The Twin Cities in Summertime is traditionally accompanied by an absolute onslaught of activities as we all try to squeeze every last ounce of fun out of the daylit months before the shroud of winter darkness descends. This trend doesn't necessarily lend itself to movie-watching but I have also been participating in the F This Movie! Junesploitation challenge for a few years now - partially because it's fun and partially to keep my movie watching going while I'm otherwise biking around, going to outdoor events, and living part-time on patios throughout the city. This year I wasn't totally successful with my challenge list but I still watched a ton of great stuff that I may not have gotten around to otherwise. I also made it out to the theater a fair amount - though mostly for repertory screenings. I was feeling a little burnout towards the end of the month and found myself doing a lot of re-watches for some other writing I've been thinking about. Hopefully I'll have a chance to move that project forward over the holiday weekend. However, this post is for new-to-me movies and I think these are some great ones so check it out.
Hong Kong Godfather (1985) - Later Shaw Bros Triad rager that features the kinetic ferocity of 80s HK action cinema combined with the chaotic nihilism that reminds me more of 70s yakuza films. The narrative isn't what I'd describe as electric but it hardly matters when the action is this frenetic. The well worn honor code tropes recede to the background amidst a whirlwind of brutal machete fights, hacked off limbs, backbreakers delivered to children, animal attacks, and a gruesome and classically 80s mall showdown climax. While the focus is certainly on mayhem, there are some solid performances here as well. Bryan Leung manages to impart some believability as a reformed hit man who can only be pushed so far and it's a real treat to see Shih Kin (Enter the Dragon) as an aging gang boss who still has some moves.
Money Movers (1978) - Ferociously violent Ozploitation heist flick from Bruce Beresford. It features a young Bryan Brown but it truly is an ensemble piece with somewhat disparate storylines circling each other in a slow boil until they collide in an explosive finale. The opening robbery sets a grim tone when one of the thieves unloads a full shotgun blast into an unfortunate armored car driver. The action slows to a simmer as the plot reveals players on all sides of the armored transport world - inside men plotting the next job, corrupt cops playing the angles, and local mob looking to muscle in on the action. There are also a couple honest men just trying to do their job. Once things pick up again, they are delivered in resolutely hardboiled, take no prisoners fashion that I found irresistible. This one absolutely deserves more attention as a classic of gritty, 70s crime cinema.
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Act of Vengeance/Rape Squad (1974) - There's no getting around that this is very much an exploitation picture in a very classically American International Pictures kind of way. There are some harrowing scenes of humiliation and degradation and no shortage of nudity even in the film's lighter moments. However, Act of Vengeance also manages to portray the female protagonists with some genuine empathy and at least some understanding of the institutional misogyny they face. The main thrust of the film is a group of women who form a "rape squad" after encountering the indifference and incompetence of traditional law enforcement. It's a B picture to be certain but it's all done very competently and professionally and the lead actors are totally charismatic and interesting to watch. There are several uncomfortable sequences but there are also a series of great ones as the now-vigilantes beat and terrorize obscene phone callers, would-be date rapists, and even an abusive pimp.
Street Girls (1975) - Street Girls is a tale of sex and addiction shot almost exclusively on the streets and in the strip clubs of Eugene, Oregon in the 70s. Predating Schrader's Hardcore by a few years, Girls is the story of a concerned father who goes looking for his daughter after she disappears from school. What he uncovers is a world of go-go dancing, prostitution, lesbianism(!), and drugs. It would be a stretch to say the filmmakers (director Michael Miller and an early writing credit for Barry Levinson) handle this with sensitivity but they do attempt to reveal the harsh, sexist world that has been set into motion and they don't seem eager to cast judgement around the sex workers themselves. Queerness is displayed as a kind of oddity in the film but again, those characters aren't necessarily judged as perverse or bad in any way. There's a nearly documentarian lens via Eugene, the strip bars, and it's denizens are being examined. This could be off-putting to some but it's hard for me to resist such a distinctly individual document. I'd love to know more about this production one day.
Family Honor (1973) - Zero budget, hyper-regional crime drama that manages to turn a lack of resources into a palpable atmosphere of authenticity. The basic framework of the plot is a cop being pressured by his family to take revenge on the gangsters who killed his father. However, Family Honor tends to meander through the grimy streets and the characters who populate it's grainy, 16mm world. The onscreen action tends to be brief (though intensely visceral at times) and the film is more focused on tense and sometimes bizarre interactions between all of these New York faces - many of whom only ever had a credit or two. In a uniquely weird turn, blues rocker Leslie West (Mountain) features prominently as a improbably eccentric mafia goon decked out in what must have been his own custom boots and ruffled collars. Maybe not an all-timer crime picture, but absolutely a must watch for fans of scrappy filmmaking and cinematic time capsules.
War Dog (1987) - Positively bonkers dadsploitation action film from Sweden. Ostensibly set in an America where guns are as pervasive as Coca-Cola, it's the story of some kind of super-soldier program gone rogue but that's barely comprehensible in the onslaught of gruesome action that rarely lets up. Bloody squibs erupt left and right, even children are annihilated, and a corpse is hurled down a water slide. This must be absolutely insane to watch with and audience and I have to tip my hat to Erica of Unsung Horrors/The Sweetest Taboo for turning me onto this one.
