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Reviews (10)
Mar 22, 2023
Insane, cruel, & menacing teen obsessed with broken glass, blood, and "pretty corpses"
The framework for this film is a murder mystery plot, but that's just an excuse for spending most of the 105 minutes examining the troubled mind of teenage Alice (Anicée Alvina).
It's a very well-made film. I'm used to seeing Jess Franco's work and while he did create a lot of great art in his 1970s films, they were almost always rushed, and you'd appreciate it when he somehow managed to pull it off. Alain Robbe-Grillet only directed a total of 10 films; "rushed" wasn't an issue. (Franco directed over 180 films.)
There's a lot to praise in "Successive". Robbe-Grillet is obviously a master film-maker and you get scene after scene dragging you down into the hellish world of Alice.
She's verbally abusive, even to her best friend (murder victim Nora, played by Olga Georges-Picot), and even hurts those trying to help her.
She bites her lawyer's throat (also Georges-Picot) and assaults nun Nathalie Zeiger in a minor way with paint.
She constantly tells lies about everyone, trying to destroy their reputations by putting them in her sado fantasies. (There's no reasoning to this other than she can't seem to help herself. She's a menace to all around her.)
Her stories are acted out in the film and it took a few viewings to figure out which were fantasies and which may have been closer to reality. It's not all lies with Alice.
I can't call it a criticism, but what prevents me from giving this film 5/5 stars is that it never lets up. You don't get a break from the malice of Alice. She's ice cold, has no empathy, and rarely displays emotion. It's depressing.
Also, most of the interiors are white rooms, no color to show signs of life. The blood adds a lot of color, but that's violence. Even when she expresses herself in art, Alice only uses blood red paint.
Some of the fantasy scenes are in dark dungeon-looking rooms.
Whether Alice was or wasn't guilty didn't seem relevant. She was an evil presence either way.
The gorgeous actresses, all eventually nude at some point, keep things from being totally negative. Marianne Eggerickx, WOW, never saw her before. Most of them remain unharmed, except in Alice's fantasies.
As far as film style, Robbe-Grillet's most novel trick was how he played with time.
After the opening credits, police rush to the murder scene, yet, in the film, the murder hadn't taken place yet. It's intentionally out of sequence. In this film, events that occur around the same time have to catch up with each other. Similarly, before one scene ends, we sometimes see a short clip from the upcoming scene. There is no meaning in this, just that time has to settle down into the next circumstances.
At least that's how I took it. (The Kino Blu-Ray includes an interview with Robbe-Grillet, but I haven't seen it yet. There's probably a lot more to the film that gets explained.)
This playing with time is unique. When Tarantino did it, it was repeating a scene from the view of another character. Robbe-Grillet created a world with different time rules. It was his film, he could do what he wanted.
There's a twist ending that really didn't work, but it was so quick, with the film ending abruptly, that it wasn't enough to ruin the rest. 70s Euro films often ended abruptly. Just that this movie was so deliberately paced, I don't know why it ended as it did.
Still giving Successive 4 out of 5 stars. Top notch, but I don't like getting depressed.
Feb 27, 2023
Heidi Turner - the female Cartman
After the zero-entertainment seasons that were 19 and 20, South Park has rebounded, maybe not all the way to the level it was at when the series began, but enough to make the show a worthwhile watch again.
Season 21 was saved by putting focus back on the characters, mainly on Eric Cartman and his girlfriend Heidi.
When she became a female version of Eric, the show was funnier than it had been in years.
No annoyances like the tedious Member Berries that punished the viewer through all of Season 20. Thank you! The torture is over.
(Listening to some of the DVD commentary, Trey and Matt almost repeated that flaw with "Water Bears", but they were merciful, and the creatures only lasted one episode. DO THESE GUYS NOT WATCH THE SHOWS THEY CREATE??)
Again, there was another BIG STORY with Mr. Garrison running amok as the President and eventually bombing Toronto, but that wasn't enough to sink the Season. (Didn't help, but not enough to ruin it.)
If Trey and Matt just made the show 90% character-driven instead of preaching issues or having enormous life changing events, the show would be brilliant without negatives. There is a difference between BRIEFLY targeting many of the annoyances found in present day culture and dwelling on them.
One reason for comedies is to escape what's wrong about life. People who can't discern what is real from what is BS won't watch South Park, so they won't be reached by the show's preaching.
The rest of us are getting hit with what we already understand.
As is, Season 21 had enough funny moments to be worth the time getting through it. I just wish the comedy was more consistent.
Feb 18, 2019
Subtle hammy performances make for comic pre-code greatness
I've been collecting DVDs of pre-code films lately and this one was the best of the best. A highly entertaining funny movie. Edward Everett Horton is a married man with a roving eye, but he's an all business attorney until the clock strikes 8PM. Then, he "blooms". It's as corny and as great as that. Horton has a second role as an impersonator, "Zero the Great", who doubles for him, a situation complicated by the wives of both men being present. Enjoyable comic performances by the entire cast. Watch for Horton hurdling over his mother-in-law after she stumbles and falls. This film is too much fun to be so obscure.