DEVIL'S CARGO

US, 1948, 64 minutes, Black-and-white.
John Calvert, Rochelle Hudson, Roscoe Karns, Lyle Talbot, Theodore Von Eltz, Paul Marion.
Directed by John F. Link.

The main reason for considering Devil’s Cargo is that it is a Falcon film. RKO had made a very entertaining series from the late 1930s to the mid 1940s with the Falcon played by George Sanders and then his brother, Tom Conway. The series was resurrected, although the Falcon was given a different name, and three films made with John Calvert.

John Calvert had trained as a magician and there are some sequences in this film where he gets the opportunity to exercise Magic. Calvert also lived well into the beginning of the 21st-century and was still presenting magic on stage.

This film has a Los Angeles setting, an initial murder scene in silhouette, a man coming to the Falcon to confess that he had committed the crime but was wanting protection. The audience had seen him also putting something into a luggage storage box and visiting a bank.

The motivation was that the rich playboy who was killed was in a relationship with the murderer’s wife. She is interviewed but makes no concessions. His lawyer also enters into the action, a small businessman with a knowledge of the law. Then the murderer is found dead by poison in his prison cell. Some minor criminals open the storage box – and it explodes.

The Falcon has a pleasant manner, does not have the comic sidekick as in the other films but is accompanied by his dog. Gathering information, it is clear that the lawyer is behind the deaths, that the man who claimed to be the murderer had a signed confession.

Confrontation and a shootout. There were two more films in the series.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

US, 1944, 63 minutes, Black-and-white.
Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, Jane Farrar, Philip Terry, Richard Gaines.
Directed by William Berke.

This is a very light comedy – with a touch of crime added in the end.

It is something of a throwback to the screwball comedies of the 1930s with Chester Morris and Nancy Kelly playing off each other (and they had appeared, much more seriously, in the 1944 drama, Gambler’s Choice).

Morris plays a variation on the characters which made him popular on screen, somewhat tough, something of the odd man out, the hero figure but always able to step aside if needed. At this time he was appearing in the Boston Blackie series.

The film is about photographers and magazines – with some comic touches by the editor of the magazine who is a fitness fan, demanding exercises from his staff, often instantly, as well as advice and practice about healthy eating.

The magazine he runs, however, is somewhat tabloid. Chester Morris plays the photographer who is always cutting corners, wanting his payment, tantalising his boss. When a photo is seen of a drama and deaths scene, investigations are made to invite the photographer to come to the city to join the staff.

The audience then sees Pat Marvin, the photographer, only she is Patricia rather than Patrick. She is in a small town, takes good photographs but also photoshops them, to use a more contemporary phrase. And she has a devoted admirer in the town.

Off she goes to the city, persuades Chester Morris and the boss that she is the photographer they are looking for. When she goes to a restaurant, and a millionaire and his umpteenth wife, quarrelsome, are sitting at a table nearby, she takes some photos. However, she also goes to the ladies’ room where the haughty wife has made an attempt on her life – and photographs the prostrate woman. After the men thinking that she had merely got society photos, they are overwhelmed by her success with the restroom photos.

Then the boyfriend comes from the country to the city and she puts him up, having to do some quick thinking and explaining that he is her brother. Chester Morris arranges a double date, but the boyfriend is absolutely devoted to Pat. She persuades Chester Morris to give him a job at the paper. When he is still persistent in following Pat closely, Morris gets him shipped off in a boat which is then torpedoed and he is missing at sea. (There is a comic dimension in his return, bearded, from being marooned at sea – devoted to all women who cannot speak English!)

At almost the end of the film, the haughty wife is actually murdered. There are complications with photos that Pat has taken in a photo shoot in the rich man’s apartment, posing herself as dead on the bed. And this photo has been used to implicate Pat in the killing of the wife. The rich man has taken a shine to Pat, calling her Bubbles, and more interested in having her as his next wife instead of in his guilt in the murder.

And so, a double exposure.

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA

India, 2017, 117 minutes, Colour.
Ashana Kumra, Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma,Plabita Borthakur.
Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava.

This review is somewhat descriptive – this film has had release in Australia but not widely and readers may be interested to know what it is and what it is about. Otherwise, this is a review for reading afterwards for reflection on the film.
This is a film from India, about women in India, in the city of Bhopal, made famous decades ago by the industrial accident and subsequent pollution. It is designed for an audience in India and the Indian diaspora rather than a universal audience. However, it made an impact at an American Festival which led to international release.

On the one hand, it seems conventional enough in its highlighting of four central characters, interweaving their stories, presenting them in the context of life in Bhopal. There is an empathy for them and their situations. The male characters are generally more than chauvinist.

