Dir Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1h 45m [Film Penance 2026 - Elizabeth Taylor]
"I want to go back home to feel all my loneliness again." - Lise
Lise (Elizabeth Taylor) completely breaks down in the shop when the saleswoman remarks on the stain resistant fabric, ideal for traveling. But that would ruin everything. Lise desperately explains that chemically treated cloth won't work, and only calms down when they find a duplicate in a natural fabric.
It's not a cute or funny moment. Lise has life altering plans in mind for her vacation in Rome. She needs everything to be perfect to see them through.
Lise knows she has to meet a man in Rome, and little else.
The city is a place of ancient beauty, but also active political strife. Set against this backdrop, Lise drifts into conversations and encounters with people. A man obsessed with orgasms and rice. Souvenir shopping with an older woman waiting for her nephew. A firebombed motorcade. A violent mechanic.
In one sequence, we get a quiet moment with Lise. She's is alone in her hotel room enjoying it's perks, and eventually she looks outside. We see the park reflected in the glass, with her figure present. She is happily in place.
Through flash forwards we learn bit by bit that something terrible has happened, and slowly piece together Lise's story. Was she a conspirator or a victim?
The palette is filled with sepia tones punctured with green and blue and a piano score keeps up the tension.
In my little run of Elizabeth Taylor films, The Driver's Seat - also released as Identikit - has stayed with me the longest. I find myself drifting back and thinking about Lise, and what got her to this place. How she viewed herself in relation to other people.
Using visual storytelling and minimal dialogue, The Driver's Seat one character's singular drive.
Dir. Daniel Mann, 1h 49m [Film Penance 2026 - Elizabeth Taylor]
"Mama, face it: I was the slut of all time!" - Gloria
Gloria (Elizabeth Taylor) is a Manhattan party girl and influencer. She gets paid to wear designer dresses at the right spots, and makes even more from the men who pay her to take them off. If you want to get a hold of her, you have to call her answering service, at Butterfield 8.
Her mother worries about her, the way Gloria disappears for days. Her childhood friend Steve (Eddie Fisher) doesn't want to bail her out anymore. She's turned up again at his door. Gloria decided to take revenge on Weston (Laurence Harvey), the married man she's seeing, by taking off with his wife's fur coat and bringing it to Steve's.
Gloria & Weston's relationship runs hot and cold. There is a kind of love there, such ad it is wrapped up in egos & posturing. Weston was a talented lawyer before he got married and went to work at the company his wife's family owns. He got soft, taking executives to lunch. If he's going to make it with Gloria, he has to choose a harder life.
But oh, that pesky coat.
I really enjoyed Butterfield 8. It's a good melodrama, with lovely costumes, barbed quips, and great atmosphere. Shot slickly and brightly with impressive production value. I'm thinking in particular of a wonderful shot of Taylor & Harvey at the threshold of their motel room, where the light throbs around them; a visual representation of their desire that's just stunning. My one quibble with the movie is that it goes beyond it's natural ending, and would have been more successful if it were tighter.
Overall, and really good film with solid performances from the whole cast.
The Driver (Ryan O'Neal) emerges from a parking structure. Everything has been carefully orchestrated for this casino heist. We quickly learn why he's the best man for the job. After taking off with the thieves and their quarry he successively evades the cops in an elaborate high-speed chase.
Only two problems: The Detective (Bruce Dern) with a vendetta against him, and the gorgeous Player (Isabel Adjani) who can identify him.
It's a beautiful, if a bit run down, nighttime world Hill invites us into. A world populated with people just trying to get by on the margins. These are not the high roller, fantasy criminals of John Wick. And, as you would imagine in a movie calledThe Driver, there are exceptionally well executed car chases.
I really enjoyed The Driver, and that's been true of most films by writer/director Walter Hill I've seen (e.g.: The Warriors, 48 HRS.). There are high stakes interactions between the characters, and much of the story is communicated visually. There is barely any dialogue in the first 25 minutes of the film, and we know 100% what is going on.
