Rhapsodies

The official working theme on this one was “Crime Comedies” but in the long run I’m not completely sure of how accurate that ended up… you all be the judge.

The first film my list Buffet froid (Cold Cuts) by Bertrand Blier features Gérard Depardieu as Alphonse Tram, an insomniac who spends his nights taking long walks. One night  he finds a man he had talked to hours before in a subway dying with Alphonse’s knife. When he confesses to his only neighbor a police the man tells him to stop bothering him. Later his wife is murdered and this is treated equally nonchalantly

Things get really weird when the killier comes to his apartment to confess. Soon after that the police detective shows up only for the two to shake hands and share a glass of wine as if it was a normal get together. After that there is no turning back.

This movie is pure absurdity that doesn’t even pretend to make sense. Based on how Alphonse kept saying he didn’t sleep because of his nightmares I kept expecting him to wake up. Still, this has nice physical humor with a wonderfully cynical point of view.

My next film on my list Stand Up Guys is the story of two aging gangsters. Christopher Walken plays Doc a retired gangster who spends his time painting sunsets.  Al Pacino plays his best friend, Val who just got out of prison after 28 years. It turns out Doc has been assigned to kill Val by another mobster who wants revenge who was killed in friendly fired during a heist. But Doc can’t bring himself to do it and stalls for time as he gives his friend one last night of fun.

Walked and Pacino have very good chemistry in this thing, but other than that the best thing I can say about this film is meh. It’s technically a comedy but it’s really no funnier than your average action flick. Sure there’s sone funny stuff regarding why you shouldn’t have more than the prescribed dosage of viagra, and a very straight laced bordelllo but otherwise, meh.