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…and as promised here is the second part of my movie dump, with plenty of other good titles for you to watch. Enjoy!

Water Lilies
Director: Celine Sciamma
Genre: Drama
Year: 2007

How this movie ended up in my Netflix list, I have no idea. I think I might have gotten it confused with another movie that has Lilies in the title. Spider Lilies, maybe? I don’t know, the point is it ended up in my house and I had it there so I may as well watch it. Given that it was about synchronized swimmers…I really had to scratch my head and wonder exactly how I had this movie on my list. Then on top of that, the fact that it deals with the awkward relationships of really young adolescents…I was disturbed in a way that I had not been since I watched Thirteen.

I don’t know that I can say I would watch this movie again, but I can say that I am very glad I watched it, uncomfortable as I may have felt. Beneath it all, the sort of tabboo subject it deals with, this movie seems to have the sort of beauty that the book Lolita seemed to carry. Except the story is entirely different and it has been updated to reflect present days.

Essentially the story deals with three young teenagers, dealing with the issues of love and relationships and confused about what they want and how it is they want it. Needless to say sexuality is a pretty prominent issue in this movie and given their age it is particularly difficult to watch, at least for me (the father of two little girls). But I would be lying if I did not accept the fact that this is one of the most honest movies about adolescent relationships I have can remember seeing and though the film deals with only girls in the lead roles, the themes it touches upon are quite universal, enough that I think most everybody that watches this will be able to relate in one way or the other.

Very much an indie film, very much a foreign film, this is one that I would recommend only to the fans of those two aspects, but I would recommend it, perhaps not for purchase, but it is most definitely worth the watch, even if it has synchronized swimming….

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: Sexual content, nudity, adult themes. French with English subtitles.

Rescue Dawn
Director: Werner Herzog
Genre: War/Drama/Biography/Action
Year: 2006

Given that it was Werner Herzog that shot the documentary dealing with this subject, it seems to make sense that he was the one that shot this film and the fact that he knew the material he was dealing with shows incredibly in this powerful movie about one of the great escapes of the Vietnam War.

Dieter Dengler wants to fly and he wants to fly so badly he is willing to join the military during a time of war to achieve his dream. Sadly, it is during his first mission into Laos, that his plane is shot down, an accident he survives mostly intact and which puts him in the precarious situation of being an enemy in a war that they have not officially entered. Eventually Dieter is captured and held hostage along with a handful of other men, in an encampment essentially in the middle of nowhere. This film deals with their improbable escape and the amazing situations Dieter had to rise over in order to get back to safety.

Incredibly well directed and acted, with a solid cast and a solid story, this movie is an instant classic and I am surprised it did not get more marketing than what I recall seeing for it. If you are a fan of war films or escape films, this one will be right up your alley. And armed with Herzog’s directing, Bale’s acting, this movie is a jewel. Not only that, the supporting cast does a tremendous job as well including, Jeremy Davies, as a prisoner (and who looked in this movie as sickly skinny as Bale did for The Machinist. It must be noted that Bale lost a lot of weight for this role as well) and believe it or not, Steve Zhan!

A buy, if not a must watch.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Notes: Some pretty messed up situations, war and violence, language and disturbing imagery.
Quote: Duane: You’re a strange bird, Dieter. A man tries to kill you and you want his job.

Bad Guy
Director: Ki-duk Kim
Genre: Drama
Year: 2001

Whatever you want to say about Ki-duk Kim, mainstream is something he simply isn’t, but he has covered a gamut of emotions in his films and always with interesting results. Some of his films, such as Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter…and Spring, and 3-Iron are outright beautiful. Others such as Time and The Isle are difficult to watch but incredibly interesting and captivating, and then, there are films like Samaritan Girl and this one which are pretty much disturbing, but grip you like a nasty car accident and keeps you nailed to your seat.

There is nothing normal about this film, but in a way, at its core…deep deep down, it really is a love story. Probably one of the most effed up love stories I have watched on film and I say that having seen Secretary.

As most love stories will, it starts with a kiss.

A man, obsessed with a young Korean woman he encounters by chance, decides to kiss her, without her consent, which leads to a scuffle with her boyfriend at the time and eventually a few members of the military, who put the beat down on the perpetrator quite violently. As a method of revenge, the man decides to ruin her life, a move that essentially lands her over her head in debt and forced to prostitute herself in order to pay it all off.

