Ketzel Reviews

The Dead Girl (2006)

Stunning and realistic portrait of working class life pain

[9/10 · 12 October 2015]

In addition to the excellent acting and haunting stories, this is one of those rare films that doesn't settle for stereotypes in portraying the desperation and hopelessness so often experienced in the lives of real working class and poor Americans. Aided by realistic sets and wardrobes, the characters were so richly defined, developed and portrayed that I felt they could have been my own neighbors, family and friends.

Witnessing and empathizing with the pain of so many psychologically damaged characters was more difficult for this viewer than watching repeated scenes of the decaying dead girl's body. Virtually everyone in this film was suffering and inflicting emotional pain on others. It is unlikely that any of these troubled and traumatized characters would ever find inner peace or happiness in the future, because they have limited insight into their own motivations, thoughts and behavior. They often make poor and irrational choices, but they still deserve our compassion. Each characters' suffering has deep roots and their suffering will likely last until they die.

Sometimes viewing the film felt like watching a human train wreck with the characters thrashing blindly through life, barely conscious of who they were, why they behaved as they did, or how to get what they truly wanted for themselves.

Amazing and very rewarding film! I caution people who are experiencing clinical depression not to watch it until they are feeling better, because this film definitely has multiple triggers to pull someone even deeper into that black hole.

Catfish (2010)

Poignant film about lonely people creating meaning in their lives

[9/10 · 16 August 2015]

I nearly stopped watching the film after twenty minutes because I don't have much interest in a documentary about the lives of privileged 20-something boys. I am so glad that I continued to watch (because I had paid $3.99 and I was determined to get my money's worth). Very soon after I began fast- forwarding to see if something might catch my interest, the film took off in a new and fascinating direction. It became an absorbing and haunting mystery, though not in any way the thriller implied in the trailer.

Last spoiler alert here.

Is the antagonist mentally ill or just so burdened with the hardship, isolation and emptiness of mainstream American life that she developed this unusual creative outlet? If she had not infringed on the lives of other people with her rich fantasies, would we have any reason to question her sanity?

The question arises throughout the film as to whether Angela is being exploited by the filmmakers, but their kindness, compassion and lack of judgment (at least while cameras are rolling) absolve them of wrongdoing. I remain concerned that the viewing public is now aware of her name, the names of family members and her home address (not carefully enough obscured during the making of the film). Hateful narrow-minded individuals in our society can behave like trolls online and in real life. I will not be surprised if some IMDb reviewers discuss revulsion at her physical characteristics in contrast with Megan's.

Angela is so vulnerable that I question whether she was capable of giving informed consent to having her real identity revealed. I can only hope that her identity and location were falsified by the filmmakers.

By the end of the film, Angela emerges as a woman of quiet courage and strength willing to accept much (not all) of the responsibility for her behavior and its impact on others. Her sincere tears are not hidden from the camera. At no time does she slam the door on the filmmakers or ask them to leave out in shame or anger. At no point is she humiliated or vilified by those she has deceived. I hope that audiences will be as gentle with her as the makers of the film were.

Ex Machina (2014)

Great film with one BIG problem

[7/10 · 3 August 2015]

Double spoiler alert! Reading this review will ruin the whole film. It gives away the ending big time. Don't read this review. Don't even think about reading this.

OK, for those of you who have seen the film, what was the director thinking by putting in that one scene toward the end that ruined the entire movie? Totally unnecessary and weird and it brought the entire film crashing down around it.

I mean, why does he just stand there looking just a bit surprised when he has just had a long knife shoved into his torso? Any human being drops to the floor with that sort of injury. Like immediately. OK, I'm willing to suspend belief for a little bit longer. It was a decent film up to this point.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Still not dropping.

Whoops, look at that - he gets stabbed again with the same big long knife. This time in the front, right through his vital organs for sure this time. Can't miss the vital organs twice. OK, now he's going to drop. Finally. Now hes going to drop like a stone. OK, now. Now? How about now?