On the other hand, the subject and treatment are significant, representing Indian women, opening up issues of marriage, exploitation, themes of equity and equality as well as a range of sexual issues. This is comparatively new for Indian audiences, or at least in this style and in the cinema, and so is of interest to worldwide audiences who want to know more about the status of women in India.

The film was shot in Bhopal itself, and by the end of the film the audience will feel that it has really visited the city, a range of areas, poor and wealthy, old-fashioned as well as modern, homes, University, modern shopping… And there is a song, associated with an engagement, to remind audiences of the music tradition.

Some of the women are Muslim, others are Hindu.

Basically, this is the story of four women, one in her 50s, two middle-aged, one young. The older woman is actually reading a kind of Mills and Boon novel, the voice-over continuing throughout the film, the emotions and feelings, sexual arousal of Rosie, the heroine of the novel. It is an interesting device to introduce the sexuality themes and the repercussions for the four women.

Considering the four women:

• Rehana, who is seen in her burqha, leaving home, but taking it off when she arrives at the college, in T-shirt and jeans, lipstick and make up, auditioning with a Miley Cyrus song, getting on and not getting on with the other girls at college. And full of romantic ideas. She goes to shops, is able to do some shoplifting with the benefit of the extent and folds of the burqha, taking lipstick and make up, after testing perfumes, and walking out wearing boots. Meanwhile, at home with her strict parents, she spends a lot of time at the sewing machine, supervised by her father. There is a huge gap between home life, the social and religious traditions of Islam, and her yearnings to be modern and her taking the opportunity – which does lead her into some trouble, even with the police, and the dire responses of her father.

• Leela is Hindu, around 30, longing to get out of Bhopal and go to the city. With a photographer friend, she is spruiking a business with photos of couples, taken against exotic backgrounds, a kind of honeymoon package. We see them go through their spiel, not always successful. They are also having an affair. But, the family arranges for her engagement – and he is a pleasant young man, not obnoxious, quite devoted to her. And the photographer is invited to capture the engagement ceremony. Which does not stop them having a sexual encounter during the engagement party. Leela fights with the photographer, breaking off, wanting to connect again, wanting to get out of the city, having to encounter the fiance and his disappointment, her looking for more.

• Particularly interesting and challenging is the story of Shirin, a Muslim woman, wearing her burqha. Her husband works in Saudi Arabia, comes home every year, she giving birth every year or having an abortion. He seems to have lost interest – and she discovers he has a mistress. But, she has something of a life as she works with a company, proving herself an effective saleswoman as she goes from house to house and the audience sees some of her demonstrations and how she persuades affluent wives to subscribe to the products. She is salesperson of the month and is being offered for promotion. No need to wonder how her husband reacts, with his view that, while he is in Saudi Arabia, his wife should be domestically at home.

• There are further dramatic conflicts in the story of the Hindu Usha, age 55, owner of a property in Bhopal that is the envy of developers – and she standing against them, despite financial offerings and deals. It is she who is reading the Mills and Boon story, getting caught up with it, taking a child to the local swimming pool and encountering a young lifeguard, a touch of flirting on both sides, her going to the department store to buy a modest swimming costume, while telling her friend she is going to hear at a temple, then going for swimming lessons. She is very nervous about ringing the lifeguard but does so and starts to read the story to him – anonymously. The reaction of family when they discover the truth is disastrous for her.

Some of the commentators on this film have noted that the men use the word “shame� about the behaviour of the women. Clearly, this is a film where women have to assert themselves, make mistakes and learn from them, for appropriate equality in Indian society. Actually, “shame� is a more appropriate denunciation of the men in the film.

BETTING ON THE BRIDE

US, 2017, 88 minutes, Colour.
Karissa Lee Staples, Peter Mooney,
Directed by Marika Grabiak.

This television film was made for the Lifetime channel, very popular with the average audience, target of frequent criticism by critics and bloggers.

The ingredients for this film are very much what might be called old-fashioned yet are traditional values. The central character has had three engagements but has broken off, even at the altar. She is looking for “the one� with whom she could spend her life. The other central character is a rather carefree bachelor, Damon, very effective in his work at an advertising agency. He is challenged by his friends at the bowling club to try to get a girl to marry him within a month, relying on his charm. He accepts the bet.

The two characters meet at a social, Melanie’s sister wanting their personal training business to get some branding and sponsorship. Damon becomes a client, with frequent contact with Melanie for gym work, diet and nutrition – and some shared interests, especially their history with the scouts and their volunteer working with them.

