Local Hero (1983)

Ahh, the dog days of summer.

Enjoying the last of the wind down before September, then it's back to the grind.

I suppose The Criterion Challenge counts as part of that, huh?

Well, I've still got one more day of vacation left. So after Hausu, I decided the best way to end this month was Bill Forsyth's funny, charming 1983 comedy, Local Hero.

 

 
This time last month, I wouldn't have thought I'd spend this much time comparing this movie and Hausu. As I tried to explore this as a vacation movie, however, it was hard not to.

It's not as though these are especially similar in terms of set-up or style. In fact, even as experiences, they're vastly different - where Hausu is like a funhouse ride, Local Hero is more like a warm bath or a comfortable sweater. Despite that, much of what I find appealing in this is similar to what appealed to me last time.

Like Hausu, I'm hard pressed to think of many other movies I'd say quite hit me the way Local Hero does. There's movies that get parts of it right, but something about the way it all comes together makes this one unique for me.

I know I've said it before, but over the past year, my view of movies has shifted from 'this could have been better with' and more to 'this could have gone *, and I'm glad it didn't.'

I can see a lot of the ways a more generic take on this could have played out - how Peter Riegert's Mac could have been the cocky big city fast talker (with shades of his earlier role in Animal House). How Burt Lancaster's Happer could have been the cold-blooded dollars and cents boss. How Denis Lawson's Gordon could have been the more 'pure' country figure to counter Mac and refuse to sell out his home town.

All familiar tropes. None of which Forsyth settles for.

Instead, Riegert is a man out of his element, able to local down a deal easily by telex, but much less certain having to close the deal in person. Happer is working to advance his company, but his heart is more in his dreams of the stars. Gordon is very willing to cash out, as are most of the other locals, and they are happy to welcome Mac to help close the deal. That Mac is then charmed by their small town happens inadvertently as a result of their efforts to help sweeten the deal.

I also can't not give a shout out to a young Peter Capaldi
as well. For someone who first encountered the man as
the surly, foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker on The Thick of It,
his turn in this was an awkwardly pleasant surprise.

On paper, Local Hero has a lot of familiar elements of the 'city v country' fish out of water comedy. It plays a few straight, but for every one of those, there are one or more it subverts or takes for a fresh spin. There is no heavy dramatic baggage, no overtly villainous presence, or moments of severe stakes. It's a very relaxed, funny movie where the big mystery is how everything will play out while still seeing everyone's desires fulfilled. We come to like these people and, despite their clashing goals, want to see everything work out for all involved.

This really is the perfect movie to close out the summer with. It's light, but involving, warm, funny, visually striking for the local scenery. Even the final scene, with Mac back in the states feeling a sort of melancholy for the Scottish village that became home for him is a feeling that seems appropriate as one unwinds from their vacation and prepares to return to daily life.

Even if you're reading this in early September, I'd recommend giving this one a watch as the temperatures start to cool and the leaves change. After how hectic this month has been, it's a downright therapeutic 110 minutes.

Of course, with September around the corner, the challenge rolls on and it's time for this writer to get ready for something he hasn't had to do in quite some time - go back to school.

Come back next month for a few trips into cinematic academia as we ramp up for October.

And oooh, that's gonna be a doozy.

Till then.

Hausu (1977)

 Hello and welcome back to another round of the Criterion Challenge.

And let me start by saying - oof.

It's been a rough summer here. Technical issues. The heat. The weirdly dark turn last month's entries took.

Oh, and just about the entirety of the world at large right now. But, that's a talk for another time.

As we come into the dog days of summer, I decided there was only one way to end this summer - vacations! So, for the next couple of entries, we'll be looking at films about packing up and getting away from it all.

So what better place to start this trip than one of the most batshit haunted houses in cinema?

This isn't my first time seeing, or writing about, Nobuhiko Obayashi's cult classic Hausu (officially House, but the other pronunciation has been adopted to help avoid confusion with the 1986 haunted house movie with the same name.) At first, I wasn't sure what would be a good new perspective here.

Then it hit me - lean in to the vacation. Yes, this is a movie about a group of schoolgirls who take a fateful trip to a friend's aunt's haunted house. But it's also a movie that is its own miniature ninety-minute vacation.

This is a refreshing movie to watch for how weird it is, and how unapologetic it is about that, from start to finish.  This is a movie where, among other things - someone is eaten by a piano, people are turned into produce on multiple occasions, and someone is killed by being attacked by futons.

No, I don't feel bad about telling you this up front, because reading it is one thing, seeing it is something else.

For Hausu, it's all in seeing the weirdness unfold. It sounds pretentious to say, but this really is an experience. There's a lot of great haunted house movies out there (I can't recommend the likes of The Innocents and The Changeling enough come October) but I'd be hard pressed to think of another quite like Hausu.

A large part of this is thanks to Obayashi's direction. From the start, this was going to be a wild, imaginative movie, thanks to his decision to make his creative partner his young daughter Chigumi. That helped give the movie a lot of its more imaginative touches (Obayashi has been quoted as saying he felt like adult thoughts would cause the film to stay "on a boring, human level.")

From there, Obayashi's direction adds to the stylish strangeness. Between the animated tangents, the stop-motion style of some scenes, and the musical numbers (did I forget to mention this movie is also kind of a musical?) Obayashi keeps the movie lively. Even at the one serious beat, exploring protagonist Gorgeous's aunt's tragic backstory, is presented in a visually striking way that keeps it from snapping the tone in a way it can't recover from.

Seriously. Did I forget to mention the musical thing?

Cause it sort of goes there. This little dance number also
involves a cat.

I admit I haven't seen much of Obayashi's other work (though having seen his earlier short, Emotion, I can definitely see that his bold directorial streak wasn't an isolated aspect) but this has me wanting to see more. There's a lot of great haunted house movies out there, but not many (if any) others like this - it's a movie that captures the feel of being a kid on a well made haunted house ride. Once you're on, it's a blast from start to finish.

To pivot on this theme - it's a movie about a vacation that also doubles as a short trip all on its own.

Ahhh. I needed this.

One more trip to come this month before it's time to be moving on with fall, and coming into the big project for year one.

But that can come later. For now, still on vacation and enjoying it.

Till next time.