So a main character with no superhero or superhuman qualities is stabbed with a huge long knife through the torso, first in the back and then a few minutes later in the front, yet there he is, still standing and talking?

Absurd. Suddenly the whole movie feels absurd. Like you've been played for a fool, thinking this is a really good thoughtful film and then . . . what? Grade B horror flick?

Whenever I think about this movie, this scene is the first thing that comes to mind.

You can look now. He finally dropped and died.

Monk with a Camera (2014)

Celebrating Wealthy White Men in Guise of Spirituality

[5/10 · 25 July 2015]

This film celebrates the photographic skill and fund raising acumen of a well-connected trained photographer from a wealthy family who became a Buddhist monk in India in the 1970s. I didn't discern any special spiritual depth in his Buddhist practice that would earn him this kind of attention. I have to conclude that it is just the fact that he is still connected enough to the worlds of fashion, photography and New York wealth that makes him supposedly worthy of starring in a film that will be watched mostly by people interested in Buddhism or monastic life. Vreeland is a likable and unassuming guy, so it's not difficult to watch a film about his life. So long as you are OK with watching the story of unearned privilege rather than spirituality, you may enjoy the film.

The documentary fails to address the critical issue raised above, and builds to a climax in which the Dali Lama honors the monk-with- a-camera by making him the Abbott of the monastery he financed with his wealthy connections, his photography skills and some pretty fancy camera equipment for a renunciate to own and store in a locked room. We also are supposed to be impressed by this monk chumming around with the Dali Lama and Richard Gere.

We get it: Rich white men will always get more than their share of attention. Their ability to raise money will be rewarded by everyone, even the Dali Lama. However, the money spent to make this film would have been better spent on additions to the monastery, charity or a social justice product.

Dear White People (2014)

Doesn't Deliver on Promising Trailer

[5/10 · 31 March 2015]

I am glad that this film addresses the important issue of racism on college campuses, and I have no disagreement with its political or social justice messages. Any sincere attempt by a filmmaker to make these experiences visible to the broader public is a good thing.

As a white educator who actually attended and later taught at top- tier colleges, I had been looking forward to experiencing a new sharp creative critique of American racism on college campuses as promised by the film's trailer.

This film utterly failed in its attempts to entertain or provoke. It did not provide me even with the typical pleasures of cinema, let alone fresh insight into its subject. It was little more than a leaden slow-moving soap opera with a contrived plot, oddly dressed characters and unconvincing dialogue. In my experience of elite campuses, it is the rare Ivy student (of any race) who routinely dresses like a junior business executive and uses this sort of pretentious speech pattern. Watching this film was like watching a Western in which all the characters had British accents and wore kimonos.

For readers who seek moving and insightful films on racism, I highly recommend Spike Lee "joints" which provide viewers with superior entertainment, dialogue, characters, plot, provocation and insight.

Interstellar (2014)

Science Fiction Fan Hated this Movie

[1/10 · 17 February 2015]

This movie was so boring I literally had to leave the theater before I fell asleep sitting upright. I gave Interstellar a full hour to get more interesting, considering the rave reviews and ratings on this site that prompted me to see it. But I couldn't wait any longer.

The film was scientifically implausible to such an extent that I could not suspend disbelief and enjoy the film at face value. The character development was weak, the protagonist was arrogant and unlikable and the acting talent of many great actors was utterly wasted on this bomb. The dialog was predictable, unimaginative and flat.

While it did not affect the quality of the film, I was disappointed that the movie was based on the dangerous delusion that human beings might be able to find a new home in space, so people don't have to think too much about taking action on the very real climate change that is destroying planet Earth right now.

But it was the series of stupid moments in the first hour that informed me Interstellar was not going to meet my standards for an intelligent film. The first stupid moment was during the life-threatening giant dust storm scene, complete with large chunks of flying debris. After the family jumps into the truck and races home for shelter, the driver inexplicably parks the truck about fifteen yards away from the front door so that they all have to run outside through the dust storm before reaching the house. Huh?