Both fall in love, Damon calling off the bet, but one of Melanie’s fiancés overhearing the men in conversation and reporting it all to Melanie.

However, on the occasion of Melanie’s parents’ 30 years anniversary and renewal of vows, Damon apologises, proposes – and is accepted.

Very much rather affluent middle-class American setting – although some of the scouts are of ethnic background and, at the end, the finals Minister for the ceremony is African American.

1. Popular television film? Old style? The wide audience? Themes and issues?

2. The American town, affluent homes, business offices, personal trainers, and gyms? Church and weddings? Restaurants? Comfortable Middle America? The musical score?

3. Melanie, preparation for the wedding, her doubts, the fiance, getting dressed, the procession, at the altar, her running away? Her previous breaking of engagements? Her reflection with her sister? The fiance not being the one to spend the rest of life with?

4. Introduction to Damon, at the bowling, with his work friends, their marriages, his boasting, the boss and his challenge, the bet?

5. The social, the advertising agency, the men and their talents, the advertising campaigns? The boss, flirting with Melanie, not getting anywhere? The challenge to Damon, his talking with Melanie? Suggesting he be a client, her sister urging him on?

6. Melanie, reluctant? Damon and his card, the appointment, the examination, his physical health and balance, his diet? Melanie and her advice, going to the market? The food?

7. Damon, discussing with his friends at bowls? Melanie and her effect on him? Wanting to cancel the bet?

8. The friendship, progress, exercise, food, with the scouts, his talent and feel for the Girl Scouts, the dance movement with the bespectacled girl? Melanie and her appreciation? Sharing memories, families, parents? Scout achievements?

9. Rod, landscaping, continually turning up, Melanie wanting to return the ring? Playing basketball with Damon and Melanie’s father? His overhearing the conversation, reporting it to Melanie? Melanie and her chance encounters with the previous boyfriends and their getting on with life?

10. Melanie’s parents, 30 years married, preparation of the ceremony, her mother interfering and setting people up, biting rod? Damon and the burnt food, Melanie bringing him home for the meal, sharing with the parents? The preparation for this ceremony? Perfect? The ceremony and the renewal of Bowers?

11. Melanie, in love with Damon, he with her? The fallout because of the bet? The importance of the proposal, her proposing? His decision, coming to the ceremony, declaration of love, on his knees, the ceremony?

12. Wholesome traditional values?

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

US, 2017, 121 minutes, Colour.
Emma Stone, Steve Carrell, Andrea Riseborouogh, Natalie Morales, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elizabeth Shue, Eric Christian Olson, Jessica Mc Namee, Lewis Pullman, Austin Stowell.
Directed by Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Farris.

This is how a famous tennis match was billed in 1973. It was the initiative of veteran tennis champion, Bobby Riggs, at that stage aged 55, challenging a female player, fully expecting to win – after all, he had issued a challenge to Margaret Court, who had accepted, but lost to Riggs. He had previously challenged US champion, Billie Jean King, who had declined but, after the defeat of Margaret Court, accepted. And the rest, as they always say, is history!

This is a tennis film for enthusiasts of the sport, with some highlights of the Riggs- Court match, and a substantial, well-choreographed presentation of the important features of the King-Riggs? match, enabling the audience to see skills and tactics, King wearing out Riggs, making him run all over the court. And she won.

Steve Carrell has something of a luminous presence on screen, is able to do the very serious, but also has a capacity to excel at clowning when required. And this is certainly required in portraying Bobby Riggs, antics on the court, playing with two dogs on a leash, dressing up as Little Bo Peep along with some sheep… He was an inveterate gambler, trying the patience of his wife, Priscilla (Elizabeth Shue), winning a Rolls-Royce? as prize for a game and selling it to get the prize money for the tournament, relying on the support of his son (played by Lewis Pullman, Bill Pullman’s son). Carrell certainly brings Riggs to life.

The title, however, says much more. This is a film about equality and about equity. In terms of equity, the film opens with Billie Jean King, played with zest and enthusiasm, although with a kind of luminous quality, by Emma Stone, accompanying her manager, Gladys, Sarah Silverman, to the bosses of the American Lawn Tennis Association and defying them about payment to women players. The proposal by the Association was to pay men eight times more than women – alleging that men were far more interesting and athletic to watch.

The women created their own women’s tennis tournament, sponsored in the manner of the times by a cigarette brand, Virginia Slims. They were successful, succeeding in drawing Margaret Court (Australian actress Jessica Mc Namee) to play with them. Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman) head of the Association, with a rather smug superior attitude towards women, was to do the commentary on CBS for the Battle of the Sexes but Billie Jean King refused.

