Category Archives: Not Feel Good

1990, Drama, Explicit sex, Kidnapping, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Suspense, Violent

After Dark My Sweet (1990)

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From NetFlix:

When a couple of conniving lowlifes (Rachel Ward, Bruce Dern) hatch a plot to kidnap the scion of a wealthy local family, they pick the wrong man to carry out the job: Kid Collie (Jason Patric), a disturbed ex-boxer on the lam from a mental institution. Collie narrates this twisted tale of double crosses and deception directed by James Foley (At Close Range) and adapted from the Jim Thompson novel.

Years ago I saw Jason Patric in “Sleepers”, a difficult-to-watch film about child kidnap and sexual abuse. In looking for more Patric films I tried “Expired” (2007) and “Your Friends and Neighbors” (1998). In both films he played the part of a nasty somewhat despicable person. I refused to recommend either film. In “After Dark My Sweet” he does and excellent and consistent job in becoming the damaged Kid Collie. Good story with unpredictable plot twists. For the life of me I cannot figure out what the ta

2005, Could Be Hard To Watch, Could Be Sad, Danish, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Not Feel Good, Redemption, Susanne Bier, Violent, War

Brothers (2005)

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From NetFilx:

When army major Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) is presumed dead on a mission to Afghanistan, his wife (Connie Nielsen) and transient younger brother (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) are drawn together. Michael is eventually found and sent home, but his harrowing experience as a prisoner of war changes the family forever. Winner of a Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, this Danish drama inspired a 2009 English-language remake from director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot).

Danish directory Susanne Bier has made many films such as “Things We Lost In The Fire”. In this review and the other two reviews we are recommending three of her films: “Open Hearts”, “Brothers”, and “After the Wedding”. The language is Danish with subtitles. Susanne Bier directs fine films.

There is a newer film “Brothers (2009)” which is an American rewrite of the 2005 Danish version. I have read reviews of the newer version which say that the original Danish version is the better of the two.

In any case, this is in certain parts a tough film to watch, but well-acted and always worth the viewing effort.

1997, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Gay theme, Love Story, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Redemption, Unusual, Violent, War

Bent (1997)

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From NetFlix:

In this drama based on the play by Martin Sherman (who also wrote the screenplay), a Berlin homosexual is caught up in the Nazi hysteria during World War II. After being forced to kill his lover, he’s placed in a concentration camp and lies to get himself classified as Jewish rather than gay. But several rule-breaking incidents and his love for a fellow male prisoner bring him to admit his true nature. Mick Jagger appears briefly as a drag queen.

If you see this film before you watch “Walk On Water” you might appreciate the second film more. “Bent” offers a unique view of Nazi cruelty, especially as directed towards homosexuals. This view couples well with “Walk On Water”.

I watched this film because I was trying to find films with Clive Owen. “Bent” only increases my appreciation of his acting skill. He is willing to take unusual, possibly controversial roles. I only hope he resists the temptation to which Anthony Hopkins succumbed, namely taking stupid roles in order to make money. Sadly, “Duplicity” comes close to that mistake.

This could be a difficult film for you to watch because:

  • Initial scenes show decadent public entertainment in Berlin including explicit homosexual activity. Indeed Berlin at that time in history was very decadent.
  • When the two male lovers are first captured, they are put on a train to Dachau in which the goal was to break their spirit and hopefully eliminate them before they arrived at Dachau. One of the partners is brutally tortured and Clive Owen is forced to deny he knows the victim and must beat that victim who is thrown bodily off the train.
  • The officers insist that Clive Owen perform straight sex on a 12 year old girl who is in fact dead during the encounter. The German officers laugh and have a gay old time.
  • In prison Clive finds a new gay acquaintance Horst. The two are forced to repetitive, meaningless hard labor moving rocks back and forth.
  • Needless to say, they cannot touch one another. At one point they verbally work thru a sexual encounter in which each achieves orgasm. It proves to them that they are still alive.
  • All along Clive managed to be classified as Jewish as opposed to gay. Toward the end of the film the officers cruelly kill Horst and ask Clive to dispose of the body.

As a side note on hypocrisy, many Nazis (some of them leaders such as Roehm) were openly homosexual. You can find an enlightening article on Homosexuality in the Nazi Party.

