RVIFF Day 7: Reality-Shifting SF Amor Fou, Noir From the Vault, and a Blind Swordsman (Not That Blind Swordsman, This Other One)
September 12th, 2024 | Robin
A Ken and Robin Consume Media Special Feature
Looks like I left these titles off my original announcement list. I blame festival brain. Festival brain that I had a month before I started watching 4-5 movies a day for days on end. Actually that would have been Gen Con brain. The point I’m making is: brain.
I fixed the list for those following along at home.
Never Open That Door (Argentina, Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952, 4) Rich family’s dutiful scion tries to protect his sister, a compulsive gambler, from a blackmailer; a blind woman who has longed for the return of her prodigal son discovers that he is a murderous armed robber bent on performing another job. In this diptych of Cornell Woolrich adaptations, the first is a stylish exercise in simple irony and the longer second part is truly brilliant, with a nail-biting extended sequence of suspenseful pure cinema.
In tribute to TIFF back when it was the Festival of Festivals and included a series called Open Vault, I look for one newly restored rarity to program each year. This is also the one where I cheated, having recorded this when it debuted on TCM a few months ago. Though not currently streaming, it is on Blu Ray. Weirdly attentive readers will note that Ken beat me to the capsule reviewing punch on this by seeing it at Noir City Chicago.
Eddie Muller’s Film Noir Foundation, which also runs the Noir City touring festival series, in large part funded this restoration as part of a longstanding project to revive Christensen’s work.
The Hole in the Fence (Mexico, Joaquin del Paso, 2021, 4) At survival camp, leaders of a religious order teach young adolescent boys the essential quality they’ll need as sons of the ruling elite—cruelty. Brutal allegorical drama argues that things go Lord of the Flies not when adults are absent, but when they’re present and calling the shots.
The Beast (France, Bertrand Bonello, 2023,4) To qualify for a job in an eerily serene AI future, a woman (Léa Seydoux) is sent back into past lives in 1910 and 2014 to purify her past traumas, both involving her relationships with a man (George MacKay.) Reality-shifting dystopian SF amour fou movie inspired by a Henry James novella.
I love the subtlety of its surreal touches, which are more like the slightly off-brand version of reality a real life dream presents than the over-the-top strangeness movie mind trips usually deal in.
Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman (China, Bingjia Yang, 2022, 4) Gruff bounty hunter Blind Cheng steps outside the rules to pursue the well-connected criminal who ordered a wedding massacre. Beautifully photographed, straightahead period martial arts flick.
For the third year running, my wife Valerie and I are attending our own at-home film festival. It takes the place in our hearts and vacation plans formerly reserved by the Toronto International Film Festival. The Robin and Valerie International Film Festival is the cinema event you can play along with at home, with a roster of streaming service and SVOD titles. Its roster includes the foreign, independent and cult titles we used to love to see at TIFF, but cheaper, hassle-free, and on the comfort of our own couch. Daily capsule reviews roll out throughout the festival, with a complete list in order of preference dropping a day or two afterwards. Review ratings are out of 5.
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