Who’s Your Tough Guy?

Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Have you ever just latched on to a performer, and they never seem to fail you?  Maybe a Springsteen or Stevie Wonder?  I’m that way with films and certain stars –  Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart or Gregory Peck.  They never fail(ed) to entertain and captivate.  The problem is their best work product was more than 40 years ago . . . and all three of them are dead.

So, is there anyone around today who does this for me in contemporary films?  There is, and I even surprised myself when I came to realize it, because on the one hand he is probably well-known to most of you, but not obvious.  He isn’t a B actor, but he’s at his best in a supporting role, unless he’s the lead.  If I’ve piqued your curiosity, it’s the French actor Jean Reno.

Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Reno was born in Casablanca, French Morocco in 1948.  He is equally comfortable working in French, English, Spanish and Italian.  His American credits include Armored with Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne, Couples Retreat with Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman, Flyboys,  Mission: Impossible, and of course the Da Vinci Code as Captain Bezu Fache.  My personal favorite is Ronin where he is superbly cast opposite Robert DiNiro.

I think his best Hollywood film is probably the Professional aka Leon: the Professional.  This film is different than almost all of his other “American” films because it isn’t an ensemble cast, he’s not on a team. Reno plays Leon,  an immigrant to America seeking the American Dream . . . as a hitman for the mob. Mathilde – a young Natalie Portman is Leon’s 12 year old neighbor.  She witnesses the murder of her family after returning home, and saves herself by hiding in Leon’s apartment.  The movie is Leon’s quest to care for, teach, and avenge the death of Mathilde’s family by corrupt cops.

Image courtesy of Internet Movie Database

If you remember Jodie Foster opposite DeNiro in Taxi Driver, you’re not too far off, but while Portman’s Mathilde isn’t a working girl, she brings a sophistication to the screen that Foster doesn’t.  It’s Leon the professional killer and green-thumb who has the humanity in this film and he reaches out to someone who desperately needs him.  You wouldn’t be remiss in watching any of Reno’s dramas, either the Hollywood ones, or his French ones.  He is a champ at portraying the weary “I’ve-seen-too-much” mid level “flic” (French policeman) or the cynical Senior Detective.  I’m not sure why, but the French and French actors can still make Film Noir (Where have you gone Mr. Mitchum,) even in color.

– Richard

Unexpected Detours and the Kindness of Strangers: A 1,001 Movies Update

A funny thing happened since my last movie project update — I accidentally watched a few movies that aren’t on the official list.

After you stop laughing, you might ask yourself just how on earth I managed that. In the case of The Phantom Lover, it’s simple: I don’t speak or read Chinese.  The movie I should have been looking for was a 1937 film called Song at Midnight, but since I used the Mandarin title, Yè bàn gē shēng, in my WorldCat keyword search, and then didn’t realize there was more than one movie using that title, I accidentally requested the wrong one. What makes this doubly hilarious is that Song at Midnight is, itself, an adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel The Phantom of the Opera, and The Phantom Lover is one of two remakes of Song at Midnight.  Layers upon layers of textual goodness to unpack!  However, with its lavish sets and costumes, lovely singing, and Romeo and Juliet allusions, The Phantom Lover is so wonderful that I’m hard-pressed to see how Song at Midnight can compare. 

Another blunder that led to an interesting cinematic experience was mistaking George Cukor’s Camille for Gregory Mackenzie’s Camille.  Instead of a swanky retelling of a Dumas novel, I accidentally subjected myself to 90 minutes of Sienna Miller playing an undead newlywed.  It wasn’t a horrible film, but it was definitely bizarre, and a little unsettling.  After all, if your husband doesn’t fall in love with you until after you’re a slowly rotting corpse, your relationship has issues that probably can’t be satisfactorily resolved in a 90-minute movie.  If only I had read the descriptive essay from the book before I checked out the wrong film!  On the bright side, David Carradine’s supporting role as a sad, philosophical cowboy made the movie a little more pleasant to watch, if still a bit puzzling. (Multi-colored horses?  Really?)

On the even brighter side, getting my hands on the right movies most of the time has been a snap thanks to the wonderful staff in the Film and Audio Department and a number of libraries elsewhere in the country who graciously sent me their films via interlibrary loan.  Not every library can buy every item its patrons want, for a variety of reasons, so it’s great that so many libraries are willing to share their collections, often for no charge.   Talk about the kindness of strangers!  And the ability to request interlibrary loans through the Carnegie Library is available to everybody with an Allegheny County library card, so don’t be shy about putting in those requests.

One incredible film that came via ILL was Karel Kachyňa’s Ucho [The Ear], a psychological nerve-bender about Ludvik, a minor Communist party official, and Anna, his grumpy wife.  The couple spends most of their tenth anniversary arguing with each other about whether or not the Communist party has bugged their house, as well as whether or not the authorities are on their way over to arrest Ludvik.  Beautifully demonstrating the principle that just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you, Ludvik and Anna scramble around their house setting documents on fire, hunting for hidden microphones, and hiding precious objects in their son’s school bag, all the while taking verbal potshots at each other a la Edward Albee. Just when the tension is about to become unbearable, the conflict is resolved in a “happy” ending. And if you want to know what I mean by that, you’ll definitely have to request the film yourself, or–if you don’t mind being stapled to your computer or small-screen gadget–watch it on YouTube.

Here’s a list of the (correct!) films I watched in this round of the “1,001 Movies” project:

1. Ucho [The Ear], graciously loaned by the Wellesley College library system
2. The Cow, graciously loaned by the Old Dominion University library system
3. The Hangover
4. Kes
5. The House is Black
6. Cinema Paradiso
7. I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
8. M*A*S*H
9. Rear Window
10. Metropolis
11. Network
12. Slumdog Millionaire
13. Badlands
14. To Kill A Mockingbird

This brings my total movie-watching count up to a neat 220, and I’m still having a wonderful time, especially with this round’s wealth of classic films. I’m a little in love with Gregory Peck and not ashamed to admit it, either. I do wonder, however, when real life concerns and the cumulative lack of sleep are going to catch up with me.  I suppose I’ll just have to burn that bridge when I get to it.

Until next time, movie fans!

Leigh Anne

who also somehow managed to finish reading A Storm of Swords and is chomping at the bit for her turn with A Dance With Dragons