I genuinely liked the chemistry between the actors. Dern is a standout as the cop who is willing to cross the line and make dirty deals to meet his objectives, and we hate him for it.
I also have to mention Isabel Adjani as The Player. She's looking for a clean way out of this game of one-upmanship.
Dir. Joseph Losey, 1h 53m [Film Penance 2026 - Elizabeth Taylor]
"What's human or inhuman is not for human decision." - Sissy
Noted camp classic, Boom! is an experience.
Sissy Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor) is a widow who lives on a rock. An exclusive, Italian private island rock. Sissy is contemptibly wealthy and her long-suffering staff has to endure her whims. Like say, watching her throw her personal x-ray machine over the balustrade and into the sea. Only the truly affluent can experience such balustrade-based delights. Sissy's estate is at the top of an imposing cliff, and if you dare trespass, the dogs will have at you.
One such fool is Chris Flanders (Richard Burton) who makes it up the cliff face and is left bleeding from the hounds. Sissy is far more worried about what the dog attack might cost her and not so much about the state of her visitor. And why is this stranger here? What are Chris' intentions anyway? Sissy heard from the Witch of Capri (Noel Coward) that he might be there to do her in...
Boom! is visually stunning and preposterous. The best part of the movie is the visuals. Beautiful vistas, and one sumptuous white costume after another for Ms. Taylor. As for what's going on plot-wise, well, the movie is a metaphor. I'm sure it is. For what? That part I didn't concern myself with.
Now, if I were to change one thing about my experience watching Boom!, it would be to watch it again with the John Waters commentary on. I know I left some crumbs on the table by skipping that. All the more reason to go back.
Do you need to see this movie? No. Do you want to see something strange and visually appealing? Then Boom! is for you.
I still can't believe that Tennessee Williams wrote this movie.
Dir Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1h 38m [Film Penance 2026 - Bad Company]
"You've simply destroyed the idea I've always had of myself" - The Father/Paolo
A wealthy family in Milan is about to receive a Visitor (Terence Stamp).
The family is rolling in dough because the Father is an industrialist factory owner. He has a very proper Italian household with his wife, (the Mother), his Son, his Daughter and his Servant. The kids go to private schools. They're a social group, so when the Visitor arrives, they have a little soiree. No big deal, they do this all the time.
As the party goes on and the guests dwindle, bedtime draws near. Everyone who lives at the house has eyes on the Visitor.
The members of the household are drawn to him, and each makes a sexual advance towards him in personality-revealing ways. They each need something different.
The Visitor courteously obliges them, and as the physical encounters with him occur, one by one they become obsessively attached.
The film is stylish, has a spare Ennio Morricone score, and Pasolini makes the interesting choices, such as cutting to a landscape of dark rocks each time the Visitor and a partner are intimate. Silvana Mangano is particularly arresting as The Mother of the family, as is Laura Betti as the servant Emilia. And of course, Terence Stamp dazzles as the Visitor.
Where a typical film would have the players catch wind of their mutual lover, leading to jealous confrontations and competition for the Visitor, that's not how Teorema plays out.
Half way through the film, the Visitor just leaves. In his absence, each member of the household has their identity devolve or transform in some way. Everything from naked madness to religious ecstasy.
Pasolini intended this film to be a critique of the bourgeoisie in Italy; he identified as being a Marxist film maker. That part did not connect with me.
What did, was the idea what plagues us about other people originates from within.
"I shouldn't have told you that, but I needed to tell somebody, and I trust you." - Peter
Agnes is a divorced waitress living hand-to-mouth, staying in a room at the end of a motel. She's been getting unsettling telephone calls from someone she assumes is her ex-husband - a violent man recently out of prison.
Her life is small and she keeps it that way. If your head stays down, there are fewer worries to contend with. The drawback to this life is the loneliness.
Her friend from work introduces Agnes to Peter. He's a bit of a loner too; integrating back into US society has been difficult since returning from his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Something about Peter sparks something deep in Agnes, and their relationship grows. It grows into something strong enough to confront her Ex.
