FORGOTTEN SILVER is a fake documentary by New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson (Heavenly Creatures) about Kiwi cinema pioneer Colin McKenzie who, it turns out, filmed a feature-length movie years before D.W. Griffith, used sound before Al Jolson sang, and colored his films before Technicolor bloomed. It's utterly convincing -- if you didn't know ahead of time McKenzie is fictional, you'd never pick it up from the film -- and dryly funny. Highly recommended, but good luck finding it at your local video store (for those of you with access to Video Vault, it's on the Peter Jackson shelf in the "Cult" section).
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN (also titled A Matter of Life and Death) has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin. It's a sumptuous, romantic, stunningly designed movie by the British team of Powell and Pressberger, set during WWII, about an RAF pilot (David Niven) who's supposed to have died in a plane crash but survives because the angel assigned to take him to Heaven misses him in the fog. He falls in love with an American (Kim Hunter) and has to convince a Heavenly court to let him stay on earth with her instead of dying as scheduled.
It's gorgeous, witty, innovatively designed, with a wonderful sort of magical realism. Contrary to what you'd expect, the earth is in luscious Technicolor while Heaven is stark black and white. Though it's over 50 years old, Stairway isn't dated at all and definitely isn't the same old thing. An absolute must for cinephiles.
THE WAGES OF FEAR is a taut, suspenseful film by Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique) about four penniless expatriates hired to drive trucks full of explosives across rough roads in Central America. A classic, and for good reason.
A PERFECT CANDIDATE is a documentary about the 1994 Virginia Senate race between Oliver North and Chuck Robb. It's eerily like Bob Roberts, with the same fervent right-wing supporters -- it's even got a repulsive, yet catchy, folksy song about how them poor white wealthy folk get all the blame while those sneaky, lazy, homeless people rake in free money from the guv'mint. Only this isn't fiction, sadly.
I didn't pay much attention to the race when it was taking place, mainly because once Ollie North is your Republican candidate, the Democrats could run Zippy the Chimp against him, and I would still walk into that voting booth and pull the "D" lever (also, I was in North Carolina for much of the race, but I got an absentee ballot just so I could say I voted against North). So I never really realized how much of a dolt Chuck Robb is. Oliver North seems to be about the only guy who could LOSE to Robb, the only one who could make Robb seem honest and forthright by comparison.
The documentary itself is pretty superficial, offering no real insights or interpretation, but it's still entertaining (if profoundly depressing), though it may appeal more to those of us in the political world or in Virginia.
Back to homepage
Reviews A to F
Reviews G to L
Reviews M to R
Reviews S to Z
Search