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gmsjohnson2002
Reviews
Beach Red (1967)
this film kept me from being killed in Vietnam
i saw this movie back when it firt came out, and i finally realized the incredibly stupid reality of war. and that is why i never went to Vietnam. none of my children would be alive if i hadn't seen this film. i want to see it again. what i remember most is the scene in which the American and the Japanese guys, both dying, are talking and sharing a smoke. that told me everything i needed to know. cornel wilde is an unsung genius. someday he'll be recognized for what he did, here, and in other films. they say that every great war movie is, almost by definition, anti-war. This movie proves that point, like the immortal "paths of glory".
Tweek City (2005)
An Indie film of surprising depth by an interesting new director
"Tweek City" is a fine little indie film that explores the paranoid world of crack users in the gritty, wonderfully realized underbelly of San Francisco. It seems like a "Midnight Cowboy" for the 2000s, part buddy movie and part cautionary tale.
The anti-hero Bill Jensen completes a real journey in the film and that journey is fully realized in the impassioned acting of Giussepe Andrews. Bill struggles throughout the film not only with his drug habit, but with ethnic and sexual identity. HIs sexual struggle gives his feelings about his buddy, Jerm, a special poignancy. Jerm is full of life force and enduring optimism. He and Bill's steady Latino friend are the only ballast that keep Bill's leaky boat afloat.
The cinematography and production values are way beyond the scope of most Indies. The look is stark, the soundtrack eerie and foreboding. I haven't seen anything by the director Eric Johnson before, but I would certainly add him to my list of "must sees" for the future.