Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Review

 Number 454 on the top 1000 films of all time is the science-fiction horror film 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers.'

Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is a doctor in LA who soon starts to be convinced that everybody around him has been replaced by copies. This includes everybody except for his girlfriend Becky (Dana Wynter.) However, as things start to become more serious, Miles struggles in getting anybody else to believe him. He endeavours to prove the truth no matter the cost.

I think it can be all too easy to dismiss films like these as just another science-fiction flick capitalising on the Red-Scare panic of the 1950's. And while Don Siegel certainly captured the paranoia of McCarthy's America, this film is certainly more than your average B-movie sci-fi film.

Although it was initially forgotten by critics, it has since grown into one of the pre-eminent science fiction/horror films and for good reason. Despite having a minimal $400,000 budget and a paltry 80 minute runtime, it grossed over seven times that. Probably due to the small budget, it was simple, but incredibly effective. Siegel did well to really convey a fearful atmosphere. 

Perhaps that's because he deliberately under-played things. Despite hearing throughout about the pod people who have replaced the town, we only see glimpses of the pods themselves and never anything of the actual aliens. Instead, they these people look like the average person on the street, again showing the paranoia that was rampant at the time. It was the simplicity that, I think, made this film stand out against some of its contemporaries like Forbidden Planet.

Kevin McCarthy - no relation to Joseph McCarthy who gave his name to the anti-communist policies that dominated the 60's - was very good as the lead Miles Bennell. He brought an everyman quality as we see Bennell trying desperately to expose the truth while not falling to hysteria. And, best of all, unlike most science fiction, Bennell was actually an interesting character that you want to root for.

If I were to criticise the film for anything, it might have been the overly-optimistic ending. It was far more hopeful than I would have expected for a film as bleak as this. Although Miles' and Diana's relationship was every bit as a cheesy as I would expect for a film like this.

I enjoyed Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Although it was low-budget, this by no far impacted it quality. And it was certainly more than your average 1950's sci-film which exploited the McCarthyismesque paranoia of the time.

The Visitor review

 Number 589 on the top 1000 films of all time is Tom McCarthy's 2007 drama 'The Visitor.'

Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is a widowed academic living a lonely life in Connecticut. Upon his arrival in his New York flat, he meets an immigrant couple already living there - the Syrian Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and the Senegalese Zainab (Danai Gurira) and he forms an unlikely friendship with them.

This film completely flew under my radar. If it hadn't been for this list, I would never have heard of it, but it really surprised me. It was an understated, touching, but powerful story of human communication and connection.

It helped having Richard Jenkins at the helm. he really brought a lot of vulnerability and humanity to the role. It would have been all too easy to have portrayed Walter Vale, as a bitter, old recluse - like Jack Nicholson in as Good as it Gets, but instead he was a lonely old man, living an unsatisfactory existence. It is through his friendship with Tarek and Zainab that he starts to enjoy life again. No wonder that Jenkins received an Oscar nod for this film.

Nowhere is this more present than through the theme of music. The film begins with Jenkins trying and failing to learn the piano. He later bonds with Tarek when the latter teaches him how to play the Djembe - a West African goblet drum. The two even play together in Central Park.

Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira were very good as Tarek and Zainab. Tarek's optimism made him charismatic and likeable whereas Zainab's initial distrust and hostility made her realistic. They had good chemistry together and they worked well with Walter Vale. Initially Zainab distrusts Walter, but over time the two become closer.

I think that a film like the Visitor could have fallen into so many pitfalls, but McCarthy navigated all these with ease. Despite the film focussing on the immigrant experience in the US, it is never preachy or condescending. McCarthy told a nicely well-rounded story that gave a three-dimensional aspect to the conversation.

Nowhere is this more apparent than with the relationship between Walter and Tarek's mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass.) After he is arrested, she comes to New York to help him. In the process, he forms a close relationship with Walter. In the hands of a lesser director, their platonic relationship could have become romantic or even sexual. Thank god, that did not happen. Although the two share plenty of intimate moments, they are not sexual in nature. There were hints of a romantic interest between the two, but nothing more than that. Not that it was necessary. Their relationship was wonderfully understated.

The Visitor also lacked your classic Hollywood happy ever after ending, which made things even the more bittersweet. Instead things were sad, sobre but also painfully realistic.

As was the film. The Visitor came out of nowhere, but it surprised me in the process. This is definitely a film I could watch over and over again. 

Babel review

 Number 833 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu's psychological drama Babel.

Babel spans four separate yet inter-locking narratives across the US, Mexico, Morocco and Japan. Chieko Wataya (Rinko Kikuchi) is a deaf-and-dumb Japanese teenage girl who has a strained relationship with her father Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho.) Yasujiro, while hunting in Morocco bequeaths his rifle to his guide who in turn sells it to goatherder Abdullah, whose goats are being attacked by jackals. He sends his two sons Yusuf (Boubker Ait El Caid) and Ahemd (Said Tarchani) to tend to the herd with the new rifle.