However, the title has a touch of the ambiguous because it is also a battle about the sexes, about relationships, about same-sex relationships. The narrative here has Billie Jean King attracted to Marilyn, the tournament hairdresser, Andrea Riseborough, and discovering her orientation. With this theme, the film is very topical in the light of worldwide discussions about same-sex marriage and issues of legislation. (In the background is a gay couple who designed the dresses for the women, characters, including Alan Cumming, able to make comment about the situation in the context of the 1970s.)

And, as we see often in films based on actual characters, information about their continuing lives and photos of the real persons.

1. A tennis film? Tennis plus? Broader themes? Relationships? Men and women?

2. The film based on actual characters, events? Dramatised 45 years later?

3. The period of the 70s, costumes and decor, cars, hotels? The musical score?

4. The tennis background, Billie Jean King and her achievements? Bobby Riggs and his achievement? Margaret Court, tennis champion? The background of other famous players? The variety of tournaments? Jack Kramer and the Lawn Tennis Association? The commentators, Howard Cossell, commentator from the period?

5. Issues of equality and equity, men and women? The opening with the Lawn Tennis Association and the discussion about prize money, eight times the amount allotted to women? Kramer and his comments about audiences and men playing, women and their lesser interest, strength, skills? The background of emerging feminism, women libbers, the presumptions by men? Women’s equality, women’s equity in the professions? Billie Jean King and Gladys defying Kramer? Sponsorship, Virginia Slims and the tobacco industry? Public opinion?

6. Emma Stone as Billie Jean King, age, her career up to this point, skills and talent, awards? Her personality? Strongly defying Kramer? The visit with Gladys? No ideas for developing plans? Sponsors, the tournaments, the women tennis players, the travels? Getting Margaret Court on side? Billie Jean King and her personal life, her marriage to Larry, dependence on him? Relationship with her parents?

7. Lesbian issues, in the 1970s, presumptions about marriage? Billie Jean King in herself, meeting Marilyn, the hairdresser? Bonding, the time together, the sexual encounter, Billie Jean King’s hesitation, the repercussions, the secrecy? The background of the dress designers, the gay couple, their appreciation of what was happening? The gay men and their comments? Margaret Court, condemnatory, her husband surprised?

8. The introduction to Bobby Riggs, Steve Carell? His experience, age 55, victories? At home with Priscilla, her wealth, playing with Junior, the meal sequences? His having a job in Priscilla’s father’s company? Going out, playing tennis with the dogs, the bets? Clowning, humour? His gambling? His winning the Rolls-Royce? in the gambling, delivered at the door? Priscilla, her reaction, ousting him? His staying with his son, his son’s support? Going to the house, asking for underwear and Priscilla throwing them out the window? Bobby Riggs and his friends, drinking companions, the coaches?

9. Bobby Riggs, the Rolls- Royce, selling it, his idea, phoning Billie Jean King in the night, the proposal, the refusal? Margaret Court and her beating Billie Jean King? The distraction with Marilyn and Margaret Court capitalising on this and the emotional difficulties? Bobby Riggs ringing Margaret Court, the discussion with her husband, accepting the challenge?

10. Bobby Riggs, the campaign, clowning, publicity, the commentaries? The game, Riggs winning?

11. Billie Jean King, the relationship with Marilyn, Larry meeting Marilyn in the corridor, realising what was happening, the effect, his leaving? Yet his support of Billie Jean King, her being faithful to him before this?

12. The character of Gladys, in charge, manager, sponsorship, interactions with Billie Jean? Her supporting her, and the reactions and the final match?

13. Billie Jean King making the decision, the extent of her training, hard, getting the flu?

14. Bobby Riggs, his gimmicks, the collage of his stance, even Little Bo Peep and the sheep? His talking with Priscilla, her still loving him, but not able to live with him?

15. The match, Billie Jean King’s parents and their support? Marilyn coming? Larry and his stances?

16. The choreography and editing of the game, the tennis fans, the non-fans, able to understand the game, the techniques, tactics, Billie Jean King wearing out Bobby Riggs, taking off his coat, the defeat?

17. The effect on each, Billie Jean King sitting, weeping, going out to meet the crowd and celebrate? Bobby Riggs alone, accepting his defeat, Priscilla coming in and supporting him?

18. The information about the life and careers of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs? The issues of gay rights and protest, changes, Billie Jean King and her partner (and being technical advisors for the film)? Bobby Riggs and his staying with Priscilla?

19. An interesting tennis film, interesting character studies and performances, and contemporary issues of sexual orientation and relationships?

