Prizzi's Honor

Resensi Film: Prizzi's Honor (***/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1985

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: John Huston

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia, Anjelica Huston

Plot: Sepasang pembunuh bayaran menemukan mereka dibayar untuk membunuh pasangannya (IMDb).

Prizzi's Honor adalah hybrid antara film mafia/gangster dan film komedi -- dua cara untuk menikmatinya: sebagai film mafia, atau sebagai film komedi. Kalau kita melihatnya sebagai film mafia dan mengharapkan efek grotesque (mengerikan) yang sama seperti The Godfather (1972), kita mungkin akan kecewa karena komedi yang ada sedikit banyak melunturkan efek tersebut. Kalau kita melihatnya sebagai film komedi dan membandingkannya dengan remake-nya, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), kita mungkin dapat mengapresiasi film ini dengan lebih baik karena pengarahan, script dan penampilan cast-nya cukup mengesankan. Jack Nicholson saat itu sedang berada di puncak kariernya, demikian juga dengan Kathleen Turner, yang meraih ketenarannya melalui peran sexy-nya di Body Heat (1981) dan peran komedinya di Romancing the Stone (1984). Nicholson memainkan perannya dengan sedikit subdue (membatasi dan mengontrol), sedang Turner betul-2 menikmati perannya sebagai Irene Walker yang menggoda. Tetapi Anjelica Huston-lah yang berhasil mencuri perhatian penonton dengan peran pendukungnya sebagai anak bos mafia dengan agenda terselubungnya sendiri. Cerita bergulir dengan segala twist dan turn-nya secara mulus dan penonton berhasil dibuat menebak-2 terus sampai scene paling akhir -- siapa yang bakal keluar sebagai "pemenang" dari perseteruan dalam keluarga mafia ini. Secara keseluruhan, Prizzi's Honor terkesan dated (terpengaruh oleh perubahan jaman), tetapi kalau kita dapat menerima kekurangan ini, kita dapat menikmati film ini.

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (***1/2)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***/4

Prizzi's Honor dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

The Shining

Movie Review: The Shining

Year of Release: 1980
Country of Origin: UK, USA
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

Plot outline: A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future (IMDb).

Time and space are elements that Stanley Kubrick toys with in all of his movies, but a near empty hotel may be the perfect place for him to explore those particular elements. He has plenty of long hallways to play with, interesting rooms and confines to scope out and a stark surrounding landscape to finish it all off. Quite often the camera starts far away from its subject and either the camera closes in or the subject slowly approaches the camera. This creates a permanent sense of unease, nothing is ever quite in focus, objects take up more space than they should or are confined to a smaller area that feels comfortable. At every moment Kubrick plumbs the depths of the landscape of the hotel, leaving no area safe. His camera is always pervasive yet standoffish at the same time. Much like its lead character The Shining never feels quite right visually and in that way it is perfect. The question then becomes, sure, the craftsmanship is great, it’s a great looking picture, but how does it work as a horror movie? The answer to that isn’t easy, or maybe it is, I’m not sure. The simple answer is that The Shining may be the best horror movie ever made, but to get to that conclusion requires a bit of complexity. Most great horror is all about the mood and atmosphere of the picture, and The Shining has mood and atmosphere in spades. It starts with the eerily artificial score, there’s no better way to instill horror in a naturally beautiful setting than by having a score that sounds like something from another world entirely. Every scene has a bit of an edge to it, even when there isn’t any malicious intent in the story the score implies that there is and the viewer is taken aback by this contradiction. I’ve already covered the visuals, so that moves us onto the acting. Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd are very naturalistic and minimalistic in their approach. This isn’t Jack being Jack, this is Jack adapting his natural persona into a creepy atmosphere to great affect. Duvall is scared and because we relate to her fear we are scared for/along with her. Lloyd isn’t a typical child actor, he is mighty creepy and never once feels out of step with his adult counterparts. All of the above elements combine to form the slow cooker approach to horror. For those who don’t understand what I mean, think of that crock pot in your parents kitchen. You watch them put all sorts of ingredients in and then walk away. Hours pass by and the ingredients slowly combine and join together to form what will eventually be a scrumptious meal. That is the horror on display in The Shining, not the fast slasher type or the twist type, but the kind that slowly cooks over the course of the movie. It cooks and cooks until it reaches its conclusion, a conclusion that never had any choice but to be great, because all the ingredients were slowly added and cooked to perfection. (BT)

My judgement: **** out of 4 stars

Chinatown

Movie Review: Chinatown

Year of Release: 1974
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston

Plot outline: A private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water (IMDb).

Chinatown may be Roman Polanski's best movie. It may be Jack Nicholson's best movie as well, better than Five Easy Pieces or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It starts out seemingly an ordinary detective story and murder mystery. However, the plot gets thicker and thicker as Nicholson unravels a massive real estate scheme and learns who is behind it. Nothing is as it appears, not the wife, the affair, or the suicide. Nicholson knows he has been duped, and is determined to learn the full story, which involves murder, real estate fraud, and an artificial water shortage. His investigation also uncovers terrible family secrets involving the murder victim's wife (Faye Dunaway) and her cantankerous, powerful father (John Huston). Nicholson is well cast as the cynical and hard-working private eye. His character has similarities to Humphrey Bogart's in The Maltese Falcon, but Nicholson's is not as sharp, and is more willing to con his way into gaining information. Likewise, Dunaway's character is similar to that of Mary Astor's in The Maltese Falcon. Both characters seem unwilling to tell the full truth, and claim to love their hired detective, but Dunaway's is much softer and better intentioned. John Huston, more noted as a director than as an actor, gives a great performance as the grasping schemer who also wants the daughter he doesn't deserve to have. Roman Polanski has a great cameo as the enforcer with a knife. He will always be known more for his off-camera life than for the movies that he has directed, but perhaps that isn't as it should be. Chinatown is an outstanding movie, perhaps even the best movie of the 1970s. (BK)

My judgement: **** out of 4 stars

The Passenger

Movie Review: The Passenger (Proffesione: reporter)

Year of Release: 1975
Country of Origin: Italy, Spain, France
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider

Plot outline: A journalist researching a documentary in the Sahara Desert meets a total stranger who dies suddenly. When the journalist notices that they have a similar appearance, he assumes the recently deceased's identity and accepts the consequences that it brings (IMDb).

The first 25 minutes into the movie Michelangelo Antonioni shows us that a story can be told splendidly virtually without any dialogue. In fact, throughout the movie he maintains the use of dialogue to a minimum level. This becomes the most noticeable attribute to this work. The story unfolds slowly, naturally, without any haste or unnecessary surprises, but surely to an increased level of complexity. He then ends the movie with an unruffled climax - silent, no dialogue - with the camera facing away from the subject of importance. What an outstanding piece of work!

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars.