Five Picks from Video Sleazy

Our local video store - 15 walk to the other side of CBD - offers a deal of 5 non new release movies for 7 days for 10 bucks. Since Netflix doesn't exist in Oz, this ain't bad. And they have a pretty good selection of DVDs, even if a Hal Hartley film will be in Arthouse/Cult one week, foreign the next, and comedy the next. We usually get a broad range of films to watch and this past week was typical: The Matrix, Barry Lyndon, Dead Man, The Good Thief and I Heart Huckabees.

My attitude towards any film is firmly based in expectation. I enjoy most movies I watch because I usually know what I'm getting into. I understand that this often makes me more forgiving of certain films and critical of others. But have not found this to lend any preference to big-budget Hollywood films over some poor Polish guy making a film about living in Siberia. Anyway, this week's films were solid across the board. Keeping in mind that I think each of these are worth watching, here's my summary in order of "you should see" onwards:

Dead Man
Jim Jarmusch - 1995
This is definitely in my top ten, so it's an easy favourite. Jarmusch's take on the western genre is as exhilirating as an open wound on the shin held against a sea breeze. The dialgue is pure poetry, like Johnny Depp's William Blake would write.

Barry Lyndon
Stanley Kubrick - 1975
Kubrick takes on the costume drama. I was exhausted when I watched this three hour epic but I never felt close to sleep. Every establishing shot calls to mind a panoramic painting. You find yourself curious about the outcome of the semi-interesting main character, and you feel as though you have lived an entire life by end.

I Heart Huckabees
David O. Russell - 2004
I didn't expect much from this film but I was pleasantly surprised. A Charlie Kaufman without Charlie Kaufman (or Spike Jonze) - but it kind of works. You can believe the cast most of the time, though sometimes you feel like they are in on the joke. It's a pretty successful mind-throttler.

The Matrix
The Wachowski Bros - 1999
The once revolutionary action film is now a classic worth enjoying for the great fight scenes and laughable dialogue.

The Good Thief
Neil Jordan - 2002
This is a remake of a French film that was released in 1979. Perhaps this is a victim of my "expectation" application of film enjoyment. It's very well-written, very well-directed, very well-acted and the soundtrack by Leonard Cohen is haunting... I think the music is what does the film in, though. Leonard Cohen singing to a non-tragedy? Misleading.