BEATRIZ AT DINNER

US, 2017, 82 minutes, Colour.
Salma Hayak, John Lithgow, Connie Britton, Jay Duplass, Amy Landecker, Chloe Sevigny, David Warshofsky, John Early.
Directed by Miguel Arteta.

Beatriz at Dinner is an enigma of the film. It is definitely not an entertainment for those who like QED or its equivalent as they walk out of the cinema.

It opens with a rowing boat on a river, a woman in the boat. She passes a white goat on the bank. And then Beatriz wakes up, a black goat in a cage in her room and a pet dog barking at it. It looks as though this film is going to be a combination of magical realism and practical realism. And it is.

Salma Hayak is Beatriz, who lives alone, has a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe as well is a Buddha statue in front of which she contemplates in her house. She goes to work in a Cancer Centre, relating wonderfully to those there for treatment, an expert in all kinds of alternate medicines. Clearly, Beatriz belongs to a New Age World, especially as the setting is California.

Beatriz also does house calls and is welcomed by Kathy (Connie Britton), less so by her husband Grant (David Warshofsky). She has cared for their daughter, a teenager with cancer. Beatriz has trouble with her car and it won’t start as she goes to leave. Her friend cannot get to the house, a mansion, for a couple of hours.

Kathy, always grateful, invite Beatriz to stay for dinner. She has on a kind of uniform but is helped out from Kathy’s wardrobe. Then the guests begin to arrive, two couples, involved in the business world, in property development in the US and in Mexico, the women more interested in Beatriz who seems to be just hanging about and is mistaken for the maid by Doug (John Lithgow).

We get some background of the deals and the development – which leads into Beatriz’s conversations at dinner. She is not exactly shy and retiring. She certainly offers opinions – feeling that she has known Doug before, something confirmed when, after the meal, she demonstrates her massage skills and feels a link with him.

These are the kinds of screenplay clues that we are meant to be alert to, this one being more obvious than others.

Beatriz is invited to give something of her background, with Kathy supplying, sympathetically, a lot of the detail. She is from Mexico, her parents dead, her being brought up by relatives, having to leave when developers came into the town, took over the land, built a resort which did not flourish, leaving the residents impoverished or having to leave.

Doug is one of those superficially genial businessman, who can turn on the charm, but is ruthless in his dealings, supported by his wife who is more friendly to Beatriz than Doug is. Jay Duplass and Chloe Sevigny are the other couple, she again giving more attention to Beatriz than her husband.

So, the dinner could be seen as a verbal allegory of contemporary US, the exploiters, the exploited, the wealthy preoccupied with wealth, the immigrants and their place in that society. Amongst Doug’s opinions are questions of whether Beatriz was an illegal immigrant or not – though he praises her for getting a job and being employed. He also makes remarks about the environment, rather apocalyptic with some of his utterances, wondering whether the environment or even human beings will be around for much longer – an eat, drink and be merry approach to moneymaking and life.

The car is fixed and Beatrice suddenly rushes from the car – and a sequence that will surprise, even alarm. Then another emotional jolt, and then something quite unexpected…

And then, the film continues, Beatriz rowing on the river. No QED, leaving the audience to ponder on what they have seen and heard and how it relates to contemporary American life.

1. The title, the focus on Beatriz? The preparation for the dinner, the actual dinner? Hosts, guests? The repercussions of the dinner?

2. The California settings, the river the opening, Newport Beach, Beatriz’s apartment, the Cancer Centre, the roads, the mansion, the cliffs and the sea? The musical score?

3. Real/fantasy? The effect on the audience? Moments of what if…?

4. The New Age atmosphere, mysticism, contemplation, alternate therapies?

5. Beatriz, on the river, the white goat on the bank? Her waking, the apartment, the black goat in the cage, the dogs and their barking? Her story about the death of the goat? The neighbour killing the goat? The shrine in her house, prayer and incense?

6. Her uniform, her work, with the cancer patients, conversation, care?

7. Her driving, the car? Arriving at the mansion, the gates? Being allowed in? Kathy and the massage? The conversation, the story of Kathy’s daughter, her illness, Beatriz and her care? Leaving, the car not going, staying?

8. Her clothes, the uniform, Kathy welcoming her, the wardrobe? Grant tolerating her? The visits to the kitchen, observations, the cooking? The arrival of the guests? The two husbands and wives? Conversation, drinks, Beatriz and the white wine, listening to the conversation? Doug thinking she was the maid?

9. The meal, Kathy praising Beatriz, all that she had done for their daughter? The conversations? Doug and his interrogation about her Mexican background? Kathy telling the story? The question of whether she was an illegal migrant? Congratulations that she was occupied and had a job? The adjournment for dessert?