Jude Law, Mick Jagger, and others have cameo roles. I challenge you to spot Jude Law.

The music, believe it or not, was written by Philip Glass. He must have been very young because the music is beautiful.

If you can stomach the harsh details and try to ignore them, you will watch a story of a guilty man finally forgiving himself and admitting of love. Do NOT expect a happy ending.

1999, Complicated, Detective, Drama, Made For TV, Not Feel Good, Suspense

Split Second (1999)

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From NetFlix:

A split-second decision made in a fit of rage eventually drives attorney and family man Michael Anderson (Clive Owen) to desperate measures in this gripping psychological drama. The stressed-out corporate lawyer hits his melting point one fateful day, and things only get worse for Anderson when he runs away from the horrible consequences of his rage-induced actions. Helen McCrory, John Bowe and James Cosmo co-star.

In this made-for-TV film, Clive Owen is leading a very stressful life of a corporate lawyer. At one point while driving home he hits a kills a bicyclist and then runs. The rest of the somewhat complicated story involves his inner torment, external reactions, and eventual decision.

Helen McCrory does a good job as his wife. You may recognize her as Marcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. All in all the plot easily could occur. I hope I never hit-and-run but I was rooting for Clive Owen to find some solution.

Not relaxing.

2008, Drama, Independent, Not Feel Good, Sci-Fi, Spanish, Violent

Sleep Dealer (2008)

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From NetFlix:

In a futuristic yet not unfamiliar world, the lives of three strangers connect in surprising ways amid a backdrop of militarization, closed borders and an all-encompassing global technological network. At the center of this potent sci-fi tale (nominated for a Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award) are Memo (Luis Fernando Peña), a peasant displaced after his village is attacked; Luz, a writer (Leonor Varela) who plugs her brain into the net; and Rudy (Jacob Vargas), an American security company worker.

NetFlix suggested this rare find: a science fiction film that is Latino, quiet, sadly possible, and promotes human values especially the love of family. Subtitles accompany the easy and slow Spanish speech. There is some violence which because it is not gore hits close to home. It took me a while to understand the purpose of the “nodes”, but once I understood I was jolted because I now saw science fiction that could easily solve the “Mexican problem”. Could this impersonal form of voluntary slavery really happen ? Is the situation of today’s Latino immigrants any better ?

2004, Drama, Not Feel Good, Suspense, Unusual, Violent

Enduring Love (2004)

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From NetFlix:

One man’s placid, circumspect life is thrown wildly off kilter when he becomes the target of another man’s obsession after witnessing a horrific hot-air balloon accident and attempting to rescue its passengers. This harrowing drama stars Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans, Bill Nighy and Alexandra Aitken. Roger Michell directs from his own script, an adaptation of the novel by Ian McEwan.

Reading a novel by Ian McEwan is almost always harrowing, and the plot of this film is no exception. Basically the film is about one man’s stalking another for reasons that you eventually discover. Some of the stalking scenes are downright embarrassing, others violent and you cannot imagine where all of this will end. Sometimes the film seems slow, especially when a dinner party sits around and discusses the main theme: what is true love and can it endure ?

Currently Daniel Craig is pigeon-holed as “Bond, James Bond”. That is a pity because Daniel Craig can actually act. (Don’t miss him in “Defiance”.) Hats off to the Welsh actor Rhys Ifans for a stunning performance as the stalker. He has been in too many films to list. Samantha Morton was Mary Stuart in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”.

If you can stand the sadness, the stalking, the anger, the violence, and some failed relations, then be my guest.

2006, Could Be Hard To Watch, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Gay theme, Love Story, Non-physical Violence, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Redemption, War

The Secret Life of Words (2005)

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From NetFlix:

After surviving the war in Yugoslavia, taciturn nurse Hanna (Sarah Polley) heads to Ireland for some rest and relaxation. But when she hears about an oil-rig accident off the coast, she agrees to tend heroic burn victim Josef (Tim Robbins). Personalities clash aboard the derrick as Hanna contends with Josef, a Russian soldier (Sverre Anker Ousdal), a lively Spanish chef (Javier Cámara) and other oddballs in this compelling character study.

