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Martin Paule's Micro Movie Reviews: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z-

Hannah and Her Sisters

If this mid-80s Woody Allen film has somehow managed to escape your attention, be advised it is among his best films eclipsing the director’s more recent output. Centered around the lives of three Manhattan sisters (Mia Farrow, Dianne Weist, Barbara Hershey) and their loves, tribulations, and extended families, this is among Allen’s most perceptive and humane stories. If it can be said that he has created a story that is heartwarming in the end, this is it. 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

Victor Hugo’s classic gets a first-rate Hollywood treatment in this spectacular adaptation involving a magnificent re-creation of Paris and especially the shopcathedral. A standout performance by Charles Laughton in the central role cements the story (he had to undergo five hours of makeup beginning at 3 a.m. each day). The sweltering San Fernando Valley shoot location caused numerous makeup repairs. RKO spent a ton of money (for the day) on acres of buildings and thousands of carefully costumed extras. The cathedral mock up was so tall that it required a red beacon to warn air traffic. Watching this film some 45 years since my first viewing as a child, I was moved all over again by the pathos of the key scene in which the gypsy girl Esmerelda gives Quasimodo a drink of water following his brutal lashing. This is Hollywood doing its very best storytelling.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

This is a nifty shocker that expertly ratchets up the tension as it goes along. The story concerns a woman (Rebecca DeMornay) who blames a family for the suicide of her husband and her own miscarriage. In a demented quest for revenge, she manages to get herself hired as a nanny for the family she perceives as the source of her tragedy. The film's ability to evoke growing menace in the context of sun-filled rooms with an almost sickeningly well-adjusted family in the foreground is quite remarkable. Though the story's trajectory is entirely predictable, the polished cast and careful handling should appeal to anyone who enjoys a good cinematic scare.

Hard Core Logo

This mockumentary about a Canadian punk band reuniting for a low-rent tour of the western provinces invites inevitable comparisons with This is Spinal Tap. But this is a much darker, meaner film, albeit one with plenty of laughs. The central conflict involves the alcoholic, domineering singer's efforts to pressure the lead guitarist into permanently reforming the band, thus giving up his chance to become a regular part of a major L.A. band with whom he's been subbing. Recommended to folks who find fare such as Trainspotting to their liking.
 

He Walked By Night

Moodily effective lighting and exquisitely realized noir photography by John Alton are key elements in this documentary-like crime drama that is said to have been influential in the creation of TV's Dragnet. The story, partially directed by Anthony Mann, concerns a perversely brilliant cop killer hunted by the police (including a very young Jack Webb) and is quite gripping. 

The Hunting of the President

The impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton, essentially the result of sexual high jinx, were the culmination of a decade-long effort, to “get” him. So says this compelling if sometimes sketchy documentary that details the crusade against the Clintons that had its origins among political enemies in Arkansas and came to maturity in the years-long dirt-fishing expedition of Kenneth Starr. Among the real tragedies of this history is the persecution of Susan McDougal who ended up doing hard time rather than, as she tells it, lie about the Whitewater deal which served as the focal point of Starr’s witch hunt. In fact, the film makes abundantly clear Whitewater was simply a bad real estate investment and nothing more. The DVD release includes an impromptu talk given by Clinton following the premiere of the film. His grasp of history and rueful reflections indicate an incisive mind, one capable of making career-killing gaffes. The talk also reminded me of just exactly what a lame-brained successor America chose to follow him. 

Hit Me (1996)

This intriguing slice of neo-noire is based on a Jim Thompson story and is directed by Steven Shainberg who made the estimable Secretary also reviewed here. Elias Koteas plays a down-on-his-luck bellboy in a Tacoma hotel that has slipped from a 3-star to 2-star operation threatening to rapidly become a no-star enterprise. An encounter with a sexy hotel guest and a pitch from a former hotel employee to help rip off a high-stakes poker game hosted by the hotel’s owner immerses him in a world of trouble. Though the plot seems a bit tortured and doesn’t always hand together, the characters involved (including wonderful turns from William Macey and Philip Baker Hall) and a dream-like production design make this an unforgettable piece of cinema.

The Hours

Knowledge of Virginia Woolf’s life and works, and especially the novel Mrs. Dalloway, would be helpful in appreciating this film fully. But even without that background, the intertwined stories of three women, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman), a ‘50s American housewife (Julianne Moore) and a contemporary gay book editor (Meryl Streep), all facing drastic life issues, are highly rewarding. The film seamlessly moves between the three stories and settings to weave a delicately structured meditation on longing, desire, madness and finally, acceptance. With a stellar supporting cast and superb attention to period detail, this is extraordinary cinema. 

