Cinema doesn’t always need dissecting. Sometimes it’s enough to talk about the moments we love. INTERMISSION is a brief pause to celebrate the joy of cinema: a lighter look at favourites, top fives, strange obsessions, overlooked gems, and the small things that remind us why we keep watching.
There are some movies you can’t seem to escape these days, as they play on repeat on multiple channels (Hello, Kindergarten Cop, Hot Fuzz, and any Jurassic Park). To counteract this lack of imagination (not that there’s anything particularly wrong with these films - they’re just ALWAYS ON), here are my recommendations for films that have slipped through the cracks somewhat and maybe need a shout-out.
Here’s my top five underseen movies!
(Please do comment with your suggestions!)
5. ONE FALSE MOVE
A trio of murderers on the run head for Star City, Arkansas, unaware that the police are already waiting for them. Bill Paxton gives his best performance (Hudson from Aliens aside) as a local hick sheriff playing with the big boys for the first time. It slow burns to an inevitable conclusion, but it’s worth watching for Paxton alone.
If this isn’t remade with Chase Infiniti within a couple of years, I’ll eat my invisible hat.
4. LIVING IN OBLIVION
Ever wanted to know what it’s really like to make a low-budget film? Watch this. Steve Buscemi is the director struggling to keep his sanity as he contends with egotistical lead actor Chad Palomino, a pretentious cinematographer named Wolf and an irate Peter Dinklage.
It’s one of Buscemi’s best (and that’s saying something. When has he ever not been great?), and Dermot Mulroney’s Wolf is also hilarious. It’s one of those films that could have only been made by those who have lived it.
3. SOUTHERN COMFORT
Essentially James Cameron’s Aliens before Aliens came along, this Walter Hill film follows a squad of National Guard soldiers who get on the wrong side of the local Cajuns, and before you can say “headless chickens”, the soldiers are desperately trying to outrun their unseen assailants. Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe are a perfect pairing as the only two guys who seem to have a grasp on the situation. Ry Cooder’s haunting score sticks with you long after.
2. TRUST
Hal Hartley’s quirky, edgy indie comedy drama, starring the late Adrienne Shelly as Maria, who connects with outsider Matthew after inadvertently triggering the death of her father due to a row over her unplanned pregnancy. Maria and Matthew are in many ways opposites, but find a connection of mutual friendship - and trust. Martin Donovan is brilliant as the, at times, psychotic Matthew, and Adrienne Shelly just shines in the main role.
I would also recommend the documentary about Shelly - Adrienne - It is properly heartbreaking.
1. THE CHOCOLATE WAR
Adapted from Robert Cormier’s novel, the premise is simple: Dare I disturb the universe? Well, teenage schoolboy Renault decides to do just that by rebelling against the teachers and the school’s secret society at a Catholic school.
Ilan Mitchell Smith is great as the quiet, sensitive teen dealing with the loss of his mother, going up against ritual humiliation and bullying, all overseen by Archie, Assigner of The Vigils, who in turn is controlled by acting headmaster Brother Leon, who expects every boy to do their bit and sell boxes of chocolates for the school fundraiser. John Glover is superb as Brother Leon, a showboating ringmaster of a bully; charming and exuberant as he diminishes students with humiliation and violence. It’s one of the rare book adaptations where the ending is changed for the better, and it’s one which resonates deeply with me.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
A further selection of perhaps not-quite classic films, but films which deserve more attention.
THE BIG PICTURE
A tale of warning, as Kevin Bacon’s young up-and-coming film director enters the Hollywood studio system, and has all of his soul sucked from him. That sounds far heavier than the film actually is (it’s actually a light, easy-going sort of movie), but it’s a fun, funny film which picks its targets with ease and shoots ‘em all down. Worth checking out for Martin Short’s bubble-haired, cross-eyed agent. Who loves knitting.
WHILE WE’RE YOUNG
Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are an “older couple” who befriend “younger couple” Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried - and before you can say “reliving their youth”, the older couple are dressing like the hipsters and feeling rejuvenated by their energy (kind of like Cocoon, but without the aliens). Naturally, downfall comes, as Stiller especially struggles to stay relevant and for his life to have some sort of meaning. It’s much like those classic “couples” movies of the 70s and 80s, and it’s worth watching for Adam Driver’s increasing levels of pretentiousness.
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL
A spiritual sequel to Ghost World (another movie to check out if you haven’t already, also directed and written by Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes), this sees a young art student falling for a life model whilst navigating the fickleness of the art world. But then things take a bit of a turn. I’m not entirely certain if the last half hour actually works, but up until that point there are some brilliant characters and dialogue delivered by John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, and Jim Broadbent. I watched it again recently and laughed out loud for the first hour.
MEANTIME
For me, this is Mike Leigh’s best film, probably because I used to spend quite a few of my Saturdays in Hackney (visiting my grandparents), where this was filmed. It’s got an amazing before-they-were-famous cast: Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Phil Daniels, Pam Ferris, Alfred Molina… The Pollock family live in a rundown flat in East London, and are struggling to get by financially - and with each other. It’s a multiple character study and not exactly heavy on plot, but there is a vast amount that rings very true.
There is no trailer for Meantime (it was made for television), so what this instead.
THE QUIET EARTH
A mid-80s low-budget New Zealand sci-fi drama, directed by Geoff “Young Guns II” Murphy, it follows Hobson, a man who wakes up to find he is the last person alive in the world. All the clocks have stopped at the same time. All humans and animals have vanished. Hobson attempts to unpick what has occurred, whilst slowly descending into madness.
I saw this a long time ago, and it stuck with me. Yes, there are low-budget limitations, but it’s a story which keeps you hooked: You want to know what’s gone wrong as much as Hobson does…
THE TALL GUY
Writer Richard Curtis’s first incarnation of himself on-screen (before Hugh Grant took over that particular job in Four Weddings), this time in the avatar of Jeff Goldblum (appearing in the first of a trio of “European” films, along with Mr. Frost and The Favour, The Watch and the Very Big Fish). Jeff is a struggling actor and straight man to Rowan Atkinson’s viciously self-aggrandising comedy star, Ron Anderson (see what they did there?). Jeff falls for Kate Lemon (Emma Thompson), and things seem to be on the up in more ways than one (fnar fnar), until Jeff is cast as the lead role in the stage musical Elephant!
I love this film. It never fails to make me smile. It is still Richard Curtis’s best film script (sorry Four Weddings, Love Actually and Notting Hill, but this is less smug), it has some big laughs, and it’s probably my favourite Jeff Goldblum performance.
And finally…
The most recent film on this list is one that should NOT be forgotten. In fact, ITV2, if you’re reading this, please show it daily. Everyone should be made to watch it just to realise a) how screwed up this world is and b) how we ended up in this mess.
THE BIG SHORT
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