Where to begin with this superb but disturbing film ?

If anything, this is a story of a severly damaged woman little by little returning to life due to her nursing the burn survivor Tim Robbins on the almost deserted oil-rig. It is also the story of his gradual return to life physically and mentally. His character has a wonderful talent for words. From the very outset he is determined to break through Hanna’s defenses, initially just because he is a very accomplished flirt. Both he and she have some horrible history which eventually emerges.

Some of the other actors are notable. I won’t say what role she plays (it is part of the mystery surrounding Hanna) but Julie Christie is still a beautiful woman with those startling blue eyes. It took me awhile to place the cook Jose Cámara. He was one of the men who was a caretaker for a comatose girl friend in the Almodóvar film “Hable Con Ella”.

I have some nitpiks: It would have been impossible in my opinion for the burn victim to have located Julie Christie’s character. Also Kathy and I found the ending to be too good to be true.

Challenge: Who or what was the childlike voice narrator ?

The next paragraph is a spoiler, but I owe it to you. WARNING: if vivid descriptions of war atrocities bother you, do NOT watch this film.

2006, Detective, Drama, Imperfect, Not Feel Good

Hollywoodland (2006)

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From NetFlix:

When George Reeves (Ben Affleck), the actor who famously played the Man of Steel in TV’s “Adventures of Superman,” turns up dead, a dogged private eye (Adrien Brody) investigates and unearths a string of strange secrets. Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins also star in this gritty noir-style drama based on the true story of one of Hollywood’s most infamous mysteries, a film that marks television director Allen Coulter’s feature film debut.

For all the name stars in this film, it could have been better. Adrien Brody carries the story as a private detective trying to solve a possible murder. Ben Affleck gets a chance to act in a serious role. Give the film a B, but it is still watchable.

So, what really happened ?

2007, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, Drama, French, Love Story, Not Feel Good, War

A Secret (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Claude Miller directs this engrossing drama about a Jewish boy in post-World War II Paris who stumbles upon a mysterious toy in the attic, exposing his family’s secret dark past and how it survived Nazi atrocities. Can the child grasp the devastating truth, or will it drive him deeper into his personal fantasy world? Cécile De France, Julie Depardieu, Ludivine Sagnier, Patrick Bruel and Mathieu Amalric star.

Some historical background might help:

Pierre Laval (28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. He served four times as President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France’s Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government. After the Liberation (1945), he was arrested, found guilty of high treason, and executed by firing squad. Because his actions and motives have been the subject of controversy, over twelve biographies have been written about him.

President Laval becomes important in the very end of this marvelous but sad French film. But keep in mind that during World War II the French were just as anti-semitic and treated the French Jews in the same manner as the Germans (I purposely do not say “Nazis”). Thus what begins as a happy well-adjusted French (but unfortunately Jewish) family ends as a family fleeing persecution at the hands of the French.

But that is just the background framework around the real story which is one of love, lust, and guilt. I give nothing away by telling you that on his wedding day (before the wedding) the athletic groom (gymnast) is introduced to the brother of his bride-to-be. That brother has an amazingly beautiful and athletic wife, a champion diver. Immediately the groom is more than strongly attracted to that sister-in-law, but the wedding proceeds. The rest of the story is why you want to watch this well-acted, beautifully photographed French film (with subtitles).

I consider this film a “don’t miss”.

1997, Drama, Explicit sex, French, Gay theme, Not Feel Good

Dry Cleaning (1997)

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From NetFlix:

For 15 years, Nicole (Miou Miou) and Jean-Marie (Charles Berling) have worked side by side at their dry cleaning establishment, building a business and maintaining a seemingly peaceful marriage. But a chance encounter with Loic (Stanislas Merhar), the male half of a brother-sister nightclub act they catch one night, forces the two to reevaluate their relationship, leading them to wonder whether they ought to be together at all.

What starts off slowly with a visit to a nightclub to see an act that only a French person might possibly appreciate, eventually turns into a sexual “who will do what to whom”. I can give nothing away, including an ending that I did not expect. But I would enjoy hearing anyone’s reaction to this film. But then as May West would have said “So many films, so little time”. (That is not quite what she said).