Hotel Rwanda

Though there are some weak performances among the cast in this harrowing story of the holocaust that took place in Rwanda in 1994, the central story is so compelling that it is easy to overlook them. Based on actual events, the film focuses on an urbane Hutu hotel manager who uses every ounce of his diplomacy coupled with liberal bribes to protect a thousand Tutsis within the walls of his hotel from his crazed countrymen who are bent on killing them. Don Cheadle does fine work as the manager and the film is well paced to keep the tension going. To its credit, Hotel Rwanda doesn’t trade on graphic gore to score its points.  

L’Hauberge Espagnol

Beneath its frothy surface this story of a group of international university students sharing a cramped Barcelona flat has some interesting things to say about that work in progress: The European Economic Community. The plot largely focuses on Xavier, a somewhat repressed French student who finds himself living with an Italian, Dane, Belgian, Brit, German and a Spaniard. Many of the gags depend on the inevitable confusions of language as well as on the stereotypes that each student must battle. Though some of the characters are sketchy and some of the subplots tend to fizzle, this is nonetheless a cogent look at the challenges that the movement toward a unified Europe faces.

L’Homme du Train aka The Man on the Train aka

French director Patrice Laconte’s films (The Girl on the Bridge, The Hairdresser’s Husband) often deal with odd couples who come together by chance, and so it is with this simple yet engaging story. A stranger (Johnny Hallyday – the French ‘60s rocker) arrives in a provincial French town and by chance finds himself lodging with a retired poetry teacher (Jean Rochefort) in the latter’s crumbling manse. Halliday plays Milan, a laconic, brutally honest gangster who is there to knock off the local bank while the teacher, Manesquier, is chatty and impish. Soon it becomes apparent that each man envies the other’s life. Of course, this kind of odd-couple story has been done to death, but Laconte and his screenwriter Claude Klotz infuse their story with subtlety and a mordant wit so that it never becomes cloying.  While there are many elements that evoke Hollywood westerns, the film takes an unexpected turn towards the metaphysical in its final reel that may be offputting to some viewers, yet the conclusion struck me as being apt.
 

Hearts and Minds

In the context of America’s latest folly in Iraq, this 1974 documentary dealing with the Vietnam war has special significance. The same hubris that led the U.S. to attempt to impose its will in Asia is clearly at work again and a viewing of this film brings with it the dismaying realization that we have learned nothing. With a combination of news clips and footage created for this film, Hearts and Minds depicts America as a country full of self-righteous true believers armed with the conviction that their way is the only way who feel impelled to inflict their political, economic, social and religious sensibilities on the rest of the world. The film has lost none of its shock value. It includes footage that has been burned into the consciousness of everyone who lived through the Vietnam era: the naked, napalm-maimed girl fleeing down a country road and the Saigon police chief blowing out the brains of a suspected Viet Cong. There are many startling juxtapositions. A heart-rending, Vietnamese funeral scene is followed by a clip of General William Westmoreland intoning that Asians do not value life the way Westerners do. A former American prisoner of war making a speech to a classroom full of parochial-school students declares that we won the war and if asked to serve again, he would do it all over. Another vet breaks down on camera in recognition of the immense harm that has been done. Along with Fahrenheit 911 and The Fog of War, this should be required viewing for those who have failed to learn the lessons that our recent history contains.   
 

Heaven Knows, Mr. Alison

Robert Mitchum is Corporal Allison, a marine whose lifeboat is washed ashore on a tropical atoll in the South Pacific occupied by exactly one Irish nun played with great aplomb by Deborah Kerr. The couple forms an uneasy alliance as they dodge Japanese soldiers who suddenly infest the island. As with John Huston’s other great film involving an odd couple—The African Queen—the chemistry between his stars crackles and sparks. In this case, Mitchum is physically and emotionally attracted to Kerr whose commitment to the church remains steadfast though it’s clear the handsome marine makes that resolve an effort. Lush location photography is very crisply rendered in Fox’s DVD release. 

Himalaya

A beautifully filmed and acted account of life in a contemporary Himalayan village that straddles the divide between modernism and tradition. French director Eric Valli draws splendid performances from his amateur cast.

Hell House

This narration-less documentary chronicles the production of a Halloween-style house of thrills put on by a fundamentalist church in the Dallas area. Its intent is to scare the bejesus out of those who would fornicate, abort their children, and otherwise conduct themselves in ways frowned upon by the church. After exposing visitors to horrific tableaux of abortions gone wrong, hell-bound suicides and date-raped rave-going teens, the final station of the cross is a hard-sell encounter in which they are exhorted to accept Jesus, and by extension, join the church. The film also delves into the lives of some of the church members involved in the production with particular focus placed on a single father and his gaggle of kids; the mother has run off with someone she found on the Internet. Scary, involving stuff.

