brundlefly wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:53 pmEnjoyed this as well. I’m a fan of form fitting function, and deftly switching narrators emphasizes (as the deaf aunt says) that everyone only knows their part of the story, the root of several unfortunate courses of action. It also periodically re-energizes a film that runs long (not as long as the three-hour cut Becker describes, a shame the deleted scenes couldn’t make it into the package) and allows a broader range of tones than there’d be if this was just a focused noir. Not that there’s a lazy 1:1 in mood:narrator. But the film is often a lot funnier than something mired in trauma and tragedy could have been, and a lot warmer as well. Time spent hanging around the Montecciari family does wonders to pointedly frustrate cynicism.domino harvey wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2024 1:28 pmApologies to whoever voted for this, as I just caught up with it and would have voted for it as well. It's a singular experience as a movie, to be sure. It's not a surprise that the film was a huge box office success in France because the movie is at heart an efficient Isabelle Adjani nudity delivery system. Beyond that appeal, though, her performance is deeeeeeply bizarre, weirder even than her more flashy work in Possession. Taking the role of bratty coquette to levels of assholishness not yet imagined, she plays a small town slut who beds and weds a local average joe as part of an overcomplicated revenge plot that has some unexpected twists that revel in their narrative fuckery. The film is contemporary but feels like a 50s pulp novel, especially the incessant narration, which switches speakers several times throughout the action. And of course it all ends bad for everyone, as it must. But it is also so much weirder than you could possibly imagine from the outside looking in. To give some sense of the tone on this one, let's just say it belongs in the Trash Canon with works like Killer Joe and This World, Then the Fireworks. Also what a treat to watch this on Cult Epics' (region-free) Blu-ray and be treated to a boutique release of a French film that doesn't look yellow or blue
I’d add The Hot Spot to your trash canon, though as much as Becker and Japrisot's film also feels sprung from the mind of a horny teenage boy, it’s well in line with the Adjani character’s arrested and calculating worldview. Shocked the camera doesn’t pan back and forth with her exaggerated hip-swagger. Amazing (and also pointed) that Adjani was like 27 and a mother when playing 19/20 and 14.
L'Été meurtrier / One Deadly Summer is coming back in print from Cult Films next month and is up for preorder on OrbitDVD