Father Geek here, welcoming Coffin Joe, Jr. back into the fold... its nice to get his perspective on the films showing down in the heart of the South American rain forest. I only hope he can free himself up more often to fill us in on what's happening in his corner of this world of ours...

Hey there, Coffin Joe Jr. here after yet another extended absence from the AICN page. Once again I'll apologize for my erratic schedule, but as I said before real life sometimes takes over and the work on Latin-AICN can't be done. I try to cover stuff whenever I can, so with the recent São Paulo Film Fest I have a ton of things to talk about. Let's get this going, shall we?

"SPIDER"

Director: David Cronenberg

The plot: A mental patient simply called Spider has just been released from an institution and goes to some sort of boarding house in his hometown, where he tries to pick up the pieces of his life and move on, but memories of his troubled childhood haunt him and make the his recovery a very difficult thing to accomplish.

Wow, what a surprise. I heard a bit about this movie before the screening, how it wasn't really a horror film, or even a Cronenberg flick in the traditional sense of the term (weird FX, body alteration, technology out of control, bizarre characters). This movie is Cronenberg's most serious and restrained effort to date. There's absolutely no make-up FX, so gorehounds and FX geeks won't get their juicy bits in this movie. No monsters, no exploding heads, no phalic joysticks. I can't even say it is a genre film. It has aspects of a murder mystery, with the slow unraveling of Spider's backstory, and the twisted flashbacks we get of his childhood, but mostly this movie is a very dense drama.

Ralph Fiennes is getting a lot of attention for this role, but in my humble opinion Miranda Richardson steals the show as Spider's mother and other characters as well. I won't go into specifics, but she appears as various women who are a part of Spider's life, and plays these parts with a demented glee, clearly enjoying the chance to do some colorful work.

I've never considered Cronenberg a visual stylist of the highest order, his movies always look cold, clinical, are shot competently, but I can't remember them as something that memorable in terms of photography. Sure, the production design is always exceptional, Carol Spier is a genius, no doubt in my mind, yet Cronenberg's movies never stood out as feasts for the eyes. He always seemed more interested in presenting odd machinery, gross FX, stuff like that.

In "Spider", Cronenberg is still a "quiet" director, relying on some stunning industrial locations which give the movie a very harsh look. Everything is falling apart in Spider's world, mentally and physically, with his surroundings being much like his mind: a rotten, decaying place.

"Spider" is an acquired taste, I'll admit it. It develops at its own pace, taking the time to introduce the characters in Spider's little universe, both in the present and in the childhood flashback sequences, and never rushing to deliver cheap thrills. Those willing to make the journey into Spider's chaotic microcosm will be rewarded with a very intelligent, thoughtful ride.

Highly recommended.

"IRREVERSIBLE"

Director: Gaspar Noé

I don't really know how to review this movie. A plot description is pretty much useless in this particular case. I'll try to make a little more sense. It is a very bold move from the director to try and make a movie that plays backwards, has a rape scene that lasts ten minutes, a guy getting hammered in the head with a fire extinguisher fifteen times with his face gradually being transformed into a mess of blood and guts, and other assorted nasty bits, yet also has a playful scene on the subways of Paris where the characters talk about love, sex, relationships and other things, which could fit in a Woody Allen film.

"Irreversible" is extremely uneven, shifting its tone radically from the gruesome and wild beginning, where the handheld camera work is dizzying and quite annoying to be honest, to something sweet and much lighter towards the end, with smooth camera moves and a serene atmosphere. It is one hell of an experience to watch these events unfold, I'll give you that, but it doesn't mean the movie is good. Noé enjoys the shocking sequences, showcasing the ugly stuff with a juvenile admiration for the unpleasant aspects of his story. Is there a need to show us a rape sequence for that long? Not really, but it fullfills its purpose: makes everyone in the theater unconfortable. Because it lasts ten minutes, after a while the impact of the act gets somewhat diminished, it numbs the audience.

Like I said, this is one gutsy film. Very experimental, with some superb acting from Vincent Cassel and Monica Belucci, strange and complex camera moves, and plenty of weirdness that I can't really spoil here. Proceed with caution when it comes to this movie. There's no middle ground here, either you're going to see this as some sort of revelation and the arrival of a major new talent, or you'll despise it like this is the biggest abortion in the history of filmmaking. Take your chances, who knows.

That is it from me, but I'll be back next week with reviews of the Terry Gilliam documentary "Lost in la Mancha" and the action fest "Wasabi", produced by Luc Besson and starring Jean Reno.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.