Happenstance

The French charmer Audrey Tautou made this film just before acting in the far more visible Amelie.  Director Laurent Firode's story concerns itself with the Butterfly Theory as a way of explaining chaos theory: a butterfly that flaps its wings over the Atlantic may trigger a typhoon in the Pacific. Cause and effect operate throughout this film to ultimately draw the Tatou character and her ideal lover together. But this is no ordinary love story; these two people meant to be a couple spend practically no on-screen time together. Instead, the film depicts a seemingly unconnected parade of events which only later point to the inexorable coupling. Reminiscent of other films such as Sliding Doors and Run Lola, Run that deal with alternate realities, it is Tautou's vivacity that makes this movie a delight.  

The Hard Word

The Twentyman brothers are three Aussie career criminals who are set up by their scheming lawyer to take a big fall. Unlike the typically sleek heist pictures that succeed with today's moviegoers, The Hard Word is a shambling messy affair with the emphasis on character and grungy appeal. Not for the squeamish. 

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

The pixie-esque Audrey Tautou who charmed the world with her role as a gamin in Amelie delivers more of the same here leading the unsuspecting viewer into believing they are about to embark on a pleasant romantic comedy. Instead, what unfolds is a bracing and dark suspense film that is accomplished in its ability to keep you off-balance and surprised. Stylishly shot and fiendishly plotted, there is not much that can be said plot-wise without giving too much away. Like Rashomon, this is a trenchant look at the subjectivity of truth. Highly recommended.

DVDs To Your Doorstep!

The Householder
Though this early Merchant Ivory effort doesn't come up to the standards of
that team's later work, this is a fascinating period piece. Set in the early
'60s, it concerns the arranged marriage and developing relationship between a
poorly paid college teacher and his wife-stranger. The interesting aspect of
this film is the nearly complete avoidance of the teeming India syndrome.
Though poverty-stricken and living in mean circumstances, the couples' story
is often told against pleasant exteriors with none of the traffic-choked,
foul-aired atmosphere which is the usual setting for contemporary, serious
Indian films. In one respect though, it resembles those other films: there is
a preoccupation with emerging feminism in the Subcontinent.

How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman
A strange entry from Brazil that recounts the supposed actual experiences of
a French adventurer during that country's pre-colonial period. Captured by a
tribe of Indians, he is mistaken by the natives for being Portuguese, the
allies of a rival tribe. As is the Indians' custom, the Frenchman is absorbed
into their tribal society as a precursor to his being eaten. Though there is
much here that is at once horrific and comedic, the film treats everything in
a neutral, deadpan manner. Recommended only to the adventurous; this should
please viewers who found Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre, Wrath
of God" to their liking.

Happy, Texas
A story of mistaken identity that borrows from the most time-worn plot
devices, this is nonetheless a good-natured romp. Two Texas convicts escape
from a a road gang, steal an RV belonging to a pair of gay beauty pageant
consultants and impersonate the gay couple in the eponymous town when they
realize that it could be an entree to the local bank's vault. William H. Macy
plays the local sheriff, a resonant character with latent homosexual
tendencies in the film's most tenderhearted role. Jeremy Northam, a British
actor whose previous appearances on these shores as upper crust Englishmen
turns in a completely believable performance as a con. Sure, it's all highly
improbable, but it's so much fun, who cares?

The Hanging Garden
Sweet William is a prodigal son who returns to his Canadian family home just
as his sister is getting married. Named by his drunkard gardening father, we
see William in three phases of his life: at eight badgered by his father; at
15 as a fat loner toying with homosexuality and suicide; and in the present
as a now-svelte and attractive gay waiter. But each of the preceding phases
is still locked up within him and comes to the fore as the film recounts in a
purposely disjointed manner his life's journey. In so doing, family secrets
(and these folks are an eccentric bunch) are unearthed in this off-kilter and
involving story.

High and Low

Akira Kurosawa demonstrates a debt to American crime movies in this tale
about a Japanese industrialist whose son is targeted for kidnapping. But
the wrong boy-his chauffeur's son-is snatched instead. A huge ransom is
demanded, a sum that will ruin the businessman (Toshiro Mifune) who is in
the midst of dealing with a takeover attempt. Faced with the choice of
personal survival versus the death of an innocent child, the
industrialist's dilemma echoes the choices facing Japan at that time (1963)
between rampant expansion and humane values. This isn't one of Kurosawa's
master works-the first third is a bit static and the highly detailed
investigative processes of the police seem drawn out-but in balance, this
is a complex and revealing work about Japanese society at a critical
juncture.
 

