ALL-NEW FEAR OF THE VELVET CURTAIN: WILD TALES AND A NOD TO MURIEL

 

And before I lay me down to an afternoon's sick nap, a tip toward my new column over at Trailers from Hell. It's called Fear of the Velvet Curtain, and this week I'll be rounding up the reasons why you should see Damian Szifron's Wild Tales soon, if you have not already. It was my Saturday night attraction last weekend, and I'm seriously considering talking the eldest daughter to see it this coming Saturday. Why? Well...

"Szifron brings a sardonic, almost De Palma-esque delight to both his storytelling and his filmmaking style, and in the majority of the stories he manages the seemingly impossible feat of acknowledging the strange dignity of human behavior even as the worst of circumstances reveal themselves and then proceed gather even more sinister momentum. (There’s only one episode in which the director cedes entirely to the blackness, and it’s brutal in its abruptness.) Some have found the points with which Szifron is engaged somewhat reductive—is that all there is? But I found the experience of watching all hell breaking loose while these desperate destinies are fulfilled, while even some measure of vengeance (most definitely not the Lord’s here) is achieved, plenty rich enough in irony, pitch-black farce and genuine comic exhilaration."

Also on tap this week, one last tribute to the films of 2014 as seen through the perspective of the Muriel Awards.

Enjoy!

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