Landscape in the Mist (Topio Stin Omichli) 1988

 

Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (Hôtel Terminus: Klaus Barbie sa vie et son temps) 1988

 

Drowning by Numbers (1988)

 

Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)

 

Die Hard (1988)

 

Dead Ringers (1988)

 

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

 

Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) 1988

 

Bull Durham (1988) ****

 

Big (1988)

 

Ariel (1988)

 

Alice (1988)

 

Akira (1988)

A Tale of the Wind (1988)

Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru No Haka) 1988 **

Suffice to say, Japanese animation would have made Walt Disney both proud and sad at the same time.  Aesthetically beautiful, but just so damn depressing is the best way to describe director Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru No Haka, 1988). More than forty years after Japan’s surrender in WWII, Takahata made one of the most influential war films about the plight of war orphans based on Akiyuki Nosaka’s 1967 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name.

After their village is fire bombed and their mother dies, Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi) and his little sister Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi) are left to fend for themselves in war-ravaged Japan. The children of a naval officer, they had been spared food rationing and lived in a nice middle class home until they became orphans. Once their mother dies all they have left is one another and a few personal possessions. Seita takes on the role of caregiver to Setsuko, who is far too young to find food. But as the bombing increases the food supply decreases, and we watch as the children steeply decline toward malnutrition.

From the beginning of the film you know things don’t end well, but that still doesn’t prepare you for the gut-wrenching final ten minutes. The overwhelming sense of dread and depression is only heighted by Yoshio Mamiya’s haunting score. Of course, hearing Amelita Galli-Curci sing “Home Sweet Home” as Seita remembers Setsuko in happier and healthier times is enough to bring tears to anyone’s eyes. Which is odd, because for most of the film I found Setsuko’s constant crying annoying, but by the end, I found myself moved by her misery.

By today’s standards Grave of the Fireflies is not what one would call a dazzling display of animation.  Still, it is artistically designed in such a way that it does create memorable images.  Of particular note is the scene where the children use fireflies to illuminate the dark cave they live in. It is interesting how Takahata blended fireflies and firebombs to develop a thematic atmosphere.  Fireflies are, of course, used metaphorically as well.  One of the most memorable lines from the movie comes when Setsuko asks, “Why do fireflies have to die so soon?”

Overall, Grave of the Fireflies is a heart-wrenching tale.  The story itself is moving, and the ending is powerful.  In addition, there are some compelling images that you won’t soon forget.

 

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) **

Don’t call me stupid for not loving this 1988 comedy from director Charles Crichton (with an assist from John Cleese). Yes, it has some funny parts, but it is definitely a film I could have died without having seen (although some man in Denmark did laugh himself to death while watching it).  Perhaps it’s the decade in which it was made (the 80s) that makes it shine a little less brightly for me.  There is something about the hideous fashion and over-synthesized songs of that decade that really irks me, and when it is on full display, as it is here, it is even more distressing because it is forever imprinted (quite literally) in the annals of cinema that the 1980s sucked. 

Written by Crichton and Cleese, this comedy-heist film about four eccentric jewel thieves takes place in jolly old London.  The thieves are led by George (Tom Georgeson), a cockney gangster who picks three of the worst criminals in the world to help him pull the job: Wanda, Otto, and Ken.  His girlfriend Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a complete slut and an even bigger liar. Otto (Kevin Kline) is a pseudo-philosopher and an outright psychopath who pretends to be Wanda’s brother, but is really her jealous lover.  And, then there is Ken (Michael Palin)—a stammering animal lover with absolutely no sense.  When the heist goes awry and George is arrested, the other three scramble to tie up loose ends and engage in wacky acts of betrayal.  In the middle of all this treachery is Archie Leach (Cleese), the barrister working on George’s case who becomes ensnared in Wanda’s sleazy web of lies.  And, no, it is not a coincidence that Cleese chose to name himself after Cary Grant (the real Archie Leach)—he was born 20 miles from Grant’s birthplace and greatly admired him. 

Obviously 1988 was a weak year for the Academy Awards, specifically in the Best Supporting Actor category, because Kline won an Oscar for his turn as Otto.  To me, watching him in this was like taking a class in overacting. If anyone in the movie deserved an Oscar nod it was Palin, and even that would have been a stretch.  Of course his scenes attempting to kill Mrs. Coady (Patricia Hayes) are my favorite, so I think that might skew my point of view.  But really, he is quite hilarious as the murderer of three innocent Yorkshire Terriers.  And, when I come to think of it, the only time I found Kline entertaining was when he was doing a scene with Palin.