A Gun for Jennifer (1987) - Another rape/revenge flick by way of 90s NYC instead of 70s California. I was expecting some Sarah Jacobson style punk-fueled indie fury and Jennifer absolutely delivers on that front. What surprised me was how compelling the crime/police procedural elements were, the unflinching gore, and how the on-screen violence is exclusively inflicted on abusive men while any sexual violence is largely implied. My love of NYC films is largely driven by the quality of filmmakers and performers as well as location footage in America's largest film set. Jennifer uses a lot of interior shots but there are still some outstanding (probably guerilla) shots of nighttime streets, Port Authority, and Grand Central. The actors are uniformly solid and especially notable is veteran character actor and long time Spike Lee regular Arthur Nascarella who brings some gravitas as a gruff police lieutenant. The 90s vibes are strong in this one with a lot of sex work-positive feminism, riot grrl soundtrack, and even a Tribe-8 performance that provides a powerful bonding moment for the women involved. I would have been totally satisfied with a scrappy, grimy snapshot of 90s NYC but I think there's a lot to admire with this one.
Bloody Mama (1970) - One of Roger Corman's (RIP) last directorial efforts and a solid one at that. This is undoubtedly meant to cash in on post Bonnie and Clyde interest in American outlaws but happens to feature an absolute barn burner of a performance by Shelley Winters as Ma Barker. Corman underscores the Barker mythos with psychosexual undercurrents and nods towards incest and Winters evokes a complicated portrait of the character. At times vulnerable but flies instantly into wild eyed rages when she feels her boys are threatened. This emotional chaos gives way to commanding professional coolness when Barker has to pull a bank job or dispatch unwanted witnesses. It's Winters' picture through and through but there are some great early performances from Bruce Dern and Robert De Niro as well. I was especially happy to see Pat Hingle who plays a wealthy patriarch the gang captures for blackmail and manages to insinuate himself into their lives before the end. Just as a weird aside, Winters played a comedic version of the Ma Barker character some years earlier on the Batman television show and (at least for people of my generation) Pat Hingle is most recognizable as Commissioner Gordon from Burton's caped crusader films.
Theatrical Screenings!
Early in the month following a less than outstanding Memorial Day Weekend box office turnout, we heard a lot about the death of movie theaters. Then within a couple of weeks we heard that actually, they aren't so dead, that people were turning out in droves for other movies, and the so-called "flops" actually did okay. I don't know what to make of this other than a) studios are bad a predicting which titles will pop, b) their projected numbers for "success" are borderline idiotic, and c) the pundits enthusiastically pointing out the death of the theater aren't going themselves. When I attended a Monday night screening of The Hunger, not only was there a great turnout for a nearly 40 year old movie - the place was absolutely packed with people eager to see the latest Bad Boys installment. Tim, who programs Cinema of the Macabre, has been noting that the Tape Freaks series that he co-curates has been selling out weeks in advance. I think there's still palpable desire to see movies at theaters (or other spaces offering the cinematic experience) and I don't think for a minute it's limited to one kind of film or one generation of movie-goers. Maybe it's the old punk in me but you are your local cinema scene. We have a fantastic cinema scene in the Twin Cities and it is completely due to the hardworking folks that make it happen. Places like New York or Austin or even Paris have such entrenched film cultures that it's easy to forget how critical independent film societies were to establishing them. If you live remotely near cool theaters that are doing cool programming, you should support them. If there's nothing like that where you live, look into what kind of options there could be for a film club or a screening series. Participation is key and it could be as easy as buying a ticket.
The Hunger (1983) - I've always liked The Hunger even if I'm not as devoted as its most ardent fans. It's cliche to say that it's all about "vibes" but it is definitely a lot about aesthetics. I have to say I found it 1000% more engaging in a theatrical setting. The music and the visuals were so much more riveting to me and my brain was drawing all kinds of weird parallels between it, Ridley Scott's work, HK cinema motifs (probably borrowed to some extent from the brothers Scott), and even batshit Italian horror movies. The cast couldn't be cooler and the opening club scene with Bahaus booming through the speakers will still be the epitome of 80s goth glamour.
Household Saints (1993) - I have become such a massive fan of Nancy Savoca's Dogfight and I was totally thrilled to hear her following film had gotten a restoration. I admit I wasn't as taken with this film, but it's still such an absolute joy to see such an ambitious 90s indie finding a new audience. The multi-generational New York immigrant story feels very genuine and the cast is excellent - Vincent D'Onofrio, Tracey Ullman, and Lli Taylor especially but also a great supporting role from Michael Imperioli. I was bowled over to learn that this was shot in North Carolina and somewhat crushed to learn that the "Kalina Cinema" where Taylor and Imperioli see Last Year at Marienbad was not a real place.
Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) - This screened at the Walker Art Center as part of a series their programming in conjunction with their Keith Haring exhibition (beyond highly recommended for anyone in the area). I've only seen Laura Mars once before and recall it not having the strongest plot in the world - that's correct but it's nearly impossible to care with the cast, the music, the locations, and the fever pitch thriller action that plays out. Again, this worked so much better for me in the theater and I have had Michael Zager's "Let's All Chant" stuck in my head ever since this viewing. I'm not going to enter the fray over whether this is an American giallo or not, but suffice to say it is late 70s perfection pulsing with cocaine and fashion and garbage lined city streets. Certainly well within the spirit of the genre.
Robot Dreams (2023) - I knew very little about this other than thinking the trailer looked charming enough to check out. I had no idea this would be such a New York movie or that it would be such a movie lovers movie. Robot Dreams is free from dialogue and takes place in an alternate 1984 NYC that is populated with anthropomorphized animals. The technology level is as you would expect except that companion robots are available for purchase. The dog protagonist buys such a robot to ease his loneliness and the two form a close bond. They are driven apart due to circumstances beyond their control and the rest of the film plays out like vignettes of their lives while separated and their attempts to reunite. There are a ton of film references throughout this - The Apartment, Psycho, Busby Berkeley musicals, The Wizard of Oz, etc. There are also some amazing cultural and musical references that are a lot of fun. Earth, Wind, and Fire managed to dislodge Michael Zager from my brain briefly after seeing this one. Very sweet, but hardly saccharine. I'm going to guess this is better than the new Pixar movie.
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