Happy, Texas

A story of mistaken identity that borrows from the most time-worn plot
devices, this is nonetheless a good natured romp. Two Texas convicts escape
from a a road gang, steal an RV belonging to a pair of gay beauty pageant
consultants and impersonate the gay couple in the eponymous town when they
realize that it could be an entree to the local bank's vault. William H.
Macy plays the local sheriff, a resonant character with latent homosexual
tendencies in the film's most tenderhearted role. Jeremy Northam, a British
actor whose previous appearances on these shores as upper crust Englishmen
turns in a completely believable performance as a con. Sure, it's all
highly improbable, but it's so much fun, who cares?
 

The Hanging Garden

Sweet William is a prodigal son who returns to his Canadian family home
just as his sister is married. Named by his drunkard gardening father, we
see William in three phases of his life: at eight badgered by his father;
at 15 as a fat loner toying with homosexuality and suicide; and in the
present as a now-svelte and attractive gay waiter. But each of the
preceding phases is still locked up within him and comes to the fore as the
film recounts in a purposely disjointed manner his life's journey. In so
doing, family secrets (and these folks are an eccentric bunch) are
unearthed in this off-kilter and involving story.
 

Hobson's Choice

In the first frames, drunkard and layabout Hobson (Charles Laughton)
announces his presence with a resonant belch. So begins a delightful
British comedy in which Hobson bullies all around him, especially his three
daughters who run his shoe shop gratis while he gets shitfaced at the pub.
Laughton made a career of portraying despicable characters, men you loved
to hate. When Hobson finally gets his comeuppance, we robustly cheer from
the sidelines.

The Hairdresser's Husband

A charming and simple comedy-drama about a French guy who is infatuated by
a bosomy hairdresser who cuts his hair when he is a boy- he later grows up
to marry a woman very much like her.
 

Hairspray

John Waters' bid for mainstream success still bears the indelible crazed
stamp of it's director in an off-kilter story about a 60s Baltimore teen
dance TV show facing integration. A great cast of Waters regulars and other
schlockmeisters such as Sonny Bono, Ricki Lake and Debbie Harry people this
funny foray into the twisted side of American pop culture. The soundtrack
includes some great obscure R&B songs like Toussant McCall's "Nothing Takes
the Place of You".
 

La Mitad del Cielo AKA Half of Heaven

An independent and ambitious Spanish woman leaves her village and graduates
from wet nurse to restaurateur in Madrid. By turns it is an earthy and
fabulist concoction which recalls elements of "Antonia's Line" and
"Tampopo" in its feminist bent operating as a fairy tale about the feminine
mystique.

Happiness
 

If John Waters and Woody Allen had a baby, the issue would probably
resemble Todd Solondz, director of this acerbic comedy that challenges some
of the few remaining taboos left in movie making. The followup to his
excellent "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (reviewed earlier), "Happiness", like
so many indy films today, uses an interleaved plot structure with story
arcs that draw seemingly unconnected characters together as it unfolds. The
central roles are those of three sisters: the first, Joy, a world-class
loser who is shat upon by all and sundry; Trish a twit of a housewife
engaged in a hollow marriage with her pedophilic psychiatrist husband, and
Helen, an egotistical writer who veers between manic self-absorption and
raging self-doubt. Each in her own way is struggling to find meaning and
happiness in her life, and each seems to progressively become more mired in
destructive relationships. Surrounding them are a constellation of
disagreeable, depraved and disgusting characters who range from the merely
banal to the monstrous and who commit every sin on the books.  The
director's screenplay brilliantly ties together the myriad plotlines as he
brings matters to a stunning conclusion. You may be wondering at my
characterization of this as comedy. Yet it is, in the final analysis, just
that, despite a few scenes of great solemnity. It is one of those
genre-busting movies that, if I ran a video store,  would pose a great
conundrum as to what section it should be housed in. This is a film that
challenges our emotional responses. At times I found myself feeling guilty
for laughing out loud. I was reminded of Frank Zappa's comment regarding
his twisted sense of humor, something to the effect: "...some of the things
I laugh at send my friends to the hospital...". Despite Solondz' apparently
unforgiving take on his band of baddies, I detect a gentle, compassionate
sensibility operating beneath the surface. We almost come away feeling
sorry for the shrink who gives a mickey finn to a friend of his son, then
rapes him.  "Happiness" is a perplexing and disturbing film that isn't
easily digested and counts among the best films I've seen over the last
couple of years.
 

