The Ghoul
A London homicide detective follows the clues to a jovial-seeming psychotherapist. Puckishly sagacious, the psychiatrist is also an occultist in a story that refuses an easy solution to the question: Is this happening in the detective’s increasingly unstable mind or in the objective world? The Ghoul by British director Gareth Tunley maintains an aura of intrigue despite a structure that loops in and around like the Mobius strip the psychiatrist offers as a model of reality.
Behind the White Glasses
Lina Wertmüller is an Italian filmmaker who first surfaced as Federico Fellini’s assistant on 8½ (1963). A year later, already sporting her trademark white plastic glasses, Wertmüller was directing on her own. Within a decade she became a puckish cult figure, infusing social commentary with comedy. Now 89, Wertmüller is the star of Valerio Ruiz’s entertaining documentary, eagerly recounting memories and visiting the sites of past accomplishments. “I consider fun to be something priceless,” she declares.
The Birthday Party
Harold Pinter was integral to the production of The Birthday Party (1968), casting Robert Shaw and Patrick Magee in lead roles. Then relatively unknown, director William Friedkin enveloped Pinter’s Kafkaesque play in visual claustrophobia. Banality gives rise to cruelty and the quotidian is intersected by strangeness. Pinter’s language is brilliant—especially during pyrotechnic displays of the falsity of language from the mouth of an interrogator who torments the initially unlikable lodger in a grimy boarding house.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
It’s the Great Depression and couples enter a dance marathon for a $1,500 prize. The rules involve dancing around the clock with short breaks until just one couple is left standing. Sydney Pollack’s 1969 film includes outstanding performances by Jane Fonda and Michael Sarrazin as a desperate couple—she’s cynical and hard; he’s naïve and none-too-bright. The film attacks an entertainment industry producing false hopes and tawdry distractions in a world where the game is rigged.
