What I’ve Caught Up With, October 2024 Part 2:
Film: 12 Monkeys (1995)
Terry Gilliam makes cerebral, weird movies, and while Brazil is probably his greatest movie and Monty Python and the Holy Grail his most widely appreciated, 12 Monkeys is in many ways the most ambitious. Inspired by the Chris Marker short film La Jetée, this is a story of plague, time travel, and insanity. James Cole (Bruce Willis) lives in a subterranean world post-1997 plague. He is sent back in time to get information on the Army of the 12 Monkeys, who took credit for creating the plague that nearly wiped out humanity. Cole is alternately helped by psychiatrist Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and hindered by extremely wealthy mental patient Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). Willis and Stowe are great, and Pitt was rightfully nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar.
Film: Brighton Rock (1948)
There are a few authors whose work I collect. One of those is British author Graham Greene. The Third Man is probably the greatest and best-known film adaptation of Greene, but Brighton Rock is a damned fine one. Between the wars, a gangster is found dead in Brighton. The gang holds reporter Fred Hale (Alan Wheatley) responsible for the death, and his gang, now run by teenage psychopath Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) tracks him down and bumps him off. Through a series of events, Pinkie finds himself attached to young waitress Rose (Carol Marsh), who he is forced to marry to prevent her from testifying against him. Rose is an innocent and Pinkie is anything but, making for a terrible combination. It’s all about watching it unravel, thanks to entertainer-turned-detective Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley). Seeing William Hartnell as a non-Doctor character is a fun bonus.
Film: Exhumed: A History of Zombies (2020)
An episode of the PBS series Monstrum, Exhumed explores the folklore and source of zombies and the American fascination with them. This is not a gorefest, but a documentary that focuses far more on Haiti and the Vodou practices where the idea of zombies originally came from. It’s measured and even, and really interesting to see where so much of this came from. Romero doesn’t show up until we’re past the halfway point. It would be really easy for this to dive head-first into sensationalism, but it avoids this, sticking to factual representations, history, and anthropology. If you have any interest in culture and how it changes and adapts, this is an hour well-spent.
Film: God’s Country (2022)
God’s Country is not the kind of film that you like. It’s the kind of film that you watch because there is something compelling you to do so. Former New Orleans cop Sandra Guidry (Thandiwe Newton) moves to rural Montana after Katrina. Problems persist, though, perhaps different than those she experienced in Louisiana. She spars with hunters using her property for access, and as a Black woman in Montana, there’s not a lot of help for her. God’s Country is not a film that exists to exploit this sort of “urban Black vs. redneck” narrative. Sandra experiences her share of racism and sexism at the college she now works at, simply in a more genteel form. Newton is a standout, as is Jeremy Bobb, who plays the only police officer for hundreds of square miles. This film builds to the last 10 minutes, which are unforgettable.
Film: Hoodlum (1997)
A fictionalized version of the gang wars in Harlem just after Prohibition, Hoodlum follows the rise of Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) in Harlem, and dealing with the organized crime crews of Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth) and Lucky Luciano (Andy Garcia). Bumpy rises to power when the Harlem numbers queen (Cicely Tyson) is arrested and leaves things in Bumpy’s hands, and soon enough it’s war, with both the guilty and innocent dead on both sides. Hoodlum has a hell of a cast—Vanessa Williams, Paul Benjamin, Chi McBride, William Atherton, and the always entertaining Clarence Williams III round out the cast. If you’re a fan of gangster movies or period pieces, you could do a lot worse.