The story is entertaining and Cleese’s straight-man act is enjoyable, so I can’t really give A Fish Called Wanda a poor rating. Still, Kline and Curtis’ less than stellar performances are grating to me.  Yet, the wardrobe and music are worse.  Costume designer Hazel Pethig definitely did not benefit from what passed for fashionable in the 80s.  I wonder how much Curtis cringes every time she sees how horrid her wardrobe was.  Oh, and the music (if you can call it that) by John Du Prez is a complete representation of what was wrong about 80s music.

Overall, A Fish Called Wanda is a passable 1980s comedy.  Unfortunately, to watch it you must hear and see everything that makes the decade one of the worst of the Twentieth Century.

 

The Vanishing (Spoorloos) 1988 ***

(This article is from guest contributor Sarkoffagus and first appeared at http://classic-film-tv.blogspot.com/.  The rating in the title is my own.)

A Dutch man, Rex (Gene Bervoets), and his girlfriend, Saskia (Johanna ter Steege), are on holiday in France. They stop at a gas station for a rest and to refuel, and sitting in his car is a man (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) who affixes his arm with an artificial cast and sling. When Saskia enters the station for drinks before the couple hits the road again, she does not return. Rex searches the area and questions the gas station manager and employees, but there is no trace of the woman. Three years later, Rex is consumed by his search for Saskia. Though he has a girlfriend, Lieneke (Gwen Eckhaus), her companionship cannot outweigh his obsession. Rex has received postcards from someone claiming to know what has happened to Saskia, but when he waits at a specified meeting place, there is no one. When Rex finally makes an appearance on television to tell the story of Saskia’s disappearance, Raymond, the man from the gas station years ago, approaches him, saying that he can tell Rex of his girlfriend’s fate.

George Sluizer’s 1988 film The Vanishing (aka Spoorloos, the original Dutch title) is an elegantly complex feature, most notably for an early introduction to and subsequent spotlighting of the villain. Following Saskia’s vanishing, the film’s perspective switches to Raymond, a family man and school teacher, as his plan slowly materializes. He is meticulous, each of his acts another step towards his objective. What makes Raymond such an appalling character is the fact that he is thorough, mapping out every aspect and even practicing (at one point involving his daughter in a scenario, unbeknownst to her). Another frightening point is the origin of specific ideas, sometimes coming from someone else, such as his family. Raymond is, as he himself says, a sociopath, cold and detached, and his very nature is chilling. When his wife expresses concern that he may have a mistress, Raymond alleviates her worries not with charm but in a direct, businesslike manner.

Much of the film plays like curtains being drawn back, not for a shocking revelation, but rather to unveil the inevitable horror. Sluizer offers clues throughout the course of the film, not truly hiding anything. The ending may not be the preferred destination, but it is the only way. This gives deeper meaning to an early scene, when Rex and Saskia run out of gas in the middle of a dark tunnel. After retrieving gasoline, Rex drives the car out of the tunnel, visualized from his point of view. The meager light at the tunnel’s exit gradually increases, revealing to the audience what it can already see -- and standing in the light is Saskia, who is waiting at the end.

The Vanishing was based on the novella, The Golden Egg, by Tim Krabbé, who wrote the screenplay adaptation with Sluizer. The story’s title is referenced in the film by a description of Saskia’s dream, in which she is trapped inside a golden egg, a dream that Rex also experiences during his desperate search. Sluizer, who also produced, and producer Anne Lordon won a Golden Calf for Best Feature Film at the Netherlands Film Festival. The film was the Dutch submission for the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film category but was ineligible since a great deal of spoken dialogue was in French. Actress ter Steege, in her film debut, won an European Film Award for Best Supporting Actress (the very first year that the European Film Academy held a ceremony).
Actor Jeroen Krabbé is author Tim Krabbé’s brother. The actor has appeared in a number of films, perhaps most famously in The Living Daylights (1987) and The Fugitive (1993). He also co-starred with ter Steege in Immortal Beloved (1994).

Sluizer directed a Hollywood remake of The Vanishing in 1993, starring Keifer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges, and Nancy Travis. The narrative structure is only slightly altered, with a significant change being additional screen time for the U.S. version of Lieneke (played by Travis). The most drastic revision, however, was the ending, which was compromised to allow for a more upbeat conclusion. The movie was a commercial and critical failure.