Soon enough she is drawing the attention of many, and many become obsessed, but it is the initial man who takes it the furthest, watching her from behind a two way mirror as she is forced to service her clientele. Yet, what seems to be mere perversion actually has a certain significance and in an odd case of what I could consider a Stockholm Syndrome scenario, the young woman begins to connect to this lifestyle that has been forced on her. And the way this movie unfolds, is violent, moving, disturbing, touching all at once in unbelievable fashion.

Here, you will see great character development and much like 3-Iron you deal with a mostly silent lead and with minimalistic dialogue. Hints of his other movies are seen throughout, something you will pick up if you are a fan. Definitely a watch if you have the stomach for it.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: Nudity, sexuality, disturbing imagery, violence, adult situations…not recommended for the mainstream movie watcher at all.

Marebito
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Horror/Mystery
Year: 2004

I have been on an Asian film kick and not purposely, it seems that most of the ones I have been watching have been pretty disturbing. I do not mind disturbing, but I am going to have to change it up, because you can only take so much disturbing content before you just need a break. I think I may have gone into Netflix, added a movie and then gone one and clicked on recommendations of similar movies, because it seems that a handful of them, right in a row, left me with my mouth open and scratching my head. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but…I will probably have to go back to my Queue and change things around.

As far as disturbing goes, this one is no exception, directed by the man that created The Ring and The Grudge (the original, Japanese versions), dealing with a man named Masuoka who sees the world through the eyes of a lens. So involved in capturing everything through video had he seems to have lost touch with the world itself when he is forced to see it through his own eyes. On top of that, he is in an incomprehensible search for the terrifying, something that is piqued to greater extent after witnessing (and recording) a self-mutilation/suicide in the subway station.

Watching the footage over and over, Masuoka is determined to find out what it was that the suicidal man in the subway station saw that caught such a terrifying look in his eyes. And he will go to the greatest depths, literally and metaphorically, to find it.

This movie is one of the strangest journeys you will watch, watching how a man spirals out of control, as if he maybe had not done so already, and only worsening when he finds in the netherworld a naked young woman, whom he decides to take as a pet and who has an insatiable appetite for blood. All of it leading to the moment of truth which is a lot more messed up than you might have initially thought.

Surrealistic at times, violent, gruesome and psychologically engaging, this movie hits a lot of the right notes as far as a horror goes, but also seems to drag on far longer than it should. There is something about this movie that reminds me of another movie I saw when I was in High School, whose name escapes me, where a good fifteen minutes of the film was the main character merely walking around. This movie does the same thing, and while I understand the message and the mood that the director is trying to create, I definitely felt the length of it and at times grew frustrated. The movie has a slow start, with 30 minutes of set up before one really gets hooked into what is going on and then another thirty minutes of build up before the main story hits.

People with a short amount of patience will want to skip right past this movie, those of you that are a still interested, go into it knowing it is not a perfect movie, it does have its flaws on a story that does not hold water too well and acting which I felt was questionable. However there are some aspects in this movie worth exploring.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Notes: Violent, gory, disturbing, nudity…messed up all around. Recommended only to true Horror and Psychological Horror fans only.

Visitor Q
Director: Takashi Miike
Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller/Comedy
Year: 2001

If you are familiar with the name Takashi Miike, then you already know this movie is going to be all sorts of screwed up. You would be correct. This movie took the wave of disturbing movies I had been watching and took me to the pinnacle, enough for me to go over to my Netflix and rearrange some things. Thankfully the entire time I had been watching these movies, I have also been going through the series Entourage, which gave me a well needed breather and very necessary laughs.

I do not even know where to start with this film, clearly a commentary on the extremes that ‘reality shows’ will go to in order to get your attention. This takes those extremes and goes to a whole new set of extremes, when a failed documentarian decides to turn the camera on his own, disastrously dysfunctional family and a stranger known only as the Visitor, who is welcomed into the house after continuously hitting the father on the head with a rock. Confused? Yeah, that is only the start.

The family dynamics here will have any normal person squimish, disgusted, nauseous and repulsed. I am not normal, by any stretch of the imagination and I was still shocked by it. Right off the bat I am going to say I recommend this movie to nobody and watch it only at your own risk, knowing that you are going to seem some pretty visually damaging things.