Hard 8 AKA Sydney
 

Before creating his generally well-received "Boogie Nights", director Paul
Thomas Anderson wrote and directed this sleeper involving another sleazy
milieu: the world of the professional gambler. Though the story is not as
tightly controlled as "Boogie Nights", the dialogue is equally good. Philip
Baker Hall plays Sydney, an enigmatic, hooded-eyed gambler with a past.
John C. Reilly is a simpleton who Hall befriends and makes his protege,
showing him how to succeed at the tables. Why he singles out the younger
man remains a mystery until the last act. Gwyneth Paltrow, doing a
creditable job as Clementine,  a numb waitress cum hooker enters the
picture and becomes Reilly's girlfriend with some serious consequences for
all.  But the real pleasure here is Hall's characterization as the courtly,
generous and truthful Sydney in a role that recalls Robert Forster's in
"Jackie Brown".
 

Harry and Tonto

An old man (Art Carney) sets off on a cross country trip with his feline
buddy on which they encounter a cavalcade of strange folks and curious
situations. Carney offers a brilliantly bittersweet performance and is
buoyed by a knowing script and a solid supporting cast.
 
 

Hear My Song

This U.S.-British collaboration is the story of a fast-talking nightclub
owner who, in order to mend relations with his girlfriend and customers,
sets out to find the legendary Irish tenor Joseph Locke who has been a
fugitive from British tax laws for many years. He wants to convince Locke
to perform at his club. Loosely based on actual events, it is a charming
and decidedly off-center confection that will be of special interest to
those who relish the stylings of Irish tenors.
 
 

Heat (1995)

A heavy duty cops and robbers yarn with Al Pacino playing a bright L.A.
detective whose personal life is in shambles and who goes after a
super-crook (Robert DeNiro). The emphasis here is on character as the
protagonists come to recognize and admire the similarities in each other's
nemesis. Although the leads share little screen time, when they do, the
film crackles with an electricity that's palpable.
 

Heavens Above (1963)

John Boulting's disarming comedic satire has Peter Sellers, in one of his
best roles, creating havoc as a prison chaplain who, through a mixup, is
transferred to a country parish. Sellers is brilliant as Reverend
Smallwood, a world class bungler who quickly brings  Orbiston Parva, a
small British town notable as the home of Tranquilax, a combination
stimulant/depressant/laxative, to its economic knees. Smallwood is an
innocent who believes utterly in his vocation while he is completely
oblivious to the havoc he causes. A classic of this prime era in British
comedy.
 
 

Henry Fool

This is Hal Hartley's most accessible and polished film to date. A modern
day parable, it touches on themes of art, mentorhood, trust and reactionary
politics. Henry Fool is a sadsack garbageman who moves through his life as
though in a daze. A former con and intellectual poseur called Simon Grim
rents the basement apartment in Henry's house and quickly takes him on as a
pupil urging the trashman to express his feelings in writing. Fired with
Grim's assurances that he has a great gift, Henry writes a sprawling epic
that causes a sensation once it is published. Over time, the roles of the
two men become reversed: Henry emerges as a self-possessed and successful
writer while Simon retreats into a shell of his former self. Shot in
Hartley's hyperrealistic style and sporting a fine cast, this is a
sprawling tale almost in the manner of "Nashville". This is among the very
best films I have seen in 1998.
 
 

Hideous Kinky

An unwed mom leaves her philandering poet-lover in London and sets out on a
spiritual search with her two young daughters. This snapshot in time is set
in 1972 and was shot on location in Marrakech, a mecca for hippies of the
time. The mother (Kate Winslett) struggles with the effects of her rootless
journey upon the children who seek more certainty and security in their
lives. Though there is nothing terribly compelling here, it serves as a
portrait of a time and of a woman who we like despite her sometimes
wrongheaded choices and dicey (but loving) mothering style. And it's tough
to beat for local color with a period soundtrack which avoids the obvious
"Marrakesh Express".
 

Highway 61

A fine sleeper of a rock'n'roll road movie, it chronicles the adventures of
a slightly dim Canadian barber named Pokey Smith and a wacked-out roadie
who is on the lam. They travel the famous title highway from Canada to New
Orleans with a coffin strapped to the roof of their car (shades of
"Leningrad Cowboys Go America") meeting all manner of kooks along the way.
Though this sort of thing's been done to death over the last decade,
"Highway 61" is fresh and funny thanks to a couple of great leads and
imaginative scripting. My favorite line occurs after the two travelers
experience their first intimate encounter. "Now I know why they call you
Pokey." the roadie admiringly tells him.
 