10. The chatter, Beatriz and her being very serious, the history of her town, Mexico, the American developers, promises, taking the land, the resort, the failure, the local inhabitants, losing the land and homes, not having jobs?

11. Beatriz saying she knew Doug? Massaging his neck and feeling the link? The talk about reincarnation and finishing unfinished business?

12. The background of business, deals, laws, getting round the laws, registration of documents? The social level of the couples and the business backgrounds? The emphasis on making money?

13. Beatriz, her attitude towards Doug? Leaving, the man fixing the car, leaving the car, the knife, stabbing Doug, his dying? Then seeing that this was an imaginary situation?

14. The couples, lighting the lanterns, sending them up into the sky?

15. Beatriz, driving away, stopping at the clifftop, wading into the sea, the waves and her disappearance? Then the boat in the river?

16. Life, death? Beatriz in the New Age and healing? Doug, moneymaking, and not believing in earth having a future?

17. Audiences enjoying allegories and symbolism?

MOUNTAIN

Australia, 2017, 74 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Willem Dafoe.
Directed by Jennifer Peedom.

Whether you love mountains or not, spending an hour and a quarter contemplating the beauty and ruggedness of mountains is well worthwhile.

Director Jennifer Peedom has made a number of short films about mountains, including Everest, and then made the very interesting documentary about the scaling of Everest, the role of the local Sherpas and their being underestimated until they stood their ground for proper recognition and payment, the growing crowds lining up to climb Everest, commercial queues, something to do rather than something to achieve. This documentary was called Sherpa.

While there is an underlying message in this film, communication is mainly visually and aurally.

Quite a number of cinematographers took part in this project, filming all around the world, in the Himalayas, in the Andes, in New Zealand, in Australia… Their material is generally spectacular and a lot of time and effort have gone into the choice of visuals as well as the editing placement for best effect. While the camera sometimes stand still to contemplate a peak, a range, a valley, much of the photography has been done from helicopters with an extraordinary sense of moving in and through and above the mountains.

Particularly spectacular are sequences of volcanoes, eruptions, the vast extent of lava flows.

We see a variety of mountains in a variety of seasons. We also see a number of the climbers, caught in what seem to be extraordinary positions, foothold on the side of a sheer cliff, hundreds of metres high; climbers triumphing through the snow having achieved peaks; climbers swinging, seemingly perilously, out into the vast void.

The particular feature of this project is the musical accompaniment. The score has been composed by Richard Tognetti who conducts the Australian Chamber Orchestra, a symphonic piece that provides background but does not overly intrude.

There is also a spoken commentary, written by Robert McFarlane?, which also provides background and does not overly intrude. It is quietly spoken by American actor, William Dafoe, glimpsed in black-and-white in the studio at the opening of the film. It tends to be contemplative of nature, with a great sense of wonder, offering reflections on creation and beauty. There are some moments when we see a Buddhist priest in a small chamber, prayer and incense and mysticism.

The film offers a wonderful opportunity to be immersed in mountains.

INGRID GOES WEST

US, 2017, 98 minutes, Colour.
Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O' Shea Jackson Jr, Wyatt Russell, Billy Magnusson, Pom Klementieff, Joseph Breen.
Directed by Matt Spicer.

Are you on Instagram? If so, you will identify immediately with this film? If not, after 97 minutes you may well (or not well) feel that you are actually on it? One wonders whether there is already a support group, Instagrammers Anonymous, for the addicted, whose life seem to depend on it. (And, on public transport, walking up and down the street, there seem to be plenty of candidates.)

Ingrid is a prime candidate. She is played most persuasively by Aubrey Plaza. At first we see her as a morbid young woman, mourning the death of her mother. She is on her phone and looking at a friend’s wedding to which she has not been invited – and promptly gatecrashe hello s the party, spraying the bride, being tackled and finishing up in an institution finding affirmation in group work.

Ingrid’s life is certainly going west in the sense of going downhill. But, some seeming salvation occurs with her finding a young woman, a star on Instagram, Taylor (a lively performance from Elizabeth Olsen). With $60,000 in cash that she has inherited from her mother, and finding that Taylor, a photographer, bright media personality, her opinions on contemporary living quoted in magazine articles, lives in Venice, California. So, Ingrid goes West.

If ever there was a film about emotional neediness, Ingrid Goes West is certainly it. Ingrid is extraordinarily needy, low self-image, unable to relate well to people. She tries to imitate Taylor, dyeing her hair and change its style mimicking tailors, going to the restaurants where Taylor is reported to have eaten, then encountering her, awkwardly, in a shop and having the bright idea of stealing her pet dog and responding to the lost dog advertisement by returning the pet. Taylor and her partner, Ezra (Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt and Goldie Hawn) welcome her and they become best friends.

