August 13, 2020: Stargate Stuff! And the Crime Club convenes to discuss Caché!

I was going through my old hard drives and came across a slew of Stargate-related photos.  Unfortunately, the cable, as well as the hard drive itself, are a little wonky and I’m only able to snag a handful of photos at a time before the connection is severed.  But this is what I got so far…

Actor Mark Dacascos on the set of Broken Ties (Stargate: Atlantis)

Some wraithy goodness from the same episode.

Stunt Coordinator James Bamford plots his next move while an unknown actor, shrouded in shadow, ices up between takes.

Eli’s desert gate selfie.

Okay, the Crime Club convenes to discuss French psychological thriller: Caché

Occasionally, when a movie is described as a “psychological thriller”, it turns out to be code for “slow”. Such is the case with Caché, a smart, thoughtfully directed film that unwinds at a very deliberate pace, offering great performances, an intriguing mystery, but no definitive answers when all is said and done.

A couple begins to receive strange surveillance videos of their home accompanied by childish drawings.  They point to a dark period in the husband’s life, a period in his childhood where he scuttled his mother’s plans to adopt a young Algerian boy.  The movie, ultimately, does not reveal the identity of whoever sent the tapes, but simple logic dictates that that Algerian boy’s adult son was the driving force behind the deliveries.  And, the film’s final shot, suggests that Pierrot, the targeted couple’s son, played a role.  Why?  Now THAT would have been interesting to learn.

There’s a brilliant allegory here about France’s colonial past in Algeria if you can suffer the excruciatingly extended shots and leisurely narrative.   Like writer-director Michael Haneke’s foray into horror, Funny Games, this is a technically accomplished movie that will thrill film students and cinephiles, but leave most everyone else frustrated.

Okay, tomorrow’s Crime Club selection promises something a little more briskly paced – octuple César Award nominee 36 Quai des Orfèvres (aka The 36th Precinct) starring Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu.

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