THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE (1975)

Two years after he won the Academy Award for his heartbreaking performance in SAVE THE TIGER as a man on the verge of ruin, Jack Lemmon returns to the same emotional territory, but this time with a dark comedic edge to it.  Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft are a middle-aged couple living in New York City.  Both are stressed due to a heat wave, but when their apartment is robbed and Jack looses his job he has a nervous breakdown and Anne is forced to work to make ends meet.

As depressing as that sounds the screenplay by Neil Simon based on his own play is pretty funny and I really enjoyed seeing Lemmon flipping out and screaming at his wife, his neighbors and pretty much anybody within earshot.  Lemmon has always had a talent for expressing his character's inner emotions and that talent is on full display here.  That said, I think Anne Bancroft's performance might have been even better!  The entire movie she's toe-to-toe with with Lemmon and holding her own. They were both fantastic.  It was almost like they were feeding off of each others awesomeness.

The movie might be a product of it's time (living in NYC in the 70's), but I think it still holds up well today.  I've never been to NYC, but I still identified with both Lemmon and Bancroft's stressed out existence.  Recommended.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING (1966)

Capitalizing on the Cold War paranoid of the time, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING tells the story of a Soviet sub that accidentally runs aground while the captain was innocently sightseeing along the coast of a small New England island.  Stuck like Chuck, the captain sends 9 sailors onshore to get a boat big enough to pull the sub off the sandbar.  Almost immediately they're spotted and their presence understandably causes quite a ruckus.

Seeing as TRACTRAC was written by the same guy who wrote IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD just a few years earlier and even stars a few of the same people, I mistakenly thought that it was going to be the same over-the-top insanity that Mad World was, but no.  This movie was dead in the water right from the very beginning.  The jokes are all tired and flat, the ending is completely unbelievable, Jonathan Winters is wasted, Brian Keith has nothing to work with, none of the Russians have any character and the townsfolk are all morons.  Unfunny morons that clutter up the screen running around like chickens with their dicks cut off.  And that kid at the church!  Oh my god, the excessive sentimentality of that scene made me wanna slam my dick in a car door.  Preferably an orange 1986 Ford Escort.

According to the DVD special features, this film caused quite a stir when it came out (it was the #8 box office draw for 1966 and received four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture!!!), but I honestly have a hard time seeing what the excitement was about.  Outside of enjoying seeing the familiar faces, I say skip it.

If you need me I'll be in my room watching DR. STRANGELOVE.

THE PIANO TEACHER (2001)

Where to even begin with THE PIANO TEACHER?  There's so many things going on that I think my one viewing doesn't do it justice.  The best advice I can give to you on THE PIANO TEACHER, if you haven't seen it and you intend to, is to just watch it.  Don't read any synopsis or reviews (even this one), just watch it.

Erika Kohut is a piano teacher who lives what outwardly appears to be a very normal life - she has a job teaching piano at a highly prestigious music conservatory and lives alone with her elderly mother - but upon closer inspection...well.  Early on she mentions of nineteenth century composer Robert Schumann: "He knows he's losing his mind. It torments him but he clings on, one last time. It's being aware of what it means to lose oneself before being completely abandoned."  I'm not a hundred percent convinced that Erika is losing her mind and feels it going, but she definitely does not have control of her repressed sexual desires.  Our first clue, besides the long creepy stares at the teenage Walter is when she sneaks off to a porn shop, goes into a private booth and holds old used cumrags to her nose as she watches deepthroat videos.  From there on it only gets weirder...much weirder.

On the one hand I felt sorry for Erika because it almost seems that if she had a mature and understanding sexual partner all of her problems would be solved, but then when she pulls out the broken glass and large knife I started to doubt my initial opinion.

Whatever the real story with Erika is, THE PIANO TEACHER is a wildly fascinating film that I'll be thinking about for quite awhile.  I might even read the novel to get a more in-depth view.  That said the movie itself is great and Isabelle Huppert turns in a staggeringly brave performance.  Beautiful photography, good pace, strong direction and that story!  Holy fook.  Highly recommended.  I wouldn't be opposed to somebody making an even more intense/perverse remake.