#1991 films

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Silence of the Lambs is an unnerving film with memorable scenes, intense performances and terrific characters… along with plenty of gore. This makes it a horror film - the only one to ever win an Academy Award for Best Picture - so far. On its own, the central mystery would be enough but we get much, much more.

25-year-old FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is assigned to interview Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a former psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer apprehended six years ago. Officially, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants her to convince Hannibal to fill out a questionnaire. Unofficially, he hopes she can convince Hannibal to help find “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine), a serial killer who has been abducting and murdering women.

It doesn’t take long for you to realize that director Jonathan Demme isn’t simply giving us another serial killer detective story. When Clarice hops into an elevator at the academy, all of the men inside tower over her. While she isn’t the only woman studying to become an FBI agent, there’s a recurring theme of her being debased or disrespected because she is a woman. Jack Crawford makes an unintentional remark to some police officers, Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald) at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane doesn’t take her seriously and makes certain assumptions about her interview with Lecter (considering what Crawford says later, he might be slightly right), at least one inmate gets particularly lewd once he sees her. The theme continues with Buffalo Bill, who has a fundamental misunderstanding of what a woman even is, which leads him to commit his gruesome - and bizarre - murders. The only person (besides a female student played by Kasi Lemmons) who seems to treat Clarice with respect… is Hannibal.

Labelling Clarice as nothing more than "the film's female aspiring FBI agent" would be a mistake. Starling is a memorable character. She’s resourceful, smarter than she looks, doesn’t easily get rattled, and develops this odd sort of relationship with Lecter that says a lot about who she is and why she wants to join the FBI. At one point, Hannibal is offering her clues that could help her apprehend Buffalo Bill but in exchange, he demands to know more about her childhood. Obviously, he's using the techniques he learned as a psychologist to gather more information than even we could understand. During the interrogation, we learn where the movie's title comes from. Considering all of the grisly sights we see, it’s telling that the most chilling moment is that exchange. There’s something about Lecter that’s so dangerous. He’s classy. He’s smart. He always seems to have the perfect remark whenever anyone says anything to him. He’s alluring but just as you start getting close to the glass, you remember that he’s a monster.

With Clarice and Hannibal sufficiently covered, we can now talk about the mystery. If it took me this long, it's because if the movie was just a conversation between those characters, it would be enough. You’re glued to the screen watching them interact. You’re having a great time putting the pieces together, trying to figure these people out. Then, they part ways and you remember "Oh, right! The mystery!" How could you have forgotten? Buffalo Bill has captured another victim (Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin, who actually creates a memorable character with her few scenes). There’s only so much time before he does whatever it is he does to her. We've seen the other victims. We don't quite understand what it is that's going to happen, but we know it's not good. Martin’s mother, a U.S. Senator (Diane Baker) has the power to accelerate processes - anything to get her daughter back. Hannibal knows it. So does Clarice. Jonathan Demme and screenplay writer Ted Tally (who bases it off of the novel by Thomas Harris) keep playing tennis with you, moving you from the interviews with Lecter, to the mystery with the FBI and back again.

The Silence of the Lambs is a thriller that makes you sweat. Its horror elements will make you uneasy and one thing’s for sure, there’s no forgetting this movie once you’ve seen it. The performances are exceptional and even some of the smaller parts are far and above what you’d expect to see, even in a classy horror film - well, as classy as you can be when you have severed heads in bottles and rotting corpses dug out of rivers. I'm returning to the idea that it is a horror movie because it's an important quality of Silence of the Lambs. It's gruesome, it's thrilling, it's filled with engaging characters and it is undeniably frightening. (On Blu-ray, January 16th, 2023)

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

February: Orange Redux

Madame Bovary / Isabelle Huppert as Emma Bovary

Madame Bovary wears this floral-embroidered jacket and skirt to the agricultural show where she embarks on her (first) extramarital affair. The jacket looks solid from a distance, but it actually has a small checked pattern. I think the skirt is solid. I love the contrast of the moss-green velvet ribbons on the bonnet!

The novel was originally published in 1856. I'm not always good at telling the 1850s from the 1840s, but I think they've gone for 1840s in the costuming, as it looks like the 1850s favored looser sleeves.

[gurlypoppalexx]

If you enjoy watching movies that will make you cry until you feel like you need to throw up, I highly recommend this to you ^^ I just finished watching this about 35 minutes ago and I am a wreck. You should definitely watch this!!

[20th-century-man]

Jennifer Tilly / during production of David Beaird's Scorchers (1991) / photos by Douglas Kirkland.

