Big Boys Gone Bananas

A documentarian attempts to shed light on the story of allegedly poisoned banana farmers and becomes the target of a multi-national corporation in this chilling film. Gripping and terrifying, Big Boys Gone Bananas shows the lengths a huge food producer will go to to protect its brand, including threats, surveillance, and suppression of a film-maker's First Amendment rights. I was fascinated by how the US media is less than suspicious about massive corporations, while the rest of the world views them with distrust. I guess it ultimately shows who wields the power at US media outlets, and it's the advertisers.

The House At The End Of Time

A woman is imprisoned in her labyrinthine castle after she's accused of murdering her family in this Venezuelan mystery. I easily guessed the twist in this film, but I still managed to enjoy it. The candle-lit house is nicely art-directed, with its peeling paint, Escher-like stairs, and stony basement. But the movie is marred by unconvincing wigs and makeup, excessive jump scares, needlessly locked doors, and a sentimental ending. The House At The End Of Time is more familial drama than horror film, but I probably wouldn't stop you from watching it.

Black Moon

Louis Malle directs this avant-garde film where a young woman stumbles upon some surreal happenings during a war between the sexes at a remote estate. Featuring badgers, millipedes, talking animals, and armed women in gas masks, Black Moon is a tedious post-Nouvelle Vague Alice In Wonderland. Beautifully shot, it's impenetrable, precious, and tries its best to shock, but at 100 minutes it stumbles around a little too long and bores. The lead actress runs from one scene to another, Joe Dallesandro manages to actually act and keep his pants on, and this viewer wonders what it's all about.

Zero For Conduct

Boys stage a revolution against beans in this experimental short film. Dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29 in 1934, Jean Vigo leaves behind one full length feature and 3 short films, but posthumously influenced the French New Wave. Zero For Conduct features an astonishing, iconic scene as the boys raise banners and stage a riotous parade in slo-mo through the feather-strewn dorm in nightshirts. Simultaneously experimental and naturalistic, it's a sublime short film.

A Page Of Madness

Difficult to follow, A Page Of Madness is a silent, avant-garde Japanese film that was presumed lost for 45 years. Missing approximately a third of its length and having no narration or intertitles, the story of a janitor who works at the asylum where his wife is a patient jumps around amidst startling and disorienting scenes of inmates dancing, running, and being restrained. Featuring dramatic, Expressionistic camera angles, multiple exposures, and various editing and photographic effects, the overall film is disturbing, quite beautiful, but impenetrable.

What Is Cinema?

An examination of the history of film with a focus on experimental and avant-garde films, I found myself more interested in the films discussed than the actual film itself. Academy Award winner Chuck Workman beautifully edits together brief clips and interviews, but I became distracted by What Is Cinema? and found myself looking up directors on Wikipedia instead. Educational but dry, What Is Cinema? focuses on many lesser known films, and encouraged me to search them out.

Meshes Of The Afternoon

I recently watched the documentary What Is Cinema?, which examines the history of film, particularly concentrating on experimental film. While I was underwhelmed by What Is Cinema?, it did give me more films to check out. First up is Maya Deren's remarkable short film, Meshes Of The Afternoon. Foreboding and lyrical, Deren's POV camerawork follows a woman who seems to be haunted by a figure cloaked in black with a mirrored face. Dreamlike and surreal in the classical sense, Meshes Of The Afternoon features Freudian imagery of flowers, keys, knives, and staircases in a disorienting, mysterious film.