My Week in Film: 1st - 7th January
I’ve decided to watch a film every day this year.
Here are the films I watched the week ending 7th of January.
1st Jan - Undercover: Exposing The Far Right (2024)
A rare documentary watch to kick off the new year and an uplifting subject to choose.
I dislike describing films as “important”. Social relevance or correct politics tend to colour people’s interpretations of films, leading them to forgive - or ignore - poor craft.
But it tells an important story, considering the worrying trend of right wing populists rising through many countries’ echelons of power.
Undercover is well made if unspectacular. It dutifully chugs along through its central narrative of infiltrating an alt-right network of cunts whilst taking contextual detours with the journalists responsible for the exposé. Solid.
It’s helped along by a fascinating story but Undercover is a fine doc.
2nd Jan - The Last Detail (1973)
The 1970s is one of the greatest decades for film and music. They don’t make them like this anymore.
Two veteran sailors escort a young seaman to a military prison. On the way, they stop off for booze, sex and hotdogs.
Whilst there aren’t many laughs in this supposed comedy-drama, the jokes that appear got good chuckles out of me. Jack Nicholson is incredible at playing a sleazy, rule-bending drunk. Otis Young’s Mule gets a laugh or two.
Randy Quaid is far away the best part of the film. The development of his character is heartbreaking. The tiny moments of tenderness between the three is special.
3rd Jan - Starve Acre (2024)
I don’t think they’ll ever be a British folk horror film made again that’s as good as Kill List. But they keep trying.
Starve Acre is yet another horror film about grief and generational trauma: the only subjects allowed to be discussed in the genre these days. This attempt is watchable thanks to the subtle directing and pacing of the story.
Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark’s performances are fine. Clark’s is by-the-numbers mother going mad, to see the gradual change in Smith’s character is a touch more enjoyable.
The limited locations and characters do a good job of creating an isolated atmosphere but director Daniel Kokotajlo doesn’t capitalise on it much. There’s a lack of tension throughout the second act that reaches the point of boredom.
It ended strong if predictably.
4th Jan - Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan’s finest body of stunt work to many and there’s not much in arguing with it. Incredible set pieces that get better each time you remind yourself that, yes, he did all that himself.
Things get strange outside the action sequences though. Truly strange.
I take it a lot of things get lost in translation and cultural differences but fucking hell. The tone switches every five seconds, the comedic scenes go on far too long and it has a weird sexual undercurrent throughout. The worst offender is the music, which gets bizarre considering what’s on screen.
The end is even stranger. After seeing Chan play a doofus detective for an hour and fifteen, he suddenly flies into a rage and plays the rest of the film like Charles Bronson in.
As a film it’s not great. But as a piece of art it is fascinating.
5th Jan - The Beasts (2022)
Now this was good.
A tense rural thriller. A paranoia-inducing look at gentrification and xenophobia. An unconventional crime horror.
As Bestas is all these things, but I felt it was exploring community in a world where ways of life are changing faster than we can adapt.
The performance of Luis Zahera will go down as one of the greatest I’ve ever seen. There isn’t a single misstep in the entire two hours. It’s a brutal and painful ride but it’s worth the journey. Can’t recommend it enough.
6th Jan - Croupier (1998)
Some films are incredibly ‘90s. That was the first thing I thought whilst watching. The second was “Isn’t Clive Owen’s hat ridiculous?”.
An interesting take on neo-noir, Croupier sails through its runtime. Effortlessly skewers the artificial glamour of gambling through knowingly-pretentious Phillip Marlowe-esque monologues. Owen does a great job of playing a prick that you can’t help but think is a bit cool.
I was surprised by this film in a pleasant way. I was expecting a boorish, lads-mag style thriller but it ended being a much more nuanced story. The script in particular is quite good.
7th Jan - Spider (2002)
Nice and depressing for the end of the week.
One of David Cronenburg’s lesser known works, it’s a bleak story about a mentally disabled man reliving the events that led him to the halfway house he currently haunts.
All credit goes to Ralph Fiennes fantastic performance as Spider. His commitment to the truth of his character enhances the story, to the detriment of the tone.
It is oppressively hopeless; there’s no redemption, no change, only the sad realisation that things will always remain this way.