Solo Con Tu Pareja; Following; and Noise

Firsts on Netflix! (And HUGE BONUS: "Upstream Color" by Shane Carruth is now streaming on Netflix! Best film of 2013 so far.)

I finally recently had the chance to see Alfonso Cuaron's first film "Solo Con Tu Pareja," which came out in 1991. I put it off for way too long. This was a fantastically funny Almodovar-ish film---with a Lubitsch touch---about a playboy who gets a nasty, nasty trick played on him and decides he must commit suicide. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. For instance, during the first part of the film the protagonist bounces back and forth between rooms as he attempts to seduce two different women. One of the women is a nurse, and she finds out he's not a very faithful cat. So what does she do!? She marks that he's HIV positive on his test results! Ooph! Dude rethinks his actions and life. This was also the first film of Cuaron's green period. Emmanuel Lubezki lenses beautifully. It's cool to see where one of my favorite contemporary director-cinematography duos got their start. It's probably my third favorite Cuaron movie now. Let's hope "Gravity" is awesome this year!

 

Before the name "Christopher Nolan" was a household name, Christopher Nolan had his humble beginnings in a film called "Following," a 1998 British thriller who, because of loneliness, decides to follow strangers around everyday. He makes up certain rules for himself, but eventually he messes up and begins to enter a criminal underworld. This is a testament that the man can make movies without a big fat budget like he does now (see TDKR). He pretty much did everything and scenes were rehearsed over and over again, so, that only two takes would be needed. Interestingly the movie is fresh but also traditional in the typical Nolan way. He's just inventive enough to keep you interested, yet keeps to certain traditional story-telling techniques, so, that you're not thrown out of the movie experience. Nolan does this well as is evident from "Memento," "Insomnia," "The Prestige," "The Dark Knight," and "Inception." But it's already apparent in "Following." Who wants Nolan to get back to his roots!?

Finally, there's Matthew Saville's 2007 "Noise." Two separate but perhaps related murders occur. One is of an engaged woman. The other is of some passengers on a train. The story follows a policeman, Graham McGahan, who is afflicted with tinnitus and ends up on the night shift in a police information van. (Apparently, police information vans are frequently used in Melbourne to solve disappearances and murders.) What's especially great about the film, which is typically missing in Hollywood stories of a similar ilk, is how easy it is to relate to the main character and his situation. Solving the crimes is hopeless. He's not a superhero. Throughout the film he encounters traumatized members of the community. One such member is the lone survivor of the train massacre. She begins to think that the killer won't let her alone for much longer. And the killer begins to send messages that imply as much. I've never seen a film where sound was so important and so center-stage. I remember liking it a great deal, but it's been a long time since I've seen it. Time to check it out again! Join me, folks