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Snowpiercer (2014)- Bong Joon Ho does it again, adding wit and verve to a well worn genre.
Man Without A Map (1968)- been watching alot of Hiroshi Teshigahara, and this one is his most difficult to find.. and just a plain difficult film.
Calling it a detective mystery (like on IMDB) is very misleading. If anything, “Man Without A Map” is an anti-mystery. Like the great neo noirs of the 70’s (“The Big Fix” and especially “The Long Goodbye”), Teshigahara’s film raises more questions than it answers…. never really solves anything… and devours the lead detective in a world of loose ends, digressive leads, and his own doubt about the missing person case. The unnamed Detective (played by Shintaro Katsu, who would go onto later prominence in the “Hanzo” series) is recruited by a woman to find her missing husband. Along the way, the detective is continually thwarted by the brother of the missing man who has his own agenda to follow (namely a violent workers clash), the unclear motives of a taxi driver service the missing man may have worked for, and the inability of the wife to recall any key details about the last days of her husband. Instead, the detective is haplessly relegated to mute witness as he scowers the depths of Japan’s brothels and low level businessmen. Going into “Man Without A Map” with a sense of narrative is probably not the best way to approach it. This is a film that deserves multiple viewings as you realize it’s an atmospheric psychological study of a nation rather than a thriller.
A Serbian Film (2009)- Another film about a nation (and the screw you or get screwed nihilism of it all), I'd been hearing about this one for years. Finally tracked down a copy and while its disturbing, its also pretty pointless.
The Vampire of Dusseldorf (1959)- Actor turned director Robert Hossein may be one of the best kept secrets of French cinema. His directorial efforts have been outstanding, if only they were more readily available. I've only seen this one and "Death of a Killer", but Hossein's pace, camera placement and visual style are intriguing. This one also stars himself as a murderer loose during Germany's WW2 years. Frank and at times shocking in the way he blandly presents the murders of various women, it also features a scene that predates the vulgar confrontation between Keitel and Christ in "Bad Lieutenant", albeit in a much more quiet and effecting manner. Find his films if you can!
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