Also in the act is Ingrid’s landlord, Dan (O’ Shea Jackson Jr, looking and sounding exactly like his father, O’ Shea Jackson Sr, whom we all know as Ice Cube). He is pretty needy as well but finds all his fulfilment in Batman, the comics, the films, even trying to write a screenplay, doing re-enactments….

Clearly, this is not an ordinary relationship story. Can it last? Well, given the bad foundation of the friendship, Ingrid and her deceits, her incessant taking of selfies, of herself and everything to do with Taylor, something has to come undone. The catalyst for this is Taylor’s brother, Nick (Billy Magnusson) a smooth-talking rogue who takes an instant dislike to Ingrid, making her intensely jealous.

If this film were to have a subtitle it could be #self. As it is, the film does end, rather unpredictably and not without pain, with Ingrid being given #iamingrid.

1. A contemporary story for younger audiences? Social media?

2. Ingrid’s world, initially at home, going to the wedding, in an institution, going to California, Venice, her apartment, the streets and shops, the trip to Joshua Tree, the clubs, the Halloween party? The musical score and songs?

3. The world of social media, Instagram, taking selfies, texting, the number of followers? Enclosing herself in the world of Instagram? Her outlet, her camera and phone? Growing addiction, the need for taking selfies, for a role model, sharing, the need for affirmation?

4. A film about needs and neediness, self-image, need for affirmation, not being a loser?

5. The visuals of the selfies, the texts, histogram?

6. Ingrid, her age, morbid, her mother’s death, grief, inheriting the money? Looking at her screen, the wedding, going to the wedding, intruding, spraying the bride, her being
tackled? The tone?

7. In the institution, the therapy, the group work, the affirmation, her leaving?

8. Discovering Taylor on Instagram? Taylor in herself, the photos, the articles, the quotations, the bright personality? Ingrid identifying with her, going to California, the scenes in Venice, the encounter with Dan, renting the apartment, his forbidding pets, her having Taylor’s dog? In the shop, her awkwardness, seeing Taylor? At the diner, missing the time, not liking the meal? Going to the house, seeing the dog, taking it, the phone call, the deal with Dan, returning the dog, not wanting any money, stay for dinner? Conversation with Taylor and with Ezra? The growing friendship? Her being fulfilled, the selfies, going to the bathroom? The issue of the truck, Dan lending it to her, the conditions, that should be Catwoman? Going to Joshua Tree, the truck, the drugs, staying? The accident on the way home, singing the song? Dan and the police?

9. Taylor, her character, personality, her origins, Her bond with Ezra, Ezra telling the story about her, always seeing the best? Her enthusiasm with Ingrid? Ezra as a painter, his paintings, Ingrid buying the painting, cash? Taylor and the selfies, her followers?

10. Ingrid, her followers, the messages to Charlotte?

11. Dan, his background, Batman, obsessions? Knowledge? Writing? Re-enactments? For Ingrid to be Catwoman?

12. Nick, the type, brother to Taylor, his staying, calling Ingrid Olga? Sneering? The party, the pool, the outings? Harley and the club? Ingrid rejected, the VIPs?

13. The party, Ingrid taking Dan, forbidding Batman, but meeting Nick and their hitting it off about Batman? Ingrid, being hurt, jealous of Nick? Jealous of Harley? Taylor and the secret about buying Taylor planning to buy the house, Ingrid telling Ezra the secret? Ingrid, the house, going to the agent, giving him the cash, going to the house, the electricity being cut off, regulations, her being miserable?

14. Nick and his taking Ingrid’s phone, his blackmail? Ingrid’s plan, Dan and the Batman situation, abducting Nick, the masks, the fight, the beach? Dan in hospital? The injuries to Nick?

15. Taylor and the cut-off, the effect on Ingrid, her phone calls, her language and self-pity? The Halloween party, talking with Taylor, Taylor rejecting her?

16. Going home, the suicide, photographing it?

17. Hospital, awakening, the affirmation, Dan present, his hospitalisation? The fans, the followers question? Her hashtag “I am Ingrid�? Her future?

EYES OF THE UNDERWORLD

US, 1942, 61 minutes, Black and white.
Richard Dix, Wendy Barrie, Lon Chaney Jr, Lloyd Corrigan, Don Porter, Billy Lee, Marc Lawrence, Edward Pawley.
Directed by Roy William Neil.

