Thriller

Dogtooth

By / / 2000s, 2009 / 1 Comment

Inscrutable was the first word that came to mind after watching Dogtooth. As the closing credits rolled, I sat there wondering what I had just witnessed, similar to the first time I saw David Lynch’s Eraserhead.

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Dogtooth

Where to watch: Just Watch

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos‘ conundrum of a film is a hard one to pin down.

Dogtooth poses a lot of questions and answers almost none. Lanthimos and co-writer Efthymis Filippou leave it up to you to parse everything you’ve watched and decide what it all means.

Why are the parents keeping their almost-grown children isolated — essentially captive — from the world beyond their small rural compound? Why are they teaching them alternative meanings to words of things outside their compound (e.g., sea: a leather armchair with wooden arms; motorway: a very strong wind; excursion: a very resistant metal used to construct floors)? Why is the son allowed conjugal visits, but the daughters aren’t?

Your list of questions grows and grows.

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The Woman in the Window (1944)

By / / 1940s, 1944 / Leave a Comment

I’d watch a movie starring Edward G. Robinson any day. He’s one of my favorite actors, always turning in nuanced, mesmerizing performances.

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The Woman in the Window (1944)

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Pair him with director Fritz Lang, and toss in Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, and Dan Duryea, and you can’t go wrong.

That’s the lineup we get in this week’s club pick, The Woman in the Window (the 1944 version).

There’s little of the Expressionist light and shadows of many of Lang’s other films or of other films noir, but he layers on the genre’s moral ambiguity in The Woman in the Window. It’s a solid thriller.

Robinson plays psychology professor Richard Wanley brilliantly. In one day, Wanley goes from sending his wife and kids off to visit family to hiding the body of a man he’s killed in a mysterious woman’s apartment. And, Bennett is alluring as Alice Reed, the unintentional femme fatale.

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Charade (1963)

By / / 1960s, 1963 / Leave a Comment

Charade is the perfect movie for a relaxing evening. Stir up a cocktail, settle into your comfy seat, and be swept away on a romantic adventure in Paris. And who better to join you there than Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and rubber-faced Walter Matthau.

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"Charade" (1963)

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It’s not the least bit realistic (particularly James Coburn‘s accent). But who cares?

The cast (aside from that accent) is strong; the photography is lush, both in the studio and on location in Paris; and the story moves along briskly, with just enough mystery to keep you guessing.

I know it sounds cliche, but I’ll say it anyway: They don’t make movies like this anymore.

Just before watching Charade, I had finished up what you might consider a present-day equivalent: Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. But Bodyguard (like its shorter-named predecessor) is violent, vulgar, and vastly over-the-top, with action from start to finish.

Charade (1963)Please click to continue reading…