Another stupid moment was when the protagonist is asked to pilot a gargantuan state-of-the-art space craft (apparently built by a few dozen people without any budget) less than an hour after he first surprises NASA with his first arrival. This pilot has not flown an aircraft for years and there is no way anyone, no matter how experienced he once was, could fully master the technology of this ship and be prepared for a complex space mission in the extremely short period of time that elapsed (evidenced by no change in the age of the pilot's children) between being asked to captain the ship and actually doing so. He almost instantly assumes full command of the ship and the crew and successfully takes the ship into deep outer space on a dangerous mission. This sequence of events had no credibility. It felt like some adolescent boy's fantasy come true.

The last-straw final stupid moment was when I realized that the female astronaut played by Anne Hathaway is wearing fresh make-up everyday including false eyelashes. Not a big deal considering the major problems with this film, but it nevertheless annoyed me. What competent astronaut is going to waste time and energy applying false eyelashes in outer space during a serious space mission? How would several years worth of cosmetics (along with false eyelashes) even get approved as cargo given the severe space limitations of a spaceship? How are we supposed to find this astronaut credible?

That's when I realized it really was time to abandon the film. I was getting downright irritable.

Dorm (2006)

Disappointing movie geared to preteen audience

[5/10 · 25 April 2010]

Sorry. I love suspenseful intriguing ghost stories, but this film did not contain a single chilling moment. I kept waiting for the film to become worthy of its higher ratings on this site. The sexist portrayals of females only as nurturers of boys or sex objects for males did nothing to change my mind about the quality of the film. We have Mama and the school mistress to nurture the boys, while all the other females in the film are just male sexual fantasy fodder without personalities. The music sounds like a lame video game soundtrack. The only good things I can say about this film is that the plot was mildly interesting and the acting surprisingly good. But not good enough to recommend to others, except perhaps preadolescents with liberal parents who don't mind some tame female breast exposure.

Older Than America (2008)

A good story doesn't make a good movie

[5/10 · 10 April 2010]

I saw this movie because it was rated 9.5 at this site on April 9, 2010. Minutes into the film, I could tell that this was rating was due only to the subject matter and not the quality of the film itself. The script and acting are mediocre to poor, and the story is predictable from start to finish. If you don't know Native American history, this film should be an eye-opener. If you do, as I did before watching the movie, you will be pleased to see that this important aspect of Native American history was made into a movie. If only it had been made into a movie worth seeing. I could see that everyone involved with the making of the film tried their best, but it didn't work. Very disappointed. 9.5? No, it's just a 5.

The Appeared (2007)

Important political message buried in entertaining ghost story

[9/10 · 22 December 2009]

Highly entertaining ghost story with many plot twists and turns. This film is unpredictable and offbeat. Ultimately, it is a plea to stop the torture and murder of civilians who suffer under repressive political regimes. This message should be applied equally to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany, Communists in Argentina in 1981 or Iraqis in Guatanamo Bay in 2009. There are a few places in the film where it doesn't work well if you try to consider it logically, so don't look at it logically. Just follow the story where it wants to take you and you will be rewarded. I watched this because it was billed as a ghost story, but I enjoyed this film on so many other levels.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Fun and scary, but not "great"

[6/10 · 9 October 2009]

I definitely enjoyed watching this film, and there were some scary moments, for sure! Worth seeing, especially for paranormal and horror buffs. That being said, this might have been a great film except for two things.

First, Micah is nearly devoid of personality. He is so much Mr. Average Young Adult that he ends up being nobody at all, and it is hard to immerse oneself in a film where one of the two main characters is boring and undefined, yet irritating. The female character compensates with having a more defined and complex personality.

Second, the style of the ending doesn't fit well with the rest of the movie. It feels like it was spliced in from a different film altogether. But the ending works well enough that the film is not spoiled by the abrupt shift.

Following the shaky cam action on the large screen was a bit much when I sat near the front of the theater. Moving toward the back of the theater helped me to see what was going on much better. I recommend that you find a seat at least halfway up from the front if you don't want to be overwhelmed.