 

Hoffa

Critics generally lambasted this biopic of the notorious Teamster's Union
boss over Danny DeVito's self-indulgent direction. While it's true that the
film, scripted by David Mamet, soft-pedals its subject's more venal
attributes, engages in lots of unnecessarily flashy camera work as well as
flashback and flashforward transitional devices, and gives far too much
weight to the character of Hoffa crony Bobby Ciaro played by DeVito, the
central performance of Jack Nicholson absolves and compensates for these
flaws. Eschewing the trickbag of mannerisms that Nicholson often resorts to
nowadays, he is utterly convincing in his reptilian makeup and
short-on-the-sides haircut as the belligerent, snarling labor leader. I saw
a review in which the movie was faulted for not delving into Hoffa's
personal life. Rather than an oversight, I think Mamet calculated correctly
that his domestic details were unimportant. This guy lived and breathed the
union racket to the exclusion of everything else.
 

Household Saints

Vegetarians may be repulsed by the graphic sausage-making scenes in this
slice-of-life comedy that involves three generations of women in an
Italian-American Noo Yawk family. But stay with it, this is a rewarding
story of an uncannily odd collection of characters beautifully portrayed by
Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Judith Malina and a host of
other talented supporting players. Directed by Nancy Savoca who directed
the fine "True Love" reviewed earlier.
 
 

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

What a premise: an ad exec. who has grown anxious about his cynical career
sprouts a boil on his shoulder that talks to him! Though the attack on the
ad game is a bit heavyhanded, the sheer audacity of the storyline makes
this memorable. Directed by the idiosyncratic Bruce Robinson who made
"Withnail and I" reviewed earlier.
 

High Heels (1991)

Another Almodovar comedy in which the relationship between a self-absorbed
actress and her TV journalist daughter (again played by Abril) is examined.
Full of the director's patented eccentric touches, the scene in the cheesy
womens' prison isn't to be missed.
 
 

Hate aka La Haine

The cinema verite approach in chronicling the empty lives of three
teenagers, an Arab, a Jew and an African who live in a sterile Parisian
suburb, is powerfully effective. Largely an anti-police polemic, it is hard
to sympathize with the protagonists-their lives are peppered with aimless
acts of violence, yet we can come to appreciate their special form of
camaraderie in an alienating world.
 
 

Henry: Portrait of Serial Killer

One of the more chilling movies I've come across, its apparently based on
the confessions of a real serial killer. Ultra-low production values
somehow contribute to a sense of reality that is palpable. Definitely not
for the squeamish.
 

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

This heartfelt adaptation of a Carson McCullers story involves a deaf mute
in the Deep South played sensitively by Alan Arkin. He breaks out of his
isolation by coming to the aid of a troubled teenage girl who is undergoing
an identity crisis.
 

Heavenly Creatures

Yet another quirky entry from Down Under - do you suppose it's because the
water spirals backwards down Southern Hemisphere drains that would account
for the frequent issue of oddball entries from Australia and New Zealand?
"Creatures" is about the obsessive and fantasy-filled friendship of two
schoolgirls whose dark relationship culminates in bloodshed. This one's
also based on an actual case and fascinatingly, one of the real-life girls
went on to a successful career as a murder mystery writer.The two leads
deliver fine performances and director Peter Jackson uses brilliant special
effects in bringing their fantasy life to the screen.
 

Hey Baburiba

Told in flashback form, this lovable Yugoslavian movie is a reminiscence of
four guys who all had a thing for the same girl back in the 50s. They're
all nuts for American pop culture - especially Esther Williams movies!
 
 

High Hopes

Directed by Mike Leigh ("Secrets & Lies") this shares many of the same
qualities that made that film so stunning. A gritty chunk of British
kitchen sink realism, this comedy-drama tracks a Bohemian couple on the
edge of English Thatcherite society and their weird, extended family.
Strongly recommended.
 
 

High Tide

Judy Davis (another favorite actress) is a backup singer to an Aussie Elvis
impersonator. Giving up the care of her daughter to her mother years
earlier, her touring brings her to the town where the girl and her
grandmother now live. What could have been a standard, soapy tearjerker is
beautifully crafted into a film that feels stunningly truthful.
 

The Hill

An early performance by Sean Connery that demonstrated depth he had little
opportunity to show in the Bond flicks. He is a hardheaded British soldier
who is imprisoned in a military camp for insubordination where he continues
to show an indomitable character that cannot be broken by the title hill-a
steep mound within the desert camp over which prisoners are forced to march
as punishment.
 

The Hit

Terrence Stamp is a stoolie who has been hiding out from his English
henchmen in Spain for ten years when retribution shows up in the menacing
form of John Hurt and Tim Roth. What follows is a bizarrely funny road
story with twists and turns galore.
 
 

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me

Irresistible trash in which a guy goes on the lam after shooting his fiancé
during their wedding and winds up in a sleazy California trailer park where
he falls in with a nympho stripper and her virginal young sister. Right out
of the John Waters School of Outrageous Film with plenty of its own
character.
 

