Category Archives: Could Be Hard To Watch

2005, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Explicit sexual discussion, Not Feel Good, Revenge, Suspense, Unusual, Violent

Hard Candy (2005)

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From NetFlix:

Ellen Page (Juno) stars in this suspenseful drama from director David Slade as Hayley, an intelligent teen who’s got her own reasons for spending so much time with Geoff (Patrick Wilson), a much older man she met online. Even though Geoff is a charming, good-looking photographer, Hayley should know better than to go home with a guy in his early thirties — especially since he might have ulterior motives.

WARNING:

  • You may hate this movie. Although there is no explicit gore, there are many instances of violence, and the gore is left to your imagination (which can make it even worse).
  • You must suspend disbelief because the “teenager” Ellen Page looks too old and is far to mature to be a mere 14 years of age. In fact in this film Ellen Page was 18.
  • You must suspend disbelief because the photographer Patrick Wilson claims he is 10 years older than the girl. 32 year old men don’t look like 24 year old men.
  • You must suspend disbelief because the girl has just too many weapons at her disposal. Moreover, to use these tools she has to be very, very strong.

Having blasted the film, I was compelled to watch it from beginning to end. It is quite a trip. I will not spoil the film for you by giving details. If you insist, you can read wikipedia. At least be aware, that the film has the feel of revenge that you might experience in a Stephen King film and for this reason could be hard to watch. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

In 2005 Ellen Page was 18 when she made this film. In 2007 at age 20 she made the film Juno (2007) which was very popular.

In 2005 Patrick Wilson was 32 when he made this film. In 2006 he was 33 when he made the film Little Children (2006), which is a book written by Tom Perrotta from my town of Belmont. He was also Claire Danes young lover in Evening (2007)

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Docudrama, Drama, Not Feel Good, Occasional gore, Suspense, Violent, War

The Hurt Locker (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Kathryn Bigelow directs this gripping drama (nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards) following one of the U.S. Army’s elite EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) teams operating in the ferocious war zone of Iraq. As the squad identifies and dismantles improvised explosive devices and other bombs, they must also contend with the frayed nerves and internal conflicts that arise from living in constant peril. Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie star.

Hopefully this film tells it like it really is in Iraq. If so, I don’t see how any soldier in Iraq stays sane: the constant fear, especially in the EOD, would eventually unhinge most humans. Plot is secondary. Rather the film is a sequence of hair raising episodes in the life of the EOD. Once such a episode started, I could not get my eyes off the screen. Episode after episode I never got accustomed to the tension. What little there was of plot involved the difference in personalities between Staff Sergeant William James, the bomb expert, and the other soldiers. James is a chance taker, seemingly impervious to the dangers.

Be prepared for gore: a bomb is planted in the body of a dead child, a family father is forced to become a suicide bomber, etc.

For a complete description see wikipedia.

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, Drama, Gangs, Love Story, Suspense, Violent

The Narrows (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Mike Manadoro (Kevin Zegers) is torn between two worlds — his numbers-runner father Vinny’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) Brooklyn way of life and the college lifestyle he discovers as a photography student — in this drama based on Tim McLoughlin’s novel Heart of the Old Country. While earning money for school as his father’s driver and by delivering packages for a local mobster, Mike yearns to fully embrace the urbane new world he’s entered.

Searching for films with Vincent DÓnofrio led to this dark tale of the Brooklyn underworld. An excellently detailed plot with many twists offers the young Kevin Zegers (who can also be seen in “Fifty Dead Men Walking”) a great acting opportunity. No-one disappoints. Be prepared for two especially ugly gang executions. Despite that violence, the story holds your attention at least because you are rooting for Mike Manadoro to save his soul. Vincent DÓnofrio (you either love him or hate him) offers the least quirky role of his career while still doing his usual perfect job. I have to mention Titus Welliver as the soulless gang leader Tony (why are they always named Tony, as in “Tony Soprano” ?) for his creepy unfeeling role. Welliver can be seen in the wonderful TV series “The Good Wife”.

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.

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, Could Be Hard To Watch, Detective, Docudrama, Explicit sex, Nudity, Occasional gore, Suspense, Todd Robinson, Violent, Vulgar

Lonely Hearts (2006)

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From NetFlix:

In this unnerving docudrama, John Travolta and James Gandolfini play homicide detectives assigned to pursue lovers Martha Beck (Salma Hayek) and Raymond Fernandez (Jared Leto) — dubbed the “Lonely Hearts Killers.” Luring unwary war widows and spinsters through personal ads in the late 1940s, the couple stripped respondents of their savings before slaying them in a sexually charged frenzy. The supporting cast includes Laura Dern and Scott Caan.