[anyataylorjoys]

POINT BREAK 1991 dir. Kathryn Bigelow

[2001hz]

Winona Ryder, Night on Earth (1991)

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[zanephillips]

JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME Double Impact (1991)

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

The Body Beautiful (Ngozi Onwurah, 1991)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Samurai Cop (1991)

In terms of movies that are so bad they're good, Samurai Cop has it all. The razor-thin plot is little more than an excuse to string together car chases, overly violent fights, ridiculous characters, equally bewildering dialogue, gratuitous sex scenes, laughable performances, unconvincing wigs, badly dubbed extras, befuddling editing choices and the kind of mistakes only a director drunken on their own power could make. It constantly surprises you despite a story devoid of any imagination.

To combat the Japanese gang that’s taken over Los Angeles' cocaine trade, “samurai” policeman Joe Marshall (Mathew Karedas) joins the force. With his partner Frank Washington (Mark Frazer), the two make a break in the case when Joe catches the eye of Jennifer (Janis Farley), a woman whom crime lord Fuj Fujiyama (Cranston Komuro) is attempting to romance.

You might’ve seen one of the film’s best scenes on YouTube at some point: the one where Joe talks to a flirty hospital nurse whose pickup lines you’d expect to hear coming from a drunken frat boy. Trust me, that’s just the beginning. This movie feels like it was conceived by a horny, bloodthirsty 13-year-old and written by aliens. While on a bust, Joe will say something to fellow officer Peggy (Melissa Moore) and you’ll think “That’s a weird line; you could probably take that one the wrong way without trying much…” only to realize the innuendo wasn’t accidental at all! You shouldn’t be surprised when it happens over and over, but you will be.

Eventually, you’ll realize this movie was shot most of the way, only for the production to run out of money and shooting to resume months later (it explains why Matthew Maredas has to wear a wig in his first scene). It's obvious, but you're taken aback. You’re not used to seeing movies this earnest made this badly. Samurai Cop has recurring jokes, the kind of recurring jokes that anyone with any kind of good sense would’ve thrown away and then burned out of shame. When writer/director Amir Shervan shoots a man emerging from a burning vehicle, he doesn’t think to ask the stunt guy to scream or act like he's in pain. All he sees is a man COVERED IN FLAMES, exactly as he’d envisioned it, which means it's a flawless take.

The plot of Samurai Cop is so basic it would’ve been as dull as a butter knife if it weren’t for the constant blunders. In one scene, the actors are clearly done delivering their lines and are waiting for the director to yell “CUT!” After he did, the editor (either Ruben Zadurian or Amir Shervan once more) didn’t go ahead and eliminate those extra few seconds of nothing; they kept them in. You’re as dumb-struck as the performers, wondering if there’s something you’re supposed to do to make this ordeal end… and then it does, so you breathe a sigh of relief. If Samurai Cop pulled that stunt on you, there's no telling what's next. Will it be two goons dubbed over by what has to be the director, using the same voice, in a row? How about someone going from 0 to 100 in one second, or some pointless nudity? You don’t know but every time, your response will be “Oh, well of course!”

The glory that is Samurai Cop cannot be contained in a few hundred words, and it can’t be summarized in a “best of video” either. If you have friends who don't understand why you like watching bad movies, show them this one. They'll be howling in no time. (September 1, 2021)

[shihlun]

Banmei Takahashi

- Door II: Tôkyô Diary

1991

[90ssmut2]

[rookie-critic]

Until the End of the World (1991, dir. Wim Wenders) - review by Rookie-Critic

Until the End of the World is a sci-fi film of epic ambition. There's no big laser fights or space craziness, the sci-fi is more a backdrop to tell a story of love, self-fulfillment, self-indulgence, and what we do when what we thought we wanted turns out to maybe not be the best thing for us in the long run. This is a film you need to set aside your day for, as it clocks in just shy of 5 hours long (if your watching Wenders' intended version), but don't let that scare you away. The film is very rewarding if you give it the time it needs to breath life into its story and characters.

Score: 8/10

Not to mention the film's soundtrack, which contain original songs from classic bands like Talking Heads, R.E.M., Depeche Mode, U2, and includes songs from Lou Reed and Peter Gabriel. The soundtrack gets an easy

Soundtrack Score: 10/10

Currently available for streaming on The Criterion Channel and available on DVD & Blu-ray through The Criterion Collection.

[f0restpunk]

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔄𝔡𝔡𝔞𝔪𝔰 𝔉𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔩𝔶 (յգգյ) 𝔡𝔦𝔯. 𝔅𝔞𝔯𝔯𝔶 𝔖𝔬𝔫𝔫𝔢𝔫𝔣𝔢𝔩𝔡

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