Hope and Glory

Both hopeful and glorious in the end, it tracks the life of a family
through the early years of WWII. Filled with spunky humor, pathos and a
humane sensibility, the story is told through the eyes of the family's
young son. Highly detailed and structured, the film creates an authentic
sense of time and place.
 
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House of Games

Great plotting is a scarce commodity in Hollywood nowadays. But this is one
movie that disproves that generality. A neurotic psychiatrist (aren't they
all?) gets involved with a confidence man and his gang and soon finds
herself way out of her league. Directed and written by the playwright David
Mamet, (who went on to do "Glengary Glen Ross") it stars his then-wife
Lindsay Crouse as the shrink and Joe Montegna in a knockout performance as
the trickster.
 

The Hudsucker Proxy

Tim Robbins is a country rube who comes to the big city and is put in
charge of a huge corporation in a convoluted plot to destroy it. Though it
isn't completely successful, there are a lot of dark laughs and the
art-deco production design is simply breathtaking. It reminds me somewhat
of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" married to the sardonic viewpoint on which the
Coen Brothers have taken out a patent.
 
 

Heathers

Now here's a teen comedy with some teeth! The title refers to three
ultra-bitches who are at the top of the social feeding chain at their high
school. Winona Ryder is a basically nice girl who hangs out with this
bitchy trio, Christian Slater plays a cynical dude who is a match for the
girls. The script's uneven, but there are more hits than misses.
 
 

He Got Game

Shot in vibrant tones with a throbbing and sometimes intrusive soundtrack,
this is Spike Lee's meditation on celebrity, capitalism and treachery in
the American 90s. Denzel Washington, imprisoned for the unintended killing
of his wife is given a furlough by the warden at the behest of the governor
who wants Washington to convince his high school basketball star son to
attend his alma mater. If he's successful, his prison term will be
shortened. Once out, he joins the throng of people attempting to influence
his son's choice with all manner of material and psychological inducements.
Ray Allen, a real-life star of the Milwaukee Bucks who plays the
sought-after high school star wants nothing to do with his father who he
has never forgiven. Though he has great personal charm, Allen's status as a
non-actor occasionally creates some awkwardness. Also, the scenario is a
bit overcooked with a distracting subplot that involves a battered whore
living in the flophouse room next to Washington's. But in balance the film
shows great imagination and emerges as a roiling melodrama that should be
of interest to sports fans and Lee fans alike.
 
 

Henry and June

A beautifully detailed, highly erotic account of the love affair between
Henry Miller and his wife June with the French feminist author, Anais Nin
in the Bohemian Paris scene of the 30s. Fred Ward is superb as the
rough-hewn American writer. This movie caused the MPAA to create the NC17
category.
 

Husbands and Wives

Though I often find Woody Allen's neurotic kvetching a bit of a bore, this
is one of his films that made points with me. A perceptive script and
excellent work by the cast, especially Judy Davis, coupled with the fact
that this came out around the time Woody and Mia were having their highly
publicized contretemps raises this a notch or two. I also like "Hannah and
Her Sisters" also for a great script and cast as well as "Manhattan" which
has some of the richest B&W photography committed to film. Of course, its
hard to dismiss "Annie Hall" in that it set the style for dressing and the
mores for managing over the next decade, at least for a certain liberal
element in the culture.
 

The Harder They Come

The soundtrack from this movie helped popularize reggae in the U.S. The
film is the crudely made but effective story of a Jamaican country boy
played by Jimmy Cliff who comes to Kingston and tries to break into the
music business. He runs up against corruption and divisions within the
black community and turns to crime. The film has a strong left-wing,
radicalized thrust which condemns just about all the institutions of
society and glorifies the rastafarian movement. It has resonances with some
of the populist gangster films Hollywood put out in the 30s such as "I Am a
Fugitive From a Chain Gang".
 

Homegrown

This is an overreaching farce-noir that throws everything but the kitchen
sink into the scenario but emerges successful thanks to a lot of charm.
Among other things, it deals with such matters as outlaw morality, pot
cultivation and distribution, blended and stirred with a murder mystery, a
buddy movie and seasoned with Three Stooges-style idiocy. The seriously
overcooked plot concerns three lamebrains headed by Billy Bob Thornton in
the Moe role who find themselves in charge of a vast California sensemilla
crop upon the murder of their boss. What follows are a series of frantic
events as the boys attempt to harvest and manicure the crop for market.
With a tip of the hat to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", this is finally a
cautionary tale about the wages of greed. And it's a hell of a lot of fun
along the way.
 