Go and enjoy!

The Cradle (2007)

A beautiful film hidden in the wrong genre - NOT HORROR!

[6/10 · 13 September 2009]

*** SPOILERS AHEAD! * * * This is a lovely and sad film about postpartum depression and young parents pressed beyond endurance by factors outside their control. The negative reception of this film by critical viewers was made possible by the film's own misguided promotion as a supernatural horror tale when it is in fact a strong psychological drama with possible paranormal elements. The picture of a creepy old hand poised menacingly over a cradle on the DVD cover invites the wrong viewing audience who will, of course, be disappointed in the film based on their reasonable expectations.

My sense is that this storyline began with one plot and someone during the development of the film decided to intertwine another plot that would boost DVD sales. What a mistake that was! The secondary plot of a reclusive old woman haunted by a childhood memory nearly killed this movie. But if you are able to watch the film without anticipating the arrival of a sinister murderous ghost, you will be rewarded by a very different story.

I enjoyed this film more the second time I watched it, knowing that what actually happens at the end of the film explains the importance of everything up to that point. If you don't understand or anticipate the actual ending of the original plot without ideas about evil spirits filling your mind, yes, the film moves too slowly and goes nowhere. But if you are anticipate the actual ending, you will know that the film was paced perfectly! PLOT: Frank and Julie have lost their previous babies to miscarriage or stillbirth. Finally a baby boy, Sam, is born alive, but Julie is so scarred by her previous losses that she cannot bond with the surviving boy. She falls into a deep and disabling postpartum depression. Frank (played beautifully by the earnest Lukas Haas) wants to be part of a normal young family starting out fresh with their firstborn son. Perhaps in desperation to realize his dream, he brings his depressed wife and infant son to an isolated country home hoping that the relaxing environment will alleviate Julie's symptoms and allow her over time to bond with their baby.

OK, enough warnings, here come the SPOILERS: The baby tragically dies (SIDS?) within the first few days of the family's arrival to their new country home. Frank is outside the house when Sam dies. When he returns indoors, he finds his dead son covered by a blanket. Carefully laid atop the blanket is a necklace, the gift he had just given Juli in appreciation of her new motherhood.

It is at this point that Sam dives into a psychotic break with reality, beginning with his delusion that his son is still alive. Nearly everything that happens in the film after he discovers his dead son is either hallucination or psychotic delusion. He refuses to accept that Sam is dead. He also refuses to accept that Julie has taken her own life after discovering Sam's dead body in the cradle. He blocks out the fact that he discovered her dead body at the bottom of the waterfalls the night that Sam died.

Frank exists in a dark nightmarish world where Sam lives, smiles and coos like any normal baby and Julie continues to struggle bravely with her postpartum depression. In Frank's mind, Julie at first refuses but later insists on caring for Sam. The seemingly paranormal events are probably creations of Frank's psychosis. The psychosis is mixed with actual dreams of how Sam dies.

Finally, there may be a haunting in this film, but it is not the evil sister spirit. There is the possibility that Julie's ghost is real to the plot. In this reading of the film, Julie's ghost yearns for reconciliation with her dead infant, but Frank's unwillingness to accept the fact that Sam is dead somehow interferes with Julie's ability to care for Sam in a ghostly afterworld.

Haas's portrayal of Frank's sweetness, confusion and great love for his family are what carry this film and make it well worth watching twice. The unnecessary melodrama involving the old woman and her dead sister keep trying to pull the film under. If only director Brown had not made the old woman's character so frightening, strange and hysterical, The Cradle could have been a really good movie, possibly an 8. All we really needed from this character is a little history of her losses. Her key role in the plot is being the person who forces Frank to realize that his baby has been dead for several days. Brown didn't need to use the old woman to create a supernatural horror plot to wrap around the film's neck to strangle it before it could be born.

I hope someday Brown edits this film so that it can emerge as the endearing sad story that makes it memorable.