Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, it has been a while since I saw this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. Basically, I bumped into this movie in a DVD shop, if I recall it correctly, and since I have always been a fan of Luchino Visconti’s work, I thought I might as well check it out. Indeed, I always thought that there was something fascinating in his work, more than with any other Italian director, even Fellini. This movie was apparently acclaimed when it was released but, to be honest, I had actually a hard time to connect with the damned thing. Basically, it is a very long bleak tale about a rather decadent German family in the 30’s and I'm afraid it was not really fun to spend so much time with such despicable characters. I mean, sure, I’m well aware that it was never supposed to be ‘fun’ but I just didn’t care much for these characters and what they were going through. I don’t know, to be honest, sometimes, it felt like watching ‘Caligula’ but, this time, dealing with some Germans instead of some Romans. I know, it might sound weird to compare an acclaimed movie like this one to some notorious garbage like ‘Caligula’ and that’s why I should probably re-watch it at some point. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t really connect with the damned thing, it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Luchino Visconti’s work. 

Since I’m a huge Reggae fan, of course, I had to watch this movie at some point. Eventually, 40 years later, it might look pretty cheap and since it was pretty much the very first movie of this kind ever produced in Jamaica, the directing and acting were sometimes rather weak due to some lack of experience. Still, it was a huge box-office hit when it was released in Jamaica. Indeed, it was focusing on a black guy, speaking with the heavy Jamaican accent, going through some realistic hardship so it was highly recognizable for the local audience. You might argue that the plot was rather straightforward but the bleak and realistic approach was really neat. Furthermore, as any decent Reggae fan, I really loved the soundtrack with the major classic title song done by Jimmy Cliff himself,  who also played the main character in this movie. Unfortunately, even though Perry Henzell was quite eager to direct some other Jamaican productions after this one, he always struggled to find some financing and only managed to make one other directing effort. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was maybe not entirely successful, this movie is still a fine cult-classic and it is definitely worth a look.

By now, I have seen most of the movies directed by Luc Besson and, even though he was probably regarded in the 80’s-90’s as the most promising French director, I think his career turned out to be rather underwhelming. I mean, sure, he was made some decent films but his last major critical hit was more than 20 years ago with ‘Léon’ (which, I believe, is one of the most overrated movies ever made). Even so, I was still eager to check his directing debut.  Basically, it was a rather typical post-apocalyptic science-fiction feature like ‘Mad Max’  but it was visually pretty neat, in spite of a rather limited budget, and I especially enjoyed the fact that there was almost no dialogue at all during the whole thing. Besson would work also for the first time with Eric Serra on this movie and, as usual, Serra delivered a very atmospheric soundtrack.  It would be also the first time that Besson would work with Jean Reno who would play some major roles in his next 4 movies. To conclude, even though it was nothing really groundbreaking, I thought it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Luc Besson’s work.

I have noticed this movie didn’t get much love when it was released but I thought it was actually pretty good. Basically, back in the 90's, I was a huge fan of Abel Ferrara, especially after watching ‘Bad Lieutenant’ which remains one of the best movies ever made in my opinion and I believe that most of his work he released at the time was really interesting. Ferrara made this movie a year after ‘Bad Lieutenant’ and, apparently, it was barely seen when it was released and it was considered as a massive critical and commercial flop. Apparently, what happened to this movie was what you could call the ‘Madonna’ effect. Indeed, ever since she launched her acting career in the 80’s, she got some rather terrible reviews but she really hit bottom with ‘Body of Evidence’. Well, this movie was released a few months later but people, even Madonna herself, still didn’t forget how awful her previous movie was when, in fact, she gave actually a solid performance here. Against her, you had Harvey Keitel who was probably the best actor working with Ferrara and they were both quite spellbinding to behold. To conclude, even though it was maybe not completely successful, I thought it was another interesting dark tale from this director and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Abel Ferrara’s work.