A lot of action going on in the just over one hour running time of this supporting feature. The setting is 1942, the entry of the US into World War II. A particular focus is on the need of rubber and the sequestering of used cars by the government and the transferring of the rubber to the war effort. As in the American gangster tradition, there is exploitation of stealing cars and a black market in rubber.

Within this context, the focus is on the head of the police in the small town, played by Richard Dix. He is an upright man, his wife dead, bringing up his young son – and wanting to resign from his office to spend more time with his son, who is frequently cared for by his devoted secretary, Wendy Barrie.

With suspicions about rackets in the town, and inspector is sent incognito to examine the situation and try to find culprits, suspicion on the chief.

Actually, the chief of local police and the mayor are in on the deal is and inform each other about the inspector. They also hire a criminal and pay him off to compromise the chief, bringing up his past career and his being arrested for some embezzlement and spending time in prison. The criminal is to pressurise the chief to back off and then to be allowed to escape.

There are some emotional complications, especially when the chief seems to be abducted but is taken to a celebration party, the whole town not wanting him to resign. There is also the issue of his son.

It emerges that the chief did spend some time in jail, served his time and has committed himself to the betterment of situations.

The inspector is attracted to the secretary, suspicious of the chief, but discovers enough of the truth to take part in a dramatic setup and exposure – the chief of police and the mayor being unmasked.

Significant amongst the cast is Lon Chaney Jr as the friend and protector of the chief, who has shared his time in jail, is very protective, even willing to be violent in his pursuing of those who want to undermine the chief.

The film was directed by Roy William Neil, veteran director of many short supporting features in the 30s and 40s, especially a number of the Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

DESIERTO

Mexico, 2015, 88 minutes, Colour.
Gael all Garcia Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alondra Hidalgo, Diego Catano, Marco Perez.
Directed by Jonas Cuaron.


This is more of the short story on film rather than a feature film. The title is stark, Desert, filmed in Baja California but the story of illegal migrants trying to get from Mexico into the United States.

And that is the plot. We see a group in a truck, the truck breaking down, the inability to fix the truck. What follows is a trek through the desert which takes its toll.

However, there is a redneck angry man driving through the desert, with his dog, who can be quite savage, and his rifle, looking for illegal migrants to shoot them. Which he does.

After eliminating most of the group, he pursues a man and woman, the woman hiding behind a tree, the man leading the shooter and his dog away from her, into the mountains, among the boulders, couple able to steal the truck but its crashing. There is a final fight, the shooter losing his dog when the man fires a flare into its mouth, the man leaving the shooter, not shooting him, to die of exposure in the desert. The man and the woman walk into the desert – but to what?

Gael Garcia Bernal is Moises and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is Sam, the shooter.

The film is written and directed by Jonas, Cuaron, the son of Alfonso Cuaron – and they collaborated in the screenplay of Gravity, directed by Alfonso.

1. The title, plain and simple?

2. The visuals of the desert, the long opening sequence of the sunrise? The son and the desert during the day? At night? Sunsets? The open vistas, the mountains, trees and shelter, brambles and snakes, hills and boulders? The musical score?

3. The relevance of the story, the illegal immigrants into the United States? Their hopes? Getting through the desert, crossing the border? The people smugglers? The ruthlessness? The money from the migrants or from their impoverished families?

4. The truck, through the desert, the human cargo, the truck breaking down, unable to be fixed?

5. The walk through the desert, the leader, the direction of the United States? Groups separating? The fence and getting through the border? Into what?

6. The people smugglers, their roles,? The young man and his treatment of the woman, abusing her? His brutal death with the dog?

7. Sam, driving through the desert, his dog, redneck, antagonistic towards the migrants, talking about his country, picking them off with his rifle, no remorse? Urging his dog onto them?

8. Moises becoming the central character, the bond with Adela? His story, driving, the police, deportation, his son, his wife thinking he would disappear, the toy Bear, his pledge to return – and the irony of the bear being used to bait the dog? Adela and her story, her father paying for her to go to the United States? Relations in the US?

9. The group dividing? The brutal scenes of their being picked off and dying?

10. Sam, his truck, the dog, the pursuit?

11. Moises and Adela, climbing into the mountains, the taking of Sam’s truck, driving, it overturning? The pursuit, her injury, noises hiding her behind the tree? Her fear, his promise to return?

12. The flare, his leading Sam, the continued pursuit, the dog, shooting the dog with a flare? Sam being relentless, up into the mountains, over the boulders and rocks, Moises and his shrewdness? The eventual confrontation, the fight, going over the cliff, Sam breaking his leg? Moises not shooting him, leaving him to die?

13. Moises recovering Adela – and their walking off? Into the desert? Any future?