Round-up 21: Thrillers and Mike Judge's Best

Long days and long nights tied together only by movies and YouTube binging. Work has been exhausting to a certain degree, in a good way, but still very tiring. The evenings are filled with contemplation on many different topics, but the more disturbing films that have piqued my curiosity have been pushing to the front, as usual. I wanted to start this week a little differently and give you a sneak peek into what I plan on watching this upcoming week, before I dive into what I watched.

I briefly teased this last time, but there is a classical Italian film from the 1970s by an infamous director by the name of Pier Paolo Pasolini entitled Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), and I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of finally watching it. I’ve been beating around the bush with it, so to speak, for the last year and a half since I first heard of it. There’s something about the cult following that it has developed over the years, especially with the Criterion release a number of years ago, that makes me curious. For those unaware, I can’t even recommend looking this one up due to what Google might produce, but just understand it’s what has been dubbed “endurance horror”, a subset of the horror genre that, well, tests your endurance. For the sick and twisted.

My final selection from the Criterion fifty-percent off sale was a blind buy: the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy by Gregg Araki. This is a set of three films loosely connected to one another and released by Araki in the mid-to-late 90s. I have discussed his work on here before, specifically with my viewing of the horrifying Mysterious Skin (2004), but this is the auteur operating on a very restrictive budget and being forced to get creative with his resources. I’m always fascinated by seeing where directors such as himself began and how his style and approach have changed over the years compared to his debut efforts. The films are filled to the brim with Araki’s classic gay, darkly comic, and always violent tropes, once again piquing my morbid curiosity.

I digress; these were just a couple of things I wanted to mention in anticipation of the upcoming week. But what did I actually watch? I started the week out with a viewing of Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise (1991), a wild romp through the contemporary west with Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon in the leads as a pair of best friends who find themselves on the run from the law. With supporting roles led by Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen (rest in peace), the story is a crime/thriller that goes out of its way to show a heartfelt and wholesome side. This is primarily due to the chemistry between Davis and Sarandon, which leaps off the screen throughout with plenty of laughs and moments worthy of applause. The lead women go through their day-to-day lives, fighting through the monotony and boredom, when one day, they decide to get out of town for a weekend away. A flirty night at a bar on the road goes awry when a would-be-rapist attempts the crime and is instead shot to death by the women. This is what sends them on the run from the law, and from a society that wouldn’t believe them if they tried. The satire and commentary on the state of feminism in the 90s is tremendously executed by the screenwriter Callie Khouri, digging deep into rhetorical questions and the morals of the era without ever feeling heavy-handed. And of course, I’d be remiss to not mention that final car chase and freeze-frame. A classic for all the right reasons.

Next, I rewatched an all-time thriller classic, Jonathon Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991). I have only seen this film once before, and it was back in my early high school years. I recall my parents saying they were putting it on (I believe it was the edited-for-TV version) and that I should sit down and watch with them. Considering their more conservative nature, this surprised me at the start, but by the end, I was completely shocked and very disturbed. Watching it now, as a young adult, I had a much different experience. Still very frightening and harrowing, I found it much more psychologically disturbing this time around, rather than visually. The chemistry and dialogue between Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter is so superb it must be studied, sincerely some of the best dialogue-driven screenwriting I’ve ever seen in how it balances story with character development on multiple levels. The film is also a tight two hours and wastes no time with its pacing. Many crime thrillers of this style like to include a slow burn element, but not this one. It blitzes across the runtime with an exciting combination of swelling musical score and graphic imagery to make you question the very limits of what a human being can do to another. This is a perfect thriller, through and through, and one I can see myself returning to study the writing.

I also rewatched Hollywood Shuffle (1987), a Robert Townsend comedy about a struggling young black actor who desperately wants to make it in the movie business. This is a cute, small film that generates a lot of satirical questions about how the business stereotypes black actors and forces them to be mere racist archetypes of themselves. Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot to say about this one. It’s similar to a previous film I watched for the first time last week, Tampopo (1985), in that it intersperses vignettes of comic relief throughout, but in this effort, it feels more there to pad the runtime than anything. Plenty of great 80s film references made, and more than a couple solid laughs to be had.

I went to Barnes & Noble again, this time with a potential romantic prospect. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but the way she pulled out a copy of Idiocracy (2006) and held it to my face to ask if I’d seen it before made me feel really nice. Might be something special there. I got home and made a point of rewatching the film, on her recommendation. The story follows Luke Wilson as a quite literal average Joe who gets roped into an army science experiment to be frozen, which, of course, goes wrong. He wakes up five hundred years later, as everyone has become insanely dumb through generations of inbreeding and bad traits passing down, he is the smartest man in the world. This was the hardest I’ve laughed in a long time. I’m talking stomach-aching belly laughs over some of the most out-of-pocket comic moments possible. Mike Judge has always had a direct line to my funny bone, but when in tandem with this powerful social commentary that has only aged better with time, I was genuinely amazed. He has always been someone that I’ve respected immensely as a comedy writer, but this might be his best overall effort. A piece that critiques the dumbest parts of American society that have frighteningly become very relevant in today’s age. Some of the comments and jokes might seem “off-color” to some, but I feel like the ultimate goal is achieved, of being crude and aggressive, is in the end painfully accurate as a reflection of our social landscape today. Endlessly quotable, painfully relevant, and overall, just a great late-night watch. If you’re a comedy fan, this is definitely a must-see.

A pretty successful week, and a more successful one to follow. I’m excited to dive into some new content and

report back with my findings. Have you seen any of these films? What did you think about them? As always, I encourage comments below. Watch something new. Tell a friend about it. Until next week.