Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen - Maltin, Leonard [9]
Unlike most films at Sundance, Brothers already had distribution in place, a partnership between Universal’s Focus Features and IFC. But Brothers never made a dent in the public consciousness despite its excellence and the presence of a recognizable actress in the leading role.
Bier and her screenwriting partner Anders Thomas Jensen followed this brilliant film with another drama nearly as good called After the Wedding, which was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The director then made a creditable American debut with Things We Lost in the Fire starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro.
I’m sure she is still in the early stages of a long and fruitful career…but I don’t think I will ever forget my first screening of Brothers and the impact it had on me.
11. BUBBA HO-TEP
(2003)
Directed by Don Coscarelli
Screenplay by Don Coscarelli
Based on the story by Joe R. Lansdale
Actors:
BRUCE CAMPBELL
OSSIE DAVIS
ELLA JOYCE
BOB IVY
HEIDI MARNHOUT
DANIEL ROEBUCK
Most films can be pigeonholed, by genre or by comparing them to other recent pictures. It isn’t commonplace to find a movie that’s truly original, but that is the only way to describe Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Ho-Tep. I’m tempted to call it a hybrid of horror film and comedy but even that’s off the mark.
The title offers a clue to the film’s cheeky tone. Fans of classic horror films know that the mummy character played by Boris Karloff in 1932 was called Im-Ho-Tep. Bubba is a nickname popular in the South. But what do these names mean together?
The setting for this fanciful tale (inspired by Joe R. Lansdale’s short story) is a nursing home in East Texas. Here we find none other than Elvis Presley—not a fake Elvis, as you might think, but a man who says he switched places with an Elvis impersonator years ago. Bruce Campbell offers a persuasive performance as the fabled entertainer who must now endure the double indignity of bedpans and a community of people (both nurses and patients) who think he’s crazy.
But wait—he may not be the craziest man in the home. Jack’s room is filled with memorabilia relating to President John F. Kennedy, because that’s who he is. How did he survive the assassination attempt? And how did a famous white man turn black? Jack has answers—and because he’s played by the imposing Ossie Davis, those answers have weight.
Jack tells Elvis that the spirit of an Egyptian mummy is invading their rest home at night and stealing souls. There do appear to be some strange goings-on, and in Jack’s mind only the two of them can stand up to this eerie presence and defeat it.
Bubba Ho-Tep is fun to watch because it has the courage of its convictions. What could be utter silliness in lesser hands is made tangible by the ingenuity of writer-director Coscarelli (best known for such genre pictures as Beastmaster and Phantasm), who creates a genuinely creepy atmosphere for his nocturnal horror moments, and the rich performances of his stars. Campbell, who has built a one-man industry out of his cult stardom in the Evil Dead movies, does a terrific job as the Vegas-style Elvis, and the always imposing Davis plays his whacked-out role with gusto and gravitas.
Whether or not you get caught up in the story, you’ll have to admit that Bubba Ho-Tep is one of a kind.
12. CAREER GIRLS
(1997)
Directed by Mike Leigh
Screenplay by Mike Leigh
Actors:
KATRIN CARTLIDGE
LYNDA STEADMAN
KATE BYERS
MARK BENTON
JOE TUCKER
ANDY SERKIS
MARGO STANLEY
MICHAEL HEALY
Mike Leigh makes films like no one else in the world, and he goes about it in a most unusual way: when he’s starting a project, he gathers a group of actors he likes who are willing to make a major commitment of time (usually six months). They then participate in workshops where Leigh suggests ideas and