It grows into something that can defy reason itself.
Bug had an impact on me. Directed by William Friedkin and written by Tracy Letts, it had me thinking about the realities we create in relationships. It successfully married the reality of a hard scrabble town and the real violence that people face alongside the delusions and hopes we sustain to get by.
The movie has a dusty, worn-in feel. It starts exhausted, which makes sense for people at the end of their rope. The camera work and music add to the sense of unease. I've seen Bug referred to as a horror film; I'd say it leans more toward a dramatic thriller, though there are terrifying moments.
The performances are extraordinary. Harry Connick Jr is Agnes' demonic ex-husband, and Michael Shannon inhabits the looming and child-like Peter. Ashley Judd as Agnes however, is a standout. I have never seen her this good - it's an award-worthy turn. I would watch it again just for her.
The end moments of this film feel shocking yet inevitable.
I'm surprised this movie isn't better known, given the talented names associated with it. I've had it on my list forever, from an old movie review I saw, and I'm glad I did.
It's not for everyone, that said, I highly recommend it.
Dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein, 1h 34m [Film Penance 2025]
"I think we can't go out together again. I mean, even in a group. Even in a big group." - Dawn
Dawn (Jess Weixler) is the best speaker in her high school abstinence club. She wears a ring, like all the members do, to show that she's saving herself for marriage. No sexual intercourse while Jesus is on duty!
But teens are teens, and one sunny day she and Tobey decide to go to the swimming hole. Dawn's attracted to Tobey - he seems like a sweet guy, and he's a fellow abstainer. Much to her surprise, Tobey suggests that the grotto is the perfect place for them to do it, and he is adamant. (content warning)
He forces himself on Dawn while she fights him off. He winces while in the act, and well, his penis is cut off.
Dawn flees and while she's stunned after the assault, she also wonders what the heck is going on with her down there. Her experience awakened the ol' vagina dentata, the mythical legend of a vagina filled with teeth.
The movie has an "indie" look and feel. Small budget, handheld cameras and simple production design. The best thing about the movie is Weixler's performance as Dawn, and those of Vivienne Benesch and Lenny von Dohlen playing her ill mother and her docile stepfather.
I think the concept was a feminist retelling of horror tropes (the one note I wrote while watching was "final girl is the monster), and I will say, vagina dentata is rife with possibilities to explore, but it fell short of that mark for me. The film felt off balance.
So, gross-out body horror comedy, that was a bit too ham-fisted for me.
"I have a feeling in a few years people are going to be doing what they always do when the economy tanks. They will be blaming immigrants and poor people." - Mark Baum
Adam McKay's style reminds me of the Tarantino maxim that if you need to feed detailed information to the audience, call it out in a splashy way. That technique is used to maximum effect in The Big Short, a comedic take on the 2008 mortgage crisis.
Amongst the "weirdos and outsiders" who saw the crash coming, we spend most of our time with Michael Burry (Christian Bale), Mark Baum (Steve Carrell) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling).
Burry is a numbers obsessive and goes completely against all known strategies to call out the inevitable demise of mortgage backed securities. Baum learns about it through Vennett and each man bets against the market, in the sick hope of the corrupt bond system disintegrating.
Corrupt bond grading system you say? What the hell is that? Using flashy cut away scenes laced with humour we learn about the levers used in financial and political systems that lead to predatory practices in mortgage backed securities.
The film is funny and the performances are solid. The ensemble cast is note perfect and the pacing is great. Recommended...
AND YET...
Let us remember, that these wealthy white men, were not saints. It is a strange story where these captains of capital with enough access to create a financial instrument to bet on a crash can be seen as real "weirdos and outsiders". Let me tell you something that people in finance are unequivocally interested in: making lots of money. If you make them money, there is nothing off-putting about you at all. Even the suggestion of making millions from people being put on the street. What is an outsider after all in this context but a rugged individualist?
They become the centre of the story.
Pair with: The Other Guys, Magic Mike (on my future list is 99 Homes)