The father, as mentioned before is a failed documentarian, who is desperate enough to get his idea on TV that he…basically is willing to go to the extreme to land himself the desired attention. The beginning of the movie has him sleeping with his own daughter, if that says anything. But when that is not enough he turns the camera on his bullied son, who is abused by all his school mates and who in turn takes out his own angers and frustrations by beating up his mother. The mother is a drug addicted, woman who takes the abuse from every member of the family in stride, as long as her face is not damaged, broken and saddened she seeks refuge by prostituting herself and getting more money for drugs. And then there is the Visitor, who changes the dynamics and relationships in this family on their head…except that by turning them on its head he does not make them any more normal, even if one can say that…somehow, the effect is still positively felt, even if the outcome is the rape of a business woman, the killing of school children and the complete demoralization of the family’s mother.

I was left utterly speechless. I have seen commentary on violence such as Funny Games and taken it in stride, but this movie was unlike anything I have seen before and left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. There is not much that can be said is enjoyable about this film and its disturbing content is through the roof, so I find myself wondering how this film has gotten such high ratings. Clearly, I am missing something, even if I do understand what the director is trying to say, by going so over the top I feel like he over stretched himself. So much in fact that by the end it is actually comedic, the way Tarantino will take his ultraviolence and push it to the point where you are laughing when somebody gets their head chopped off. This movie does that and it is definitely a twisted effect.

So, I am looking at the IMDb rating of 7/10 and my own rating of 2/5 and I can not help but think that I must have missed something about this film. I am probably not clever enough to get it and I hesitate to have anybody else watch this in fear of retributions. So…I will just have to sit here and let it go, because I am not sure I am willing to try to sit through another viewing in hopes of finding the qualities I obviously missed the first time.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Notes: MESSED UP, and I say messed up only because I don’t want to use the F word. Stay away from this film unless, this is really what gets you your kicks. I warn that the above synopsis only touches on part of what happens in this movie and not all of it. It does get worse.
Quote: Kiyoshi Yamazaki: [as the bullies throw fireworks at the house] They’re here! Everyone, can you see this? Can you see this?
[taping with camera]
This is my home! My home! Did you see that? The big strong bullies are here!
[pans to Keiko]
This is my wife! She’s a lovely little wife! Dinner was delicious! This is…
[pans to the Visitor]
… I don’t know who this is, we’re not acquainted! Watch! It’s amazing, truly amazing! What a scene! It’s unbelievable!
[going back to the fireworks, panning to knife in floor]
My wife threw this knife! Everyone, here it is!
[filming the chaos]
How am I supposed to feel? I don’t know how a father should feel! But, I know my family is being destroyed! So, what do you think? How do we judge this wonderful bullying? I’m burning up! I just saw fireworks in my head! It’s hot, so hot!

The Girl on the Bridge
Director: Patrice Leconte
Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy
Year: 1999

I am now very confused, because searching out this film in IMDb in order to find out when it was shot I found another film, released in 1951 which uses the picture of the actors from the movie released in 1999 as its cover. I am not exactly sure what is going on there. The title is exactly the same but the synopsis has some key differences. I think, at some point I am going to have to check out the 1951 version and figure out if the one I saw is a remake, or a variation, or a take of point, or…something.

For now, I will proceed having made it clear I am not sure what that other film is about. This one, however, is a wonderful and quirky and strangely erotic romance, between a couple of people that seem to be down on their luck, until they find themselves together and then the combination seems to be the winning formula. She, is a sex addicted, naive girl with a golden heart that is willing to believe everything that is placed before her and which unfortunately means she is used numerous times in her life. He is a knife thrower looking for an assistant to help him with his how. They run into each other at a bridge and one of them saves the other and while it may seem clear at first who is the suicide case and who is not…the body of this film explains that it is not quite that simple and also give a body to this relationship in a way that is charming to watch.

Yes, there are certain clichés in this film that may make this slightly predictable, but the character development, the black and white cinematography and the story as a whole is very much worth your time. Finely edited, deliciously shot, this film manages to put eroticism on the table without actually being erotic, if that makes sense! In the end it is a film about trust and fate and very much worth checking out!

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: I do not recall much sexuality, but they do deal with the theme throughout. Overall, however, it is a pretty tame film with a feel good vibe to it…even if its subjects are suicidal.