Barfly

Writer Charles Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski is brought to life by Mickey Rourke in this interesting film from director Barbet Schroeder. In this film there are two great actors playing off each other well. Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway are those two actors.
The film follows drunken writer Henry Chinaski (Mickey Rourke) as he goes through life drinking, starting fights, especially with a pompus bartender named Eddie (Frank Stallone), writing, and moving from place to place. Henry's life suddenly takes on meaning when he meets Wanda (Faye Dunaway) at a bar. The two immediately hit it off and become lovers/friends. As their relationship goes through rough periods they counter it with alcohol. In the midst of all this a publisher named Tully Sorenson (Alice Krige) is searching for Henry about a story he sent her.
This is one of those gems that one finds every once in a while. This was Mickey Rourke at the prime of his acting career before he hit rock bottom and went into career Hell for a little while. It also teams him up with the great Faye Dunaway who holds her own throughout the film, giving a strong performance as only she could do. The supporting characters are seedy and comical and give an added flavor to the strange world of Henry Chinaski.
This is a really good film that offers great performances and a good story. With a screenplay written by Bukowski the film contains his voice, which makes it all the more better. All in all this is a must see for anybody that is a fan of Bukowski's work or anybody who is a fan of Rourke or Dunaway.
This is Rourke at the top of his form and Dunaway doing what she does best: acting. A really good film that can be viewed on YouTube in seven parts. Hopefully this gem will find its way on a proper DVD/blu-ray release.

From the Life of the Marionettes

In the late seventies, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman got involved in a tax scandal. With the embarrasement of this scandal hanging over his head, he exiled himself to Germany for a few years. While in Germany he made a few films including The Serpent's Egg with David Carradine. But the most interesting of his films made during this self exile was From the Life of the Marionettes.
From the Life of the Marionettes is a continuiation of the characters Katarina and Peter Egermann, a couple that appeared in an episode of Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage. The film centers around Peter who kills a prostitute at the beginning of the movie. From then on the film focuses on Peter's motivations for committing the horrendous crime.
Bergman does this through a series of non-linear police interrogations and flashbacks to the events leading up to Peter's crime. With the opening scene being in color, the rest of the film is in black and white, which is all the more haunting. Through each scene, Bergman probes deeper into the depraved mind of Egermann.
This film also stands alone as one of Bergman's most sexual films. Throughout the film we are presented with violent acts of sexuality and the torment of the lack thereof that could drive a man towards madness. The film itself even has a dreamlike quality that sticks with you throughout.
Although this is not one of Bergman's best films, it is one of his most interesting ones. It can be seen that a lot of Bergman's dark feelings of this time were stamped onto this film.
This is a definite must see for any Bergman fan. The film is availble to watch on the Criterion HuluPlus channel here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/316759/from-the-life-of-the-marionettes. This could signify a potential release for this film in the near since it is on the channel and that two rare Bergman films are being released in May.
This film is Bergman at his darkest, strangest, sexiest, and creepiest, a definite must see for the avid Bergman fan. A truly dark film.