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Home Archives for overlooked film

March 11, 2014 By iluvcinema 2 Comments

Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Twilight (1998)

Alright before you start wigging out or anything, check out the date for the film. This is NOT the teen-vamp saga. Never seen it, likely never will.

Twilight Robert Benton Paul Newman Susan Sarandon Gene Hackman

Anyway, this Twilight came out in 1998 and stars Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon and (a young) Reese Witherspoon. It is directed and co-written by Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer, Places in the Heart, The Human Stain).

When I first saw Twilight I almost did not care what the plot was. As I sussed out, Harry Ross (Newman) is on the search for young Mel Ames (Witherspoon), scion of Hollywood parents Jack (Hackman) and Catherine (Sarandon). But this is only the beginning. Years pass and Ross, who boards on the Ames Estate, is asked to do another solid for the family. This is where the “fun” begins as the viewer is taken on a ride with plenty of twists and turns, including the reawakening of a 20-year old case involving the disappearance of Catherine’s first husband. (Plot Synopsis Source: Wikipedia)

 

I will relent and say that it does plod along at times during the film and the strength is in the performance of acting majesty. It has been years since I have seen this, but I am always fascinated and intrigued by contemporary efforts to capture the atmosphere and spirit of those noir films of the 1940s and 1950s.

Also, it is quite possible I have a thing for Paul Newman. Only just so. Seriously, I think if he had released a film in which he was reading the phone directory or staring at a wall watching paint dry, I’d be there.

But there is a sentimental reason why I love him so. As mentioned in this space before, he was an actor that my late father and me had a shared affinity for. So whenever I think of Paul Newman, a part of me is reminded of my beloved father.

Filed Under: Overlooked Films Tagged With: gene hackman, overlooked film, paul newman, paul newman twilight susan sarandon, reese witherspoon, robert benton, susan sarandon, twilight

December 31, 2013 By iluvcinema 9 Comments

Overlooked Film: Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

I have decided to return to something that I have not highlighted in quite some time on my website: overlooked/forgotten gems. so as we close the year out, allow me to submit the 2002 British drama/thriller Dirty Pretty Things for your approval.

16488_gal

Dirty Pretty Things was directed by Stephen Frears and starred Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Tautou, as star-crossed illegal immigrants working in a London hotel.  Check out the trailer here:

The film principally deals with themes surrounding the treatment (read: the exploitation) of illegal immigrants inhabiting a world with the more fortunate among us. This film does an admirable job of showing the underworld and how the plight of people who are simply seeking a better way of life often goes ignored.

Have you seen Dirty Pretty Things? Leave a lovely comment below and let me know what you thought of it.

Filed Under: Overlooked Films Tagged With: dirty pretty things, overlooked film, stephen frears

September 24, 2013 By iluvcinema 1 Comment

Overlooked: Tight Spot (1955) Featuring Ginger Rogers

This week’s selection is truly an inspired choice; inspired because I just finished watching it on TCM. Tight Spot is a 1955 noir-ish melodrama that stars Ginger Rogers, Brian Keith, Edward G. Robinson and Lorne Greene.

I decided that this is an interesting film to call to your attention because it is yet another one of those non-singing, non-dancing Ginger Rogers roles. In it, she plays a woman who faces the challenge of testifying against a crime kingpin (Lorne Greene) in a federal trial.

a tight spot ginger rogers TIGHT_SPOT-6

Overall it is a solidly put together film; but not groundbreaking. As I previously mentioned, it is noir-ish in so much as there exists the genre’s easily identifiable seedy, criminal underbelly in the form of Greene’s Benjamin Constain and his cronies who try to “get” to Rogers’ Sherry Conley, but the dramatic tension (for my part  at least) drives the film into the realm of the melodramatic. The best line is reserved for the final line of the film. Won’t spoil it for you here – I simply suggest you take a moment to catch this one when you can.

 

*Be sure to also check out other overlooked/forgotten titles at my colleague Todd Mason’s blog, Sweet Freedom.

 

Filed Under: Overlooked Films Tagged With: ginger rogers, overlooked film, tight spot

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