Tragedy strikes when the two boys fire at a tour bus containing married couple Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett.) Having marital problems, they travel to Morocco leaving their children in the care of their Mexican nanny Amelia (Adriana Barraza.) When the two are unable to return in time for Amelia to attend her nephew's wedding in Mexico, she goes anyway, taking the children with her.

This is definitely one of the more depressing films I've seen on this list. It was a downbeat, bittersweet, yet powerful tale about the consequences of us not communicating with each other. The title 'Babel' is an obvious reference to the Tower of Babel. Angry at humans for trying to construct a tower to reach heaven, God made it that so none of them could no longer speak the same language.

But poor Chieko could not speak at all. Rendered deaf and dumb from the trauma of discovering her mother's dead body, she struggles in relating to the outside world. Rinko Kikachi was very good at portraying a young lady trying and failing to find any type of connection. She was a relatable character. At one point or another, I'm sure we've all felt like we haven't fit in somewhere. Although her narrative is the least-connected to the rest of the plot it was one of the most powerful.

From here, we go to Morocco. The young and immature boys Ahmed and Yussuf being eager to try the range of the rifle, nonchalantly fire at a tour bus. When they realise they may have killed somebody, the two orchestrate a web of lies, which only leads to more tragedy.

Enter Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Blanchett plays Susan who was subsequently shot by Yussuf. She was good in what little she had to do, but she was largely under-used. Brad Pitt impressed me though. Instead of being the suave action hero, he was a grieving husband trying to fix his marriage. It was the most mature I have ever seen him.

Finally, we've come to poor Amelia who makes one innocent mistake with disastrous consequences. Adriana Barraza was great in the role rightly earning an Oscar nod. It clear that Amelia is a loving, empathetic woman who never wanted any harm to come to her words, yet that's exactly what happened. I do find it strange that neither Adriana Barraza or Rinko Kikachi didn't receive star billing yet their male co-stars did. These two were just as integral to the plot as Brad Pitt or Koji Yashuko.

Multi-narratives with ensemble casts can often be difficult to follow, but Inarritu did a good job in navigating the various complexities. It was a good idea to pick four different countries with four different cultures and languages. That certainly gave each section a distinctive look.

Along with Amores Perros and 21 Grams, Babel is part of Initarru's death trilogy. Although all three films make use of the hyperlink narrative structure, I do think Babel does it the best. I would also argue it's the best of the three. With the film's central theme being communication, I will end on a pertinent quotation by Stephen Hawking:

"For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals, but then something happened that unleashed the power of our imaginations: we learned to talk....It doesn't have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking."

Flags of Our Fathers review

 Flags of our Fathers (FOOF) accompanies Letters from Iwo Jima (LFIJ.) Having seen the latter companion film first, it only made sense to watch this film too.

John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Philippe,) Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) are three of the six men who raised the flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, on day five of the American's successful invasion, during the last few months of WW2. When their three colleagues subsequently die, Doc, Hayes and Gagnon are sent back home to raise money for the war effort. However, none of the three see themselves as heroes.

FOOF and LFIJ have their similarities. They tell similar stories from different perspectives and they're both directed by Clint Eastwood. However, LFIJ made it onto the top 1000 films of all time whereas FOOF didn't. LFIJ was subtle, nuanced and complex, but FOOF had all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer to the face.

A lot of that was down to the writing. FOOF was penned by Paul Haggis who also wrote the less-than-subtle Crash. It is no secret that the US treats it veterans appallingly. Sure when they're winning wars, the US is happy to spend billions on them, but as soon as they return home with PTSD and missing limbs, all that support evaporates. Just look at how many homeless veterans litter the streets of the USA.

Although this was an important point to address, it was far too on the nose. These three PTSD-suffering veterans are forced to raise money for a cause they no longer believe in. They're made to re-enact the flag-planting on a giant papier-mache mock-up of Mount Suribachi in front of a stadium of fans. This was supposed to be a comment on how badly military veterans are being exploited, but the real kicker, for me, came when the veterans were given little marble replicas of their flag-raising effort accompanied by either chocolate or strawberry sauce. Naturally, the strawberry sauce looked like blood.

Out of the three leads, I thought Adam Beach was the best, although that isn't saying much. Ira Hayes has intense PTSD; he is most resistant about going on the bond drive. To drown his sorrows, he turns to drink. And to top everything off, he is of the Pima tribe and faces intense discrimination despite his hero-status. But Adam beach played the role with gravitas and sympathy. He was certainly better than Ryan Philppe who scowled his way through the film. And Jesse Bradford was as bland as a ham sandwich.

FOOF was definitely a dud in Eastwood's directing repertoire. It was watchable enough, but quite rightly did not deserve a place on the top 1000 films of all time.