Well worth seeing, this film is violent and could be hard to watch if only because there is a very explicit execution by electric chair (which you know immediately at the start of the film). Children not invited to watch because of the grisly shootings, the explicit sex, and the coarse sexual banter of the police officers.

Over the years I have seen John Travolta become a fat actor playing himself. In this case his face has changed so much (no, it is not makeup) that I almost did not recognize the face, although the body type has not changed. In all fairness, he does an excellent and sullen job as a man wounded by and unable to recover from his wife’s suicide. James Gandolfini is not just Tony Soprano and can, in fact, act well in certain kinds of roles including this role as Travolta’s sidekick.

Salma Hayek throughout the film is drop-dead gorgeous, especially when she is dolled-up in a smart black outfit plus big hat plus decolletage. She plays a wonderful sociopath right down to her never-give-in demise.

Not bad at all!

1000NYTimes, 1001BeforeDie, 1998, Classic, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Not Feel Good, Violent, War

The Thin Red Line (1998)

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From NetFlix:

Director Terrence Malick’s lyrical retelling of James Jones’s novel about the bloody 1942 battle for Guadalcanal was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. With narration from Pvt. Witt (Sean Penn), fellow soldiers Capt. John Gaff (John Cusack), Sgt. Keck (Woody Harrelson) and the rest of the company become a tight-knit group as they face the horrors of war to hold onto a key-positioned airfield — and their own sanity.

Both the “NY Times Best 1000” and “1001 Films to See Before You Die” rave about Malick’s war film. At 170 minutes, it is a long an harrowing adventure. There are too many known actors to even begin mentioning them. Essentially an anti-war film, it constantly blends exotic filming of an island paradise (scenery, natives, birds, etc) with the horrors of the effort to defeat the Japanese entrenced on the summit of the island. But most of all, it accompanies various soldiers as we hear their thoughts, their meditations on this sanity-threatening experience. Of all the threads, two impressed me the most:

Nick Nolte plays Lt. Col. Toll who is an older man that in peacetime was bypassed for promotion. This war is his big chance to be noticed. Accordingly he is willing to sacrifice his men in order to achieve personal glory. At one point he orders Captain Staros, a soldier and lawyer, to launch a suicidal attack. But Staros refuses to order his men to their death, defies Toll’s order, and finds a better way. After successfully reaching the summit, Toll bribes Staros with a Purple Heart so that Staros will not tell the outside world what an as _ _ _ le comander he, Toll, really is.

Ben Chaplin plays Pvt. Bell who survives the terror by constantly remembering his time with his dearly beloved wife. However, at one point he receives a “Dear John” letter asking him for a divorce. Chapin’s portrayal of the slowing dawning, almost impossible to accept, realization of his loss is devastating.

Critics has questioned the length of the film. But this is a classic war film that you should see before you die.

2001, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Kathryn Bigelow, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Violent

The Weight of Water (2001)

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From NetFlix:

Two couples (Catherine McCormack and Sean Penn, Josh Lucas and Elizabeth Hurley) head off to New Hampshire to look into the double murder of two sisters in 1873. The film, based on Anita Shreve’s novel, volleys back and forth between the past and the present, dredging up not only the past killings but the modern-day relationships of the foursome, as well.

Kathryn Bigelow, who directed this film, has been in the news lately. So I am now trying to see as many of her films as I can. She has a reputation for pulling no punches in her films. Eventually in this film you experience this in the murder scenes and in the storm at sea. But just as unsettling are the motives for the murder. The scenes switch back and forth from the past (the murder) and the present (the foursome on the boat) with great rapidity and in a clever way by matching the mood in each scenario.

My attention never wavered. I am now officially a Kathryn Bigelow fan.

2008, Animated, Could Be Hard To Watch, Docudrama, Explicit sex, Graphic Novel, Not Feel Good, Violent, War

Waltz with Bashir (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Utilizing vivid black-and-white animation in this Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign Language Film, director Ari Folman documents his quest to explore the memory gaps in his life during his service for the Israeli army in the Lebanese war of the early 1980s. Recounting several story vignettes based on recorded interviews with colleagues and friends, Folman explores the horrors of war and the curious coping mechanisms that mankind uses to survive and function under brutal circumstances.

Not everyone enjoys animantion. However, from the limited viewpoint of watching a Graphic Novel, “Waltz with Bahir” was for me captivating. Just watching the faces was enjoyable.

But these comments are superficial. For the historical background of the 1980 war in Lebanon and of this film and the various reactions to the film you could read the ample article in Wikipedia.

Just be prepared for the final portion in which the animation is replaced by actual film footage of the horror.