The Honeymoon Killers

A hugely creative and unusual reenactment of the Lonely Heart murders that
fascinated America in the 50s. It is the story of a coldblooded couple who
preys on wealthy women seeking love. This is one couple-on-the-run film
that clearly does not glamorize its protagonists. They are vicious and
cruel. Tony Lo Bianco and Shirley Stoler (the heavyset commandant in
"Seven Beauties") play the sociopathic couple with a chilling reality that
is haunting.
 

Hoop Dreams

A superior documentary that follows the lives of two inner city black kids
who excel at basketball. Over a four year period, we see their successes
and failures as they struggle to rise above their origins with the prize
being a slot in the NBA. Their stories take twists and turns that are quite
unpredictable and leave us rooting for the boys to make it.
 

Hotel De Love
 

Steve and Rick  are twin brothers desperately seeking love. They are both
crazy about Melissa whom they've lusted after since they were 17. Ten years
later they all meet again at Hotel de Love, an ultra-kitschy Aussie
honeymoon resort complete with theme suites and a loony staff. A love story
that dodges the cloying aspects of that genre, we come away feeling that,
in the end, true love is possible. A feel-good movie for folks whose gag
reflex prohibits them watching the latest Julia Roberts-fueled Hollywood
fare.

Hurricane Streets

Marcus is a 15 year-old whose mother is doing a stretch while his
grandmother who owns a bar in hardscrabble neighborhood attempts to give
some measure of care to his upbringing. He and a gang of friends run
pretty much free, shoplifting and operating a variety of scams. Though
their crimes initially appear rather slight and Marcus comes across as
basically a good kid who lacks supervision, we come to see a darker
potential on the horizon. In an especially chilling scene, Marcus tries on
a watchcap given him by a girlfriend. He mugs in the mirror looking like a
typical teenager. Then abruptly, he pulls the cap down over his face
revealing the holes he has cut for his mouth and eyes and he grimaces
menacingly as though to frighten a bodega clerk he's about to rob. In that
moment we realize the depths of his amorality and ability to do wicked
things. The movie is rough around the edges with a couple of continuity
problems but finally stands as a telling indictment of adults who let kids
down.
 

Hollow Reed
 

Based on a true events, it is a disturbing and graphic account of the child
abuse meted out to a young British boy by his mother's live-in lover.
Heartbreakingly real, we realize that the boy, Oliver, will not blow the
whistle on the boyfriend because he knows that the latter makes his mother
happy. In time though, Oliver's estranged father, a gay physician realizes
what is going on and attempts to intervene legally. But his status as a
homosexual living with his lover compromises his standing in court. Though
I found some of the characters' motivations a bit hard to swallow, the
central performance played by Sam Bould is so convincingly done that such
flaws may be overlooked. Interestingly, in a departure from convention, he
is given top billing over the adult cast-and justly so. Martin Donovan, Hal
Hartley's go-to man is also superb as the father who maintains a reserved
front while clearly erupting internally with rage over his son's abuse.
 
 

Hurlyburly

There's nothing to like about the three protagonists of this yarn about
three Hollywood denizens sharing a home and resolutely dissolute lifestyle.
Based on a play, Anthony Drazen's script retains the source material's
rapier wit but occasionally teeters on the edge of poetic preciousness. But
the leads, Sean Penn, Chazz Palminteri and Kevin Spacey are uniformly
excellent as is Gary Shandling as a sleazebag agent. With scenes of
prodigious snow snorting and mysoginism, it is often unpleasant and funny
all at once. Spacey has some wonderfully sardonic lines which he delivers
with just the right zing of supercilliousness. On the other hand, some of
Penn'sdrug addled rants grow tiresome.

The Hustler/The Color of Money

The first film was released in 1961 and stars Paul Newman as the cynical
Eddie Felson, a pool shark whose one abiding passion is to beat Minnesota
Fats, a rival played perfectly by Jackie Gleason. His demonic manager
(George C. Scott) and defeated girlfriend (Piper Laurie) each try to steer
him, each for their own reasons, from the self-destructive track that he
takes. All four leads are brilliant, but it is the cheap cigar-reeking
ambience of the pool halls that makes the most indelible impression. "The
Color of Money" came out in 1986 (perhaps a record in terms of time between
an original film and its sequel) and portrays Newman as the now washed-up
pool player who sells liquor to bars and taverns. On his salesman rounds he
discovers a young pool shark who reminds Eddie of himself as a young
hustler. The young shark, played effectively by Tom Cruise, is bankrolled
by Eddie who wants him to raise his sights from nickel and dime scams to
compete in a national pool tournament. The last half of the film lacks a
certain punch owing to a telegraphed climax that never actually happens but
it is still well worth seeing, especially in conjunction with the original.

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