AlFlix

Bad Sisters (Ireland & US)

Set in Dublin, Bad Sisters is a creation of Sharon Horgan (Pulling), Dave Finkel (30 Rock), and Brett Baer (30 Rock). It's the story of five Irish sisters told in two timelines. The main timeline begins at the funeral of JP (Claes Bang), the husband of one of the sisters. Bang plays JP in the flashback timeline, which covers the years leading up to JP's death.

The script deftly interweaves the timelines in a way that never gets stale or trite. And the acting is top notch. This show is also advertisement for Dublin tourism and red wine. We drank a lot of red wine watching it, and many episodes ended with us saying, "We should go to Ireland." It's well done romp.

Grayson Perry's Big American Road Trip (UK)

Grayson Perry is an English artist, and his Big American Road Trip is a three episode documentary filmed in 2019 where he traveled to a few locations in the US (Atlanta, the East Coast & Wisconsin) to examine the issues of race and class in the United States. The documentary was broadcast on UK's Channel 4 in September 2020.

He comes to the subjects from a different perspective than domestic examinations of the subjects. And while the people he chooses to interview may be a bit more extreme (in every direction) than "average" Americans, he does bring up some compelling questions about these issues which are tearing our country apart.

If art is about making you see the world differently and ask new questions, then this is definitely art.

Saboteur (1942)

One of Alfred Hitchcock's lesser known films, Saboteur, has always been a favorite of mine. It's overly sentimental World War II propaganda, to be sure. But it's got all the Hitchcock elements: a wronged man chasing the real criminals, a smart blonde, erudite criminals, and amazing set pieces in iconic landscapes.

My favorite part of the film is the overly-precise visual design theme. Created in 1942, another time when it looked like fascism might take over the world, this script visually dissects the elements of the Statue of Liberty and disperses them throughout the film. It's fun to stumble across an ice cream soda representing Lady Liberty's torch, for example. How many parts of the Statue of Liberty can you find?

The film is exuberantly too full of Hitchcock ideas, but I think that makes it great fun to watch. And it features a wonderful performance by Norman Lloyd who, at the time of this writing, is a chipper 105 years old.

The Goes Wrong Show (UK)

The Mischief Theatre is a British theater company which has put on several successful West End productions in the last decade. After two successful BBC television specials, Peter Pan Goes Wrong (2016) and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (2017), they have begun a six episode half hour weekly show on BBC One simply called The Goes Wrong Show.

In their plays the actual actors (Mischief Theatre) play amateur actors from the fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society. These actors in turn play roles in generally dreadful adaptations of famous famous plays in various genres. As the title would suggest, many things go wrong each week.

Each episode starts fairly slowly as the stage is set. But once things really start rolling, foul ups and mistakes build in a way that's reminiscent of the best Fawlty Towers scripts. The Goes Wrong Show owes much to both Fawlty Towers and SCTV, and it easily hold its own among those giants. It's just that funny.

Viewings pair well with large, boisterous groups and a couple rounds of drinks. My son has accurately stated that, "it's funnier with friends," which is indeed is true.

Kitten with a Whip (1964)

I thought this would be a fine, if a bit trashy, movie for a Friday night. But after watching Kitten with a Whip, I'm ready to call it an under-appreciated gem.

You can certainly see why this film got the green light in the early 1960s. Lolita was a titillating sensation when it premiered in 1962. And Kitten with a Whip's story of a wild underage girl who manipulates middle-aged men would definitely be a candidate to ride on Lolita's box office coat tails. 

Ann-Margret is alternately raging and vulnerable in ways that test her character's credibility. Yet, somehow that unpredictable volatility propels the film. Like Dennis Hopper's character, Frank Booth, in Blue Velvet, Ann-Margret's Jody is capable of providing multiple jump scares in a single close-up. You don't always buy it. But you can't look away.

John Forsythe plays David, a 1960s liberal who feels a sense of smug self-satisfaction from giving the delinquent Jody a second chance. No spoilers here, but that doesn't work out too well in the end. Forsythe is an appropriate foil to Ann-Margret's insanity. And I found it quite satisfying to watch this potential senatorial candidate come undone through the film.

I also thought Diane Sayer was brilliant as the hanger-on Midge, who the cool kids only keep around because she has a car. But in the end it's the interplay between Forsythe's serene, detached David and Ann-Margret's unhinged Jody that keeps you watching. 

One Cut of the Dead (Japan, 2017)

What happens if you're filming a zombie movie when a zombie apocalypse breaks out? One Cut of the Dead attempts to answer that question. Said apocalypse happens in real time without cuts or edits. It's a technical achievement on par with Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, but with zombies.

One Cut of the Dead is also clearly inspired by Charlie Brooker's Dead Set, where the cast of a Big Brother reality show are locked inside of the Big Brother house when a zombie apocalypse breaks out.

Electra Glide in Blue (1973)

James William Guercio, the record producer who discovered and nurtured such acts as Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago directed exactly one film, Electra Glide in Blue.

Best known as a pop music producer and owner of Caribou Ranch recording studios outside of Nederland, Colorado, Guercio produced and directed this western on motorcycles as a sort of great American novel on film. Personally, I'm a sucker for these films from the American New Wave. But this isn't Easy Rider, where the younger generation condemns and threatens societal institutions. Electra Glide in Blue is a far more nuanced examination of the definition of success and the American Dream.

Robert Blake is brilliantly cast as a short-statured motorcycle cop in rural Arizona with ambitions of making detective. And Jeannine Riley (of Petticoat Junction fame) gives a moving performance as an aging starlet. 

Conrad Hall's cinematography captures the desolate beauty of Monument Valley. Most of the band Chicago play smaller roles as hippies, and an eagle-eyed observer can even catch a young Nick Nolte in the background of some scenes.

Aniara (2018)

Who's up for some Swedish science fiction? 

Aniara is dark, high-concept science fiction film which ponders everything from cruise ship culture to class warfare. Set in the near future, a luxury, high-speed cruise ship in space ferrying rich passengers from Earth to Mars. The inevitable accident occurs which sends them careening out of the solar system with no means of reversing trajectory. This film is about the evolution of a society on ship in which the passengers have no control over their direction or destination.

I was struck by how well the familiar themes and mood of an Ingmar Bergman film can mesh with a futuristic, science fiction setting. Be warned -- this film isn't going to leave you in a very good mood. But it is intriguing and worth your time.

Parasite (2019)

I can't say that I've ever been a fan of South Korean cinema, but Bong Joon Ho's Parasite has me intrigued and I'm seeking out more of his films, at the very least.

Parasite won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, along with something like 28 other international film awards as of this writing. It's quirky, funny, and the characters draw you in. The fact that it is a foreign film to American audiences means that you really don't know what to expect. This film doesn't fall neatly into any category, and you certainly don't have a clue as to how everything will resolve by the end of the movie.

I can't wait to discover more of Bong Joon Ho's films. And I highly recommend that you take a chance on this one, even if you're not one of those "foreign film types."