out there who actually follows this blog. (Just for clarity I doubt anybody does, but if you actually do, thank you.) "So, Jarred, where have you been?" I hear you ask. Well, I set myself a challenge. I chose to re-watch all 33 of my #1 movies from every year of my lifetime so far, and to maintain continuity, I resisted watching any other movies in that time. That was why, until yesterday, I posted no new reviews here (or anywhere else, for that matter). Naturally, I'd seen most of the older movies in that group far more times than most of the newer ones, and due to several factors unrelated to the films themselves, I actually nodded off during a few of them and then had to resume them later from roughly where I'd fallen asleep (one of them, believe it or not, which I fell asleep during was Star Wars: The Force Awakens). That left me frustrated with myself.

It was also a good challenge in that, while I always knew beforehand what I'd be watching the next day, on certain days I had to alter my routine to fit them in, and somebody like me can become too dependent on routine. Most particularly, on the day when I was set to watch The Wolf of Wall Street, a three-hour film, I had social activities on that morning and then had to wait until after 4pm, when the female cleaner who cleans my unit, had finished her shift because I really didn't want to risk making her uncomfortable by watching a movie in which Leonardo DiCaprio snorts drugs off a naked woman's body (among other immoral acts) in her presence. Then I had to cook dinner at 7pm, the time when I usually eat it.

Anyhow, I completed that self-imposed challenge and I don't regret undertaking it. That's, however, the only unusual thing that's happened to me lately and nothing really negative has occurred recently. I've also maintained writing poetry and, come to think of it, I've found a new special outdoor place locally where I've already returned a couple of times; last time I actually composed a new poem there. So overall, recently my life has been as varied as it's been stable. 

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #298: Wheels on Meals (1984).

 

Cousins Thomas (Jackie Chan) and David (Yuen Biao) run a fast food van in Barcelona, but habitually have to fend street gangs off. One day while visiting David's institutionalised father, they meet Sylvia (Lola Forner), a pickpocket posing as a prostitute who immediately has them both enamoured. But after letting her stay at their apartment overnight, they wake the next morning to find she's left and taken their money with her. Then they encounter Moby (director Sammo Hung), a bumbling private eye who's also after Sylvia. The trio soon then learn Sylvia is the heir to a big fortune that a crime syndicate is trying to steal from her. Now she is kidnapped, of course, and so Thomas, David and Moby must go on a mission to rescue her and the money.

I'm a huge Chan fan and so upon learning this one starred him it provoked my interest, but I don't think it's a bright spot of his back catalogue. The fight scenes are, of course and as always, impeccable and several moments amused me, but both of those pluses are woven into what I considered a really dull and inhibited narrative. Hung (who later directed Jackie again in the far superior Mr. Nice Guy in 1997), and writers Johnny Le and Edward Tang offer a vision that's half urban crime caper, half swashbuckling adventure but both of those approaches here felt hackneyed and they never quite meshed together cohesively. For clarity I realise the narrative isn't the chief point of a martial arts movie but still, that can be very hard to ignore and here I couldn't quite because it didn't exactly charm me.

I much prefer Jackie and his movies when they're really rollicking and relentless; this one, for me, was inconsistent at best. The action delivers the goods but as I said, the storytelling negatively counters that delivery. There's also insufficient confidence in Hung's pacing and some of the music score borders on being very dated as well. Therefore, these Wheels on Meals didn't exactly have the best traction for me. 6/10.